SKETCHES OF SUNLIT SEAS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3513, 12 July 1921, Page 54

SKETCHES OF SUNLIT SEAS.

l’v Tk Pax a. For the Otago Witness. PAGO PAGO : ISLAND GEM. Imagine sailing an ocean liner right into the cleft side of an extinct volcano ; sailing her in on a line tangent to the rim of the old crater and once inside being able to navigate ail round the basin, a lagoon sheltered from wind and wave completely. Those tales of pirate rendezvous and smugglers neat retreats, of submarine bases on unfrequented coasts all pale into honourable insignificance beside this snug slip into which great liners may disappear without a trace. It was necessary that

the land supporting a mighty extinct vo. capo sink below it’* altitude’ in active aiciaic dajs, and before doimr so that a stupendous explosion had riven a narrow sector from one side of the cup. Then ages must have filed bv in silence. Tutuila m the Samoan group is the site of just stuh ; a aeon old geological tran,formation; ■ , e < , l ' ater harbour par excellence of the islands set m sunlit seas, i s here. Pam iago, the natives named it, Pago-Pago, a L mted States naval station set on” the strand of the land-locked bay within. —-A .South Sea Cameo.— t; .rf y? 11 ste ‘ lm ah'wly in, swinging all the u-bn’ 116 wa *? r ® around churn up blue and unite; sea-birds scream and flutter between you and the dense green foliage wherein land birds echo the noise ; castks 'A lock pile skywards soaring tower above tower and battlement above rocky bastion ; ''4 fish scuttle hurriedly aside; naked SHUKoam in tiny canoes meet you in floA a f , .' lce v nnin, lovelier Titanic green howl brimming with tropical luxuriance never met your eye. Coconut palms, breadmut trees, banana plants, competing, shouldering, crowding, everywhere. Tinv nan ye huts peep primitively from under the fringing trees of the shore—there shows -ort.i a tiny mission church, yonder another. The efficient looking wharf of the station comes into view with white clad naval officers eagerly walking the waters edge and groups of all but unclad natives gazing at our approach with dumb, wondering admiration. The midday tropic heat cannot overcome that impatient anticipation of every islander in the settlement; men and women and children they are all down here for steamer day. A squad of native police officered by an American maiine stand to receive us with honours; these stalwart upholders of the law uniformed in u yard cf red calico, a turban, a baton and a smile. —Tofa : Good Bye.— That night the steamer slip*; out, leisurely, tropically. B.ack fruit bats come winging noiselessly out cf the bush ; the palms shake green and golden heads to the sunset which plays shadows and colourings on the receding isles. The trade wind dies; then at last darkness; the trees stand out like cut patterns of black paper against the spangled skv. The boat sways gently to the long even roll of the Pacific splintering with her bow a million watery stars and leaving in her wake the lonelv albatross and Pago Pago. —Travelling Light.— I have drifted the South Seas in tiny cutters, in schooners, and in the saloons of great steamships. Once.l went through the tropics as a steerage passenger. To you with eyes on the joys of sunlit seas, let not tile limits cf your purse debar the pleasure. I had scruples —once. So I travelled steerage. I learned what it was like to be battened down in a cabin with six men through five wild days of hurricane ; we were berthed forrard and none of the blessed air cf Heaven came our way a 3 the chip plunged and struggled in the clamour of the gale. Perched on sacks of potatoes I surveyed' our escort of flying fish as we rolled through the blue, sparkling sea. In the cloistered far serenities of first class travel I had never hob-nobbed with the crew, been familiar with the hatches and the hold, with the galley and the fruit cargo. All these homely matters brimful of interest and purpose were pait of life in the underworld and coloured the aspect of the days with unusual taints. Our quarters were scrupulously clean, the bath-rooms tiled, the food plentiful and well cooked. My fellow passengers were pleasant folk, Americans, Chinese, Hindu c-ooii&s and island natives. They enlivened the voyage with the same social cliques flirtations and bickerings as the remote upper classes who would peer down upon us in cur pit on their round of deck walking, with pity or with contempt but without understanding. Joyous days they were of sunshine, crisp, warm air, and blue sea and sky. . . . And when I arrived in Sydney I was; pounds richer in pocket for my steerage trip. —Fish Poisoners.—The Polynesians of the South Sea islands are dependent on a. fish diet to vary the eternal round of vegetable foods and many are the ways and means devised for securing an ample supply from the lagoons. The hand line method and spearing when it comes to the supply for a whole village are discarded and even netting does not ensure a sufficiently large number of fish.. At Nikao, a small village on the island of Rarotonga, Cook Group, poisoning has been successfully adopted as a means cf keeping a full larder of fish. Out on the reef an area of about sixty acres is enclosed by blocks of coral so the fish are shut in shallow water as the tide recedes. Due notice is given the villagers of an impending poison ‘drive’’ and the adult population immediately commences to prepare the necessary drug. This is obtained by grating a nut from a shrub called mataora.; the residue is placed in small baskets and at the appointed tin e the people enter the water and scatter the poison broadcast. Jt takes effect in half an hour. The small fish are completely stupefied and easily caught with the hands. The larger species are only affected in movement, which becomes sluggish and a hand net and spear are called into operation to finish them off. The most virulent poison known in the island is the “reva’ which is obtained from the mots and leaves of a fine tree bearing cream white flowers like gardenias. The onlv word in the Raiv.tougan dialect for the nape of the neck is “the killing place of the fish”— KATI AN (-A — IK A—in allu-ion to the universal practice of the natives to kill hand caught fish by biting them on tl-.e “neck.” The fi n is usually held laterally for the purpose, but accidents occasionally occur. The story is told of a boy who held the fish towards himself and as soon as lie opened his mouth, the fish, taking the cavity as a means of escape wedged it:elf so firmly in the bov’s throat that the spines of the dorsal and ventral fine prevented its removal. It sounds like a fish story .... but there, you must have a little romance from such romantic islands.