BOOK REVIEWS

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 281, 26 August 1942, Page 2

BOOK REVIEWS

Gone Native In South America

“I Was a Head Hunter,” by Lewis V. Cummings (London: Hariap). Lewis Cummings is probably one of the few white men who, as the title of his book suggests, has lived as a savage among head-hunters and come back to civilization to tell of it. He fell among his savage friends on the Upper Guaviere, in Colombia, South America, and became a fully initiated warrior of the tribe, even to taking three lovely brown Indians as wives. Fantastic as this sounds, the tale is undoubtedly authentic, and though it is written in a calm, philosophical vein that divides it from the usual run of sensational adventure literature, it provides a thrill on almost every page. The accounts of crocodile and jaguar lights, of head- hunts and primitive battles and native ceremonials, are equaileu, however, by the tine descriptions of the tribal domestic customs, the social life, and the flora and fauna of that part of the continent. Notes on these last, particularly, are given in detail at the back of the book, and in themselves probably offer much information of value to biologists! and naturalists.

"Pearl Harbour,” an eye-witness account by Blake Clark (London Bodley Head). The author, a professor at the University of Hawaii, provides the first detailed account of the devastating attack with which Japan so ruthlessly signalled her entry into the war. It is partly a personnal story and partly compiled from the individual experiences of the fighting men, nurses, and civilians who were under fire. “I have been very close to some of the horrors and glories of one of the most crucial battles in America’s history,” Professor Ciark writes. “1 did not see it all with my own eyes. I was not everywhere at once, as ail men would have liked to be —at Hicham Field manning an anti-aircraft gun. in a pursuit plane fighting oil Japanese bombers over Pearl Harbour, in a motorcar racing out to Pripler Hospital with blood plasma. But from what I did see with my own eyes and from talking to friends and others who were in all the different centres of action ’when it happened,’ I have lived through history—the history of Pearl Harbour. Its beginning is as calm as the South Seas, and its ending is as angry and determined as the U.S. Marines who cry for revenge of Wake Island.” As this quotation shows, Professor Clark has a ready pen and he vividly chronicles all phases of the attack.

“Niagara Gold." by R. J. Dunn, in collaboration with Diver J. Johnstone (Wellington: Reed). When the veil of secrecy covering the retrieving of the gold which accompanied the ill-fated Niagara to the sea bottom, 30 miles off Whangarei Heads, was removed some months ago, it revealed a story of epic qualities involving a world record salvage feat. Ten tons of gold valued at £2,397,600 was recovered from the wreck, difficulties unprecedented in the history of such tasks having to be overcome,'not the least of them being the danger of mines. The Niagara lay -138 feet below the surface in an area strewn with mines, and sweepers, working in the immediate vicinity of the salvage operations, disposed of no fewer than 4'l of them. Mr. Dunn, a reporter who covered the story tor the “Northern Advocate,” Whangarei, has compiled a fascinating narrative of the whole adventure, from the time United Salvage Pty., Ltd., Melbourne, accepted the job till its completion last December. The Press gave plenty of space to the story at the time of its release, hut it deserved to be available in more accessible form and this Mr. Dunn has accomplished admirably. "Heads You Lose," by Christianna Brand (London: Bodley Head). A real thriller by the author of “Death in High Heels" and one of the best, of its kind for some time. The plot verges round a pretty woman's hut —mid the decapitated heads that follow its first appearance. A whirlwind horror yarn that defies solution till the very last.