Vikings of the Pacific

This history of Polynesia by a man with a Maori heritage should not be missed. It is brilliantly written and full of fascinating detail. Buck proves that the real history of Polynesia is every bit as engaging as the mythical history. For example, in debunking myths about Easter Island, Buck makes these astute observations: "Any Polynesian can improvise a chant. I have improvised chants to lengthen out a recital for a European audience that did not understand the language. Neither the bishop's informant nor I had any intention of deceiving, but we were both influenced by the desire to please." Of the Easter Island carved wooden tablets, Buck says, "There is little doubt that the tablets were carved in Easter Island itself long after the time of Hotu-matua, but were attributed to him to give them the increased antiquity that all Polynesians revere" (p. 241). He adds that "it is problem that the characters are purely pictorial and are not a form of written language" (p. 243). Buck's conclusion about crackpot theories involving Easter Island is devastating: "The resurrection of an extinct civilization from a sunken continent to do what the Easter Islanders accomplished unaided is surely the greatest compliment ever paid to an efficient stone-age people" (p. 245). All this applies to claims by Thor Heyerdahl, the Mormons, and the Lost Continent of Mu enthusiasts. It is sad to think that Heyerdahl's career as a fearless adventurer is marred by his zealous devotion to a dated idea. Yes, Peruvian Indians could have crossed the Pacific, but it is more likely that contact came from the other way. At any rate, Heyerdahl manufactured the archaeological evidence he found on Easter Island. In the July 2002 issue of the "Smithsonian Magazine," Richard Conniff demonstrated that Heyerdahl actually paid the natives to make reed-boats relics (Kon Artist?" was the title). "A good story," said Conniff, "can be so compelling that teller and subject become entrapped together in its charms...." (p. 28). This astute observation could apply to novels claimed to be actual history, and anyone interested in the Book of Mormon should give it long thought. Heyerdahl wrote about Pedro Pate, an Easter Islander and how Pate found a two-masted reed boat in a cave. Conniff wrote: "I showed Pate a two-page photograph of the reed boat from Heyerdahl's book, and he grinned. He'd carved the boat himself, he said. Dubious, I offered him $100 to carve such a boat now, 37 years later, and he accepted." "A few days later, he presented me with the 18-inch-long reed boat he had carved. It was as good as the one in the book" (p. 29). In "The Ancient American Civilizations," Friedrich Katz asked some very hard questions of Heyerdahl's theory. "If the Polynesians really do come from America, why do their chronicles record the exact opposite direction, naming South-East Asia as their place of origin? Why is their language first and foremost related to South-Asiatic and Malayan langu