Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/322

256 256 TRANSACTIONS AT there is a peculiar cavern, situated on the western coast, the entrance to which is some feet beneath the surface of the sea even at low water ; and was first discovered by a young chief, whilst diving after a turtle. The nature of this cavern will be better understood if we imagine a hollow rock rising sixty feet or more above the surface of the water ; into the cavity of which there is no known entrance but one, and that is on the side of the rock, several feet under the water, which flows into it ; and con- sequently the base of the cavern may be said to be the sea itself*. Finow and his friends, be- ing on this part of the island, proposed one af- ternoon on a sudden thought, to go into this cavern, and drink cava. Mr. Mariner was not with them at the time the proposal was made ; but happening to come down a little while af- ter to the shore, and seeing some of the young chiefs diving into the water, one after another, and not rise again, he was a little surprised, and enquired of the last, who was just prepar- ing to take the same step, what they were course with the different heights of the tide: when Mr. Ma- riner entered, it was about six feet below the surface : Jere- miah Higgins says it was two or three feet when he went in, at nearly low water, at which period it is very difficult to enter, on account of the swell.
 * The depth of the entrance below the surface differs of