Page:Hawaiki The Original Home of the Maori.djvu/128

116 We know so little of Tongan history that nothing of great importance can be adduced in support of the supposition that at this time (A.D. 450) the group was first peopled. And yet, the few notices there are on the subject, outside the Rarotonga history, seem to indicate that this must have been about the time of the colonization of Tonga-tapu, and that it was this Maori-Rarotongan people who were found in possession when a later migration from Samoa took place. It is certain, however, that in the time of Tu-tarangi's grandson, or great-grandson, that the Maori-Rarotongan branch of the race was living in Tonga-tapu, Vavau, and Haapai.

The migration from Samoa to Tonga, alluded to above, took place in the days of Alo-eitu, the second of that name, and the second of the sacred kings, or Tui-Tongas. According to two genealogical tables showing the descent from Alo-eitu to the time of death King George Tubou (1893) the number of generations is 34. Therefore it would have been about the year 1050 that this second element was added to the inhabitants of Tonga-tapu island. These people came from Samoa, and first landed on the east end of the island near Lafonga, where they settled, and there built the celebrated Trilithon called Haamonga, which has remained a puzzle to later generations. These people, after living there for many years, eventually removed to the east entrance into Mua inlet, and some of them still live there. For the above I am indebted to the Rev. J. E. Moulton of Tonga. This account of the origin of Haamonga differs from that given by Mr Basil Thompson in "Jour; Anthro: Inst:" vol, xxxii, p. 81, wherein he states on the authority of Mateialonga, Tongan Governor of Haabai, that the Trilithon was built in the times of Tui-ta-tui, or circa 1275 (according to my method of deducing dates—Mr.