Among the Natives of the Loyally Group. By E. Hadfield.
(Macmillan. 12s. 6d. net.)—Mrs. Hadfield, the wife of a min. sionary stationed at Lifua, has spent thirty years in the Loyalty Group of islands, and in this well-written book, illustrated with many photographs, she has set down much of the folk-lore and a series of folk-tales which she has heard from her old native friends. She describes the Loyalty people, who are under French protection and are governed from New Caledonia, as a happy and improvident race. As the chiefs may take what they please from their subjects, the people make no attempt to gain wealth and cause the women to cultivate the minimum amount of land. In the South Seas as elsewhere Communism implies stagnation. Although the islands have a fertile soil and a good climate, famines are common. Some of the Loyalty legends are very ingenious ; demons play a great part in them.
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