Isle Of Rotuma

Curious Place in Central Polynesian History

From Our Own Correspondent

Papeete, Nov. 19.

THE little island of Rotuma, north of Fiji Archipelago, was at one time closely allied to the islands of Cen tral Polynesia.

The legends and traditions which, in the woof and warp of metaphor and mystical allegory interweave threads of the race, make repeated reference to that faraway isle.

The writer was honoured with the in timate friendship of a venerable scholar, a member of the Opoa clan of Ra’iatea, who passed away 10 years ago at the age of 94. Every now and again, as he recited the ancient poetry, there would be mention of Rotuma. and of heroes who came thence to the Leeward Is lands. Neither of us could make much out of them; the allusions being too misty and fragmentary.

A fragment rescued by Rev. J. M.

Orsmond, tells of a high chief named Te Fatu who, at a remote period, came from Rotuma to Bora Bora, where he married a princess of that island. To gether, they voyaged from island group to island group, negotiating alliances which were consolidated into the con federation of Te-Ao-Uri and Te-Ao-Tea. centred in Opoa, in Ra’iatea.

Such distant places as Rotuma and New Zealand are included in the roster of members of the confederation, but no mention is made of Samoa or Hawaii, although it is certain that voyages were made from Hawaii to the southern is lands. presumably at the times of the great convocations of the alliance—held at stated occasions at Opoa—until the time of the quarrel between Te-Ao-Tea and Te-Ao-Uri, at Opoa. which broke up the confederation early in the four teenth century.

All this implies that, distant though it was, and separated far from the other island groups, Rotuma was a place of great importance and its chiefs held high rank in the Councils of the confed eration.

It would be interesting to know the fountainhead whence flowed the mana that gave precedence to this remote, in significant island: assured unquestioned acceptance of a wanderer who bore a divine name no high chief of Central Polynesia dared assume; and sanctified the Marae Fare-Ura, constructed on Bora Bora, as a great national temple by virtue of its corner stone, brought from the principal Marae of Rotuma by Te- Fatu.

The remnants of ancient lore surviv ing in Central Polynesia give no clue.

Perhaps some hoary legend or fragment of archaic poetry, now reposing in the mind of an ancient in Rotuma itself, might enlighten us.

Mr. and Mrs. B. P. Jones left Sydney for Rabaul. New Guinea, by the Novem ber “Bulolo”, after spending three months’ holiday in Sydney. He is man ager of the Rabaul Carrying Company.

Mr. J. D. Hathaway, a former resident of Fiji, died in Auckland, New Zealand, recently at the age of 82. Before he re tired and left Fiji in 1912, he was for many years a member of the staff of Millar. Headdey and Co., of Levuka, and, later, Morris, Hedstrom, Ltd.