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An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands in the South Pacific Ocean : with an original grammar and vocabulary of their language

documentary heritage
  • Other Name

    Tonga Islands (Alternate title)

    Constable's miscellany of original and selected publications in the various departments of literature, science, & the arts ; vol. XIII, XIV (Series)

  • Description

    The work is based on the life of William Mariner, who sailed on the Port au Prince, a privateer which attacked Spanish vessels in the Pacific. They landed at the Hapai Islands in Tonga in 1806, were attacked after a quarrel, and the ship was burnt and destroyed. Adopted by a Tongan chief, and given the name of chief's dead son, he spent four years learning the language and customs of Tonga until, in 1810, he hitched a passage home on an English boat.

    His account of life on Tonga, prepared for the press by John Martin, is 'considered the best report of Tongan life and culture before the arrival of Christianity' (Hill). There is a significant passage in the Mariner/Martin account relating to the voyage of the Bounty when Mariner visits the grave of John Norton in Tofua. Norton had been quarter-master on the Bounty, and sailed with Bligh on the open-boat voyage; he died helping wrest the boat free where it had gone aground during an affray.

  • Place
    Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
  • Other Id

    DU880 MAR (Library of Congress Call Number)

    48492 (Cat ID)

    111202 (DBTextworks system ID)

    42754 (Presto content ID)

  • Department

    Publications

Images and documents

    Catalogue

    • Object Type

      book

    • Name/Title
      An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands in the South Pacific Ocean : with an original grammar and vocabulary of their language
    • Other Name

      Tonga Islands (Alternate title)

      Constable's miscellany of original and selected publications in the various departments of literature, science, & the arts ; vol. XIII, XIV (Series)

    • Primary Maker

      John Martin (Compiler)

      Chance Hurst (Publisher)

      Archibald Constable & Co. (Publisher)

       William Mariner (Author)

    • Contributor/Publisher
      Printed for Constable and Co. and Hurst, Chance and Co. London
    • Place
      Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
    • Date
      1827
    • Physical Description

      2 volumes (xxxiv, 35-340 pages ; viii, 9-234, cviii pages, 2 unnumbered pages of plates) : map ; 15 cm

    • Level of Current Record
      Bib record
    • Member Object

      5 items in this collection. View all items.

    • Edition/State/Version
      Third edition, considerably improved
    • Subject Category

      Tongan language

      Ethnology--Tonga

    • Public Access Text

      [Keywords: Rare books--19th century; Tonga - Description and travel]

      Printed by J. Hutchinson, for the heirs of D. Willison--Volume 2, page cviii. Two engraved series title pages. Added engraved title page title: Mariner's Tonga Islands. Includes: A vocabulary of Tonga and English. AWMM Library copy 35462 came from Wharfedale College, Boston Spa. Half leather binding, with cream, blue and red marbled boards and text block edges. Five panels on spine with gilt decoration, and has spine title: Tonga Islands. Copies 33014 and 33098: Inside front cover have label: In memory of Laura Lady Cranworth MDCCCXVIII (1868). Half mottled leather binding, with orange, red, blue and cream marbled endpapers. Blue and cream marbled text block edges. Four raised bands on spine with gilt borders. Spine title: Constable's Miscellany, Tonga Islands. AWMM Library copy 44866: Half leather binding, marbled boards and endpapers. Five raised bands on spine. Spine title on maroon leather panel: Mariner's Tonga Islands. Auckland Institute Library stamp in gilt at end of spine.

    • Associated Notes
      https://archive.org/details/anaccountnative01martgoog Digitised copy available to read online on Internet Archive (accessed 27/7/2017)
    • Collection Type
      Reserve Collection
    • Copyright
      All rights reserved
    • Last Update
      19 Dec 2023

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