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Beachcombing is an activity that consists of an individual "combing" (or searching) the beach and the intertidal zone, looking for things of value, interest or utility. A beachcomber is a person who participates in the activity of beachcombing. Despite these general definitions, beachcombing and beachcomber are words with multiple, but related, meanings that have evolved over time. ==Historical usage== The first appearance of the word "beachcombers" in print was in Herman Melville's ''Omoo'' (1847).〔H.E. Maude, ''Of Islands and Men'' (1968), 135.〕 It described a population of Europeans who lived in South Pacific islands, "combing" the beach and nearby water for flotsam, jetsam, or anything else they could use or trade. When a beachcomber became totally dependent upon coastal fishing for his sustenance, or abandoned his original culture and set of values, then the term "beachcomber" was synonymous with a criminal, a drifter, or a bum. The vast majority of beachcombers however, were simply unemployed sailors like Herman Melville in ''Typee'', or Harry Franck in the book ''Vagabonding Around the World''. After enduring a voyage of danger and hardship, it was not uncommon for a few whalemen to desert a ship when it arrived in Tahiti or the Marquesas and reside, at least for a while, in the South Sea islands of Polynesia. If another beachcomber was ready to take his place in order to get home, the captain might let the disgruntled crewman go; otherwise, the captain would offer the natives a reward to find and return the deserter, and deduct the reward, plus interest, from the deserter's pay. In other words, the deserter, if caught, would end up working the entire voyage for no pay at all, or even return home in debt to his employers.〔ABC Whipple, Yankee Whalers in the South Seas, Doubleday, New York, p 150〕 In ''Typee'', Melville deserted, not once but twice, before signing on as a crewman on a Navy frigate, without fear of repercussions. Some beachcombers traded between local tribes, and between tribes and visiting ships. Some lived on the rewards for deserters, or found replacement crewmen either through persuasion or through shanghaiing. Many, such as David Whippy, also served as mediators between hostile native tribes as well as between natives and visiting ships.〔Ruth Blair (1996), ''Typee'', (Oxford World's Classics). Introduction xv.〕 Whippy deserted his ship in 1820 and lived among the cannibal Fijis for the rest of his life.〔(David Whippy's long journey home ) (retrieved 19 June 2015)〕 The Fijis would sometimes capture the crew of a stranded ship for ransom, and eat them if they resisted. Whippy would try to rescue them but sometimes found only roasted bones. Ultimately he became American Consul to Fiji, and left many descendants among the islands.〔ABC Whipple, Yankee Whalers in the South Pacific, Doubleday, New York, p 151〕 There had always been a small number of castaways in the South Pacific since the earliest Spanish explorers, but the numbers increased dramatically in the early 19th century as the pre-requisite for a beachcombing in the Pacific was the era of whaling which began about 1819. It is estimated that 75% of beachcombers were sailors, particularly whalemen, who had jumped ship. They were predominantly British but with an increasing number of Americans, particularly in Hawaii and the Carolines. Perhaps 20% were English convicts who had been transported to Australia and escaped from the penal colonies there.〔H. E. Maude, ''Beachcombers and castaways'', The Journal of the Polynesian Society 73: 3 (1964) 254–293〕 It is estimated that in 1850 there were over 2,000 beachcombers throughout Polynesia and Micronesia.〔K.R.Howe, ''Where the Waves Fall: A New South Sea Islands History from First Settlement to Colonial Ruler (1984), 103.〕 The Polynesia and Melanesia communities were usually receptive to beachcombers and castaways who were absorbed into the local community, usually by formal adoption or by marriage, with the beachcombers and castaways often being considered a status symbol of the local chief. The social and commercial role of beachcombers ended when missionaries arrived and with the growth of a commercial community with European (palagi) traders, resident on each island, that were the representative of trading companies.〔 Many beachcombers made the transition to become island traders. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「beachcombing」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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