no one was found worthy to succeed him. His son, the young man who had acted as our pilot, was addicted to strong waters, and even if he had been otherwise eligible, he had put himself out of court by refusing to vacate the house built by the people as an official residence, but, owing to an oversight, erected on Fataäiki's private land. There was an interregnum for two years, and only one man in the island thought that there need ever again be a king of Niué-Fekai.[1] That man was Tongia.
Tongia was headman of Tuapa, and if he had attained no greater eminence until he was past seventy, it was owing to no foolish modesty on his part. You may, it seems, choose your own surname in Niué, and the name he chose in early life was Folofonua, which is "Horse"—the most terrible of all the beasts known to
- ↑ The following is a list of the kings as far back as their names are recorded:—
- Punimata of Halafualangi, who reigned at Fatuaua (died).
- Galiaga of Pulaki (killed).
- Patuavalu of Puato (died).
- Pakieto of Utavavau (starved to death). Interregnum of eighty years.
- Tuitonga (succeeded 1876).
- Fataäiki (succeeded 1888). Interregnum of nearly two years.
- Tongia (succeeded 1898).
