[?]it the Sacred

Calabash

DENTS of ancient Polynesian lavigation are familiar with ;he calabash or the coconut as vigational instrument. Wood and illustrations to popular igs on the subject show it as mut, husked and polished and its top third sawn off. An or two down from this top are small holes, ious methods of use have been Some considered that the ator looked for the reflection ie star in the water of the r filled calabash. Others con d the water merely as a level igent and the observer looked gh one of the holes across the ite edge of the calabash, r method would be possible— oth are wrong, for the simple i that there never was a d Calabash. quote from a letter from the >ir Peter Buck, written in re -0 a query from Mr. J. E. e of Nelson, NZ, and published e “Auckland Star’ on March U: .ere Is a very, widespread belief ? calabash story, in fact, it is stated that such a calabash is seen in the museum at Hono e magic calabash story was d by Admiral Rodman of the d States Navy. He told it to 1 board the USS West Virginia, I accompanied a group of ,s to the ship in Auckland >ur during the visit of the ican Fleet in 1925 or there s. The tale he told me was during a tour of duty in iian waters he was engaged in vey on the west coast of the I of Maui. Between Maui and nail island of Kahoaiawe, the ge bears the name of Ke Ala iki—the way to Tahiti. Rod told me that the name in d him, and his inquiries lead ;o the discovery of the use of alabash on the return voyage, s naturally struck with the and, coming as it did from an ral who had graduated in ation, I accepted the story as ntic. He later wrote an article 3d The Sacred Calabash in the d States Naval Institute Pro igs, vol. 53, 1927. This article ;o inquiries at the Bishop am, but no such calabash as iescribed by Rodman was pre n the collection.

F. G. Stokes of this museum an article questioning the nticity of the calabash, and an’s reply was really an eva- Rodman had told me in and that he had seen the ish, and measured the angle, was 19 degrees, the' elevation e Pole Star in Hawaii. The il feeling is that Rodman con

structed the story on a theory which is not supported by any material evidence. We cannot find any men tion of such a calabash in Hawaiian tradition. I am convinced that no such contrivance was ever used by the Polynesians.”

Coming from Dr. Peter Buck, himself a Polynesian and probably as great a student of the subject as any, this should end the calabash myth once and for all.

The Solomon Islands Rubber Plantations Ltd., made a net profit of £2,731 last year. None of the profit came from rubber—as the company’s name might indicate —

but from copra, 180 tons of which was produced. Company rubber trees have not yet been tapped.

Mr. Harold Brown, who is to be manager of the Ascot Hotel, Rabaul, New Guinea, arrived in Rabaul on

the February Bulolo. He was ac companled by his wife and infant son.