Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/283

Rh THE TONGA ISLANDS. 217 As soon as he arrived at the; fortress, he com- municated to Finow what had passed, saying, in. his defence,, that he was so eager in pursuit, as to be out of all self command. The king im- mediately ordered cava to be taken to the priest of his own tutelar god, that the divinity might be consulted as to what atonement was proper to be made for so heinous a sacrilege. The priest being inspired, made ansv/er, that it was ne- cessary a child should be strangled to appease the anger of the gods*. The chiefs, then, held a consultation, and came to the determination of sacrificing a child of Toobo Toa, by one of his female attendants t- Toobo Toa was pre- sent, and gave his consent that his child (about two years old) should be immolated to appease the anger.of the gods, and turn aside their ven- geance for the sacrilegious crime committed. The child was accordingly sought for ; but its mother, thinking her child might be demanded, had concealed it : being, at length, found by whenever the divinities are supposed to be exceedingly of- fended. It is a piec& of superstition far from being un- common in the history of mankind. Unpleasant truths as weU as agreeable ones must be sought out and related, if we ■wish to arrive at a true knowledge of our own nature. f On such occasions, the child of a male chief is always chosen, as being worthier than others, and a child by an in- ferior female z^ttendant, because it is not a cliief 5 only those /;hildren being chiefs whose mothers are chiefs.
 * This is perfectly consistent with the Tonga custom,