Book

An account of the natives of the Tonga islands, in the South Pacific ocean: with an original grammar and vocabulary of their language

J. MurrayLondonPublished In 1818 • Pages:

By: Mariner, William, Martin, John.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
William Mariner, a young captain's clerk on a British privateering ship, was spared when the ship was attacked by the natives of the Tonga Islands. He spent the next four years (1806-1810) living among the natives and participating in their activities. Mariner was taken under the wing of Finau, a powerful warlord, who figured prominently in the revolution which took place during the early years of the 19th century. This document is volume I of the account of Mariner's experience and it deals mostly with events which took place during his stay, such as the revolution and inter-island warfare. Mariner seems to have been exceptionally observant and unbiased considering the circumstances.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Acculturation and culture contact
Fowling
Hunting and trapping
Nuptials
Behavior toward non-relatives
Inter-community relations
Districts
Chief executive
Exploitation
Political movements
Revolution
Offenses against the state
Military installations
War
Death
Priesthood
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Tongans
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2006
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Oceania
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Polynesia
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
Book
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Foreign Resident
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Marlene Martin; John Beierle; 1977-1978
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
1806-1810
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1806-1810
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Tonga
NotesAdditional notes
Comp. and arr. from the extensive communications of Mr. William Mariner, several years resident in those islands. By John Martin
[volume 1]
Mariner's activities have been indexed for Aftermath of Combat (727). Please consult the Culture Summary: Tonga for further indexing decisions for this document. Mariner was under the mistaken impression that Finau was the 'king' or Tui Kanokupolu. Finau, however, was nothing more than a militarily powerful island governor and hence he has been indexed for Districts (634).
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Tongans