A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

Turner calls Olosenga the land of Fuailangi, glossed as Originator of the heavens. The deity digs up earth on Chief Niuleamoa’s land on Taū. Niuleamoa pushes it into the sea as a floating island and boards with Fuailangi, Lady Olo and the chiefs Puletainuu and Masuitufanga. Seeking a residence for a war god, they travel to Tonga and then return through Savaii and Upolu. They also reach Tutuila, but leave when its inhabitants use their island as a dunghill.

They finally settle between Taū and Ofu, a position from which Fuailangi can fight people on either side. Senga, chief of Ofu, visits the new island and marries Olo; their names provide this account’s explanation of Olosenga. Turner subsequently describes Fuailangi as represented by a sea eel and associated with a portable altar and severe sanctions against consuming the animal. These are historical reported observances, not biological properties of eels. The adjacent explanation involving parrots arriving from a Fiji canoe is expressly another account of the island’s name, rather than a further transformation of Fuailangi.

Floating-island journeyWar-god residenceSea-eel representationPortable altarDistinct island-name explanations
01

Origins & earliest records

George Turner, Samoa, A Hundred Years Ago and Long Before, chapter XX, section 2, Olosenga account. First printed London, 1884; hosted text transcribes the University of the South Pacific 1984 reprint.

02

Records & interpretation

A located nineteenth-century missionary collection records this particular narrative. Turner’s interpretations are distinguished from the narrated events.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Samoa, chapter XX, section 2, Olosenga account

    George Turner, missionary collector · 1884; reprint 1984

    Complete selected account, retaining the collector’s spellings and its narrative outcome.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Primary historical collected narrativeTurner: Samoa, chapter XX, section 2, Olosenga accountResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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