The shark god : encounters with ghosts and ancestors in the South Pacific / Charles Montgomery.

Includes bibliographical references.

Map of Central Melanesia -- 1. A Packet of Sand -- 2. The Business of Port Vila Is God -- 3. Tanna: A Conflagration of Belief -- 4. The Prophet Raises His Hands to the Sky -- 5. Ninety Hours on the MV Brisk -- 6. The Book of Espiritu Santo -- 7. The Word and Its Meaning -- 8. The Island of Magic and Fear -- 9. The Curse of Gaua -- 10. The Parishioners' Paradise -- 11. Death and Marriage on Mota -- 12. The Secret of West Vanua Lava -- 13. My First Tasiu -- 14. Guadalcanal, the Unhappy Isle -- 15. The Bishop of Malaita -- 16. A Short Walk in East Kwaio -- 17. Raiders of the Nono Lagoon -- 18. Under the Langa Langa Lagoon -- 19. The Brothers and Their Miracles -- 20. Nukapu and the Meaning of Stories -- Epilogue -- A Note on Language and Spelling -- Acknowledgments -- Selected Bibliography.

"When Charles Montgomery was ten years old, he stumbled upon the memoirs of his great-grandfather, a seafaring missionary in the South Pacific. Twenty years later and a century after that journey, entranced by the world of black magic and savagery the bishop described, Montgomery set out for Melanesia in search of the very spirits and myths his great-grandfather had sought to destroy. In The Shark God, he retraces his ancestor’s path through the far-flung islands, exploring the bond between faith and magic, the eerie persistence of the spirit world, and the heavy footprints of the British Empire. In the South Pacific, he discovers a world of sorcery and shark worship, where Christian and pagan rituals coexist and an ordinary day is marked by confrontations with America-worshiping cult leaders and militants alike. A defiantly original blend of history and memoir, anthropology and travel writing, The Shark God is ultimately a tale of personal and political transformation."--Publisher description.