Tres años en las Nuevas Hébridas

In 1935, Manuel Bosch, a lawyer, became president of the Mixed Tribunal of the New Hebrides (nowadays Vanuatu), a remote archipelago in the South Pacific which at that time was contested by the British and the French. With this unusual task, Bosch left Barcelona in February 1936 to begin the long and exciting journey which is narrated in the book. Inquisitive by nature, he faced the challenge with great enthusiasm. Throughout the book the different stops are described as a multicoloured kaleidoscope – Port Said, Djibouti, Ceilán, Singapur, Raigón, Hong Kong, Macao, Java, Bali, Nueva Guinea …- before arriving at his destination where he will become an important colonial government employee, without forgetting his long stay in Tahití, which Bosch describes as one of the few paradises left on earth. This book is able to transport us to the exotic Eastern world, to the sensuality of the tropics, to the slow pace of the Polynesia, a world in transformation under the sign of colonialism which in the 30s seemed unchangeable. The details are observed, narrated and analysed with a critical lucid spirit which makes this work an undisputed reference in the genre of travel works.