Pacific Passages: Hans-Christof Wächter (engl.) 168 S.

The first Europeans to catch sight of the islands of the South Seas believed they had chanced upon paradise, and the tales they told on returning to their homes encouraged others to idealize the islands as a tropical Arcadia. The truth was very different; the apparent idyll of the South Sea islanders was soon shattered by the fatal impact of European discovery. Travel writer Hans-Christof Wächter sailed to Vanuatu, Ovalau, Fiji, Rarotonga, and the Cook Islands seeking the rhythms of the lives of the islanders, and discovered that the South Sea Islands were never what the Europeans imagined them to be.