"Timi"

THE following appreciation of “Timi,” the young Tahitian who died at Colombo in January while voyaging around the w r orld with Dwight Long in the American ketch Idle Hour, was writ ten by a Sydney resident.

A devoted “Man Friday” to his master, and in turn idolised by him, “Timi,” who was white in all save colour, possessed in full measure, the attractive qualities which have made the Polynesian race famous.

First discovered on his native island of Bora Bora, in the Society Group, by

writer Alain Gerbault, now sailing the South Seas in his own yacht, “Timi” was recommended by him as possessing those sterling qualities necessary for the trials and tribulations of a dangerous and difficult voyage.

When the Idle Hour lay at her moor ings last year in Rushcutters Bay, Syd ney, “Timi,” with his perfect physique, handsome face, and amiable disposition, soon gained the friendship and admira tion of all. His prestige increased when it became known that he daily flouted the harbour sharks by swimming ashore from the yacht. Death seemed so far away from the 15-years old boy, with the heart of a child, and the body of a man.

“Timi,” the Tahitian lad who accompanied Dwight Long, the young American, in his round-the-world voyage in a ketch. “Timi” died recently in Colombo. This photograph was taken in Sydney Harbour by Mr. J. Morley, Bellevue Hill.