The Seeds of Singing

I try to learn as much as possible about the places I am going. However, the demands of training and blogging often limit how much reading I am able to fit in. Selectivity is the key. So I was all too pleased when my good friends Jeff and Leslie gifted me the above title; a novel set in Dutch occupied New Guinea in the 1940's. Sure, at 500 pages (and no pictures) it was a meaty work and I would have no time to read any other offerings particular to this region. But this novel offered the promise of historical context (WWII), interactions with indigenous peoples, the observations of Anthropologist, and a worthy mingling of the flora and fauna. It delivered all of this, often at the same time, as forbidden desires were indulged by the side of jungle pools. Though my prudish sensibilities were alerted, my academic needs were given just enough to keep them going. So, in the interest of research, I pressed on with the reading, finishing it in a matter of days.        Here is what I learned.  
1.  It was almost impossible to get a good mint julep in 1940's New Guinea. 
2. My money is always on the guy with the poisonous blow-darts.
3.  A leach can fit through the lace grommet of a boot.
4. Headhunters are not so much bad humans as  misinformed collectors.  Let's not judge.
5. The heat of the jungle acts as a sort of moral kryptonite.
6.  Malaria is so prevalent in New Guinea that, prior to pharma preventatives, you might as well have just lay out in the evening air and gotten it over with.
7.  The tribes of New Guinea really really really really dislike one another. Good luck Kofi Annan.
8.   It is advisable to yield on price when bartering at the point of a bayonet.
9. There use to be a really good living in growing rubber.
10.  The natives upriver liked white men  ...lightly braised with a plantain gravy.