A Pattern of Islands

Cover; Title Page; Dedication; Contents; Map; PROLOGUE: Cadet in Embryo; Chapter 1: Cadet in Action; Chapter 2: Recruiting Trip; Chapter 3: First District; Chapter 4: Native Courts; Chapter 5: Lagoon Days; Chapter 6: Strange Interlude; Chapter 7: Listening and Learning; Chapter 8: Creation Myth; Chapter 9: Central Gilberts; Chapter 10: Tarawa Again; Chapter 11: Priest and Pagan; Chapter 12: Southern Gilberts; EPILOGUE: Return of a Stranger; About the Author; Copyright.;Arthur Grimble was sent to the Gilbert and Ellice islands as a colonial administrator in the twilight of the Edwardian era. He lived there for the next twenty-five years and developed a rare passion for the language, life and landscape of the place. Fortunately his island neighbours, a fascinating cast of fishermen, sorcerers, poets and fighters, began to trust this charming, happy and energetic young man, and shared with him their treasury of stories from the days when warfare was endemic and magic an essential part of everyday life. A Pattern of Islands is a rich and complex cultural history of the dances and legends, rituals, spells and way of life of the islands. It is also a riproaring adventure story. Grimble learns to spear hungry sharks, to negotiate fearsome reefs and, on one terrifying day, is used as human bait to catch a giant squid.