Happy Rarorians

Te Ao Hou, October 1956, Page 56

Happy Rarorians In 1947, the Kon-Tiki raft was cast ashore at Raroia, a small coral island in the Tuamotu group. Bengt Danielsson, a member of the expedition, was so impressed by the place and the people that in 1949 he returned there with his wife and stayed a year. This was no sightseeing tour or search for an unspoiled island paradise, but an earnest attempt to ‘live for a time … with another people … to see if we should make ourselves at home, and if we should be able to appreciate the values in their way of life.’ The Happy Island, translated from the Swedish by F. H. Lyon, is the story of their success. The couple were readily accepted and soon settled into the daily routine. They found copra making monotonous but easy work, fishing at night was exciting, but diving for mother-of-pearl was difficult and unpleasant. The author shows some impatience with the Raroians for throwing away their hard-earned money on expensive rubbish, but he soon comes to appreciate their point of view. Money is not a necessity in Raroia. It is only an ‘extra’ that will buy other ‘extras’ like gramophones and bicycles and patent leather shoes, and the Raroians could live quite easily, though more soberly, without it. But Mr Danielsson can find no excuse or any liking for the traders, usually Chinese, who are always at hand to supply the ‘extras’ at exorbitant prices, along with methylated spirits and hair-oil and other more orthodox kinds of drink. In spite of their insatiable appetite for European pleasures, the Raroians' favourite entertainment is still singing and dancing, and while many of the old customs have been unavoidably lost or deliberately put aside, the traditional songs and dances remain. When they heard the Governor was going to visit them after an interval of forty years the Raroians threw themselves wholeheartedly into the preparations. New songs and dances were composed and practised, and new costumes made. Houses, gardens, wharves and children were tidied up. Presents were made and food gathered and prepared. To top it off they all learned, parrot-fashion, the Marseillaise for the landing-ceremony. Then the Governor passed them by. How they all rallied round after this paralysing disappointment, and gave themselves a sports day, a banquet, and a concert, shows plainly what stuff these Islanders are made of. Mr Danielsson's excellent book is not too good for them.