ANNAMOOKA, HAAPAI, TONGATABU 213 



leave him, and in order to be closer to him, even 

 during the hours of sleep, he had his house lifted 

 on to the shoulders of his servants and carried to 

 the side of Cook's tent, w^hich had been pitched 

 on the shore. As for Toobou, he took Cook into 

 his dvs^elling, a pleasant habitation surrounded 

 by a pretty grass-plot, on the green carpet of 

 which the visitors wiped their feet before cross- 

 ing the threshold of the modest palace. 



Taipa introduced to Cook an important chief 

 of Tongatabu, called Feenu. This chief was, 

 according to Taipa, the sovereign lord of the 

 hundred and fifty-three islands of the archi- 

 pelago. The natives rendered him the highest 

 honours and prostrated themselves as he passed, 

 touching his feet with the backs of their hands. 

 Feenu was tall and thin, with a truly royal ap- 

 pearance and calm. Cook remarked in his Jour- 

 nal that he had never met, among the islanders of 

 Oceania, a face which so greatly resembled that 

 of an European. Cook received him on board 

 the Resolution and invited him to a state dinner. 

 Among the native chiefs who accompanied 

 Feenu, Taipa alone had the right of sitting at 

 the King's table. This exclusiveness was wel- 

 come to Cook, for every day his table was 

 crowded with coloured guests, who seemed to 

 appreciate the European meal and who needed 

 no urging to aocept the invitations of the Reso- 



