An Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands/Chapter VII
CHAPTER VII.
A few days after Havili's unsuccessful attempt to secure the enemy's hogs, one of Finow's wives ran away from Neafoo; being shortly missed by the rest of the women, in searching for her, it was found that one of his son's wives had taken the same step, and it was supposed they had gone together. When this was made known to the king, he left the fortress instantly, accompanied by five or six men, and directed his course along the main road leading to Felletoa, but without any success. He returned THE TONGA ISLANDS. 211 very much dejected, and sent to his aunt, Toe Oomoo (the chief of the enemy), requesting to have his wife returned, stating, that it was a war between men, and not women ; but his re- monstrances had no effect. These women both laboured under the jealousy and tyrannic in- fluence of Mdonga Toobo, Finow's favourite wife : partly to rid themselves of this, and partly to visit and live with relations they had in the opposite garrison, they made their escape, and took a by road near the sea-shore. On the morning of their departure, Mr. Mariner was at some distance from Neafoo, gathering shaddocks in a thicket : for, although his wound did not allow him to use any active exertions, yet he now and then went abroad by the help of a stick, which, no doubt, was one cause that rendered the cure very tedious. Being up in a tree, he heard a rustling noise in the bushes below, and, directing his attention to the spot, was surprised to see one of Finow's wives. Pi-ompted by curiosity, he came quickly down, and, seizing her by the arm, inquired what caused her to stray so far from the fortress, and to expose her person and her life to the insults and cruelty of the enemy : she replied, that she had only come out for a walk, and was going shortly to return. To this account he objected, that it was too far, and too dangerous a walk p 2 for her to take alone, with the risk of meeting^ Moteita and his followers, who often concealed themselves in those woods, and declared his suspicion that she intended to run away. She immediately fell on her knees, clasped her hands, and begged and intreated most earnestly, that he would not prevent her flight from the dominion of tyranny to the bosom of her rela- tions, and appealed most pathetically to his own feelings and aff'ectiona towards his mother, or whatever relatives he migii.t have in his own- country, and represented how hard and cruelly severe it would be for any one to prevent him? Aying to them, if it were otherwise in his power^. Being moved by the earnestness of her manner^ and the unfortunate circumstances of her situa- tion, he raised her up, and promised not to in- terfere in her escape, nor to divulge the matter tp any one, and gave her full liberty to proceed whichever w^ay she thought proper. .Finow had, for a long time past, entertained the idea of seizing upon several of the enemy's -^omen, who were in the habit of assembling at a certain part of the inlet, to gather shell-fish, and now, that bis wife had run away, he was more than ever encouraged to do this, by way of retaliation upon Toe Oomoo, for the deten- tion of her. The place where they procured this sort of fish„ was upon a shelf of rocks (about THE TONGA ISLANDS. 213 u foot and a half deep at low water), that ran across the inlet at no great distance from Fel- letoa. Upon this shelf they were accustomed to fish every day, wading through the water. On these occasions,' several men of their own party had frequently alarmed them by rushing out upon them, pretending to be the enemy, and had repeated this so often, that, at length, they only laughed at the joke, and ridiculed the idea of running away. One evening a party of Fi- now's men, who had formed themselves for the express purpose of making an attack upon these women, set out in a canoe, and sailed to a part of the island where they could land unobserved, and proceed to the spot where they were fish- ing, without any danger of discovery, on account of the high bushes that were therein abundance. Being arrived on the spot, at an appointed signal they rushed out upon the women, who i)«mediately set up a hearty laugh, taking them for their old friends, so fond of a joke; but,
- when they saw two or three knocked down with
clubs, they ran away as fast as their strength and the resistance of the water would let them, amd the men after them in full pursuit. There •were thirty of them, of which number five were killed, and thirteen taken prisoners, the other twelve escaping safe to the opposite shore. In this affair the wife of Finov's son was veij nearly retaken ; she ran so exceedingly swift through the water, knee-deep, and the young chief in pursuit of her exerted himself so much to overtake her, although he was near enough to knock her down with his club, that he ac- tually fell through fatigue. It must, however, be said in favour of the chief, that the weight of his club was a great disadvantage, whereas his lovely fugitive ran without any incumbrance, for, in her endeavour to quicken her pace, her gnatoo (dress) became loose, and fell from her waist; this was the only time that she looked back, from a sense of modesty, to see if it was recoverable, but she was under the necessity of pursuing her flight without it. The thirteen prisoners were conducted to Neafoo*, though Finow had given orders that all that should be taken should be killed on the spot. The captors saved their lives, however, partly from motives of humanity, and partly
- They were obliged, however, by the way, to submit to
the will of their captors, for this is always considered athing of course, and not at all an act of brutality. These transac- tions are generally conducted in neighbouring woods, and by no means in an open, public, or outrageous way. In short, notions of delicacy, in respect to the female sex, have a much higher influence in the Tonga islands than what would be commonly understood from the accounts of some travellers : among the lower orders, of course, there are abuses every where, but these do npt constitute the legal customs of q- Couutry. 1 THE TONGA ISLAND^. 216 from those of profit (as they could employ them in making gnatoo, &c.) When they arrived at Neafoo, there happened a strong dispute be- tween several relations of the prisoners, and those who had taken them ; the former arguing that they had a claim to the women, according to the old Tonga custom, which decrees, that all persons shall be in the service of their older and superior relations, if those relations think proper to employ them : the captors, on the other hand, strenuously grounded their claims on the right of conquest. The dispute ran very high, and they referred it to Finow, who replied, that he should not interfere in it, and they might settle it themselves as well as they could, for they had no right to bring the pri^ soners there to create disturbances, but should have dispatched them according to his orders. At length he condescended to give his opinion, viz. that the most proper method would be, under these circumstances, to cut each woman in two, and give one half to her relation, and the other to the captor. The affair, however, was amicably settled, without having recourse to such bloody measures ; some being given up to their relatives, and others retained, upon terms mutually agreeable to all parties. About this time the two long expect 3d canoes arrived from Hapai, laden with provisions: they I had been detained partly by contrary winds, and partly by the people going to visit their relatives at different islands. It has already been mentioned, more than once, that places, which have been consecrated either by express declaration, or by the burial of great chiefs, are forbidden to be the scene of war, and that it would be highly sacrilegious to attack an enemy, or spill his blood within their confines, This circumstance, however, occurred a few days after the dispute about the female prisoners ; the particulars of it are as follow : Palavali (brother of Havili), went out one day on a foraging party with six men in two small canoes, and landed near a consecrated inclosure, called Gnacao, one of the most fertile places in the whole island. Here they met with four of the enemy, who, perceiving their inferiority, made an endeavour to get into the. consecrated place, where they would have been perfectly safe : Palavali, however, seeing their intention, got between them and the fencing, when one of the enemy made a bold push to pass his anta- gonist, and scramble over the reed-work, and had actually got one leg over, when Palavali struck him a furious blow on the head, and felled him dead within the place ; seeing now what he had done, he was struck with fear, and van away to. the canoes, followed by his men. THE TONGA ISLANDS. 217 As soon as he arrived at the; fortress, he com- municated to Finow what had passed, saying, in. his defence,, that he was so eager in pursuit, as to be out of all self command. The king im- mediately ordered cava to be taken to the priest of his own tutelar god, that the divinity might be consulted as to what atonement was proper to be made for so heinous a sacrilege. The priest being inspired, made ansv/er, that it was ne- cessary a child should be strangled to appease the anger of the gods*. The chiefs, then, held a consultation, and came to the determination of sacrificing a child of Toobo Toa, by one of his female attendants t- Toobo Toa was pre- sent, and gave his consent that his child (about two years old) should be immolated to appease the anger.of the gods, and turn aside their ven- geance for the sacrilegious crime committed. The child was accordingly sought for ; but its mother, thinking her child might be demanded, had concealed it : being, at length, found by
- This is perfectly consistent with the Tonga custom,
whenever the divinities are supposed to be exceedingly of- fended. It is a piec& of superstition far from being un- common in the history of mankind. Unpleasant truths as weU as agreeable ones must be sought out and related, if we ■wish to arrive at a true knowledge of our own nature. f On such occasions, the child of a male chief is always chosen, as being worthier than others, and a child by an in- ferior female z^ttendant, because it is not a cliief 5 only those /;hildren being chiefs whose mothers are chiefs. one of the men who were in search of it, he took it up in his arms, smiling with delight at being taken notice of. Its poor mother wanted to follow, but was held back by those about her; on hearing its mother's voice it began to cry, but, when it arrived at the fatal place of its execution, it was pleased and delighted with the band of gnatoo that was put round its neck, and, looking up in the face of the man who was about to destroy it, displayed in its beautiful countenance a smile of ineffable pleasure; such a sight inspired pity in the breast of every one: but veneration and fear of the gods was a sentiment superior to every other, and its destroyer could not help exclaiming, as he put on the fatal bandage, O iaooé chi vale! (poor little innocent!) Two men then tightened the cord by pulling at each end, and the guiltless and unsuspecting victim was quickly relieved of its painful struggles. The body was then placed upon a sort of hand-barrow, supported upon the shoulders of four men, and carried in a procession of priests, chiefs, and matabooles clothed in mats, with wreaths of green leaves round their necks. In this manner it was conveyed to various houses consecrated to different gods, before each of which it was placed on the ground, all the company sitting behind it, except one priest, who sat beside it, and prayed THE TONGA ISLANDS. aloud to the god that he would be pleased to accept of this sacrifice as an atonement for the heinous sacrilege committed, and that punish- ment might accordingly be withheld from the people. When this had been done before all the consecrated houses in the fortress, the body was given up to its relations, to be buried in the usual manner. About four or five days after the above hor- rible immolation, this same Palavali was killed in a skirmish with the enemy. He went out again on a foraging excursion with about 30 or 40 men, not professed warriors, but men on whose courage and honour no reliance could be placed. They met with a smaller body of the enemy, but who were all staunch fighting men; in a very short time Palavali's men turned about to run away; he vainly endeavoured to rally them, and facing the enemy again to set them the example, he received several wounds and fell. At this moment his men al§o faced about, and seeing the perilous situation of their chief, became animated with courage, and drove the enemy a few paces back, whilst two or three picked him up and carried him to the fortress. When they arrived they proceeded to take out four spears which had pierced him, but he desired them to desist from so useless a task, as he was certain the gods had decreed his death as a punishment for his late offence. This too was the general opinion of the people, and was the subject of their conversation for a long time afterwards, contributing to spread a con- siderable gloom throughout the garrison. Pa- lavali died about half an hour after he was brought home. Finow already began to grow tired of the war : it was a kind of conflict not suited to his genius, he loved rather a few hard fought en- gagements and a speedy conquest. The enemy shewed no disposition to come forth from their strong hold and attack him ; and he had found by experience, that even the guns produced no sensible effect upon their fortification, situated upon an eminence, and defended by walls of clay*. He heartily wished for a peace, but he did not choose that hjs wish should be known, lest it should be attributed to fear or any other unworthy motive j in short, he wanted to bring about a peace, without being thought to zvish for it ; and the difficulty was to accomplish this.
- Mr. Mariner could easily have devised a method to set
the enemy 's fortress on fire ; but he -considered Toe Oonjoo's cause quite as just as that of Finovv, and although the latter was his friend and benefactor, yet he had more than half assisted in the assassination of a man of admirable character (TooboNuha) who was also Mr. Mariner's friend; besides, he did not choose to be the means of dealing out destructioi> ^on a number of innocent jvomen and childrep. THE TONGA ISLANDS. 221 He was, however, by no means deficient in policy, and he soon thought of a method. From time to time he held secret conferences with the priests, chiefly either upon religious sub- jects or upon political matters, as connected with the will of the gods. He spoke of his de- termination to remain at Vavaoo and prosecute the war till his enemies were destroyed ; then on a sudden, as if his heart for the moment relented, he painted in the most striking co- lours the evils of war, and how sorry he was « that the necessity of the case obliged him to punish his rebellious subjects with so dire an evil. He then represented, in the most lively colours, the blessings of peace, and on this side of the prospect touched his hearers so with the beauty of the description that they entreated him to endeavour to make a peace. . He then pretended to be inexorable, but always threw in something in favour of the Vavaoo people, so that the priests at length thought there was no question at all about the propriety and ho- nour of making a [peace, and that it was their duty to persuade him to do it, for when they were inspired they had the same sentiment, and of course they considered it to be the sentiment of the gods, and represented it to him as such ; when he, pretending to submit only because it was the divine will, left the matter entirely to 222 TRANSACTIONS AT them to negotiate, and if they succeeded, it would afford him, he said, at least one great gratification, viz. the opportunity of again re- newing his friendship with his aunt Toe Oo- moo, and paying her that respect which her superior relationship required. The day after the last conference, the priests accordingly dressed themselves in mats, with wreaths of green leaves round their necks as tokens of humility, not towards the enemy, but the gods, as fulfilling a commission sacred in its nature. Thus equipped, they set out on their way to Felletoa. In the mean time, Finow gave orders that none of his men, if they met with a party of the enemy, should commit any act of hostility, but should endeavour on all occasions to avoid them by as speedy a retreat as possible, for as the gods had admonished him to en- deavour to make a peace, and the priests were actually fulfilling that endeavour, any act of hostility might defeat their purpose. The priests went four or five different times to hold conferences with the chiefs of Felletoa before they could bring about a reconciliation. For although the old men seemed willing enough to listen to terms of accommodation, influenced perhaps by their prejudice in favour of Finow as their lawful king, yet the young and spirited warriors, who saw clearly enough THE TONGA ISLANDS. 22S into the artful character of Finow, with much less of the above prejudice, constantly objected to make peace with a man on whose honour and integrity they thought it impossible to rely with any degree of certainty, and who would again give room for a quarrel with the Vavaoo people whenever it suited his pijrpose. This was their real thought, and perhaps a just one : though they did not express their sentiments with such latitude to the priests : to these they merely objected their apprehensions, that in the event of a peace, Finow would, at some fit opportunity, wreak his vengeance upon them personally for having fought against him. At length, however, they said that as their lives were not a matter of so much consequence as the peace and happiness of Toe Oomoo and her people generally, they were willing to with- draw their objections, that the affair might be speedily settled according to the wishes of the older chiefs. The priests now returned to Neafoo with the warmest assurances from the chiefs of Felletoa, that they would pay Finow an amicable visit the following day. The next morning the chiefs and warriors of Felletoa, with several women, were seen coming towards Neafoo, advancing two and two, all armed, painted and decorated with streamers, forming altogether a very beautiful and ro224 TRANSACTIONS AT mantic procession, bringing with them abund- ance of gnatoo, yams, &c. as presents to their relations. In this way they entered the fortress of Finow, and came into the king's presence on the maldi, where he was seated with his chiefs and matabooles. The Vavaoo people then laid down their spears, which were afterwards shared out to three of Finow' s principal chiefs, who again shared them out to all those below them in rank*. They seated themselves round the maldif and cava was prepai'ed, the young chiefs and warriors of Felletoa waiting on the com- pany f. All this time Finow' s men were un- armed J, (agreeably to the custom on such oc- casions) but by his orders the greater part re- mained at their houses where their arms were deposited, for he was upon his guard lest his guests had some stratagem to play: but he had merely signified to his men, that it would be better for them to remain at their houses, as it
- Mr. Mariner believes this to be always the case on such"^
occasions; but this was the only instance of a peace formally established, that ever happened while he was there. t It is an honourable office to assist at cava parties, it is therefore generally filled by young chiefs. + The visitors come armed for the sake of parade, giving up their arms afterVards as presents j those that receive them must be unarmed as a proof of their amicable disposi- tion, and that they do not mean to get them in their power by. stratagem. THE TONGA ISLANDS. 225 would inspire the Vavaoo chiefs with more con- fidence than if they were present in a body. During the time the cava was being served out, the king made a speech, addressed princi- pally to the chiefs of Felletoa, in which he ac- knowledged that they were not to be blamed for their fears and apprehensions as long as they believed him to be the treacherous cha- racter which his enemies had represented him to be; but he hoped that these calumnies were now at an end. He was willing, he said, to ex- cuse them for having fought in honour of the memory of their late chief Toobo Nuha, against his murderers, for if they had not done so, he should have considered them cowards; but as most of these murderers had now by their death expiated their crime, and as he himself, as he solemnly assured them, was perfectly innocent of that affair, the present peace, he was con- vinced, was a most honourable one to all par- ties. He then made the most solemn protesta- tions of the sincerity of his intentions towards them, and as a proof of his wish to avoid all future occasions of quarrel, he should send back all his people to the Hapai islands, except a few matabooles, who were to remain with him at Vavaoo, which, for the future, he should make his place of residence, out of the love and respect he had for them j whilst he should con- VOL. I. Q 226 TOANSACTIONS AT sign the government of the Hapai islands to Toobo T6a, who was to send him annual tri- bute. When the cava was finished the company rose up, and the Vavaoo party returned to Fel- letoa, to prepare an entertainment for the Ha- pai people the following day. Early the next morning all the chiefs, mata- booles, and warriors of Neafoo, painted and de- corated themselves with streamers, and put on mats, in token of Finow's inferiority as a rela- tion to his aunt Toe Oomoo, chief of the for- tress of Felletoa. They took spears in their hands, and, thus equipped, marched out of Neafoo, two and two, with Finow at their head, carrying with them presents for their relations in the opposite garrison. In this order they entered Felletoa, and proceeded to the maldi, where all the chiefs and matabooles of Toe Oomoo were seated ready to receive them. A quantity of hogs, yams, and fowlsy were depo- sited in the middle of the circle, at the upper end of which a place was left vacant for the king to preside in, for, his aunt not being there, he was the greatest chief present. Had Toe Oomoo been also present, she must have pre- sided, at the head of the circle, and the king, as her inferior relation, must have seated him- self opposite to her, on the outside of the cirTHE TONGA ISLANDS. 227 cle, among the common people ; for no two re- lations of different rank can sit in the same cir- cle together*. On this account, and out of respect to Finow, he being sovereign, Toe Oomoo did not make her appearance. Finow being seated, his men, as they came in, depo- sited their spears in the middle of the circle, to be afterwards shared out in the same manner as was done by the Vavaoo people at Neafoo the day before ; they then retired to the out- side of the circle, ready to wait upon the com- pany. A large root of cava was then split into pieces, and distributed to be chewed as usual. While the cava was preparing, the provisions were shared out, ready to be eaten after the cava was drunk. This being done, and the provisions consumed, a second course of cava was prepared and served out, of which Finow having drunk a small quantity, retired to pay a visit to his aunt. When he arrived in her pre- sence he went up to her, and, with great re- spect, kissed her hand, and she, in return, kissed his forehead t. He then sat down to
- An accurate and full description of the ceremonious re-
gulations of a cava party will be given in the second volume. f When a person salutes a superior relation, he kisses the hand of the party j if a very superior relation, he kisses the foot : the superior in return kisses the forehead. There may be some doubt as to the propriety of the term to kiss in this ceremony, for it is. not performed by the lips after our q2 drink cava with her and her attendants, and, as she presided, he of course sat outside, facing her. When the cava was finished, he walked out to view the fortifications, on which occa- sion the matabooles of Toe Oomoo waited on him, and pointed out every thing worthy of no- tice. They descanted on the excellence of the plan, and then gave him anecdotes of the war, telling him where such a chief was killed, where another lost his arm or his leg, where a cannon-ball had struck, &c. ; and, as they viewed the outside of the works, they pointed out where the different murderers of Toob6 Nuha met their fate. All this, however, they told him in answer to his queries ; for it is a thing very remarkable in the character of the people of Tonga, that they never exult in any feats of bravery they may have performed, but, on the contrary, take every opportunity of praising their adversaries ; and this a man will do, although his adversary may be plainly a coward, and will make an excuse for him, such usaal mode, but rather by the application of the upper lip and the nostrils^ and has more the appearance of smelling. When two equals are about to salute, each applies his upper lip and nostrils to the forehead of the other, or he applies his lips to the lips of the other, but without any movement of them, or smack, as in our mode. Our kiss they never adopt, not even between the sexes, but, on the contrary, always ridicule it^ and term it the xvhite man's kiss. THE TONGA ISLANDS. 229 as the unfavourableness of the opportunity, or great fatigue, or ill state of health, or badness of his ground, &c. In their games of wrest- ling they act up to the same principle, never to speak ill of their antagonist aftenvards, -but al- ways to praise him. As an illustration of this character it may be remarked, that the man M'ho called himself Fanna Fonnooa, (a great gun,) who ventured his life in his hazardous approach to Mr. Mariner, and threw his spear at the muzzle of his carronade, never after- wards boasted of it, nor appeared to think he had done any thing extraordinary, or at least worthy of after-notice. Their notions of true bravery seem to be very correct, and the light in which they viewed this act of Fann^ Fon- nooa serves for an example : they considered it in short a rash action, and unworthy a great and brave mind, that never risks any danger but with a moral certainty, or at least reason- able expectation, of doing some service to his cause. In these respects they accuse Euro- peans of a great deal of vanity and selfishness, and unfortunately with too much justice. It must be remarked, however, that these noble sentiments belong to chiefs, matabooles, and professed warriors; not much to the lowest or- ders, many of whom will knock a dead man about the head with a club till they have notched and blooded it a good deal) and pre- tend it was done in the battle against a living foe ; but such things are always suspected, and held in ridicule. Finow having for a considerable time in- spected the fortification, praising every where the judgment with which it was planned, re- tired to the house which had formerly belonged to Toobo Nuha, where he passed the night. The following morning he summoned a general meeting of all the inhabitants of Vavaoo, which was soon accomplished, as the people were all at one or other of the two fortresses. He then gave directions to all the principal men respect- ing the cultivation of the country, which the late war had reduced to a sad state. He com- manded that every one should be as frugal as possible in his food, that the present scarcity might be recompensed with future abundance. He ordered his fishermen to supply him and his chiefs with plenty of fish, that the consumption of pork might be lessened. Having settled these matters, he next gave orders that the large fortress of Felletoa should be taken down, its fencing carried away by any body who might want it, its banks levelled with the ground, and its ditches filled up; urging, as his reason, that there was no necessity for a garrisoned place in time of peace, particularly " THE TONGA ISLANDS. 231 in a spot which could be so much better em- ployed for building an additional number of more commodious dwellings. The fortress of Neafoo, he said, might remain, for it was a place not convenient to live at, and therefore it was not worth while to take any trouble about it. These were his ostensible reasons, but his real motives were easy to be seen into : he was - apprehensive, that, in the event of another in- surrection, his enemies might again possess themselves of this strong hold ; but as to the other fortress, if he did not succeed in securing it for himself, he could easily dispossess his ene- mies of it, by destroying it with his carronades whenever he thought proper. These orders were begun immediately to be put into execution, under the inspection of the chiefs of the different districts of the island. The following day the king gave orders to Toobo Toa to proceed back to the Hapai islands, of which he constituted him tributary chief J the tributes* were to be sent to Vavaoo
- The tribute .generally consists of yams, mats, gnatoo,
dried fish, live birds, &c. } and is levied upon every man's property in proportion as he can spare. The quantity is sometimes determined by the chief of each district, though generally by the v?ill of each individual, who will always take care to send quite as much as he can well afford, lest the superior chief should be offended with him, and deprive him of all that he has. This tribute is paid twice a year 5 once half-yearly, as usual: at the same time, all the natives of Hapai, who had come to the war, were to return with their chief On this occa- sion the young prince (Finow's son, Moegnag- nongo) went with Toobo Toa to the Hapai islands, as he wished to look over his lands on the island of Foaj and Mr. Mariner accom- panied the prince, as he preferred his character and habits to those of his father. They arrived safe at this island after a quick passage of about nine hours. at the ceremony of Inachi, or offering the first fruits of the season to the gods, in or about the beginning of October j and again, at some other time of the year, when the tributary chief may think proper, and is generally done when some article is in great plenty. The tribute levied at the time of the Inachi is general and absolute; that which is paid on the other occasion comes more in form of a present, but is so established by old custom, that, if it were omitted, it would amount to little less than an act of rebellion. It may here with propriety be observed, that the practice of making pre- sents to superior chiefs is very general and frequent. The higher class of chiefs generally make a present to the king, of hogs or yams, about once a fortnight: these chiefs, about the same time, receive presents from those below them, and these last from others, and so on, down to the common peo- ple. The principle on which all this is grounded is of course fear, but it is termed respect (o/a).