Tropicalities

Pacific Islands Monthly

Magazine Section

tgwash, from Auckland, was

iling a holiday in Rarotonga,

iiffered with his host, Ted in, on the best method of

Hs shopping.

sense in tramping around cown in this heat”, he said to Clifton. “You’ve got a phone, not use it? Ring your orders gh, get them to charge your nt, and have the stuff de li.”

V it,” Clifton said. “I prefer t my shopping the hard way.” »wash reached for the phone. ; store that stocks Brunnold’s ’ Tonic is Palm Tree Enter isn’t it?” “That’s right.” awash got through to Palm Enterprises. “Hello. Have you iiair tonic in stock?” f 3,” an Islands sales girl said My. “You want Brunnold’s ironic?” awash beamed. “Yes, I do.”

“ry, we haven’t got any. The went as dead as the Bagwash He rang another number, jod morning,” said a female “Polynesian Imports here.” [•rning, miss. Have you any clocks, and if so, what do they My bad ones.” jiat’s that? How do you mean?” o,it a minute —I’ll go and : 99 rwash waited several minutes. ;y, the female voice came gh again. “Sorry, we haven’t :iy ”

'wash, red in the face, asked mge for another number, jually he got through, 1110. How much do your alarm ! cost, please?” tiat colour?” »e colour doesn’t matter, I just to know the price.” ie moment please.” :3n minutes later she came up the price. “Nine and six, and i and six.”

'wash snorted. “That can’t be Alarm clocks cost more than sales girl refused to be moved nple logic. Enunciating slowly carefully, Bagwash attempted ulain what an alarm clock was. several minutes he realised ihe wasn’t getting it across, a minute, miss,” he said and ;d the mouthpiece with a hairy r Pete’s sake, Ted,” he snarled. £ tell the girl what a flaming clock is.”

Grinning cynically, Clifton took the phone. “ Alio. Na te ora e maani ite oe kia tangitangi He continued talking—then he put the phone down and rang off.

“Your accent must be terrible.

The lady was quite convinced that you wanted some ‘long socks.’ ”

Bagwash now yelled, “Do they have any alarm clocks or don’t they!”

“They don’t,” Clifton said. “Look —you’ve worked yourself into a lather and got nowhere. Are you coming shopping with me, or aren’t you?”

Bag wash went.-

Whp.

Too Much

PIM man Jim Shortall was in Nukualofa recently, and found himself discussing the origin of some curious words in the Tongan language. His teacher was a bright Tongan boy who, perhaps with his

eye on Jim Shortall’s 6 ft 6J in., mentioned that the Tongans have a polite word, “tulo”, which he said meant something like “excuse me” or “I beg your pardon”.

The Tongan added, “Most Tongans think this is a Tonga word but I heard that one of the first Euro peans to come to Tonga was a very tall man. Every time he entered through the low doorway of a Tongan house he would stoop and mutter, ‘Too low, too low!’ and the people got the idea that he was a very polite gentleman and that ‘tulo’ was the proper word to use on these occasions!”

Jim Shortall doesn’t vouch for its accuracy—he merely reports what was said!

That's The Spirit WE don’t know exactly how it was done but Lae correspondent Pat Robertson reported re cently that a New Guinea office boy was found with a bundle of old letters and a bottle of methylated spirits. He wasn’t drinking the metho —he was using it to clean the post marks from the stamps on the letters, and was then attaching them to letters for which he had been given the money to buy stamps.

Dragons In The Bottom Of The Garden THE Papua and New Guinea Administration is considering offering a reward for capture of a “tree climbing dragon” dead or alive.

Reports of such dragons, said to grow 20 feet long with huge claws, have come from scattered coastal areas of the Territory. (See Tropi calities, Feb.).

One report from the Daru dis trict of Western Papua said the dragons are known to have killed men. Many natives claim to have seen the dragons.

The reports have aroused interest in Canberra, and now the Terri tories Department wants proof they exist.

The Administration is to adver tise in a native publication, The Villager, for the capture of a dragon, and possibly offer a reward.

The Administration Anthro pologist, Mr. Charles Julius, says he

TURTLE SOUP. This fine 450 lb turtle, caught off Long Island, New Guinea, and brought to Lae on the "Mubo", wound up as a native feast. But shortly after Pat Robertson took this photograph, it was a sorry looking and battered turtle, for it had rolled off a truck going up Namanula Hill.

doubts very much whether the dragons existed. one •‘No European has ever o and they do not appear in muv lo ?‘? n fhink they are just a figment of Le naUve mind^’ J ... TU .

Home Was Never Li e POLICE, in April, began a search for old war-time explosives in the Trobriand Islands, on the south-east coast of Papua. This foilowed an accident m which two Islanders were slightly injured by an exploding bomb. Heres how: Administration officer R. W.

Blaikie reported a family in Okaibobwa village had used a bomb as a house support.

The nose of the shell was jammed into the ground, and the hut sat on the tailflns! wot lone aeo the house caught fire °and 0n h g eat S e°xpioded the bomb 8 Shrapnel was sprayed everywhere.

narrowly missing dozens of villagers watching the fire.

Two natives were slightly cut.

Blaikie said police had later made a detailed search of the village and had uncovered; Fifty-four four-inch shells. Four 32-inch-long bombs!

How About This One?

IN March it was freak coconut palms. (Editors’ Mailbag, p. 26).

Now it’s oversized breadfruit.

One weighing Hi lbs and measuring 18 inches in greatest circumference vertically has been plucked from a tree at Manihiki in the Northern Cooks. A statement was extracted from the oldest resident that he’d never set eyes on one as big—so they’re claiming a record for the time being.

Not a Feather to Fly With SISTER Mary Teresita, of Monoitu, Bougainville, writing in the US Marist journal, Marist Missions: The other day one of my school

boys came up to explain why! had been absent. In his very English (I could tell he had bt rehearsing all the way up the roa he began, “I am coming to tell I that I did not come to school yesfl day. . . !” I knew that already. “I why?” I asked. Without flickei an eyelash he continued his I terrupted speech: “. . . it was ra ing very hard and I didn’t havf leaf”.

They use the huge things 1 umbrellas—and all this in a com where we are surrounded by bn with leaves overhead and e underfoot! People are the same world over.

They Could Help Write

A P-NG History THE talk in the club was aU Papua-New Guinea and the : that that Territory lackec modern history. Somebody asl What Territorians, alive now, c« supply information which wi make the history a worth while c Or, if it were possible to ge number of Territorians toge - : over a few drinks one night, i a batch of tape recorders arc the room, and let them talk aT what they knew, who should be; vi ted?

There were many suggestions, even a few arguments. Names c up. Some were discarded, and ones added. In the end those im debate came up with the follow list. All agreed that it was complete, but that it was proto a good start.

Here it is: Bob Bunting, Ivan Claude Champion, Percy Chattel Eric Feldt, Alice limes, E. A. Jaj the Leahy Brothers, Leonard Mui Keith McCarthy, Jock Mackay, V Oakley, Arthur Richards, * Roberts, Bill Royal, Flo Stev Edward Taylor, Jim Taylor, Go:< (“Tola la”) Thomas, “Cas Townsend, Jack West and Ha Woodman.

Fiji Band Still In

The News THE Fiji Military Forces band: the most important part 30-minute color and s<; movie released in San Franciso April to promote San Franci; forthcoming third annual Ps Festival, to be held September Bandsmen make repeated app ances in the film, a documei made during the 1959 Ps 1 Festival. They are shown durr kava ceremony with San France Mayor, shown at a meke cerei: in Golden Gate Park, shown di the daily recitals at Union ScJ and heard singing their haul rendition of Isa Lei at thein appearance in San Franr Officials planning this year’s Fee don’t yet know who will be via from the Islands.