to his house with their followers, whom they placed around it as watchful guards, ready to dispatch all who might attempt to escape from the place: of these Finow took the command, whilst Toobó Nuha entered, armed with his axe, and burning with desire of revenge. As he passed along, on either hand lay the wives and favourite mistresses' of the king, the matchless beauties of Tonga, perfumed with the aroma of sandal wood, and their necks strung with wreaths of the freshest flowers: the sanguinary chief could have wept over their fate, but the freedom of his country was at stake, and the opportunity was not to be lost[1]. He sought the mat of his destined victim, where he lay buried in the profoundest sleep: he stood over him for a short moment, but willing that he should know from whom he received his death, he struck him with his hand upon the face: Toogoo Ahoo started up,—"'Tis I, Toobó Nuha, that strike," and a tremendous blow felled him, never to rise again. Horror and confusion immediately took place: Toobó
- ↑ Such were the sentiments which he afterwards expressed to Mr. Mariner. The sacrifice of these women, however barbarous, was strictly according to the general Tonga custom in such cases; where not only the individual enemy is destroyed, but also all who belong to him, even his women, that his party may be weakened and distressed as much as possible.
