TONGA ISLANDS.
The Tonga Islands had places of refuge, sacred enclosures, where fugitives were safe. The same in Hawaii.
The Tongans have a tradition that they were descendants from Bolotu, an island somewhere in the northwest, in this wise: Some of the inferior gods of Bolotu, to the number of about two hundred men and women left to visit the new land of Tonga after it had been pulled out of the water by the god Tangaloa. Having arrived, they concluded to stop and took their vessel to pieces. A few days afterwards some of them died, and one, being inspired, told them that having eaten the fruits and breathed the air of Tonga, they had lost their immortality, and that they were destined to people the world, and that all that surrounded them would also be perishable—“mea ma-ma.” They built a canoe to return to Bolotu, but they never succeeded in finding that land and returned sorrowfully to Tonga.
Another tradition reports that Tangaloa was fishing one day in the great ocean, when his leaden hook caught into something and on pulling at it a number of rocks came in sight, getting larger and larger, when the line broke and the Tonga Isles remained as they are. A place at Hounga is still shown where the hook caught in the rocks. That hook was still in the possession of the family of the Tui-Tonga some thirty years before Mariner’s time. The New Zealanders and Hawaiians have a similar tradition, but make Maui the hero of the tale.
Hogs were common in Tonga before its discovery. Dogs were scarce and mostly brought from the Vitis. Poultry abounded. [[262]]
The Tongans believe that heaven, the planets, ocean and the isle Bolotu existed before the earth; and the Tonga isles were fished up from the ocean by Tangaloa.
Mankind came from Bolotu, the principal residence of the gods, placed in the northwest. The souls of the egui or chiefs, after death, go to Bolotu. The souls of the matabule go there too, but to serve the former and the gods. The Tongans were not agreed as to whether the mua had a soul or not; but the tua positively had none, or if they had, it died with the body. The Tui-Tonga and the Veachi descend in direct line from two of the principal gods.
The Tongans reckon about three hundred primitive gods, of which about twenty only are honored with temples and priests. Tali-ai-tubo is the god of war. Tui-fua-Bolotu presided over the divine assembly at Bolotu, but is less in power than the preceding. Hihuleo is a powerful god, worshiped by the Tui-Tonga family. Tubo-Toti, is the god of voyages. Alai Valu is the god consulted in sickness. Alo-Alo is the god of wind, rain, seasons and vegetation. Tangaloa, is the god of arts and inventions. Hala-Api-Api, Togui Uku, Mea and Tubo-Bugo are gods of the sea and voyages.
The universe reposes on the body of the god Maui. He is the giant among the gods, but has no temple nor priests. When he is fatigued lying in one position, he turns, and that is the cause of earthquakes.
The tabu system was much developed in Tonga in its minutiæ and operations. It is essentially the same through the entire Polynesian family; the variations in degree and intensity are local.