PUBLICATION IN RUSSIAN

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28951, 20 July 1959, Page 18

PUBLICATION IN RUSSIAN

History By Sir Peter Buck "The Press” Special Servici WELLINGTON, July 19. The Geographical Literature Publishing House of the U.S.S.R. has announced the pending publication of “Vikings in the Sunrise,” by Sir Peter Buck, in Rus- ■ ■» sian. In a Russian book catalogue, recently received by a Wellington bookseller, Sir Peter Buck is consistently referred to by his Maori name, Te Rangi Hiroa, never by ‘his European one. In an explanatory note. “Vikings” is compared with “Kon-Tiki” by the Norwegian anthropologist, Thor Heyerdahl, also recently published in Russian. "Kon-Tiki” is well known to readers, cays the note. “It contends that the islands of the Pacific Ocean were inhabited from America. The purpose of Te Rangi Hiroa’s book is the reverse —to prove the Pacific Islands were inhabited from the West.” The note says that Te Rangi Hiroa had a perfect knowledge of Maori and Polynesian languages that enabled him to become “an expert in the history and sagas of the inhabitants of faraway Oceania “The author describes the wonderful seafarers—the Polynesians —who were able to cover thousands of miles in their tiny craft.” Publication is expected towards the end of the year.