Notable Books

Ocean Island And Nauru, By

Albert F. Ellis. C.M.G., F.R.G.S.

Every reference library must obtain this book—it is an authoritative record of the phosphate industry in the Central Pacific, and it also is a complete history of an important section of the Pacific territories.

But its greatest appeal will be to the general reader, who always is eager for tales of romance, colour and adventure of life in the Pacific Islands. He will get his money’s worth in this book, in over whelming measure. Mr. Ellis went into the South Seas seeking phosphate, in the days when life there was more primitive than to-day; and he has seen extraor dinary things on the more isolated islands, and he has had a share in building up the phosphate business, from a mere matter of scratching laboriously on lonely coral reefs, to one of the world’s biggest industries. His description of how the phosphate rock is taken from the tops of Nauru and Ocean Islands, and loaded onto ships which lie out on unsheltered anchorages, all by mechanical means, is one of the most fascinating things we have read. The book has many illus trations and maps, and an index.

Our copy from the publishers, Angus & Robert son Ltd., Sydney. Price, 7/6.

Sky Pilot In Arnhem Land, By

K. Langford Smith.

Mr. Langford Smith is a missionary.

The “Sky Pilot” was the aeroplane which

he used in his work. Arnhem Land is in Northern Australia. The combination appears a little dull; but, by the grace of fortune, Mr. Langford Smith has a sense of humour, and the story of his adventures is told in a delightful fashion.

We got more hearty laughs out of this book than from anything we have read for years. We particularly commend the story of how this young man learned to drive a model T Ford; or the account of how he was “treed” by a buffalo.

Perhaps his funniest story is his des cription of how he took his native ser vant and his dog for their first ride in an aeroplane. He thought his servant’s expression of agony, and his maddened attempts to climb out of the ’plane, were due to fear. He discovered later, how ever, that the terrified dog had fastened his teeth in the first thing available. “If my servant had been wearing trousers,” said Langford Smith naively, “they would have been very badly torn.”

The book has a serious side, and is a worthy contribution to mission literature.

Our copy from the publishers, Angus & Robert son Ltd., Sydney. Price, 6/-.

Norfolk Is. And The Bounty

MUTINY, by Percy J. Marks, of 92 Pitt St., Sydney.

This pamphlet is a valuable addition to the literature on the subject. Mr. Marks, it is clear, has engaged in a tireless search of available records, and has assembled facts and dates in a way that makes an interesting story, and that will be very useful to future historians, Mr. Marks has devoted himself to a compilation of the strange history of Norfolk Island: his references to the Bounty Mutiny come into the story only in relation to the in troduction of the Pitcairners to N.I.

The latter landed there (40 men, 47 women, 54 boys and 53 girls, total 194) on June 8, 1856. They brought eight sur names to N.I. —Adams, Christian, McCoy, Quintal, Young (descendants of the Bounty mutineers) and Buffett, Evans and Nobbs (descendants of men who joined the Pitcairn community after it was discovered in 1808). All those sur names flourish there to-day. We should describe Mr, Marks’ pamphlet as the most complete and authoritative history of Norfolk Island, yet published.

The Blending Of Cultures: An

Essay on the Aims of Native Education, by F. E. Williams, M.A., B.Sc., Govern ment Anthropologist in Papua.

The introduction of European civilisa tion to Pacific races, who themselves have cultures not incomparable to European standards of life of a thousand years ago, has created difficult problems for ad ministrators. Those problems have been tackled in a scientific and a practical way in Papua; and Mr. Williams, in his 44-page pamphlet, describes what has been done, and the possible and probable directions of future work in this field. It is a compilation that will be of value to tropical administrators everywhere, and to scientists generally.