Page 51 - French Polynesia

s President of The Royal Society, Banks long-boat, and returned to Tahiti. Bligh sur- fruit hybrids and cultivars are seedless or
vived the ordeal, sailing with 18 loyal crew otherwise biologically incapable of natu-
A provided a cash bounty and gold the 6710 km to Timor, reaching there in late rally dispersing long distances. Therefore,
1789. In 1791, Bligh commanded a second their distribution in the Pacific was clearly
medal for success in this endeavor, and expedition with the Providence and the enabled by humans, specifically prehistoric
successfully lobbied his friends in govern- Assistant, which collected live breadfruit groups who colonized the Pacific Islands. To
ment and the Admiralty for a British Naval plants in Tahiti and transported these to St investigate the patterns of human migra-
expedition. In 1787, William Bligh was Helena, in the Atlantic, and St. Vincent and tion throughout the Pacific, scientists have
appointed Captain of the HMS Bounty, and Jamaica in the West Indies. Although Bligh used molecular dating of breadfruit hybrids
was instructed to proceed to the South won the Royal Society medal for his efforts, and cultivars in concert with anthropologi-
Pacific for this task. Banks appointed a gar- the introduction was not entirely success- cal data. Results support the west-to-east
dener for the expedition and gave detailed ful, as the slaves refused to eat breadfruit. migration hypothesis, in which the Lapita
instructions on how the plants were to be However, breadfruit was accepted into the people are thought to have traveled from
maintained. The Bounty remained in Tahiti cuisine of Puerto Rico. Melanesia to numerous Polynesian islands.
for five months, during which over 1000
plants were collected, potted and trans- T hough they are widely distributed
ferred to the ship. However, within a month throughout the Pacific, many bread-
of leaving, many of the crew mutinied,
expelling Captain Bligh and supporters in a