The link by canoe

In the olden days, when our people had to travel by canoe, Tonga, Fiji and Samoa were very closely united. My name, Kamisese, is Tamasese, that my ancestors acquired from Samoa ... Archaeologists have discovered that we had cooking utensils that came from as far as Tahiti and Papua JVeew Guinea ... The people who make the tanoa for drinking yaqona (kava) and build the best canoes in the Pacific are in Lau, in Fiji. They came from Tonga. They had come to Tonga from Samoa. The Tu’i Tonga sent them to Fiji and they have remained there ever since. The relationship was such that you could do it, Do it now and they will ask you for your passport.

Adapted from a Matangi Tonga interview with Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara. □