Arrival and departure times and floral necklaces

Sitting under a ceiling fan at Faaa, Tahiti’s airport, I will stay here for the next 2 hours until my check-in opens. My flight leaves at 20 after midnight. If we think Tassie is marginalised or held to ransom by airlines, Tahiti has drawn an even shorter straw. This is how it is here. Back when I arrived, I felt somewhat sad that no-one was meeting me with a floral necklace. But that sadness was lost when Joelle gave me the largest fattest most important (because of the main choice of flower used, the value of which I only learnt about later) floral garland when I arrived on the island of Tahuata. But back here in the Tahiti airport I discovered an undercover open building slightly across from the main entrance, where dozens of woman sat with mounds of garlands and seed and shell necklaces waiting to sell them. Strongly fragrant white coloured tiara and p???? (must find out how to spell that important flower) flower garlands were everywhere. So simply seeing this set up, was a pleasure. Felicity, I couldn’t help drawing a parallel between these woman and those sitting on the edge of the Ganges at Varanasi and Patna selling their rich yellow floral necklaces.

Final visit to Papeete, Tahiti

On arrival in Tahiti, stored my suitcase at the airport, grabbed a taxi and popped into Papeete. Principally in search of clip-on French Polynesia’s pearl earrings. First place, perfect set (and duty free made them even more perfect). On way to pearl market had noticed a street of fabric shops. Wanted to buy every roll with all their patterns, but settled on one to make a pareo (sarong). So much wonderful choice. Hibiscus flowers predominated whether symbolically stylised or more naturalistic. I settled instead on a more geometric find, not geometric like Marquesan tattoos but making me remember them. The landmark Cathedral was suddenly before me. Nothing to write home about architecturally. It was a useful break because I could sort out my bag and remaining francs. It also gave me physical and mental space to work out where I was and where I might go next. Outside it was simply too stimulating to think clearly. Then I found a busy street corner with a restaurant where I could buy refreshing jus de pamplemosse, and then watch the slim, elegant, urbane yet casual French local women walking away at the end of their working day. After quite a while and the walkers had thinned out, and watching cars held no interest, I wandered down to the water front, found a brasserie on the side walk. While enjoying a cold beer, the sun set majestically over the water with the rim of the reefs in the distance. All around me were elegant French men having end of day drinks. Very civilised. The street lights were on and it was time to find the food vans. Eventually made a choice and enjoyed a Mahi-Mahi with Tofu. Silken tofu slipped down interspersed with prawns and chicken pieces in a slightly chillied sauce. Was joined by a couple from Kobe who had no French at all. This was a shock. Tried to gather my thoughts and find some memories of my limited Japanese language. Thankfully the woman had sufficient English for us all to be able to communicate. Had one last look around and grabbed a taxi to return to the airport. Collected my case, brushed my teeth, washed my face and felt so much better. Water is such an amazing thing.

Mixed reflections

Hoped to be sitting in a similar seat towards Tahiti as I travelled up to the Marquesas on so I would be able to see what I missed out on first up (no set seats just grab the one you want). Forgot planes take off differently according to the wind. So we took off and I had a view of the featureless sea. Then, I was delighted when the plane banked and flew over the island of Nuku Hiva, more or less finishing over TaiOHae and so I saw some of the valleys I had visited on Wednesday. It was a bitter sweet departure. I know I will never be back and so it is truly goodbye. But such a rich store of experiences will give me much pleasure for a long while. Sensational place but hard work coming from a winter climate. And hard work with too little conversational French. However I wouldn’t have done it any other way. A few nights ago I walked up to the plush resort hotel on the hill, sat sipping a (non-alcoholic) cocktail, chatting to a local, admiring the pretty boy bar girl and watching the guests. Strangely, I was given a bowl of green and black olives which did not blend with the fruit juice I was drinking. But that was enough for ‘dinner’. Anyway I looked at the guests and their well-fed tummies, and their expensive linens and sparkling diamanté sandals and knew they could never know the Marquesas’ like I have (even though I realised I had only scratched the surface and understood almost nothing) and I felt sorry that even though they all spoke French, their isolation in such tourist enclaves prevented them from really knowing how people lived, laughed, talked and felt. Nor could they know the values of the local people. And without it at least some of that, all they could be doing was ‘seeing the sights’.

CFP francs

Today I bought some money for French Polynesia and the notes are so pretty. The CFP franc (called the franc in everyday use) is the currency used in French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna. The initials CFP stand for Change Franc Pacifique (“French Pacific Exchange”). These 1000 franc notes have on the front right a decorative woman with the title of Le Directeur. Her hair falls in waves around her shoulders and behind an ear are a mass of white flowers. A necklace of these then morphs into a garment of red leafy like petals. To the left of the director is the side view of what seems to be a colonial women as the watermark in a white otherwise featureless circle. Underneath are the words Le Directeur General (but of what period and whom I have no idea) Next to the circle is a trio of high palm trees behind which is a traditional hut with further palms and mountains in the distance. With the exception of various squares containing numbers most of the remainder of this side of the large note is covered in symbolic floral icons in a decorative white and pinky orange pattern. On the reverse, a couple of deers, a westernised white washed church, another style of indigenous house, two white birds and a pair of totem like poles indicating wooden carvings. Various forms of vegetation give a back drop to these features. The decorative fill on this side of the note is a similar pinky orange colour but this time it consists of geometric shapes. This configuration made me think of the specialised tattooing that I expect to see - apparently the Marquesas in its history has had some extraordinarily wonderful (although early explorers said they were barbaric and savage)tattoos typically across the face as well as the body. Certainly Herman Melville's book 'Typee' (discussed in an earlier blog posting) gave lots of precise details about the tattoo lines going across eyelids, etc. This all makes me question what I might do if confronted with the opportunity to get a face tattoo (do I hear an intake of breath somewhere). I recall after a visit to Cornwall a few years ago, where I was able to get a temporary tattoo of a panther which stayed long and large on my arm for days - people edged away a little when I went to the opera with arms exposed. I suspect I am only brave enough for the temporary not the permanent markers. Back to the notes; trusty Google tells me 'All banknotes are strictly identical from New Caledonia to French Polynesia. One side of the banknotes shows landscapes or historical figures of French Polynesia, while the other side of the banknotes shows landscapes or historical figures of New Caledonia." And now I have discovered the 1000 CFP note has a Tahitian Woman with Hibiscus Flowers on the front side,and the Local Animals and Mission Church are at Vao, Isle of Pines for the reverse. This is the image of the front side:

Dominican Republic, Bulgaria, and Tunisia

What is the connection between all those countries with people looking at my blog and Tahiti. It turns out that beach soccer is the link between Tahiti and the country of many of my viewers. Already you know from an earlier blog that Russia is a soccer competitor for Tahiti, and that the 2013 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup takes place from 18–28 September 2013 (the day I arrive is its last day) at Tahua To'ata Stadium (Stade Tahua To'ata) in Papeete, Tahiti. Russia is the defending champion – I wonder what I will learn on Saturday night. It turns out the Dominican Republic, Bulgaria, and Tunisia all have soccer teams and play Tahiti. But it doesn’t seem that Tahiti plays so well – check this site: http://int.soccerway.com/teams/tahiti/tahiti/2204/matches. When I have time, I will research some other countries for their connections.

Tall Ships leave Hobart. Which tall ship first saw a French Polynesian island?

When you fly into any large city airport, and look back at where you came from, often you see a line of planes at set distances and at different heights on their approach to landing behind you. I saw a clear resemblance between that situation and with the line up of the tall ships today as they motored towards the Tasman Bridge; each craft keeping a distance in front of them to allow the ship ahead to elegantly approach the bridge and run up various sails, then turn in a leisurely arc amidst a flurry of water traffic out for sightseeing, before heading back past the regatta stand in all their glory. From time to time various marine horns sounded and their booms bounced around the air. The whistling steam boat added an extra dimension to the festival atmosphere. Many different craft from ferries to kayaks to motor boats to water skis and an assortment of yachts tacked and tacked and tacked again to follow the ships with their long white water streams along the Derwent Harbor. The Mercury newspaper snapped this great shot: My Sydney friend Liz tells me these tall ships are due to make a spectacle in the Sydney Harbour on October 2nd, and having watched the 'speed' of the departure of these tall ships I can understand the trip north won't break any Hobart-Sydney records. But what a wonderful adventure for those new passengers who are on board just for that trip. All of this made me wonder which tall ship first visited Tahiti. There is debate about which explorer and therefore which tall ships first reached some part of what is now French Polynesia. One theory is that navigator Pedro Fernandes de Queirós, serving the Spanish Crown in an expedition to Terra Australis, was perhaps the first European to set eyes on the island of Tahiti. His 3 ships were the San Pedro y San Pablo (150 tons), San Pedro (120 tons) and the tender (or launch) Los Tres Reyes. Apparently he sighted an inhabited island on 10 February 1606. However, whether the island that he saw was actually Tahiti or not has not been fully ascertained. According to other authors the real discoverer of Tahiti was Spanish explorer Juan Fernández in his expedition of 1576–1577. Apparently Juan Fernandez set sail from Valaparaiso (regrettably, I cannot find the name of his ship/s. After heading west for one month along the 40th parallel south, in the spring of 1576 they arrived in an island described as "mountainous, fertile, with strong-flowing rivers, inhabited by white peoples, and with all the fruits necessary to live". I think this may be some of the Marquesas Islands. Alternatively, explorer Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira took four ships, San Gerónimo (the Capitana), the Santa Ysabel (the Almiranta), the smaller frigate Santa Catalina and the galiot San Felipe and left Callao, South America on 9 April 1595. On 21 July 1595 the ships reached the Marquesas Islands. So many canvases may have been billowing off Tahiti and/or the Marquesas for over 400 years.

Why have South Koreans been visiting my blog?

I couldn't work it out. Why would South Korea people be visiting my blog, in the numbers they have been. Wonderful Google provided the answer. 'Tahiti (stylized as TAHITI; Korean:타히티) is a six-member South Korean pop girl group formed by Dreamstar Ent in 2012. They debuted on July 23, 2012 with their first single "Tonight".' I smile as I think what a disappointment this blog must be to devotees of the girl band. If you are interested read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tahiti_(South_Korean_band). I noted they have a sit-com reality program - I think my reality program for the next couple of weeks will be better.

It pays to be persistent - and not to worry

My Marquesas Island skipper had warned me Tahiti shuts down for Sundays (and I arrive in Tahiti late Sat night and I leave almost before sunup on Monday. I checked with my Tahiti hotel whether I could get an around day trip tour on Sunday (I want to see the Point of Venus and stand in the shoes of Captain Cook and Charles Darwin, and I want to at least pass through the two towns where the French artist Paul Gauguin lived. The hotel said no and confirmed nothing was available on Sunday. So I sent off many emails to all the tour providers and I am now booked on a round trip for Sunday which will take me where I want to go (well that is what I am led to believe) and much more.I now suspect some of the other 'nos' from the hotel may in fact turn out to be yeses- well that's to he hoped for. Especially since one is the necessary data sim card so I can write and send you my blogs! But what will be will be. ...I refuse to tell you I am counting the sleeps to go before I am in Gauguin territory.

The look of Tahiti in 1888

Weeks ago I wrote a series of posts about Robert Louis Stevenson's connection with French Polynesia. Sister June has discovered an absolutely deliciously dissolute (well that's my interpretation) photo of this author (with stepson who had inspired 'Treasure Island') at http://www.sffaudio.com/?p=22280.In addition, there is new information about his work and time in Tahiti. But here is the photo with Stevenson seated:

Swansea and France

Today I travelled north to the Tasmanian east coast town of Swansea to listen to a concert by the highly esteemed Tasmanian Symphony Orchestra chorus. Francophiles may already know that the east coast of Tasmania has a French heritage: this connection was recognised during the concert when two songs were sung in French. As always I look for connections with my current life and my adventure to come in French Polynesia - but today the connections are difficult to make. But it is worth noting that French explorer Nicolas Baudin, who came to our Tasmanian east coast, did try and get to Tahiti but his government wouldn’t approve his plan. Earlier, one of Baudin’s compatriots had taken up the challenge: Louis-Antoine de Bougainville (1729–1811) travelled the world to find the great southern continent, but after reaching Tahiti and the Hebrides he stopped short of the Queensland coast. It was a fierce and uncertain world then: Marc-Joseph Marion Dufresne sailed from Mauritius to land on Tasmania in 1772, but did not find mainland Australia. He turned east, instead, to New Zealand where he and a number of his crew were killed and eaten by Maoris. Bruny d'Entrecasteaux visited southern Tasmania in 1792. The 1803 Baudin Expedition brought Freycinet to the east coast of Tasmania. Swansea was established in the 1820’s and is one of Tasmania’s oldest towns close by to our Freycinet National Park. While the English came to Australia mainly to colonise it, the French came for mostly for the purpose of discovery/science: the places, the plants and the people. A lot of scientists were on board the French ships that came with expertise in agriculture and horticulture. As well as names remaining, so too did some of the gardens they established when they were exploring. There is one that was recently discovered at Recherche Bay, left behind by the French explorers in the 1700s. The Freycinet peninsula (see Freycinet's original 19th century map) and national park were named after Louis and/or Henri de Freycinet, officers from Baudin's expedition. Also, the highest peak in the Hazard Range is Mt Freycinet. From Baudin's expedition, many places were named after Frenchman on board including: Cape and Mount Baudin, Taillefer (doctor) Rocks, Capes Peron (zoologist), Bernier (astronomer), Bailly (zoologist), Boullanger and Faure (geographers), Bay Reidle (gardener), Maurouard (petty officer), Lesueur (artist - his works from Tasmania are on display in the Le Havre museum in NW France) and on Maria Island Point Mauge (a zoologist who died there). A number of these remain as well as other places named at the time including Ile du Nord (on Maria Island) and Point Geographe. Refer to http://www.frenchdesire.com.au/regions/tasmania

Weather and time

How I love Google and this moment in history when all information is at one's finger tips. Thought I would see what the weather will be like when I reach Tahiti next Saturday. It will be about 27 degrees and about 22 degrees overnight. During the day, presumably before I arrive at 9pm, there will have been thunderstorms. On Sunday when I have the day to fill, it will be about 29 degrees max and 67% humidity with some cloud which is all incredibly liveable - of course this a country which measures temperatures in Fahrenheit rather than Celcius - its been so long since I have had to do the calculations. But thanks to wonderful Google, I can make the calculation without thinking. A much earlier posting explained the time differences, but I have just checked the time in Papeete just now - its Friday afternoon (yes I will be crossing the international date line) at 4.30pm as I write this on Saturday at 12.30pm. So I will be behind you by 20 hours - almost a day. This means as I travel over there I get two Saturdays. But on the return I lose the time.

Connected by a football game!

And there it was. The mundaneness of it all. First I found that the FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup in Ravenna Italy in 2011 was between Russia and Tahiti. I found one photograph at a point in the game where it was 5:0 in Russia's favour. Then I discovered that in 2012, UAE, Russia Tahiti and USA went into group A whereas Brazil, Japan, Nigeria and Switzerland were drawn into group B. The real clincher was when I discovered that both soccer teams arrived in Dubai around this time last year. And wow! Tahiti was declared the host of the 2013 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup to be held at the Toata Stadium (with a capacity of 1500)from September 18-28 (I arrive on Sat 28th!).Now it is clear to me that no Russian is interested in my blog. People are simply hunting for more about the Tahiti soccer team. Sorry Russian friends. Can't help you! But thanks to my Russian visitors, I now know that soccer fever will be at a pitch as I land in Tahiti; or everyone may be imbibing at end-of-games drinks! Interesting times.

Quests for paradise

The words in my last blog describing a common goal between Gauguin and Buffet, were tantamount to a gift. A certain amount of personal reflection has been the result. Am I on a quest for paradise? Why am I really travelling to French Polynesia and then leaving Tahiti for more remote islands after only one day? I know that I have the belief that I will never return to French Polynesia and this has prompted me to explore some outer reaches so I can compare and contrast the well trodden tourist route with a less well trodden route. I guess I believe the journey will put me in touch with at least some people who have little or nothing to do with tourists normally, and in this way I am expecting the experience to connect me with something more authentic. In case you are wondering, I realise there is a difference between authenticity and paradise. Well I know what the former is, but the idea of paradise is somewhat elusive. For certain I am very happy with my life and I live in a place which offers paradisal visions and experiences often. Hobart usually looks marvellously stunningly beautiful, whatever the weather. Sometimes just being here arouses feelings of joy and profound happiness. Some would say this is paradise. In Biblical terms I think there is talk of only one paradise,but if there are parallel universes surely there can be more than one paradise. So - am I on a quest? Am I looking for other examples of paradise. No, its much more pragmatic than that - I have a holiday break and I am not staying home. Meanwhile, back to the comment from yesterday's blog. I think Joey has interpreted the situation incorrectly between the artist and the musician. Gauguin wasn't seeking paradise, rather an anti-authoritarian, non-rule bound society where he felt free. In the process, I think he found paradise. I don't think Buffet was on a quest for paradise either. His manager booked him on a gig in Tahiti, he travelled south from Honolulu, loved the experience, and couldn't help but return a number of times. But he didn't stay and live permanently. Because of that reason, I am sure he loved visiting but did not think French Polynesia was paradise.

Music of a different kind - Jimmy Buffet and the southern French Polynesian islands

John alerted me to the fact one of his favourite singers, Jimmy Buffet, has a French Polynesian connection. Apparently Buffet is well known for singing the Crosby Stills & Nash song "Southern Cross". The first few lines of the song are as follows: Got out of town on a boat goin' to southern islands. Sailing a reach before a followin' sea. She was makin' for the trades on the outside, And the downhill run to Papeete Bay. Off the wind on this heading lie the Marquesas. We got eighty feet of the waterline. Nicely making way. .... So I was curious to find out whether Jimmy Buffet ever stepped on the shores of Tahiti or the Marquesas. And the answer is yes to Tahiti and no to the Marquesas. He did perform on various islands including Tahiti, Moorea, and on Bora Bora in the 1980s, including a couple of benefit concerts where proceeds from ticket sales were donated to build a playground for the children of Bora Bora, and on another occasion supported Tahiti after the 1983 cyclones. “Like many “Tahiti-philes” who keep coming back to these islands, Jimmy Buffett has visited Tahiti and Her Islands on several occasions. Some people recall when he used to sit at the end of the bar at Hotel Bali Hai on Moorea during the early 1980’s, quietly playing his guitar and singing for his own pleasure. Others remember seeing him at Bloody Mary’s on Bora Bora in 1986, where he gave an impromptu performance. In 1982 Jimmy Buffett did a concert at Tahiti’s Cultural Center, which was then called OTAC. Jimmy Buffett recalls that when they arrived at the airport in Tahiti they were met by Hugh Kelley, one of the three “Bali Hai Boys” who had left Southern California in the early 1960s and eventually owned the Bali Hai hotels on Moorea, Raiatea and Huahine. Jimmy said that he and Hugh became instant friends. While sitting in Kelley’s big Urufara house in the mountains above Cook’s Bay on Moorea, he looked down at the vista and a song came out as if it had been sitting inside him waiting for the moment. Jimmy called this song, “One Particular Harbor” and it has become one of his most popular creations. Jimmy Buffet’s easy going style and friendly smile have earned him the title of “the troubadour of laid-back island living”. “Jimmy had such a wonderful time here that he wants to come back and go to Pitcairn Island,” said Rick Guenett. “His ancestor, John Buffett, was the first white man to live on Pitcairn after the “Bounty” mutineers. John Buffett’s descendants are now living on Norfolk Island.” Pitcairn is only perhaps a couple of thousand km to the south east of Tahiti. Jimmy Buffet 1985 at Bora Bora performing at the restaurant Bloody Mary;s.

Robert Louis Stevenson's Tahitian Poems

Music music music. My passion for making connections with Tahiti and the Marquesas started with being curious as to whether Haydn's desert island opera might be connected, and previous blogs have suggested connections. Now I find, that Robert Louis Stevenson was besotted by the local music during his stay on Tahiti. According to http://www.persee.fr/web/revues/home/prescript/article/jso_0300-953x_1964_num_20_20_1912, Stevenson's Tahitian poems are in fact translations of Tahitian songs and tales he recorded and translated. Apparently, Stevenson spent 3 months on Tahiti. He suffered illness and boredom while in Papeete and moved around. “Arriving in Tautira sick and without acquaintances there, Stevenson met Princess Moe, who found him lodgings and nursed him back to health with plates of raw fish and other Tahitian delicacies. To honour Princess Moe, Stevenson wrote the poem entitled “To an Island Princess’. Princess Moe settled Stevenson with a Tautira sub-chief named Ori a Ori. Ori and Stevenson became fast friends, and went through a Tahitian ceremony making them bond friends for life. Ori in turn sent Stevenson to visit kinsmen in the Papara district, Tati Salmon and Queen Marua Taaroa, who both befriended Stevenson. Stevenson has published three Tahitian tales. The longest and best known is “The Song of Rahero”… The two other published tales, ‘Of the Making of Pai’s Spear’ and ‘Honoura and Weird Woman’ are both renditions of minor Tahitian tales. The longest song is entitled ‘The Lament of the Aromaiterai’. If you want to read these songs go to the website from which this information has been collected. As a taste one poem includes the following: The wind roars in from seaward/The waves of the deep are lifted up/They bury the high sea cliffs… etc This sounds amazing and so I am increasingly excited to see that country. Ahhhh the power of music!

Did Robert Louis Stevenson spend time in Tahiti?

I have been asked if Robert Louis Stevenson, author famed for ‘Treasure Island’ amongst many other novels and short stories, really lived on a Pacific island and was it Tahiti or some other island in the French Polynesia group. An answer comes from http://www.robert-louis-stevenson.org/life: “Weir of Hermiston, Stevenson's very Scottish romance, was written when Stevenson was far away on the other side of the world. His decision to sail around the Pacific in 1888, living on various islands for short periods, then setting off again (all the time collecting material for an anthropological and historical work on the South Seas which was never fully completed), was another turning point in his life. In 1889 he and his extended family arrived at the port of Apia in the Samoan islands and they decided to build a house and settle. This choice brought him health, distance from the distractions of literary circles, and went towards the creation of his mature literary persona: the traveller, the exile, very aware of the harsh sides of life but also celebrating the joy in his own skill as a weaver of words and teller of tales. It also acted as a new stimulus to his imagination. He wrote about the Pacific islands in several of his later works.” By contrast, ‘Treasure Island’ was written because: “Another fortuitous turning-point in Stevenson’s life had occurred when on holiday in Scotland in the summer of 1881. The cold rainy weather forced the family to amuse themselves indoors, and one day Stevenson and his twelve-year-old stepson, Lloyd, drew, coloured and annotated the map of an imaginary "Treasure Island". The map stimulated Stevenson’s imagination and, "On a chill September morning, by the cheek of a brisk fire" he began to write a story based on it as an entertainment for the rest of the family. Treasure Island (published in book form in 1883) marks the beginning of his popularity and his career as a profitable writer, it was his first volume-length fictional narrative, and the first of his writings "for children"(or rather, the first of writings manipulating the genres associated with children).” But did Stevenson get to Tahiti. Yes he did and more. On June 27th 1888, in San Francisco, Stevenson joined the ship Casco which departed for a cruise of the Pacific islands, including the Marquesas, the Paumotus and Tahiti. The cruise lasted until 24 January 1889 when it finished in Honolulu. The year before he sailed, Stevenson had his portrait painted by Singer Sargent: Stevenson travelled with his wife Fanny. The following photo includes both with two islanders on Nuku Hiva in the Marquesas.

Did Bougainville experience the Marquesas Islands?

He did. Yes he did! "On the 3rd of May, Bougainville bore down towards a new land, which he had just discovered, and was not long in finding others on the same day. The coasts of the largest one were steep; in point of fact, it was simply a mountain covered with trees to its summit, with neither valley nor sea coast. Some fires were seen there, cabins built under the shade of the cocoanut-trees, and some thirty men running on the shore. In the evening, several pirogues approached the vessels, and after a little natural hesitation, exchanges commenced. The natives demanded pieces of red cloth in exchange for cocoa-nuts, yams, and far less beautiful stuffs than those of the Tahitans; they disdainfully refused iron, nails, and earrings, which had been so appreciated elsewhere in the Bourbon Archipelago, as Bougainville had named the Tahitan group. The natives had their breasts and thighs painted dark blue; they wore no beards; their hair was drawn into tufts on the top of their heads."

Bougainville's impression of the people on Tahiti

Bougainville says, "The climate is so healthy that in spite of our fatigues, although our people were perpetually in the water, and under a burning sun, sleeping on the naked soil under the stars, no one was ill. The sufferers from scurvy whom we disembarked, and who had not enjoyed a single night's sleep, regained their strength, and were so soon restored, that some of them were completely cured on board." In addition to this, the health and strength of the natives, who live in cabins open to every wind, and who scarcely cover the ground, which serves them as a bed, with a few leaves, the happy old age to which they easily attain, the sharpness of all their senses, and the singular beauty of their teeth, which they preserve to the greatest age, all testify to the salubrity of the climate, and the efficiency of the rules followed by the inhabitants. In character the people seem gentle and good. It would not appear that they have civil wars among themselves, although the country is divided into little portions under independent chiefs. They are constantly at war with the inhabitants of the neighbouring islands. Not satisfied with massacring the men and male children taken in arms, they skin their chins with the beard, and keep this hideous trophy. Bougainville could only obtain very vague information of their ceremonies and religion. But he could at least assert the reverence they pay their dead. They preserve the corpses for a long time in the open air, on a sort of scaffold sheltered by a shed. In spite of the odour of decomposition, the women go every day to weep near the monuments, and bedew the sad relics of their beloved ones with their tears and with cocoa-nut oil. The soil is so productive, and requires so little cultivation, that men and women live in a state of almost entire idleness. Therefore it is not astonishing that the sole care of the latter is to be pleasing. Dancing, singing, long conversations, teeming with gaiety, have developed a mobility of expression among the Tahitans, surprising even to the French, a people who themselves have not the reputation of being serious, possibly because they are more lively than those who reproach them with levity. It is impossible to fix a native's attention. A trifle strikes them, but nothing occupies them. In spite of their want of reflection they were clever and industrious. Their pirogues were constructed after a fashion equally ingenious and solid. Their fish-hooks and all their fishing implements were of delicate workmanship. Their nets were like those of Europeans. Their stuffs manufactured of the bark of a tree, were generally woven and dyed of various colours. In fact Bougainville's impression of the Tahitian people was that they were "lazzaroni."

Bougainville's experience of reaching Tahiti

We know from my earlier blogs that explorer Bougainville had seen a performance of a work by Metastasio (and similarly we know that Metastasio’s libretto was used by Haydn for the opera L’isola Disabitata) and that after Bougainville published his travel journals and probably influenced Metastasio, Bougainville’s experiences helped confirm Tahiti’s position in the world. I can now tell you that according to THE GREAT NAVIGATORS OF THE 18TH CENTURY authored by Jules Verne, Bougainville was in Rio Janeiro in June 1767 when he became aware of Metastasio’s work. I quote ‘Well received by the Count of Acunha, Viceroy of Brazil, the French had opportunities of seeing the comedies of Metastasio given at the opera by a Mulatto troupe’. Then Bougainville sailed on to Tahiti. On the 4th April 1768, ‘at sunrise the vessel reached Tahiti, a long island consisting of two peninsulas, united by a tongue of land no more than a mile in width. More than 100 pirogues hastened to surround their two vessels. They were laden with cocoa-nuts and many delicious fruits which were readily exchanged for all sorts of trifles. When night fell, the shore was illuminated by a thousand fires, to which the crew responded by throwing rockets. "The appearance of this shore," says Bougainville, "raised like an amphitheatre, offered a most attractive picture. Although the mountains are high, the land nowhere shows its nakedness, being covered with wood. We could scarcely credit our sight, when we perceived a peak, covered with trees, which rose above the level of the mountains in the southern portion of the island. It appeared only thirty fathoms in diameter, and decreased in size at its summit. At a distance it might have been taken for an immense pyramid, adorned with foliage by a clever decorator. The least elevated portions of the country are intersected by fields and groves. And the entire length of the coast, upon the shore below the higher level, is a stretch of low land, unbroken and covered by plantations. There, amid the bananas, cocoa-nut and other fruit-trees we saw the huts of the natives." The whole of the morrow was spent in barter. The natives, in addition to fruits, offered fowls, pigeons, fishing instruments, working implements, stuffs, and shells, for which they asked nails and earrings. Upon the morning of the 6th, after three days devoted to tacking about and reconnoitring the coast in search of a roadstead, Bougainville decided to cast anchor in the bay he had seen the first day of his arrival. "The number of pirogues round our vessels," he says, "was so great, that we had immense trouble in making way through the crowd and noise. All approached crying, 'Tayo,' friend, and offering a thousand marks of friendship. The pirogues were full of women, who might vie with most Europeans in pleasant features, and who certainly excelled them in beauty of form." Bougainville's cook managed to escape, in spite of all prohibitions, and gained the shore. But he had no sooner landed, than he was surrounded by a vast crowd, who entirely undressed him to investigate his body. Not knowing what they were going to do with him, he thought himself lost, when the natives restored his clothes, and conducted him to the vessel more dead than alive. Bougainville wished to reprimand him, but the poor fellow assured him, that however he might threaten him, he could never equal the terrors of his visit on shore. As soon as the ship could heave to, Bougainville landed with some of his officers to reconnoitre the watering-place. An enormous crowd immediately surrounded him, and examined him with great curiosity, all the time crying "Tayo! Tayo!" One of the natives received them in his house, and served them with fruits, grilled fish, and water. As they regained the shore, a native of fine appearance, lying under a tree, offered them a share of the shade. "We accepted it," says Bougainville, "and the man at once bent towards us, and in a gentle way, sung, to the sound of a flute which another Indian blew with his nose, a song which was no doubt anacreontic. It was a charming scene, worthy of the pencil of Boucher. Four natives came with great confidence to sup and sleep on board. We had the flute, bassoon, and violin played for them, and treated them to fireworks composed of rockets and serpents. This display excited both surprise and fear."

Bougainville and Haydn and Tahiti?

June responded to yesterday’s posting with a connection between Metastasio (who wrote the libretto which Haydn used for his opera ‘L’isola disabitata’) and discussions about literature and Tahiti. This prompted me to investigate connections between Haydn and Tahiti in a different way. An early explorer, the Frenchman Louis Antoine de Bougainville, visited Tahiti in April 1768. When Bougainville returned to France, he published an account of the voyage, 'Le Voyage autour du monde’. The book became a red-hot best seller, with passages such as the following, describing that first encounter: ‘…the girl carelessly dropt a cloth, which covered her, and appeared to the eyes of all beholders, such as Venus showed herself to the Phrygian shepherd, having indeed the celestial form of that goddess. Both sailors and soldiers endeavoured to come to the hatch-way. At last our cares succeeded in keeping these bewitched fellows in order, though it was no less difficult to keep the command of ourselves.’ Bougainville naturally drew on classical imagery, the source of most soft porn in 18th century Europe. He gave Tahiti the name of New Cythera, after the island of Cythera (now Kythera), the birthplace of Aphrodite. ‘Voyage autour du monde (A Voyage around the World)’ was a sensation because of its eroticism, but also because it seemed to confirm the idea of the Noble Savage, the Romantic notion that people in a state of nature were nobler and less corrupted than those in the civilized world. These ideas were already current when Bougainville left France. Remember Haydn composed his opera at the end of 1770s only a few years after Bougainville’s book was published in 1771. If Bougainville’s book was well-known and widely distributed Haydn would probably have known about it. The book was a sensation, especially the description of Tahitian society, which Bougainville depicted as an earthly paradise where men and women lived in blissful innocence, far from the corruption of civilisation. In L’isola disabitata, Haydn’s young Silvia certainly was happily living in blissful ignorance on the island. One other thing. Bougainville relates in his travels, that in St Salvador, the capital of the Portuguese possessions in America, he witnessed the performance of an opera by Metastasio. Perhaps Bougainville and Metastasio knew each other in Europe. Can we assume Haydn through his use of Metastasio’s libretto actually met the Metastasio? Is it conceivable that Metastasio would have related stories from Bougainville? Or is there some chance Haydn simply picked up Metastasio’s well-known libretto about an island because of popular interest in exotic remote islands?