Dogs!

r E dogs of Tahiti are more in num ber than the sands of the seashore.

A careful census of the ant communi ties might disclose that they contain the major number of inhabitants; but the dog population would stands high on the roster in second place.

Dogologists (who, by the way, are the only ologists who have not as yet ran sacked this much-enduring bit of ter ritory) would find much to interest them in so fertile a laboratory of canine evolution.

The early Polynesian settlers brought with them dogs that were, probably, a blend of every species on the continent of Asia. On this parent stock has been grafted nearly every type of dog the rest of the world has to offer.

We have a neighbour who is a collec tor of dogs. Within the boundaries of his demesne he has gathered many spe cimens of the wonderful hybrids Nature has evolved on these romantic isles.

During the day they sleep. But the still watches of the night are shattered at irregular intervals by explosions of clamor —ranging from the mournful howls of a college of banshees, through snarls, growls, staccato yelps, barkings, yappings, to the resonant baying of hounds—that begin as though the ground had suddenly been torn open by. a vol canic eruption of dogs. Then, as abruptly as they have begun, they cease.

However, this nucleus of noise always acts as a fulminate, and when the centre has quieted down, one can hear in the distance fresh battalions of dogs industriously rousing up still more dis tant battalions, to pass on the excite ment to the most remote districts.

Often this happens in reverse order, and we can hear the wave drawing nearer and nearer, from some distant source, until our neighbourhood dogs are awakened to sound and fury.

Of course, every time this happens, everyone who is not under an opiate, or ossified by too liberal draughts of the waters of Lethe, is catapulted from the Land of Nod to a world of confusion and noise. Then a listener —who is earnest and anxious to learn —can add to his vocabulary of vituperation some precious jewels gathered from many treasure houses.

Even the Chinese storekeeper at the crossroads arranges his Tzes and Chungs and Tongs in sequences which —although not so comprehensive as the Tamil or so sonorous as deep-sea English—can cause lightnings to flicker and distant thunder to rumble.

Only the dog collector remains undis turbed amid all this Bedlam.

Some Polynesian Merlin has woven about him a wall of enchantment where in he sleeps peacefully, safely protected from the army of wraiths, djinns, demons and cannibal ghosts his exas perated neighbours have called up to haunt his dreams and disturb his slum

bers.

A.C.R.

Rev. Brother Peter, 8.A., arrived in Fiji recently from Auckland, N.Z., to join the staff of .the Marist Brothers’

Secondary School in Suva. He is assist ant to Rev. Brother Lambert, B.A.

Mr. H. H. Vaskess, Secretary of the High Commission for the Western Paci fic, Suva, is at present in Sydney, with Mrs. Vaskess, on three months’ furlough.