IN SOUTHERN SEAS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19221, 9 January 1926, Page 13

IN SOUTHERN SEAS.

CRUISE OF ST, GEORGE. I " STORY TOLD IN PICTURE. BEAUTIFUL ISLANDS VISITED. [FBOM Otrß OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] LONDON. Nov. 21. Research expeditions haVo a new interest in these days, becauso tho stories may bo told not only in words, but through the instrumentality of the motion picture. A recent expedition has heen that undertaken under the auspices of tho Scientific Research Association to soma of the lesser-known islands of tho Pacific. The journey was mado in tlio steam yacht St. Georgo, and a period of 18 months was spent away from England. The story was told in picturo and by means of a lecture for tho first time last week. Before passing out into the Pacific the party visited tho interesting Galapagos Group, which one of the Scientists named "the < land of tho quaint and fearless folk." Surely there is no land where beast and bird havo greater confidence .in their fellow humans. Tho photographer had no trouble in Vnaking pictures of all the curious inhabitants, most interesting of which perhaps are the giant graves, tho gnarled amphibious lizards whij&lr find their chief sustenanco in the seaweed at the bed of the sea. They congregate in their thousands, covering largo areas of the rocks with their grotesque bodies., The walruses, too, are tame, tho herons, and tho flightless cormorant, and they take no moro notice of the human intruders than if they were their own species. Only the vegetation is unfriondly, It is a barren land. In the sea, however, there are the tigers Of tho doep, and the pictures showed the party catching huge sharks with a lino thrown, in from tho shore. From lihe Galapagos, too, are collected many of the rocks which aftf carved with primitive representations of animals and men. Nativa Dancing. Beautiful pictures wore taken when the ship approached the islafids of MarqueStn. There was one on board, however, on that morning whoso humour was Eliot for scenery. The only islands he wanted to see, he said, were tho two in the lake in Clapham Common. They had just completed 3000 miles across the Pacific. Pictures of native dancing proved that here, at least,; the art had not been lost, though tho ladies in the performance Were clothed not in the barbaric costumes of earlier days, but in simple cotton dresses. At Tuamotn the photographer put into operation his apparatus jfor taking submarine picturefli No artificial light was needed, for tho tropical sun penetrated deep down to the coral wonderland beneath the wator. One of the most interesting islands was Rapa, an extinct vol-., canb, the crater of which is now a harbour/ . Though tho harbour is not more than a mile in width the encircling peaks rise to 3000 ft. One hundred years ago. there were in this island 2000 inhabitants, but the people of each valley were at war with those of the noxt valley. To-di»y the population is only 200. The nesians hero ore a handsome race, but their life is exceedingly simple and nowfree from care. There is one white man trader, 60 years of age, pleased with his life and intending to live to a hundred. The Hobgoblin Land. Mr. P. H. Johnson, the leetnrer, described Baster Island as the hobgoblin land. A good deal is, known of this mysterious place, but probably there w no other set of pictures which gives one * such a good Conception of .the great stone images which are scattered round the island. They are from 6ft. to 60ft. in height, most of them now tymg pr<"»6, but the largest one still erect is 37ft. lhe quarry was tho crater In the middle of the island, and the conception of tho original unknown sculptors seemed to bo to plant these c lg nnUcimage3 allround the 50 miles o£ coast line. There are 150 platforms, and each one has from three to 15 stone images, either erect or lying on the ground. The lecturer does not attempt to explain the origin ofthe images, but it is something to be able to see for one's self so much of this mystery land of the Pacifio. With a strong tropical stfn the conditionf were perfect tor photography. tTneeta to «»y, beautifully clear.