KON- TIKI

**A tale of true adventure that makes most adventure fiction seem pallid, and that reenforces one's belief that all the world finds enchantment in South Sea island magic. For magic it seems when the author, a scientist convinced that the mysterious origin of the Polynesians lies in the equally mysterious disappearance of the pre-Inca Indians of Peru, finds that only by repeating their fast of sailing some 4,000 odd miles across the Pacific on ba-rafts can he prove his theory. This is the story of that incredible feat, and of the oddly assorted group of six Scandinavians that achieved their goal, a reef-bound island inside Polynesia. The raft expedition rivals Jules Verne, with full quota of storms and strange monsters of the sea, of adventures with sharks, of seeing a live snake mackerel, a rare whole shark, of shipwreck on the reef, within sight of success, of acceptance by natives as reincarnations of white gods, of the 101 days of open ocean and the calm determination to make the expedition scientifically accurate in the records kept on the way. A completely unorthodox viewpoint finds convincing claims in a story that ranks with the best of the classics of adventure.