We – Anahi, Hakuna Matata, Glendora, Moonshadow and Stargazer -  all gathered on the quay side at 8.30am for our tour of the island and were soon greeted by our unofficial guide Richard – originally descended from a tribe who lived beside the river in the hamlet of Hakaui, which flows into sea beside Hakatea (Daniel’s) Bay – plus two other drivers.  Richard speaks perfect English and was keen to explain the history of the island.

 

The concrete roads are excellent, and I would suggest they would need to be at the gradient they are levelled and with such a high annual rainfall.  Taiohae bay, where we are all anchored, is the actual crater of an ancient volcano:

 

 

View from the ‘rim’ of the volcano looking down into the bay

Where you can see all the yachts anchored

 

Richard explained that in the whole of the Marquesas archipelago up to date statistics show that they average just five tourists per day – so to have 30 yachts from BWR and many more from ARC all visit one island in one go is overwhelming for them.  Although the population is increasing there is no senior school here.  Education is compulsory, and subsidised by means testing, so older children go and live in Tahiti for instance and return only for the long summer break.  The down side of this is that many are seduced by the comparative sophistication of the bigger islands and never return permanently.  There is very little tourism and therefore very little work.  Cottage industries blossom everywhere and the local people get involved with copra (coconut) farms, dairy related production, bakeries, restaurants, poultry, honey and pigs as well as local arts and crafts including jewellery making.

 

Until quite recently (c1960) cannibalism was still practiced here in the Marquesas.  Everywhere we travelled there was evidence of sacrificial sites and there are literally hundreds of these areas hidden amongst the trees.  The huge ‘halls’ would have been covered and this was where the people gathered for social occasions

 

 

This whole area would have been the floor of the community building with the alter raised at the far end where the sacrifices would have been conducted

 

 

Flat stone where one lady (siren) would have stood to call everyone to join in the festivities or sacrifice

 

 

The raised area of the ‘alter’ and sacrificial site

 

The elders, priests for instance, of the community lived in houses around the edge of the community building but raised higher.  Richard explained that a lot of the tikis  (statues) have been stolen and many now reside in the museums of USA, Great Britain and Russia, many others are recent additions, often gifts from other islands:

 

 

Millennium gift from a neighbouring island

 

 

Gift from Easter Island with seven carved heads

 

There were five or six tribes on the island of Nuka Hiva who were constantly warring amongst themselves – and many of the captives were eaten – however, in the days before refrigeration it was necessary to keep the food alive so they dug deep pits where they kept their meat – often they would carve off a limb or two to avoid cooking too much at once and they called humans ‘long pigs’.  Sometimes they would eat a member of their own tribe, ‘clubbing him by surprise from behind’!

 

 

 

 

One example of the ‘larder’ at the foot of a huge and now famous banyan tree which was covered in skulls when the first missionaries arrived:

 

 

Ancient banyan tree……probably 300 years old

 

However, younger meat was preferred and thousands of children were sacrificed – many parents saw the sacrifice as an honour and gave their children willingly to the Priest when he came to knock on the door to choose the next gift to the Gods - although some hid their children.   If you sent your children on an errand, especially after dark, they would frequently disappear and the only evidence of who had stolen them would be the smoke coming up from the underground barbeque.  When children reached puberty – 10 for a girl and 12 for a boy – they would receive their first tattoos at which point they were no longer seen as ‘pure’ and were free from the threat of sacrifice.  Bones and teeth from humans and animals were kept in a ‘cupboard’ and carved into jewellery:

 

 

A typical ‘cupboard’ – shallower than the larders….

 

A few original artefacts remain:

 

 

Ancient Tiki with the sacrificial alter behind

 

 

Round ‘receptacles’ carved into rocks could be for many uses – tattoo ink, medicine ground condiments etc.

 

 

Grooves in the rock where they sharpened their ‘knives’

 

 

This rock has fallen on its side but the hollow on the right hand side is where the prisoner would position his head if he were to be decapitated

 

 

 

A ‘chair’ or backrest still standing in original position

 

The people married for love and chose their own partners (sometimes from a neighbouring tribe which caused further battles) – however the good Priest had a further role in life – to teach each young virgin the art of lovemaking and no marriage took place without this ritual having been performed first –  everywhere phallic symbols are carved into rocks and rocks are carved into phallic symbols:

 

 

Typical phallic carving – although this one looks as if it could do with a dose of penicillin…..

 

Apart from the wild boars all the animals and poultry on the island belong to someone but roam free and during the day we saw much evidence of this:

 

 

Horses running free around another ancient sacrificial site

 

 

Mummy pig in the bushes

 

 

And piglet out for a stroll…..

 

Once the missionaries arrived they tried to put down the firm stamp of Catholicism – and although many ended up in the barbeque, certainly there are some carvings and statues remaining:

 

 

 

Carving in the Catholic Church

 

 

Hard to see in this photo but even a Virgin Mary statue on the very pinnacle of one of the spires!

 

Today these islands are peaceful and their inhabitants friendly and welcoming – tomorrow we are sailing to Ua Pou before heading off to the Tuamotu Islands