THE FAR LANDS by Hall, James Norman

Boston, 1950, Little Brown, Book Club edition w/dj, VG/VG , superb jacket painting in full color by Nicholas Mordinoff. The heroic people who settled the South The heroic people who settled the South Sea isles before history was written left a legend of their wanderings out of which ames Norman Hall has woven a novel of beauty and enchantment. No one but he could so completely capture the spirit of these magnificent people while telling the moving, exciting story of the love of a young chief and the daughter of his enemy.Maui, son of the Tongan chief, was suckled by the Koro mother of Hina when the Tongans arrived exhausted on the island of Kurapo. But the Koros worshiped the god of war, and they did not welcome the peace-loving Tongans. They merely suffered them to stay in a carefully restricted part of the island on condition that they use their remarkable skill in shipbuilding to keep the Koro warriors supplied with war canoes.Before he saw the Koro chieftain's daughter again Maui was almost a man, although not yet old enough to distinguish bravery from bravado. Boldly he violated the Koro taboo to hollow Hina, and brought tragedy on his people, from which at last only he could save them. So the Tongans built in secret their own great canoe-ships, that they might continue their search for the Far Lands - those other islands across the wide Sea of Kiwa where the god Tane had promised they would live in peace.Those with whom James Norman Hall has previously shared his love for the gentle Polynesians and their way of life mill be enthralled by this romance from their legendary past. Others will be fortunate to be introduced to them as Hall knows them in this vivid, violent story.