TONGATABU. 135 



Birds are numerous. Among them are the parroquet, the 

 wild and tame pigeon, duck, fowl, curlew, the hiki (a kind 

 of grouse), the kalia (something like a guinea fowl), the 

 crane, turkey, the tu (a kind of pigeon), the grey owl, the 

 behebeka (a kind of swallow), a grey bird with a head 

 large and out of proportion, a beautiful species of red- 

 breasted parrot, peculiar to Eua, the molio a beautiful 

 bird of which the natives say that ' its plumage is made up 

 of the choice feathers of all other birds.' I also observed 

 some butterflies. 



Of fish there is an endless variety ; turtles abound on the 

 coast, and oysters about the neighbouring islands. There- 

 are also centipedes, a small white scorpion, like that of 

 Vavau, lizards and water-snakes. These snakes are said 

 not to be venomous ; but on examining one, two feet long, 

 scarcely as thick as my little finger, and marked with 

 pretty rings alternately white and black, I perceived 

 two small fangs that are characteristics of venomous 

 serpents. 



As regards weapons, the natives have adopted those used 

 by the whites. They still retain their drums, which are 

 made of part of the trunk of a tree hollowed out, and 

 which they beat with a small mallet. Tliey use double 

 canoes. 



The comnaercial products of Tongatabu are cocoa-nut oil, 

 about 100 tons annually, of the value of £70.00 ; arrow- 

 root, tapioca, cocoa-nuts, and husks, and cotton. The king 

 has in late years planted some 20,000 coffee trees, and it is 



