POLYNESIA IN COLOUR

Te Ao Hou, March 1969, Page 57

POLYNESIA IN COLOUR by James Siers A. H. & A. W. Reed, $3.95 reviewed by E. E. Bush The production of a popular book on Polynesia by a New Zealand publishing firm, is a reminder that in our modern world, the islands of Polynesia are just around the corner, and we have as near neighbours races and nations enjoying a way of life quite different from our own, and owing loyalties to other nations. It is as well to be reminded, too, that peoples of a common stock with our own Maoris inhabit the vastness of the South Pacific region, and that from these islands the Maoris brought their culture, their language, and their way of life. Yet, though these islands of the South Seas share a common heritage, there are differences, too, that divide this ethnological

group into Tahitians, and Tongans, and Samoans, and Rarotongans. Through 2,000 years or more, racial characteristics have developed, and the visitor to any group can identify its inhabitants. Language, culture, religion, vary to a degree. The community life of each racial group has developed along separate lines, so that differing forms of government are evidence of separate evolution. Houses, canoes and crops, while showing a basic similarity, are individual in style. But perhaps more noticeable than social changes are the racial characteristics of physical features. It was these racial characteristics that James Siers set out to capture. He aimed his camera at those features that were typical of the island group he was visiting. Nor was he slow to realize that each ethnic group is by no means pure. The Polynesian was ever a wanderer — how else did he reach these island homes? But random canoes blown off course, organized migrations, or war parties all resulted in residence in one group by the peoples of another. Perhaps the greatest wanderers were the Tongans, for most of the other groups have legends and stories of Tongan war-parties landing in their midst, or a canoe-load arriving to seek a husband for a ‘fair princess’. Nor was this practice confined to Polynesia — there was inter-communication between Polynesia and Melanesia. The inhabitants of the southern islands of the Fiji group are more specifically Tongan in appearance, with their straight hair contrasting with the fuzzy Fijian. The northern islands, Rotuma, Gilbert and Ellice, and others, likewise show a Polynesian influence. James Siers sets out, then, to show us this Polynesia. His book is a combination of text and photographs in colour. He gives us an introductory chapter, briefly outlining the history of discovery in the South Seas — first, the explorers, Mendana and Quinos, accounting for Spanish names in the Melanesian groups. The Dutch, with Tasman as their most important, were next. Tasman's journey was to date the most southerly, and to him were credited the discoveries of Tasmania, New Zealand, the Lau Group, and Tonga. The map of these uncharted seas was filling up. After one hundred years of inactivity, suddenly the French and English appeared almost simultaneously. Wallis, Bougainville, Cook are the outstanding names in South Seas exploration. In their wake came the course of history. Traders, disease, missionaries, guns, unsettled settlement, ‘protective custody’. And so the islands of Polynesia and of Melanesia became British and French, and Spanish, and Dutch, and German, and American — and not necessarily under the aegis of their present ‘protectors’. After this ‘in-flight’ introduction, we arrive at our first island group — only this isn't a group in Polynesia (although the author defends this by claiming that ‘Polynesia’ simply means ‘many islands’. And, on examining the index, we find that we must accept this ruling, for we are to go to another group also that is ethnically and geographically not in the Polynesian triangle). Rather sensibly, James Siers takes us first to Fiji. Why not! It is our nearest island group (we cannot list Norfolk Island as a ‘group’), is almost as close to Auckland as is Invercargill, and more easily reached. Most New Zealanders at some time or another, will no doubt succumb to the blandishments of their Travel Centre, and take advantage of the quick, inexpensive holiday tours to Fiji. And the more distant traveller makes first touch-down there. Significantly, therefore, the cover picture is of the ceremonial presentation of Kava, set outside a model bure, while the first plate is that of a girl of Fiji — not a Fijian girl, but one in whom is seen the blend of Melanesia and Polynesia. So the author sets the scene, and we are introduced to the ‘crossroads of the Pacific’ in pictures and story. The text sketches in the known history of the Fijian people over the 3,000 years of their occupation of the island group; it describes some of the ceremonies and functions the tourist should not miss, discusses the social and political present, and wisely avoids an expression of opinion of Fiji's most pressing problem, the relations between Fijians and Indians. The pictures of Fiji and Fijian life represent largely the tourist point of view — yet in the selection there are only four small shots of the Indian. The pages of pictures are grouped; the Kava ceremony, scenes showing the contrast in the appearance of the ‘wet’ and ‘dry’ sides, a fish drive, typical market scenes and one or two ‘general shots’.

Introducing the section on Samoa is a study of a Samoan girl, contemplative, beautiful in a Polynesian way, and with blossoms in her hair. The caption says, ‘Western Samoa stands out as something special; the women seem more beautiful, the hills greener, the villages more picturesque, and the lagoons bluer’. So James Siers' heart is captured, and he sets the scene for our visit to this gem of the Pacific. A brief history is given in the text, the social and economic atmosphere is touched on, and the remainder is material for the tourist. I felt the selection of photographs on this section was not truly representative, particularly in showing the Samoan himself, but sufficient were included to show something of the beauty and the wealth of colour of the Samoan islands, although none is included of Savai'i, more typical of the real Samoa, as it is more isolated. American Samoa is given another couple of pages of additional text, but the group of photographs portrays Samoa as an ethnic group. We now backtrack to the island kingdom of Tonga, shown generally in atlases as ‘The Friendly Islands’. Interest was created in this little-known kingdom off the main tourist and travel routes, by the person of its best-known sovereign, Queen Salote, who captured the hearts of the people of the world at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth. Several of the photographs are centred around her life, or her passing. With attention drawn to its existence, tourist promoters set about putting Tonga on the tourist map. So, apart from a little history, and a little economics, James Siers is concerned with telling us what we may see there. Due east now to the scattered Cook group; attention is concentrated mainly on the two islands of Rarotonga, port of call, and Aitutaki which was formerly the chief airstrip. With improved services, this paradise of the Pacific will tend to lose its isolation. For long the concern of the New Zealand Government, Cook Island industry, both primary and secondary, has been fostered, and the visitor to these islands is struck by the contrast between the primitive and the modern, more so here than in any other South Seas group. Next, to New Caledonia, not Polynesian, not even Melanesian, but included no doubt because of its inclusion in the Travel Centre's list of easily-accessible places to go to ‘get away from it all’. What struck the author was its individuality, and its difference from any other island group. French in atmosphere, cosmopolitan in its peoples, sophisticated in its standards for the European — James Siers sees New Caledonia as a place of contrasts. He illustrates this in the pictures he has chosen. The final port of call is Tahiti, largest of the Society Group. Here one will see what one expects of the South Seas — beautiful maidens in grass skirts performing hula dances, white sands and coral atolls, the colourful flowers, the tropical scene. All this is here — perhaps commercialized, perhaps over-presented. There is variety, too — one sees again the fish-drive, the native markets, the native villages, the blue lagoons. Some of the outer islands are accessible — Raiatea, spiritual centre of Polynesia; Bora Bora, made famous in film and story. The pictures show the beauty of the land. As Siers says, you must go to Tahiti to realize how good Gauguin really was. So our tour is complete. The book has presented what it said it would — Polynesia in Colour. Of the text, it is simple, in outline only. It does not pretend to give a studied treatise on each place visited. The pictures are all photographs — a little different from the clear, defined photographs of the travel brochure. I puzzled over them for a while. I did not think the colour printing process of the Kyodo Company of Tokyo could be to blame. Some of the prints, notably of flowers, but in some cases, of scenes, were true to life, but some had a colour-cast, while some were a little faded. I came to the conclusion that the photographer had chosen these on purpose; they gave an impression rather than a delineating picture, an impression of colour, the blues, the soft greens, the suffused orange. I could accept the pictures on these grounds. The scenes of N.W. Viti Levu were clear, much as a photograph would produce. This is the ‘dry’ area of Fiji. The lack of clarity of the other pictures could then portray the mistiness of the rain-soaked tropics. Some of the shots of people were perhaps too obviously posed. The volume will give the would-be traveller some idea of the countries so near at hand, and so worth visiting, while, for those who have already made the journey, it will provide a satisfying reminder of what must undoubtedly have been the experience of a life-time.