Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/426

360 speechless. During the night her father, with anxious solicitude, sat by the side of her mat, watching, with sighs and tears, the progress of her disorder. The next morning, which brought no sign of returning health to enliven the hopes of an afflicted parent, — Finow gave directions to proceed to Macave, the place at Vavaoo where (as the reader will recollect) Booboonoo, Cacahoo, and several other great warriors, were seized by Finow's orders. By the time they had got a little more than half way to Vavaoo, the poor child died. Immedi- ately all the female attendants began to lament in a most woful strain, beating their breasts with violent agitation, and exhibiting every mark of sorrow and despair ; — but Finow sat in silence and dejection, weeping for the fate of his daughter. In a little time they reached the coast of Vavaoo, and took the body to a large house, called Boono, (six posts,) on the maldi at Neafoo, followed by Finow, his wives, chiefs, matabooles, and attendants, all habited in mats. The body was laid out on a fine and beautiful Hamoa mat, and then washed over with a mixture of oil and water : after which it was anointed with sandal-wood oil. It must be here noticed, that the king had determined, in the event of his daughter's death, not to bury her exactly after the Tonga