New-York tribune., 1922-11-05
The South Seas again
By Stewart T. Beach

AToLI.s OF THE SUN. ay Frederick
o'Brien. The Century Company.
EMyo THOSE who have made the
b acquaintance Of Frederick
O'Brien through the two pre-
h vious volumes which he has
published, rscoanting a6ven-
lures and experiences in the islands
of the Tar Pacific, "Atolls OF the Sum
viii need little introdactiop. It's name
and authorship will be sufficient 60
assure its readera that they may ex-
pect the same keen delight which they
have experienced In the ampulatory,
almost gossipy. record Of days spent
upon the curioua islands o2 the South
Seas to which distance lends the charm
OF mysterious enchantment
Mr.. 0'Brien sets sail from Tahiti
for the Dangerous Archipelago that
group of coral islands to which mari
ners, in memory Of the ships which
had been lost upon the treacherous
reefs, had given seversll. the names
Of the Haif-drowned Islands, the Low
archipelago and the Pernicious la
lands. His wanderings carry him
through the atolis which compoae the
group, to be concluded In another visit
to the Ma-q0ssas Islands and The re-
turn to Tahiti. The drab outline Of
the voyage promises nane of the de-
lightful rcmancing into which the mar
rative extends. The naihor has the
i faculty OF weaving all cf tie details
| of his experiences. geogl apkical and
geological surveys. anthScpcaegical and
archaeological observations, with the
stories and adventures Of the natives
into an account which rivals fiction
in its pure interest ce narrative.
And his is tot the account CT O
chance traveller set down by fate in
unfamiliar ahoycs without knowledge
OF the country, IT'D castoms or it's peo-
pie. His interest is almost that of the
student, and coupled with his narrative
arc accounts of the remarkable pic
torial effects obtained by tattooing in
the Marqueses, of pearl diving, and of
the remains Of a vast civilization upon
Easter Island, with its enormous idols,
seventy feet in length and carved from
the solid rock, bearing In their Wis
ages a striking likeness to the gods of
the Incaa which have been exhumed in
Peru. Fascinated by the possibilities
proposed, by these resemblances, he re-
hearses' the scientific theories which
would place, prehistorically, CONT
! nents In the stretch Of sea between
South America and the Western ISL
! ands, thereby accounting for the iden-
! tical customs Of peoples in two such
alienated parts Of the world and for
! the basic stock of Caucasian blood
! which seems to underlie the later in
fusion of a foreign people apparently
indigenous to the South Seas.
Mr.. O'Brien's account Of the influx Of
missionaries to the people of the. ISL
ands is perhaps one Of the most in
teresting in the book. Since he often
comes across the effects of Christian
/ ity in his wanderings, the narrative is
an often recurring one Roman
Catholicism, Mormonism and Seventh
Day Adventism seem to be the reign
ing adherences, and, according to his
account, sectarianism is even more
(, bitter and pronounced than it has been
III more civilized countries. Ever
changing laws gave the ascendancy at
one time to the Catholics, then re-
turned it to the Protestants, but even
among the latter there was the bitter
strife of sect. The reader stops with
! Mr.. O'Brien's comment to reflect upon
tho Paumotman's capacity for serious
interest in the religion of the Chris
tians. ''The fact was" he says, "that
it was not easy to keep Polynesians at
any heat of religion. They wanted en-
tertainment and amusement, and if a