Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/386

320 320 TRANSACTIONS AT to the superior power of the gods of England, in the way of revenge for killing white men. They were strongly corroborated in their opi- nion of the superiority of the gods of England, by the circumstance that almost every man who had been actively concerned in the conspiracy against the Port au Prince happened either to be killed in battle or to die of disease, during the time Mr. Mariner remained at these islands ; and they would often question him whether it were not owing to the interference of the En- glish gods as a punishment ; to which he al- ways answered them in the affirmative, with a view to his own safety, and to inspire them with respect for the invisible powers, which, accord- ing to their notions, presided over the welfare of England 'and of Englishmen. Some of the natives, in joke, used to say, that they w^ouldkill Mr. Mariner, to see if the hotooas (gods) of England would revenge his death, alleging their disbelief in the unsolicited agency of the En- glish hotooas, and their opinion rather that Mr. Mariner himself had been the cause of their death by his prayers, soliciting his gods to re- venge the* death of his countrymen. This, however, was a notion chiefly of the lower orders : the higher classes were of opinion, that the hotooas of England operated of their own accord, without any intervention or prayer.