30 TONGATABOO. 



in these wars ; he was described as a very wicked fellow, and if so, I 

 can only say that his looks did not belie him : a worse or more brutal- 

 looking man I have seldom seen. I understood that his arrival had 

 been looked for with much impatience by the heathen, as affording 

 them additional strength in a noted leader; but, to the surprise of 

 all, he joined himself to King George, and desired to become a 

 Christian; he was received as such, and was now employed fighting 

 against the heathen. 



On the evening of the day on which King George visited the ship, 

 he held a council, in which he addressed his chiefs and warriors on 

 the necessity of carrying on the war with vigour ; and measures were 

 taken to prosecute it accordingly. The meeting took place in the 

 malai opposite his house, while he sat in the doorway with his two 

 children, with the church-people forming a circle around him. At 

 this meeting was seen the noted chief and Feejee warrior who has 

 already been spoken of, fully armed, in the background. After the 

 council had debated and talked over the subject fully, King George 

 gave some commands, which several messengers were sent to execute, 

 and the council was dismissed in a truly primitive style and language : 

 " Let every man go and cook his yams." 



After the assemblage was dismissed, the king and chiefs remained 

 some time in consultation. In this council, an attack upon the hea- 

 then towns was arranged. The next morning, smoke was seen 

 ascending from some of the heathen villages, and word was brought 

 to me afterwards, that King George, having sallied forth with eight 

 hundred warriors at midnight, had burned two of the heathen 

 villages. Although he had ordered seven hundred more warriors to 

 follow him at daylight, he did not pursue the heathen, who fled 

 before him. On his return in the evening he held an ava feast in 

 honour of his success; at this meeting, Lavaka and Ata, or the chiefs 

 who held these titles, were formally degraded from their offices by the 

 king, — a stroke of policy that is thought will have much influence 

 in alienating this people, as it has usually had that effect ; I, however, 

 very much question its success in the present instance, when the 

 parties have such a deadly animosity towards each other ; for the very 

 authority by which the act of degradation is performed, has abandoned 

 the religion by which the act was sanctioned. 



The population of the Tonga Islands, as now given by the missiona- 

 ries, is 18,500, viz. : 



