The glorious spoils of idolatry

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Food for the Flames: Idols and Missionaries in Central Polynesia

By David Shaw King

Many readers will be aware of the three voyages to the Pacific by Captain James Cook in the 1760s and 1770s, and the discovery of many ‘natural’ and ‘artificial’ (manufactured) curiosities from the Pacific Islands.  Collecting on the Cook voyages led to illustrations of intriguing artefacts, sometimes of ritual importance, often called ‘idols’ or ‘gods’ by the Europeans.  The British Museum (founded 1753) and the ‘Holophusicon’ or Leverian Museum (founded 1771) both acquired material from the Cook voyages and exhibited it to the fascination and delight of a British audience.

Less well known, however, are the many artefacts collected by the London Missionary Society (LMS), which was founded in 1795.  The LMS supported missionary projects from the end of the 18th century to the 1830s in Polynesia (the region bounded by Hawaii in the north, Easter Island in the east and New Zealand to the southwest).  They published widely on the progress of their work in converting the Polynesians to Christianity.  Their Evangelical Magazine and the letters and accounts of missionaries, such as William Ellis and John Williams, form the sources through which David Shaw King investigates the artefacts that survive.

Shaw King has aimed to highlight and explore a puzzle concerning the survival of the arts of the Pacific.  If the missionaries who arrived in Polynesia intended to convert the islanders to Christianity and to destroy their ‘idols’, why is it that so many were saved and exhibited? 

King begins by discussing the sources available to the missionaries prior to their departure for Tahiti in 1797, exploring previous accounts of the language and customs of the people.  He then examines more closely the circumstances of the early voyages to Tahiti, presenting some of the difficulties that the voyagers encountered, which led to the establishment of other island mission stations.  Ra’iatea, for example, was extremely important for zealous missionaries such as John Williams, who had called it ‘the citadel of evil’, mainly because this was the centre of the cult of a Polynesian god called ’Oro.

King focuses on the life and activities of Williams, who had (somewhat ironically) developed his own cult of celebrity.  A fascinating lithograph from the LMS archives in London shows Williams on the deck of a ship pointing to an assortment of Polynesian artefacts at his feet.  This illustration was designed to convince supporters of the LMS that the Polynesians were renouncing idolatry. King also examines the ritual contexts of Polynesian artefacts and the materials and symbolic values of many of their images.  For instance, the Tahitian sacred spaces (‘marae’) became a major battleground for the missionaries.  In one theatrical demonstration, a Rarotongan ‘god’ was chopped up for firewood, burned, and used for roasting bananas in order to drive the point home to the indigenous population.

The Europeans did not do everything themselves.  Two converted Raiatean ‘teachers’ (Papeiha and Vahapata) were employed as emissaries and sent to other islands, and here King considers the role of Polynesians in supplying the LMS with artefacts.  The most powerful Tahitian to renounce idolatry was Pomare II, the paramount chief of Tahiti, who sent objects back to London in 1816.  A letter to the LMS describes the ‘unspeakable satisfaction’ of obtaining several idol gods ‘as the glorious spoils of Idolatry’.  Looking in more detail at certain artefacts collected by the LMS and their importance for Polynesians, the author shows that many objects termed ‘gods’ were bundles of materials, such as feathers (often considered to be sacred), wrapped by cords made from coconut husks.  These so-called ‘feather gods’, he believes, could have been related to the more powerful ’Oro images, which are similar in the binding of materials and attachment of feathers.

This book is aimed at academics within the humanities with a specialism in the arts and cultures of the Pacific, or museum professionals who are keen to learn more about lesser-known collections held at the British Museum.  Although King covers a lot of ground in this book, his prose shifts from quite laborious biographical detail, to abrupt and at times vague statements that leave the reader with more questions than answers.  Nonetheless, with 300 colour illustrations, the book is beautifully produced.  The publication of many lesser-known artefacts from the British Museum will make this very useful for future researchers.  The extensive appendices, which include several missionary letters and accounts, are fascinating to read in their entirety and provide a glimpse of the curious historical circumstances surrounding the destruction and preservation of art from other cultures.  

Food for the Flames: Idols and Missionaries in Central Polynesia  by David Shaw King is published by Paul Holberton Publishing/ Beak Press, 2011. 256 pp. 300 colour illus. ISBN 978-1-90737-216-2