"A man named Aka wished to get feathers to make a feather headdress for his daughter. Aka was not a chief. He gathered a crew for his canoe and told his relatives to prepare food for the voyage. He then looked about for some one to guide him, and finally selected two boys. He chose them because he had seen that, when the children were sailing boats, the boats of these two boys always went straight to the desired place.
"They set out, and after they had gone a little way, the boys said to Aka, ‘There is land ahead. What land is it?’
'It is Motani,' replied Aka.
'What can be gotten there?' inquired the boys.
‘Meie (a species of herb used for perfume),’ replied Aka. ‘I have been there before and gathered the herb for my daughter.’
"After they had sailed on for a long time, the boys said again, ‘There is land ahead. What land is it?’
'It is Moutona,' said Aka.
'What can be gotten there?' asked the boys.
Aka replied, ‘Mouomatito no te tahia (a species of grass which was plaited and used in a game played by girls). I have been there before and gathered the grass for my daughter.’
"By this time the boys were anxious to go back, for the birds Aka wanted to get were tapu to their families.
"They sailed on for a long time and again there was the same questioning. The boys said, ‘There is land ahead. What land is it?’
Aka replied, ‘It is Kau kau o meia.’
'What can be gotten there?' the boys asked.
‘Pehe no te tahi (string figures),’ Aka said. ‘I have been there before and gotten the pehe.’ (According to the informant Aka had landed there on a previous voyage, made cord from the fiber of banana stumps, and learned or invented pehe. This is another story.)
"They sailed on as before, and again the boys said, ‘There is land ahead. What is that land?’
'It is Oautona (Aotona or Rarotonga),' Aka replied.
The boys asked, ‘What can be gotten there?’
‘Huukua (red bird feathers),’ Aka replied. ‘We will land there.’
"The place, which they first sighted, was the place where the birds were, but the boys said, ‘We must go over to the other side of the island or we shall be heard.’
"The island was really uninhabited, but the boys did not want Aka to land where the birds were, because the birds were tapu [taboo] to them. When the voyagers had beached the canoe, the boys ran away from the others and went to the valley, in which the birds lived. They built a house there, which had a hole in the top but was closed on the sides. They then got in the house and scraped coconut meat. When they had a pile of scraped coconut, they kindled fire by rubbing two sticks together, and threw the coconut on the fire. The birds smelled the burning coconut and came flying in from all directions to see what it was. They circled about, and then plunged down through the hole in the roof. When the house was almost full, the boys closed the hole in the roof. One of the boys then went to Aka and told him to come on with him. Aka entered the house and picked the feathers from the living birds, letting them go after they were picked. They could not fly, because they had no wing feathers. When Aka had enough feathers, he divided them among his crew for payment. Then they sailed home.”
Text Source: E.S. Craighill Handy, “Aka’s Voyage for Red Feathers”, Marquesan Legends (Honolulu: Bishop Museum, 1930), pp. 130-31. The legend of Aka and the kula birds is from Puamau on the island of Hiva Oa. http://web.archive.org/web/20090612100816/http://www2.hawaii.edu/~dennisk/voyagingchiefs/aka.html
Image Source: Collared Lorries (Phigys solitarius, known as kula in the Fijian and Tongan languages) perching in a tree at Matei, Taveuni, Fiji Isles. Aviceda
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