In Tonga’s First King and Other Folk Tales, the last folktale in the book is about how the island of Niuafo’ou (many new coconuts) came to be. This island is unique because it is also called the Tin Can Island. Unlike other islands worldwide, it does not have a natural harbor or pier, so there is no natural landing place for boats. About 600 people inhabit the island. 

The name Tin Can Island came from the method of delivering mail to the island. Boat captains and traders would put mail in sealed biscuit tin cans and toss them overboard where they were retrieved by strong swimmers from the island. Sometimes airplanes also dropped the tin cans. 

Niuafo’ou used to have a mountain in the middle, which according to the folktale, was stolen by the trickster god, ‘Aitu. Because of a volcano eruption, the mountain is gone and there are two lakes in the middle. Neighboring islanders observed the caldera-forming eruption, and there is more than one folktale describing how the island came to be. 

The volcano on the island is active with a major eruption in 1946 which forced an evacuation of around 1,200 inhabitants. About half of them returned when permission was granted in 1958. 

Most of the villages are located outside the caldera and the rim surrounding the caldera.

There are so many interesting things about the islands of Tonga! How would it be to be known as one of the swimmers to retrieve the mail from a tin can floating in the sea?!