Case file · Folklore / legend
Mariner's account of Pulotu
William Mariner, held in Tonga from 1806 to 1810, described in his 1817 account the Tongan belief in Pulotu, an island of the gods and noble dead that sits to the north-west.
1817 CE · -18.65, -173.98 · status: official
The account
Mariner lived as the adopted son of chief Fīnau ʻUlukālala on Vavaʻu and recorded rituals, spirit possession by gods and beliefs about the afterlife before Christian conversion.