Entomologist In West
pp. 23-24 · Read in the full issue
Africa
AN interesting letter from Mr. Jack Phillips, the entomologist who did good work in investigating “nut-fall” in the Solomons a few years ago, has been received by Mr. J. D. McComish.
Dr. Phillips writes from Leopoldville, in the Belgian Congo, West Africa.
“The research on which I am now engaged involves a liver-shaking amount of reconnaissance work in the bush,” he says. “Travel here is pretty grim and uncomfortable, and the rest-houses are generally nothing but unfurnished mud huts, usually with leaky roofs and a fine collection of aggressive fauna.
“I recently saw my first pygmies. They live in the equatorial forest, hunt game and collect forest products. This par ticular crowd were the servants of a tribe of negroes of normal height, the Kundas. The pygmies did not seem to differ from the usual Congo native, except in height.
“Most of the time, I’ve spent in these humid forest regions; but recently I’ve moved to the hilly savannah, which is a shade cooler—particularly in the dry season.
“A lot of travel is done by river steamer, paddle-wheeled boats fuelled with logs, which are collected from dumps on the banks every night. But I’ve done many thousands of miles by car and by plane.
“The fauna and flora here are very similar to those found in British West Africa, though there must be many spe cies as yet undescribed. The climate is the natives some of the most primi
tive on earth; their physique is poor; they are riddled with diseases and under nourished. They are also lazy, unintelli gent, dirty and untrustworthy.
“Altogether, the Congo (like West Africa) cannot compare in interest, climate or natural beauty with the equa torial regions of the Pacific. Life is a continual fight here, with the climate, the natives and the environment.
“On the other hand, we are very well off indeed for food and clothing. Only petrol and butter are rationed, so that we hardly feel the war here.”
Mr. and Mrs. Paul Nordmann, of Papeete, and their young son Peter, are now visiting New Zealand, and may settle in Wellington. Mr. Nordmann was secre tary and archivist of the Societe d ’Etudes Oceaniennes, and, as well as being a con tributor to the latter’s “Bulletin,” is the author of a book on Tahiti, published in Paris in 1937.
Col. and Mrs. Devon McCraig, of Fiji, have received word that their son, Denis McCraig, had been posted missing on % operations over Europe. He was seen to bail out and it is hoped that he may safe. He previously was reported missing when he had to bail out over Greece, but he landed safely and eventually returned to his squadron.
Mr. E. A. D. (“Toby”) Millar, who was on the New Guinea goldfields from 1926 until 1939, when he enlisted in the AIF, is now; in Brisbane, on leave from special duty with the American forces at Hollan dia. He broke his leg after embarkation with the 6th Division in 1940, and then had three years in Australia on base work. He saw service with the Americans in 1943 and 1944 at Lae and Finsch haven. Mrs. Millar, another well-known New Guinea “old-timer,” is now a driver in Brisbane for the American Army.
Word was received in Suva in early r * an( * rs * ,*** R ankine > who left Suva some weeks ago, have arnved in Barbados, where Mr. Rankine 18 *9 be Colonial Secretary.
Miss Ethel Nordman arrived in Papeete m February to visit her father, Mr. Oscar Nordman, a well-known resident of Tahiti. She was on her way to Noumea
to marry a distinguished officer of the French Navy, now commandant at Nou mea. Miss Nordman met him in Hollv wood some time ago, when she was taking a part in the film “The Bombardment of Pearl Harbour.” She arrived in Papeete just too late to participate in family festivities to celebrate the 80th birthday of her grandmother, Mrs. Julia Nordman.