112 THE CRUISE OF THE ' CUBAQOA.' 



ton was not entirely a stranger to some of us; she had 

 come out from England to Australia in the same ship with 

 Mr. Veitch, the able horticulturist attached to our expedi- 

 tion, who was glad to meet her again. This estimable lady 

 had left her country for Sydney expressly to marry the 

 missionary, and had reached Tongatabu with her husband 

 a few weeks only before us. About the mission houses 

 were to be seen some old women with old-fashioned bonnets 

 on their heads, which made them look like perfect frights. 

 In one of these mission houses we saw a pretty green and 

 blue parrot with a bi'ight brown breast ; this bird, common 

 enough in the Fiji Islands, is very rare in the Tongan group, 

 where it is only found in the small island of Eoa to the south- 

 east of Tongatabu, from which this specimen came. 



The Protestant church is a handsome edifice, completely 

 finished, divided into three naves by two rows of triple 

 cohunns of iron-wood, which they have made the mistake 

 of painting. The internal walls are neatly boarded up to 

 the roof, and have large windows in them ; the framework 

 of the roof is of cocoanut-wood, and the thatch is made of 

 sugar-cane leaves, tastefully bound together Avith fine string. 

 The pidpit is of handsome dark-coloured wood. In the 

 place of stone there is a floor made of wood brought from 

 Sydney. Benches there are none, the congregation squatting 

 on the floor ; and in this way about 801) persons have suf- 

 ficient room. 350 workmen were employed for six months 

 in building this church, and yet the total expense did not 

 exceed 600/. ; the labour for the most part being given free 



