TONGA TABU. 
9 i 
Mafou is mentioned as the probable successor of King George. He is a man of commanding 
exterior, superior talents, and great enterprise, who has extended his conquests to Fiji, and 
will probably be heard of again. The vessels used by the Tongans in their more distant 
expeditions are double, consisting of two canoes, from thirty to forty feet long, connected 
by a broad solid platform, which projects on both sides, and supports an oblong-shaped and 
flat-roofed hut. When preparing for a cruise, a single mast is set up in one of the two 
canoes, and this mast is surmounted by a lyre-shaped ornament, through which the ropes 
are passed. The large triangular sail, adorned with streamers, covers nearly the whole length 
of the canoe. Stem and stern being alike, the course may be reversed without turning. A 
mosaic-work of shells, fore and aft, completes the outfit of this singular craft. The Tongans, 
like most Polynesians, are expert sailors and swimmers, and are as much at home on the 
water and in the midst of a roaring surf as on land. If we include the assistance of 
favourable winds and currents, there is no difficulty in explaining the successive peopling of 
the numerous islands scattered over the broad Pacific. For centuries the most intimate 
intercourse seems to have subsisted betvyeen Tonga and Fiji ; and doubtless, in these regions, 
there has been from a remote past continuous inter-communication amongst 
“ The sea-girt isles, 
That, like to rich and various gems, inlay 
The unadorned bosom of the deep.” 
We received from the missionaries of Tongatabu a very hospitable reception, and 
every assistance in exploring the most interesting sites of the island. The most attractive 
objects, from an archaeological point of view, are the remains of pyramidal tombs still 
visible near Mua, at the head of the great lagoon. The existence of these structures, 
which recall the monuments of Mexico and of Egypt, upon an island of the Western Pacific 
Ocean, is, to say the least, a fact deserving attention. The larger of the two tombs is 
known as that of Tui Tonga, the title formerly borne by the pontiff or high priest of 
these islands. We found the ruins to consist of three steps or terraces, each about three feet 
high, and faced with large slabs of coral rock. The lowest step formed a parallelogram, 
measuring about 135 feet by 95 feet—the proportion between the two sides being as three to 
two. The monument, however, was so completely overgrown with trees, that we would have 
been unable to find it without the assistance of guides. The roots of the trees fell, as 
it were, in cascades from one terrace to the next and down to the ground, almost entirely 
concealing the stones and the general outline of the monument. We had lost some time 
in discovering it in the middle of the wood by which it is surrounded, and the declining 
day prevented us from going in search of the other tomb, situated not far off, but said to be 
reduced to an almost shapeless ruin. 
Upon the brink of a bluff overlooking the lagoon near Mua stands a gigantic tree, 
reported to be the largest tree in the Pacific regions. It belongs to the genus ficus, and the 
trunk measures no feet in circumference, or 35 feet in diameter. Unlike the Australian 
