Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/45

Rh adventure has changed into a sedateness of character and disposition to rest and quiet, which may easily be conceived to arise from disappointments, and unexpected hardships and dangers, experienced at too early a period of life. He is rather taciturn than loquacious, and under ordinary circumstances much more inclined to speak of the events of his life as common occurrences than as interesting anecdotes, which happens no doubt from his early, frequent, and familiar intimacy with unusual situations; when, however, he is animated with social converse, he furnishes descriptions that are very interesting and natural. His memory is very retentive, and his account of things is exceedingly correct and uniform: of this I have had numberless proofs, and one in particular I shall mention. I happened to mislay the English version which he had written out at his leisure, of the speech of Finow the king on first coming into power: after the lapse of a few weeks, not finding it, I was under the necessity of requesting him to write another, which he did in the same method as before, by