Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/216

150 he goes to battle, or expects the coming of an enemy, to give himself the name of some one particular person, whom he means to single out and fight. This warrior, however, instead of assuming the name of one of the enemy, proudly called himself Fanna Fonnooa (a great gun), declaring that he would run boldly up to a cannon and throw his spear into the mouth of it. When Finow was informed of these proceed- ings of the Vavaoo people, he immediately re- solved to make a descent upon them with a powerful force, and reduce them into subjection before they could have completed their de- signs : but the priests dissuaded him from this hasty project, and proposed, that it would be much more acceptable to the gods to make, in the first place, an offer of reconciliation. The king, however, had not much respect for the priests, and though he sometimes conformed with their advice, it was generally because it tallied with his own opinion, or he did it for the mere outside shew of veneration for the gods : his want of religion was, indeed, almost proverbial, and, on this account, the people often wondered that he was so successful in war. In this particular instance he was so ex- asperated at the conduct of his aunt, that not the persuasion of the priests, nor the admoni-