Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/236

170 islands : they next threw them a piece of gna- too, advising them, in the most friendly man- ner, to wear that instead of scrubbing their skins with the coarse mats of Hapai ; and, as this was all they meant to give them, they were to tear it in small pieces, divide it among them, and each wear a rag. During all these insults, the king, contrary to the expectation of every one (for he was of a very irritable temper), kept himself perfectly cool, and said nothing. When he had arrived near enough to address them conveniently, he made a speech of about an hour's length, in which, with a wonderful degree of art and eloquence, he endeavoured to persuade them that he was perfectly inno- cent of the death of Toobo Nuha ; and that he should be exceedingly sorry if their mistaken notions of his sentiments and conduct should occasion a war with Vavaoo : he told them how much he loved and respected his aunt (Toe Oomoo), and how unhappy he should be, if the late unfortunate affair, which he could neither well foresee nor help, should occasion a quarrel with her : nothing grieved him more, he said, than that his best intentions should be thus re- garded with suspicion, but he hoped that their candour and liberality, upon a little cool re- flection, would lead them to place that con- fidence in him, which his own consciousness of