WHERE SAVAGES ROAM

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22320, 18 January 1936, Page 12 (Supplement)

WHERE SAVAGES ROAM

EXPLORER AND SCIENTIST Customs and beliefs of tho few remaining South Sea natives who have so far hardly been touched by civilisation are recorded by an eminent anthropologist and explorer, Dr. Hugo Bernatzik, in "Sudsee/,' an account of an expedition lie made in 1932 and 1933 among the Papuans and Melanesian coast peoples of New Guinea and tho British Solomons. The book, translated from the German by Vivian Ogilvie, is a modest record of a fine achievement. It is no mere text-book for the student of anthropology, but is a most readable account, written by a shrewd observer, of life that is rapidly changing, and a native culture that is surely dying. There has been a spate of travel books in recent years, and a depressing lack of perception by "tourist" authors has made many of questionable value. So frequent have these exaggerated accounts become, with their wearisome tales of the author's personal genius foxorganisation and his great bravery, that it is refreshing to turn to Dr. Bernatzik's unassuming and entirely convincing work. For once wo have an author who dispenses with unnecessary details of his tour to plunge immediately into his subject, native life and manners. The book is divided into three main sections, the first dealing with the Solomon Islands, tho second with New Guinea, and the final one with Bali. Each is fully illustrated with excellent photographs, taken by the author. Some of these are truly brilliant studies of native types, and others have distinct value as Bcenio pictures quite apart from the aspects of native life they portray. Another well-illustrated travel book, written about 25 years before Dr. Bernatzik's work, and therefore providing an interesting contrast, is "Wanderings Among South Sea Savages," by H. Wilfrid Walker. First published in 1909, and recently reprinted, tho book is a record of the author's experiences in Fiji, Papua, Borneo and the Philippines. "Sudsee." by Dr. Hugo Bernatzik. (Constable.) "Wanderings! Among South Sea Savages," by H. Wilfrid Walker. (H. F. and G. Witherby, Limited.)