ISLES OF PACIFIC

Hokitika Guardian, 28 April 1933, Page 8

ISLES OF PACIFIC

r OFF THE BEATEN Til A Civ. Cl LA l> AI OF UNSPOILED PEOPLES The Pacific, in common with the rest of the world, has suffered- from the liioocin craze lor advertLcincnt. Perhaps even more so, l.ir from the time <n llearman Melville and A. L. Stevenson it has hceome the stamping ground for artists and. \\ liters, partic11.arlv tiie romai.ucists. Hauaii and 'i. iiiti, Samoa and Fiji, places beautiful .enough, indeed, have ocen so -written to death tnat the adjectives -‘mysterious,” “romantic” and “glamorous” have lost their meaning, while the once interesting natives, subjected to so fierce a glare of publicity and i.dmiraticii, ha\e become sophisticated and conceited.

Fortunately, however, the Pacific is a wide ocean, and there still remain islands, and e.on groups far from the beaten tracks which have escaped, all I* lis blare of trumpets. There arc in tlie outer Solomons islands absolutely unique in their undisturbed isolation. ■Such is Kennel Island, protected from civilisation, both ■ by its dangerous | ccast-li.fO with no anchorage and by the strict native quarantine law, which inflicts instant death on all strangers, ft is probably tlie o nly community in the world which remains completely unaffected by modern civilisation.' Kennel is unique, but there are other islands scarcely less interesting. Yanikoro erntains a pore Polynesian community, whose presence in a strictly Melanesian group is only explicable by the theory of an ocean drift in o] en canoes from islands a thousand miles to the eastward. Then, besides the much-discussal Easter Island, there is Ponape, in the Carolines, rich in- the remains o 1 vast temples built of gigantic coral rocks. Far to the eastward is the equally mysterious Malden Island, with its profusion of stone causeways and shrines of a vanished race.

THE LATJ GROUP. These are all isolated, .stimulating to the imagination, but difficult pieces to fit into the pu:v:le of the Pacific. It is not necessary to go so far to escape the tourists and writers. Even in seme of the better-known groups a little exploration scon shows 1 that most travel has been restricted to well-defined routes. Take Fi.i, for instance. How many people know the Eastern or Lau Group of. Fiji? These raised coral and volcanic isles are inhabited by a hybrid Fiji-Polynesian people, the- result of conquering fleets from the eastward in the glorious clays of Tongan expansion and exploration. Namuka, one of the smallest, is renowned for the beauty of its women, who combine the regular features ail'd' light skin of the Polynesian wtli the fine figure and superb carriage of the Fijian. Two chief memories 1 have of Namuka—and I can n6ver decide which is the most beautiful. One is of a large native hall packed with people. Most of it is djm and shadowy, hut at one end the light of a lamp reveals a row of picked girls, attractively arrayed in bright colours, with flowers in their hair and flo'vory wreaths around their necks. The pure olive of their checks is touched with bright daubs of rod ochre, in their hands arc fans I of exquisite workmanship. They arc j dancing. Not with their feet, for j they are seated, but with the rhythmic j grace o 5 hand and head and body. | And as they dance they sing, and others sing in tlie darkness behind them, koepilng time to the clap of hands and the deep notes of a wooden drum.

GIRLS IN THE SUN HINE. That is the first picture—one of the night, with something in it of the mystery which is tliei essence of all simple and true art. The other is of the day—of bright sunshine and sparkling blue water. There is a small core with dazzling strip of sandy beach and tall palms beyond. I t is enclosed !y high rocky bluffs rising to the interior of the island and everywhere clothed in the richest green of tropical vegetation. Out from the palms comes a company of girls, some bearing baskets, others a large net between them, lktir carriage is, erect and graceful' —the beauty of their figures unconcealed by liiuisy lava-lavas. They dash into water with laughter and merry shouting, and there, out over the coloured coral reel's, they stretch their net and dive and splash and shout to hunt the small rain bo w-h ued fish into

its meshes. "When their catch is sufficient, they retire to the beach to dry themselves in the sun, singing more merrily than ever over their alfresco meal of tiny fish toasted in the embers of a coconut lire. BEAUTIFUL ROTUMA. Three hundred miles to the northwest of r .7.' is Rotuma, under the same administration, yet racially and geologically distinct. Remote and alone in a great stretch of ocean it appears a lovely gem of the sea as it raises luxuriant green heights to the approaching voyager. And when he drops anchor ho sees jt on a base of c-beny rock set in a snowy circlet of breakers.

it is far from any regular route and visited only by an occasional copra ship, so one is surprised to find a good read right round 1 the island, a g if course weputed the smallest in the world, and certainly the most picturesque and hazardous), numerous motor-cars, stores, and a white population of seme twenty men. The island is extraordinary fertile,' and rich, in copra. The land belongs entirely to the natives, who are so well off that they employ Fijian labour. J

They build themselves fine houses, often of white coral, and live their traditional Lives of sunny ease, tempered by such European pastimes a.s ■rieket, golf and motoring. It might be though I (bat this wealth has spoiled Eotunui, but it remain's a. fasciuaEng; spot. The natives have rcfi't.ed to sell an inch cm their land: strictly debar Chinese or Indians from ■ mnigraton. Fi inns can enter as labourers, hut not to settle; And, without regular shipping service there are no tourists.

ELLICE ISLANDS; Some days’ sail to the north-east one comes to the Ellice Islands, that is if oire does not miss them altogether, fer they are notoriously- diffi-

cult to find, and cursed bv navigators for their ever-changing currents. The Ellice people are pure Polynesia ms, speaking a language closely | akin to Samoan, Maori or Tongan. j They are light skinned, tall and well • built, with frank open faces and regular features. In character they are amiable, prnoeloving and friendly, with the traditional hospitality of their race. The people as a whole remain untouched by the outer world. A picture I have of'.Nukefetnn is both beautiful and arresting. It is early morning. The sun has just arisen above the small islets far across the lagoon, and in the foreground a fie t of outrigger canoes bends its mat. snds tot the breeze as it loaves the village behind. It is heading for a large island on the far side of the Inrorn, Ard all the able-bodied men cf the community are there. For the meeting of oldens has ordered that today ho given over to copra-malting, and everyone must obey. The o.irlv sun sl’ine s golden on the sails as the p ret, g'plc.s swiftly away on its romnimnl work, and as I turn away a n little child brings mo a new-made wreath, of sweet sirmlling flowers to place on mv head. It is the daily custom of these people.