ABSTRACT
Ever since their re-discovery by Western explorers, Pacific islands and their populations have been the source of much theorizing. Every continent, except the closest (Australia), seems to have been proposed as an origin for the inhabitants, while speculation has continued about whether settlement occurred by planned or accidental voyaging. The allied question and also the subject of debate, is whether return voyages were possible. Indigenous origin myths speak of fleets of planned migration, but these were challenged by Andrew Sharp who proposed that settlement was from one-way voyages due to accidental drift of fishermen or exiles (Sharp 1956). This theory has always had an internal difficulty that for settlement to survive the accidental journey requires the drifting vessel to have on board a fertile couple as well as, in some cases, plants and animals.
