The Voyage

THE VOYAGE

Techniques of navigation

The Polynesians sailed without instruments, without marine charts but followed the ‘avei’a, the path of the stars which served as reference points along with the moon, the sun and the winds. To locate land at sea they observed the ocean swell, its colours and luminosity, drifting vegetation, whales, and the birds which, depending on their species, made it possible to evaluate their distance from land. The voyage routes are thereafter transmitted by memory or by chants to the next generation.

Since the constellations do not change, this permitted an observant navigator in the equatorial skies to associate a particular constellation with the island he wanted to reach.

First an explorative voyage would be taken to discover an island suitable for settlement, its position in reference to the stars was memorized, then the canoe would return to gather family, plants and animals then re-depart for an eventual settlement. These voyages could have occurred over a period of several centuries. The construction techniques and methods of preparing food for the voyage could have been modified as the voyages became longer.

Life on board

On the large voyaging canoes to traverse these great distances, often against the trade winds, would keep the Polynesians several weeks or a number of months at sea. For the survival of the group, life on board was regulated by various tasks.

The sewed on planks to heighten the hull were not water tight; day and night the men had to bail the hull so to avoid the extra weight. In calm weather crew members would sit on the outrigger and paddle. The pandanas sail suffered a great deal so it was a daily job to maintain them, along with the ropes..

Tools

Before the introduction of metal by the Europeans, the tools of the horticulturists and fishermen were made of selected wood and stones. Worked shell and coral also produced a quantity of daily objects such as adzes, gouges, scrapers, knives, hooks and files.

Food

In addition to plant seedlings for replanting and animals for reproduction, upon departure a great assortment of foods were gathered and prepared for the voyage. Some were fresh, other dried or cooked. This included coconuts both for water and food, bananas, sugarcane, cooked roots of the ti plant for its high sugar content, semi-fermented breadfruit, pandanas seeds, smoked lagoon fish, freshly caught fish, etc

Fresh water was carried in gourd containers.

In this way the important foods and medicinal plants were distributed through out the islands as well as the chicken, dog and pig.

Fishing

While fishermen assured fresh fish, others cooked them over a small fire kept lit in a container of sand. Certain very large canoes had the facilities to cook several pigs at the same time.

Fish lines, delicately made by each fisherman, were fabricated from the bark of a shrub found in the valleys or from coconut husk fibber and twisted in a braid of three.

Fish hooks were generally fabricated from pearl shell with the aid of coral or sea urchin spine files. Their shape and sizes varied according to the fish wanted, small pearl shell hooks being reserved for fishing in shallow water. Big fish fished outside the fringing reef were caught on large wooden hooks with an attached pearl shell tip.

While voyaging in the open ocean, a long mobile pole was attached in the bow of the canoe. This was to catch tuna with live bait. For bonito, a shorter bamboo pole with a short line and a pearl shell cut in the form of a small fish with a bone or pearl shell tip at its lower end along with some pig hairs was successfully used and with some modifications still used today.

Nets found through out Polynesia were also made from twisted bark fibbers.