Isles of the South Pacific [antikvár]

Foreword:; -si' < .HE JET AGE really roared into my consciousness one Friday afternoon three years ago. I excused myself from a meeting of the Board of Trustees of the National Geographic Society at exactly 5 p.m. in the center of Washington, D. C."Tomorrow morning I'm committed to join a scuba-diving expedition in Tahiti," I explained to my envious colleagues.At 6 p.m. my wife Donna and I stepped aboard a westbound jet. By dawn we were talking with friendly Polynesians in Tahiti. And a little laterstill well before noonwe crossed a narrow channel by boat to the island of Moorea. Before lunch we felt warm sand under our bare feet, and swam among brilliant coral reefs ringed by steep green peaks. Overnight we had flown to the heart of the South Pacific."How long can it last unspoiled?" Donna wondered. We saw some swift changes already and others approaching fast. In another decade many of these timeless, languorous isles will wear a different face.And the very fact of that transition is the reason for this book: to catch a vast but fleeting world before it changes. At no other moment in history has it been possible for a traveler to see such a sweep of time and space: outriggers like those used by the first island explorers, landfalls unchanged since the voyages of Captain Cook, the faces and costumes as Gauguin painted them, the beachcombing ease that represents escape to all of us in this hectic 20th century. Such a varied view has never been possible before and the moment is highly perishable. The very technology that brings it close to us will soon transform it.We still have time however briefly to see these isles. For that reason, your Society commissioned two authors, both New Zealand-born, to cover the widespread subject: Maurice Shadbolt and Olaf Ruhen, longtime students of South Pacific isles and cultures. And thus this book brings you a report that is broad, personal and as timely as your library clock. With the special National Geographic map included with this book you island-hop with our authors and with photographers David Moore and Jack Fields.You will find surprises as I did. Could New Caledonia really have such modern buildings? And could Fiji that booming, hotel-studded crossroad of the Pacific have an interior jungle so untouched? For me, the words, maps, paintings, and photographs fill this book with surprises and at least one surprise surrounds it: the authentic Tonga tapa design on the cloth binding.Some readers will find their discoveries mixing with memories; The horror of Guadalcanal in World War II is evoked by rust-enshrouded tanks and vine-covered shells. Yet the wartime strategy of island-hopping opened new routes and opportunities for the Solomons. Pacific veterans will be astonished at the change.Mines, factories, bridges, and big new schools with brown-skinned rugby players we see them all. Yet such progressive intrusions still cannot obscure the Stone Age aura, the colorful tabus, the names Pago Pago, Bora Borathat themselves sound like sea chanties.Here, then, is the real-life romance of a world that still shimmers bright as a bubble. Enjoy it herewhile you can.