Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/37

Rh, and make some rude guess as to its interior form; but the object of the present work is chiefly to describe the inside of this structure, that the reader may see the form, dimensions, ornaments, and general merit of its various passages and apartments, to which the Tonga language is in this instance the master-key, and is here offered to all whom accident or design may lead to the same spot, that they may make the same researches in much less time, and with much less hazard and difficulty, than it originally cost the first investigator: and it certainly must be considered some proof of the uprightness of Mr. Mariner's intentions, and of his consciousness of the accuracy of his details, that he readily consents to put into the hands of others the easiest method in his power of satisfying themselves of the truth of what is told them.

There are other points of view, in which, I think, the importance of this subject may be seen: a knowledge of the language helps to throw a considerable light in the path of those who choose to