The Blathering Of

Jim

Another Pacific "Wanderer"

Writes Another of Those Books

NO doubt, European residents in the Solomons will be interested to learn the real reason why missionaries, unlike traders and recruiters, were never attacked during their wanderings amongst the “savage” tribes of Malaita, in the “good old days”.

We are indebted to Mr. James Brook, author of “Jim of the Seven Seas”, for the explanation:—“l asked a chief on Malaita the reason and, in pidgin-Eng lish, this was his reply—‘Head belong missionary he good a little bit. Me like em head belong recruiter, trader more better; plenty more grease stop along him’.”

One wonders whether the same prin ciple still applies in these days of declin ing returns from trading and recruiting; for it is surely a moot point whether is really much to choose in the matter of “grease” between missionary and trader on Malaita to-day. What’s wrong, anyhow, with a morsel of Gov ernment official? Mr. Brook, whose travel autobiography takes him over the seven seas and who claims to have spent a good slice of his time in the Solomons, ought to know!

Some of the samples of pidgin-English quoted in the book appear to lack the true Solomons flavour —of to-day, at any rate —though the stories in the back ground are somewhat bewhiskered with years.

Take the old one about the wood-saw.

Mr. Brook was employed in an “engineer ing workshop”, somewhere in the Solo mons. at the time. One day, a native brought a message about a saw from the Euronean carpenter working in an adjacent 'shop. He couldn’t understand the native until this latter blurted out, with dramatic emphasis—“Pullem he come, pushem he go, brother belong axe”.

Yes, we certainly do seem to have heard that one before —and not only in the Solomons!

One day a native, entering Mr. Brook’s trade-store, asked for a “holdem bullama cow”. It nroved eventually, to be a leather belt that he wanted. And the explanation of this term’s use offered by Mr. Brook, is that bullamacow being the native word for bully-beef, and the native concerned having just gorged himself to repletion on the stuff, something of the kind was wanted to tie round his middle to sup port his distended belly, to “holdem bullamacow” in place. An ingenious ex planation, to say the least of it; and with the added attractiveness of novelty.

It must be many years since Mr. Broox had his surprisingly adventurous sojourn in the Solomons; for he tells of customs which, to say the least, are not on local record. When he was visiting a village in the “Marow Straits”, for example, (probably he means Marau Sound, at the bottom end of Guadalcanar) he noticed “a number of posts, four feet high, stuck in the ground. On top of each rested a neatly-shaped box, having a sliding door in front”.

The author narrates how. on lifting the sliding shutter of one of the boxes, “I obtained up to this period the shock of my life—what seemed to be the culmina tion of all possible frightfulness and awe.

This time, within three inches of my nose, I beheld a human head resting on the bottom of the small box”. Human heads, we are told are left in these boxes until the maggots have cleaned all the flesh off, after which the skulls are transferred to the village skull-house. Well, well!

There is a highly-dramatic story of a recruiting vessel in which a treacherous Malaitaman swung an axe over the skipper’s head. The skipper was lying on his back in his bunk —foolish fellow — when he “saw the axe rise for its in tended purpose, and closed his eyes to re ceive the fatal blow”. But the blow did not come, and the skipper was saved by a miracle. One would like to know the name of the skipper concerned. Perhaps some old-hand of the Solomons could identify him for us.

From the Solomons, the author takes us across to the Gilberts, and there in troduces us to a curious encounter he had with the native king o£ “South Apamama”, a “white negro, with pink eyes”.

Mr. Brook appears to have served for some years in the Royal Navy, prior to his adventurous career in Australia and the South Pacific. One wonders if there is anyone nowadays in the Solomons or Gilberts who remembers him and his so journ in those places. The book received a lengthy and appreciative review in one of London’s important literary periodi cals. —“Islander”.'