Adventure Magazine Cover, October 10, 1921 — page 199: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

Ask Adventure Golden Godlings of the South Seas ques elicit prose poems from those who have money; those who haven’t money merely indulge in prose: Question: ‘T would like to know something of the Society Islands, Tahiti in particular. Is English pretty generally spoken there? How are living conditions compared with here, also living expenses? What are the natives like? Do they speak any English? Is there any game there to hunt, also any fresh water fish? Is the climate healthy? Aso how hot does it get? About what is the population of the principal city, and what proportion is white?’”—A. A. McMaAry, Independence, Ore. Answer, by Mr. Charles Brown, Jr.:—Tahiti, the “Paris of the South Pacific,” is without a doubt the most beautiful island in all the wide world. Tahi- tian life is gay and very romantic. In fact this capi- tal of French Oceania is an isle of love, a virgin gar- den, as it were, for sick-o’-the-world people who desire only to live and let live through what becomes in time one long, long afternoon of sunshine, with the blue trade-surf breaking white on the reef a long way out from shore and the palm-trees talking lazily of all the days to come. , English is spoken in Tahiti, even among many of the natives. Too, this cosmopolitan language will carry one through all the island world, from the So- ciety Islands to the pearl-strewn Paumotus and on out to wild, savage Marquesan valleys.. For one who has money or a means of making money, life in Tahiti is far easier and kinder than it is in this land of ours. I have lived in the best of style in Papeete, Tahiti, on forty dollars a month, and I have gotten by on twenty dollars out in the districts of Tahiti. In the latter I was living native fashion, occupying a Tahitian bungalow and eating (no, it was banqueting om) native fruits and vege- tables. Also I was dependent on Moana, the deep still sea, for many delicacies. She turned out to be very, very good to me. What are the natives like? Oh, what are they not like? I found them, these golden godlings and in- comparable mermaids of French Oceania, the hap- piest and the jolliest of laughing playmates. They are children, that’s all. But woe to the white traveler who exhausts his purse! For it is then that the Tahitian, and all his kin, fails to remember of ever having met this unfor- tunate individual before. Now and then, once in every hundred years, an Instance comes up when the glorious mermaid or the golden godling says to the traveler, ‘“‘It does not mat- ter if you have no money.” But only once in every hundred years, mind you. And always it finds its way into Tahitian history, a story for islanders to tell their offspring in the starshine. There is any amount of game to shoot on the mountainsides. For isn’t Tahiti the land of wild pigs, cattle and chickens? In the streams you will find fresh-water fish to spear. Tahiti is a very healthy island, with two seasons only, Spring and Summer. The temperature varies from seventy to eighty-six degrees. The population of Papeete, Tahiti, is about 189 thirty-six hundred. Twenty per cent. of this is white. But, oh, such joyous whites!. So free from worry! What more do you want to know about this happy land? Perhaps I might add that Tahiti and the adjacent islands produce about one-half the vanilla that is used throughout the world every year. And that these islands feed thousands of cows-of-the- South-Pacific, that is, coconut-trees, from which copra (the dried meat of coconuts) is procured. Doesn’t this sound interesting? ‘‘Ask Adventure’’ service costs you noth- ing but reply postage. Squeezing the Trigger R. WIGGINS has worked out a new wrinkle in revolver-shooting, which he passes along to you herewith: Question: —“Will you please give me some ad- vice on revolver-shooting? Just how should a be- ginner go about learning to shoot a revolver? Am a good rifle shot but somehow or other I don’t seem to get the hang of revolver-shooting. Have been using a Colt .41 single-action with a four-and-one- half-inch barrel. “T know the fault does not lie in the gun as I have seen very accurate shooting done with it. I also know that I do not pull my gun off the object before I shoot—at least think I don’t—because I have been watching myself closely. I do not wish to have my name printed in connection with this let- ter.” Answer, by Mr. Wiggins:—I am under the im- pression that you are not pulling the trigger in the manner to get the best results. In order to get the best results, the trigger should be squeezed off gradually, like closing the hand on an orange to squeeze the juice out of it. Hold the revolver lightly in the hand, and gradually tighten up all over the grip, and in so doing the trigger will be pulled so easily and regularly that there will not: be the jerking that destroys the aim. Also, hére’s another kink that I just worked out on myself: pulling the trigger with the last joint of the finger—the end jomt I mean, of course. Don’t let any part of the finger touch the side of the re- volver-frame, as I find that makes me shoot to one side or the other, just as I happen to exert the most pressure, and it always varies. Have the hand high on the grip, and reach the finger to the trigger with- out the least touch to the frame, and I think you will find some improvement. Do you practise snapping the empty gun at a mark? That’s a help, I have found. Have some empty shells in the cylinder, or a bit of rubber or oiled leather under the hammer to prevent the jar from breaking the firing-pin. And I fear that you have a barrel a little too short to find the best shooting of which that gun is capable. I would recommend a length of six or seven and one-half inches for the best work. And always use smokeless powder, and clean the revol- ver with Nitro-Solvent Oil. I hope these hints will be of service. If you need any more advice don’t fail to ask me any time. MICLOOOK C@