BABAI-ALOVA-BABAI
(ESSENCE OF ALOVA)

THIS VOLUME IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED



PUBLISHER'S NOTE

Of late the lure of the South Seas has laid its gentle spell rather
overwhelmingly upon American readers. To be unread in Polynesiana is
to be intellectually _declasse_.... In the face of this avid
appetite for tropic-scented literature, one may well imagine the
satisfaction of a publisher when offered opportunity of association
with such an expedition as that of the Kawa, an association
involving the exclusive privilege of publishing the manuscript of
Walter E. Traprock himself.

The public, we feel, is entitled to a frank word regarding the inception
of this volume. Now at last it is possible to withdraw the veil of
secrecy which has shrouded the undertaking almost until the date of
publication. _Almost_, we say, because some inklings of information
found their way into the newspapers early this summer. The leak, we
have reason to be believe, is traceable to a Marquesan valet who was
shipped at Papeete to fill the place left vacant by William Henry
Thomas, the strange facts surrounding whose desertion are recorded in
the pages which follow.

"Filbert Islands" Found
by South Seas Explorers