THE TONGA ISLANDS.

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feet,) made of reed, headed with iron-wood:they are not feathered, and their great lengthis requisite, that they may go straight enoughto hit a small object; besides which, it is ad-vantageous in taking an aim through a thickbush. Each individual in the party has onlytwo arrows, for, as soon as he has dischargedone from his bow, it is immediately brought tohim by one of the attendants who follow theparty. The bows also are rather longer thanthose used in war, being about six feet, the war-bows being about four feet and a half; nor arethey so strong, lest the difficulty of bendingthem should occasion a slight trembling of thehand, which would render the aim less certain.

Finow and his friends having finished theirshooting excursion, and taken some refresh-ment, directed their walk at random across theisland, and arrived near a rock, noted by thenatives as being (in their estimation) the im-mediate cause of the origin of all the Tonga islands. It happened once (before these islandswere in existence) that one of their gods (Tan-galoa) went out fishing with line and hook :it chanced, however, that the hook got fixed ina rock at the bottom of the sea, and, in conse-quence of the god pulling in his line, he drewup all the Tonga islands, which, they say,would have formed one great land ; but the