Letter from New Guinea. By Vern Haugland. (Hammond. 6s.,
Tins is a true adventure story in the form of the author's lett to his publisher, because although he is a journalist this se' declared literary naïf could not trust himself to write an ordina book. Vern Haugland as a war correspondent was travelling fro. Australia to New Guinea in an army bomber with seven Americ airmen when they got lost and ran out of petrol. They all bal out, and Haugland found himself on a steep jungle hillside. Aft a few days he managed to join up with the co-pilot, and togeth they followed a river. The country was extremely rugged ; to had no food but reeds and a few berries, and each night they we drenched by torrential downpours. They separated at a swift rIv when the airman decided to climb round it, and Haugland trust to his life preserver. Then the real solitary nightmare began ; mo torrential rains, .sore feet, starvation, steep canyons, and worst of all the perpetual rain. At last he came to a plain, human tracks, rough huts, and finally a Papuan village, where he was given food and treated well by the black-fuzzy-haired inhabitants. They guided him to another village, where he was looked after by two Australian missionaries until he passed from delirium to unconsciousness. He awoke in a military hospital at Port Moresby, and was afterwards visited by General MacArthur, who presented him with the Silver Star as an award for his endurance in the jungle. Throughout his trek Haugland kept a rough diary, which shows how much his ordeal was lightened by religious faith.
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