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The Vaka Taumako Project of
the Pacific Traditions Society

NEWSLETTER: JUNE 2000
	Inside this issue:  Latest News from Taumako  News from the South Pacific  Abstract of Paper for Lapita Conference  News from Europe and Elsewhere  Ethnobotany and Ethnography of      a Polynesian Voyaging Canoe  GOALS for the next six months  Noho Like & Hawaiian Cafe host VTP  Publication News, Update on "Gryphon"  SPECIAL LIMITED OFFER

 

Summary of February - May activities   The VTP has been busy and productive! Paramount Chief Kaveia and his crew have repaired the Vaka Taumako canoe in Nifiloli, Reef Islands, and are preparing to return to Kaua'i next November. Mimi and fundraiser Kay Thompson have been writing grant applications for funds to complete building the tealolili canoe on Kaua'i and conduct sailing trials with it, for video preservation, for ethnobotanical research and for navigation training programs.     Healani and Meph have been making public presentations.     For details of these and more of our activities, read on.

LATEST NEWS FROM TAUMAKO   According to a recent telephone conversation with our roving reporter Geoffrey Kuper (whose wife, Cathy, some of our readers met when she visited Kaua'i in 1998), Paramount Chief Kaveia and Team Temotu have been hard at work on repairs to the Vaka Taumako. They have rebuilt the ama, which sustained heavy damage in the 1999 cyclone, and relashed the canoe. The whole tepuke, said Geoffrey, who had just returned from a visit to Nifiloli, looks like new. It also has a new house to protect it until west winds arrive and the Taumako crew can sail it home. Kaveia Koloso, Paramount     Chief of the Duff Islands       When last we spoke with Geoffrey a few days ago, he said that Chief Kaveia and his Taumako crew were in Lata aboard the copra ship going to Duffs. For the second season in a row, west winds have not arrived. The Taumakoans plan to return to Nifiloli next cyclone season (Dec. - Apr.) to sail Vaka Taumako home. They will be joined by trainees from Outer Reef Islands. Thanks to a generous donation, Chief Kaveia and one more Taumakoan will be coming to Kaua'i in November to work on the tealolili they began building last year. Ideally, four Taumakoans would come this time, but that requires more funding.      NEWS FROM THE SOUTH PACIFIC   As those of you who live in that region know already, the southwest Pacific has hardly lived up to its travel-poster image of tranquility these past several months. In the Solomons, ethnic antagonism simmers. According to our latest report from Geoffrey Kuper in Lata, about once a day someone dies in shoot-outs between the various local militias on Guadalcanal. So far actual fighting is confined to the airport and Gold Ridge areas, and has not interrupted the Wednesday and Saturday Honiara-Santa Cruz flights, an indication of the low level of firepower involved. Cargo ships from Honiara call as regularly as ever at Temotu (Temotu Province includes the Duff Islands, Reef Islands, and others), but refuse to take passengers to Guadalcanal. The capital's secondary schools in areas where fighting has occurred have been closed, and students sent home. Although Temotu's remoteness spares it from physical strife, the situation affects everyone whose families and friends are still in Honiara, and makes communication with the province, difficult in the best of times, especially hard to maintain. Our prayers for a speedy and just resolution to this conflict go out to the good people of the Solomon Islands. We also hope the crisis in Fiji will soon be over. The Lapita (proto-and early Polynesian archaeology and prehistory) conference scheduled to begin in Suva on 19 June has been cancelled because of the political situation. Mimi was to have presented a paper on the Vaka Taumako Project (see abstract on page 3). Conference organizers have moved the event to Canberra. Meph will attend that conference and read Mimi's paper. Abstract of Paper for Lapita Conference in Suva, June, 2000 for the session entitled Pacific Heritage Management (the role of museums and others) "Documentation of Authentic Polynesian Voyaging in the Vaka Taumako Project" OR "How Does One Manage the Story of Lata?" By Mimi George, Ph.D., April, 2000 Abstract: The educational aims and activities of the Vaka Taumako Project will be described as they illustrate themes from the Story of Lata, that pan-Polynesian culture hero, who built and sailed the first voyaging canoe at Taumako. Project accomplishments include: 1.  Building and navigation of voyaging canoes (vaka) using authentic Polynesian methods, natural materials, and tools, except for steel blades on the adzes. 2.  Education of youth in traditional voyaging skills and caretaking of natural and human resources. 3.  Research, documentation, and archiving, publication, and display of voyaging knowledge and process by Taumakoans and scientists. 4.  Re-initiation of communications between Taumakoans and other Polynesians, including trading voyages and cultural exchanges. Brief video clips will show Taumakoans building and sailing their own tepuke for the first time in over forty-five years, including production of sennit and bark cordage, weaving and sewing of pandanus mats, crab claw sails, hauling the roughcut main hull from the mountain to the sea, and performance of traditional blessings, feasting, and chants. Taumakoans express their own motivations, challenges, and accomplishments during the first traditional voyage since the early 1960's. The views of Paramount Chief Kaveia, on behalf of the Duff Islands community, will be relayed on the subject of past and future research projects at Duffs. Dr. George will note some successes, frustrations, and prospects of the Vaka Taumako Project during the next few years. She will argue that these are an enactment of the Story of Lata, which offers guidance to those who would aspire to "manage Pacific Heritage."

NEWS FROM EUROPE AND ELSEWHERE   We are glad to report that things in other parts of the planet have been lively in less tumultuous ways. We are having some very exciting correspondence with individuals and institutions in Europe. People there are asking for information, inviting us to give public presentations, volunteering their services, and showing interest in producing television documentaries. Renate Westner, a round-the-world sailor and student of anthropology, has been researching archival material in European museums. She has also volunteered to spend three months digitizing, logging, and rough editing the 120+ hours of raw footage that is deteriorating. If we have equipment for her to use, she plans to come to Kaua'i and begin work in October. If we can bring a Taumako video student in November, Renate will help that person to edit a new video tape. This is a draft of the summary of a funding proposal we are preparing for submission to the National Science Foundation in the USA. The initial NSF response is not encouraging. Is anyone out there interested in funding this work? About $200,000 US would get it all done and 7 articles submitted for publishing by October 2001.       ETHNOBOTANY AND ETHNOGRAPHY OF         A POLYNESIAN VOYAGING CANOE     Co-Principal Investigators: Dr. Sandra Banack and Dr. Marianne George Collaborators: Dr. Kimberly Johnson, Paramount Chief Koloso Kaveia Proposal Summary In the 1970's, Lewis (1972) and Levison et al. (1973) determined that the early Polynesians possessed adequate expertise to deliberately find their way to distant islands by voyaging canoe. It was believed, however, that documentation of the plant materials, vessel construction, navigation methods, imagery, and human meaning typifying this ancient tradition was no longer possible. It was widely reported that no Polynesian remained who knew how to make a voyaging canoe and sail it across deep ocean routes using completely traditional materials and methods (Lewis 1972; Finney 1976 ). The first ethnobotany breakthrough was the analysis of the building of a Fijian camakau (an outrigger sailing canoe) (Banack and Cox 1987). Carpenters from the island of Kabara were discovered who could still build a vessel using only plant materials. This was the first detailed account of the plants used and the step-by-step process of constructing a canoe. There was, however, only one Kabaran who had any sailing experience on a camakau and there was no one with any knowledge of ocean navigation, consequently this boat was built primarily as a display model. In 1993 George learned that there are still some very old people of a small outlier Polynesian island named Taumako in the Solomon Islands (Figs. 1-3), who actually lived the voyaging life until the early 1960's. They retain the experiential knowledge of building, sailing, and navigating a traditional voyaging canoe and they still have all the botanical resources needed growing on their island. They are now willing and able to articulate and demonstrate this expertise. They wish to communicate to other Polynesians and to Western science the cultural meaning of these activities. They have asked George to help them document their knowledge.       Chief Kaveia and       Dr. Mimi George This is a proposal for ethnobotanical and ethnographic documentation of the building and navigation of an authentic Polynesian voyaging canoe known as a teololili (a single-hulled outrigger voyaging canoe). It will be conducted under the direction of Paramount Chief Kaveia and represents a partnership between western scientists and the Taumakoan community. It is fully supported by the Solomon Islands Ministry of Education. In accordance with the wishes of the community, this project will support the teaching and training of Taumakoans who will learn ethnobotanical and ethnographic documentation techniques. The vessel will be used for ongoing instruction of the Taumakoans in the art and technique of canoe construction and voyaging. The results of this project will be widely disseminated by scientific articles in peer-reviewed journals, written records for the Taumakoan Islanders, informative articles for publication in "lay" journals, and archival and TV broadcast programs (in conjunction with a professional producer). Documentation of building and navigation methods, vessel and crew performance factors, and sociocultural aspects will be accomplished by the ethnographer (George), who is also a broadly experienced sea voyager and has spent four years working with the Taumakoan community preparing the way for this proposed work (George 1998; 1999). The ethnobotanists (Banack and Johnson) will document the associated plant species, methods of harvesting and preparation, material constraints, culturally dictated constraints, construction techniques, and sailing properties, of all plant materials utilized in the canoe. All plants will be collected for herbarium voucher specimens to serve as a permanent record. This unique and perhaps final opportunity to record the construction, navigation, and long distance sailing of a Polynesian canoe will answer many of the enduring questions about ancient voyaging technologies and traditions.

GOALS FOR THE NEXT SIX MONTHS   1) To bring Chief Kaveia and up to three other Taumako to Kaua'i to complete the tealolili which they began in Anahola last year. If possible, we would like to bring: a) Nathaniel Leiau, a master carver and voyager to help the Chief with technical details of construction, lashing, etc. b) Barton Vehu, a video student and man of all work to help with construction and to work on documnetation; c) Vaka Taumako, Chief Kaveia's youngest daughter. 2) To digitize, log and rough edit the raw video footage. This is critical. We have about 120 hours of archival material, shot in field conditions and in a variety of low-tech formats. Not only is it difficult to work with in its present form, but it is deteriorating rapidly. We do not want to lose this precious record! We have in Renate Westner a volunteer who can do the work, but we lack the proper equipment for her to work with. 3) To record the Vaka Taumako's return voyage from Nifiloli to Duffs. If west winds come to Temotu in December or January, Chief Kaveia and his crew will sail home. Mimi and Meph hope to accompany them and document the voyage. 4) To build a canoe house at Taumako. This will shelter more than just the Vaka Taumako. It will also serve the community as an archive, cultural center, hostel, and school of voyaging skills. 5) To complete the manuscript for "Sailing with Lata," the first book on the Project. DOES ANYONE WANT TO FUND ANY OF THESE ENDEAVORS? TAUMAKO CANOE HOUSE: Estimated cost $10,000 TRAVEL EXPENSES FOR THE NEXT CULTURAL EXCHANGE: $7,000/each participant VIDEO EQUIPMENT FOR DIGITIZING THE RAW FOOTAGE AND ALL EDITING: $5,000 (All cost estimates in $US)      Noho Like & Hawaiian Cafe host VTP   VANCOUVER, WA - A small but quality crowd attended Healani and Meph's presentation on March 11 at the Hawaiian Cafe in Vancouver, Washington. Noho Like, a Hawaiian organization which sponsors educational projects on Hawaiian issues, organized this event in hope of acquainting Hawaiians and others living in the greater Portland area with the Vaka Taumako Project. Although only a small number of people came, Healani and Meph considered their time and effort well spent. David Coy drove up from Sacramento, and Tillicum came all the way from Port Townsend. After viewing the video, "The First Voyage," Coy said he'd seen it five times and still enjoyed it. Meph gave a talk and answered many questions. Cafe owner Patrick Chang was extremely accommodating and offered his establishment for future presentations. He suggested that summer might be a better time for a talk. People in the Portland/Vancouver area can get good grinds and good fun at Hawaiian Cafe, 316 SE 123rd Blvd., Vancouver, WA, on the corner of Mill Plain and 123rd Blvd. Reservations can be made by calling 360-885-0881, and ask them what nights they feature live Hawaiian music. Tell them "Healani and Meph sent us." (Picture above) MEPH WYETH (third from the right) shares "THE FIRST VOYAGE" video at Hawaiian Cafe. (Picture on right) PATRICK CHANG, owner of Hawaiian Cafe in Vancouver , Washington, hosts VTP presentation.

Publication News   Wooden Boat Magazine The latest report from Wooden Boat Magazine has given a new publication date for our Vaka Taumako Project article. It should appear in the Sept.-Oct. 2000 issue. Anyone interested in traditional Pacific canoes should try to get a copy. In addition to the VTP article, there should be information on the Polynesian Voyaging Society, and on canoes from Micronesia and the Trobriand Islands. Pacific Arts Magazine The current issue of Pacific Arts Magazine contains an article by Meph Wyeth on the art and craft of building a voyaging canoe in Taumako. The price of a magazine is the cost of membership in the Society that publishes it: US $40. To obtain a copy, contact Wendy Arbeit by email:  arbeit@pixi.com  or by regular mail: c/o Pacific Arts, PO Box 23926, Honolulu, HI 96823, USA. VTP/PTS new website: www.vaka.org Thanks to Larry Williamson's heroic efforts, the Vaka Taumako Project of the Pacific Traditions Society now has its own, new website address:  www.vaka.org !!! (Exclamation points are a dramatic gesture, not part of the address.) The old address will still access the site, but much less directly, and it will eventually be discontinued. Those who have not visited the website recently should check out the new features that Larry has been installing, such as the Photo Gallery and the Map section. The site has been receiving more visitors, with an average of 70 people per week. These people interested in Polynesian voyaging are from all over the world, including Germany, South Africa, Austria, Canada, Switzerland, Spain, Japan, Norway, Brazil, Thailand, Israel, Slovenia, Iceland, Singapore and many other countries.      State of the yacht "Gryphon"   Mimi and Meph are in Whangarei, New Zealand, until 5 June, making repairs to "Gryphon," the Project support vessel. They have been assisting traditional shipwright Mark Webby in steambending new toerails and caprails and repairing the deck. Whangarei weather, notoriously idiosyncratic, defied the NZ meteorological service's predictions of heavy winter rains. For two weeks it has rained very little, enabling the M Team ((Mark, Mimi, Mimi's Mom, and Meph) to put in some good work time. Gryphon will return next year either to Solomons or Hawai'i to assist in vaka training programs. Speaking of states of yachts, we were sad to hear of the loss of "Taniwha," David Lewis' boat, which sank near Great Barrier Island, New Zealand. David and his crew escaped safely, and divers recovered the walking stick Kaveia gave to David in 1993 and the sacred navigational object David is now returning to Satawal by charter boat. Our condolences to captain and crew.      Free T-shirt with any contribution!   SPECIAL LIMITED OFFER: Free T-shirt with any contribution. Specify size (we'll make the selection from a variety of colors and designs). The deadline for this limited offer is July 31, 2000. The tremendous amount of work already completed by the Vaka Taumako Project has been entirely made possible by individual contributions. Mahalo for your support!     Chief Kaveia teaches the Taumako style of lauhala weaving to Kaua'i youth, 1999.