1921 Book - The Cruise of the Kawa

Earlier today I finished reading a book originally published in 1921, titled 'The Cruise of the Kawa - Wanderings in the South Seas' by Walter E. Traprock. Although there are no formal mentions of tikis inside - it does provide an example of America's fascination with a South Seas Polynesian fantasy land -- written 25 years before 'South Pacific' came around. It contains about 20 black and white photos of the native girls, views of the ocean beaches, native habitat, etc. It was a fun and quick read, showing some of the wit that existed before the era of radio and television.

What makes this book especially interesting is that it is a literary hoax - a fake account of a ship encountering a undiscovered 'Filbert Island', and the adventures of the crew on this island. The copy I read had a yellowed newspaper article, identifying the true author as being George Chappell, a Yale-trained architect and humorist. Many of the photos inside are of his friends and colleagues, dressed in native costumes.

It becomes evident that this is a work of parody - especially when one sees the photograph of a nest of the Fatu-Liva bird. The eggs of this bird are perfectly square, with 'quaint' spotted markings -- which look suspiciously like dice. Also interesting was the mention of the alova plant - one inhalation of its scent contained the kick of 3 old-fashioned mint julips.

Two other interesting tidbits from the book ...

• One of the main characters is named 'Swank'
• The island chief's name is 'Baahaaba,' which translates to 'Durable Drinker'

Chappell went on to write several other humor/parody books ... the most famous being his 1930 work 'Through the Alimentary Canal with Gun and Camera', which possibly helped inspire the 1966 Raquel Welch sci-fi movie 'Fantastic Voyage'

Vern

On 2004-05-27 22:36, ikitnrev wrote:
Earlier today I finished reading a book originally published

yep... a well known book in...ahem... 'tikiana"...