PEOPLE OF PARADISE

by David Attenborough ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 27, 1961

A film maker sent from England to photograph the Royal Kava Ceremony in the Tonga islands brings back fascinating, often amusing, recollections and thoughts about the South Pacific from his trip there. In the New Hebrides he watched men dive 100 feet down toward earth, to be caught by clastic vines tied to their feet and snapped back to safety. He met who imitate the white man by talking into tin cans as if they were telephones. He encountered anti-Christian groups who believed in a mythical ""John From"", a man who would come from America one day in a giant plane and deliver them a celestial cargo of useful merchandise. On Fiji he saw firewalkers, on Tonga he saw the royal ceremonies, but his best stories are still of the people. Dumb William was only one of them. He hooked up the Island's party phone line to his radio so he could eaves-drop better. The book ends on a delightful note as a true, floral paradise with dancing girls, parties, and the like, is encountered on Tonga. Very amusing.

Pub Date: Sept. 27, 1961

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1961

Categories: NONFICTION