other person present:  After these followed others in the same manner, and then a particular challenge was given, by which each man singled out his antagonist:  This was done by joining the finger ends of both hands, and bringing them to the breast, at the same time moving the elbows up and down with a quick motion:  If the person to whom this was addressed accepted the challenge, he repeated the signs, and immediately each put himself into an attitude to engage:  The next minute they closed; but, except in first seizing each other, it was a mere contest of strength:  Each endeavoured to lay hold of the other, first by the thigh, and if that failed by the hand, the hair, the cloth, or elsewhere as he could:  When, this was done they grappled, without the least dexterity or skill, till one of them, by having a more advantageous hold, or greater muscular force, threw the other on his back.  When the contest was over, the old men gave their plaudit to the victor in a few words, which they repeated together in a kind of tone:  His conquest was also generally celebrated by three huzzas.  The entertainment was then suspended for a few minutes, after which another couple of wrestlers came forward and engaged in the same manner:  If it happened that neither was thrown, after the contest had continued about a minute, they parted, either by consent or the intervention of their friends, and in this case each slapped his arm, as a challenge; to a new engagement, either with the same antagonist or some other.  While the wrestlers were engaged, another party of men performed a dance, which lasted also about a minute; but neither of these parties took the least notice of each other, their attention being wholly fixed on what they were doing.  We observed with pleasure, that the conqueror never exulted over the vanquished, and that the vanquished never repined at the success of the conqueror; the whole contest was carried on with perfect good-will and good-humour, though in the presence of at least five hundred spectators, of whom some were women.  The number of women indeed was comparatively small, none but those of rank were present, and we had reason to believe that they would not have been spectators of this exercise but in compliment to us.

This lasted about two hours; during all which time the man who had made a way for us when we landed, kept the people at a proper distance, by striking those who pressed forward very severely with his stick:  Upon enquiry we learnt that he was an officer belonging to Tootahah, acting as master of the ceremonies.

It is scarcely possible for those who are acquainted with the athletic sports of very remote antiquity, not to remark a rude resemblance of them in this wrestling-match among the natives of a little island in the midst of the Pacific Ocean:  And our female readers may recollect the account given of them by Fenelon in his Telemachus, where, though the events are fictitious, the manners of the age are faithfully transcribed from authors by whom they are supposed to have been truly related.