Legends of Island Names

Lets go to the Pacific islands of the Gilbert and Ellice as they were in at the time of this stamp issue in 1973.  Three years later they would be divided into two independent nations, the island of Funafuti would become the capital of Tuvalu.  Its Polynesian name as can be seen is "land of bananas" although a visiting American soldier during World War 2 thought there were more bananas in his fridge, although what he was doing keeping bananas in a fridge I don't know.  Funafuti consists of 30 islands or 'motu' surrounding a lagoon.  Legend has it that the people originated from Samoa, arriving by canoe 

The rest of the islands on the stamps are the Gilbert Islands which became Kiribati.  One atoll,  Butaritari has an abundance of rain and is a lush tropical island which exports bananas and pumpkins from its harbour opening into a deep lagoon.

Tarawa is the capital of Kiribati and almost 50% of the population live there, it is also one of the few atolls that can accommodate a runway and scheduled airline service, most island are only reachable by a small ship.  I would guess the stamp portrays a creation myth

Lastly a remote island on a blue lagoon with pristine beaches, for a brief time the home of Robert Louis Stevenson and which he wrote about in his posthumously published book "In the South Seas"

An entry to Viridian Postcard's Sunday Stamps - this week is the free and easy "anything you like"