B. O.—Phew!

Why Village Dogs Howl and Polynesians Shun Us

By A.C.R.

THOSE of us who were born in the Victtprian Age and grew up in the tradition of Kipling, are profoundly shocked when someone draws aside the veil concealing the inner thoughts of na tive peoples who, in those days, were classed as “the white man’s burden’’.

One of the most embarrassing dis closures is to be found in a chapter of the book “Four Hundred Million Cus tomers’’ which explains why dogs in Chinese villages go into tempests of sound and fury whenever Europeans appear.

The short, descriptive Anglo-Saxon words which explain that hostility were, m the period of basques and bustles, ex cluded from the lexicon of polite society; but, in this less polished age, stare at us from pages and hoardings that advertise chemically-saturated soaps, synthetic bath-salts and strangely compounded lotions warranted to render the user tolerable to his fellow men.

The Chinese, ever reluctant to say any thing that may wound the self-respect of a guest, confessed to the author that Europeans are rather suffocating

Polynesians are less reticent. They not only emphatically confirm the timid avowal of the Chinese, but specify Nordics and other Taata Pupure (blond persons; as always inciting their dogs to greater rage and clamour than do other types.

All of this is very disheartening to pompous individuals who visit the Islands expecting reverent recognition of the importance of their persons.

But that is not the worst. Recently, we came across the original meaning of this word Pupure in an old dictionary published nearly a century ago. To-day, the word is currently used as an adjec tive signifying blond—as Vahine Pupure (blonde woman). In the old dictionary the significance, at the time it was first applied to white persons, was “the leprosy, or native disease resembling it; also the person affected”.

This recalls the story we have often heard that the Tahitians viewed the first white people who visited their island, with great compassion; believing their pale complexion to be due to some wast ing disease.

A study of the old missionary records reveals that the apparently affectionate welcome accorded the early voyagers was not due to any regard for their persons; but because canny high chiefs, recog nizing the superiority of their weapons, hoped to induce the visitors to assist them against their enemies.

To-day in Polynesia (sad to relate), “gentlemen prefer blondes” only when their demeanour inspires a lively expec tation of favours, tangible and material, to come.

Tahitians affirm that many Europeans regard water merely as a substance useful for making onion and garlic soup. Native servants tell in the Papeete market-place how their employers, on arising in the morning, stick their arms out of their bedroom windows, pour a few cups full of water over their hands, and consider that they have bathed for the day.

They cite also the man who, in khaki shorts, was long a familiar figure about Papeete. One day he was at the post office addressing letters. In shaking down his fountain pen, a large drop of ink stained the bare calf of his leg. A fortnight later that ink spot was still there! Natives notice such things.

To Polynesians, who eagerly seize every opportunity to plunge into a river or get under a shower-bath, this fear of water is amazing.