Of myth, magic and mayhem

Polynesia’s mixing of paganism and Christianity - the subject of a new exhibition at the British Museum - is trouble for the traveller, says Anthony Peregrine.

There comes a time in Polynesia when your average European cries: "Stop! Mercy! No more sacred eels, princesses or giant cockerels! No more bloody myths. My head is breaking."

That moment came for me on Huahine, neighbour of Tahiti in the Society Islands of French Polynesia. Firmin Faaeva, my guide, was driving me round the glorious coast road: sparkling acreage of lagoon one side, mountain draped in galloping greenery the other. He was taking no notice of either.

Instead, he was leading me through that alternative Polynesian landscape where myth and magic merge with religion. It's the landscape covered in the "Power and Taboo" exhibition that opened this week at the British Museum
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