"Voyages of Malolo"
Subtitle: "Secret of the Rongo"
Publisher: Self Published through CreateSpace, Div. of Amazon
Published: December 24, 2011
Place of publication: Green Valley, Arizona, USA
Language: eng
Format: Historical fiction
Number of pages: 566
ISBN-13: ISBN- 13:9780615531298
Description: Book Overview
Publication Date: December 24, 2011 
“Voyages of Malolo” By Robert Bonville - For thousands of years before documented history chronicled the achievements of the great Asian and European seafaring explorers, the world’s largest geographical attribute, the Pacific Ocean, was being navigated, explored, and colonized by the intrepid and heroic peoples of the South Seas. For millennia, their migrations eastward and northward from their origins in Asia, allowed them to discover and populate most of the 20,000 islands considered to be one of the last and final frontiers of habitable earth. For reasons of famine, religion, overpopulation, war or just the overwhelming human desire for exploration, these passionate and resourceful people set out on perilous voyages in wooden canoes to find new homes and better lives. During this period in Polynesian history, countless adventures, myths and legends of tragedy, conquest, cataclysmic natural disasters and exploration were told and retold through oral tradition by the memory keepers down through the generations. In approximately 1000 AD, one such story details the spiritually guided unparalleled epic voyages of a double hulled deep sea sailing canoe and its crew of fourteen courageous loyal men. Lead by a young western Polynesian mariner/warrior who is inspired by his discovery of a piece of driftwood, a wooden tablet containing undecipherable but somewhat recognizable hieroglyphic script known to these primitive people as “Rongo.“ In order to seek out and discover the meaning of the Rongo, the gods directed the creation of a great seagoing canoe appropriately named “Malolo”, (the Flying Fish). Built with great care and quality by expert craftsmen and artisans, this beautiful sleek craft was special in every way, built to withstand everything known and unknown that it could ultimately experience once it began its journey. With a crew of skilled, handpicked loyal men they set sail eastward on their momentous quest which takes them completely across the South Pacific to the seemingly endless land mass of South America then northward guided by their myths, legends and visions of those they encounter along the way. Their heroic adventures including their escape from sacrifice island, their survival of a Tsunami, the revenge of Pele (the fire goddess) and others, describe in historically based detail the wonders, experiences, tragedies, triumphs and discoveries by the men of Malolo during every phase of their voyage including their long and arduous time at sea. For this intrepid crew of ancient mariners the questions remain; will they ever discover the hidden meaning of the wooden tablet according to the will of their gods, will their journey return them once again to their tiny Western Pacific island, and will their epic adventure be worth all their suffering and loss?
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About the Author
About the Author - Robert Bonville lived in Hawaii as a child where he first discovered the spirit of Aloha. After returning to the mainland he lived in South Florida before joining the United States Coast Guard where he served as a radioman on deep sea weather cutters, Antarctic ice-breaking expeditions, visiting a number of Polynesian islands during these cruses. Other Coast Guard assignments included support to the Voice of America Radio in Rhodes Greece and servicing coastal navigation devices in Maine. After his discharge from the Coast Guard he attended college on the GI Bill. Upon graduation, Bonville worked for Honeywell on aerospace and defense-related projects associated with quality assurance, engineering and management, retiring after 37 years. In his later years he returned to Hawaii, visiting Maui and Kaua'i, reigniting his love of the Polynesian culture and its wonderful and rich history. Robert is married with four adult children and resides in Arizona with his wife, Linda.
Table of contents: title: Table of Contents; title: Foreword; title: Introduction; title: Chapter 1 “Discovering the Rongo”; title: Chapter 2 “Malolo Comes Alive”; title: Chapter 3 “The Journey Begins”; title: Chapter 4 “The Men of Malolo”; title: Chapter 5 “Escape from Sacrifice Island”; title: Chapter 6 “Island of Smoke and Fire, Pele’s Temple”; title: Chapter 7  “The Ground of Men”; title: Chapter 8  “The Island at the Navel of the Earth”; title: Chapter 9  “Endurance in the Endless Sea”; title: Chapter10  “Secrets and Treasures of the Emerald Forests”; title: Chapter11  “Malolo Changes Hands”; title: Chapter12  “War of the Flowers”; title: Chapter13  “Visions of the Blind Seer”; title: Chapter14  “The Tears of Quetzalcoatl”; title: Chapter15  “Into the Mouth of the Snake”; title: Chapter16  “King Pa’ele I”; title: Chapter17  “The Wonderful People”; title: Chapter18  “Journey to Kuchama”; title: Chapter19  “In Search of the First People”; title: Chapter20  “The Return Begins”; title: Chapter21  “Meeting the Great Ali’i-nui”; title: Chapter22  “Maui’s Needle Discovered”; title: Chapter23  “The Final Leg”; title: Chapter24  “The Battle for Mana”; title: Appendix   “Hawaiian/Polynesian Alphabet and Pronunciation”; title: Glossary