ISLAND PLEASURES AND DRAWBACKS.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 57, 8 March 1923, Page 9

ISLAND PLEASURES AND DRAWBACKS.

(To the Editor.) ; •;';' { Sir,i—l see by a letter in your paper o* that -the Islands "are not what they are cracked up to be." Good heavens, I should think not! But residents there don't howl much about such little drawbacks as mosquitoes and don't cry about the heat all" day.' It is nothing . much, anyway, and it is only for a - month or two. It is like a Turkish bath "-.- . and. "after becoming acclimatised, one can enjoy it, providing cold showers are indulged .in. ..I.consider.it did mc good. Jis for. the\smell. of cocoanut oil, occa- '■ -, . sionally a native will pass with an aroma of scented oil, just as we here get a . " whiff of powder. But, anyway, Tongan , >..,:■ now ma i n ]y use Talcum powders :: '' and European • scents. The impression .■'.may have been gained-from the letter . that Tongans are dirty. Nothing of the kind. The average native bathes morning and evenjng. Going to bed ■J? without bathing is abhorred. The /'novelty of wandering through a village - - on aa evening of tropic moonlight with ;,.::. Tongan singing floating over, the way, V-γ'; and the quiet, easy life that is a relaxation from the bustle of "papalagi" life, ■.- ■ is worth any little discomfort Island -/.life, incurs. I have just returned after ,•/..." spending two years in Tonga, living "j^"' both in the country and the settle- : ■•;• ment, and I consider the Islands hold a fascination that is. hard tci resist. There is plenty of fishing, boating to the islands, hunting wild fowl and pigs, and what with the novelty of the life, a few mosquitoes shouldn't bother much. — I am, etc., . COLIN R- ■-'■ .