South Sea Foam: The Romantic Adventures of a Modern Don Quixote in the Southern Seas

When dusk came and I heard the tribal drums beating the stars in far away up in the forest villages I thought Here at least I shall find rest from the hot-footed turbulency of civilized humanity; here I can dwell ! beneath the Eden-like shades of feathery palms and listen to the wind-blown melodies as they come in from the sea and run across the island trees. I revelled in such like thoughts. I felt that I had come across a pagan world where no more should I hear servile mumblings of a conventional people. I would peer into savage bright eyes and listen to the poetic lore of people who worshipped at the shrine of the stars and counted their days by the fading moons.... -from Chapter I: Samoa: First Impressions Subtitled The Romantic Adventures of a Modern Don Quixote in the Southern Seas this charming 1919 work chronicles not only a journeys through the islands by one young man full of the ardent adventurous spirit of youth its also a fascinating resource on Polynesian gods and goddesses myths and legends as seen through the eyes of a Westerner. Sharing the stories of the distant past and the unparalleled experiences of his own that he collected on his voyages the author weaves an enchanting tale-and a mostly true one he assures us-of a tropical paradise just as it was on the verge of being subsumed by Western culture. OF INTEREST TO: armchair travelers amateur anthropologists readers of crosscultural studies AUTHOR BIO: British author composer and playwright ARNOLD SAFRONI-MIDDLETON (b. 1873) wrote numerous books of travel adventure including Sailor and Beachcomber: Confessions of a Life at Sea in Australia and Amid the Islands of the Pacific (1915) Sestrina: A Romance of the South Seas (1921) and Tropic Shadows (1927).