Captain Cook: His Life, Voyages, and Discoveries

by William Henry Giles Kingston

The king was much pleased with the presents he received, and when he went on shore ordered two more hogs to be sent off, in addition to two he had brought with him. On landing he was taken up to the house erected for his accommodation, on a board resembling a hand-barrow. On Feenou’s return he looked rather confused on finding that the king had paid the voyagers a visit; and he then acknowledged who and what he really was. After this, on one occasion, Poulaho and Feenou accompanied the captain on board. Feenou, however, did not presume to sit with the king, but, saluting his foot with head and hands, retired out of the cabin. It appeared, indeed, that he declined to eat and drink in the royal presence, though there were persons of much inferior rank who did so.

At the request of Poulaho the captain paid a visit to Tongataboo, where the ships were in considerable danger of driving on a low, sandy island, but escaped. At Tongataboo the English were entertained much in the same way that they had been at Hapaee.

The king had a son, Fattafaihe, to whom great respect was paid. His mother was the daughter of an old chief, of large possessions and great influence, called Mareewagee, and Feenou was his son. That chief was, therefore, brother-in-law to the king, and uncle to the heir-apparent.

On June 19 Captain Cook invited the chiefs and others to a meeting, that he might present them with the animals he proposed to leave on the island. To the king, Poulaho, he gave a young English bull and cow; to Mareewagee, a Cape ram and two ewes; and to Feenou, a horse and mare; and he instructed Omai to explain their use, and that they must be careful not to injure them, but to let them increase till they had stocked the island. Some goats and rabbits were also added. It soon appeared, however, that the chiefs were dissatisfied with this allotment, and early next morning it was found that a kid and two turkey-cocks were missing. On this the captain put a guard over the king, Feenou, and some other chiefs, whom he found in the house which the English occupied on shore, and told them that they should not be liberated till the animals and other articles lately stolen had been restored. On the captain inviting them to go on board to dinner they readily consented. Some objected to the king’s going, but he jumped up and said that he would be the first to go. They were kept on board till four, and on their return on shore the kid and one of the turkey-cocks were brought back, and the other was promised the next day. After this a party of officers from both ships made an excursion into the interior, with muskets and ammunition, and a number of articles for barter, but the natives stripped them of everything. The officers made application, through Omai, for restitution, and this caused the king, Feenou, and other chiefs hastily to go off. Omai, however, persuaded Feenou that nothing would be done to them, when he, and afterwards the king, returned, and were apparently on as good terms as ever.

Captain Cook even ventured to attend a grand ceremony, held for the purpose of introducing the young prince to certain royal privileges, the principal of which was to be that of eating in the society of his father. There seemed to be great distinctions of rank among the people. There were some who had greater honour shown to them than even to the king himself. His father had an elder sister, of equal rank to himself, and she married a chief who came from Fejee. By him she had a son, the silent chief Latoolibooloo, who was looked upon as a madman, and two daughters. The king met one of these women on board the Resolution, and would not venture to eat in her presence. On afterwards encountering Latoolibooloo, the king bent down and touched the silent prince’s feet with the back and palms of his hand, as he was accustomed to be treated by his subjects.

Captain Cook here observed the taboo system. If applied to places, they may not be entered or approached; if to persons, they may not be touched, or may not feed themselves; if to things, they may not be touched. The system, however, did not appear to be so rigidly observed in Tonga as in some other groups of the Pacific.

With regard to the religion of the people, Captain Cook gained very little information, and Omai, who seems to have been especially dull of apprehension, and never to have made inquiries of his own accord, was very little able to help him. That great cruelty was exercised by those in authority was evident by two or three occurrences witnessed by the English. On one occasion, when Feenou was on board the Resolution, an inferior chief ordered all the people to retire from the post occupied on shore by the English. Some ventured to return, when the chief took up a stick and beat them most unmercifully. He struck one man with so much violence on the side of the face that the blood gushed out of his month and nostrils, and after lying for some time motionless he was removed in convulsions. The chief laughed when told that he had killed the man, and seemed perfectly indifferent to the matter.

All classes, from the highest to the lowest, were found to be thieves; and when the chiefs themselves did not steal they employed their servants to pilfer for them. To check this propensity Captain Clerke suggested a plan, which was adopted with good effect. Whenever any of the lower orders were caught stealing he had their heads completely shaved, so that they became objects of ridicule to their countrymen, and did not again venture on board the ships.

It appeared that the larger portion of the land belonged to certain great chiefs, and that the inferior chiefs held their estates under them, while the mass of the population were mere serfs, who tilled the soil for their masters, and received but a scanty remuneration for their labour.

Captain Cook heard of the Fejee Islands, distant about three days’ sail, and of the savage and cannibal propensities of the inhabitants, some of whom he saw at Tonga. The inhabitants of Tonga held them in great dread, on account of their prowess in war, and always endeavoured to keep on friendly terms with them. He concluded that the Friendly Islanders had not, till lately, kept up any intercourse with those of Fejee, because dogs, which are very common in the latter group, had only been introduced into Tonga since his last visit, and to none of the other islands.