LONELY ISLANDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 246, 17 October 1929, Page 8

LONELY ISLANDS.

ON THE EMPIRE'S 'FRINGE. VISITED BY LABURNUM. TAMING OF THE GILBERTS. j

Many out-of-the-way places wore visited by 11.M.5. Laburnum, which returned to Auckland last evening after a four months' cruise among the British islands north of Fiji—"showing the Hag." These fringes of the Empire ! seldom -have anything very exciting to report', life is more leisurely than it is with us, and on this trip the sloop found "all quiet." Some of the places visited are so out of the way that they never get into print, except on Admiralty charts, but , they,have a great regard for the Union Jack. This was particularly noticeable among the Gilbert Islands, about 1100 miles north of Fiji, very close to the line. They are probably the most out of the way spot in the Empire. It is only the other day, so to speak, that: these Gilbert Islanders were first-class head-hunters. Readers of Stevenson will remember how very primitive he found them in the late eighties. Just before his time widows had the rather embarrassing habit of going visiting with the- skull of their deceased spouse hanging round the neck, and invariably used to sleep with that gruesome relic of the departed. Natives Living In Peace. "My outstanding* impression," remarked Captain Attwood of the-Labur-num, this morning, when asked about the voyage, "was the marvellous change that has conic over these once-wild Gilbert Islanders. Only a generation or so ago they were almost canibals, and to-day they are living in peace aiid prosperity, governed by a handful of a dozen or, so Englishmen to some 30,000 natives. You may remember that when Stevenson visited the group in 18S9 he was not altogether certain that they were not cannibals; to-day they arc absolutely peaceful, and it is a remarkable tribute to the way the group is governed by tho British."

After touching at Ocean Island, where the phosphate comes from, and where the headquarters of the groups are situated, the sloop called at nine islands in tho Gilbert Group and the Ellice Group, the latter being just about half-day between Fiji and the Gilberts. In the Fiji Group ten places off the usual routine wore visited.

Island Loyalty,

Many of the islands where the sloop looked' in are seldom if ever visited by vessels, and the arrival of the maii-o'-war is a nine days' wonder and matter for conversation for a twelve-month—in fact until the next time-they eee the flag. Captain Attwood was greatly struck by the loyalty of the iclandere in these lonely,. half-forgotten corners. He says they look upon the visit of a i man-o'-war very much us other places would regard a personal visit .of . the King. An interesting island visited was Rotuiria, MO iniies north of Fiji, which seems to.be a-sort of clearing house for the peoples of the Pacific, for there one observes a sort of .mingling of tlio different types met with in other 'groups. Although these Pacific islands are all more or less alike, or have much in common, a close observer quickly notices the little shades of difference that tell of divergent origin. The Rotuma people gave the Laburnum a remarkably line display of dancing. Some of the dances resembling the familiar ineke of the Fijians, others the dances of Sampans, but the finest wat» a club dance in which. 200 natives took part. .■.'...

Native Art.

Each native wore a remarkable headdress, about two feet .high and the same breadth. it . was made tiara-fashion, semi-circular. , Slender sticks, radiating from the brow were ornamented, with wliite seagull feathers, with streamers of i long feathers evidently from a rooster's tail. But the distinctive part was the rich manner in which the front was ornamented "by means of diamond, circle and lozenge figures ail worked in vivid coloured wools, red, green, yellow, and the other primitives loved by the native eye. Instead of being content with, say, a red diamond, or a green circle, the native artist had laboriously worked a series of diamonds in various colours until the centre was reached. Each headdress must have taken months to make, and there were two hundred of them! Fortunately for the local art, time does not count in Hotuma. On ~ the way to Auckland the Laburnum called at Nukualofa, where she put in four days, and too&part in the festivities connected with the anniversary of the coronation of Her Majesty the Queen of Tonga. The sloop dressed ship and fired a salute in honour of the occasion—Tonga being a British possession. The Laburnum's sister sloop, the Veronica, which has been bound on a similar mission to the Eastern Pacific, is due back this evening.