OF THE TONGA PEOPLE.

297

“ The concert having continued about a“ quarter of an hour, twenty women enteredthe circle. Most of them had upon their“ heads garlands of the crimson flowers of the“ China rose, or others ; and many of them had“ ornamented their persons with leaves of trees,“ cut with a deal of nicety about the edges.“ They made a circle round the chorus, turning“ their faces toward it, and began by singing a“ soft air, to which responses were made by the“ chorus in the same tone, and these were re-“ peated alternately. All this while the wo-“ men accompanied their song with several“ very graceful motions of their hands towards“ their faces, and in other directions, at the“ same time making constantly a step forward,“ and then back again with one foot, while the“ other was fixed. They then turned their“ faces to the assembly, sung some time, and“ retreated slowly in a body to that part of the‘‘ circle which was opposite the hut where the“ principal spectators sat. After this, one of“ them advanced from each side, meeting and“ passing each other in the front, and continu-“ ing their progress round till they came to the“ rest: on which two advanced from each side,two of whom passed each other and returned“ as the former; but the other tw r o remained,“ and to these came one from each side by