THE TONGA ISLANDS.

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oonga several days. For the first two or threedays they kept a good look-out, lest they shouldbe surprised by the enemy, and at night slepton board the canoe ; but not finding themselvesdisturbed by any one, they at length relaxedtheir vigilance, and slept on shore by largefires; in consequence of which they met witha sad disaster. On the fifth night they hadlighted their fires as usual, and the greater parthad fallen asleep, when forty or fifty of theenemy’s choicest warriors, commanded by Mac-capapa, rushed suddenly upon them. Theenemy had heard from some stragglers, thatthis expedition to Hapai had been obliged toremain at Taoonga; they accordingly put tosea in their small canoes, and arrived at the op-posite side of the island after dark: great partof them landed, and being guided by the fires,fell upon those who were reposing in imaginarysecurity, and with their clubs made an end ofabout eight and twenty: the remainder escapedto the canoe, but not without much difficulty; forsome of their companions who had remained totake care of it, being alarmed by the uproar ofthis sudden attack on shore, had pushed offintodeep water; so that those who made theirescape from the beach were obliged to swim,and several of them were much wounded byspears thrown at them. Under cover of the