Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/480

414 414 TRANSACTIONS AT an hour lie would become quite calm, and thank them for their interference. This admira- ble conduct is, no doubt, a beautiful trait in the character of a savage : and there is perhaps at this time many a man living at the Tonga islands who owes his present existence to this circumstance j whose head would undoubtedly have been cleaved long ago, but for this lauda- ble artifice on the part of their chief. Nor was he on all occasions unable to master his temper without these secondary means ; for if we ob- serve him when he approached the shores of Vavaoo, to address the people with the view of persuading them to amicable measures, we shall see that all the scoffs and insults of his enemies did not in the least ruffle his temper, contrary to the expectation of his friends. But, how- ever, his temper was no doubt very irritable, and with such a temper, and in such a state of society, it is not to be wondered at that he should occasionally be very harsh in his mea- sures towards those who rebelled against him. As to his moral character in general, not much can be said in his favour ; he was sus- pected of harbouring revengeful designs against individuals for years, and would wreak his ven- geance at a fit opportunity and kill them, as if from a momentary impulse of passion, when nobody was near to restrain him. His revenge