The Tropical Sun - Belief, Love and Hate

by J. S. Philippe

  ~~~~~

  Bandri relaxed on their porch. Looking at the hint of clouds appearing in the east, he wondered whether the rains might come soon. He wondered what the future held for his family? The world had changed now there was a baby on the way.

  “Jus lelaki?” - “Man juice?” he chuckled, moving his head slightly from side to side. Man juice made babies did it? They had a few names for the milky liquid men produced, but now he liked this one. They had not wanted children straight after getting married and just wanted to enjoy being together. They enjoyed sex.

  He had learned to hold back his urge, and then he could withdraw and share his ‘jus’ on her blissful belly. Or he loved her in other ways. But for a while they had loved freely and totally. To make a new life with Ayu was everything he could hope for.

  Life was abundant all around him. He could see the very pregnant Puteri sorting out a squabble between the young children. Ayu shooed away escaped brush turkeys and their chicks from the kitchen, while the rooster strutted nearby. He could see brightly coloured male sunbirds in the bushes, courting the females. The birds were at it too: males and females.

  He heard the familar thud of a ripe coconut dropping to the ground a short distance away. Looking up at the coconut palms he could see birds and of course the bees and other insects around the flowers and nuts. He could see the long spikes of small flowers, and the young coconuts hanging from the spikes. When the big nuts fall they made ‘baby trees’. And so life goes on.

  He got up from the log that was shaped like a bench, and climbed easily up the trunk of nearest coconut palm, taking his knife with him. Up amongst the long splayed out leaves he looked at the tiny yellowish flowers on the spikes; they made ‘dust’ as well. Why did the flowers make all this dust?

  From his hidden vantage point he noticed Agung and Lyana walking at the further end of the beach, before slipping from view behind the fig trees. Bandri chuckled and muttered under his breath “Dear friend, give us time to get the boat ready before you get her pregnant!”

  Sex was everywhere!

  He cut off a long flower spike and clambered back down to the ground. He could see that one by one the little flowers turned gradually into coconuts. Sitting on their bench, he cut open some flowers and young coconuts. It was the bits in the centre of the flower that turned into baby coconuts - but not the bits of the flower that made the dust or ‘jus’..!

  “Ayu.. What are the flowers for?”

  She stopped what she was doing and looked at her husband with a puzzled expression, sensing that he was teasing her.

  “Let me see,” she mused, plucking an Ipomoea flower. She twirled the delicate pink trumpet around beside her head, and sniffed it. “Because they’re pretty.. Because the birds and the bees like them?”

  She watched his grinning face, and guessed that he had something else in his mind.

  “Alright.. Because they make fruit.. and seeds,” she said, now looking at the spike of young coconuts in his hands: “- and coconuts?”

  He chuckled gleefully.

  “Alright - I’m curious.. Well, I’m waiting..?”

  She came and tickled him:

  “Tell me then..?”

  Bandri lay under their batik bed sheet, watching her. The setting sun threw honeyed light through the gaps, glowing the room into gorgeous warmth.

  He waited for her to finish combing her hair. She had wrapped herself in a sarong, leaving her shoulders bare. She closed her eyes as she swept the comb though cascades of hair, bending her head one way and then another. Her lips parted a little as the comb caught, and then her features relaxed again into sultry serenity.

  He marvelled at how nature or the spirits had ever created this creature he shared his life with; this thoughtful, clever, fun loving, exotic creature. Beautiful, for the lure in her eyes when she loved. Beautiful, for the way she cared, even if she was sad. Beautiful, for the way she thought. Beautiful.

  She tucked the comb into the hammock next to the sea shell. She knew his eyes were on her. He would be looking closely at her, looking at her belly. It was only this day that they had learned she was pregnant, but he would be looking.

  Pulling out the end of the sarong, she paused for a moment, and then just let it fall away from her body. It floated to the floor. He looked at her. She waited without moving, then with courage she slowly turned around. Slim and shapely, elegant, not boastful or proud, but just sharing herself with him. Bathed in the dappled light of the room, he looked at her nymphean naked figure.

  Nipples of black pearl crowned the brown skin of her firm breasts, carried high under her slender neck and trim shoulders. As she turned, the curves of her gentle hips became two, ever so smooth and flawless mounds below her slim back. In the low light he could see, between the firmness of her cheeks, the small diamond of her sex, where her lovely long legs began. Her tummy showed just a little, but he loved her all the more.

  Inside her grew their baby made with his juice. He loved her all the more because she chose him to be the father. She chose him to change her body.

  She tip-toed coyly to the bed, lifted the sheet and lay beside him. Almost immediately she climbed on top of him. Her weight pressed preciously down on him, she and their baby lightly holding him down. She smiled down at him with mischief in her eyes. She kissed him softly, pulling back when he lifted his head to kiss her more passionately. Her body lay perfectly on top of his, skin next to skin, intoxicating.

  Kissing him delicately, she started on his neck, then his chest, then she kissed down his body, treating him the way he treated her. He looked into her eyes - they told him to stay where he was. He should surrender. Her hands gently pushed his hands away. Hidden under the light fabric, she knelt between his legs, spreading them apart.

  He closed his eyes. At her mercy, he succumbed to her tongue and lips lavishing their intimate love. She brought him to the edge, but then lightly kissed the source of his juice, sensing the way his manhood seemed to have a life of its own. Tenderly, rhythmically, she nurtured his arousal, feeling the tremors building inside him, until the eruption of potent juice.

  His breathing diminished. Through glazed eyes, he looked down at her emerging from under the bed sheet. Daintily she moved the tip of a forefinger around in a drop of slippery juice, and smiled up at him with triumphant coyness:

  “So - your dust is in here?”

  He burst into laughter.

  Very early the next morning Raharjo turned up on their porch, enthusiastically waving around several different flower specimens.

  “These all make dust too!” he announced, rubbing his fingers over the anthers.

  They had just finished their sarapan when Listeri walked towards their house, stopping respectfully just outside the porch where they sat. Ayu stood to greet her, and the women kissed each other lightly on the cheeks. Listeri took hold of Ayu’s left hand with both of hers, looking, searchingly, into Ayu’s face. The visitor then glanced down momentarily at the simple loose sarong that Ayu was wearing, before smiling at Bandri.

  “Raj has told us things about the flowers,” she said, accepting a seat in the shade of the bright morning sun. “My husband wants to speak to you both, if that is alright?”

  “Of course, we can come this morning,” Bandri answered, glancing at Ayu who provided a serving of young coconut and fruit for their guest.

  They chatted for a while about other things, until Listeri returned to her house.

  Ayu turned to look at her husband, saying:

  “She knew I was pregnant.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know – but she has three children of her own.”

  Bandri eyes flickered as he remembered a confidence told to him and Agung in Pantai. He kissed his wife on the forehead and held her close.

  Raharjo and his two sisters led Ayu and Bandri into Eko’s bedroom, where a low bamboo couch was close by the host’s bed. Raharjo closed the door, remaining in the other room with his sisters. Eko greeted t
hem as the young couple sat down on the couch. Listeri sat down on the edge of the bed, close beside her husband who then looked across at Bandri and straightaway asked:

  “I am very interested to hear about your ideas for the flowers?”

  “Sir.. Your son and I have been looking at the yellow dust that the flowers make, because the bees collect it when they visit the flowers.”

  Eko waited for Bandri to continue.

  “We think the dust comes from the male part of the flowers so that bees take it to the female parts of other flowers - to make the seed and the fruit.”

  It was simple but weighty in its concept. Saying it out loud seemed to clarify the idea in Bandri’s own mind. To him it now made perfect sense.

  “The plants have male and female parts and they need to make seeds and fruit for the next generation – so the bees help them,” he elaborated. “It’s like what happens with men and women - but we don’t need to use the bees.”

  After he had said this, Bandri realised that perhaps he had added unnecessary detail. Glances were shared between the four of them, until Eko gave out a hearty chuckle.

  “We moved away from our home and we have learned to change our ideas,” expressed Listeri. “But the dust is so small - it is difficult to believe. If people cannot see it, how can they believe it?”

  “When I see a little spider making its web - I wonder how it knows what to do, even though its brain and its heart must be so very small,” said Ayu in soft tones. “Maybe there are many small things that are important.”

  Bandri felt his heart turn over in joy and appreciation for the way she was.

  “You are a special couple,” said Eko thoughtfully, taking Ayu’s hand in his. “You have given us many things.”

  Ayu raised his hand and touched it to her forehead as a silent response, to which Eko responded:

  “I hope your son has your ears.”

  The remark spoke volumes to Bandri, although his wife blinked her eyes in polite surprise.

  “Ayu,” added Eko. “May I say something that you must keep to yourself – your husband will understand?”

  Ayu accepted after understanding the mantra’s significance.

  During the recital, Eko paused and nodded after the phrase: “Cahya Ibu lenggah lan mirsani ngarsane kamulyane saka serangga dheweke karo dheweke kembang.” - “Our Sun Mother sat down and watched the glorious sight of her insects mingling with her flowers.” Continuing he paused again after the phrase: “lan dheweke digawe tanduran wong kang wiji menyang wong wadon.” – “and she made men plant their seed into women.” This time there was the hint of a smile, before he completed the sacred recitation.

  Listeri moved her lips silently, reflecting the words as her husband spoke. Bandri watched his wife’s polite reception of the mantra, and the poise with which she smiled her thanks at the end.

  “Yes, my trusted friends,” said Eko. “I can believe that our Sun Mother has made some things so small that we can never see them. I can see how this can be – the flowers are beautiful for a reason.”

  “To attract the bees to make fruit!” breathed Listeri in revelation.

  A sense of understanding hung in the room.

  “Your idea is a good one and I like it myself,” said Eko. “But many people will not believe it. For some, they may think you are saying that the Sun is not the mother of the Earth. They may say you are a disbeliever.”

  Ayu smiled, putting her hand on Bandri’s arm.

  “Yes, sometimes it’s best not to upset peoples’ beliefs.”

  “We hope -,” Bandri said, but barking dogs interrupted him. He listened as Asu and Anjing kept barking?! Shocked into another reality, he got to his feet.

  “Get your bows!” announced Listeri, her voice crisp and urgent - carrying through to the next room.

  “Stay here - check the shutters,” said Bandri, his words tumbling out. “I’ll look outside.”

  Snatching up his own bow and quiver he rushed for the door, saying the same again to Raj and the sisters in the next room. He opened the outside door with his heart pounding, and looked around. He saw the shutters on the houses closing to a small gap.

  Praba and Andhy ran past, shouting:

  “They’re in the forest! - Get ready!”

  For a heartbeat his body seemed weak and frozen. Fingers tingling, he dipped an arrow, nocked it, and peered around the edge of the work shed at the forest beyond. His eyes still shocked by the mid-morning sun, he stared at the trees and the shadows between them. He scanned for movement or any human form.

  Asu and Anjing still barked, running around outside the low walls. His mind whirled. Breathing came in quick bursts. Now Bandri worried about Harta and glanced up at the hill; he couldn’t see him and this anxiety tore at him – until with relief he saw his kid brother splashing through the fording point of the river.

  Agung stopped behind him.

  “Father is with the girls.”

  Bandri turned and for a split-moment his eyes focused on the poison smeared over the tip of the arrow loaded into a big bow, before glancing into the welcome face of his friend. He turned again to search the forest. Then he saw them. Three, no four figures in the shadows - in range of the big bows only. They had practised this; he knew how far away they were. His bow wouldn’t reach that far, but closer it was fast and accurate.

  “I see them – four in the forest.”

  Whistles! Praba whistled his call from outside his house, and so did Andhika. Everyone had their signal. Behind him Agung gave his. Bandri called his, then Rukma in the other house and Harta with him. Thank the Spirits – everyone’s in the village - everyone was ready.

  The figures in the shadows moved. Maybe there were more than four? How many were there?!

  “Five,” Agung grunted over his right shoulder. “Six.”

  The barking noise seemed to fade as Bandri’s hearing hummed for any other sound and his eyes scoured the forest around the village. What were they here for!?

  “Kita arep kanggo pirembagan!” - “We want to talk!” came a shout from the forest.

  Praba gesticulated at Bandri, telling him to stay where he was.

  “Tampilake dhewe!” - “Show yourselves!” Praba called back from the porch of his house.

  “There are many of us. If you attack us, you and your children will die!” came the reply with the same voice.

  “Show yourselves!” shouted an angry Praba. “We will defend ourselves if you attack us!”

  Two men in kain clothes stepped from behind a large tree into a patch of sunlight. Both carried large bows and knives at the waist; the bows were undrawn but ready loaded with arrows. Bandri recognised them instantly: the tall bearded man and Yuwa. Agung gave out a low hiss of hatred from behind as Bandri realised that lives depended on any exchange of words that took place. Almost numb with concentration, his mind conceived that there might be hope with Yuwa?

  “I have to talk with Praba,” he said urgently, turning to Agung and meeting his friend’s expression with his own. “Ayu and the sisters are in here,” he added.

  “I’ll stay here,” vowed Agung, nodding his head in acceptance.

  Bandri dashed across the gap between the houses, half expecting a volley of arrows - but there was none. Crashing next to Praba he panted:

  “Let me talk with them.”

  “If they want to talk - they have to come here!” snapped Praba.

  “Alright. At the wall,” said Bandri. The low wall around their village was closer to the village than the forest beyond. “Yuwa will do that,” he added, seeing his brother’s expression. “It’s better if both of us meet them.”

  His brother pushed his hair back firmly before saying vehemently:

  “Alright, but we can’t trust that dog – you know that!”

  Subdued, Bandri took a deep breath and nodded in response.

  “We will meet you by the wall!” shouted Praba.

  “If you attack us, you and your children will die!” the t
all bearded man shouted again.

  “We are not attacking you!!” Praba shouted loudly in anger, and then under his breath he muttered “Coward.”

  “Be careful brother,” hushed Bandri. “We don’t want to anger them.”

  “Two of us will meet you at the wall!” Praba shouted, with slightly less volume. “We will not attack you!”

  While they waited for a reply, Bandri looked around to see Agung and the others looking on from their positions at the houses. Inside the houses, the families watched through gaps in the shutters. It was down to himself and Praba to face them. As he battled to maintain his self-control Bandri thought of Ayu and his dear father.

  “Sehat!” – “Alright!” shouted the Bahoi senior, who scanned in all directions before he advanced a couple of paces with Yuwa beside him. “Now you go to the wall!”

  Holding bows by their side, Bandri and Praba readied themselves and briskly walked together up to the wall, ready for any sign of attack, ready to throw themselves on the ground behind the wall at the first sign of incoming arrows. Bandri guessed that any arrows from the forest would be poisoned. In the shadows he spotted a large outline more exposed than the others, but if they had to defend themselves his target with a big beard was already lit by the sun.

  The two Bahoi tribesmen then advanced until the men from both tribes stood just a couple of paces apart, either side of the wall. All four of them now stood in the bright light of the morning sun, holding a loaded-undrawn bow in one hand and with the other hand close to a knife at the waist.

  “Iku apik kanggo duwe rapat.” - “It is good to have a meeting,” said the bearded man flatly, using tribal protocol as if had no meaning.

  Bandri could sense his older brother struggling to contain his anger. Before Praba said anything, Bandri replied using as much respect as his emotions could allow:

  “Sugeng sore, Sugeng sore, Yuwa.” - “Good morning, Good morning, Yuwa.”

  Standing just behind his senior, Yuwa gave a slight nod in recognition. The bearded man stared disdainfully back at Bandri, possibly aware of the greater recognition given to his junior tribesman. Breathing deeply, Bandri looked straight back into the man’s face, always remembering the cowardly murder of his dear father! The man looked past Bandri and made a smirking display of surveying the village. Incensed, Bandri felt like digging out the man’s eyes with his own fingers.

  “Kok singe kene?!” - “Why are you here?!" demanded Praba curtly, betraying his anger.

  The man now glared at Praba.

  “Ana luwih saka kita!” - “There are more of us!” he stated coldly, pausing for the words to find their mark. Bandri’s heart ached with the cynical reality, and out of the corner of his eye Bandri could see his brother sucking hard on his lip.

  “Your tribe has new people,” stated the bearded senior, as if this was somehow prohibited.

  Hearing Praba take a deep breath, Bandri quickly answered:

  “Yes, there are new people.”

  No words came from Praba.

  “Two of them wear clothes for fishermen,” the man said as if expecting an explanation.

  “Yes,” Bandri said simply, waiting for the proper question as his own mind raced for the answer.

  “Why is that?!”

  “The sun is hard on them,” Bandri said as calmly as he could muster. “Their skin blisters in the heat.”

  “Boys should be strong!” scoffed the senior, avoiding Bandri’s eyes.

  “They are very strong, but their skin is not.”

  The man shifted his gaze to Praba.

  “You are a senior now,” he stated. “Is this true?”

  “Yes!” Bandri could sense the fury burning within his brother. “We do not ask these things of your tribe!” Praba snarled.

  The two seniors shifted their bodies in readiness, further poisoning the atmosphere of hostility. Yuwa tensed and Bandri felt his own body ready itself. Desperately Bandri held onto his sanity; carefully measuring the rhythm, touching his chest as he spoke the name of the Sun Mother, he quoted word for word the phrase:

  “Cahya Ibu dheweke disebut kabeh jalmo dheweke kanggo dheweke lan diweling mangkene kanggo seneng kasugihan saka bumi lan manggon karo siji liyane.” -

  “The Sun Mother called all her creatures to her and instructed them to enjoy the wealth of the earth and to live with one another.”

  Both Bahoi tribesmen stared at him with incredulity, while Praba glanced uncertainly between the other three. Bandri looked at Yuwa.

  “Out here the Sun Mother witnesses everything,” stated Bandri, thinking of words his father would have said, and once again touching his chest.

  “You have been trusted, Bandri,” said Yuwa quietly. The words were spoken with respect, and without deference to his tribal senior. The tall bearded man turned to scowl at his junior.

  “We respect you, and ask you to respect us,” said Bandri, pulling back the attention of the Bahio senior. Bandri knew he had succeeded in refocusing the Javanese men on a matter of spiritual necessity.

  “How many Malay know this?!” demanded the bearded man, clearly affronted.

  “Two.”

  The man looked in shock at Praba.

  “Another person who will not speak of it,” said Bandri, creating confusion in the expression of the Bahio senior.

  “Your father gave our tribe his blessing,” claimed Praba, evidently disconnected from the latest events.

  “If our mantra is spoken to others - or you deceive us,” retorted the bearded man in anger, glaring back at Bandri, “The Sun Mother will see that my father’s blessing can be broken.”

  Bandri thought rapidly about the the conditions set and the implications of the statement. The risks of deception were high, but better than violent conflict today.

  “The Sun Mother witnessed your father’s blessing,” replied Bandri formally, touching his chest appropriately. “It is agreed, the mantra will not be spoken and we will not deceive you. The Sun Mother has witnessed our words.”

  Glaring at the young man opposite, the senior Bahoi tribesman was silent for long moments. Praying for silence from his brother, Bandri held eye-contact as peacably as he knew how, until the man’s left eye twitched.

  “Kita pengin taler panjenengan saben berkah.” - “We wish your tribe every blessing,” Bandri said amicably, trying to reduce the tension while maintaining control.

  He gambled now on the man not wanting to be seen breaking faith with the Javanese spirit. Had he succeeded in positioning him as a disbeliever if he broke his father’s blessing? Would the man fear losing paradise in the Javanese afterlife?

  Bandri waited, praying again that Praba would not interfere. After a long excoriating glower, the bearded man broke eye-contact and turned his back on the two Malay men to stride into the forest. Yuwa nodded quickly towards Bandri, before turning to join the senior.

  Thankful that he had found the words he needed, Bandri counted the dark outlines of seven armed tribesmen who joined up with the other two. All nine then melted into the vegetation. The two brothers stood together, scanning for any further activity.

  “Where’s the father of that dog!?” fumed Praba under his breath, before pushing back his sodden hair and turning to his younger brother “What mantra?”

  Epilogue

  Sex, honey and survival

  The story of human passion, sex and the struggle for survival is many thousands of years old. Indeed, since it first started over a billion years ago, the story of life in its multitudinous and varied forms has revolved around sex.

  Sex is therefore fundamental to the telling of this story. Part of this story is that of plant sex and the bees, and also of our relationship to the plants on which we depend and to the bees that pollinate them. This story is becoming ever more important as humans are faced increasingly with a struggle for survival in an over-stretched world.

  Bees have been discovered in amber over a hundred million years old, frozen in time, as if immortaliz
ed in their own honey. Bees have been buzzing around flowers like Magnolias since dinosaurs ruled the Earth.

  A lot has happened during the incredibly long time that flowers and bees have been evolving together. Great land masses drifted north and crashed together to gradually form the continents we know today. The tropical islands of the Pacific were formed by parts of the continents breaking off, and also by crustal and volcanic activity.

  Sixty five million years ago, in a few minutes, a massive meteor caused climate change and devastation that signalled the demise of the dinosaurs and the birth of many new life forms. The bees and flowers lived through the apocalypse and on into the next epoch, as did some early crocodiles, snakes, birds and the rat-like mammals that would eventually give rise to humankind.

  Survival, born from successful genetic combinations had proven the need for sex. The essential act of sex shuffles the deck of life - the genes of inheritance - passed on through the generations, giving life a better chance of adapting and surviving. Life needs sex to survive and evolve. Life on our planet has evolved into amazing variety, with millions of plant and animal species. Sex is vital for plants and animals so that they can have healthy progeny which may be better survivors.

  After an astronomic number of trials and errors, of deriving what works best, most plant species evolved to create flowers. Nature had good reasons for making this happen. Plants are driven to increase their number and spread their species, thereby improving their chance of survival. They can push their roots and shoots into new territory, but being rooted to the ground they must find other ways to spread to new places.

  Some plants, such as the grasses, gamble on casting into the wind billions of their tiny masculine pollen grains hoping that a few, by chance, will land on the feminine stigmas of another plant of the same species. Most pollen is lost in this lottery but enough female organs are found that they can make seeds to spread their species still further.

  Many other plants found animal friends, especially bees, to carry their male pollen grains straight to the female stigma. The trick was to entice the friend with an attractive flower, a gift of fragrant energy-rich nectar to sip, and some nutritious pollen to be stuck onto their body. Now when the animal friend visits another flower there will be a good chance of botanical sex or pollination. In addition, many pollinated plants produced fruits or nuts so that feeding animals would help spread the species.

  Each of countless generations of organisms shuffling the deck a little more, sometimes being lucky and surviving, but sometimes not. Gradually the survivors became better adapted to achieve survival. The collaboration between plants and animals over millions and millions of years created amazingly complex designs for achieving mutual success. And so, the pollination ‘pact’ between the plants and the bees became fundamental for so much life on our planet.

  Some bees found great success by working closely together as a family, developing their own complex civilizations in colonies of many thousands of individuals. To care for each other the honeybees created intricate wax combs to raise their young and store their food of pollen and honey. For numerous millennia the bees have made honey from the flower nectars and plant saps to provide themselves through the hard-times with a naturally healthy food containing a complex mix of sugars, anti-oxidants and other bioactive agents. Honey is needed by these bees for their own survival as a colony.

  In south-east Asia, native bee species evolved suited for the tropical climate and the wide variety of plant species. In the tropics, 75% of plant species require pollinators for effective reproduction, including many important food crops. For these plants, using pollinators was an effective and efficient way of transferring their pollen. The primary native bee pollinators are the large wild honeybee (Apis dorsata) and the smaller Asian honeybee (Apis cerana). There are also many stingless bee species. In a healthy tropical eco-system these native bee colonies would be present in large numbers.

  Long before humans enjoyed the beauty of flowers, nature had created them solely to attract the pollinators. Long before us humans, over millions of years so many plants had already made their unspoken but implicit pact with the bees: “We grow these flowers to feed you with nectar and pollen, so that you will take our pollen to another flower for sex.” The plants achieved pollination and the pollinators collected food. That was the world humans inherited.

  Thinking humans first strode onto the scene about a hundred thousand years ago. They surely wondered why the world was the way it was, but they had only the faintest inkling. They needed to recognise and to know which plants and animals were food or were helpful, and which were dangerous. Originally from Africa, humans migrated over other parts of Asia into Sulawesi. Scientists have determined that the paintings of hands and animals in limestones caves on the island of Sulawesi are about 40,000 years old, making them the earliest known creations of human art anywhere in the world - the paintings include handprints and that of a babirusa or ‘pig-deer’.

  In early human societies, sex was an inescapable and central driving force in their struggle to survive. That same struggle also encouraged the need for individuals in a society to develop their ideas for hunting food, how they responded to the threats they faced, how they worked together, and even their artistic development. Languages and tools helped to change our world and to change us.

  Empathy and love are attributes almost uniquely displayed by humans, and these capabilities probably evolved gradually. The ability to understand and predict the behaviour of other individuals allows humans to work in socially complex ways. A tribe will have a competitive advantage if they are able to work together better than another tribe. Bonding between individuals is heightened by empathy and the emotions of love, therefore increasing the likelihood of survival. As the antithesis of love, hate would also have a role in survival - it appears that passion and hatred are built into the nature of humanity.

  Communities gave us the opportunity to develop culture and knowledge, as well as the ability to love or to hate, to plan or to plot, to defend or to attack. An elemental reason for conflicts amongst tribal societies is the struggle by the males for mating access to the females, and the desire of the females for suitable males who can offer ‘love’, family and security. There is scarcely any passion without struggle, and we are the only beings that can reflect on the past and think about what might happen in the future.

  These capabilitities were developed over many thousands of years since those who had better intellects were more likely to survive. People felt many complex emotions ranging from appreciation and yearning, including sexual desire and lust, love, joy, trust and loyalty, through to suspicion, jealousy, loss, sadness, disgust, fear, hate, anger and all the emotions of violence necessary for survival and lethal aggression.

  Ancient societies were also capable of deep loving relationships and nurturing family environments, where some men behaved with respect towards women and girls. There would have been space for romance, pleasure and even hedonism. Polygamy was often practiced. In many societies however, it is likely that women and girls were treated with little or no respect; where the law depended on brute-force with rampant use of abduction, rape, forced ‘marriage’, abuse, slavery, intimidation and murder.

  There is much evidence that early humans developed spiritual beliefs and on some basis made cultural or moral judgements. By the Bronze Age humans had acquired much of the complex range of emotions, curiosity and intelligence that exist in the make-up of modern humans. Such skills enabled us to wonder about the world around us, develop abstract thought and make new discoveries.

  An intelligent person, even without formal education, could deduce that the moon was a ball and lit by the sun. The Kon-Tiki expedition and other studies have demonstrated that some ancient societies thousands of years ago appreciated that the Earth was a sphere. These peoples also studied the movement of the sun, moon and stars. Such knowledge would have helped human migrations across the oceans. In the words of Thor Heyerdahl: �
�The ocean has been man’s highway from the days he built the first bouyant ships, long before he tamed the horse, invented wheels, and cut roads through the virgin jungles.’

  Why would ancient peoples embark on a treacherous voyage across the open ocean with an unknown destination? This question appears more mysterious if the land they are leaving is green and fertile? The Kon-Tiki study indicates that people from South America were driven into the Pacific Ocean by conflict - they were early refugees. Today Europe is experiencing a modern refugee migration across the Mediterranean. Conflict has been a prime motivator for migration throughout human history.

  Linguistic and genetic evidence indicates a connection between peoples in Sulawesi in Indonesia and Mindanao in the Philippines. In addition sea and wind currents flow northwards between the two islands. Archaeologists assess that the first appearance of metal technology in the Philippines occurred about 2,500 years ago, probably from Indonesia.

  ‘The Tropical Sun’ tells a hitherto untold story of conflict and migration. It also tells the practical and emotional story of a people who lived extraordinary lives. To live and survive in such times needed resourcefulness and resilience. This story also reflects on the nature of conflict, the nature of belief and the relationship of people to their environment, all of which are fundamentally important in today’s world.

  Inventions such as writing appear to have happened independently in different societies. It is very possible that some people realised the basic reason why a plant grows flowers, which is to enable pollination. It is also likely that much knowledge gained in the course of history was not documented, or lost. (The discovery of pollination has been accredited to people just 300 years ago, based on written evidence.)

  Sex, however, is so deep-rooted that this has been pre-eminent in the thinking of people for just about all of human history. Men more often seek multiple sexual ‘partners’and men tend to seek young women as sexual partners; built into men’s psyche is the unconscious drive for breeding. Since males are physically stronger, the females were subject to their attitudes which often proved domineering and selfish. There are societies, even today, where many men ‘believe’, often under the guise of religion, that girls are eligible for ‘arranged marriage’ at the onset of puberty. Sex is also linked inextricably to humans’ potential for violence and war. Such is this propensity that men in the conquering army may rape the captured women and girls as ‘spoils of war’; such callous and primordial behaviour is indeed happening in current conflicts.

  Women are generally regarded as the nurturing gender yet they too are capable of selfishness and violence. Like men, their behaviour is often unconsciously connected to sex in some form. The need to protect children, desire for respect, love, possessions and territory, can all be linked to our basic drive for reproductive potential.

  We are a result of our evolution. Today, men and women are still incredibly aware of their sexual urges. It is only recently that many societies have instituted legal respect and protection for girls and women. In ancient societies there would also have been some men who had evolved higher level abilities and were able to appreciate that women merited respect. Men can experience profound love and empathy while at the same time remaining masculine.

  The central importance of sex applies to every plant and animal on the planet. This includes the essential relationship between so many plants and bees – although this is woefully unappreciated by today’s society. Hence the themes of sex, honey and survival are related within this tale of passion, love and murder.

  Honey-hunting represents one of man’s earliest pursuits and continues to this day in many countries. Ancient cave paintings depict determined looking figures risking their lives to extract honey from precarious cliff-side bee colonies. There is evidence that humans have been farming bees for wax and honey since the Stone Age where beeswax has been found on pottery fragments dating as far back as 8,500 years around the Mediterranean; beeswax may have been used for ritual, cosmetic and medicinal purposes, and to waterproof porous ceramic vessels.

  For millennia honey has had a special place in our culture and society. Honeybees accompanied Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, and during the mythical Golden Age honey dripped from trees like rain water. In ancient Egypt taxes could be paid in honey, and honey found in the tombs of Egyptian pharaohs has been tasted by archaeologists and found edible. After his death, Alexander the Great's body was preserved for hundreds of years in a gold sarcophagus filled with honey.

  Honey was an energy-rich food, prized for its taste and symbolism. It was easily portable and long-lasting which means that it would have been a valuable aid when mankind was on the move, during hunting or warfare, and when migrating on land and sea. Honey was an important part of the diet for many cultures and it was frequently used as a medical aid.

  Many cultures regarded honey as a sacred substance which should be the first food to touch the palate of the new-born baby. Cicero described how bees built a honeycomb in the mouth of the infant Plato, which predicted the singular sweetness of his discourses and his future eloquence.

  Human civilization blossomed in Asia, around the Mediterranean, and in other regions about 2,500 years ago. There were great thinkers like Socrates, Plato and Aristotle in Greece, and Confucius in China. Ancient Egypt was soon to be conquered by Alexander the Great. Arts and literature were developing independently across the world. The Bronze Age was well-established and some cultures had sea-going vessels. All these ancient societies understood implicitly that the highly regarded resources of honey and wax were produced by bees. This novel is set during this period in history.

  Even in today’s technological age, it is still true that most people are aware that honey is made by bees, although that association is becoming more tenuous. Honey is that idea of syrupy sweetness, a term of endearment, and wistfully in the half-forgotten phrase the land of milk and honey. The word honey is added to so many food descriptions and whenever it is convenient to add some sort of sweetener to a phrase. Sadly, for many of us honey itself appears to have become just a minor commodity in a plastic bottle on a supermarket shelf.

  The story of honey and the bees is linked to our own human story. For millions of years nature has always provided plenty of pollinators to do the vital job of pollinating the plants on which we depend, but this is often no longer the case.

  In tropical regions such as south-east Asia, the Indonesian and the Philippine archipelagos, three quarters of the plant species rely to some extent on pollination by bees and other creatures. Vietnam has a rural society that is generally aware of the role of bees and beekeeping, resulting in many bee colonies and a good pollination environment which then results in high agricultural yields for fruit crops. However, in other tropical Pacific regions the story is dramatically different, where the loss of bee colonies is resulting in profound environmental and agricultural damage.

  A new reality is that in some countries, most of the ‘honey’ on the supermarket shelves is now adulterated in some way, or simply not made by bees at all but by fraudsters in vats which convert sucrose sugar into a honey-like syrup. In the Philippines and in some other countries thousands of tons of factory-made fake honey is sold in the supermarkets, and bought by many millions of innocent consumers. This fraudulent honey business makes money for the unscrupulous, which can include corrupt officials.

  The abuse of such a special and complex substance as honey is connected to the loss of the bee pollinators and the consequent negative impacts on our agricultural and natural environment. Arguably, this has largely occurred because so many people have lost their vital connection with nature.

  In the Philippines studies are showing that probably the majority of the native bee colonies have been destroyed by humans in the last couple of decades. Most of the population, and even many farmers and their ‘advisors’, continue to remain disastrously unaware of the role of bees and pollination. This has resulted in the Asian honeybees having been recklessl
y removed from about a half of the land area, while stingless bees are also in decline.

  Many small Philippine islands have already completely lost their colonies of wild honeybees, and even larger islands are on course to lose their remaining honeybee populations unless awareness and attitudes improve. Largely due to insufficient pollination the yields and production of many fruit crops such as mango, and crops such as coffee and cotton have been in perpetual decline over the past decade..

  This decline in productivity is leading to the grubbing up of trees, the erosion of soils and consequent damage to coral reefs and fisheries. Such degradation can only result in the further loss of income and jobs.

  A great many Philippine college graduates simply do not know about pollination, or do not know that bees are ‘vegetarian’ and pollinate plants. That such a topic has been so poorly communicated in the school system is indeed one of the key issues that have to be addressed. Another issue is the misuse of chemicals contributing to Colony Collapse Disorder. The continuing depopulation of the native bees, caused largely by ignorance of the biology and reckless honey-hunting is resulting in increasing ecological and economic damage.

  Constructive information to help tackle the pollination crisis in the Philippines is available (www.beephilippines.info) but the farming communities that most need this information are not able to access it. On the whole, government officials and educators who can access the information are either not aware of it, do not grasp the concepts, ignore it, or are not sufficiently motivated to help promulgate the information. Meanwhile, the unthinking destruction of native bee colonies continues, when instead with a little knowledge and a change of attitude the nation could secure more crops, jobs and money plus an improved environment for large populations that desperately it.

  In summary, the irresponsible destruction of such an essential resource is creating a silent but expanding disaster, affecting the balance of life on our planet and increasing the danger to our own survival.

  From a philosophical perspective...

  Plato lived 2,400 years ago, and this was his reaction to ‘the written word’..

  “If men learn this, it will implant forgetfulness in their souls; they will cease to exercise memory because they rely on that which is written, calling things to remembrance no longer from within themselves, but by means of external marks. What you have discovered is a recipe not for memory, but for reminder. And it is no true wisdom that you offer your disciples, but only its semblance, for by telling them of many things without teaching them you will make them seem to know much, while for the most part they know nothing, and as men filled, not with wisdom, but with the conceit of wisdom, they will be a burden to their fellows.”

  Napoleon Bonaparte said..

  “If I had to choose a religion, the sun as the universal giver of life would be my god.”

  “There are only two powers in the world, the sword and the spirit. In the long run the sword will always be conquered by the spirit.”

  Albert Einstein is credited with saying..

  “If bees were to disappear from the globe, mankind would have only four years left to live.”

  Gautama Buddha said..

  “There is no fire like passion, there is no shark like hatred, there is no snare like folly, there is no torrent like greed.”

  Modern science has revealed that we are all made from stardust. Our nearest star, our one and only sun, was revered with a divine status by a great many cultures, including those in the tropical Pacific; the power for all plant and animal life on Earth derives from our sun.

  This novel portrays a realistic natural world as it would have been 2,500 years ago, depicting the relationship humans had with their environment. But no longer are there clear skies and now we are the innumerable animals, calling, thrumming and flicking; it is us humans who have already destroyed much of the Earth’s natural abundance.

  Studies of the Pacific Ocean indicate a drastic 80% decline in fish since the Kon Tiki expedition in 1947..