TONGATABOO. 31 
who are resident near them to store up and repeat these facts, with 
exaggerations, which go far to damp the ardour of those who are in- 
terested in forwarding the great cause in which they are engaged. 
For all these considerations, they ought to avoid, by every means, fall- 
ing short of that high-minded liberality that is expected from them. 
The Tongese are remarkable for their feats in swimming, and are 
very daring when sailing their canoes. An instance was told me that 
occurred in 1839, the year before our visit, which is looked upon as a 
well-established fact in this group. Two canoes left Hapai for Vavao; 
on their way, the wind arose and blew a strong gale from the north 
directly against them; one of them was driven back and landed at 
Ofalanga, an uninhabited island of the group, occasionally visited by 
the natives for nuts, shells, fish, &c.; in the other canoe as they were 
taking in sail, a man fell overboard, and the wind and sea being strong 
and high, it was found impossible to save him without risking the 
lives of all on board, and he was given up; this was about four 
o’clock, and the canoe was just in sight of land. The man accord- 
ingly turned his face towards Hapai, and resolved to reach it if 
possible; he knew the wind was north, and directed his course by 
feeling the wind in his right and left ear, intending to swim before it ; 
he continued swimming, and resting by floating upon the water, until 
the moon rose; he then steered his course by that luminary, and thus 
continued until morning, when he was near land and almost within 
reach of the coral reef. When he had thus nearly escaped drowning, 
he was on the point of becoming the prey of a huge shark, whose 
jaws he avoided by reaching the coral shelf; he then landed upon the 
island, which proved to be Ofalanga, where the first canoe had been 
driven; the crew found him on the beach senseless, and attended to 
him; he soon was brought to, and shortly afterwards recovered his 
strength. This man’s name is Theophilus Tohu; he is a native of 
Huano on the island of Hapai. The canoe from which he was lost 
returned to Huano before Theophilus did, and when he reached his 
home, he found his friends had passed through the usual ceremonies 
of his funeral. 
The island of Tongataboo is of coral formation, and with extensive 
coral reefs to the northward of it; it has a shallow lagoon, which ex- 
tends about ten miles into the interior. The soil is deeper than upon 
any island of coral formation we have yet visited; it is nearly a dead 
level, with the exception of a few hillocks, thirty or forty feet high ; the 
soil is a rich and fertile vegetable mould, and it is not composed of 
sand, as in the other coral islands. The vegetation, probably for this 
reason, does not altogether resemble that found on those islands. The 
