THE TONGANS, OR FRIENDLY ISLANDERS.

It is a pleasure to pass out of the company of the ferocious Feegees

into that of another people, which, though near neighbours of the

former, are different from them in almost every respect,--I mean the

Tongans, or Friendly Islanders. This appellation scarce requires to be

explained. Every one knows that it was bestowed upon them by the

celebrated navigator Cook,--who although not the actual discoverer of

the Tonga group, was the first who thoroughly explored these islands,

and gave any reliable account of them to the civilised world. Tasman,

who might be termed the "Dutch Captain Cook," is allowed to be their

discoverer, so long ago as 1643; though there is reason to believe that

some of the Spanish explorers from Peru may have touched at these

islands before his time. Tasman, however, has fixed the record of his

visit, and is therefore entitled to the credit of the discovery,--as he

is also to that of Australia, New Zealand, Van Diemen's Land, and other

now well-known islands of the South-western Pacific. Tasman bestowed

upon three of the Tonga group the names--Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and

Middleburgh; but, fortunately, geographers have acted in this matter

with better taste than is their wont; and Tasman's Dutch national titles

have fallen into disuse,--while the true native names of the islands

have been restored to the map. This is what should be done with other

Pacific islands as well; for it is difficult to conceive anything in

worse taste than such titles as the Caroline and Loyalty Isles, Prince

William's Land, King George's Island, and the ten thousand Albert and

Victoria Lands which the genius of flattery, or rather flunkeyism, has

so liberally distributed over the face of the earth. The title of

Friendly Isles, bestowed by Cook upon the Tonga archipelago, deserves to

live; since it is not only appropriate, but forms the record of a

pleasant fact,--the pacific character of our earliest intercourse with

these interesting people.

It may be here remarked, that Mr Wylde and other superficial map-makers

have taken a most unwarrantable liberty with this title. Instead of

leaving it as bestowed by the great navigator,--applicable to the Tonga

archipelago alone,--they have _stretched_ it to include that of the

Samoans, and--would it be believed--that of the _Feegees_? It is hardly

necessary to point out the extreme absurdity of such a classification:

since it would be difficult to find two nationalities much more unlike

than those of Tonga and Feegee. That they have many customs in common,

is due (unfortunately for the Tongans) to the intercourse which

proximity has produced; but in an ethnological sense, white is not a

greater contrast to black, nor good to evil, than that which exists

between a Tongan and a Feegeean. Cook never visited the Feegee

archipelago,--he only saw some of these people while at Tongataboo, and

heard of their country as being _a large island_. Had he visited that

island,--or rather that group of over two hundred islands,--it is not at

all likely he would have seen reason to extend to them the title which

the map-makers have thought fit to bestow. Instead of "Friendly

Islands," he might by way of contrast have called them the "Hostile

Isles," or given them that--above all others most appropriate, and which

they truly deserve to bear--that old title celebrated in song! the

"Cannibal Islands." An observer so acute as Cook could scarce have

overlooked the appropriateness of the appellation.

The situation of the Tonga, or Friendly Isles, is easily registered in

the memory. The parallel of 20 degrees south, and the meridian of 175

degrees west, very nearly intersect each other in Tofoa, which may be

regarded as the central island of the group. It will thus be seen that

their central point is 5 degrees east and 2 degrees south of the centre

of the Feegeean archipelago, and the nearest islands of the two groups

are about three hundred miles apart.

It is worthy of observation, however, that the Tonga Isles have the

advantage, as regards the wind. The _trades_ are in their favour; and

from Tonga to Feegee, if we employ a landsman's phraseology, it is "down

hill," while it is all "up hill" in the contrary direction. The

consequence is, that many Tongans are constantly making voyages to the

Feegee group,--a large number of them having settled there (as stated

elsewhere),--while but a limited number of Feegeeans find their way to

the Friendly Islands. There is another reason for this

unequally-balanced migration: and that is, that the Tongans are much

bolder and better sailors than their western neighbours; for although

fer excel any other South-Sea islanders in the art of _building_ their

canoes (or ships as they might reasonably be called), yet they are as

far behind many others in the art of _sailing_ them.

Their superiority in ship-building may be attributed, partly, to the

excellent materials which these islands abundantly afford; though this

is not the sole cause. However much we may deny to the Feegeeans the

possession of moral qualities, we are at the same time forced to admit

their great intellectual capacity,--as exhibited in the advanced state

of their arts and manufactures. In intellectual capacity, however, the

Friendly Islanders are their equals; and the superiority of the

Feegeeans even in "canoe architecture" is no longer acknowledged. It is

true the Tongans go to the Feegee group for most of their large double

vessels; but that is for the reasons already stated,--the greater

abundance and superior quality of the timber and other materials

produced there. In the Feegee "dockyards," the Tongans build for

themselves; and have even improved upon the borrowed pattern.

This intercourse,--partaking somewhat of the character of an alliance,--

although in some respects advantageous to the Friendly Islanders, may be

regarded, upon the whole, as unfortunate for them. If it has improved

their knowledge in arts and manufactures, it has far more than

counterbalanced this advantage by the damage done to their moral

character. It is always much easier to make proselytes to vice than to

virtue,--as is proved in this instance: for his intercourse with the

ferocious Feegee has done much to deteriorate the character of the

Tongan. From that source he has imbibed a fondness for war and other

wicked customs; and, in all probability, had this influence been

permitted to continue uninterrupted for a few years longer, the horrid

habit of cannibalism--though entirely repugnant to the natural

disposition of the Tongans--would have become common among them.

Indeed, there can be little doubt that this would have been the ultimate

consequence of the alliance; for already its precursors--human

sacrifices and the vengeful immolation of enemies--had made their

appearance upon the Friendly Islands. Happily for the Tongan, another

influence--that of the missionaries--came just in time to avert this

dire catastrophe; and, although this missionary interference has not

been the best of its kind, it is still preferable to the paganism which

it has partially succeeded in subduing.

The Tongan archipelago is much less extensive than that of the

Feegees,--the islands being of a limited number, and only five or six of

them of any considerable size. Tongataboo, the largest, is about ninety

miles in circumference. From the most southern of the group Eoo, to

Yavan at the other extremity, it stretches, northerly or northeasterly,

about two hundred miles, in a nearly direct line. The islands are all,

with one or two exceptions, low-lying, their surface being diversified

by a few hillocks or mounds, of fifty or sixty feet in height, most of

which have the appearance of being artificial. Some of the smaller

islets, as Kao, are mountains of some six hundred feet elevation, rising

directly out of the sea; while Tofoa, near the eastern edge of the

archipelago, presents the appearance of an _elevated_ tableland. The

larger number of them are clothed with a rich tropical vegetation, both

natural and cultivated, and their botany includes most of the species

common to the other islands of the South Sea. We find the cocoa, and

three other species of palm, the pandanus, the breadfruit in varieties,

as also the useful musacaae,--the plantain, and banana. The ti-tree

(_Dracaena terminalis_), the paper-mulberry (_Brousonetia papyrifera_),

the sugar-cane, yams of many kinds, the tree yielding the well-known

_turmeric_, the beautiful _casuarina_, and a hundred other sorts of

plants, shrubs, or trees, valuable for the product of their roots or

fruits, their sap and pith, of their trunks and branches, their leaves

and the fibrous material of their bark.

As a scenic decoration to the soil, there is no part of the world where

more lovely landscapes are produced by the aid of a luxuriant

vegetation. They are perhaps not equal in picturesque effect to those

of the Feegee group,--where mountains form an adjunct to the scenery,--

but in point of soft, quiet beauty, the landscapes of the Tonga Islands

are not surpassed by any others in the tropical world; and with the

climate they enjoy--that of an endless summer--they might well answer to

the description of the "abode of the Blessed." And, indeed, when Tasman

first looked upon these islands, they perhaps merited the title more

than any other spot on the habitable globe; for, if any people on this

earth might be esteemed happy and blessed, surely it was the inhabitants

of these fair isles of the far Southern Sea. Tasman even records the

remarkable fact, that he saw no arms among them,--no weapons of war! and

perhaps, at that time, neither the detestable trade nor its implements

were known to them. Alas! in little more than a century afterwards,

this peaceful aspect was no longer presented. When the great English

navigator visited these islands, he found the war-club and spear in the

hands of the people, both of Feegee pattern, and undoubtedly of the same

ill-omened origin.

The personal appearance of the Friendly Islanders differs not a great

deal from that of the other South-Sea tribes or nations. Of course we

speak only of the true Polynesians of the brown complexion, without

reference to the black-skinned islanders--as the Feegees and others of

the Papuan stock. The two have neither resemblance nor relationship to

one another; and it would not be difficult to show that they are of a

totally distinct origin. As for the blacks, it is not even certain that

they are themselves of one original stock; for the splendidly-developed

cannibal of Feegee presents very few features in common with the

wretched kangaroo-eater of West Australia. Whether the black islanders

(or Melanesians as they have been designated) originally came from one

source, is still a question for ethnologists; but there can be no doubt

as to the direction whence they entered upon the colonisation of the

Pacific. That was certainly upon its western border, beyond which they

have not made much progress: since the Feegeean archipelago is at the

present time their most advanced station to the eastward. The brown or

Polynesian races, on the contrary, began their migrations from the

eastern border of the great ocean--in other words, they came from

America; and the so-called Indians of America are, in my opinion, the

_progenitors_, not the _descendants_, of these people of the Ocean

world. If learned ethnologists will give their attention to this view

of the subject, and disembarrass their minds of that fabulous old fancy,

about an original stock situated somewhere (they know not exactly where)

upon the steppes of Asia, they will perhaps arrive at a more rational

hypothesis about the peopling of the so-called new worlds, both the

American and Oceanic. They will be able to prove--what might be here

done if space would permit--that the Polynesians are emigrants from

tropical America, and that the Sandwich Islanders came originally from

California, and not the Californians from the island homes of Hawaii.

It is of slight importance here how this question may be viewed. Enough

to know that the natives of the Tonga group bear a strong resemblance to

those of the other Polynesian archipelagos--to the Otaheitans and New

Zealanders, but most of all to the inhabitants of the Samoan or

Navigators' Islands, of whom, indeed, they may be regarded as a branch,

with a separate political and geographical existence. Their language

also confirms the affinity, as it is merely a dialect of the common

tongue spoken by all the Polynesians.

Whatever difference exists between the Tongans and other Polynesians in

point of personal appearance, is in favour of the former. The men are

generally regarded as the best-looking of all South-Sea Islanders, and

the women among the fairest of their sex. Many of them would be

accounted beautiful in any part of the world; and as a general rule,

they possess personal beauty in a fer higher degree than the

much-talked-of Otaheitans.

The Tongans are of tall stature--rather above than under that of

European nations. Men of six feet are common enough; though few are

seen of what might be termed gigantic proportions. In fact, the true

medium size is almost universal, and the excess in either direction

forms the exception. The bulk of their bodies is in perfect proportion

to their height. Unlike the black Feegeeans--who are often bony and

gaunt--the Tongans possess well-rounded arms and limbs; and the hands

and feet, especially those of the women, are small and elegantly shaped.

To give a delineation of their features would be a difficult task--since

these are so varied in different individuals, that it would be almost

impossible to select a good typical face. Indeed the same might be said

of nearly every nation on the face of the earth; and the difficulty will

be understood by your making an attempt to describe some face that will

answer for every set of features in a large town, or even a small

village; or still, with greater limitation, for the different

individuals of a single family. Just such a variety there will be found

among the faces of the Friendly Islanders, as you might note in the

inhabitants of an English town or county; and hence the difficulty of

making a correct likeness. A few characteristic points, however, may be

given, both as to their features and complexion. Their lips are

scarcely ever of a thick or negro form; and although the noses are in

general rounded at the end, this rule is not universal;--many have

genuine Roman noses, and what may be termed a full set of the best

Italian features. There is also less difference between the sexes in

regard to their features than is usually seen elsewhere--those of the

women being only distinguished by their less size.

The forms of the women constitute a more marked distinction; and among

the beauties of Tonga are many that might be termed models in respect to

shape and proportions. In colour, the Tongans are lighter than most

other South-Sea Islanders. Some of the better classes of women--those

least exposed to the open air--show skins of a light olive tint; and the

children of all are nearly white after birth. They become browner less

from age than exposure to the sun; for, as soon as they are able to be

abroad, they scarce ever afterwards enter under the shadow of a roof,

except during the hours of night.

The Tongans have good eyes and teeth; but in this respect they are not

superior to many other Oceanic tribes--even the black Feegeeans

possessing both eyes and "ivories" scarce surpassed anywhere. The

Tongans, however, have the advantage of their dusky neighbours in the

matter of hair--their heads being clothed with a luxuriant growth of

true hair. Sometimes it is quite straight, as among the American

Indians, but oftener with a slight wave or undulation, or a curl

approaching, but never quite arriving at the condition of "crisp."

His hair in its natural colour is jet black; and it is to be regretted

that the Tongans have not the good taste to leave it to its natural hue.

On the contrary, their fashion is to stain it of a reddish-brown, a

purple or an orange. The brown is obtained by the application of burnt

coral, the purple from a vegetable dye applied poultice-fashion to the

hair, and the orange is produced by a copious lathering of common

turmeric,--with which the women also sometimes anoint their bodies, and

those of their children. This fashion of hair-dyeing is also common to

the Feegees, and whether they obtained it from the Tongans, or the

Tongans from them, is an unsettled point. The more probable hypothesis

would be, that among many other ugly customs, it had its origin in

Feegee-land,--where, however, the people assign a reason for practising

it very different from the mere motive of ornament. They allege that it

also serves a useful purpose, in preventing the too great fructification

of a breed of parasitic insects,--that would otherwise find--the immense

mop of the frizzly Feegeean a most convenient dwelling-place, and a

secure asylum from danger. This may have had something to do with the

origin of the custom; but once established for purposes of utility, it

is now confirmed, and kept up by the Tongans as a useless ornament.

Their taste in the colour runs exactly counter to that of European

fashionables. What a pity it is that the two could not make an exchange

of hair! Then both parties, like a pair of advertisements in the

"Times," would exactly _fit_ each other.

Besides the varied fashion in colours, there is also great variety in

the styles in which the Tongans wear their hair. Some cut it short on

one side of their head, leaving it at full length on the other; some

shave a small patch, or cut off only a single lock; while others--and

these certainly display the best taste--leave it to grow out in all its

full luxuriance. In this, again, we find the European fashion reversed,

for the women are those who wear it shortest. The men, although they

are not without beard, usually crop this appendage very close, or shave

it off altogether,--a piece of shell, or rather a pair of shells,

serving them for a razor.

The mode is to place the thin edge of one shell underneath the hair,--

just as a hair-cutter does his comb,--and with the edge of the other

applied above, the hairs are rasped through and divided. There are

regular barbers for this purpose, who by practice have been rendered

exceedingly dexterous in its performance; and the victim of the

operation alleges that there is little or no pain produced,--at all

events, it does not bring the tears to his eyes, as a dull razor often

does with us poor thin-skinned Europeans!

The dress of the Tongans is very similar to that of the Otaheitans, so

often described and well-known; but we cannot pass it here without

remarking a notable peculiarity on the part of the Polynesian people, as

exhibited in the character of their costume. The native tribes of

almost all other warm climates content themselves with the most scant

covering,--generally with no covering at all, but rarely with anything

that may be termed a skirt. In South America most tribes wear the

"guayuco,"--a mere strip around the loins, and among the Feegees the

"malo" or "masi" of the men, and the scant "liku" of the women are the

only excuse for a modest garment. In Africa we find tribes equally

destitute of clothing, and the same remark will apply to the tropical

countries all around the globe. Here, however, amongst a people

dwelling in the middle of a vast ocean,--isolated from the whole

civilised world, we find a natural instinct of modesty that does credit

to their character, and is even in keeping with that character, as first

observed by voyagers to the South Seas. Whatever acts of indelicacy may

be alleged against the Otaheitans, this has been much exaggerated by

their intercourse with immoral white men; but none of such criminal

conduct can be charged against the natives of the Friendly Isles. On

the contrary, the behaviour of these, both among themselves and in

presence of European visitors, has been ever characterised by a modesty

that would shame either Regent Street or Ratcliffe Highway.

A description of the national costume of the Tongans, though often

given, is not unworthy of a place here; and we shall give it as briefly

as a proper understanding of it will allow. There is but one "garment"

to be described, and that is the "pareu," which will be better

understood, perhaps, by calling it a "petticoat." The material is

usually of "tapa" cloth,--a fabric of native manufacture, to be

described hereafter,--and the cutting out is one of the simplest of

performances, requiring neither a tailor for the men, nor a dressmaker

for the other sex, for every one can make their own pareu. It needs

only to clip a piece of "tapa" cloth in the form of an "oblong square"--

an ample one, being about two yards either way. This is wrapped round

the body,--the middle part against the small of the back,--and then both

ends brought round to the front are lapped over each other as far as

they will go, producing, of course, a double fold of the cloth. A

girdle is next tied around the waist,--usually a cord of ornamental

plait; and this divides the piece of tapa into body and skirt. The

latter is of such a length as to stretch below the calf of the leg,--

sometimes down to the ankle,--and the upper part or body _would_ reach

to the shoulders, if the weather required it, and often does _when the

missionaries require it_. But not at any other time: such an ungraceful

mode of wearing the pareu was never intended by the simple Tongans, who

never dreamt of there being any immodesty in their fashion until told of

it by their puritanical preceptors!

Tongan-fashion, the pareu is a sort of tunic, and a most graceful

garment to boot; Methodist fashion, it becomes a gown or rather a

sleeveless wrapper that resembles a sack. But if the body part is not

to be used in this way, how, you will ask, is it to be disposed of? Is

it allowed to hang down outside, like the gown of a slattern woman, who

has only half got into it? No such thing. The natural arrangement is

both simple and peculiar; and produces, moreover, a costume that is not

only characteristic but graceful to the eye that once becomes used to

it. The upper half of the tapa cloth is neatly folded or turned, until

it becomes a thick roll; and this roll, brought round the body, just

above the girdle, is secured in that position. The swell thus produced

causes the waist to appear smaller by contrast; and the effect of a

well-formed bust, rising above the roll of tapa cloth, is undoubtedly

striking and elegant. In cold weather, but more especially at night,

the roll is taken out, and the shoulders are then covered; for it is to

be observed that the pareu, worn by day as a dress, is also kept on at

night as a sleeping-gown, more especially by those who possess only a

limited wardrobe. It is not always the cold that requires it to be kept

on at night. It is more used, at this time, as a protection against the

mosquitoes, that abound amidst the luxuriant vegetation of the Tongan

Islands.

The "pareu" is not always made of the "tapa" cloth. Fine mats, woven

from the fibres of the screw-pine (pandanus), are equally in vogue; and,

upon festive occasions, a full-dress pareu is embellished with red

feather-work, adding greatly to the elegance and picturesqueness of its

appearance. A coarser and scantier pareu is to be seen among the poorer

people, the material of which is a rough tapa, fabricated from the bark

of the breadfruit, and not unfrequently this is only a mere strip

wrapped around the loins; in other words, a "malo," "maro," or "maso,"--

as it is indifferently written in the varied orthography of the

voyagers. Having described this only and unique garment, we have

finished with the costume of the Tongan Islanders, both men and women,--

for both wear the pareu alike. The head is almost universally

uncovered; and no head-dress is ever worn unless a cap of feathers by

the great chiefs, and this only upon rare and grand occasions. It is a

sort of chaplet encircling the head, and deeper in front than behind.

Over the forehead the plumes stand up to a height of twelve or fifteen

inches, gradually lowering on each side as the ray extends backward

beyond the ears. The main row is made with the beautiful tail-plumes of

the tropic bird _Phaeton aetherus_, while the front or fillet part of

the cap is ornamented with the scarlet feathers of a species of parrot.

The head-dress of the women consists simply of fresh flowers: a

profusion of which--among others the beautiful blossoms of the orange--

is always easily obtained. An ear-pendant is also worn,--a piece of

ivory of about two inches in length, passed through two holes, pierced

in the lobe of the ear for this purpose. The pendant hangs

horizontally, the two holes balancing it, and keeping it in position. A

necklace also of pearl-shells, shaped into beads, is worn. Sometimes a

string of the seeds of the pandanus is added, and an additional ornament

is an armlet of mother-o'-pearl, fashioned into the form of a ring.

Only the men tattoo themselves; and the process is confined to that

portion of the body from the waist to the thighs, which is always

covered with the pareu. The practice of tattooing perhaps first

originated in the desire to equalise age with youth, and to hide an ugly

physiognomy. But the Tongan Islander has no ugliness to conceal, and

both men and women have had the good taste to refrain from disfiguring

the fair features which nature has so bountifully bestowed upon them.

The only marks of tattoo to be seen upon the women are a few fine lines

upon the palms of their hands; nor do they disfigure their fair skins

with the hideous pigments so much in use among other tribes, of what we

are in the habit of terming _savages_.

They anoint the body with a fine oil procured from the cocoanut, and

which is also perfumed by various kinds of flowers that are allowed to

macerate in the oil; but this toilet is somewhat expensive, and is only

practised by the better classes of the community. All, however, both

rich and poor, are addicted to habits of extreme cleanliness, and

bathing in fresh water is a frequent performance. They object to

bathing in the sea; and when they do so, always finish the bath by

pouring fresh water over their bodies,--a practice which they allege

prevents the skin from becoming rough, which the sea-water would

otherwise make it.

House architecture in the Tongan Islands is in rather a backward state.

They have produced no Wrens nor Inigo Joneses; but this arises from a

natural cause. They have no need for great architects,--scarce any need

for houses either,--and only the richer Tongans erect any dwelling more

pretentious than a mere shed. A few posts of palm-trunks are set up,

and upon these are placed the cross-beams, rafters, and roof. Pandanus

leaves, or those of the sugar-cane, form the thatch; and the sides are

left open underneath. In the houses of the chiefs and more wealthy

people there are walls of pandanus mats, fastened to the uprights; and

some of these houses are of considerable size and neatly built. The

interiors are kept scrupulously clean,--the floors being covered with

beautiful mats woven in coloured patterns, and presenting all the gay

appearance of costly carpeting. There are neither chairs nor tables.

The men sit tailor-fashion, and the women in a reclining posture, with

both limbs turned a little to one side and backwards. A curious

enclosure or partition is formed by setting a stiff mat, of about two

feet width, upon its edge,--the roll at each end steadying it and

keeping it in an upright position.

The utensils to be observed are dishes, bowls, and cups,--usually of

calabash or cocoa-shells,--and an endless variety of baskets of the most

ingenious plait and construction. The "stool-pillow" is also used; but

differing from that of the Feegees in the horizontal piece having a

hollow to receive the head. Many kinds of musical instruments may be

seen,--the Pandean pipes, the nose-flute, and various kinds of bamboo

drums, all of which have been minutely described by travellers. I am

sorry to add that war-clubs and spears for a similar purpose are also to

be observed conspicuous among the more useful implements of peace. Bows

and arrows, too, are common; but these are only employed for shooting

birds and small rodents, especially rats, that are very numerous and

destructive to the crops.

For food, the Tongans have the pig,--the same variety as is so generally

distributed throughout the Oceanic Islands. It is stated that the

Feegeeans obtained this animal from the Friendly Isles; but I am of

opinion that in this case the benefit came the other way, as the _Sus

Papua_ is more likely to have entered the South Sea from its leeward

rather than its windward side. In all likelihood the dog may have been

derived from the eastern edge; but the pigs and poultry would seem to be

of western origin,--western as regards the position of the Pacific.

The principal food of the Friendly Islanders, however, is of a vegetable

nature, and consists of yams, breadfruit, taro, plantains, sweet

potatoes, and, in fact, most of those roots and fruits common to the

other islands of the Pacific. Fish also forms an important article of

their food. They drink the "kava," or juice of the _Piper

methisticum_--or rather of its roots chewed to a pulp; but they rarely

indulge to that excess observed among the Feegees, and they are not over

fond of the drink, except as a means of producing a species of

intoxication which gives them a momentary pleasure. Many of them,

especially the women, make wry faces while partaking of it; and no

wonder they do, for it is at best a disgusting beverage.

The time of the Tongan Islanders is passed pleasantly enough, when there

is no wicked war upon hand. The men employ themselves in cultivating

the ground or fishing; and here the woman is no longer the mere slave

and drudge--as almost universally elsewhere among savage or even

semi-civilised nations. This is a great fact, which tells a wondrous

tale--which speaks trumpet-tongued to the credit of the Tongan Islander.

Not only do the men share the labour with their more delicate

companions, but everything else--their food, conversation, and every

enjoyment of life. Both partake alike--eat together, drink together,

and join at once in the festive ceremony. In their grand dances--or

balls as they might more properly be termed--the women play an important

part; and these exhibitions, though in the open air, are got up with an

elegance and eclat that would not disgrace the most fashionable ballroom

in Christendom. Their dances, indeed, are far more graceful than

anything ever seen either at "Almacks" or the "Jardin Mabille."

The principal employment of the men is in the cultivation of their yam

and plantain grounds, many of which extend to the size of fields, with

fences that would almost appear to have been erected as ornaments.

These are of canes, closely set, raised to the height of six feet--wide

spaces being left between the fences of different owners to serve as

roads for the whole community. In the midst of these fields stand the

sheds, or houses, surrounded by splendid forms of tropic vegetation, and

forming pictures of a softly beautiful character.

The men also occupy themselves in the construction of their canoes,--to

procure the large ones, making a voyage as already stated, to the Feegee

Islands, and sometimes remaining absent for several years.

These, however, are usually professional boat-builders, and form but a

very small proportion of the forty thousand people who inhabit the

different islands of the Tongan archipelago.

The men also occasionally occupy themselves in weaving mats and wicker

baskets, and carving fancy toys out of wood and shells; but the chief

part of the manufacturing business is in the hands of the women--more

especially the making of the tapa cloth, already so often mentioned. An

account of the manufacture may be here introduced, with the proviso,

that it is carried on not only by the women of the Feegee group, but by

those of nearly all the other Polynesian Islands. There are slight

differences in the mode of manufacture, as well as in the quality of the

fabric; but the account here given, both of the making and dyeing, will

answer pretty nearly for all.

The bark of the malo-tree, or "paper-mulberry," is taken off in strips,

as long as possible, and then steeped in water, to facilitate the

separation of the epidermis, which is effected by a large volute shell.

In this state it is kept for some time, although fit for immediate use.

A log, flattened on the upper side, is so fixed as to spring a little,

and on this the strips of bark--or _masi_, as it is called--are beaten

with an _iki_, or mallet, about two inches square, and grooved

longitudinally on three of its sides. Two lengths of the wet _masi_ are

generally beaten together, in order to secure greater strength--the

gluten which they contain being sufficient to keep their fibres united.

A two-inch strip can thus be beaten out to the width of a foot and a

half; but the length is at the same time reduced. The pieces are neatly

lapped together with the starch of the taro, or arrowroot, boiled whole;

and thus reach a length of many yards. The "widths" are also joined by

the same means laterally, so as to form pieces of fifteen or thirty feet

square; and upon these, the ladies exhaust their ornamenting skill. The

middle of the square is printed with a red-brown, by the following

process:--Upon a convex board, several feet long, are arranged parallel,

at about a finger-width apart, thin straight slips of bamboo, a quarter

of an inch wide. By the side of these, curved pieces, formed of the

midrib of cocoanut leaflets, are arranged. On the board thus prepared

the cloth is laid, and rubbed over with a dye obtained from the _lauci_

(_Aleurites triloba_). The cloth of course, takes the dye upon those

parts which receive pressure, being supported by the slips beneath; and

thus shows the same pattern in the colour employed. A stronger

preparation of the same dye, laid on with a sort of brush, is used to

divide the square into oblong compartments, with large round or radiated

dots in the centre. The _kesa_, or dye, when good, dries bright. Blank

borders, two or three feet wide, are still left on two sides of the

square; and to elaborate the ornamentation of these, so as to excite

applause, is the pride of every lady. There is now an entire change of

apparatus. The operator works on a plain board; the red dye gives place

to a jet black; the pattern is now formed of a strip of banana-leaf

placed on the upper surface of the cloth. Out of the leaf is cut the

pattern--not more than an inch long--which the lady wishes to print upon

the border, and holds by her first and middle finger, pressing it down

with the thumb. Then taking a soft pad of cloth steeped in the dye, in

her right hand, she rubs it firmly over the stencil, and a sharp figure

is made. The practised fingers of the operator move quickly, but it is,

after all, a tedious process.

I regret to add, that the men employ themselves in an art of less

utility: the manufacture of war weapons--clubs and spears--which the

people of the different islands, and even those of the same, too often

brandish against one another. This war spirit is entirely owing to

their intercourse with the ferocious Feegees, whose boasting and

ambitious spirit they are too prone to emulate. In fact, their

admiration of the Feegee habits is something surprising; and can only be

accounted for by the fact, that while visiting these savages and

professed warriors, the Tongans have become imbued with a certain fear

of them. They acknowledge the more reckless spirit of their allies, and

are also aware that in intellectual capacity the black men are not

inferior to themselves. They certainly are inferior in courage, as in

every good moral quality; but the Tongans can hardly believe this, since

their cruel and ferocious conduct seems to give colour to the contrary

idea. In fact, it is this that inspires them with a kind of respect,

which has no other foundation than a vague sense of fear. Hence they

endeavour to emulate the actions that produce this fear, and this leads

them to go to war with one another.

It is to be regretted that the missionaries have supplied them with a

motive. Their late wars are solely due to missionary influence,--for

Methodism upon the Tongan Islands has adopted one of the doctrines of

Mahomet, and believes in the faith being propagated by the sword! A

usurper, who wishes to be king over the whole group, has embraced the

Methodist form of Christianity, and linked himself with its teachers,--

who offer to aid him with all their influence; and these formerly

peaceful islands now present the painful spectacle of a divided

nationality,--the "Christian party," and the "Devil's party." The

object of conquest on the part of the former is to place the Devil's

party under the absolute sovereignty of a despot, whose laws will be

dictated by his missionary ministers. Of the mildness of these laws we

have already some specimens, which of course extend only to the

"Christianised." One of them, which refers to the mode of wearing the

pareu, has been already hinted at,--and another is a still more off-hand

piece of legislation: being an edict that no one hereafter shall be

permitted to smoke tobacco, under pain of a most severe punishment.

When it is considered that the Tongan Islander enjoys the "weed" (and

grows it too) more than almost any other smoker in creation, the

severity of the "taboo" may be understood. But it is very certain, if

his Methodist majesty were once firmly seated on his throne, _bluer_

laws than this would speedily be proclaimed. The American Commodore

Wilkes found things in this warlike attitude when he visited the Tongan

Islands; but perceiving that the right was clearly on the side of the

"Devil's party," declined to interfere; or rather, his interference,

which would have speedily brought peace, was rejected by the Christian

party, instigated by the sanguinary spirit of their "Christian"

teachers. Not so, Captain Croker, of Her Britannic Majesty's service,

who came shortly after. This unreflecting officer--loath to believe

that royalty could be in the wrong--at once took side with the king and

Christians, and dashed headlong into the affair. The melancholy result

is well-known. It ended by Captain Croker leaving his body upon the

field, alongside those of many of his brave tars; and a disgraceful

retreat of the Christian party beyond the reach of their enemies.

This interference of a British war-vessel in the affairs of the Tongan

Islanders, offers a strong contrast to our conduct when in presence of

the Feegees. There we have the fact recorded of British officers being

eyewitnesses of the most horrid scenes,--wholesale murder and

cannibalism,--with full power to stay the crime and full authority to

punish it,--that authority which would have been freely given them by

the accord and acclamation of the whole civilised world,--and yet they

stood by, in the character of idle spectators, fearful of breaking

through the delicate icy line of _non-intervention_!

A strange theory it seems, that murder is no longer murder, when the

murderer and his victim chance to be of a different nationality from our

own! It is a distinction too delicate to bear the investigation of the

philosophic mind; and perhaps will yet yield to a truer appreciation of

the principles of justice. There was no such squeamishness displayed

when royalty required support upon the Tongan Islands; nor ever is there

when self-interest demands it otherwise. Mercy and justice may both

fail to disarrange the hypocritical fallacy of non-intervention; but the

principle always breaks down at the call of political convenience.