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disappointment broke out in dreadful the god; and then Taiofa inquired of

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Meantime the unfortunate Mamana, on recovering from her swoon, found herself in an apartment of the house which had lately been the king's, attended by two of her own women. They informed her that several of their companions had been killed in the late dreadful affray, and the rest enslaved by the Hamoa people; and that the house in which they were was strongly guarded. From them also she learned the fate to which her lover had been condemned, and which they imagined he had suffered. At this dreadful intelligence her grief was unbounded; she seized a sharp instrument that lay accidentally near her, and wounded her face and head in several places; tore her beautiful hair, and throwing herself on the ground, abandoned herself entirely to her grief, uttering the most piteous cries. In this state she was found by Taiofa on his return. Her swollen and bleeding face, her torn and soiled garments, her scattered tresses, and the extravagance of her sorrow, protected her for the time from the wild passions of the chief. He gave orders for every attention to her accommodation, and retired to meditate and ripen a new and important scheme. In returning from their fruitless pursuit, the Hamoa warriors had perceived a small European vessel in the offing, which was evidently endeavouring to make Vavaoo. Taiofa was desirous of taking this vessel; and as that could only be effected by stratagem, he had appointed a consultation of chiefs at the house of the god Tooitonga.

The priest of Tooitonga was the oracle of these islands. He kept up a daily intercourse with his divinity, and managed his replies with so much address, that they were generally sure of being confirmed by events. To maintain the dignity of the divinity he represented, he often judged it expedient to require a human sacrifice; and such was his influence, that even when he named for that purpose the children of the most distinguished persons in the island, their parents never withheld them from his sanguinary grasp. He was maintained in the most luxurious manner by the devout natives, who carried him plenty of dainties which, he assured them, was the most agreeable service they could render to heaven.

When the chiefs had assembled in his house, each of them made an offering to

him, whether they should succeed in their intended attack on the white men's ship. The priest seemed to meditate for some time; then appeared in a sort of trance; then foamed at the mouth, uttered several strange cries; and soon afterwards became calm. He then told them Tooitonga had been with him, and assured him that if they did not conquer, it would be their own fault; and that as he intended to protect them, he required them to offer to him, through his priest, all the drink they might find in the white men's ship, together with some shirts and trowsers, for the more magnificent apparel of his priest. These conditions they promised to fulfil, and departed full of confidence in their undertaking.

It was determined that Taiofa, and eleven Hamoa chiefs, should each go on board the vessel, with a canoe laden with hogs, cocoas, and other provisions, as presents and for traffic, and attended by eight or ten resolute warriors. They were to affect the most friendly disposition and peaceable intentions, until they should be so dispersed over the ship that every one of the crew might be singly and suddenly attacked, and stabbed with their iron-wood daggers, which were to be concealed under their cloaks.

The

Early the next morning the ship had anchored in the bay, and a few canoes were sent to open a friendly communication, which was very adroitly performed. The confederate chiefs then began to go off to the ship by degrees, and were received on board in the most amicable manner. Presents were interchanged, and purchases made. number of the islanders on board somewhat exceeded that of the crew. Taiofa, as the principal chief, met with particular attentions from the captain. His people were now dispersing themselves in the manner agreed on, and Taiofa perceived they would presently expect the signal he was to give by stabbing the captain. A loud cry suddenly pierced his ear, and turning round, he saw one of his confederates fall mortally wounded by the dirk of an officer. Instantly the whole crew drawing pistols from their bosoms, fired upon the treacherous natives, whose lifeless bodies soon strewed the deck. A few only escaped by jumping overboard. Taiofa, detected, terrified, and thunderstruck, conceiving that the gods had revealed the plot to the white men, fell prostrate at the captain's feet. He was raised from the deck by two seamen ;

but what was his horror and amazement at seeing, immediately behind the captain, the figure of Malohi. He now judged that he was in the land of spirits, where his victim's ghost would eternally torment him for his cruelty. But he was soon undeceived.

"Thou seest ine alive," said Malohi, "and my preservation has led to the detection and punishment of thy perfidy. Where is Mamana ?”

A faint hope of safety cheered the miserable Taiofa. He knew the generosity of his rival, and eagerly declared that Mamana was well and safe, and had suffered no insult or injury from him.

"Tis well," said Malohi, "traitor and murderer as thou art, thou hast yet forborne one crime. Say, should I obtain thy life from the white chief, shall there be peace between us?"

But the reproaches of his rival had changed the thoughts of Taiofa. He perceived that his power was destroyed his reputation gone-his hopes blighted-and that protracted life would only be lengthened infamy; nor could he hope that the people of Vavaoo, his injured countrymen, would forgive his treacherous introduction of their Hamoa enemies. He therefore resolved to die. "Know," said he, "that Taiofa disdains thy intercession. He can suffer death as unmoved as he can inflict it."

As he said these words, he was seized by the French seamen, who dragged him into the hold, and loaded him with irons.

Hundreds of canoes surrounded the vessel, chiefly filled with natives of Vavaoo. When they saw the fall of so many of the Hamoa warriors, they rejoiced in the prospect of their speedy deliverance from those invaders. They, therefore, shewed no disposition to in terfere. The French captain, however, regarded them all as enemies, and maintained all due precautions; he was therefore much relieved when Malohi explained to him the real state of affairs. After relating the jealous rivalship between himself and Taiofa, and the treacherous manner in which that warrior had betrayed his countrymen to the people of Hamoa, he proceeded to narrate his own escape.

"When I precipitated myself into the waves, in imitation of my companion, I thought merely of disappointing the vengeance of my rival, by rushing into the arms of death. But when I rose again to the surface, the instinct of nature compelled me to strive for ex

istence. I breathed the air, but seemed in utter darkness. With what rapture did I hear my companion whisper, Courage-be still-you are safe!'-At the same instant he assisted me to a crag, by which I held for some time.

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My eyes soon began to accustom themselves to the dim light of the place in which we were, and which at first I thought quite dark. I then perceived it to be a spacious cavern, into which the entrance from the sea lay beneath the surface. The light was faintly reflected from the bottom of the sea, through the aperture into this cave. We now emerged from the water, and sat on the crags in silence, dreading lest any of our pursuers should remain on the watch near the spot. But when the failure of the light warned us of the approach of evening we ventured to quit the cave. We dived out of it in the same manner as we had entered it, swam for a considerable distance round the projecting rock, and at length safely landed. We remained concealed among the cliffs till the evening, during which time my preserver informed me of the motives by which he had been induced to undertake my deliverance, and explained the means by which he had effected it. He was a young native of Hamoa, named Fanaw; and although I did not remember him, yet he fortunately recollected that in an invasion of his country by the people of Vavaoo, while he was yet a boy, I had dissuaded our chiefs from putting to death a number of prisoners, among whom were himself, his mother, and sister. He had accidentally discovered this cave when fishing, and happily for me had never disclosed the secret of its existence. At night we issued from our concealment, and I found that we had landed near the dwelling of the priest of Tooitonga. I had no doubt that Taiofa and his Hamoa warriors had spared the old man from veneration for the god he serves, and I thought that I might depend on his aid for food, shelter, and the means of escaping to one of the Tonga islands. We therefore advanced towards his dwelling; but as we approached, we perceived an unusual number of lights, and heard the sound of many voices. Fanaw proposed to retreat instantly, but I felt an irresisti ble impulse to ascertain who were with the priest, and on what occasion. I therefore crept through the shrubs close up to his house, near the apertures where only a mat separated me from those within. There I overheard the

account of your arrival, O brave white chief! and the treacherous plot laid for your assassination, and the capture of your ship. Fanaw and I determined to apprise you of the intended attack, in hopes that timely notice might enable you to turn the attempts of your enemies to their own destruction, and thus relieve the island of Vavaoo from its sanguinary tyrants. For this purpose we traversed the country till we arrived on the coast opposite your vessel, seized a canoe, and came off to you before dawn. The event has fulfilled our expectations."

The sorrowful Mamana, exhausted by her frantic grief, had sunk into a deep but unquiet sleep, in which she passed the night. The visions of slumber presented to her the most fearful images: sometimes she beheld her lover bound and sinking in his canoe-she saw his face sink beneath the waves, and heard his last gurgling cries as the waters suffocated him. Again he appeared as if revived, struggling with his terrible rival, and at last slain by his spear; when the victor commanded his flesh to be prepared for his horrid feast. In the morning she awoke to the consciousness of her dreadful fate. On a pile of mats she sat motionless; her arms embracing her knees; her tearless eyes fixed on vacancy. Her sagacious attendant soon perceived the symptoms of impending insanity: and in hopes to relieve her by exciting her tears, she sang in a low tone, and mournful measure, an old and pathetic elegy, of which the following may give some idea:

"What sounds, in the forest, so mournfully swelling,

Thrill, plaintive, and sweet, through the silence of night?

heard without; and in a few minutes the two Hamoa warriors, who had been left to guard them, entered the house, pursued by a number of the Vavaoo people, who soon dispatched them with their clubs. They then explained to Mamana the revolution of her fortune, and that of her country, occasioned by the failure of Taiofa's enterprise, in which the principal Hamoa warriors having fallen, the people had risen against those who were left behind, and put them to death. They also acquainted her with the supposed fate of her lover. As she was already persuaded of his death, the information that he had escaped by a voluntary act from the cruelty of his rival, gave her a mournful satisfaction. As a chieftainess of rank they carried her directly to the marly, where all the remaining nobles, who had survived the treacherous attack of Taiofa, were immediately to assemble to regulate the government of the island.

As she approached the spot where several chiefs had already met, she per ceived another party advancing to the place in another direction. This was the French captain and his crew, with two other persons, one of whom instantly attracted the eyes of the astonished Mamana. At the same moment he flew to meet her, and in the next was in her arms. She clasped the liv ing Malohi; she could not mistrust her senses, but her excessive joy was too powerful for the weak state to which she was reduced, and she would have fallen senseless to the ground but for the support of her lover. He, who thought her dying, uttered frantic cries, which happily reaching the ears of the French seamen, they ran to the spot, when a surgeon among them instantly

'Tis the heart-broken maid, in her desolate dwell- comprehending the affair, promptly bled

ing,

Bewailing the youth who has perish'd in fight. Fled is the beauty her eyes that enchanted,

Mute is the voice that pour'd love and delight, Cold is the breast on her bosom that panted, Fall'n is the youth in the terrible fight.

Far o'er the waves is an island of pleasure,
Heroes departed there reign in delight;
There, hapless maid, seek thy dearly-lov'd treasure,
There dwells thy lover, who fell in the fight.

Mamana at first seemed unconscious of the song; but at length some particular note seemed to rivet her attention. She listened-changed her attitude and towards the conclusion wept abundantly.

A loud and continued noise was now

the fair Mamana, who soon recovered to life, and love, and happiness.

The assembled chiefs, after lamenting the destruction of most of their order through the treason of Taiofa, found that the rank of Mamana was such as to entitle her to the sovereignty. They therefore declared her queen, and appointed an early day for her marriage with Malohi, which took place accordingly, and conferred on him the royal dignity. The wretched Taiofa was executed by the French, as an example to the contrivers of similar treachery. May the reign of Malohi and Mamana be long and prosperous-their lives virtuous and happy.

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