OF THE HUMAN FAMILY. 579 



Answers to Questions p. 15 of Circular. 

 I. The Tonga nation is divided into the following tribes : 



1. Olotele, meaning obscure. Olo = to ensnare, tele = an instrument used in shaving. 



2. Olomafua, meaning uncertain. Mafua is a sort of tree. 



3. Pagai = the king's plaza. 



4. Mulofaha = the mad tramplers-underfoot. 



These tribes are subdivided as follows : 

 (Olotele and Olomafua have no subdivisions.) 



Pagai. 



1. Ha'atui = reverenced kings. = Fijian roko tui, or sachems. 



2. Ha'agatamotua = respected (or reverenced) old snake. 



3. Ha'ave'a. Vea is a sort of yam. 



4. Ha'agatatu'bu. Reverenced growing snake. 



Molofaha. 



There are two divisions of this tribe, which have, however, no distinguishing name. 



The chief of one division takes as his title of office, motuapuaka 1 = old pig, and stands ou the 

 right hand of the king on all state occasions. 



The chief of the other division takes as his title, lauaki (meaning obscure), and stands on the 

 king's left hand. 



Quest. 2. A man was not forbidden to marry a woman of his own tribe. 



Quest. 3. The children are of the father's tribe. 



Quests. 4, 5, 6. The answers to these questions, which I gave in my paper about the Fijians, will 

 apply word for word to the Tongans. 



7. There were, in the heathen times, four kings or principal chiefs, or rather one queen and three 

 kings, as follows : 



1. Tamaha'. This was a woman, daughter of the sister of a Tui Tonga, or of a Tui Kanokubo'lu. 



2. Tui Ha'atakalau'a. He was of the Olomafua tribe. 



3. Tui Toga. He was of the Olotele tribe. 



4. Tui Kanokubolu. He was of the Pagai tribe. 



Of these Nos. 1, 2, 3 had little or no authority. They were held in great reverence (especially 

 the Tamaha), feasts were made for them, and property presented to them, but they had no voice in 

 the government. 



No. 4, the Tui Kanokubolu, had and has all the real power in his hands ; but it is a significant 

 fact that when food or property is presented to No. 1, No. 2, or No. 3, he has to carry a part thereof 

 on a stick which he holds over his shoulder ; and it is not a little remarkable that, on these occasions, 

 the Molofaha, though an inferior tribe, carry no burdens, but sit around the Tui or Tamaha to whom 

 the gifts are presented. These facts seem to suggest a different state of things in the olden times. 

 I have no opportunities of inquiring further into this matter, but I will write to the Tonga mission- 

 aries. 



Quest. 8. As in Fiji. 



Quest. 9. The descendants of two sisters, &c. &c., were brothers and sisters to each other through- 

 out all generations. So also with the descendants of two brothers. But the descendants of a 

 brother and of a sister were cousins in the first generation only. The children of cousins were 

 brothers and sisters. See schedule. 



Quest. 10. The birthname was not changed unless the person were adopted by a member of another 

 tribe. 



Quest. 11. On the father's death, his property descends to his children. 



1 This title motnapuaka must be of comparatively recent origin, for pnaka is evidently an introduced word, 

 though introduced long before the missionaries went to Tonga. I have a very curious, and somewhat disgusting, 

 legend of the first coming of pigs to Tonga, wherein it is stated that there were formerly no pigs in Samoa, Tonga, 

 and Fiji. 



