Abstract
The title of Tui Lau, an innovation in the Fijian polity, was created in 1869 expressly for Ma'afu. It recognised the power he had gained in Lau during his 22 years in Fiji and completed his transformation from a Tongan chief into a chief of Fiji. Ma'afu, a cousin of Tupou I, formerly T # ufa' # hau, grew up in Tonga during unprecedented political and social change occasioned by intermittent civil war and especially by the introduction of an alien religion, Christianity. After the succession of T # ufa' # hau as Tu'i Kanokupolu and king of a reunited Tonga, Ma'afu, then a young man, was restrained by the social discipline imposed by the new regime and by the unrelenting hostility of John Thomas, a Wesleyan missionary in Nuku'alofa. Ma'afu left Tonga in 1847 to live in Fiji. Tupou has been said to have exiled Ma'afu as a dangerous rival for the throne, a disaffected 'prince' around whom chiefly opponents of the king might rally. This paper examines the circumstances and timing of Ma'afu's departure for Lau and draws some conclusions concerning his motives in leaving his homeland.
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