Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Foundation Volume 19 Article 15 Issue 1 May

2005 Motu-Iti. Die Insel der Mowen (Island of Seagulls) Review Andrea Wagner International School of Dusseldorf Niederrheinstr

Follow this and additional works at: https://kahualike.manoa.hawaii.edu/rnj Part of the History of the Pacific slI ands Commons, and the Pacific slI ands Languages and Societies Commons

Recommended Citation Wagner, Andrea (2005) "Motu-Iti. Die Insel der Mowen (Island of Seagulls) Review," Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation: Vol. 19 : Iss. 1 , Article 15. Available at: https://kahualike.manoa.hawaii.edu/rnj/vol19/iss1/15

This Book or Media Review is brought to you for free and open access by the University of Hawai`i Press at Kahualike. It has been accepted for inclusion in Rapa Nui Journal: Journal of the Easter Island Foundation by an authorized editor of Kahualike. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Wagner: Motu-Iti. Die Insel der Mowen (Island of Seagulls) Review Motu-Hi. Die Insel der Mowen siderable infornlation on history, government, people, lan­ (Island of Seagulls) guage , and the Polynesian them elves. Holiday, art and festivals, food and drink, email and AIDS, all are covered, a by Roberto Piumini are local customs and conduct, toxic fish and time zone, Originally published as Moru-fri. L'isola dei ga bbiani. ew money and visas, and how to find cheap tickets. He provide R. Deutscher Ta chenbuchverlag, 1997. 140 pages. tips that won't be found in mo t guidebooks, such a how to Carl HanserVerlag Munchen book into a pension in Tahiti, and why to not stay in an over ISB 3-423-62103-6 water bungalow in those islands. A eparate section is devoted to each island group: French , the Pitcairn Island, Review by Andrea Wagner Ea ter Island, the Cooks, iue, , American Samoa, Sa­ International School of DO eldorf iederrhein tr moa, , Walli and Futuna, , Fiji Island, ew Caledonia, Vanuatu, and the Solomon I lands. THE MAIN CHARACfER of thi children' book i Tou-Ema, I carmot comment in depth about the entirety of thi ex­ who won the birdman competition and is chief of the long haustive book, only on the i land that I know the mo t about, ears. Another young man, Kontuac, al 0 wants to win the race Ea ter Island - and that ection comprise a mere 1.8% of the and tries to cheat, but Tou-Ema is the winner. Kontuac meets total. with some friend and they try to kill Tou-Ema by pushing The Ea ter Island chapter i correct up to the time when him down the cliff but Tou-Ema lands on Motu-Iti. The sea­ Stanley ubmitted his material, but things on Ea ter I land gulls choose him as a leader and follow the movements of his change with lightning speed - literally "as we speak". Since hands so he decides to puni h the people on Rapa Nui by Stanley went to press, the fee etup at ha changed sending the seagulls to destroy houses. The attacks get and reuse of the entry ticket is no longer allow; the trail into tronger and Kontuac confesses what he has done. Then peo­ Rano Raraku has been rerouted through the park ranger sta­ ple notice omeone on Motu-Iti and assume that Tou-Ema is tion west of the old entry. A new camping facility has opened still alive. Kontuac is sent to Tou-Ema to apologize and to a k in the village, as well as several new re taurant . And a new him to come back as their chief. But before Kontuac reaches Tourist Office has been built. the i land, Tou-Ema ees that the seagulls are very aggressive I am overawed by the vast amount of knowledge about and he rai e his arms to warn Kontuac but the seagull take the islands of the Pacific that is to be found in this one book. thi a a signal to attack. Tou-Ema returns to the island to the While I am unlikely (sob!) to ever travel to all the e island ,I top of the volcano so he can warn everyone if the eagull at­ do plan to use the book a a reference! Highly recommended tack. His girlfriend, who alway believed that he wa till for anyone who is headed out into the Pacific. alive and innocent, brings food to the top of the volcano. One day he doesn't notice the warning and protects her elf with a piece of wood that looks like a face and the eagull do not The Polynesian Connection arrack her. So Tou-Ema tell everyone to make a mask be­ by Blake Edgar. cause the eagulls fear the feature of the face. Then Tou-Ema Archaeology Magazine. Vol.; 58(2):42-5. 2005 a k the young men to carve the huge stone figures with eyes Review by Georgia Lee looking towards Motu-Iti to keep eagulls from anacking the island. THlS ITEM IN THE RECENT ISSUE OF ARCHAEOLOGY Magazine hit a nerve with this reviewer becau e it touches on two area Moon Handbooks: South Pacific of personal intere t: Polyne ia, and the Churnash Indian cul­ ture of coastal California. Edgar' article de cribes research 8th Edition, 2004 by archaeologist Terry Jones and linguist Kathryn Klar sug­ By David Stanley ge ting that Polyne ians, probably Hawaiian, reached the Avalon Publi hing Group, Inc. coastal area occupied by the Churna h Indians ometime ISB 1-56691-411-6 around AD 700. The connection i ugge ted by parallel tech­ 1,093 pages, map chart, black/white photograph nology - sewn plank canoes - plu lingui tic imilaritie (for the name of the canoes). Review by Georgia Lee As may be expected, this i a controver ial concept in THlS HEFTY GUIDE TO THE SOUTH PACIFIC has it all. Anyone most of the archaeological community, but it has the backing traveling to the far-flung i land of the South Pacific is well of Patrick Kirch, and this connection was also seriou Iy con­ advi ed to pack thi book, even though it may cau e your lug­ sidered by the late anthropologist, Robert Heizer. The ewn gage to be overweight! Stanley ha done his usual excellent plank canoe of the Chumash appeared uddenly, and wa the job of including every la t crap of information one might only uch craft in all of orth America. The trip from Hawai'i po ibly need before traveling across this vast ocean. to California and return would not have been an unu ual one The book contain an amazing 120 maps, a time-line for the Polynesian of that time. It all make en e to me! chronology, chart and idebar on every possible subject with detailed information. There are ections on languages and the natural hi tory of the variou i land groups. His introductory material cover everything from plate tectonics to coral for­ mations, from climate change to flora and fauna. There is con-

Rapa Nui Journal 66 Vol. 19 (1) May 2005

Published by Kahualike, 2005 1