Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/300

234 ^«i4 TRANSACTIONS AT commission from Finow to treat with the chief of Hihifo respecting a particular bird of the species called kalai (trained for sport). This latter chief, although belonging to the island of Tonga, was never professedly Finow's enemy, otherwise than as Finow had been associated with the late Toobo Nuha, whom the chief of Hihifo mortally hated* j but as Toobo Nuha was. now dead, and consequently all cause of enmity removed, Finow was in hopes he should be able to prevail upon the chief of Hihifo to make him a present of one of the first and best trained birds, of the kind in question, that ever was known, and which this chief had trained up with great care, and had long had in his possession, though it was the envy of every chief that had seen it. This particular bird Finow was ardently desirous of, to prac- tise the sport called fanna kalai, of which we shall give a description. The sportsman, armed with a bow and arrows, conceals him- self within a large cage, made of a sort of wicker-work, covered over with green leaves, but not so much but what he may see his game: on the top of this cage is the cock bird tied by the leg, who makes a noise, and flaps his wings, as if calling other birds to come and fight him: quainted with.
 * The cause of this enmity, Mr. Mariner is not well ac-