OP THE TONGA PEOPLE.

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peated the fourteen following nights, and aspunctually cleared away by sun-rise every morn-ing. No persons but the agents are allowed tobe witnesses of these extraordinary ceremonies,at least it would be considered highly inde-corous and irreligious to be so. On the sixteenthday, early in the morning, the same femalesagain assemble; but now they are dressed upin the finest gnatoo, and most beautiful Hamoamats, decorated with ribbons and with wreathsof flowers round their necks : they also bringnew baskets, ornamented with flowers, andlittle brooms very tastefully made: thus equip-ped, they approach, and act as if they had thesame task to do as before, pretending to clearaway the dirt, though no dirt is now there, andtake it away in their baskets. They then re-turn to the mooa, and resume their mourningmats and leaves of the iji tree. Such are thetransactions of the fifteen days; every day theceremony of the burning torches being alsorepeated. The natives themselves used to ex-press their regret that the filthy part of theseceremonies was necessary to be performed, todemonstrate their great veneration for the highcharacter of Tooitonga, and that it was the dutyof the most exalted nobles, even of the mostdelicate females of rank, to perform the meanestand most disgusting offices, rather than the sa-