Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/313

Rh THE TONGA ISLANDS. 247 pronounced it), or, probably, Selby, an English- iiicin, in a vessel belonging to Botany Bay, to reside there. At this latter place he and his wife remained about two years, and now, on their return to Tonga, finding the island in such an unsettled state, they chose rather, (notwith- standing the earnest entreaties of their friends) to go back again to Botany Bay. The account they gave of the English customs at this place, and the treatment they at first met with, it may be worth while to mention. The first thing that he and his wife had to do, when they ar- rived at the governor's house, where they went to reside, was to sweep out a large court yard, and clean down a great pair of stairs ; in vain . they endeavoured to explain, that in their own country they were chiefs, and, being accustomed to be waited on, were quite unused to such employments : their expostulations were taken no notice of, and work they must. At first their life was so uncomfortable, that they wished to die ; no one seemed to protect them ; all the houses were shut against them ; if they saw any body eating, they were not invited to partake : nothing was to be got without money, of which they could not comprehend the value, nor how this same money was to be obtained in any quantity ; if they asked for it, nobody would give them any, unless they worked for it, and