Science: Round Trip to Peru

The raft Kon-Tiki, which drifted across the Pacific from Peru to the Raroia Reef near Tahiti, may have been traveling a two-way highway. This is the theory of Dr. Thomas Davis of New Zealand, who believes that Polynesians made the roundtrip passage in great sailing canoes. If they stayed far enough south, they were helped by the prevailing winds and currents that cross that part of the Pacific from west to east. On the return trip, they were able to use the same winds and currents that favored the Kon-Tiki on its crossing near the equator. In fact, says Dr....