ON FEATHER CLOAKS AND CANNIBALS
I’ve made another contribution to the California Academy of Sciences library blog From the Stacks. It’s about pioneering ichthyologist and first Superintendent of the Steinhart Aquarium Alvin Seale and his adventure memoir Quest for the Golden Cloak. The book is the account of his turn of the century exploration of the South Seas in search of a feather cloak to rival King Kamehameha I’s, and to determine if cannibalism still held sway upon any remote or forgotten island.
To quote my post on From the Stacks, “in his adventures he also came across high cliffside caves strewn with ancestral bones, went diving on a forgotten island searching for oysters with golden pearls, and even had a chance to shoot the devil himself.”
If that whets your appetite, read more here.
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I’m confused. Did you write a story, or are you reviewing one???
Neither, really.
The purpose of the Academy’s library blog is to highlight lesser known aspects of our collection, items that may interest people connected to the institution. In this case, several members of Alvin Seale’s extended family came in to the library to look over his manuscript papers, so I had the opportunity to do some research into his life. In doing so I came across this book, and read it on my own time over the weekend.
I found it interesting enough that I wanted to highlight it on our blog.