Frank Coffee

Name: Forty Years On The Pacific — Tonga
Author: Frank Coffee

Forty Years On The Pacific — Tonga (1920)

Summary

“Forty Years On The Pacific — Tonga”, published in 1920, is a work by Frank Coffee. It explores elements such as Tonga, Baker and Fiji.

Quotes from Forty Years On The Pacific — Tonga (Frank Coffee)

Frank Coffee, Forty Years On The Pacific — Tonga (1920)

“ All the islands are clothed with rich tropical vegetation, feathered with waving cocoanut palms, and upon any of them the jaded seeker after rest might easily be content to spend the rest of his days —"the world forgetting, by the world forgot"—for Tonga is one of the few places that remain absolutely cut off from the outside world, save for the monthly service provided by the Union Steamship Company and occasional sailing crafts. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Frank Coffee, Forty Years On The Pacific — Tonga (1920)

“ Tonga presents a most instructive lesson to Socialists. There are to be seen exhibitions of both the strength and the weakness of Socialism. They are a people without poverty, but a people without individualism. There is no place in Tongan Socialism for the man who would seek to rise above his fellows. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Frank Coffee, Forty Years On The Pacific — Tonga (1920)

“ To those whose ideals of life are realized in short hours of labor, abundance of food and neither poverty nor riches, Tonga should be Utopia.
The Tongans are a big-boned, large-limbed race. They have darker skins than the neighboring islanders, and they surpass these others in intelligence. The consciousness of their superiority is said to affect their tones and even their gait. The relations between the sexes are conspicuously pure. [1] Their girls do not hang about the settlements or congregate on the pier and beaches, as women do in other islands. Many European settlers marry Tongan women. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Frank Coffee, Forty Years On The Pacific — Tonga (1920)

“ Shirley Baker gave Tonga its constitution, and the great error he made was that of adopting the constitutional methods of great nations, totally unsuited for a mere handful of people, and in the long run bound to lead to difficulties. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Frank Coffee, Forty Years On The Pacific — Tonga (1920)

“ There is no poverty in Tonga, but there is no wealth. The tribal or communal system which has prevailed from time immemorial is altogether opposed to any member of the tribe accumulating property. A man's relations have the right to come and live with him, and if necessity arises, to share what he possesses. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Frank Coffee, Forty Years On The Pacific — Tonga (1920)

“ The first thing that it is right we should do is to give thanks and praise to the Lord; and in the rendering of these thanks, who is capable of explanation or who can discuss it and when is the time to speak and tell of the excessive good beyond bounds precious and important that have been rendered by the unforeseen, and also we in Tonga that we should be fortunate and that all should be well with the Tonga Islands, up to to-day who is it from whom? ”

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Source: Wikisource

Frank Coffee, Forty Years On The Pacific — Tonga (1920)

“ The singing of the Tongans is always a surprise to visitors. The late king was a musical enthusiast. There are some Tongan maidens who have voices of such range that tourists who have heard them, say that if they were trained they would rank among the queens of song. Their singing is all sacred and unaccompanied. It is questionable whether there is a happier, more contented and more law-abiding race on our planet than the Tongans. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Frank Coffee, Forty Years On The Pacific — Tonga (1920)

“ Who can so much as dream or picture the mountains of strength by which worldly strength depends, such as the possession of extensive countries, and millions of people, and filled with great wealth, also possessed with wisdom and learning. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Frank Coffee, Forty Years On The Pacific — Tonga (1920)

“ Baker, became the first premier and continued to hold the office for many years. At first he was undoubtedly a sincere and sagacious friend of the people, but he became a victim to ambition. He was a sort of Bismarck, whose control grew to be absolute as the faculties of the old king weakened through age. After endless religious and financial troubles had been caused, he was banished from Tonga by a British man-of-war, sent over for the purpose by the Governor of Fiji, Sir John Thurston, and for many years afterward resided in Auckland, New Zealand. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Frank Coffee, Forty Years On The Pacific — Tonga (1920)

“ Baker was unhurt, but his son's arm was broken and his daughter also wounded. A number of men were arrested and four of them were found guilty and shot.
More or less friction continued for years, and various influences were resorted to by rival branches of the Wesleyan body to win the adherence of the natives.
Volcanoes abound in the Tongan group, and one or more are in a state of eruption. The leaders are said to have made use of this phenomenon to point out that when some particular crater was in eruption, it was a sign of the wrath of Heaven against members of the rival body. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Frank Coffee, Forty Years On The Pacific — Tonga (1920)

“ The building has the oval shape of a native house, and if it is thatched, as it generally is, presents a picturesque appearance. Sometimes a church is fitted with pews, but quite as often there are no seats, the congregation squatting crosslegged on the floor, the men on one side and the women on the other. ”

Frank Coffee

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