Pacific Possessions: The Pursuit of Authenticity in Nineteenth-Century Oceanian Travel Accounts by Chris J Thomas (review)

Abstract

the southeastern Solomon Islands, where Indigenous techniques and interisland voyaging continue to be practiced. In discussing leadership and spiritual power (88–89), there is no acknowledgment of Marshall Sahlins, Irving Goldman, Firth, or the many other prominent commentators. Later, Thomas states that “Austronesian cultures seem to have privileged the ‘founders’ of particular communities” (97), without considering Sahlins’s notion of “the stranger-king” (laid out at some length in 1981). Given the intended audience, Thomas justifiably avoids excessive detail. Still, decades of debate on this important topic deserve some recognition. One factual error in the book involves Satawalese navigator Mau Piailug, who guided Hōkūle‘a without instruments from Hawai‘i to Tahiti. Thomas states that Piailug “used standard modern instruments on the return leg” (133). In fact, he did not participate in the return voyage, instead leaving directly from Tahiti for his home on Satawal (see Ben R Finney’s Hokule‘a: The Way to Tahiti [1979]). While the work would have benefitted from more comprehensive coverage and better fact-checking, Voyagers is generally well written and amply illustrated. It is accessible, contains valuable information, pays due respect to Islanders and their accomplishments, and may help inspire readers to explore the region and its people in greater depth.