"Panamaw (Puamau), Marquesan God", p. 38

Category

Museums & Galleries Item

Item no

19356

Title

p. 38, Panamaw (Puamau), Marquesan God

Description

A photograph of a watercolour sketch of a man with a hat standing next to 'Takai', a large stone tiki figure at Puamau on Hive Oa. There are rocks scattered about in front of the figure.

The image is from the photograph album entitled 'The Cruise of the Casco' of Robert Louis Stevenson's travels around Hawaii and French Polynesia in 1888.

Artist / maker

Unknown

Date

1889

Size

13.5 x 12.5 cm

Type

Photograph

Location

Writers' Museum

The tiki, or stone carving, in this image is known as Takai and is the largest tiki in Polynesia at 2.4m tall. It still stands at an archaeological site at Puamau, or Mea'e Te I'Ipona on Hiva Oa in the Marquesas Islands. The Me'ae were sacred sancturies used for various rituals. They were often sited away from houses in secluded area. The Me'ae of Te I'Ipoma is high above the village of Puamau and has 18 stone tikis. The Takai Tiki is a representation of a warrior or cheiftain, and considered the guardian of the valley in which it stands

The Marquesas Islands are in French Polynesia, in the southern Pacific Ocean. They are volcanic and are named after the Marquis of Cañete, who financially supported the Spanish Explorer Álvaro de Mendaña de Neira who disovered the islands in 1595.

Born in Edinburgh on 13th November 1850, Robert Louis Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, playwright and travel writer. Although he was plagued by ill health all his life, he was extraordinarily well-travelled, visiting Europe, America and the South Seas. He married American born Fanny Van de Grift Osbourne in 1880 and is best-known for works like Treasure Island (1883), Kidnapped and The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (both 1886).

Robert Louis Stevenson spent the latter years of his life both travelling and resident in the Pacific. The family chartered the 'Casco' in San Francisco and spent several weeks travelling in French Polynesia, including an extended stay in Tahiti where Stevenson recovered from a bout of illness. After this the Stevenson group continued to Honolulu, Hawaii, where they landed in January 1889. In the summer of 1889 Stevenson embarked on a six month voyage through the Gilbert Islands to Samoa aboard the 'Equator'. It was here that Stevenson bought an estate he named Vailima. After another voyage, aboard the trading steamer the 'Janet Nicoll', Stevenson returned to Vailima. He died here on the 3rd December 1894 of a brain haemorrhage at the age of 44, leaving what many consider his best work, Weir of Hermiston (1896) unfinished.

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Related subjects

Architecture > Monuments > Sculptures

Clothing and dress > Accessories > Hats

People > Adults > Men

Places > Oceania > Marquesas Islands

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