and. He spoke the Tongan
language, and he was a special favourite of the two Tongan kings, named
Finow, who reigned successively in Tonga during his residence in the
islands. The kings befriended and protected him, so that he had the best
opportunities for becoming acquainted with the customs and beliefs of
the people. His observations have been confirmed from independent
sources, and we have every reason to regard them as trustworthy. So far
as we can judge, they are a simple record of facts, unbiassed by theory
or prejudice. In the following notice of the Tongan religion and
doctrine of the human soul I shall draw chiefly on the evidence of
Mariner.

[46] Mariner was captured by the Tongans on December 1, 1806,
and he escaped from the islands in 1810, apparently in November,
but the exact date of his escape is not given. See W. Mariner,
_Tonga Islands_, i. 43, ii. 15 _sqq._, 68, 69.

According to him, the religion of the Tonga islanders rests, or rather
used to rest, on the following notions.[47]

[47] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 97 _sqq._

They believed that there are _hotooas_,[48] gods, or superior beings,
who have the power of dispensing good and evil to mankind, according to
their merit, but of whose origin the Tongans formed no idea, rather
supposing them to be eternal.

[48] The word is commonly spelled _atua_ in the Polynesian
languages. See E. Tregear, _Maori-Polynesian Comparative
Dictionary_ (Wellington, N.Z. 1891), pp. 30 _sq._, who gives
_otua_ as the Tongan form.

They believed that there are other _hotooas_ or gods, who are the souls
of all deceased nobles and _matabooles_, that is, the companions,
ministers, and counsellors of the chiefs, who form a sort of inferior
nobility.[49] The souls of all these dead men were held to possess a
power of dispensing good and evil to mankind like the power of the
superior gods, but in a lesser degree.

[49] As to the _matabooles_ see W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii.
84 _sqq._

They believed that there are besides several _hotooa pow_, or
mischievous gods, who never dispense good, but only petty evils and
troubles, not as a punishment, but indiscriminately to anybody, from a
purely mischievous disposition.

They believed that all these superior beings, although they may perhaps
have had a beginning, will have no end.

They believed that the world also is of uncertain origin, having
coexisted with the gods