Post #323410 by ohanarts on Sun, Aug 5, 2007 3:42 PM

Hi, My name is Mike. I lived in Hawaii, on Oahu, for almost 50 years. For economic reasons I have moved to the Mainland. I stumbled upon this site while looking for info on Marquesan artifacts. In 1960 my parents and I ( and several other people) sailed through the South Seas. We sailed to Tahiti, Bora Bora, the Tuamotus and the Marquesas. This was before Tahiti had an airport, so the only way to get there was by boat. The life expectancy for the people there at that time was about 35. Most died from TB. Needless to say it was much more primative then than now. While on our trip we picked up many interesting objects. My fathers wife has most of the really good stuff, like adzes and poi pounders and such, but I got a few pieces which I will share. For now I only have photos of two pieces. A stone tiki and a wooden tray from the Marquesas. These were supposedly carved by Manu on Nuku Hiva. He claimed to be the chief of the village. He may well been, but I don't think he carved htese while we were there. Manu was in the advanced stages of leprosy and was missing most of his fingers down to the middle knuckles. The tray is beautifully carved out of, I belive, native rosewood. The stone tiki has the appearance of being much older. There's really no way of knowing. Anyway, thought I would share. If anyone else has been there or knows more about these objects, lets hear from you. Mahalo Mike