at is feminine: who loves a masculine woman? besides,
men are stronger, and therefore it is but proper that they should do the
hard labour."[40]

[40] W. Mariner, _The Tonga Islands_, ii. 287. Compare _id._ ii.
124, note *; Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 410 _sq._

Further, it is to the credit of the Tongans that, unlike many other
Polynesians, they were not generally cannibals, and indeed for the most
part held in abhorrence the practice of eating human bodies. Still young
warriors occasionally devoured the corpses of their enemies in imitation
of the Fijians, imagining that in so doing they manifested a fierce,
warlike, and manly spirit. On one occasion, returning from such a
repast, they were shunned by every one, especially by the women, who
upbraided them, saying, "Away! you are a man-eater."[41]

[41] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, i. 194; compare _id._ i.
317-320.

The government of the Tongan islanders was eminently monarchical and
aristocratic. A strict subordination of ranks was established which has
been aptly compared to the feudal system. At the head of the social
edifice were two chiefs who bore some resemblance to the Emperor and the
Pope of mediaeval Europe, the one being the civil and military head of
the State, while the other embodied the supreme spiritual power.
Nominally the spiritual chief, called the Tooitonga, ranked above the
civil chief or king, who paid him formal homage; but, as usually happens
in such cases, the real government was in the hands of the secular
rather than of the religious monarch. The Tooitonga was acknowledged to
be descended from one of the chief gods; he is spoken of by Mariner, our
principal authority, as a divine chief of the highest rank, and he is
said to have enjoyed divine honours. The first-fruits of the year were
offered to him, and it was supposed that if this ceremony were
neglected, the vengeance of the gods would fall in a signal manner upon
the people. Yet he had no power or authority in matters pertaining to
the civil king.[42] The existence of such a double kingship, with a
corresponding distribution of temporal and spiritual functions, is not
uncommon in more advanced societies; its occurrence among a people so
comparatively low in the scale of culture as the Tongans is remarkable.

[42] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 424 _sqq._; W. Mariner,
_Tonga Islands_, ii. 74 _sqq._, 132 _sqq._; J. Dumont d'Urville,
_Voyage de l'As