RAROTONGA A PARADISE

Evening Star, Issue 18852, 29 January 1925, Page 2

RAROTONGA A PARADISE

FERTILE ANB BEAUTIFUL.

DUNEDIN DOCTOR’S IMPRESSIONS,

Dr Archibald MTndoe, of Dunedin, whilst on his way to America, made some notes about t-ho trip that are of more

than usual interest, for he lias seen observantly and he writes vividly. We are permitted to make extracts. To-day we present the first portion of the narrative :—•

Just before ws came to Rarotonga, about December 15, the weaiher was very bad, and everyone uncomfortable on board. I felt quite all right by that time, though we hud been laboring against a heavy head wind and high, short swells. We sighted Rarotonga through the rain and mist about 2 p.m. on the 13th. It was, from the distance, of high volcanic formation, and was a welcome sight after being so long away from land. By sp.m. the weather cleared and the sun came out. 'The scene was a memorable, one, the island rising in a scries of sharp, rugged peaks from a sea of almost unbelievable blue —an emerald set in a turquoise sea. The color of the sea around Rarotonga is really extraordinary, and is of deeper color than anywhere else in the Pacific. It is due to large amounts of calcium carbonate, dissolved in the water, according Lo the experts. If you could imagine Reckitt's blue, then darken it with indigo and smalt, you would have some idea of the shade. When the shadows fall on still water it is simply gorgeous, s The island, too, is of dark emerald green from the central mountain (5,000 ft high) to the water’s edge, around which the cocoa-nut palms are thickly planted. The whole island is surrounded by a, coral reef at a varying distance from the shore (up to a quarter of a mile), on which the rollers break in a white line. As there is no opening in (he coral the boat came to anchor in the roadstead, about 600yds from the shore, just off the main village, and from here the doctor's boat put off. It was a. smart, skiff manned by six islanders in uniform, and carrying the two medical officers, with the Resident Commissioner and party. ’The assistant medical officer happened to be Dr Donald, cine of our own final-year men, who came here several months ago. We recognised each other simultaneously, and when he came aboard we had a. long yarn. As soon as the. boat got its clearance lie took me ashore in the skiff, we being the first off the ship. 'Die whole island seemed eu fete for something or oilier, as the, entire, native population (about 5,000) were on the wharf when we landed. They were ail decorated with floral wreaths, and with their |>cst bibs and tuckers on. The occasion, we learnt subsequently, was tiewelcome to the chiefs four daughters, who have been at school in New Zealand lor the past, four years. They were our fel-low-passengers. The, ceremony teas very quiet, hut impressive, all the women coming forward and kissing the hands and garments of the girls, who were, of course, garbed in Sydney’s latest. A general view of the island gives one the idea, of its being a little paradise. The islanders are a sturdy, well-built race, with very little evidence of disease or do fortuity. ‘ The girls are good-looking, ami the kids, who were everywhere, arc the j trickiest things imaginable. The white i population is about 200, mostly British j officials and traders. No alcohol is ai- i lowed on tile island, and its eonseqtienl effects are entirely absent. In fact., the j whole place looks prosperous and well ; governed. The, island is simply ; wonderful in its extraordinary fertility. | It is onlv twenty-two miles in cireumle! - j once, and yet it supports 5,500 of a popu- I lotion with the greatest of ease. 'J lie j flowers are gorgeous, the streets and gar- j dens being a. mass of scarlet hibiscus, ; purple bougainvillea, and. most, striking ; of all, crowned with the vermilion-covered flamboyant trees. An absolute riot of color! K very thing else is green—banana:-,; cocoimuts, and all sorts oi rank iimfi-r-j growth which covers every bare patch, |

Dr Donald then loaded ’.is into a Ford \ car, arnl away we went on a trip round , the island. There is oim good road '.■ hull : encircles ilia wild'' island, tint all the; way, ini'! passing through hush ot the, same nature alt tin* time, 1 Imre are how- . ers everywhere, and each halt mile opened i j on to a (lower rlcehed village, for the (inM 1 part elea n am! inly thateh lints, each. siuTe>mtded by its liltle plantation ot , coeoanni palms and bananas. Inr lurid-r ■ bank we got the more typical wio tlm : I natives, until we found them wcm'lug n't tiling but 1 ]io loin cloth or lava-lava- -a bricltf red-and-while niere. of eaimo ' tending from waist to knees, 'j hey .-•"•m | d happy, conk-ntcd, smiling race, wait uol 1 a care or worry in the world. At the [ far cud of the island we Mopped ami; visited a native bouse, ami hail a good j look all round; oim ju--i wandered in! without eerennniy, and our coinings and i goings invited nothing Iml smiles ol wl- i tome. \Ve then got a native boy to shin ; up a eoeoaniit palm, which he did in a I rcinarka hiy short space oi time, and knocked "ff a dozen green lints. Ho opened 1 them for us in native style, ami wo a!l| had a long, strong pull at a nut each. By I dove: lie'v are a dift'eiviil, proposition . from what one buys in the v.jpw Be gave j him i> (id for liis trouble, and thought j at first we had been a hit mean, jmiu I ing from the amazed glance he gave ns. ! Later we n-nnd we had gwea him a good j half-day's pay. It. was ijn •• dark when t we got iiaek to the town, and alter a look I round the hospital we w tit down to tut; j wharf to catch a bginer iae-K to the slop. : K was a prelty stgnl to si u her lying : out in the bay, a hiaze oi lig.’it, with i winches screaming, and noma c>KJ Jfdk.ig I natives faking olr cargo and stowing it- j in the lighters, whim tmnnred up and j down, alongside. F.vt ry now and then a! shoal of flying lis'n would jump up and ; skim along toe water about 30yds, div- ' ing back again with a l.tlle splash. I About forty people then got info a surf , boat and we were tewed out by the steam 1 pinnace at, a grant rate. They seemed to ' enjoy giving ns a thrill, because (he j heavily-laden heat just dived through the i breakers and performed a!! sorts of auto- I baties to the accompaniment of wild : shouts from the natives. Needless to say, ; we all got thoroughly wet, and to me if, was a. wonder we did md, eel a. &•••<• swim. I Sharp at 9 o'clm-k the Tahiti up ' anchored, and with much tooting of whistles, etc., poililed her Dose for *he Open sea. Haror/mga was so m only i fttv I'oints of light far a-lern. Thus you want a delight fill holiday wit}; the most paintable .sc.-ncry in the world come to thri islands, and to Jhirotouga in pit • j ticnlar, |

Coalville (Leicestershire) Urban Council has accepted a gift of £C.OOO from the Leicestershire Miners’ Welfare Committee toward the provision for public baths in the town. A woman who lost- her reason in ]BB4, at the age of eighteen, is still living in a homo for the insane at Dun-snv-.Anrnn, France, whore she has been for the past ninety years. .During this time slip lias cost the authoreye* £&o<3Q*