106 UPOLU — MANONO — SAVAII. 



A copy was then nailed on the pillars of the council-house, which 

 Pea was made responsible for, and others were prepared and distri- 

 buted to the several chiefs. 



The meeting was then dissolved, and every one present evinced the 

 greatest satisfaction that the whole of the business before it had been 

 concluded in so satisfactory a manner. 



The island of Upolu is divided into three districts, viz., Atua, Tua- 

 Masanga, and Aana. Each of these was formerly governed by a 

 separate and independent chief, styled Tui. Atua occupies the eastern 

 end of the island, which extends as far as the town of Lauli ; Tua- 

 Masanga is the middle division, and includes the towns of Siuma and 

 Safata, on the southern shore; Aana lies west of this, and comprises 

 the remainder of the island. The first of these districts is of the 

 greatest extent, the second is at present the most powerful, and the 

 third is the most fertile. The union of these districts under one 

 general government, in which the island of Savaii is also included, is 

 a late event. Previous to 1830, this island had suffered from the 

 usurpation of a chief of Manono, called Tamafago, who was a great 

 tyrant, but. who had contrived to cause his person to be considered as 

 sacred, and to impress on his countrymen the idea that it would be 

 sacrilege to disobey, hurt, or even to touch him. After the conquest 

 of a rival district in Savaii, he assumed the style of king of that island, 

 " le Tupu o Savaii," a title which Malietoa now enjoys, but without 

 deriving from it any power. 



Tamafago not only ruled at Savaii with royal and divine attributes, 

 but obtained a complete ascendency over Upolu, where he compelled 

 all to give up their property to him, and to yield the women of all 

 classes to his desires. 



Finally, his tyranny and excesses exceeded the bounds of patience, 

 and the people of Aana rose against him, conquered, and put him to 

 death. From this arose the war of Aana, which will be again spoken 

 of; for the chiefs of the other islands considered themselves bound to 

 avenge the death of Tamafago. The people of the other districts of 

 Upolu were not united in the support of their neighbours of Aana, who 

 had made themselves almost universally odious by their haughty 

 bearing. The war was a bloody one, and resulted, after a continuance 

 of two or three years, in the entire defeat of the people of Aana, by 

 those of Manono, who expelled them from their district, and forbade 

 their return to it on pain of death. 



This fertile region remained entirely unoccupied until the arrival ol 

 the missionaries ; but when the Christian influences of their preaching 



