Mangarevan Expedition of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum

Abstract

ON October 28, Bernice P. Bishop Museum welcomed the natural history party of the Mangarevan Expedition returning to Honolulu aboard the specially designed sampan Islander from six month's field work in south-eastern Polynesia. The Mangarevan Expedition was organised for the exploration of little-known islands and atolls in extreme south-eastern Polynesia. Of the thirty-one islands and many atolls and reefs on which the party landed, particular attention was given to Anaa, Napuka, Tatakoto, Hao, Mangareva, Timoe, Pitcairn, Hender-son, Oeno, Rapa, Raivavae, Rurutu and Rimatara. Surveys supplementing these made by Bishop Museum in previous years were conducted at Tubuai, Tahiti, Raiatea, Huahine and Borabora. To gain access to atolls and cliff-bound volcanic islands, a ship of high power and shallow draught was designed, and to permit the party to divide its forces for particular kinds of work, a transfer ship and power launches were provided. The expedition was made possible by generous grants from the Rockefeller Foundation and from institutions and individuals in Hawaii. Regarding the expedition, Prof. Herbert E. Gregory, director of Bernice P. Bishop Museum, remarks: “Under the experienced leadership of Dr. D. Montague Cooke, ably supported by Captain William Anderson of the Islander, the program of the expedition was carried out with marked success. The collections, which include some 15,000 sheets of plants, 40,000 insects, 160,000 land shells, and representative series of other animals, is sufficient to give a fairly complete picture of the land fauna and flora of the southeastern Pacific, and to indicate the relation of the oceanic islands to South America. The expedition practically completed the general survey of the ethnology and natural history of Polynesia which has been the chief interest of the Museum since 1920.”