the classic last word on all things nautical in pre-contact Oceania (Polynesia, Micronesia, and Melanesia)

originally published in 1932 by the Bishhop Museum, Honolulu

written by the eminent Dr Alfred C. Haddon of the British Museum, Cambridge and his distinguished co-author Dr James Hornell of the Dominion Museum, Aukland.

a necessary reference for a wide and diverse range of people: yacht designers, sailors, watersports coaches, surfers, outrigger canoeists, anthropologists, historians, boat manufacturers, ethnographers, Oceanic island cultural and independence movements, 'tiki bar' interior decorators ......

many of the items described in the text no longer exist, e.g. all items listed as from the Museum for Volkerfunde, Germany were sadly destroyed by Allied bombing

The text is very difficult to read even for native-fluent, literate English-speaking readers as it is written in the jargon of museum curators. Keep a large dictionary handy. Many words that appear in everyday English have a more specific, technical meaning in this book.

The authors intended the work to shed light on discussions in the scientific community of the early 20th Century "Come on now, really .... How DID all those people living on all them islands get there?"

As the gentlemen were not professional mariners, there are errors.