Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/506

440 —in the same manner as Finow was carried:—but notwithstanding all this, death overtook him in the course of eight days, after six weeks illness.

About a month or six weeks after the funeral ceremonies were finished, (which will be described under the head of Religious Ceremonies, in the second volume,) Finow, who had not broken his head (as they call it) at the grave of his father, because perhaps on a public occasion it would have looked in him like an ostentatious display of what might have been thought affected feeling, resolved to perform this ceremony in a more private manner, accompanied only by a few of his warriors, to whom he now signified his intention. Accordingly one morning he and his men began to prepare themselves for this affair, when unfortunately an accident happened, which to us Europeans (in the present times) would not have attracted the slightest attention; but, in the estimation of these people, was a matter pregnant with the most important and serious consequences:—for at this time Mr. Mariner, on entering the house, happened to sneeze!! Immediately every one present threw down his club, for who would proceed on so important an expedition after so dire an omen ! Finow's