Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/437

Rh THE TONGA ISLANDS. 371 frequent screams, or in broken exclamations : Oyaooe'! ecoo tammi/ e' ! O yaooe ! Alas! — Oh! my father ! — alas ! — Her sorrow was so great that, at times, she appeared quite bereft of rea* son ; and her truly pathetic expressions of it, joined to those of the widows, and female at- tendants of the late king, all beating their breasts, and screaming from time to time, ren- dered the house truly a house of mourning, be- yond the power of the imagination to picture. The place was lighted up at night, by lamps with cocoa-nut oil, (used only on such occa- sions) presenting a scene, if possible, still more affecting than that which happened on the oc- casion of Toobo Nuha's death. In the course of the night, Mr. Mariner went into the house several times, partly out of cu- riosity indeed, but principally moved by feelings of regret for the loss of his great and kind pa- tron ; — for though he could not in every point of view admire him as a man, — yet he could not but esteem him and reverence him as a bene- factor : he had received from him great and numerous favours : and notwithstanding his faults, there was a something essential in his, character which commanded respect ; and Mr- Mariner felt that, in losing him, he had sus- tained a very great loss. The prince checked him in these frequent visits to the house j urg- B B 2