xes, clubs, and so forth as proofs of fidelity to
their late chief, the dead and buried King Finow. It was on this
occasion that the deceased king's fishermen demonstrated their loyalty
and attachment to his memory by the self-inflicted tortures which I have
already described.[223] When these exhibitions of cruelty were over, the
day's ceremonies, which altogether lasted about six hours, were
terminated by a grand wrestling-match. That being over, the people
dispersed to their respective houses or occupations, and the obsequies
of Finow, king of the Tonga islands, came to an end.[224]

[223] Above, pp. 135 _sq._

[224] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 403-405.

The wrestling-match which wound up the funeral honours paid to the
departed monarch would seem not to have been an isolated case of
athletic sports held at this particular funeral. Apparently it was a
general custom in Tonga to conclude burial-rites with games of this
kind. At least we may infer as much from an expression made use of by
the first missionaries to Tongataboo. They say that the chief of their
district, after taking to himself a wife in the morning went in the
afternoon "to finish the funeral ceremonies for his brother, in
celebrating the games usual on that occasion."[225] The practice, which
is apt to seem to us incongruous, of holding games at a funeral, was
observed by the Greeks in antiquity and by not a few other peoples in
modern times.[226]

[225] Captain James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern
Pacific Ocean_, p. 265.

[226] _The Golden Bough_, Part III., _The Dying God_, pp. 92
_sqq._

On the other hand the obsequies of the sacred or divine chief, the
Tooitonga, differed in certain remarkable particulars from the
posthumous honours generally paid to chiefs. It is true that his
burial-place was of the same form as that of other chiefs, and that the
mode of his interment did not differ essentially from theirs, except
that it was customary to deposit some of his most valuable property with
him in the grave, including his beads, whale's teeth, fine Samoan mats,
and other articles. Hence the family burying-place of the Tooitongas in
the island of Tongataboo, where the whole line of these pontiffs had
been interred, must have become very rich in the course of time; for no
native would dare to commit the sacrilege of stealing the treasures at
the holy tomb.[227] However, the sacrifice of property to the dead s