Word: tonga
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...speaker was the only woman in the British Commonwealth who had the right to talk of England's Queen on such terms of equality: Her Majesty Salote Tupou, Sovereign Ruler of the Eden-like Pacific Kingdom of Tonga, the Friendly Islands...
...interfere with the island kingdom's strictly observed Methodist Sabbath. Queen Salote made an equal concession in permitting her subjects for the first time to greet both her and the British royalty with a handshake in the British fashion, instead of the low bow favored in Tonga. From all over her kingdom, the Friendly Islanders came by two-wheeled horsecart and outrigger canoe to extend the greeting...
...boarded the liner Gothic. As Queen Salote and her family circled the huge vessel in a government launch, the Gothic steamed off toward New Zealand. When the big white ship was hull down on the horizon, a radio message winged its way back: "We take away happiest memories of Tonga and the great and friendly welcome given us by your people. May Almighty God watch over them...
...Tonga, England soon learned, is an archipelago of probably 200 islands about 1,400 miles south of the equator. Captain Cook called there in 1773, named them the Friendly Islands, and presented the Tongans with a tortoise, which is still alive. Methodist missionaries arrived in 1822 and converted the king to Christianity. Queen Salote's father voluntarily accepted British protection in 1900. Tonga is the only remaining independent monarchy in the Pacific. It has its own parliament, cabinet, privy council, passports, stamps, currency, laws and language, and is the only self-governing kingdom within the British Commonwealth...
...Salote in a broadcast to her people: "Much as we have liked to stay in England, I think I must end by saying that we are looking forward to traveling home . . . The English weather has been very nice, and warm, but cold at times." Though it also rains in Tonga, it is always warm...