Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/176

110 was raising to his mouth, when he saw, by the smile on the countenance of the man, that it was human liver j overcome by disgust, he threw it in the man's face, who only laughed, and asked him if it were not better to eat good meat than die of hunger. When Captain Cook visited these islands, cannibalism was scarcely thought of amongst them : but the Fiji people soon taught them this, as well as the art of war; and a famine, which happened some time afterwards, render- ed the expedient for a time almost necessary. On this occasion they way-laid and murdered one another to supply themselves with food; and they still tell an anecdote of four brothers, who, in this time of scarcity, invited their aunt to come and partake of a large yam, which they said they had secretly procured : the poor wo- man, glad of the idea of getting something to eat, and pleased with the kindness of her nephews, went to their house, where they soon dispatched her, and she herself formed the ma- terials of a repast. Since that period, there was a great scarcity at one of the for- tresses on the island of Tonga, called Nookoo Nookoo : two daughters of a chief of this place agreed to play at the game of lafo* against two the work.
 * This game will be described in the second volume of