7 JUNE 1940, Page 12

There is an ancient Polynesian proverb, quoted by Loti, which

says,'" The palm will grow, the coral will spread, but man must die." For the Tahitian the saying was prophetic. The traveller in the South Seas today still may see the three great peaks of Tahiti float out on the glittering blue of the Pacific. From a Tahitian beach he can watch the sun set in a blaze of tropical colour behind the distant island of Moorea. He can linger by the lagoon until the rising moon silvers the coral sand under the leaning palms. It is indescribably beautiful—with the beauty of a broken Greek statue. You may become entangled in the witchery of Tahiti ; but you can never escape a sense of bitterness at the realisation that some- thing irreplaceable has been destroyed.