A Coral Speck in the Pacific

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 934, 29 March 1930, Page 17

A Coral Speck in the Pacific

Colourful Nine, One of New Zealand's Tiny Island Possessions, Has All the Charm That Novelists and Poets Write About

(Written for THE SUN by

C. W. VENNELL)

I Vjm ' .■ ~^T~' GREY pencil line on , I Kj ! a . n horizon of spark-1 . jj j fresh, vivij creep, i [ cool and inviting— : I the g reen of palm trees nodding gently above grey coral cliffs. A -white “bosun bird” (the ghost of I some lost sailor, so the legend goes) ; speeds swiftly overhead, its long tail j streaming in the wind. A flying-fish ‘ darts from under the bows, a delicate thing of translucent purple and blue. Jt skims a hundred yards or so between )azy, white-tipped waves, then disappears suddenly in a mild flutter of spray. Ahead lies Niue. Thus the traveller from the outside world first sees this beautiful, lonely island, and thus, too, perhaps the lookout of the “Resolution” saw it on June 20, 1774, the day that Captain Cook discovered and named it “Savage Island.” It was on his second voyage to the South Seas that the great navigator discovered Niue. His chronicler’s description of the landing and their their reception by the natives shows that he had good reason for so naming it. “On the 20th they saw land,* he writes, “and as they drew nearer, found it to be an island of considerable extent. Perceiving some people on the shore, and landing seeming to be easy, they hoisted out two boats, with which they put off to the land, accompanied by some of the officers and gentlemen. “Friendly signs were made to the natives, which were answered by menaces. All endeavours to bring (hem to a parley were to no purpose; for they advanced with the ferocity of wild boars, and threw their darts. Two or three *muskets, discharged in the air, did not hinder one of them from advancing still farther, and throwing another dart, which passed close over the captain’s shoulder. His temerity would have

cost him his life had not the captain’s musket missed fire. “The conduct and aspect of these islanders occasioned the captain's naming it ‘Savage Island.’ They seemed to be stout, well made men, were naked, exeept round the waists, and some of them had their faces, breasts and thighs, painted black.” Whole Island of Coral Six days out from Auckland (six days in the Maui Pomare, that is) Niue rises from the sea. In a couple of hours the ship rounds a point, and the white walls and red roof 3 of a village swing into view. A rattle of cable, and a cloud of rusty dust for’ard, and the anchor splashes down half a mile or so from low, sea-bitten coral cliffs, above which stands Alofi, the port of Niue. Who has not, since childhood, cherished Visions of a lonely coral island in the South Seas? Niue is the realisation of those dreams. From coast to coast it is all coral, but there is no *‘lazy, locked l-agoon.” Some long-forgotten upheaval pushed stark, jagged and fantastic, up from the sea floor. Nature clothed it in fruitful green, and with the passing of the centuries a reef grew round the

island, an encircling collar of coral, j Subsequent submarine disturbances raised the whole island, reef and all, J another 90 feet or so above the sea. It j is around this ledge that Niue e 3,800 I people live. The low table-land in the centre of the island is uninhabited. I

There are three or four possible landing places, all on the western side of the island. The main one is at Alofi, where a narrow channel has been blasted through the coral, giving access to a well-constructed concrete landing stage. The islanders are wonderful boatmen. If they were not they would not survive long at their trade. Landing, is Exciting At the seaward end of the channel they rest on their oars waiting for

another boat which is loading copra! to clear the landing stage. Tim heavy craft rides in on the back of a roller, and as the surf roars on the reef on either side, shouting natives—their voices all excitement, but their faces perfectly calm—-throw lines aboard from the landing stage. Two or three wade out on to tho reef, standing up 1 to their knees in water to make the stern of the boat fast.

Then, as the sea recedes, the boat sinks down into a great hole into which the water cascades in an encircling waterfall. The next roller heaves the boat up level with the steps again, and, with a hasty scramble, the visitor is ashore. It sounds risky, but so skil-

fully are the heavy boats handled that there is little or no danger. The landing at Norfolk Island, which is also on a practically unsheltered coast, is equally tricky at times. In both islands, ; however, mishaps are rare. From the landing stage a long flight i of concrete steps leads up into Alofi. i Running down beside the steps is a : concrete chute down which cases of bananas slide ready to be transported.

by the same boats as before, out to the Maui Pomare. Alofi is the seat of the resident com- 1 niissioner, at present Captain A. A. j Luckham, C.B.E. It is also the main port of Niue. Around a level green space, through which runs a white surfaced road, are the coral-walled dwellings of the dozen or so government officials and their wives who go to make up the whole white population of the island. The village also con- 1 ; tains some stores, a mission church, a i wireless station, and fruit sheds. Boat Day in Niue comes only once ! in seven weeks (not counting the Maui Pomares return call on her way back to Auckland from Samoa). Little j wonder, then, that natives and whites

alike await the squat little vessel’s j .C:pn\ing...with_eager anticipation,..Their calendar does not run in months but in “Maui Pomares,” each Maui Pomare indicating a space of seven weeks. To them it means new faces, news from the outside world, letters and parcels, and new subjects for conversation for weeks to come. Their hospitality is overwhelming. No one is allowed to sleep aboard the

ship during the single night spent at Niue. One goes to bed, in a cool, airy house among the palms, leaving the island bathed in the 6oft radiance of a tropic moon, and wakes to find the sun streaming down from a cloudless sky, and groups of brown children babbling happily to school. There is much to see in Niue in the short time available, and the white residents rise to the, occasion maguifi-< eently. Their time, their homes, their motor cars (there are four altogether on the island) are all placed entirely at the disposal of visitors. From Alofi, roads lead inland across the island, while another 40 miles of road runs right round the coast. Along the latter are scattered, at intervals of three or four miles, eleven villages,

all well-built and neatly kept. The 70 or SO miles of roads that Niue boasts have all been formed by levelling the rough coral. So well has this work been carried out than an excellent surface for motoring is provided. Alongside the road the surface is as jagged and rough as that of Rangitoto, with the difference that the rock is coral instead of volesnie. There is no soil to speak of, but from the crevicts between the rocks an amazing variety of vegetation grows in profusion. There are breadfruit trees heavily laden with big, round fruit, mangoes, paw-paws (or “mummyapples” as they are called both in Niue and Samoa), bananas, of course, and coconut palms, oranges, date palms, and ginger plants. Taro patches are found at intervals along all the roads, and here and there, flashing crimson or salmon-pink, against dense masses of green, an hibiscus bush. On the plateau, towards the back of the island, the road passes through several miles of tall, straight timber—trees 70 or 80 feet high—including ebony, and other hard woods.

Chasms and Caves Having once been a bank of coral on the sea floor, Niue abounds in chasms and caves. One of the best examples of both is to be found on the north coast about a mile from the village of Mutalau. It is reached by a rough track which winds through dense bush around the base of the plateau. This rises almost sheer to a height of, over

1 200 feet. Down the sides of the ! chasm trails a tangle of tree roots, f and from the bottom, reached by a i rickety ladder of sticks let into fhe | cliff, two huge caves open downwards i into the earth. Limestone pillars, | and queer animal-like formations oh ! the walls of the first cave, loom dimly ;in the light of an electric torch. Unj seen bats whirr to and fro overhead, ! and a startled crab scuttles for safety j among the slippery rocks. Other caves ! lead off at intervals into t'he pitch | blackness. , At the mouth of the second big cave i one is greeted by a muffled roar, prei ceded by a curious hissing and a blast j of cold air, followed by a shower of fine spray. About 50 yards down, the cave ends in an apparently depthless pool which rises as the rollers sweep in from the sea outside, and

falls again as the spent waves recede for another onslaught on the reef. The road back Alofi runs along the cliff-tops through an endless avenue of coconut palms, and past other chasms and caves. It passes through four or five more villages, and in each, littlo brown children, chickens, and small pigs scuttle for safety as the cac whizzes by. There must be money in the secondhand bicycle trade with Niue. Everywhere along the roads one overtakes native girls and men awheel. None

! of them seeni3 very expert. They wobble j uncertainly for safety to the side of | the road as a car approaches, more I often than not falling off in the pro* 1 i cess. Industrie)us Natives The Niueans are a pleasant-natured, j-happy race. They are neither Poly- • | nesian nor Melanesian. Among them J may be found the physical characterj istics of a dozen racial types. They i are excellent workers, as the neatness J of their villages testifies. They are j born roamers, and in islands throughout the Pacific they are to be found—- ’ mostly doing the hard work. Perhaps their milder, less humid climate makes them more energetic than natives living nearer the equator. On every trip the Maui Pomare picks up 20 or so Niueans and carries them on to Apia to load her cargo of bananas there. The well-nourished Samoan is not fond

uf work. i There is a native population of 3,800 ‘ : on the island. The excellent work , 1 of the medical officer, Dr. K. Dean, and his predecessors, has had the effect of ! establishing a remarkably good stand- 1 ard of health, yaws, hookworm, and bther tropical skin diseases being now I practically unknown. There is a well- 1 equipped hospital at Tufukia, about a mile along the coast from Alofi, where : native nurses, under the direction of & white matron (Miss I. Butler), care < for the island's sick. Education is an important function <

of the government. There are two government schooJs, one at Tufukia, and the other at Hakupu, on the south coast of the island. These schools have a total attendance of 180, and are under the charge of Mr. H. Hamilton who has a staff of native teachers. Ir addition, the London Missionary Society maintains smaller schools at each of th< other villages. In all about 600 native children are being educated, up to the fourth standard, at the present time Among the many native races which with splendid loyalty, helped to figh the Empire’s battles fifteen years ago were stalwart brown men from Niue They were sent to Egypt with the Maor contingent and afterwards to France A plain, white obelisk stands in th< centre of Alofi, overlooking the sea On one side of it are inscribed eeventeei names, with the simple legend—“Pri Patria.” Better Service Wanted It is 156 years since naked Niueans flung their “darts” at Captain Cook, and earned for their island its savage name. And yet it has only been during the last five or six years that visitors from the outside world have been able to reach the island by anything better than a trading schooner. At present it is served by the government motor-ship, Maui Pomare, which calls there for a day to collect copra on her way to Apia, and again on the return

trip to complete her cargo of bananas for New Zealand ports. But from the point of view of the none-too-perfeet sailor seeking a holiday, the most ideal island ever created would not compensate for the twelve lays of rolling, pitching, cork-sere wing and slide-slipping necessary to get there and back again in the Maui Potnare. The ship displaces only 1,139 tons and has a speed of ten knots. There are times when live knots is her maximum for hours on end. A bigger ship with a speed of 14 or 13 knots would bring Niue within four days of Auckland, and Samoa, within six, including the day’s stop on route. The full trip now takes eight days. Such a vessel would not only add to the comfort and attractiveness of the journey, but would enable twice the quantity of bananas to be carried, thus increasing her earning capacity, doubling the supply of fruit, and reducing the price for the public.

Excluding Samoa, Niue is the, largest of the islands administered by New Zealand. It lies to the east of the Tongan group, 1,350 miles from Auck land, and 350 south-east of Samoa. It has an area of about 64,000 acres, ami 1 circumference of 40 or 50 miles. With a better steamer service than it has a present, and the provisior. of accommo dation for visitors., Niue v.’ould make a 1 ideal holiday resort for New Zealanders.

Unspoiled Isolation There are bathing, fishing, motoring, exploring—to mention only a few 'things that the visitor to Niue might do. The swimmer has the choice between deep, rocky pools, sheltered between palm-fringed cliffs, or the open sea. There are no sharks in the blue water around the island. This immunity, rare in the tropics, is due, so it is said, to the fact that sharks will always avoid water where there is a coral bottom. It is just as safe to , dive over the side of the Maui Pomare as it is into a swimming bath. Niue shares with Little Barrier the distinction of having had a swordfish 1 caught off its shores. The successful big-game fisherman in this case was a native He caught the monster from L a catamaran canoe, and survived to . tell Niue’s biggest fish story. : There is a subtle charm about the island that mere words fail to express. The secret lies, perhaps, in its un--1 spoiled isolation. > i There are places where one feels that I it is sheer joy to be alive. Niue is one of them.