Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/161

Rh and lighted, and an attack was made upon the outer fencing; it was found, however, but weakly defended, and was soon taken: for the door-posts being shot away, an easy entrance was obtained. A considerable portion of the inner fencing was now found undefended, and towards this place a party rushed with lighted torches, whilst the enemy were kept in play elsewhere: the conflagration spread rapidly on every side; and, as the besieged endeavoured to make their escape, their brains were knocked out by a party of the besiegers, stationed at the back of the fort for the purpose. During this time the guns kept up a regular fire with blank cartridges, merely to intimidate the enemy. The conquerors, club in hand, entered the place in several quarters, and slew all they met, men, women, and children. The scene was truly horrible. The war-whoop shouted by the combatants, the heart-rending screams of the women and children, the groans of the wounded, the number of the dead, and the fierceness of the conflagration, formed a picture almost too distracting and awful for the mind steadily to contemplate. Some, with a kind of sullen and stupid resignation, offered no resistance, but waited for the hand of fate to dispatch them, no matter in what mode: others, that were already lying on the ground wounded,