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The Age of Discovery (1)
By the start of the 17th C, what had been an Iberian monopoly over sea-trade was beginning to crumble. In its place, a new and unexpected force was rising, an alliance of syndicates known as the Dutch East India Company.
Within a rapidly expanding Dutch maritime empire, the Dutch East India Company stood at the helm. Endowed with the right to declare war and sign treaties, the Company had been granted sole access to the East Indies. All other Dutch ships were forbidden to sail around the Cape of Good Hope or through the Straits of Magellan, the only known routes to the Far East. The Spice Islands, and any undiscovered lands that lay beyond, were to be in the sole possession of the Company.
In defiance, two Dutch men, Willem Schouten & Jacob le Maire set out to discover a new passage to the South Seas. Seeking access to the Spice Islands, they hoped they might also find the mythical continent cartographers believed kept the world in balance: Terra Australis Incognita.
Hatched in secrecy, their mission was only revealed to a select few. In June 1615, during a brief pause in the eighty-year war with Spain, the newly formed Australia Company set sail from a location outside Holland, avoiding a ban on their use of Dutch ports. Only after four months at sea was the crew told of their true purpose.
In January 1616, Schouten & le Maire found the new route they were looking for. Passing the southernmost part of South America, they discovered a passage south of the Straits of Magellan. They named it Le Maire Straight, after Jacob’s father, who had planned the expedition. Pausing briefly near the coast of Chile, they continued their push into uncharted waters.
On April 19th, deep in the Pacific, a strange sail came out of the south. The Dutch immediately tried to stop it by firing shots across its bow. Ten musketeers in a shallop eventually ran the vessel down, shooting a man while others jumped overboard and drowned. The strangers were a crew of about 25 unarmed men, women and children. The Dutch described them as red folk who smeared themselves with oil. The women had short hair and the men had long hair painted very black.
The next morning, the Dutch sighted a very high blue land (Tafahi) eight miles to the southwest. Sailing all day and night into the wind, towards the island, they finally espied another island, long, low & 2 miles south (Niuatoputapu). Niua men came to meet the Dutch, swimming to greet them from 10 canoes, their hands filled with coconuts and roots. The Dutchmen gave them nails and beads in return. An incident occurred when the Dutch launched their shallop to look for better anchorage. Canoes surrounded the shallop and tried to take it. The Dutch fired their muskets and a Niua man was killed.
Bartering continued into the next day. The Niua people gave 1,200 coconuts, bananas, pigs, obes roots, fresh water, & 3 fishing rods with mother-of-pearl hooks. In return, after a final presentation of a live black pig and a mat, Latu (the chief) received an old hatchet, a few beads, some old nails and a piece of linen.
On the morning of the 23rd, a flotilla of 45 canoes, accompanied by some 23 vaka, manned by an estimated 1000 men and women, came to continue trading. Suddenly, on a call by Latu, the flotilla attacked. The Niuans rammed the Dutch ship at high speed, breaking the double prow of their own canoe. The reasons for the attack are unrecorded – was it revenge, having learnt of the deaths of April 19th? Was it the later death? Was it because of disappointing returns on all the goods provided? Whatever the reason, the Dutch dubbed Niuatoputapu “Traitors Island”.
On October 28th 1616, the expedition finally made landfall in Jakarta. Victory was brief. The Company immediately arrested Schouten & le Maire for using one of their forbidden passages, claiming that a new route was impossible. le Maire died in custody, on his way home to trial.
Northern Tonga remained largely unexplored for another 300 years, when the HMS Eugenia and Penguin arrived to survey the area. Today, the Dutch visitors are well remembered. A Niua family still carries the hereditary name, Vakata, bestowed by Latu in 1616. Literally meaning, “slap the boat”, it honors the Niuan who leaned from her canoe and smacked the Dutch galley as it sailed away: Niua’s parting shot to the West.
WARNING: Fetaʻu oil is for external use only.
Fetaʻu oil should not be used by anyone with a nut allergy
1. Chevalier J. Study on a new cicatrizing agent for cutaneous and mucous wounds, oil of Calophyllum inophyllum. Doctoral thesis Paris, 1951.
2. Hemavathy J, Prabhakar JV. Lipid composition of Calophyllum inophyllum kernel. Journal of the American Oil Chemistry Society 1990;67(12).
3. Mahmud S, Rizwani GR, Ahmad M, Ali S, Perveen S, Ahmad VU. Antimicrobial studies on fractions and pure compounds of Calophyllum inophyllum Linn. Pakistan Journal of Pharmacology 1998;15(2):13-25.
4. Saxena RC, Nath R, Nigam SK, Bhargava KP. Effect of Calophyllolide, a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agent, on capillary permeability. Journal of Medicinal Plant Research, 1982;44:246-248.
5. Lederer E, Dietrich P, Polonsky J. On the chemical constitution of Calophylloide and calophyllic acid from the nuts of Calophyllum inophyllum. Bulletin of the French Chemical Society 1953;5:546-549.
Fetaʻu oil can be applied as and when required. Although thick and rich, once applied to the skin it penetrates easily and is completely absorbed.
Age of Discovery (2)
Fetaʻu Oil
Fetaʻu: Calophyllum Inophyllum (also known as Tamanu or Kamani).
Growing up to 30 metres in height, the Feta’u tree has shiny, green leaves and delicate, small white flowers with yellow centres. The fruit of has a thin layer of flesh, a thin shell & a large cream-coloured kernel. These kernels are oil-free when the nuts are collected but, left to dry in the sun, they turn a deep brown and become filled with a rich, green, pleasant-smelling, extremely fine oil.
Revered by ancient Polynesians, the oil of the Fetaʻu nut was historically used for its medicinal and wound healing properties: as a massage for aching joints and rheumatism & as a treatment for rashes, inflammations & infections. Traditionally, it is used by women as a moisturiser, promoting smooth, healthy & clear skin.
Fetaʻu oil has a variety of modern uses. The active ingredients in the oil are believed to regenerate tissue, making it sought after by cosmetic manufacturers. By encouraging the formation of new skin tissue, the oil is ideal for accelerating wound healing.1
According to scientific analysis, Fetaʻu oil contains three basic classes of lipids (fats) - Neutral Lipids, Glycolipids & Phospholipids - all of which account for its ability to keep the skin well nourished and supple.2 Unique to Fetaʻu oil is another fatty acid – calophyllic acid– which research has shown to exert potent anti-bacterial & anti-inflammatory action.3,4 The oil also includes calophyllolide which is an effective anti-inflammatory compound.5 Additional anti-bacterial activity is a result of the xanthones, the potent antioxidant phytochemicals that have natural antibiotic & anti-fungal properties, that it contains.
Sourced from the ancient trees of Malilia, on the remote & pristine shores of the island of Niuatoputapu, our Fetaʻu nuts are sun-dried for two months then cold-pressed by hand to produce this unique & pure oil.
Schouten & le Maire Fetaʻu Oil