This is another collection of short stories staring the ace World War I pilot in his post World War II role as the head of the Scotland Yard Air Police. Yes, that person is Bigglesworth, otherwise known to his friends, and many adoring readers throughout the western world, as Biggles. However, unlike the other collection of short stories from his Scotland Yard days, these stories seem to be a lot broader in scope and do not seem to be replications of Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes short stories where you have a section that introduces the situation, a small piece of action, and then the rest of the story were the protagonist explains how he came to his conclusion.

In this collection of stories, we have Biggles going after some pirate treasure.

He busts open a watch smuggling racket.

As well as going after a diamond smuggling racket:

which happens to be smuggled into England in the stomach of monkeys.

There are a few things that I wish to say about this book that came out for me as I was reading it: the first being the diamond trade, and the second being about the watch smuggling.

It seems that the diamond trade back then was quite restricted, and it is interesting to see how it was viewed back in the 50s. These days (as I suspect was the case back then) diamonds are actually controlled by what I will call a legal cartel. Basically the diamonds that are mined are owned by a small group of people who pretty much lock them away and release them bit by bit to keep the price of the diamonds unnaturally high. I once went around work asking people whether they would still go and buy diamonds if they were worth something like $20.00 a carat, to which the common response was 'no'. Therefore, it is quite understandable that there would be an investigation into a diamond smuggling racket because by smuggling them into the country means that the capitalists who control the diamond trade are quite likely to lose out. Further, Johns seems to think that diamonds were only mined in South Africa however, ignoring the diamond fields here in Australia, there are many other countries in Africa where diamonds are mined, and since the regulations are non-existent one is almost led to believe that the diamond industry is run by a bunch of criminals. For more information on the diamond industry I would recommend the movie Blood Diamond (despite the fact that Leonardo DiCaprio is the leading actor).

The other thing is the thing about the tariffs, which was why Biggles was going after the watch smugglers. Personally this made absolutely no sense to me because most tariffs have been pulled down now so that there is no duty on imports (well, actually there is, which is why they still have duty free shops, but with the advent of the internet you can easily import things without having to pay a duty, unless of course the imports happen to be alcohol or tobacco). That is not entirely true because there are still countries (such as the United States) that have import duties, or provide subsidies to certain industries (such as farming) but in general, most goods these days can be brought into a country without any need to pay any extra costs (and in some cases they are GST free).

This is certainly not one of Herge's best works, in fact it is probably what most people think is the most offensive, which is why it was not translated into English until 1991. Okay, when I was a kid there was a German version available at the local library, and I did attempt to read it, however the problem was that I couldn't speak, let alone read, German. So technically this is the first time that I have actually read this album. Further, even if we ignore the racist references to the Africans (and there are quite a few of them) it is quite clear that this one of Herge's earliest works (and he did attempt to suppress it).

The story itself is quite basic, namely Tintin travels to Africa to explore and take some wildlife photographs. On his way there he encounters a stowaway who seems to follow him everywhere, and once he has dealt with him, he then stumbles upon a diamond cartel headed up by Al Capone. Once he busts this cartel he then heads off to America to deal with Capone, and as such the story then shifts over the Tintin in America.

The African natives are portrayed really badly in this album. They are painted as being ignorant, stupid, and superstitious. Further they are painted as falling down and worshipping white people. It is as if white man brings the good things to this godforsaken and barbaric land. Tintin is a hero and is very well known, to the point that people are falling over him with praise and worship. This is not something as evident in the later albums. Obviously Herge began to change his tact when it came to Cigars of the Pharaoh, and while the Tintin in America is not as intense as this, it is still portrayed in a similar way. Another difference is that Herge edited out all of the bad references to Negroes in Tintin in America, however it is so prevalent here that it is clearly not possible to do the same thing.

The other criticism that comes up in this album is the treatment of animals, and it is not pretty. While Herge is being comical with his albums, it seems that animals are treated really badly in this particular one. Tintin goes on an elephant hunt and returns with the tusks. These days this is a very big no, no, but that is a recent development especially as it is becoming ever more clear that certain animals are in danger of becoming extinct (however Elephants are work horses in numerous Asian countries, so they are unlikely to suffer the same fate as their African cousins). While the event with the Boa Constrictor is rather amusing, having Snowy rip through its gut, and then trick the snake into eating itself is getting to the point of ludicrous.

I think I might finish off saying a few things about the diamond trade. It is a very lucrative business but not necessarily illegal. Technically it is not illegal to mine with government permission, and it is not illegal to import or stockpile them. Well, it is if you are not members of the cartels, but as long as you don't rock the boat they don't care. The belief is that there are actually quite a lot of diamonds on Earth, more than actually justifies the price we pay for them. Some people I have spoken to suggest that if diamonds were not as expensive as they are then nobody would attach the same value to them, while others persist that they would. I probably can't say that they are as common as quartz (unlikely) but they are not as rare as they are made out to be.

It is believed that the cartels mine the diamonds and then move them to Europe and America where they are stockpiled and locked up. Those that will be sold are cut and put on display, while the rest are locked up in secret warehouses. This issue is dealt with in a film called Blood Diamond. It is not that it is illegal to mine them, or take them out of Africa, but it is the treatment of the miners, the poor pay and working conditions, and the fact that the government does not get a kickback for the production of these diamonds. Any kickback received generally goes into the pockets of the officials. African friends have said that bribery is rife and that if you want things done then you have to grease somebody's palm.

In a way I am still wondering how it is that these diamond smugglers were actually doing anything wrong, per se, but it was probably enough for Herge to write about it. While this story is very early Herge, and very, very politically incorrect (by our standards that is), there is still an indication of Herge's later brilliance and political commentary in this album to make us notice. It is a shame though that despite the glimpse of Herge's later brilliance, he had to undermine his credibility with such poor treatment of the African Negro. At least he realised his mistake later on and worked to prevent it from being published, at least in English. Still, it existed, and it was only a matter of time before somebody pulled it out of the bottom draw and released it to the English speaking world.