She Had an Oddventure

Elinor Mordaunt, an Englishwoman who lived for a long time in Australia, wrote a book in the 1920's about her voyage through the Caribbean, across the Panama Canal and through much of the South Pacific. It is an interesting book, because it tells of lands much more primitive than they are today, but whether or not her descriptions were accurate (I have not found any overall criticism on the internet), I do not know. One item, quoted below, was very interesting, except that I find no corroboration, and therefore it, in my mind, colors everything she says on any topic.

She says here: "Before ever the Fijians were known in Fiji, they came here [Tonga]; and the place where they knelt, thanking the God of the Jews for their safety and prosperity - men with hooked noses and full lipped mouths and curling hair, more red than black - is still shown beneath the spreading roots of the banyan tree which forms the roof of the meetingplace of the city fathers of Haapai.....The Taufaa Hau - the Great Ones - brought with them the high priests and the preistesses, all the rituals of the ancient Jewish religion...."

Anybody have a clue about what she is describing? "The Venture Book" published in 1926, and still readily available in used book stores.