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Obviously the Polynesians were well aware of the concept of relative
movement. A gradual and slow movement of the sun at the horizon as
observed in the morning (or evening) could be related to the slowly
revolving sky roof, thereby coordinating the position of the sun
with the season and with the position of the star roof. This was more easy to grasp (and equally valid) than the double movements of the sun (daily and seasonal) against a fixed sky roof (or a view of earth simultaneously circling around the sun and its own axis). A quaint detail which assures us about how the old sea-farers preferred the model of a slowly moving sky rather than a model with more complex movements for sun canoe and earth is the fact that when they themselves travelled by canoe to some distant island they saw their canoe as standing still while the island slowly came closer. Navigation was more easy that way: "... In traditional navigational schools on Puluwat in the Caroline Islands, students learn how to sail outrigger canoes. As Puluwat sailors conceptualize a voyage between two islands, it is the islands that move rather than the canoe: the starting point recedes as the destination approaches :.." (D'Alleva) |