From the blog of John Curran (I came across this in this past Sunday’s Boston Globe in the “Brainiac”section by Christopher Shea.):
According to this article in the Journal of Polynesian Society , the beautiful drawing is credited to Paiore, a man from Anaa, and the explanation is as follows (I copied this from the article but the reference listed for it is Annuaire, 1863, pp. 94-95): “According to the ancient tradition, the earth was composed of three layers superposed. Each of these layers has its own sky: the upper layer is designed for happy souls, the living inhabited the middle layer, and in the third layer wandered the souls in distress. However, many of the restless souls escaped by hiding in birds….”
Pretty cool!
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