Tongan Bible History (3)

**List: Tongan Ministry

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Tongan...
TONGAN.

"THE Tongan archipelago is composed of upwards of a hundred and fifty little islands, many of which
are uninhabited, lying between lat. 18° and 23° S., and long. 173° and 176° W.   The islands are
disposed in three separate groups or clusters, called the Tonga, the Hapai or Haabai, and the Vavau
groups.   Since 1845, they have all been under the dominion of one king, chosen by the chiefs of the
different islands: their collective population is estimated at from 20,000 to 30,000.   The name of
"Friendly Isles" was given to this assemblage of islands by Captain Cook, on account of the courteous
deportment and supposed friendliness of the natives; but further acquaintance with this treacherous and
vindictive people led to the discovery of their real character.   "Theft, revenge, rape, and murder (it
is stated in Mr. Mariner’s narrative) are not under many circumstances considered crimes among them;
and in the examination of their language we discover no native words essentially expressive of moral
qualities, as virtue, justice, and humanity."   Of late years they have been induced to reject the
debasing system of superstition by which they have been enslaved; many among them have made at
least an outward profession of Christianity, and a great change has been thus induced in their moral
and mental condition.
   One dialect pervades the whole assemblage of islands; it resembles in several respects the western
idioms of this stock, and possesses some peculiarities in common with the Malayan, which have no
existence in Hawaiian or the dialects of the neighbouring islands.   It is more especially distinguished
from the Tahitian by the use of the consonant k, and of the nasal ng.   It possesses close affinity with
the Samoan dialect, and in many instances there is an identity of orthography, pronunciation, and
meaning between Tongan and Samoan words.   There is on the other hand a great dissimilarity
between the Tongan and Feejeean dialects: for while a Tonga man can acquire with ease, and speak
with fluency, the Samoan dialect, it is with extreme difficulty that he can obtain a competent know-
ledge of the Feejeean tongue; and there are some Feejeean sounds which can scarcely be pronounced
by natives of Tonga.   Considered as the language of a people formerly altogether ignorant of letters,
the Tongan dialect may be said to be copious.   Words descriptive of minute objects abound almost to
redundancy; and not only can terms be found to designate every sensible object, but also to express

the powers and operations of the mind: so that the mies. have readily selected suitable terms
for the various points of Christian theology.
   The Tonga dialect differs in some other respects from some other Polynesian idioms.   It has the
nasal articulation ng; and seems in some few instances to borrow the sibilant s from the Feejeean, and
knows not some of the consonants in common use in other islands.   It changes the r and the d of the
New Zealand into l; and it articulates strongly the f.   In other respects its grammar is mainly the
same as that of the other Polynesian dialects; it has a twofold dual and plural for personal pronouns;
and is equally destitute of case, gender, and number, properly so called.   It is a rougher idiom than
either the Tahitian or the Marquesan.
   The largest of the Friendly Islands is Tonga, or Tongataboo, which is sixty miles in circumference,
and which in 1850 was estimated to contain 9000 inhabitants.   Considerably more than half of these
had been converted to Christianity, the Protestants among them numbering 5000, and the Roman
Catholics 600 members.
   Nine mies. were sent to the Island of Tonga by the London My. Society in 1797,
but they found it impossible to remain, and many subsequent efforts for the introduction of Christianity
were rendered equally abortive by the ferocious disposition of the natives.   The agents of the Wesleyan
My. Society were at length enabled in 1826 to settle peaceably in Tonga, and they now extend
the blessings of Christian instruction to all the islands of this archipelago.   In 1832 they had translated
detached portions of Scripture into Tongan, and had multiplied copies in writing; aid was then
afforded by the British and Foreign Bible Society, and several consecutive chapters from the Gospel of
St. John and book of Genesis, with some of the Psalms, were committed to the press.   Further assis-
tance was afterwards granted by the same Society; and in 1845 the mies. were proceeding with
the printing of other portions of this version.   At length, about the year 1847, the version of the New
Testament was completed, and an edition of 4000 copies left the mission-press at Vavau.   A revision
of this work, and the translation of the Old Testament, have since been in progress, and appear from
recent accounts to be rapidly approaching completion, the various portions, as they are finished, being
issued from the Vavau press.   The translation of the New Testament was chiefly drawn from the
English version, but many passages were translated immediately from the Greek; for the mies.
found, in several instances, that the meaning of the inspired original could be rendered more literally,
and with less circumlocution, in Tongan than in English.   In 1852, at the request of the Committee
of the Wesleyan My. Society, the British and Foreign Bible Society undertook to furnish an
edition of 10,000 copies of the Tongan New Testament.   The sheets passed through the press under
the joint supervision of the Rev. G. Kevern, of Pontypool (formerly a my. in the Tonga Islands),
and the Rev. T. W. Meller.   The rapid circulation of this edition (completed in 1853) has rendered it
desirable that another, of like extent, should be undertaken, and this is now in progress (1860).
   Concerning the direct results of the dissemination of the Tongan version of the Scriptures, we
have the following testimony from the Rev. Walter Lawry, who, in speaking of the converted natives,
said, "There is among them a conformity of heart and life to the Christianity of the New Testament,
surpassing all that I have elsewhere seen, and such as it is truly gratifying to witness.   In passing up
and down among them, I often ask myself, ‘What but the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ could have
produced such a change in this once deeply-polluted people?’"   Many interesting circumstances con-
nected with the improved social and moral condition of the inhabitants will be found in the narrative
of a visit to Tonga by Captain Keppel, in H. M. ship Mæander, in 1850.   The recent Reports of the
Wesleyan Society supply numerous highly interesting details.   "Christianity (it is remarked in the
Report for 1856) having been for years firmly established in the Friendly Islands, we have no longer
to speak of the triumphs of the Gospel over heathenism in this group; but it is satisfactory to know
that the cause of truth still prospers among this people.""-- The Bible of Every Land. (1860, Second Edition)   Samuel Bagster   [Info only]

TONGAN.--1860   S. Bagster   [Info only: n.d. John 1:1-14 unknown.]

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