Fijian Biblical Manuscripts

One of my major interests over the past years has been the study of the original translations of the Bible in Fijian. In June 2012, working with Tauga Vulaono, Save Nacanaitaba and a committed group of Fijian commentators, we republished John Hunt's first translation of the New Testament, completed on Viwa in 1847. This was produced in time for the 200th commemmoration of the birth of John Hunt. While in Fiji for the occasion, I delivered a seminar at USP where I pointed out the inadequacies of the various revisions of Hunt's translations, noting particularly the considerable efforts of James Calvert, which I argued have not improved upon the initial work of the very first translation.
Work still needs to be done on a close comparison of Hunt's original translation with the later revisions. At least now we have ample copies of the 1847 New Testament in circulation, thanks largely to the ongoing commitment of Vulaono and Nacanaitaba to this project. The Methodist Church has yet to fully endorse the use of the 1847 translation but I am sure this will come with the passing of time. (At the same time I would be the first to support a modern Fijian translation of the New Testament, especially in the light of the woeful New Fijian translation [NFT] produced by Jim Ah Koy. This, it must be noted, was done by people unacquainted with Greek and - at Ah Koy's bidding -  with disrespect to the inner beauty and subtlety of the Fijian language).
My attention is now directed to the Fijian Old Testament. The missionary responsible for this was David Hazlewood, a Hebrew scholar. Three of the Old Testament books were published on Viwa in 1850 - Genesis, Exodus and Psalms. The Mitchell Library in Sydney holds copies of those. Hazlewood completed his work in NSW and died shortly after. His manuscript was taken to England by James Calvert and prepared for publication by the Bible Society. James Calvert, by his own admission, had no knowledge of the scriptural languages. He was assisted by a Bible Society scholar and together they worked on the Hazlewood manuscript, the first Fijian Old Testament being published in 1864.

Cambridge University Library

 On a recent trip to England, I visited the Bible Society archives in the Cambridge University Archives. I was looking for the original Hazlewood manuscript brought to England by Calvert. Much to my dismay I learnt that the Bible Society has lost hundreds of files, many holding original manuscripts, dated between 1857 and 1900. It is very possible that the complete Hazlewood translation may never be located.