Hiri Trade Cycle - The Hiri Voyages

The Hiri Voyages

Every year Motu men prepared lagatois (large, multi-hulled sailing canoes) for the hiri, while the women shaped and fired the uro (pots). When the laurabada (south-east trade winds) started to blow, the canoes set off to the west.

The outward voyage was usually comparatively short and uneventful, typically only a week or so. The destination was almost always a village in the Gulf where the crew of the lagatoi were known from previous voyages, and the trade itself was quickly made. A simplified form of the Motu language (nowadays called Hiri Motu) was used for communication between the traders. The voyagers could not return immediately, however. For a start they had to wait for the change of the season, and the onset of the lahara, the monsoon wind from the north-west that would carry them home. Secondly, their canoes had to be enlarged and re-built to carry the much more bulky cargo of sago.

After two or three months, the homeward voyage began. This was far more dangerous than the outgoing voyage, as the lahara season produces heavy seas and the risk of severe storms. The lagatoi themselves were burdened by a far heavier cargo, not to mention extra hulls, that enabled more sago to be carried, but did little for the seaworthiness or handiness of the canoes. It was an anxious time for the wives of the lagatoi crews as they faithfully followed the ritual started by Edai’s wife to ensure a safe return.

When the lagatoi canoes did return safely, it was a time for great rejoicing (moale).