Exploring Polynesian Navigation Heritage

Major funding for this program was provided by Pacific Resources Incorporated, PRI, providing energy for the Pacific, and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations. Additional funding was provided by the Hawaii Committee for the Humanities. Hei Hawaii, hei moku, hei kanaka, hei kanaka Hawaii e. Here is Hawaii, an island, a man. Hawaii is a man, a child of Tahiti. Hawaii, final landfall for Tahitian mariners who crossed the Pacific more than a thousand years ago. In 1976, a canoe set out from Hawaii to retrace the legendary voyaging route to Tahiti. The canoe is guided by one of the last keepers of an ancient art, Mao Pialag. The trip to Tahiti was very important for me. I know the people of Tahiti and Hawaii once navigated as we do. They didn't use instruments, they navigated by the stars and waves. I made the trip to show those people what their ancestors used to know, and what we still know. Mau's home waters are in Micronesia, 2,000 miles to the west of Hawaii. Tiny islands are separated by vast ocean distances, and the people depend on navigators like Mau for survival. The navigators of Satawal are the last of a nation of sailors who once settled the entire Pacific. The Pacific Ocean, larger than all of the Earth's continents combined. When Europeans first glimpsed this immense sea, virtually all of its more than 10,000 islands had already been discovered by a more daring nation of seafarers. In the most remote islands of the Western Pacific, the secrets of navigation are still passed down from one generation to the next. Santa Wall is a tiny coral atoll, one mile square and barely eight feet above sea level. I feel like I'm really grown up. You're really grown up? Yes. I'm really grown up. Mao Pialug learned to navigate from his father and grandfather. Now it is Mao's turn to pass on his skills. At sunset, he teaches his nephew to recognize signs of weather in the sky and sea. The shapes and colors of the sky and the words of his teacher. will one day guide Mao's nephew across the ocean. Our navigation is different from yours. I don't need a map or a sextant. I just use my head. I observe the ocean. the sky and I remember the words of my teachers. There are two kinds of navigators. The man who only knows how to sail is called Palu but the man who knows both sailing and magic is called Po. To become Po you have to be initiated in a special ceremony. The Po ceremony has not been performed for more than 20 years. Mao was the last man on his island to be initiated into the secrets of both magic and navigation. The sea is the men's domain. The land on Satowal belongs to the women. Mao and his wife Katrina have 16 children. On Saturdays, the women of their family gather to prepare food. Coconut, breadfruit and taro are staples throughout the Pacific. These food plants are not native to the islands. All were imported by the first settlers. Mao is 50 years old. He learned navigation when he was very young. My grandfather taught me navigation when he rested from his work. I listened carefully until he died. And then my father taught me. When I could finally sail alone, I realized how important navigation was. Men who can't navigate are not looked up to. They don't have a name. Two or three times a year, all the men of Satawal organize a communal fishing expedition. Mau gives final instructions. Santowal is surrounded by a reef that is small and provides very little food. To protect the reef, the chiefs may place a taboo on all fishing. And only rarely do they allow an event like this. A full day's work by all the men nets only 200 pounds of fish. Five hundred people live on Satawal, 35 separate family groups, and the catch must be divided fairly among them. Mal Pialot is Samhainet, master of dividing. The reef around Satawal is not good. We don't have enough fish, so we depend on other islands for food. The reef on West Fayou is full of fish. It's our storehouse. If we couldn't sail there, we'd starve. When you go to sea, everyone looks up to the navigator. He is responsible for the lives of everyone on his canoe, so he makes all the decisions. The crew are like his children. With fair winds, the trip to West Bayou takes ten hours. Mau uses the time to teach his crew about the ocean's wells. Hello. What's up? I'm here to tell you about the new song I'm going to play. It's called... The new song? Yes, the new song is called Say Say. It's a song I'm going to play for you. Mau recognizes eight separate patterns of ocean swells. He uses them to set his course at sea. West Fayou is surrounded by a large lagoon. which shelters an abundance of sea life. We call West Faiyu the island of free lunch because there's so much food here. West Fayou belongs to Satawal. People from other islands must ask our permission to fish here, but we always give it. They wouldn't ask if they didn't need the food. The crew fished the reef for three days. They caught 700 pounds of fish, almost four times what the entire village caught on Sadawal, and two sea turtles, a special delicacy. Hi, Mr. At a small chapel in the center of the island, the men pray for a safe journey home. In the past, Mao offered powerful magic to Yalulue, the patron spirit of navigators. Now the men pray to a Christian god. People have thrown away the old spirits. In the old days a navigator had more authority. Because he knew magic, the men of his crew respected him more. Once every island had navigators. Now only a few have them. If we're not careful, navigation will die out here. The navigators of Satoal are among the last to practice skills once common throughout the Pacific. Barely 200 years ago, European explorers began to look closely at the Pacific Islanders. In 1779, two ships of the British Royal Navy dropped anchor off Hawaii for the first time. The commander, Captain James Cook, was a sensitive observer, deeply curious about the islanders he met. He commissioned artists to record their way of life. During 12 years of exploration, Cook visited almost every major island group in the South Pacific. he found striking similarities in dance, government, and religion, a common culture. Cook had discovered the Polynesians. Where had these people come from? How had they carried their culture so far? Today, scientists recognize three different cultures in the Pacific. Polynesia, in the central Pacific, is the largest group of islands. Melanesia lies to the west. Satawal, to the north, is part of Micronesia. The Polynesians could have migrated from one of two places, Asia or the Americas. Powerful winds and currents flow from east to west in the Pacific. If the Polynesians came from Asia, they sailed directly against these currents and winds. But if they came from the Americas, they simply drifted to the islands they settled. The prevailing winds and currents convinced Thor Heyerdahl that the Polynesians drifted from South America. In 1947, Heyerdahl and a five-man crew launched Contiki on a daring adventure to prove his theory. Contiki could not be steered. For months, the men were carried westward in the grip of powerful currents. After 93 days, they sighted land. They had reached the Tuamotus, an island chain just east of Tahiti. Unable to budge the raft from her course, they sailed past the first island. Eight days later, Kanteke crashed on a reef that surrounds Raroya Island. Heyerdahl proved that drift voyages between South America and Polynesia were possible. But if the islands were settled this way, the Polynesians were neither competent sailors nor skilled navigators. Captain James Cook believed the Polynesians were skilled in both navigation and sailing. Cook spent 12 years exploring the Pacific Islands and observing the Polynesians firsthand. He saw canoes that carried tons of cargo and sailed circles around his own ships. He met navigators who made round-trip voyages between islands hundreds of miles apart. Cook was convinced that the Polynesians sailed against the winds and currents from Asia. What Cook suspected 200 years ago has now been proven conclusively by archaeologists working in the Pacific. Here on the island of Viti Levu in Fiji, they have found evidence of migrations from Asia to Polynesia. In the Singatoka sand dunes, three layers of human settlement have been discovered. The lowest layer contains traces of an early colony. By examining simple pieces of broken pottery, like these, Dr. Roger Green has traced the roots. of the Pacific pioneers. This is the lowest layer on the Singatoka Dune site, and it of course is the one that excites us most, because it's here that we find the Lapita pottery that dates back to 500, 600 BC and where we can reconstruct the whole pots from that layer. We can of course recognize it by its typical vessel shape and form. The important thing, of course, of this lair is that it allows us to link the kinds of material, this kind of material, with that material to the east from Tonga and Samoa, and with similar material in sites to the west, in islands to the west. And the beauty of that is, of course, now we're on the track of the origins of the ancestors of the Polynesian peoples. For archaeologists, the designs on pottery are the fingerprint. of a culture. Nowadays we have these designs. Roger Green has come to Lwai village in Fiji to learn from modern potters how these ancient designs were made. You think we could make some of these very old designs? These are these are thousands of years old, three thousand years old. Green has analyzed the designs on this Lapita ware bowl and made tools to recreate this ancient pattern. Do you think we could make some of those with some wooden tools? Yes. Here's this one to mark out the area. You sort of have to rock it, don't you? Just like with the shell. Yes. Green has identified a series of motifs. These motifs are combined according to rigid rules, just as words are combined grammatically to produce a proper sentence. Like speaking the same language, using the same designs is evidence that people share a common culture. Hello. Hey, that's good, huh? The earliest Lapita designs have been discovered just north of New Guinea in the Bismarck Archipelago. From here, archaeologists have traced the route of an early seafaring people who traveled eastward across 1500 miles of open ocean. settling widely scattered islands, arriving in Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa more than 3,000 years ago. One of the interesting things is the support that the pottery analysis receives from the other kinds of material, materials that were exchanged between the various Lapita communities, things like glitter, which is used probably for some kind of body paint, the volcanic glass or obsidian, which is used for the pottery analysis. which is used for knives and scrapers and other tools, cutting tools. And then the chert, which is also used in a similar way. Now, the one that we know the most about amongst these is the obsidian. And for instance, we know this obsidian came from the islands offshore of New Guinea. in the Bismarck Archipelago, and over 700 years, it was imported out to the Solomon Islands some 1,000 miles away. Now, you really can't have people importing obsidian for 700 years over 1,000 miles without crediting them as being very skillful navigators and sailors. Evidence is now overwhelming that the Polynesians were voyagers against wind and wave. But today, the Micronesians are the only people who build and sail voyaging canoes. The Sato-Oles canoe is a supreme technological achievement. Its narrow asymmetrical hull is shaped to offset the drag of the outrigger, so the canoe always sails in a straight line. These craft, called flying proas, are designed to sail with their outriggers toward the wind. To change direction, the entire sail is moved from one end of the canoe to the other. I'm going to get my wife! Come on! Don't push it too hard! You're going to get your ass kicked! Hey, what's up? Hey, you guys looking forward to it? Enough part, enough part! Yeah? Okay. Okay. Hey! The design of the proa has been perfected over 3,000 years. Only a few men master the intricate art of making such canoes. Ikigun holds the title of Senap, Master Canoe Builder. Adzes are used to carve the bow from a breadfruit log. Ikigun uses no blueprints. When it is finished, the bow will be taken to a canoe house to dry. There are eight canoe houses on Satowal. Each is a men's social club, school, and workshop. Everything needed to make a canoe is harvested on Satowal. Rope is made from coconut fibers. Coconut husks separate into fine strands called senet. Senet rope is coarse and binds on itself to make good lashings for canoes. Red fruit sap warmed by fire will make the seams of the canoe watertight. Wedges and palm fronds hold the planks in place until the breadfruit sap has had time to sit. Two weeks later the canoe is almost finished and the temporary lashings are replaced with Senate rope. Canoes have been built this way for centuries throughout the Pacific. These same skills are now being uncovered by archaeologists on an island 4,000 miles to the east of Sarawak. On the Tahitian island of Huahini, Yoshi Sunoto from the Bishop Museum has made a remarkable discovery. Two planks from an ancient voyaging canoe. Buried for 1100 years, these are the only pieces of an ancient canoe known to exist today. At one end of the planks, Sonoto finds evidence of lashings. This canoe was held together with senate rope, just like the canoes on Setawal. In 850 AD, A tidal wave inundated this site, burying hundreds of objects in a protective layer of mud. Yoshi! What did you find? Another hawk. Oh, yes. Nice, huh? The form... Early. It's a lot like the other ones we've been finding. Yeah, just like the early Martesan ones. You see that curved trunk and the notch inside? More than 200 fish hooks have been found. This one was used for catching small reef fish. This pearl shell coconut grater is shaped like those used on Setawal today. This is a pendant. An insignia of rank possibly worn by a chief. So many pearl shell artifacts have been found at Hua'ini that Sonoto now believes the site was a village where goods were manufactured for trade. In another part of the village, the archaeologists discovered a spirit stone, part of a temple, Omarai. Here the men of Huahini performed rituals prior to departing on a voyage. One last wooden artifact suggests the size of their canoes. 13 feet long, this was a steering paddle for an 80-foot canoe. Okay, the total length is 3 meters and 88 centimeters. Now this is not a complete paddle. I don't think so. because you can see many, you know, as cut marks and very roughly outlined. So not well finished. The people are making or manufacturing paddle here, which means that the canoe also. Right, right. Haramaru, Haramaru. Okay? 1,300 years ago, the people of Huahine fashioned this plank for a large voyaging canoe. Okay. Such canoes would have carried the Polynesians on epic voyages of colonization to the furthest reaches of the Pacific. Polynesia was settled in a vast ocean migration, which began when the Lapita people arrived in Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa, more than 3,000 years ago. At about the time of Christ, they swept eastward into the heart of Polynesia. From here, they launched their longest and most difficult voyages of exploration to New Zealand, Easter Island, and Hawaii. More than 15 centuries before Captain Cook, a Polynesian canoe made landfall in the Hawaiian Islands. This is the Halawa Valley on Molokai. Ten years ago, archaeologists found traces of an ancient Hawaiian village on this site. Now overgrown with vegetation, this was home for the island's first settlers. Bishop Museum archaeologist Dr. Patrick Kirch. About 600 A.D., a group of early Polynesians arrived here in the Halawa Valley on East Molokai. They found in this valley just the kind of environment they might have been searching for. Ample fresh water, lowlands where they could cultivate their taro. gentle valley slopes where they could farm sweet potato and other dry crops and along the coastline out into the bay an ample supply of shellfish and fish. I excavated right here in this low mound and found the remains of their early settlement site. From patterns of post molds and stone alignments, I could tell that they lived in small, round-ended huts. And scattered in amongst the huts were stone adzes, fish hooks, coral files, ornaments in shell and bone. And the styles of these artifacts were similar to those which have been found in Tahiti, the Marquesas, and other islands to the south. I also found here bones of dogs, pigs, and chickens. This is interesting because it suggests to me that these people came here on a purposeful voyage of colonization. What's so interesting about the Halawa Valley is it serves as a kind of microcosm for the development of Hawaiian society from initial settlement right up through the evolution of complex chiefdoms. Seduced by their islands abundant resources, the Hawaiians gave up their voyaging and began farming the rich valley slopes. In each valley, chiefs rose to power. They fought each other for control of entire islands. Great temples celebrate their conquests and their gods. In the final centuries before Captain Cook's arrival, the chiefs of Hawaii waged frequent warfare. This is a dwelling cave here in Kona, which was also used as a refuge in times of war. The site is unique because of the stick figures or petroglyphs, which the commoners who lived here pecked into the glassy lava walls of the cave. Here we have a human figure with a canoe paddle raised above his head. Here's a similar human figure. Again, he holds a canoe paddle above his head. This looks like a fish hook. It's interesting to speculate... that much of the development in Hawaiian society came originally out of the nature of long-distance voyaging. The navigator-in-chief had to have unquestioned authority if the voyage was to succeed. The crew who were with him had to believe that he would lead them to a new land. And so I think it's possible to say that much of the development of powerful chiefdoms in Hawaii came originally out of the society of the canoe. In 1976, the Society of the Canoe is reborn. Hoculea is an exact replica of a Polynesian voyaging canoe. This just will be at the... The hired up. Built with modern materials, her design is ancient. Hokulea will sail between Hawaii and Tahiti to celebrate the age-old skills of Polynesian canoe builders and navigators. The canoe carries a crew of 17 and 6 tons of supplies. Hokulea's voyage will be made as it was a thousand years ago, without maps or instruments. She will be guided by Mao Pialuk. David Lewis, a Western navigator and scholar, has joined the expedition to learn Mao's way of navigating. The passage is 2,500 miles, far longer than any Mao has made, and he is sailing in unfamiliar waters. The first few days I was afraid, but I've been through all this before. I've sailed at sea for many nights, and I've survived many storms. So I put aside my fears, and I was happy to be at sea again. As the sea miles slip by, the Hawaiian crew gain a new respect for their Polynesian ancestors. Polynesians used to navigate the way we do today, without instruments or charts. They had faith in the words of their fathers. This is what we call courage. With this courage, you can travel anywhere in the world. and never be lost. Because I have faith in the words of my ancestors, I am a navigator. I learned these words as a young boy in my father's canoe house. On Satawal, Mau passes on these teachings to a new generation of navigators. Mal begins with the simplest framework, what we might think of as a star compass. 32 lumps of coral represent the rising and setting points of stars. The compass is oriented to the east. The rising of a star called Mylap, the big bird. That's all from me, and I'll see you next time. I am the father of three children. I am the father of three children. I am the father of three children. I am the father of three children. I am the father of three children. I am the father of three children. Mao's compass is defined by the rising and setting points of stars. My lap always rises to the east of Satowal and sets in the west to define two compass points. Mool rises in the northeast and sets in the northwest. This is Tumor. The stars of the constellation we call Southern Cross always point south. The axis of the Earth's rotation points at the star that never moves. Wulawulafang, the North Star. Mao's star compass is a simple teaching device. The nighttime sky is actually far more complex. In June, the stars move across the eastern sky like this. Tumor is rising and can be used to steer a canoe to the southeast. By midnight, Tumor has risen too high above the horizon, so Mao will steer by another star, which appears later in the same place. Six stars follow the same path as Tumor. Each compass point is defined by many stars. In all, Mao has memorized the paths of more than 150. After 20 days at sea, Hokulea nears the equator. Tahiti lies behind. 1400 miles away and mouse deers toward the rising tume warm Now which course are we steering now? Which? About Tumor. Oh Tumor? Oh better. So that's about South East. Tumor is where Antares, the star of Antares we go. When he rises. We'll see him later on tonight. A thousand miles from Tahiti, Hokulea encounters heavy seas. For eight days and nights, clouds obscure the sky, and Mau is denied even a glimpse of his guiding stars. He maintains his course by relying on other signs. I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe. I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe. I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe. I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe. I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe. I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe. I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe. I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe. I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe. I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe. I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe. I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe. I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe. I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe. I am a farmer. I am a farmer. I am a farmer. I am a farmer. I am a farmer. I am a farmer. I am a farmer. I am a farmer. I am a farmer. I am a farmer. I am a farmer. I am a farmer. I am very happy to be here. I am very happy to be here. I am very happy to be here. I am very happy to be here. I am very happy to be here. I am very happy to be here. I am very happy to be here. A skilled navigator senses every rising and falling of his canoe. Even when he cannot see the swells, he can set his course by them. This wave, where is it coming from now? From Malab. From Malab, that's north of east. North of east? Yes. And another one from Mern, north east. Ah, yes. Another one from south east. So even at night you can feel the wave? Yeah. Hokulea has now sailed more than 2,000 miles through changing ocean currents and shifting winds. Yet Mao always knows the direction and distance to Tahiti. Daily, he fixes Hokulea's position by estimating course and speed, and all the other forces acting on the canoe. The map Mao sails exists only in his mind. Yet over 2,500 miles of ocean, his estimated positions are never more than 40 miles in error. On the 30th day at sea, he accurately predicts landfall within 24 hours. Mao's quest is fulfilled. He has brought ancient navigational skills back to Polynesian waters and reawakened a people's pride in their great voyaging heritage. Haukelea's arrival was celebrated as a national holiday. 20,000 spectators crowded the shores to greet their heroic brothers. Hello, Lucas. Hello, Lucas. Hello, hello. METE VELEKOROSA METE VELEKOROSA ESO TO NO PUEDE INAGAR ESO TO NO PUEDE INAGAR ALI PUERRE VE ALI PUERRE VE ALI PUERRE VE ALI PUERRE VE VELEKOROSA VELEKOROSA VELEKOROSA VELEKOROSA VELEKOROSA VELEKOROSA The trip to Tahiti was very good because it will remind those people of what their ancestors did and make them want to learn about it. Our ancestors valued navigation as a source of pride. Even today are different. Some are afraid to learn navigation and some are just lazy. Without navigators, Satawal will be abandoned. Everyone will move to bigger islands like Truk, Saipan and Guam to look for jobs. Now only the old men, the men of my generation, love to navigate and want to see it continue. I don't know what will happen to my son-in-law. I think he will leave the island and take my daughter with him. Many of my sons have already gone. I gave them my blessings. My son-in-law went away to school. Many of the men of my crew have gone to school. I was sent away too, but when I came back, I continued to study navigation. I never lost interest. But most of the younger men who went away to school had no interest in navigation when they came back to Satawar. That's the reason I won't let my youngest son Cesario and Stan go away. I want them to stay here and learn as much as I can teach them before I die. They can go to school here, but not on any other island. I want them to stay here. You can do it too. You know I'm a hacker? I'll do what I want to do. You're a sniper? Yeah. Hey, come. You go, stay there. I wanted to make this film because when the young people see it, they may begin to understand how important navigation is. I have already told them. that if they don't study navigation, we will lose it forever. The film will make them think about what we are losing. That's why the film is important. Because I'm afraid that after my generation, there will be no more navigators. I am going to sing a song called I am going to sing a song called I am going to sing a song called I am going to sing a song called I am going to sing a song called I am going to sing a song called I am going to sing a song called I am going to sing a song called I am going to sing a song called I am going to sing a song called I am going to sing a song called Wee, wee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee This is the way to go. This is the way to go. This is the way to go. That's it. This is the way to go. This is the way to go. That's it. Major funding for this program was provided by Pacific Resources Incorporated, PRI, providing energy for the Pacific, and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations. Additional funding was provided by the Hawaii Committee for the Humanities.

Here is Hawaii, an island, a man. Hawaii is a man, a child of Tahiti. Hawaii, final landfall for Tahitian mariners who crossed the Pacific more than a thousand years ago. In 1976, a canoe set out from Hawaii to retrace the legendary voyaging route to Tahiti. The canoe is guided by one of the last keepers of an ancient art, Mao Pialag.

The trip to Tahiti was very important for me. I know the people of Tahiti and Hawaii once navigated as we do. They didn't use instruments, they navigated by the stars and waves.

I made the trip to show those people what their ancestors used to know, and what we still know. Mau's home waters are in Micronesia, 2,000 miles to the west of Hawaii. Tiny islands are separated by vast ocean distances, and the people depend on navigators like Mau for survival.

The navigators of Satawal are the last of a nation of sailors who once settled the entire Pacific. The Pacific Ocean, larger than all of the Earth's continents combined. When Europeans first glimpsed this immense sea, virtually all of its more than 10,000 islands had already been discovered by a more daring nation of seafarers.

In the most remote islands of the Western Pacific, the secrets of navigation are still passed down from one generation to the next. Santa Wall is a tiny coral atoll, one mile square and barely eight feet above sea level. I feel like I'm really grown up. You're really grown up? Yes.

I'm really grown up. Mao Pialug learned to navigate from his father and grandfather. Now it is Mao's turn to pass on his skills. At sunset, he teaches his nephew to recognize signs of weather in the sky and sea. The shapes and colors of the sky and the words of his teacher.

will one day guide Mao's nephew across the ocean. Our navigation is different from yours. I don't need a map or a sextant. I just use my head.

I observe the ocean. the sky and I remember the words of my teachers. There are two kinds of navigators. The man who only knows how to sail is called Palu but the man who knows both sailing and magic is called Po. To become Po you have to be initiated in a special ceremony.

The Po ceremony has not been performed for more than 20 years. Mao was the last man on his island to be initiated into the secrets of both magic and navigation. The sea is the men's domain.

The land on Satowal belongs to the women. Mao and his wife Katrina have 16 children. On Saturdays, the women of their family gather to prepare food. Coconut, breadfruit and taro are staples throughout the Pacific.

These food plants are not native to the islands. All were imported by the first settlers. Mao is 50 years old. He learned navigation when he was very young.

My grandfather taught me navigation when he rested from his work. I listened carefully until he died. And then my father taught me. When I could finally sail alone, I realized how important navigation was. Men who can't navigate are not looked up to.

They don't have a name. Two or three times a year, all the men of Satawal organize a communal fishing expedition. Mau gives final instructions. Santowal is surrounded by a reef that is small and provides very little food. To protect the reef, the chiefs may place a taboo on all fishing.

And only rarely do they allow an event like this. A full day's work by all the men nets only 200 pounds of fish. Five hundred people live on Satawal, 35 separate family groups, and the catch must be divided fairly among them. Mal Pialot is Samhainet, master of dividing. The reef around Satawal is not good.

We don't have enough fish, so we depend on other islands for food. The reef on West Fayou is full of fish. It's our storehouse. If we couldn't sail there, we'd starve. When you go to sea, everyone looks up to the navigator.

He is responsible for the lives of everyone on his canoe, so he makes all the decisions. The crew are like his children. With fair winds, the trip to West Bayou takes ten hours.

Mau uses the time to teach his crew about the ocean's wells. Hello. What's up? I'm here to tell you about the new song I'm going to play. It's called...

The new song? Yes, the new song is called Say Say. It's a song I'm going to play for you.

Mau recognizes eight separate patterns of ocean swells. He uses them to set his course at sea. West Fayou is surrounded by a large lagoon.

which shelters an abundance of sea life. We call West Faiyu the island of free lunch because there's so much food here. West Fayou belongs to Satawal.

People from other islands must ask our permission to fish here, but we always give it. They wouldn't ask if they didn't need the food. The crew fished the reef for three days.

They caught 700 pounds of fish, almost four times what the entire village caught on Sadawal, and two sea turtles, a special delicacy. Hi, Mr. At a small chapel in the center of the island, the men pray for a safe journey home. In the past, Mao offered powerful magic to Yalulue, the patron spirit of navigators. Now the men pray to a Christian god.

People have thrown away the old spirits. In the old days a navigator had more authority. Because he knew magic, the men of his crew respected him more.

Once every island had navigators. Now only a few have them. If we're not careful, navigation will die out here. The navigators of Satoal are among the last to practice skills once common throughout the Pacific.

Barely 200 years ago, European explorers began to look closely at the Pacific Islanders. In 1779, two ships of the British Royal Navy dropped anchor off Hawaii for the first time. The commander, Captain James Cook, was a sensitive observer, deeply curious about the islanders he met.

He commissioned artists to record their way of life. During 12 years of exploration, Cook visited almost every major island group in the South Pacific. he found striking similarities in dance, government, and religion, a common culture.

Cook had discovered the Polynesians. Where had these people come from? How had they carried their culture so far? Today, scientists recognize three different cultures in the Pacific.

Polynesia, in the central Pacific, is the largest group of islands. Melanesia lies to the west. Satawal, to the north, is part of Micronesia.

The Polynesians could have migrated from one of two places, Asia or the Americas. Powerful winds and currents flow from east to west in the Pacific. If the Polynesians came from Asia, they sailed directly against these currents and winds. But if they came from the Americas, they simply drifted to the islands they settled.

The prevailing winds and currents convinced Thor Heyerdahl that the Polynesians drifted from South America. In 1947, Heyerdahl and a five-man crew launched Contiki on a daring adventure to prove his theory. Contiki could not be steered.

For months, the men were carried westward in the grip of powerful currents. After 93 days, they sighted land. They had reached the Tuamotus, an island chain just east of Tahiti.

Unable to budge the raft from her course, they sailed past the first island. Eight days later, Kanteke crashed on a reef that surrounds Raroya Island. Heyerdahl proved that drift voyages between South America and Polynesia were possible. But if the islands were settled this way, the Polynesians were neither competent sailors nor skilled navigators.

Captain James Cook believed the Polynesians were skilled in both navigation and sailing. Cook spent 12 years exploring the Pacific Islands and observing the Polynesians firsthand. He saw canoes that carried tons of cargo and sailed circles around his own ships. He met navigators who made round-trip voyages between islands hundreds of miles apart. Cook was convinced that the Polynesians sailed against the winds and currents from Asia.

What Cook suspected 200 years ago has now been proven conclusively by archaeologists working in the Pacific. Here on the island of Viti Levu in Fiji, they have found evidence of migrations from Asia to Polynesia. In the Singatoka sand dunes, three layers of human settlement have been discovered.

The lowest layer contains traces of an early colony. By examining simple pieces of broken pottery, like these, Dr. Roger Green has traced the roots. of the Pacific pioneers. This is the lowest layer on the Singatoka Dune site, and it of course is the one that excites us most, because it's here that we find the Lapita pottery that dates back to 500, 600 BC and where we can reconstruct the whole pots from that layer. We can of course recognize it by its typical vessel shape and form.

The important thing, of course, of this lair is that it allows us to link the kinds of material, this kind of material, with that material to the east from Tonga and Samoa, and with similar material in sites to the west, in islands to the west. And the beauty of that is, of course, now we're on the track of the origins of the ancestors of the Polynesian peoples. For archaeologists, the designs on pottery are the fingerprint.

of a culture. Nowadays we have these designs. Roger Green has come to Lwai village in Fiji to learn from modern potters how these ancient designs were made. You think we could make some of these very old designs? These are these are thousands of years old, three thousand years old.

Green has analyzed the designs on this Lapita ware bowl and made tools to recreate this ancient pattern. Do you think we could make some of those with some wooden tools? Yes.

Here's this one to mark out the area. You sort of have to rock it, don't you? Just like with the shell.

Yes. Green has identified a series of motifs. These motifs are combined according to rigid rules, just as words are combined grammatically to produce a proper sentence.

Like speaking the same language, using the same designs is evidence that people share a common culture. Hello. Hey, that's good, huh? The earliest Lapita designs have been discovered just north of New Guinea in the Bismarck Archipelago.

From here, archaeologists have traced the route of an early seafaring people who traveled eastward across 1500 miles of open ocean. settling widely scattered islands, arriving in Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa more than 3,000 years ago. One of the interesting things is the support that the pottery analysis receives from the other kinds of material, materials that were exchanged between the various Lapita communities, things like glitter, which is used probably for some kind of body paint, the volcanic glass or obsidian, which is used for the pottery analysis. which is used for knives and scrapers and other tools, cutting tools.

And then the chert, which is also used in a similar way. Now, the one that we know the most about amongst these is the obsidian. And for instance, we know this obsidian came from the islands offshore of New Guinea.

in the Bismarck Archipelago, and over 700 years, it was imported out to the Solomon Islands some 1,000 miles away. Now, you really can't have people importing obsidian for 700 years over 1,000 miles without crediting them as being very skillful navigators and sailors. Evidence is now overwhelming that the Polynesians were voyagers against wind and wave. But today, the Micronesians are the only people who build and sail voyaging canoes.

The Sato-Oles canoe is a supreme technological achievement. Its narrow asymmetrical hull is shaped to offset the drag of the outrigger, so the canoe always sails in a straight line. These craft, called flying proas, are designed to sail with their outriggers toward the wind.

To change direction, the entire sail is moved from one end of the canoe to the other. I'm going to get my wife! Come on!

Don't push it too hard! You're going to get your ass kicked! Hey, what's up? Hey, you guys looking forward to it? Enough part, enough part!

Yeah? Okay. Okay.

Hey! The design of the proa has been perfected over 3,000 years. Only a few men master the intricate art of making such canoes.

Ikigun holds the title of Senap, Master Canoe Builder. Adzes are used to carve the bow from a breadfruit log. Ikigun uses no blueprints.

When it is finished, the bow will be taken to a canoe house to dry. There are eight canoe houses on Satowal. Each is a men's social club, school, and workshop.

Everything needed to make a canoe is harvested on Satowal. Rope is made from coconut fibers. Coconut husks separate into fine strands called senet. Senet rope is coarse and binds on itself to make good lashings for canoes. Red fruit sap warmed by fire will make the seams of the canoe watertight.

Wedges and palm fronds hold the planks in place until the breadfruit sap has had time to sit. Two weeks later the canoe is almost finished and the temporary lashings are replaced with Senate rope. Canoes have been built this way for centuries throughout the Pacific. These same skills are now being uncovered by archaeologists on an island 4,000 miles to the east of Sarawak. On the Tahitian island of Huahini, Yoshi Sunoto from the Bishop Museum has made a remarkable discovery.

Two planks from an ancient voyaging canoe. Buried for 1100 years, these are the only pieces of an ancient canoe known to exist today. At one end of the planks, Sonoto finds evidence of lashings. This canoe was held together with senate rope, just like the canoes on Setawal. In 850 AD, A tidal wave inundated this site, burying hundreds of objects in a protective layer of mud.

Yoshi! What did you find? Another hawk.

Oh, yes. Nice, huh? The form... Early.

It's a lot like the other ones we've been finding. Yeah, just like the early Martesan ones. You see that curved trunk and the notch inside?

More than 200 fish hooks have been found. This one was used for catching small reef fish. This pearl shell coconut grater is shaped like those used on Setawal today.

This is a pendant. An insignia of rank possibly worn by a chief. So many pearl shell artifacts have been found at Hua'ini that Sonoto now believes the site was a village where goods were manufactured for trade. In another part of the village, the archaeologists discovered a spirit stone, part of a temple, Omarai.

Here the men of Huahini performed rituals prior to departing on a voyage. One last wooden artifact suggests the size of their canoes. 13 feet long, this was a steering paddle for an 80-foot canoe.

Okay, the total length is 3 meters and 88 centimeters. Now this is not a complete paddle. I don't think so. because you can see many, you know, as cut marks and very roughly outlined.

So not well finished. The people are making or manufacturing paddle here, which means that the canoe also. Right, right.

Haramaru, Haramaru. Okay? 1,300 years ago, the people of Huahine fashioned this plank for a large voyaging canoe. Okay.

Such canoes would have carried the Polynesians on epic voyages of colonization to the furthest reaches of the Pacific. Polynesia was settled in a vast ocean migration, which began when the Lapita people arrived in Fiji, Tonga, and Samoa, more than 3,000 years ago. At about the time of Christ, they swept eastward into the heart of Polynesia.

From here, they launched their longest and most difficult voyages of exploration to New Zealand, Easter Island, and Hawaii. More than 15 centuries before Captain Cook, a Polynesian canoe made landfall in the Hawaiian Islands. This is the Halawa Valley on Molokai. Ten years ago, archaeologists found traces of an ancient Hawaiian village on this site. Now overgrown with vegetation, this was home for the island's first settlers.

Bishop Museum archaeologist Dr. Patrick Kirch. About 600 A.D., a group of early Polynesians arrived here in the Halawa Valley on East Molokai. They found in this valley just the kind of environment they might have been searching for. Ample fresh water, lowlands where they could cultivate their taro.

gentle valley slopes where they could farm sweet potato and other dry crops and along the coastline out into the bay an ample supply of shellfish and fish. I excavated right here in this low mound and found the remains of their early settlement site. From patterns of post molds and stone alignments, I could tell that they lived in small, round-ended huts. And scattered in amongst the huts were stone adzes, fish hooks, coral files, ornaments in shell and bone.

And the styles of these artifacts were similar to those which have been found in Tahiti, the Marquesas, and other islands to the south. I also found here bones of dogs, pigs, and chickens. This is interesting because it suggests to me that these people came here on a purposeful voyage of colonization.

What's so interesting about the Halawa Valley is it serves as a kind of microcosm for the development of Hawaiian society from initial settlement right up through the evolution of complex chiefdoms. Seduced by their islands abundant resources, the Hawaiians gave up their voyaging and began farming the rich valley slopes. In each valley, chiefs rose to power.

They fought each other for control of entire islands. Great temples celebrate their conquests and their gods. In the final centuries before Captain Cook's arrival, the chiefs of Hawaii waged frequent warfare.

This is a dwelling cave here in Kona, which was also used as a refuge in times of war. The site is unique because of the stick figures or petroglyphs, which the commoners who lived here pecked into the glassy lava walls of the cave. Here we have a human figure with a canoe paddle raised above his head.

Here's a similar human figure. Again, he holds a canoe paddle above his head. This looks like a fish hook. It's interesting to speculate...

that much of the development in Hawaiian society came originally out of the nature of long-distance voyaging. The navigator-in-chief had to have unquestioned authority if the voyage was to succeed. The crew who were with him had to believe that he would lead them to a new land.

And so I think it's possible to say that much of the development of powerful chiefdoms in Hawaii came originally out of the society of the canoe. In 1976, the Society of the Canoe is reborn. Hoculea is an exact replica of a Polynesian voyaging canoe.

This just will be at the... The hired up. Built with modern materials, her design is ancient. Hokulea will sail between Hawaii and Tahiti to celebrate the age-old skills of Polynesian canoe builders and navigators. The canoe carries a crew of 17 and 6 tons of supplies.

Hokulea's voyage will be made as it was a thousand years ago, without maps or instruments. She will be guided by Mao Pialuk. David Lewis, a Western navigator and scholar, has joined the expedition to learn Mao's way of navigating.

The passage is 2,500 miles, far longer than any Mao has made, and he is sailing in unfamiliar waters. The first few days I was afraid, but I've been through all this before. I've sailed at sea for many nights, and I've survived many storms. So I put aside my fears, and I was happy to be at sea again.

As the sea miles slip by, the Hawaiian crew gain a new respect for their Polynesian ancestors. Polynesians used to navigate the way we do today, without instruments or charts. They had faith in the words of their fathers.

This is what we call courage. With this courage, you can travel anywhere in the world. and never be lost.

Because I have faith in the words of my ancestors, I am a navigator. I learned these words as a young boy in my father's canoe house. On Satawal, Mau passes on these teachings to a new generation of navigators.

Mal begins with the simplest framework, what we might think of as a star compass. 32 lumps of coral represent the rising and setting points of stars. The compass is oriented to the east. The rising of a star called Mylap, the big bird. That's all from me, and I'll see you next time.

I am the father of three children. I am the father of three children. I am the father of three children.

Mao's compass is defined by the rising and setting points of stars. My lap always rises to the east of Satowal and sets in the west to define two compass points. Mool rises in the northeast and sets in the northwest. This is Tumor.

The stars of the constellation we call Southern Cross always point south. The axis of the Earth's rotation points at the star that never moves. Wulawulafang, the North Star. Mao's star compass is a simple teaching device. The nighttime sky is actually far more complex.

In June, the stars move across the eastern sky like this. Tumor is rising and can be used to steer a canoe to the southeast. By midnight, Tumor has risen too high above the horizon, so Mao will steer by another star, which appears later in the same place. Six stars follow the same path as Tumor.

Each compass point is defined by many stars. In all, Mao has memorized the paths of more than 150. After 20 days at sea, Hokulea nears the equator. Tahiti lies behind. 1400 miles away and mouse deers toward the rising tume warm Now which course are we steering now? Which?

About Tumor. Oh Tumor? Oh better.

So that's about South East. Tumor is where Antares, the star of Antares we go. When he rises.

We'll see him later on tonight. A thousand miles from Tahiti, Hokulea encounters heavy seas. For eight days and nights, clouds obscure the sky, and Mau is denied even a glimpse of his guiding stars.

He maintains his course by relying on other signs. I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe. I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe. I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe.

I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe. I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe. I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe.

I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe. I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe. I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe. I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe. I am the leader of the Ndakal tribe.

I am a farmer. I am a farmer. I am a farmer. I am a farmer.

I am a farmer. I am a farmer. I am a farmer.

I am a farmer. I am a farmer. I am very happy to be here. I am very happy to be here.

I am very happy to be here. I am very happy to be here. I am very happy to be here. I am very happy to be here. I am very happy to be here.

A skilled navigator senses every rising and falling of his canoe. Even when he cannot see the swells, he can set his course by them. This wave, where is it coming from now?

From Malab. From Malab, that's north of east. North of east? Yes. And another one from Mern, north east.

Ah, yes. Another one from south east. So even at night you can feel the wave? Yeah.

Hokulea has now sailed more than 2,000 miles through changing ocean currents and shifting winds. Yet Mao always knows the direction and distance to Tahiti. Daily, he fixes Hokulea's position by estimating course and speed, and all the other forces acting on the canoe. The map Mao sails exists only in his mind.

Yet over 2,500 miles of ocean, his estimated positions are never more than 40 miles in error. On the 30th day at sea, he accurately predicts landfall within 24 hours. Mao's quest is fulfilled.

He has brought ancient navigational skills back to Polynesian waters and reawakened a people's pride in their great voyaging heritage. Haukelea's arrival was celebrated as a national holiday. 20,000 spectators crowded the shores to greet their heroic brothers.

Hello, Lucas. Hello, Lucas. Hello, hello.

METE VELEKOROSA METE VELEKOROSA ESO TO NO PUEDE INAGAR ESO TO NO PUEDE INAGAR ALI PUERRE VE ALI PUERRE VE ALI PUERRE VE ALI PUERRE VE VELEKOROSA VELEKOROSA VELEKOROSA VELEKOROSA VELEKOROSA VELEKOROSA The trip to Tahiti was very good because it will remind those people of what their ancestors did and make them want to learn about it. Our ancestors valued navigation as a source of pride. Even today are different.

Some are afraid to learn navigation and some are just lazy. Without navigators, Satawal will be abandoned. Everyone will move to bigger islands like Truk, Saipan and Guam to look for jobs.

Now only the old men, the men of my generation, love to navigate and want to see it continue. I don't know what will happen to my son-in-law. I think he will leave the island and take my daughter with him.

Many of my sons have already gone. I gave them my blessings. My son-in-law went away to school. Many of the men of my crew have gone to school.

I was sent away too, but when I came back, I continued to study navigation. I never lost interest. But most of the younger men who went away to school had no interest in navigation when they came back to Satawar.

That's the reason I won't let my youngest son Cesario and Stan go away. I want them to stay here and learn as much as I can teach them before I die. They can go to school here, but not on any other island. I want them to stay here.

You can do it too. You know I'm a hacker? I'll do what I want to do. You're a sniper? Yeah.

Hey, come. You go, stay there. I wanted to make this film because when the young people see it, they may begin to understand how important navigation is. I have already told them. that if they don't study navigation, we will lose it forever.

The film will make them think about what we are losing. That's why the film is important. Because I'm afraid that after my generation, there will be no more navigators.

I am going to sing a song called I am going to sing a song called I am going to sing a song called I am going to sing a song called I am going to sing a song called I am going to sing a song called I am going to sing a song called I am going to sing a song called I am going to sing a song called I am going to sing a song called I am going to sing a song called Wee, wee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee, lee This is the way to go. This is the way to go. This is the way to go. That's it. This is the way to go.

This is the way to go. That's it. Major funding for this program was provided by Pacific Resources Incorporated, PRI, providing energy for the Pacific, and the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations.

Additional funding was provided by the Hawaii Committee for the Humanities.

Transcript for:Exploring Polynesian Navigation Heritage

Transcript for:
Exploring Polynesian Navigation Heritage