The first encounter between the Polynesians and the European crew of the HMS Dolphin wasn't one of the best. On June 17th, 1767, the Dolphin was met by a festive fleet of canoes off the peninsula of Taiarapu. Captain Samuel Wallis invited a few Tahitians aboard to engage in trading with his crew. When the English officers gave the Tahitians a handful of nails, the Tahitians, not satisfied with the meager quantity, attacked. Wallis gave the order to fire a canon over the heads of the locals. Frightened by this unknown weapon, the Polynesians threw themselves into the water and quickly reached their companions in the canoes. More skirmishes and canon shots followed, but in the end peace was made. Wallis later wrote in his journal that when leaving he was warmly saluted by the natives with their “typical respect dictated by fear”. The following year the French frigate Boudeuse appeared on the horizon, with the French explorer Louis-Antoine de Bougainville aboard. Enthralled by the beauty of the islands, but especially by the beauty of the natives, he baptized the islands Nouvelle Chythère, inspired by the Ionian island Chythera, reputed birthplace of Venus. And by interesting coincidence, Captain James Cook and the HMS Endeavour were sent to Polynesia in 1769 under secret Admiralty orders to observe the transit of Venus. The Polynesians were still interested in nails, but now the splendid and intrepid Tahitian women were the ones to procure them. They willingly offered themselves to the sailors for a single nail, a rare and exotic object often used as a fishhook. Cook forbid commerce with the natives in nails or in other iron and had to cope with two sailors who deserted, preferring the attentions of their native companions. Another sailor was harshly punished with two dozen lashes. You can never be prudent enough at sea, and Cook had read Wallis's logs where, during his stop in Polynesia in 1767, euphoric sailors had stripped the ship of such an amount of ironworks as to compromise the Dolphin's safety and seaworthiness. ... follows