THE TONGANS. 391 



in their dances, houses, tattooing, etc., resembled the New 

 Zealanders even more than their nearer neighbours in the 

 Society and Friendly Islands. In the Friendly Islands Capt. 

 Cook observed a very singular luxury in which the chiefs 

 indulged themselves. When one of them wished to go to 

 sleep, two women came and sat by him, " beating briskly on 

 his body and legs with both fists, as on a drum, till he fell 

 asleep, and continuing it the whole night, with some short 

 intervals." When the chief is sound asleep they sometimes 

 rest themselves a little, " but resume it if they observe any 

 appearance of his waking."* A similar statement is made by 

 Wilson in his Missionary Voyage, f In all the islands the 

 chiefs appear to have been treated with respect none the less 

 profound, because shown in ways which seem to us peculiar. 

 One of them was to uncover the body from the waist, and it 

 seems to have been a matter of indifference, or rather of con- 

 venience, whether this was done- upwards or downwards. 

 In the Friendly Islands it was accounted a striking mark of 

 rudeness to speak to the king while standing up. 



There was also a certain amount of commerce between the 

 different islands. Bora-bora and Otahaw produced abundance 

 of cocoa-nut oil, which was exchanged at Tahiti for cloth. 

 The Low Islands again could not successfully grow the paper- 

 mulberry; but they had a breed of dogs with long silky 

 hair, which was much prized in the other islands. 



* Third Voyage, vol. i., p. 323. f I.e. p. 237. 



J Cook's First Voyage, vol. ii., p. 125. 



