Errol Hunt

When Bougainville arrived in 1768, his ship's naturalist, Dr Philibert Commerçon, was accompanied by a young valet named Jean Baret. When Baret came ashore the Tahitians, pretty cluey about these matter after centuries of the mahu tradition, immediately took a great interest in him. They stripped his clothes off to reveal that Baret was actually a woman ! Commerçon was extremely embarassed, but Baret became not only the first European woman to visit Tahiti but also the first woman to circumnavigate the world.

This islands of the Pacific Ocean have had a reputation as an untouched paradise ever since 18th century European explorers took home romantic stories about South Sea island and islanders.