Hina: A Romantic Novel of the South Pacific

By Laszlo Groh

This book is about a young Polynesian girl who got marooned on a deserted island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and got rescued by a Spanish boy from Mexico, and their adventures. This fictitious story happened in the 1825--1855 years in the good old history, long before my time. I wrote a few chapters in my first book (Caprice Letan) about this little girl, now I continue that story to the very end. I have spent one night sleeping on the open plateau of Eiao island, when a small lamb got killed by a bunch of savage wild boars. I woke up for a childs cry of terror, from a deep sleep. I had dreamt of a big bonfire and savage men dancing around it, with big wooden clubs . According to legends the island is hunted, because its occupants had been eaten by cannibals. However, there was one survivor-HINA . The little mother if god. This is a happy mixture of love, piracy, treasure, shipwrecking and survival at sea with a happy ending. I hope You will enjoy it, as much as enjoyed to write it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Oct 31, 2014
• ISBN: 9781503510944

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 by Laszlo Groh.

ISBN:      Softcover   978-1-5035-1095-1

                 eBook       978-1-5035-1094-4

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to any actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 10/28/2014

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CONTENTS

FOREWORD

HENUA ENANA (THE LAND OF MEN)

LOPITA AND ENANA

HINA

BARTOLOMEO

THE CLIPPERTON’S FARM

THE FEMALE CYCLOPS

WATERING PORT

ME HINA YOU BARTO

ESCAPE

ABARIRINGA

FILO OF BOSTON

THE WALLED SPANISH TOWN

KUA’S CLAIM

RETURN OF ESTRELA

KAKA FUEGO (SHIT FIRE)

CONCLUSION

PHOTOS

THE MIGRATION ROUTES OF THE POLYNESIAN RACE

ANAHO BAY, NUKU HIVA

TOHUA HIKOKUA, HATIHEU (THE GREAT COURT)

THE SACRED ROCK WITH PETROGLIF (ALTAR) OF THE WHALE SHARK

VACA MOANA

VAI TAHU BAY, EIAO

THE NECK BREAKING TOOL (COURTESY of NUKU HIVA MUSEUM)

THE WATERFALL AT THE ISLAND OF EIAO

DRAMATIC SUNSET AT THE ISLAND OF EIAO

A HORNED ANGEL FROM HACIENDA ESCONDIDO

SMITH IN ACTION

LOOKING FOR TROUBLE

ENTRANCE AT CLIPPERTON ISLAND IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS

HINA’S POOL

PAUTU AND FUKIEN

THE POLISHED GROOVES OF HER ALTAR TO RECEIVE FRUIT OFFERINGS

WILD BOAR WITH A LITTER ESCAPING

VARIOUS STONE AXES FROM NOKU HIVA MARQUESAS

BIG PARROT FISH

A RICH MARQUESIAN VALLEY

THE BOUNTY OF BREAD FRUITS

THE PLACE OF HIDDEN TREASURE

INGREDIENTS OF AN EIAO FEAST

A MASTURBATING TIKI

A SMALL VACA FOR FISHING AT TAIPIVAI

THE ISLAND OF EIAO FROM THE SEA (VAI TAHU BAY ON THE LEFT)

A BOOBY

FRIGATE BIRDS

A BIG DORADO OR MAHI- MAHI

ABARIRINGA THE ISLAND IN THE SUN

ONE OF THE HOOK THIEVES

THE SWEET TODDY DRIPPING INTO A BOTTLE

GIANT COCONUT CRAB

WALLED SPANISH CITY WITH GUARD HOUSE

THE BRIDGE WHERE THE SMALL MEXICAN VILLAGE USED TO BE

THE GREAT EMPTY FALE AT TAIPIVAI

LAMB SLAUGHTER ON THE BEACH OF EIAO ISLAND

A FRIEND (A FAITY TERN)

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO KIPPY

FOREWORD

This was an interesting period in the Wild West, as well as the unexplored Pacific East. So much happened in a short time in history that hardly anyone can comprehend it between 1825-1855.

I came to Aba Riringa, slam bang in the center of the Pacific Ocean, on my forth sailing trip across this big Lake. I came to write about this Island in the Sun, However, Hina fell out of my pen first; it was a natural birth none had to induce the baby. Within this tale, there is a cannibalistic feast, hidden treasure, a nasty pirate, hot love, and even the Californian Gold rush all in the same time period. It is a fiction, nonetheless, there are lots of legends circling around about this uninhabited island (Eiao in the Marquesas) where of all these things could have happened…Perhaps they did! -- Who knows? I spent one night sleeping on the topmost peak of the island, when a small lamb got killed by a bunch of wild boars; it sounded as though a small child was crying for help. Perhaps a little girl. From then onwards, it was haunting me (as definitely it did) but her story reaches back a long time ago- long before my time. HINA is the name of the God’s Mother in Polynesian Mythology. Yes the Polynesian chief of Gods, Maui Tiki Tiki had a mother. However, Like Zeus, in Greek Mythology, he was a nasty piece of work. He got angry easily, and he too destroyed things in anger- as did his Greek counterpart. Then, later he regretted it.

Thus he was a very human God.

The author’s not- permanent address and workshop is in this tailor made One Boat Marina, in the PACIFIC OCEAN in the island of ABA-RIRINGA, the PHOENIX ISLAND, REPUBLIC of KIRIBATI the U.S. Navy built it for me, just before I was born, because they knew I was coming soon.

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ELIKA IN HINA’S COVE

HENUA ENANA (THE LAND OF MEN)

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THE MIGRATION ROUTES OF THE POLYNESIAN RACE

Henua Enana is the Polynesian name for Marquesas, it sound much nicer, -- doesn’t it? There were always plenty of young men here. Young, good sailors who were ready for an adventure. You start sailing early in the season (from the North of Sulawesi) to get to the fishing grounds, faster than the others- or else you are just messing around in your little fishing canoe as a young lad. There, in the North of Papua New Guinea, you can get nasty westerly squalls, in the southern summer. These Westerly squalls can become storms lasting for many days and… they will take you against the usually light Easterly trade wind, this occurs mostly in the Southern Cyclone (hurricane) season.

The Cyclones start around ten degrees southeast of the Solomon Islands and then roll towards Australia or the Torres Straits. They rotate clockwise. This causes Westerly winds to the North of their track for a week at least. Within a week, a new depression starts in the East of the Solomon Islands and follows the previous one. So, you get a near continuous westerly squall, one after the other. It usually occurs from the end of the year to mid -March. Some uneducated people call it the Northwest Monsoon, because they never sailed it. It is like riding a wild stallion the first time; only the young and the tough sailor can survive it. This is to say, that Mother Nature is the selection judge of who will get to Polynesia the fastest and in one piece without any grey hair. You can get to the front door of Polynesia, to Tuvalu. However, from there- to get to Henua Enana- you really have to learn sailing like a God. Around 500 A.D. - the Polynesians did learn.

Thus the Polynesian Lads became the Ulysseses of the Pacific Ocean.

Please compare the size of the Polynesian Archipelago, with the continent of North America. It is that big triangle from Hawaii to New Zealand and Easter Island. Each side of this giant triangle is 4 000 miles. The Greek Archipelago is about one hundred times smaller, and yet Odysseus still got lost in it about the same time period. Both Samoa and Fiji were inhabited as early as 3 000 B. C. Odysseus got lost in 1250 B.C. Poor Little Guy!

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ANAHO BAY, NUKU HIVA

LOPITA AND ENANA

Lopita was singing quietly to her little daughter Fukien, who was dozing in a cradle made of coconut leaves.

They were at sea in a little canoe, far from land. Lopita was still crying a little every now and then, she ran away from her huge Fijian Man, never to return. He forced her to work on his taro field; it was hard work in the sun all day, and required a lot of digging. She was too small and frail for such a hard life. She wanted to do something nicer that needed more skill and talent. She knew that she could paint very lovely pictures on wood and on pottery- if only it was allowed. Many other women and girls were making pots every now and then. They too were taken from the long land of Kanaks during the same raid as her mother.

One night they arrived- many men in the dark- and raided their peaceful and tranquil little village. They killed all the men, destroyed the kilns and smashed all the shining new pots. They herded all the wailing women away. Her mother was pregnant with Lopita then. Ergo, Lopita grow up in Fiji having never seen her real father. All the other woman and girls were taken to Fiji, as their wives and slaves, to dig the tasteless taro. She hated that plant, just the smell of it made her sick, especially when she was pregnant with Fukien. Fruits and fish were her real food, she could live on it forever. Her man was too lazy to go fishing. He just liked to drink a lot of kava and chat with the other men all night, planning new raids endlessly. Fighting, killing and war, lots of war. That is man’s life, he said, when he came home late at nights.

Lopita was named after the village where her mother was happy, in the land of Kanaks. Now her mother was sick and old and hoped that her daughter could have at least a nice future. She helped Lopita in the escape, and told her to go to Tonga and find a nice man there. Tonga is in the East where the Sun is rising every morning. Those friendly people, she thought, they can sing so well and make nice conversation with women- not just ordering them around like some slaves.

How far is it? She asked herself. Now, after sailing two days, the wind stopped, so she tried to row her tiny canoe unsuccessfully. Her shoulder was injured, where the nasty Fijian hit her often, always in the same spot with a heavy stick of wood. It was as if he wanted to make her a lame dove, not to fly ever. Her woven pandanus sail hung limp and swinging uselessly as the canoe rolled. She hoped at least Fukien could fly as a dove, one day free as the wind.

Her little daughter woke up now and demanded her right, milk. Lopita hardly had any, after many days at sea, her mouth was dry. She had only drank a single coconut in the morning. I’ll have to spare them, she reasoned, until she saw land again. While turning around in the small canoe to pick up her tiny daughter, she saw something on the horizon and she got a fright thinking, was her Tyrant following her with vengeance?

No, it is on the south, and coming in her direction, and it looks very strange, like a giant monster coming to attack her. Its’ two giant claws are up in the air ready to fight, but it seems to walk on two short legs. It’s coming fast…It must propel himself with a powerful tail under water.

It is not a man made sailing craft, because there is not really any wind at all?

It’s giant sea monster coming to get me and Fukien.

She was holding Fukien very tight to her shaking shoulders, and started to cry heavily, torrents of tears now fogged her vision. The monster drew rapidly now; there was no escape!

Suddenly, the claws of the monster closed, it stopped its’ menacing stand, the legs turned into two slender canoes, slicing the water with ease.

Then it stopped right next to her little outrigger and touched it gently, like a hen pecks at its own egg. Effortlessly, a Giant God jumped down, picked her and Fukien up in one motion and swung the two of them into the sky. They landed so high that it seemed like Heaven, on the deck of a giant seagoing Vaca Moana; the sailing craft of the Gods. Before long, Lopita was eating juicy fruits and sweet, sweet potatoes freshly roasted in light fire of coconuts husks. She had never tasted anything like it, and that spiky fruit Tasted like wild honey mixed with lime juice in her mouth (pineapple). Everything was new to her. It was like living with Gods on Mount Olympus floating on the clouds. So much food and not a cursed piece of taro anywhere. And what are those things, wrapped in dry leaves, hanging from the rafters? (They were dried bananas as it turned out later). Yes, it was a complete house with fire in it for cooking, but more importantly she was not sitting in the strong sun all day. The handsome giant who saved her was not alone, there were many others on the deck, all men. They all listened to the giant’s every word. He was the chief and master of the Vaca Moana. The crew called him Enana. Lopita also called him this way. Later she discovered that they all call each other, enana (Lad). The chief just gently smiled as Lopita called him like that too. His real name was Te Mana o Te Moana (The Spirit of the Sea). His Father was a very great chief, and Te Moana was a prince; his father’s pride and joy. Te Moana was on a mission, on a very long search for a royal princess for himself. He sailed first to the island of Te Pito o te Henua" (Navel of the World). Europeans now call this faraway place Easter Island. However, there he found no girl there to his liking. Though he traded for immense treasures there (to his father’s greatest delight). He brought the first sweet potatoes and pineapples that the people in the valley had ever seen. He also got the other fruits from some Kechuas drifting on a raft.

The huge and fat chief planted the treasures himself, with his own fat hand; he chased all the women away. Such a precious treasures, cannot touch lazy female hands, until a time when we will grow more of it, he thought… and…The women must stay far away from that part of the Royal Garden. His warriors were ordered to look after the plants with their very life. That was not an empty statement. Everyone feared his wrath in the whole valley. He had sent Te Moana again away, this time to Hawaiiki (Raiatea), to seek the advice of the greatest priest, at the sacred altar of the Polynesian Nation, for direction. The great sage still pointed to the South, this time towards the Land of the Great White Cloud, as the Prince remembered. The land of the Great White Cloud, Aoaroa (New Zealand) is very far again and now he knew that he went to look there just in the right time. He certainly had saved Lopita and Fukien from perishing in a great storm. The first one of the huge storms that destroyed Fiji not a week later.

They felt nothing of it. They simply flew like homing pigeons with the fresh wind pushing them right to Nuku Hiva. It was a very unusual wind. Te Moana knew that the Old Sage was right this time, he felt it in his heart. Now he was in love with two princesses at the same time- Lopita and Fukien.

Soon the Vaka Moana fetched the Henua Enana Islands (Land of Man) for everyone’s happiness and joy. It was a sign from the Gods that their mission at sea was completed. The old Chief would praise the Gods, when he heard how fast they completed the long trip, with this miracle wind.

Cruising the lovely islands afloat, the two lovers slowly started to understand one another much easier. Their language was very different. Fukien was the translator, since she learned faster than her mother. The little girl always clung to the giant’s every word and translated it to her mother in a flash. The couple never stopped laughing, how easy it was.

Te Moana told an old story of how Maui, a giant of a God, got so angry that he destroyed a great house and scattered its’ remains all over the very sea here. And then fished the pieces up again.

Each island was one part of that great house, according to legend. Now everyone can see it for himself. He continued to Sail past an island full of great columns shooting high in the sky (Ua Pou). Yes, that Fale must had a great roof to need such a strong support. Then, when the largest island came into view, that was the old roof (Niku Hiva) of the giant’s Fale.

As the sun was setting on the West, the Vaca Moana entered a great inlet where the water was shooting very high from some caves (to their amusement) on the right side. In a few minutes, the catamaran’s keel touched the snow white sands of Anaho bay (pictured on page two). A large group of welcoming people greeted them with fresh fruits, flowers and joyous laughter.

The next day, the honored guests marched over a high ridge with a Royal escort. During the night, the chief’s guard came to greet them. The Hatiheu valley was afire with the great news- Te Moana did find his Princess.

The great chief stood on his platform made of giant rocks, while many hundred spectators filled his Great Court. Made of the same giant dark material, the stands were alive with people.

His personal bodyguards charged into the court with weapons of all sorts in their hands- mostly iron -wood spears with many barbs or huge war-clubs. All of them were giants nearly naked, except for a few decorative necklaces and belts. The war-drums were booming with spine- shivering staccato. Meanwhile, the warriors began a menacing song for the many enemies and were swinging the weapons in the directions of the other Valleys. The men were screaming the names of the enemies’ best warriors and how they were going to kill them. Suddenly, the King raised his right arm and everyone went quiet- as if magic paralyzed them. Then, he waved his left arm for the continuation of the big celebration; within a second, fifty or so young maidens rushed into the court- dressed in flowers only- as the music started (with small drums and a lot of other instruments mostly rattles of porpoise tooth). The maidens began a dance to attract a lover from the group of warriors. In the so called civilized word, people today call it the Hula- dance.

It started slowly, then got faster and faster until it created madness. The girls where sweating now and hardly could keep up with the beat. The stage was now full of glistering female bodies wriggling in a trance, as their long, jet-black hairs went flying through the air. Without warning, the King’s right arm gave the command to stop and all went quiet in a flash. All the warriors charged for the pretty maidens with joy. There was a fierce tussle for the choices pieces, however, they grabbed whomever they could in a hurry and raced off the stage with their loot.

Not hurried into the bush as customs dictate, but taken a stand between the other spectators to see the big event what was coming. They were all panting from exertion and expectation.

Everyone was standing on tiptoes and craning their necks to get a better view. For many years the whole valley was waiting for this very moment to come.

Then the graceful prince entered the stage slowly and majestically, all was quiet you could hear only the ground - doves cocooning and the bees humming. He stopped on the center of the big stage or court the TOHUA and raised his voice to a strength hardly anybody could imitate with such a dignity. He was like a Greek God addressing Zeus on Olympus in the company of many Gods of the great myths and legends. Like a thunder his words flashed out towards the silent crowd.

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TOHUA HIKOKUA, HATIHEU (THE GREAT COURT)

Te Moana greeted his father with respect and then recited his many titles and his many great deeds.

The father demanded to see the princess himself. They had to climb up to his platform for a close scrutiny, and just then Fukien demanded her right again- milk. Lopita was nearly in tears, but a huge matron took the little girl away and started to feed the baby from her own giant teat. Lopia was greatly admired by everyone in the king’s family for her fair skin, shining black hair and almond shaped eyes.

The king gave orders to prepare a large feast for the next day, to celebrate the big event.

Meanwhile, Fukien had a dinner companion, Pautu the youngest prince, joined her on the other side of the table (the other teat). He was a year or so older. He just came to look for a playmate and pretended to suck a little. Yes, the old Queen herself fed Fukien on the first day. It was a big honor for the small guest. The next morning, while hundreds of people were busy preparing the feast, the old king led the Royal Couple up a solid granite stairway