The Pacific Voyages
of Rollo Beck
Collection of Oceanic Photographs
and Objects
The Early Years of the
Whitney Expedition
The Whitney Expedition began in August of 1920 in French Polynesia where a seventy-five foot Tahitian-built, motorized schooner named "The France," a former copra vessel, was purchased for the project. The American and Polynesian crew spent the first two years collecting throughout parts of Eastern Polynesia (the Society, Tuamotu, and Marquesa Islands) using Papeete on the island of Tahiti as a home base.
CAS 1986-0002-0009 (top), 0084-0001 (middle), 0281-0031 (bottom)
In our collection there are over thirty Oceanic leis and haku leis most of which are shell, like those pictured above, while others are made of nuts or seeds.
CAS 0477-0057
The photo above
depicts a Tahitian fisherman with his nets in a single outrigger canoe. The
model pictured is not identical to the Tahitian canoe but represents one of
many models of Oceanic sea craft from our collection.
Marine Subsistence
Marine subsistence practices have long been an integral part of Polynesian culture. The archaeological record indicates that early Polynesians brought domesticated plants and animals with them but that they also relied heavily on marine protein sources. Shell and reef fish collection as well as deep-sea line and net fishing were and still are practiced throughout Oceania. Traditional fishing implements such as spears, bone and shell fish hooks and lures, ground stone net weights, and sinkers, show an extensive understanding of the marine environment. Certain articles were designed for a specific catch, such as an octopus lure while others were designed for a specific fishing zone, such as the spear, pictured below, for use in close range inner tidal areas.The Department of Anthropology at the California Academy of Sciences houses a number of Oceanic fishing implements including a large collection of Hawaiian fish hooks.
A passage from Beck's field notes reads, "The natives of Takaroa, like those of Manahi find their dogs useful when going on the reef fishing. I saw one dog catch a fish about a foot long chasing it into the shallow water and killing it then standing by till the owner came and picked it up."
CAS 1984-0008-0069, 1984-0008-0070
CAS 0281-0032
As mentioned above, the earliest Polynesian voyagers brought with them domesticated plants as well as agricultural knowledge. One of the food plants they brought is Colocasia esculenta commonly known as the taro plant. Taro is found in varieties suitable for both wet and dry cultivation and is used as a starchy staple food called poi. Poi is prepared by mashing the bulbous root, mixing it with water to form a thick paste and allowing it to ferment for a few days. The leaves are cooked and used as a dark green leafy vegetable. Just as Polynesians made specialized implements for various fishing strategies, they also made tools specific to food preparation. The ground stone poi pounder pictured above was collected by Beck in the Marquesas and represents only one of a variety of shapes. The design and the shape vary locally although they all serve the same function.
CAS 1984-0008-0226
Rollo
Beck continued
