THE HANDSOME CHIEFS

To Captain Cook the muscular Tongan men conveyed the suggestion of strength rather than of beauty.  They have, however, a legend which indicates that they had a high opinion of their personal appearance.  It is related by Mariner (II., 129-34).

The god Langai dwelt in heaven with his two daughters.  One day, as he was going to attend a meeting of the gods, he warned the daughters not to go to Tonga to gratify their curiosity to see the handsome chiefs there.  But hardly had he gone when they made up their minds to do that very thing.  “Let us go to Tonga,” they said to each other; “there our celestial beauty will be appreciated more than here where all the women are beautiful.”  So they went to Tonga and, arm in arm, appeared before the feasting nobles, who were astounded at their beauty and all wanted the girls.  Soon the nobles came to blows, and the din of battle was so great that it reached the ears of the gods.  Langai was despatched to bring back and punish the girls.  When he arrived, one of them had already fallen a victim to the contending chiefs.  The other he seized, tore off her head, and threw it into the sea, where it was transformed into a turtle.

HONEYMOON IN A CAVE

On the west coast of the Tongan Island of Hoonga there is a peculiar cave, the entrance to which is several feet beneath the surface of the sea, even at low water.  It was first discovered by a young chief, while diving after a turtle.  He told no one about it, and luckily, as we shall see.  He was secretly enamoured of a beautiful young girl, the daughter of a certain chief, but as she was betrothed to another man, he dared not tell her of his love.  The governor of the islands was a cruel tyrant, whose misdeeds at last incited this girl’s father to plot an insurrection.  The plot unfortunately was discovered and the chief with all his relatives, including the beautiful girl, condemned to be taken out to sea in a canoe and drowned.

No time was to be lost.  The lover hastened to the girl, informed her of her danger, confessed his love, and begged her to come with him to a place of safety.  Soon her consenting hand was clasped in his; the shades of evening favored their escape; while the woods afforded her concealment until her lover had brought a canoe to a lonely part of the beach.  In this they speedily embarked, and as he paddled her across the smooth water he related his discovery of the cavern destined to be her asylum till an opportunity offered of conveying her to the Fiji Islands.

When they arrived at the rock he jumped into the water, and she followed close after; they rose into the cavern, safe from all possibility of discovery, unless he should be watched.  In the morning he returned to Vavaoo to bring her mats to lie on, and gnatoo (prepared bark of mulberry-tree) for a change of dress.  He gave her as much of his time as prudence allowed, and meanwhile pleaded his tale of love, to which she was not deaf; and when she confessed that she, too, had long regarded him with a favorable eye (but a sense of duty had caused her to smother her growing fondness), his measure of happiness was full.