The people of Tahiti and the Society Islands sought more diplomatic ways to deal with foreigners after their cruel experiences with the British. Their efforts included the ceremonial exchange of names, turning a stranger into a taio – intimate friend – according to Polynesian custom.
Captain Cook, whom the Tahitians called Tute according to their pronunciation rules, formed such a taio friendship with one of the most famous men of the Society Islands at the time, the priest-navigator Tupaia. This experienced Polynesian navigator eventually boarded the British ship as a pilot and navigated the Endeavour on Cook’s first circumnavigation of the globe over thousands of miles through the risky Coral Sea of Oceania.
Valuable gifts were also exchanged as part of the ceremonial taio friendships between high-ranking individuals. Cook and his learned gentlemen presented Tahiti with, among other things, bundles of red feathers, which they had acquired cheaply in the Tonga archipelago, but which were considered divine attributes in Tahiti and, thus, made impressive gifts for guests. In return, they received a whole range of exclusive gifts, which Polynesians considered “charged” with mana – the divine energy of the ancestors. However, such “South Sea curiosities” would never have been available – taboo – for the usual English barter goods such as nails, axes and textiles.
Today, in European museums and collections, including Herrnhut, these objects often represent the most significant evidence of the original culture of Tahiti and the Society Islands as a reflection of the spiritual cosmos of Polynesia.