20 TONGATABOO. 



Currency Lass who had received bad treatment at his hands, received 

 a recompense, and so the affair was ended. 



On the morning of the 29th, it was reported to me that Mufa, the 

 old blind chief, and his companion, had decamped, without giving any 

 notice of their intention, and after eating their fill of the good things 

 set before them, besides carrying off the remains of their feast. 

 This movement, I afterwards learnt, was owing to their having re- 

 ceived intelligence of the people of Bea having made another attack 

 upon the yam-grounds of the Christians, and carried off a large 

 quantity; and they were fearful lest some retaliatory measures should 

 be taken to intercept them. 



This day the kings visited me, with a number of their chiefs and 

 people, in a large canoe, and made a fine appearance on approaching 

 the ship ; it was the largest we saw during the voyage : it was one 

 hundred feet in length, and of the double kind, which consists of two 

 canoes of different size joined together by a deck thrown across them 

 both; on this deck a small house is constructed, which serves for a 

 cabin to keep off the weather ; above the house was a small platform, 

 eight feet square, with a railing on each side ; the mast, which is 

 about thirty feet long, is supported by guys, having a long- yard 

 attached to it, with its mat-sail of huge dimensions furled. 



In all canoes, both double and single, small hatchways are left at 

 both ends, with high combings, and when under way, a man is 

 always seen in each baling out the water. Their mode of propel- 

 ling the canoe by sculling is peculiar to the Tongese and Feejees ; 

 the sculler, instead of using the oar as we do, stands behind it, 

 and holds it perpendicularly. The oar has a broad blade, and is 

 ten feet in length : the sculler thus has the whole weight of his body 

 to assist his strength in using it : it is confined in a hole in the plat- 

 form. There is generally one of these oars at each end, and they are 

 enabled to propel one of these large canoes between two and three 

 miles an hour by means of them. 



The Tongese are great adepts in managing their canoes when 

 under sail ; and they sail much more swiftly on a wind than before it. 

 As this canoe is of Feejee origin, I shall defer describing it until a 

 succeeding chapter. 



The canoe of these chiefs was seen advancing slowly over the calm 

 sea by the efforts of its scullers, and was filled with men, all singing 

 the following air, keeping perfect time and making excellent music ; 

 the notes were obtained by Mr. Drayton. 



