Book Reviews - H.J.M

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Book Reviews - H.J.M Book Reviews - H.J.M. Claessen, David Lewis, From Maui to Cook: The discovery and settlement of the Pacific, Drawings by Walter Stackpool. Sydney: Doubleday, 1977. Bibliography. - P. van Emst, Carl Lumholtz, Among Cannibals. An account of four years travel in Australia and of camp life with the aborigines of Queensland. Firle: Caliban Books. 383 pp. Maps, illustrations and index. Reprinted from the first edition, London: John Murray. - D.C. Geirnaert-Martin, Robert Wessing, Cosmology and social behaviour in a West Javanese settlement, Papers in International Studies, Southeast Asia Series no. 47, Ohio University Center for International Studies, Southeast Asia Program, 1978, Athens, Ohio. - B.G. Grijpstra, William Wood, Cultural-ecological perspectives in Southeast Asia, edited and with an introduction by William Wood, Papers in International Studies, Southeast Asia Studies no. 41, Ohio University Center for International Studies, Southeast Asia Program, 1977, Athens, Ohio. - R. Hagesteijn, M. Jacq-Hergoualch, Larmement et lorganisation de larmée khmère aux XIIe et XIIIe siècles; daprès les bas-reliefs dAngkor Vat, du Bayon et de Bantay Chmar. Paris: Presses Universitaires de France. - C.K. Jonker-de Putter, John Ingleson, Road to exile; The Indonesian nationalist movement, 1927-1934. ASAA Southeast Asia Publications Series, No. 1. Heinemann Educational Books (Asia) Ltd., Singapore, 1979. xii + 254 blz. Bibliographie, index. - P.E. de Josselin de Jong, Roland Werner, Jah-het of Malaysia: art and culture, 1975. Kuala Lumpur: Penerbit Universiti Malaya. xxxv, 626 pp., 39 figs., 2 maps, 746 plates. - P.E. de Josselin de Jong, Roland Werner, Mah-Meri of Malaysia: Art and culture, 1974. Kuala Lumpur: Penerbit Universiti Malaya. xxvi, 485 pp., 13 figs., 3 maps, 460 plates. - Simon Kooijman, Peter Gathercole, The art of the Pacific Islands. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1979, 365 pp., 386 illustrations + 6 sketch-maps., Adrienne L. Kaeppler, Douglas Newton (eds.) - Adrianus Koster, Mario Vassallo, From lordship to stewardship, religion and social change in Malta, The Hague, Mouton (Series Religion and Society no. 15), 1979. 270 pp. - Clive Moore, E. Utrecht, The Indonesian army, volume one, South East Asian Monograph Series number 4, James Cook University of North Queensland. (233 pages) - Arie de Ruijter, Jonathan Friedman, System, structure and contradiction. The evolution of Asiatic social formations, Social Studies in Oceania and South East Asia 2, The National Museum of Denmark, Copenhagen, 1979, 317 pp. - Arie de Ruijter, C.F. Hallpike, The foundations of primitive thought. Clarendon Press: Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1979. 516 pp. - J.J. de Wolf, J.H. Konter, Ujamaa: de ontwikkeling van een Afrikaans socialisme. Van Gorcum Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 09:51:38AM via free access This PDF-file was downloaded from http://www.kitlv-journals.nl Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 09:51:38AM via free access BOEKBESPREKINGEN David Lewis, From Maui to Cook: The Discovery and Settlement of the Pacific, Drawings 'by Waker Stackpool. Sydney: Dou'bleday, 1977. Bibliography. H. J. M. CLAESSEN David Lewis, the well-known expert on canoe travel in Oceania, presents here a general account of the discovery and settlement of the Pacific. To say only that this is a well written and well documented book is an understatement; there are more books on the same subject to which these qualifications apply. This work, however, is characterized by yet another quality: the author himself has sailed on a number of the routes he describes, and on many in the traditional Polynesian way. This adds a flavour of genuineness and authenticity to the discussions and descriptions that other books lack (with the exception, perhaps, of the works of Thor Heyerdahl!). Most attractive is Lewis' manner of summarizing in lively and authoritative prose several interminable discussions of traditional voyages. The reader is given information on subjects as diverse as the construction of the boats and the developments in this in the course of time, possible dispersion routes, navigation techniques, and the way of life on the newly discovered islands. His method of handling the material, however, requires that the reader have at least some acquaint- ance of the existing Hterature so that he may recognize the places where the relevant data were found. This is not always clear from the text, and hence some notes would have been in order. On the other hand, this might have posed the author serious obstacles in the task of writing a general account for a wide audience. Lewis should, however, have mentioned his source for the statement concerning "flotillas of great canoes bearing whole subtrïbes putting to sea from Nuku Hiva in search of a priest-chief's dream island" (p. 21 ff.). And are the vestiges of South American influences on Easter Island really as limited as he claims (p. 24 ff.)? No less interesting are the chapters on European voyages in the Pacific. All well-known captains are discussed: Magellan (or more correctly, Magelhaes), Drake, Mendana, etc. Schouten and Le Maire are also mentioned, while in another chapter Abel Tasman at last receives the honour he deserves, namely recognition as the man who Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 09:51:38AM via free access 168 Boekbesprekingen "put more Pacific islands on the map" even than Cook, while "respect- ing the lives of the people he came across" (p. 152). In discussing Cook, Lewis points out that this navigator should never have let himself be persuaded to undertake his last and fatal expedition, as he had been under constant strain for nearly seven years (p. 165). In a separate chapter the encounters between Europeans and Poly- nesians are described. Well-known and less well-known visitors to the islands, from William Mariner and Diaper to a certain couple named Morgan and Ann Butcher, are discussed. The book ends with a summary of a number of recent voyages making use of traditional means. In this same chapter Lewis describes his own experiences with the old navigator Tevake from the Reef Islands, with Hipour of Puluwat and with the Repung brothers from Satawal. The last voyage described is the famous venture of the Hawaiian-made canoe Hokule'a, which in 1976 sailed from Hawaii to Tahiti in the traditional way. Though the book is meant to be a kind of general introduction to the discovery and settlement of Oceania, it is not written only for the layman. On the contrary, even the expert scholar has a lot to learn about the voyages and voyagers in this part of the world. The drawings by Walter Stackpool deserve a special word of praise. Without them much of what is narrated in words would have remained mere description. The drawings most charmingly make this description come alive. Carl Lumholtz, 1979. Among Cannibals. An Account of four Years' Travels in Australia and of Camp Life with the Aborigines of Queensland. Firle: Caliban Books. 383 pp. Maps, illustrations and index. £ 10.00. Reprinted from the first edition, London: John Murray, 1889. P. VAN EMST Het boek is een herdruk van een uitgave uit 1889, waarvan de oorspronkelijke titelpagina in facsimile is weergegeven. Er is een korte biografie van Lumholtz aan toegevoegd, waaruit blijkt dat deze Noorse reiziger anno 1876 gradueerde in de theologie. In 1880 vertrok hij voor een expeditie van ruim drie jaar naar Australië en stelde zijn be- levenissen aldaar te boek. Als reisbeschrijving is dit werk zeker geslaagd, aannemend dat men aan zo'n boek de eis stelt dat het boeiend en waar- schijnlijk is en aan de lezer geen al te hoge eisen op intellectueel gebied stelt. Kleine en grote avonturen worden zonder gewichtigdoenerij ver- haald en het anecdotische element wordt verwaarloosd noch overdreven. Lumholtz' (zelfopgelegde?) doel was het verrijken van de kennis der Downloaded from Brill.com10/02/2021 09:51:38AM via free access Boekbesprekingen 169 natuur en het belangrijkste middel daartoe was kennelijk het zoeken en doden van vele en velerlei dieren en het prepareren van derzelver huid en eventueel skelet. Bij deze bezigheden slaagde de auteur er in om vier tot dan toe onbekende zoogdiersoorten te vinden, waarvan er één (de Dendrolagus lumholtzii) naar hem is vernoemd. Deze vier zijn in de oorspronkelijke uitgave in werkelijk fraaie kleuren afgebeeld; in deze nieuwe editie moeten ze het met een schamel zwart-wit stellen. Het belangrijkste gedeelte voor de antropoloog is dat waar Lumholtz de periode van zijn verblijf in Herbert Vale in Noord-Queensland be- schrijft. Toen namelijk trok hij maandenlang met de Aborigines op, at hetzelfde voedsel als zij en sliep in hun zéér tijdelijke onderkomens, kortom participeerde zoals weinigen in zijn tijd en later plachten te doen. Achteraf bekeken heeft hij eigenlijk — waarschijnlijk door zijn toen- malige gebrek aan achtergrond-kennis — een kans gemist. Ondanks zijn intensief deelnemen aan de inheemse leefwijze, ondanks het feit dat hij de taal redelijk moet hebben beheerst, komt hij ten aanzien van deze samenleving niet verder dan het mededelen van een aantal onsamenhangende curiosa en wetenswaardigheden. Het doet overigens weldadig aan, dat hij op een gegeven ogenblik eerlijk toegeeft dat hij meer dan genoeg van zijn gezellen heeft en blij is dat hij weer naar zijn bewoonde wereld kan terugkeren. Geen woord over de welhaast Obligate sympathie voor de zwarte vrienden, die men in vrijwel iedere monografie aantreft. Hij ziet de Australiërs als gewone mensen, mensen, die men kan waarderen of niet. Overigens is zijn bewogenheid met hun lot zeer groot: hij heeft geen goed woord over voor de behandeling die de meeste blanken in de bush aan de Aborigines meenden te moeten geven. De vraag ligt voor de hand, waarom juist van dit boek een heruitgave is verschenen. In hoeverre de biologie er mee gediend is, kan ik niet beoordelen; de waarde als 'bijdrage aan de huidige antropologie is miniem.
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