波利尼西亞的海上探秘之旅

波利尼西亞的海上探秘之旅

A Cruise to Hidden Polynesia

藍(lán)藍(lán)的天、一望無際的海、高聳入云的玄武巖山峰、成片的熱帶雨林……身處波利尼西亞群島，會(huì)讓你仿佛置身于天堂之中。

The Aranui 3 is not a looker. It is a1)cargo vesselthat, for more than 50 years, transferred goods from Papeete, the capital of Tahiti, to the remote islands of Marquesas, 1,500km to the northeast. It was not until the early 1980s that the Aranui 3 transformed into a cruise ship, transporting travelers to South Pacific islands that few outsiders had ever laid eyes on.

But the2)allureof spending 14 days on a cruise ship had nothing to do with the Aranui 3. It wasn’t until after a few days at sea that I understood why people from all over the world spend thousands of dollars to board a cargo vessel that only has wireless internet for five days out of two weeks. It has nothing to do with the actual ship; it has everything to do with the chance to experience the living history of hidden Polynesia.

Discovered in 1595 by a Spanish explorer, French Polynesia’s Marquesas Islands are so remote that the closest3)cosmopolitan cityis Honolulu, Hawaii, about 3,500km to the north. As the only ship to go to all six of the4)inhabitedislands, the Aranui 3’s role—supplying food and goods to the islands—has allowed the small societies to5)thrive.

Our first glimpse of the islands after three days of sailing from Papeete was a town. Three6)basalticpeaks soared high above the7)lushforests, the surrounding8)watera milky dark green9)huedue to the volcanic sand below. A three-kilometer hike

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Papeete（帕皮提），太平洋東南部法屬波利尼西亞首府，始建于1818年，城市沿海濱建筑。它位于塔希提島的西北岸，臨太平洋馬塔維灣。港內(nèi)能停泊3.5萬噸級(jí)的船只。

Tahiti（塔希提島），港臺(tái)譯為大溪地，是法屬波利尼西亞向風(fēng)群島中的最大島嶼，位于南太平洋。這里四季溫暖如春、物產(chǎn)豐富。當(dāng)?shù)鼐用穹Q自己為“上帝的人”，而外國人則認(rèn)為這里是“最接近天堂的地方”。

Honolulu（火奴魯魯），又稱檀香山，是美國夏威夷州的首府和港口城市。在夏威夷語中，火奴魯魯意指“屏蔽之灣”或“屏蔽之地”。火奴魯魯早期為波利尼西亞人小村，19世紀(jì)初因檀香木貿(mào)易和作為捕鯨基地而興起。

1) cargo vessel 貨輪

2) allure [??l??] n. 誘惑

3) cosmopolitan city 國際都市

4) inhabited [?n?h?b?t?d] adj. 有人居住的

5) thrive [θra?v] v. 繁榮，興旺

6) basaltic [b??s??lt?k] adj. 玄武巖的

7) lush [l??] adj. 茂盛的，青蔥的

8) water [?w??t?] n. 水域

9) hue [hju?] n. 顏色，色彩brought us to a wonderful spot above the bay, below which there was a pocket-sized beach for sunbathing.

The town, where we stopped for a typical buffet lunch of beef, rice and banana pudding, was equipped with a post office, a bank, a school, a few stores and not much else. Most houses were one storey, box shaped and minimally decorated, with music playing through the open windows even though no one seemed to be home.

As we arrived the next morning to the island of Nuku Hiva, a rainstorm10)brewed. “It always rains when the Aranui arrives,” said our driver, one of many locals who11)ferried cruise passengers deep into the rainforest. Arguably the most popular island, Nuku Hiva is where authorHerman Melville注1jumped out of a12)whaling shipin 1842 and was captured by the local13)tribe. He spent three weeks among the tribesmen—one of the world’s few14)cannibaltribes. Eventually he escaped, and the tribe also disappeared.

On the island of Tahuata—the site of the first French15)settlementin the Marquesas in 1842—it was the people who were the16)highlight. As soon as we anchored, local children greeted us with17)garlandsof plumeria flowers. They sang songs and the locals hosted a seaside barbeque lunch, where they performed traditional Polynesian dances accompanied by Marquesas drums and18)ukuleles.

Tahuata is also home to Felip, a local19)tattooistwho, at the age of 48, has been inking for 30 years. While some historians believe the art of inking started in the20)Bronze Age, or in Egypt around 2,000 BC. The word “tattoo”originates from the Tahitian word “tattau,” which means “to mark,” and was first mentioned in explorerJames Cook’s注2records when he explored the South Pacific in 1769. As a unique souvenir, four eager passengers became part of a very small number of Westerners who can say they got a tattoo in the place where the name of the art began.

Our final destination was back to Nuku Hiva, where we21)dockedfor two hours to swim, hike or22)amasshandcarved23)trinketsto bring home. As we pulled away from the beautiful land, I realized what I would deeply remember were not only the Marquesas islands, but also the vessel that made the seemingly unthinkable trip a reality.

10) brew [bru?] v. 醞釀

11) ferry [?fer?] v. 運(yùn)送

12) whaling ship 捕鯨船

13) tribe [tra?b] n. 部落，部族

14) cannibal [?k?n?bl] adj. 食人肉的

15) settlement [?setlm?nt] n. 殖民

16) highlight [?ha?la?t] n. 最精彩的部分

17) garland [?gɑ?l?nd] n. 花環(huán)

18) ukulele [?ju?k??le?l?] n. 尤克里里琴（一種吉他型的四弦撥奏樂器）

19) tattooist [t??tu??st] n. 文身師

20) Bronze Age 銅器時(shí)代

21) dock [d?k] v. 停靠碼頭

22) amass [??m?s] v. 積蓄，積聚

23) trinket [?tr??k?t] n. 精美的小裝飾物

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Nuku Hiva（努庫希瓦島），南太平洋中部馬克薩斯（Marquesas）群島西北部的火山島，1842年被法國占據(jù)，現(xiàn)屬法屬波利尼西亞。該島地勢(shì)崎嶇，多林木，無沿岸平原和邊緣珊瑚礁。其狹窄的谷地土質(zhì)肥沃，氣候溫暖潮濕，出口椰干和水果。

Tahuata（塔瓦塔島），馬克薩斯群島的6個(gè)公社之一。1842年，塔瓦塔島淪為法國領(lǐng)地。

注1：赫爾曼·梅爾維爾（Herman Melville），19世紀(jì)美國偉大的小說家、散文家和詩人，在20世紀(jì)20年代聲名鵲起，被普遍認(rèn)為是美國文學(xué)的巔峰人物之一。梅爾維爾的《白鯨》（Moby-Dick）被認(rèn)為是世界十大文學(xué)名著之一，他也被譽(yù)為是美國的“莎士比亞”。

注2：詹姆斯·庫克（James Cook），人稱庫克船長（Captain Cook），是英國皇家海軍軍官、航海家、探險(xiǎn)家和制圖師。他曾經(jīng)三度奉命出海前往太平洋，帶領(lǐng)船員成為首批登陸澳洲東岸和夏威夷群島的歐洲人，也創(chuàng)下了首次有歐洲船只環(huán)繞新西蘭航行的紀(jì)錄。

阿拉奴伊3號(hào)并不好看。它是一艘運(yùn)送物資的貨輪，50多年來往來于塔希提的首都帕皮提和遠(yuǎn)在其東北方1500公里之外的馬克薩斯群島之間。直到20世紀(jì)80年代初，阿拉奴伊3號(hào)才被改造成游輪，接載游客前往那鮮有外人到訪的南太平洋島群。

不過誘惑我們花14天時(shí)間乘坐游輪的與阿拉奴伊3號(hào)毫無關(guān)系。直到在海上航行了數(shù)天后，我才明白為什么世界各地的人們?cè)敢饣ㄙM(fèi)幾千美元搭乘一艘兩周里只有五天能連上無線網(wǎng)絡(luò)的貨輪。這與這艘船本身無關(guān)，而是因?yàn)橐粋€(gè)能去體驗(yàn)不為人知的波利尼西亞活歷史的機(jī)會(huì)。

法屬波利尼西亞的馬克薩斯群島在1595年被一位西班牙探險(xiǎn)家發(fā)現(xiàn)，它的地理位置是如此偏遠(yuǎn)，離其最近的大都市已是遠(yuǎn)在北邊約3500公里之外的夏威夷的火奴魯魯。作為唯一一艘開往馬克薩斯群島那六個(gè)有人居住的島嶼的船只，阿拉奴伊3號(hào)所扮演的角色就是—為各個(gè)群島提供食物和物資—讓這些小社群得以繁榮興旺。

我們從帕皮提出發(fā)航行了三天后，在馬克薩斯群島中第一眼看到的，是一個(gè)小鎮(zhèn)。三座玄武巖山峰在茂密的森林之上高高聳立，四周的水域因水底的火山沙石而呈現(xiàn)出深綠色的渾濁色調(diào)。一條三公里長的徒步路徑將我們帶到了海灣上方的一個(gè)令人贊嘆的地方，在那下面有一片可以享受日光浴的迷你沙灘。

我們?cè)谶@個(gè)小鎮(zhèn)稍作停歇，吃了一頓有牛肉、米飯和香蕉布丁的經(jīng)典自助餐。小鎮(zhèn)上有一所郵局、一家銀行、一所學(xué)校和一些商店，沒有太多其他設(shè)施了。大多數(shù)的房屋都是單層的盒型建筑，裝修簡(jiǎn)單。雖然屋子里看起來沒有人，卻有樂聲傳出窗外。

第二天上午，當(dāng)我們到達(dá)努庫希瓦島時(shí)，一場(chǎng)暴風(fēng)雨正在醞釀之中。“每當(dāng)阿拉奴伊停靠時(shí)就會(huì)下雨，”我們的司機(jī)說，他是眾多開渡船運(yùn)送乘客到熱帶雨林深處的當(dāng)?shù)鼐用裰弧Ｅ瑤煜Ｍ邖u可以說是最受歡迎的島嶼，1842年，作家赫爾曼·梅爾維爾在這里從一艘捕鯨船縱身跳入大海，后來又被當(dāng)?shù)夭柯浞敗Ｋ驮摬柯涞淖迦舜袅苏艿臅r(shí)間—那是世界上僅有的數(shù)個(gè)食人部落之一。最終他逃脫了，而這個(gè)部落也消失了。

塔瓦塔島是1842年法國殖民者在馬克薩斯的首個(gè)殖民地，在這里，人們才是亮點(diǎn)。我們的船才剛剛拋錨靠岸，當(dāng)?shù)氐暮⒆觽兙湍弥秒u蛋花裝飾的花環(huán)來歡迎我們，并且歡聲歌唱。當(dāng)?shù)厝诉€舉辦了海邊燒烤午餐派對(duì)，伴隨著馬克薩斯鼓和尤克里里的樂聲，跳起了波利尼西亞的傳統(tǒng)舞蹈。

塔瓦塔島也是費(fèi)利普的故鄉(xiāng)。48歲的費(fèi)利普是當(dāng)?shù)氐囊幻纳韼煟瑥氖挛纳硇袠I(yè)已有30年。有些歷史學(xué)家認(rèn)為，文身藝術(shù)始于銅器時(shí)代，或是約公元前兩千年的埃及。“文身”一詞源于塔希提語“tattau”，意為“做標(biāo)記”，1769年，在探險(xiǎn)家詹姆士·庫克的南太平洋游歷記載中，它首次被提及。在當(dāng)?shù)乜滔碌奈纳硎且粋€(gè)特別的紀(jì)念品，四位迫不及待的乘客便成為了少數(shù)可以宣稱自己在“文身”一詞的起源地刻下文身的西方人之一。

我們的最終目的地是回到努庫希瓦島。在此靠岸停留的兩個(gè)小時(shí)里，我們游泳、徒步行走，又或是搜羅一些手工雕刻的精美小飾品帶回家。隨著我們駛離這片美麗的土地，我意識(shí)到我將深深銘記著的，不僅是馬克薩斯群島，還有這艘讓這個(gè)看似不可思議的旅程得以成真的貨船。