Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 9, Issue 9 (December 1, 1934)

To Wallis Island and Futuna

To Wallis Island and Futuna.

The Tonga group did not offer the Catholics a suitable field of labour, as Protestant missionaries had obtained a strong hold there. So the Bishop moved on to coral islands where the Polynesian populations had not yet received Christian propaganda. He gave the “Raiatea's” captain instructions to sail for the island of Wallis (Uvea) and Futuna, which lay about 350 miles from Vavau. Pompallier had learned at Vavau that the Protestant missionaries intended establishing themselves in these islands, and he determined to forestall them. Wallis consisted of a large island and several small ones, all very beautiful, surrounded by a great coral reef. The natives permitted them to land, and the head chief, Tungahala, received them in a very friendly way, but many of the people were suspicious of the white strangers —they probably had good reason for that attitude towards the men of the ships that roved the South Sea—and there were many moments of danger. Pursuant to his general policy, as naively set forth in his narrative, he did not divulge his character or his intentions for work on Wallis. He succeeded in inducing the king to permit two of his missioners to remain on the island; it was left to them to begin their ministrations when the time arrived, as soon as they had learned the language.

Similar arrangements were made at Futuna Island, which had a population of about a thousand people. These places eventually became converted to the Catholic faith. Another island visited by the “Raiatea” was Rotuma, to the north of Fiji. The island, the Bishop reported, was a huge grove of coconut and other tropical trees, and presented “a lovely sight.” From Rotuma the schooner sailed for Sydney, and after a pleasant stay there, the far-voyaging Bishop at last sailed for New Zealand.