Marquesasian oral traditions suggest that the islands of Hiva, the ancient Polynesian name for Marquesas, were either fished from the sea or born of the copulation of ocean and sky.
The Marquesas are among the largest groups of islands in French Polynesia. Jagged mountains and steep cliffs make up most of the landscape. (Photograph shot on assignment for, but not published in, "Charting a New Course: French Polynesia," June 1997, National Geographic magazine)
