In the ensuing pages, I shall endeavor to furnish a correct view of all the manners, customs, and sentiments of the Tonga people, that have not been mentioned, or sufficiently dwelt upon and which it is hoped will be found exceedingly interesting, as offering a striking contrast to the manners, customs, and sentiments of civilized nations; and upon these subjects I shall speak in the following order: rank in society, religious, civil and professional; religion; religious ceremonies; knowledge; dress; domestic habits; pastimes; music and poetry; and lastly, language.
The rank or estimation in which individuals are held in society at the Tonga Islands may be most conveniently treated of, first, under three different points of view, namely religious, civil and professional, with reference to their mythology, political subordination, and their arts and manufactures; and secondly, with reference to old age, female sex, and infancy. In this chapter, I propose to speak merely of rank in society, and the degree of respect due from one man to another; all which is determined in regard to every individual, by one or other, or more of the foregoing circumstances, mythology, politics, arts, age, sex, and childhood.
To divide society into distinct classes, and to discourse of the degree of rank or respect accruing to individuals, accordingly as they may belong to one or other of these classes, would be a task very difficult to execute, and perhaps impossible in respect to the people of these islands; at least, not without making numerous exceptions and explanations, which would only be the means of rendering the description both tedious and complicate. For one and the same individual (a priest), who today is held in scarcely any estimation, may tomorrow (under the influence of the inspiration of some god) take place of everybody present, seat himself at the head of the kava ring, be respected as the god himself, and his discourse attentively listened to as oracular. Again, the King himself, whom one might suppose to be the greatest person in the country (and in fact he has the greatest power), is by no means the highest noble, but must yield in point of rank to many others. In this order of things, therefore, we shall first speak of those persons to whom rank and respect is yielded, on the score or religious circumstances; and these are Tu’i Tonga, Viasi, and the priests.
I here speak of Tu’i Tonga as if actually existing in his full rank, with all the public honors of religious estimation; but it will be recollected, that before my departure from Vava’u the King had done away entirely with all the ceremonies formerly considered due to the divine character of this chief; and as this was done immediately after Tu’i Tonga’s death, his son did not succeed to this high title; so that if affairs still remain in the same state at Vava’u, there is at present no Tu’i Tonga, and probably never again will be; but if there should happen some violent political change, it is possible the son of the late divine chief may be raised to that honor. I therefore speak of Tu’i Tonga as if actually existing. The family name of Tu’i Tonga is Fatefehi; and the present head of the family, the only son (of legitimate rank), is now a youth of about sixteen or seventeen years of age; his name is Fatafehi Laufili Tonga. He is still considered a chief of high rank, and has respect paid to him accordingly.
Tu’i Tonga and Viasi are both acknowledged descendants of chief gods who formerly visited the islands of Tonga, but whether their original mothers were goddesses or merely natives of Tonga, is a question which they do not pretend to decide. Of these two personages, Tu’i Tonga, as may be guessed from his title, is far higher in rank — the word imports chief of Tongatapu, which island has always been considered the most noble of all the Friendly Islands, and from time immemorial the greatest chiefs have been accustomed to make it their principal place of residence, and after their decease to be buried there in the tombs of their ancestors. This island, moreover, gives name, by way of pre-eminence, to all the islands taken collectively, as a capital town sometimes gives name to a country; and withal it has acquired the epithet of sacred, taboo, and is thus sometimes called “Tonga taboo,” denoting its excellence; from this circumstance it is erroneously noted down in our charts Tonga-taboo; but taboo is only an epithet occasionally used.
The respect which is shown to Tu’i Tonga, and the high rank which he holds in society, is wholly of a religious nature, and is far superior, when occasion demands it, to that which is shown even to the King himself; for this latter, as will by and by be seen, is by no means of the most noble descent, but yields in this respect to Tu’i Tonga, Viasi, and several families related to them; and if the King were accidentally to meet any chief of nobler descent than himself, he would have to sit down on the ground till the other had passed him, which is a mark of respect that a common peasant would be obliged to show to any chief or ‘eiki whatsoever; and for this reason the King never associates with any chief superior to himself, and always endeavors to avoid meeting them, and they in like manner endeavor to avoid him, that he might not be put to the trouble of sitting down while they passed. If anyone were to forego this ceremony in presence of a superior ‘eiki, some calamity from the gods would be expected as a punishment for the omission. Sitting down is with them a mark of respect, as standing up is with us, before a superior; upon the principle perhaps, that in this posture a man cannot so readily attack or assassinate the person in whose presence he is; or it may be that in this posture lowering his height is significant of his rank or merit being humbled in presence of the other.
There are many ceremonies which characterize the high respect and veneration shown to Tu’i Tonga; but as in this place we are discoursing of rank, not of ceremonies, the full description of the latter must be deferred till I come to speak of religious rites. Here I shall only mention, in a general way, in what these ceremonies chiefly consist.
1. The grand ceremony of ‘Inasi, which is performed once a year, (about the month of October,) and consists in offering the first fruits of the year to Tu’i Tonga. It was supposed that if this ceremony were neglected, the vengeance of the gods would fall in a signal manner upon the people.
2. Peculiarity of his marriage ceremony.
3. Peculiarity of his burial ceremony.
4. Peculiarity of the mourning for his decease.
5. Tu’i Tonga is not circumcised, as all the other men are, unless he goes to foreign island to undergo this ceremony; nor is he tattooed.
6. Peculiarities of speech, used in regard to Tu’i Tonga; for instance, if the King or any chief but Tu’i Tonga be sick, they say he is tengetange, but Tu’i Tonga being sick, he is said to be puluhi. Many other words are used exclusively for him.
In the Tongan language language there are four ways of referring to sickness. The crudest is puke, generally used when referring to animals. Mahaki’ia is a more polite word than puke. Tengetange shows definite deference to the sick person; and, as Mariner said, puluhi is used when referring to the illness of a regal person.
These things are mentioned in this place, merely to afford an idea of the high veneration in which Tu’i Tonga is held; for to whom but the greatest personage can such peculiarities belong? Notwithstanding his high rank, however, he has comparatively but very little absolute power, which extends in a direct and positive manner only to his own family and attendants. As to his property, he has somewhat more than the generality of the nobles, but much less than the King, who by his arbitrary sovereignty can lay claim to almost anything.
Thus all that can be said in this place of Tu’i Tonga is, that he is by far the greatest ‘eiki, having the credit of a high divine original, and that all respect and veneration is therefore due to him.
Viasi, as mentioned before, is another ‘eiki of divine origin, but far from being equal to Tu’i Tonga. The King, indeed, avoids his presence, the same as he would that of Tu’i Tonga, and always pays him the usual obeisance when he happens to meet him. He has no peculiar marks of high respect shown to him, as are shown to Tu’i Tonga; that is to say, no ceremonies that are, in themselves, peculiar and different from what are shown to other chiefs by their inferiors. There is this one universal acknowledgment, however, namely that he is a great chief descended from a god, that he is next in rank to Tu’i Tonga, and superior to every other chief. His name has no known literal meaning that I could discover.
Priests or fa’ahikehe. The term fa’ahikehe means split off, separate, or distinct from, and is applied to signify a priest, or man, who has a peculiar or distinct sort of mind or soul, differing from that of the generality of mankind, which disposes some god occasionally to inspire him. These inspirations, of which an account has been given, frequently happen; and on such occasions the priest has the same deference and respect shown to him as if he were the god himself; if the King happens to be present, he retires to a respectful distance, and sits down among the body of the spectators, so would Viasi, and so would even the high divine chief Tu’i Tonga, because a god is believed to exist at that moment in the priest, and to speak from his mouth. At other times a priest has no other respect paid to him than what his own proper family rank may require. They generally belong to the lower order of chiefs, or to the matapules, though sometimes great chiefs are thus visited by the gods, and the King himself has been inspired by Taliai Tupou, the chief of the gods. During the time a priest is inspired he is looked on with more or less veneration, according to the rank of the god that inspires him. But more upon this subject under the head of religion.
The civil ranks of society may be thus divided; Hau, or King; ‘eiki, or nobles; matapules; mu’as, and tu’as.
The Hau, or King, is an arbitrary monarch, deriving his right to the throne partly from hereditary succession, and partly from military power, which latter he is occasionally obliged to exert to secure himself in the former. His power and influence over the minds of the people is derived from the following circumstances; namely, hereditary right; supposed protection of the gods, if he is the lawful heir; his reputation as a warrior; the nobility of his descent; and lastly, but not leastly, the strength and number of his fighting men. He, of course, possesses the greatest power of any individual but, in respect to rank, as before observed, he is differently circumstanced. In this last particular, not only Tu’i Tonga, Viasi, and priests actually inspired, are superior to him, but even several other nobles are higher in rank, not as to office or power, but as to blood, or descent, for nobility consists in being related either to Tu’i Tonga, Viasi, or the Hau, and the nearer any family is related to them, the nobler it is; those related to Tu’i Tonga being nobler than those equally related to Viasi, and those related to this latter being more noble than those equally related to the Hau. Hence it appears that there must be many ‘eikis more noble than the King; meeting them, he must show the same marks of respect as are usual from an inferior to a superior. If he were to touch anything personally belonging to the superior chief, as himself, or his garments, or the mat on which he sleeps, he becomes tabooed, as it is termed, or under the prohibition to feed himself with his own hands; or, if he does, it is at the risk of becoming diseased, or suffering some other calamity from the gods as a punishment. But from this taboo he can readily free himself, by performing the ceremony of moe-moe, which consists in touching, with both hands, the feet of the superior chief, or of one equal to him. But more of these ceremonies in their proper place.
‘Eiki, or Nobles. All those persons are ‘eiki, or nobles, or chiefs (for we have used these terms synonymously), who are any way related either to the family of Tu’i Tonga, or Viasi, or the Hau: and all, and nobody else but chiefs, have the privilege of freeing people from the taboo, under circumstances, and in the manner related in the above paragraph. Tu’i Tonga and Viasi may easily be conceived sources of nobility, on account of their supposed divine original, and the Hau because he holds the reins of government, and is invested with power. The family of Finau, who is the present Hau, say, that they descended neither from Tu’i Tonga nor Viasi, but are altogether a distinct race. The fact, probably, is, that Finau’s family is a distant branch of one of the others; but having at length ascended the throne, it drew its rank and consequence more from this circumstance than from such distant relationship. The present Finau’s father was the first of his family that came to the throne, which he did by usurpation and expulsion of the then reigning family. The Haus before that time, as far back as they have credible records, which is not more than about four, or, at most, five generations, were all relations of Tu’i Tonga. At all events, this is certain, that the present acknowledged fountains of nobility are Tu’i Tonga, Viasi, and the King, in the order in which they here stand. In every family nobility descends by the female line; for where the mother is not a noble, the children are not nobles; but supposing the father and mother to be nearly equal by birth, the following is the order in which the individuals of the family are to be ranked, namely the father, the mother, the eldest son, the eldest daughter, the second son, the second daughter, etc., or, if there be no children, the next brother to the man, then the sister, the second brother, the second sister, etc. But if the woman is more noble than the man, then her relations, in like order, take precedence in rank, but they do not inherit his property, as will be seen in another place. All the children of a female noble are, without exception, nobles.
The custom of descent of rank and property through the maternal line rather than paternal appears in other societies. In the history of culture, maternal descent may precede, and and later be replaced by, paternal descent. It is a biologic fact that a person’s origin is more reliably traceable to the mother than the father. There may be some doubt about who the father is, but never who the mother is. The sons of chiefs by common women could not become chiefs, only the sons of noble women.
The matapules rank next to the chiefs; they are a sort of honorable attendants upon chiefs, are their companions, counsellors, and advisers; they see that the orders and wishes of their chiefs are duly executed, and may not improperly be called their ministers, and are more or less regarded according to the rank of the chief to whom they are attached. They have the management of all ceremonies. Their rank is from inheritance; and they are supposed to have been, originally, distant relations of the nobles, or to have descended from persons eminent for experience and wisdom, and whose acquaintance and friendship on that account became valuable to the King, and other great chiefs. As no man can assume the rank and title of matapule till his father be dead, the greater part of them are beyond the middle age of life, and, as it is their business to make themselves acquainted with all rites and ceremonies, and with the manners, customs, and affairs of Tonga, they are always looked up to as men of experience and superior information. Some of the matapules are adept also at some art or profession, such as canoe-building, or superintending funeral rites. This last, though a ceremony, the generality of matapules do not attend, as it is also a distinct profession. Those few that are canoe-builders are very perfect in their art, and only make canoes for the King, or other great chiefs. The matapules also make themselves acquainted with traditionary records, and hand them down to their sons. When a matapule dies, his eldest son, or, if he have no son, his next brother, becomes a matapule. All the sons and brothers of matapules are mu’a.
Mu’as are the next class of people below the matapules; they are either the sons or brothers of matapules, or descendants of the latter. As the sons and brothers of matapules are mu’as, and as no mu’a can become a matapule till his father or brother whom he is to succeed is dead, so, in like manner, the sons and brothers of mu’as are only tu’as, and no tu’a can become a mu’a till his father or brother whom he is to succeed is dead. The mu’a have much to do in assisting at public ceremonies, such as sharing out food and kava under the direction of the matapules. They sometimes arrange and direct instead of the matapules, unless on very grand occasions. Like the matapules, they form part of the retinue of chiefs, and are more or less respected according to the rank of their chiefs. Most of the mu’as are professors of some art.
Both matapules and mu’as have the business of attending to the good order of society, to look to the morals of the younger chiefs, who are apt to run into excesses, and oppress the lower orders (the tu’as), in which case they admonish them, and if they pay no attention, they report them to the older chiefs, and advise that something should be done to remedy such evils. They are very much respected by all classes. Tu’as are the lowest order of all, or the bulk of the people. They are all, by birth, ki fonua, or peasants; but some of them are employed occasionally in the various occupations of performing the tattoo, cooking, club-carving, and shaving, according to their abilities in these respective arts, and meet with encouragement by presents. Those tu’as that are evidently related to a mu’a, and consequently have a chance of becoming mu’a, are respected by those who can trace no such relationship.
Professional Class of Society. We now come to speak of those who draw respect rather than rank according to their usefulness in different arts and manufactures, more or less regarded. Some of these, as we have before seen, are matapules, and rank accordingly, the greater part of them are mu’a, and the remainder of course tu’a.
Among those that practice the arts there are many that do it because their fathers did the same before them, and consequently have brought them up to it, and these are for the most part such as practice arts that are considered ingenious, and therefore respectable; and hence they have no motive sufficiently strong (unless it be sometimes laziness), to engage them to relinquish it, particularly as they obtain presents from their chiefs for their ingenuity. There is no positive law to oblige them to follow the business of their fathers, nor any motive but the honorable estimation in which their arts are held, or their own interest, or the common custom.
None are matapules except a few of the canoe builders and the superintendents of funeral rites, perhaps about a fifth or a sixth part of them. Some of the matapules are very expert in cutting ornaments out of whales teeth for necklaces, or for inlaying clubs, likewise in making clubs and spears, and other warlike instruments, which are not separate professions, but arts practiced by the canoe builders as being expert in the use of the toki or axe; at least there are no tufunga fono’i (inlayers of ivory), nor tufunga ngaohi me’a tau (makers of warlike instruments), but who are also canoe builders. All the tufunga a’u-vaka (canoe builders), and tufunga taboo (intendants of funeral rites), that are not matapules are mu’a, for no person of so low a rank as a tu’a can practice such respectable arts.
The remaining professions are followed both by mu’as and tu’as, with the exception of the three following, namely: tufunga fikava (barbers or shavers with shells), tangata fei ‘umu (cooks), and ki fonua (peasants), all of whom are tu’as.
Of the different professions, some are hereditary in the way before mentioned, and some are not; the non-hereditary consist of tufunga tatatau (those who perform the tattoo), tufunga tongi ‘akau-ta (club carvers, or engravers of the handle, not inlayers); and tufunga fikava (barbers.) The arts followed by these are not hereditary, because they are not of that respectability to engage a man to follow any of them because his father did the same; they are practiced by anyone who has a natural turn that way.
But the two lowest of all, namely the cooks and peasants, are such by inheritance, for the chiefs in whose service they may be necessarily require their services, and their children naturally succeed them, for neither of these arts require any great talent to learn. Everybody knows how to cook and till the ground in a tolerable degree; but those who are born to no better fate have no alternative left them; they must follow those necessary employments as the business of their life, if their chiefs command them; and to such alone the terms cook and peasants are here applied. The cook is somewhat the superior; he sees to the supplying of provisions, takes care of the storehouse, looks to the thatching and fences of the dwelling-house, occasionally gives an eye to the plantation, and sometimes works upon it himself. The head cook is generally not a little proud of himself, and is looked on with some respect by the cooks below him and the common peasants.
The term cook is frequently applied to a man though he be not a cook, to signify that he is of very low rank. Although a cook belonging to a chief may give himself many airs, and be thought something of by the common tu’as about him; yet if there be a company of peasants together, he that has the least to boast of in respect of family connexions is sure to be made the cook, and as it were servant to the rest.
The following then will be the order in which the different professions will stand as to the respect they may command in society. All individuals are not, however, esteemed according to their profession, but according to their abilities in it; for a clever man in one art will be sometimes more esteemed than a man of moderate abilities in a higher. In this arrangement the cooks are placed before the peasants, because the cooks of chiefs generally have to overlook them.
Hereditary. Followed by matapules and mu’as.
Tufunga a’u- vaka: canoe builders.
Tufunga fono’i: cutters of whale teeth ornaments.
Tufunga taboo: superintendents of funeral rites.
Hereditary. Followed by both mu’as and tu’as.
Tufunga ta maka: stone-masons, or makers of stone coffins.
Tufunga sia kupengu: net makers.
Tufunga toutai ika: fishermen.
Tufunga langa fale: large house builders.
Hereditary or not. Followed by mu’as and tu’as.
Tufunga tatatau: those who perform the tattoo.
Tufunga tongi ‘akau-ta: club-carvers.
Tufunga fikava: barbers or shavers with shells.
Hereditary. Followed only by tu’as.
Tangata fei ‘umu: cooks.
Kai fonua: peasants.
Property in these islands, as may easily be conjectured, consists principally in plantations, houses, and canoes. The right of succession to it is regulated by the order of relationship, so in like manner is the right of succession to the throne.
Having now given a view of the rank of individuals in society, with reference to religion, civil government, and professional occupations; I have now to consider it in respect to old age, sex, and childhood.
Old persons of both sexes are highly reverenced on account of their age and experience, in so much that it constitutes a branch of their first moral and religious duty, namely to reverence the gods, the chiefs, and aged persons; and consequently there is hardly any instance in these islands of old age being wantonly insulted.
Women have considerable respect shown to them on account of their sex, independent of the rank they might otherwise hold as nobles. They are considered to contribute much to the comforts and domestic happiness of the other sex, and as they are the weaker of the two, it is thought unmanly not to show them attention and kind regard. They are therefore not subjected to hard labour or any very menial work. Those that are nobles rank like the men according to the superiority of their relationship. If a woman, not a noble, is the wife or daughter of a matapule, she ranks as a matapule; if she be a noble, she is superior in rank to him, and so are the children male and female; but in domestic matters she submits entirely to his arrangements; notwithstanding this, however, she never loses the respect from her husband due to her rank, that is to say, he is obliged to perform the ceremony of moemoe before he can feed himself. If the husband and wife are both nobles of equal rank, the ceremony of moemoe is dispensed with; but where there is any difference the inferior must perform this ceremony to be freed from the taboo. If a woman marries a man higher in rank than herself, she always derives additional respect on that account; but a man having a wife who is a greater noble than himself acquires no additional respect from this source, but he has the advantage of her larger property.
It is a custom in the Tonga Islands for women to be what they call mothers to children or grown up young persons who are not their own, for the purpose of providing them or seeing that they are provided with all the conveniences of life; and this is often done, although their own natural mothers be living, and residing near the spot — no doubt for the sake of greater care and attention, or to be afterwards a substitute for the true parent, in the event of her premature death. The original intention seems not now understood, for it happens sometimes, that a young man having both his natural mother and a wife living, will take it in his head to have an adopted mother, whom he regards the same as his natural parent. If a woman is the foster mother to a person superior to herself, which is mostly the case, she acquires no additional respect from this source in society, though the adopted person be ever so great a noble; but if a woman is an attendant to a person of consequence, some respect always accrues to her on that account, because it is a thing publicly known, she forming a part of the retinue of the chief, and accompanying him everywhere; whereas, the relation in which a woman stands to her adopted son or daughter is more a matter of private agreement and mutual understanding. Thus, Mafi Hape, one of the wives of Finau-the-first, the father of the present King, was my foster mother, appointed by the King her husband. To this person I feel greatly indebted for a considerable portion of my intimate knowledge of the language and true customs of Tonga, in contradistinction to words and customs introduced from other islands. She would frequently take the greatest pains in teaching me the correct Tonga pronunciation, and would laugh me out of all little habits and customs, in dress, manners, and conversation, that were not strictly according to the Tonga fashion, or not considered sufficiently polished and becoming an ‘eiki (noble.) In all respects, and on every occasion, she conducted herself towards me with the greatest maternal affection, modesty, and propriety. She was a woman of great understanding, personal beauty, and amiable manners.
If a young girl is betrothed, or set apart to be the wife or concubine of a noble higher in rank than herself, she derives more respect on that account, independent of what is due to her own proper rank.
The women employ themselves (particularly nobles) in making a variety of articles, chiefly ornamental; these employments, however, are considered accomplishments, not professions. Some of the higher class of women not only make these employments an amusement, but actually make a sort of trade of it, without prejudice to their rank; which is what the lower class of women could not do, because what they make is not their own property, but is done by the order of their superiors; the highest accomplishment cannot add to a woman’s rank, though it does somewhat to the estimation in which she may be held, for such things, when well done, are honorable in a woman of rank.
Children acquire their rank by inheritance, as before observed, from the mother’s side: if she be not a noble they are not, and vice versa. If a man, however high his rank, has a child by a woman who is only a tu’a, no matter whether they are married or not (but indeed there is no instance of a noble marrying a tu’a), that child would not be a noble, though it were known that the father was a noble; the child might rank as a mu’a, but not higher. On the contrary, if a woman who is a noble were to have a child by a tu’a, the child would be a noble; but this perhaps seldom happens, for the pride of the females would not allow of such a low intrigue; or if such a circumstance were to take place, the greatest care would be used that it should not be known. Children that are nobles are somewhat less respected, as may be supposed, on account of their childhood; but then any familiarity or slight disrespect that might be shown them would only be by nobles nearly equal or superior to them. If Finau were to see a child of superior rank approach or be brought near him, he perhaps would say, (and frequently does on such occasions), “Take that child away! Why do you bring him here, troubling me with the taboo?” — or some such abrupt expression. Such language, however, would not be decorous from an inferior, unless he be of nearly equal rank, and then only by authority of his superior age.