LONELY NIUAFOU

Taranaki Daily News, 13 October 1930, Page 3

LONELY NIUAFOU

OBSERVING THE ECLIPSF “TIN CAN” MAIL ISLAND. ■ SCENE OF VOLCANIC ACTIVITY. . : J; Niuafou. ivhither New Zealand scion’ tists have irone to observe the eclipse of the sun, is one of the “dominions” of the Queen of Tonga. The little island lies some 200. miles north-west of Vavau, and possesses much better means of communication with the outside world than do many more im-.. portant pacific islands by reason of the fact that a “tin ■can” mail Te dropped and lifted by the Tofua on her voyage between Apia and Suva when weatbei conditions permit. Every speck of land and every pause, lonw or short, on an ocean voyage is an°event for the steamers’ passengers. Even in the balmy southern seas, the leagues of blue water become long and a little monotonous; to . most folk, no matter how persistently they tty to, ; : feel as the great discovering voyagers must have felt when they went seeking for the unknown in the gaps of the maps of their day. What a boon it would be if on the long, cold, rare run from Capetown to Port Chalmers the traveller could make contact. with men and things! ' - • ‘

SWIMMING POSTMEN.

There is the interest.. of the widelyscattered archipelago on the short run from Sariiou, to Fiji, but Niuafou is the event because of the pause and because of the extraordinary mail service. It is a wicked shore for boat work. The long swell smashes, itself into foam ami spray upon the rocky landing place, and- while the natives of the island are as /accomplished boatmen as those, of Niue, for boats must be used to carry the copra to vessels in the roadstead, they do not worry about boats on mail day. Instead, they seal the mail m tins, to which they tie a, short stick as a handle, and, each using a long buoyant pole to helpj to support him, somehow negotiate the surf with long;, easy strokes, and swim out a/toile or i' more to meet the steamer. Un board the steamer all eyes strain ahead as the steamer slowly edges in shore to reach the watery rendezvous opposite the landing place. On a fine day the water is a dark blue and the glare is as dazzling as the Waitemata at its best. Landsmen can never gauge distance 1 over water 'and. most people are peering ahead long before the ship is within binocular range. At last, someone shouts and feels very proud to, / have been the first to have picked up' the heads in the water. But it is not' the heads, but the tin cans held vertically. Slowly the ship is alongside the swimmers. A bucket is put over the side and one by one the swimmers deposit their burfien in iL. No postman ashore could be more casual than these ; Tongan young men as they deliver to w* the lowered /bucket the communication of their people to the outside world a mild from shore. The job done, they lie ■ breast down upon one end'of their pole, and with a inar.Vellous kick or two dive off like gambolling; fishes.

THE TRADER''PAYS A CALL.

Among them one is likely to observe a European, the manager' of one of the two trading stations on the island. “Come aboard” shouts an oflieer, and a Jacob’s ladder is lowered for him. Up he swarms, and reaching the deck walks serenly to the captain’s cabin, as if he were quite iu the habit of making social calls in a bathing costume. This day, perhaps, he may be questioned about the rumour that has been drifting about the ocean that a fewdays ago a high pillar- of smoke had been seen to the north. No, he had not heai-d it. Had there been a volcanic eruption on his own island? No again. . And in a few minutes he is back on deck. He sjtys “So long,” climbs on the. rail and promptly dives like a gannet into the sea again. A master swimmer ; and'a magnificent high diver.'- He. re- ... covers his pole that had been , held by one of the natives, gets his own tin,of mail and away go the team of-six or eight shoreward. ' \ “By jove,” says a tourist, and the others make equally inane comments as the steamer starts on her way again, But something must be sai.d when one strikes this rather exquisite touch of < romance in what is mostly a very workaday world —even in the South Seas.

THE ISLAND’S CRATER LAKE. i ■ ' It is a coincidence that Niuafou, ■ which happens to be the most favour-, able spot from which to observe the eclipse of the sun, should also be one ■ of the most interesting islands for geo-loo-ists.i From the. sea it seems.to be an ordinary South Pacific island. Its.slopes are thickly covered with coconut palms './■' —trees, by the. way. which produce 'fw nuts of enormous size, probably, the . largest in the'.world. Actually one sees only the outer rim of a vast volcanic , ;.■■■. crater. This highly fertile rim encloses a' crater lake three miles in length and one‘and three-quarter miles wide. On one side the rim slopes gradually down to the level of the lake; on, the other there are cliffs rising as high as 60Qft. ! “ The water has a pronounced mineral flavour and at one place gas bubbles / -. , through it. ? , ■ Should there be an ornithologist. w the party he will have tlie satisfaction of Observing the malau, a bird peculiar . to the island, which is remarkable for.. ‘ laying an egg disproportionately large ■ > in relation to the! size of its body.