214 
Wild Life in Southern Seas. 
fortress at Nukualofa, the capital of Tongatabu. 
With that object in view, Finau, accompanied 
by the pick of his warriors and Mariner and 
fifteen other Englishmen, sailed from Lifuka, 
in the Haapai Group, in a number of large war 
canoes. 
The site of that fortress is still visible, and 
a brief description of what it was like in 1806 
will be of interest. “ It occupied about five 
acres of ground, and its northern wall was 
situated about fifty or sixty fathoms from the 
sea beach. The walls were strongly built of 
upright posts, with a wickerwork of reeds 
between, supported from the inside by timbers 
from six to nine inches in diameter, situated a 
foot and a half distant from each other ; to 
these the reed work was firmly lashed by tough 
cinnet, made from the husk of the coconut. 
The fencing was nine feet in height, but each 
post rose a foot or so higher. There were four 
large entrances, as well as several smaller ones, 
secured on the inside by horizontal sliding 
beams of the tough wood of the coconut tree. 
Over each door, as well as at other places, were 
erected platforms even with the top of the 
