st and most powerful of
all others, the rest being no better than servants to him. This
doctrine, however, is wholly confined to the chiefs, for the _tooas_ (or
lower order) can give no account whatever; as they reckon the enjoyments
of Doobludha above their capacity, so they seem never to think of what
may become of them after they have served the purposes of this
life."[94] One of these first missionaries was a certain George Veeson,
who had been a bricklayer before he undertook to convert the heathen to
Christianity. Wearying, however, of missionary work, he deserted his
brethren and betook himself to the heathen, among whom he lived as one
of them, adopting the native garb, marrying native women, and eagerly
fighting in the wars of the natives among themselves. In this way he
acquired a considerable knowledge of the Tongan language and customs, of
which he made some use in the account of his experiences which he
published anonymously after his return to England. Speaking of Tongan
ideas concerning the immortality of the soul he says that he heard the
chiefs speak much of Bulotu (Bolotoo). "Into this region, however, they
believed none were admitted but themselves. The Tuas, or lower class,
having no hope of sharing such bliss, seldom speculate upon a futurity,
which to them appears a subject lost in shadows, clouds, and
darkness."[95] The missionaries reported to Commodore Wilkes that the
spirits of all chiefs were supposed to go to Bolotoo, while the souls of
poor people remained in this world to feed upon ants and lizards.[96]
With regard to the fate of the soul after death, the Tongans universally
and positively believed in the existence of a great island, lying at a
considerable distance to the north-west, which they considered to be the
abode of their gods and of the souls of their dead nobles and their
ministers (the _matabooles_). This island they supposed to be much
larger than all their own islands put together, and to be well stocked
with all kinds of useful and ornamental plants, always in a high state
of perfection, and always bearing the richest fruits and the most
beautiful flowers according to their respective natures; they thought
that when these fruits or flowers were plucked, others immediately took
their place, and that the whole atmosphere was filled with the most
delightful fragrance that the imagination can conceive, exhaled from
these immortal plants. The island, too, was well stocked with the m