ABSTRACT
SEAFARING is constantly evoked by the indigenous oral literature, with all its celebration of gods, heroes and tricksters too. ‘Puakauooa was chief. The feast in Taaoa in his honour was a magnificent death feast’, begins one in a series of tales on Hivaoa about a voyage in search of valuables like garlands of scented blossoms more durable than hibiscus and gardenia, or fruits, or red feathers from the kula or parrot to fringe the loin-cloths of chiefs. Red was a sacred colour, a mark of status.
