Mark's Pages

"Cook was especially curious about Bora Bora, because the people of both Huahine and Raiatia considered the Bora Borans enemies. The residents of Huahine, in fact, were most interested in the English as potential allies against their neighboring islanders, who, they claimed, invaded Huahine every month or so, stealing what they pleased and killing anyone who opposed them. Many years earlier, Tupaia explained, the chiefs of Tahiti and the neighboring islands had banished criminals to Bora Bora, until there were so many that the island could no longer support them. Then the Bora Borans became pirates, attacking and stealing from neighboring islands. Reefs and contrary winds made landing there impossible, however, and after claiming for England all the islands he had discovered - naming them the Society Islands because of the friendly reception the English had enjoyed there - Cook continued south, into the region where Wallis believed he would have found terra australis, given enough time to look for it."

— Lynn Withey, Voyages of Discovery: Captain Cook and the Exploration of the Pacific