atabooles (nobles)
addressed the company, making a moral discourse on the
subject of chastity--advising the young men to respect, in
all cases, the wives of their neighbors, and never to take
liberties even with an unmarried woman against her free
consent."

The wives of chiefs must not go about without attendants. Mariner
says, somewhat naively, that when a man has an amour, he keeps it
secret from his wife,

"not out of any fear or apprehension, but because it is
unnecessary to excite her jealousy, and make her perhaps
unhappy; for it must be said, to the honor of the men, that
they consult in no small degree, and in no few respects, the
happiness and comfort of their wives."

If Mariner tells the truth, it must be said in this respect that the
Tongans are superior to all other peoples we have so far considered in
this book. Though the husband's authority at home is absolute, and
though one girl in every three is betrothed in her infancy, men do
not, he says, make slaves or drudges of their wives, or sell their
daughters, two out of every three girls being allowed to choose their
own husbands--"early and often." The men do most of the hard work,
even to the cooking. "In Tonga," says Seemann (237), "the women have
been treated from time immemorial with all the consideration demanded
by their weaker and more delicate constitution, not being allowed to
perform any hard work." Cook also found (II., 149) that the province
allotted to the men was "far more laborious and extensive than that of
the women," whose employments were chiefly such as may be executed in
the house.

LOVE OF SCENERY

If we may rely on Mariner there is still another point in which the
Tongans appear to be far above other Polynesians, and barbarians in
general. He would have us believe that while they seldom sing about
love or war, they evince a remarkable love of nature (I., 293). He
declares that they sometimes ascend a certain rock to "enjoy the
sublime beauty of the surrounding scenery," or to reflect on the deeds
of their ancestors. He cites a specimen of their songs, which, he
says, is often sung by them; it is without rhymes or regular measure,
and is given in a sort of recitative beginning with this highly poetic
passage:

"Whilst we were talking of _Vavaoo tooa Licoo_, the women
said to us, let us repair to the back of the island to
contemplate the setting sun: there l