25/10/2025
๐ง๐๐ ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ง๐๐ฅ๐๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐๐ก๐๐ฆ๐๐๐ก๐ ๐๐ฆ๐๐๐ก๐ ๐ข๐ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐จ๐๐จ๐๐
In his book โ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ช๐ซ๐ชโ published in 1866, ๐ฅ๐ฒ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ป๐ฑ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ต ๐ช๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ต๐ผ๐๐๐ฒ describes the Island of Burotu as โ๐ข ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ข๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด, ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฃ๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด.โ
The name Burotu or Burotukula has become synonymous with โparadiseโ a place of luxuriant vegetation and wildlife and beautiful women.
Legend has it that the island is home to some of the most beautiful women in the world. The island is surrounded by beautiful flowers that give out an irresistible fragrance. Everything on this island is surrounded with beauty and the sand surrounding the island sparkle like diamonds.
Legend tells of a young man from Matuku who went out fishing one evening and got lost. As he waded through the night, he fell asleep in his canoe. When he awoke, he found himself surrounded by the most beautiful women he had ever seen.
While wandering around the island, he saw the most beautiful woman who told him not to sleep for if he did, the island will disappear forever and he will never find them again. The tired man fought sleep for as long as he could but eventually succumbed. When he awoke, he was back on his home island of Matuku and the mysterious island had disappeared, never to be seen in daylight ever again.
Legend says that the island of Burotukula can still be seen today in the foggy haze of dawn or at dusk at last light before the coming of the night. Sometimes, if you wander down to the beach in the early hours of the morning, you may find beautiful fragrant flowers on the beach or burnt-out fishing torches of a strange design with handles made of shells washed up on the shoreline, which the people of Matuku say is from Burotukula.
Over the years, there have been numerous accounts of sightings of the famous vanishing island. One such recent account happened on Thursday 4th September 2003 and was witnessed by the Head Teacher of Babasea Primary School in Levukaidaku while he, other teachers, pupils and some villagers were exercising in front of the village. He said that the island appeared early that morning over the eastern horizon and that the island was high and mountainous, that it was well-vegetated and that clouds lay around its summit. In his log book, he wrote:
๐๐ต ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต 6 ๐ฐโ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด, ๐ด๐ต๐ถ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ท๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ญ ๐ด๐ค๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ข๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐บ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด ๐ช๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ถ๐ฌ๐ถ๐ญ๐ข ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ 10 ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ด. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ช๐ณ๐ด๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ป๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ๐จ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ง๐ญ๐ฐ๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ข. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ช๐ป๐ฐ๐ฏ (๐๐ฎ๐ช๐ต๐ข๐ช ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐จ๐ถ, ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ, 2๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ 2003).
According to an article in โ๐๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ถ๐ญ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ค๐ฆ๐ข๐ฏ๐ช๐ขโ, the first written accounts of the Burotu tradition in the Matuku area all talk of an island having disappeared suddenly at some unspecified time in the past but none report any details such as where exactly the island was located or how many people survived the sudden disappearance of the island and where they might have settled.
Early European accounts suggest the disappearance of Burotu was within living or even recent memory at the time of early contact between Fijians and foreigners. For these reasons, it seems likely that the disappearance of Burotu occurred in the distant past, perhaps around 1000 AD or even earlier.
Myths and legends often have their roots in shared human experiences and therefore usually have some factual basis. In the past, our ancestors told stories to try to explain the inexplicable, such as significant and sometimes sudden changes in their physical environment.
Was there ever an island next to Matuku that suddenly "disappeared" under the sea? My view is Yes, and this can probably be explained by modern science. Can the island mysteriously reappear at certain times of the day? Here is where science ends and myths and legends begin.
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