Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/121

Rh was amusing himself on deck by firing off his musket, he bade him try to bring that man down from aloft: without the least hesitation he levelled his piece, and instantly brought him down dead; the shot entered his body, and the fall broke both thighs and fractured his skull; upon which Finow laughed heartily, and seemed mightily pleased at the facility with which it was done. When Mr. Mariner understood the language, he asked the king how he could be so cruel as to kill the poor man for so trifling a fault: his majesty replied that he was only a low, vulgar fellow (a cook); and that neither his life nor death was of any consequence to society.

On Tuesday, the 9th of December, it being spring-tides, the ship floated, and was warped in to low water mark. In the evening they set fire to her, in order to get more easily afterwards at the iron work. All the great guns on board were loaded, and as they began to be heated by the general conflagration they went off, one after another, producing a terrible panic among all the natives. Mr. Mariner was, at