- Taumako
Taumako is the largest of the
Duff Islands . This 5.7 Km long island has steep sides and rises to a height of 400 m above sea level. It is composed of basaltic lavas andpyroclastics like the other islands in the Duffs . The inhabitants of the Duff Islands arePolynesians , and their language, Pileni, is a member of the Samoic branch ofPolynesian languages . On the Duff Islands live about 439 people (1999 census). The islands were settled by the Lapita people about 900 BC. Melanesian settlers followed. Finally Polynesians settlers arrived in mid 1400's.The way of life is traditional by subsistence farming and fishing. Taumako has no roads, airport, telephones, or electricity. Contact with outsiders comes by battery-powered marine radio and the occasional cargo ship.
Traditional Navigation
Studies of
David Lewis and Marianne (Mimi) George uncovered that full traditional Polynesian navigational technique is still preserved in these islands (Finney and Lowe, 2006, p163). The people of Taumako are the builders of one of the oldest documentedproa sailing canoe, called Te Puke and known to westerners alsTepukei .References
* [http://solomonislands.com.sb/duffislands.html]
* Ben Finney and Sam Low, "Navigation", in K.R.Howe(eds), "Vaka Moana:Voyages of the Ancestors", Bateman, 2007.External links
* [http://www.aloha.net/~vaka/index.html The "Vaka Taumako" Project]
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