formerly they used bamboo) to try their skill in carving with speed and dexterity, which is considered a great recommendation. A considerable part was shared out to the chiefs, each taking his portion and putting it in his bosom[1]. The remainder of the pork was then heaped up and scrambled for at an appointed signal. The woman who had laid herself down, covered over with gnatoo, now rose up and went away, taking with her the gnatoo, and the basket containing the bottles of oil, as her perquisites. Tooitonga then took his bride by her left hand, and led her to his dwelling, followed by the little girl and the other four attendants. The people now dispersed, each to his home. Tooitonga being arrived with his bride at his residence, accompanied her into the house appropriated for her[2],
- ↑ It is a peculiar religious injunction in this ceremony, that the chiefs should put their pork in their bosoms, for they never eat it themselves: and as it is tabooed by touching them, no other native of the Tonga islands may eat it: so that it generally falls ultimately to the lot of the natives of the Fiji islands, or other foreigners present, who are not subject to the taboo of Tonga. For the nature of the taboo, reference must be made to the second volume of the work.
- ↑ It must be noticed that every great chief has within his fencing several houses, one or more of which always belongs to his wives. He seldom goes to their house to sleep: he generally sends for one to sleep with him; at least, this is always the case with Tooitonga, for nobody can eat, drink, or sleep, in the same house with him without being tabooed (see Taboo.)
