A South Sea Diary

This is only a pretty short book, but it is surprisingly endearing! it is published in 1942, and is a diary of sorts covering the period February 9 1912 to April 27 1913. I say a diary of sorts because he states early on it is not a daily diary filled with repetition, and that he will write only with new information to add to describe his life and times.

The author, an Englishman, has established a life in Tahiti, married (well, sort of) to a charmingly intelligent Tahitian wife and has purchased a coconut plantation which he runs. He is not wealthy, he makes enough money to survive, but really not more. he lives what we might consider an idyllic life in Tahiti, but he shares the good and the bad sides here.

The beauty of this book is the excellent and accurate descriptions of everything to do with his day to day life. True to his word he carefully avoids repetition or any dull drudgery, other than describing everything going on in his life once.

The start of the book is quite funny really, where he describes his dislike for the visiting tourists, their boorish behaviour and poor manners. He then reflects that he should really get used to them, and acknowledges that they bring money to the island and are necessary. There was a certain irony I found amusing.

Over the period of just over a year the author becomes aware of an illness he has picked up, and doctors suggest he move from the island for a period of a few years. This he does, when he is offered a job on a island called Makemo in the Tuamotu archipelago in French Polynesia, running a large coconut plantation. Having set himself up there, he is quickly offered a job on another island nearby as the primary trader. Before he could even finalise his move there, he was approached by the plantation owner to take another job for a short period supervising an oyster shell diving team (as the previous man was mauled by a shark!). The plantation owner arranged with the trader to stay until the oyster shell diving supervisor job was complete!

If that sounds a bit frantic, well yes, it was, but what it allowed was two more destinations and jobs to be well described in detail for the reader.

Near the end of the book, as he completes his contract with the oyster shell crew, his wife takes ill and is told she must return to Tahiti to recover, so in spite of his own health risks, they pack up immediately and return.

No spoilers here, and there I will stop, other than to say this book is worth seeking out, or picking up given the opportunity. A rare thing to find a short book (143 pages in my Penguin Cherise edition) so filled with detail and description.

5 stars