Foreword

It is a misfortune to some fiction-writers that fiction and unveracity in the average person’s mind mean one and the same thing. Several years ago I published a south sea novel, the action was placed in the solomon islands. The action was praised by the critics and reviewers as a highly creditable effort of the imagination. As regards reality-they said there wasn;t any. Of course , as every one knew, kinky-haired cannibals no longer obtained on the earth’s surface, much less ran around with nothing on , chopping off one another’s heads, and , on occasion, a white man’s head as well.^^^^^