ame is given as
Vason by (Sir) Basil Thomson in his _Diversions of a Prime
Minister_ (Edinburgh and London, 1894), pp. 326, 327, 329, 331;
but his real name seems to have been George Veeson. See Captain
James Wilson, _Missionary Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_,
pp. 6, 230.

[96] Charles Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring
Expedition_, iii. 22.

[97] W. Mariner, _Tonga Islands_, ii. 101-103.

It is said that in order to people Bolotoo the god Hikuleo used to carry
off the first-born sons of chiefs and other great men, whom he
transported to the island of the gods. To such lengths did he go in this
system of abduction that men on earth grew very uneasy. Their ranks
became thinner and thinner. How was all this to end? At last the other
gods were moved to compassion. The two gods Tangaloa and Maui laid hold
of brother Hikuleo, passed a strong chain round his waist and between
his legs, and then taking the chain by the ends they fastened one of
them to the sky and the other to the earth. Thus trussed up, the deity
still made many attempts to snatch away first-born sons; but all his
efforts were thwarted and baffled by the chain, for no sooner did he
dart out in one direction, than the chain pulled him back in another.
According to another, or the same story, the excursions of the deity
were further limited by the length of his tail, the end of which was
tethered to the cave in which he resided; and though the tail was long
and allowed him a good deal of rope, do what he would, he could not
break bounds or obtain more than a very partial view of what was going
on in the rest of the world.[98]

[98] Sarah S. Farmer, _Tonga and the Friendly Islands_, pp. 132
_sq._ As to Hikuleo and his long tail, see also Charles Wilkes,
_Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition_, iii. 23,
"Hikuleo is the god of spirits, and is the third in order of
time; he dwells in a cave in the island. Bulotu is most
remarkable for a long tail, which prevents him from going
farther from the cave in which he resides than its length will
admit of." Here the god Hikuleo appears to be confused with the
island of Bulotu (Bulotoo) in which he resided. Tradition wavers
on the question whether Hikuleo was a god or goddess, "but the
general suffrage seems in favour of the female sex." See E. E.
V. Collocot, "Notes on Tongan Religion," _Journal of the