book chapter

Savage Island: an account of a sojourn in Niué and Tonga

J. MurrayLondon • Published In 1902 • Pages:

By: Thomson, Basil Home.

Abstract
This source is a somewhat informal account of the author's role in negotiating the treaty to make Tonga a British protectorate in 1900. As a former minister in the Tongan government, Thomson was returned to try to induce the new king to sign the treaty. The source consists mostly of accounts of meetings with old Tongan friends, his travels around the islands, and the travails of negotiating with the king. He briefly describes the political scene in Tonga as of 1900, gives some information on Tongan ideas on such things as law and justice, and the concepts of female beauty. There is a final chapter on Tongan music. The source provides more in the way of context and character sketches rather than concrete description.
Subjects
Music
Behavior toward non-relatives
Chief executive
Executive household
Advisers to the chief executive
External relations
Judicial authority
Legal and judicial personnel
Military installations
Disasters
Ethnozoology
Ethnoanatomy
culture
Tongans
HRAF PubDate
2006
Region
Oceania
Sub Region
Polynesia
Document Type
book chapter
Evaluation
Creator Type
Government Official
Document Rating
3: Good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent
Analyst
Martin J. Malone; 1978
Field Date
April-May 1900
Coverage Date
ca. 1777-1900
Coverage Place
Tonga
Notes
By Basil C. Thomson
The information on the relation between Thomson and the King, and on the negotiations in general, has been indexed for International Relations (648).
With music
LCCN
02018440
LCSH
Tongans