The Cocos Island shown in this Mallet engraving (1683, Description de l'univers, Volume IV, figure CXIII) corresponds to Tafahi, a small volcanic island in the Tonga archipelago, in the South Pacific. It sits right next to Traitors' Island, now identified as Niuatoputapu, also in the Northern Tonga group. Both names originate from the Dutch expedition of Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire, the first Europeans to visit these islands between April 21 and 24, 1616. The name "Cocos Island" (Cocos Eylandt in Dutch) comes from the abundance of coconut palms observed by Schouten and Le Maire's crew upon arrival, while "Traitors' Island" (Verraders Eylandt) was so named after an incident considered hostile or deceitful by the local inhabitants during contact with the Dutch crew. These place names were later adopted and disseminated in 17th-century European atlases and travel accounts, including Mallet's, which compiles the discoveries of Dutch navigators in its section on the Southern Lands.
Exact position within the Tonga archipelago
Name on the Mallet engraving Modern name Location
Cocos Island (I. Cocos) Tafahi Northern Tonga, about 9 km north of Niuatoputapu
Traitors' Island (I. des Traitres) Niuatoputapu Northern Tonga, South Pacific Ocean
The engraving itself reflects this exact configuration: Cocos Island is shown in the foreground on the left (a conical, forested mountain typical of Tafahi's volcanic profile), while Traitors' Island appears to the right, in the background, separated by a stretch of sea where the ships are anchored — faithfully matching their real-world position, with Tafahi being a small isolated island just north of the larger Niuatoputapu. This is therefore neither the Costa Rican Cocos Island in the eastern Pacific, nor the Cocos (Keeling) Islands in the Indian Ocean, but rather these two Tongan islets in the South Pacific, immortalized by the 1616 Le Maire-Schouten expedition.
See also:
https://www.coconutmuseum.org/2022/04/niuafoou.html
In the past, Niuafo'ou Island, was the most famous island among Polynesians regarding varieties of coconut palm. But what remains of it today?
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Niuafo'ou, the coconut-shaped island
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The oldest description of coconut varieties in French Polynesia can be found in the book "Ancient Tahiti" by Ms. Teuira Henry, published in 1928. This book was based on oral narrative material recorded by John Muggridge Orsmond. Orsmond passed away before finishing the work so his granddaughter, Teuira, translated his recordings into book form. Its collection of oral records includes legends and chants that were told by priests, bards and other natives of Tahiti.
That publication mentions 16 different varieties or forms of the coconut palm. Coconut varieties, which have been passed down from generation to generation of islanders, are now under threat from the globalization of trade, cultural levelling, changes in agriculture and industrialization.
Teuira Henry indicated the existence of
particularly enormous coconuts growing the island of
Niu-Fou (now known as Niuafo'ou). The name itself of this island was said to mean "New coconut". According to M. Keti Takitaki-Pulukamu from Fiji, the meaning of the name is even "Many new Coconut".
Niuafo'ou is a tiny island in the Tonga group, with an area of 52 sq. km. The distance to the nearest island is 200km. It is a very active volcano that slopes steeply down to the sea floor.
It is extremely surprising to note that the Tahitians, more than a century ago, knew this variety of Niuafo'ou, yet located nearly 2800 km from Tahiti! This shows how famous was the Niuafo'ou coconut variety among the Polynesians.
Given its unusual geography, Niuafo'ou was named « Tin can island », because a strange way of receiving its postal communications was adopted. The mail was cast into the sea in a tin box and recovered by men in pirogues.There is no safe anchorage for boats.
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Two maps of the Niuafo’ou Island,
one dated 1896 and the other recent.
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The repeated eruptions of volcano (1867, 1886, 1912, 1929, 1935-36, 1943, 1946, 1985) caused the
destruction of many plantations and villages. Following the eruption of 1946, Niua-fo'ou was evacuated and the government authorized the return of the islanders only in 1958. The two islands in Tonga were a different dialect is spoken are named Niuafo’ou (Many new coconut) and Niua Toputapu (Many sacred coconut).
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| Aerial view of the lake in Niuafo'ou Island |
Various observations made since the turn of the century also show the same tendency. The most remote islands are often those where coconut diversity has best been conserved (Labouisse and Bourdeix, 2003). Polynesians have empirically used numerous small islands to conserve and breed their coconut varieties. The geographical remoteness of the islets has ensured the reproductive isolation of the coconut palms necessary for variety fixation. Once planted in a limited number on a remote island, coconut palms only crossed with each other and it became possible to create new varieties. Then, by taking seednuts from those isolated islets, the ancient Polynesians were able to reproduce, in an empirical but stable manner, the coconut varieties they had created.
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Other notes.
On Niuafo‘ou, the Fotofi li lineage was established as governors in the seventeenth century (Bott 1982:96,112-13), and Fotofi li is still today the highest aristocratic title on the island. The history of the founding of this title was recalled for the Niuafo‘ou people by Queen Sālote in a dance poem, ta‘anga lakalaka, which she composed for her visit in 1927:
Tō e folofola mei mu‘a
Fakahā ki Fonuamotu tokua
Ke ‘ave ha taha ‘o nofo fonua
‘O tauhi ‘a e motu ko Niua
The royal command given from the past ahead
Advise Fonuamotu, so it is said,
Send out a resident
To govern Niua.
(Tupou III 1927)
R.Bourdeix, section DPP Tonga - Niuafo'ou
DPP Tonga, R. Bourdeix 2026
