Gentleness? The passage into adulthood demanded that boys should cut off or with a stone crush one testicle and not show pain! The 5 different kingdoms of the island have for hundreds of years practiced internecine warfare and cannibalism under their absolute despotic rulers. The island hero isokelekel died by ripping of his private parts in anger of getting old after having seen his face reflected in a puddle and happily bled to death and all ponapeans were heavily, elaborately and very painfully tattooed over sensitive parts of their bodies until the mid-1900s. Affection in public is forbidden. Every man and woman in Pohnpei has his place in the society and the only way to advance is to give away a lot of good stuff to the chief or, in former days, to show prowess in raids against the neighbours. In these raids, traditionally, all that lived was killed, irrespectively of age, sex or social standing. How is that for a gentle society??
KEITH DAWSON of TOOWOOMBA
15-Nov-2006 05:32
I first read of theses constructions in a 1964 book of a American Whaling Captains wife's diary of her voyage aboard the whaler Florence1873-74. upon which she gave birth to the first engineer for New Bedford Mass. the book is titled One Whaling Family. This cliff is called Chokach in the book they are shown around by a Mr. Doane. Eliza A.G. Williams records in her diary;- ''The real mystery is the purpose of these structures which no one has solved. They appear too scattered for tombs unless one assumes a large race of people living on the island but, in thatevent, they would have left some evidence of their occupation.''
Guest
22-May-2006 05:25
Beautiful pictures to capture a beautiful island I long to visit. Someday I will take my boys to show them their culture. My father in law says Pohnpei is the most beautiful island on the face of the earth...beautiful land and beautiful people with a gentleness like no other place in the Pacific.
