44 FUNAFUTI ATOLL. 



first portioned out, every individual receiving a share. But after 

 Touassa's death, Erivada the priest instituted a redistribution in 

 which the adult males or fighting men alone participated. The 

 conflicting land titles granted by Touassa and Erivada breed 

 dispute to this day. 



Touassa's son Sirimiou succeeded him and was in turn suc- 

 ceeded by his son Jira, who was followed by his son Sikamani. 

 Tarafo, another grandson of Touassa next ruled Funafuti; followed 

 first by his son Taturi and then by his brother Teriki, who was 

 reigning when Mr. O'Brien arrived on the island about forty years 

 ago. The next king was Matavai his cousin, followed by the 

 latter's eldest son, Yakoba (Jacob), in whose reign the people 

 adopted Christianity. Manu his brother succeeded and was 

 followed by the reigning king. 



Another native gave me a story of the Tongan invaders who 

 harassed the Ellice in bygone times. The marauders sailed from 

 Tonga in two or three war canoes,* each holding a hundred men, 

 and were accustomed to make the circuit of the entire Archipelago 

 landing at each atoll and massacring the people. Their object 

 was not head hunting or to procure the means of a cannibal feast, 

 but merely slaughter to indulge their lust for bloodshed. On 

 their return south they habitually carried with them a boy captive 

 to Tonga, to serve, when he grew to manhood, as a reminder that 

 the northern islands were ripe for another foray. When it is 

 considered that these feats of navigation were performed without 

 sextant or compass, and with but the rudest of charts, they may 

 well be held to eclipse the boasted deeds of the mediaeval 

 Venetians, Genoese, or Portuguese, and to rival alone in daring 

 or in seamanship the voyages of Scandinavian vikings. 



Borouselif, the son of Toua and grandson of another Toua, the 

 latter of whom was killed by the Tongans, was a great warrior. 

 He drove back several of the Tongan incursions and slew many 

 Tongans, including Tinaman,f a celebrated Tongan warrior, but 

 was at last slain in battle by the Tongans. The last Tongan 

 invasion, which occurred before the grandfather of my informant 

 was born, is represented as having been repulsed with much 

 slaughter. A spot in the reef is still pointed out where a fugitive 

 was speared while swimming back to his vessel. 



The Rev. J. E. Newell thus writes| of the neighbouring atoll 

 of Nukufetau : "A full and explicit account is given here of a 

 Tongan invasion. Unfortunately I could get no clue as to the 

 probable date of that invasion and the war which ensued. Two 



* For a description of one of these vessels, see Cook's Second Voyage, 

 ii., 1777, p. 17. 



t Probably the Tinaimanu of the Nukuf etau legend. 

 J Newell loc. tit., p. 608. 



