2IO CHALLENGER 



Albatross and not a bird moved in an empty sky. Later that day a 

 white flash against the distant blue above proclaimed the flight of 

 the first Tropic Bird and the ship passed into a new avian world ; 

 the world of the Boatswain Bird, as sailors call the Tropic Bird, 

 of the Booby which crashes clumsily onboard at nights, and the 

 stately Frigate Bird which sails slowly above the atolls waiting for 

 the Boobies to return from fishing, when he will swoop from 

 above towards them, instilling such fear into these stupid birds 

 that they cast up their food to be caught in mid-air by the 

 attacker. 



As they sailed in through the coral reefs which form the harbour 

 of Suva, in Fiji, this was for nearly all of the company their first 

 visit to the Islands of the South Pacific. The ship berthed on the 

 King's Wharf and they smelt for the first time the rich sweet 

 copra which had been unloaded from the schooners and lay in 

 untidy heaps or in sacks alongside. The schooners themselves were 

 loading mixed cargoes and in their rigging were small blackboards 

 upon which were chalked the times at which each vessel would 

 depart for their romantic sounding destinations — Rotuma, Kata- 

 fanga, Levuka, Taveuni, Lakemba. The author has returned again 

 to the Suva wharf since those days to watch the schooners loading, 

 and has longed to stow away onboard. Despite the obvious lack 

 of facilities for either hiding below or for modest comfort on 

 deck, the destinations remain as romantic as ever. 



Challenger' s arrival in Suva coincided with the festivities being 

 arranged by the Fijians to honour the Governor on his departure 

 from the Islands. These included the formal and colourful kava 

 ceremony and dances by large parties of men and women known 

 loosely as a 'meke'. Such ceremonies may pall after many years 

 of life in the Islands, but to see them for the first time is a thrill 

 indeed. The leisured skill with which the group seated around 

 the kava bowl make the precious mixture from the roots of the 

 yanggona shrub, the drawing and the re-drawing of the hibiscus 

 fibre through the kava to extract pieces of solid matter, the rustle 

 of the leaves which form the green and brown skirts of the men, 

 the hollow rhythmic clap and the grunt which issue from the 

 seated elders to denote satisfaction with the words of their up- 

 standing spokesman, all these are but the preliminaries to the 



