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Check to Your King

The author, who describes this as the lifehistory of Charles, Baron de Thierry, Sovereign Chief of New Zealand, tells of the young dreamer who, bored with Cambridge, made the acquaintance of cannibal chiefs, put on seven-league boots and strode across the world, and of how he hypnotised a West Indian syndicate into offering him a crown and the oath of allegiance, sailed under royal salute from Panama, stopped in mid-Pacific to become King of Nukahiva, and finally arrived at his tiny “Sovereign Chieftaincy” in New Zealand–only to find that his troubles were just beginning. The book reads like an enthralling historical novel rather than conventional biography. And not only is it the record of an amazing career, but it offers clear insight into the relations between white men and natives. The freshness of Check to Your King, in tale and telling, should bring pleasure to everyone who reads it.