horrible superstition of these unhappy islanders, and the belief that the gods may be appeased by the offering of life for life. Finow's eldest son, a man of such kindly and hopeful disposition that it is painful to read of his engaging in an act like this, took the little victim by force from its mother's lap, where he found it sleeping, and performed as speedily as possible the murder: before it could be performed, Finow had lost all sense and power of motion; the yet breathing body was placed upon a sort of barrow, to be carried from the house of this god to another, and as a mark of the most extreme humiliation, was placed upon the spot where Tooitonga's food was dressed, cooks being considered as the meañest class in the Tonga islands, and therefore no greater act of abasement could be performed than to lay Finow in this place, supplicating mercy. But ere this he had expired.

A character like Finow's would have well suited the Greek drama: the great masters of that drama would have desired no better elements than are to be found in the history of this remarkable man; his remorseless ambition and his natural affections, his contempt for the fables and ceremonies of his country when in prosperity, his patient submission to them in distress, his strong intellects, his evil deeds, and the death which was believed to have been inflicted on him in vengeance by the overruling divinities whom he defied. It is an established opinion among these islanders, that every man has some constitutional evil, either bodily or mental, implanted in him by the gods, for the delight which they take in punishing mankind: Finow used to say, that his violent temper was the infliction which had been allotted to him; perhaps persuading himself to a belief which reconciled him to this want of self-government, or perhaps availing himself of a doctrine which excused him to others; but he was fully aware of the infirmity, and often charged his matabooles to hold him whenever they saw him getting violently angry. Mr. Mariner seems to have been attached to him; and his historian, Dr. Martin, is so far fascinated by the better parts of his character, as to offer an excuse for his atrocious cruelties, saying that this was perhaps, on all occasions, to a certain degree justifiable, as examples to keep others in terror; a method undoubtedly not the best, but such as may be easily overlooked in a state of society like that in which he lived.' We hope this very reprehensible passage will be expunged in the future editions. True it is that men must be judged according to the circumstances of their age and country, and that the cruelties of Finow, being in conformity with the manners of the people, are not deserving of the same condemnation as those of Buonaparte, which were committed in direct opposition to the modern usages of war, and the spirit of an age in which humanity had rapidly been gaining ground, both among governments

and

and nations, till the fatal French Revolution threatened to rebarbarize the world. The acts of the Tonga tyrant may be accounted for without supposing him to have been a much worse man than many of his countrymen, but they are not in any degree justifiable, as Dr. Martin had thought proper to assert; and if that gentleman had reflected a little, he would have seen that the most inhuman punishments have never produced the effect of deterring men from crimes. Men who dare the gallows would just as readily dare the wheel or the stake: such punishments outrage humanity, without in the slightest manner promoting the objects of justice.

Great apprehensions had been entertained that fresh wars would ensue upon the death of this formidable chief. The prince however who succeeded to his rank aud name was told by the priest not to fear rebellion, for that he was the peculiar care of the deities, and he was commanded to reflect on the circumstances of his father's death as a salutary lesson to himself. Still he deemed it necessary to prepare against an hostile attack at the funeral. The body was brought out upon the marly, an open grass plat, or lawn, set apart for public ceremonies. Here all the chiefs and matabooles were seated, habited in mats, their mourning dress. A number of women, the kindred, widows, concubines, and servants of the deceased, with others who came there to shew their respect to the dead, had been mourning over the corpse; they were dressed in ragged mats, the more ragged the more emblematical of a spirit broken by grief;' their cheeks and breasts black with the bruises which they had inflicted on themselves, and their eyes swollen with tears. The men cut themselves with stones and knives and shells, and beat their heads with clubs, calling with a wild and passionate eloquence upon the dead to witness their fidelity. They reeled with the blows, which were so violent as to produce a temporary loss of reason; and these excesses might, in some instances, have been carried to fatal lengths, if Mr. Mariner had not been instructed to take the instrument from them in such cases; a native who had done this must have employed it upon himself, but he being a foreigner, was never expected to follow the customs of the country further than was convenient. After this shocking scene had lasted for about three hours, the body was carried to the burial place, and that of his daughter carried after it, that, as it was his wish to have it always near him during his life, it might now be buried with him. And here the young How discovered his prudence in preparing against danger: he said, that as his father had been the first person who had introduced guns in the wars of Tonga, it was fit that his funeral should be honoured with them; accordingly the carronades were twice fired when the procession set out, and Mr. Mariner was ordered to load them, as if for a third salute, but he was pri

vately instructed to load them with shot this time, and carry a lighted match.

This precaution was not necessary. Finow II. if we may so call him, had made up his mind to reside wholly at Vavaoo, which was his birth-place, and to keep it in peace by dismissing all who were discontented, or whom he thought dangerous to the other islands, and cutting off all communication with them. When the funeral was over, he assembled the chiefs, and harangued them in a speech, of which we have the original given us, and a perfectly literal translation: its substance may be thus rendered, with the least possible deviation from the idiom:

Listen to me, ye chiefs and warriors. If there is one among you discontented with the way in which we sit here, now is the time to go to Hapai; for not at all will I permit one to remain with his mind discontented and wandering. My mind has been heavy, beholding the great destruction occasioned by the unceasing war of the chief now prostrate in the burial-place. We have been doing much, and what is the consequence?—the land is unpeopled and overrun with weeds, there are none to cultivate it ;--if we had remained at peace, it would have been populous still. The great chiefs and warriors are fallen, and we remain associated with the Tooas. How can it be helped? Are we mad? I think our lives are already too short. How foolish to shorten that which is not long enough! Who among you shall say in his mind I deserve death, I am weary of life? Behold, have we not acted like people who are foolish-minded? We have been seeking things which deprive us altogether of things truly useful. I will not say to you, give up your thoughts of fighting. Let but the front of war approach our land, and any come to plunder our homes, and we will shew them that while our fields prosper, so doth our courage. Why should we desire to increase our territory? This land is large enough to supply us with food, more than we can consume. Perhaps I have not spoken wisely; the elders are sitting near me, I entreat them to say if I am wrong. I am yet a youth; I should not be wise in governing, if my mind were like that of the prostrate chief, to act of its own will, not listening to their discourse. Thanks for your love and fidelity towards him. Finow Fiji (his uncle) and the matabooles are here; they know my frequent inquiries concerning the good of our government. Do not say in yourselves, wherefore do we listen to the silly talk of a boy? Recollect while I speak it is the echoing of the mind of Toe Oomoo, and Ooloovaloo, and Afoo, and Foloo, and Alo, and all the chiefs and matabooles of Vavaoo. Listen ye to me! If there is any one of another land-any one discontented at remaining in this way, this is the only opportunity to depart, for let this pass, we shall not communicate with Hapai. Choose then your dwelling-place; there is Fiji, there is Hamoa, there is Tonga, there is Hapai, there is Fotoona and Lotooma. Let those be marked who love to remain in lasting peace, they only shall remain. I will not suppress the courage of one warlike mind. See now, there is war in the land of Tonga and of Fiji-chuse which ye will to exercise your bravery

then.

then. Arise, go each one to his home, and recollect that to-morrow the canoes depart for Hapai.

On the same day, this Tongan philosopher made another address to his people upon the happiness and the reward of industry. The attendants of the chiefs, he said, used to depend for support upon the provisions which the chiefs allotted them; and he well remembered that, in a time of famine, more of these people died than of the Toas, who tilled the ground for others as well as themselves; because, however great might be the tax, they always reserved enough for their own support. He dwelt upon the pleasure which men felt on beholding the work of their own hands; and exhorting all to apply themselves to agriculture, he declared that he would order a piece of ground to be cleared, and assist in planting it himself. The fortress which his father had demolished was now rebuilt, for motives which may remind the reader of the policy of more refined courts. Finow Fiji observed to his nephew, that as the chiefs and great warriors would reside there, they could not form cabals and parties so easily as if they dwelt at a distance, because they would be immediately under his observation. This fortress, having been found proof against artillery, secured him against any attack from Hapai, where Toobo Toa was in possession of two of the guns taken from the Port-au-Prince. The intentions of that chief, however, appear not to have been hostile; he had been sincerely attached to the late Finow, and bore no sentiment of ill will toward his son. It was the custom that an annual tribute from the first fruits of each island should be sent to Tooitonga, a proof perhaps of the secular authority which this personage originally possessed, and certainly that a close bond of union had formerly subsisted between the whole group. The people of Hapai sent a chief of the sacred family to know in what manner they should make this tribute, seeing that all communication had been prohibited, and by the same messenger Toobo Toa entreated permission to perform the usual ceremonies at Finow's grave, and take his last farewell of a great chief, whom while living he so highly esteemed, and whose memory he had so much reason to respect. The tribute was permitted to come in a single canoe, and it was allowed also that this same canoe should come at any time, provided she brought no more persons than properly.constituted a crew. This was done partly from religious motives, and partly that the Hapai people might see how well they were armed and fortified. And as Finow began to think that too severe a system of prohibition would be supposed to indicate weakness or fear, and might provoke the hostilities which it was intended to prevent, he permitted Toobo Toa to come with as many followers as he pleased, limiting their stay however to a single day.

The

The chief came with about sixty of his warriors, in mourning dresses, their heads shorn, and the leaves of the ifi tree round their necks. They made their lamentations over the grave of the late How, and wounded themselves according to the custom. Toobo Toa called upon the deceased to behold these proofs of his love and fidelity, and declared that he felt the same sentiments toward his son, although there now appeared to be a breach between them; and that his wish was to maintain a friendly understanding with Vavaoo, that he might sometimes prepare cava for the young Finow, and send presents to him to evince his respect and loyalty to the family. In the evening he had a conference with Finow and his uncle; he expressed his wish to be tributary to Vavaoo, though he acknowledged that it might be politic to keep him and his people at a distance while any near relations of Toobo Neuha were living, and that indeed such a separation was the only means of preserving peace. His people, he said, must be employed, for if they were idle they certainly would engage in war against Vavaoo, or in conspiracies against himself; he should therefore go with a strong army and assist his friends in Tonga. Finow objected to receive the offered tribute: Vavaoo, he said, yielded enough for its inhabitants, and if he consented, the people would suppose it was an act of alliance and friendship which would ill agree with their feelings toward the man who had killed their beloved chief Toobo Neuha. Toobo Toa could not oppose this argument, but the tears ran down his cheeks during the conference, and Mr. Mariner believes that he suffered as much in the kinder feelings of his nature as in his pride. He performed a ceremony by which the young Finow was recognized as his superior, and returning to Hapai, soon left that island to bear a part in the wars of Tonga.

It was not long before Tooitonga fell ill: every day one of his young relations had a little finger cut off, as an offering for his sins: and as he grew worse, several children were sacrificed: he was carried to the cooking-place, as the late How had been, and after these cruelties and vain humiliations he died. As the existence of this sacred chief constituted the only bond of union between the islands, and Finow unhappily found it expedient to keep his own people in a state of complete separation, he determined that the office should die with the late possessor. The people easily consented, because it released them from a tax; and they reasoned that, as Tonga had been as much favoured by the elements and seasons, though devoid of his presence, as those islands which had enjoyed him, there was no use in a Tooitonga. Thus it is that men reason from motives of mere selfishness;-thus too it is that institutions lose their hold upon the minds of men, and revolutions, which are always productive of immediate evil, are brought

about: