A landscape photograph showing a group of Tongan women and men through the middle of a trilithon (stone arch). The photograph shows six seated women and two seated European men, officers from HMS Alert, who can be seen through the middle of the arch. One Tongan man, wearing a white jacket, stands closer to the camera, with his back to one of the pillars. It is possible that this is Prince Wellington, who accompanied three officers from Alert to the trilithon. A further two figures are in the background close to thick vegetation.

This famous arch is still standing on the island of Tongatapu in Tonga. It is known as Ha'amonga 'a Maui and was probably built as part of a royal compound in the 1200s (although there are also legends that it was made by Maui, an important figure in Pacific mythology). Ha'amongo 'a Maui has been compared to Sonehenge in Wiltshire but the two structures were built thousands of years apart and for different purposes.

The photograph is captioned 'Ancient monoliths. Tongatabu. Friendly Islands'

Dr R. W. Coppinger records HMS Alert visiting Tongatapu between 8 and 18 November 1880. Prince Wellington took a few officers to see the monument, and Coppinger described it in his book 'The monument—if such it can be called—consists of three large slabs of coral rock, two of which are planted vertically in the ground at a distance of about fifteen feet apart, while the third forms a horizontal span, resting on its edges in slots made in the summits of the vertical slabs. The height of the structure, of which the picture gives a good idea, is about fifteen feet. We were, I regret to say, unable to obtain any information—legendary or otherwise—concerning the origin of this remarkable structure.' [page 173]. The picture mentioned above is an engraved version of ALB0167.89 and is given the caption 'ANCIENT STONE MONUMENT AT TONGATABU'.