ABSTRACT
For more than a thousand years long distance noninstrumental navigation has been practiced over large areas of Polynesia, Micronesia, and perhaps in parts of Melanesia. In Polynesia, the traditional techniques atrophied and were ultimately lost in the wake of contact with colonial powers. Only the Micronesians have maintained their traditional skills and in the past decade they have been the wellspring of navigation knowledge for a renaissance of traditional voyaging throughout the Pacific basin(Finney, 1979; Lewis, 1976, 1978).
