trapicalities

ONLY six members of Fiji’s first con tingent of 56 volunteers in the First World War, who sailed from Suva 35 years ago (on January 1) are now living in the Colony. They are Messrs.

H. J. Mecham and B. J. Marks (Suva): V. Abrahams (Nadi); A. Spears (Lauto ka); G. Beddoes (Nausori); and G.

Harness (Tailevu). Four others are living overseas—Messrs. R. H. Court and W.

Gray at Sydney, and L. Day and McKay in New Zealand.

Of the 56 volunteers, 20 were killed in action and 29 were wounded, most of the casualties occurring in the Second Battle of Ypres. Forty-four men of the first contingent took part in the battle and only four came out of it without injury—S.

THAT former officer of the Murray ad ministration in Papua, Mr. Sydney H. Chance, FRGS, is still patrolling, although 57 years old, and not perhaps as sprightly as he was when he climbed around the Owen Stanley razorbacks. On January 10, over 4QG, he gave one of his most interesting talks —“From Charleville to the Carnarvons.” He was a member of a small expedition which penetrated the rugged country some hundreds of miles north-west of Charleville, and found some remarkable things. He pointed out that in that region no less than six rivers have their origin in an area of less than 100 miles by 50 miles; and some of them flow right across Australia, via the Darling and the Murray. They photographed abo relics, and identified some interesting orchids.

FROM the NZ Herald: Women members of the Canadian British Empire Games team in Auckland are sup plied with grey slacks as part of their informal costume. Recently, one of them, the champion broad-jumper, Miss Elaine Silburn, entered an ironing room at the Games village in her slacks, and was amused to discover a massive male mem ber of the Fijian team hard at work press ing his grey skirt.

A MEL, who used to write delightful stories of Fiji and Rotuma, has not been with us much of late. She now writes from Pago Pago, American Samoa, where she and her husband have been for about two years. She says that they are very happy there, and that hus band Tom has acquired quite an American accent —although more by way of making himself understood than for any other reason. She likes American tastes in food . . . “Cookies with ice-cream, cran berry jelly with fowl, pickled peaches with roast meat and marshmallows with sweet potatoes.”

But however adaptable he might be over the language, her husband refuses to co-operate over the food—such unor thodox combinations nauseate him. Being an Australian, observes Amel, he probably prefers boiled mutton, black tea and bread and treacle.

IP any PIM reader has ever heard of a (or the) “coco vores” let him speak up. Any information thereon would be of interest to the PIM, a certain gentle man in Sweden, the Swedish Charge d’Affaires in Wellington, NZ, the Consul for Sweden in Fiji, and the latter’s un named friend in Apia, Western Samoa.

It has been said that the PIM used the phrase in an article published in recent years. If so, we have no recollection of it—so little in fact, that the Assistant Editor, thinking it referred to some disease in cocoa did a considerable amount of research along these lines before being put on the right track.

A Mr. G, Ekstam, now of Sweden, started the rabbit running. Last October he wrote to Apia asking to be put in touch with people called the coco vores. who are supposed to be formerly sick people driven to the South Seas to live a iiealthy, simple life. The idea appealed to Mr. Ekstam who is something of a vegetarian.

Coco vores thereupon were pursued back ard forth across the Pacific through various Swedish legations, officials and their friends. We now join the chase, although the editorial memory is blank on the subject apart from the fact that we are often approached by various groups of American or European rain bow-chasers who would fain find a Pacific isle there to dwell in health, peace, harmony and a state of nature. We think that a year or so ago a group of Americans hit this rainbow-trail, asked us where they could find an island and live on fruit. Were they the coco vores?

MORE about Tonga’s Royal Tortoise; Mr. Herbert J. Rumsey, of Dundas.

NSW, gives us another version of the story of Tonga’s tortoise (January PIM. He says that in a book published in England (The Road to Bath) in a passage that describes Sir Joseph Banks’ home, there is a story of a tortoise pre sented to the King of Tonga (about 1777) by Captain Cook; but, the story goes on, this animal was later given by a successor to the King to the then Governor of New South Wales. The author of the book records that someone had written on the back of this tortoise, “I knew Captain Cook.”

As the tortoise that still lives in Nukua lofa is believed to be a Captain Cook original, Mr. Rumsey asks were there two tortoises left in Tonga and was the Syd ney tortoise of a later generation bred in Tonga? He would also like to know to which NSW Governor the tortoise was given, and when.

There is no doubt at all that there is a Sydney tortoise. Mr. Rumsey can remember him (her or it) in an enclosure in Sydney Botanical Gardens about 1875.

It is believed that it was later offered to the local zoological society but for some reason the gift was spurned. Three months ago he saw it again in the Sydney Botanical Gardens, where it is in the charge of a Mr. Whiteacres —who be lieves that it is the one Captain Cook once left in Tonga.

Can any reader give us any more in formation on the subject?

MAKING an unscheduled visit to Perth, Western Australia, in January were Mr. John C. Clunies Ross, 21-year-