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. |
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Page 71
... sacred head , and that hair fell like a cape across her shoulders . No royal red tiputa had ever clothed Hinuia , only the girdle of her mana , which now , as she stepped into the water , coiled around her like a spectral wind , a wind ...
... sacred head , and that hair fell like a cape across her shoulders . No royal red tiputa had ever clothed Hinuia , only the girdle of her mana , which now , as she stepped into the water , coiled around her like a spectral wind , a wind ...
Page 85
... sacred bird pierce me now , let the blood flow . Let me wear my tattoo like a woman . Aue ! ' Ta'aroa revolved in the shell of darkness in the void . No sun , no moon , no mountain , no ocean was there . There was only the void . Then ...
... sacred bird pierce me now , let the blood flow . Let me wear my tattoo like a woman . Aue ! ' Ta'aroa revolved in the shell of darkness in the void . No sun , no moon , no mountain , no ocean was there . There was only the void . Then ...
Page 126
... Sacred signs they say . ' ' It is a book of sacred signs . ' ' It is good then , very good . We shall be ready for the white men when they come back . ' ' Let us hope they come back soon . ' ' Indeed . And the white men's sacred ...
... Sacred signs they say . ' ' It is a book of sacred signs . ' ' It is good then , very good . We shall be ready for the white men when they come back . ' ' Let us hope they come back soon . ' ' Indeed . And the white men's sacred ...
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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