Regional Geography
Peoples of the World—5
'Island People of the Pacific Ocean'
RAYMOND FIRTH , Ph.D.
This afternoon Dr. Raymond Firth is to talk about the inhabitants of an island called Tikopia, in the Solomon Islands Protectorate. Dr. Firth spent twelve months on the island, for nine of which he did not see a single white man. Tikopia has only about 1,200 people, who are extremely primitive-in fact, they are about the only really primitive Polynesians left. They practise their old religion and are quite isolated. No traders go there. Perhaps a missionary boat puts in once a year, and a Government boat once in three or four years.
Yet they flourish on this beautiful volcanic island, surrounded by its coral reef. The natives' clothing is made of bark cloth and their houses of sago thatch. They grate coconut for pudding and cook it with hot stones. They dance on the beach like children, and at night they go out in their outrigger canoes and net flying fish by torchlight.