Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/485

Rh THE TONGA ISLANDS. 419 of what they declared to be the sentiments of the god was their own invention ; and this par- ticularly in regard to what did not suit his own sentiments. He never, however, declared his opinion of these things in public j though he expressed them, very decidedly, to Mr. Mari- ner, and some of his intimate friends. He used to say that the gods would always favour that party in war, in which there were the greatest chiefs and warriors. He did not believe that the gods paid much attention in other respects to the affairs of mankind ; nor did he think they could have any reason for doing so, — no more than man could have any reason or inte- rest in attending to the affairs of the gods. He believed in the doctrine of a future state, agree- ably to the notions entertained by his country- men ; that is, that chiefs and matabooles, hav- ing souls, exist hereafter in Bolotoo, according to their rank in this world ; but that the com- mon people, having no souls, or those only that die with their bodies, are without any hope of a future existence. Such was the character of the late How of the Tonga islands, — a character not without a considerable share of merit ; in some respects not unworthy imitation, and in every respect highly interesting. — We have pourtrayed it at some length, because such characters do not E £ 2