>^cKtiivg¥ofld 
J^olor'^oaiirwj Jourrv&l 
and what it left was poured on the grass at the 
feet of the Baroness — for the Ritters love animals 
and plants. 
'' Ritter was a philosopher. He was fairly 
small, his legs had been screwed on wrong, so 
that his toes pointed inwards. His nose was long 
and pointed, he had watery, protruding eyes and 
the hair of a prophet. His disciple, Miss Dora, 
smiled a toothless welcome. The couple had at 
their disposal only one pair of false teeth and this 
was Ritter’s day. 
“ Miss Dora wore beach pyjamas and had large, 
naked, black feet. Her neck had not been washed 
for at least a month, and had been given a 
marbled effect by the passage of drops of sweat. 
“ Nudism is above all a healthy movement, but 
the Galapagos are so short of water.” 
A Famous Voyager 
Of Alan Gerbault, Hakon Mielche speaks bluntly 
yet not unkindly, drawing what seems to me to 
be a fair picture. That there is no malice in his 
comments is clear enough. 
“ One warm, sunny morning a little cutter 
glided quietly up and moored near us. Her sails 
hung idle and loose, and in the stern stood a 
white man, as thin as a skeleton, punting her 
for’ards. It was Alain Gerbault, the world- 
famous French war- ace, tennis champion, circum- 
navigator and author. . . 
‘ ‘ His only article of clothing was the natives’ 
loin-cloth, the pareo ; he was clean-shaven and 
wore no hat. He has sleepy eyes under heavy lids 
and his lower lip has a tendency to hang down. 
The whole appearance of the man is that of an 
over-civilised, refined type, such as one often sees 
in the more expensive boulevard cafes of Paris. 
Sometimes he answered not at all when you spoke 
to him, and when he did he lisped indistinctly. 
One cannot help wondering that this somewhat 
feminine, morbidly smiling or childishly peevish 
eccentric should have been capable of the feat 
of sailing alone in a cutter round the world. However, 
under his curious exterior there must lie qualities hidden 
that have made the improbable possible. . . . 
‘ ‘ He plays football with the young boys and takes them 
with him in his boat from island to island. He teaches 
them to crawl and to swim on their backs and gives them 
lessons in practical seamanship. He is a vegetarian and 
teetotaller. He is a character and seems to have found 
his niche in the little island of the South Seas.” 
Of one aspect of the South Seas, the glamour girl side, 
he also talks convincingly. He does not draw the same 
sort of pictures and does not countenance the film-built 
legends. 
‘ ‘ At eight o’clock we moved off in close column to the 
ball, each in white trousers and tennis shirt and with 
a red hibiscus behind one ear. A flower 
behind the left ear means that one is free and 
fair game ; behind the right ear it acts as a warn- 
ing signal — already taken, married or misogynist. 
However, I shall not tell who wore their flower 
behind which ear ! 
' ‘ The atmosphere on the benches round the 
trampled clay floor was actually a little depressed. 
There sat the swelling beauties in wonderful crea- 
tions of dainty sail-cloth in many colours and with 
bare feet. 
” Here, however, I am afraid I must pause and 
shatter an illusion. The women of the South Sea 
Islands are not beautiful. They have figures like 
that of a whale and legs like those of a billiards 
table, and they tempt one to leave the words 
‘ ‘ Lead us not into temptation ’ ’ out of our bed- 
time prayer. But they can dance well. 
‘ ‘ A balloon with a diameter of thirty feet can 
appear elegant when it glides through the air on 
a gentle breeze, and equally so can a Takaroan 
girl appear majestic when, with a dehcate Danish 
sailor in her arms, she fox-trots to the strains 
of an orchestra playing the hula-hula in six 
different ways on six different instruments.” 
And again : — 
‘ ‘ Two women appear from somewhere with a 
guitar and a ukelele. They have garlands of 
scented tiare tahiti round their black hair and the 
moon is mirrored large and round in their dark, 
sparkling eyes. The women of Tahiti are world- 
famous. For many people they are the epitome of 
all that is beautiful and romantic. It is the same 
with them as with their mother island, the first 
impression is a disappointment, the second an en- 
chantment. They are not actually physically 
beautiful, that one must say straight away. The 
models of most of the photographs and drawings 
that have exalted the women of Tahiti in the 
European illustrated Press have all been half or 
three-quarter white, powdered, painted and 
dressed in theatrical costumes. The real Tahiti 
girl is plump, too heavy and solid for European taste ; her 
lips are too thick and her nose too flat. But her skin is 
like cafe-au-lait, her eyes like those the poets sing, her 
movements have rhythm and a queenly grace as she walks 
the streets in bare feet, the soles of which are trodden 
hard as leather, so hard that she can tread out lighted 
cigarettes. They all have one thing in common — they 
never grow up. And they love music.” 
The book is extraordinarily well produced. There are 
many photographs and luckily the author, being some- 
thing of an artist, has decorated every page with a few 
quite clever little caricatures which are in keeping with 
the tone of the rest of the book. This should be a 
“must” book for anybody interested in travel, particu- 
larly if his tastes tend towards seafaring. 
Let's See if the World is Round, by Hakon Mielche (Hodge, 12s. 6d.). 
Published by 
WILLIAM HODGE & CO., LTD., 
86, Hatton Carden, London, E.C.1. 
And at Edinburgh and Glasgow. 
Printed by The Cornxz’all Press Ltd., Paris Garden, S.E.l. 
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