TONGATABOO. 35 



time ; the transitions from heat to cold are sudden and great, and the 

 nights are often so chilly as to make blankets necessary. 



Hurricanes are frequent in this group, scarcely a season passing 

 without some occurrence of the kind : the months of February and 

 March are those in which they occur ; but they have also taken 

 place in November and December. The missionaries as yet have 

 made no series of observations, nor kept any kind of meteorological 

 diary ; but in answer to my inquiries I obtained the information, that 

 the storms begin at the northwest, thence veer to the eastward, and 

 end in southeast. The wind continues to increase until it becomes a 

 hurricane : houses are levelled, and trees torn up by the roots ; vessels 

 are driven on shore ; canoes lost or driven hundreds of miles away to 

 other islands. In these storms the wind is frequently observed to 

 change almost immediately from one point to its opposite; and in the 

 same group of islands, trees have fallen, during the same gale, some 

 to the south and others to the north. They are local in their effects, 

 and fall chiefly upon Hapai and Vavao ; if the fury of the storm be 

 felt at Vavao, Tonga generally escapes, and vice-versa; but Hapai 

 is more or less the sufferer in both cases, situated as it is between the 

 two places. A very severe hurricane was felt at Lefooka, Hapai, in 

 1834. These hurricanes vary in duration from eighteen to thirty-six 

 hours ; after a destructive one, a famine generally ensues, in which 

 numbers of the natives die : it destroys all their crops. The natives 

 give the name to those which are most severe, " Afa higa faji," or the 

 hurricane that throws down the banana-trees. 



Earthquakes are frequently felt here, though there is no knowledge 

 of any destructive effects from them. 



The diseases of this climate are influenza, colds, coughs, and con- 

 sumption ; glandular swellings, some eruptive complaints, fevers, and 

 some slight irregular intermittents, are experienced ; but to judge 

 from the number of old persons, longevity is by no means uncommon. 

 The venereal disease has not made the same devastation here as else- 

 where; probably because, as respects morals and virtue, these natives 

 are the opposite to those of Tahiti. 



Desirous of obtaining some of their arms, implements, and other 

 curiosities, Mr. Waldron, Mr. Hale, and Mr. Vanderford, went to 

 Nukualofa to make purchases, taking with them a large assortment 

 of articles for the fair. The difficulties to be encountered in making 

 purchases of the natives is scarcely to be imagined ; no small amount 

 of patience is required to go through the chaffering that is necessary 



