Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/385

Rh THE TONGA ISLANDS. islands, and the people are greater cannibals. At the Tonga islands in particular, it may be remar ked, that the island of Tonga (properly so called) is constantly in a state of war, and scarcity consequently is much more common there than at Vavaoo andthe Hapai islands, and cannibalism, therefore, much less shuddered at. At the island of Tonga, indeed, this inhuman habit is by no means so general as at the Fiji islands, but then it has not been the scene of warfare for more than about twenty years, whereas the latter nation has been familiar, more or less, with this scourge of the human race, from time immemorial. Now we are upon this subject, we may men- tion, that at Tonga, the natives report that some time before Mr. Mariner's arrival among them, an European ship touched there, the boat of which, on landing near Mafanga, had a quarrel with some of the natives, in consequence of which, three of her crew were killed and dragged up the country. These the natives embo welled and dressed the same as pork, and several ate ^ heartily of them ; but shortly afterwards they were all taken very ill, being attacked with nausea and vomiting to a violent degree, and three of them actually died. Some of the na* tives attributed this circumstance to an un-^ wholesome quality in white man's flesh, others