of slavery in the aftermath of the
war. He moved to San Francisco to
take up employment in the finance
department of the renowned Wells
Fargo and Company. Banks married,
and became well-to-do, and a
person of status socially, with strong
interests in the field of science.
He owned property and other
investments, including a brothel.
Banks had a penchant for
Princess, because he was a commoner.
Atiuan legend has it that Princess
Mokoroa, for that was her name, died
of a broken heart. Mokoroa’s mother,
herself a high Chief on the Island of
Rarotonga, thwarted Wells Fargo and
Company’s detectives from effecting
Banks’ extradition to America. In
retaliation, they placed arrest warrants
in surrounding countries, ensuring
that the lovelorn Banks was ring-
fenced for the rest of his life within
the Cook Islands. In effect, he was a
virtual prisoner in paradise.
Pa and the Dolphins
by Jillian Sobieska
A True Story of Pa, Rarotongan Hero
and his Journey to Tahiti.
This spellbinding tale of one of
Rarotonga’s most loved characters (the
same Pa that escorts you on the Cross
Island Walk) will delight children and
adults alike.
opportunistic engagements with the
opposite sex, and was well known
as a philanderer, which was
eventually to lead to his undoing.
He embezzled a large sum of
money before absconding from the
United States to the Cook Islands,
in the South Pacific and, he hoped,
anonymity. What was not known at
the time, was that he had become
obsessed by the beauty, and exotic
appearance, of a Polynesian Princess,
who had been sent to San Francisco
by royal personages to seek a cure for
consumption.
Using a false identity, under the
assumed name of John Scard, he
travelled to the small island of Atiu, in
the Cook Islands. To his great dismay
the Chief, who was also the father
of the girl, forbade him to marry the
Well written and beautifully illustrated
by Jillian Sobieska, a renowned Cook
Islands artist, it tells the true story
of Pa swimming in Tahiti and being
hassled by a shark.
Believing his life to be in
danger he prayed for help – and
was rescued by dolphins. Well that’s
enough detail... do buy the book, it's a
little treasure.
Escape Magazine • 17