TONGATABOO. 17 
Deeming it advisable that Faatu should be present himself, I again 
sent a boat for him. The people of Mou, though heathens, have not 
taken an active part in the late disturbances, which are for the most 
part confined to Bea and Houma; and although the Moans are more 
strongly allied to the latter, they have always kept up an intercourse 
with Nukualofa. 
One can readily enter into the feelings of the heathen, who are 
inhabitants of the sacred Tonga, and have always been looked up to 
by the inhabitants of the rest of the group, who were obliged to carry 
thither offerings, &c., to the gods, as superior to themselves, when they 
see an attempt made to subjugate them, by those whom they have 
always looked upon with contempt, and to force upon them a new 
religion, and a change in every thing they have hitherto looked upon 
as sacred. Such feelings are enough to make them war against any 
innovation in their social polity and laws; and after having been 
acknowledged from time immemorial as pre-eminent throughout the 
whole group, including Wallis, Hoorn, Traitor’s and Keppel’s Islands, 
it is not surprising that they should be found the active enemies of 
religious encroachments. ‘Their vexation is augmented by the disap- 
pointment they experienced in the last election of the King of Tonga 
(Tui Kanakabolo); Tubou, although the brother of his predecessor, 
was chosen by them in preference to Mumui, the son, because they 
believed him to be favourable to their side, and opposed to the Chris- 
tian party; Mumui, on the other hand, was brought up by the 
missionaries, speaks English tolerably well, and is the missionaries’ 
principal school-teacher. Mr. Tucker informed me that Mumui is now 
considered as the son of Tubou, and will be entitled to the succession, 
for which both Faatu and Taufaahau, are likewise candidates, on the 
death of Tubou. 
The singular custom is said to prevail in Tonga, that none of the 
royal family ever receive a title of office; for by so doing, I was told, 
they would virtually renounce their right to the kingdom. The Tui 
Kanakabolo has the power of rescinding titles. In one view, the 
government may be considered a kind of family compact, for the 
persons holding titles and offices, address one another by the names of 
father, son, uncle, and grandfather, without reference whatever to their 
real degree of relationship. 
The titles generally consist of the name of the district over which 
the chief rules, and of which they receive the revenues, with “ Tui,” a 
word synonymous with lord, before it. This, however, is not always 
the case, for there are others who have distinct titles, as Lavaka, the 
King of Bea, one of the bitterest opponents of the Christians, and who 
VOL. III. B2 3 
