NEW BOOKS HAPPY POLYNESIANS

Southland Times, Issue 25564, 6 January 1945, Page 6

NEW BOOKS

HAPPY POLYNESIANS

Nearly 10 years ago Ernest Beaglehole and his wife spent eight months on the atoll of Pukapuka, 390 miles northeast of Samoa. Their researches in anthropology, carried out for the Bernice P. Bishop Museum of Honolulu, have long since been embodied in scientific publications. But they also made observations of a general and personal nature which Dr Beaglehole has recorded in an interesting and most readable book, Islands Of Danger (Progressive Publishing Society, 15/6). His impressions are, of course, tinged with a scientific interest. He notes the tribesmen’s realistic attitude towards sex, and traces it in folk songs as well as in village habits. His studies in native character have a psychological background which is not allowed to darken the portraits. One of them —of Alaikonga, who likes t$ do everything in a big way—is a little masterpiece of analysis. Many pages are devoted to the daily life of the villagers, their habits and beliefs, their work and play, and their unfailing friendliness to the two strangers in their midst. The author writes easily, with insight and humour, and with an attention to detail which never becomes tedious. He reveals something of himself as well as of the people he came to know and like so well; but there is no egotism. Although he repudiates the South Sea dreani of popular fiction, he discovers the charm of a lonely island, and retains it in a dream of his own. The sights and sounds and colours of that little world come flowing back in pages which contain the surviving warmth of a memorable experience. This is not merely a travel book; it is also a chapter of autobiography, the story of a modest adventure, and a tribute to some happy Polynesians. It is well written, suitably illustrated, and printed in an excellent edition. The publishers have wisely given a solid and attractive format to a book which most readers will want to keep permanently on their shelves.