TONGA TABU. 
89 
of the latter is composed of gentle undulations, no part of it is said to rise more than 
sixty feet above the sea-level, the highest point on the island being the little knoll on which 
stands the missionary church of Nukualofa. The population of Tongatabu, reckoned by 
former navigators as high as 15,000 and even 20,000—probably an over-estimate — is now 
reduced to about 4000. The whole island, measuring about twenty-five miles from east to 
NUKUALOFA. 
west, and the largest of the Tonga group, seems to rest upon a foundation of coral rock, on 
the surface of which Time has accumulated a rich dark-coloured soil, the result of vegetable 
decay. Hence the extreme fertility of the land, seed-time and harvest alternating all the 
year round ; whilst trees and flowers have been allowed to run riot in the utmost luxuriance. 
Patches of the brightest blue and red line the avenues of palms which here do duty for 
roads; the convolvulus stretches its leafy arms across the path, and, creeping up the trees 
on the opposite side, falls down in graceful garlands from their feathery branches. Now and 
then a native maiden, like some “ daughter of a woody Nymphe,” would step out from the 
recesses of the foliage, a scarlet flower coquettishly stuck in her dark hair, and look with 
wonder and amazement at the white strangers feverishly hurrying past on horseback in search 
of the “lions” of the place. To any but a European or North American mind, that restless 
disposition which makes a man forsake his home and wander all over the world in quest of 
novelty is simply incomprehensible. Tongatabu was discovered by Tasman in the year 1643. 
Cook visited the island in 1773, and Namuka and other islands in the same group in 1774 
and 1777. In the month of April, 1827, the “Astrolabe,” commanded by Dumont d’Urville, 
ran aground upon the reefs opposite Nukualofa, and was detained a whole month for 
necessary repairs. From information obtained from the natives, D’Urville concluded that 
the unfortunate La Perouse, in search of whom he had been sent out, had visited the 
Tonga Islands on his return from Botany Bay in 1787. The shattered remains of the two 
frigates under La Pbrouse’s command were discovered upon the reefs of Vanikoro Island, 
north of the New Hebrides. 
The arrival of H.M.S. “Challenger” thus occurred exactly a century after the sojourn 
of Captain Cook in these islands. We had no sooner anchored off Nukualofa than some 
natives made their appearance on board, seemingly quite at home on the deck of the big ship. 
Like all former navigators, we were pleasantly surprised at their fine manly appearance, the 
light yellowish-brown tint of their skin, and their intelligent and open countenances. Their 
