Book description
'We are often told what great navigators ancient Polynesians were but
we've seldom had it demonstrated so convincingly or with such clarity.'
Paul Little North & South Tupaia, lauded by Europeans as 'an
extraordinary genius', sailed with Captain Cook from Tahiti, piloted the
Endeavour about the South Pacific, and interceded with Maori in NZ.
Tupaia, a gifted linguist, a brilliant orator, and a most devious
politician, could aptly be called the Machiavelli of Tahiti. Being
highly skilled in astronomy, navigation, and meteorology, and an expert
in the geography of the Pacific, he was able to name directional stars
and predict landfalls and weather throughout the voyage from Tahiti to
Java. Though he had no previous knowledge of writing or mapmaking,
Tupaia drew a chart of the Pacific that encompassed every major group in
Polynesia and extended more than 4,000 kilometres from the Marquesas to
Rotuma and Fiji. He was also the ship's translator, able to communicate
with all the Polynesian people they met. As a man of high social
ranking, Tupaia performed as an able intermediary, interpreting local
rituals and ceremonies. Joseph Banks is famous for his detailed,
perceptive descriptions of the manners and customs of the Polynesian
people. Much of the credit for this belongs to Tupaia. Not only did
Tupaia become one of the ship's important artists, drawing lively
pictures to illustrate what he described, but he could justly be called
the Pacific's first anthropologist. Despite all this, Tupaia has never
been part of the popular Captain Cook legend. This is largely because he
died of complications from scurvy seven months before the ship arrived
home. Once he was gone, his accomplishments were easily
forgotten-indeed, by removing Tupaia from the story, what the Europeans
had achieved seemed all the greater. Joan Druett is an independent
maritime historian and writer associated with the Stout Research Centre
for New Zealand Studies, Wellington. She had published many
award-winning maritime studies, including In the Wake of Madness (2003)
and Island of the Lost (2007), and is also the author of the popular
Wiki Coffin mystery series.
