CANNIBALS AND CONVERTS, Radical Change in the Cook Islands, by Maretu (1993 1st Ed.)

Author: Maretu. Translated, annotated and edited by Marjorie Tuainekore Crocombe, BA, MA. Published by The Institute of Pacific Studies, Ministry of Education, Rarotonga, 1983, 1st Edition. (This is the 1993 reprint edition by Bluebird Printery Ltd.) Printed in Rarotonga. Very Good Condition SOFTCOVER Book. Clean inside, tight spine. Size: 8 x 5.5 inch, 223 pages with index.  

CANNIBALS AND CONVERTS, Radical Change in the Cook Islands, by Maretu, is the true story of the Cook Islands immediately before the coming of Europeans, and the revolutionary changes which took place thereafter.

Maretu, the author, was born in the Ngatangiia district of Rarotonga about 1802. The first Europeans known to have set foot in the islands came in 1814, and they caused warfare and mayhem duriing their three month’s stay in the fruitless pursuit of riches. Tahitian Missionaries landed on the island in 1823 and introduced a total social revolution. European missionaries came to settle in 1828, and tradersmuch later. The colonial era had not yet begun when, in 1871, Maretu wrote this fascinating story in the Rarotangan language.

Includes the subsequent history on missionaries, wars, intrigue over women and power, the destruction of gods and churches, the agonizing deaths in epidemics, the break-up of polygamous families and the radical changes in custom and culture.

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