Incomparable,

Incomprehensible

New Hebrides

From a Vila correspondent

New Hebrides, Islands of

ishes and Coral, published by

-oral - Tours, of Vila, has

)rightened up the lives of New

iebrides people, and even

aused a debate in the New

iebrides Advisory Council.

In December, a member of the ouncil, George Kalkoa, moved a lotion that the publishers withdraw ie book, because it could hurt the lurist industry by its inaccuracies.

Another member, Mr. Hamlyn farris, said the New Hebrides did ot want the kind of tourists that prtam passages in the book seemed imed at attracting. The motion was arried.

What sort of book causes this kind f comment?

This one is meant to be a publicity Tort for the Hotel du Lagon, which owned by Coral-Tours. One of the lings it does is claim that just about 'erything that the hotel plans to aye in the next five years is in ustence now.

But the fun is due to the fact that e book was apparently written in rench and the translator hardly lew any English. The result is a xt alternating between the ridiculous id incomprehensible.

Some quotes: “Breeding is pursued intensively”, t is true that people have a lot of tildren here).

“At Ambrym the volcanoes are ry active and require unquestionable nletic abilities”. (Presumably local hletes get their training holding e volcanoes down). In Ambrym 50 “Man Bush celebrates rank issage ceremonies” (but they do >t tell you where these evil-smel ig passages are). Usual food in the sw Hebrides is “traditional stuffed id of an iguana and pig” (but as lana is not known in the New jbrides there must be some hungry ople locally).

Erromango is described as an

island “dear to Erromango, who was inspired by its trees”.

The magnificent Ambrym slit gongs, which are described in a recent and adequately translated French book as “the greatest achieve ment of Oceanic Art” are, together with other objects of primitive art of the New Hebrides, the subject of a chapter which is almost entirely incomprehensible. For instance, “The plastic Hebrides woman is the pedestal of lively shades according to simple motifs”, and, “The statues and Tiki, close to Polynesian art, allow you to try to understand this primitive art, so rich in colours and in space”.

Imbedded in this curious and con voluted prose are a surprisingly large number of errors of fact—for instance the total land area of the New Hebrides is given as half as big again.

Bob Paul, of New Hebrides Air ways, is particularly incensed because he is quoted as believing that there is an element of Nazi-ism in the John Frum movement of Tanna. That is very far from being his opinion.

QAMOA IN COLOUR, written and photographed by James Siers, and Islands of Australia, photo graphed by Douglass Baglin with text by Barbara Mullins, are two of the more worthwhile recent picture books. Both are notable for their high-class colour photography, with the accolade going to Baglin, who in any case has been at it longer.

Islands of Australia (Horwitz, $8.95) deals with all of Australia’s offshore islands and island territories.

Many of the smaller islands most Australians will never have heard of, but clear maps and readable text

enhance the magnificent pictorial coverage of island people, plants and animals.

This is more than a coffee table volume. It’s a gazetteer that needs to be in every Australian library, and a few others besides.

James Siers’ text in Samoa in Colour (A. H. and A. W. Reed, 55.95) is more stilted than Mullins’, but he makes up for it with the quality of his pictures. Both American and Western Samoa are covered. It’s a coffee table volume, or a book for the visitor to remember the place by.

BALI the beautiful, Bali the land that time forgot. And now, “Bali—morning of the world”. There have been more books written about this tiny island in the last year (since the big jets moved in) than in the previous 50.

Bali Morning Of The World, photographed by German, Hubert Sieben, and written by lan Grant, is a jewel written about a jewel. The text is one of the best I have read on Bali—short, evocative and factual.

It takes in all that has to be said and goes a little further.

The photographs are simple, thoughtful and to the point—in line with the Balinese way of doing things. It’s another Reed book, at

S7.So.—Jse.