Much has been written on the history of 19th-century Tonga and the key role played by European missionaries during that turbulent yet critical period in the development of modern Tonga. Yet much of it is Anglocentric, if not Protestant, and by that fact somewhat lopsided. This book offers a long-overdue redressal by focusing on the French and Catholic perspectives on aspects of that history, based for the most part on the letters, diaries, and journals of the French Marist missionaries to Tonga.