As I am now about to enter upon a new scene of things in which the political interests of these islands are particularly concerned, it becomes necessary to afford a general view of their history from the time of Captain Cook, and particularly for the twelve or fifteen years previous to my arrival here, with a view to understand perfectly the state of things as Cook found it.
At the time when Captain Cook was at these islands, the habits of war were little known to the natives. The only quarrels in which they had at that time been engaged had been among the inhabitants of the Fiji Islands, about 360 miles to the westward. Having been in the habit of visiting these islands for sandalwood, they occasionally assisted one or other of the warlike parties against the enemy. The bows and arrows which before that period had been in use among the people of Tonga were of a weaker kind and fitted rather for sport than war — for the purpose of shooting rats, birds, et cetera. From the fierce and warlike people of the Fiji Islands, however, they soon learned to construct bows and arrows of much more martial and formidable nature; and soon they became acquainted with a better form of the spear, and a superior method of holding and throwing this missile weapon. The Tongans also imitated them by degrees in the practice of painting their faces and using a peculiar dress in time of war, giving a fierce appearance, calculated to strike terror into the minds of their enemies. These martial improvements were in their progress at the time of Captain Cook’s arrival, but not in general practice. Having few or no civil dissensions among themselves, the knowledge of these things was confined principally to a few young chiefs and their adherents who had been at the Fiji Islands. Captain Cook described some evolutions practiced by the natives as being forms of war, and indeed they have that appearance; but they are to be considered rather as games and dances which the Tonga people had learned from the island of Niua. None of the oldest natives could give any account of their first discovery of the Fiji Islands. They said they went to the Fiji Islands before the natives of those islands came to them: perhaps their canoes drifted there by strong easterly winds. Since Captain Cook’s time, a certain chief at the island of Tongatapu where all the principal chiefs at that time resided and whose name was Tu’ihalafatai [literally: Ruler of the road where the colored grass grows] having by former visits contracted the warlike habits of the Fiji islanders, became tired of the peaceful and idle life he led at home, and was therefore determined to repair again to those islands in company with a number of young men of the same unquiet disposition. They were pleased with the Fiji maxim that war and strife were the noble employments of men, and ease and pleasure worthy to be courted only by the weak and effeminate. Tu’ihalafatai accordingly set sail with his followers about 250 in number in three large canoes for the island of Lakemba.
With three canoes and 250 men that makes about 83 men in each canoe: large canoes indeed. The canoes would also have to be large enough to carry food, water, and belongings for all these men during the course of the voyage. Lakemba lies in a northwesterly direction from Tongatapu, a distance of about 260 nautical miles, and is one of the Fiji Islands nearest to Tonga. The Tongans, alone among the Polynesians, scattered on islands across the wide Pacific Ocean, preserved into the nineteenth century the ability to make long sea voyages. From Mariner’s report it is evident that in the early 1800’s Tongans were traveling not only to Fiji but also to Samoa, and even to the Hoorne Islands (Futuna and Alofi), small specs of land in the ocean 440 nautical miles from Tongatapu.
The islands of Rotuma — 670 nautical miles northwest of Tongatapu — and Wallis Island (Uvea), east of Samoa came under the influence of the Tongans. There is a legend that the large stones from which the ancient royal tombs of the Langi at Mu’a on Tongatapu were built came from Uvea. Taxes were still being collected from Rotuma by Tonga as late as 1910.
Tu’ihalafatai and his men did not intend to make an attack upon Lakemba, but to join one party or the other and rob, plunder, get canoes, kill the natives, and in short do anything that was, according to their notions, noble and glorious.
To give an instance of the spirit of these young men, while yet at the island of Tongatapu, they on one occasion during the night undermined a storehouse of yams, cloth, and mats. Working their way up into the place, emptied it of everything it contained — not that they wanted these things, for they were all independent chiefs, but solely for their amusement. They had previously taken an oath, by their tutelar gods and their fathers, not to betray one another under penalty of death. If on these occasions they met with a stranger who would not readily enter into their views, they put it out of his power to discover them by dispatching him without further ceremony.
This chief and his companions when they arrived at the Fiji Islands employed themselves in the way suitable to their inclinations: sometimes joining one party, sometimes another, as caprice or hopes of plunder led them. As many of these islands were not only at war with one another but also had civil dissensions among themselves, two or three garrisons on one island being in a state of warfare, one with another, the newcomers found a choice of employment ready prepared for them.
They remained at the Fiji Islands about two and a half years. Toward the end of this period they were not contented with joining the wars of others but entered into one of their own for the greater acquirement of plunder; their superior bravery rendered them very successful. Tired at length with their long absence from home, they returned to Tonga, leaving their own canoes behind them and coming away in the better formed ones of the Fiji Islands. In their passage they experienced a heavy gale; one of the canoes with some of the choicest men was lost. On the arrival of the remainder at Tonga, they found the place in a state of insurrection, the cause and circumstances are as follows.
Long before the time of Tu’ihalafatai’s departure for Fiji, Tuku’aho had succeeded to the throne; but held the reins of government not with the complete satisfaction of his people; far from it.
The name, Tuku’aho, literally means: leave of day. Tuku’aho was the man Captain Cook knew so well during his three month’s stay in Tonga. Finau’s father, who also went by the name of Finau, was often in Cook’s company. Although a friendly and helpful person, Cook was puzzled by this man’s sometimes deceitful behavior.
Tuku’aho is reported to have been a man of a vindictive and cruel turn of mind, taking every opportunity to exert his authority, frequently in a manner not only cruel, but wanton. As an instance of which, he on one occasion gave orders (which were instantly obeyed) that twelve of his cooks, who always were in waiting at his public ceremony of drinking kava, should undergo the amputation of their left arms merely to distinguish them from other men, and for the vanity of rendering himself singular by this extraordinary exercise of his authority. This and many other acts of cruelty laid the groundwork for an insurrection and a complete revolution in the affairs of Tonga.
Tupouniua [literally: Tupou, a god of Niua, an island whose name means, plenty of coconuts ] a great chief, and brother of Finau, felt or conceived himself to be exceedingly oppressed by the tyranny of Tuku’aho till at length he determined to be free or die in the attempt With this view he often conversed with Finau, (at that time tributary chief of the Ha’apai Islands) sounding his opinion and spurring him on to the same resolution with the declaration that if he would not assist him he would manage the whole conspiracy himself. Led on partly by these persuasions, but principally by his own private views, Finau entered into a league with Tupouniua. One evening these two attended by several of their followers waited on Tuku’aho, as was now and then customary, to pay their respects to him by presents of kava root, cloth, a pig, and several baskets of yams; they then retired. This served as a plausible reason for their being that night in the neighborhood of the King’s house. About midnight they again repaired to his house with their followers whom they placed around it as watchful guards ready to dispatch all who might attempt to escape from the place. Finau took command of these while Tupouniua entered, armed with his axe and burning with desire of revenge. As he passed along on either hand lay the wives and favorite mistresses of the King: the matchless beauties of Tonga perfumed with the aroma of sandalwood, and their necks strung with wreaths of the freshest flowers. The sanguinary Tupouniua could have wept over their fate; but the freedom of his country was at stake, and the opportunity was not to be lost. He sought the mat of his destined victim where he lay buried in the profoundest sleep. He stood over him for a short moment, but being willing that he should know from whom he received his death, he struck him upon the face. Tuku’aho started up; “It is I, Tupouniua that strike;” and a tremendous blow felled him to the ground never to rise again. Horror and confusion immediately took place. Tupouniua snatched up the late King’s adopted son, (a child of three years old) whom he was desirous of saving, and rushed out of the house, as the guards of Finau rushed in, when speedy death silenced the screams of those who but now lay reposed in the arms of sleep.
The two chiefs and their followers betook themselves as quickly as possible to Ha’akili [The northwest tip of Tongatapu Island. ] Early in the morning confusion and dismay reigned in Tongatapu. Men and women ran they knew no whither, unknowing whether to join this party or that. Old men were seen making speeches to the people, encouraging them to avenge the death of their chief. The numerous relations and friends of the deceased King ran about beating their breasts and weeping. Shells were heard blowing in every quarter as signals of war and disturbance to assemble the friends of the late Hau [King] and to summon together the partisans of liberty.
Finau and Tupouniua in the course of a few hours assembled together a considerable number of adherents. After launching their canoes in case their retreat from the island should be necessary, they proceeded to Hihifo, the place where the Hau was killed. When they arrived here, their first concern was to destroy the enemy’s canoes; and they succeeded in doing it after some opposition. They next directed their march to the place where the loyalists were assembled, about three quarters of a mile distant from Hihifo. A general battle took place which lasted till night with great slaughter on both sides.
Finau’s party was at length repulsed and forced to fly back to Ha’akili where they remained till the evening of the ensuing day when an event happened which reinforced their strength and gave these allied chiefs and their followers fresh spirits for the combat: Tu’ihalafatai and his bold adventurers arrived in two canoes from the Fiji Islands. This chief and his warlike companions, ever ready to enter into a new contest, immediately joined Finau and swore allegiance to his cause. The very evening of their landing Tu’ihalafatai felt himself much indisposed. As his disorder hourly increased, he was seized with the apprehension that his complaint was mortal. With this idea strongly impressed upon his mind, he proposed that they should sally forth as early as possible the ensuing morning to meet the enemy while he had any strength remaining, that by this means he might escape the bed of sickness and die gloriously in the field of battle. Scarcely had the sun risen, when the three chiefs and their brave warriors were already on their march towards Hihifo. Their equally brave and determined opponents met them about half-way. Both of them paused as if instinctively at the same moment. They summoned up their spirits to endure a mighty and bloody conflict — liberty on the one side, loyalty on the other — fired them with the desire to perform matchless achievements. The active and impetuous mind of Tu’ihalafatai could brook no delay. Anxious to set the glorious example of an heroic spirit, he and his Fiji warriors began the battle by rushing forward on a party of the enemy. Immediately the battle became general with such unconquerable determination on both sides that the plains of Tonga had perhaps never before witnessed so tremendous a shock. The brave Tupouniua, inspired by the greatness of his cause, with a resistless arm performed prodigies of valour. When he stood, he stood like a rock. When he rushed, it was with the impetuosity of a torrent. He raised his ponderous club only to give death to his victim. As he moved forward, he strode over the bodies of fallen chiefs. In another part of the battle, Tu’ihalafatai was seen moving onward in the path of victory, though he felt his strength decreasing. The terror of his fiery eye paralyzed the arms of his enemies. At length, fearful lest too speedy a conquest might deprive him of the opportunity of dying a warrior’s death, he rushed with an exulting spirit into the thickest of the battle; and fell, pierced with spears beneath the clubs of his adversaries. In the meanwhile, Finau was not an idle looker on. He fought with equal courage, but with a more steady and less presumptuous bravery. The greatest of his enemies fell beneath the weight of his club. As his eye sated itself with the number of his opponents whom death had stretched upon the reeking plain, his ambitious mind, confident in victory, seemed already to enjoy the sweets and power of monarchy. The battle raged for about three hours, when, by the extraordinary exertions and achievements principally of Tupouniua, who, as fame reports, slew on that day forty with his own hand, the enemy became panic-struck and fled in all directions, conquered by that arm which two days before in giving Tuku’aho his death had delivered the country from a tyrant.
Although the victory was so decisively in favor of Finau, it cost him the lives of many of his bravest men and so far lessened his numerical strength as to render it prudent not to pursue the enemy. After consultation with his ally, it was agreed to proceed immediately to the Ha’apai Islands and Vava’u, and look to their own possessions rather than run the risk of losing them and their lives too in a dangerous war at Tongatapu where the loyalists were particularly strong. They accordingly set sail for the Ha’apai Islands and landed at the nearest of them, Nomuka. After a slight resistance from a few of the adherents of Tuku’aho, they soon gained entire possession of Nomuka, and thence extended their arms to the neighboring islands, meeting with little opposition and gathering strength until they arrived at the island of Ha’ano, where a large body of loyalists were assembled and waiting ready to engage them. Here they had an obstinate but decisive battle which terminated in favor of Finau. Thus was the conquest of all the Ha’apai Islands insured, and of which Finau was acknowledged king. In this battle a number of chiefs and matapules (ministers and attendants of chiefs) were taken prisoners, all of whom having been in the immediate service of the late King, by the orders of Finau were put to death in various ways. Some were put on board old and useless canoes which were then scuttled and immediately sunk. Others were taken three or four leagues out to sea, and being put in old leaky canoes, and tied hand and foot were left gradually to sink. Those against whom Finau entertained the greatest inveteracy were taken to the island of Ofolanga, and their tied naked to stakes driven in the ground or to the trunks of trees and left to starve to death. While they were in this miserable situation, it is painful to relate the cruelty exercised towards them by some of the natives of the place. It must be acknowledged that the ill treatment they received was chiefly at the hands of thoughtless boys, who would sick sharp splinters of wood into their bodies and tantalize them by showing them provisions without giving them any. Notwithstanding their exposure to the raging heat of the sun, several of them bore their torments with the greatest fortitude, although lingering till the eighth day. Others, of weaker constitution died in three or four days. Ever since that time, the natives of the place superstitiously believe they can hear their groans frequently at night; but this no doubt is occasioned by the roaring of the surf at a distance, or of the sea in subterraneous caverns which, working upon the imagination, to a certain extent resembles the groans of dying people.
Finau, and his ally Tupouniua, after public rejoicing at Ha’ano, embarked for Vava’u where they were allowed to land without opposition. The people of Vava’u had heard of the assassination of Tuku’aho by canoes from the Ha’apai Islands and were determined to resist the claims of Finau, not by an open war, but in a mode much more harassing and tedious. He accordingly found the reduction of this island exceedingly troublesome and dangerous. The enemy, always avoiding a general engagement, frequently molested them with sudden and violent assaults, either under cover of the darkness of night, or during the day from their hiding places. This mode of warfare so exasperated Finau, who was not on such occasions of the mildest temper, that he gave orders that all prisoners who were chiefs should be reserved for future and exemplary punishment. The contest lasted about fourteen or fifteen days, during which Finau and Tupouniua separated and scoured the island all over, conquering wherever they met with opposition. At length Vuna, the chief of Vava’u, having fled to Samoa with a canoe full of other chiefs, Finau found himself master of the whole island and declared himself King. He gave up the government of it to Tupouniua, as a sort of viceroy, to pay him an annual tribute. The prisoners who were taken, at least all that were chiefs, were punished and put to death by means too revolting to the feelings to mention. All affairs being settled at Vava’u, Finau returned to the Ha’apai Islands to meditate future attempts upon Tongatapu.
In the meantime affairs went on very badly at Tongatapu. Tuku’aho left neither son nor brother to succeed him. He had several distant relations who put in claims for the sovereignty. Thus was a violent civil contention induced. The island was soon divided into several petty states. In the course of a little time, each party had built a fort for itself, so that there were at least twelve or thirteen different garrisoned places upon the island — each in a state of warfare with all the rest and each determined to maintain its claims as long as it had strength to do so. Thus was the island of Tongatapu, to which war had hitherto been a stranger, torn by civil strife and at times given up a prey to famine — a situation worse perhaps than that resulting from the tyranny of Tuku’aho. Besides their domestic troubles, every year they were disturbed by attacks from Finau who made it his annual custom to make a descent upon one or other of their fortresses, and sometimes upon several of them in the same season. But they were all so well fortified and intrenched that their enemy, however powerful, consisting of the Ha’apai people under command of Finau and the Vava’u people under that of Tupouniua had never succeeded by the time of my first arrival in taking or destroying a single fort; that is to say, during the space of ten or twelve years.
This piece of history I heard, not only from Finau, but also from Tupouniua, Tu’i Tonga, and a number of other chiefs, as well; also, though in detached portions, from several of the inhabitants of the island of Tongatapu, and I found a uniform agreement and consistency in all their accounts. From this it will appear, that at the time of Captain Cook’s visit, the whole of Tonga, (that is to say the island of Tongatapu, the Ha’apai islands and Vava’u,) was under the sole dominion of Tuku’aho whose seat of government was on the island of Tongatapu, and who received tributes from Finau, chief of the Ha’apai islands, and from Vuna, chief of Vava’u. At the time of my first arrival the island of Tongatapu was, and had been for ten or twelve years, divided into several petty states, all at war with one another. While Finau was king of the Ha’apai Islands and Vava’u, and Tupouniua only tributary chief of Vava’u.