TONGATABU. 



107 



uaiuu is Maiifu. At tlie palace gate were two sentinels or 

 guards in red shirts, coats not alike, black trousers, Avithout 

 any weapons but a switch or small stick. The royal 

 mansion is not large, but very neatly built, and the wood- 

 work of the roof is prettily wrought after the fashion of 

 the country. The interior is divided into three compart- 



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Qf i:t:N Of TONGA. 



ments or chambers, by partitions made of cocoa-nut leaves. 

 The Queen, who, as we were informed by oiu' photographer, 

 was a most portly personage, occupied the first of these 

 compartments, and as she was at the time ill we could not 

 see her ; the second is the King's room ; as to the third, 

 into which I could barely gel a peep, it seemed to be a sort 

 of lumber-room. Mats made of ihc leaves of the [)andamis 



