Yoshi YUBA

MINING engineer lands on the FIJI Islands, coming from Europe -- Switzerland - Italy - Greece - Spain -- and via SOUTH AFRICA  - AUSTRALIA -- Fremantle, Perth's Port in OZZI's West - Melbourne - KING Island, in the Bass Strait between TASMANIA and Victoria - then the 'luxury' Immigration CAMP of VILLAWOOD , and a flat FLAT in Sydney's SUMMERHILL .

With two fellow geologists he finds the extension of a GOLD mine - 'EMPEROR' Gold Mining. Their introduction into the game of  GOLF  leads him eventually to a  BEAUTY.  This Lady writes him a few Divine words. Like in an - almost - unbelievable TALE ...

The work - a NOVEL - consists of three parts:  GOLD -  FIJI  and the  'LETTER'. 

The  a u t o b i o g r a p h i c  'red line' in the  STORY  is twofold: From my birth - a few centuries ago - the  READER  is taken onto a  SPIRITUAL  and a  GEOGRAPHIC *  trip to a  GOLD  mine on the Islands of  FIJI , four hours flight north-east of Sydney , Australia.

G O L D  -  In simple terms is told what the two Geologists  -  AD and Jeff O  - did to find the start of the given mine's extension.

F I J I  and  G O L F  -  It had to happen one day!  The fun these two gentlemen would imagine to have, while showing their mining colleague how to play  GOLF.  Good laughs on their side! A catastrophe on mine - an absolute  DISASTER  on and off the greens and fairways.

However  -  how ever  --  It happened on  GREEN  number three that I found the  V I S I O N  of a GOLF  TOOL  in pure  Gold  [ 999.9 FINE GOLD ] , made in  LE LOCLE , in the  SWISS  JURA Mountains, Canton of NEUCHÂTEL , between BERNE  and  PARIS.  Not the final  DESIGN  -  now patented - yet.  That was done later. The name of the TOOL  - ' GOLD in One '. 

Then and there - in VATUKOULA  on the main Island of VITI  'LEVU'  [ 'Big' Fiji ] - I just put it all "into the attic of my memory".

The 'LETTER' is much more than a rhetoric element only ...

* GEOGRAPHIC  -  In  ITALY  the reader will get a glance of  NAPLES  and  POMPEII  -  Julius CAESAR's  GOLD  coffins in Eternal  ROME  -  CARRARA's  Marble Pit in  TUSCANY  -  CASANOVA'S love  Palaces in  VENICE  -  SARDEGNA's * * SILVER  in Monte Vecchio  -  Palermo's 'baking oven'  BEACH  in MONREALE  -  SEGESTA's  Greek Temple and the antique  SULPHUR  mine on  SICILY  Island  -  the  AETNA  Volcano Crater's red glowing throat  and the timeless open breeze Theater of TAORMINA , where you cite SOPHOCLES'  PHILOKTETES  -  lovely  LIPARI  of the windy AEOLIAN Islands with its dark and sad  OBSIDIAN  for  BRUTUS'  mortal knife ...

* * 'SARDEGNA'  sounds better, I assume, than Sardinia, which looks too 'fishy' in the middle of the MEDITERRANEUM  -  ODYSSEUS'  Sea between three Continents ...

--  Our Reader may accompany the author through the  ATACAMA  Desert in Northern  CHILE  and witness a   f a t a   m o r g a n a   between Antofagasta and  CHUQUICAMATA  ['Chuqui'] , COPPER and  GOLD       a n d 

--  Look  the  MIDNIGHT  SUN  into its  pinky eyes   with a blond and  SMILING  miner's daughter in MALMBERGET - GÄLLIVARE in LAPLAND , Northern SWEDEN , well above the POLAR  Circle   a n d 

--  You will experience your writer almost  DIE  of seasickness , thank  God  to an infernal  STORM  on the  BLACK  SEA  , northeast  TURKEY  , en route for the  KOLCHIS  River Area , cradle of the 'GOLDEN  FLEECE'  near MURGUL, Artvin Province , rich in - what else -  but COPPER , GOLD...

    And wishing to dedicate this book as well to Maya's niece, Binia Walser, my  AMERICAN  Godchild, who was born in  STANFORD  University Hospital ,  CALIFORNIA  -  Binia may claim to have visited this famous University, before she ever saw the light in our world ...

   Yoshi Yuba .

'Yuba' is the Fijian pronunciation of my last name.

" The game of GOLF is the most elegant and noblest way to put together soul and brain and body "

[ page 157 ]