The secret history of the papaw in the south pacific

Abstract

IN I935, WHEN THE AMERICAN BOTANIST FOREST B. H. BROWN PUBLISHED THE third volume of his monograph The Flora of Southeastern Polynesia, he stated emphat ically that although the papaw, Carica papaya, was a native of tropical America, it was 'of aboriginal introduction in Polynesia'. The Marquesans, he said, recog nised the papaw as one of their ancient food plants. At least two varieties were present in their islands, both of which yielded abundantly. One, called vi Oahu, was said to have been introduced by the early missionaries. The other, called vi inana and vi inata, was 'doubtless of aboriginal introduction'.1 Brown's opinion on the antiquity of the papaw in Polynesia was later adopted by the French botanist H. Ren? Papy in a study of the flora of French Poly nesia, while the Norwegian scholar Thor Heyerdahl cited it in support of his claim for American Indian influence in the Pacific.2 However, two other scho lars firmly rejected Brown's view. Elmer Drew Merrill, a Harvard professor of botany, stated acidly that Brown had made so many erroneous claims in his botanical work that his judgement on the papaw was not to be trusted.3 Jacques Barrau, a botanist with the South Pacific Commission, said much the same ? in more diplomatic terms. 'The introduction of the papaw to Eastern Polyne sia', he wrote, 'undoubtedly took place at the beginning of the European era, and the facility of the multiplication of the species assisted in its propagation.'4 Considering the potential importance of the papaw in the debate on Ameri can Indians versus Polynesians in the settlement of Eastern Polynesia, a not able aspect of the exchanges over its antiquity in the region was that neither side produced evidence to settle the matter one way or the other. Merrill merely stated that the Spanish explorer Quiros could have introduced the papaw to the Marquesas Islands, but that if he did, he did not record the fact. Barrau, in his turn, simply aligned himself with a French writer of 1865 who claimed ?