New Book On Polynesian
p. 48 · Read in the full issue
Life
MANY natives in country districts in Samoa did not know that the war was over, and inquired about its pro gress when he visited them in the course of collecting material for a book about the Polynesian island groups, said Mr, Robert Gibbings to a Wellington “Post” reporter, in May. He is in Wellington consulting the Turnbull Library for back ground information.
Mr. Gibbings, who has spent the last 18 months travelling in South Pacific islands, said that the main effect of the war on the Polynesian natives was an in creased “dollar consciousness,” particu larly in the ports such as Apia.
In Tahiti, which he had not visited for 18 years, Mr. Gibbings found the native life completely absorbed by the French and Chinese. It was hard to see a trace of mixed blood. In Samoa, on the other hand, the natives still took a pride in their own traditions and still wore the native dress, the lava-lava.
The author’s new book, like its pre decessors, will be illustrated with about 100 of his own woodcuts and will tell of native life and customs in the 30 islands visited in the Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, Cook, and Tahiti groups.