Laperusi Jean François de Lapérouse: French navigator (1741-1788), whose [...]

• • Jean François de Lapérouse: French navigator (1741-1788), whose naval expedition perished in 1788 on the southern coast of Vanikoro
  • • Myth

  Encyclopedic Info

  Lapérouse (Laperusi) and his crew are central to a number of oral histories still told today on the island of Vanikoro.

  Infobox

  The story of Lapérouse: According to Vanikoro's oral tradition, Lapérouse approached the island aboard a double-hulled canoe (tepakare). The islanders feared that ship was coming to forcibly recruit people as work force; so they invoked their god Vilisao, asking him to destroy the ship with a double tornado. The ship split in two, one part sinking in the ocean, another part wrecking on the reef, off Paiou (Paeu). Some men survived the tempest, and remained on the island for some time, building a new ship to escape; one day, they finally out took to the ocean.

  • • Example 849:
      

      Laperus i-ka tev’ kiapa ne kulumoe iakapa Vanikoro.

      Lapérouse came among us, in our island of Vanikoro.

    • Example 1383:
      

      Li-atevo piene peini toñaki ie Laperus pe tamwaleko.

      Let's tell the story of how Lapérouse's ship was destroyed.

    • Example 1384:
      

      Laperusi vana i-moloe i-si sivene ne nom’ ole tetake ne.

      Lapérouse had the habit of walking around, making some drawings on that beach over there.