162 SOMU-SOMU. 



in consequence of its being under the lee of the high land of Vuna, 

 which makes the passage through it tedious and uncertain. 



Corolib, or Goat Island, I made one of my stations, as it commanded 

 most of those we had been at ; and I obtained the necessary observa- 

 tions to secure its position. 



I dined and spent the afternoon with the missionaries and their 

 ladies, and heard a recital of some of the trials they have been sub- 

 jected to. I cannot but feel astonished that they can endure to live 

 among such a horde of savages. Their house is a tolerably com- 

 fortable one, and they have a few Tongese around them as servants, 

 some of whom are converted ; but all the rest of the inhabitants are 

 cannibals. Mr. Hunt was kind enough to give me an account of 

 some of the scenes they had to witness, which will convey an idea of 

 what their situation is, and what they have had to undergo. 



Mr. and Mrs. Hunt, and Mr. and Mrs. Lythe, arrived at Somu- 

 somu in August, 1839, and consequently at the time of our visit they 

 had been there nearly a year. 



On the 11th of February, 1840, one of their servants informed 

 them that the king had sent for two dead men from Lauthala, a town 

 or koro not far from Somu-somu. On inquiring the reason, he knew 

 of none but that the king was angry ; this was sufficient to know, 

 and in some degree prepared them for what they shortly afterwards 

 had to witness. They now found that their servant was only partly 

 informed, for, instead of two men, they soon observed eleven brought 

 in, and knew that a feast was to take place. Messrs. Hunt and Lythe 

 went to the old king, to urge him to desist from so barbarous and 

 horrid a repast, and warned him that the time would come when he 

 would be punished for it. The king referred him to his son, but the 

 savage propensities of the latter rendered it impossible to turn him 

 from his barbarous purposes. 



On the day of the feast the shutters of their house were closed, in 

 order to keep out the disgusting smell that would ensue, but Mr. 

 Hunt took his station just within his fence, and witnessed the whole 

 that follows. The victims were dragged along the ground with 

 ropes around their necks, by these merciless cannibals, and laid, as a 

 present to the king, in the front of the missionaries' house, which is 

 directly opposite the king's square, or public place of the town. The 

 cause of the massacre was, that the people of Lauthala had killed a 

 man belonging to the king's koro, who was doing some business for the 

 king ; and, notwithstanding the people of Lauthala are related to the 



