Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/145

Rh of the sun, several of them bore their torments with the greatest fortitude, although lingering till the eighth day, Others of weaker constitution died in three or four days. Ever since that time the natives of the place superstitiously believe that they can hear their groans frequently at different times during the night:—but this no doubt is occasioned by the roaring of the surf at a distance, or of the sea in subterraneous caverns, which, working upon the imagination, to a certain extent may resemble the groans of dying people.

Finow, and his ally Toobó Nuha, after public rejoicings at Haano, embarked for Vavaoo, where they were allowed to land without opposition. The people of this island, however, had heard of the assassination of Toogoo Ahoo by a canoe from the Hapai islands, and were determined to resist the claims of Finow, not by an open war, but in a mode much more harassing and tedious; and he accordingly found the reduction of Vavaoo exceedingly troublesome and dangerous. The enemy, always avoiding a general engagement, frequently molested them with sudden and violent assaults, either under cover of the darkness of the night, or during the day