Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/352

286 "'^^ TRANSACTIONS AT ishmenwere much indebted to him, as well as to the other two, for many acts of kind- ness. Mr. Mariner heard the foregoing relation- from Talo, and two or three others that were in the large canoe, and considers it strictly consonant with the truth. The widows of those who were executed on the beach in the morning, and of those who were dispatched at the small island in their way out to sea, petitioned Finow to grant them leave to perform the usual rites of burial in behalf of their deceased husbands, which the king readily acceded to : and they accom- plished the ceremony with every mark of un- feigned sorrow and regret. When the last affectionate remembrances of Nowfaho were made to his widow, she appeared greatly moved; for, though she scarcely wept, her countenance betrayed marks of violent inward agitation : she retired to her house, and, arm- ing herself with a spear and club, went about to seek for the other widows, who had lost their husbands in the same way, and urged them to take up arms, as she had done, and go forth to revenge their husbands' death, by de- stroying the wives of Finow, and his principal chiefs ; finding, at length, that none of the others were willing to follow her example, she