Oh! Nono! Delonix regia, Flamboyant, and Central Plateau, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
Nope, it's not a pretty story, that of the discovery and exploitation of Rarotonga by Europeans, flamboyant as they may have been.
Famed Captain James Cook who sailed in this part of the Pacific in 1773 and 1777 never saw Rarotonga. And for a quarter of a century after it was sighted no European set foot here. Then in 1814 came William Charles Wentworth (1790-1872), later well-known Australian politician, and one Philip Goodenough (????-????, sorry internet is intermittent here and I know little else about him except the following) set foot on land here. They'd been told that Rarotonga abounded in Sandalwood and they thought they'd make a fortune. Not so. No Sandalwood here. So they hatched a new plan. There was another tree, the Nono as the natives called it, Morinda citrifolia. They used its roots for yellow dye. So the two heroes pressed the population into service to lade their ship, the 'Cumberland', with that root.
An historian tells us that on the ship were Wentworth with Mary Bouchier, captain Goodenough - who called Wentworth a 'half-marrow' because the latter was such a poor sailor -
"Goodenough and his whore", three other white men, three Lascars, two New Zealand Maori, and "two Tahitian women who served the carnal needs of the crew".
Back home the shipment of Nono turned out to be valueless.
Here's a view that motley crew must have seen of Te Manga and Ikurangi (as a wizened elderly gentleman gave me their names). And the vivid orange-red is Delonix regia, Flamboyant. It's a relatively new tree here, having been introduced to Rarotonga from Sri Lanka around 1900.
Oh! Nono! Delonix regia, Flamboyant, and Central Plateau, Rarotonga, Cook Islands
Nope, it's not a pretty story, that of the discovery and exploitation of Rarotonga by Europeans, flamboyant as they may have been.
Famed Captain James Cook who sailed in this part of the Pacific in 1773 and 1777 never saw Rarotonga. And for a quarter of a century after it was sighted no European set foot here. Then in 1814 came William Charles Wentworth (1790-1872), later well-known Australian politician, and one Philip Goodenough (????-????, sorry internet is intermittent here and I know little else about him except the following) set foot on land here. They'd been told that Rarotonga abounded in Sandalwood and they thought they'd make a fortune. Not so. No Sandalwood here. So they hatched a new plan. There was another tree, the Nono as the natives called it, Morinda citrifolia. They used its roots for yellow dye. So the two heroes pressed the population into service to lade their ship, the 'Cumberland', with that root.
An historian tells us that on the ship were Wentworth with Mary Bouchier, captain Goodenough - who called Wentworth a 'half-marrow' because the latter was such a poor sailor -
"Goodenough and his whore", three other white men, three Lascars, two New Zealand Maori, and "two Tahitian women who served the carnal needs of the crew".
Back home the shipment of Nono turned out to be valueless.
Here's a view that motley crew must have seen of Te Manga and Ikurangi (as a wizened elderly gentleman gave me their names). And the vivid orange-red is Delonix regia, Flamboyant. It's a relatively new tree here, having been introduced to Rarotonga from Sri Lanka around 1900.