Volume 1

An account of the natives of the Tonga islands, in the south Pacific ocean. With an original grammar and vocabulary of their language / Compiled and arranged from the extensive communications of Mr. William Mariner, several years resident in those islands. By John Martin.

  • Mariner, William, 1791-1853.
Date:
[etc., etc.] 1827
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An account of the natives of the Tonga islands, in the south Pacific ocean. With an original grammar and vocabulary of their language / Compiled and arranged from the extensive communications of Mr. William Mariner, several years resident in those islands. By John Martin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    torn. It may perhaps be considered an offering to Tooitonga’s ancestors, which it would be sa- crilegious to take away while it was good for any thing ! Finow had three daughters, the eldest of whom, now about eighteen years of age, had been long betrothed to Tooitonga, who having expressed his wish that the marriage should take place, Finow gave orders for the necessary preparations, about five days after the above-mentioned ceremony. Tooitonga was now about forty years of age. The particulars of this chief’s marriage, which was somewhat different from those of other chiefs, shall be here described. The young lady having been profusely anointed with cocoa-nut oil, scented with sandal-wood, was dressed in the choicest mats of the Navigator’s Isl- ands, of the finest texture, and as soft as silk. So many of these costly mats were wrapped round her, perhaps more than forty yards, that her arms stuck out from her body in a ludicrous manner; and she could not, strictly speaking, sit down, but was obliged to bend in a sort of half-sitting posture, leaning upon her female attendants, who were un- der the neccessity of again raising her when she required it. A young girl, about five years of age, was also dressed out in a similar manner, to be her immediate and particular handmaid. Four other young virgins, about sixteen, were also her fol- lowers, and were dressed in a manner nearly si- milar, but not with quite so many mats. The lady and her five companions being all ready, proceeded to the ma/ai of Tooitonga, who was there, wait- ing for their arrival, together with a number of other chiefs ; two matabooles sittimr before him.