Mangaia
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Mangaia (traditionally known as Auau Enua - which means 'terraced') is the most southerly of the Cook Islands and the second largest, after Rarotonga. Geologists estimate the island is at least 18 million years old, making it the oldest island in the Pacific. It rises 15,600 feet (4750 m) above the ocean floor. It has a central volcanic plateau and, like many of the southern islands in the Cooks, it is surrounded by a high ring of cliffs of fossilised coral, called the makatea, in this case 200 feet (60 m) high.
Mangaia is renowned for its shell neckbands or "eis". These are are made from the shells of the tiny yellow snail, the pupu, which emerges only after rain. Gathering, piercing and stringing is a very time consuming business. The women of the island often give the highly prized strands away as gifts of friendship to visitors from other islands in the Group. But they are also much in demand in Tahiti and Hawaii.
Mangaia is also the name of the lair of Makuta, the villain of Lego's Bionicle franchise.
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