but I have some questions to ask.
How did the East Polynesians cover the vast distance between the islands when they were carrying on their export trade in culture?
There is a theory that they boarded their canoes, rowed into the ocean currents and then drifted. Where did they drift to?
It is half a century since research into marine currents has given us a pretty accurate idea of the directions in which the large strong currents move and which coasts they touch. The map of marine currents shows conclusively that the East Polynesian exporters must have reached New Zealand, the biggest island in the South Pacific, in their primitive canoes
against
the current.
A favorite explanation of this motorless and compassless traffic is that the seafarers between East Polynesia and New Zealand traveled so far in a northerly or southerly direction that they found themselves east or west of their goal—then the clever fellows slipped into the currents at exactly the right place.
That would be all right if the ancient Polynesians had had modern maritime knowledge and navigational aids. What did they know about the precise degree of latitude from which they had to turn off to east or west? And how did they know their goal? Did they know that other islands existed and where they were?
Anyone who assumes that the ancient Polynesians made exact use of the currents—that ran counter to the directions of their expeditions—must be prepared to admit that knowledge of marine currents was familiar to them. If scholars are ready to admit this necessary prerequisite for navigation between the islands, I will gladly support the current theory, but at the same time I must be allowed to ask the question
whence
they acquired this knowledge.
We are concerned here with the export of culture from east to west over vast distances, which I list here according to data supplied by international airlines:
Easter Island—Tahiti
=
2,300 miles
Tahiti—Fiji
=
2,670 miles
Fiji—Australia
=
1,865 miles
California—Hawaii
=
2,485 miles
Hawaii—Marshall Islands
=
2,360 miles
But if in spite of this, a raft or a canoe had landed by chance on the coast of a hitherto unknown island, the bold seafarers (against the current!) would never again have had any communication with their former home; they could not even have sent messages saying that they had landed. If the foolhardy aquanauts had happened to put to sea again from the island they had landed on by chance, they would have got further and further away from their home port. Not even the strongest men could have managed the journey home in canoes. Yet according to science they had another astounding achievement to their credit. They had no women with them, but they not only supplied the islands with culture, but also produced children who then multiplied vigorously. How did they manage that?
The East Polynesians navigated by the stars! “If the Southern Cross is on the horizon at midnight, we must steer to the left to reach Bora-Bora.”
How did the culture-bearers know where Bora-Bora lay? Had someone been on the many hundred islands before them? In what way did the “discoverers” receive from their home island the reports that were necessary for fixing their positions?
Today
the seaman knows that his goal exists (unlike the prehistoric discoverer); he knows where it lies and on what route it is to be found. The original Polynesians lacked all the necessary knowledge. If they reached an island, a lucky chance had put it in their way.
The intelligent and skillful inhabitants of New Zealand, the Maoris, have a saga which gives cause for reflection.
It tells us that in early times there was a King Kupe, who undertook what was obviously a land of scientific expedition in company with his two daughters and two birds. Kupe discovered the East Coast of New Zealand, went ashore and sent the two birds off to reconnoiter. One bird was given the task of measuring the marine currents and the drop
How did the East Polynesians cover the vast distance between the islands when they were carrying on their export trade in culture?
There is a theory that they boarded their canoes, rowed into the ocean currents and then drifted. Where did they drift to?
It is half a century since research into marine currents has given us a pretty accurate idea of the directions in which the large strong currents move and which coasts they touch. The map of marine currents shows conclusively that the East Polynesian exporters must have reached New Zealand, the biggest island in the South Pacific, in their primitive canoes
against
the current.
A favorite explanation of this motorless and compassless traffic is that the seafarers between East Polynesia and New Zealand traveled so far in a northerly or southerly direction that they found themselves east or west of their goal—then the clever fellows slipped into the currents at exactly the right place.
That would be all right if the ancient Polynesians had had modern maritime knowledge and navigational aids. What did they know about the precise degree of latitude from which they had to turn off to east or west? And how did they know their goal? Did they know that other islands existed and where they were?
Anyone who assumes that the ancient Polynesians made exact use of the currents—that ran counter to the directions of their expeditions—must be prepared to admit that knowledge of marine currents was familiar to them. If scholars are ready to admit this necessary prerequisite for navigation between the islands, I will gladly support the current theory, but at the same time I must be allowed to ask the question
whence
they acquired this knowledge.
We are concerned here with the export of culture from east to west over vast distances, which I list here according to data supplied by international airlines:
Easter Island—Tahiti
=
2,300 miles
Tahiti—Fiji
=
2,670 miles
Fiji—Australia
=
1,865 miles
California—Hawaii
=
2,485 miles
Hawaii—Marshall Islands
=
2,360 miles
But if in spite of this, a raft or a canoe had landed by chance on the coast of a hitherto unknown island, the bold seafarers (against the current!) would never again have had any communication with their former home; they could not even have sent messages saying that they had landed. If the foolhardy aquanauts had happened to put to sea again from the island they had landed on by chance, they would have got further and further away from their home port. Not even the strongest men could have managed the journey home in canoes. Yet according to science they had another astounding achievement to their credit. They had no women with them, but they not only supplied the islands with culture, but also produced children who then multiplied vigorously. How did they manage that?
The East Polynesians navigated by the stars! “If the Southern Cross is on the horizon at midnight, we must steer to the left to reach Bora-Bora.”
How did the culture-bearers know where Bora-Bora lay? Had someone been on the many hundred islands before them? In what way did the “discoverers” receive from their home island the reports that were necessary for fixing their positions?
Today
the seaman knows that his goal exists (unlike the prehistoric discoverer); he knows where it lies and on what route it is to be found. The original Polynesians lacked all the necessary knowledge. If they reached an island, a lucky chance had put it in their way.
The intelligent and skillful inhabitants of New Zealand, the Maoris, have a saga which gives cause for reflection.
It tells us that in early times there was a King Kupe, who undertook what was obviously a land of scientific expedition in company with his two daughters and two birds. Kupe discovered the East Coast of New Zealand, went ashore and sent the two birds off to reconnoiter. One bird was given the task of measuring the marine currents and the drop
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