Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/482

416 416 TRANSACTIONS AT portment manly and erect, without pride. Without the knowledge of these facts, we sup- pose him to have been cruel and malevolent ; zvith the knowledge of them, we rather suppose him to have been severe ; but that his severity, where it degenerated into harshness, was occa- sioned sometimes by hastiness of temper; some- times by misconception of the crime which he punished ; at other times, (and perhaps partly at all times,) by the habits of the society in which he lived, these habits occasioning him to view acts of real cruelty in a light less atro- cious than we should. — If, on the other hand, we were to find that his countenance spoke the same harsh language that his actions appeared to speak, we might, without much fear of error, set him down as being often capable of malig- nant and atrocious actions*. Finow, the sole and arbitrary monarch of Vavaoo, and the Hapai islands, was in stature six feet two inches ; in bulk and strength, stout and muscular ; his head erect and bold ; his shoidders broad and well made ; his limbs well least the most inhuman, viz. the assassination of his brother Toobo Nuha, was always an inexplicable puzzle to those who might be considered impartial ; but they all seemed per- fectly convinced that he would not have done it without some strong reason.
 * That which appears to be the worst of his actions, at