OF THE TONGA PEOPLE.

295

“ this present far exceeded any I had ever“ received from any of the sovereigns of the“ various islands I had visited in the Pacific“ Ocean. I lost no time in convincing my“ friend that I was not insensible of his liberali-“ ty ; for before he quitted my ship I bestow-“ ed upon him such of our commodities as I“ guessed were most valuable in his estimation.“ And the return I made was so much to his“ satisfaction, that as soon as he got on shore“ he left me still indebted to him, by sending“me a fresh present, consisting of two large“ hogs, a considerable quantity of cloth, and“ some yams.”

Here follows an imperfect account of thedance called mee too bu'ggi , but which we shallnow omit, and quote a fuller description of itafterwards. Other circumstances not necessaryhere to enumerate are also omitted. After de-scribing an exhibition of fire-works, the ac-count goes on thus:

“ Our water and sky rockets, in particular,“ pleased and astonished them beyond all con-“ ception ; and the scale was now turned in“ our favour. This, however, seemed only to“ furnish them with an additional motive to“ proceed to fresh exertions of their very sin-“ gular dexterity, and our fire-works were no“ sooner ended than a succession of dances