New Books

Folk Tales From Papua

A DEPARTURE from the usual type of , New Guinea literature is a small volume (published last year but just received) by Bruce Hamilton, a well known resident of both Papua and New Guinea.

The book contains seven folk-lore stories of the Papuans and is illustrated with black and white drawings by Sheila Farquharson. Possibly because Terri torians are a hard-boiled lot—more in terested in “exploiting” natives than lis tening to their myths—the recording of folk stories has hitherto been left to anthropologists who attach some signi ficance to them.

Mr. Hamilton appears to be the first layman to have ventured into this field, which has been covered with great thoroughness in other native countries.

New Zealand children, for example, whether Pakeha or Maori, are nurtured from kindergarten stage onwards, on a steady diet of Maori folk-lore.

Mr. Hamilton was born in Papua and it was during his childhood spent in lonely places with his only playmates, the native children, that he heard the stories, contained in his book. (“Folk Tales of the Fuzzy Wuzzies,” bv Bruce Hamilton, published by Ayers & James Pty., Ltd., at 2/3.)

Sir H. Luke's Diary

ANOTHER book by Sir Harry Luke (formerly Governor of Fiji and High Commissioner of the Western Paci fic) has recently been published in Lon don.

Called “From a South Seas Diary,” it covers the term of his office in the Pacific and records his travels and exneriences in the island groups under his administra tion.