Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/221

Rh THE TONGA ISLANDS. 155 the champion then advances. towards the chief who presides at the head of the circle (in this instance the king), sits down before him, out of respect, then rises immediately, and returns to his own party. Such was the mode in which these club- fights were conducted : the prince engagfed in several of them, and performed great feats of bravery: he fought no less than fourteen or fifteen battles, and always came off victorious. The fighting with clubs being over, at a sig- nal from Finow, the boxing and wrestling matches commenced. As their performances in these ways have been so accurately de- scribed by Captain Cook, it would be unneces- sary to enter here into a detail. These feats being concluded, the prince and his chiefs retired to the neighbouring houses to dress their heads with a sort of turban, made of white gnatoo, ornamented with small red feathers. Thus equipped, they returned to the maldif when the chiefs sat down again among their own party, and the prince went up to his two brides, who were still sitting in the house, raised them up, one by each hand, and led them forth upon the maldi amid the acclamations of N, B. when an e occurs in the Tonga language, it must be pronounced like a in date, late, &c. For farther particulars on the subject of pronunciation, see the grammar.