Ronald Wright

The narrow tracks of a sugar railway now ran beside the road. A train appeared with a vulgar blast on its electric horn: a boxy yellow engine pulling a dozen flat:-bed cars piled high and wide with blackened cane. […]

“G’day,” Jerry said. “Those spear chuckers looked like they meant business. Big chaps these Fijians. I reckon they were well fed in the old days. Did you hear about the cannibal who passed his brother in the […]

It grew dark; the waiter who brought the beer became invisible except for his white shorts. After dusk some small creatures (birds?) began moving in fits and starts across the lawn. I got up to see what they were. […]

Krishna’s taxi sped flamboyantly, in the manner of Third World taxis, towards Lautoka, the second city of Fiji.
“I like the dry side,” Derek said, more than once, but for me this part of Viti Levu (Great Fiji, […]

During the last century, missionaries, officials, and antiquarians collected many Fijian oral histories and legends while the traditions were still fresh. No early account mentioned a mass migration from across […]

Derek bought two bark cloth place mats from the bushy-haired Fijian saleswoman. We were then approached by her son, a boy of about fourteen:
“Good morning, sirs. If you like I can show you the village.”
“What do […]

Chapter 1.2 – Nadi

When the plane touched down the ethnobotanist awoke, cupped his ears in his hands, and began to complain in a fractious voice about the engine noise. The three of us looked, I suppose, l […]

Chapter 1.1 – Nadi

After breakfast Derek went out to buy a newspaper; I began writing up my journal. The flight from Vancouver had begun with a stew­ardess’s memorable phrase:

You fly across the world’s […]

Prologue

In the Fiji Museum there is a curious wooden artifact with a carved handle and four sharp prongs. Beneath it is the short but eloquent inscription:

The display also contains dishes used for serving […]