Chapter 2, From the Sun Swept Lagoon Summary

The islands in the previous chapter were not the only islands in the Pacific Ocean. Twenty-four hundred miles to the south lay Tahiti and Bora Bora. Michener describes the island as a paradise that is inhabited by a powerful and sophisticated people. One day, soon after the death of Charlemagne, a lookout watched as an outrigger canoe sailed into the lagoon of Bora Bora and crashed into the coral reef, then managed to negotiate its way to safety. The lookout rushed to the King's Palace to inform him and the people of the return of the High Priest. The king rose and donned his royal robes and helmet and went to greet the High Priest, who had had his father killed when he failed to be reverent enough and was used as a...