IDNO

P.99863.VH

Description

“Maafu. (Tongan) Roko Tui Lau, Chief of the Windward Islands.”
F.H. Dufty studio portrait of Ma’afu - Enele Ma’afu’otu’itoga, Tui Lau.
Early to mid 1870s. [Fergus Clunie, 14/7/2003]

Half-length portrait of Enele Ma'afu'atuitoga, the Tongan chief, seated side on to the camera. He is wearing an European style striped shirt with a ngatu? (Tongan barkcloth skirt) and i-oro (white barkcloth cummerbund) just visible. A curtain hands as a backdrop in the studio. [JD 26/3/2008, from record P.103571.VH, JD 15/1/2012]

Place

Oceania Polynesia; Fiji; Tonga; Ovalau Island; Levuka

Cultural Affliation

Tongan

Named Person

Enele Ma’afu’otu’itoga (Ma’afu, Mafu)

Photographer

Dufty, Francis Herbert (Dufty Brothers, Levuka)

Collector / Expedition

von Hügel, Anatole (Baron)

Date

circa 1870 - 1875

Collection Name

von Hügel Collection

Source

von Hügel, Anatole (Baron)

Format

Print Black & White Mounted

Primary Documentation

Other Information

P.99726.VH to P.100050.VH were in the belted folder now numbered C539/3/. This was formerly kept in paper archive Large Box G; VH1/4/5. It has now been transferred to the photo archive. The lists describing the contents of this box have been returned to the Paper Archive.

Biographical Information: Enele Ma'afu'atuitoga, commonly known as Ma'afu, was a Tongan chief who led an army of Christian Tongans and their allies from eastern Fiji. [Source: Brittanica Online, JD 26/3/2008]

Publication: A similar image was published in Brewster, A.B., 1937, "King of the Cannibal Isles" (London, Robert Hale & Company) with the following information:
"Maafu, the Tongan Chief " f.p. 266
Photo by late Colonel Stewart, R.E., 1876
Caption reads: "Maafu, the Tongan Chief, Viceroy of the Lau or Eastern Islands of Fiji during the reign of King Thankombau."
Addition information provided by Just Pacific reads:
“This caption is so brief and specific that it is rather misleading. It is true that Viceroy was Ma'afu's designation during the brief constitutional monarchy in Fiji from 1871-4 immediately prior to Cession. Indeed, his acknowledgement of Cakobau's title of Tui Viti, and his pledge of allegiance, were critical to the success of the Viti government. prior to that, Ma'afu had long been a major threat to the Kubuna confederation, following his military conquest of much of Eastern Fiji and formation of the Tovata ko Natokalau kei Viti confederation (more generally known as the Tovata ko Lau), by amalgamating the old federations of Lau, Cakaudrove and Bua in 1867. Because of their elevation of Cakobau, and his role in Cession, Ma'afu has generally suffered a bad press at the hands of the British (including Brewster in this book). In fact he was demonstrably a far more skilled military and political strategist than Cakobau or any of the Fijian chiefs of his time. He was also an able and sophisticated administrator of his territories. As Derrick wrote (History of Fiji p.163), "it was in Lau that the Fijians first saw constitutional government working smoothly and for their benefit." Had the Viti government and then Cession not intervened, Ma'afu may well have achieved suzerainty over the whole Group, and the subsequent history of Fiji would have been very different.”
[Source: Just Pacific, www.justpacific.com/fiji/fijiphotos/books/cannibalIsles/index.html?PHPSESSID=a8d1ad215502d4e5792958a363c82861]

MAA Exhibition: Image included in 'Pacific Currents', 2019-, as part of the digital slide show 'Cosmopolitan Fiji
Francis Dufty’s Photographic Studio, Levuka, 1871 - 1884', and captioned: "“Ma’afu. (Tongan) Tui Lau, Chief of the Windward Islands.”
Levuka, Fiji, 1870-75
P.99863.VH." [JD 08/05/2019]


This print has been catalogued with the support of the Getty Grant Fund. [A. Nadin, 10/9/2003]