"I ask: how could one keep at work, in the midst of such a spectacle, four hundred Frenchmen, young sailors who for six months had not seen a woman: In spite of all our precautions, one young woman came aboard onto the poop, and stood by one of the hatches above the capstan. This hatch was opened to give some air to those who were working. The young girl negligently allowed her loincloth to fall to the ground and appeared to all eyes such as Venus herself to the Phrygian shepherd. She had the Goddess's celestial form. Sailors and soldiers hurried to get to the hatchway, and never was capstan heaved with such speed." (L.A. de Bougainville, Voyage, p. 190)The idea of Venus seemed to have stuck in Bougainville's mind as he named the land the New Cythera, after the mythical land of the goddess of love. He stated that he felt he had been transported to the "garden of eden." Later, the whole world would think of Tahiti in much the same way. Commercon wrote of Tahiti:
"Born under a most beautiful sky, nourished on the fruits of an earth which is fertile without tillage, ruled by patriarchs rather than by kings, they know no other god but love." (Philibert Commercon, Mercured de France, Paris 1769, p. 461)Indeed, the Spanish, French and British crews that happened upon the Polynesian isles were shocked at the sexual mores of the inhabitants. Captain Cook, who was among these early travellers, wrote:"There is a scale in dissolute sensuality, which these people have ascended, wholly unknown to every other nation whose manners have been recorded from the beginning of the world to the present hour, and which no imagination could possibly conceive." (James Cook, (Hawkesworth ed.) An Account of a Voyage Round the World, vol. 1, 1773, p. 207) The free-wheeling sexuality together with a lovely tropical setting and the great beauty of the Polynesian people combined to create a mythical dreamland to readers in Europe. On the appearance of the women of Tahiti, Banks wrote:'In the island of Otaheite [Tahiti] where love is the chief occupation, the favorite, nay almost the sole luxury of the inhabitants; both the bodies and souls of the women are modeled into the utmost perfection for that soft science idleness the father of Love reigns here in almost unmolested ease...Except in the article of complexion in which our European ladies certainly excel all the inhabitants of the torrid zone I have no where seen such elegant women as those of Otaheite such the Grecians were from whose model the venus of Medicis was copied undistorted by bandages nature has full liberty the growing form in whatever direction she pleases and amply does she repay this indulgence in producing such forms as exist here only in marble or canvas nay such as might even defy the imitation of the chisel of Phidias or the pencil of an Apelles.' (Joseph Banks, Thoughts on the manners of Otaheite, Commonwealth National Library MS, 1773)Banks sentiments were repeated by numerous other visitors to the South Seas. One British writer stated that the "English women" looked "ordinary" after returning from Tahiti. Not only the women, but the men were also impressive; note these comments about the men of Tonga:"When standing by the sailors, the natives looked large, their well turned muscles, erect carriage, and graceful walk, gave a very striking appearance." (W. Waldegrave, "Extract from a private journal kept on board HMS Seringapatam in the Pacific in 1830," Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, Vo. II, London 1833, pp. 193-194)At an early age, the common Polynesian people began to learn the sexual arts. There were exceptions though. For example, the daughters of the chiefs on some islands were often guarded by chaperones to assure their virginity at the time of marriage. Chastity among wives was valued even in lax Tahiti. However, there was little condemnation of those who did not practice chastity.For the most part, early Polynesians thought it good to gain as much sexual experience as possible before marriage. Young men would roam around in gangs for long nights with willing young women. Sometimes a single woman would host a large number of men. In certain cultures, a woman used a mat when giving her first virgin love to a man. Often, a man proudly boasted of the number of mats he had collected. The following quote illustrates the idea, as it applied to young women in the Marquesas, quite well:
"Being their own mistresses, they went their own way, abandoned themselves to every caprice, led the most licentious life that can be imagined, until at last each attached herself to one, who having obtained the place of preference in our heart, wished to become her husband." (Craighill Handy, The Native Culture of the Marquesas, Honolulu, 1923, pp.39-40)The Myth and the Stereotype
One of Cook's companions on his repeated voyages to Tahiti noted that the same few women always swam out to the boats to satisfy the lusts of the European crews. He rightly surmised that these women fulfilled much the same purpose as the prostitutes of Europe. He noted that judging the character of Tahitians based on the character of these few women would be similar to judging English women based on women one would meet on ships in Plymouth Sound, on the Thames or in similar locations. (See Wale's Journal IN J.C. Beaglehole, The Journals of Captain James Cook, Cambridge, 1961, p. 797)
Such sentiments were also expressed by other more observant and experienced writers. Chastity, in fact, was far more important than one would think, but with a totally different view of the concept in mind. For example, faithfulness among the wives of the chiefs was almost universally the rule in Polynesia. On the other hand, there existed a custom among chiefs in certain localities of showing their friendship to other chiefs by mutually sharing their wives! Also, both polygny and polyandry, that is, the possession of multiple wives or husbands respectively, was often practiced.
When exposed to the mores of the outside world, things changed rapidly in Polynesia. In Tonga and Samoa, where chiefs daughters displayed the 'tokens of virginity' to the community on mats used during their wedding nights; this practice began to be used by the people as a whole.
In fact, even today the practice of using the mats to display the bride's virginity still holds to an extent in Samoa and Tonga. So one could say that these people are even more chaste than Western nations!
Even in French-occupied Polynesia, where some efforts have been made to preserve the free nature of Polynesian society, things have changed. In some respect, the Western writers have prolonged the myth by writing of their flings with Tahitian prostitutes on short visits. But more experienced writers have made some dent in the myth. During the revival period of Kanaka Maohi nationalism, violence even occured due to the preconceived notions of Westerners regarding Tahitian women. But this is nothing new. Even Gaguin had trouble getting nude models for his paintings in Tahiti and the Marquesas. Those he found charged high prices. What a far cry from the days when women would sometimes swim completly naked to greet visiting ships!
While the Polynesian mentality still is more open toward sex in many ways, the stereotype image of handsome Polynesian men and women engaging lustily in sex at public festivities is a thing of the past.
Photo Credits:
Vahine Tahiti by Teva Sylvain from http://soleil.bart.fr/~jca/
Yellow Tahitian flower from http://www.tahiti.com/
kekai@jps.net 
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