Fwai

The Fwai are the Kanak clans of the Hienghène valley on Grande Terre's north-east coast in New Caledonia; their Fwâi language, also recorded as Poai, belongs to a tight cluster of northern New Caledonian languages alongside Pije and Nemi, all of one commune.

This diversity clues the past: like other New Caledonian languages, these languages descend from Austronesian speech brought by Lapita seafarers around 1100 BC, multiplying as rival clans settled separate valleys and reefs. Villagers combined irrigated taro terraces, yam plots and deep-bay fishing, under chiefs whose authority was embodied in the great house and its carved rooftop finial.

War, marriage and ceremonial exchange linked the clans to their linguistic neighbours without merging the languages. James Cook coasted the island in 1774, and whaling brought only a few stray ships, so the Hienghène valleys remained governed solely by custom through 1837.