Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/202

136 him, he chose merely by an outward shew of moderation and wisdom to give a sort of passive consent, and to remain by this means the spec- tator rather than the actor in the scene, and so to avoid if possible the odium of being an ac- complice in the murder of so brave and good a man. A few days now elapsed, and Toobo Nuha was still among the number of the living. One evening, about an hour before sun-set, the king desn-ed Mr. Mariner to accompany him and his daughter to Mahina Fekite, about three quar- ters of a mile off; he was going, he said, to consult an old chief, Toge he Mooana, who resided there, upon some political business. Finow usually carried out with him a large whaling knife, (the blade of which was two feet long and three inches wide ;) Mr. Mariner, ob- serving, on this occasion, that he did not take his knife, asked him if he should take it and carry it for him^; he replied. No, I have no need of it: the other obeyed, and followed* him and his daughter, unarmed. In their way they came near to a pool, and Finow stepped aside to bathe, previously sending an attendant to Toobo Nuha, to desire him to come to him. By the time he had done bathing Toobo Nuha for one to follow another in a row.
 * When several persons walk together, it is customary