>j77- this, there were wreilling and boxing-matches for about July. - '
i__ — j half.an hour. Then two men feated themfelves before the'
prince, and made fpeeches, addrefied, as I thought, entirely
to him. With this the folemnity ended, and the whole af-
fembly broke up.
I now went and examined the feveral baikets which had
been prefented ; a curioiity that I was not allowed before to
indulge; becaufe every thing was then taboo. But the fo-
lemnity being now over, they became, fimply, what I found
them to be, empty baikets;. So that, whatever they were
fuppofed to contain, was emblematically reprefented. And
fo, indeed, was every other thing which had been brought
in proceflion, except the fifh.
We endeavoured, in vain, to find but the meaning, not
only of the ceremony in general, which is called Natche, but
of its different parts. We feldom got any other anfwer to
our inquiries, but taboo; a word, which, I have before ob-
ferved, is applied to many other things. But, as the prince
was, evidently, the principal perfon concerned in i t ; and
as we had been told by the king, ten days before the celebration
of the Natche, that the people would bring in yams
• for him and his fon to eat together; and as he even de-
fcribed fome part of the ceremony, we concluded, from
what he had then faid, and from what we now faw, that
an oath of allegiance, if I may fo exprefs myfelf, or folemn
promife, was, on this occafion, made to the prince, as the
immediate fucceflor to the regal dignity, to fiand by him,
and to furniih him with the feveral articles that were here emblematically
reprefented. This feems the more probable, as
all the principal people of the ifland, whom we had ever feen,
affifted in the proceflions. But, be this as it may, the whole
S was
was conducted with a great deal of myfterious folemnity ; < 7 7 7 .-
and, that there was a mixture of teligion in the inftitution,
was evident, not only from the place where it was performed,
but from the manner of performing it. Our drefs
and deportment had never been called in queftion, upon any
former occafion whatever. Now, it was expedled that we
fhould be uncovered as low as the waiil; that our hail"
fhould be Ioofe, and flowing over our fhoulders; that we
fhould, like themfelves, fit crofs-legged ; and, at times, in
the moil humble pofture, with down-caft eyes, and hands
locked together; all which requifites were moil devoutly
obferved by the whole aflembly. And, laftly, every, one
was excluded from the folemnity, but the principal people,.-
and thofe who afliiled in the celebration, All thefe circa alliances
were. to me a fufficient teftimony, that, upon this;
occafion, they confidered themfelves as ailing under the;
immediate infpedlion of a Supreme Being.
The prefent Natche may be confidered,. from the above account
of it, as merely figurative.. For the fmall quantity o f ;
yams, which we faw the firll day, could not be intended as ?
a general contribution ; and, .indeed, we were given to un-
derftand, that they were a portion confecrated to the Otooa,
or Divinity. But. we were informed, that, in about three;
months, there would be performed; on1 the fame account, ,
a far more important and grander folemnity ; on which oc--
cafion, not only the tribute of Tongataboo, but that of Ha-
paee, Vavaoo, and of all the other iflands, would be brought "
to the Chief, and confirmed more awfully, by facrificing;
ten human viitims from amongft the inferior fort of "people.
A honid folemnity indeed l and which is a moil fignifi'cant■
inilance of the influence of gloomy and ignorant fuperili-
tion, over the minds of one. of. the. moil benevolent ¡and humane.