g TONGATABOO. 



tion, and up a gentle acclivity, on the top of which is now the 

 Mission church, and the house of King Tubou. On our way up we 

 passed by the drum, or as it is here called, toki, which is a large 

 hollow log, not unlike a pig-trough, made of hard, sonorous wood : 

 it is struck with a mallet, shaped somewhat like that used by stone- 

 cutters : it gives a sound not unlike a distant gong, and it is said may 

 be heard from seven to ten miles. 



From the top of this hill (sixty feet high, and the most elevated 

 point on the island) there is an extensive view, over the island on one 

 hand, and on the other over the encircling reefs and the deep blue 

 sea. I felt familiar with the scenes around me, from the description 

 I had often read in Mariner's Tonga Islands, and feel great pleasure 

 in confirming the admirable and accurate description there given. 

 The names we heard were familiar to us, and we found, through the 

 natives and missionaries, that many of the descendants of the persons 

 of whom he speaks were present. 



I was within the fortification of Nukualofa, the scene of many of 

 the exploits which Mariner relates. I was now surrounded by large 

 numbers of warriors, all grotesquely dressed and ready for the fight, 

 with clubs, spears, and muskets. In addition to the usual tapa around 

 their waist, they had yellow and straw-coloured ribands, made of the 

 pandanus-leaves, tied around their arms above the elbows, on their 

 legs above and below the knees, and on their bodies : some had them 

 tied and gathered up in knots ; others wore them as scarfs — some on 

 the right shoulder, some on the left, and others on both shoulders. 

 Some of these sashes were beautifully white, about three inches wide, 

 and quite pliable. Many of them had fanciful head-dresses, some with 

 natural and others with artificial flowers over their turbans (called 

 sala) ; and nearly all had their faces painted in the most grotesque 

 manner, with red, yellow, white, and black stripes, crossing the face 

 in all directions. Some were seen with a jet black face and vermilion 

 nose; others with half the face painted white. When a body of 

 some eight hundred of these dark-looking, well-formed warriors, all 

 eager for the fight, and going to and fro to join their several com- 

 panies, is seen, it is hardly possible to describe the effect. The scene 

 was novel in the extreme, and entirely unexpected, for I considered 

 that we were on a mission of peace. A few minutes' conversation 

 with Mr. Tucker accounted for it all. The evening before, the 

 "Devil's" party, it appeared, had attacked their yam-grounds: some 

 of the natives were wounded on both sides ; and great fear had been 



