Transit of VenusCountless writers and film-makers have been drawn to the story of the mutiny on the Bounty, when led by Fletcher Christian, the mutineers set Captain William Bligh and others adrift in a ship's boat. The mutineers returned to Tahiti before making their way to isolated and uninhabited Pitcairn Island. This novel tells the story from a new and unexpected perspective, that of the Tahitian women who joined the Bounty mutineers and sailed away with them to make new lives. Mauatua and her friends and relatives relate the strange journey, away from their home-land and into the feverish intensity of drunkenness, betrayal, and murder that mark the early years on Pitcairn. Along the way, the reader learns of the Tahitians' fascination with Cook and his expedition to observe the transit of Venus across the southern skies, of Tahitian traditions and customs. |
From inside the book
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Page 15
... marae , overhung by the dripping trees . Tetua and Hinuia went first to lay an offering , a portion of the morning's fish parcelled in a young banana leaf . Hinuia unwrapped it on the altar and knelt to say the prayers , bowed over in ...
... marae , overhung by the dripping trees . Tetua and Hinuia went first to lay an offering , a portion of the morning's fish parcelled in a young banana leaf . Hinuia unwrapped it on the altar and knelt to say the prayers , bowed over in ...
Page 18
... marae , the marae of our people . There we stopped in awe and fear , for the priests were performing the rites for the slain warriors , and seeking omens . At such a time no woman or child or commoner would want to approach the ...
... marae , the marae of our people . There we stopped in awe and fear , for the priests were performing the rites for the slain warriors , and seeking omens . At such a time no woman or child or commoner would want to approach the ...
Page 83
... marae , the great marae of Nu'urua on Aimeo . Songs of Tetua's ancestors , in the language of the ancestors , which is full of strange twists and turns of meaning , almost forgotten in these times now . They were like the knotted ...
... marae , the great marae of Nu'urua on Aimeo . Songs of Tetua's ancestors , in the language of the ancestors , which is full of strange twists and turns of meaning , almost forgotten in these times now . They were like the knotted ...
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Common terms and phrases
Aimeo Aleck ancestors ari'i arioi asked baby barkcloth beat began belly blood bones Bounty breadfruit breath canoe chief chiefess Christian cloth coconut cousin dancing dark daughter deck drums eyes feathers fenua maitai flowers foreign gifts girls gods grandmother Granma hair hands head heard Hina hine Hinuia Huahine island Itia knew land laughed leaves legs looked Maimiti Maohi Maoiti marae Matavai Matiu mats Mauatua Maunu mother night Nu'urua ocean Papara Parai Pare Peretane Pitcairn Popa'a priestess priests pulled Rehua Reva sacred sail servant ship shore shoulders skin smell smiling stones Ta'aroa Tahiti Tahitian tahua Taina taio Tane tapairu Tatahe tattooed Teio Teraura Tetiaroa Tetua Avari'i Tevarua ti'i Tinafanea Tinirau Titriano Toofaiti trees Tupuai Tute Tute's upa upa Vahineatua Vehiatua voice waiting wanted watched white man's white ship wind woman women young