Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/124

58 a sharp stone, for Mr. Mariner to force it open with; he opened it in the proper way, and shewed them the works; several endeavoured to seize hold of it at once, and he who got it ran away with it, and all the rest after him. In about an hour they returned with the watch completely broken to pieces. One had the case, another the broken dial, and the wheels and works were distributed among them. They then gave him the fragments, and made signs to him to put it together, and make it do as it did before: upon which he gave them to understand that they had killed it, and that it was impossible to bring it to life again. The man who considered it his property exclaimed mow-mow (spoiled!), and made a hissing noise, expressive of disappointment: he accused the rest of using violence, and they in return accused him and one another. Whilst they were thus in high dispute there came another native, who had seen and learned the use of a watch on board a French ship; when he understood the cause of their dispute, he called them all cow valè (a pack of fools), and explained, in the following manner, the use of the watch: making a circle in the sand, with sundry marks about its circumference, and turning a stick about the centre of the circle, to represent an index, he informed them that the use of the watch was to tell where