Incidents of fair-skinned and light-haired Polynesians have occurred all over the South Pacific dating back hundreds of years. When Western explorers encountered these individuals, they usually concluded that they were the offspring of European castaways who intermarried with the indigenous tribes. (Modern DNA testing, however, has shown that light-skinned Polynesians are genetically indistinguishable from their darker tribesmen thereby quashing the theory that cross-breeding is to blame. This testing has not been able to explain why these Polynesians have physical features that are more typical of western Europeans, however.) The Polynesian explanation, however, was more metaphysical in nature and often attributed fair skin with divinity. The appearance of unusual-looking individuals in Polynesian society often produced incredulity and awe. The Polynesians did not, in most cases, seem to revile physical differences in the same way Europeans did but rather embraced them as something magical. Even deformed or disabled persons were often a source of great reverence.

Over the generations, different island groups created unique lore and legends about fair-skinned islanders. These legends were expanded in recent years through the theories of anthropologists and ethnographers like Thor Heyerdahl [for more information on Heyerdahl, click here], a Norwegian whose assertions that the Polynesians originated from South America is still a source of considerable debate. Heyerdahl based much of his theory on the native legends of the Incans, an advanced race that lived in the mountains of Peru. The Incans told a story about a sun god named Con-Tici Viracocha (more commonly known as Kon-Tiki). Kon-Tiki was the primary diety of a race of light-skinned people who produced huge but mysterious cities on the shores of Lake Titicaca. This race was attacked and decimated by a neighboring tribe, but some of them escaped by wandering west until they reached the Pacific Ocean. There Kon-Tiki and his followers built huge rafts and disappeared out to sea, presumably (at least according to Heyerdahl) to create settlements all around the South Pacific, including Rapa Nui, Hawai'i, Samoa and New Zealand. When the Spaniards arrived in Peru in 1531, the indigenous people were amazed by their pale skin and treated them like gods, often retelling the story about Kon-Tiki and his flight from their shores. Ultimately, the belief in the Kon-Tiki legend led to the fall of the Incan empire at the hands of the Spaniards.

The OCE team decided to revisit the Polynesian legends about fair-skinned islanders after their most recent and inexplicable contact with Tahiki, the teenage boy they first befriended on Tahiti in May 2005. Tahiki was a charming, intelligent young man who attached quickly to Ash and Coyote, the youngest OCE members. Although he claimed to be a native Tahitian, he was much taller (standing approximately six-foot-four) and more powerfully-built than most Polynesians. He also had dark blond hair and blue eyes, which caused Polaris to conclude (like European explorers before him) that Tahiki was of mixed French and Polynesian bloodlines. Tahiki described himself as “ehu,” a local term for fair-skinned, light-eyed people. Despite his pleasant personality, Tahiki had a dark side too. He began to tell his new friends that his grandmother was a cannibalistic witch who ate sunbathers right off the Tahitian beaches. Tahiki disappeared before the OCE team left the island, and their attempts to locate him failed [See TAHITI: ISLE OF VOLCANOES AND LAGOONS for additional infomration]. They had no further contact with him until he allegedly walked up to Ash on the Iwo Jima beach more than a year later and over five thousand miles away from Tahiti.

Although we are still loath to explain Tahiki's appearance on Iwo Jima, access to which is extremely restricted, we were intrigued to find some correlations between the incredible stories he told in 2005 and Tahitian legend.

There is a Tahitian legend about an “ehu” boy named Tahiki which we were unaware of until just recently. There are elements to this legend that are reminiscent of Greek myths about demi-gods such as Prometheus and Herakles. The legend states that Tahiki was a human boy from a powerful line of magical ancestors. Tahiki was “golden haired,” handsome and vigorous. Even at a young age he was able to best any other boy in the islands at any sport that could be devised. The other young men grew resentful of him and in a moment of spite attacked and nearly beat Tahiki to death. His mother was a skilled sorcereress, however, and she was able to use her magic to save Tahiki’s life. Tahiki's father, Hema, was incensed by the attack and decided to travel to the underworld to plead for justice from the dark gods who resided there. But the dark gods were unsympathetic and captured Hema, condemning him to live out eternity in a pit filled with feces. When Tahiki fully recovered from his injuries, he vowed to rescue his father from this horrible prison. His mother helped by imbuing him with her iho (or her spiritual strength) which gave Tahiki magical powers. After rescuing his father, Tahiki went on to use his powers to help the Tahitian people. Local legend credits him with creating everything from the first islands to different types of fish, rocks and trees.

Part of the Tahiki legend also describes his grandmother, Rona Nihoniho Roroa (“Rona of the Long Teeth.”) Like his mother, Rona Nihoniho Roroa was a powerful witch, but she was also a fearsome cannibal who frequently abducted the islanders, drowned them and consumed their flesh. Among his other accomplishments, Tahiki is said to have subdued and imprisoned his grandmother, thereby assuring that no further harm would come to the Tahitian people.

Needless to say, there is a considerable amount of overlap between the outrageous tales told by the boy we know as Tahiki and this centuries-old legend. The question is how are the two connected and who really is the “ehu” boy the OCE team met on both Tahiti and Iwo Jima?

[This information was originally transmitted as an enewsletter on October 23, 2006.]