OF THE TONGA PEOPLE. 3T)5

“ short intervals above a quarter of an hour,when the rear rank dividing, shifted them-“ selves very slowly round each end, and meet-“ ing in the front, formed the first rank : the“whole number continuing to recite the sen-“ tences as before. The other ranks did the“ same successively, till that which at first was“ the front became the rear ; and the evolution“ continued in the same manner till the last“ rank regained its first situation. They then“ began a much quicker dance (though slow at“ first), and sung for about ten minutes, whene * the whole body divided into two parts, re-“ treated a little, and then approached, forming“ a sort of circular figure, which finished the“ dance the drums being removed, and the“ chorus going off the field at the same time.

“ The second dance had only two drums,“ with forty men for a chorus ; and the dancers,“ or rather actors, consisted of two ranks, the“ foremost having seventeen, and the other“ fifteen persons. Feenow was at their head,“ or in the middle of the front rank, which is“ the principal place in these cases. They“ danced and recited sentences, with some very“ short intervals, for about half an hour, some-“ times quickly, sometimes more slowly, but“ with such a degree of exactness as if all the“ motions were made by one man, which did

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