Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/184

118 sion to Finow, and to all the men and women present,^ particularly as he now and then whis- pered a little love anecdote, which was strictly written down, and audibly read by the other, not a little to the confusion of one or pther of the ladies present : but it was all taken in good humour, for curiosity and astonishment were the prevailing passions. How their names and cir- cumstances could be communicated through so mysterious a channel, was altogether past their comprehension. Finow had long ago formed his opinion of books and papers (see p. 60), and this as much resembled witchcraft as any thing he had ever seen or heard of. Mr. Mariner in vain attempted to explain. He had yet too slender a knowledge of their language to make himself clearly understood: and, indeed, it would not have been an easy matter to have ex- plained the composition of elementary sounds, and of arbitrary signs expressive of them, to a people whose minds were already formed to other modes of thinking, and whose language had few expressions but what concerned the or- dinary affairs of life. The only rational mode would have been, to have invented a system of spelling, and to have gone through the usual routine of teaching it. Finow, at length, thought he had got a notion of it, and explained to those about him that it was very possible to put