e
royal house. He had no priest, unless it was the king himself, who was
occasionally inspired by him; but sometimes a whole reign would pass
without the king being once favoured with the divine afflatus.[55]

[55] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 105.

Another god was Tooi fooa Bolotoo, whose name means "Chief of all
Bolotoo." From this it might be supposed that he was the greatest god in
Bolotoo, the home of the gods and of the deified spirits of men; but in
fact he was regarded as inferior to the war god, and the natives could
give no explanation of his high-sounding title. He was the god of rank
in society, and as such he was often invoked by the heads of great
families on occasion of sickness or other trouble. He had several
priests, whom he occasionally inspired.[56]

[56] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 105 _sq._

Another great god was Toobo Toty, whose name signifies "Toobo the
mariner." He was the god of voyages, and in that capacity was invoked by
chiefs or anybody else at sea; for his principal function was to
preserve canoes from accidents. Without being himself the god of wind,
he had great influence with that deity, and was thus enabled no doubt to
save many who were in peril on the great deep.[57]

[57] W. Mariner, _op. cit._ ii. 106 _sq._

Another god was Alo Alo, whose name means "to fan." He was the god of
wind and weather, rain, harvest, and vegetation in general. When the
weather was seasonable, he was usually invoked about once a month to
induce him to keep on his good behaviour; but when the weather was
unseasonable, or the islands were swept by destructive storms of wind
and rain, the prayers to him were repeated daily. But he was not
supposed to wield the thunder and lightning, "of which, indeed," says
Mariner, "there is no god acknowledged among them, as this phenomenon is
never recollected to have done any mischief of consequence."[58] From
this it would appear that where no harm was done, the Tongans found it
needless to suppose the existence of a deity; they discovered the hand
of a god only in the working of evil; fear was the mainspring of their
religion. In boisterous weather at sea Alo Alo was not invoked; he had
then to make room for the superior god, Toobo Toty, the protector of
canoes, who with other sea gods always received the homage of
storm-tossed mariners. However, Alo Alo, the weather god, came to his
own when the yams were approaching maturity in the early par