Santo’s “Bloody

Mary”

Michener’s Bloody Mary

was a Tonkinese woman— and here she is. She, any way, is who many people

in Santo, New Hebrides,

believe was the original

Bloody Mary although the

lady herself did not relish

the reputation.

The photograph was taken in Vila in 1955 by George Bristow, then British District Agent, and now, as far as we last heard, the Registrar of Co-operatives a t Tarawa.

Captain Brett Hilder, of the Malaita, sent it to us after reading our paragraph in Tropicalities, January (p. 18), in which we said we had heard about the New Hebrides Bloody Mary but hadn’t been able to catch up with her.

Captain Hilder is one of those who believe that Santo was the locale for South Pacific—but not us. We say there was no specific locale, and there was no specific Bloody Mary. Any arguments?