The Shark God: Encounters with Ghosts and Ancestors in the South Pacific

384 Pages·2011·2.11 MB·English

by  Montgomery Charles

The Shark God
(cid:1)

Encounters with
Ghosts and Ancestors
in the South Pacific
CHARLES
MONTGOMERY
What indeed do we not owe to the influence of the departed?
They are not dead. Thousands of them live for us,
they still speak to us out of every century, and from far down
the ages, till we have reached the furthest bounds of history.
Somehow they seem all round us.
—Henry Montgomery, Life’s Journey

Contents
Epigraph ii
Map of Central Melanesia vi–vii
1 A Packet of Sand 1
2 The Business of Port Vila Is God 17
3 Tanna: A Conflagration of Belief 29
4 The Prophet Raises His Hands
to the Sky 59
5 Ninety Hours on the MV Brisk 73
6 The Book of Espiritu Santo 87
7 The Word and Its Meaning 97
8 The Island of Magic and Fear 103
9 The Curse of Gaua 121
10 The Parishioners’ Paradise 129
11 Death and Marriage on Mota 139
12 The Secret of West Vanua Lava 157
13 My First Tasiu 179
14 Guadalcanal, the Unhappy Isle 187
15 The Bishop of Malaita 209
16 A Short Walk in East Kwaio 223
17 Raiders of the Nono Lagoon 251
18 Under the Langa Langa Lagoon 275
19 The Brothers and Their Miracles 295
20 Nukapu and the Meaning of Stories 317
Epilogue 355
A Note on Language and Spelling 359
Acknowledgments 361
Selected Bibliography 365
About the Author
Credits
Cover
Copyright
About the Publisher
Map of Central Melanesia