Ernest Beaglehole (1906-1965) was a noted New Zealand ethnopsychologist - see the 'Journal of the Polynesian Society', vol. 75 (1966): 109-119. See also Ernest and Pearl Beaglehole, 'Pangai: Village in Tonga, Polynesian Society Memoir No. 18' (1941), Wellington.

The journal begins when Beaglehole and his wife Pearl were northbound to Tonga from Auckland in MV Matua. Most of the time in Tonga was spent at Pangai, Ha'apai Group. The journal consists of 156 foolscap pages, partly typed and partly handwritten. Four additional pages contain a short synopsis of daily events. There are also notes inquiring about transport in the Matua, a brief critique of Henry James' 'bitch goddess', a rough draft of a critique of Mariner's Tonga, and a 12 pp. typescript entitled 'Tonga, the world's smallest kingdom' which was evidently written in the late 1950s. NOTE: The microfilm of the Tongan journal was made from a photocopy of the original. The last few lines on some pages are very faint and one or two have been cut. The second paragraph of the first page has been obscured on the microfilm to avoid problems of access.