Islands of the South Pacific

164 Pages·1972·28.075 MB·English

by  Frederic M. Rea,

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Islands the
SOUTH
PACIFIC
LANE BOOKS MENLO PARK, CALIFORNIA
•
foreword
—
Behind the popular image of the South Pacific white sand beaches and coconut palms
—
that Somerset Maugham called "the perennial pennants of Polynesia" much can be discovered
by today's tourist: history, legend, an intriguing kind of life, a surprising variety of scenic
beauty, a tremendous range of things to do.
In this book, we have brought together information in guide form that will help in your
own discovery of this storied part of the world. Some approximate prices are given to aid the
reader in planning; however, since prices change constantly, we urge you to accept these
only as approximations. Hotels are named in the more remote areas where only one or two
hotels exist, but no attempt has been made to list all the hotels in each group. You should know
also that new hotels and other facilities are under construction and on the planning boards
throughout the area. For up-to-the-minute details, we suggest you contact your travel
agent or the appropriate government tourist office listed in each chapter.
Many persons helped in the collection of information and checking of the manuscript.
A special acknowledgement should be made for the help and cooperation provided by the
following: Gerard Gilloteaux and James Boyack of Papeete, Tahiti; Rory Scott and J. Cokanasiga
of Suva, Fiji, and Thomas Talamini of San Francisco, California; Bruno Tabuteau and
Antoinette Kidney of Noumea, New Caledonia; Lloyd Clark of Pago Pago, American Samoa,
and Stanley S. Carpenter of Washington, D. C; Vensel Margraff of Apia, Western Samoa;
Peter D. Wallis of Nuku'alofa, Kingdom of Tonga; Joe Mulders of Vila, New Hebrides;
H. Creighton of Honiara, British Solomon Islands Protectorate; Christopher D. Copeland of
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea; Bert Unpingco of Agana, Guam; Mike Ashman of Saipan,
Mariana Islands, Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands; Raul S. Kristian of Los Angeles,
California; B. Teiwaki of Bairiki, Tarawa; Harry Mercer of Los Angeles, California; and
Charlotte Hyde of Los Angeles, California.
Supervising Editor: Frederic M. Rea, Publisher, Pacific Travel News
Research and Text: Frances Coleberd
Coordinating Editor: Sherry Gellner
Design: Joe Seney
FRONT COVER PHOTOGRAPH, by Jack Fields, shows lagoon off Majuro atoll
in the Marshall Islands.
BACK COVER PHOTOGRAPH (upper, by Fiji Visitors Bureau) is of street scene in Suva,
and (lower, by Don Normark) pictures Tahitian dancers in Papeete.
Executive Editor, Sunset Books: David E. Clark
First Printing November 1972
Second Edition. Copyright e 1972, 1966 by Lane Magazine & Book Company, Menlo Park, California.
World rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced by any mechanical, photographic, or electronic process,
or in the form of a phonographic recording, nor may it be stored in a retrieval system, transmitted,
or otherwise copied for public or private use without prior written permission from the publisher.
Library of Congress No. 72-88002. Title No. 376-06382-3. Lithographed in the United States.
. .
Contents
THE ISLANDS OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC 5 SPECIAL FEATURES
High islands, born of volcanoes and low
. . .
islands, tediously created by coral polyps
INTRODUCTION
but all enchanting
. . .
TAHITI AND FRENCH POLYNESIA The coconut palm is a providential tree 9
WHERE THE LEGEND BEGAN . . Captain Cook . . . remarkable map maker
13 of the South Seas \\
Storied islands with lofty peaks, studded with TAHITI AND FRENCH POLYNESIA
vegetation, circled by necklaces of coral,
inhabited by enchanting people Say it in Tahitian 18
Shopping surprises 21
FIJI KNOWN AS THE HAPPY ISLANDS 39 Gauguin's Tahiti ... "A sky without winter". 24
A fasc.i.na.ting blend of cultures, a tantalizing Tamaaraa in Tahiti . . . pig and poi, music
and motion 32
collection of islands begging to be explored —
Bastille Day South Pacific version 37
NEW CALEDONIA
. . FIJI
THE ISLE OF LIGHT 65
Fijian pronouncing primer mind your
. . .
Pine-clad heights, snow-white beaches, B's and Q's 44
protected by offshore reefs . . . Melanesian Shopping in Fiji . . . cameras to kerosene
but with a touch of la vie frangaise lamps 49
THE SAMOAS CRADLE OF THE RACE Take the sugar train . . . it's a
. . . 85 free ride 50
Purest Polynesia withhigh chiefs and Firewalking: the mystifying ritual 53
talking chiefs and. .a. plethora of churches Yaqona . . . it's a drink and a ritual 60
A calendar of events from Fijian
TONGA WHERE TIME BEGINS . . .
99 fireworks to Indian firewalking 63
. . .
A benign set of islands with gentle people, NEW CALEDONIA
. . .
a towering king, and a royal tortoise
CNOENWDOHMEBIRNIIDUEMS ... A RARE TLahdeieMse'lcarniecskieatn..h.uitn.M.o. tith'serliHkeubabbaeredhsive 7730
109 THE SAMOAS
Primitive rituals, dramatic land divers,
smoking volcanoes that rise out of the sea Etiquette, Samoan-style 87
TONGA
SOLOMON ISLANDS BEYOND THE
TOURIST ROUTES . . . 115 Moby Dick . . . revisited 103
A mountainous chain, fringed with coastal PAPUA NEW GUINEA
villages, a primitive landscape scarred with
the battlefields of World War II Sing-sing in the Highlands 126
PAPUA NEW GUINEA LAND OF 700 GUAM-MICRONESIA
. . .
CULTURES 121 An island hopping adventure ... on
field trip vessels 142
Ssiencgo-snidnglsa,rwgeisgtmiesnl,andanidn mthuedwomrelnd, land of Nan Madol . . . artificial islets in a
world of islands 144
GUAM AND MICRONESIA A CORAL Palau's rock islands the locals
... . . .
NECKLACE call them chalbacheb 149
133
2,141 specks of land, traces of ancient
civilization, deep scars of World War II battles
NEWCOMERS ISLANDS YOU CAN
. . .
HELP DISCOVER
153
The Cooks, Easter, Gilbert and Ellice, Lord
—
Howe, Nauru, Norfolk previews of coming
attractions
SUPPLEMENTARY READING
158
INDEX
159
THE MANY FACETS of the South
Pacific: a tiny church isolated amid
palm groves and edged by a deepwater
bay; Tahitian natives engaged in a
javelin throwing contest during Bastille
Day; the schooner Seasprayon a day-
cruise to one ofFiji's offshore islands.
4 Introduction
^he
Islands
of the^South Pacific
HIGH ISLANDS BORN OF VOLCANOES Scattered between the Tropic of Capricorn
AND LOW ISLANDS FORMED BY and the Tropic of Cancer lie thousands of
—
CORAL—ALL ENCHANTING islands some barely more than patches of
coral exposed at low tide, others craggy islands
with towering peaks, high valleys, broad plains,
rushing streams, tumbling waterfalls, and villages
and towns.
These bits of land were discovered and explored
by Captain Cook, Abel Tasman, Ferdinand Magel-
lan, Louis Antoine de Bougainville, and a host of
other early-day explorers. These are the lands
painted by Gauguin, the places described in poem
and prose by Stevenson, Melville, London,
Maugham, and Michener. So splendid are the pic-
tures these artists have created that the South
Pacific evokes among us all a quickened pulse, a
—
myriad of images romantic, peaceful to a point of
languor, adventuresome to a point of intrigue.
Among these thousands of islands, a few are
easily accessible today to travelers. Many more
have become the province of the boat owner who
can island hop for months on end without retrac-
ing his route, and the adventurer who drifts with
the tides of occasional transportation. In this book
we'll explore the islands that can be reached by
regularly scheduled airand steamship lines, islands
that have hotels and other facilities providing crea-
ture comforts for the traveler.
POLYNESIA, MELANESIA,
MICRONESIA
The three general regions of the South Pacific are
Polynesia, Melanesia, and Micronesia. Nesia means
island. Polynesia translates as many islands, Mela-
nesia means black islands, and Micronesia, tiny or
small islands.
* * .
Almost as varied as the topography of their
islands are the people who make the different
islands their home. Each island group has racial
.
Introduction 5
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FASCINATING FACES of the South Pacific: a New Caledonian in costume, a New Caledonian youngster,
a Tahitian dancer, a Fijian school boy, a Fijian chief's daughter, and a Papua New Guinea wig man.
characteristics, physical appearance, languages, so- angle are Hawaii on the north, New Zealand on the
cial systems, and dress different from those of its south, and Easter Island on the east. Within these
neighboring island groups. Yet all of them have one approximate boundaries, you find the Samoas,
—
thing in common the sea. The winds and the tides Tonga, Tahiti, and the Ellice and Cook islands.
and the abundance of the ocean harvest influence Polynesians are brown skinned, straight haired,
—
their attitudes, their ways of life. and usually quite handsome as the voyagers of
Most islanders live a communal type of existence the past often testified.
in thatched villages, their concept of family going
beyond that of blood relationship. Few of them Melanesians. The Melanesians are Oceanic Ne-
covet material possessions. Although many have groids, occupying islands of the western fringe of
embraced the Christian faith, they enjoy the ritual- the South Pacific: Papua New Guinea, New Cale-
istic songs and dances of their ancestors. Most donia, Fiji, the New Hebrides, the Gilbert Islands,
islanders have great dignity, an appreciation of and the Solomons. Melanesians are dark skinned,
ceremony, and a respect for tradition. fuzzy haired, and artistically creative. The Melane-
sians found in Papua New Guinea and New Cale-
— —
Polynesians. Justifiably romanticized in legend and donia smaller than the Melanesians of Fiji are
art, the Polynesians dwell in the vast archipelagoes thick lipped and show Australoid strains similar to
of the Polynesian triangle. The points of this tri- those of the Australian aborigines.
Introduction 7
—
THE HIGH ISLANDwith serrated peaks (left)
isof volcanicorigin; thelow island (above) is a
reef oratoll formedofcoral.
Micronesians. Finally, there are the islands and horseshoe shaped, most of them enclose salt water
people of Micronesia. These islands include the lagoons. Some low islands are nearly submerged;
Marianas (Guam, Rota, Saipan, and Tinian), the others, such as Tongatapu Island, are uplifted coral
Caroline Island archipelagoes (Palau, Yap, Truk, masses. All these circular reefs have coral gardens
Ponape, and Kusaie), the northern atolls, and the housing a diversity of marine life. Many are fringed
Marshall Islands. The Micronesians as a group by coconut palms, their roots in salt water, and by
—
have many similarities, but they are not as closely wide beaches a familiar island image of the South
related as either the Polynesians or the Melane- Seas in fiction and photography.
sians. They display local differences in social High islands are exposed summits of partially
organization, religion, and culture. Generally a submerged volcanoes. Some thrust jaggedly up out
sturdy, heavy-set people akin to the Polynesians, of the sea to heights of several thousand feet. Most
they are seemingly more influenced by proximity are drained by rushing rivers that tumble into
to Malaysia and the Asian mainland. dramatic waterfalls. Spectacular examples of high
volcanic islands include Bora Bora and Moorea.
Other islanders. Infusing the South Pacific islands
with additional color are the non-indigenous resi-
dents—amongthem,descendantsofearlyexplorers, How to get there and get around
adventurers, missionaries, and traders who landed
in the Pacific in past centuries. In addition, t—he is- The islands of the South Pacific may be reached
lands shelter a great number of newcomers mi- from virtually any point on the compass: from
grants from India, for instance, who have come to Honolulu and the West Coast cities of the United
Fiji, as well as sizable populations of Chinese and States; from the Orient, Southeast Asia, Australia,
many Europeans and Americans who have chosen New Zealand, and Chile.
to live in the islands.
By air: Nine major airlines presently operate regu-
Low and high islands lar flights from Honolulu and West Coast cities
Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle, Van-
—
There are two kinds of islands in the South Pacific: couver, B. C. to the South Pacific islands: Air New
low and high. Regardless of how they vary in size Zealand, American Airlines, British Overseas Air-
and topography, all islands fall into one or the ways (BOAC), Canadian Pacific Airlines, Conti-
other categories. nental Airlines, Pan American World Airways,
Low islands are coral reefs oratollsbuiltbycoral Qantas Empire Airways, Trans World Airlines,
polyps and isolated in the open ocean. Ring or and UTA French Airlines.
8 Introduction