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A Sketch of the History of Tonga

III. — The Revolution

III.
The Revolution.

Tukuaho now became the central figure upon the stage. In his morose and cruel temper, his unbending policy, his tragic end, and the long years of bloodshed and misery that followed it, he stands out in the memory of his countrymen in lurid relief. About the year 1784 the Tui Tonga, Pau, who had so hospitably entertained Captain Cook, died, and Tukuaho Immediately seized the estates claimed by his widow on behalf of her son Mau-ulu-beko-tofa, who was still a minor. Her resistance was useless, and she was driven to take refuge in the island of Eua. It was the first sign of the waning power of the Tui Tonga, and the growing assumptions of the high temporal chiefs. Tukuaho's motive was doubtless to seize upon a conspicuous place and secure to himself in clue course the reversion of the office of Tui Kanokubolu. About 1790 Finau Ulukalala died, and was succeeded by his brother under the same title. The younger Finau was Tukuaho's only rival for the leadership of the young party, and he, being occupied with the affairs of page 322Haapai, could not as yet interfere in the affairs of Tongatabu. As soon as the office of Tui Kanokubolu became vacant by the death of Mulikihaamea, Tukuaho succcssfully schemed for the election of his father Mumui to the title, that he himself might wield the power. His father was already so old that he could not long stand in his way. Meanwhile a bitter jealousy sprang up between Finau and Tukuaho, none the less bitter that it was concealed. It was unfortunate for their country that the two men should have existed in the same generation. Both ambitious, both unscrupulous, both of inflexible purpose, the tiny stage was not large enough for both to play their parts, and a struggle to the death was inevitable.

The Tui Tonga's fish-hook.

The Tui Tonga's fish-hook.

At this juncture the ship Duff, fitted out by the London Missionary Society, landed nine artisan missionaries, who attached themselves to various chiefs, and were thus enabled to record the events of the most stirring times in Tongan history. Unfortunately for themselves, they quarrelled with two runaway sailors who had landed some months before them, and were already in high favour with the chiefs; and these men lost, no opportunity of damaging them with the natives, by representing their religious services as witchcraft designed to destroy them, — a statement to which a prevailing epidemic among the chiefs gave colour.

page 323
Mumui was now very infirm, and not likely to survive many months. The executive power had therefore passed into the hands of his sou Tukuaho, who lived at Hihifo, but virtually, governed the whole island. The power of the spiritual chiefs had so far declined since Cook's visit that the missionaries describe the Tui Tonga as coming below the Tui Kanokubolu in power and influence. On the 29th May 1797 Mumui died, in spite of the sacrifice of one of his relations at the shrine of the gods. Two of his widows, after the custom of Fiji, now fast becoming the fashion, were strangled at his grave, and the usual scenes of barbarous grief ensued.1 At the close of the funeral ceremonies Tukuaho was formally elected Tui Kanokubolu, and inducted with the ceremony of kavadrinking. He is thus described by a contemporary: "He is a stout man, and may be about forty years of age, is of a sullen, morose countenance, speaks very little, but when angry bellows forth with a voice like a roaring lion." Possessed at last of the supreme power in name as well as in substance, he gave rein to his instincts — the instincts of a beast of prey. Many stories are told of his cruelties: how for a mere whim, worthy of a Commodous, he ordered the right arms of twelve of his servants to be amputated; how, as a punishment for a woman who had offended him, he had her sawn asunder lengthwise while still alive.2 But these were not the true causes of Finau's hatred against him, though they served as an excuse for his ambition and insatiable restlessness. Against a more popular ruler he would not have dared to rebel; but the savage and wanton cruelties of

1 'Missionary Voyage of the Duff.'

2 Mariner's 'Tonga.'

page 324Tukuaho had rendered him so unpopular, that it was easy to gain adherents to the cause of rebellion. He had long been gathering the young men round him thus taking the position which Tukuaho had himself used to raise himself to the position he held.

At last the opportunity came. It was the time of the annual inaji, or the offering of the first-fruits to the Tui Tonga, when the whole nation gathered to Mua to implore a bountiful harvest from the gods. At such a time enmities and political distinctions are laid side, and the Tui Tonga becomes for the time, as of old, the head of the nation. Thus when Finau and Tubou Nina, the tributary chiefs of Haapai and Vavau, arrived at Mua with a large body of followers carrying their share of the offering, there could be no suspicion of their designs. In the evening they took leave of the chiefs and set sail with their followers as if bound for Haapai, but in reality to wait on one of the small islands at the mouth of the lagoon until the people, wearied with dancing, should be asleep. In the dead of night they landed on the coast some miles from Mua, and returned overland to the capital. The night was very dark, and they had to feel their way to the door of the king's house. When Finau had posted guards in every approach, Tubou Nina, whom he had put forward to do the deed, crept into the house among the sleeping forms, until he could smell the precious sandal-wood-oil with which he knew the king's head only could be anointed. Unwilling that he should die in ignorance of the hand that struck him, he smote him on the face with 'his open palm, and, as the sleeper started up, he cried, "It page 325is I, Tubou Niua, that strike and immediately shattered his skull with a tremendous blow from his club. He snatched up Tuknaho's adopted son, whom he wished to save, and rushed out of the house as Finau's guards ran in to kill the women just awakened. The alarm was now given. The frightened attendants tried to escape the unknown danger by flight to the bush, but in every road they were met by Finau's guards and struck down.

Hastily collecting their party, the assassins made, for the beach and broke up all the canoes but those sufficient to transport them to the eastern end of the island. The sun rose at Mua upon a scene of bewilderment and confusion. Men from all parts of the island were crowding into the town; warriors, hastily armed, were blackening their faces for war; women were wailing over the dead; and old matabules went from group to group exhorting them to avenge the death of their chief. To Mulikihaamea—now the most important executive chief in the island after the dead king—they all looked to lead them against the murderers, whom they knew to be awaiting the turn of events at Hahake. The hopes of the Royalist party were centred in him, but he would take no decisive action, and the half-hearted expedition despatched against the rebels returned in the evening with the loss of half their number, and reported that Finau had sailed to Haapai for reinforcements. Three days later he returned with ten war-canoes carrying a large body of men. Thousands had now joined Mulikihaamea, who was expected to dispute Finau's landing; but, to the dismay of the Royalists, he went over with his whole force to Finau, and together they swept the country as page 326far as Mua, driving their enemy before them to Hihifo. The eastern and central portions of the island were thus ranged against the western. Tradition has left us no clue to the motive of Mulikihaamea, but, to judge from Finanu's subsequent conduct, it seems probable that the rebels were assured of his support before they ventured to strike the blow.1

For the events that followed we have the accounts of the missionaries who accompanied the Royalist army; of the apostate Vason, who actually fought on the side of the rebels; and the descriptions given by the natives to Mariner eight years later.

Tukuaho fell on the night of the 21st April 1799. The missionaries were scattered throughout the different districts, each living under the protection of some leading chief, who, though willing to protect them during times of peace, was quite unable to restrain his people after war had broken out. With the first news of the rebellion the serfs broke down all restraint, and slaughtered pigs and fowls wholesale to compensate, them for their, enforced abstinence in times of peace. For the first fortnight there was no general engagement, but there were slight skirmishes which served to embitter the hostility between the two parties. One of the rebels was taken prisoner, and was cut up alive and eaten,—a reversion to cannibalism, after the lapse of two centuries, that was owing, doubtless, to the baleful example of Fiji. Ata, the hereditary chief of Hihifo, ordered the bones of Finau's father to be exhumed, and hung upon a tree in Pangaimotu. This was the grossest insult that, could be offered to the

1 Vason's 'Four Years in Tongatabu.'

page 327Ulukalala family, and it served several chiefs as an excuse for deserting to the rebels.

On the 9th May news reached Hihifo that the rebels were advancing, supported by Finau's fleet of fifteen sail of canoes. Their plan was to shut the Royalists up in the narrow promontory of Hihifo and utterly destroy them. The rebel army, led by Mulikihaamea in person, marched on the evening of the 9th as far as Teikiu, and despatched an advance-guard to reconnoitre. Among these was Vason. This party advanced till nightfall, and then took shelter for the might in a house near the road without taking the precaution of posting sentries. The Royalists meanwhile, led by Ata, left Hihifo at four o'clock in the afternoon, halting during the night to allow a party time to push to the front. The night was very dark, and they crept forward, each holding the belt of the man in front of him. They could have slaughtered the rebel outpost as they slept, but they chose rather to pass them and take the main body by surprise at Teikiu. At daybreak the rebel outpost was surprised by the main body of the Royalists. They, observed no sort of order or formation, and in a few moments they were in full flight. They rallied again at the end of the cross-road that led to the position of their main force; but the, enemy, leaving a small force to keep them from effecting a junction, ran off to reinforce their comrades then engaged with Mulikihaamea. At the sight of this reinforcement the rebel army, which had been taken by surprise at daylight, was filled with dismay. Their leader tried in vain to restore confidence: they wavered and fled. In his efforts to rally them Mulikihaamea was left behind in his litter; and the page 328enemy, making a sudden rush, surrounded the twenty people who formed his guard and overturned the litter. They gave no quarter to his companions, three of whom were women; and while they hesitated to slay so great a chief, a man ran up crying, "Kill him !" and upon the sudden impulse he was clubbed where he lay. After the death of their leader the rebels made no further stand, and the Royalists pursued until they reached Haateiho, where three of the missionaries, who had declined to accompany either army, were still living. They had been warned by the fleeing rebels to come with them, but, trusting in their known neutrality, they preferred to remain to protect their houses. Among the Royalists was a man to whom they had refused an axe which he coveted. Calling to his companions, this man set upon them, clubbed them, and looted their house.

Tired of pursuit, the Royalists returned and found that the rebel outpost had succeeded in driving off the few men who had been left to keep them in check, and were trying to succour their wounded. They now set off in full flight for the coast, pursued by the victors. On their way 'they met Finau's contingent, who had just disembarked. By their direction they continued their flight, drawing the enemy across the beach towards the canoes. Suddenly they turned and fell upon their pursuers, who, taken by surprise, dropped Ata's litter and took to flight. There was now a debate as to what, should be done with their prisoner, who was related to one of the chiefs who had captured him. This chief, unwilling to seem partial to an enemy, wished them to kill him, but his attendants insisted that, out of respect for himself, the prisoner's life page 329should be spared. They therefore retired and called to his sons, who came forward and bore him off in his litter.

The three surviving missionaries, who had accompanied the victorious army, had left it very early in the day, disgusted with the acts of ferocity they had seen. In one place they had come upon an old man in the act of cooking part of the body of an enemy, intending apparently to eat it; in another a man was celebrating his triumph over a fallen chief by cutting up his body,—and even some of the women dipped their hands in his blood and licked them. On their return to their house in Hihifo, they found that it had been looted by their own party and destroyed. In despair they took refuge among the caves on the deserted Liku.

The rebel army passed the night in their canoes. At daybreak they saw that the enemy was preparing to attack them in force as soon as they landed, hoping to take them by surprise at the sacred enclosure of Pangai, the burying-place of the Tui Kanokubolu; but Finau, warned of their intention, landed his men and attacked them simultaneously from three points. After an obstinate resistance they fled to the enclosure within which stands the king's tomb, hoping that the sanctity of the place would protect them. The rebels, not daring themselves to desecrate the place, applied to Vason, who set it on fire. No quarter was given, and the refugees, driven out by the fire, were all slain, except a few women who preferred slavery to death. These became the property of their captors. The victors now dragged the dead bodies to the shore, exhausting their ingenuity in insulting them, page 330and there had roasted, and begun to eat them, when the enemy returned to the attack. There was a rush for the canoes. Overloaded and nearly sinking, they put off from the shore before the fugitives could all embark. One canoe laden with men and women was aground, and its occupants, together with those left behind, were all massacred. The remnant of the rebel army succeeded in reaching the island of Atata, where they were confined for three days by a severe gale: they spent the time in murdering the defenceless inhabitants, who were supposed to have Royalist sympathies. From Atata they sailed to Mua to take counsel for a renewal of the attack.

The missionaries, who had taken refuge on the Liku, now ventured to come out of their hiding-place and accompany a number of the Royalists to Maofanga. This is. a sacred spot, situated a mile to the eastward of Nukualofa, which, from, the rigid tabu that attached to it, had become a place of refuge never violated by war. In a few days Finau's army made another descent upon Hihifo by sea, and on May the 29th, after an obstinate engagement, they utterly routed the enemy. On the 3d of June he summoned the refugees before him at Maofanga, and allowed all except ten of the leaders to go free. Mafi, the bravest and most influential of the Royalist warriors, and nine others were sentenced to various punishments. Some, bound hand and foot, were taken out to sea and put adrift in leaky old canoes, while Mafi and the others were led to the canoes amid the loud lamentations of their wives and children, and landed at Lofanga, a small island of the Haapai group, where they were bound naked to cocoa-nut-trees and left to starve to page 331death. There, exposed to the heat of the sun, to raging thirst and hunger, they were tortured by the boys of the place, who amused themselves by sticking spears into their flesh, or by showing them food to tantalise them; yet some of them lingered till the eighth day, and all bore their sufferings without complaint. The people of Lofanga still say that at night they hear the groans of the spirits that haunt the spot.

Having settled the affairs of Tongatabu, Finau Ulukalala returned to Haapai. He found a body of Royalists drawn up to meet him at Haano, who after a sharp conflict surrendered to him. He disarmed the lower orders, and punished the chiefs with the same barbarity he had practised on the chiefs of Hihifo. From Haapai he sailed with Tubou Niua to Vavau, which submitted to him after a desultory warfare lasting for several weeks.

For nine months there was peace. The Hihifans had not in truth accepted the new order, but they had not recovered sufficient strength to resist. On the 24th of January 1800 the privateer Betsy, with a Spanish prize in tow, took away all the survivors of the ill-fated mission except the apostate Vason. A few days later, while a party of Finau's men were at Hihifo collecting provisions to relieve the scarcity at Haapai, the rebellion against Finau broke out. A party of Hihifans ravaged the central district, burning and laying waste, and at last hemmed in the Haapai men at the narrow promontory of Hihifo. Here they took an ample revenge for the wrongs they had suffered. When the slaughter was ended they made stacks of the bodies, laying them transversely one upon another.

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As soon as the news reached Finau he set sail with all his forces from Haapai, and disembarked at Hahake, the eastern end of Tongatabu, in order to procure provisions for his army; but he found that the country had been utterly laid waste by the enemy. He therefore lost no time in coasting westward. In Hithifo he met an unexpected, cheek. The enemy had intrenched themselves behind earthworks surmounted with a strong reed fence. He tried in vain to force the gate, and when his men were wearied with repeated attacks the enemy rushed out and put them to flight. They ran for their canoes, and sailed at once for Haapai. Finau was now driven to revenge himself by a series of night attacks. He would arrive off the coast at nightfall, and post men in every road leading to the fortress. A sudden attack would then be made, and the enemy, taken by surprise, would rush into the country for shelter, where they were struck down by the men in ambush. Before the alarm could spread to the neighbouring forts Finau's men had re-embarked and were under sail for Haapai. These expeditions were made in a single canoe carrying 250 men.

The planting season had come and gone, and the constant alarms had prevented any provision for the ensuing year from being made. The object of every hostile expedition had been to destroy as much of the crops as possible. The year 1800 opened, therefore, with a terrible famine in Tongatabu, while in Haapai the land proved insufficient to support the large number of men congregated there. Each district had thrown up intrenchments, within which the people lived, not daring to resume the cultivation of their lands. Many were driven to can-page 333nibalism for the support of life, and the warfare between the different fortresses degenerated into mere head-hunting expeditions.

Tukuaho had been nominally succeeded by Maafulimuloa, and upon his death, a few months later, Tukuaho's eldest surviving son, Tubou-malohi, was proclaimed Tui Kanokubolu, albeit a king without subjects. Safe within their fortresses the petty chiefs acknowledged no superior; and Tubou-malohi was so harassed by Takai, the one-eyed chief of Bea, that he became in reality a fugitive from his own subjects. Misfortunes attended all his enterprises. Having failed to avenge his father's death upon Finau and Tubou Niua, he set sail for Fiji. There he remained in voluntary exile for nearly five years; but in 1805, hearing that Finau's descents upon Tonga had become mere annual predatory expeditions, he returned and built a large fortress on the hill at Nukualofa.

In 1806 an event occurred that vastly strengthened Finau's position. An English privateer, the Port-au-Prince, put into Haapai for repairs, having on board Mr Mariner, the son of one of the owners. The crew were mutinous, and insisted on going ashore, and the temptation was too great for Finau. They were massacred, and the ship was then surprised and captured by the natives. Mr Mariner became a great favourite with Finau, with whom he spent four years, and to his captivity we are indebted for a most charming book of travel.

With the carronades of the captured ship, manned by English sailors, Finau made an attack upon Tubou-malohi's fortress and destroyed it with great slaughter. But instead of pursuing his victory he withdrew, and had the mortifi-page 334cation of seeing his works burnt by Takai, his pretended ally, as he was sailing away. Tubou-malohi henceforth became a wanderer from fortress to fortress, taking refuge with his tributary chiefs, being driven out by each of his hosts in turn, until at length he became the guest of Teukava1 in Hihifo. Unfortunately for both of them, his restless spirit could not be satisfied with inaction. They laid siege to the neighbouring fortress of Nukunuku, against the advice of their matabules, and in attempting to garrison it, Teukava lost his life. Emboldened by his death, his enemies attacked the fortress at Hihifi, and although they were beaten off by the bravery of its defenders, yet Tubou-malohi feared to remain there. He accordingly despatched an embassy to his younger brother, Tubou-toa, then Governor of Haapai, begging him to intercede with Finau Ulukalala to allow him to live in security at Haapai. In due course the two brothers visited Vavau, and the elder did homage to his father's murderer and his own subject. It must have been a proud moment for the usurper. Tubou-malohi lived in retirement in Haapai until 1812, leaving his kingdom of Tongatabu to the civil war and anarchy that he had been unable to repress.

Tubou-toa, though he had given in his adhesion to the stronger party, had not forgotten the murder of his father. He had taken a solemn, vow not to drink from a cocoanut-shell until he had had his revenge upon Tubou Niua, and his submission to Finau, whom he knew to be equally guilty with his brother, was designed to bring him nearer

1 This chief had a white woman, Eliza Mozer, for his wife. She was taken from the American ship Duke of Portland.

page 335to his object. Tubou Niua, as Governor of Vavau, had become very popular with his people. He was of a brave and open character, little fitted to cope with the cunning of his inveterate enemy, who lost no opportunity of poisoning Finau's mind against him. He was, he said, plotting a rebellion against Finau's authority, and he habitually neglected to send tribute of the value due to Finau's rank and power. At last he openly proposed his assassination; and Finau, never deaf to any proposal that would advance his own interests, even at the cost of the treacherous murder of a brother, listened to him. The murder is thus described by an eyewitness:—

One evening, about an hour before sunset, the king desired Mr Mariner to accompany him and his daughter to Mahina Fekite, about three-quarters of a mile off: he was going, he said, to consult an old chief, Toki-ae-moana, who resided there, upon some political business. Finau usually carried with him a large whaling-knife (the blade of which was 2 feet long and 3 inches wide). Mr Mariner, observing, on this occasion that lie did not take his knife, asked him if he should take it, and carry it for him: he replied, "No, I have no need of it." Mr Mariner obeyed, and followed him and his daughter unarmed. In their way they came near to a pool, and Finau stepped aside to bathe, previously sending an attendant to Tubou Niua to desire him to come to him. By the time he had done bathing Tubou Niua arrived, and all four pursued their walk to the old chief's house, where, when they arrived, the two chiefs and Finau's daughter entered the inside fencing, while Mr Mariner went into a house within the outside fencing, and remained in conversation with a female attendant of Finau's daughter. They had not been long here before Tubou-toa came in, and shortly after went out again. There entered soon after four men belonging to him, who immediately began to take down the sail, mast, and spars page 336of a small canoe, stating as their reason, when questioned by the woman, Tubou-toa's orders to prepare a canoe: having taken what they wanted they went out. In about two hours Finau came out of the inner fencing, followed by Tubou Niua and his own daughter. As they passed on, Mr Mariner followed her, and the female attendant walked last. It was now night, but somewhat moonlight. As they passed the corner of the outer fencing, Tubou-toa and the four men just spoken of rushed from their hiding-place, and made a violent assault on Tubou Niua. The first blow of a club he received on his shoulder (intended for his head). He immediately exclaimed, "Oi-au-e Finau, teu mate?" (O, Finau, am I to be killed?), and retiring a few steps, he set his back against the fencing. Finau, who was several paces in advance, immediately made what was thought to be a feigned attempt to defend him, exclaiming, "Oi-au-e seuke, kuo mate ae tangata !" (Alas ! this noble man is killed;) but he was held from his strong, yet pretended, endeavour to run to his assistance by some other attendants of Tubou-toa, who came up and forced Finau into the fencing. (It must be recollected that Finau did not choose to bring his whaling-knife with him.) Tubou Niua, who was without any offensive weapon, as he had been without any suspicion, warded off several blows with his hands and arms till, these being both broken, he was unable to lift them up, when a blow from Tubou-toa on the head made him stagger, another knocked him down, and he was beaten as long as signs of life remained, and for some time after. At this moment a young warrior, whose name was Latuila, and whose father had been formerly killed under suspicions, strong suspicions, of conspiracy by Tubou Niua, came up to the spot possessed by a spirit of implacable revenge. He struck the body of the dead chief several times, and exclaimed, " The time of vengeance is come ! Thou hast been long enough the chief of Vavau, living in ease and luxury, thou murderer of my father! I would have declared my sentiments long ago if I could have depended upon others to second page 337me: not that I feared death by making you my enemy, but the vengeance of my chief, Tubou-toa, was first to be satisfied, and it was a duty I owed the spirit of my father to preserve my life as long as possible that I might have the satisfaction to see thee thus lie stinking" (dead). He then repeated the blows several times upon his stomach.

In spite of Finau's positive denial of complicity with the murderers of his brother, he did not deceive the chiefs of Vavau. In Haapai, in the centre of Finau's army, they were at a great disadvantage. When the stone was let down upon the tomb of their murdered chief, one of the assassins publicly challenged any of them to single combat; but none of them accepted, preferring to reserve their revenge. They swore allegiance to Finau upon a consecrated bowl, and received his commands to put themselves under the authority of his aunt, Toe-umu; and all, except the late chief's matabules, who were kept back by Finau, returned to Vavau. But a fortnight later the news came that Toe-umu herself had declared her independence of Finau, who had so treacherously allowed the death of his brother, her great friend. They had built the largest fortress ever seen in Tonga, and they were prepared to resist Finau to the death. While the preparations for an invasion of Vavau were being made, Finau's son, Moengangongo, and Vuna, the former Governor of Vavau, arrived from Samoa, where they had been absent for some years. One of their canoes, with sixty people on board and all their treasures, was lost in a gale which the other five succeeded in weathering.

Finau, in obedience to an oracle, first, visited Vavau alone to endeavour to make terms with the inhabitants, page 338but they would only consent to listen to him on the condition that he would cut off all communication with Haapai. He therefore returned to Haapai and embarked his forces, about 5000 men and 1000 women, in fifty war canoes, with four carronades and ammunition. The siege lasted many months, and the garrison only submitted in obedience to the gods, and after imposing conditions upon their assailants to take no revenge upon any of them. These conditions were not observed. Finau heard, or pretended that he had heard, of a plot upon his life. Several of the leading chiefs were seized at his kava-party, bound, and summarily despatched; but eighteen were reserved for the more signal punishment of being turned, adrift in leaky canoes. On their way to the open sea they implored their executioners to knock out their brains instead of consigning them to the slow and ignominious death of drowning, and the request was granted in twelve cases. The other six, all chiefs of high rank, were turned adrift, and died regretting their foolishness in trusting to the honour of Finau.

In Finau's mind there was a growing scepticism regarding the religion of his ancestors. He was now in the zenith of his prosperity, and he had never deserved well of the gods by submission to their will, or by regularity in his offerings. To him the institution of a Tui Tonga seemed a useless tax upon the people—a worn-out cult, a mere survival of the superstition of a darker age. He was proposing seriously to abolish the inaji, the great annual presentation of food to the Tui Tonga, which, in the famine that had succeeded the war, was very difficult to provide, when a great misfortune fell upon him. His daughter, after a long illness, died. While there was page 339still hope he humbled himself before the deities he had slighted, and implored them to visit his sins on his own head rather than upon hers; but the inspired priest answered that her death was required as an atonement for his continued neglect, and that a severer punishment was in store for him. As soon as the first paroxysms of grief were passed he deter-
Finau Ulukala, the rebel, after Labillardière.(From an engraving in the British Museum.)

Finau Ulukala, the rebel, after Labillardière.
(From an engraving in the British Museum.)

mined on the most impious revenge he could devise—namely, to kill the priest of his god, Tubou Toutai. He had actually sent for a rope with which to bind him when he was seized with sudden illness. It was in vain that one of his children was strangled to appease the gods: in twenty-four hours he was dead. But the evil he had wrought in Tonga could not end with his life, He had found his country in peace and plenty, he left it torn by famine and civil war, having in his short life caused more bloodshed and human suffering than the aggregate in the whole of Tongan history before his time. A contemporary writer thus sums up his character:." A char-page 340acter like Finau'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, when in distress—his strong intellect—his evil deeds—and the death which was believed to be inflicted on him in vengeance by the overruling divinities whom he defied."1
He was succeeded by his son, Moengangongo, a chief of milder character, whose one desire was peace. His first act was to banish to Haapai the chiefs who were likely to plot against his Government, and to announce that henceforth all communication with Haapai would be at an end. His people were, he said, to devote themselves to cultivating the soil, and those who preferred less peaceful pursuits had this opportunity of joining Tubou-toa; for after the canoes left there would be no further intercourse with the islands to the southward. A few months after his accession the Tui Tonga, Fatafehi Fuauunuiava, died, having reigned only four years, and the young chief, now to be known by the family title of Finau, seized the opportunity for carrying out his father's intention of abolishing the office. Like his father, he regarded the institution with its attendant ritual as a useless tax upon the people; and he foresaw too that as long as the annual presentation of the inaji was continued, it would be impossible to cut off all intercourse with the outside world. The office was there-fore abolished for some years, and when it was revived in

1 Quarterly Review.

page 341the person of Laufilitonga, the last of the Tui Tonga, the ceremony of the great inaji had been discontinued too long to be resumed.

Mariner, the only historian of this period, left in 1810; and for the events of the next few years we are dependent upon native sources. In 1811 Finau II. died, and was succeeded by his uncle, Finau Fiji, otherwise known as Tuabaji—a wise and temperate chief, with greater experience if less natural mental activity than his nephew. Under his rule-intercourse with Haapai was resumed, for he felt himself strong enough to keep disorderly spirits in check.

Haapai now became the political, as it was the geographical, centre of the kingdom. Tubou-toa had gathered round him the great warriors of Tonga, many of them trained in the arts of war as practised in Fiji. With him were his brother Tubou-malohi, the nominal Tui Kanokubolu, and Vuna, the banished chief of Vavau. To keep his warriors employed, he was obliged to make an annual descent upon Tongatabu without any decided success. In 1812, however, Tubou-malohi died, and his brother became the natural successor, although his mother had been a woman of inferior rank. He was duly elected to the post by the chiefs who were under his leadership, and he lost no time in invading Tongatabu. During the eight years that remained to him, he succeeded in making some at least of the revolted chiefs acknowledge his authority; but at his death, in 1820, the fortresses were rebuilt, and the island relapsed again into anarchy.