THE MARTYRS OF TONGA 15 
ity they thought of trying to launch a boat which they were 
building, and which was nearly finished, in order to escape 
to some other island where their lives might have been safe. 
The boat was so far inland, however, that they were unable 
themselves to convey it to the sea, and they could get no help 
from the natives. How sad their case must have been! but 
the worst was yet to come. 
“On the 10th of May, these devoted pioneers of the mis- 
sionary enterprise were required by the savage people among 
whom they dwelt to join the army of the district named 
Ahifu, in which the larger number had settled. Knowing 
that, humanly speaking, their safety depended on the influ- 
ence of the chiefs, they so far complied as to follow in 
the rear of their forces. Shortly after daybreak the con- 
flict began; the enemy soon fled before the Ahifuans, who 
pursued them, and practiced barbarities which even to think 
of makes one’s blood run cold. The first prisoner they took 
was cut up and devoured on the spot, and the missionaries 
saw an old man roasting part of one of the bodies of the 
slain; and even the women, who mingled in the rear, dipped 
their hands in the blood of the slain who lay by the road- 
side, and licked them as they walked along. Such is heathen- 
ism. As of old, so now, it transforms men, and women too, 
into incarnate demons. And those were the Friendly Island- 
ers, the ‘innocent children of nature,’ whose apparent ami- 
ability so favorably impressed Captain Cook! 
“At first the natives seemed pleased at seeing the mission- 
aries in their ranks, but when they saw that they took no 
part in the conflict, their presence was evidently unwelcome; 
so they left the savage warriors, and returned to their former 
habitations, which they found stripped of most of the articles 
they had left. Shortly after reaching their now-desolate 
home, they beheld a hostile party approaching, and fled to 
seek shelter among the rocks of a place named Eligu, on 
the western shore, where they remained undiscovered dur- 
ing the rest of the day. 
