Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/470

404 *' you ? my wish is, that the gods of Bolotoo " permit me to live long enough to prove my " fidelity to your son he then again raised his club, and, running about, bruised and cut his little head in so many places, that he was covered with streams of blood. This demon- stration on the part of the young hero was thought very highly of by every one present, though, according to custom, nothing at that time was said in his praise ; agreeably to their maxim, that praise raises a man's opinions of his own merit too high, and fills him with self- conceit. The late How's fishermen now ad- vanced forward, to shew their love for their deceased master in the usual way ; though, in- stea,d of a club or axe, each bore the paddle of a canoe, with which he beat and bruised h'is head at intervals, making similar exclamations to those so often related. In one respect, however, they were somewhat singular ; that is, in having three arrows stuck through eack cheek, in a slanting direction, so that, while their points came quite through the cheek into the mouth, the other ends went over their shoulders, and were kept in that situation by another arrow, the point of which was tied to the ends of the arrows passing over one shoulder, and the other end to those of the arrows passing over the other shoulder, so as to