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Tonga is an amazing kingdom. Yes, believe it or not, it is what Hawai'i used to be. Just read the amazing stats below.

Did you get that, 1140 B.C. But that is fairly recent history when you consider that the first inhabitants of the Americas, according to the New World migration model, came from Eurasia by way of Beringia, a land bridge which connected the two continents across what is now the Bering Straight. It is estimated that this migration took place at its earliest possible time, some 12,000 years ago. What puzzles me is how those people who crossed over the bridge Beringia, have evolved into such widely different tribes as they spread throughout the Americas. Take a look at these photos representing the various native tribes of North America on the left, and of Central and South America on the right.

The Polynesians, on the other hand, migrated from island to island by traveling over the oceans surface in crudely made canoes. The thought of setting out onto the open sea with several families in canoes, not knowing what lies off in the distance, or even if there is anything there, and to find tiny specks of land in such a vast ocean, that migration was an incredible feat in my estimation. But just where is Tonga?

Inside the small circle lies the Kingdom of Tonga, an archipelago of 170 coral and volcanic islands scattered over 700,000 square kilometers of ocean.. The national sport of Tonga is Rugby, and they have a pretty good team, the 'Ikale Tahi, or Sea Eagles, which has played in five Rugby World Cups since 1987 with the 2007 Rugby World Cup being its most successful to date. Having won third place behind South Africa and England, Tonga earned automatic qualification for the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand.

Tongan Rugby players perform traditional ritual dance before rugby match in Canberra, Australia, October 15, 2003

The Tonga show was lively and humorous due to the audience participation. We first got a demonstration of music from conch shells, then drums, and here is the funny part, they invited 3 guys from the audience, an American, a Canadian and a Guamanian. The Canadian was the funniest, because he just couldn't follow instructions, and at the end of his performance, you know how they do the "dum-da-da -dum-dum dum-dum", well the tongan would play the first part (dum-da-da-dum-dum), and wait for the Canadian to play the second part (dum-dum), but the Canadian would just repeat what he played, instead of playing the second part, the "dum-dum". It was hilarious and frustrating beyond belief because the Tongan tried everything he could think of to get the guy to just play his part. He played the whole thing through to show him what it SHOULD sound like. Then he tried again - dum-da-da-dum-dum, and he waited, and the Canadian would play on his drum "dum-da-da-dum-dum" every single time. The audience was in stitches, and the poor Canadian didn't have a clue. The American did everything to perfection, including the addition of his own bit of flare at the end. It just goes to show, you never know what to expect from your audience.

The next area we visited was that of the Hawaiian Islands.

1) A beautiful example of a hand carved outrigger canoe;         2) A covered dock for passengers to wait for a canoe ride;

3) The Chiefs hut, with photographs of past kings;                       4) An old lithograph of the ancient Hawaiians surf boarding.

Surf boards have certainly changed a lot from what was used in the 1930s

These are some of the handicraft the Hawaiians made for every day use. Pots, spears, wooden bowls for poi, etc.

We walked around and saw some more exhibits from other island groups, and tried to catch as many shows as we could. I believe it was the one from Fiji that was really fun. The MC had a real sense of humor. I thought it was the best show of the day.

He first demonstrated was how to remove the husk from a coconut with nothing but your bare hands and a sharp stick (you can see the stick on the stage in the first photo, at calf level behind him). Next he demonstrated with precision and humor, how to crack it open. He was able to save most of the milk in the two halves. He called a young blond girl up from the audience and asked her to try the coconut milk. She took one sip and then spit it out. She obviously didn't like it at all. He gave her the half with most of the milk and asked her to try it again. She immediately just dumped it out onto the stage. He was shocked. She was returned to the audience and he proceeded to demonstrate how to extract the meat from the coconut shell. Next, his assistant demonstrated how to climb a coco palm. He was a bit of a show off, stopping half way up to pose and flex his muscles for the ladies. But he actually climbed all the way to the top of this very tall palm tree. He was quite an athlete. I'm assuming his stop half way up to pose was actually to allow him to rest. It had to take a tremendous amount of effort to climb that trunk with nothing but your bare hands and bare feet. It was straight up. The guy was like a monkey.

Suddenly it was time for the parade of canoes down the river, with a different island group dancing and singing their native songs, each one unique and characteristic of their particular culture. Their dress was quite colorful, and they all put on a pretty good show. But these photos will have to wait until the next chapter.