Girard0028 - Revision history

Merv: /* Notes */

2014-02-16T04:39:46Z

Notes

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:39, 16 February 2014
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	=== Notes ===		=== Notes ===
	<references/>		<references/>




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Merv at 03:22, 16 January 2014

2014-01-16T03:22:49Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:22, 16 January 2014
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	;[15]: About ten		;[15]: About ten
	;[Author’s footnote]: Had Our Lord’s name ever been uttered before this time among these pagans; that is what would be hard to determine; anyway here is a little saying that I cannot really explain: the king, having one day asked me about our religion and our God, added: My God also had a son in Tonga [tapu]; he came here, where he spent some time making canoes, from here he went to the land of the white men, where he became skilful in building ships, and from where he has not wanted to return.]		;[Author’s footnote]: Had Our Lord’s name ever been uttered before this time among these pagans; that is what would be hard to determine; anyway here is a little saying that I cannot really explain: the king, having one day asked me about our religion and our God, added: My God also had a son in Tonga [tapu]; he came here, where he spent some time making canoes, from here he went to the land of the white men, where he became skilful in building ships, and from where he has not wanted to return.]
	;[15 cont] years ago, a sect of people claiming to be of the Reformed Church established themselves in the neighbouring island groups; they began in Tonga, where they were able to win over only one or two villages. From there they got into the islands of Ha’apai Vava’u which are neighbours and under the same rule, and they succeeded in baptising them all.<ref> Bataillon is talking about the Methodists. After the effort of the London Missionary Society – not followed up – in 1797-1800, Methodist missionaries began in their turn: Walter Lawry in 1822-23, Borabora, Hape and Tafeta, Tahitian catechists, in 1836, and John Thomas and John Hutchinson in 1821-29; but at the start the Protestant mission made little progress. The ministers Nathaniel Turner and William Cross, who arrived in 1827, found some success in the island of Tongatapu at Nuku’alofa under the protection of Aleamotu’a (an important high chief of that island, his title being Tu’i Kanokupolu) who was, at last, baptised in 1830 by Nathaniel Turner. His grand-nephew, Taufa’ahau, having become Tu’i Ha’apai, accepted the native missionary Pita Vi and, in 1830, John Thomas. Soon almost all the people of Ha’apai (the central group of islands in the larger Tongan group) became Methodist Christians. In 1831 Finau Ulu-Kalala Tuapasi, the Tu’i Vava’u, embraced the Methodist Christian faith, and the inhabitants of Vava’u followed his example. At his death two years later he named Taufu’atau his successor as sovereign of Vava’u. So, at the time Bataillon was writing the present document, the Methodists were triumphing in the central and northern islands of Tonga, but on the island of Tongatapu some chiefs still resisted the political power of Aleamotu’a and the Methodist religion as well (Latukefu pp25-29, 32-33, 61-66. More will be heard of Aleamot’a and Taufa’ahau in documents 62 [44], f/n10, 153 [22] f/n 9, 217 [6] f/n 14. </ref> Recently some of them sent to the most easterly islands from Fiji<ref> The Protestant mission in Fiji started when the London Missionary Society’s missionaries in Tahiti sent the catechists Taharaa, Hatai, and Faaruea who, having been detained for four years in Tonga, reached Lakeba (in the Lau group east of Fiji) in 1830, then moved to Oneata Island in 1832. They prepared the way, so to speak, for the Wesleyan Methodist ministers David Cargill and William Cross, who arrived at Lakeba in October 1835 (“recently”) with Josua Mateinaniu, a Fijian converted in Tonga (cf Garrett p102-3, Derrick p71-72)</ref>and more recently again a group of another type, coming from the Society Islands took over the main island of the Navigators group.<ref>By the phrase “a group of another type”, Bataillon means the LMS missionaries who had come to Samoa from Tahiti (in the Society Islands). A first contact with the Christian religion in the Samoan island group had occurred towards the end of the 1830s. It was brought about by some Samoans who had been converted to Methodism in Tonga, and then went back home. In 1830 John Williams, the great missionary of the LMS, on the way to Samoa, stopped at Tongatapu where, while he was visiting the Wesleyan missionaries Nathaniel Turner and William Cross, he spoke to them about dividing the areas to be evangelised, leaving Tonga and Fiji to the Wesleyans (Methodists) and Samoa to the LMS. In 1834 he presented this arrangement to London in terms of a real contract. As has just been said, John Williams went to Samoa in 1830, and landed on the island of Savai’i, where he left seven (or eight) catechists originally from the Society Islands and from the island of Aitutaki. On his second visit in 1832, Williams brought other catechists, Makea and Tiara, both from Rarotonga. The Oceanian catechists, however, saw their activity limited by rules which had been imposed on them; and so an indigenous sect started by Sio Vili offered competition which harmed the Protestant mission. The Wesleyan missionary Peter Turner, after arriving in 1835, was finally forced to leave Samoa in 1939, because of the agreement of 1830. In 1836 (“even more recently”) there arrived the great reinforcement for the LMS: A W Murray, Thomas Heath, George Pratt, Charles Hardie and three others. In a few months, the first LMS church in Samoa was set up, and still more soon after. The newcomers scattered through the group of islands. It would be hard to distinguish “the main island” that Bataillon mentions above, because Savai’i is the biggest and Upolu the most important, so it cannot be said that this mission “took over” one island so soon (cf Garrett 029, 84-85; 121-126; Gilson 068-94, 99 and also docs 413 [12 f/n 10], 621 [1 f/n 3] and [9]</ref> Their progress, it is said, has not been rapid in these two last-mentioned island groups but that is not surprising when one considers how they act towards the poor natives whom they have already won over to heresy. I would be afraid of showing bias or a party spirit if I went into all the details that are well-known to me about these self-styled missions. Later, many things will be revealed which, with allowances made for diverse beliefs, are certainly worthy of praise and bring honour to the European countries. However everyone already is aware that it is only through terror that they make themselves masters of those islands and succeed in maintaining their control.<ref> Bataillon witnessed the refusal of Taufa’ahau, influenced by the insistence of the Methodist missionaries John Thomas and William A Brooks, to allow Pompallier and his companions to enter Vava’u in October 1837 (cf [[Girard0022\|Doc 22]] [3, f/n 5]). To show how politics and religion affected each other, examples can be seen in Tahiti and Hawaii (mentioned in Doc 21 [8, f/n 18] and the support [by missionaries - translator’s note] of Taufa’ahau’s political ambitions in Tonga (cf Latukefu p66-67, 83-85)</ref> They make these people fear the strength of their country, and when they have brought them under their yoke, they work themselves by every possible means into the favour of the king and the chiefs, and unite to master the ordinary people and direct them by blows of the whip or forced labour or heavy penalties (They are mainly used on the Society Islands), which turn to the profit of those who inflict them. Those are the only punishments decreed in the arbitrary laws that they impose on them. Those are also, it must be said, the main punishments of the admirable law of the gospel. In spite of these wise precautions, they cannot repress the licentiousness of the young people, and they find themselves often forced to inflict many blows of the whip, or, what is worse, to exact heavy fines, and to enrich themselves in this way, in spite of themselves, to the detriment of these weak young people. What is most surprising is that with all these rigorous punishments, they cannot get from these people the least expensive things they are happy to impose on them, so it is not uncommon to see several sufferers tied to a coconut palm, and lamenting, while being whipped, the misfortune they had, alas, of making a bit of tobacco, or of picking a coconut on a Sunday or infringing other similar laws which certainly have only just been discovered in the Bible through the power of an illuminating beam of understanding. In short, these self-styled missionaries have never come to the island of Wallis, but they have allied themselves with the king of a little neighbouring island and have sent him here several times, always escorted by a great number of natives, all of whom had been given the necessary faculties to establish Christianity here.<ref>Ma’atu, the chief of the island of Niuatoputapu (at the far northern end of the Tongan group, about 360 km from Wallis) landed on Wallis about 1834 where he made several converts to the Methodist faith. When he went back to his island, some Wallisians went with him (among them was Susana Pukega who in November 1842 would sign the request for women missionaries for Wallis ([[Girard0224\|Doc 224]]). He came back there with about 50 men from his island, accompanied by Tongan Methodist missionaries from Vava’u. This voyage was organised by the Methodist minister on Fafa’u, David Cargill. (cf Henquel p 35-36, Poncet p15)</ref> On the first two occasions, the king contented himself by sending them back, telling them that he did not know what to make of the three or four extracts from the Bible that they presented him. So their faculty sheets were changed, and they were sent a third time, about 40 or 50 of them, with clubs, spears, axes, guns, etc. The king put up with them for some time on his island,<ref> Cf above 14 [f/n 18]</ref>		;[15 cont]: years ago, a sect of people claiming to be of the Reformed Church established themselves in the neighbouring island groups; they began in Tonga, where they were able to win over only one or two villages. From there they got into the islands of Ha’apai Vava’u which are neighbours and under the same rule, and they succeeded in baptising them all.<ref> Bataillon is talking about the Methodists. After the effort of the London Missionary Society – not followed up – in 1797-1800, Methodist missionaries began in their turn: Walter Lawry in 1822-23, Borabora, Hape and Tafeta, Tahitian catechists, in 1836, and John Thomas and John Hutchinson in 1821-29; but at the start the Protestant mission made little progress. The ministers Nathaniel Turner and William Cross, who arrived in 1827, found some success in the island of Tongatapu at Nuku’alofa under the protection of Aleamotu’a (an important high chief of that island, his title being Tu’i Kanokupolu) who was, at last, baptised in 1830 by Nathaniel Turner. His grand-nephew, Taufa’ahau, having become Tu’i Ha’apai, accepted the native missionary Pita Vi and, in 1830, John Thomas. Soon almost all the people of Ha’apai (the central group of islands in the larger Tongan group) became Methodist Christians. In 1831 Finau Ulu-Kalala Tuapasi, the Tu’i Vava’u, embraced the Methodist Christian faith, and the inhabitants of Vava’u followed his example. At his death two years later he named Taufu’atau his successor as sovereign of Vava’u. So, at the time Bataillon was writing the present document, the Methodists were triumphing in the central and northern islands of Tonga, but on the island of Tongatapu some chiefs still resisted the political power of Aleamotu’a and the Methodist religion as well (Latukefu pp25-29, 32-33, 61-66. More will be heard of Aleamot’a and Taufa’ahau in documents 62 [44], f/n10, 153 [22] f/n 9, 217 [6] f/n 14. </ref> Recently some of them sent to the most easterly islands from Fiji<ref> The Protestant mission in Fiji started when the London Missionary Society’s missionaries in Tahiti sent the catechists Taharaa, Hatai, and Faaruea who, having been detained for four years in Tonga, reached Lakeba (in the Lau group east of Fiji) in 1830, then moved to Oneata Island in 1832. They prepared the way, so to speak, for the Wesleyan Methodist ministers David Cargill and William Cross, who arrived at Lakeba in October 1835 (“recently”) with Josua Mateinaniu, a Fijian converted in Tonga (cf Garrett p102-3, Derrick p71-72)</ref>and more recently again a group of another type, coming from the Society Islands took over the main island of the Navigators group.<ref>By the phrase “a group of another type”, Bataillon means the LMS missionaries who had come to Samoa from Tahiti (in the Society Islands). A first contact with the Christian religion in the Samoan island group had occurred towards the end of the 1830s. It was brought about by some Samoans who had been converted to Methodism in Tonga, and then went back home. In 1830 John Williams, the great missionary of the LMS, on the way to Samoa, stopped at Tongatapu where, while he was visiting the Wesleyan missionaries Nathaniel Turner and William Cross, he spoke to them about dividing the areas to be evangelised, leaving Tonga and Fiji to the Wesleyans (Methodists) and Samoa to the LMS. In 1834 he presented this arrangement to London in terms of a real contract. As has just been said, John Williams went to Samoa in 1830, and landed on the island of Savai’i, where he left seven (or eight) catechists originally from the Society Islands and from the island of Aitutaki. On his second visit in 1832, Williams brought other catechists, Makea and Tiara, both from Rarotonga. The Oceanian catechists, however, saw their activity limited by rules which had been imposed on them; and so an indigenous sect started by Sio Vili offered competition which harmed the Protestant mission. The Wesleyan missionary Peter Turner, after arriving in 1835, was finally forced to leave Samoa in 1939, because of the agreement of 1830. In 1836 (“even more recently”) there arrived the great reinforcement for the LMS: A W Murray, Thomas Heath, George Pratt, Charles Hardie and three others. In a few months, the first LMS church in Samoa was set up, and still more soon after. The newcomers scattered through the group of islands. It would be hard to distinguish “the main island” that Bataillon mentions above, because Savai’i is the biggest and Upolu the most important, so it cannot be said that this mission “took over” one island so soon (cf Garrett 029, 84-85; 121-126; Gilson 068-94, 99 and also docs 413 [12 f/n 10], 621 [1 f/n 3] and [9]</ref> Their progress, it is said, has not been rapid in these two last-mentioned island groups but that is not surprising when one considers how they act towards the poor natives whom they have already won over to heresy. I would be afraid of showing bias or a party spirit if I went into all the details that are well-known to me about these self-styled missions. Later, many things will be revealed which, with allowances made for diverse beliefs, are certainly worthy of praise and bring honour to the European countries. However everyone already is aware that it is only through terror that they make themselves masters of those islands and succeed in maintaining their control.<ref> Bataillon witnessed the refusal of Taufa’ahau, influenced by the insistence of the Methodist missionaries John Thomas and William A Brooks, to allow Pompallier and his companions to enter Vava’u in October 1837 (cf [[Girard0022\|Doc 22]] [3, f/n 5]). To show how politics and religion affected each other, examples can be seen in Tahiti and Hawaii (mentioned in Doc 21 [8, f/n 18] and the support [by missionaries - translator’s note] of Taufa’ahau’s political ambitions in Tonga (cf Latukefu p66-67, 83-85)</ref> They make these people fear the strength of their country, and when they have brought them under their yoke, they work themselves by every possible means into the favour of the king and the chiefs, and unite to master the ordinary people and direct them by blows of the whip or forced labour or heavy penalties (They are mainly used on the Society Islands), which turn to the profit of those who inflict them. Those are the only punishments decreed in the arbitrary laws that they impose on them. Those are also, it must be said, the main punishments of the admirable law of the gospel. In spite of these wise precautions, they cannot repress the licentiousness of the young people, and they find themselves often forced to inflict many blows of the whip, or, what is worse, to exact heavy fines, and to enrich themselves in this way, in spite of themselves, to the detriment of these weak young people. What is most surprising is that with all these rigorous punishments, they cannot get from these people the least expensive things they are happy to impose on them, so it is not uncommon to see several sufferers tied to a coconut palm, and lamenting, while being whipped, the misfortune they had, alas, of making a bit of tobacco, or of picking a coconut on a Sunday or infringing other similar laws which certainly have only just been discovered in the Bible through the power of an illuminating beam of understanding. In short, these self-styled missionaries have never come to the island of Wallis, but they have allied themselves with the king of a little neighbouring island and have sent him here several times, always escorted by a great number of natives, all of whom had been given the necessary faculties to establish Christianity here.<ref>Ma’atu, the chief of the island of Niuatoputapu (at the far northern end of the Tongan group, about 360 km from Wallis) landed on Wallis about 1834 where he made several converts to the Methodist faith. When he went back to his island, some Wallisians went with him (among them was Susana Pukega who in November 1842 would sign the request for women missionaries for Wallis ([[Girard0224\|Doc 224]]). He came back there with about 50 men from his island, accompanied by Tongan Methodist missionaries from Vava’u. This voyage was organised by the Methodist minister on Fafa’u, David Cargill. (cf Henquel p 35-36, Poncet p15)</ref> On the first two occasions, the king contented himself by sending them back, telling them that he did not know what to make of the three or four extracts from the Bible that they presented him. So their faculty sheets were changed, and they were sent a third time, about 40 or 50 of them, with clubs, spears, axes, guns, etc. The king put up with them for some time on his island,<ref> Cf above 14 [f/n 18]</ref>
	;[Author’s footnote]: They carried out their religious observances in a house near that of the king and ours, and people still point out, quite close by, the coconut palm where delinquents were tied up and scourged.		;[Author’s footnote]: They carried out their religious observances in a house near that of the king and ours, and people still point out, quite close by, the coconut palm where delinquents were tied up and scourged.
	;[15 cont]:but having lost patience because of their importunities and several sorts of violent acts, he declared war on them. These latter boldly accepted this and built themselves a sort of fort to defend themselves. The whole island besieged them in it, by cutting off their food supply and trying to force them to give themselves up and accept the peace conditions which the king, moved by compassion, had offered them several times. They persisted in refusing them until finally, forced by hunger and thirst, they presented themselves before their enemies to submit themselves to what was demanded of them. All of them were immediately beheaded except four men who were saved by string-pulling, and all the women and children, to whom they showed mercy (On arriving here I found them all still, as well as several others from the Vava’u islands, whom storms had forced here against their will. They were far from being models for the pagans. I was able to assure myself personally that they did not know even the basic truths necessary for salvation, although they had been raised to the dignity of being a preacher. Concerning the bits and pieces of the Bible which they all have and whose selling price they well know, some knew how to read them fairly well, but most saw in them only black and white. These people certainly needed a very special sort of ray of enlightenment, newly discovered, to find in Scripture, on their own, the rule for their conduct and faith.) this massacre had taken place hardly two years before we arrived at that island.<ref>Vaimua Lavelua, the king of Uvea, welcomed the newcomers, who succeeded in converting a growing number of natives, but in the end the Tongan Methodists became arrogant toward the chiefs of Uvea, and some of them took possession of cooked food prepared for a funeral celebration: this sparked a war. After nine days’ fighting, the Tongans went to Falaleu to the royal house, where a Wallisian chief, Koloaku, suddenly suspecting that Tongans were about to attack, roused the Wallisians against them, and there was a general massacre of the Tongans. The only survivors were four men, the women and some children. This must have happened in 1386. (cf Henquel p 35-38, Poncet p 15-16) Now king Vaimua Lavelua had ‘relatives’ or a ‘first cousin’ among the Tongan Protestants who had come from the island of Niue themtoputapu.(cf infra [19] and [23])</ref>		;[15 cont]:but having lost patience because of their importunities and several sorts of violent acts, he declared war on them. These latter boldly accepted this and built themselves a sort of fort to defend themselves. The whole island besieged them in it, by cutting off their food supply and trying to force them to give themselves up and accept the peace conditions which the king, moved by compassion, had offered them several times. They persisted in refusing them until finally, forced by hunger and thirst, they presented themselves before their enemies to submit themselves to what was demanded of them. All of them were immediately beheaded except four men who were saved by string-pulling, and all the women and children, to whom they showed mercy (On arriving here I found them all still, as well as several others from the Vava’u islands, whom storms had forced here against their will. They were far from being models for the pagans. I was able to assure myself personally that they did not know even the basic truths necessary for salvation, although they had been raised to the dignity of being a preacher. Concerning the bits and pieces of the Bible which they all have and whose selling price they well know, some knew how to read them fairly well, but most saw in them only black and white. These people certainly needed a very special sort of ray of enlightenment, newly discovered, to find in Scripture, on their own, the rule for their conduct and faith.) this massacre had taken place hardly two years before we arrived at that island.<ref>Vaimua Lavelua, the king of Uvea, welcomed the newcomers, who succeeded in converting a growing number of natives, but in the end the Tongan Methodists became arrogant toward the chiefs of Uvea, and some of them took possession of cooked food prepared for a funeral celebration: this sparked a war. After nine days’ fighting, the Tongans went to Falaleu to the royal house, where a Wallisian chief, Koloaku, suddenly suspecting that Tongans were about to attack, roused the Wallisians against them, and there was a general massacre of the Tongans. The only survivors were four men, the women and some children. This must have happened in 1386. (cf Henquel p 35-38, Poncet p 15-16) Now king Vaimua Lavelua had ‘relatives’ or a ‘first cousin’ among the Tongan Protestants who had come from the island of Niue themtoputapu.(cf infra [19] and [23])</ref>
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Merv at 03:21, 16 January 2014

2014-01-16T03:21:06Z

Show changes

Merv at 03:20, 16 January 2014

2014-01-16T03:20:12Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 15:20, 16 January 2014
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	;[3]: The island of Ouvea, the mission field which the Bishop entrusted to me, is called Wallis<ref> Wallis was the name of given to the island of Uvea by the crew of the British ship ''Dolphin'' “in honour of our captain” Samuel Wallis; on 16 August 1767, two dinghies from the ''Dolphin'', commanded by the officers of George Robertson and Gore, entered the Wallis channel and had a short contact with the natives without setting foot on land. (O’Reilly ''Chronologie'' p14, ''Stories of the First Discoverers'' JSO vol 19, p81-82, Sharp p 108). Concerning the role played by the Spanish captain Francisco Antonio Maurelle (or Mourelle) and the attribution of his name to Ouvea, there is less certainty. Dumont D’Urville in his book ''Voyage Pittoresque autour du monde''… Paris, L Tenré 1835, having told of Wallis’ visit, notes simply “Maurelle saw this group again in 1781” and gave it his name.		;[3]: The island of Ouvea, the mission field which the Bishop entrusted to me, is called Wallis<ref> Wallis was the name of given to the island of Uvea by the crew of the British ship ''Dolphin'' “in honour of our captain” Samuel Wallis; on 16 August 1767, two dinghies from the ''Dolphin'', commanded by the officers of George Robertson and Gore, entered the Wallis channel and had a short contact with the natives without setting foot on land. (O’Reilly ''Chronologie'' p14, ''Stories of the First Discoverers'' JSO vol 19, p81-82, Sharp p 108). Concerning the role played by the Spanish captain Francisco Antonio Maurelle (or Mourelle) and the attribution of his name to Ouvea, there is less certainty. Dumont D’Urville in his book ''Voyage Pittoresque autour du monde''… Paris, L Tenré 1835, having told of Wallis’ visit, notes simply “Maurelle saw this group again in 1781” and gave it his name.
	[Girard’s footnote then continues to discuss at length the names given to the island and Maurelle’s name, including an opinion by Sharp that the island named by Maurelle was in the northern Tongan group - translator’s note]</ref> or Maurelle by the geographers. It is situated at latitude 13º30’ south and at longitude 176º west, pretty well in the middle of the main island-groups of Oceania, those of the Friendly Islands, Fiji or Viti, and the Navigators. I think that British geographers see it as part of the Friendly Islands. It is made up of a main island which is barely 10 leagues [50 km] around and 12 or 15 bigger or smaller islets, which all have some inhabitants. It is not really hilly – the interior is covered in forests. I estimate its population as no more than 3,000. Its people are generally big and fine-looking people, well-proportioned, strong and robust. They are fairly European in appearance, only their skin is a bit coppery in colour. They generally have little in the way of a beard, their hair is black and curly; both men and women wear it short and well cared for. Children and young people of both sexes have their heads shaven and have only one or two tufts of hair over one or both ears. They yellow these tufts by burning them with lime made from coral, which gives them a slightly savage look. All the men, with only a few exceptions, are tattooed from the knees to the waist. They have this operation done when they are 18 or 20 years old; it is sometimes fatal for some, but it is a great occasion for them and this event celebrated with great festivities, especially when the young men belong to noble families.		[Girard’s footnote then continues to discuss at length the names given to the island and Maurelle’s name, including an opinion by Sharp that the island named by Maurelle was in the northern Tongan group - translator’s note]</ref> or Maurelle by the geographers. It is situated at latitude 13º30’ south and at longitude 176º west, pretty well in the middle of the main island-groups of Oceania, those of the Friendly Islands, Fiji or Viti, and the Navigators. I think that British geographers see it as part of the Friendly Islands. It is made up of a main island which is barely 10 leagues [50 km] around and 12 or 15 bigger or smaller islets, which all have some inhabitants. It is not really hilly – the interior is covered in forests. I estimate its population as no more than 3,000. Its people are generally big and fine-looking people, well-proportioned, strong and robust. They are fairly European in appearance, only their skin is a bit coppery in colour. They generally have little in the way of a beard, their hair is black and curly; both men and women wear it short and well cared for. Children and young people of both sexes have their heads shaven and have only one or two tufts of hair over one or both ears. They yellow these tufts by burning them with lime made from coral, which gives them a slightly savage look. All the men, with only a few exceptions, are tattooed from the knees to the waist. They have this operation done when they are 18 or 20 years old; it is sometimes fatal for some, but it is a great occasion for them and this event celebrated with great festivities, especially when the young men belong to noble families.
	:With the exception of children up to 6 or 7 years old, they all have something to at least cover their nakedness, the least is a belt made of leaves; they only wear it for going bathing, or fishing, or again when they are working in the forest. Everywhere else they wrap their bodies decently with very fine and skilfully made mats, and more often as well with what they call their ''gantu''<ref>A Wallisian word – ''gatu'' in current spelling = fabric made from the bark of a tree of the mulberry family, called ''tutu''.</ref> or ''tapa''. It is a garment made from the bark of a shrub they cultivate, and is fairly like a very large hemp plant, very smooth and upright; they then stick together all these little pieces so as to make from them a large one, which is sometimes up to 60 ells [1-2 metres] in length and 3 in width; they paint it afterwards in red and neat colours; the whole thing is fairly much like a large piece of wallpaper, lightly stuck together. This work is almost the sole occupation of women. They are anxious to have it ready beforehand, so as to be able to provide it for the whole family if some celebration comes up; so the island re-echoes continually with the noise they make in beating their pieces of bark; it’s a really precious double resource for the island.		:With the exception of children up to 6 or 7 years old, they all have something to at least cover their nakedness, the least is a belt made of leaves; they only wear it for going bathing, or fishing, or again when they are working in the forest. Everywhere else they wrap their bodies decently with very fine and skilfully made mats, and more often as well with what they call their ''gantu''<ref>A Wallisian word – ''gatu'' in current spelling = fabric made from the bark of a tree of the mulberry family, called ''tutu''.</ref> or ''tapa''. It is a garment made from the bark of a shrub they cultivate, and is fairly like a very large hemp plant, very smooth and upright; they then stick together all these little pieces so as to make from them a large one, which is sometimes up to 60 ells [1-2 metres] in length and 3 in width; they paint it afterwards in red and neat colours; the whole thing is fairly much like a large piece of wallpaper, lightly stuck together. This work is almost the sole occupation of women. They are anxious to have it ready beforehand, so as to be able to provide it for the whole family if some celebration comes up; so the island re-echoes continually with the noise they make in beating their pieces of bark; it’s a really precious double resource for the island.
	;[4]: These people have a natural interest in work which is very admirable. The women show it in the fabric of their tapa, and the men in the work of making their spears, their clubs, their huge nets, in the construction of their canoes and their houses and the cultivation of the plants that feed them. Nowadays they have more tools to work with; since ships have been coming to these island groups, there is hardly a household which does not own at least an axe, a sort of spade, with a few knives, razors and chisels; but it is incomprehensible how, beforehand, they could, just with sharp stones or seashells, cut and fashion great trees to build their houses and canoes		;[4]: These people have a natural interest in work which is very admirable. The women show it in the fabric of their tapa, and the men in the work of making their spears, their clubs, their huge nets, in the construction of their canoes and their houses and the cultivation of the plants that feed them. Nowadays they have more tools to work with; since ships have been coming to these island groups, there is hardly a household which does not own at least an axe, a sort of spade, with a few knives, razors and chisels; but it is incomprehensible how, beforehand, they could, just with sharp stones or seashells, cut and fashion great trees to build their houses and canoes
	;[A note by the writer at the foot of the page]: These are dugout trees 50 to 60 feet in length, which are in the middle the size of a huge barrel, and which lessen and rise a bit towards their extremities; one of which is smaller and shorter than the other and serves it as a balance. On the middle of these two trees placed parallel and 6 or 7 feet apart, a solid platform is built which takes up about a third of their length. On it is built a little house; then, with the help of a rudder, a mast and a sail made of mats, these people go and seek their fortune on the seas. When a tree big enough to make each canoe in one piece cannot be found, which happens quite often, the same effect is achieved by giving planks the necessary shapes and lashing them to each other by ropes.		;[A note by the writer at the foot of the page]: These are dugout trees 50 to 60 feet in length, which are in the middle the size of a huge barrel, and which lessen and rise a bit towards their extremities; one of which is smaller and shorter than the other and serves it as a balance. On the middle of these two trees placed parallel and 6 or 7 feet apart, a solid platform is built which takes up about a third of their length. On it is built a little house; then, with the help of a rudder, a mast and a sail made of mats, these people go and seek their fortune on the seas. When a tree big enough to make each canoe in one piece cannot be found, which happens quite often, the same effect is achieved by giving planks the necessary shapes and lashing them to each other by ropes.

Merv at 03:19, 16 January 2014

2014-01-16T03:19:43Z

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Merv: Created page with "==July 1838 & May 1839 - Information about the Wallis Island mission addressed to Father Jean-Claude Colin by Father Pierre Bataillon, Wallis== ''Translated by Fr Brian Quin SM, ..."

2014-01-16T03:19:11Z

Created page with "==July 1838 & May 1839 - Information about the Wallis Island mission addressed to Father Jean-Claude Colin by Father Pierre Bataillon, Wallis== ''Translated by Fr Brian Quin SM, ..."

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