Conversely, the German naturalist Georg Forster, Cook’s scientific draftsman on the second circumnavigation, also considered the inhabitants of Tongatapu to be “very inclined to trade.” In his chronicle “Voyage around the World,” he noted that European cloth, trousers, shirts, and iron tools were in great demand on Tongatapu. He noted the following about the Tongans: “… their mercantile turn prompted them to bring an immense quantity of their cloth, mats, nets, utensils, arms, and ornaments, which they eagerly exchanged for beads and nails.” His traveling companion, James Burney, particularly praised the quality of Tongan craftsmanship: “More industry, more ingenuity & more neatness in their work than other islanders.”
In general, ship’s logs and travelogues indicate that the acquisition of daily necessities, weapons, and jewelry in the Tongan archipelago was usually conducted by consensual barter. However, British cannon fire and the wounding of a local man with shotgun pellets after thefts overshadowed the “terms of trade” on Nomuka in 1774. Cook was also particularly harsh on Lifuka in 1777, holding his high-ranking hosts hostage on board until the stolen goods were recovered. In one case, he had the hair of a district chief (Tongan: hou'eiki) shaved as punishment – in a culture where even touching a person’s head and hair was taboo because the head was considered the seat of mana – the divine energy of the ancestors.
Nevertheless, the majority of encounters on the Friendship Islands occurred in the spirit of Talanoa – in the sense of peaceful and sustainable exchange – with Tongans giving the newcomers highly valued “mana-containing” cultural gifts. Some of these gifts are now particularly valuable artifacts in the Herrnhut Cook collection.