and much of the same colour. They live chiefly upon such vegetable substances as sugar-cane, bread-fruit, &c. They constitute an article of food with the lower orders of people, but who are not allowed to make a sport of shooting them, this privilege being reserved for chiefs, matabooles, and mooas. The plan and regulations of the game of fanna gooma (rat-shooting), are as follow: * A party of chiefs and others having resolved to go rat-shooting, their attendants are ordered to roast some cocoa-nut, which being done, and the chiefs having informed them what road they mean to take, these attendants proceed along the ap pointed road, chewing the roasted nut very finely as they go, and spitting, or rather blowing, a little of it at a time out of their mouths with consider able force. In doing this, great care is taken not to scatter the particles far from each other; for if they were widely distributed, the rat would not be tempted to stop and pick them up; and if the pieces were too large, he would run away with one piece, instead of stopping to eat his fill. The bait is thus distributed, at moderate distances, on each side of the road, and the men proceed till they arrive at the place appointed for them to stop at. If in their way they come to any cross roads, they stick a reed in the ground in the middle of such cross roads, as a táboo or mark of prohibition for any one to come that way, and disturb the rats while the chiefs are shooting; and this no one will do. Even were a considerable chief to approach, on seeing the taboo he will stop at a dis * For a description of these ranks in society, see the subject in the second volume. tance, and sit down on the ground, out of respect or politeness to his fellow-chiefs, and wait patiently till the shooting party has gone by. A petty chief, or one of the lower orders, would not dare to infringe upon this taboo at the risk of his life. The distributors of the bait being arrived at the place appointed for them to stop at, sit down to prepare cava, having previously given the orders of their chiefs to the owners of the neighbouring plantations to send a supply of refreshments, such as pork, yams, fowls, and ripe plantains. The company of chiefs having divided themselves into two parties, set out about ten minutes after the boohi (the distributors of bait), and follow each other closely in a row along the middle of the road, armed with bows and arrows. It must be noticed, however, that the two parties are mixed; the greatest chief, in general, proceeding first, behind him one of the opposite party, then one of the same party with the first, and behind him again one of the other party, and so on alternately. The rules of the game are these: no one may shoot a rat that is in advance of him, except he who happens to be first in the row (for their situations change, as will directly be seen); but any one may shoot a rat that is either abreast of him or behind him. As soon as a man has shot, whether he hits the rat or not, he changes his situation with the man behind him, so that it may happen that the last man, if he have not shot so often as the others, may come to be first, and vice versa the first come to be last; and for the same reason, two or three, or more, of the same party, may come to be immediately behind one another. Whichever party kills ten rats first, wins the game. If there be plenty of rats, they generally play three or four games. As soon as they arrive at any cross roads they pull up the reeds placed as a táboo, that passengers coming afterwards may not be interrupted in their progress. When they have arrived at the place where the boóhi are waiting, they sit down and partake of what is prepared for them; afterwards, if they are disposed to pursue their diversion, they send the boohi on to prepare another portion of the road. The length of road prepared at a time is generally about a quarter of a mile. If, during the game, any one of either party see a fair shot at a bird, he may take aim at it; if he kill it, it counts the same as a rat; but whether he hit it or not, if he venture a shot, he changes place with the one behind him. Every now and then they stop and make a peculiar noise with the lips, like the squeaking of a rat, which frequently brings them out of the bushes, and they sit upright on their haunches, as if in the attitude of listening. If a rat is alarmed by their approach, and is running away, one or more cry out too! (stop!) with a sudden percussion of the tongue,a term used, we may suppose, on account of the sharp and sudden tone with which it may be pronounced. This has generally the effect of making the rat stop, when he sits up, and appears too much frightened to attempt his escape. When he is in the act of running away, the squeaking noise with the lips, instead of stopping him, would cause him to run faster. They frequently also use another sound, similar to what we use when we wish to answer in the affirmative without opening the lips, consisting in a sort of humming noise, sound 7 ing through the nostrils, but more loud, short, and sudden. The arrows used on these occasions are nearly six feet long (the war-arrows being about three feet), made of reed, headed with iron-wood. They are not feathered, and their great length is requisite, that they may go straight enough to hit a small object; besides which, it is advantageous in taking an aim through a thick bush. Each in dividual in the party has only two arrows; for, as soon as he has discharged one from his bow, it is immediately brought to him by one of the attendants who follow the party. The bows also are rather longer than those used in war, being about six feet, the war-bows being about four feet and a half; nor are they so strong, lest the difficulty of bending them should occasion a slight trembling of the hand, which would render the aim less certain. Finow and his friends having finished their shooting excursion, and taken some refreshment, directed their walk at random across the island, and arrived near a rock, noted by the natives as being, in their estimation, the immediate cause of the origin of all the Tonga islands. The tradition runs thus:-It happened once (before these islands were in existence) that one of their gods (Tangaloa) went out fishing with a line and hook. It chanced, however, that the hook got fixed in a rock at the bottom of the sea, and, in consequence of the god pulling in his line, he drew up all the Tonga islands, which, they say, would have formed one great land; but the line accidentally breaking, the act was incomplete, and matters were left as they now are. They show a hole in the rock, about two feet diameter, which quite perforates it, and pos in which Tangaloa's hook got fixed. It is moreover said, that Tooitonga (the divine chief) had, till within a few years, this very hook in his session, which had been handed down to him by his forefathers; but, unfortunately, his house catching fire, the basket in which the hook was kept got burnt with its contents. Mr Mariner once asked Tooitonga what sort of a hook it was, and was told that it was made of tortoise-shell, strengthened by a piece of the bone of a whale; in size and shape it was just like a large albacore hook, measuring six or seven inches long, from the curve to the part where the line was attached, and an inch and a half between the barb and the stem. Mr Mariner objected that such a hook must have been too weak for the purpose: "Oh no, Tooitonga, you must recollect that it was a god's hook, and could not break."—"How came then the line to break? was it not also the property of a god?"" I do not know how that was," replied Tooitonga; "but such is the account they give, and I know nothing farther about it." 66 said A few days after this excursion, Finow having portioned out several of the smaller islands to the government of certain of his chiefs and matabooles, returned with his party to Vavaoo. As soon as he arrived at Fèlletoa, he issued orders for a general assembly of the people, to be present on an appointed day, at a general fono, or harangue, to be addressed to them in regard to affairs of agriculture, and to remind them of their duty towards their chiefs, and how they ought to behave at all public ceremonies; in short, upon such subjects as were more or less connected with agricul |