Evening star., 1924-08-31
SOUTH SEA ISLAND
ILLUSIONS ENDED
''GentIemen Voyagers" on
NarWhaI Say Glowing
Stories Are Baseless.
BY Consolidated Press.

BY Consolidated Press.
SAN FRANCISCO. August 3o.-The
adventure bark Narwhal and it's crew
of IS gentleman sailors" who. figura-
lively and almost literally speaking,
have come back from Davy Jones
locker after three times being given
up for lost. didn't bring back any
fortune in buried treasure. But their
hazardous cruise may not have been
in vain.
The Narwhal and its crew. it de-
velops, performed what may turn out
to be great public service. IheS
have eliminated one of the long
standing causes of why boys leave
home.
The romantic South Seas, which in
years gone by have lured many an
adventurous youth from home and
fireside, aren't nearly 50 romantic as
they have been cracked up to be-
Neither are buxom and Scantily clad
South Sea bellies, who. according TO
time-honored maritime tales, Just
dote" on white men. the pulchritudl-
nous things that yarn-spinninS ma
riners have led us to believe.
Say Buxom Is Right.
The Narwhal spent most of its lS
months of adventure cruising in the
South Seas And in that interval It's
crew of gentleman sailors had ample
opportunity to become irrefutable au-
thorities on South Sea bellies. Ihey
met up with about every variety
Tropical maidens of the old salts
tales have always been described as
buxom. Members of the Narwhal $
crew admit that the word is well ap-
piled: that all South Sea bellies are
however, are not the only thing they
lack. Pulchritudinously, odoriferous-
ly-the latter applied in the strict
sense of fragrancy-and conversa-
tionally, all equatorial maidens are
unanimously set down by the Mar
whars Sailorrnen as being sadly minus
Listen to Paul Stermer, treasurer
of the Narwhal expedition, who was
custodian of Sc cents in the ships
strong box when the old barkentine
reached San Francisco, on the subject
of South Sea bellies:
Average 200 Pounds.
They're buxom, all right" he says.
Except those who haven't passed the
age of r. most South Sea maideps Will
average 200 pounds on the hoof. with
out their hairpins. After they get mar
ried they weigh more.
SOUStI llOiIdlly, lLCiL
is mostly confined to grunts. Grunt-
ing. however, is done in different keys.
A South Sea Islander can carry on an
extended conversation solely with
grunts. Sometimes, however. when
you can get them to snap out Of their
plethoric legarthy-they are always
tired, particularly the maidens-they
can talk English almost as good as you
and 1.
girl who haden't commenced to get TAT
yet He wanted her to pose for pic
ture so he commenced talking to her in
pidgin English.
"Oh, can that stuff she advised him.
If you want to "shoot" me go ahead.
But don't you think you've got your
shutter open too wide for this bright
sunlight The movie men had been
to same island long before we had. 1t
developed"
Lying under cocoanut palms in indo-
lent ease with no worries as to where
the meal is coming from also has been
painted by the yarn-spinning mariners
of olden days as one of the advantag ges
of South Sea Island existence.
Too Many Flies.
1t can be done-by the natives
but not by the white men. Too many
flies. Native hides from birth, it
seems, are entirely impervious to such
insect pests, but not so the white man 8
cuticle.
Regarding plenitude of food in the
romantic" South Seas, members OF
the Narwhars crew admit there is
no need of white man starving to
death. A cast-iron stomach and calm
resignation to fate, however, are neces-
sary if one is to subsist On island diet.
"Fish - and more fish" says
Stermer in explanation. ALSO gulls
eggs. The eggs are gathered wher-
ever they are found and are eaten
without regard to their lack OF cold
storage facilities or date or origin
There also are plenty of cocoanuts
but if anybody regards that hard
shelled fruit as a fit subject for reg
ular diet, they want to try living on
cocoanut meat for three days"
The Narwhars crew brought back
a few hundred thousand feet of mo-
ton picture film. Most Of it, they
say, depicts South Sea Island life as
it was found, with a lot of footage
devoted to the South Sea Island maid
ems. They are now trying to sell
this film. The proceeds from it, they
hope, will materially augment the
meager Sc cents left in the old bark
entine's strong box. Also they hope
it will stop a lot of flaming youths
from leaving home in quest OF beau
teous South Sea maidens.