Subject: ali'i war chief

Culture: Tahitian / Society Islander

Setting: Tahiti 1767-1825

Event Photos

* Thompson 2008 p71

"Tahiti, in the eighteenth century, was everything that Europe was not. It was warm and tranquil, salubrious, unspoiled. Food fell literally from the trees: coconuts, breadfruit, bananas, and vi-apple, also known as Tahitian quince. There was fish and pork in abundance and the valleys and gardens produced wild ginger, sugarcane, taro, and yams. Polynesians generally conformed to European ideals of physical beauty, but many travelers considered Tahitians the most beautiful people they had ever seen. The islanders were tall and well-proportioned with regular features and long dark hair. Early observers remarked their fondness for bathing, the 'singular beauty of their teeth,' and their habit of dressing their hair with old scented with 'something like roses.' They had no predators and few pests, and the islands they inhabited were not plagued by the diseases of crowded, unsanitary European cities, or fever-ridden tropical ports like Batavia, where so many Europeans died. No wonder that to the tired, grubby, hungry sailors who discovered it, Tahiti seemed a paradise on earth."

Primary Sources

Secondary Sources

Field Notes