Elderly Fijian Woman’s
p. 63 · Read in the full issue
Five Days On Reef
Elderly Fijian Woman’s Endurance
From Our Own Correspondent SUVA, April 23.
A NOTHER example of the remarkable endurance of the Fijian race came to light recently in connection with a boat ing mishap.
On a recent stormy Saturday night, an aged Fijian woman and her small grand son set out in a punt to cross from Sama bula to Daucala village, some consider able distance in an open punt in bad weather.
Struck by a heavy wave the punt was smashed against the reef and the two occupants were left at the mercy of the sea. The small boy is understood to have disappeared at once, but his grandmother kept afloat, and eventually climbed on to the reef. There she remained until Thursday, exposed to the elements and living on what she could find on the reef.
She covered herself with seaweed, and when a fishing party of natives first saw her they would not approach, thinking the strange figure was a tevora (devil).
However, she was eventually rescued in an exhausted condition and cared for by her finders. The woman has since made a good recovery.
Mr. J. D. Marshall, of the Customs De partment of the N.G. Administration, arrived in Sydney from Rabaul by the Macdhui in April en route to Europe on leave.