Eoo».— ToiiK»ia!ioo. 



TONGATABOO. Threatened war. 



179 



which had hem burnt at sea. Tiny were taken 

 oh boa i d the Horn] J, most kindly treated, brought 

 and lauded in New South Wales. The crew of 

 1 he Herald presented them with J 00/., and Captain 

 Nias allowed them to Hell their boat; beside* all 

 this, they were amply uupplied with clothes. This 

 report of the Jobs of the ship seemed placed beyond 

 contradiction, and to meet her afterwards caused 

 us great surprise. A day or two after we had lost 

 sight of the ship, a man whom 1 had taken on 

 Imurd aw a distressed seaman, confessed tliat lie 

 had deserted from her, and also informed us that 

 the aix men had left the ship at sea in an open 

 boat, in consequence of the ill treatment they had 

 recoiled from the captain, and the short allowance 

 of provisions on hoard. The manner in which they 

 carried on their deception upon Captain Nias, his 

 otHeers, and crew, was remarkable, and shows how 

 much commiseration all classes of men feel for 

 those in distress, and how unwilling they are to 

 scrutinize a talc of sorrow, when they have the 

 apparent evidence hefore them of its truth. The6e 

 men were upwards of twenty days on board the 

 II. raid, and yet I was told that they were through- 

 out consistent in their nccount of the alleged mis- 

 fortune, and apparently showed much proper 

 feeling for the fate that had befallen their com- 

 panions. 



Until the llhh we had light breezes; in the after- 

 noon of this day we saw the appearance of a water- 

 spout, forming about half a mile from the ship; 

 the water was seen flying up, as if from a circle of 

 fifty feet in diameter, throwing oir jets from the 

 circumference of the circle, not unlike & willow 

 basket in shape, and having a circular motion from 

 right to left; there was & heavy black cloud over it, 

 but no descending tube ; and it did not appear 

 to have any progressive motion. Desirous of 

 getting uear, 1 kept the ship off for it, but we 1 

 had little wind; the cloud dispersed, and the whole 

 was dissipated before we got near to it. The 

 electrometer showed no change. 



The next dnv, the 20th of April, in latitude 24* 

 26' S., longitude 174 3 47' 30" W., we took the 

 trades from about east : passed over the position 

 assigned to the island of Vasqurz, but row nothing 

 of it. Some appearance of laud existing to the 

 eastward, the Porpoise was despatched to look 

 for it. 



On the 22nd, we made the island of Eooa, and 

 thai uf Tongatahoo. The wind the whole day was 

 very variable, with squalls and heavy rain ; and it 

 being too late to run through the long canal that 

 leads to the harbour, I deemed it most prudent to 

 haul off for the night. A southerly current drove 

 us further off than 1 anticipated, and we did not 

 succeed the next day in regaining our position; we 

 experienced much lightning and rain, with the 

 wind strong from the eastward. On the 24th, at 

 1 i\m., we rounded the eastern eud of Tongatahoo, 

 and stood down through the Astrolabe canal. This 

 is a dangerous passage, and ought not to be 

 attempted when the wind is variable or light ; it is 

 nine miles in length, and passes between two coral 

 reefs, where there is no anchorage; it was at the 

 western end of it that the- Astrolabe was near 

 being wrecked in 1027. U is from half to one 

 mile wide, gradually narrowing, until the small 

 istand of Mahoga appears to close the passage. 

 When nearly up to this island, the passage takes a 



short and narrow turn to the northward; iu turning 

 round into this pass, I was aware of a coral patch, 

 laid down by the Astrolabe, and hauled up to 

 avoid it, by passing to the eastward ; hut the 

 danger was nearer the reef than laid down, and 

 the sun's glare being strong, we were unable to 

 see it, and ran directly upon it. For a moment 

 the ship's way was stopped, but the idistacle broke 

 under her, and we proceeded < 11 to the anchorage 

 off Nukualofa, the residence of King Joaiah, alias 

 Tuhou. In our survey of the above passage, uo 

 shoal was found in the place where the ship had 

 struck, and we had the satisfaction of knowing 

 that wo had destroyed it without injury to the 

 vessel. 



The tender had arrived before us, and I found 

 also here the British vessel Currency Lass. This 

 harbour, when it is reached, is a safe one, and is 

 well protected by the reefs. 



Nukualofa ia o station of the Wesleynn Mission, 

 the heads of which, Messrs. Tucker and Kahone, 

 paid me a visit, and from them I learnt that the 

 Christian and Devil's parties were on the point of 

 hostilities; that Taufaahati or King Geortre, of 

 Vavao, had arrived with eight hundred warriors, 

 for the purpose of carrying on the war, and putting 

 an end to it. 



The islands of Tongatahoo and Eooa are the two 

 southern islands of the Hapai Group (the Friendly 

 Isles of Cook); the former is a low, level island", 

 while that of Eooa is high. The highest part of 

 Tongatahoo is only sixty feet above the level of the 

 sea, while that of Eooa rises about six hundred 

 feet; the strait between them is eight miles wide. 

 Tonga is extremely fruitful, and covered with 

 foliage, and contains ten thousand inhabitants; 

 whilo that of Eooa is nicky aud barren, and con- 

 tains only two hundred inhabitants. 



Believing that I might exert an influence to 

 reconcile the parties, and through my instrumen- 

 tality restore the blessings of peace, 1 proffered my 

 services to that effect, which were warmly ac- 

 cepted by the Reverend Mr. Tucker. I therefore 

 sent a message to the chiefs of the Christian party, 

 to meet me in fono in the morning, and late at 

 night received a notice that they would be pre- 

 pared to receive me. On the morning of the 24th, 

 I landed, with all the officers that could be spared 

 from other duties; we were received on the beach 

 by Mr. Tucker, and were at once surrounded by a 

 l.ir_<r numl'iT of natives. It was impossible not to 

 be struck with the great difference between these 

 people and those we had just left in New Zealand; 

 uothing of the morose and savage appearance so 

 remarkable there, was seen; here all was cheer- 

 fulness and gaiety; oil appeared well-fed and well- 

 formed, with full faces and muscles. The number 

 of children particularly attracted our notice, in 

 striking contrast to the New Zealand groups, where 

 few but men were seen. In a few minutes we 

 heard the native drum, calling the warriors and 

 people together; we went a short distance along 

 the beach, passed into the fortification, and up a 

 gentle acclivity, on the top of which is now the 

 Mission church, and the house of King Tuhou. 

 On our way up we passed by the drum, or as it is 

 here called, tuki, which is a large hollow log, not 

 unlike a pig-trough, made of hard, sonorous wood; 

 it is struck with a mallet, shaped somewhat like 

 that used by stone-cutters; it gives a sound not 

 ?« 2 



