/vn 
 
 ^"-^ "^ 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE 
 MARQUESAS AND BEYOND
 
 OLD VIKW OF COI.l.\l.i\ ,1 i.Nsl 
 (as ir WAS IN THE CHIl.DnoOD OF R. L. S.) 
 
 ' Heie is the mill with the humming of thuiidei',' 
 
 Here is th'- weir with the wonder of foam ; 
 
 Here is the sluice with the lace running under. 
 
 Marvellous places, though handy to home 1
 
 FROM SARANAC 
 TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 AND BEYOND 
 
 BEING LETTERS WRITTEN BY MRS. M. I. 
 
 STEVENSON DURING 1887-88, TO HER 
 
 SISTER, JANE WHYTE BALFOUR, WITH 
 
 A SHORT INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 GEORGE W. BALFOUR, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S.E. 
 
 EDITED AND ARRANGED BV 
 
 MARIE CLOTHILDE BALFOUR 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 153-157 FIFTH AVENUE 
 
 1903
 
 
 DEDICATED TO 
 
 JANE WHYTE BALFOUR 
 
 THE BELOVED SISTER TO WHOM THESE LETTERS 
 
 WERE ORIGINALLY WRITTEN 
 
 AND TO THE MEMORY OF THE OLD HOME IN 
 
 COLINTON MANSE 
 
 593330 
 
 ENarsH
 
 ' Loved of wise men was the shade of my roof-tree, 
 
 The true word of welcome was spoken in the door — 
 Dear days of old, with the faces in the firelight, 
 Kind folk of old, you come again no more.' 
 
 Songs of Travel: R.L.S.
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 INTRODUCTION, BY DR. GEORGE W. BALFOUR ix 
 
 PART I., SARANAC i 
 
 PART II., THE CRUISE OF THE 'CASCO' . . 59 
 
 CONCLUSION 240 
 
 NOTES 259 
 
 INDEX 311
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 OLD VIEW OF COLINTON MANSE . . Frontispiece. 
 
 GEORGE W. BALFOUR, M.D., LL.D., F.R.S.E. to face page i 
 
 MARGARET ISABELLA BALFOUR AT THE 
 
 AGE OF FIFTEEN ,,48 
 
 JANE WHYTE BALFOUR .... ., 96 
 
 MRS. STEVENSON AND HER SON LOUIS 
 
 IN 1854 .,144 
 
 REV. LEWIS BALFOUR, D.D. ... ,.192 
 
 ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, AGED FOUR „ 224 
 
 MRS. STEVENSON IN 1889 .... ,,256
 
 INTRODUCTION 
 
 ' The auld manse, the auld manse, 
 
 A dear name aince to me, 
 Fond memory clings to auld lang syne, 
 
 When youth was fu' o' glee. 
 A faither's words are written there, 
 
 A mither's counsel true. 
 An' the music o' a sister's voice 
 Rests in sad memory now.' 
 
 Dr. Lawrie, Monkion Manse. 
 
 THE idea most usually associated with an 
 ' auld manse ' is that of a parsonage ; 
 but any house may become a parsonage if you 
 put a parson into it, while no number of 
 parsons would make it into a manse. The 
 manse is built specially for its purpose, as a 
 residence for the minister of the parish ; and it 
 remains the residence of the minister and his 
 successors so long as it stands. A Scotch 
 manse never falls to a lower level, though what 
 it does for the parish and the district depends 
 
 ix
 
 X FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 on the minister and his family. In the days of 
 Mrs. Stevenson's youth, the manse of CoHnton, 
 a village four miles from Edinburgh, was the 
 centre of life, energy, and beneficence through- 
 out the whole district, to an extent which may 
 be guessed from the fact that when a child was 
 taken to the doctor, he used to pack it off to 
 Mrs. Balfour with the remark, ' She kens far 
 mair aboot weans than I dae ' ; a statement 
 that can the more readily be believed when it 
 is added that he was an old bachelor, while 
 Mrs. Balfour had a family of thirteen, and that 
 children's hospitals were then unknown. 
 
 Scotch manses are all pleasantly situated, 
 though each may have its own peculiarities ; 
 and in this respect Colinton Manse does not 
 differ from others. If we glance at a photo- 
 graph of the manse as it used to be when Mrs. 
 Stevenson was young, and as Robert Louis 
 Stevenson knew it before the subsequent 
 alterations, we see it as a square house stand- 
 ing in the middle of a large garden surrounded 
 by a beech hedge lined with holly, always 
 sweet and green alike in summer and winter. 
 
 '••*
 
 INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 There was no house more convenient for hide- 
 and-seek, or such childish games, nor one into 
 which more children could be packed to play 
 them ; while the large garden was a pleasant 
 variety for those who tired, or felt too old for 
 such frolics. And there were many such ; for 
 it was no uncommon thing that after the early 
 dinner general in those days, a dozen or more 
 young people should drop in to spend the 
 evening. They were always welcome. 
 
 Pleasant as the manse itself was, its sur- 
 roundings made it a place never to be forgotten 
 by those who lived in and loved it. Stepping 
 out of the front door into the garden at two 
 o'clock on a bright May morning, one stepped 
 at once into such a focus of bird-music as could 
 be heard at no other place and no other time. 
 Every twig of the Colinton wood that rose 
 above the manse had a chorister, and every 
 chorister had his own rich and sweet voice, the 
 whole blending into a fulness of volume to be 
 heard in no such volume elsewhere. Then in 
 autumn and winter, when the bird-music was 
 hushed, the sound of water from the burns
 
 xii FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 trickling down the banks around so amply 
 supplied its place as to recall Moore's melody 
 as the only fit expression of its beauty : — 
 
 ' There is not in the wide world a valley so sweet, 
 As that vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet, 
 For the last rays of feeling and life must depart. 
 Ere the bloom of that valley shall fade from my heart.' 
 
 Not many years ago a dying medical friend 
 expressed a great desire to see one of the old 
 residents of the manse, who rose from a sick- 
 bed with a temperature of 104° to go to him ; 
 and when he reached the bedside of his patient 
 told him how, in his fever, those words had 
 constantly run in his thoughts : — 
 
 ' By cool Siloam's shady rill 
 
 How sweet the lily grows : 
 How sweet the breath, beneath the hill, 
 Of Sharon's dewy rose.' 
 
 The patient quite recognised the refreshing 
 feeling of the quotation, and added : ' The 
 sights and sounds of our youth are the last to 
 fade from our dying eyes, and you and I will 
 never forget our boyhood beside the Water of 
 Leith.'
 
 INTRODUCTION xiii 
 
 Indeed, it would have been difficult to forget 
 the sound of rushing waters that pervaded the 
 old manse, and that has never left the ears 
 of those who were brought up there. The 
 babbling streams that trickled through Colinton 
 woods were as nothing to the pleasant roar 
 with which the Water of Leith swept round the 
 manse and over the Hole Mill dam, — both 
 mill and dam long since vanished ; but the soft 
 rushing of the water is heard still in the ears of 
 those who lived as children within its ken. 
 
 Colinton Manse itself was supposed to have 
 been built in 1784 for the Rev. Dr. Walker, 
 minister of the parish, and Professor of Natural 
 History in the University of Edinburgh, who 
 has left his mark all around his old home 
 in many semi-naturalised plants in the manse 
 garden and the encompassing woods. Recently, 
 however, in making a third series of repairs, 
 a stone was discovered bearing the date 1636, 
 so that the manse may be much older than was 
 supposed. It is built upon a flat rock in the 
 centre of its garden of three-quarters of an acre 
 Scots, ten feet below the level of the church-
 
 xiv FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 yard ; it could never be utilised for any other 
 purpose than as a manse, being from its 
 situation not well adapted as a residence for 
 any but a minister's family, whose religious 
 surroundings might be relied on to protect 
 them from the ' Spunkies ' that to childish eyes 
 danced over the churchyard, or the * will-o'-the 
 wisps ' that glimmered through the churchyard 
 hedge. The solid rock on which the house is 
 founded also precluded the use of the ground 
 as an addition to the graveyard, while helping 
 to preserve the manse as an admirable and 
 most healthy dwelling-place for succeeding 
 generations, well drained and well ventilated. 
 ' Low-lying and unhealthy, do you call it ? ' 
 Dr. Balfour used to say. ' Well, I have spent 
 a goodly part of eighty years in the manse and 
 have always enjoyed good health ; and when 
 my children ail, they always come here to 
 recruit ! ' 
 
 Into this commodious but already well-filled 
 house a twelfth child and fourth daughter was 
 ushered on the nth February 1829. She was 
 named Margaret Isabella, after an aunt, but for
 
 INTRODUCTION xv 
 
 some time was known by the rather uncouth 
 contraction, ' Magga-bella' ; this however was 
 ultimately shortened to ' Maggie,' which re- 
 mained the name by which she was univer- 
 sally known through life. Tall, slender, 
 singularly graceful, brilliantly fair in com- 
 plexion, she was known throughout the parish 
 as ' the minister's white-headed lassie ' ; her 
 greatest pleasure was to ' nurse ' any baby she 
 could get hold of, and to reach one she would 
 ' kilt her coats ' and wade through all the 
 burns in the parish, and many a time through 
 the Water of Leith itself The sweet and 
 sympathetic temper which made her so wel- 
 come and kind a nurse made her also the 
 delightful companion she was to all throughout 
 her life, and enabled her to make a perfect 
 heaven upon earth of a household which 
 contained within itself the elements of discord. 
 A personage in every way so attractive was 
 not likely to be permitted to remain long in 
 her own quiet home, so it is not to be 
 wondered at that Maggie Balfour was married 
 to Thomas Stevenson at the early age of
 
 xvi FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 nineteen. She was still so young that there 
 had been neither time nor opportunity to 
 leave behind her in the parish any other 
 impression than that she was ' the minister's 
 white-headed lassie, who was daft aboot 
 weans ' ; and by now even this characteristic 
 is pretty nearly forgotten. Yet she did not 
 leave the manse altogether behind her. Her 
 only child, Robert Louis Stevenson, was born 
 on November 13, 1850, and being more or 
 less delicate from birth, he and his mother 
 spent a large portion of their time in her old 
 home, while Thomas Stevenson made a great 
 number of his experiments in holophotal 
 lighting in the manse garden. The only 
 drawback to his perfect happiness there, he 
 said, apart from the illness of his wife and 
 child, was that he was roused every morning 
 in what he called ' the middle of the night ' ; 
 the prayer-bell being rung at 8 a.m. summer 
 and winter, while at one time the clock was 
 kept half an hour fast to cheat those who 
 objected to get up so early. 
 
 Shortly after this, Mrs. Stevenson developed
 
 INTRODUCTION xvii 
 
 a patch of fibroid pneumonia in her left lung, 
 with slight haemoptysis. For this she was 
 sent to Mentone ; and at the end of two years 
 she and a German lady, suffering similarly, 
 were the only survivors of the first season's 
 visitors to that celebrated health resort. For 
 some years after this, the health alike of Mrs. 
 Stevenson and her son necessitated wintering 
 abroad every season, as well as great care in 
 selecting a suitable summer residence ; nor 
 was she allowed to rise before lunch, though 
 later in the day she was always able to dis- 
 charge her many social duties, and her un- 
 diminished gaiety and wit still, and always, 
 delighted her wide circle of friends and guests. 
 By and by increasing ill-health on the part of 
 herself, her husband, and her son broke up 
 the domesticity of the once happy home, and 
 then came about the most remarkable part of 
 Mrs. Stevenson's history — a veritable crisis 
 in her life. 
 
 After her husband's death in 1887, not only 
 her happiness but her very existence seemed 
 to merge in that of her distinguished son.
 
 xviii FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 She rose from her bed in renewed youth and 
 went off with him to the Adirondacks, not 
 suffering more than himself from the severe 
 cold, and possibly deriving an actual benefit 
 from it. For an equable climate, rather than 
 any special temperature, is what these fibroid 
 pneumonias require ; the patients themselves 
 often hanker after a warmer climate, but if 
 pleasanter, it is less suitable for them, since 
 in it they incur greater risk of haemorrhage. 
 After this winter, however, the Stevensons 
 went to the South Seas, and finally settled in 
 Samoa ; where the quondam delicate woman 
 adapted herself to her strange surroundings, 
 went about barefoot, found no heat too great 
 for her, and at an age when her sisters at home 
 were old ladies, learnt to ride ! 
 
 Shortly after her son Louis' death, Mrs. 
 Stevenson returned to Edinburgh, where she 
 lived till May 1897, when she was seized with 
 pneumonia. The day before her death, the 
 nurse asking if she were prepared for what- 
 ever might happen, she replied in the 
 affirmative ; and between seven and eight in
 
 INTRODUCTION xix 
 
 the evening, thinking she saw her son at the 
 foot of the bed, she exclaimed, ' There is 
 Louis! I must go . . .' and fell back at once, 
 unconscious, though she did not actually 
 breathe her last till the next day, one of the 
 few survivors left of the happy company of 
 'children of the manse.' Truly we may be 
 thankful that we still have ' Auntie ' with us — 
 * Chief of our Aunts ! ' as she was truly 
 called ; and 
 
 ' In her dear hands 
 
 Are gathered the various strings of memory, 
 To pluck them at our bidding, one by one.' 
 
 GEORGE W. BALFOUR. 
 
 [These were almost the last words written 
 by Dr. George W. Balfour before his death. 
 
 In his long illness, so bravely and cheerfully 
 borne, his thoughts turned more and more 
 towards the pleasant home in the valley of the 
 Water of Leith, where he spent his childhood ; 
 and last but one of the children of the manse, 
 it was a pleasure to him, and I think a grateful
 
 XX FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 labour even in his weakness, to write these 
 words so full of memories of the past. As he 
 himself says, the song of birds in Colinton 
 woods, and the rush of water sweeping by 
 Colinton Manse, stayed with him to the end. 
 That end found him in the old parish, that 
 has lost in him one more link with the past, 
 and where he was beloved alike for his father's 
 sake and his own. And the sermon preached 
 on the day of his death, in the church that 
 had been his father's so long ago, closed with 
 these words : — 
 
 ' When the end comes, as it came to him, 
 after a long life of usefulness and honour; 
 when it is the sheaf golden and fully ripe that 
 is garnered ; even death itself ceases to be 
 grievous, and the old saying comes true : — 
 
 ' " Ease after toil, port after stormy seas, 
 , Peace after war, death after life. 
 
 Doe greatly please." ' 
 
 M. C. B.]
 
 GKliNGK W. ll.M.IUUK, M.ii., ].I..D., l-'.K.S. 
 I'HY.SICIAN IN U1.:D1NAKY TO TUP, KING FOR SCon.ANI) 
 
 ■■That wise youth, my Uncle . . . ' 
 
 ncdkntioii to Vudernwods, li. L. S. 
 
 fiom ,t pholog>ii;>k by Mr. y. Moffat, Bdinbnrgh
 
 FROM SARANAC TO 
 THE MARQUESAS AND BEYOND 
 
 PART I. : SARANAC 
 
 IT is not proposed to transcribe in full in the 
 following- pages, Mrs. Stevenson's letters 
 written during the months immediately pre- 
 ceding her cruise in the South Seas. 
 
 There is, indeed, as can well be understood, 
 a considerable portion of the letters that would 
 be quite unsuitable for such treatment ; for 
 in this journey, so new to her, but so often 
 described by others, she naturally comments 
 upon matters that are already quite familiar to 
 many. Moreover, since she wrote to a circle 
 of home readers as yet much smaller than it 
 afterwards became, there is a larger proportion 
 of purely private matter ; so that in some of 
 the letters, more especially the earlier ones, 
 there are only isolated passages of general 
 interest. Nevertheless, it has been felt that
 
 2 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 some account should be given of this winter in 
 the Adirondacks. 
 
 It was the first step in the great journey 
 that Mrs. Stevenson undertook, at an age 
 when most women are glad to renounce such 
 things ; a journey that went further and lasted 
 longer than she foresaw, and that carried her 
 to many strange and lovely places. But to 
 write of these without the stages on the road 
 that lead to them is to tell only half the story, 
 with all its extraordinary contrasts omitted ; it 
 is one side of the picture without the other, the 
 sun without the snow, the tropic heat without 
 the Arctic winter that came before it. It seems, 
 indeed, from these letters, that the Adirondacks 
 did not serve so badly in the matter of health, 
 since we hear of fewer colds and haemorrhages 
 than are recorded in Tahiti or Hawaii : but it 
 is possible that the bitter cold of Saranac urged 
 the Stevensons to its proper antithesis in the 
 tropics, and it is certain that it added to the 
 intensity with which they enjoyed their life in 
 the South Seas. 
 
 To give some impression, therefore, of these 
 months in America, the following plan has been 
 adopted : Extracts have been made from Mrs.
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 3 
 
 Stevenson's letters and run togfether so as to 
 form a more or less complete and consecutive, 
 but condensed, narrative. Dates and a few 
 necessary references are given as footnotes, 
 but no attempt has been made to transcribe 
 each, or any, letter in full, or by itself. The 
 South Sea 'journal-letters,' which follow, are 
 of course given in entirety ; but the object here 
 has rather been to present, in Mrs. Stevenson's 
 own words, a short introductory account of the 
 winter at Saranac that immediately preceded 
 and led to the cruise of the Casco.
 
 4 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 Oji board the '• Ludgate Hill^ Aug. 25, iSSy."* 
 
 HERE we are, having made a famous start. 
 Yesterday was very fine and warm, and 
 Louis was even able to be on deck in the 
 evening. The sea is Hke a mill-pond, and I 
 could even do with a little more motion ! . . . 
 When we came on board, however, we were 
 rather disappointed to find a very dirty and 
 untidy vessel, not the least like the one Fanny 
 had seen, and which was said to be a ' sister 
 ship ' to this ; and after we had started we 
 heard that we were to take in cargo at Havres, 
 and presently discovered that said cargo was 
 to consist of two hundred and forty horses ! 
 This was slightly discouraging, but we agreed 
 to make the best of things and look upon it as 
 an 'adventure,' which Louis and Lloyd have 
 always been sighing for. The captain declared 
 that horses made capital passengers — ' better 
 than some people ' — and that once we were in 
 
 * The party consisted of Mrs. Stevenson, her son Robert Louis 
 Stevenson and his wife, his stepson Mr. Osbourne, and Valentine Roch, 
 a trusted Swiss maid who had been some time in their service.
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 5 
 
 the swell of the Atlantic, they were quite quiet. 
 The embarkment at Havres was certainly 
 interesting, and it was as good as a circus to 
 watch the process ; but the night we spent in 
 dock there was a perfect pandemonium ; what 
 with the neighing of horses, the lowing of cattle 
 (for we have some of them on board too), the 
 taking in of cargo, and the constant shouting 
 and yelling of French and English sailors. 
 We were rather disturbed by it all, as you may 
 suppose, but got more sleep than sounds 
 possible. The worst of it Is the strong stable 
 smell, which is not quite the fine sea air that 
 we expected to blow In at our port-hole. 
 However, Louis assures us It is * gran' for the 
 health,' so that ought to be a consolation. 
 
 Our company on board is not very dis- 
 tinguished, but we have no reason to com- 
 plain of that. So far every one has been very 
 pleasant ; though there Is one passenger who 
 has a habit of attachlnor himself to a victim 
 and talking to him straight on for hours. Louis 
 calls him ' the bore ' ; which has now developed 
 into ' Orate et Borate' . . . 
 
 We have had almost continuous bad weather, 
 and two nights were very stormy. I confess I
 
 6 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 was rather frightened at first ; but I was com- 
 forted to hear that although a cattle-boat may 
 have drawbacks, you may always be sure it is 
 considered safe when it is trusted with so 
 valuable a cargo. The wind is still high, and 
 it is almost impossible to move about. The 
 poor horses suffer very much and cry out at 
 night in a dreadfully human way ; they stamp 
 so constantly, poor things, that I feel as if they 
 must end by making a hole through the bottom 
 of the ship ! They are well looked after, how- 
 ever ; the men in charge sit up all night when 
 the weather is stormy. One man is a queer 
 old fellow with a broad red sash round his 
 waist, and a keen eye that Fanny is sure must 
 keep the horses in order ; but I fancy he puts 
 more reliance in a big stick that he always 
 carries about with him. Among his underlings 
 are an Ashantee, an Indian, and a Negro. It 
 is rather strange to look straight out through our 
 port-hole on a row of horses, and still stranger, 
 in the saloon, to see a horse looking in at one 
 of the windows. It would be curious to hear 
 what he thinks of it. 
 
 . . . This weather makes many blanks at 
 table. Louis, however, is well, and in great
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 7 
 
 spirits, and seems already ever so much better. 
 He was in our cabin by eight o'clock this morn- 
 ing, looking as young and gay as a schoolboy, 
 and reminding me of days lang syne : he calls 
 himself 'the hardy mariner.' We have our 
 own tea and butter, and you would be amused 
 to see him fishing them out from our ' pantry,' 
 which is under the sofa, and going round with 
 tea and biscuits for the invalids, to try and pre- 
 pare them for breakfast by and by. I myself 
 have never been better in my life, and have 
 never suffered from the motion. Louis calls 
 me 'Mother Carey's chicken,' a complimen- 
 tary name for so old a bird ! . . . 
 
 It is a week to-day since we left Havres, and 
 will likely be at least another week before we 
 reach New York. The weather is still cold and 
 stormy, and the wind dead against us, so we 
 get on very slowly. Most of the invalids are 
 getting better, however ; and we can't be 
 thankful enough that Louis has kept so well in 
 spite of all the drawbacks of the voyage. He 
 has taken no cold, so far, and was as bright 
 and cheery as possible, going about among the 
 sick people and dosing them with champagne ; 
 indeed he enjoyed it so much, that he was half
 
 8 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 sorry when they got better ! . . . Our sock- 
 knitting has proved a great occupation. I have 
 finished one and am well on with the other ; 
 but Fanny is still struggling with her heel, 
 which has been taken down several times and 
 always seems to get worse instead of better, 
 Louis declares that she has had the stewardess 
 and our special steward ' Peter ' and all sorts 
 of people helping her, but all to no avail. At 
 least we get great amusement out of it. . . . 
 
 The gale has come to an end at last, and we 
 can get on deck and move about freely, which 
 has been impossible hitherto. Every one says 
 it has been an extraordinary passage for the 
 season ; not because the wind has been excep- 
 tionally high, but it has been so continuous. 
 Now, however, we are off Newfoundland, in the 
 region of fogs : talk of Scottish mists, why, a 
 ' soft day ' in Arran is dry compared with this. 
 In a few minutes we are soaking. . . . This 
 morning Louis roused us at 7 a.m. to ' see Cape 
 Race ' ; we dressed in a fashion and hurried up 
 to find the fog had lifted, but I can't say I saw 
 much land, it might quite as well have been a 
 cloud. However, on this occasion I employed 
 faith to construct a mountain instead of to move
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 9 
 
 one. Unfortunately, our pleasure in nearing 
 the end of our journey is spoilt by Louis having 
 caught cold — I hope not a bad one, but at the 
 best it is distressing and makes us anxious. 
 He is as cheerful as ever, so far, and declares 
 he is much more astonished at having kept 
 well till now than at having knocked up at 
 last. . . . 
 
 The sensation of to-day, the 5th of Sep- 
 tember, was the arrival of the pilot. First one 
 pilot-boat was seen making all sail and trying 
 to catch us up, and then another appeared 
 ahead of us and much nearer ; when No. i saw 
 this he gave us up as a bad job, and bore out to 
 sea to look for another vessel. It made me feel 
 very like a fly with two spiders making for me ; 
 two very important little spiders and a big 
 stupid fly. ... I must not forget to tell you 
 that the pilot was greatly delighted when he 
 found out who Louis was ; it seems that he 
 himself actually went by the name of ' Mr. 
 Hyde ' on board the pilot-boat, and his partner 
 was called Dr. Jekyll, because the one was easy 
 and good-natured, and the other rather hard 
 and inclined to screw the men down to their 
 work. Was it not strange that he, out of so
 
 lo FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 many, should have been the one to bring us 
 into New York? . . . 
 
 We were met, as soon as we got into dock, 
 
 by a telegram from Mr. F to say that he 
 
 was unable to come himself, but a carriage was 
 waiting to take us to the hotel, where we were 
 to stay as his guests till we felt able to go on 
 to Newport. Was it not a pleasant reception 
 in a new and strange land ? 
 
 o 
 
 New York, September lo, 
 
 WHEN we got to the hotel, interviewers 
 from all the papers began to arrive at 
 once. Louis, who was very tired and far from 
 well, had gone to bed immediately, to have a 
 rest, so they had to be dismissed and told to 
 come back later, when they must take their 
 chance of finding him ; but it was hard to 
 persuade them to go away, and they kept 
 sending up their cards even after Louis had 
 finally settled down for the night. 
 
 On Wednesday, the day we landed, the heat 
 was very great, and we had all the windows wide 
 open ; but in the middle of the night it turned 
 very cold — something like an Edinburgh east 
 wind, and more unexpected. We felt that such
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS ti 
 
 a climate was very unsuitable for Louis, so we 
 sent him off to Newport on Thursday, in the 
 charge of Lloyd and Valentine. . . . When they 
 were gone, Fanny and I decided to look for a 
 more moderate hotel, and found one which is 
 quite comfortable and reasonable : but when we 
 offered to pay our share of the bill at the first 
 place, the clerk declared there was nothing 
 owing, and added, * It will be well for the 
 ladies if their path to heaven is as clear as it is 
 out of this hotel ! ' 
 
 One of our objects in staying on here has 
 been to see the first performance oi Jekyll and 
 Hyde, which takes place to-night (Sept. 12). 
 At first we were told that we could only get 
 seats far back, as all the others had been taken ; 
 but later Mr. Sullivan, who dramatised the 
 story, gave up his box to Fanny, saying that 
 the author's box certainly belonged to her. 
 He is a nice young fellow, and very modest 
 about himself : he will not go on the stage even 
 when loudly called for, as at Boston ; he says he 
 would go with Louis, but not alone. . . . Tues- 
 day morning. — Just a line to say that the play 
 was most thrilling and a great success. Hyde 
 is the most dreadful creature you can imagine,
 
 12 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 and Jekyll so much the reverse, that how he 
 can change from one to the other is past my 
 comprehension — it is marvellous, especially in 
 the latter part. The murder scene was too 
 much for me, I could not look at it. I think 
 the play can never be really popular with 
 ordinary playgoers, but it was enthusiastically 
 received and the house was packed. Lloyd, 
 who came up from Newport to see it, and 
 arrived late, got the second last standing-place, 
 and that with a squeeze. 
 
 Newport, September lo, 1887.* 
 
 HERE we are in the meantime. It was 
 indeed vexing that Louis got cold 
 just as we arrived : however, there has been no 
 haemorrhage and he is now feeling better, so 
 he and Fanny went off to New York last night 
 to see the best lung doctor there, and to settle 
 where we are to go for the winter. I shall be 
 very anxious till it is finally decided, and indeed 
 until we reach our destination and see how it 
 suits him. . . . I have been much the better for 
 
 * Extracted from letter to ' Cummy ' (Miss A. Cunningham), Robert 
 Louis Stevenson's devoted nurse and attendant in earlier days.
 
 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 13 
 
 the voyage, and you would be surprised to see 
 
 how much I can do. The other day Lloyd and 
 
 I went for a walk along the fine cliffs, with the 
 
 Atlantic on one side of us, and large villas on 
 
 the other, planted in beautiful emerald lawns 
 
 without any division or hedge between them ; 
 
 for it appears that it is considered very selfish 
 
 here to put up any fence which prevents your 
 
 neighbours from enjoying your possessions, so 
 
 that there is not much privacy. We walked 
 
 about three miles, and expected to meet at the 
 
 end a kind of open omnibus to take us back to 
 
 our boarding-house. I was very tired, and sat 
 
 down to wait for it ; but as time passed and no 
 
 vehicle appeared, we began to get uneasy and 
 
 Lloyd went to inquire of a boy, who 'guessed 
 
 the man wouldn't feel like starting- unless he 
 
 had got a party.' This was cheerful, as I was 
 
 tired out, and we were three miles from home ; 
 
 but just then a grocer's cart came past, and we 
 
 begged the driver to give us a lift on our way. 
 
 He said at once that we might g-o with him as 
 
 far as he could take us ; so we mounted beside 
 
 him, and behold us driving throug-h the smartest 
 
 part of the most fashionable watering-place in 
 
 the States in a grocer's cart, stopping at the
 
 14 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 doors while the man delivered his parcels ! He 
 was a nice young fellow and would take nothing 
 in return. 
 
 ... In our New York hotel there was a bed 
 in every room, but they can be made up into 
 a sort of bureau by day, if you wish to use the 
 room as a parlour, while the washing arrange- 
 ments are all hidden away in little closets 
 lighted with gas. In one there is a fixed-in 
 basin of very small size, with two large taps for 
 hot and cold water hanging over it, so that I 
 was afraid lest I should put my eyes out while 
 washing my face ; and in another there is a 
 fixed-in bath. . . . Fanny says that when she 
 first went to England she hated our ways, for 
 she could not lift the heavy ewers, and thought 
 we only used them because we were so poverty- 
 stricken that we could not afford to have fixed- 
 in basins ! So you see everything depends on 
 the point of view. 
 
 ... I have just heard that we are to go to 
 the Adirondacks, a mountainous district not 
 very far from New York. The climate is said 
 to resemble Davos, and so may be just the thing 
 for Louis : but if after a while it does not seem 
 to suit him, we can then move on to Colorado,
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 15 
 
 He is so much better now, that we would not 
 be so afraid of the journey. 
 
 Plqttsburg, October 2.* 
 
 LOUIS, Valentine, and I left New York 
 on Friday, and we have made out our 
 journey very well, so far, and have enjoyed it. 
 We had a delightful little cabin all to ourselves 
 on the river-boat and a most attentive blackie 
 to look after us. Mr. Low, who saw us off, told 
 us that the man had come up to him in a most 
 insinuating way, saying, ' You might tell me 
 who these people in there are ; something royal, 
 ain't they ? ' Mr. Low regretted afterwards that 
 he had not thought of saying it was ' Prince 
 Florizel of Bohemia and his suite ' ! . . . The 
 river scenery constantly reminded me of Scot- 
 land, but of course the autumn foliage is 
 something wholly new to us both. Louis and 
 I had always longed to see it, and at last we 
 are fully satisfied. ... I went to the Presby- 
 terian Church here this morning, and had a very 
 good sermon : in the course of it the minister, 
 in speaking of yielding to evil, said that by 
 doing so, ' in the end Hyde would conquer 
 
 ■" Letters to Miss Balfour resumed.
 
 i6 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 Jekyll.' Was it not odd that I should just 
 happen to hear that in this out-of-the-way 
 place ? And moreover the last sermon I heard 
 in New York was on the same subject. . . . 
 
 On Monday morning Louis, Valentine, and 
 I again started on our way to the Adirondacks. 
 The railway took us as far as Loon Lake, 
 through a country very like what Perthshire 
 may have been some two hundred years ago ; 
 some of the forests, however, are partly cut 
 down, and the rivers are full of lumber on its 
 long way to the sea. I am told it takes four 
 years to travel from Saranac to Plattsburg! 
 ... At Loon Lake we found a nice buggy 
 waiting for us ; it had two horses, and had been 
 specially made for invalids, with good springs, 
 which we fully appreciated while driving 
 twenty-five miles over very bad roads. The 
 wind was cold, and when we were about half- 
 way the rain came on, and I was frightened 
 about Louis ; however, we found there was a 
 water-proof apron that buttoned right up to 
 the top of the hood, so that we were practi- 
 cally in a close carriage. When we reached 
 Saranac, Fanny met us in a petticoat and 
 jacket, busy cooking our dinner !
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 17 
 
 The house is built of wooden boards, painted 
 white, with green shutters, and a verandah 
 around it. It belongs to a guide, who takes 
 parties into the woods for shooting and fishing 
 excursions ; he usually has boarders, but he and 
 his wife have agreed to give over to us part of 
 the house, their own portion being entirely shut 
 off by double doors. Into our part you enter 
 by the kitchen ! Through that you pass to 
 the sitting-room, which is large, and has a good 
 open hearth for wood fires ; straight on leads 
 to Louis's and Fanny's room, which has four 
 windows and a stove, and beyond that again is 
 Louis's study. Besides the two doors already 
 mentioned in the sitting-room, there are no less 
 than three others ; one to the verandah, which 
 is the proper ' front entrance ' of the house, but 
 has to be shut up in winter on account of the 
 cold ; one to my room, which has also four 
 windows, and one opening on a steep stair 
 which leads to Lloyd's room and a small spare 
 chamber. Everything is of the plainest and 
 simplest, but sufficiently comfortable. We are 
 about ten minutes' walk distant from the vil- 
 lage and beautifully situated above the river, 
 upon which we look down ; the view from our 
 
 B
 
 1 8 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 windows is best described as 'very highland,' 
 but the chief glory just now lies in the 
 autumn colourings, which Louis declares are 
 exactly like the Skelt's theatre scenes, the 
 ' twopence coloured ' ones that we used to think 
 so impossible ! He is consequently delighted, 
 and declares it reminds him of Leith Street 
 and home. . . . Fortunately he has been 
 none the worse of the journey and the long 
 drive in the rain, and says that he already 
 feels the air of Saranac doing him good, so 
 I trust we have hit on a place that will really 
 suit him. 
 
 Yesterday'" was a charming day, with Mentone 
 skies and the brightest of sunshine ; certainly, if 
 we have a good deal of weather like this we 
 shall think ourselves very well off. And the 
 air is delicious, with a sweetness that again and 
 again reminds me of the Highlands. We now 
 go out for frequent drives ; I have begun to 
 drive myself, and enjoy it very much, but at 
 first I was nervous, as the roads are so narrow, 
 and often run along precipitous banks. How- 
 ever the prettiest of all is quite safe, and just 
 now there is little traffic on it, so I began on 
 
 * October 23.
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 19 
 
 that. On Thursday we had a conveyance new 
 to me, a buck board ; it is just a long, very 
 elastic board fastened to two pairs of wheels, 
 with a small seat in the centre, holding two 
 with difficulty. There are no springs, but the 
 board is so elastic that it is quite enjoyable 
 when we come to a rough bit of the road ; we 
 go up and down as if we were in a swing. The 
 worst part of it is, that the only way to hold on 
 the rug is by wrapping it under our feet and 
 it is always slipping off; also there is no place 
 for parcels except on my lap, and when I have 
 three loaves of bread to carry home, and other 
 sundries, it is decidedly inconvenient. 
 
 Yesterday there were some important letters 
 to be posted, so I got up early and started at 
 9 A.M. on a bitterly cold, snowy morning, to 
 take them to the village. How it reminded me 
 of starting for school in the old Colinton days ! 
 But imagine my disgust when I got to the post 
 office to be told that since last week the time 
 had been altered, and the mail now was de- 
 spatched at eight, instead of at ten o'clock! 
 When I complained that we had not been 
 informed, I was told that it had been in ' all the 
 county papers ' ; but we had never even heard
 
 20 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 of a county paper, far less seen one. Of course, 
 we had to grin and bear it. 
 
 October 27. 
 
 THE weather we find very variable: one 
 day it is fine and almost warm, and the 
 next is very cold with a little snow. I feel 
 very well and strong, and can take long walks 
 without being tired ; and Louis is wonderfully 
 well for him, though the keen wind prevents 
 him from getting out every day. But every 
 one is enthusiastic about the climate here : I 
 went one day to visit a lady who has been here 
 for four years, and she says she delights. in the 
 winter, and is just longing for the frost to set in ; 
 the air is delicious then, and you don't feel the 
 cold nearly as much as just now. She told me, 
 also, that a man was once asked to take over 
 the livery stables here, to which he replied, 
 ' What, go to Saranac, where the sick folk ride 
 out in all weathers ! I should think not, it 's 
 enough to kill any horse ! ' 
 
 You call your house the * Barracks ' ; well, 
 ours is the ' Hunters' Home,' and Louis will 
 not allow anything to be done that interferes 
 with that illusion. We have in the living-room
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 21 
 
 a plain deal table covered with stains ; I wanted 
 to put a nice cloth on it, but he would not hear 
 of it. 'For what,' he cries, 'have hunters to 
 do with table-covers ? ' There is not a foot- 
 stool in the house, and the draug^hts alone the 
 floor make my feet very cold ; so as a special 
 favour to me, a log of wood is to be sawn into 
 suitable pieces to serve as stools and still be 
 in keeping with the ' Hunters' Home.' There 
 was neither a teapot nor a coffeepot amongst 
 the furnishings, as we believe that here both of 
 these beverages are usually boiled in a sauce- 
 pan ; but we did not mind this, as we had 
 utensils of our own bought for use on the 
 voyage. What we did suffer from was the 
 absence of a single egg-cup. I went yesterday 
 to the village to see if I could buy any at the 
 store; no such thing was to be had, and the man 
 seemed surprised at our wanting them. He 
 at last suggested that he might give us a small 
 jug that would do, and presently produced one 
 that would certainly have held a full pint ! 
 Lloyd gravely asked if he could also supply 
 eggs that would fit it. . . . This morning I 
 bethought myself of my pointed medicine-glass, 
 but alas ! the egg was lost in its depths ; how-
 
 2 2 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 ever, I stuffed the bottom of it with paper, and 
 finally ate my egg in triumph. Nothing gives 
 me more pleasure or a better appetite than 
 an obstacle overcome, and these incidents of 
 backwoods life are quite entertaining. 
 
 I must give you some account of how we pass 
 our days here. My stove is lit about 6.30 in 
 the morning, and warms the room very quickly, 
 so that I can soon sit up to read or write. 
 Louis and Lloyd breakfast rather early and 
 work until lunch-time ; when Lou writes in the 
 sitting-room, I keep up the fire in my stove 
 and stay in my own room, which is very bright 
 and cheery. If I want to go out without dis- 
 turbing the two authors, I get out by the 
 window ; I wish you could see the performance, 
 for as the aperture is only the size of four small 
 panes of glass, and the frame is held up by 
 a stick, you may fancy it requires careful 
 engineering to get through it. At 12.30 we all 
 meet at lunch, and work is pretty well over for 
 the day ; at two the buggy arrives, and two of 
 us go for a drive. Louis always takes his walks 
 quite alone, and hates even to meet any one 
 when he is out ; so it is fortunate that we are 
 some way from the village, and that there is a
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 23 
 
 private pine - wood close behind the house. 
 When he comes in he generally goes to bed 
 till dinner-time, at six o'clock. After dinner 
 we talk and read aloud and play at cards till 
 ten, when we are all ready for bed. You see 
 it is a long day for Louis, who is often up very 
 early ; and that he is able for it proves that he 
 is keeping wonderfully well. 
 
 November n. 
 
 WE have been driving with a pair of 
 ponies lately, or rather Lloyd has ; it 
 is the first time he has tried it, so he practises 
 on me. I think one of the uses I have served 
 in the world is to have experiments tried on 
 
 me ; G did it in my youth with ether and 
 
 chloroform, and now Lloyd does it with horses ! 
 We have several times been nearly upset, but 
 mercifully have always escaped ; he really drives 
 well, but the roads are so bad here that often 
 we must just 'shut our eyes and trust in Provi- 
 dence,' as G used to do in the hands of 
 
 John Dick going down the hill at Colinton. 
 
 This morning we have had the heaviest fall 
 of snow that we have seen yet, and everything 
 is white. Louis at once put on all his furs,
 
 24 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 buffalo coat, astrachan cap, and Indian boots, 
 and went out for a walk. He looks very 
 picturesque in these garments, and how 
 delightful it is to see him able to go out in 
 such weather ! We have much sunshine, and 
 I cannot find it in my heart to wish for winter 
 to descend finally upon us. 
 
 November 19. 
 
 THE snow still continues, but it is not yet 
 deep enough for good sleighing, though 
 to-day Fanny, Louis, and Lloyd are off to try 
 it. It is the day we are supposed to receive 
 visitors, and I have just been tidying the room 
 so far as I can ; I think I must describe to you 
 the decoration of our mantelpiece. At each 
 end there is a bright red tobacco-box, and as a 
 centre ornament there is a whisky-bottle! It 
 was a neat flat shape, and the only thing tall 
 enough to suit our critical eyes as a centre- 
 piece. . . . 
 
 . . . We have had more snow, and very 
 severe frost, with the thermometer down to 
 twenty-five degrees below zero, so you see 
 we were fairly off on one of ' Kane's Arctic 
 Voyages.' Water froze in our rooms with the
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 25 
 
 Stoves kept burning all night : the ink froze on 
 the table beside my bed. Louis woke one 
 night dreaming that a rat was biting his ears, 
 and the cause was a slight frost-bite ; and 
 Valentine found her handkerchief, under her 
 pillow, frozen into a ball in the morning. How 
 would you like, too, to have your kitchen floor 
 turned Into a nice shining sheet of ice the 
 moment you had washed it — with hot water, 
 mind — and a good fire in the room ? 
 
 Out of doors it was impossible to touch 
 metal without being 'burnt,' and Lloyd only 
 managed to drive by wearing, first, white kid 
 gloves, second, fur-lined ones, and third, on the 
 top of both, a pair of buff leather mittens. I 
 wonder whether the ' 'mometer ' will play any 
 further pranks, and whether I shall have any 
 worse experiences in this line to tell you. I 
 enjoy their novelty ; but the sunny south is still 
 my ideal climate, though I must confess we do 
 not feel the cold severely here, so long as it is 
 bright and still. The other night Louis slept 
 with one open window, and in the morning I 
 dressed with two. It is only in wind that the 
 house is cold, in spite of all the windows we 
 have stopped up ; and there are few days
 
 26 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 when Louis is not able to get out, and to enjoy 
 it besides. He was busy all last Sunday 
 afternoon arranging the words 'Come unto Me, 
 all ye that labour,' etc. to an air of Beethoven's, 
 the theme, I am told, of 'six variations faciles.' 
 Louis thinks the music ' all that a human being 
 can conceive in the way of consolation,' but, 
 alas ! I feel my limitations, for to me it says 
 
 nothing at all. (You remember T always 
 
 said I could only distinguish ' God Save the 
 Queen' from 'Jennie's Bawbee,' because it 
 was so much slower.) Louis is very anxious 
 to have his setting played in the church here, 
 
 and as Mr. D sees no objection, the 
 
 organist is to come up to try it over first, and 
 we are looking forward to it with interest. 
 Our life here is made up of small interests, and 
 just now, while Louis and I are left to ourselves, 
 it seems oddly like the old days at Heriot Row. 
 Then, when * Papa dined out,' Lou and I used 
 to indulge in dishes we were not allowed at 
 other times, — particularly rabbit-pie, I remem- 
 ber — and so we do still. I sometimes almost 
 forget that my baby has grown up ! 
 
 Saranac has got terribly civilised since the 
 railway was opened, and is fast losing all its
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 27 
 
 pleasant peculiarities. The sign-boards, for 
 instance : the shoemaker had a boot cut out of 
 thin wood, painted black, with his name on it 
 in yellow, and nailed to the nearest telegraph- 
 post. On another telegraph-post was a square 
 board with the following : — 
 
 Warm Meats 
 
 Come and see Me 
 
 At the old Post Office 
 
 I grieve to say this has already been removed, 
 and a great common-place, ' Restaurant ' put 
 up instead. 
 
 January 14. 
 
 I HAVE a wonderful piece of news for you. 
 Louis has got a pair of skates and has 
 actually been out skating twice on the pond at 
 the back of our house, and last Sunday he went 
 for a sleigh-ride on Saranac Lake. He came 
 back delighted, and none the worse of it ; and 
 really he is not only keeping well, but is 
 distinctly a little fatter. We all thought it, but
 
 28 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 did not like to trust our eyes till some friends 
 noticed it also. 
 
 Yesterday the thermometer never rose above 
 zero even in the sun, and yet Lloyd and I 
 drove ten miles and enjoyed it. I must, 
 however, tell you the garments I wore. I had 
 my sealskin jacket under my fur-lined cloak, my 
 tweed cap, with knitted ear-covers added under 
 the tweed ones, and thick knitted veil, and my 
 long wool wrap twisted round and round over 
 all. Then I had muffatees, silk, and double 
 woollen mittens on top, and 2. muff! ! We had 
 each a hot soap-stone for our feet, and if we had 
 only had the small ones which I have ordered 
 (but which have not yet arrived) for our hands, 
 I think we would have been very complete. 
 We felt exactly as if we were travelling in 
 Siberia, all the people we met looked so like 
 pictures one has seen of life there. We begin 
 to think, now, that if the climate is like this, 
 the exiles may have a better time than we used 
 to suppose. For, as I said before, we really 
 do not feel the cold so much as we often do 
 at home, and we all keep well, Louis quite 
 wonderfully so. Indeed he seems to feel the 
 cold less than any of us, and he skates a little
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 29 
 
 every day and enjoys it, which is a capital sign 
 of his health. 
 
 This morning ^'^ I found both milk and water 
 frozen quite hard in my bedroom, and the 
 thermometer has been down to forty degrees 
 below zero during the night. Hence some 
 further experiences from ' Kane's Voyages ' : 
 Louis's buffalo coat was frozen fast to the 
 kitchen door, behind which it hangs, though 
 the fire was kept alight in the stove all through 
 the night. Valentine's floor was a sheet of ice, 
 and the edge of her dress, having got damp, 
 was frozen hard and did not melt all day. 
 When she was making soup for dinner, there 
 was a large lump of ice in the pot, which did 
 not seem to have melted at all, though the 
 water about it was steaming and bubbling as if 
 on the point of boiling ; and the cold venison 
 that had been thawed in the oven for a whole 
 hour had still the ice crunching in it when it 
 came to table ! Neither Louis nor I ventured 
 out, but he put on his furs and ' played Arctic 
 voyages ' to the amusement of some of our 
 visitors who declared the weather was de- 
 lightful. One of them told us a story of a 
 
 * January 21.
 
 30 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 Yankee called Bayard — a not uncommon name 
 here — who boasted that he was descended from 
 the Chevalier sans pere et sans culottes ! 
 
 I am thinking of going to New York for a 
 few days, partly to bring Fanny home, for 
 thouo^h better, I do not believe she is well 
 enough to travel alone, and partly for a little 
 change. Louis is so well that he really will 
 not miss me, and is so deep in his writing that 
 he often quite forgets any one's presence. 
 
 [In the interval Mrs. Stevenson carried out 
 her intention of going to New York, and paid 
 the city a hurried visit. During her absence, 
 the line to Saranac was snowed up, and the 
 telegraphic connection broken down ; as soon 
 as the rail was again clear, she returned in the 
 company of her daughter-in-law.] 
 
 February 5. 
 
 HERE we are, back again in safety at the 
 Hunter's Home, and glad to find Louis 
 looking well in spite of the great cold. In fact, 
 when we arrived we heard that he had been 
 paying calls, and doing all sorts of wonderful 
 things — even dining out ! — without ill effects ;
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 31 
 
 SO you can realise what Saranac has done for 
 him. Cold as it is, it cannot be denied that 
 the climate seems to be just what suits him 
 splendidly. Our journey home was most 
 comfortable (considering the weather), and 
 the railway people most attentive. In Albany, 
 where we stayed a night, a gentleman con- 
 nected with the line took me a drive round the 
 town, showed me the Capitol, the Ice Carnival 
 then in progress, etc. etc., and then brought 
 us a sleigh and pair to take us to the train, 
 gave us complimentary tickets as far as Platts- 
 burg, and telegraphed to the latter place to 
 have the parlour car ready for us to go on to 
 Saranac. All this, remember, not at all for 
 our beaux yeux, but for the sake of R. L. 
 Stevenson. We found it embarrassing but 
 pleasant, and were amused to find them very 
 busy when we arrived at Plattsburg, thawing 
 out the parlour car for our sole benefit. You 
 can therefore picture us arriving at Saranac in 
 state, in the first parlour car that had ever been 
 seen there. . . . Of course Fanny is feeling 
 the fatigue of the journey, but we hope that 
 will pass off. Unfortunately we had barely 
 got home, when Valentine broke down, and
 
 32 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 took to bed ; it is vexing, but Louis is having 
 a fine time at housework, and is busy expound- 
 ing to us the true scientific method of washing 
 china and crystal. I only wish you could see 
 him, and share our amusement ! . . . Since I 
 wrote, things have been less bright with us, 
 and we are all in a more or less broken down 
 condition. Louis has had a touch of fever, and 
 was coughing badly, though this the doctor has 
 been able to relieve ; still we have been rather 
 anxious about him, for he could neither eat nor 
 sleep. The doctor has now put him on koumiss, 
 and it seems to be doing him good already ; 
 indeed in these two days he has improved in a 
 wonderful way. In the midst of this I broke 
 down, and had to go off to bed. I think the truth 
 is we all did too much while Valentine was ill, 
 and we are feeling the effects now. Fortunately 
 Fanny is better, and I am up again, though I 
 have still to keep to the house, so things look 
 less gloomy. We have another girl to help 
 Valentine now, moreover, and we all feel quite 
 cheerful at the thought of being able to go to 
 bed with an easy conscience when we feel so in- 
 clined. . . . Very cold again, and the thermo- 
 meter down to forty-eight degrees below zero ;
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 33 
 
 eggs frozen hard, and the milk solid. It is 
 rather monotonous having constantly to thaw 
 out everything we use. . . 
 
 I have just been reading with interest your 
 accounts of Moody and Sankey, but I cannot 
 bear the way they write about the after-meet- 
 ings. Dr. Adam Hunter once said to me, ' I 
 highly disapprove of the meddlesome midwifery 
 of the present day ' ; and in the same way I 
 cannot help thinking there is too much meddling 
 with the second birth, too much interference 
 with spiritual modesty and reticence. 
 
 February 26. 
 
 I AM off to Boston to-morrow to visit the 
 F s. I wished to decline, but the 
 
 doctor insisted that it was the very thing to set 
 me up completely, so I gave in, and I expect 
 I shall enjoy it very much. I shall be glad of a 
 change, too, as the weather here has been very 
 trying; one day like summer, with blue skies and 
 bright sunshine, and the thermometer at fifty- 
 eight degrees, and the next snowing and blow- 
 ing as hard as ever. Strange to say, it seems to 
 do us little harm, and Louis is very much better 
 again, and beginning to be able for a little work, 
 c
 
 34 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 He is answerable for a new addition to our circle, 
 by the way, a large black and white puppy, half 
 Newfoundland and half mongrel. Lou would 
 buy it as a present for Fanny, though I tried to 
 dissuade him, and I think Fanny would have 
 been better pleased without it. The creature 
 is a good-natured goose of a thing, that will 
 run after horses and bark at them, till the village 
 turns out and pelts him with bricks, and Lloyd 
 won't call him off because he objects to acknow- 
 ledging any connection with him. But he is 
 Lou's latest fancy, and he declares that there 
 never yet was a Hunter's Home without a dog 
 in it. 
 
 Boston^ March 3. 
 
 I RE ACHED this pleasant house on Tues- 
 day evening, and have settled down to feel 
 myself very much at home. The whole family is 
 so nice, and it is so long since I lived in the 
 midst of a large family, that I had almost for- 
 gotten what a pleasant thing it was. ... It is 
 certainly a delightful town to visit, and the 
 neighbourhood is very pretty ; we get at once 
 into the country quite close to this house, with 
 large residences (not suburbs) scattered about. 
 The sun has melted nearly all the snow, and it
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 35 
 
 was delightful to see green grass after nothing 
 but snow for more than three months : I imagine 
 that in later spring the gardens about here must 
 be very lovely. 
 
 Mrs. F took me to a meeting which she 
 
 said was typical of Boston society : it was on 
 behalf of the American School at Athens where 
 students are sent to study Greek art. It was 
 held in a private drawing-room, and attended 
 by all the leading people ; Lowell, the poet, was 
 in the chair. When it was over, I was intro- 
 duced to him and to Mr, B , said to be 
 
 the most popular minister in Boston, and to 
 many others, who all said nice things about my 
 boy. In fact they are much too kind to me, on 
 
 his account, and I tell Mrs. F I must just 
 
 save myself by flight. In the afternoon we 
 drove out to Cambridge, to see the University. 
 The Greek Professor took us over the Library, 
 the Memorial Hall, the Dining Hall, and the 
 Gymnasium, and then took us to his house for 
 tea; where to our surprise we found quite a 
 number of people collected. I was introduced 
 to Longfellow's daughter, and his brother, who 
 wrote his life ; and to Professor James, who 
 talked much to me of Lou, and told me that he
 
 36 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 was planning- a letter to his ' beloved Robert 
 Louis Stevenson.' I was much provoked after- 
 wards to find that he was the brother of Henry 
 James, and I had not known it. . . . On 
 Wednesday we went to see Laura Bridgeman, 
 and I was greatly interested. She was fifty- 
 eight last December, when she had a jubilee to 
 celebrate her fiftieth birthday in the Asylum, 
 and had fifty presents given to her ; somehow, 
 I expected to find her much older. She is 
 small, and very thin and nervous, quivering all 
 over when moved or excited ; she likes visitors, 
 and has a wonderful kind of palmistry of her 
 own, which no one can explain. We were told of 
 three recent instances : the first was a man, who 
 was almost imbecile, but had been so carefully 
 trained, that he could pass in a crowd. He 
 came to see Laura, and when she touched 
 his hand she dropped it as if it had been a frog, 
 and said, ' Is he difoolV The second case was 
 a lady, who edited a magazine. Of her Laura 
 said, ' Her hand is as hot as fire ; does she 
 write poetry }' No. 3 was a gentleman whose 
 name was not mentioned ; Laura drew back 
 from him and asked, ' Is he kind to his family .? ' 
 By common knowledge, he was 7iot, . . .
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 37 
 
 So much for Boston, of which I have brought 
 away very pleasant memories, and a huge 
 fatigue after so much dissipation ; in fact, I 
 was nearly killed with kindness. To be inter- 
 viewed from morning to night as the mother of 
 Robert Louis Stevenson is no joke, I assure 
 you, however great an honour it may be ! 
 
 Saranac, March 11. 
 
 I GOT back here on Friday, very much worn 
 out, and much as I had enjoyed my visit, 
 very happy to return home and find Louis really 
 getting quite fat on his koumiss, and remarkably 
 well. But when a few hours had elapsed, I 
 had good cause to feel even more thankful to 
 find myself safe at home ; for we have just had 
 the worst snowstorm of the season, and our 
 house was nearly buried in lovely snowdrifts. 
 They looked so pure and so exquisite, when 
 seen through the window, that I longed to dive 
 into their downy softness, but refrained ; I 
 suspect it was a case in which distance lent 
 enchantment to the view. All the railroad lines 
 were blocked up, telegraphic and telephonic 
 communication stopped, and we were for three 
 days completely shut off from the outer world ;
 
 38 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 but this is the first time that Saranac has been 
 so entirely isolated, and even this time we really 
 suffered on the whole less than in most parts, 
 and save when the snow was falling there has 
 been a good deal of sunshine and not much 
 severe cold. Imagine how thankful I am, how- 
 ever, to have been snowed in, and not out of, 
 the ' Hunter's Home ' ! 
 
 At present I am in quarantine, as I have had 
 a threatening of cold ever since my return, and 
 the last two days have developed a slight sore 
 throat. So I am not allowed to be in the same 
 room with Louis : when he comes out of his 
 room, / vanish into mine, and we are exactly 
 like the little gentleman and lady in the 'weather 
 boxes.' I think I am the bad weather one, 
 as Louis needs sunshine to tempt him out, and 
 a little less snow. 
 
 After Fanny starts for California, which 
 will be as soon as she is able for it, Louis and 
 Lloyd and I mean to pack up and go off for a 
 change, perhaps to Washington, which is said 
 to be pleasant in April. But we are much 
 exercised in our minds as to what we should 
 do after that : many people tell us that Louis 
 ought to come back here for the summer and
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 39 
 
 camp out in the woods, a life that is said to 
 be wonderful for the health. Sometimes I feel 
 that after coming so far we ought to stay long 
 enouofh to gret the full benefit, and sometimes I 
 weary to get home. I only trust that in the 
 end we may do what is best. 
 
 March 31. 
 
 FANNY left us on Monday for California, 
 and after a week full of literary visitors 
 we felt very quiet. The weather, too, has been 
 plunging from winter to summer and back 
 again ; Fanny started in midwinter and I was 
 still confined to the house ; Tuesday was lovely 
 and quite warm, with the thermometer at 
 seventy degrees in the shade and deliciously 
 dry air, though the melting snow was running 
 in rivers everywhere. Louis had two walks 
 and a drive, and looked delightfully well ; and 
 I sat out in the verandah, reading, for two 
 hours, and my only complaint was that the sun 
 was rather hot ! Wednesday was still mild, but 
 duller ; and on Thursday the world was as 
 snow-white as in midwinter again ! I notice, 
 however, that the snow is much moister than 
 before, and I fancy we have done with sleighing
 
 40 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 for the season. We are back to buckboards, 
 but the roads are in a fearful state with great 
 chunks of half-melted ice, so that driving is 
 scarcely a pleasure. 
 
 I wonder what you will think of Louis's 
 sermon in the April Scribner ? I was horribly 
 depressed when he first read it to us, and told 
 him I could not bear to be reduced to the level 
 of a mite in a cheese, . . . neither can I ac- 
 knowledge that we are such hideous creatures 
 as he describes. Still I think it is a grand 
 idea that the whole creation is striving after 
 the fulfilment of an idea of duty, and not to be 
 deterred by any number of failures. Here is 
 another opinion on the subject : 'R. H. Stoddart 
 asserts that R. L. Stevenson's essay entitled 
 Pulvis et Umbra in the current number of 
 Scribner s is inhuman, brutal, and devilish. 
 Ho, ho! ' We do not know whether the 'ho, 
 ho ' is meant for Stoddart or Stevenson ! . . . 
 The sensation of the week has been a visit 
 from Bandmann the actor. He is an Austrian 
 and a charming old man, has been thrice round 
 the world, and thinks the Scotch are the finest 
 people on the face of the earth. Moreover 
 that opinion was not invented to please us
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 41 
 
 (which it did) as you will find it in his book of 
 travels ! I declare that he is the most pious 
 visitor we have had yet, as he was the only 
 one who ever said * Amen ' to Louis's 
 grace . . . He has a ranche in the Rocky 
 mountains where he has droves of cattle and 
 fifteen cowboys, and he has invited us all to go 
 and stay with him for a year, and promised us 
 plenty of horses to ride upon. He came upon 
 Jekyll and Hyde by accident when he was 
 travelling, and saw at once that there was a 
 good play to be made from it. He scouts the 
 idea that only one man should have the chance 
 of playing it. 
 
 . . . It is odd that now, the beginning of 
 April, we feel the cold much more than we did 
 in midwinter. We have had many showers 
 of snow, interspersed with thaws, and there is 
 a generally dirty look everywhere ; last night 
 it froze again, the thermometer was down to 
 six degrees above zero, and to-day it has never 
 been higher than twenty degrees ; and that is 
 really too much of a good thing on the seventh 
 of April. Louis has been a good deal in bed 
 this week, as much to keep himself warm as 
 for any more serious reason ; he cannot write
 
 42 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 in this weather, and yet he wants to finish 
 some work before we start on our travels. 
 The doctor is anxious he should return here in 
 July and camp out in the woods ; if we do this 
 we may go to some seaside place for May and 
 June, during which months the woods are full 
 of ' black fly,' a worse plague here than the 
 mosquito. 
 
 Alba?iy, April 15. 
 
 LOUIS and I left Saranac suddenly on 
 Friday. Louis had been wearying for 
 a change, and we had proposed to start on our 
 travels to-morrow ; Lloyd was in quarantine 
 with a cold, I was low and out of sorts, and 
 the weather simply detestable, rain and sun 
 by turns and the thermometer rushing about 
 between forty and fifty degrees. When on 
 Friday morning we found that Valentine and 
 the other girl had both colds, the fox and goat 
 and cabbage problem became so acute, that 
 there was nothing for it but flight. This was 
 decided at 9.30; and by 12.30 I had finished 
 packing and eaten dinner, and we started. Poor 
 Lou was driven about from room to room all 
 that time, avoiding the infecteds. He is looking
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 43 
 
 wonderfully well, and fatter than he has done 
 for long, so we have much reason to be thankful 
 for what Saranac has done for us. — It certainly 
 is a wonderful place. . . . 
 
 New York., April 29, 
 
 THE heat has come suddenly and every- 
 thing is bursting out with a rush. 
 Yesterday I saw a magnolia in full bloom. I 
 think I have never so appreciated spring as 
 after this long and Arctic winter. 
 
 . . . Louis was very tired when we came here, 
 and I was anxious about him ; but he has quite 
 got over it and is remarkably well, out twice 
 a day, and walking (he says) sometimes as much 
 
 as nearly three miles. Dr C who attended 
 
 him at Newport last September, came to see 
 him last night, and was delighted with the 
 improvement in him ; says that if he stays three 
 years in such a climate as Saranac, he will be 
 
 a strong man. That is what G said too ; 
 
 but surely we shall get home next year, at all 
 events. Sometimes I am very homesick for my 
 ' ain grey toun,' and don't feel as if I could stay 
 away much longer. . . . We have kept clear of 
 reporters, so far, and only few people know.
 
 44 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 officially, that we are here. But we are kept 
 supplied with lovely flowers by Lou's admirers : 
 
 Mrs. Van R sent roses of all shades and 
 
 exquisite heliotrope, Miss C a basket 
 
 of white lilac, Mr. B roses again and 
 
 mignonette, and Mr. Mansfield (who plays 
 Jekyll and Hyde) brought a hamper full of 
 violets and lily-of-the-valley and dark roses. 
 
 I have tried to refuse invitations so far as 
 I can, but it is difficult, people are so kind. 
 
 Mr. I is coming this morning to take me 
 
 to church ; he is a bit of a character, and often 
 
 reminds me of George F in the old days, 
 
 when he used to take a bite out of seven biscuits 
 all at once, to make sure that they should not be 
 taken away from him. The last time I went to 
 
 church with Mr. I we were put into a seat 
 
 where there were no books. I whispered, * I 
 have no hymn-book ' ; to which he calmly 
 replied, ' Never mind, I 've got Emerson's 
 poems in my pocket.' I said to him that I 
 would not go to church with him again unless 
 he behaved better : so he told Louis, ' I must 
 get your mother to go with me once more, if 
 only to put me on a solid basis.' . . . Well, this 
 time the sermon, which was really a lecture on
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 45 
 
 the poems of Matthew Arnold, wound up with 
 something Hke this : ' If you think Christ was 
 only a man, go and be a man like Him.' I 
 
 told Mr. I that he might take that for his 
 
 solid basis. . . . 
 
 Louis is beginning, however, to find all this 
 rather too much for him, and we hope to go out 
 of town to-morrow. We are bound first for 
 a place on the New Jersey coast called Manas- 
 quan ; beyond that we have no settled plans 
 whatever. If Fanny can find us a yacht in 
 San Francisco, we may go and sail about the 
 Pacific next winter ; but it is all a peradventure 
 at present, and our motto at present is ' Suffi- 
 cient to the day is ' no, I won't say ' the 
 
 ^z/z7 thereof.' You can finish it as you like. 
 
 Manasquan, May 6. 
 
 WE came here on Wednesday and were 
 all glad to get into the peace and quiet 
 of the country. The N. J. coast is very like 
 Holland, low and flat, and broken up by creeks 
 into which the sea runs, while a long spit of 
 land lies outside between us and the ocean. I 
 should prefer to be beside the real breaking 
 waves, but the sheltered cliffs are much safer for
 
 46 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 boating ; and as Lloyd has hired a boat, and he 
 and Louis are constantly out in it, I am glad of 
 the safety. We are very comfortable and quite 
 primitive here, as it is out of the season and we 
 have the ' hotel ' to ourselves : by and by there 
 will be eighty guests in the house, and we 
 should not desire to be among them ! . . . 
 
 I am interested in the incubator, and weary to 
 hear how the chickens get on. That puts me 
 in mind of a book of (burlesque) fables Mr. 
 
 I lent us, and I must tell you one: 'An 
 
 Elephant one Day inadvertently put her Foot on 
 a Partridge and killed it. Near by she found 
 the nest with the callow Brood, upon which she 
 said, " Poor Things ! I am so sorry for you, 
 being a Mother myself! " and immediately sat 
 down on the top of them. Moral. — Thus we see 
 how sad it is to lose a Mother, and that it is 
 not every one who can run an Orphan Asylum.' 
 I hope that Chloe may prove a better step- 
 mother than the elephant. . . . 
 
 I can still tell you nothing definite about our 
 plans. We have not heard anything from 
 Fanny, save that she is busy making inquiries ; 
 but I suppose we must settle soon where we are 
 at least to spend the summer.
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 47 
 
 Mafiasquan, May 12. 
 
 THIS great and sudden change in our 
 plans has so far upset me that I can 
 
 scarcely write at all, G will have told 
 
 you, of course, that we have got a yacht, and 
 are to sail from San Francisco on the 15th 
 June for a seven months' cruise in the South 
 Seas. It seems almost too good to be true ; 
 and for Louis's sake I can't but be glad, for his 
 heart has so long been set upon it, and it must 
 surely be good for his health to have such a 
 desire granted, so, just as I went to Saranac in 
 fear and trembling for the winter, I now go to 
 meet the southern summer ... if it only suits 
 Louis as well as Saranac did, we shall have 
 every reason to be thankful. 
 
 I think I may promise to be home next 
 summer at the latest, as I shall want new 
 clothes by then, and I believe I could pay my 
 expenses out of the difference in price there 
 and here ! 
 
 May 25. 
 
 THE other day we had a beautiful drive to 
 a place called Allaire, some eight miles 
 away. The woods and orchards on the way
 
 48 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 were full of bloom and young foliage ; and I was 
 particularly struck with the numerous shades 
 of pink and crimson among the opening leaves. 
 Some of the trees looked, till we came quite 
 near, as if they were covered with rosy fruit. 
 The place itself was built by an Englishman 
 some sixty years ago as an iron-foundry, and 
 there are all the necessary buildings, many 
 cottages, and a church, scattered over a beauti- 
 ful meadow with the Manasquan river running 
 through it ; but the foundry did not pay, and 
 all has been allowed to fall into ruin and decay. 
 It is extremely picturesque and much valued 
 in this country of modern things, where ruins of 
 any sort are few and far between ; I believe it is 
 carefully kept up and cultivated with an artistic 
 neglect for the benefit of picnic parties and 
 sketches. Next day we made another expedi- 
 tion, and went crabbing. A small boy about 
 twelve rowed us to a spot under a bridge, where 
 we cast anchor ; then we each firmly tied a 
 lump of raw meat about the size of a break- 
 fast roll to the end of a piece of stout twine, and 
 let the ball down into the water till it touched 
 the ground, holding the twine tight enough to 
 feel any movement. I never imagined I should
 
 ;■.,., ,1 1 I ~ •, i.i 1 I . I. \l.l'- II. Iv, \ I I III AGE OK 15 
 I'yom i! fiaintim; in the /•I'sst'ssion 0/ Mrs. y. c'rafi,'- Ral/otn
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 49 
 
 catch anything, but I did : as soon as there is 
 a tug you pull up the line, and crab and meat 
 appear together. It was rather entertaining 
 and we got a great many, but they were all 
 small, unfortunately ; sometimes very large 
 ones fasten on to the meat, and these require 
 a certain amount of skilful management. 
 
 This week the weather has turned damp 
 and raw, and Louis has a threatening of cold ; 
 it will be too dreadful if this orets worse now 
 
 o 
 
 that I have just made all the arrangements for 
 starting for San Francisco on Thursday. We 
 are to have a compartment all to ourselves, and, 
 if possible, we shall travel straight through ; 
 of course it is a trying journey, but it will take 
 us, we hope, into a far better and more equable 
 climate than is to be found anywhere on this 
 side. 
 
 Nezu York, June i . 
 
 FORTUNATELY Louis threw off the 
 cold, as he has done ever since we wenvt 
 to Saranac, in a wonderful way : the sore throat 
 and fever disappeared^ and there has been no 
 haemorrhage. The doctor says the v/ay he 
 has picked up from it shows a wonderful 
 
 D
 
 50 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 improvement since last autumn, when he 
 attended him just after our arrival ; and 
 he is strongly in favour, too, of this Pacific 
 cruise, and laughs at my dread of summer in 
 the tropics, assuring us that it is much less 
 trying than here. So I am much heartened 
 up, and the closeness of the weather in New 
 York makes us all look forward to our start 
 to-morrow morning. One little story before I 
 stop : Wednesday was ' Decoration Day ' here, 
 and I had a very good view of the march past 
 of the veterans of the war from the window of 
 the publishing office of a magazine whither Mr. 
 
 I took me. He said he would have to 
 
 introduce me to the editor, but that once it 
 was found out who I was, there would be no 
 more peace for Louis, so would I object to 
 being introduced as 'Mrs. Macpherson' from 
 Glasgow. I replied that I could not stand 
 that ; but if he would just say my name with- 
 out emphasising the ' son ' at the end, he 
 would find that I should be accepted as * Mrs. 
 Stevens'; 'and of course,' I added, ''here I am 
 nothing without my son' My little plan, I 
 may tell you, worked admirably. . . . Don't 
 talk of difficulties about servants : you should
 
 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 51 
 
 come out here to learn gratitude for our home 
 comforts. Lem, the waiter at Manasquan, was 
 a treasure in his way ; scrubbed floors, cooked 
 (and very well too), and did the washing and 
 ironing. I did not wonder, when I knew that 
 he did all this, that he had no time to pull his 
 sleeves down, or to do what our maids call 
 'tidy' himself; but this is how he addressed 
 
 Mrs. L : 'Just you sit down, my pretty 
 
 little dear, and don't make a fuss ! ' People 
 here talk of the pauper labour of the old country, 
 but we often wish we could get some of it, 
 and dont we long for a shilling drive in a cab ! 
 
 San Francisco, June g. 
 
 HERE we are all safe after our long 
 journey. 1 1 was very tiring, and we have 
 not yet got over the effects ; but though Louis 
 gave us some frights on the way, and several 
 times we thought we should have to stop, it 
 always ended well. We were very comfortable 
 indeed as far as Chicago, where we had to wait 
 eight hours ; after that it was not quite so 
 luxurious, and the accommodation was very 
 limited. However we consoled ourselves by 
 thinking it excellent preparation for the yacht.
 
 52 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 While crossing the Rockies, we rose to an 
 elevation of seven thousand and ten thousand 
 feet, but neither Louis nor I were affected by 
 it. Valentine, however, complained of some 
 difficulty in breathing, and her nose bled. Later 
 on, we were all somewhat upset, and had slight 
 haemorrhage : it is supposed to be the effect 
 of crossing the Alkali Plains, in the region of 
 Salt Lake, and is rather distressing. Valentine 
 was the worst, and I was the least affected by 
 it ; Louis came between in degree, but of 
 course in his case it was a much more serious 
 matter, and gave us some cause for alarm. 
 However, he was promptly sent to bed on our 
 arrival, and will be kept there for some days, so 
 the complete rest may put him right again. 
 
 We were met at Sacramento by Fanny, who 
 was looking so pretty in a new hat, that we 
 were grieved to find out afterwards that it 
 belonged to her daughter. Louis at first 
 thought of staying there to escape the reporters ; 
 but as there is far greater comfort to be found 
 here, we came straight on, and I am very glad 
 we did so. 
 
 We have been very busy ever since our 
 arrival, ordering clothes, etc., for the yacht and
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 53 
 
 the hot weather. These last consist of 
 chemises with a flounce round the lower edge, 
 and a kolaktc or loose sacque worn over it. I 
 am getting some of black and white lawn, and 
 others of muslin ; I think it will be comfortable 
 and cool, but I feel we — at least I — shall be 
 queer-looking customers in them ! 
 
 As to letters, don't * take on ' so much about 
 not getting them regularly ; don't you remember 
 in the old days at Colinton, what excitement 
 there used to be over a ' ship letter ' from John. 
 I shall be going on daily with a sort of journal 
 for you, and shall post it as I get a chance ; so 
 you may live in a constant state of expectation, 
 which Dr. Macleod says is the proper Christian 
 attitude, . . . 
 
 . . . P.S. \ must add that we have just got 
 very nice letters of introduction to King Kala- 
 kaua of Hawaii, where we hope to call in the 
 yacht ; and in them, to my amazement, there 
 is special mention o^ me, and my very pedigree 
 given ! . . . But our plans are still somewhat 
 
 uncertain, as Louis has not yet seen Dr. M , 
 
 the owner of the Casco ; and until he does, I 
 can tell you nothing definite. . . .
 
 54 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 June 14. 
 
 LOUIS is better, and things are so far settled 
 -/ that we hope to get him on board the 
 yacht to-morrow, as the air in the bay is cooler 
 and purer than on land. There is no prospect 
 of our starting, however, for some days yet ; we 
 have still to order in our stores for the cruise, 
 and to get coals in, and to try and remember 
 some at least of the many things we shall 
 
 want during the long voyage. Dr. M has 
 
 just been here to settle the final business 
 arrangements. He had heard that Louis had 
 a mother, and was not at all sure of allowing 
 an old woman to sail on his beloved yacht, so 
 he insisted on seeing me before he left. When 
 I came in I found a very stout man, with a 
 strong and humorous face, who sat still in his 
 chair and took a good look at me. Then he 
 held out his hand, with the remark, * You 're 
 a healthy-looking woman ! ' — so I am to be 
 allowed on board, as he thinks I am good for 
 a seven months' trip. He built the yacht, he 
 told us, for his health, as he was getting so 
 stout that some means of reduction were neces- 
 sary ; and going to sea has pulled him down
 
 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 55 
 
 sixty pounds in weight. I said, ' But we don't 
 want it to have that effect on Mr. Stevenson, 
 or there would be nothing left of him ! ' How- 
 ever, he assured us it would have quite the 
 opposite effect on Louis ; and turning to Fanny, 
 he added, ' The yacht is the apple of my eye, — 
 you may think your husband loves you, but I 
 can assure you that I love my yacht a great 
 deal better, and I am just afraid that you will 
 run away with her and never bring her back. 
 Remember, if you do, I '11 be after you with a 
 revenue cutter, and when I catch you . . . ! ' 
 
 You would like this place, fruit and vegetables 
 are so plentiful and cheap. You can get an 
 immense basket of peaches for a shilling, but 
 though they are very good, I have tasted them 
 with a finer flavour at home. Fanny tells me, 
 however, that these are only the * valley ' 
 peaches, and the finer ones, the ' strawberry ' 
 peaches, come a little later. 
 
 I have been a good deal about San Francisco, 
 but have not had time to go far afield. One 
 day I visited ' China-town,' and found it very 
 curious and interesting ; unfortunately our 
 guide spoke so little English that he could 
 not explain things to us. He took us into two
 
 56 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 temples, very dark and quiet, and full of beauti- 
 ful carvings and embroideries. We were enter- 
 tained to a real Chinese tea in a room adjoining 
 one of the temples, and they would take no 
 payment for it. We also saw a table set for a 
 large dinner at a Chinese restaurant : it looked 
 exactly as if intended for a dolls' party, with 
 several tiny plates to each guest, one with a 
 spoonful of sauce in it, another with a morsel 
 of ginger, etc. We did not know what most 
 of the things were. Even the fruit was on the 
 same scale, and we could not persuade ourselves 
 that it was intended for human beings, and not 
 for dolls. ... I quite liked the look of the 
 Chinese that I saw, and they are capital workers. 
 One, 'Yee Lee,' has made our hot weather 
 garments beautifully, though he scarcely took 
 any measurements, and I was sure they would 
 be all wrong. But they have no idea of not 
 crushing things, and my nice muslin holakus 
 were brought home rolled into a wisp, with a 
 string wound tightly round them. 
 
 We have been on board the Casco, and are 
 charmed with her, but I shall wait to describe 
 her till we have started on our journey. Louis 
 could not fix on our route till he had talked it
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 57 
 
 over with the captain ; but he has now given 
 up the Galapagos Islands, as to go thither 
 would keep us too long near the Equator, and 
 we are to go first to the Marquesas, and after- 
 wards to Tahiti — and where else I am not sure. 
 As the Casco is an American yacht, we must 
 hoist the Stars and Stripes, but we shall fly 
 the Union Jack as well, and likely a yacht-club 
 burgee also. Louis and Lloyd are both living 
 on board, and we are making all haste to get 
 in the stores and sundries. 
 
 JU7te2C,. 
 
 ONLY a line to tell you we are all running 
 hither and thither, as busy as bees, 
 finding sometimes that too many cooks spoil 
 the broth, but on the whole making progress. 
 It is not so easy to lay in all the innumerable 
 things that may be required by eleven people 
 during seven months away from shops. Still 
 one way or another, we have got through it. 
 On Saturday Valentine and I went to the Casco 
 and unpacked the clothing of our whole party, 
 and stored it in the lockers under the sofas and 
 beds ; the boxes are to be left here till our 
 return. We go on board ourselves either to-
 
 58 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 day or to-morrow. We have all been vacci- 
 nated as a preliminary, save Louis ; and we are 
 taking some lymph with us, so that Fanny can 
 operate on him should we come across any 
 smallpox, as the doctor thinks it need only be 
 done in that case. I may write a line from 
 the yacht before we sail, but I look on this as 
 my farewell letter. God grant we may have 
 good news of each other, and a happy meeting 
 in His good time. Take care of yourself for 
 my sake. . . .
 
 PART II 
 THE CRUISE OF THE 'CASCO' 
 
 [The reference figures refer to the notes at end of book] 
 
 Yacht ' Casco^ San Francisco Bay, 
 June 27, 1888 ij.iopjn.). 
 
 HERE we all are on the yacht lying off 
 San Francisco at the North Beach, 
 near Telegraph Hill, and ready for an early 
 start to-morrow mornino:. The tugr Kate 
 came for us at three this afternoon and towed 
 us from Oakland across the Bay to this 
 anchorage ; and another tug is to come at five 
 o'clock to-morrow morning to take us through 
 the Golden Gate. 
 
 I write a hurried line to go back by the tug 
 in the morning just to give the latest possible 
 report of us. But I find it difficult to manage, 
 with the preparations for making everything 
 fast for crossing the bar going on around and 
 
 overhead. 
 
 59
 
 6o FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 Just as we were starting a train passed close 
 to us and saluted us with three whistles, but to 
 our regret it passed so quickly that there was 
 no time to respond. However, we dipped our 
 flag three times to a government cutter that we 
 met in crossing the Bay, and they answered us 
 at once ; and some other yachts and a steamer 
 saluted us, and we had the satisfaction of re- 
 sponding. Belle and Mrs. W came down 
 
 to the wharf to wave a farewell to us, and 
 some newspaper people came off in a boat. 
 The yacht-club, of which Louis has been made 
 a member, wished to have a procession of 
 yachts to escort us through the Gate ; but a 
 friend who knows Louis's dislike of fuss put a 
 stop to it. Fanny and I are sorry, for it would 
 have been a pretty and cheerful sight, and as 
 no one would have come on board, Louis would 
 not have been disturbed. 
 
 We have lovely flowers in the cabin, the 
 gifts of many friends : one beautiful and very 
 large magnolia is just opening in the centre of 
 the table. The manager of the Occidental 
 Hotel also sent us a basketful of fruit. Here is 
 a list of the contents to give you an idea of the 
 variety. There are apples, pears, three kinds
 
 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 6i 
 
 of plums, figs, grapes, cherries, brambles, 
 strawberries, bananas, huckleberries, oranges, 
 currants, apricots, and tomatoes. That is not 
 bad, is it ? 
 
 How strange it will seem to be two months 
 out of reach of letters and papers. I think I 
 am more to be pitied than you, for I may have 
 a chance to send a letter, but I cannot possibly 
 receive one till we reach Tahiti. And even 
 then, as the mails go so seldom, you had better 
 send none there after receiving this, but 
 address direct to Honolulu, c/o the American 
 Consulate. 
 
 Isn't it wonderful that I am going to see all 
 these strange, out-of-the-way places } I cannot 
 yet realise it. I remember so well repeating 
 as a little girl at school : 
 
 ' Full many are the beauteous isles. 
 Unseen by human eye, 
 That, sleeping 'mid the ocean's smiles. 
 In sunny silence lie.' 
 
 I always longed so much to see them, and I 
 can hardly believe that all those childish long- 
 ings are to come true, By the by, Louis 
 would like you to keep all the letters I write 
 on the voyage for his benefit, as he may want
 
 62 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 to refer to them if ever he brings out a book 
 on the 'Cruise of the Casco' He has still a 
 little cold, and we are all longing for warmer 
 weather. We may get more than we care for 
 of that, before I write again ; but the wind has 
 been high and very cold to-day, and some on 
 board begin already to show signs of sea- 
 sickness. Once more, good-bye ! . . . 
 
 Yacht ' Casco^ Sunday^ July i. 
 
 1LOOK on this as my first real letter of the 
 cruise, as the other note that went ashore 
 by the pilot-boat was posted at San Francisco 
 and does not count. 
 
 This is our fourth day at sea, and all goes 
 well, I am thankful to say. Everybody was 
 at lunch to-day except Fanny : she and Lloyd 
 and Valentine spent most of their time during 
 the first three days in bed, and even the captain 
 did not appear at meals for two days, so that 
 Louis and I had them all by ourselves. I 
 missed only the first breakfast, and that was 
 because I had been on deck for two hours and 
 was not able to face red herrings and mutton
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 63 
 
 chops after that. I had got up at six o'clock 
 to see the scenery outside the Golden Gate : 
 the coast-line is very beautiful, but the morning 
 light not the best to see it by. I had already 
 admired Tamalpais much more from the inside 
 of the bay, and the m^-^ from the Cliff House 
 is much finer than the view of\\.. 
 
 We were towed out by the Pelican. There 
 was a heavy swell outside, and we were amused 
 to watch the little steamer first lifted high 
 above us, and then, as the wave passed, she, and 
 even the mountains of the coast, were shut out 
 entirely. Our vessel seemed very small among 
 those enormous waves, and I felt nervous when 
 I saw how she heeled over ; however, I was 
 told it was all right, and I am already getting 
 accustomed to it. The swell, too, is beginning 
 to go down. 
 
 I must try to describe the vessel that is to be 
 our home for so long. From the deck you step 
 down into the cockpit, which is our open-air 
 drawing-room. It has seats all round, nicely 
 cushioned, and we sit or lie there most of the 
 day. The compass is there, and the wheel, so 
 the man at the wheel always keeps us com- 
 pany. Here, also, is the companion, and at
 
 64 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 the bottom of the stair on the right-hand side 
 is the captain's room. Straight ahead is the 
 main- or after-cabin, a nice bright place with a 
 skyHght and four port-holes. There are four 
 sofas that can be turned into beds if need be, 
 and there are lockers under them in which our 
 clothes are stored away. Above and behind 
 each sofa is a berth concealed by white lace 
 curtains on brass rods, and in these berths we 
 three women are laid away as on shelves each 
 night to sleep. There is a table fastened to the 
 floor in the centre of the cabin, covered with 
 crimson Utrecht velvet. The sofas are uphol- 
 stered to match, and the carpet is crimson 
 Brussels. There is one large, heavy swivel- 
 chair, and opposite the entrance is a mirror let 
 into the wall, with two small shelves under it. 
 On each side of this mirror is a door. The one 
 to the right leads, through a small dressing-room 
 with a fixed basin, to Lloyd's cabin, and beyond 
 that again is the forward cabin, or dining-room. 
 The door to the left opens into another small 
 dressing-room, and beyond this is Louis's 
 sleeping-room. It is very roomy, with both a 
 bed and a sofa in it, so that he will be very 
 comfortable ; and at night, when we are all in
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 65 
 
 bed, all the port-holes and skylights and doors 
 are left open for the sake of air. 
 
 The dining-room has a long table and 
 chairs, two mirrors at the end, and between the 
 doors a very ugly picture of fruits and cake. 
 Louis would fain cover it up if we could spare 
 a flag with which to do it. Two doors at the 
 further end lead to the pantry and galley, and 
 beyond these are the men's quarters, which I 
 have not yet explored. 
 
 Tuesday, July 3. 
 
 SUNDAY was cloudy and squally, but 
 Louis was able to read a short service 
 in the cockpit at 4 p.m., which was the time 
 that suited best for the men. Yesterday was 
 delightful, and very much warmer than it had 
 been yet. We are nearing the tropics, and 
 are beginning to feel it. We saw one whale 
 the day we sailed, and four pilot-birds^ have 
 followed us all the way. It is delightful to 
 watch their graceful flight ; to see them alight- 
 ing on the waves and walking along for a few 
 steps, leaving little white footprints behind 
 them on the water. Louis says that they follow 
 the vessel for ' grease,' and that they suppose 
 
 E
 
 66 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 the yacht is an immense bird, and that we 
 are the fleas upon its back ! This morning a 
 flying-fish came on board, in the midst of a 
 shower of spray, the first to visit us ; and last 
 night we had our first game at whist, the 
 captain and I against Louis and Lloyd. It 
 was a close fight, but we were beaten at last 
 by a single point on the rubber. 
 
 Fanny, Valentine, and I have begun to knit 
 socks for Louis and Lloyd. It is quite the best 
 kind of work for shipboard, easy and inactive. 
 I began mine on Saturday, and am near the 
 heel already. Last night the weather was so 
 delightful that we all stayed on deck till past 
 ten ; the water was brilliantly phosphorescent 
 and the air was mild as milk. We only 
 lacked a moon. The sea here is quite as bright 
 a blue as the Mediterranean, but it must have 
 stolen some of its colour from the sky, for that 
 is very much paler than it seemed from the 
 land. It is the colour of turquoise, with that 
 under-tint of green in it. Are we not well off 
 with a carpet of sapphire and a roof of tur- 
 quoise ? Adieu for to-day.
 
 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 67 
 
 Thursday^ July 5. 
 
 YESTERDAY we had a new sensation — a 
 calm. The sails flapped idly, and we 
 only made about two knots an hour ; the sun 
 was very hot, but we could generally find shade 
 behind one or other of the sails. The sea was 
 beautifully smooth, and we had the rare 
 pleasure of a distant horizon. Usually we 
 seem to be shut in by the waves. 
 
 We all had a very active fit. Fanny, Valen- 
 tine, and I took to making pyjamas and jackets 
 for Louis of thin flannel, to be ready for the 
 hot weather, and the captain, not to be out- 
 done, began some new covers for the boat- 
 cushions. He is a 'palm worker,' which 
 means that he has his thimble, or its substitute, 
 in the palm of his hand, fastened in place by a 
 leather strap. During the day I had a good 
 long walk outside of the cockpit, which was 
 quite a treat. Louis won't let me attempt it 
 unless the sea is very smooth, because the 
 passage is narrow and the bulwarks not very 
 high. He and Fanny think me much too 
 adventurous, and declare I will fall over. 
 Fanny said to the captain one day, 'What 
 would you do if Mrs. Stevenson were to fall
 
 68 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 overboard ? ' and the captain, who loves a joke, 
 solemnly replied, ' Put it in the log ! ' This 
 morning Valentine tossed Fanny's cushion up 
 the companion stairs and very nearly sent it 
 overboard. Louis asked, * Would you have put 
 that in the log if it had gone over ? ' * Yes, if 
 you thought it worth while to send Valentine 
 after it. ... ' 
 
 I must give you the names of the captain 
 and the crew, for the variety of nationalities 
 is amusing. The captain is Albert Otis, 
 American. The crew are : Charles Olsen, 
 Russian; John Lassen, Swede; Fred Schroder, 
 Swede ; Charles Wallin, Finn ; Antone Cousina 
 (steward and cook), Japanese ; and Valentine 
 Borch (cabin-boy), Swiss. 
 
 You see we would have needed to have a 
 cabin-boy if Valentine had not taken charge of 
 the cabins, and the captain wanted to put her 
 name on the ship's list and make her sign 
 articles, but Louis did not see the necessity, 
 and would not permit it. 
 
 July 15. 
 
 I HAVE been long without writing, but at 
 present there is not much to tell. We 
 are sailing onward with varying speed and
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 69 
 
 comfort ; have accomplished two hundred and 
 six miles in twenty-four hours, and have fallen 
 as low as thirty-five in the same time, when 
 we encountered calms, head-seas, or strong 
 easterly currents. For a day or two we were 
 in the 'doldrums,' which means the calms be- 
 tween the north and south trade-winds ; but 
 now we are fairly in the latter, blowing from 
 the south-east, and are making steady progress. 
 We expected to cross the line before this, and 
 each of us bet a dollar on certain days ; but 
 Lloyd's, Fanny's, and mine are all past, and 
 this is Louis's, so we begin to fear that he will 
 lose also. However, the captain hopes that 
 we may reach the Marquesas some day this 
 week, and then, I trust, I may be able to 
 despatch this letter to you, as I know you will 
 be wearying to get some news of us. I mean 
 to send it off at once, and to send future epistles 
 also in instalments, so that even if you get 
 several letters together (as I think it probable 
 you may), you will be able to despatch them 
 round the family one by one, with a week's 
 interval between them. This will give you a 
 better chance of getting them back promptly, 
 and will not surfeit my readers !
 
 70 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 We have had some very hot weather since 
 last I wrote. The thermometer has been up to 
 eighty-nine degrees in the cabin, but is more 
 often about seventy-four degrees, and of course 
 it is hotter on deck. Fanny and Valentine have 
 taken to mumzis and holakus^^ but I am putting 
 off as long as I can. So far I have been 
 content to discard all woollen garments and 
 stiff or fitted bodices, and I often wear boots 
 without stockings. Louis goes about in shirt 
 and trousers, and with bare feet : he and Lloyd 
 got their faces and arms so tanned at the 
 beginning that they must now be surely sun- 
 proof. He is up the first in the morning, and 
 is generally the last to go to bed. What do 
 you think of that ? 
 
 Our pilot-birds have deserted us, but we now 
 have plenty of ' boatswain-birds,'^ so called from 
 their curious tails, formed of two very long 
 white feathers tipped with scarlet, which are 
 supposed to resemble a boatswain's marline- 
 spike, though I do not see it myself. 
 
 I have seen many flying-fish now, and love 
 to watch them. They look so happy flitting 
 about in the water that one longs to join them 
 in their play. As to our occupations, I have
 
 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 71 
 
 finished a pair of socks for Louis. We are 
 reading Gibbon's Decline and Fall, and are 
 now in the second volume. Most of it I have 
 read aloud, as reading in the open air was too 
 much for Louis. We cannot stay on deck 
 in the heat of the day, but it is much cooler 
 below ; though once or twice I have been glad 
 to take a siesta. Louis has given up his state- 
 room because it was too airless, and now sleeps 
 in the fourth berth in the main cabin ; so we 
 have turned his room into a dressing-room, and 
 its size permits us to start our indiarubberbath 
 and to have a salt-water * tub ' every morning. 
 The sailors all have coffee at 6 a.m., as well 
 as any of us who wish for it. Breakfast is at 
 eight. I am generally up at seven, and some- 
 times earlier ; once I was even out at five to 
 see the sunrise. After breakfast we all go 
 on deck till Valentine has done up the cabin 
 and made it into a drawing-room once more. 
 After that, we * decline and fall ' off, or write 
 and work. At twelve is lunch, and at five 
 dinner. After dinner we go on deck for the 
 sunset, which is the great spectacle of the day. 
 We have had some magnificent ones, but they 
 are about as variable in the tropics as else-
 
 72 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 where, and do not always 'come off.' Then 
 we play two rubbers at whist — the captain 
 and I are now eight rubbers ahead ; and after- 
 wards we put out the lamps and go on deck to 
 let the cabin cool before going to bed. The 
 evenings are generally delicious, the stars 
 bright, and the air heavenly. We saw the 
 new moon first on Thursday, when it was 
 three days old, but looked very large ; though, 
 as Valentine said, when I remarked upon its 
 size, 'perhaps it was born large.' It maybe 
 the way in the tropics ! On Friday we had 
 our first peep at the Southern Cross, but 
 unfortunately it was just ahead of the vessel, 
 and partly hidden by the sails, so we cannot 
 be said to have seen it properly yet. 
 
 Our little vessel sails splendidly. It is 
 wonderful how she picks her way among the 
 heavy seas and ships so few ; but we do 
 get a fair sprinkling of spray now and then. 
 Last Sunday Lou got a regular shower-bath 
 in the cockpit, and had to change all his 
 clothes ; and I had two lesser ones, one 
 through the skylight in the cabin, and another 
 in the cockpit, one day when it was very 
 stormy. Once, also, when I was sitting in the
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 73 
 
 captain's chair, I was sent spinning across the 
 cabin, and struck my head upon the sofa. But 
 see the advantage of a hard Scottish head ! I 
 was not hurt in the least, though Louis insisted 
 on banishing the chair, lest another time it 
 might be more serious. 
 
 Friday, July 20. 
 
 IN port at last ! We are in anchorage off 
 the island of Nuka-hiva. The voyage 
 has been most comfortable and pleasant, yet 
 I cannot tell you how thrilling it was to hear 
 Louis's call of * Land ! ' at five o'clock this 
 morning. We fairly tumbled into our dressing- 
 gowns, and rushed on deck. We could see 
 two islands, Hua-houna, which has no good 
 anchorage, and Nuka-hiva, our destination. It 
 was with trembling interest that we watched 
 the lofty mountains, no more than a grey haze 
 at first, gradually growing distinct as we drew 
 nearer and nearer, till at last the green masses 
 of foliage, the beach, and the curving bay, 
 came fully into sight. ' An unknown land, to 
 us at least ; what shall we find there, what 
 shall we meet with ? ' was, I believe, the
 
 74 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 unspoken question in all our minds. Very 
 soon it was to be answered. 
 
 Immediately we dropped anchor, a German 
 cotton-grower, whose name is Regler, came on 
 board. He promised to help us in getting 
 fresh food — cocoa-nuts, chickens, and milk — 
 as this was our first and most pressing need 
 after the voyage, and took the captain on 
 shore with him at once for this purpose. We 
 must be content in the meantime to look and 
 wonder. But now this letter must be closed, 
 and I will keep all our new experiences for 
 the next. 
 
 Yachi ' Casco,^ Anaho Bay, Nuka-hiva,^ 
 Marquesas Islands, July 22. 
 
 THIS, at last, is my beau-ideal! The 
 climate is simply perfect, much more 
 delightful than I could have believed possible 
 so near the Equator. The sun is certainly 
 hot, but there is always a delightful breeze, 
 and it is never in the least sultry or airless. 
 I fancy we have arrived at a fortunate time, as 
 the rainy season is just over, and everything is 
 looking new-made and beautiful — how beautiful
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 75 
 
 it is hard to make you realise. We all feel as 
 if we wanted to ' draw in our chairs ' and stay 
 here a considerable time ; even the captain, 
 who was inclined to think the whole expedition 
 quixotic, is charmed. We have an awning 
 over the deck which shades us from the sun, 
 and we spend our whole time when not on 
 shore in the cockpit. At last I have open-air 
 life enough to satisfy even me ! 
 
 Now I must go back to Friday, when I 
 finished my last letter. It was hardly closed 
 when our new German friend returned with 
 the chief, who was to take our letters to the 
 post-office in the next bay. His name is 
 Tai-pi-ki-kano, which, being interpreted, is 
 ' High-water and mean.' ^ He is a fine-looking 
 young fellow, fully six feet tall, with very good 
 features and beautiful teeth, and such a pleasant 
 smile. He seemed to be delighted with the 
 vessel and everything he saw, but our inter- 
 course had to be limited to laughing and 
 shaking hands. This latter mode of expressing 
 satisfaction appeared to greatly please him, for 
 he solemnly shook hands all round three times 
 before he went away. He was quite nicely 
 dressed in white linen trousers and coat.
 
 76 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 While he was still on board, a large canoe 
 with six or seven natives arrived, bringing 
 cocoa-nuts, oranges, and bananas for sale. We 
 went on deck to see them, and it was a strange 
 and, to us, rather alarming sight. They were 
 in every stage of undress : two most respect- 
 able-looking old gentlemen wore nothing but 
 small red and yellov/ loin-cloths and very 
 cutty sarks on top. There were even some 
 who wore less ! The display of legs was 
 something we were not accustomed to ; but 
 as they were all tattooed in most wonderful 
 patterns, it really looked quite as if they were 
 wearing open-work silk tights. ^ There was 
 a good deal of bargaining about the price of 
 the fruits, and the wag of the party, who did 
 most of the talking, said it was certainly a very 
 fine vessel, but there seemed to be very little 
 money on board ! 
 
 Louis took them all over the yacht, through 
 the after- and fore - cabins and the galley, 
 and then up by the forecastle companion. 
 They followed him in Indian file, making 
 strange sounds of satisfaction and pleasure 
 all the time. Most of them were dis- 
 tinctly good-looking, but there was one with
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 77 
 
 a very strange, unpleasant face, and an immense 
 mouth that at once suggested cannibaHsm to 
 us all. 
 
 When the chief went on shore, Captain Otis 
 and Lloyd went with him. He took them into 
 several houses and introduced them to the in- 
 mates, who gave them always the kindliest of 
 welcomes, and treated them to gallons of fresh 
 cocoa-nut milk. In the meantime, almost as 
 soon as they left us, there arrived two other 
 canoes, and we had presently fourteen natives 
 swarming over the deck. We women were a 
 little frightened, but we made signs that we 
 had no money to buy anything, and they soon 
 went away, quite satisfied and apparently not 
 at all surprised. We are told that their own 
 women hold a very inferior position, and are 
 permitted to share very few of the privileges 
 enjoyed by the men. Only very lately has the 
 last tabu been removed that forbade the women 
 to walk on roads which men had made, or 
 to use a bridge which men had built ; they 
 were compelled, if they desired to cross over, 
 to do so only by wading a creek. Even now 
 they are not allowed to ride in a saddle be- 
 longing to a native, though they may use a
 
 78 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 foreigner's ; and as there is only one person in 
 the island — Mr. Regler — who possesses a side- 
 saddle, you may imagine if it is in constant 
 request. In some of the other islands, more- 
 over, a woman is not allowed to eat meat ; the 
 men form themselves into ' clubs ' or parties, 
 where all the pork and other meat is consumed. 
 Would you not think that they had taken a 
 hint from civilised society? . . ? 
 
 Yesterday we had a delightful day. Lloyd, 
 Valentine, and I went ashore at ii a.m., taking 
 bathing-suits and luncheon with us. We found 
 a grove of palm-trees for a dressing-room, and 
 had a delicious bathe, which reminded me that 
 it was twenty-six years since I had ventured on 
 such a pleasure ; but here the water is delight- 
 fully warm, and we can stay in as long as we 
 like without risk of chill. After bathing, we 
 lunched on sardines, biscuits, and beer, and 
 a native brought us some cocoa-nuts and 
 oranges, which are a green kind, very juicy 
 and delicious ; by the time they are yellow 
 they are quite dried up. In return we gave 
 him some of our biscuits and beer. The 
 natives are very fond of hard ship's biscuits. 
 They told us that while we were bathing a
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 79 
 
 canoe filled with fruit went off to the yacht 
 and offered to barter the whole for ten ship's 
 biscuits. But the French, to whom these 
 islands belong, have forbidden this kind of 
 exchange. 
 
 We saw many of the women while we were 
 on shore, and some of them are very pretty. 
 They came round us and saluted us, saying 
 'Ka-ow,'^' which means 'how do you do?' 
 ' good-bye,' ' thank you, 'and many other things, 
 all implying an expression of courtesy. There 
 was much laughing, and many hand-shakes 
 were exchanged between us. They wore light- 
 coloured holakiis with long trains, a very pretty 
 garment, in which they looked most graceful ; 
 their feet were bare, but tattooed in such beau- 
 tiful patterns that they had the appearance of 
 wearing open-work silk stockings. They tattoo 
 their legs all over, and Fanny and I feel very 
 naked with our own plain white legs when 
 we are bathing. The girls, we are told, marry 
 exceedingly young. Our German friend, Mr. 
 Regler, for instance, has a native wife whom 
 he married when she was fourteen : she is only 
 eighteen now, and is the mother of two children. 
 
 * More correctly written 'Kaoha.'
 
 8o FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 I AM continuing this letter on Tuesday, as 
 on Sunday I was interrupted, and could 
 get no further. The French gendarmes — I 
 think I have already reminded you that these 
 islands belong to France — came on board for 
 a visit of inspection, and to arrange about 
 shooting licences. Both the captain and 
 steward have rifles, and we are told that there 
 are wild chickens^ on the island that are par- 
 ticularly good eating. At present all the fresh 
 meat we get is pork, which is delicious when 
 roasted, as it has a peculiarly fine flavour. The 
 pigs are fed on cocoa-nuts, and are quite tame 
 — in fact, they are household pets, running 
 about with the dogs, and even going with them 
 to the houses for supper.^ 
 
 This morning we had a visit from a much 
 more important chief than ours — I mean, than 
 Taipi-ki-kino of Anaho, of whom I have already 
 spoken. This other was Kooamua, chief of 
 Hatiheu, in the next bay. He is very intelli- 
 gent, and went all round the yacht, looking 
 at things with a really critical appreciation : 
 everything was carefully and thoughtfully 
 examined. He was greatly pleased with the
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS Si 
 
 captain's rifle, — did not care much for Lloyd's 
 fiddle ; but the thing that charmed him most 
 was the typewriter. He went off at last, very 
 happy, with a Casco ribbon for his hat, a piece 
 ■\ of plug tobacco in his pocket, and his name and 
 that of every member of his family printed by 
 himself with the typewriter. He looked such 
 a mild and benevolent old gentleman, that it is 
 difficult to believe he was till quite recently a 
 cannibal. He is now a wealthy and important 
 man, with a large European house, in which 
 he entertains the governor ; and the French do 
 nothing that concerns the natives without con- 
 sulting him.^° 
 
 The typewritten ' family tree ' proved to be 
 so popular that the very same evening our 
 own chief sent us a list of his family to be 
 written out in the same way. Kooamua, how- 
 ever, remained the only one to try the machine 
 for himself. What children they are, happy 
 and contented, with no wants that nature 
 cannot supply. I wonder if we are wise or 
 kind to rouse them to all the cares and 
 anxieties of civilised life. My dear husband 
 used always to say that dogs had much 
 happier lives than ours, and these Kanakas 
 
 F
 
 82 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 seem as free from every conscious care and 
 responsibility as ever a dog could be. Their 
 conduct to each other and to strangers, so far 
 as kindliness and courtesy are concerned, is 
 much more Christ-like than that of many pro- 
 fessing Christians ; but I am told that although 
 the Roman Catholic missionaries have been 
 teaching them for a number of years, they 
 have produced very little real effect, save that 
 the islanders have ceased to worship idols. 
 Fanny has secured the last that remained in 
 this bay, a very uncouth attempt at a human 
 figure carved in wood, and in rather a decayed 
 state." 
 
 July 28. 
 
 T'^HIS is mail -day, and I must finish 
 quickly, as we are all going on shore 
 early to spend the whole day on land. We 
 are going to bathe, and will take our lunch 
 with us. 
 
 Yesterday a native dance was got up for 
 our benefit. None of the dancing - women 
 appeared, but five men, nicely dressed in 
 shirts and trousers, danced together with 
 great spirit and grace. The music was pro-
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 83 
 
 vided by a drum, made out of an old tin box. 
 Many of the steps reminded me of a Highland 
 reel, but were curiously mixed up with cali- 
 sthenic, and even gymnastic, exercises : the 
 hands in particular were used very gracefully, 
 and they often took off their hats and waved 
 them to and fro. But they also climbed 
 on each other's shoulders, and did other 
 strange things. ^^ After dancing for some time, 
 they sang songs to us in a curious, low, weird 
 kind of crooning. Altogether it was a strange 
 sort of afternoon party ! 
 
 When we came away, we were closely 
 followed by canoes containing the dancers 
 who had just been entertaining us, and who 
 now proposed to perform again for the benefit 
 of the two sailors who had been left in charge 
 of the Casco while we were on shore. So we 
 had a second dance and song on our own 
 deck. We were also accompanied by some of 
 the women, who had expressed a wish to 
 visit the yacht ; the chief's wife, a tall, digni- 
 fied person, and five others, who stayed on 
 board with us about an hour. The mirrors 
 were the things that delighted them most ; 
 and this little trait of sex greatly delighted
 
 84 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 Louis, as none of the men had taken any 
 notice of them at all. One of the ladies had 
 her feet and legs tattooed in really the most 
 wonderful patterns ; she was quite pleased 
 when we admired them, and gave us a most 
 liberal view of them ! At the same time, I 
 must in justice add that they were all perfectly 
 well-behaved and lady-like, though some of 
 the books of travel say that their manners are 
 such that it is impossible for a lady even to 
 land on the island. ^^ 
 
 I have been wearying sorely to hear what 
 you all are about. . . . Before we reached this 
 place I got so home-sick for news of you, that 
 I brought out my last budget of letters and 
 read them over again. It was ' piper's news,' ^* 
 no doubt, but was better than none ; and I 
 made believe it was mail-day, and tried to be 
 content. Once a month we send our letters 
 to the post-office in the next bay, but how 
 long they stay there before going further we 
 cannot find out. I quite expect you will 
 receive three or four at once. . . . 
 
 P.S. — Our sailors prove to be nice, good- 
 natured fellows, very fond of talking and 
 being talked to, even when at the wheel.
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 85 
 
 Fanny was apt to transgress in this respect, so 
 whenever it was at all stormy, the captain 
 used to remark, ' Please don't talk to the man 
 at \he wheel ; to-day I want him to steer.' 
 Fred, one of the Swedes, was delighted when 
 he heard we would be going to Honolulu, 
 as he has a brother there whom he has not 
 seen for eleven years. 
 
 Anaho Bay, Nuka-hiva, Augicst 2. 
 
 MY DEAR CUMMY,— Here we are in 
 a little bay surrounded by green 
 mountains, on which sheep are grazing, and 
 there are birds very like our own ' blackies ' 
 singing in the trees. If it were not for the 
 groves of cocoa-nut palms, we might almost 
 fancy ourselves in our own dear land. But 
 the climate here is simply perfect. Of course 
 it is hot, but there are always fresh breezes, 
 and yesterday I climbed a hill as high as Kirk 
 Yetton,"^^ and was not in the least over-tired. 
 I doubt whether I could do that at home. 
 
 * Kirk Yetton, or, as some write it, Caer Ketton, is the second 
 highest point of the Pentlands, just above Swanston Cottage, where 
 the Stevensons had for many years spent the summer. The scars 
 which distinguish the hill are called the ' Seven Sisters,' or ' the 
 Sclidders. '
 
 86 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 We have our principal meal at twelve o'clock, 
 and spend the after-part of the day on shore — 
 bathing, gathering shells, knitting, or reading. 
 Our Japanese cook and steward just sets out 
 the table with cold meats, fruit, and cake, so 
 that we can take our other meal at any hour in 
 the evening that suits us. 
 
 Fanny and I are dressed like the natives, 
 in two garments, one being a sort of long 
 chemise with a flounce round the edge, and 
 an upper garment something like a child's 
 pinafore, made with a yoke, but fastening in 
 front. As we have to wade to and from the 
 boat in landing and coming back, we discard 
 stockings, and on the sands we usually go 
 barefoot entirely. Louis wears only a shirt 
 and trousers with the legs and arms rolled up 
 as far as they will go, and he is always bare- 
 footed. You will therefore not be surprised to 
 hear that we are all as red as lobsters. It is 
 a strange, irresponsible, half-savage life, and I 
 sometimes wonder if we shall ever be able to 
 return to civilised habits again. 
 
 The natives are very simple and kindly 
 people. The Roman Catholic priests have 
 persuaded them to give up their constant wars
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 87 
 
 and the practice of cannibalism, though only 
 within recent years. They are quite ready to 
 go to church, too, when the priests ask them 
 to do so, but here I think their religious 
 feeling stops. Or rather, perhaps, it never 
 begins ! One of the mission priests told us 
 that teaching them religion seems about as 
 effectual as trying to mould water. The 
 expression made me think of ' Unstable as 
 water, thou shalt not excel.' 
 
 Louis has learnt a good many words of the 
 language, and with the help of signs can 
 contrive to carry on a conversation, but I 
 have stuck fast with two words, ''Ka-oha^ 
 which means 'how do you do?' 'thank you,' 
 'good-bye,' and I am not quite sure how much 
 else, and ' Mitai' meaning good, nice, pretty, 
 kind. I don't expect to get beyond these, but 
 it is wonderful how much one can express 
 with them. 
 
 Louis is looking so well, and has even got a 
 little fatter since we have been staying in this 
 lovely, quiet spot. He sends you his love, and 
 bids me tell you that he is just living over all 
 the books you used to read to him. For 
 instance, this morning, when the juice of a
 
 88 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 cocoa-nut effervesced like ginger-beer, he 
 called out delightedly, ' Oh, I remember 
 Cummy telling me of that long ago, and I 
 thought it so wonderful. And only fancy that 
 poor little sick chap she nursed ever seeing it 
 actually and truly for himself! ' 
 
 Anaho Bay, Nuka-hiva, July 29. 
 
 SINCE'"' I finished my last letter to you on 
 Friday we have had a most exciting 
 time. You must understand that Fanny and 
 I took the letters to the village, and then went 
 to our usual bathing-place, to hunt for shells, 
 bathe, and amuse ourselves generally. About 
 4.30 the boat came to take us off. As we 
 were returning to the Casco, we remarked 
 with some surprise that she had changed her 
 position ; but our thoughts were diverted by 
 Mr. Regler making signs that we were to call 
 at the village before going on. There we 
 found a strange chief, Kapiau, chief of 
 Atuatua, who wanted to pay a visit to the 
 yacht. He was young, very pleasant-looking, 
 and well dressed in white shirt and trousers, 
 black alpaca coat and black tie. He asked us 
 
 . * Letters to Miss Balfour resumed.
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 89 
 
 to take him first to the east and opposite end 
 of the bay from our bathing-place, to fetch a 
 present that he had brought for us. We 
 found fiis wife and three brothers-in-law in 
 charge of the 'present,' which was a live (and 
 lively) pig, and fourteen fine cocoa-nuts ; but 
 by the time we had got them all into the boat 
 we were getting very uneasy about the yacht. 
 We could see that she was moving out sea- 
 wards, and worse than that, seemed to be 
 drifting towards the most rocky and dangerous 
 part of the shore. There appeared to be no 
 one on deck, and nothing was being done. 
 We were in a great fright, and got up sail and 
 hurried after her as fast as we could ; and as 
 soon as we were within hearing, one of our 
 men shouted out, ' You 're drifting ashore ! ' 
 We were all quickly bundled on deck, and 
 found the captain, with a very white face, 
 giving orders all round. We took the visitors 
 down to the cabin, and kept them occupied 
 there — and I am not sure that it was not the 
 most agonising task ; we could hear the bustle 
 on deck, and could follow all that was being 
 done. Another anchor was dropped, a sail 
 hoisted, and a rope attached to the yacht, and
 
 90 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 some of the sailors o-ettino- into the boat 
 hauled her out from the cliff. Mr. Regler saw 
 from the shore that something was wrong, and 
 came off in hot haste to help. He was for- 
 merly a sailor, so he was of great use in assist- 
 ing to save the yacht. The chief and his 
 three brothers-in-law and Lloyd were called 
 up to lend a hand at the windlass, to get up 
 the first anchor, which had fouled, and so was 
 the cause of all the trouble. Fortunately the 
 water is deep close up to the cliffs at that 
 point, and their efforts were in time ; no 
 damage resulted, and in about two hours, we 
 were comfortably settled in a new and better 
 anchorage, in the centre of the bay, just 
 opposite the mouth of it. 
 
 At first it had seemed a terrible encum- 
 brance to have so many visitors at such a time, 
 but we were soon very thankful for their help, 
 and indeed should have been very badly off 
 without them. We gave them each a glass of 
 wine, some hard biscuits, half a dollar, and a 
 piece of tobacco to carry away with them, and 
 they were more than content. It appeared 
 that the captain was at supper below, the two 
 sailors at supper on deck. Louis also was on
 
 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 91 
 
 deck, and I think this was the strangest thing 
 of all, for he was admiring the view of a 
 peculiar rocky peak among the mountains, and 
 it struck him that he had not seen it since the 
 day that we entered the bay. Yet he never 
 took fright! It was most providential that we 
 happened to come off just at the time, and in 
 time to warn them. 
 
 The strange chief was greatly taken up with 
 my gloves, which he called * British tattoo- 
 ing.' He smelt them, and made me put them 
 off and on more than once. He was especially 
 delighted with the buttons, and took it much 
 to heart that one had come off He also 
 admired my sateen dress, and thinks * shaped ' 
 dresses much prettier than holakus. 
 
 Yesterday we had more visitors, who 
 brought us a pair of fowls, and a bunch of 
 oranges. We entertained them to ship's- 
 biscuit, jam, and pineapple syrup and water. 
 Yesterday, also, we made acquaintance for the 
 first time with one of the Roman Catholic 
 missionaries, Pere Simeon Delmas. Louis 
 came on him in the middle of the villasfe, 
 and we wished Lloyd had thought of photo- 
 graphing the meeting, as it must have been
 
 92 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 very picturesque. The background was an 
 open-fronted native hut. Louis was dressed 
 in his usual airy style, shirt and trousers, with 
 sleeves and ' legs ' turned up as far as he can 
 get them to go, and bare feet ; the Pere in his 
 long, black woollen gown. The two advanced 
 to meet each other, each with his straw hat in 
 his hand. Louis begged him to come on 
 board to supper, and we all enjoyed the con- 
 versation. He gave Louis a lot of informa- 
 tion about the natives, quite recognised their 
 many good points, and told us that the bishop 
 who ordained him said, ' You are going 
 among a people in some ways more civilised 
 than we are.' He told us, also, what we had 
 heard already, that Bishop Dordillon, who 
 lived to a very great age, and only died here 
 last year, after nearly forty years of missionary 
 work, did an immense amount of good : got 
 the people to give up war and cannibalism ^^ 
 and to accept Christianity. But Pere Simeon 
 added : ' They have no spiritual life, nor 
 any conception of it. You see they have no 
 cares, and that is what leads to the higher life.' 
 To-day a great misfortune has befallen us : 
 Lloyd's camera has fallen overboard. It had
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 93 
 
 been left overnight on shore, and was brought 
 out this morning ; and while being handed up 
 from the boat, slipped out of its strap and 
 went straight to the bottom. Lloyd has taken 
 a few pictures, but it is a serious loss coming 
 so early in our trip. . . . 
 
 Thursday^ July 31. 
 
 WE have all been talking much of Edin- 
 burgh, and thinking of the exodus 
 that is taking place just now. ... I only wish 
 you could come here for the holidays : what 
 bathing you would have ! And, after all, you 
 would not feel so very strange in these 
 surroundings. Did I tell you that there are 
 sheep on the hills that look like home ? and 
 when we first arrived there were birds that 
 sang delightfully, very like our own beautiful 
 * blackies ' ; but they have now closed their 
 concerts for the season. By moonlight, when 
 we cannot distinguish the foliage, we could 
 fancy ourselves on some Highland loch, and 
 Louis declares we might well expect to find 
 St. Abb's lighthouse somewhere round the 
 corner of the bay. 
 
 It has been pretty warm lately, but not too
 
 94 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 hot for comfort if one is dressed 'accordingly.' 
 Like the natives, we wear nothing but mumus 
 and holakus, and on shore we nearly always go 
 barefoot. It is amusing to see Louis in his 
 peculiar attire, wading about in his favourite 
 cove at the east end of the bay shell-hunting. 
 He does it in the full blaze of the sun, and 
 quite enjoys it, and is looking very well. I 
 can't stand quite so much sun, and prefer the 
 west end bathing-place, where there is more 
 level ground and shelter beneath the trees. 
 Also, I have given up shell-hunting, as I never 
 seemed to find any but broken ones. There 
 seems to be little variety — nothing but tiny 
 'buckles,' just like those at home. 
 
 August I. 
 
 JUST a year to-day since I said good-bye 
 to you, and left my dear home. What a 
 wonderful year it has been to me ; and 
 how strangely my fears have been disappointed, 
 and my hopes more than realised! It is not 
 often one can say as much. ... 
 
 Yesterday we had an amusing 'dinner-party.' 
 We invited Taipi-Kikino, chief of Anaho, to 
 dinner. He accepted the invitation with great
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 95 
 
 joy, and as a first step in dressing proceeded 
 to the west beach to take a sea-bath. But 
 before it was accomplished, our boat came to 
 take us back to the yacht ; he could not resist 
 the temptation to come with us, and so joined 
 us as he was, in a pair of old blue cotton 
 trousers, a blue and white shirt with a hole in 
 it, and a towel round his shoulders ! But, like 
 a real chief, he was perfectly self-possessed 
 and unembarrassed, and could not have borne 
 himself with more dignity if he had been 
 dressed like a king. I wondered if he would 
 keep the towel round his neck all the time. 
 But no ; when he sat down to table he used it 
 for a napkin. He held his knife and fork 
 beautifully, and helped himself to salt, and 
 entered into everything with unaffected en- 
 joyment. Louis managed to keep up a sur- 
 prising amount of conversation with the few 
 words of Kanaka that he knows, interspersed 
 with French and English and a great amount 
 of pantomime. The chief, too, was very quick 
 of comprehension. 
 
 We have a photo of our Queen in the fore- 
 cabin, which is always something to talk about. 
 We show it as our ' Vahine Haka-iki Beritano '
 
 96 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 which means Hterally woman - great - chief - 
 Britain. Most of the men know about her 
 quite well, we find, and say immediately, 
 * Victoreea ' ! 
 
 We went ashore with the chief after dinner 
 and he took us to see a real old-fashioned 
 Kanaka house. It stands on a platform of 
 large stones, about three feet in height, called 
 a pae-pae}^ the house itself being forty-five or 
 fifty feet long. On three sides it is shut in 
 with walls made of bamboo canes, that allow 
 the air to pass through freely ; the roof is high- 
 pitched, rising to a point, and thatched with 
 cocoa-nut.^'' The front is left wholly open, but 
 the roof projects a little to keep out the rain. 
 Along the whole of the back wall opposite 
 the entrance there were cocoa-nut mats spread 
 over something soft, I do not know what, that 
 served as bed and sofa. The only other piece 
 of furniture was a sewing-machine, with a lamp 
 standing on it. As soon as we arrived, the 
 master of the house, a very intelligent and 
 dignified man (nicknamed ' the Chancellor ' by 
 Lloyd) sent at once for a cocoa-nut for each of 
 us. They were very deftly husked and broken 
 open by a young man, and the ' flowing bowl '
 
 JA.NE WHVTls IJALFOUK 
 
 ■ Chief of our A unts .'— not only I , 
 But all your dozen of nurslings cry — 
 What did tlie otlicr ckHdreit do, 
 And -ivhat "MCrc cJiitdhood, wanting you • 
 
 R. L, S. CInid' s Garden.
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 97 
 
 was handed round, a most refreshing juice, of 
 which one grows very fond ; we are glad to 
 drink as much as is offered us/^ 
 
 August 2. 
 
 LOUIS and Fanny hired four natives to 
 row them round to Hatiheu, which is 
 in the next bay. They had a pleasant trip and 
 lunched with the gendarme in residence there. 
 Louis also went with Pere Simeon to see what 
 remains of the old * High Place,' where the 
 ceremonial dances and cannibal feasts were 
 formerly held.^'' 
 
 The afternoon was cloudy, so I ventured on 
 my first long walk up to the top of the moun- 
 tain which divides our bay from that in which 
 Hatiheu lies. The road passes at first through 
 pleasant groves of cocoa-nut palms and bread- 
 fruit trees. There was also one large and 
 beautiful tree covered with great bunches of 
 scarlet blossom as brilliant as a geranium ; "° I 
 tried to get some, but they were all out of my 
 reach. Beyond this the road zig-zagged up 
 the green hillside ; and I got a magnificent 
 view of sea and land, with a peep into the next 
 bay. I was pretty tired by the time I returned 
 
 G
 
 98 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 to the yacht ; and had good right to be, as we 
 calculate that I must have been as high as the 
 top of Kirk Yetton.'"' Anyway, I am quite 
 sure I did wonders for the first of August in 
 the tropics, and more than I should have been 
 able to do at home. 
 
 We often amuse ourselves by proposing to 
 get up a party to settle here, and wonder 
 which of our friends would be content to join 
 us and live this half-civilised life. I say of 
 course you would come, and this climate would 
 cure your wheeze, and give you a new lease of 
 life. Then Cummy, of course, would com.e 
 also. She could do missionary work amongst 
 the natives, though I fear she would come to 
 fisticuffs with the 'pas bons pretres.' The 
 
 climate would be delightful for G , and I am 
 
 sure the natives would look up to her as to a 
 queen ; but then how could she stand the very 
 cutty sarks that some of them wear ! I think I 
 can see her look of dignified and grieved sur- 
 prise. For many things we decide that C 
 
 would like to be here ; and Lloyd declares that if 
 he only had B he could be perfectly happy. 
 
 We have just received a visit in state from 
 
 * See note on p. 85.
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 99 
 
 Taipi-Kikino dressed in a beautiful clean 
 white suit, which we suppose is the one that 
 he intended to wear at the dinner-party. He 
 brought us a pig, and some cocoa-nuts and 
 oranges ; and having come at nine-thirty he 
 stayed until nearly eleven, a rather unfortunate 
 time, as in the morning Louis likes to be busy 
 with his writing. 
 
 By the way, the natives have got names for 
 us all. Louis was at first 'the old man,' much 
 to his distress; but now they call him 'Ona,' 
 meaning owner of the yacht, a name he greatly 
 prefers to the first. Fanny is Vakine, or wife ; 
 I am the old woman, and Lloyd rejoices in the 
 name of Matd Karahi, the young man with 
 glass eyes (spectacles). Perhaps it is a com- 
 pliment here to call one old, as it is in China ; 
 at any rate, one native told Louis that he 
 himself was old, but his mother was not ! 
 
 August 3. 
 
 THE Captain, Fanny, and Lloyd went 
 ashore last night and brought back 
 startling news. The chiefs have all been sum- 
 moned to a council of war at the governor's 
 in Tai-o-hae, and all the able-bodied men are
 
 loo FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 called out to join the war that is going on at 
 Raiatea.^^ We are very sorry about it. It 
 seems hard first to be taught that war is 
 wrong and persuaded to give it up, and then 
 to be called on to fight for the French 
 against people of their own blood. How can 
 they be expected to understand it ? . . . 
 
 We are expecting to leave Anaho bay one 
 day next week, but the date of departure is 
 still uncertain. The sailors, however, are 
 already busy tightening shrouds and otherwise 
 getting the Casco ready for a new start ; 
 besides which she has undergone a regular 
 thorough cleaning while lying here. We sail 
 first to Tai-o-hae, the capital of Nuka-hiva, 
 to take in water, etc. ; afterwards to another 
 island of the group, called Hiva-oa, or possibly 
 to Fiji instead, as may be decided; and then 
 on to Tahiti, where I look forward with long- 
 ing- to srettino- some letters. From Tahiti I 
 
 o o o 
 
 expect we shall go straight to Hawaii, and the 
 captain says that if we are to avoid the season 
 of storms, we ought to reach Honolulu by the 
 first of November. That is all I can tell you 
 of our plans, so continue to write to Honolulu 
 for the present. I am afraid you will have
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS loi 
 
 been kept very long without letters, as we hear 
 that the mail-boat was very late of arrival from 
 San Francisco. Don't weary for the next, as 
 I fear it will not reach you for some time. 
 Think of me, with no news of you all, and 
 don't complain ! . . . 
 
 Yachi ' Casco,^ Anaho Bay, August 7. 
 
 WE are nearly ready to sail, and shall pro- 
 bably start on Thursday. We shall 
 all be very sorry to leave Anaho. It is strange 
 how much at home we have learned to feel 
 among palm-groves and half-savage natives ! 
 
 Louis and Fanny went on shore last night 
 and were asked by Kahova (the ' Chancellor ') 
 to have supper with him. It consisted of 
 baked bread-fruit, '^" with a sauce of cocoa-nut 
 cream, which is made by beating up the soft 
 pulp of the green nut with the juice, and is 
 delicious. The whole dish is called kaku.^'^ 
 The whole company ate out of one dish with 
 their fingers, but did it very neatly. Fanny 
 had the dish first, and took one dip ; but Louis 
 liked it so much that he helped himself several 
 times. I asked Fanny afterwards what she 
 did with her fingers. She says they brought
 
 I02 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 her water in a tin dish, which she poured over 
 them ; but she thinks Louis took more primi- 
 tive means with his ! 
 
 By the way, you must pronounce all vowel- 
 sounds in the Kanaka names and words just 
 as in French. The Kanaks drop out nearly 
 all the consonants, and hearing them speak 
 reminds me of the old Scotch story of the 
 goodwife and the merchant: ''Oo?' ^ Ay, 
 'od: 'A' 'oo'?' Ay, a 'od: A' ae 'od ?' 
 ^Ay, a! ae 'od. ..." I am sure it would be 
 possible to equal this in the native speech here. 
 And talking of words, I wonder if you have 
 ever wanted to know the meaning of the name 
 Casco. I did, and to satisfy my curiosity, I 
 
 asked Dr. M , the owner, about it before 
 
 we left. He said it was a word of Indian 
 origin, but he did not know its meaning. A 
 bay in the State of Maine, near his birthplace, 
 was called Casco Bay, and after this he had 
 named his beloved yacht* 
 
 * ' Casco ' is also the local name of a kind of flat-bottomed river- 
 boat used at Manilla in the Philippines.
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 103 
 
 August 9. 
 
 AFTER all, we do not sail till Saturday, 
 so I must give you another * screed ' to 
 tell you of our amusing experiences yesterday. 
 Fanny was determined to get lessons in the 
 proper making of * kaktt ' ; so we went ashore 
 in the afternoon, armed with a bowl and a 
 beater. First of all we went to Mr. Regler's 
 house. He could give us cocoa-nuts, but had 
 no bread-fruit. However, there happened to 
 be a native there who had brought in cotton 
 for sale, and he was despatched at once to beg 
 a bread-fruit from some one, and very soon 
 returned with two. The natives, I must tell 
 you, think it is dastardly and mean beyond 
 words to take money for food ; but they are 
 always delighted to give you more than 
 you want. 
 
 Lloyd had been chopping wood for the fire 
 in Mr. Regler's back-yard, where he always 
 keeps a log smouldering. The natives come 
 continually to beg for matches to light their 
 pipes, and as these are very expensive here — 
 a French monopoly, I suppose ! — he finds it 
 more economical to keep this fire going. So
 
 I04 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 — this suggesting it to us — we rewarded the 
 man who had got us the bread-fruit with two 
 boxes of matches, which so dehghted him, that 
 he immediately constituted himself assistant 
 cook. First, the bread-fruit was put to bake 
 in a flaming wood-fire ; the cocoa-nuts were 
 grated very fine, and the resulting pulp was 
 mixed with some of the juice and squeezed 
 through a piece of cheese-cloth that we had 
 brought with us. When the bread-fruit was 
 ready, the rind was taken off, and the pulp 
 well mashed, just like potatoes, and over it 
 was poured the cocoa-nut cream. ^^ Hoka, 
 the * beau ' of the bay, and M. Aussel, the 
 gendarme from Hatiheu, arrived during our 
 labours, and looked on with great interest ; 
 and when we had finished, we carried the dish 
 into Mr. Regler's shop, which was filled with 
 bales of cotton and quantities of dried cocoa- 
 nuts ready for shipment. Here we put our 
 bowl on a box in the middle, and squatted 
 round it on the floor ; Mr. Regler lent us 
 spoons, and we declared the kaku most 
 excellent. By the way, I should have included 
 Mr. Regler amongst our onlookers during the 
 preparation of the dish, for he was busy at his
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 105 
 
 sewing-machine close by, making a pair of 
 dark-blue cotton trousers for Hoka, whom I 
 have mentioned, and who is the adopted son 
 of a wealthy native called Toma. Hoka is a 
 really good-looking and clever young fellow, 
 the best dancer in the bay, and he can also 
 play most sweetly on a little reed pipe with 
 three notes.^^ Louis gave him one of his 
 whistles, and by the next day Hoka and all 
 his musical friends in the village could play 
 it quite well. Moreover, Hoka is a travelled 
 man, having been to Tahiti on a French ship ; 
 and he is only here just now because his 
 adopted father is building a new house, and 
 there is to be a great feast on its completion. 
 The house is made of wood — match-boarding 
 — and has two doors and two glass windows, 
 and a verandah all round, with an ornamental 
 railing painted green and white. It is con- 
 sidered very grand indeed. Hoka has a deep 
 admiration for Louis, and follows him about 
 everywhere when he is on shore. He wanted 
 us to stay here for the feast, and we begin to 
 be sorry that we cannot when we see the great 
 scale on which preparations are being made. 
 We have seen men going up the hill to catch
 
 io6 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 pigs for the banquet ; another time we met 
 five men and two horses laden with bread-fruit ; 
 and again, we saw natives coming down from 
 the mountains carrying kids by their horns. 
 Every evening eight or ten boats are out 
 catching fish by torchlight. We should like 
 to have some for breakfast, but their feeling 
 about never selling food makes it difficult to 
 ask for any. 
 
 I told you Hoka was an adopted child. 
 This is quite common here : sometimes they 
 are even ' spoken for ' before they are born,^° 
 and the foster-parents seem quite as fond of 
 them as their own father and mother could 
 be. No doubt it arises from the very few 
 births here, — we are quite struck by the 
 absence of children.-' 
 
 Tai-o-hae, Nuka-Mva, Monday, August 13. 
 
 WE are once more at moorings in another 
 lovely bay, which reminds me faintly 
 of Rothesay, though without the lovely views 
 outside. This place is the ' capital ' of the 
 Marquesas. The governor's house is close to 
 the water's edge, with verandahs all round, and 
 the * tricolor ' floating above it looks very gay
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 107 
 
 against the background of green foliage. A 
 small French man-o'-war is also in the bay, so 
 the signs of authority abound. 
 
 Louis went ashore at 9 a.m. to pay his 
 respects to the governor ; and Fanny and I 
 went with him to do some shopping. There 
 is a promenade under the trees, some wooden 
 houses, and two shops not unlike what one finds 
 in the Highlands, where lamps, hams, boots, 
 and dresses all hang or lie side by side. The 
 shopping took us a very long time, as each 
 separate article had to be hunted for. Surely 
 people do not buy much in the Marquesas. 
 When we rejoined Louis, he told us he had 
 found the governor most amiable, and had 
 invited him to come on board this afternoon to 
 look round the yacht. 
 
 There is more moisture here than at Anaho, 
 and the valleys are therefore more productive ; 
 but the outline of the surrounding mountains 
 is not so beautiful. Yesterday, on our way to 
 this place, we passed by 'Controllers' Bay,' 
 where lies the valley of Typee. (You ought to 
 try and get Typee and Omtta, two books about 
 the Pacific, for they are amusing and interesting, 
 and very true, in the main, of life in these
 
 io8 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 islands. But I am not sure if you will easily 
 come across them.) My next letter will tell 
 you more of Tai-o-whae. 
 
 Yacht ' Casco^ Tai-o-hae^'^ Nuka-hiva. 
 August 17. 
 
 WE are still detained in this ' capital ' city, 
 enjoying ourselves very much, though 
 we liked the life at Anaho better. We tell the 
 people here that they are too civilised for our 
 taste, and they are much amused : one pretty 
 
 Spanish woman, Madame J , wife of a 
 
 merchant, even offered to accommodate us by 
 setting the fashion of going barefoot ! 
 
 There are many kinds of fruit plentifully 
 grown here — limes, guavas, mangoes, custard- 
 apples, and others. Unfortunately this is 
 winter, and the mangoes are nearly over ; but 
 the commandant has promised to try and find 
 at least one for me to taste. How well I 
 
 remember M 's account of tucking up his 
 
 shirt-sleeves and eating a basinful of mangoes 
 before breakfast. 
 
 I told you of our shopping expedition on 
 Monday morning. In the afternoon the com-
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 109 
 
 mandant returned Louis's visit, and was very 
 agreeable ; and on Tuesday Mr. and Mrs. 
 Dunn came to dinner. Mrs. Dunn is only 
 fifteen years old, half-Spanish and half-native, 
 and so shy that we could scarcely induce her to 
 speak a word, though her husband told us that 
 she knows both French and English. The 
 motion of the yacht, even while at anchor, 
 made her feel ill, so they had to leave us 
 immediately after dinner. 
 
 On that same afternoon Louis, Fanny, and 
 I went ashore to call on Queen Vaekehu. 
 She is a most dignified old lady, with quan- 
 tities of beautiful grey hair brushed back from 
 her forehead. Being slightly deaf, we found 
 it difficult to hold much conversation with her. 
 I am told she was the first person converted to 
 Christianity by Bishop Dordillon. She lives 
 in a pretty wooden house of three rooms a 
 little above the bay, and received us seated in 
 the centre of the middle room. The wooden 
 floors were all spotlessly clean, the walls 
 painted a very pretty turquoise blue. For 
 furniture there were two tables with handsome 
 covers, many chairs, and a few very bad 
 pictures. Through the open door in front we
 
 no FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 had a lovely view of the bay, and the one 
 to the back looked out upon the mountains. 
 On the back verandah we could watch some 
 young girls at work ; they came several times 
 to peep in at us, but were peremptorily dis- 
 missed by the queen, who, I should fancy, 
 is quite capable of making herself obeyed. 
 An adopted daughter sat beside Vaekehu, 
 and acted as interpreter, and brought us 
 also several cocoa-nuts to drink. ^® 
 
 After leaving the queen's house, Louis 
 went to the mission to see Pcre Fulgence, 
 the head of the mission, who has been very ill. 
 He also visited the sceurs who have charge of 
 the girls' school, ^° and was very much taken 
 with them. All the girls from several islands 
 are educated and brought up here, but they 
 were just separating for the holidays, so I shall 
 not have an opportunity of seeing them at work. 
 
 On Wednesday, as it was a y^/^-day, there 
 was an early service in the church, at which 
 I heard by chance the girls from the school 
 would be present. I was anxious to see them, 
 so I rose at six, had breakfast by myself, and 
 went ashore and was at the church by seven, 
 Valentine going with me. The church is quite
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS iii 
 
 small, whitewashed inside, and has the usual 
 display of gilding, paper flowers, and wax 
 candles. There were nearly a hundred of the 
 girls, all nicely dressed in white holakus and 
 broad-brimmed straw hats trimmed with black 
 ribbon. They looked very neat, and were 
 very well-behaved, acting as the choir, and 
 singing the service in the crooning, humming 
 native fashion. I can compare the sound to 
 nothing but a gigantic lime-tree full of bees, 
 and I found it so soporific that I very nearly 
 went to sleep. After the first part of the 
 service, Pere Pierre preached a long sermon in 
 Kanaka, in which, by the way, nearly all the 
 service was conducted ; and at the close of 
 the Mass about a dozen people took Com- 
 munion, the queen among them. We were 
 seated beside her majesty, and I spoke to her 
 when the service was at an end. She wore 
 a very pretty white holaku with three em- 
 broidered flounces, a * cardinal's cape ' of 
 black grenadine trimmed with lace, and a 
 leghorn hat trimmed with black ribbon. 
 Apart from the girls, there were not many 
 people at church — at the most perhaps two 
 dozen women and a dozen men.
 
 112 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 This same day Louis spent at the Residence 
 with the commandant, returning on board only 
 about four in the afternoon. He had enjoyed 
 himself very much, for M. Delaruelle is a most 
 agreeable man. Once he asked us to guess 
 his age. It was not easy, for though his hair 
 is perfectly white, his face is young ; but it 
 chanced that I made a lucky shot and guessed 
 exactly right — thirty-six years. He then told 
 us that in Madagascar, where he had a bad 
 attack of fever, his hair turned grey in a single 
 night ; and he was so utterly miserable and ill 
 that he tried to get a mad dog to bite him that 
 he might be sent home to Paris to Dr. Pasteur ! 
 M. Delaruelle cannot speak English, but is 
 anxious to learn, and is trying to teach himself 
 He had bought some English books for this 
 purpose in San Francisco, and showed them 
 with pride to Louis. They were mostly utter 
 rubbish ; but, strangely enough, the first book 
 Louis took up was Treasure Island. The 
 commandant is now hard at work on this. 
 The day after Louis's visit to him, he was 
 in a shop when M. Delaruelle passed. He 
 looked in and said : ' Voyez-vous, je viens de 
 faire la connaissance de Modestine^ and walked
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 113 
 
 away. Louis was fairly puzzled, but found out 
 later that the commandant had found some 
 extracts of reviews of some of his books, 
 Through the Cevennes among them, at the end 
 of Treasu7^e Island. 
 
 Louis got home just in time for an afternoon 
 party, to which we had invited some of the 
 residents, who, we knew, wished to see the 
 yacht. We had ten guests : Mr. and Mrs. 
 Dunn, Mr. and Mrs. Jorss, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Brown and their son Alan, Mrs. Goltz (a 
 pleasant old English lady, wife of a German 
 sea-captain), Mrs. Dickson, and Mr. Cuthill, a 
 Scotsman, who has a mill for ginning cotton. 
 We gave them champagne, biscuits, and 
 gingerbread. 
 
 On Thursday Dr. Beynard, the government 
 medical man, lunched with us. He looks 
 extremely delicate. Unfortunately he could 
 speak no English, but he and Louis got on 
 very well in French, and he was full of 
 information. In the afternoon Louis, Fanny, 
 and I called on Stanislas, who is the son of the 
 late king, and step- and adopted son of Queen 
 Vaekehu. He lives in a wooden house, smaller 
 than her majesty's, and it is by no means so 
 
 H
 
 114 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 nicely kept, neither so spotlessly clean nor so 
 orderly. He is about forty years old, and 
 handsome, in spite of being heavily pock- 
 marked, having had small-pox when it 
 decimated the islands some twenty years ago. 
 His father was one of the many who were 
 carried off by it. Stanislas has been well 
 educated and speaks excellent French, and is 
 evidently both intelligent and sensible. ^^ His 
 wife is pretty, but hopelessly untidy. I fancy 
 that our visit had been expected, for no sooner 
 had we arrived than presents were brought out : 
 a piece of tapa ^" for each of us, and an old 
 man's beard ^^ for Louis. These beards are 
 very highly thought of here, and are difficult 
 to obtain. They are worn by men as orna- 
 ments, and are fastened on the forehead by a 
 wreath made of porpoise teeth. We were 
 given also green cocoa-nuts to drink, which we 
 always enjoy. 
 
 Louis and Fanny finished the day by dining 
 with the Dunns. Mr. Dunn was anxious that 
 Louis should stay ashore for a grand entertain- 
 ment he was giving, a feast and a dance by 
 natives, at which the entire population of the 
 town would be present ; but Louis did not feel
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 115 
 
 able for it after so long and busy a day. (By 
 the way, is it not wonderful what Louis can do 
 here ? He says he has not felt so well since 
 '79, and it is such a relief to him to find he can 
 keep well in so enjoyable a climate, as he 
 feared he might be condemned to places like 
 Davos or Saranac.) The party was there- 
 fore rearranged, and the entertainment is to 
 take place to-night (Friday) instead. I have 
 declined, and so has Fanny, but the captain 
 and Lloyd will go. 
 
 To-day (Friday) was another busy day. 
 M. Delaruelle came to lunch, and stayed for a 
 long time afterwards, talking with Louis. At 
 five we expected Stanislas with his wife and 
 little grand-daughter, but as his wife was ill 
 and could not come, he brought Queen 
 Vaekehu in her place. This was a great 
 compliment to us, for she had previously told 
 us that she could not manage it, as the rheu- 
 matism in her knees made it difficult for her 
 to climb into the yacht ; and indeed we could 
 see it was painful to her. She is a delightful 
 old lady, with gentle, caressing manners, very 
 dignified and serene. She wore a thinner 
 white holaku than she had worn at church, a
 
 ii6 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 white china crape shawl, and a leghorn hat. 
 She was very kind and courteous to us all, and 
 we liked her very much. The little girl had a 
 male attendant to take care of her. They all 
 conducted themselves perfectly at table, and 
 Stanislas talked in a most interesting way, 
 and showed us a charming old-time French 
 gallantry — declaring, for instance, that I did 
 not look more than forty ! The queen's 
 hands are covered with the finest tattooing I 
 have yet seen, all over the back, like exquisite 
 lace mittens ; but I noticed that only the first 
 finger was done, the others being untouched. 
 I asked her son the reason of this, and he 
 shrugged his shoulders and said, * It is too 
 painful.' When we went on deck, Stanislas 
 said, 'The Kanaka ladies smoke.' ^* Louis 
 went to get a pipe for her majesty, but it 
 occurred to Fanny she might like a cigarette 
 in the Mexican fashion, so she showed her 
 how to roll one. The queen seemed to be 
 delighted with the idea, and copied every 
 movement most deftly. Fanny took a ci- 
 garette also to keep her company, and we all 
 sat and smiled and patted each other, in the 
 absence of any mutual language. Meanwhile,
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 117 
 
 Stanislas was going the round of the yacht 
 with Louis, and was greatly pleased and in- 
 terested in everything. I forgot to say that 
 the queen brought us presents : a piece of 
 tapa for each of us, a finely-carved cocoa-nut 
 cup, and another old man's beard. 
 
 Mr. Dunn's large party went off very well, 
 and was kept up till very late. As Lloyd and 
 the captain had been to several other smaller 
 entertainments already, they thought it was 
 their turn to play the hosts ; so they found an 
 empty house, engaged some natives to prepare 
 a feast, and invited all their friends for the 
 following evening. In the afternoon I went 
 and peeped in. The house was prettily 
 decorated with palm-branches, flowers, and 
 flags ; a long table was set in the centre of the 
 room, and the fire that was to roast the pig 
 was already lighted, and the lamps filled and 
 ready. I hear it was most successful, and 
 only broke up at 1 1 p.m. 
 
 Monday^ August 20. 
 
 WHEN Stanislas was with us on Friday 
 he invited us to go an excursion to- 
 day up one of the valleys to see a rocking-
 
 ii8 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 stone. He was to provide horses and refresh- 
 ments ; but you may imagine how terribly 
 disappointed we were when the morning 
 turned out hopelessly wet. Saturday also was 
 a rather bad day, the worst since our arrival ; 
 but this promised to be much worse. We 
 were at a loss what to do, but our kind 
 Stanislas came on board before the hour 
 fixed for the start to propose that we should 
 delay until the afternoon, and go then if it 
 cleared up. 
 
 We intended to leave Tai-o-hae to-morrow, 
 but we may be detained a day or two longer, 
 for our Japanese cook went ashore without 
 leave on Saturday evening, got drunk, and 
 stayed away all night. Yesterday morning, it 
 appears, he was taken up and put in the cala- 
 boose (police-office) till this morning, when he 
 was brought on board, and was most insolent 
 to the captain. He may have to be turned off, 
 and it is possible the four sailors may elect to 
 go with him ; but we find that we can get others 
 without difficulty, and at lower wages. We 
 have already engaged a mate, for we found 
 we were ' short-handed ' in a storm. He is a 
 M. Henri Goltz, and has been a skipper, but
 
 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 119 
 
 is at present out of work. He speaks Kanaka, 
 and will be invaluable to Louis as an inter- 
 preter ; and if the new sailors are Kanakas, 
 Lou will be delighted, as he will be able to 
 get so much information out of them. 
 
 Tuesday .^ August 21. 
 
 YESTERDAY the weather never im- 
 proved, so our excursion had finally to 
 be given up ; it was a great disappointment to 
 us all. Louis likes Stanislas so much that he 
 is continually regretting that he did not call 
 on him sooner, but it cannot be helped now. 
 Did I tell you that his full name is Stanislas 
 Moanatini ? 
 
 The new cook has come on board. He is 
 half Chinese. As we have heard nothing 
 more of the sailors leaving us, we expect to 
 sail to-night, so I must come to a sudden 
 stop, there being no more than time to go 
 ashore and pay bills and make farewell visits. 
 I wonder when we shall reach Tahiti and get 
 news of you.
 
 I20 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 Yacht ' CascOy Taahauku^ Hiva-oa^^ 
 August 25. 
 
 HERE we are once more at anchor off 
 another of these Isles of Paradise ; 
 but I must go back and tell you of our depar- 
 ture from Nuka-hiva. After closing your 
 letter on Tuesday, I went ashore to pay fare- 
 well visits alone, as Fanny had a headache 
 and could not accompany me. I went first 
 to the Residence, where M. Delaruelle took 
 me all over the house, and showed me what 
 improvements he meant to make. It is a 
 charming house; but only fancy, he has but 
 two hundred and forty pounds a year on which 
 to keep up the dignity of the French Govern- 
 ment. It seems miserably little for such a 
 post. I then called on all our other friends, 
 including Queen Vaekehu and * Prince and 
 Princess ' Stanislas. (The natives always call 
 them by these titles, though the French only 
 treat them to Monsieur and Madame.^ I 
 went last of all to the mission, where I had 
 a very pleasant talk with the sceurs. They 
 showed me over the class-rooms, which are 
 kept in beautiful order by the girls ; and they
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 121 
 
 told me that besides ordinary lessons, the girls 
 are taught house-work, and to sew and cook. 
 Only four are there at present during the 
 holidays ; two of these, I was informed with 
 great pride, had a vocation for la vie religieuse. 
 As they were only fourteen, I suggested it 
 might be wiser to wait before coming to such 
 a decision ; to which the socurs assented, 
 though with a hesitation that showed they 
 were well aware of the risk of losing these 
 poor girls altogether. I fear that once away 
 from the school, its teaching is too apt to be 
 forgotten. The girls we saw were working at 
 sewing-machines, and looked thoroughly well 
 and happy. 
 
 In the evening Louis and Fanny went 
 ashore to present their photographs to the 
 queen and Stanislas, and to say good-bye. 
 At parting Louis kissed the queen's hand, 
 which evidently delighted her. Madame 
 Stanislas gave Fanny a very finely carved 
 poi-poi^^ bowl of mio wood. Stanislas walked 
 with Louis and Fanny down to the little land- 
 ing-place, accompanied also by Frere Michel, 
 a very cheery old soul of a lay-brother, who 
 enjoys life himself and wants every one else
 
 122 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 to do so too. He had asked us to give him 
 a passage to Hiva-oa, which Louis was de- 
 lighted to do, as he likes the kind old man. 
 Fanny declares that on the way to the landing 
 the two men quarrelled as to which was to 
 have the honour of walking with Louis, which 
 was not very complimentary to her ! 
 
 We intended to start at 8 p.m., when the 
 land-breeze usually rises, but that night there 
 was such a storm at sea, that there was no 
 land-breeze, and we had to wait till morning. 
 Fi'ere Michel brought on board with him a 
 carved cocoa-nut kava-cup for Fanny ; a 
 plain one, a large piece of sandal-wood, and 
 some vanilla beans for me. He also brought 
 a sackful of splendid oranges from the 
 mission gardens. He was certainly the least 
 troublesome passenger it is possible to 
 imagine, for he not only brought his own 
 blanket, but also a * serviette,' so that he need 
 not even ask us for a towel ! All he wanted 
 was a place to lie in, and we gave him the 
 sofa in Louis's unused cabin. Poor man, he 
 suffered a good deal from sea-sickness, and 
 scarcely touched anything while with us but 
 some of his own oranges.
 
 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 123 
 
 We sailed at 8 a.m. on Wednesday morning, 
 and reached our anchorage here at 3 p.m. on 
 Thursday. We had a head-wind, and a very 
 high sea ; and, as usual, every one was more 
 or less sick except myself. The captain was 
 very bad indeed, and so was Louis ; and our 
 new cook. Ah Fou, being also ill, we had to 
 take what food we could get. We passed the 
 island of U-apu during the night, and on 
 Thursday morning were in sight of this island, 
 Hiva-oa, which, I am told, means ' Yonder far.' 
 We also saw another island, Tauata, and had 
 to pass through a very narrow strait between 
 the two, called the 'canal.' This was difficult 
 to do with a head-sea and a high wind, and I 
 found it very interesting to watch the captain 
 giving orders for the different movements. 
 
 While we were going through the canal, 
 Frere Michel pointed out to us two nice large 
 houses that he said belonged to him ; but it 
 turned out that they really belonged to a 
 ' chieftess,' as they say here, who had adopted 
 him. I asked : ' Does everything that she 
 possesses belong to you ? ' * Yes,' said he, * so 
 long as I do not steal them.' Fanny and I 
 then said that above everything we should like
 
 124 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 to be adopted by a chief ; and he declared that 
 nothing was easier, and that when he landed 
 he would arrange for us to be adopted at 
 once. 
 
 These islands are much like the others that 
 we have seen, with high mountains sloping up 
 from the beach, curiously serrated in outline, 
 and rising here and there to fine abrupt peaks. 
 There are numbers of wooded valleys, and 
 most of the bays have curious detached 
 rocks guarding the entrance, which are called 
 'sentinels.' There is an enormous one at the 
 entrance to this bay ; it is shaped like a huge 
 hay-stack, and forms a natural breakwater. 
 The bay itself is so long and narrow that 
 it looks like a river-mouth. 
 
 As soon as we cast anchor the ubiquitous 
 gendarme appeared on the rocks and made 
 signs to us to send a boat for him ; he was, 
 however, at once satisfied with our bill of 
 health. Our next visitors were two boys in 
 a canoe, the son and young brother-in-law of 
 Mr. Keane, an Englishman, who is settled 
 here. He was formerly a cavalry officer in 
 India, and when his regiment was ordered 
 home, he could not afford to continue in it, and
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 125 
 
 was obliged to sell out. He is now married 
 and keeps a store here. It is indeed a strange 
 change of life. 
 
 The Capu, as the natives call the captain, 
 and Lloyd went on shore in the evening, and 
 visited the Keanes, who begged us to make 
 their house our headquarters while we remain 
 here. 
 
 On Friday morning Louis got up with a bad 
 headache, and looked so wretched that he said 
 he must rest all day. However, he went 
 ashore with us to see if he felt the better of 
 being on land. Fanny, Lloyd, and I intended 
 to go to the village, which is at some little 
 distance, to hunt for eggs. The landing here 
 is very bad ; we have either to spring fairly 
 out of the boat on to the rocks, or to run on 
 to the beach, through a heavy surf, according 
 to the state of the tide. We went first to the 
 Keanes, who were most kind and hospitable, 
 and lent us a horse for Fanny. Their house 
 and its dependencies are the only buildings of 
 any sort in this bay. It is a pretty wooden 
 house with a broad verandah and open doors 
 and windows, and they have an enclosed 
 English-looking garden, with lovely flowers,
 
 126 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 and a swing in it for the children. Mr. Keane 
 is cheery and jolly, a regular John Bull, who 
 tries hard to forget that he is not living at 
 home, and who has never tasted ka-ku or poi-poi, 
 or anything of native cookery. His wife is a 
 gentle, sweet-looking woman, half- Danish and 
 half- Hawaiian. We got one piece of good 
 news here : young Keane has a camera, and 
 has used up all his plates, so was quite willing 
 to sell it to Lloyd, who thinks he can cut his 
 plates to fit it. 
 
 Fanny got on the horse, and Lloyd and I 
 walked beside her to the village of Atuona, 
 two miles away, in the next bay. The road is 
 good, and it winds through cocoa-nut groves 
 and round the cliffs overhanging the sea ; the 
 views are most beautiful. When we got near 
 the village, we met Frcre Michel coming to 
 tell us that the chief was eager to adopt us 
 into his family, and that the preparations 
 were begun, and a pig was already roasting for 
 the feast of initiation. The whole village, it 
 appeared, was en fete, and charmed with the 
 honour that we were doing to them. 
 
 Atuona is beautifully situated at the foot 
 of a high and steep mountain, and has more
 
 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 127 
 
 houses gathered together than we have yet 
 seen in any native village. Our house (I mean 
 the one belonging to our new parents) is quite 
 magnificent, with no less than three doors and 
 six pflazed windows. It is built on a hio-h 
 pae-pae, as they call the large stone platforms 
 that support the houses, with a verandah all 
 round, and the windows and doors, as usual, 
 standing wide open. The house is entirely 
 lined with twisted reeds, and the floor covered 
 with matting, and everything was exquisitely 
 clean and fresh. Our new * papa ' was ready 
 to receive us, dressed in a blue coat and white 
 trousers ; his name is Pa-a-a-e-ti-a, and he is 
 a very good-looking man, but more depressed 
 than is general with natives. His wife is quiet 
 and very pleasant, but not good-looking. 
 They have a little adopted child, who was 
 at once introduced to us ; he is the son of 
 an Austrian sailor who escaped from a 
 burning ship some fourteen years ago, and 
 who refused ever to go to sea again. He 
 settled down here and married the chief's 
 sister, and this is his son. 
 
 While the feast was being made ready, we 
 went to see the pretty little church, where a
 
 128 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 kind oXdpere showed us everything with great 
 pride, and then we visited the misson and the 
 sceurs. After this we returned to our house, 
 where we found the table-cloth spread on the 
 floor. It was made of three large banana- 
 leaves, each about four feet long and one and 
 a half wide. On the thick green leaves were 
 laid two dishes of ka-ku, a roast chicken, small 
 green onions, water in beer bottles, salt on a 
 small leaf, baked bread-fruit, and cocoa-nut 
 bowls as finger-glasses. Fanny, Lloyd, and I 
 sat on the floor, and covered our feet with a 
 corner of the mat, as we had been taught to 
 do at Anaho. Our new father and mother 
 and 'little brother Joseph' seated themselves 
 near us. The roast pig was on the floor 
 behind, and near by, on a round table, was 
 fruit, beer, and cocoa-nuts. An elegantly- 
 dressed native stood behind to wait on us, the 
 old pere beamed most benignantly on us from 
 his chair, and Frere Michel, as master of 
 ceremonies, stood beside him. Windows and 
 doors were blocked by interested natives, 
 eagerly watching all the proceedings ; and 
 when we could get a peep between them, we 
 caught sight of gaily-dressed women and girls
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 129 
 
 sitting on the spreading roots of a large bread- 
 fruit tree. And the bright sunshine made 
 everything resplendent. 
 
 We were offered spoons, but declined, as we 
 wished to show we could be true Kanakas ; 
 and, plunging our two fore-fingers into the 
 bowl, we eat greedily of the ka-ku. I asked 
 Frere Michel why he did not join us, but he 
 said, ' No, that would not be convenable, as I 
 do not belong to your family.' It was, you 
 see, a sort of ceremonial feast, a rite of 
 adoption. . . . However, we did not all eat 
 out of one bowl ; we three shared the one 
 and our new family the other. It was 
 extremely good, and so was the chicken. Pig 
 and poi-poi were served as a second course, 
 and after that we had pine - apples and 
 oranges ; and we pledged each other con- 
 vivially in cocoa-nut juice, clinking the shells 
 in proper fashion. When we had finished, the 
 frere went round and poured water over our 
 hands, exactly as we read of it being done at 
 a Bible feast." I asked him, * Have we now 
 a right to live in this house as long as we 
 like ? May we stay, for instance, for a year ? ' 
 ' Certainly,' he assured us. ' Or you may 
 I
 
 I30 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 demand to have a new house built for yourself, 
 and it will be done.' 
 
 The adoption was now complete, as to 
 Pa-a-a-e-u-a's part in it ; and all that remained 
 to do was for us to give presents to our new 
 relatives. This perplexed us at first, as we 
 had of course come unprepared ; but Lloyd 
 took the Casco ribbon off his hat, and I gave 
 it to our new 'papa,' and Fanny made our 
 * mamma ' happy with a pen-knife. As long as 
 we live we have now a right to come here and 
 share all things with our new family, so you 
 people at home must make yourselves very 
 agreeable if you want to keep us with you ! 
 Lloyd thinks we ought to put the thing into the 
 
 hands of B to keep our new father from 
 
 adopting all and sundry, and so lessening our 
 share of the succession. You might suggest 
 it to B , and hear what he thinks of it ! ^^ 
 
 Frere Michel told us that he was very sorry 
 we could not understand the lanoruao-e and 
 hear the remarks made by the natives. He 
 said they were so gratified by our keeping to 
 the native customs that our popularity was in- 
 creasing every minute ; and the strange thing 
 was that, although we were the observed of all
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 131 
 
 observers, we all confessed to not having felt 
 in the least awkward or embarrassed. Among 
 the gazers, by the by, was the Austrian sailor 
 of whom I told you. When the feast was 
 over, we took leave of our family inside the 
 house, and of the merry groups of men, women, 
 and children outside, and came back to the 
 yacht, very full of all we had seen and done. 
 Poor Lou was terribly disappointed, however. 
 He said that if we had sent back the horse for 
 him he would have come to the feast even at 
 the risk of having to suffer for it ; but this had 
 never occurred to us, as we thought he was 
 feeling too ill to think of such a thing. 
 
 August 27. 
 
 ON Saturday our new relatives came to 
 visit us, and we had great discussions 
 as to what presents we should give them. 
 Frere Michel told us that they would like a 
 black coat better than anything else in the 
 world, and Lloyd thought he had one that he 
 could spare ; but it turned out, unfortunately, 
 that it had been left behind at San Francisco, 
 The captain good - naturedly came to the 
 rescue, and offered us a grey one, with tails.
 
 132 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 He rather crowed over us, when he saw our 
 difficulties, and declared he was glad that he 
 had not happened to accompany us, and so 
 had no Kanaka parents. After much dis- 
 cussion, however, we ended by giving the 
 
 * mamma ' a whole piece of pink printed calico, 
 (forty yards), and a bottle of perfume ; and to 
 
 * papa ' a very nice clasp-knife with a spring 
 to it that Lloyd had bought in San Francisco, 
 a whole box of cigars, and another bottle of 
 scent. Also to 'little brother Joseph' a silk 
 handkerchief, which had been one of Mrs. 
 Fairchild's presents to Lloyd. Fanny after- 
 wards added a photograph of herself, and a fan, 
 for the 'mamma.' They all seemed greatly 
 pleased with their presents, which was satis- 
 factory. Little Joseph brought us some 
 curious dancing ornaments made of human 
 hair, and a fine carved bowl, which he carried 
 himself all the way, clasped in his arms. 
 
 Yesterday afternoon I climbed to the top of 
 a steep hill higher than Arthur's Seat, and had 
 a magnificent view over many lovely valleys, 
 and the sea lying beyond. This island is more 
 beautiful than Nuka-hiva ; but on account of 
 the greater moisture, the climate is perceptibly
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 133 
 
 more trying. We often have regular Scottish 
 mists about the mountains here, and there is 
 such a heavy dew at night that we cannot stay 
 late on deck. Anaho has certainly the most 
 perfect climate of all the places we have yet 
 visited, but here we have few mosquitoes, and 
 no no-nos}^ The legend has it that the people 
 of Hiva-oa served one of the gods better than 
 the inhabitants of Nuka-hiva ; and as a re- 
 ward the deity packed up all the mosquitoes 
 and no-nos in a cocoa-nut shell, and sent it 
 over to Nuka-hiva. *° Isn't that rather like 
 St. Patrick and the Irish froofs and toads .f* 
 
 It turns out that Mr. Keane has accepted 
 at least one of the native customs, as all his 
 children are adopted. One boy and girl are 
 the children of his brother, and the other boy 
 and girl were son and daughter of a friend. 
 The brother, it appears, had lost his wife, and 
 the friend his money. Mr. Keane said, ' There 
 is always plenty of bread-fruit here ; send the 
 children to me.
 
 134 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 Yacht ' Casco^ 
 Taahanku^ Hiva-oa, August 29, i{ 
 
 WHAT a strange 28th of August "' I 
 passed yesterday. It was a lovely 
 day, and Fanny, the captain, Lloyd and his 
 'Co' (Mr. Keane's godson), and I started 
 early to take photographs at Atuona. I 
 walked on ahead, alone, that I might have a 
 few minutes to myself, leaving the others to 
 follow with the horse and the precious camera. 
 Colinton manse and the dear old times were 
 very present to me ; but had any one told me 
 forty years ago where I should spend the 28th 
 of August 1888, how impossible it would have 
 seemed that such a thing could come true ! 
 
 When we reached the villaofe we found Pa- 
 a-a-e-u-a (I hope you understand that you are 
 to sound each letter separately), in rather 
 soiled white garments ; but after greeting us 
 he immediately disappeared, and presently he 
 rejoined us in dark-blue coat and clean white 
 trousers, which is evidently correct high-chief 
 attire. We have a great deal of joking about 
 our *Pa.' I hope you observe how well his
 
 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 135 
 
 name as well as his relationship lends itself to 
 this contraction ! 
 
 Lloyd has got the use of a small dark room 
 at the mission for developing his pictures ; he 
 succeeded in taking a good many, which we 
 sincerely hope will turn out well. He did both 
 the outside and the inside of the church, Frere 
 Michel and Pere Orenz, a large group of 
 ourselves surrounded by the natives, and a 
 smaller one of ourselves with our new family. 
 He wanted to get one of a native in war- 
 costume, and after a good deal of persuasion, 
 one of them, called Moipu,'^''- consented to dress 
 up and stand for his portrait, on condition that 
 he was to get a copy for himself. He is a 
 cruel-looking man of about thirty-five, and was 
 formerly chief or king of this island, and a 
 notorious cannibal. On account of his very 
 bad conduct the French degraded him, and 
 appointed our ' Pa ' to be chief in his stead. 
 The two seem to live together on fairly good 
 terms ; but there was one thing that amused 
 us very much. When Moipu was dressed 
 and ready to be photographed, 'Pa' quickly 
 stepped forward and placed himself at his 
 side, as if to say, ' You may take him, if you
 
 136 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 wish, but you must take the real chief along 
 with him!' It is interesting and curious to 
 see the past and present in such close juxta- 
 position. 
 
 We stayed at Atuona till the afternoon, 
 taking our lunch at a little ' eating - house * 
 kept by a Chinaman. He gave us ham and 
 eggs, sardines, baked bread-fruit, preserved 
 apples, and the inevitable cocoa-nut juice : it 
 was all very good and clean. When we came 
 away his wife gave Fanny a piece of sandal- 
 wood, and Frere Michel delighted us with an 
 enormous bag of cocoa-nut pith to make salad 
 of.^^ Cocoa-nut salad, you must know, is con- 
 sidered a great delicacy. At the Hotel de 
 Londres, in Paris, a dish of it costs six hundred 
 francs ! You take the soft pith and cut it into 
 very small thin chips, and dress it with oil and 
 vinegar; we all think it delicious, as I fancy 
 most people do. ' Pa ' also presented us with 
 a bunch of ripe bananas, a pineapple, and 
 some oranges. 
 
 On Monday Louis went on an excursion 
 up into the mountains with Frere Michel : 
 he rode on horseback, and enjoyed it 
 very, very much, but I grieve to say that
 
 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 137 
 
 he got over-heated and then chilled, and 
 he has not been well since. It is such a 
 pity. 
 
 We have had a strange old Kanak on board 
 for three and a half days, and his occupation 
 was as strange as himself He had come to 
 arrange Fanny's 'old men's beards' into a 
 proper headdress ; for I think I told you that 
 human hair was so worn. He is a remarkable- 
 looking old man, with a striking resemblance 
 to our brother John : his name is Matiao, and 
 he has a splendid long grey beard of his own, 
 but he keeps it tied up in a knot under his chin 
 — for greater safety, as we suppose. We were 
 told that he could sell it any day for a hundred 
 dollars. He has been a rather troublesome 
 guest, as he requires constant watching, lest he 
 carry some of our beards away ; for I grieve to 
 say that neither the Seventh nor the Eighth 
 Commandment is written by nature on the 
 heart of these Kanakas, and it seems difficult, 
 not to say impossible, to instil either into their 
 minds. I really think it is because they are 
 accustomed to have everything in common/* 
 But to return to our old man : he is very fond 
 of talking, and as most of it, when addressed to
 
 138 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 us, has to be done by signs, his work in con- 
 sequence is often brought to a standstill. He 
 is also very fond of his food, and manages 
 to waste a great deal of time over that; be- 
 sides which, he expects to be waited on hand 
 and foot, and won't even fetch a drink of water 
 for himself. Once, however, we had a good 
 laugh at his expense. He had a tin bowl of 
 water served to him at his meals, and when he 
 was ready to begin he washed his hands in it, 
 and sio^ned to Valentine to throw the used 
 water away. She, however, thought he might 
 do it for himself, and took no notice. Fanny, 
 seeing something was wanted, and misunder- 
 standing his gesture, took up his plate of food 
 — which he was not at all ready to part with 
 — and emptied it overboard. He looked 
 taken aback for a moment, but ultimately 
 joined in the general laugh against himself. 
 It was much funnier than it sounds, after the 
 lordly way he had waved to Valentine. We 
 wonder whether his work is not perhaps con- 
 sidered religious or sacred in character, and 
 that it would be infra dig. for him to wait 
 upon himself while he is engaged on it. 
 It is a great pity that we cannot under-
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 139 
 
 stand more of what he says, for he is the 
 wag of the village, and keeps all the people 
 laughing. 
 
 August 30. 
 
 YESTERDAY Lloyd went back to 
 Atuona to take some more photo- 
 graphs, and Moipu met him and begged him 
 to do one of his brother. He gave Lloyd 
 a piece of sandalwood, and some tapa, and 
 promised him a pair of fowls. Lloyd also 
 agreed to exchange names with him, as they 
 do here when they become brothers, and then 
 you may ask for anything you like. Lloyd 
 declared it was well to be connected with the 
 old dynasty as well as the new, as there might 
 be a change of ministry ! 
 
 Our mate, Mr. Goltz, turns out to be a 
 Pole, not a German. He is a good-looking 
 man, and adds dignity to our following, but 
 is rather too fond of talking, and when once 
 started, his words flow like a river. Louis 
 says he would often like to dam said river. 
 As to the new cook. Ah Fou, he cooks better 
 than the one we had before, but is very little 
 of a steward. However, he is manageable,
 
 140 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 which is a great matter : the Jap was master 
 of all he surveyed, feeding the crew on our 
 best tinned soups, and we had no redress. No 
 wonder the men were attached to him ! 
 
 September i. 
 
 ABOUT twelve-thirty we had a great 
 excitement. A schooner came into the 
 bay beside us. What could she be? Was 
 she the Dolly, a coasting boat daily expected ? 
 No, for she was painted black, and the Dolly 
 was grey. Could she be the Nu-hiva, the 
 French Government cutter from Tai-o-hae .'* 
 No, we very soon saw she was not that either. 
 The mate said she was an English yacht, * You 
 can see she is a John Bull all over, and if 
 she isn't, I '11 hang myself.' We all watched 
 eagerly to see her colours go up, and behold, 
 it was our beloved blue ensign, and the mate's 
 neck was safe. After a time we made out her 
 name to be Nyanza. By and by the owner 
 came over to call on us ; and we found he was 
 Captain Cumming Dewar of Vogrie in the 
 county of Midlothian ! Is it not very strange 
 that two yachts should meet in such an out-of- 
 the-way corner of the world, and that both
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 141 
 
 proprietors should hail from the same county ? 
 More than that, we knew Captain Dewar's 
 father a little, and I was introduced to the 
 captain himself in the Paddington Hotel 
 in November 1873, when we were seeing 
 Louis off to Mentone. The Dewars were off 
 to the same place on account of the health of 
 this very young man who is now here. . . . 
 
 They have been thirteen months away, and 
 have done many wonderful things : have come 
 through the Straits of Magellan, lived in 
 Robinson Crusoe's Island, had to live three 
 months on the Falkland Islands till they got a 
 new captain sent out to them, and when they 
 landed on Easter Island a storm came on and 
 they could not get back to the yacht for a 
 week, and had to live in a cave with the 
 natives as best they could ! . . . 
 
 We went on board the other boat in the 
 evening, but Louis was still very far from well. 
 We hoped that the little excitement of this 
 new arrival might brighten him up, but it was 
 very close in their saloon, and as he would go 
 with us, I fear he caught a fresh chill. At any 
 rate he has been in bed all day.
 
 142 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 Septettiber 2. 
 
 MOIPU came on board yesterday to 
 cement the brotherhood between him 
 and Lloyd. Besides the tapa and the sandal- 
 wood that he had already given, he brought 
 a live pig, a pair of fowls, a lot of cocoa-nuts, 
 and some eggs. He arrived too late for our 
 own meal, so we gave him cold tongue, 
 asparagus, bread, biscuits, and two kinds of 
 jam, and champagne. He seemed delighted 
 with everything, especially the number of 
 different views of himself in the mirrors, and 
 with the presents we gave him, which were 
 a box of cigars, a silk handkerchief, a tin of 
 salmon, another of lobsters, three pots of mar- 
 malade, and a bottle of scent ! Frere Michel, 
 who came later to visit us with old Pere 
 Oranz, told us that Moipu was delighted with 
 his reception and his gifts ; and that as for old 
 Matiao, he is so conceited about his stay of 
 three days and a half on the Casco that he can 
 talk of nothing else. 
 
 Captain Chase, an American who lives in 
 the next bay, came to call on Louis as soon as 
 he heard of the Casco' s arrival. He had read
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 143 
 
 about him in a San Francisco paper, and had 
 read also about yachts, but had never seen 
 one, and wanted to know what they were Hke. 
 A few days afterwards some amusing verses 
 were sent to us, written by a Scotsman called 
 M 'Galium, who is a sort of partner of Captain 
 Chase.* Isn't it amusing to come on a ' poet 
 laureate ' in the Marquesas ? 
 
 I was interested to discover the other day 
 that pineapples grow here like weeds by the 
 wayside. They are just coming into flower, so 
 I don't know where ' Pa ' got the one he sent us. 
 
 September 5. 
 
 AT sea again, en route for Fakarova, one 
 of the Paumotu Islands. Louis had 
 been in bed all Saturday and Sunday, and 
 thought a change would do him good, so we 
 determined to leave on Tuesday morning. 
 After breakfast on Monday morning Fanny, 
 Lloyd, Captain Otis, and I started off to say 
 good-bye to all our friends. As we also 
 wished greatly to see the ' invisible valley,' 
 which was at some little distance, Fanny and 
 I both borrowed horses from Mr. Keane. We 
 
 * The verses are given in R. L. Stevenson's volume In the South 
 Seas, p. 117.
 
 144 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 went first to the Chinaman's, and had lunch ; 
 and when Moipu heard that we were there he 
 sent up a bowl of ka-ku to help our repast. 
 Mrs. Chinaman gave Fanny a cocoa - nut 
 wreath ^^ for her hat, and to the rest of us a 
 large bag of oranges. Did you ever hear of 
 such people for giving presents ? Our only 
 connection with them was that we had taken 
 a few meals in their eating - house. Mrs. 
 Chinaman also got a horse, and accompanied 
 us up the valley. It is called 'invisible' be- 
 cause the entrance is hidden by a spur of the 
 mountain ; the scenery was most beautiful, 
 Highland mountain-peaks above us, a High- 
 land burn murmuring in our ears, and yet we 
 were surrounded by tropical vegetation. I 
 thought of Rasselas and the 'happy valley,' 
 
 and longed for T to repeat the description 
 
 of it to me. 
 
 Only Fanny and I went up the valley, Lloyd 
 and the captain being occupied in taking more 
 photographs. When we returned to the village 
 we said good-bye to our kind friends of the 
 mission, who put the coping - stone on their 
 favours by giving us a live sheep. How are 
 we ever to repay them ? ' Pa ' and his family
 
 MRS. STKVFNSON AND IIKU SON ■'l.OUI'i" IN 1854
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 145 
 
 were not at home, but Frere Michel took care 
 of some little parting gifts for them, and 
 promised to present our good wishes. Moipu 
 took leave of us almost with tears. He was 
 delighted when we remembered to call him 
 Matd Karaki, the young-man-with-spectacles ; 
 you know he and Lloyd exchanged names. 
 Mr. Keane sent a hundred cocoa-nuts on 
 board, and sent, also, his large boat with six 
 rowers to row us out of the bay, when we left 
 at 7 A.M. 
 
 We have had perfect weather, and little 
 sea-sickness ; Louis seems much better too, 
 I am thankful to say, and is up on deck 
 as usual, though still coughing a good 
 deal. 
 
 September g. 
 
 THIS is real pleasure-sailing, and the 
 ocean has been truly Pacific. We sit 
 all day on the top of the deck-house sheltered 
 from the sun by the sails, reading, writing, 
 working and talking. We have had splendid 
 sunsets, too, almost as decidedly purple and 
 gold as those we see in Edinburgh which are 
 described as tropical, and which I have been 
 
 K
 
 146 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 longing for. We are very thankful for the 
 fine weather, as we are now among the coral 
 islands of the Low Archipelago. They lie close 
 together, as well as very low in the water, 
 and there are very rapid currents between 
 them, all of which makes navigation diffi- 
 cult and dangerous. Captain Otis did not 
 much like coming amongst them ; but Louis 
 was so anxious to reach some out-of-the-way 
 place, that at last he agreed. Yesterday 
 morning at 5.15 we sighted Tikei, one of the 
 * Pernicious Islands.' It was very small, and 
 looked like a row of cocoa-nut trees growing 
 out of the water. At 11. 15 we came in sight 
 of Taiaro. It was much larger, and we could 
 see a long white beach and trees of many 
 different kinds and varieties. It reminded 
 me very much of the Lido, close to Venice. 
 Taiaro remained in sight for a long time, and 
 we longed to land, but prudence said * no.' All 
 day long we had kept a look-out at the mast- 
 head ; and at six o'clock, just after sunset, 
 Raraka was spied from that exalted position. 
 The captain and mate passed a very anxious 
 night, but all went well ; and this morning, 
 soon after seven, we came on deck to find our-
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 147 
 
 selves coasting: alongr the island of Kauehi. 
 It is twelve miles long, and thickly wooded ; 
 at one point in passing the sky was absolutely 
 darkened by a great cloud of sea-birds. It is 
 now 10.15, and we have just come in sight 
 of Fakarava, so I shall stop till we have 
 reached it. 
 
 Fakarava, September 10. 
 
 DO you remember 's account of the 
 great architect's visit to the High 
 School, as expounded by the janitor? It 
 wound up with, . . . ' An' when he cam to 
 the ha', he jist haddit up his ban's, an' said, 
 " Atweel, I think this bates a' that iver I 
 seed." ' 
 
 This fitly expresses our thoughts at the 
 sight of this coral island. The strip of land is 
 so narrow that in two mimttes we can walk 
 from one side to the other : it is thickly 
 wooded with cocoa-nut palms, for no other 
 useful tree will grow in this hard coral. The 
 lagoon inside is thirty miles long and ten wide ; 
 it looks like an inland sea, — indeed in places 
 the shore is entirely lost to sight. It is very 
 strange to walk but a few steps across from the 
 quiet lagoon, smooth as a lake, to where the
 
 148 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 great surf is breaking and thundering along a 
 coral strand. 
 
 Our House at Fakarava, 
 Paumotus Islattds, Septetnder 12, 1888. 
 
 LOUIS found the cabin so close on Sunday- 
 night that he thought it would be a 
 good plan to take a house by the week, so 
 that he might sleep on shore ; and here we 
 are in a dear little wooden erection of three 
 rooms, with a verandah front and back. It 
 is one of the best houses on the island after 
 the Residency. The sitting - room is quite 
 large and very airy, with two doors opening 
 on the verandahs, two windows to the front, 
 one to the back, and one at the far end ; the 
 two bedrooms open off the other end, and all 
 are painted white, with the doors and windows 
 panelled in blue. In the sitting-room there 
 are two rocking-chairs, four round -backed 
 chairs, and a table, and no less than three 
 sewing-machines! (what a pity you are not 
 here !) There are also two brackets on the 
 wall, three framed pictures, a small mirror, 
 and a gun. There are wooden bedsteads in
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 149 
 
 the bedrooms, small wardrobes, basin-stands, 
 and so on, and actually a copy of David 
 Wilkie's 'Village School' framed and hang- 
 ing up in one. We were rather afraid of the 
 wooden beds, so we brought ashore our mat- 
 tresses from the Casco, keep them in the 
 bedrooms through the day, and at night bring 
 them out and spread them where we please. 
 Usually Louis and Fanny take the front 
 verandah, Lloyd the back, and Valentine 
 and I retire to different corners of the sitting- 
 room, leaving both doors wide open, so that 
 there is plenty of air. The only drawback is 
 mosquitoes, but one can't expect absolute per- 
 fection in this world. Our house stands beside 
 the little church, but the priest is away just 
 now and there is only a native catechist left in 
 charge. I would fain go to the service, but 
 twenty minutes to six a.m. (when the bell 
 rings) is rather much of a good thing in the 
 way of early rising for me. As it is, the sun 
 wakes us soon after six, and we make break- 
 fast with the help of a paraffin cooking-stove ; 
 we have coffee, soup, bread-and-butter, and 
 marmalade. For lunch and dinner we return 
 to the Casco.
 
 150 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 There is quite a large piece of ground about 
 our house, with a nice white fence in front and 
 a wall of coral on the other sides ; there are a 
 great many cocoa-nut palms in it, but from the 
 gate to the house there is an avenue of ban- 
 anas, and that is a very fine thing here, as 
 the soil for them has all to be brought from 
 Tahiti.^^ There are two fig-trees also that are 
 said to bear splendid fruit. 
 
 As soon as we cast anchor on Sunday, a 
 M. Donat came on board to welcome us ; he 
 is a very pleasant man, half French and half 
 Tahitian, one of six that were sent to France 
 by the Government for their education. He 
 afterwards taught himself English, 'because 
 the English had been so kind to him, and he 
 liked them so much.' The Governor is away 
 just now at Raiatea, where the war is going 
 on, and has left M. Donat and another man, 
 M. Charles, in charge. We went ashore with 
 M. Donat, who gave us cocoa-nut juice in the 
 court-room, showed us the Residency garden, 
 which was made by bringing more than three 
 hundred sacks of earth from Tahiti, and took us 
 across the island to show us the best place on 
 the ocean-beach for finding shells. (This is the
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 151 
 
 best place that we have yet seen for shells. 
 There are many varieties, wonderfully perfect 
 and unbroken, and we are making quite a 
 collection.) The Governor, he told us, is 
 obliged to live on this small island of Faka- 
 rava, because it has the only safe anchorage 
 in all the Paumotus ; and as all vessels must 
 present their papers for his inspection, he must 
 of course live where it is possible for them 
 to reach him. Most of the people who live 
 here are away just now in another island 
 where they also possess land, and where they 
 have to go for some formality about register- 
 ing their titles. 
 
 When we came ashore on Monday we 
 found all the natives left at home assembled 
 on the beach and waiting for us, with M. 
 Donat to act as interpreter. They wished to 
 say that they had brought us a small present 
 according to their custom, and hoped we 
 would accept it ; they also begged that we 
 would allow them to come on board and see 
 the yacht. Of course we gratefully accepted 
 the gifts and fixed the hour of 2.30 on Tuesday 
 — the next day — for their visit to the Casco, 
 promising to send a boat to bring them out.
 
 152 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 The people here are much darker and smaller 
 and not nearly so handsome as the Marquesans ; 
 but it is only fair to add that they seem to be 
 better behaved. For instance, the Seventh 
 Commandment is really understood and re- 
 spected amongst them, and few among them 
 will drink rum to excess, even when they have 
 the chance. In the Marquesas the men cared 
 for nothing else, and the gendarme had to 
 warn us that we must never give them more 
 than one glass, however much they might beg 
 for it. 
 
 Yesterday the twenty-one natives came on 
 board accompanied by M. Donat. They were 
 of all ages, from an old lady of eighty down to 
 a dear little brown baby of about four months 
 old. Louis took them over the yacht, which 
 they greatly admired, and then we gave them 
 biscuits and jam and ginger-snaps, and to the 
 ladies some syrup and water, while the men 
 were given their choice between that and rum. 
 Several at first took rum, but the syrup was 
 so much appreciated that they all changed 
 their minds save one man ; and when the syrup 
 and water made a second round, Louis thought 
 the ' rum ' man also might like to taste it and
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 153 
 
 offered it to him. He refused it, however, 
 enunciating the one word ' V rum^ with a 
 decision and a fervour which was received 
 with admiring laughter by the whole party. 
 It appears that the French admiral was lately 
 at Fakarava, and invited all the natives on 
 board his vessel, where they had a band to 
 play to them while they danced. Of course 
 we thought our little entertainment would fall 
 very flat after such a fine one, and you can 
 fancy how much we were amused to find from 
 M. Donat that they thought that ours was 
 much grander, because we gave them plates 
 and spoons to eat their jam. The admiral 
 gave them sardines and other good things, but 
 left them to eat with their fingers in native 
 style. How easily we are pleased with any- 
 thing that we are not accustomed to ! And it 
 was evidently only the honour of the thing 
 that was appreciated, too, for the captain saw 
 most of the boys take their jam in the spoon, 
 but deftly convey it to their mouths with their 
 thumbs ! Every one was pleased, however, 
 and that was the great point ; but it is un- 
 fortunate that they all speak Tahitian here, so 
 that the words we have picked up in the
 
 154 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 Marquesas are of no use to us. We have 
 learned only one word of salutation in this 
 new language, ' euranna,"^'^ which we sing out 
 to every one we meet. 
 
 Yesterday was a lovely day, the sea per- 
 fectly smooth, and exquisitely reflecting both 
 the land and sky. The Casco was for the first 
 time on our voyage ' like a painted ship upon 
 a painted ocean ' ; and the little, fleecy, white 
 clouds in the sky were exactly mirrored in the 
 water. We could see the white coral reefs at 
 the bottom distinctly, and the sea was a very 
 tender green that was peculiarly beautiful. 
 Then at night there was a superb moon, and 
 Fanny and I sat long on the beach to enjoy it, 
 while Louis walked up and down playing tunes 
 on his pipes. 
 
 I wonder if I told you that there is not 
 only a good landing-pier here, but actually 
 a harbour-light, the first that we have seen 
 since we left San Francisco. The village 
 street is entirely shaded by cocoa-nut palms, 
 and makes at all times a delightful promenade; 
 but at night, when there is a slight breeze 
 blowing, the dancing shadows of the leaves 
 in the moonlight are something absolutely
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 155 
 
 fairy-like. Our house is at the far end, quite 
 twelve minutes' walk from the pier ; and of 
 course there are no horses here, indeed no 
 means of conveyance of any kind save boats. 
 
 M. Donat has already loaded us with gifts. 
 First he gave us each a pearl, '^^ the captain 
 included ; mine is a black one. Then to 
 Fanny and me he gave a small double oyster- 
 shell lined with gold, and a gold pearl attached 
 to one side. He has also given us a whole 
 boxful of pink coral, with one very fine piece 
 attached to a spray of grey, and a boxful of 
 fine shells, some of them of the kind called 
 ' benitiers ' with branches of coral growing out 
 of them. The b^nitier ^^ shells get their name 
 from being used for holy water in the churches; 
 the same kind, you will remember, that we 
 used to have for Coolin ^° to drink out of in 
 the dear old days. We were quite distressed 
 at taking so much, but Fanny fortunately had 
 a ring which she asked him to send to his 
 wife, who is at present in Tahiti.
 
 156 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 Thursday^ September 13. 
 
 LOUIS was not feeling very well yester- 
 day, and wished to get a thorough rest, 
 so Lloyd and I returned on board the yacht 
 and left him and Fanny alone in peace and 
 quiet. A trading schooner came into the 
 bay ; we were introduced to the captain by M. 
 Donat, and he came on board to see the Casco, 
 and presented us with four pairs of very fine 
 pearl shells and a very large and handsome 
 'buckie,' which Mr. Goltz says is worth ten 
 dollars at Honolulu. 
 
 A strange thing happened to Louis and 
 Fanny at night. The catechist (who I told 
 you is at present in charge of the church) 
 rushed into the house, and began trying to open 
 a large chest, which I forgot to include in the 
 furniture of the sitting-room. When he found 
 that it would not open, he produced a knife 
 and forced the lock ; and when Louis objected 
 to the proceeding, a man outside in the ver- 
 andah called out in French that it was all 
 right, and he would explain immediately. This 
 turned out to be M. Fran9ois, the proprietor 
 of our house, who had been shipwrecked with
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 157 
 
 his wife and little son, and nearly drowned. 
 They had been coming from the other end of 
 the island in a small cutter, when in some way 
 it upset, and they were all thrown out. They 
 managed to get the boat turned right side up, 
 but it was so full of water that they could 
 not climb into it without upsetting it. M. 
 Francois, who is a very fine-looking young 
 fellow, half French and half native, was in 
 despair, and said they must just be drowned ; 
 but his native wife, who is a splendid swimmer, 
 declared there was no danger, and they could 
 take the boat safely in. So they put the 
 child into the boat, and the father and mother 
 followed behind pushing it by the tiller; and 
 this they did from 8 a.m. till five in the after- 
 noon, when they reached land safe, but worn 
 out with fatigue, and perishing with cold. 
 Was it not a wonderful feat of endurance ? 
 I think they must have been horribly annoyed 
 after such a home-coming to find their nice 
 little house in the hands of strangers, but they 
 are much too polite to acknowledge it. They 
 have just been on board to visit the Casco, and 
 do not seem at all the worse for their exer- 
 tions ; but the wonder is that they were not
 
 158 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 eaten by sharks, for there are several in the 
 bay. Two days ago one was swimming round 
 and round us for some time, an ugly fellow 
 indeed ; and last night when Lloyd was out 
 fishing with the captain and M. Donat, he had 
 a very large fish on his hook, and was playing it 
 gently, when a shark came up and carried off fish 
 and hook and line at one fell swoop. I think 
 Lloyd did not much enjoy the fishing after that. 
 One disadvantage of a yacht is that every- 
 thing must be kept so spick and span about 
 her that whenever we are at anchor we live 
 in a chronic state of house-cleaning. All the 
 time we were at Anaho it was going on, and 
 here again we are being repainted, and to-day 
 two natives have been sitting on a rope in the 
 water cleaning the copper. Then the deck 
 must be holystoned again, and after that has 
 been done we have to wipe our boots with 
 our pocket-handkerchief before we venture on 
 board ! We sometimes threaten to go our 
 next trip in a trading schooner or a canal 
 barge in order to escape such trying tidiness. 
 I don't mean to state that we are actually 
 ordered to wipe our boots, but one cannot help 
 entering into the spirit of the thing !
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 159 
 
 Monday, September 17. 
 
 YESTERDAY we attended service in the 
 native church, and were very much 
 interested. It was at 9 a.m. — there were eight 
 men and seventeen women present, including 
 two babies who never made a sound. The 
 catechist was dressed in a black gown with 
 a small cape trimmed with lace ; he looked 
 very ministerial, I thought. The service was 
 entirely in the native language, and the 
 people joined in most of it with great interest : 
 a woman acted as clerk, and led the singing, 
 which was not bad, but had a considerable 
 nasal twang, which reminded me of Gaelic 
 congregations in Arran many years ago. The 
 sermon came last, and was preached with great 
 vigour, and with much graphic and telling 
 gesticulations ; the catechist, Taniero,^^ seemed 
 full of his subject, and even we who could 
 not understand a word did not find it 
 wearisome. It reminded me of an Italian 
 sermon that I once heard and enjoyed at 
 Genoa; the gestures were less polished and 
 elegant, but had just the same convincing 
 fervour. It was touching to see the people
 
 i6o FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 about us, well-dressed, attentive, and reverent, 
 and to remember how lately they had been 
 redeemed from heathenism. Louis and I 
 were both greatly and deeply moved. The 
 sermon was read from manuscript, and M. 
 Donat has promised to get at least a part of 
 it translated, and copied out for us, which will 
 be very interesting. 
 
 In the afternoon I walked on past our house 
 to see how far the cocoa-nut boulevard ex- 
 tended. I followed it for about a mile further, 
 and then it quite suddenly came to an end ; so 
 I thought I would cross the island and return 
 by the ocean beach. However, I made the 
 discovery that some parts of the island are 
 broader than others, for after forcing my way 
 with some difficulty through the trees I seemed 
 no nearer the other side than when I started, 
 and came at last to such very thick under- 
 brush that I could get no further, and was 
 obliged ignominiously to retrace my steps and 
 return by the road. The sun heat is much 
 greater here than it has been in any other 
 place, and we are warned that it is not safe to 
 be out in it from 9 a.m. till 3 p.m. That cuts the 
 day very short, seeing that the sun sets at six
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS i6i 
 
 o'clock, but we can walk about under the trees 
 at any time, and we almost never feel the need 
 of a siesta. I am always awake soon after six 
 o'clock, and dressed before seven, so I expect to 
 be as active as you by the time I get home again ! 
 
 Tjiesday morning. 
 
 A SCHOONER has just come into the 
 bay, and will take letters, so I shall 
 finish this and send it off. 
 
 Louis was better yesterday, and would have 
 come on board again, but Valentine has a bad 
 cold, and he is afraid of infection ; so Lloyd 
 will stay on shore as man-of-all-work to look 
 after the household. Louis is trying to hire 
 a small cutter which belongs to a trader here, 
 to go and see two of the neighbouring islands 
 that have not good enough anchorage for 
 the Casco ; unfortunately Captain Smith, the 
 owner, is ill, and can't go himself, and he has 
 not yet made up his mind as to whether he 
 can trust his cutter to any other person. If 
 we do not arrange this, we shall start very 
 soon for Tahiti, where God grant I may get 
 good news of you all. I do long so much for 
 letters after these three months of silence ! 
 
 L
 
 i62 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 Yacht ' Casco^ Fakarava^ Paumoius Islands^ 
 September 1% 1888. 
 
 LAST Monday, for the first time in my life, 
 I attended a funeral. The father of 
 one of the men who had been cleaning the 
 bottom of the Casco on Saturday died sud- 
 denly on Monday morning, and we heard that 
 the funeral was to take place at 4 p.m. Louis 
 was anxious to see it, and I went with him. 
 The man was said to have been a Mormon, ^^ 
 but on inquiry this seems to mean something 
 very like a Baptist, with this new and peculiar 
 difference that when a man commits sin he goes 
 and confesses, and is then baptized over again ! ^^ 
 The coffin was made of plain deal, and was 
 covered with a white cloth. It was carried by 
 four men by means of thick poles resting on 
 their shoulders, from which the coffin was sus- 
 pended by ropes. Most of the inhabitants of 
 the village followed in their ordinary attire. 
 Last of all, I was touched to see the poor 
 old widow, carrying the mat on which her 
 husband had died, and which was now to 
 cover his grave. The proper minister was 
 away, but a layman read the service very nicely
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 163 
 
 SO far as we were able to judge. He read the 
 fourteenth chapter of Job, gave a short address, 
 and two short prayers, all very quietly and 
 with reverence. It is the custom here for the 
 nearest relatives to pass the first fortnight on 
 the grave, but on this occasion it was rendered 
 impossible by the downpour of rain. Every- 
 thing was conducted with proper solemnity, 
 and one could not feel that there was anything 
 strange or unusual about it. I went to see 
 the grave afterwards, and found it carefully 
 covered with the mat, which was held down by 
 large stones placed at each corner. 
 
 I think I forgot in my last letter to tell you 
 that the catechist's name is Taniera Mahinui\ 
 Taniera being the native rendering of Daniel. 
 He is in and out of our house continually, 
 and often shares our meals ; and to-day I 
 went twice to church to hear him, and quite 
 enjoyed it. I was delighted to find that the 
 Bible is so much used, and one printed in 
 London, moreover ; and then, of course, a^j 
 Taniera is only a catechist he cannot celebrate 
 Mass, so I never feel that I am in a Roman 
 Catholic Church, but rather in a Gaelic one in 
 our own Highlands.
 
 1 64 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 September 26. At sea, on our way to Tahiti. 
 
 ON Monday we said good-bye to all our 
 good friends at Fakarava, and gave 
 them a few farewell gifts. One of these was 
 a bag of flour, that was immediately baked 
 into small loaves, tied up with strips of cocoa- 
 nut leaf,°* and distributed among all the in- 
 habitants equally. When the captain and I 
 went ashore, we found Taniera sitting with 
 Louis in his working clothes — he is a boat- 
 builder by trade, — which consist of blue cotton 
 trousers, and an apron with a bib, leaving an 
 ample stretch of brown satin skin exposed to 
 view. What wonderful skins they all have, 
 by the way ! Lloyd introduced him to the 
 captain, saying, * This is the clergyman of the 
 district ; you must shake hands with him ' ; 
 and I must say the designation and the attire 
 did make a very ludicrous combination. 
 When we took leave of Taniera, Lloyd 
 wanted to give him a good present, and the 
 only thing left that we could reasonably do 
 without was a little carriage-clock that I had 
 bought in New York ; it had a leather case, 
 and kept excellent time, and was really a
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 165 
 
 wonder for its price. It had originally been 
 intended for giving away ; but as all our 
 watches have learnt Kanaka habits and have 
 refused to work in the tropics, we have found 
 the little clock too useful to us to be parted 
 with. However, after an internal struggle 
 which I own was severe, my respect for the 
 church carried the day, and Taniera became 
 its happy possessor. 
 
 M. Donat, kind man that he is, has con- 
 tinued to load us with ofifts during- the whole 
 time that we have been here ; almost every 
 day he sent cocoa-nuts both to our house and 
 to the Casco, and we have so many pearl- 
 shells that we begin to think we shall have to 
 pay duty on them. ' T'rum ' was the messenger 
 generally sent to deliver the gifts, and he was 
 very fond of coming, as he got a taste of his 
 favourite beverage to make up for his trouble. 
 We always called him ' T'ruju ' — indeed I do 
 not remember ever hearing his real name — 
 and he always appeared to be freshly delighted 
 each time that we did so. He evidently looked 
 upon it as a very humorous and pleasing com- 
 pliment. Yesterday morning, at 7 a.m., he 
 accompanied M. Donat on board to say good-
 
 1 66 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 bye, and we could see them standing side by 
 side on the pier till we were almost out of 
 sight ; it was strange to feel that both, in 
 their degree, had grown to be good friends 
 to us. There was much saluting with flags 
 and waving of hats and handkerchiefs as we 
 stood out from the shore, and the Sunday flag 
 was even hauled up to do us especial honours. 
 
 We had a good wind that suited us very 
 well, and got out of the lagoon very quickly ; 
 we then passed Toau and Mau, two more of 
 the Paumotus group, and that, I suppose, is the 
 last that any of us will see of any of them. To 
 come to a place so shut into the midst of 
 waters, to live in it, grow wonderfully at home 
 in it, and then to leave it so utterly behind, is 
 almost painfully dreamlike. I wonder if in my 
 sleep I shall walk in the shade of the cocoa- 
 palms, and hear once more the surf breaking 
 on the ocean beaches. . . . 
 
 We expected to reach Papeete to-day, but 
 the wind fell, and now I believe we cannot 
 hope to arrive before to-morrow ; and that will 
 be thirteen weeks to a day since we left San 
 Francisco. I am sorry to say that Louis has 
 never been quite well since his unfortunate
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 167 
 
 excursion \f\\h Frere Michel in Hiva-oa; and 
 on Monday when he returned on board he got 
 a fresh chill and had a threatening of con- 
 gestion similar to what he had at Nice. He 
 was pretty bad all yesterday, but I am glad to 
 say that to-day he seems a good deal better 
 and is on the sofa, where he looks much more 
 restful and comfortable than in the low and 
 narrow berth. We are thankful to be going 
 to a place where we can get a doctor if 
 we need one, and also, where we can get 
 fresh food ; for we could not beg, borrow, 
 nor steal even such a thing as an Q.gg at 
 Fakarava. By the way, did you ever hear 
 of such a thing as two hens attending on 
 one family of chickens ? There was a hen- 
 house in our garden at Fakarava, furnished, 
 when we took possession, with two hens sit- 
 ting, the one on seven eggs, the other on none. 
 In due time the seven little chickens came out, 
 and we suppose that the mother engaged the 
 other hen as lady-help ; for she immediately 
 forsook her own nest and devoted herself to 
 the care of the precious nurslings, but quite 
 evidently in a subordinate position. The two 
 hens and the seven chickens were always to be
 
 1 68 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 seen in a body, and the best understanding 
 seemed to prevail ; but we observed on one 
 occasion, when a shower came on, that the 
 nurse was given the larger share of the 
 chickens to protect from the wet. 
 
 Papeete ^^ September 29. 
 
 WE came in sight of Tahiti at daybreak 
 on Thursday, and I was on deck 
 before seven to see all that was to be seen. 
 The mountains are high and undeniably fine 
 in form and outline, but by no means so 
 beautiful nor so richly wooded as the high 
 peaks of Hiva-oa ; I am told that the altitude 
 here is greater, but they give a punier impres- 
 sion. There is a fringing reef of coral all 
 round the island, with entrances here and there 
 marked by red and white buoys ; but as soon 
 as we drew near a pilot boarded us and brought 
 us into Papeete Bay, where we cast anchor 
 about noon. Lloyd and the captain went off 
 at once to the American consul for letters, 
 which we were all lonoingf to receive : but to 
 my surprise and chagrin there were no more 
 than three for me, and of those only one was 
 from you. It contains good news of you all,
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 169 
 
 however, and I am thankful to have it ; and as 
 another mail is daily expected, and indeed is 
 already overdue, I may get another from you 
 very soon. 
 
 Fanny and I went on shore to look for 
 rooms for Louis and her, and found some in 
 the Hotel de France, where they will be 
 tolerably comfortable. It is rather noisy at 
 night, however, and if this disturbs Louis they 
 will probably move to a small wooden house 
 of five rooms and an outside kitchen which we 
 also discovered. It is unfurnished, so we shall 
 have to hire what is necessary, but mattresses, 
 pans and dishes, etc., can of course be taken 
 from the Casco, as we did at Fakarava. 
 
 September 30. 
 
 THIS morning I set off for church, hoping 
 for an English service ; but alas ! the 
 minister was ill and the church was closed, 
 which was a great disappointment. It appears 
 that there has been an epidemic of influenza 
 here lately ; it was brought from Chile, and 
 was of a very severe type ; ^^ and we are 
 inclined to believe that Louis was somehow 
 infected with it at Fakarava. His cough was
 
 I70 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 SO bad yesterday that we sent for the doctor, 
 who prescribed some medicine for him that 
 certainly gave him a quiet and fairly com- 
 fortable night. It is terribly vexing to us 
 all, when we remember how well he was 
 before this, but I trust he will soon throw 
 it off. 
 
 I don't much like Tahiti. It seems to me 
 a sort of halfway house between savage life and 
 civilisation, with the drawbacks of both and 
 the advantages of neither. Also a disagreeable 
 feature of the place is the prevalence of land- 
 crabs.^^ The ground is literally riddled with the 
 large holes made by them : when you turn a 
 quiet corner you come upon twenty or thirty 
 all looking out of their doors, but as soon 
 as they hear any one coming, they scuttle 
 in at express speed. They are decidedly 
 ugly-looking customers, though I believe even 
 more anxious to avoid us than we are to keep 
 clear of them. This afternoon I watched a big 
 fellow dragging a large withered leaf after him, 
 which with no little difficulty he succeeded in 
 packing into his hole, I suppose to make a 
 bed of. He was very busy, and I watched him 
 with a sort of disgusted fascination. . . . Louis's
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 171 
 
 illness, of course, depresses us all, and keeps 
 us from seeing much or having any desire to 
 do so. Lloyd has attended to those duties that 
 could not well be put off. He called on King 
 Pomare, but missed him ; on the governor, 
 who kindly promised to lend us horses when 
 we need any ; and also on the officers of the 
 Scorpion, the French man-of-war lying in the 
 bay. Two of them have since returned the 
 call and were very polite, but they were amazed 
 when I assured them that I enjoyed being at 
 sea, and seemed to think it most unnatural : no 
 Frenchwoman had ever been heard of who 
 could endure it ! 
 
 Louis and Fanny moved to the small house 
 I spoke of on Monday last. We hired a bed, 
 a few chairs and tables, and a lamp, and took 
 over some dishes, etc., from the Casco. You 
 would be surprised to see how comfortable 
 they are, under the circumstances. But the 
 cold is still troublesome, and I grieve to say 
 that the last two days there have been slight 
 threatenings of hsemorrhage — nothing to be 
 called serious, but still it is always alarming 
 and distressing. Of course we can make no 
 plans until he is better, and when we may
 
 172 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 reach Honolulu and get the letters that must 
 be there awaiting us, who can tell ? 
 
 Louis's little house is just opposite the 
 English consul's ; next to that is the native 
 church ; and next that again the old prison, 
 now in ruins, in which Herman Melville and 
 the 'long doctor' were confined, as you will 
 remember, if you have read 077Z7(a.^^ I wonder 
 if you have been able to get it. The consul is 
 a Mr. Talbot, a very nice man, but unfortun- 
 ately for us he leaves by the steamer that will 
 carry this letter to you. He has told Fanny 
 that she may take anything she likes out of his 
 kitchen when he leaves, and we are going over 
 to-morrow to see what might be useful. It has 
 been arranged also that for the present either 
 Lloyd or Valentine will sleep on shore, so as 
 to be at hand to help in case Louis should be 
 ill through the night. 
 
 There are but two roads on the island, it 
 appears : one that goes all the way round the 
 coast, and another that passes up by a valley 
 into the interior. I have had only one drive 
 as yet, for our time seems to be mostly taken 
 up with running backwards and forwards 
 between the house and the yacht ; besides
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 173 
 
 which, Lloyd and I are busy making a type- 
 written copy of Louis's diary, and this fills up 
 the entire mornings. There are some very 
 fine avenues of trees in and round the town. 
 Mangoes abound, some of them very large, 
 fine trees, with beautiful dark-green foliage 
 and heavy-laden with fruit, growing very 
 prettily in huge bunches hanging on amber- 
 coloured threads. Pineapples, too, are begin- 
 ning to be very plentiful, and are very good 
 in quality. 
 
 I found the native church open last Friday 
 and went in for a short time : it was a fast-day 
 service, and the church was filled with a very 
 well-behaved congregation. A native minister 
 was preaching, but he was entirely wanting 
 in the energy and conviction which made the 
 Fakarava catechist so interesting to watch, so, 
 as I heard that the services were very long, I 
 did not venture back again on Sunday. 
 
 October 13. 
 
 I AM thankful to say that Louis is keeping 
 much better. He has been out for the 
 last three days, and he says he does not feel 
 nearly so weak as he expected after this severe
 
 174 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 illness ; he has even been twice to the hotel for 
 dinner, though usually he and Fanny have their 
 meals sent in to them. 
 
 Our minds being easier, we are now grow- 
 ing more interested in our surroundings. I 
 have only once had a drive since we arrived, 
 and that was the first since I left San 
 Francisco ; but this week we mean to have 
 a drive every day, to see something of the 
 island. On Friday Captain Otis, Lloyd, and 
 I went in a small tug-steamer to the island 
 of Eimeo.^^ We took some lunch with us to 
 eat under the trees, and the native who carried 
 our basket brought us four cocoa-nuts, and a 
 roasted crayfish as large as a lobster and very 
 good, to add to the repast. The gendarme in 
 residence wanted us to dine with him, though 
 he was having a party, as it happened, and a 
 very nice native offered us the use of his 
 very nice house — he himself was one of the 
 gendarme's guests, — but we preferred our pic- 
 nic and stuck to our own plans. The island is 
 very beautiful, with strangely-shaped moun- 
 tains, that remind me of the Giant's Causeway, 
 but still none of us would allow that it came 
 up to the Marquesas ; we are faithful still, and
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 175 
 
 I think I always shall be, to our first love 
 in the South Seas. The little steamer that 
 carried us there and back was filthily dirty, 
 and we were all glad to get * home ' to our 
 own clean, bright Casco once more, and told 
 the captain we should never again grumble at 
 any amount of wet paint and varnish ! 
 
 It may be nearly Christmas before this 
 reaches you, and I know that you will not 
 forget to think of me. Do not feel my place 
 empty, for I shall be there in thought, and 
 in my heart I shall see you all, as you will 
 see me. . . . 
 
 Yacht ' Casco,' Papeete Bay, Tahiti, 
 October 19, 1888. 
 
 I WONDER if you will be able to believe 
 that this is a letter from me ? Lloyd and 
 I have finished making the copy of Louis's 
 diary, and it occurred to me it might be a 
 good thing to have another typewriter in 
 the family : so I took my first lesson yester- 
 day, and in order not to waste time I mean 
 to practise upon you. A printed letter, how- 
 ever, does look so public and impersonal that
 
 176 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 it seems almost impossible to take it au s^rieux. 
 I wonder if anybody would venture to make 
 a proposal of marriage by means of a type- 
 writer, and still more do I wonder whether 
 any one would be brave enough to accept it ! 
 
 I am glad to tell you that Louis keeps 
 much better. He has been to lunch at the 
 hotel several times, and has also called on 
 the governor, and yesterday he even took a 
 short drive. We had thought of taking a 
 drive right round the island ; this, however, 
 we gave up, for we did not like to be away 
 four days from Louis, and it would have been 
 out of the question for him. So we decided 
 on some short drives instead, but there is not 
 much variety, as there are only two driving 
 roads. 
 
 October 20. 
 
 I THINK I did not tell you that when I 
 was in the native church a lady intro- 
 duced herself to me. Her name is Mrs. Darsie, 
 and she was the daughter of the queen, or 
 'chieftess,' as the French call her, of the other 
 side of the island, was first married to a Mr. 
 Brander, and then to Mr. Darsie, who hails
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 177 
 
 from Anstruther, no less ! Two of her sons 
 by her first marriage were educated at St. 
 Andrews, and know many of our friends there. 
 We went yesterday to see them at their 
 country house at Point Venus,'^'^ about eight 
 miles out of the town : the drive was delight- 
 ful, through woods and over mountains, from 
 which we had lovely views of sea and land. 
 We first went to see the tamarind-tree planted 
 by Captain Cook ; it has been dead for a long 
 time, and has been taken possession of by 
 the proprietors of a sort of public-house near 
 by, called 'a rarbre de Cook.'' We carried off 
 a little piece of the tree, which is fast going 
 to decay, and which is quite unprotected and 
 exposed. We then visited the lighthouse, the 
 first we have seen since we left San Francisco 
 (saving, of course, the little harbour light at 
 Fakarava, but that is a different matter) ; it 
 is a fine building of grey coral, mixed with 
 a pretty red stone, which looks very well 
 and effective. We then went to the Darsies' 
 house, which stands in the midst of laroe 
 grounds, close to the sea, and found there 
 a large and pleasant family party assembled, 
 consisting of Salmons (Mrs. Darsie was a 
 
 M
 
 178 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 Miss Salmon), Branders, and Darsies, in what 
 proportion we never entirely found out. Nearly- 
 all the men were good-looking, and the women, 
 I think without a single exception, beautiful : 
 even a small strain of Tahitian blood is said, 
 I believe, to ensure this wonderful physical 
 perfection and the grace of manner for which 
 they are always so much admired. 
 
 The Darsies' town house is just a little out- 
 side of Papeete, at the end of a lovely avenue : 
 it seemed to be a large place, and to have a 
 beautiful garden, but when we called there we 
 found they had gone to Point Venus, and 
 hence our expedition thither. Of course, you 
 know that it is so called because Captain Cook 
 observed from thence the transit of Venus. 
 
 October 21. 
 
 MRS. DARSIE called to see Louis yes- 
 terday, and I am so sorry we did not 
 know her sooner, as she could have given us 
 so much useful information about Tahiti. She 
 told me a great deal about the missionaries. 
 She herself was brought up by one, and has 
 had much to do with them. The people, she 
 says, were fond of the English missionaries,
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 179 
 
 and felt very much having to part with 
 them ; but they get on well with their present 
 minister, who, though he is a Frenchman, 
 follows the same methods. The Protestants 
 keep well together, and very, very few have 
 become Roman Catholics,''^ in spite of many 
 inducements to do so. Fortunately the present 
 Governor is a liberal man, and lets the people 
 please themselves about religious matters ; and 
 though many are indifferent and care for no- 
 thing but ' show ' and amusement, there are 
 also many who are intelligent and sincere. 
 Mrs. Darsie has a sort of Scripture class for 
 the natives every Sunday in her own house : 
 they prepare a text and talk about it, and 
 she tells me that she is often not only touched, 
 but surprised by their remarks. . . . 
 
 We hope to get off to-morrow about noon, 
 but Louis and Fanny will not come on board 
 till the morning. On the whole, we are not 
 at all sorry to leave, as we have none of us 
 been greatly attracted by this place. As I 
 have said before, it is neither quite civilised 
 nor wholly savage, but has a sort of half-and- 
 half-ness that is disappointing, and sometimes 
 really displeasing. I think the bay is the best
 
 i8o FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 part of Papeete. The view of the mountains 
 and town from the deck of the Casco is lovely, 
 especially in the mornings and evenings ; the 
 highest peak is seven thousand feet high, and 
 the land begins to rise steeply very close to 
 the beach. There are always plenty of ships 
 in the bay ; most of the time we have lain 
 here there were two men-o'-war, and it amused 
 me to watch their proceedings. The most 
 interesting moments were eight o'clock in the 
 morning and six in the evening, as at these 
 hours the flags are put up and taken down, 
 and the manoeuvre is pretty. On Sundays 
 there was an extra display, as every vessel 
 hoisted a flag, and the Consulates as well. 
 Some have specially large and fine flags for 
 Sunday use, and others put up an extra 
 number. We feel ourselves particularly showy 
 with three : the ' Stars and Stripes,' because 
 the Casco is an American yacht ; the red 
 ensign, because she is chartered by a British 
 subject; and the flag of the yacht club of which 
 Louis was made a member. A gun is fired 
 on board the man-of-war, and the general 
 ambition is to get all the flags hoisted at 
 the same moment and without a hitch ; it
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS i8i 
 
 is really a pretty sight, and I very seldom 
 missed it. 
 
 Another amusement of which I never tired 
 was watching the native boats coming in with 
 fruit for the market ; they looked so pretty 
 piled high with green and red bananas,*^^ yellow 
 mangoes, bread-fruit, the ubiquitous nuts, long 
 pieces of green bamboo, which are filled with 
 a preparation of cocoa-nut, ^^ and many other 
 things nicely wrapped up in green leaves. I 
 once counted fourteen of these large boats all 
 coming in at one time, and their cargo, when 
 carefully spread out on the beach, looked most 
 tempting. There is a certain daintiness in the 
 native fashion of always laying food upon fresh 
 green leaves, and I must say that in spite of 
 the lack of so much that we are accustomed to 
 think necessary, neither the food nor their way 
 of eating it ever struck me as unseemly or 
 unrefined. 
 
 I was also very much interested in watching 
 the fishermen, of whom there were always 
 several in their canoes round about the Casco, 
 as they thought the fish would be attracted 
 by the grease from the yacht. Sometimes 
 there would be half a dozen boats about us,
 
 1 82 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 waiting for hours with the patience of fisher- 
 men the world over, and apparently with very 
 indifferent success. Occasionally Captain Otis 
 gave them presents of some fishing hooks, 
 which were very gratefully received, though 
 I am told they are very clever at manufactur- 
 ing them out of some kind of root, or out of 
 old nails/* I have often regretted that Louis 
 missed all these sights, which he would have 
 enjoyed as much as I ; but nothing could be 
 seen from the house they occupied, as it stood 
 amongst many trees some way from the beach, 
 and lost the light early. 
 
 Sunday^ October 28. 
 
 MY typed letter was but a slow and 
 uneasy business, so to-day I have 
 gone back to the more familiar and personal 
 pen. . . . We did not get away from Papeete 
 till Wednesday the 24th, and at the last 
 moment Louis made up his mind to visit 
 another part of Tahiti called Ta7'avao before 
 going on to Huahine in the Societies. We 
 had a disagreeable voyage, first a dead calm, 
 and then a severe gale, and we took thirty 
 hours to cover sixty miles ; but now that
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 183 
 
 we are here, it is worth it all, for the scenery 
 is beautiful and much more truly tropical than 
 anything we have yet seen. On Friday, 
 Fanny, Captain Otis, Lloyd, Valentine, and 
 I went for a charming drive to a village a few 
 miles from here ; we all enjoyed it immensely, 
 for we drove through dense forests nearly all 
 the way. I never saw anything like the 
 wealth of foliage ; great trees were draped to 
 the very top with beautiful tangled creepers, 
 some of them covered with fruit as large as 
 a vegetable marrow. This fruit is called 
 ' barbadine,'*^^ and is excellent to eat. We 
 were at no time far from the sea, and some- 
 times there were exquisite glimpses of blue 
 water between the trunks of the trees ; but 
 more often we were shut in by a very riot 
 of vegetation. On our way we had to cross 
 no less than twenty-one streams of varying 
 width ; one of them being so deep that, rather 
 to our dismay, the Chinaman who drove us 
 insisted on carrying over Fanny, the captain, 
 and Lloyd, on his back, so as to lighten the 
 weight on the horses. It was a relief to find 
 that Valentine and I were considered lio^ht 
 enough to be allowed to remain in the vehicle.
 
 1 84 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 The village of Tautira,'^'^ when we reached 
 it, we found to be indeed a lovely spot, with 
 numbers of very fine native houses scattered 
 about a beautiful green lawn close to the sea. 
 There are two churches, a Roman Catholic, 
 and what our driver gravely called a Roman 
 Protestant one. It appeared that we had 
 chosen an interesting day, for the king's 
 sister-in-law had just arrived on a visit to 
 the village, and we saw all the presents that 
 had been prepared for her. They consisted, 
 in the main, of an immense pig roasted whole, 
 and a large number of pillows stuffed with 
 silk cotton, "^^ which grows in pods on a large 
 and fine tree that is very plentiful here. As 
 we walked through the village we saw these 
 things laid out in front of the chief's house, 
 and a catechist was asking a blessing on them. 
 We stopped and assisted, our men taking off 
 their hats. It was a pretty and pleasant sight, 
 but I think it was the very longest ' grace ' 
 
 I ever heard, save Dr. 's at the Blind 
 
 Asylum Christmas dinner, very many years 
 ago. 
 
 As we walked about we noticed a nice little 
 house that was to let, which we thought was
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 185 
 
 worth remembering in case Louis should need 
 to go ashore again ; for he is hardly well 
 enough for the yacht yet, I am sorry to say. 
 He can't sleep at all on board. Last night was 
 a particularly bad one, and left him so worn 
 out that Fanny made up her mind to set off 
 at once for Tautira before he should get 
 worse ; and now I feel very anxious about 
 him till I hear how he has stood the drive. 
 Lloyd, who has gone with them, will come 
 back to-morrow, and I do trust he will bring 
 me good news. This place where we are is 
 not suitable for Louis; it is very draughty, 
 with a constant but unsteady current of air 
 blowing down between the mountains, which 
 made it impossible for him to be on deck at 
 all. That is the worst thing about good 
 anchorages for sailing vessels ; they are 
 generally draughty, as of course if too shel- 
 tered there is no wind to take you in or out. 
 This is a fine bay, and the French intend, they 
 say, to make a large dock for warships in it. 
 The entrance is very difficult, first through the 
 reef, and then through a very narrow passage 
 between two points of rock, so that in case 
 of any disturbance it could be very easily
 
 1 86 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 defended. Meantime, however, there are 
 very few houses to be seen, and no church 
 at all. 
 
 The captain had to go back to Papeete 
 to look for a new sailor in place of one who 
 is leaving us. We have had a good many 
 changes in the crew lately : first our superior 
 mate had to go, because he could not with- 
 stand the temptations of port, and was con- 
 tinually drunk ; poor old man, it was grievous 
 to see him ; then Wallin and Fred had to be 
 dismissed ; and now Charles is ill and must 
 go. They say it is what always happens at 
 Papeete, so that no ship, or rather no captain, 
 likes to put in there. I don't like the changes 
 at all. Our new mate is a Dutchman, called 
 Reuter, and we have one Henry from Hono- 
 lulu, Atta, a native from Papeete, and Jack, 
 an English boy who went to New Zealand 
 as a stowaway. 
 
 October 3 1 . 
 
 I AM thankful to say that Lloyd brought 
 back what was on the whole very 
 good news of Louis. He stood the drive 
 wonderfully well and had a comfortable
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 187 
 
 night after it, which was more than we ex- 
 pected. The house was very clean and neatly 
 furnished, and Louis liked the place much 
 better than this. The chief is a Salmon, a 
 cousin of Mrs. Darsie's ; he is an educated 
 man, and will be of great use to Louis. 
 
 The captain also has come back from 
 Papeete, and has been fortunate in getting an 
 excellent man, a French-Canadian, who was 
 
 formerly mate in our friend Mr. 's schooner, 
 
 so he should be worth having. The pilot who 
 brought us here from Papeete, by the way, is 
 still hanging on in the hope of taking us out 
 again ; he says now that we can He quite 
 comfortably and safely at Tautira, where 
 Louis is, and that would save him the journey 
 back. So very probably we may go thither 
 to-morrow or next day. To get there we 
 shall have to sail all round the peninsula,*^^ so 
 we shall see a good deal of Tahiti before we 
 are done with it. The captain tells me that 
 no part of the road between this place and 
 Papeete is nearly so beautiful as the road to 
 Tautira, so I believe we have really had the 
 best of the scenery. Here, at any rate, there 
 is nothing at all interesting, and very few
 
 i88 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 houses. Lloyd and I went for a walk one 
 day to explore the neighbourhood, and came 
 upon a small village ; we went into one house 
 (there is nothing that pleases the natives more 
 than to do so) where a man was lying upon 
 some mats ill. I was very much interested 
 to observe that two chairs were slung up to 
 the roof. They were evidently looked upon 
 as luxuries to be kept safely out of the way 
 upon ordinary occasions. One of the men 
 gave Lloyd some of the food that they were 
 eating : it was a sort of poi-poi made of sweet 
 potato, taro, and cocoa-nut, all mixed together. 
 Lloyd tasted it rather cautiously, but declared it 
 was very good, so they wrapped up some more 
 in a large leaf and insisted on his taking it away 
 with him. On our way home a little later, the 
 same man was waiting for us, and presented 
 us with a pair of large pearl shells quite black 
 inside. We are told they are valuable, being 
 very rare.'^^ 
 
 As we shall be altogether beyond the reach 
 of mails at Tautira, I mean to send this letter 
 from here to Papeete. There is a chance that 
 it will get home sooner than if I wait to post 
 it at Huahine ; and besides there is always a
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 189 
 
 little uncertainty as to when, and whether, we 
 shall get there. All depends, of course, upon 
 Louis. . . . 
 
 Tautira, Tahiti^ 
 
 November 5, 1888. 
 
 WE left Taravao on Friday morning ; 
 and after a rough and rather un- 
 pleasant voyage round the peninsula, where 
 every one on board was more or less ill but 
 myself, we cast anchor inside the reef here 
 at 8 A.M. on Saturday. Lloyd rode over on 
 the Friday, partly to avoid the sail, which we 
 expected would be trying, and partly to have 
 a horse for the pilot to ride back on ; he came 
 off in a canoe to meet us as soon as we arrived, 
 and brought us tolerable accounts of Louis. 
 He is delighted with his surroundings here, 
 and that is a great matter. He is in the very 
 midst of the large village, and the life of it 
 goes on all around him ; the little girls even 
 play special games of hopscotch — or should 
 I call it hop-Tahiti ? — before his window to 
 amuse him. The chief, who lives just op- 
 posite, has been most kind, and Princess Moe
 
 I90 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 (the king's sister-in-law, who arrived the day 
 we first drove over, and in whose honour the 
 great pig was roasted) has been really de- 
 voted in her attentions. She sometimes cooks 
 dishes herself specially for his dinner, and the 
 chief carries them across with an apron on! 
 One night, when Louis was not at all well,'^° 
 she could not sleep, she was so much distressed 
 about him, and in the morning she insisted 
 upon his moving into her own house, which 
 she has put at his service for as long as he 
 likes. One reason for this move was that 
 she thought the people were charging a great 
 deal too much for the house he was in ; and 
 this was certainly true, as the one at Papeete 
 was just half the rent, and that was ' in 
 town.' The princess is a delightful creature, 
 and speaks English very well indeed ; we 
 believe her to be the same Queen Moe of 
 Raiatea spoken of in a recent book of travel, 
 and after seeing her we think it was rather 
 familiar to speak of her in such terms as we 
 found therein, as she is really a dignified and 
 imposing personage. She has gone back to 
 Papeete this morning, and we shall all miss 
 her very much ; she came on board the Casco
 
 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 191 
 
 to sit awhile with me, both on Saturday and 
 yesterday evening. 
 
 Yesterday morning I went to service at 
 the native Protestant church. I arrived when 
 they were in the middle of a prayer, and just 
 knelt down by one of the open doors ; but as 
 soon as the princess spied me out, she came 
 and took me into her own seat. The church 
 is quite a large one, with many doors and 
 windows, the latter fitted with something like 
 Venetian blinds instead of glass, so that there 
 is plenty of air. There are comfortable 
 wooden benches, with backs. The Communion 
 Table yesterday was all set ready, and com- 
 pletely covered over with a white cloth. The 
 native minister stood in front of the table 
 dressed in a blue and white pareu, which is a 
 piece of cotton stuff put on like an unplaited 
 kilt, a rather long black coat and white tie, 
 and, of course, bare feet. It was a little 
 difficult to realise that he was the minister ! 
 I regretted the nice, proper-looking gown of 
 Taniera at Fakarava ; but the people here 
 are Independents, and belong to the London 
 Missionary Society. The service was very 
 much like our own at home ; the singing was
 
 192 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 led by the women of the congregation, and 
 the minister went into the precentor's box 
 for the sermon, but never entered the pulpit 
 at all. I wonder whether the use of that is 
 kept for the English or French missionaries, 
 and it is tapu for the natives. 
 
 There was a large congregation, and as 
 usual, lots of babies and children of all ages, 
 many of them lying about on the empty floor- 
 space round the Communion Table. They 
 were rather more noisy than native children 
 usually are, and once two naughty boys began 
 a game at ball ; this, however, was at once put 
 a stop to by a tall man who rose from a back 
 bench, and the ball was removed by one of 
 the matrons. After the sermon two babies 
 were brought in to be baptized. One of them 
 was dressed in a gorgeous lace robe, with a 
 cap of lace and white satin ribbon, such as I 
 have not seen for many a long year. The 
 baptismal service was exceedingly short and 
 simple : the minister took the baby in his 
 arms, asked its name, and at once baptized it, 
 pouring three good handfuls of water on to 
 its face, one at the name of each Person of 
 the Trinity. I asked the princess afterwards
 
 
 
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 REV. LEWIS UALFOUK, D.H. 
 MINISTER OF COLINTON 
 
 '■ A Herd of men " 
 
 Me>Hoyks aitd Portraiis^ R. L. J>'.
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 193 
 
 why there were neither any questions asked 
 nor promises made ; she told me that unfor- 
 tunately the babies were too often the children 
 of unmarried girls who were not church mem- 
 bers, and the missionaries, being driven to 
 despair over this, had at last made it a rule 
 that when any church member brought a child 
 to be baptized, it should be done, and no 
 questions asked. It seems a very doubtful 
 method, but it is supposed to prevent alien- 
 ating the girls, and to keep the children under 
 church influence, and better results are hoped 
 for with time and training. Certainly the 
 more one sees and hears of what goes on 
 here, the more one can understand the Indian 
 system of early marriages ! 
 
 When the christenings were over, and the 
 princess rose to leave the church, I asked if 
 there were not to be Communion ; she said yes, 
 and inquired if I wished to stay. When I 
 said that I did wish it very much, she at once 
 offered to introduce me to the minister, as 
 she could not herself stay with me that day. 
 When she did this I found myself most 
 warmly and heartily welcomed ; and indeed 
 I found it very touching to share that feast 
 N
 
 194 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 with these brothers and sisters so recently 
 rescued from heathendom. When the cloth 
 was removed from the Communion Table, it 
 disclosed the wine in two black beer-bottles, 
 and the cups were made of very common 
 earthenware, that sort of iridescent coppery 
 gold, that women used to carry about the 
 country in baskets long ago in Scotland. The 
 bread was baked bread-fruit, broken into very 
 small pieces. The service, apart from these 
 things, was all that one could wish, and much 
 the same as our own, except that the bread 
 and wine were handed separately to each 
 communicant, and that there was a separate 
 prayer of consecration for the wine after the 
 bread had been handed to all. This seems to 
 me to follow the original more closely than we 
 do, and it brought to my mind a line of the 
 familiar paraphrase, ' And God anew He 
 thanked and praised.' 
 
 When the service came to an end, I found, 
 to my intense surprise, that I was to receive 
 the ' right hand of fellowship ' from every 
 member of the congregation. First of all, the 
 ministers and deacons came forward and shook 
 hands most warmly with me, and then I was
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 195 
 
 invited to stand at the door and shake hands 
 and say 'Yuranna ' * to every man and woman 
 as they went out. (I am not sure how to spell 
 that word ; I mentioned it once before, at 
 Fakarava, where it is also the general greet- 
 ing ; but here it is pronounced a little differ- 
 ently.) I felt that I could sympathise for once 
 with our missionaries at home when they find 
 themselves in something the same sort of 
 position. The enthusiasm and friendliness of 
 the people, however, were both touching and 
 amusing ; one nice old lady could hardly be 
 prevented from dragging me off bodily to her 
 house. The next thing that happened was, 
 that they deputed the chief to go and tell 
 Louis that they were collecting things to make 
 a feast for their new member, and that these 
 would be presented to me at nine o'clock on 
 Monday morning at Louis's house. When in 
 turn Louis told this to me, I remarked, * Well, I 
 have always believed that ''Godliness was great 
 gam,'' but I never before had such immediate 
 proof of its holding good even in this world ! ' 
 
 Well, I went ashore this mornino- in grood 
 time, and by and by we saw people arriving 
 
 * See note 47, ' iao ranua,'
 
 196 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 from various directions, with sticks balanced 
 upon their shoulders, and a most varied assort- 
 ment of articles slung from them. When 
 every one was ready, they walked forward all 
 together and laid down what they had brought 
 on the grass in front of our verandah, taking 
 care to place the things, we noticed, in an 
 orderly semicircle, and arranging each offering 
 to look as tempting and beautiful as possible. 
 Here is an exact list of the £-atns of godliness 
 in Tautira : — 
 
 Six hens, one dozen eggs, one lobster, one 
 hundred cocoa-nuts, two large bunches of green 
 bananas, two baskets of ripe bananas, two 
 bunches of wild bananas for cooking," one 
 basket of sweet potatoes,'"^ two bundles of 
 tarOy^ two bunches of bread-fruit, . . . and 
 three pineapples ! 
 
 About thirty women came with the things, 
 and brought, of course, the usual accompani- 
 ment of children, and we had another great 
 hand-shaking all round. The princess had 
 taught me to say ' Maururu vmt,' which means 
 ' I thank you,' or rather ' Thank you from me,' 
 and that pleased them all very much. The chief 
 was present, and acted as interpreter ; and in
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 197 
 
 my name invited them one and all to visit me 
 on board the Casco on Wednesday afternoon. 
 I shall have to try and think of something 
 that I can give them in return. It seems to 
 me that nothing could be more suitable than a 
 set of Communion vessels, and at least I could 
 afford something a little better than what they 
 have at present. ''^^ 
 
 "4 
 
 November 6. 
 
 WE had a deluge of rain yesterday, which 
 came through the skylight, stopped 
 my writing, and drove me into a corner for 
 shelter. . . . Louis is fairly well again, and is 
 able to go out for a little walk from time to 
 time ; but he is terribly thin and white, and 
 has lost all the fine, healthy-looking sunburn 
 that we were so proud of, which disappoints 
 us very much. Still we are very thankful to 
 see him so far better, and we feel that the 
 simple, cheerful life here has helped him very 
 much. We do not feel so much shut off from 
 the people, even in the matter of language ; 
 for the chief, whose name is Ariee Teraimano, 
 speaks French very well, though he does not 
 know English. He is a good-looking man,
 
 198 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 inclined to stoutness, as so many Tahitians are, 
 and about twenty-eight years old. Two sisters 
 and a niece live with him, but the sisters 
 unfortunately only speak Kanak, and the niece, 
 who does know French, is too bashful to try 
 to speak it. Still we all get on together very 
 well. ... I think now it is likely that we 
 shall 0:0 straight from here to Honolulu, and 
 give up our visit to Huahine in the Society 
 Islands ; we have lost so much time in Tahiti, 
 and I am wearying so much for my letters, that 
 I shall not be sorry to get away. You can 
 have no idea how homesick I am for news of 
 you all. 
 
 This is a very lovely place. High and 
 beautifully-formed mountains sweep close down 
 to the beach, and they are densely wooded to 
 the very top ; from the Casco's deck we look 
 up a beautiful, winding valley with a cataract 
 tumbling down it, which I long to visit, but, 
 alas ! there are no roads save the one to 
 Taravao. We are quite at the world's end 
 here, in every way ; there is not a shop of 
 even the most primitive kind, which seems 
 strange in so large and populous a village. 
 The people get what they need from small
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 199 
 
 schooners that come into the bay to trade, 
 and about once a week, if he has time, the 
 Chinaman from Taravao drives over with 
 bread and other things for sale. 
 
 I think the most beautiful feature of the 
 place, however, is the forest that surrounds it. 
 There are many lovely ferns both here and 
 at Taravao ; I found two climbing ones," the 
 most graceful plants I ever saw; and the bark of 
 many of the trees is covered with innumerable 
 ferns of all kinds, right up to the very top. 
 Some of these, in spite of their position, grow 
 to a great size ; I saw harts' tongues, for 
 instance, fully three feet long, and though I 
 have not seen any maidenhair yet, I found one 
 that was very like the maidenhair spleenwort. 
 I was also delighted to find the sensitive 
 plant ^^ growing like a weed by the wayside ; 
 I shall send you a bit, but it is very difficult to 
 dry or press, because it shuts up almost if you 
 look at it. The only way I can manage is to 
 hold one card very gently underneath it, and 
 another on the top, and bring them together 
 suddenly, before it has time to find out what I 
 am about. I shall also send you a bit of the 
 * silk-cotton.' By the way, I hear that one of
 
 200 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 my kind fellow-communicants is making a 
 pillow of it for me, so I have not yet come to 
 an end of my 'gains of godliness.' 
 
 Wednesday evening. 
 
 MY little party is over, and has been, I 
 am glad to say, a great success : thirty 
 women and three children, one of whom was 
 a very small baby, arrived in due time, and 
 each brought me still another present. So 
 you will please add to the foregoing list as 
 follows : — 
 
 Twenty-five cocoa-nut bowls, six pillows 
 filled with silk-cotton, one orange, a few fine 
 shells, six fish, and one basket ! 
 
 They were all very nicely dressed, many 
 of them in white, trimmed with embroidery, 
 and their hats were gay with brilliant ribbons, 
 a bright rose-coloured chenille being much in 
 favour. They quite filled the cockpit and a 
 row of chairs placed outside, and looked like a 
 garden bed full of gay flowers. Many of them, 
 I noticed, had very nice, sensible faces, and 
 they were all quiet and modest in manner, very 
 unlike some of the young girls, more especially 
 at Papeete. I asked them if they would sing me
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 201 
 
 a hymeni^''^ which they did very readily, and 
 then, rather to my surprise, proceeded to make 
 speeches or addresses, and prayers. One of 
 the old ladies was as earnest and as fluent as 
 
 Mrs. herself could have been ; I could 
 
 not help being amused at the thought, with so 
 many other differences, but I wished I could 
 have understood it all. Our old sailor, Loney, 
 who knows the language, told us that they 
 prayed for a blessing on the vessel and on the 
 captain and every one on board, in return for 
 ' the great kindness we had shown them ' ! / had 
 thought it was rather the other way round. . . . 
 I must say the captain was very good : he put 
 up an awning over the deck in their honour, 
 and went ashore to bring them off and back 
 himself. I got Loney to tell them how very 
 grateful I was for all their kindness to me, and 
 what a pleasure it had been to me to join them 
 on Sunday in a real mission congregation, as I 
 had been interested in missions such as theirs 
 nearly all my life. 
 
 We then went down to the saloons, and 
 gave them preserves and cake of various 
 kinds, and biscuits, and the much-appreciated 
 syrup-and-water. We had the dining-room
 
 202 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 twice filled as full as it could possibly hold ; I 
 helped the preserves and cake, and Valentine 
 poured out the syrup at the other end of the 
 table. Meanwhile Fanny and Lloyd enter- 
 tained the other half, who were not eating, in 
 the after-cabin. When every scrap had been 
 disposed of we went on deck again, and one 
 young lady played us some tunes on the 
 captain's accordion ; but they were dreadfully 
 disappointed that I could not play to them, and 
 besf^ed me over and over as^ain that * I would 
 try.' They came about two o'clock, and stayed 
 till past four. Before they went away I gave 
 them two bags of flour and a bag of ship's 
 biscuit (which they like better than anything) 
 to be divided amongst them, and told them I 
 was very sorry to have nothing better to give 
 in return for all their great kindness to me. 
 There was a little more speechifying, and they 
 expressed themselves well pleased with every- 
 thing, and went off looking very happy and 
 content. 
 
 I do not think I ever told you that the 
 people at Fakarava gave the Casco the name 
 of Pahi Muni, which means the shining or the 
 silver ship ; we thought it such a pretty name
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 203 
 
 that we have kept it up, and Lloyd has taught 
 it to the people here. This will explain the 
 enclosed. Louis wrote a few verses to Princess 
 Moe before she left, and I send you a type- 
 written copy for private circulation only ; she 
 does not wish it to be published, so it is only 
 to be shown to friends/"" 
 
 Lloyd has taken to wearing a pareu, the 
 native garment, in blue and white cotton, with 
 a white coat, and we think he looks very nice 
 in it. He goes barefoot, of course. Fanny 
 too is quite unefemine Tahitienne in her holaku 
 and bare feet. She lies on a pillow in the chiefs 
 smoking-room (which is open all round and has 
 a roof of cocoa-nut bark), and can even take a 
 whiff of a native cigarette and pass it on to the 
 other members of the company in the approved 
 way. They pass much of the day there, the 
 ladies generally engaged in plaiting hats of 
 various kinds ; I want to get a lesson in the 
 work, which is pretty and useful, but I have 
 not managed it yet. . . . 
 
 There is an unexpected chance to send off 
 this letter to Papeete, and it must be closed at 
 once. I wonder when it will reach you ! 
 
 * For the reason stated, the verses are not given here.
 
 204 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 On shore at Tautira^ Tahiti^ 
 i$th November i88S. 
 
 MY dear , I little thought when I sent 
 off my letter to you last week, that I 
 should write another from this place. But 
 just after it started the captain discovered that 
 there was something wrong with the main mast 
 of the Casco, and after minute examination it 
 turned out that there was dry rot in it ; that 
 it must have been going on for years, and that 
 it was an actual miracle it did not give way in 
 the gale we encountered between Papeete and 
 Taravao. The captain is very indignant that 
 the yacht should have been allowed to start on 
 such a cruise without thorough overhauling, 
 and blames the last captain, who assured Dr. 
 
 M that the vessel was in perfect order. 
 
 We feel very thankful that it was found out 
 before anything more serious happened ; and 
 I declare that it was in answer to the prayers 
 of my kind old ladies that it was discovered 
 before we went to sea, and indeed on the 
 evening of the very day of my party. The 
 next question was, what was to be done ? The 
 Casco must return to Papeete either to get a
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 205 
 
 new mast or to have this one patched up, and 
 should we go too, or remain here ? Louis and 
 all of us agreed that we would much rather 
 stay at Tautira, but we did not wish to ' sorn ' '"" 
 on our good hosts ; however, when we spoke 
 to the chief, he assured us so heartily of our 
 being welcome here, that we decided to stay 
 where we were. As we needed to draw some 
 more money, however, it was finally settled 
 that I should go to Papeete in the Casco on 
 Sunday, spend Monday in seeing to my busi- 
 ness and shopping, and come back here on the 
 Tuesday, which I did. It turned out that no 
 mast large enough for the yacht was to be 
 found in Papeete, so the old one is to be 
 patched up. The captain declares that it can 
 be made quite safe by the help of iron rings 
 and bolts. He expects to have everything 
 ready and in order by the end of next week, 
 when he will return here to pick us up, and we 
 shall start at once for Honolulu ; but this busi- 
 ness will make us at least a fortnight later in 
 getting our longed-for letters. It is fortunate, 
 however, that we are in a place that we like so 
 much, and where the people are so kind to us ; 
 
 * To live at the expense of any one — Scots,
 
 2o6 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 where, in spite of so much that is strange about 
 us, we still have learnt to feel at home. 
 
 I have now sailed all round Tahiti, and 
 driven round half of it. It is certainly a very 
 beautiful island ; the scenery is so varied, and 
 near Papeete is quite park-like in character, 
 with large and splendid trees, many of them 
 covered with bloom. The scarlet-flowered 
 acacia ^^ was in full beauty and profusion, and 
 was perhaps the loveliest of all ; the French 
 call it the 'flamboyant,^ and Princess Moe 
 tells me that it was introduced to the island by 
 them, so has no native name. Further south 
 the scenery is much wilder, with great stretches 
 of the tropical forest vegetation, and we all 
 admire that far more. I went to see Princess 
 Moe in Papeete, and she was delighted to hear 
 that we were staying on for some time yet. 
 She said she was coming back to Tautira, and 
 would hasten her return so that she might see 
 as much of us as possible. . . . On Tuesday 
 morning, my business being done, I rose at 
 4 A.M., left the Casco^X. 5.15, and started from 
 Papeete at 5.30 in the stage, which is a sort of 
 spring cart with three benches with backs to 
 them, and an awning stretched on poles to
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 207 
 
 keep off the sun's heat. The bottom of the 
 cart is packed full of parcels and bundles of all 
 kinds that are to be delivered on the road, and 
 you have to dispose of your feet among them 
 as best you can. A letter-box was hung 
 over the end of one of the benches, and we 
 stopped at the post-office of every little village 
 on our way ; when a post-master or mistress 
 appeared with a bunch of keys, unlocked the 
 bag, looked over all the letters it contained, 
 took out those addressed to that district, and 
 added any that were to be sent away. You 
 may fancy that the correspondence is not very 
 large, or it could scarcely be managed after 
 such a fashion. Even this rather primitive 
 and combined mail -coach -and -carrier's -cart, 
 however, does not come further than Taravao, 
 which we reached about 12.30, so that I had 
 to take a private conveyance to come on here, 
 arriving a little after half-past three, and as 
 you may imagine, pretty well tired out. I was 
 very anxious to get home, partly because if I 
 had passed a night in Taravao, I should have 
 been obliged to stay at the Chinaman's house, 
 which, for many reasons, I did not fancy, but 
 principally because it was my dear boy's birth-
 
 2o8 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 day and I could not bear to spend the whole 
 of it away from him and quite alone. 
 
 I was very glad and relieved to find him 
 looking wonderfully well, and everything 
 going on happily. It had been decided not 
 to celebrate his birthday till the Wednesday, 
 to make sure of my return, and our hosts were 
 looking forward to the little festival at which 
 they had been invited to assist. I must ex- 
 plain that the proprietor of this house is Ori, 
 sub-chief of the village ; he is a very fine and 
 dignified man, over six feet three in height, 
 and broad in proportion."^ He is a deacon 
 of the Protestant Church here, and in the 
 minister's absence sometimes preaches him- 
 self. He has a very nice wife, whose name is 
 Haapie, an adopted son called Paieria, and I 
 think another (whose father was, I believe, a 
 white man, in fact a Beritano), one daughter 
 and two grandchildren. It now turns out that 
 the princess used her authority to make these 
 worthy people give up their house to us, and 
 not only that, but to wait upon us besides. 
 They have kept for their own use only one 
 room, which has a separate entrance from the 
 verandah, and they have indeed been most
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 209 
 
 good and kind in every way. They only 
 take their place as our hosts to the extent 
 of frequently coming in and sitting beside us. 
 Ori generally takes a chair, but his wife and 
 children prefer the floor, which is covered with 
 beautiful mats made by Haapie herself out of 
 the leaves of the Pandanus-tree.®*^ It occurs to 
 me, however, that I have never described this 
 house to you. Our sitting-room is 20 feet 7 
 inches long by 17 feet 9 inches wide; it is 
 entered from the front and back verandahs by 
 two doors, opposite each other, and has four 
 large windows. The four bedrooms open off 
 the sitting-room by a door at each corner : the 
 two front ones are each 12 feet 6 inches by 10 
 feet 7, and the back ones are larger, as they 
 include the depth of the back verandah, and 
 have each a second door opening directly from 
 it. After many houses that we have seen else- 
 where it is quite a mansion, and so exquisitely 
 clean and airy. 
 
 On Tuesday evening, when I had had a rest, 
 we went to the chiefs house just next to ours, 
 and had a lesson in plaiting hats from Tehea, 
 the chiefs niece. I wish you could have seen 
 us, all lying on mats spread on the grass before 
 o
 
 2IO FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 his house, in moonlight that was Hterally as 
 bright as day : the air Hke milk, and full of sweet 
 perfumes and quiet sounds. It was so very 
 pleasant. . . . We learned our lesson, and 
 have both been hard at work ever since ; you 
 will be interested to know that I think it is the 
 very same plait that you used long ago for 
 making gipsy hats out of shavings and strips 
 of paper. Fanny is at work on a hat of bam- 
 boo shavings, which are white and shiny and 
 rather brittle ; I am making mine of pandanus, 
 which is tougher, and does not require such 
 deft fingers.^^ We both wish you were here, 
 for we are sure you would enjoy this hat- 
 making industry ; it is the constant occupation 
 of all ladies in Tahiti. Those made of sugar- 
 cane are finer than either of ours, and more 
 thought of, but the best of all are made from 
 the stalks of the arrowroot plant,^^ which 
 unfortunately is not yet in season. 
 
 Louis's birthday party was a great success. 
 Two small pigs had been presented to him, 
 and we had them both roasted in a native 
 oven. This way of cooking certainly preserves 
 all the flavour of the meat, and is delicious. 
 Our first course was a fine dish of prawns, or
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 211 
 
 rather of small crayfish ; then followed roast 
 pig at the top, and roast pig at the foot of 
 the table, with an excellent sauce made of 
 grated cocoa-nut, lime juice, and sea water, 
 Irish potatoes, and roast fei ; after that 
 canned peaches and cake. Everything was 
 excellent and very highly appreciated, and 
 there was but little left in spite of the two 
 pigs. We had also two bottles of champagne, 
 which Ori thoroughly enjoyed ; ^^ and after 
 dinner Lou managed to carry on a long con- 
 versation with him by means of a dictionary 
 and pen, ink, and paper. It was laborious, 
 but amusing. 
 
 November 17. 
 
 OUR life here is really delightful; it is 
 almost camping out without its draw- 
 backs, we are so much in the open air. I 
 am just now sitting on the verandah looking 
 on the green lawn in front, with the village 
 street, which is green lawn also, but firmer 
 under foot than the rest and a little worn 
 with traffic, only a few yards off. The street 
 proper is bordered by cocoa-nut palms and 
 pandanus- trees ; bread-fruits, mangoes, and 
 bananas are scattered about irregularly in all
 
 212 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 directions. Through the trees I see the native 
 birdcage-like ®* houses on the other side of the 
 street, and beyond that the sea stretches away, 
 and I can hear the surf breaking with a con- 
 tinuous roar upon the reef further out, and can 
 catch gHmpses of a line of white foam. At 
 the back of our house is the Roman Catholic 
 church, and through the back door I can see 
 Pere Bruno walking backwards and forwards 
 in front of his little cottage, or reading his 
 breviary in the verandah. 
 
 Our cooking, by the way, is done on a 
 small oil stove on the back verandah, or if we 
 have any dish too large for that, we have an 
 oven arranged outside on the ground. We 
 have a woman called Sophie, half French and 
 half native, to help Valentine with the work. 
 Louis has taken kindly to the native fashion 
 of eating raw fish,^^ which are said to be very 
 nutritious ; he eats them with a sauce made 
 of grated cocoa-nuts and sea water, ^"^ similar to 
 that which was so good with the roast pig. 
 He has a very good appetite now, so I live 
 in hope of seeing him soon look a little fatter. 
 
 Bathing is very fashionable here ; but the 
 people all bathe in the river, and not in the
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 213 
 
 sea, — I can't make out why.^^ The boys and 
 girls climb into high trees and throw them- 
 selves down into the water like ripe fruit 
 dropping ; they swim like very fishes, and 
 the brown creatures look very pretty as they 
 tumble about. Men and women, boys and 
 girls, all bathe together, but they are all 
 decently clothed in parens ; indeed, the people 
 here are very modest and particular in such 
 matters, and no one is allowed to bathe with- 
 out a pareu even in the most secluded spot. 
 The other day I went off by myself to find a 
 quiet place where I might bathe without spec- 
 tators, but I had not gone far when six children 
 joined in my train. When I had found a nice 
 place with a grove of pandanus-trees for a 
 dressing-room, I told the children to go away ; 
 they retreated about a couple of yards and 
 then drew themselves up in a line, to watch 
 my every movement. It was rather trying, 
 but I used the trees as a screen as best I 
 could ; and when the dip was over, they again 
 assisted at my dressing with the greatest 
 interest, and were especially charmed when 
 I took a button-hook from my pocket and 
 buttoned my boots with it. At present I
 
 214 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 have a little crowd of boys round about me 
 watching my writing with the greatest eager- 
 ness and interest ! 
 
 Louis has had so many gifts brought to him 
 of pigs, fowls, fish, fruit, and vegetables, that 
 he has told the chief that in return he wishes 
 to give a village feast. The chief was much 
 pleased with the idea, and will make all the 
 arrangements for us. It is to consist of four 
 large hogs roasted whole, five bags of flour, 
 and all the tobacco we have left of the quantity 
 that we brought to give away as presents. 
 Louis explained that he meant to give these 
 things just as we were leaving ; that he would 
 make his speech, and then walk off to the 
 Casco and sail away ; but the chief said that 
 would never do, and would, in fact, be im- 
 possible. The people would never consent 
 to take these things without giving some- 
 thing in return, and if we insisted, they would 
 even prevent us by kindly force from going 
 away till they had had time to collect their 
 gifts. And yet many people say that they 
 only give that they may get more in return ! 
 Certainly our experience has been quite the 
 reverse of that.
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 215 
 
 We have had very heavy and sudden showers 
 of rain and a good deal of thunder every night 
 since Tuesday, so there has been no more 
 sitting on the grass by moonlight ; but the 
 days have been fine and delightfully fresh. 
 The people here are a most contented and 
 happy set, rejoicing heartily in their magnifi- 
 cent climate. There used to be a drinking- 
 place in the village, but the chief got it put 
 down, and we never hear of any drinking at 
 all among them. They are very fond of their 
 children, and exceedingly kind to them, but 
 the little things are not spoiled ; on the con- 
 trary they are carefully taught to be quiet and 
 well-behaved. It is quite a picture to see 
 our gigantic host with a very small grandchild 
 perched on his knee or sitting between his feet, 
 and both looking perfectly happy. By the way, 
 when I said that Ori and his family occupied 
 one room in this house, I ought to have ex- 
 plained that they had really withdrawn to a 
 ' birdcage ' house on the other side of the 
 street, only one or two of them sleeping over 
 here.
 
 2i6 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 Monday^ November 19. 
 
 YESTERDAY was my first Sunday en- 
 tirely spent on shore at Tautira, so I 
 must give you some account of it. The people 
 are certainly a most church-going set. They 
 begin at 7 a.m., when the service lasts about 
 three-quarters of an hour ; it was rather early 
 for me, so I cannot tell you anything about it. 
 The next service is at ten o'clock, and to this 
 I went with the chiefs sister ; it lasted about 
 an hour, and was much like our own at home, 
 with a good many hy mends, ^^ short prayers, 
 and a short sermon. The inevitable babies, 
 by the way, behaved very well. After service 
 all the people adjourned to the public hall, 
 which is a very large ' birdcage ' house, with 
 a dais or platform at one end ; and at the 
 further end of this platform there is a long 
 table and a bench on which the chief and the 
 councillors sit, as many as are present. The 
 rest of the people sit on the floor, either on 
 the dais or the lower part, as they prefer ; 
 children are admitted, and even dogs, though 
 the latter are never allowed to go into the 
 church. When all are seated the official
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 217 
 
 newspaper is read aloud for the public benefit, 
 and the Government announcements and ordi- 
 nances are considered and discussed. It is a 
 veritable ' Parliament House ' on a small scale, 
 where any one may give an opinion, ask for 
 advice, or make any matter publicly known ; 
 and here yesterday the chief announced that 
 Louis intended to give a feast to the in- 
 habitants of the village to show his gratitude 
 for the kindness with which we had been 
 welcomed and always treated. The notice 
 was received, I am glad to say, with evident 
 satisfaction. 
 
 At 3 P.M. I returned to church with ' Mrs. 
 Ori.' A nice-looking young deacon conducted 
 the first part of the service and preached a 
 short sermon, standing the while at the Com- 
 munion Table ; he then retired to the body 
 of the church, the native minister went into 
 the precentor's box, and there followed a long 
 discussion, in which a good many of the men 
 took part, and all seemed closely interested. 
 The minister appeared to reserve the right of 
 reply, and occasionally he called upon different 
 people to give their views. I would have 
 given the world to be able to understand it
 
 2i8 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 all. I have been told that they make great 
 use of ridicule here, and I observed that even 
 in church the man who could turn the lauofh 
 against his opponent seemed to gain the 
 day; but Princess Moe comes to-morrow, and 
 through her I hope to find out more about it. 
 ... It appears that the people usually collect 
 once more, at 8 p.m., in 'Parliament House,' 
 this time to sing kymends ; but for some reason 
 which I do not know, this was yesterday 
 omitted, so Ori and his wife sang hymen^s 
 to us, lying on the floor of our ' salon.' They 
 know a great many by heart, and sing them 
 very prettily ; there is a curious quality about 
 their voices, difficult to describe. They still 
 use the word rnitonaree to mean church mem- 
 bership ; they said, for instance, that I was 
 mitonaree, and they were both mitonaree, but 
 the others were not mitonaree. . . . 
 
 We were amused to find that when the chief 
 announced Louis's feast in the ' Parliament 
 House,' he called him 'the rich man.' It 
 turns out to be fortunate that we had ordered 
 four hogs, for we now learn that the village is 
 divided into four sets, or classes, of people ; 
 and according to native etiquette, the gifts
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 219 
 
 must be divided into four portions, and sepa- 
 rately presented to each. The first set consists 
 of the Protestant minister and his regular con- 
 gregation, or church members ; the second, of 
 the chief, the councillors, and the inhabitants 
 generally ; the third, of the schoolmaster and 
 school-children ; and the fourth, of Pere Bruno 
 and the Roman Catholics, who are very few 
 in number. It seems an extraordinary system, 
 as many of the people belong to more than 
 one class ; for instance, Ori, our host, is both 
 a church deacon and a councillor. 
 
 Thursday, Nove7nber 23. 
 
 THE Princess Moe arrived on Tuesday. 
 I wanted to give up my room to her, 
 but Ori would not hear of that, and insisted 
 on turning out of the one room he had hitherto 
 kept for their own use ; so she is practically 
 living in our house, and we see a great deal 
 of her and like her very much. She has 
 taught us several new plaits for hat-making, 
 and Fanny and she have ' exchanged names ' 
 in the native fashion, which is looked on here 
 as a real bond of relationship. She has given
 
 2 20 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 Fanny her mother's name, Terii- Tauma- Terai, 
 part of which word means 'heaven,' I beHeve, 
 and part is connected with some land in this 
 neighbourhood, and gives Fanny the right to 
 claim it if she has a mind to. In return 
 Fanny gave Moe her own mother's name, 
 which is Hester. Louis and Ori have also 
 * made brothers ' and exchanged names ; the 
 name ' Louis ' is Rut in the native pronuncia- 
 tion, so that Ori only alters his name very 
 slightly. He has given Louis his own Chris- 
 tian name of Teriitera. In making brothers, 
 they have to eat together, but it is not nearly 
 so formal a ceremony here as at Atuona, when 
 we were adopted by the chief, and the feast 
 was only and solely for us and our new family. 
 The princess has also given Lloyd and m.e 
 complimentary names, but I am not sure of 
 them yet, and will tell you them later. 
 
 Yesterday our ' feast ' went off splendidly. 
 Louis's four hogs were roasted whole and 
 wrapped in pieces of matting made of the green 
 leaflets of the cocoa-nut, beautifully braided 
 together. They were laid out in front of the 
 steps up to our verandah, along with four large 
 tin boxes of ship's biscuits, which we decided
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 221 
 
 to give instead of flour, as the natives are so 
 particularly fond of them. Four o'clock had 
 been fixed as the hour of distribution, but long 
 before that time people began to arrive, all 
 very gaily dressed, and carrying their return 
 gifts with them generally slung upon poles : 
 live pigs and live hens were tied by their feet 
 in this way, and protested loudly against such 
 upside-down treatment. It was a pretty sight 
 from first to last, but the prettiest part of it 
 all was the appearance of the school-children, 
 who marched two and two with the school- 
 master at their head. The children had been 
 to the woods to gather bananas and other fruit, 
 and they also carried them slung from poles 
 balanced on their shoulders like their elders, 
 some of them staggering under the weight ; 
 while the schoolmaster brought a basket full 
 of the beautiful rose-apples.*^^ Each set, or 
 party, piled their gifts in a separate heap 
 on the lawn in front of our house, and the 
 people and children sat down in groups upon 
 the grass ; but when all were gathered to- 
 gether we discovered to our consternation that 
 there were. Jive heaps of presents instead of the 
 four we had been told to expect. It turned
 
 222 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 out that a very small body of Mormons — I 
 think six in number — whom the chief had 
 never expected to take separate action, had 
 nevertheless done so, and brought quite a 
 large heap of gifts as their own contribution. 
 You can imagine our perplexity and embarrass- 
 ment, as there were only four hogs, and it was 
 impossible to make a proper division and 
 presentation to each party as native custom 
 demanded. However, they were very con- 
 siderate ; it was arranged after some discussion 
 that there should only be a general presenta- 
 tion, and they should be left to divide the 
 things amongst themselves as best they could. 
 So, as soon as this had been settled, Louis, 
 Fanny, and I went to the top of the verandah 
 steps, and he made a speech to them in French, 
 thanking them all in the name of each of his 
 party for the great kindness and hospitality 
 they had shown us, and begging them to 
 accept our small gifts as a token of our 
 gratitude and affection. He mentioned the 
 many different countries that we had been 
 in, and said that of all of them, he liked Tau- 
 tira best ; and that often when we would be 
 sittinpf over the fire in the midst of the frost
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 223 
 
 and snow of our own land, we would re- 
 member with longing their lovely climate. 
 Then the chief translated it to the people, 
 and an elderly gentleman rose and accepted 
 the gifts in their name with many warm 
 thanks, saying how much they had all been 
 pleased to have us amongst them, and that the 
 longer we stayed the better they would like it. 
 After this began the presentation of their 
 return gifts to us. There was a separate 
 speech made over each heap, describing what 
 it contained, and begging our acceptance of 
 it ; and at the end of the speech, the spokes- 
 man walked forward and presented a sample 
 of the gifts and shook hands with us all, and 
 we exchanged iao-ranos.'^ (This is the third, but 
 I believe the correct way, to spell it. You see 
 I live and learn !) The wag of the speakers 
 was the leader of the Mormons, and his speech 
 was most amusing. He described the hens as 
 being descendants of the * cock that frightened 
 Peter,' and he brought us two eggs and told 
 us to take them home and ' make them into 
 chickens,' and they would always sing us a 
 song that would remind us of Tautira. He 
 
 * See note 47.
 
 2 24 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 was evidently a very popular orator, as he was 
 asked to speak for some of the other parties 
 also ; so the Mormons, though few, were quite 
 to the front of the proceedings. One of them 
 had brought a basket of eggs, which are not 
 over plentiful here, and another a very in- 
 teresting fish-hook in the old style, made of 
 pearl shell. ^^ Louis returned thanks to them 
 all at the end, and so it concluded ; but how 
 I wish you could have seen it, for it was really 
 a pretty sight, and I cannot do justice to it. 
 
 We found ourselves, when all was over, the 
 proud possessors of such quantities of food, 
 that we scarcely know what to do with it. 
 We have ten little pigs, twenty-three fowls, 
 and countless cocoa-nuts, bananas, bread-fruits, 
 bundles of taro, and pineapples, not to speak 
 of silk -cotton pillows. Ori and the chiefs 
 retainers had to grather all together and stow 
 them away for us. They tied the bananas up 
 to the nearest trees, three of which are now 
 heavy-laden with the bunches ; the cocoa-nuts 
 are piled in heaps at the foot, so as to be 
 shaded from the sun. Then they took the 
 bamboos on which the gifts had been carried, 
 and very cleverly made a kind of double pen,
 
 /' 
 
 '^'m ^ 
 
 \ 
 
 
 ■% 
 
 ROBERT I.OUIS STEVEXSOX, AGED 4 
 From a crayon lirawiii!^
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 225 
 
 into one end of which the pigs were put, and 
 into the other the chickens ; and now we are 
 left to eat through the larder at our leisure. 
 Fortunately the live-stock feed on cocoa-nuts 
 and bananas, so they are well provided for, 
 and that will help us through. 
 
 Louis is very tired to-day with yesterday's 
 excitement, and hopes he will not have such 
 another experience for many a long day ; he 
 enjoyed it heartily, but it fairly wore him out. 
 Ori tells us that he managed the division of 
 the gifts all right. A whole hog was given 
 to the Mormons, but they very equitably 
 returned one-half of it, and then the church 
 members made common cause with the general 
 inhabitants, and had a hog and a half between 
 them. This solved the difficulty, and all seem 
 to have been well satisfied, which is the great 
 point. Old Pere Bruno told us that he had 
 enough to serve him for three days at least, 
 and that all the people had got more than they 
 expected. We were thankful to hear this, as 
 it did not look very much amongst so many, 
 and yet it cost about seventeen pounds.
 
 226 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 November 28. 
 
 HERE we are still, and there is always 
 no word of the Casco. We are 
 beginning to get a little anxious about her, 
 and our provisions are running low ; we have 
 had no butter for some days, and to-day we 
 had no coffee for breakfast, and the wine is 
 very nearly finished, so I do hope the yacht 
 will come very soon. 
 
 Last Saturday, Louis and Fanny and Or! 
 all went to Paupera to visit Tati, the chief 
 of that district ; he is a Salmon, a brother of 
 Mrs. Darsie's, and not only of high rank, but 
 very well-informed about native customs and 
 literature. Of course, therefore, Louis was 
 very anxious to see him ; but it was a drive of 
 five hours, and we were frightened to let him 
 undertake anything so fatiguing. However, 
 I am thankful to say that he came back on 
 Monday, very tired certainly, but not really 
 the worse of the expedition. They were 
 most kindly received, and Lou got a great 
 deal of information of all kinds ; the only 
 thing that he objected to was that they gave 
 him European food instead of native. When
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 227 
 
 Tati heard that he was so fond of fei (the 
 wild banana), he said that Louis would be 
 sure to return to Tahiti, as it was a proof 
 that the island had cast a spell on him. 
 
 On Tuesday Moe gave us a grand feast 
 in this house ; several men cooked it, and a 
 man and woman waited. Before dinner Moe 
 brought wreaths for the whole party to wear, 
 made of the leaves of a plant which turns 
 bright yellow as it withers ; I only wish you 
 could have seen us with them on ! We were 
 like a party of Bacchantes, and between you 
 and me, I will confess that I felt more than 
 a little ridiculous in mine. Ori looked better 
 than any one else : with his fine grave face 
 he reminded me of one of the Roman em- 
 perors. Here is our bill of fare : ist course, 
 an omelette ; 2nd, crayfish ; 3rd, fried chicken ; 
 4th, a native curry of chicken, seasoned with 
 saffron, red peppers, and cocoa-nut; 5th, stewed 
 chicken ; 6th, two roast pigs and one roasted 
 fowl. These last were put on the table, and 
 then at once removed, cut up, and handed 
 round. We had cocoa-juice served in the nut 
 to drink, and after dinner tea was served with 
 cocoa-nut milk. Everything was delicious.
 
 2 28 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 especially the curry, which was totally different 
 from any I had ever tasted, not at all hot, and 
 particularly well-flavoured. In the evening 
 we played High, Loiu, and Jack, with the 
 princess, and enjoyed ourselves very much. 
 She is a great deal with us, and always so 
 bright and pleasant and fond of a joke ; our 
 presentation pillows lie about on the floor, and 
 when she or other visitors are here, they come 
 in very usefully. Last night, for instance, we 
 taught the princess vingt-et-un, and we all sat 
 or lay on the floor while we played, an ad- 
 miring crowd gazing in at us from door and 
 window all the time. 
 
 I am glad to say that Louis keeps really 
 wonderfully well, and this place suits him 
 better than any we have ever tried. For 
 that, as well as many other reasons, we shall 
 be very sorry to leave, but we weary terribly 
 for those longed-for letters ! 
 
 December 2. 
 
 AFTER watching for the yacht all day and 
 every day, almost as eagerly as ship- 
 wrecked mariners, a letter at last came from 
 the captain to say that he found the other mast
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 229 
 
 was rotten also, and must be patched up before 
 we could venture to start for Honolulu. Here 
 was a business, and once more it was a question 
 what we were to do. We felt that we had 
 already ' sorned ' far too long on Ori's kind- 
 ness, and our food, that is, the European part 
 of it, was done ; so surely we ought to return 
 at once to Papeete. On the other hand we 
 had not nearly enough money to pay up here 
 and cover our journey to Papeete ; the captain 
 keeps the 'bank' on the yacht, and of course 
 that was out of reach. Again, we had no 
 means of conveying all our possessions thither, 
 and this place suits Louis so much better than 
 Papeete that it seemed almost providential 
 that he should be kept here, even against his 
 will. Louis and Fanny both got quite upset 
 and tearful over the discussion which followed 
 in solemn conclave with the chief, Ori, and 
 Pere Bruno ; and finally, after much talk, Ori 
 made a solemn oration to Louis, which was 
 translated to him by the chief, and was to this 
 effect : ' You are my brother, and all that I 
 have is yours. I know that your food is done, 
 but I can give you fish and fei as much as you 
 like. This place suits you, and it makes us
 
 230 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 happy to have you, — stay here till the Casco 
 comes, be happy, et ne pleurez plus ! ' 
 
 Louis could not resist this kindness, so here 
 we are, and here we remain ; and more than 
 that, Ori went off to Papeete yesterday in his 
 big canoe, and is to return to-morrow with 
 fresh stores for us from the Casco. . . . 
 
 Tautira^ Ta/nti, 
 Dec. 4, 1888. 
 
 THE wind continues very high, so that 
 Ori was prevented from getting back 
 yesterday, and we are a little anxious about 
 him. We are now almost entirely reduced to 
 native foods, and we are learning how good 
 they are and growing really fond of them. 
 Th.Q. poipoi made of taro and eaten with cocoa- 
 nut cream is our favourite, I think ; it is like a 
 delightful cream ' shape,' or sort of blancmange, 
 but more substantial and satisfying. Lloyd de- 
 clares it reminds him of cold porridge, but as 
 that is a dish I do noi appreciate, I rather 
 resent the comparison. We certainly feel, how- 
 ever, that it is as nourishing and sustaining as 
 porridge — so much I will allow.
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 231 
 
 I do not believe I told you that Princess 
 Moe, when she arrived, brought with her five 
 — I can scarcely call them servants, let us say — 
 retainers. One is the proprietor of her very 
 nice carriage and also the driver of it, and is 
 accompanied by his wife and child. There 
 are also two girls who attend on the princess. 
 They are all of rank and are landed pro- 
 prietors in Papeete, and have servants to wait 
 on them. The princess is on excellent terms 
 with them, but at a certain distance, reminding 
 me strongly of Cluny and his retainers : there 
 is just the same intimate, yet stately, relative 
 position. The gentleman whom we call the 
 'Charioteer,' for want of another name (his 
 own is so painfully long and syllabic that it is 
 impossible to remember), was invited to dine 
 with us at Moe's feast, and he often joins our 
 salon in the evening ; his wife occasionally 
 comes with him, but never either of the girls. 
 We suppose they are either of rather lower 
 rank, or their age or employment makes it 
 etiquette not to appear. 
 
 On Sunday afternoon the ' Charioteer ' con- 
 ducted the services in church, and there was an 
 extra long discussion afterwards, when several
 
 232 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 evidently amusing remarks were made and 
 much applauded. In the evening I asked Moe 
 many questions about it all ; it appears that on 
 these occasions all the three sermons they have 
 heard in the day are discussed and criticised, 
 and the minister asks questions to see if they 
 have listened and understood the meaning. It 
 seems to me an excellent plan for keeping their 
 attention and interest, and I should like to see 
 it introduced into some country places at home. 
 I asked also what the jokes had been. She told 
 me that one of the sermons was about Nebu- 
 chadnezzar, and apparently his being made to 
 eat grass like the beasts, as a punishment for 
 pride, had provoked most of the laughter. 
 Louis here broke in rather flippantly, and 
 asked the princess, ' Where was Moses when 
 the candle went out ? ' And then our deacon 
 put a question to us that was curious and in- 
 structive. He wanted to know 'why Moses 
 was not killed along with the firstborn of the 
 Egyptians.' This would never occur as a 
 difficulty to our minds, but according to their 
 customs of adoption, Moses really was the son 
 of Pharaoh's daughter, and therefore himself 
 the firstborn of an Egyptian ! He put several
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 233 
 
 other questions, which we managed to answer 
 with some credit ; and then he asked what was 
 the reason of the ' shaved heads ' of the Roman 
 Cathohc priests, and started Louis on the 
 ancient history of the tonsure till the * Chario- 
 teer' announced that he was *a very learned 
 man.' After that, two of the best singers 
 of the church came and sang hymends to us 
 really beautifully, so we had a very Sabba- 
 tical evening. As usual, there was a large 
 and admirincr audience at doors and windows. 
 
 Fanny announces there is one role in 
 Tahitian life that she will have nothing to 
 do with, and that is the grandmother's. All 
 the burden of the babies falls upon them, 
 in addition to much else, while the young 
 mothers ' laze ' about and enjoy themselves. 
 Mrs. Ori, for instance, has two grandchildren, 
 one a little girl of two years and the other a 
 baby of some two months, and she is never 
 to be seen without one of them or both. We 
 
 always call the little girl G , because there 
 
 is something in her serene dignity and the way 
 she folds her hands, that reminds us all of our 
 
 own dear G at home. The little one 
 
 knows her name quite well now, and has got
 
 234 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 over the terrible dread of white faces which all 
 the very young native children feel, just as our 
 own at home are afraid of ' the b'acky man/ as 
 Louis used to say. Children are very happy 
 here, that is certain, and their parents are 
 devoted to them, though the habit of adoption 
 is hard to comprehend. Princess Moe has had 
 five children, but her four daughters were all 
 adopted by others, and left her when they 
 were about a year old ; the old Queen Pomare 
 took one, and another was taken by Mrs. 
 Darsie. Moe only kept her one son to herself, 
 and he died at five years old, which was a 
 terrible grief to her ; had he lived, he would 
 now have been the next heir to the throne. 
 
 The chief and his family are all away just 
 now ; they have gone to a place in the moun- 
 tains where they have land, to superintend 
 its measurement for registration. They are 
 living in a house made entirely of leaves of 
 the cocoa-palm. Moe, I believe, ought to have 
 gone with them last week, but would not leave 
 us ; however, on Monday she could put off no 
 longer, and was obliged to go to see after the 
 measurements of her own land. Her retainers 
 have gone with her, and we feel very quiet
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 235 
 
 and unoccupied. The people of this district 
 all belong to the Teva tribe, and hold their 
 heads very high, thinking themselves much 
 better than the Pomares, though the latter 
 have been astute enough to have themselves 
 made kings. Quite recently the present Po- 
 mare tried to prove himself a Teva in one 
 of the disputes about land, but failed alto- 
 gether, when one of the Tevas said, ' Let 
 him content himself with being a Pomare, 
 for he can never be a Teva ! ' All this was 
 recounted by Tati Salmon, the chief of the 
 Tevas. Doesn't it remind you of our own 
 Highland clans? 
 
 December 5. 
 
 THE high wind still continues, and there 
 is no saying when Ori may get back. 
 We only hope he is safe at Papeete, where 
 there are said to be six boats from Tautira 
 and six from Taravao, all waiting at Point 
 Venus for a change of wind, and unable to 
 ofet home till it comes. We are more than 
 vexed that Ori should go through all this on 
 our account ; every one made sure of a change 
 in the weather on Monday, with the new 
 moon ; but we were disappointed in our hopes.
 
 236 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 Meantime we are all perforce teetotallers, 
 having nothing left of a spirituous character 
 save a bottle of very new rum that Ori gave 
 us ; the taste of which, to the unaccustomed 
 palate, is so very unpleasant, that nothing 
 short of the direst necessity will induce us to 
 touch it. 
 
 I think what we suffer most from, however, 
 is the want of books. I have only one with 
 me, and Lloyd has none at all, so he has 
 shared mine, and I am sure has read it two 
 or three times entirely through. I said to 
 him one day that I thought he could pass an 
 examination in it now, and he replied, ' Yes, 
 if I just crammed up a few dates and some 
 of the pieces of poetry, I could go in for a first 
 class with honours.' It is the Life of Sir 
 Henry Lawrence, and very interesting, but I 
 have no doubt you have read it. 
 
 December 8. 
 
 ORI came back in safety on Thursday 
 evening, bringing our stores, so we 
 are relieved about him, and no longer feel like 
 shipwrecked mariners. He was greatly de- 
 lighted with his visit to the Casco ; he had
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 237 
 
 lived on board from Saturday till Monday, 
 and declared that it was 'just like having a 
 father at Papeete.' He dined with the captain, 
 and ' there was a separate bottle of wine put 
 down for each ; the food was so good, and 
 there were so many things, that he had to eat 
 a great deal.' His four young men dined 
 with the sailors. The captain offered him a 
 bed in the cabin, but he thought it was too 
 hot, so he elected to sleep on deck, where the 
 sailors brought him boat cushions ; but the 
 captain scolded them, and sent them down for 
 proper pillows. This was his own account, 
 which Moe translated for us. I told her to 
 ask him how he liked the 'duff,' which we 
 always have, in orthodox sea fashion, on 
 Sundays ; he replied that he liked it so much 
 that he told the cook just to leave it on the 
 table so that he might eat some more in the 
 morning ! To show that his appetite was 
 appreciated on board, I may mention that 
 the captain tells us in his letter that after the 
 Colonel (as Louis often calls Ori) had eaten 
 his first dinner on board. Ah Fou said, ' Him 
 must leave dam quick, or else bust um bank ! ' 
 — meaning that the Casco stores would be
 
 238 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 exhausted. The inhabitants of this peninsula 
 pride themselves on their good appetites, and 
 they certainly have reason. 
 
 The chief, with his family and Moe, 
 returned from the hills on Wednesday, but 
 Moe found a letter from the king- waiting her 
 arrival (addressed ' To the great Princess at 
 Tautira, P. V.,' these letters standing for 
 Pomare ^tk), which desired her to go at once 
 to Papeete, so she and all her people left 
 yesterday morning. She may perhaps return 
 in the Casco when it comes for us, along with 
 her daughter, Mrs. Norman Brander. We hear 
 that the captain hopes to be ready to start by 
 the beginning of the week. The complimen- 
 tary name, by the way, that was given to me 
 by Moe is Teiriha, and the one for Lloyd is 
 Aromai-terai ; they both mean ' members of 
 the royal family.' 
 
 Monday, December 10. 
 
 THIS letter is at the best but a bundle of 
 fragments, but as there is a chance to 
 send it off for the mail, I shall let it go. I 
 have come to an end of my envelopes and 
 very nearly of my paper ; it is high time for
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 239 
 
 the Casco to come and replenish me. How- 
 ever I sincerely hope this is the last letter I 
 shall write to you from Tahiti, and I trust that 
 before I send off another I shall have got my 
 longed-for news of you. . . .
 
 CONCLUSION 
 
 Tatttlra, Tahiti, 
 Dec. 1 6, 1888. 
 
 HERE we are, still hanging on waiting 
 for the Casco : since we have had no 
 more letters from the captain, we made sure 
 that he would come this week. We got a 
 begowk on Friday evening, for we saw a 
 schooner come pretty close in, and felt sure 
 it was the Casco ; we supposed that the cap- 
 tain was afraid to venture through the reef so 
 late at night, and that he would lie off, and 
 come in on Saturday morning. But when 
 morning came there was no sign of him, so it 
 cannot have been the Casco after all. 
 
 We have had a quiet week, with only two 
 events to mark it. On Monday afternoon a 
 lot of boys and girls adorned with wreaths, 
 and singing, passed the house in a little com- 
 pany. On inquiry, it appeared that they had
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 241 
 
 played truant from school, and the school- 
 master had sent them to the ' Council ' for 
 punishment. Ori took them to the Fari- 
 kazc, or Parliament-house, and lectured them 
 severely ; and then sentenced them to weed 
 the grass, the ringleader for ten days, some of 
 the others for five, and the little ones for three. 
 Lou declares that the wreaths and songs were 
 to keep their spirits up, on the ' highwaymen 
 marching to Tyburn ' principle ! 
 
 The next event was the arrival of two 
 French gentlemen to examine the school, and 
 with them, acting as interpreter, came our 
 good friend from Fakarava, M. Donat! We 
 were so happy to meet again, though un- 
 fortunately he could only spare us a very few 
 minutes. We all attended the examination ; 
 but I am sorry to say that the Tautira chil- 
 dren do 7iot shine at lessons ! They seem to 
 take no interest in them at all ; though the 
 examiners were most kind and patient, they 
 could make but little out of them. Strangely 
 enough, arithmetic was the one thing that they 
 did seem to know something about, which is 
 very unlike our country children at home. It 
 is only fair, however, to remember that no one 
 Q
 
 242 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 reads here, and I do not think any one but 
 Pcre Bruno has any books, except the Bible, 
 so the children can't see much use or good in 
 learning. 
 
 This has been another Communion Sunday 
 here. It should have been on the first Sunday 
 of the month, but the 'Missionary' is ill, and 
 they could get no one to take his place until 
 to-day. I little thought that I should have 
 another opportunity of 'keeping the feast' 
 with my good friends, but so it has been, and 
 much shaking of hands we had when all was 
 over. How often I shall remember it, when 
 I am far away ! 
 
 Fanny has turned this house into a veritable 
 picture-gallery. First she did a silhouette of 
 Ori by taking the shadow of his head on the 
 wall, with the help of a lamp, drawing the 
 outline, and then filling it in with Indian ink. 
 This was for us to carry away with us ; but it 
 turned out so good that Ori demanded to have 
 all our likenesses in return, and she has been 
 hard at work to satisfy him, Lou doing the 
 outline of her own head for her. All are 
 really good, but I think mine is the greatest 
 success of the lot, and I wished my dear
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 243 
 
 T could have seen it. He was never 
 
 quite satisfied with what he called ' ordinary ' 
 photographs of me ! Louis has printed under 
 them all our names, both English and native. 
 On his own he has put, 
 
 * Teriitera, 
 
 * Robert Louis Stevenson, 
 * and party, came ashore from yacht 
 Casco, November 188S ; and were 
 two months the guests of Ori, to 
 whom, having little else, they grate- 
 fully bequeathed their shadows in 
 memoriam.' 
 
 Under Fannys various names is added, 
 * Made these shadows for the house of Ori the 
 tall, December 1888.' 
 
 Friday, Dec. 21, 
 9.30 A.M. 
 
 HURRAH ! a sail in sight ; we trust it is 
 the Casco, and are thankful, for last 
 night was stormy, and we were very anxious 
 about her. We hear that Moe and her daughter 
 are on board. ... It was not the Casco after all ! 
 but in the evening a white speck appeared on the 
 horizon, which was pronounced to be a />aki,
 
 244 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 and on Saturday morning it was still there, 
 and coming nearer, till about ii a.m. the Casco 
 cast anchor within the reef, and we were no 
 longer shipwrecked mariners. Moe had not 
 come after all, business detained her, but she 
 sent many messages to us all. 
 
 On board the ' Casco ^ at sea^ 
 Dec. 27, 1888. 
 
 AS soon as the Casco arrived, Lloyd, Valen- 
 tine, and I came on board, so as to give 
 the Ori family more use of their house ; but Louis 
 and Fanny stayed on shore till the last moment. 
 The captain required a free day to tighten 
 the riofSfino- so it was arranoed that we should 
 
 000' o 
 
 make a start on Tuesday, Christmas Day. On 
 Sunday we all dined with Ori, as he was most 
 anxious to entertain the captain in return for 
 his hospitality at Papeete. We had a pair of 
 fowls stuffed and cooked by Fanny, two roast 
 pigs, and a pudding, also made by Fanny, and 
 everything was very good indeed. Ori, I may 
 remark, has the greatest respect for Fanny's 
 cooking powers, and just quietly insisted that 
 she should prepare the things for his feast ! 
 We of course provided the fruit, etc., for the
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 245 
 
 pudding, as well as bread and champagne. 
 On Monday Ori, his wife, and the two adopted 
 sons, Paerai and Terii, lunched on board with 
 us, on salt beef, salt pork {salt things are a 
 great treat to them), and an immense plum- 
 pudding. We were also very busy packing 
 and transporting our goods to the Casco. 
 
 On Tuesday morning I went ashore about 
 9 A.M., and found everybody in a most de- 
 pressed condition ; poor Madame Ori, weep- 
 ing in a bedroom, and Ori himself with tears 
 filling his eyes, and just ready to overflow. 
 Lloyd and I went to church with Ori and the 
 chiefs niece, and found quite a Sunday con- 
 gregation, — indeed they go to church just as 
 on a Sunday, and think it wrong to do any 
 work on Christmas Day. After church a 
 number of the congregation came to say good- 
 bye, sitting round the room and on the 
 verandah, as sad and solemn as if they were 
 at a funeral. We only managed to slip out for 
 a few minutes to snatch a farewell visit to Pere 
 Bruno and the chief. At 11.30 the captain 
 came with the boat to take us off, our final 
 adieus had to be said, and we tore ourselves 
 sorrowfully away from the kind friends and
 
 246 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 the lovely place where we had spent two 
 happy months. Heavy rain came on after we 
 got on board ; but in spite of that, Ori and 
 many of the people, both young and old, 
 gathered under the trees, at the place whence 
 they could watch our departure. It was about 
 2.30 before all was ready and the wind favour- 
 able ; we then weighed anchor, and as we 
 passed out through the reef the captain fired 
 thirteen shots from his rifle and the flag was 
 thrice dipped in a farewell salute. Seven 
 shots were fired from the shore in answer, and 
 we replied with another three : while we all 
 stood on the deck frantically waving our hand- 
 kerchiefs to the friends whom we could still 
 see watching us. We could not tear ourselves 
 away till they were quite out of sight. The 
 rain was over by this time, and the sun shone 
 on our departure ; but it was a very sad 
 Christmas Day, and we do not wish to make 
 so long a stay at any other place, — it makes 
 the parting too trying. . . . 
 
 We did our best to cheer up at dinner, and 
 had a orame at whist in the evening-, but it was 
 half-hearted work. 
 
 I must tell you, while I think of it, a bon mot
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 247 
 
 of Ori's. Louis was telling him about his 
 father and the ' Northern Lights ' ; when Ori, 
 with a wave of his hand towards the portraits, 
 immediately said, 'He made lights, and she 
 (Fanny) makes shadows.' Louis knows a good 
 deal of Tahitian now, and can make himself 
 understood with only the occasional aid of 
 diagrams ; and he and Ori have had long 
 conversations. Ori always wanted to know 
 * all about ' Lou, and was very anxious, to be 
 sure, that he correctly understood what was 
 said. One evening he asked Louis how much 
 he made by his books, and when he was told 
 what Kidnapped brought in the first year, he 
 could not believe that there was not some 
 mistake, and though it was 10 p.m., went off 
 to bring the chief as interpreter, and make 
 sure. As they scarcely ever read themselves, 
 it must be strange, and almost incredible to 
 them, that book-making should be a paying 
 occupation ! Pere Bruno, by the way, told 
 Louis two things that I think are worthy of 
 being preserved. On the Saturday before we 
 left, it chanced that one or two of our friends 
 from Papeete arrived in Tautira ori a pleasure 
 trip. Some of the natives promptly told Pere
 
 248 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 Bruno that the French Government had sent 
 these gentlemen to tell ' the rich man ' (Louis), 
 that he must leave on the Sunday. He replied 
 that he would on no account sail on Sunday, 
 and that he would not leave till it suited his 
 own convenience. He was then told that if he 
 did not leave on Sunday he must pay a heavy 
 fine for every day that he remained on the 
 island. To this the * rich man ' replied that a 
 fine was nothing to him, and he did not care a 
 pin for it, and the story-tellers wound up with, 
 ' Voila un ho7mne comme il faut ! ' Pcre 
 Bruno, even, was perplexed by so circum- 
 stantial an account, and asked if there were 
 any foundation for it, which of course there 
 was not. 
 
 The other thing is that this same Pere Bruno 
 is Sfoinof to take Louis as the text of a sermon ! 
 I think this should delight Cummy's heart 
 when she hears of it, and I wonder how often 
 Lou is to appear in the pulpit, either in person 
 or through his books. This time he is to be 
 held up to the people of Tautira because he 
 was so cheerful and uncomplaining during all 
 his stay there, * though he had to put up with 
 many things that must have been hardships
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 249 
 
 to him ' ; and then his style of dress is to be 
 held up as an example : ' he only wore what 
 was useful and necessary, and never went in 
 for anything ornamental or extravagant ' ! ! 
 Louis is delighted that he has at last found 
 someone who appreciates his taste in dress, 
 and wishes he could have a copy of the sermon 
 to send to some of his scoffing friends. I may 
 here privately mention that / think his dress 
 should rather have been held up as a beacon 
 to warn than an example to imitate, seeing 
 that he seldom wore anything but a pyjama 
 suit intended only for sleeping in, very badly 
 shaped, and dreadfully unbecoming ! 
 
 Well, we spent nine weeks in all at Tautira, 
 and so far as Lou's health is concerned, the 
 long detention has proved a blessing. The 
 change in him is something marvellous ; all the 
 first week he was in bed with constant cough, 
 high fever, and all the worst symptoms, and 
 now he is better than I have known him since 
 1 879, is able for a good long walk, and has been 
 for some time bathing in the sea almost every 
 day. His appetite, too, has been splendid — 
 worthy of a Teva ; he has been able to write a 
 good deal and has nearly finished The Master,
 
 250 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 and we think and hope that he is a little fatter 
 even than when he was in the Marquesas, 
 which was the highest level he had, hitherto 
 reached. All this makes us start on our journey 
 northward — and in the long-run homeward — 
 in a very thankful frame of mind. 
 
 December 30. 
 
 WE are having delightful weather and are 
 fully enjoying our ' summer cruise in 
 the South Seas,' though it has lingered on 
 into midwinter. No one has been sick, and 
 we have fallen back into our former routine, 
 even to the Decline and Fall. We do not 
 make very rapid progress, it is true, but I for 
 one prefer a long and pleasant voyage to a 
 short stormy one. On Thursday we passed 
 two of the Paumotus group, Makatea and 
 TikahaUy but there was so little wind that 
 it was impossible to get through the reef and 
 make a landing, as we would have liked to do. 
 On Friday we sighted the mail-steamer en 
 route to Papeete, and tried to get near enough 
 to speak her; however, after coming towards 
 us for a while she seemed to change her mind, 
 and returned to her course. . . . The heat is
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 251 
 
 greater than we have had yet, while at sea. 
 In the heat of the day the wood of the deck 
 almost burns our hands and feet, and the brass 
 would quite do so, if we did not avoid it. We 
 do not light the lamp in the cabin in the even- 
 ing now, because it overheats it so much ; so 
 we spend the evening on deck, and though 
 there is no moonlight at present, the stars are 
 so brilliant we scarcely miss it. Venus casts 
 a broad reflection on the water, quite like a 
 young moon, but I fear we have seen the last 
 of the Southern Cross, as just now it does not 
 rise till four in the morning. I have only just 
 discovered two facts that may amuse you. 
 While at Tautira I noticed three stars that 
 looked very like Orion's belt, but declared it 
 could not be him, as he had neither shoulder 
 nor knee, nor his dog running after him. But 
 soon after we started I discovered Orion all 
 complete, and I discovered too that the reason 
 I had not recognised him before was that he 
 was standing on his head ! The other thing 
 that puzzled us was a beautiful constellation 
 of small but very bright stars, exactly, as Louis 
 said, like an old-fashioned diamond brooch, 
 which in Tahitian bears the pretty name of
 
 252 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 'little eyes.' This now turns out to be our 
 Pleiades. I suppose it is the extreme clearness 
 of the atmosphere that makes the individual 
 stars look so much larger that we none of us 
 recoo^nised it. 
 
 o 
 
 January i, 1889. 
 
 ANOTHER lovely night after a hot 
 summer day. It is hard to believe 
 that this is New- Year's Day, and harder to 
 realise what this day was last year at Saranac, 
 when we shivered amidst the surrounding 
 snows. How like a dream that part of our 
 trip seems now ! 
 
 We had a very quiet day, and the only 
 notable event was that we had stewed duck 
 for lunch, the last of our fresh meat. Louis 
 dined with us — he generally takes his meals in 
 the after-cabin for the sake of greater cool- 
 ness, — and our dinner consisted of salt beef, 
 salt pork, a stew of tinned mutton, vegetables, 
 duff, and champagne, in which you may be 
 sure we drank to you all at home. In the 
 evening, as a mild excitement, we played 
 ' what is my thought like ' in the starlight. 
 I am sorry to say, however, that they promise
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 253 
 
 US a change of weather with the new 
 moon. 
 
 January 6. 
 
 THAT promised change came, with a 
 vengeance. Since Tuesday night the 
 weather has been very unpleasant, squalls of 
 wind, rain pouring as it only can in the tropics, 
 thunder and lightning, hail and gloom. For 
 two whole days we were shut up in the cabin, 
 and got through the time as best we could 
 with the help of Gibbon, hat-plaiting, and cards. 
 I am also reading Laurence's life, and enjoy- 
 ing it very much. Though we have had more 
 than enough wind, it has never been from quite 
 the right quarter, and our progress is terribly 
 slow. We ought to be nearing Honolulu (and 
 our letters !) by this time, and instead we have 
 not yet crossed the line ; I wonder when we 
 shall be in harbour once more ; and I wonder, 
 too, how our stores, at any rate of luxuries, 
 will hold out. When we left Tautira, Ori gave 
 us a boatload of fruit and vegetables, which 
 have been a great boon, but unfortunately the 
 rain has spoiled the bananas, and the mangos 
 too are on their last leg-s. The vegetables are
 
 254 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 almost finished, but we still have cocoa-nut 
 cream for our coffee. 
 
 Ja7uiary 13. 
 
 * T 00 K out for squalls' is a phrase I shall 
 -L/ never again make use of in the light 
 and easy way I have done hitherto. It has 
 been too much the order of the day of late, and 
 squalls are not the pleasantest companions. In 
 fact for several days we have had nothing but 
 alternate squalls and calms, and have made no 
 progress. Yesterday and to-day have been 
 a little better — the squalls have quieted to a 
 boisterous but uncertain breeze — and we have 
 at last crossed the line, though our best run 
 was only 130 miles in the twenty-four hours, 
 and we are still a long way from Honolulu. 
 To-day the wind has dropped again, and we 
 are in the Doldrums, and shall do little till we 
 pick up the North-east Trades. As long as 
 the weather is fine we do not mind, or rather 
 would not mind, our slow progress, were it not 
 that we be^in to fear our stores will run short 
 if the voyage lasts much more than another 
 week. However, there is no need to anticipate 
 trouble. . . .
 
 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 255 
 
 January 20. 
 
 ON Thursday we got fairly into the Trades, 
 and have been flying along at a great 
 rate ever since, making 170 miles in the first 
 twenty-four hours, and 230 in the twenty-four 
 ending to-day. But I cannot call it ' pleasure 
 sailing,' as it has been a 'beam sea' all the 
 time, and we are tired out with the constant 
 holding-on and effort required to keep oneself 
 fairly steady. Such a knocking-about is very 
 fatiguing after a time, and there is no rest 
 night or day. The spray comes over so much 
 that it is almost impossible to sit in the cock- 
 pit ; and last night, though only a small bit of 
 the lee side of the cabin skylight was open, a 
 bucket of water poured itself straight on to 
 my head at 3.30 this morning, and I awoke, 
 screaming and soaked. I took refuge on the 
 floor, and presently saw the same thing exactly 
 happen to Lloyd. Fanny suffers a good deal 
 from sea-sickness, and declares that when only 
 she reaches Honolulu, she is sfoing" ashore and 
 never means to leave it again. The captain 
 has bad earache in both ears, so we shall not 
 be sorry when the voyage comes to an end, 
 which we hope it may do by Tuesday. And
 
 256 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 then for six months' supply of letters and 
 papers ! 
 
 Louis, by the way, declares I have not given 
 you at all a proper description of his usual 
 attire at Tautira — and that it was far more 
 artistic and less conventional than I described ! 
 Well ; — I wish I could send you a sketch of 
 it . . . this en passant, and suggested by the 
 fact that since Thursday we have felt it much 
 colder, and have had to put on more clothing. 
 I was rather amused to find that the ther- 
 mometer in the captain's cabin stood at 84°, 
 when we thought it so cold ! — but as it had 
 been 98'' before, a drop of 14° and a high wind 
 were bound to be felt. One thing we have 
 all realised lately, and that is the loneliness of 
 this great ocean ; we have been four weeks out 
 and have only seen a single sail. It gives one 
 some idea of the hopelessness of expecting 
 help should anything go wrong, and makes 
 one more than ever thankful for our safety 
 hitherto. 
 
 Tuesday, Ja7i. 22. 
 
 YESTERDAY morning at 10.30 we 
 sighted Hawaii, a lofty mountain with 
 white clouds wreathed about it, above which
 
 MK.s. -SIKVENSON IN 1SS9 
 
 WEARING A WREATH GIVEN TO HEU I!Y KING KAI.AK'ANA, ON LEAVING HONOLULU 
 
 From a photografyli by Mr. IK Crooke, luU'ibiirg.'i
 
 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 257 
 
 its head was lifted. We were spinning 
 along at such a rate that the captain quite 
 thought we should reach Honolulu by the 
 evening, and we were pleasantly excited. But 
 alas ! when we got under the lee of the land 
 the wind fell ; and this morning we are be- 
 calmed and only a little further north than 
 the bay where Captain Cook was murdered. 
 This side of Hawaii is very bleak and treeless, 
 with high cliffs, and it is hard to be stopped 
 when we are so near port, but I am thankful 
 to say our food supplies have held out. That 
 is to say, we have still salt beef and macaroni 
 and tinned tomatoes, and pickles and jam ; 
 and we have a very little flour and coffee and 
 sugar. But the captain is suffering much 
 from earache, and both Louis and Valentine 
 are threatened with the same, so you may 
 imao-ine how we longf to ' o-et in.' 
 
 Wednesday, i p.m. — We are slowly drawing 
 nearer to Honolulu. We have now three small 
 islands on our right, Maui, Lanai, and that sad 
 tomb of the living, Molokai ; and far ahead we 
 can see the very striking outline of Oahu. We 
 hope to land in time for dinner, and are longing 
 for some fresh food and our letters. God grant
 
 258 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 this long waited for news of you all may be 
 good news and happy. 
 
 Honolulu, Friday, 25. 
 
 AFTER all it was 3 p.m. on Thursday, 
 24th, before the calms allowed us to 
 cast anchor in the harbour of Honolulu. Our 
 luncheon that last day consisted of salt beef 
 and biscuit, for all else had given out ; so you 
 see we narrowly escaped ' starvation diet,' and 
 I must confess our dinner that night at the 
 hotel seemed to me the very finest banquet of 
 which I had ever partaken. But, oh dear me, 
 this place is so civilised ! And to come back 
 from Tautira to telephones and electric light is 
 at first very bewildering and unpleasant. I 
 grant the conveniences, but we realise that our 
 happy cruise in the South seas has come to an 
 end. Thank God, the end is a happy one, and 
 we are met by good news of all we love. But 
 it is the end, nevertheless.
 
 NOTES 
 
 1. Pilot-birds. After long inquiry it has been found impossible 
 to trace this name satisfactorily, or to discover to what species of 
 bird it is properly applied. From what Mrs. Stevenson says, 
 and from the following note in her son's diary — 'To the limit 
 of the north-east trades we carried some attendant pilot-birds, 
 silent, brown-suited, quakerish fellows, infinitely graceful on 
 the wing ; dropping at times in comfortable, sheltered hollows 
 of the swell ; running awhile in the snowy footmarks on the 
 water before they rise again in flight ' {Life of Robert Louis 
 Stevenson., ii. 43) — it is probable that the birds referred to are 
 some variety of petrel, these birds being so called from their 
 habit of 'walking' on the water, in reference to the disciple St. 
 Peter. But there is no record of the name of ' pilot-bird ' being 
 used for any petrel. In the Encyclopccdia Britannica there is 
 no ' pilot-bird' to be found ; it is not included in the Dictio7Jary 
 of Birds., and Professor Newton (the author of that work) does 
 not know the name. In Ogilvie's Imperial Dictionary, edited 
 by Annandale, there is the following : ' Pilot-bird — a kind of 
 bird found in the Caribbee Islands, so called because its 
 presence out at sea indicates to seamen their approach to these 
 islands ' (Crabb). This reference, however, is to a work pub- 
 lished in 1823, which gives no further particulars. It seems 
 probable that the name is one loosely used by seamen, for the 
 reason given by Crabb ; and possibly, but not certainly, applied 
 to some variety of petrel. 
 
 2. Miiuiu and Holaku. These two garments are the ordinary 
 wear of women of all classes, white and native, throughout 
 many of the islands of the South Seas. The inumit is a long 
 chemise, reaching the ground so as to replace a petticoat, and 
 generally edged with a flounce ; the holaku., a loose, full 
 ' sacque ' hanging from a yoke, with open or hanging sleeves, 
 
 259
 
 26o FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 and frequently a train. It is better known in America as a 
 ' Mother Hubbard,' and is worn, like the micvm, quite uncon- 
 fined. Together, they make up a costume peculiarly adapted to 
 the climate and the life, in its absence of restraint or pressure 
 anywhere ; while its appearance is graceful, becoming, and, 
 in the brilliant colours beloved of the native, eminently pic- 
 turesque. 
 
 3, Boatswain Birds. The boatswain, better known as the 
 tropic-bird, is a kind of tern or sea-swallow, and is related to 
 the frigate or man-o'-war birds of tropical waters. It belongs 
 to the Phaeto?iides, and the species alluded to is Phaeton 
 rubricauda. The plumage is white, with two long, filamentous, 
 red-tipped tail-feathers, from which (it is said) the sailors call it 
 the boatswain-bird, these feathers being supposed to resemble 
 a marline -spike. I have also found its shrill, whistling cry 
 suggested as an explanation. They also call it ' teaser,' and 
 some similar names, arising from its manner of attacking other 
 birds and forcing them to drop their food, which they seize as 
 it falls before it reaches the water. The two long tail-feathers 
 were a favourite native decoration throughout the South Sea 
 Islands, and are frequently alluded to. Melville says, 'The 
 splendid long tail-feathers of the tropical-bird . . . were dis- 
 posed in an immense, upright semicircle upon his head, their 
 lower extremities being fixed in a crescent of guinea-beads which 
 spanned the forehead' {Residence in the Marquesas, p. 84). 
 In Ratzel's History of Mankind (i. 197) it is stated that 'at 
 one time no article of commerce was in such demand in the 
 Society Islands. The feathers were stuck on to banana leaves, 
 bound on the forehead. ... In the Marquesas, and Easter 
 Island also, feather diadems were worn.' Specimens from the 
 Austral Islands are in the Edinburgh Museum of Science and 
 Art. 
 
 4. Nuka-hiva and the Marquesas. These islands have been 
 so repeatedly 'discovered' and named, that in self-defence, one 
 would think, they have reverted to their native appellations.. 
 The South - Eastern cluster (which includes Hiva - oa or 
 Dominica) was discovered in 1595 by Mendano, who gave each 
 island a Catholic and Spanish baptism, and called the group 
 the Marquesas, in honour of the Marquis Mendoza, viceroy of
 
 NOTES 261 
 
 Peru ; but it was not till 1792 that the North - Western division, 
 including Nuka-hiva, was surveyed by Hergest in the Dudalus, 
 on his way from Falkland Islands to Hawaii. He also named 
 the islands he visited, as did Marchand, very soon after; and 
 this North -Western division has been variously known as 
 Hergest's, Ingram's, and the Washington Group, though it is 
 now properly incorporated with the Marquesas. Nuka-hiva at 
 one time acquired some notoriety as the place where Captain 
 Porter refitted his privateer during the American war, and in 
 his book there are interesting, though not very reliable, accounts 
 of the island as he found it. 
 
 The history of the group has been of late years 'much 
 complicated by the coming and going of the French. At least 
 twice they have seized the Archipelago, at least once deserted 
 it ; and in the meantime the natives pursued, almost without 
 interruption, their desultory, cannibal wars' (R. L. S., In the 
 South Seas, p. 72). Melville's Residence in the Marquesas begins 
 with the seizure of the islands by the French, under Du Petit- 
 Thouars, in 1842 ; and they 'still retain a nominal protectorate 
 over the islands, with a resident and a small garrison at 
 Nuka-hiva. Since 1861, however, French colonisation has 
 been virtually abandoned ' {Efnyclopadia Britannica, .\v. 564). 
 Ellis describes them as mountainous and fertile, but adds that 
 'the land capable of cultivation . . . is comparatively small, as 
 they are not protected, like most others in the Pacific, by coral 
 reefs. The sea extends to the base of the mountains, and thus 
 prevents the formation and preservation of that low border of 
 prolific alluvial soil so valuable to the Society Islanders. Deep, 
 wide, and extensive valleys abound in the islands, and are the 
 general places where the inhabitants abide' {Reseatrhcs, iii. 
 313). Their cannibalism is undoubted, and according to 
 Krusenstern 'in times of famine men butcher their wives, 
 children, and aged parents. They bake and stew their flesh, and 
 devour it with the greatest satisfaction.' It is believed, however, 
 that cannibalism was generally confined to victims slain or 
 taken captive in war, to those offered as special sacrifices to 
 the gods, or at least to such as belonged to other tribes or 
 valleys ; but it must be confessed that this is difficult to prove. 
 Even in Ellis's time, the population of the islands was
 
 262 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 diminishing, and both the physical and moral character of the 
 people was said to have deteriorated ; though he adds that, 
 physically considered, the Marquesans are among the most 
 perfect of the human species. His own experience of them was 
 limited to such as lived in other islands. These he found gay, 
 thoughtless, vivacious, and somewhat impatient of confinement 
 or teaching, but with none of the ferocity he expected ; while 
 at the same time he bears witness to the universal report of 
 their debased morals, extreme licentiousness, and racial pro- 
 pensity to theft, quarrelsomeness, and murder. Each valley 
 or tribe was for itself against its neighbour ; each chief was 
 autocratic, and the cannibal priesthood supreme. The French, 
 as has been said, for a long time did not penetrate beyond the 
 seaboard, and made no effort to check the inter-tribal wars ; it 
 was long before missionaries could settle in the land, and 
 longer before their teaching took the most partial effect. 
 Dordillon, the popular Roman Catholic bishop, did indeed do 
 good work amongst the natives during his life, but it is doubtful 
 how far his influence was permanent in effect ; and a recent 
 writer has said, 'One cannot but regretfully conclude that 
 civilisation and Christianity have done them much physical 
 harm and but little moral good ' (Becke, Wild Life in Sotithern 
 Seas). When to this we add, ' The efforts of missionaries, 
 whether Protestant or Roman Catholic, have hitherto proved of 
 little avail in seriously converting them to Christianity, or in 
 improving their moral and social condition' {Encyclopedia 
 Britanjiica^ xv. 564), and that in a recent volume {Sunshine 
 and Surf^ Hall and Osborne, published 1901) it is stated that 
 the population of Tai-o-hae, once a large and thriving native 
 town, is now under a hundred, all told ; and that Anaho, still 
 populous at the time of the Stevenson visit, has since been 
 ' wiped out ' by smallpox, the history of the islands, past, 
 present, and to come, is indicated. It is probable that in a 
 very few years the Marquesans as a race will be practically 
 extinct. 
 
 5. Tai-pi-ki-kano, ' Jiigh-water and vtean^ The name 
 of the chief of Anaho is written in later letters 'Taipi-Kikino,' 
 and a better and more comprehensible translation of this is 
 suggested by R. L. Stevenson, in his volume In the South Seas,
 
 NOTES 263 
 
 p. 46 : ' . . . Highiuater-nian-of-no-accou)it^ or, Englishing 
 more boldly, Beggar-on-horseback.' 
 
 6. Tattooing. The system of tattooing is closely connected 
 with the iapii^ and like it has religious and social significance. 
 Stevenson calls it the only thing in the Marquesas that now 
 indicates difference of rank : in the early records it was already 
 observed that the finest designs were used only for chiefs and 
 priests. Both in the Marquesas and the Paumotus Islands the 
 common people were tattooed principally about the loins in 
 coarse and simple lines ; while the tapu or high-chief classes 
 were ornamented with large, interlaced, circular markings that 
 covered the entire body. With the priests it was carried to 
 the extremest degree ; it is said that even the most tender 
 parts were tattooed, and that no extent of natural skin was left 
 anywhere visible. Certain designs on the face were specially 
 significant of rank and of inherited chiefdom. Women were 
 much less tattooed than men, save when they themselves ranked 
 as chiefs, when they were always exempt from the usual 
 limitations of their sex ; as in the case, elsewhere mentioned 
 and described, of Queen Vaekehu. Melville states that when 
 he lived in the Marquesas, now more than fifty years ago, the 
 young girls were but slightly tattooed on face and shoulders, 
 and on marrying or bearing children, were further ornamented 
 on the hands and feet. In fact, he looks on the tattooed hand 
 and foot as practically a badge of wedlock, and never saw it 
 upon an unmarried girl. There probably are, or were, many 
 such distinctions that have been lost along with the cere- 
 monials of other days ; for in the Marquesas, at any rate, 
 tattooing was so closely and constantly connected with canni- 
 balism, that it has now been strictly forbidden by the French 
 authorities. There are many islands, however, where it is still 
 practised, though possibly not to as great a perfection, the 
 Marquesas being considered pre-eminent. 
 
 The designs are carried out with what may be roughly 
 described as mallet and chisel. ' Some of the implements 
 terminated in a single fine point, and, like very delicate pencils, 
 were employed in giving the finishing touches, or in operating 
 on the more sensitive parts of the body. Others presented 
 several points distributed in a line, somewhat resembling the
 
 2 64 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 teeth of a saw, . . . some presented their teeth disposed in 
 small figures, . . . and I observed a few the handles of which 
 were mysteriously curved, as if intended to be introduced into 
 the orifice of the ear' (Melville, Residence in tJie Marquesas^ 
 p. 240). The commonest form was perhaps the sharply 
 serrated 'hoe,' or the single shark's tooth bound to a con- 
 venient handle, and with these, the paddle-shaped mallet. No 
 doubt, however, a skilled tattooer, artist as he must have been, 
 adapted and invented his instruments to suit himself. 
 
 When ready to work, the colouring, already prepared from 
 the ashes of the candle-nut {Aleut-itis triloba)^ mixed with 
 vegetable juices, was placed close at hand in a cocoa-nut bowl ; 
 the puncturing instrument was constantly dipped into it and 
 the colouring thus carried into the skin at each blow of the 
 mallet. The resulting mark was dark, nearly black. There is 
 no mention of other tints, but saflfron was sometimes rubbed 
 into the skin to heighten the effect, and it was usual to smear 
 red and black paint over the tattooing for all festivities, as it 
 was also customary to cut and hack the arms and legs with 
 sharp shells in time of mourning. In extreme old age tattooing 
 turns green, and seems to shrink or blend together, till the 
 designs carried out in youth and carefully 'touched up' and 
 preserved all through life, become blurred and indistinct, and 
 finally the whole skin resembles a scaly, greenish hide. But 
 the tattooing of a Marquesan of good birth, through extremely 
 painful and even dangerous while being carried out, is in its 
 way an undoubted work of art, and has been described even 
 by an European as 'handsomely setting off a handsome man.' 
 
 7. Another similar tabu is mentioned in Melville's book on 
 the Marquesas, p. 13. In speaking of his arrival at Nuka-hiva, 
 he writes : 'At that time I was ignorant of the fact that by the 
 operation of the " taboo " the use of canoes in all parts of the 
 island is rigorously prohibited to the female sex, for whom it 
 is death even to be seen entering one when hauled on shore ; 
 consequently whenever a Marquesan lady voyages by water, 
 she puts in requisition the paddles of her own fair body.' 
 R. L. Stevenson says, ' Tapii encircled women on all hands. 
 Many things were forbidden to men ; to women we may say 
 that few were permitted. They must not sit on the pac-pac\
 
 NOTES 265 
 
 they must not go up to it by the stair ; they must not eat pork ; 
 they must not approach a boat ; they must not cook at a fire 
 which any male had kindled' (p. 49). It would be better, 
 perhaps, to put the statement in another form ; for women 
 were not so much debarred from all that was tapu^ as them- 
 selves a class that was ' un-iapti^ or ' incapable of tapii^ which 
 is practically 'not noble,' with a strongly attached religious 
 signification. Only the tapic classes go to heaven, which is 
 the land of ancestors, or of souls, in the Marquesan legend 
 Hawaiiki ; for, according to their story of the Creation, their 
 islands were in the beginning raised by divine force from that 
 underworld which in varying forms is the legendary origin of 
 nearly all Polynesia. Thereafter, ' a woman ' gave birth to the 
 sea and the germs of beasts and plants, the lower order of 
 things ; while men and fish were ejected from the caverns in 
 which they were shut up, by volcanic outbursts {History of 
 Mankind, i. 313). The tapn or noble classes were in close 
 connection with the gods ; their souls, when they died, went 
 to heaven where the gods live, and returned thence to be 
 embodied in the various orders of priests. For them were the 
 sacrificial orgies, the great ceremonials for which, it may be 
 supposed, the cyclopean ' high places ' of the past were built ; 
 for them was cannibalism in its religious forms and as tribal 
 revenge. Only a woman holding a chief's rank was exempt 
 from the ban laid on her sex : all others were i(7i-fapic, they 
 and 'their male attendants, and all singers and dancers' {id. 
 p. 280). It has become, of course, in the passing of time, singu-. 
 lary complicated ; but in the beginning iapti was no more than 
 the practical expression of the laws of religion, and class, and 
 sex, as they understood them. 
 
 8. Wild Chicke7is. Melville, in his book on the Marquesas, 
 written in 1846, says that in the valley of Tior (?, his spelling is 
 unreliable) 'there were a considerable number of fowls . . . 
 the progeny of some cocks and hens accidentally left there 
 by an English vessel, and which, being taboo, flew about in an 
 almost wild state . . .' (p. 246). Hence, probably, the 'wild 
 chickens' mentioned by Mrs. Stevenson. 
 
 9. Pigs. The pigs of Polynesia are referred to in almost 
 every book upon the subject. They were one of the four
 
 266 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 species of animals found in Tahiti by Cook, the others being 
 dogs, rats, and lizards ; but the present breed is much changed 
 from the original native sort, which is described as long-legged, 
 hairy, and singularly clean. Lady Brassey {Tahiti, p. 49) 
 mentions the tameness of the pigs in that island, and says that 
 they are frequently kept as pets. ' In Papeete it is by no 
 means uncommon to meet ladies walking along with their little 
 favourites carefully brushed and combed, with dainty blue or red 
 rosettes and bows on their necks and tails, and led by a long 
 ribbon, like the pug-dogs in some old Dutch pictures.' R. L. 
 Stevenson, however, describes the Marquesan pigs as more 
 enterprising : ' Many islanders live with their pigs as we do 
 with our dogs ; both come around the hearth with equal free- 
 dom : and the island pig is a fellow of activity . . . and sense. 
 He husks his own cocoa-nuts, and (I am told) rolls them into 
 the sun to burst ; he is the terror of the shepherd. Mrs. 
 Stevenson, senior, has seen one fleeing to the woods with a 
 lamb in his mouth . . .' {hi the South Seas, p. 91). 
 
 In the legendary lore of the South Seas, which is so charm- 
 ingly ready to account for the origin of all things, there is a 
 quaint little story. It is related that when the gods first made 
 the world and all that dwelt therein, pigs went upright, and men, 
 like other beasts, on all fours. This however displeased the 
 birds and reptiles, who said, ' Shall we be subject to a thing 
 that crawls on four legs, because he be called man ?' And they 
 met together and made a great talking. The lizard said, ' Let 
 the pig and the man change with one another,' but the wagtail 
 {sic) said 'Not so.' . . , And the lizard crawled up a palm-tree, 
 and from its branches dropped right on to the pig's back, and 
 drove the breath from his body, so that he fell on all fours with 
 a humph, and behold, he has never since got back his breath 
 or walked on his hind feet. . . . 
 
 10. Kooamua. Robert Louis Stevenson says of him : 'Late 
 leader of a war upon the French, late prisoner in Tahiti, and 
 last eater of long-pig in Nuka-hiva. Not many years have 
 elapsed since he was seen striding along the beach of Anaho, 
 a dead man's arm across his shoulder. " So does Kooamua 
 to his enemies !" he roared to the passers-by, and took a bite 
 from the raw flesh . . , ' {In the South Seas, pp. 46, 47). Mrs.
 
 NOTES 267 
 
 Stevenson barely does justice to this remarkable gentle- 
 man ! 
 
 II. Idols. These were many and varied, but may be roughly 
 divided into two classes. In one of these there was some 
 attempt to represent (artificially) a human form, as in the 
 example mentioned in the Letters, and the great idols set up 
 beside the altars of the maraes, or temples, in the Marquesas, 
 in Tahiti, and on a still huger scale in Easter Island and 
 elsewhere. In the other class the god was embodied in some 
 natural object — as a tree, a stone, an animal, or even a strip of 
 matting. There were frequently, however, connecting-links 
 between these two divisions, as when idols were carved to 
 represent gods that were also embodied in natural forms : for 
 instance, Melville in his book on the Marquesas (p. 194) speaks 
 of ' the half of a broken war-club wrapped in ragged bits of 
 white tappa, and the upper part, intended to represent a human 
 head, embellished by a strip of scarlet cloth. . . . This funny 
 little image was the crack god of the island ; its name was Moa 
 ArtuaJ At the same time, however, Aiua Mao (as it is 
 correctly written), the Shark-god, was worshipped in his natural 
 form of the blue-shark {Squaltts Glaucus), and had in his honour 
 both priests and maraes. It is noticeable in many cases, that 
 the carved idol does not always or necessarily represent the 
 natural form in which the god is said to be embodied, but 
 rather attempts a rude suggestion of the human figure. It must 
 be added, however, that the Polynesian has some dim notion 
 of a deity too great or too remote to reproduce, and that in his 
 mythology it is only the gods who partake of the nature of man 
 who are directly honoured with idols and temples. Vatea, 
 Fathcr-of-the-gods^ and his mother The-vcry-beginning., who 
 lives in The-i?iutc-land, are above or beyond any tangible form 
 of worship. 
 
 12. Marquesa?i dancing. This gymnastic display is found 
 also in Tahiti, where 'one man would jump and stand on the 
 shoulders of the man in front of him, then a man would leap on 
 to another man's neck, and they would simulate men on horse- 
 back' {Sunshine and Surf., Hall and Osborne, p. 48). 
 
 In the History of Mankind (Ratzel, English translation 
 by Butler, i. 192, 193) are illustrations of two pairs of Mar-
 
 268 FROM SARANAC tO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 quesan dancing-stilts. One pair appears to have been fastened 
 to the feet ; the other, of bamboo, is furnished with long 
 handles as a support to the dancer. Both are finely carved 
 with grotesque figures in high relief, and in the bamboo pair 
 there seem to be bands or wrappings of tapa or grass. Circlets 
 or bands of woven and plaited grass, or sometimes of leaves, 
 are the usual marks of tapu. Dancing-ornaments of human 
 hair are mentioned further on by Mrs. Stevenson, and specimens 
 may be seen in the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art. 
 
 13. Manners. If for 'manners' we read 'morals' this may 
 be taken as rather understating the case, according to the 
 evidence of all who know anything of the islands. The Mar- 
 quesans bear a bad name even among South Sea Islanders, 
 and seem in this respect incorrigible. But the courtesy and 
 gracefulness of their 7)ia?incrs has always been admitted, and 
 it has been remarked that ' Marquesan girls are immoral, but 
 very seldom immodest.' Too much importance, however, 
 must not be ascribed to this. ' It is optimism to take for 
 morality the indignation shown by South Sea girls at trifling 
 violations of custom ' {History 0/ Majtkind, i. 293). 
 
 14. Piper's tiews. An old Scots expression, said to originate 
 from the fact that formerly the pipers travelling about the 
 country from clachan to clachan and house to house were the 
 great purveyors of news and gossip. Naturally, however, 
 being so constantly repeated and carried by so many, the news 
 was often 'stale'; hence the answer to any one repeating an old 
 story, ' That 's piper's news.'' 
 
 15. Or at least cannibalism open and unashamed. It is 
 difficult to find any definite statement on the matter. R. L. 
 Stevenson says: 'Two or three years ago, the people of a 
 valley seized and slew a wretch who had offended them. His 
 oft'ence, it is to be supposed, was dire ; they could not bear to 
 leave their vengeance incomplete ; and, under the eyes of the 
 French, they did not dare to hold a public festival. The body 
 was accordingly divided ; and every man retired to his own 
 house to consummate the rite in secret, carrying his proportion 
 of the dreadful meat in a Swedish match-box' {In the South 
 Seas, p. 95). He refers also to incidents that are at least 
 suggestive, in the year of his visit, 1S8S. Still more recent
 
 NOTES 269 
 
 testimony is as follows : 'We met a Portuguese who had lived 
 for years in these islands, and he told us that on one occasion, 
 a few years ago, he went with a tribe on some expedition. 
 They saw a native fishing, and called to him to come over 
 and take a smoke. Suspecting no danger, the man accepted 
 the invitation, whereupon he was killed and eaten before 
 the eyes of our informant ' {Sinishinc and Siirf, Hall and 
 Osborne, p. 97). A little further on in the same volume it 
 is stated: 'They have now nominally renounced cannibalism, 
 though in one of the latest Admiralty Directories they are 
 still described as practising it' (p. loi). Again, in the History 
 of Maiikind, i. 159, we find the practice of head-hunting, 
 which is not yet obsolete ; Kubary stated in 1883 that in the 
 last ten years only thirty-four heads had been cut off.' The close 
 connection between head-hunting and cannibalism has been 
 proved in many islands. Mrs. Stevenson herself met with, and 
 mentions in these letters, men who had been well known as 
 cannibals in former days, and they are not necessarily of great 
 age ; and these are cases, it must be remembered, that date 
 back to the palmy age of cannibalism, when no secret was 
 made of it. All that can be said with certainty, therefore, is 
 that it was openly practised within the last half-century ; but 
 as a public or religious custom has now disappeared. In the 
 form of private vengeance there is nothing to prove that it 
 does not still exist. 
 
 16. Pae-pae. This word signifies the raised floor or platform 
 upon which Marquesan houses are built, and in a larger sense 
 is applied also to the great stone terraces of the temples and 
 burying-places, to which I have elsewhere made reference. 
 These were the pae-pae tapii, the holy, or high, places. Even 
 the platform of an ordinary house was iapu, probably through 
 some association of idea ; it was the only stable part of the 
 building ; it was the ' place of the men,' and like their food, and 
 the fire that cooked it, and the basket in which it lay, was 
 sacred to their use. The women of the household might not 
 sit on the pac-pae, they might not go up to it by the men's 
 stair ; it was the men's place, and iapit. 
 
 These raised foundations have been described as a number 
 of large stones laid in regular and successive courses, and
 
 270 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 built up to a height that varied, according to circumstances, 
 from four to ten feet. When used for houses they were 
 generally some thirty to fifty feet long by twelve or fifteen wide ; 
 but in the case of inaraes or temples, and the prehistoric 
 remains buried in the woods, their dimensions are extraordinary. 
 The houses themselves are made of perishable material, and 
 decay at once if deserted ; but the pae-paes on which they 
 stand are indestructible. Indeed, there is reason to suppose 
 that some at least of those now or lately in use in the Mar- 
 quesas maybe of considerable antiquity. Melville says of them, 
 writing in 1842, that the larger pae-paes used for the maraes, 
 or sacred enclosures, not to speak of still more ancient remains, 
 bore incontestable signs of great age, and must have been 
 erected by a people possessed of considerable mechanical skill. 
 'I can scarcely believe,' he adds, 'that they were built by 
 the ancestors of the present inhabitants ' {Residence in the 
 Marquesas, p. 174). Even the smaller platforms of the houses 
 showed no signs of recent construction, and he never became 
 aware of natives building anything of the sort for their own 
 use. If a new house were required, it was erected on one of 
 the innumerable pac-pacs that stood vacant throughout the 
 valley, dating surely from days of larger population and greater 
 activity. R. L. Stevenson also refers to 'the melancholy 
 spectacle of empty pae-paes. . . . Only the stones of the 
 terrace endure, nor can any ruin, cairn, or standing-stone, or 
 vitrified fort, present a more stern appearance of antiquity' 
 {In the South Seas, p. 28). 
 
 17. Thatching. The best thatch is made of the leaves of the 
 pandanus, or screw pine, the rui fara, doubled over reeds or 
 canes. The reeds, about six feet long, are then fastened to the 
 rafters, and the leaves both sewed and tied ; layer after layer is 
 added, and when finished, the interior is very neat, and even 
 artistic ; while from the outside nothing is seen save the over- 
 lapping points of the leaves. If well done, thatching of this 
 kind will last from five to seven years ; but if too widely spaced, 
 the rain gets in and the reeds soon decay. 
 
 Coco-nut leaves are also plaited into a thatch in some 
 places, but as a rule are only used for temporary buildmgs, 
 being neither so durable nor so good a protection.
 
 NOTES 271 
 
 18. Coco-nut juice. It is incorrect to touch the nut with 
 the lips in drinking, as, according to native etiquette, the juice 
 should be poured direct into the mouth. Compare with the 
 practice of ceremonial Kava-drinking, when the nut is presented 
 to the drinker with prescribed movements, and when emptied, 
 is iossedhdick to the Kava-bearer waiting to receive it. 
 
 19. ^ High Places^ or Jiati^'c temples. These sacred places, 
 iae-pae tapte, of the old faith, are still numerous, and are well 
 worth description : they are perhaps the most interesting — 
 they are certainly the most suggestive — feature of the islands. 
 Some have been in use, as it were, but yesterday : others date 
 back to a past that in the South Seas is prehistoric. The 
 least of them is amazing, when it is considered what the 
 Polynesians are, and of what they are capable to-day ; the 
 greatest and oldest are cyclopean and inexplicable. 
 
 In the Marquesas, as elsewhere, these inaracs or temples 
 have fallen, not merely out of use, but into decay. Sometimes 
 they have been intentionally destroyed, more often they are 
 overgrown in the tropical woods, and the Christianised native is 
 learning to forget them. Their associations, in these ' man- 
 eating ' islands, are recent and horrible, but it is worth noting 
 that they do not importantly vary from the maraes of Tahiti 
 and other places, where cannibalism is remoter and less 
 certain. This can be shown by reference to some of those 
 who have visited and examined them. 
 
 Melville, in his Residence in the Marquesas., says : ' In the 
 midst of the wood was the hallowed "hoolah-hoolah " ground 
 . . . comprising an extensive oblong//-// (;^a^-/a^) terminating 
 at either end in a lofty, terraced altar, guarded by rows of 
 hideous wooden idols, and with the two remaining sides flanked 
 by rows of bamboo sheds opening towards the interior of the 
 quadrangle thus formed. Vast trees standing in the middle of 
 this place . . . had their massive trunks built round with 
 slight stages elevated a few feet above the ground and railed in 
 with canes, forming so many rustic pulpits from which the 
 priests harangued devotees ' (p. 100). And again, further on : 
 'At the base of one of the mountains, and surrounded on all 
 sides by dense groves, a series of vast terraces of stone rises 
 step by step for a considerable distance up the hillside. These
 
 272 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 terraces cannot be less than one hundred yards in length and 
 twenty in width. Their magnitude, however, is less striking 
 than the immense size of the blocks composing them. Some 
 of these stones, of an oblong shape, are from ten to fifteen feet 
 in length, and five or six feet thick. Their sides are quite 
 smooth, but though square and of regular formation, I could 
 see no work of the chisel. They are laid together without 
 cement. . . . The topmost terrace and the lower one are some- 
 what peculiar in their construction : they have both a quad- 
 rangular depression in the centre, leaving the rest of the 
 terrace elevated several feet about it. . . . These structures 
 bear every indication of a high antiquity, . . . [and I was 
 given] to understand that they are co-eval with the creation of 
 the world, and that the great gods themselves were the builders. 
 [This] convinced me that the present inhabitants knew nothing 
 about them ' (p. 172). 
 
 In writing of this visit to which his mother alludes, R. L. 
 Stevenson says himself: 'As far as my eye could pierce 
 through the dark undergrowth the floor of the forest was all 
 paved. Three tiers of terraces ran on the slope of the hill ; in 
 front, a crumbling parapet contained the main arena ; and the 
 pavement of that was pierced and parcelled out with several 
 walls and small inclosures. ... I visited another in Hiva-oa, 
 smaller but more perfect, where it was easy to follow rows of 
 benches and to distinguish isolated seats of honour for eminent 
 persons ; and where on the upper platform a single joist of the 
 temple or dead-house still remained, ils uprights richly carved. 
 . . . The stones were sedulously set, and I am told they were 
 kept bright with oil ' {In ihc South Seas, p. 99). 
 
 When we turn to Ellis's Polyncsimi Researches, we find that 
 the main features of the Tahitian viaraes were still the same. 
 He describes the greater temples, tapu-tapu-a-tea, as containing 
 many maraes, each with their altars, idols, and dormitories for 
 the attendant priests. All were uncovered overhead, built in the 
 midst of tapu groves, and consisted of large stone platforms 
 walled at the sides, with a fence or parapet in front, and a high 
 pyramidal pile or series of steps along the back. He gives 
 the measurements of these terraces in the viarae of Atehuru. 
 They were two hundred and seventy feet long, ninety-four feet 
 wide at the base, and fifty feet high ; the topmost terrace being
 
 NOTES 273 
 
 one hundred and eighty feet long by six feet wide. Each step 
 or terrace was some six feet above the preceding one. The 
 outer walls, and especially the corner-stones, of coral and 
 basalt, were laid with great precision, and had evidently been 
 hewn or squared (vol. i. p. 340). 
 
 To these extracts must be added the notes, found here and 
 there, of prehistoric remains of similar design in other islands, 
 the 'stone foundations of huge tnmaes' in Pitcairn Island, and 
 the ancient terraces on the hills of Rapa. In Hua-hine, one of 
 the Windwards, a marae in terraces is found beside a splen- 
 didly built road of cyclopean stones ; in Ponape the ruins of 
 Nanmatal consist of 'terraces of hewn stone divided into 
 chambers by pillars of basalt, which have been used as tombs.' 
 One of these, the tomb of the kings of Matalanim, 'rises on a 
 base six feet high by two hundred and ninety feet long and 
 two hundred and thirty feet broad, to a height of nearly thirty 
 feet, with walls ten feet thick, composed of basalt columns' 
 {History of ManJdnd^ Ratzel, vol. i. p. 159). In Easter Island, 
 the great terraced »ia7'aes are still adorned with their idols. 
 ' Their great number is no less astonishing than their size and 
 the comparative high-level of their workmanship. Even now 
 they are reckoned at several hundreds ; their height is nearly 
 fifty feet, while in one case the width across the shoulders is 
 not less than ten feet. . . . Many have been thrown down . . . 
 others still stand on broad platforms built of hewn stone. 
 Some have hieroglyphics carved on their backs. These images, 
 weighing many tons, must at one time have been lowered down 
 the mountain by hawsers and . . . engraved in pits below. , . . 
 There is also masonry adapted to various purposes, in the shape 
 sometimes of great staged platforms, sometimes of huts above 
 or below ground, and with or without internal ornaments of 
 colour' {Ibid. pp. 159, 160). 
 
 It is difficult to believe that these and other great remains 
 could have originated with such a race as the Polynesians of 
 to-day. In Easter Island, for instance, the arts of stone-cutting 
 and writing are alike lost, and it has been declared that these 
 great works can have been executed by no Easter Islander ; in 
 Nuka-hiva of the Marquesas, Melville is persuaded that at 
 least the larger remains cannot have been built by the an-
 
 2 74 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 cestors of the present inhabitants {Residence in the Mar- 
 quesas, p. 174). 
 
 But, indeed, these antiquities are beyond our data. Of the 
 younger temples, tradition tells us that their foundations were 
 laid in blood, and planted on the heart or eyeball of a human 
 victim. We know that their terraces were bloodstained, and that 
 the blood upon their altars was fresh within a man's memory. 
 But this is only the history of yesterday ; we have no record of 
 the remoter past. 
 
 20. This is the JIatnboyanf, a name generally applied to 
 Caesalpinia pulcherrima, though in the western islands it is 
 sometimes used for the Erythrina. See note 78. 
 
 21. War in Raiaiea. This refers to one of the frequent 
 rebellions of the inhabitants of Raiatea (Society Islands) 
 against the French rule, which culminated, a few years later, in 
 their hoisting a Union Jack and declaring themselves under 
 British protection. For international reasons this had to be 
 disallowed ; but it is a matter for regret to find it recorded that 
 H.M. Consul at Papeete, having failed to induce the natives to 
 lower it, stood by while the French man-of-war, after due notice, 
 shot it down from the flagstaff. 
 
 22. Bread-fruit. An excellent description of this is given by 
 Melville in his Residence ift the Marquesas, p. 127. The fruit 
 somewhat resembles in magnitude and general appearance one 
 of our citron-melons of ordinary size ; but, unlike the citron, it 
 has no sectional lines drawn along the outside. Its surface is 
 dotted all over with little conical prominences, looking not 
 unlike the knobs on an antiquated church door. The rind is 
 perhaps an eighth of an inch thick, and denuded of this at the 
 time when it is in the greatest perfection, the fruit presents a 
 beautiful globe of white pulp, the whole of which may be eaten, 
 with the exception of a slender core, which is easily removed. 
 . . . The fruit, when in a particular stage of greenness, is 
 placed among the embers of a fire in the same way that you 
 would roast a potato. After the lapse of ten or fifteen minutes 
 the green rind embrowns and cracks, showing through the 
 fissures in its sides the milk-white interior. As soon as it 
 cools the rind drops off, and you then have the round pulp in 
 its purest and most delicious state.'
 
 NOTES 275 
 
 There are, however, many other ways of cooking and prepar- 
 ing it. As ka-ku, elsewhere mentioned (pp. loi, 276), it is said 
 to be excellent, and roasted as above and then soaked in water 
 is a favourite native dish. IJoth in the Marquesas and Tahiti it 
 is stored at the height of the season for future use. Sometimes 
 it is baked in huge ovens in the ground, and only taken out as 
 required. Another method is to mash it and allow it slightly 
 to ferment ; it is then wrapped in // leaves and stored in pits, 
 whence it is lifted and cooked when wanted for use. Poi-poi 
 is made from it, as well as from iaro and fci (the mountain 
 banana), or a mixture of hoih, />o/-poi being the staple dish of 
 the islands, and made from that plant that is most plentifully 
 available. But the bread-fruit is never eaten raw save by pigs ; 
 and it is better described as a ' vegetable ' than as a fruit, the 
 taste and character resembling, but not equalling, the Euro- 
 pean potato. Even its feeding qualities have been disputed. 
 Ellis says in his Researches (i. p. 41), that it is 'very nutritious, 
 as a very perceptible improvement is often manifest in the 
 appearance of the people a few weeks after the bread-fruit 
 season has commenced,' while in the Encyclopccdia Britannica 
 we find the exactly opposite statement, that ' it is not by any 
 means so nutritious as the taro or yavt. . . . The present 
 writer has noticed that the Samoans suffered much in condition, 
 and sickness among children was very common, and the 
 mortality high during the bread-fruit season.' 
 
 All, however, are ready to recognise the beauty and value of 
 the tree, of which there are some fifty varieties in Tahiti, all of 
 them extremely handsome, both in growth and foliage. When 
 hundreds of green or golden fruit hang among^ its dark shining 
 leaves, no finer object can be imagined. It is also very useful. 
 Besides producing two and even three crops of fruit in the year, 
 the resin that flows from the punctured bark is used to caulk 
 the seams of the native boats. The timber is employed in 
 building both canoes and houses, and is durable and very fine 
 in colour. Finally, in some of the islands, and notably in 
 Tahiti, the finest /apa or native cloth is made from the bark 
 of the Artocarpus i?ictsa, or bread-fruit tree, though in the 
 Marquesas the bark of the paper mulberry, Morus papyrifera^ 
 called by the islanders the aiiti, or cloth-tree, is used for that 
 purpose.
 
 2 76 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 In Polynesian legendary lore, also, the bread-fruit has a place, 
 and this is the story told of its origin : — 
 
 It seems that in the days of a certain king, when people ate 
 the ' red earth ' {araca), there were a man and his wife who had 
 one well-beloved son. He was their joy and also their sorrow, 
 for he was weak and ailing and unable to fight or thrive ; and 
 the man said to his wife : ' Behold, my heart is lamenting over 
 this matter ; our son cannot eat the red earth, and therefore he 
 cannot grow into a man. I will die and become food for him, 
 that he may eat and thrive.' 
 
 ' But how may that be ?' said the wife. 
 
 ' I will go and pray to my gods,' he answered; 'they will 
 know how it may be.' 
 
 So he prayed and got answer ; and, calling his wife to him, 
 he said : ' Behold now, I am about to die ; when I am dead, 
 take then my body separate, and plant my head in one place, 
 and my heart and stomach in another, and go into the house 
 and wait. When you shall have heard the sound of a bud 
 bursting, and the sound of a flower unfolding, and the sound of 
 an unripe fruit swelling, and the sound of a ripe fruit falling on 
 the ground, you will know that I have become food for my son, 
 and you will give him to eat.' 
 
 And when she did as he bade, and took her son out of the 
 house to give him to eat, there stood a splendid tree laden with 
 fruit ; and he plucked the fruit, and gave the first of it to his 
 gods and to the king, and he ate and grew strong. . . . 
 
 23 and 24. Ka-kii. Melville describes the grater used by 
 the natives in the preparation of this dish. ' This is done by 
 means of a piece of mother-of-pearl shell, lashed firmly to the 
 extreme end of a heavy stick, with its straight side accurately 
 notched like a saw' {Residence in the Marquesas, p. 127). He 
 also describes the cream as being squeezed from the grated 
 fruit alone, without the addition of any of the juice {Ibid. p. 1 28). 
 
 25. Reed-pipe. ' It is somewhat longer than an ordinary fife, 
 is made of a beautiful scarlet-coloured reed, and has four or five 
 stops, with a large hole near one end, which latter is held just 
 beneath the left nostril. The other nostril being closed by 
 a peculiar movement of the muscles about the nose, the breath 
 is forced into the tube, and produces a soft dulcet sound . . .'
 
 NOTES 277 
 
 (Melville, Residence in the Marquesas, p. 25 1 ). I have not found 
 mention of any other musical instrument in the Marquesas, 
 apart from the drum and the sticks, tapped together, as an 
 accompaniment to the voice. 
 
 26 and 27. Adoption and decrease of population. It is a common 
 practice to account for the decrease of population in many of 
 the South Sea Islands (for in some there is no such decrease) 
 by the influence of civilisation. Foreign habits, clothing, and 
 restrictions, foreign vices and foreign disease, are made to bear 
 the entire blame, though the evidence is strong against such a 
 sweeping statement ; and it cannot be denied that foreign rule, 
 if not always wise, does at least endeavour to safeguard public 
 health and the birth-rate. Moreover, it must be admitted that 
 in certain islands such habits of debauchery prevailed that it 
 was barely possible to make matters worse ; and if disease has 
 been imported, this alone could not account for a state of things 
 that existed already. For 'important phenomena in the social 
 life of the island races, such as adoption in its various forms 
 and the ruined state of large houses, point to a long previous 
 period of this lamentable decrease' (Ratzel, History of Man- 
 kind, i. p. 159). When Ellis wrote his Poly7icsian Researches, 
 early in the last century, he stated that the population of the 
 Marquesas was then diminishing, and that it had physically 
 deteriorated ; and he says of Tahiti, that when he first knew the 
 island, ' the nation appeared to be on the verge of extinction' ; 
 and it was not till 18 19 or 1820 that the birth- and death-rate 
 were nearly equalised. This is, indeed, not difficult to believe, 
 when it is remembered that inter-tribal warfare was so nearly 
 continuous that a three-years' peace was extraordinary in their 
 annals ; that human sacrifices — and in the Marquesas canni- 
 balism — made hundreds of victims in every year ; and that 
 infanticide and abortion were constantly and universally 
 practised. To what extent this was carried we can form some 
 idea from Ellis's Researches (vol. i. p. 257). He states that after 
 full inquiry, he believes that two-thirds of the children were 
 killed as soon as born ; that he himself knew women who had 
 respectively murdered six, eight, or ten of their infants ; and 
 that in almost every case the first three were so disposed of. 
 His washerwoman owned to having killed five or six, and out
 
 278 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 of eight another had only kept one ; and in 1829, while dis- 
 cussing the subject with a visitor, three respectable and decent 
 native women present, the eldest of whom was not forty years 
 of age, confessed that they had killed twenty-one of their 
 children, the numbers being respectively nine, seven, and five. 
 He adds emphatically, ' I could not meet with, nor even hear of, 
 one female who had not at some time done the same.' 
 
 It is evident from these and other figures quoted that in 
 Tahiti, at least, and probably in the Marquesas (where in very 
 recent days the women were unwilling to 'spoil their beauty' by 
 bearing children while still young), the natural birth-rate cannot 
 have been phenomenally low. The wholesale destruction of 
 so many infants had, however, several results : it reduced the 
 proportion of women to one to four or five men, and encouraged 
 the practice of polyandry and the recognition (to some degree) 
 of the matriarchate. When we add to these the customs of 
 cannibalism or human sacrifice, and of constant inter-tribal 
 warfare, as well as the habits of immorality common to these 
 races, it is not difficult to believe that the decrease of popula- 
 tion can only in part be attributed to the effect of civilisa- 
 tion. 
 
 The adoption of children is usually considered to be caused 
 by this decrease, and doubtless this is generally correct ; 
 childless parents who desire heirs will rather adopt them than 
 remain childless, and the value of sons is recognised amongst 
 all primitive peoples. But there is another and curious ex- 
 planation of the custom found in Samoa which is worth quoting, 
 for it may very well also apply to other of the islands. There 
 appears to have been a general rule that a child was given to a 
 father's sister. In return she gave the child's parents what was 
 known as ' foreign ' property, or oloa^ the child being looked on 
 as 'native' property, or /6i;/<,'v?. This practice was continuous 
 while the child lived ; it therefore became a sort of medium for 
 trade, the native property, or iotiga (fish, fruit, etc.), always 
 passing to the adopted from the real parents, and the foreign or 
 oloa (mats, cloth, and so on) to the real fro7n the adopted 
 parents. 'Hence the custom was not so much the want of 
 natural affection as the sacrifice of it to a systematic facility of 
 traffic. . . . Hence also parents may have in their family
 
 NOTES 279 
 
 adopted children, while their own children are elsewhere' 
 (Turner, Samoa One Hundred Years Ago, p. 83). 
 
 It is only fair to add that the children, once allowed to live, 
 are universally treated with kindness and affection, both by the 
 real and adopted parents. I have also been told that wherever 
 the couvade in a modified form is practised (as in the Mar- 
 quesas, where the father abstains from flesh-meat and from 
 hard work for a month after the child's birth), in the case of 
 adoption before birth, it is the adoptive father and mother who 
 follow these customs, and not the actual parents. This, how- 
 ever, I have not been able to verify. 
 
 28. Tai-o-hae. It is interesting to quote from a volume more 
 recent by thirteen years than the visit of the Stevensons : — 
 
 ' This is indeed a lovely bay. It is almost landlocked, having 
 a very narrow entrance, and the mountains rise steeply on every 
 side of it for several hundred feet, all clothed in most brilliant 
 green tropical jungle. . . . Tai-o-hae is a very different place 
 now from what it was in former times, even when Stevenson 
 wrote about it. Now there is no club, very little trade, and 
 only one white trader ; and the whole place seems to be 
 absolutely going to rack and ruin. The village at one time 
 (in 1840) was stated to have a population, although it is hardly 
 credible, of eighteen thousand. What a come-down it is to the 
 wretched ninety inhabitants, which the Administrator told me 
 was the total population of the island capital ' {Sunshine and 
 Surf, Hall and Osborne, pp. 103, 104). 
 
 29. Queen Vaekehit. Stevenson says of her : ',This was a 
 queen of cannibals. She was tattooed from head to foot, and 
 perhaps the greatest masterpiece of that art now extant, so that 
 a while ago, before she was grown prim, her leg was one of the 
 sights of Tai-o-hae. She had been passed from chief to chief ; 
 she had been fought for and taken in war ; perhaps, being so 
 great a lady, she had sat on the high place, and throned it 
 there, alone of her sex, while the drums were going twenty 
 strong, and the priests carried up the bloodstained baskets 
 of long-pig' {In the South Seas, p. 75). Elsewhere I find 
 that there is ' a common report about her, which I believe is 
 true, that years ago she got tired of her husband, the prince 
 consort, and had him killed, and ate him. Now she is "very
 
 28o FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 missionary," and has even had a special road made from her 
 "palace" to the Catholic mission' {Sunshine mid Surf, Hall 
 and Osborne, p. 103). 
 
 30. The girls' school. In spite of the efforts of the sisters, 
 it cannot be said that any marked effect is produced by their 
 teaching. To Mr. Stevenson they ' lamented their failure. . . , 
 They complain of the heartless indifference of the girls. Out 
 of so many pretty and apparently affectionate pupils whom they 
 have taught and reared, only two have ever returned to pay a 
 visit of remembrance to their teachers ' {I71 the South Seas, 
 p. 57). It is also stated that 'as soon as the girls leave the 
 control of the sisterhood, all restraint appears to vanish. . . .' 
 Such an idea as getting married never enters their heads, and 
 would be thought a useless and troublesome ceremony. They 
 do indeed sometimes, to please the sisters, go through the cere- 
 mony, but do not consider it at all binding' {Sunshine and 
 Surf, Hall and Osborne, p. 100). 
 
 31. Stanislas Moanatini. It is stated in Sunshine and Surf 
 that he died not long after Mr. Stevenson's visit to the island. 
 
 32. Tapa. The native cloth of the South Sea Islanders 
 varies not only in quality and decoration, but also in the special 
 bark from which it is made. In Tahiti, where it is called ahu, 
 the natives make use of the Aoa (a kind of banyan), the bread- 
 fruit, and the paper mulberry ; but in the Marquesas only the 
 latter is employed, and is called by the islanders the auti, or 
 cloth-tree. 
 
 When the young branches are gathered and the bark 
 removed, there is found a fibrous substance, the bast, which is 
 carefully loosened and stripped from the stick ; and as soon as 
 enough of this has been collected, it is wrapped up in leaves, 
 and the package set to soak for two or three days in running 
 water. It is ready for the next process when the fibres are on 
 the point of commencing to rot, and have completely lost their 
 tough and wiry quality. They are then laid in layers on a 
 smooth, hard surface, and beaten steadily and regularly with a 
 kind of mallet. This mallet or beater is not flat, but slightly 
 ribbed, and it is this ribbing that produces the ' watered ' or 
 striped effect noticeable in all good tapa, especially when very 
 fine and thin. The different layers of bast are very soon amal-
 
 NOTES 281 
 
 gamated, and in a surprisingly short time can be hammered out 
 into any degree of thickness that is required ; in less than an 
 hour the strips will expand into a square, and presently the tapa 
 is ready to be stretched out to dry and bleach. In the Mar- 
 quesas the natives seem to prefer the pure white of the natural 
 tapa, but elsewhere it is often dyed with real skill and taste. In 
 Tahiti, for instance, a beautiful bright red made from the Mati 
 berry {Ficus prolixa), a yellow obtained from the root of the 
 nojio {RIor-inda citrifolia) and a chocolate or brownish-black 
 from the candle-nut {Aleuritis), are most effectively used for 
 the purpose. 
 
 The designs are sometimes painted on, and sometimes 
 printed from blocks which Nature herself supplies ; leaves of 
 ferns, flowers, etc., are dipped into the colour, laid on to the 
 tapa, and held firmly in place till their shape is transferred to 
 the material. The dyes are often varnished with a resinous 
 gum, and the colours are brilliant and lasting, while the cloth 
 itself, if well prepared, will stand a surprising amount of usage. 
 The work was almost entirely in the hands of women, who 
 were debarred only from making cloth for the priests and other 
 tapu purposes, when it had to be intrusted to men. It was 
 sometimes made in ' cloth-houses,' when queens were ready to 
 help and supervise, and as often singly and alone, and the 
 musical tapping of the hammer is still characteristic of island 
 villages. 
 
 There is a pretty legend about the origin of tapa, which of 
 course is God-given. The divine couple were about to create 
 mankind, and agreed to share the labour ; //e was to produce 
 man, and she to make woman. He moulded a man out of his 
 thought, making him strong, tall, and agile, but he forgot 
 beauty. Nevertheless he exulted, and cried out to his wife, 
 ' Thou canst never equal this ?ny work ! ' 
 
 She looked upon it and saw that her own puppet was the 
 more beautiful, for she had made it out of her own flesh, round 
 and warm and soft ; but she said nothing, for she was very 
 wise, till she had taken a piece of cloth and twisted it round 
 the beauty of the woman and set her beside the man. * Behold, 
 she is so unworthy of the man thy work,' she said, 'that she 
 shall go veiled. . . .'
 
 282 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 She was very wise. And the women, being of her flesh, make 
 tapa^ and clothe themselves to this day. 
 
 33. Old ma7i's beard. Human hair forms a favourite orna- 
 ment in the Marquesas and other islands, and has probably a 
 religious signification. 'When we find that in the Marquesas 
 cannibal feasts were preceded by cutting off the victim's hair to 
 make arm-rings, head-dresses, and necklets of magical potency, 
 we cannot fail to see cannibal significance in the frequent use 
 of human hair to adorn spears and helmets, or of human bones 
 and skulls as drinking-vessels ' {History of Ma?tkitid, Ratzel, 
 i. p. 298). Mrs. Stevenson elsewhere alludes to 'dancing-orna- 
 ments made of human hair'; and her son mentions the extremely 
 high sums at which these beards are valued {In the South Seas, 
 p. 80). There are specimens of head-dresses from the Austral 
 Isles, with long human hair, very light in colour, dependent 
 from them, as well as armlets and leglets of human hair from 
 the Marquesas, in the Edinburgh Museum of Science and 
 Art. 
 
 34. Kanaka or Kanak. This word which, in slightly varying 
 forms in the different dialects, originally meant ' a man ' or a 
 male as distinct from the female, is now used by all whites, 
 and by the natives themselves, to designate the islanders. 
 Hence it is possible to speak of a '■ Kariak lady,' which once 
 would have been a contradiction in terms. 
 
 35. Hiva-oa. This island was discovered in 1595 by 
 Mendano, who christened it ' Domenica,' by which name it is 
 still known to the Spanish-speaking peoples. Like most of the 
 South Sea islands, however, it is now better known under its 
 native name ; and it is often called, locally, the Mati-eating 
 island. Certainly the latest authenticated stories of cannibalism 
 date from thence, and Moipu is generally the hero of them. 
 In 1888 he was still in middle life, and his deeds were recent 
 and unforgotten. 
 
 36. Poi-poi is not always the same thing, though called by 
 the same name in different islands. It is made, according to 
 circumstances, either of taro or bread-fruit, whichever is the 
 more plentiful. When taro is used, it is well washed to remove 
 the bitter and unwholesome part, ground into flour, which is 
 then kneaded into a dough and allowed to slightly ferment. It
 
 NOTES - 283 
 
 tastes a little like sour porridge, and will keep good a con- 
 siderable time. In the Marquesas, however, it is generally 
 made of the bread-fruit, which also is half-fermented, and the 
 dish is described as 'looking like yellow porridge.' Bread-fruit 
 for this purpose is generally gathered at the time of full har- 
 vest, freed from the rind and core, and pounded into a sort of 
 paste or dough, which, well wrapped in many coverings of 
 leaves, is stored in pits dug out of the earth. It will thus keep 
 not only from season to season, but for several years ; and 
 when required for use has only to be baked, unwrapped, and 
 the yellowish, slightly acid cake mixed with a proper proportion 
 of water. Mr. Stevenson mentions pits forty feet deep and 
 proportionately wide that were used for storing the bread-fruit in 
 the days of a larger population, and are still to be seen, though 
 long deserted and unnecessary. 
 
 27. Biblical Parallels. It has attracted the notice of some 
 who have lived in the South Seas that there is an extraordinary 
 resemblance between many passages in the Bible and the 
 customs of Polynesian life. Pouring water over the hands after 
 eating is but a minor instance ; but to the leaping ajid da7icing 
 before the Ark {2. Sam. vi. 16) we find an exact parallel in the 
 contortions and posturings of even the most dignified 'high-chief 
 before any one he desires to honour. When David says that he 
 went in a?id sal before the Lord{i Chron. xvii. 16), we remember 
 that in Polynesia it is disrespect and insult to stand in the 
 presence of a superior ; and the words kissed hii/i^ and smelled 
 the smell of his raiment (Gen. xxvii. 27) exactly describe a South 
 Sea greeting, when, after touching noses, each sniffs audibly 
 and smells the other's hand and garment. In Polynesia, as in 
 Palestine, the dead are embalmed ; circumcision is practised ; 
 a bride's handmaidens are of her own blood and accompany 
 her to become her husband's concubines ; a widow marries her 
 dead husband's brother or his nearest male relative. Oil is 
 used to anoint the sick, and ' oil to make my face to shine ' 
 (Psalm civ. 15) is a daily use in the islands of the Pacific. In 
 sign of mourning the Jews rent their clothes, cut themselves, 
 and scattered dust and ashes over their heads ; the Polynesians 
 scored their limbs and faces with shark's teeth (and these for 
 the purpose were included in the trousseau of every bride), and
 
 284 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 rubbed the foul-smelling mud from the /ar^-fields over their 
 bodies and hair. Those who attended the Jewish dead must 
 fast till the sun go down, so must their prototypes in the South 
 Seas ; in Palestine they 7nade a very great hurtling for the dead, 
 in Polynesia they kindled a flaming fire as an invocation to the 
 gods. Sacrifices were offered up ; first-fruits were consecrate ; 
 the priesthood autocratic and to some degree hereditary. 
 Both in Judtea and the West Pacific the word brother includes 
 nephews and cousins. . . . 
 
 Nor are these the only instances. The story of the Fall is 
 found in many of the least-visited islands ; in Fiji it is asso- 
 ciated with the serpent. In Fakaafo it is believed that the first 
 man, who proceeded from a rock, made his wife out of clay and 
 enclosed one of his own ribs in her body ; in Tahiti we are told 
 that Tairoa (elsewhere Tafigaroa) created man from red earth, 
 and woman from ivi, bone, which in some versions is given as 
 the woman's name. (The word also means a widow, and a 
 victim slain in battle.) There was a Samoan Jonah who was 
 swallowed by a whale, but whose great ear-ornaments of wood 
 so tickled the animal's stomach that he was finally vomited 
 forth again, alive but weak ; there is the story of the great god 
 Oro (or Rongd) who with his mother's assistance ousted his 
 elder brother Tairoa and possessed himself of his birthright. 
 And the tradition of the Deluge is everywhere throughout the 
 South Seas, in many variations that are fundamentally the same. 
 In the Societies it is said that Tairoa, being angry with men for 
 their disobedience to his will, overturned the world, so that the 
 earth sank into the waters and left only those tops of moun- 
 tains emerging that make the islands of to-day ; in Eimeo 
 (Moorea) it is believed that here the Polynesian Noah landed 
 when the waters went down, and built the first niarae to his gods. 
 In the Raiatea story it is a fisherman who tangles his hook in 
 the sleeping sea-god's hair and provokes the doom of the 
 Deluge ; but who by penitence is allowed to betake himself in 
 his boat, ' with wife and child and all that he hath,' to a certain 
 island which should be preserved in the midst of the engulphing 
 waters. And in the Windwards there is a quaint chronicle of 
 a husband and wife who took refuge on Pitohito, the 'mountain 
 round as a breast': The wife took tip her yoting chicken, the
 
 NOTES 285 
 
 husband his young pig ; the wife took tip her yoting dog^ and the 
 kitten, the husband took that. . . . There they watched nights 
 ten, the sea ebbed, and they two saw the little heads of the moun- 
 tains. When the sea ebbed, the land remained wifhout produce 
 and the fish were putrid in the hollows of the 7'ocks. They said, 
 ' Dig a hole for the fish ifi the sea.' The wind died a7id the sto?ies 
 and t7-ecs fell from the heavens, whither they had been carried up; 
 they fell hard; the man said, '^ Dig a hole for us two, a dwelling- 
 place.' . . . Thej'c were fio houses, no palm-trees, ito bread-fruit, no 
 grass, all had been eaten by the sea. The womaji brought forth 
 children; still there was 710 food; the children grew up without 
 food. The7i the trees bor-e fruit and the7-e was food; in three 
 days covered was the land with food. . . . Atjd from these two, 
 father a7id 7iwther, filled was the land with 77ien. (Condensed 
 from a long account in Ellis's Poly7icsian RcsearcJics, \. chap, xv.) 
 38. Adoptio7i. The adoption of children at or before birth 
 has been already mentioned. Adult adoption is also frequent, 
 and arises from several causes. It is sometimes a form or part 
 of marriage, when a man is adopted into his wife's family and 
 obtains recognised rights in it ; it is a declaration of tribal heir- 
 ship, and the native form, as it were, of ' the freedom of the 
 city.' For, although in this case the adoption was into the 
 chiefs family, and Mrs. Stevenson mentions that. Had they so 
 desired, they would have been entitled to make their home with 
 him ; although R. L. Stevenson adds, ' Had we stayed at Atuona, 
 Paaaeua would have held himself bound to establish us upon his 
 land, and to set apart young men for our service, and trees for 
 our support ' (/« the South Seas, p. 132), it is probable that the 
 adoption was rather into the clan or community as personified by 
 the chief, than into the chiefs family alone. ' Property belonging 
 to a "clan" is held in common. Each clan usually possesses 
 land, and over this no one member has an exclusive right, but 
 all have an equal right to use it. The chief . . . alone can pro- 
 perly dispose of it or assign its use for a time to an outsider, 
 and even he is expected to obtain the consent of the heads of 
 families before he alienates the property. Thus land is handed 
 down through successive generations under the nominal control 
 of the recognised head of the clan or section for the time being ' 
 {Encyclopcedia Brita7mica, vol. xix. p. 424).
 
 286 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 Note also, in this connection, the reply oi Frere Michel when 
 asked if he 'owned the property of his adopted mother.' 'Yes, 
 so long as I do not steal it' ( Lcttns, page 123). 
 
 39. No-nos. This is the native name of a species of sand-fly, 
 very troublesome in Nuka-hiva (as in some other islands). It 
 is sometimes known also as the ' day-fly,' from the fact that it 
 disappears at night, when it is replaced by mosquitoes ; but 
 its bites are more poisonous than those of the latter insect, 
 producing large lumps which, owing to the heat of the climate, 
 are apt to fester, and prove difficult to cure. The natives are 
 said to paint themselves with a preparation of saffron, as a 
 preventative {Sunshine and Surf, Hall and Osborne, p. 98). 
 
 40. Legend of t/ic no-nos. Another form of this is quoted in 
 Sunshi?ie and Surf {HaW and Osborne), p. 98 : ' The inhabitants 
 have an old legend concerning this, which relates that one of 
 their cannibal gods, being displeased with these two islands 
 (Uapu and Nuka-hiva), threw a coco-nut shell at them filled 
 with these insects, and broke half on one island and half on 
 another.' 
 
 41. 2%th August. A day notable to Mrs. Stevenson for her 
 own marriage, and for other family events that have occurred 
 upon that date. 
 
 42. Moipu. This chief is perhaps the best-known and most 
 notorious of any connected with the latest days of cannibalism 
 — I would say, in preference, ' of surviving cannibals ' but that I 
 cannot discover whether, since the Stevensons' visit, he has 
 not been carried off by the fast-increasing mortality of the 
 Marquesas. At any rate, in 1888 he was a man of little more 
 than middle age, hardy and active, making, as I understand, 
 small display of conversion, and less of respect for the 
 authorities ; his name notorious, and his evil reputation won 
 in days only a very few years gone by. His village, Atuona, is 
 the scene of perhaps the best authenticated, stories of recent 
 cannibalism. Hiva-oa, in which it lies, is still called the man- 
 eating island. In 1888, Moipu was still surrounded by his 
 young men, 'late his braves and pot-hunters'; and Mr. 
 Stevenson says of him, 'When man-eating was referred to, he 
 laughed a low cruel laugh, part boastful, part bashful, like one 
 reminded of some dashing peccadillo. . . . His favourite
 
 NOTES 287 
 
 morsel was the human hand, of which he speaks to-day with an 
 ill-favoured lustfulness' {In the SoiitJi Seas, pp. 138, 139). 
 
 43. Coco-tiut salad. This dainty is costly, even in the South 
 Seas. It is made from the young centre shoots of the coco-nut 
 palm, and as this is an endogenous tree growing from the 
 centre, it is killed by the removal of the shoots. In New 
 Zealand and elsewhere the same is true of the cabbage-palm ; 
 the 'cabbage' is a delicious dish, but it costs the life of the 
 tree. 
 
 44. Stealing. Dishonesty is nevertheless not considered a 
 natural failing of the islanders. From each other they do not 
 steal ; the house of a fellow- Kanaka, though it be left completely 
 open and the owner away, remains untouched. But the same 
 laws do not seem to apply to their relations with the whites — 
 perhaps because, as some assert, the whites have not always 
 set them the best of examples. 
 
 45. The Paumotus. Ellis, in his Researches {^\\\. p. 303), gives 
 an excellent impression of these islands of the Low, or 
 Dangerous, Archipelago : — 
 
 ' They are low, narrow islands of coralline formation, and 
 though among them some few are hilly, the greater number 
 do not rise more than three feet above the water. . . . Those 
 already known seem to be increasing in size, while others are 
 constantly approaching the surface of the sea : sometimes they 
 rise like a perpendicular wall from the depths of the ocean to 
 the level of its surface ; at other times reefs or groves of varied 
 and most beautiful form and colour extend in the form of 
 successive terraces below the water to a considerable distance. 
 Here islands may be seen in every stage of their progress ; 
 some presenting little more than a point or summit of a 
 branching coralline pyramid at a depth scarcely discernible 
 through the transparent waters ; others spreading like sub- 
 marine gardens . . . beneath the surface, or appearing here 
 and there in a little bank of coral and sand over which the 
 rolling wave occasionally breaks ; while a number rise like 
 long curved banks of sand, coral, and shells, some two or 
 three feet above the sea, clothed with grass and adorned with 
 coco-nut and Pandanus trees. They generally form a curved 
 line, . . . the bank of soil or rock being seldom more than half
 
 288 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 a mile or a mile across, yet often clothed with richest verdure. 
 Within this enclosure is a space sometimes of great extent. 
 In the island of Hao ... it is said that ships may sail for 
 many miles after entering the lagoon, the narrow strip of coral 
 and sand enclosing the basin being sixty or seventy miles in 
 length, although exceedingly narrow.' It should be added 
 that even these measurements can be exceeded ; for the atoll- 
 island oi Fakarava, which Mrs. Stevenson visited, consists of a 
 strip of land little more than a quarter of a mile wide, but 
 eighty or ninety miles long, which encloses a lagoon of thirty 
 miles by about twelve. 
 
 These islands have also been called the ' Pearl Islands' on 
 account of the pearls obtained amongst them, pearl-diving 
 being also their only recognised industry. The actual trade, 
 however, is in the shell, which commands a steady market, 
 while the pearl itself is the windfall of the diver save, here and 
 there, under special conditions. The great pearl for which 
 Queen Victoria paid six thousand pounds came from this 
 group ; as did also another notable one possessed by the 
 Empress Eugenie. On the whole, the trade seems, carefully 
 and wisely regulated by the French authorities, the divers 
 being reasonably well paid, and the ' fishery' reserved to the 
 native inhabitants; the 'pearl-beds,' and the islands where 
 they occur, are kept under control, and are 'opened' in turn, 
 an interval of rest or close season being rigorously enforced. 
 It is said that the export of shell from Tahiti (whither it is 
 taken) is largely increasing, and while the find of pearls is 
 irregular, the yearly value has also increased. 
 
 46. Artificial soil in iJie Paufnoliis. The soil found in islands 
 of coral formation is of very varying quality and character. 
 Sometimes there is a considerable depth of fertile earth ; but 
 in those islands that are very slightly raised above the level of 
 the sea the soil is shallow and almost non-existent, and the 
 coral sand or detritus that replaces it so strongly impregnated 
 with salt-water, that little of any service will flourish beyond 
 the coco-palm and the Pandanus, and a large inferior variety 
 of taro. Yet by means of earth brought from Tahiti, and built 
 up into banks or terraces, it is possible to overcome this 
 difficulty. Mrs. Stevenson mentions fig-trees and bananas ;
 
 NOTES 289 
 
 and elsewhere it is recorded that by the same artificial system, 
 aided by irrigation, there are to be found in one or other of the 
 Paumotus Islands plantations of sugar-cane, sweet potatoes 
 and yams, besides the finer sorts of taro^ the plantain, and 
 some garden flowers and shrubs (Ratzel, History of Man- 
 kind, i. p. 254). 
 
 47. Euranna. Later, in the light of longer acquaintance, 
 Mrs. Stevenson successively modifies this to yiiranna and 
 iao-ranua. The latter is probably the most correct. It is a 
 word that has proved an evident difficulty to other persons 
 also, to judge by the varying forms in which we meet with it ; 
 including, for instance, Yarra na and Yar honor. 
 
 48. See page 303, note 69. 
 
 49. Bcnitier, or Holy-water shell. The clam or Tridacna, 
 called by the nax\ve.s paua, and given the above name from its 
 frequent employment in Roman Catholic churches. It is found 
 in great quantities among the Pacific islands ; and in the 
 Paumotus the paua toka, or stone clam ( Tridaoia gigas), grows 
 to enormous size. 'The shell is formed of two great valves 
 connected by hinged teeth, and muscles of extraordinary 
 power ; . . . the strength of many men could not detach one 
 of the larger ones from its bed, for as years go by the clam 
 settles into the coral, and the shell becomes part of the rock 
 itself.' Walking over a bed of even the smaller paua is 
 dangerous, and divers when caught by Tridacna gigas are 
 fortunate if they escape with only the loss of a limb. 
 
 50. Coolin. A Skye terrier once greatly beloved by Mr. and 
 Mrs. Stevenson. His epitaph, composed in Latin by Thomas 
 Stevenson, was formerly at Swanston Cottage, and is now at 
 Skerryvore, Bournemouth. 
 
 51. Taniera Mahinui. This gentleman is more fully 
 described by R. L. Stevenson as * Catechist and convict. . . . 
 I affirm he was well qualified for either part. For that of con- 
 vict, first of all, by a good substantial felony, such as in all 
 lands casts the perpetrator into chains and dungeons, . . . He 
 was condemed in five years. The period, when I had the 
 pleasure of his friendship, was not yet expired ; he still drew 
 prison rations, the sole and not unwelcome reminder of his 
 chains, and, 1 believe, looked forward to the date of his enfran-
 
 290 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 chisement with mere alarm. . . . And as for his parishioners, 
 they did not think one hair the less of him. 
 
 ' On the other hand, he was even highly qualified for his office 
 in the Church ; being by nature a grave, considerate, and kindly 
 man ; his face rugged and serious, his smile bright ; . . . 
 endowed with a fine pulpit voice ; endowed besides with such 
 a gift of eloquence that at the grave of the late chief of Fakarava 
 he set all the assistants weeping. I never met a man of a mind 
 more ecclesiastical. . . .' {In the South Seas, pp. i6i, 162). 
 
 52 and 53. Mormon or Baptist. It is stated by R. L. Steven- 
 son that the Paumotus are divided between two churches, the 
 Roman Catholic and the Mormon, and he makes no mention of 
 Baptists. But he does refer to the curious type of Mormon to 
 be found in the islands : ' He marries but one wife, uses the 
 Protestant Bible, observes Protestant forms of worship, forbids 
 the use of liquor and tobacco, practises adult baptism by 
 immersion, and after every public sin rechristens the back- 
 slider. I advised with Mahinui, whom I found well informed in 
 the history of the American Mormons, and he declared against 
 the least connection. . . . And for all that. Mormons they are, 
 but of the earlier sowing ; the so-called Josephites, the 
 followers of Joseph Smith, the opponent of Brigham Young' 
 {In the South Seas, p. 174). It was probably the practices 
 of these Mormons that led Mrs. Stevenson to call them 
 Baptists. 
 
 Religion in Polynesia, however, has constant surprises, and 
 is very ready to fly off at a tangent, in a way that is exceedingly 
 mysterious and hard to understand. Perhaps its most curious 
 phenomena are the independent offshoots of Christianity : 
 'Thus in Upolu, Siovedi, a native of Savaii, founded the 
 " Gimblet religion" Professing to converse with God and to 
 work miracles, he enjoined the mutual confession of sins in cases 
 of sickness, and his divine service was rendered specially im- 
 pressive by the discharge of firearms. Another native, in 
 Samoa, taught the invocation of the God of heaven, and 
 brought with him, on his return from the whale-fishing, an old 
 woman who used to " touch " for diseases from behind a curtain, 
 alleging that Christ resided within her' (Ratzel, History of 
 Mankind, i. 190, 191).
 
 NOTES 291 
 
 R. L. Stevenson himself mentions, as connected with the 
 Paumotus Mormons, the Israelites and the Kanitus, though he 
 could neither fathom their differences nor account for their 
 names, the latter of the two being of no known language ; and 
 he refers also to a sect still more difficult to fathom, which is 
 known as the Whistlers. It appears that their meetings are 
 public and all may attend who will; the 'faithful' sit round, 
 singing hymns, while in the centre sits the priest — leader — 
 medium? enveloped in a sheet. ' And presently from just above 
 his head, or sometimes from the midst of the roof, an aerial 
 whistling proceeds, appalling to the inexperienced. This, it 
 appears, is the language of the dead ; its purport is taken down 
 progressively by one of the expert, . . . and the communica- 
 tions are at last made to the public. They are of the baldest 
 triviality. . . .' {South Seas, p. 178). 
 
 54. Coco-nut Palm. This remarkable Xxt& {Coccos nuciferd), 
 plays so great a part in tropical life that it deserves a detailed 
 description. We all know it by name and appearance ; we all 
 know the nuts as they are sold to us here, in a condition that 
 the Polynesian would consider only fit for pigs. But it is safe 
 to say that very few persons have any conception of what place 
 the coco-palm holds in the life of the South Pacific. 
 
 'Year after year the islander reposes beneath its shade, both 
 eating and drinking of its fruit ; he thatches his hut with its 
 leaves and weaves them into baskets to carry his food ; he 
 cools himself with a fan plaited from the young leaflets and 
 shields his head from the sun by a bonnet made from the same ; 
 sometimes he clothes himself with the cloth-like substance which 
 wraps round the base of the long stalks, whose elastic rods, 
 strung with candle-nuts, are used as a taper ; the larger nuts, 
 thinned and polished, furnish him with a beautiful goblet ; the 
 smaller ones with bowls for his pipes ; the dry husks kindle his 
 fires ; their fibres are twisted into fishing-lines and cords for 
 his canoes ; he heals his wounds with a balsam compounded 
 from the juice of the nut ; and with the oil extracted from its 
 meat embalms the dead and embellishes the living. The 
 trunk, sawn into posts, supports his dwelling ; converted into 
 charcoal it cooks his food; and supported on blocks of stone it 
 rails in his lands. He impels his canoe through the water with
 
 292 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 a paddle of the wood, and from the same hard material he 
 fashions his clubs and spears.' 
 
 This is, however, a most incomplete summary. The tree had 
 its part in the highest concerns of native life ; a coco-nut leaf 
 (which consists, it must be remembered, of a six- or eight-foot 
 rod, bearing along some four-fifths of its length two opposite 
 rows of sword-shaped leaflets, each about eighteen inches long) 
 was the symbol of chiefly authority, and was sent by a chief to 
 his dependants when he demanded their obedience. Tied to 
 the sacrifice, it was the channel by which the god was believed 
 to enter and make the offering sacred ; laid on the body of one 
 afflicted with disease, it was the door through which the evil 
 spirits who tormented him were driven out. Bunches or 
 strings of the leaflets were hung up in the temples, and are 
 said to have been used in something the same way as the 
 rosary beads of Roman Catholics ; and to this day presents of 
 food, or gifts, are tied up with coco-leaflets, perhaps without 
 conscious significance, but certainly as a survival of old custom. 
 Even their idols came sometimes from the same source. Oro, 
 their great god, was embodied in a six-foot log of coco-palm, 
 in his temple at Tautira on the peninsula of Tahiti ; a living 
 tree of the same species has more than once been revered as 
 the representative of a deity, and a piece of sinnet was the 
 embodiment of the terrible Ta7ie-Kio, the chirper. 
 
 In medicine the coco-nut was esteemed, though some of its 
 uses are peculiar : for a headache, for instance, the patient was 
 made to drink the juice of a nut and then stand on his head for a 
 stated time ! Coco-nut oil was employed as an emetic, and in 
 cases of bleeding, whether venous or arterial, the spongy kernel 
 of an old and sprouting nut was tied firmly upon the wound. The 
 juice, in particular stages of fermentation, was given for several 
 ailments, notably for dysentery ; and one preparation, in which 
 the milk of a ripe nut was an important ingredient, was so 
 prompt in its results that the 'doctor' usually called the family 
 of the patient together, to be ready (in either event) for the 
 almost instantaneous ' kill or cure.' The native practice of 
 surgery was, however, surprisingly good, and on a different 
 level to much of their so-called medicine ; and here again the 
 coco-nut had its uses. It was, for instance, not uncommon to 
 
 \
 
 NOTES 293 
 
 trepan, when the skull had been fractured in battle ; and when 
 the broken bone was removed, it was replaced by a piece of 
 coco-nut shell, covered again with the skin, etc., and left to heal. 
 Many of these cases are said to have made good recoveries, and 
 in the earlier part of last century there were men living on whom 
 the operation had been successfully performed. Another form 
 of it, however, was tried by these enterprising surgeons with 
 other results ; when the brain itself had suffered, they opened 
 the skull and removed the injured portion, replacing it by the 
 brain of a newly killed pig, and covering it in as before with a 
 piece of coco-nut shell. In these cases it appears that frenzy 
 and death very shortly supervened. 
 
 Again, the body was rubbed down daily, and always after 
 immersion in salt water, with chewed coco-nut or with coco- 
 nut oil ; and a fine and aromatic preparation of the latter was 
 obtained by preserving it in the gourd-like fruit of the nono 
 {Morinda citrifolia). The oil as it used to be expressed by the 
 natives, or ' copra,' the dried nut, from which it is now generally 
 prepared in the home manufactories, is, of course, the great 
 trading interest of the South Seas. 
 
 As an article of food, it is difficult even to enumerate the 
 forms in which it is employed. It may be noted here that 
 each stage of the nut has its uses and its own especial name ; 
 when it is full grown but soft-shelled and light in colour, holding 
 over a pint of juice, but with no pulp, it is called oua, and is 
 principally used for drinking. A few weeks later and a soft white 
 pulp is developed round the inside of the shell ; it has been 
 likened (in appearance) to the white of a lightly boiled t.g^^ and 
 in this stage, 7iiaa, is preferred for cooking. Four or six weeks 
 later still, and the shell begins to darken ; the pulp is firmer 
 and thicker, and the juice whitish and slightly acid. This is 
 called ojnoto, and from nuts in this stage cups and other vessels 
 are usually made ; the shell is yellow and hard enough to 
 permit of being scraped thin, or carved, but soft enough still 
 for this to be done with ease. 
 
 The juice, in the first stage, is practically the only drink of 
 the tropics, and as such, it has an importance not yet perhaps 
 fully realised. On many of the coral atolls there is no fresh- 
 water supply save what is provided by the rainfall ; and while
 
 294 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 this caused little trouble in the olden days, now that the nuts 
 are reserved for copra the matter is more serious. Stagnant 
 rain-water used alike — and from the same pool — for bathing, 
 washing, and drinking, by sick and sound, cannot conduce to 
 the health of the inhabitants in the long-run. 
 
 In the next stage the pulp is used in many dishes, as in kitku ; 
 in some forms oi poi, where it is mixed with taro and sweet 
 potato ; and baked, along with the juice, in its shell, when it 
 makes a rich and luscious pudding. The germinated nut, 
 filled with a sweet, spongy white growth, is likened when cooked 
 to 'the most delicate blancmange'; the 'meat' of a ripe nut, 
 chopped up and floating in salt water, is the ordinary 'sauce 
 piquante' of the South Seas ; and the same, grated, and moist- 
 ened with its own juice and salt water, and kept perfectly air- 
 tight in bamboos till past the saccharine stage of fermentation, 
 is a more elaborate relish, with an appearance like clotted 
 cream or curd. The milk of the ripe nut is also good in coffee, 
 and is sometimes used for Communion, in place of wine, which 
 had its disadvantages, the whole supply being, it is said, 
 occasionally drunk up by the first few communicants. ' Toddy ' 
 or ''Palm-iuinc^ is the sap or juice that exudes from the severed 
 green shoots, and when drunk at once is wholesome and 
 delicious, but with the passing of a few hours becomes ' sour 
 toddy,' a maddening and deadly intoxicant. And from 'the 
 embryo shoot of the tree, the unborn fronds that lie curled up in 
 a white mass about the size of a man's arm, resembling a 
 gigantic stick of celery, with a flavour of filberts,' the well-known 
 'coco-palm salad' is made, every dish of which costs the life of 
 the tree from which it is prepared. It is a luxury confined to 
 chiefs and rich men, who can afford to destroy so valuable a 
 possession ; who can afford also to decorate their heads with 
 plumes, and their ceremonial garments with fringes, of the reva- 
 rcva, an exquisitely white and tender fibre extracted from the 
 inner pith of the same young shoots, and with the same de- 
 struction. For once the coco-palm is deprived of its heart or 
 centre of growth, it dies immediately ; and if allowed to stand 
 thus, 'the trunk, which when alive is encased in so hard a bark 
 as to be almost impervious to a bullet, moulders away and 
 becomes dust. This is owing to the constitution of the trunk.
 
 NOTES 295 
 
 a mere cylinder of minute hollow reeds closely packed and very 
 hard ; but when exposed at the top, peculiarly fitted to convey 
 moisture and decay through the entire system.' 
 
 And finally, in proportion to its value, the coco-palm makes 
 but the smallest demand for care or cultivation ; it is hardy, 
 long-lived, bears without intermission, and is enormously 
 prolific, and only requires light and air about its stem and the 
 clearance of undergrowth, to permit it to come to maturity. It 
 will grow in any soil, however poor, though it prefers to be near 
 salt water ; it is found in greatest perfection on the edge of 
 sheltered lagoons, and on the low coral atolls where no other 
 tree, save the Pandanus, can exist. What part it plays in the 
 food of such an island can be imagined. ' The rest of the food- 
 supply can be summed up in the favourite jest of the archipelago 
 — Coco-nut beefsteak. Coco-nut green, coco-nut ripe, coco- 
 nut germinated ; coco-nut to eat, and coco-nut to drink ; 
 coco-nut raw and coco-nut cooked, coco-nut hot and cold — 
 such is the bill of fare ' (R. L. Stevenson, In the South Seas, 
 p. 155). It is to be suspected that the householders of these 
 islands must have some tropical equivalent for 'cold mutton 
 again ! ' 
 
 55. Tahiti. The island is said to have been discovered by 
 Quiros in the sixteenth century. The first authentic information, 
 however, dates from the arrival of Wallis in the Dolphin, in 
 June 1767, when he christened it King George III.^s Island, and 
 called the cluster of which Tahiti is the principal the Georgian 
 group. It was thrice visited by Cook, notably in the year 1769, 
 to observe the transit of Venus ; and in 1797 a band of English 
 missionaries settled there under the protection of the king. It 
 was many years, however, before the islanders accepted either 
 Christianity or civilisation in the sense of any settled govern- 
 ment ; there were long and disastrous wars, during which king 
 and missionaries were alike driven out and exiled upon Eimeo, 
 and it was not till 181 5 that Pomare 11. finally reinstated him- 
 self in authority. During the next years great endeavours 
 were made, not only to Christianise the natives, but also to 
 educate and enlighten them. Schools were everywhere 
 established ; tapu weakened, if not abolished ; the immoral 
 habits and customs of the natives held in check by a system of
 
 296 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 punishment ; law and order, primitive perhaps, but suitable to 
 the conditions, were enforced and maintained. The first 
 printing-press was set up in i8ig, and Pomare struck off the first 
 sheets himself; and it must always be remembered that Tahiti 
 owes to the missionaries her written language. . . . The 
 island was quiet and prosperous for a considerable time, till in 
 1836 fresh trouble began ; two Roman Catholic priests landed 
 at Tautira, without leave asked for and obtained from the 
 authorities. The story of their treatment at the hands of the 
 queen and her ministers, as the one side tells it, or of their 
 behaviour to the queen and her regulations according to the 
 other, is, for obvious reasons, difficult to relate. The result, how- 
 ever, was disastrous to Tahiti : the priests were for the moment 
 turned out, but ingoing they opened a door by which France 
 was ready and waiting to step in. England, which was only 
 recovering from a long period of war, was not willing to quarrel 
 with France over a distant island in the Pacific, in which, 
 moreover, she had never formally and officially interested 
 herself; Queen Pomare was helpless, and was forced first to 
 apologise, then to pay repeated indemnities, and finally to cede 
 all her external and most of her internal authority. In 1842 
 Tahiti passed under the protectorate of France, and ceased to 
 possess a separate existence. More recently, in 1885, the last 
 shred of Tahitian independence disappeared, when Pomare fifth 
 and last retired from even nominal sovereignty on an annual 
 'allowance' paid to him by the French Government. 
 
 But Tahiti has a mythological history also, and there are 
 many legends concerning its origin. In one of them the island 
 was originally a shark from Raiatea — a blue shark, such as they 
 have since worshipped, and who, as Aiiui-mao, the shark-god, 
 had temples, sacrifices, and a priesthood in his honour ; the head 
 and tail, the dorsal and ventral fins, even the gills, can still be 
 named and pointed out. In another story, the islands of the 
 group were all united in a continent that the gods in their anger 
 broke up into pieces, Tahiti the largest ; and in still another, 
 Tairoa laboured so hard over creation that the sweat ran down 
 from his brow, filling up all the hollow places, and made the sea. 
 Wherefore it is salt. Tairoa, also, 'made himself into the 
 likeness of his thoughts,' and abode with Hina, his wife, upon
 
 NOTES 297 
 
 the mountains ; and their children were men, and peopled 
 Tahiti. And these are but one or two, quoted almost at 
 random from the many legends of Tahitian mythology. (See 
 Ellis's Researches, vol. i. ; Gill's Myths and Songs of the South 
 Pacific ; and his Historical Sketches of Savage Life in 
 Poly}iesia, etc. etc.) 
 
 56. Influenza. This seems to appear more or less regularly 
 in the South Seas, and is of a virulent type. It has led, indeed, 
 in not a few cases, to the murder of traders and missionaries, 
 the natives in the wilder and more savage islands retaliating in 
 this way upon the nearest white man, for the disease which 
 they suppose he has brought amongst them. There seems, 
 indeed, to be some little excuse for the belief, according to 
 Miss Gordon-Cumming : ' It is a most extraordinary fact that 
 on every one of the Polynesian groups the natives declare that 
 influenza was never known till white men came ; and now it is 
 one of the regular scourges of the Pacific, returning almost 
 every year, in a greater or less degree, but occasionally proving 
 very severe and fatal. It is generally preceded by westerly or 
 southerly winds, and passes off as the steady trade-winds set 
 in, bringing fine settled weather' {A Lady's Cruise in a French 
 Man-of War., ii. 72). 
 
 57. Land-crabs {Birgtis latrd). These remarkable creatures, 
 also known as the Robber, or Coco-nut crabs, are nocturnal 
 in habit, as fierce (if interfered with) as they are shy, and 
 exceedingly voracious. When hungry, if they find no food 
 nearer at hand, they climb the coco-nut palms and break off 
 the stalks of the young nuts, so that they fall to the ground ; 
 and in times of scarcity they will even strip the husks from the 
 old nuts, and, working from one of the eyes, gradually ' nip ' 
 out a hole large enough to permit them to extract the edible 
 interior. 
 
 They are exceedingly numerous in most of the South Pacific 
 islands, and are highly valued by the natives, and even by the 
 whites, as an article of food. They are said to be excellent 
 when baked entire in their shell ; and the pendulous tail of 
 blue fat is looked upon as a tit-bit. This fat also, when gently 
 heated, melts into a valuable oil, as much as two pints being 
 obtained from a large specimen ; it is said to be an unfailing
 
 298 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 specific for rheumatism, and the best lubricating medium for 
 guns or instruments in the South Seas. When thickened in the 
 sun, it is also described as making an agreeable and wholesome 
 substitute for butter. 
 
 58. Omua. Herman Melville's books, Omua and Typee, 
 present a far more reliable picture of island life than they are 
 generally credited with ; and his peculiarities of spelling and 
 romantic episodes are too often allowed to overshadow his many 
 valuable facts. 
 
 59. Ewtco or Moorea. This island, to which the latter name 
 is usually given by the natives, lies twelve or fourteen miles 
 to the west of Tahiti, whence it is visible ; it was named by 
 Wallis, in 1767, Duke of York's Island, and included by him 
 in the Georgian group, of which Tahiti is the principal. It is 
 very mountainous, with sharp and serrated outlines and pre- 
 cipitous ascents, and a magnificent belt of lower foliage ; indeed, 
 its beauty is so great that it has been said 'to surpass every 
 other in the Georgian and Society groups.' To this island, 
 during the wars of a hundred years ago, just before the estab- 
 lishment of Christianity, the missionaries were forced to retire : 
 here that remarkable man, Pomare ll., lived in exile from 1809 
 to 1815 ; and here, before he returned to kingship in Tahiti, 
 he finally became a Christian. When he left Eimeo, his first 
 exercise of authority was the destruction of the temple and idol 
 of Oro, the national god, at Tautira. 
 
 60. Point Venus. The name given to the point of land whence 
 Cook observed the Transit of Venus in 1769. 
 
 61. Change 0/ Religion. I have repeatedly found it stated 
 that the natives rarely change from the form of religion with 
 which they first become acquainted. Their loyalty in this 
 respect is sometimes rather surprising ; as for instance, in 
 Tahiti, where the Government has hitherto strongly supported 
 the Catholics, and has ordered the chief to build a Roman 
 Catholic church in every district. Yet the natives have per- 
 sistently remained Protestant ; with the result that in a number 
 of villages there is found a large and nearly empty Roman 
 Catholic church, beside an overcrowded French, or native, 
 Protestant mission. 
 
 It is, in fact, well known that a native will only attend an alien
 
 NOTES 299 
 
 church under great pressure, and when he does so will make 
 it clear that he goes only as an outsider. The old Kanak who 
 told the priest, ' Leg he go, belly he no go,' was only explain- 
 ing to the best of his abilities that his heart and his convic- 
 tions were elsewhere. 
 
 62 and 71. Green and red Barianas. The cultivated varieties 
 of Musa, of which there are said to be over thirty in Tahiti, are 
 usually cut while still green, and either hung up to ripen, or 
 wrapped in leaves and buried for some thirty-six hours in the 
 earth, which hastens the ripening process though at some loss 
 of flavour. 
 
 The red banana, Musa ura7iospat/ia, is a wild variety. Ellis 
 says there are some twenty large and serviceable kinds that grow 
 wild in the mountains {Researches, i. 60), but he does not give 
 any distinctive names ; the native word fei is applied to them 
 all in general. They differ greatly from the cultivated sorts, 
 having a red skin and yellow pulp, and very marked ridges, 
 making them almost triangular or quadrangular in outline ; 
 their habit of growth is also singular, as they carry their fruit 
 erect in the centre of the tuft or crown of leaves at the top of 
 the plant. There is a legend to the effect that there was once 
 a Battle of the Bananas, which the Mountain Plantain won ; 
 wherefore it has ever since held its fruit upright in token of 
 victory, while the other varieties droop theirs in remembrance of 
 defeat. 
 
 The Mountain Banana is a very important article of native 
 diet, and in some places is described as their principal support ; 
 though it is not obtained without some difficulty, as it grows 
 in the less accessible parts of the mountains, and has to be 
 carried down by break-neck paths, slung at either end of 
 poles balanced across the shoulders of the bearer. Neverthe- 
 less, it is brought down, and in large quantities ; it is very 
 nutritious, and though not palatable when raw, is described, 
 when cooked, as a rich and agreeable vegetable. The taste for it, 
 however, is one that has to be acquired ; but when once the 
 fruit is appreciated, the liking for it is said to become so irresist- 
 ible that, according to the proverb, 'he who \ovqs fei will never 
 leave Tahiti.' 
 
 63. Coco-nut in bamboo. This is a preparation of the meat
 
 300 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 of a ripe coco-nut, grated and moistened with a certain propor- 
 tion of its own juice and salt water. It is then enclosed in an 
 air-tight length of bamboo and kept there till the stage of 
 saccharine fermentation is over. When required for use, the 
 upper end of the bamboo is opened, and when tapped gently 
 upon the leaf placed ready as a plate, a white clotted substance 
 drops out, which tastes somewhat like curd. This is called 
 lo7ii, and is a very favourite savoury or relish. 
 
 64. Fish-hooks from jku'/s. The islanders do not greatly 
 esteem the European fish-hook ; they like its sharp point, but 
 complain that the curve is too open and too wide. For certain 
 fish they will use it ; but in general they would rather have a 
 wrought-iron nail some three or four inches long to shape to 
 their own fancy, and this in spite of the labour entailed in bend- 
 ing and sharpening it by long rubbing on a stone. It is said 
 that when they first saw a nail, they conceived it to be of the 
 same nature as the bread-fruit rootlets of which their own hooks 
 were made ; and being anxious to make sure of a future supply, 
 they divided the first parcel of nails presented to them, carried 
 part to the temple as an offering to the gods and planted the 
 remainder in the ground, anxiously waiting for them to sprout 
 and grow ! (See Ellis's Researches, i. 150 ; and see also note 
 89 to this volume, p. 309.) 
 
 65. Barbcdine. A Passiflora^ probably Passifiora quadran- 
 gularis^ which is constantly mentioned in recent books on 
 Tahiti, its rampant growth and huge fruit making it remarkable. 
 It climbs to the tops of the highest trees and hangs from them 
 not in single trails or festoons, but in very curtains of dense 
 greenery, relieved by flowers and fruit in every shade of purple 
 and yellow and gold. Miss Gordon-Cumming calls it the 
 ' granadilla passion-flower,' and describes it as resembling 
 when ripe a golden-yellow pumpkin, with melon-like seeds 
 enclosed in a white jelly. These lie inside a sweet pulp about 
 two inches thick. It can both be eaten raw or cooked as a 
 vegetable, and both ways is wholesome and agreeable. 
 
 66. Tautira. This important village is situated in Taiarabu, 
 the peninsula attached to the south-east extremity of the larger 
 island. It is a place with a past that is worth recalling, for it 
 embodies all the story of Tahiti, its wars, its heathendom, and 
 its subjection to France.
 
 NOTES 301 
 
 Here, long ago, in the days of the earliest missionaries, was 
 a great tnarae or temple in honour of Oro, elsewhere {p)Rongo, 
 the national god of Tahiti and the first and greatest in Poly- 
 nesian mythology ; for although his mother and brother were 
 revered as abstract deities, I cannot find it stated that they 
 received worship. And Oro's most venerated idol, in the eyes 
 of the Tahitians, was that which was preserved at the national 
 temple of Atehuru, swathed and wrapped from sight in price- 
 less mats and pieces of ancient cloth. This image Otu the 
 king, afterwards Pomare ll., seized and carried off to Tautira, 
 under pretext of a supposed command from the god, but in 
 reality to ensure himself the prestige of the god's support and 
 presence in the struggle to preserve and extend his kingship. 
 It is recorded that, as they fled with the idol, the king sacrificed 
 one of his favourite servants to the god, that he might favour 
 their escape. . . . The priests of Atehuru, and the chiefs and 
 people of the district, did not see matters in the same light ; 
 they rose in rebellion, and for several years the bitterest of 
 inter-tribal fighting desolated and laid waste the beautiful island. 
 Such a war cannot be followed in detail, but whichever party 
 was successful, the result was the same : a massacre, not only 
 of fighting-men, but of whole villages of defenceless women and 
 children, and the altars of Oro reeking with human blood. 
 There was perhaps no cannibalism, save the memory of it 
 dreadfully preserved in the ceremonial of offering, when the 
 priest plucked out the eye of the victim and presented it to the 
 chief, who 'made as if to eat it,' but gave it back ; but there 
 was every other horror of savagery and heathendom. Tahiti 
 was desolated ; Otu-Pomare was an exile in Eimeo (Moorea) ; 
 and the missionaries, all save one, had been driven away. . . . 
 
 Time passed, and at last it was Pomare's turn ; but this 
 time the war was not for the keeping of the idol of Oro, but to 
 protect the Bure-Atiia, the ' Pray-to-gods,' the Christians, of 
 whom the first and chief was Pomare himself; it was the day 
 of harvest after long and despairing seed-times. Pomare was 
 king, and Christian king, in Tahiti ; for the first time in its 
 history there was no massacre of conquered women and children. 
 He sent out indeed a body of armed men, but this mission was 
 to destroy the temple of Oro at Tautira ; and he bade them,
 
 302 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 * Go not to the little island where the women and children have 
 been left for security ; turn not aside to the villages or planta- 
 tions ; neither enter into the houses, nor destroy any of the 
 property you may see ; but go straight along the high road, 
 through all your late enemy's districts.' His directions were 
 obeyed ; no individual was injured, no fence broken down, 
 no house burned, no article of property taken. 
 
 It was thought that the people of Taiarabu, still heathen 
 themselves and proud of the keeping of Oro, and the priests 
 of Oro, would have resented the mission of Pomare's men ; 
 but it appears that they stood by in sullen silence while ' the 
 soldiers entered the house of Tahiti's god, . . . brought out the 
 idol, stripped him of his sacred coverings and highly valued 
 ornaments, and threw his body contemptuously on the ground. 
 It was a rude, uncarved log of aito wood, Casuari'fia 
 equisaiifoHa, about six feet long. The altars were then broken 
 down, the temples demolished, and the sacred houses of the 
 gods, together with their coverings, ornaments, and all belong- 
 ing to their worship, committed to the flames. . . . The log of 
 wood, called by the natives the body of Oro, . . . was carried 
 away, fixed up as a post in the king's kitchen, and finally riven 
 for fuel' (Ellis's Polynesian Researches, ii. 155, 156). The 
 temple of Tautira was overthrown and the worship of Oro wiped 
 out ; and both have been forgotten. 
 
 A little later, and there sailed in a small sloop that came 
 from Mangareva two men whose mission appears to have been 
 to convert, not the heathen, but the Protestant ; though the 
 story of their coming, and their going — for Queen Pomare 
 Vahinc turned them out, — and the price she had to pay for it in 
 the end, is variously told, according to the point of view of the 
 teller. One thing at least is certain, it was Christian Tautira, 
 the death-place of Oro, that was the first stage in a new struggle 
 and another downfall, that was to be once more memorable 
 as the landing-place of the two Roman Catholic priests 
 who were the forerunners of France (Pritchard's Polynesian 
 Roiiiniscences, p. 4). 
 
 All this has happened, and in the later days, on ' the forest 
 lawn which is the street of Tautira.' 
 
 67. Silk-cotton. This is obtained from a tree of the genus
 
 NOTES 303 
 
 Bovibax (natural order Malvncice), probably a variety of 
 Bonibax ceiba. The silky and elastic fibre surrounding the 
 seeds is irregular in quality and too short in the staple to be 
 used for manufacture, but it is largely employed in stuffing 
 cushions and mattresses, for which purpose it is well adapted. 
 
 68. Pot of sweet potato, tafo, ami coco-7iut. As explained 
 elsewhere, /f/, ox poi-poi, is always made of the staple, or most 
 plentiful, food-stuff of the locality. The material varies ; but 
 whether it consist of bread-fruit, oitaro, or of a mixture such as 
 the above, the result is a sticky paste of a yellowish colour, 
 called, according to its consistency and the manner of lifting it to 
 the mouth, 'two-' or ' three-fingered '/ez. When made of 'stored 
 fruit' that has partly fermented, it is sour in taste and smell ; 
 but when fresh fruit is used, it is very agreeable. See page 282. 
 
 69 and 48. Pearl-shell, black inside. The best variety, 
 'black-lip shell,' is referred to as always commanding the 
 highest prices in Head Hunters, A. C. Haddon, p. 85. 
 
 70. Illness at Tautira. Mrs. Stevenson is apt to make the least 
 of her son's illness rather than distress the relatives at home, 
 especially at a time of such difficult despatch of news. This 
 one was undoubtedly more serious than her letter conveys, as 
 can be seen from the following extract : ' Stevenson was placed 
 in the cart, and, sustained by small doses of coca, managed, 
 with the help of his wife and Valentine, to reach his destination 
 before he collapsed altogether. Being introduced at Tautira by 
 the gendarme, they were asked an exorbitant rent for a suitable 
 house, but they secured it, and there made the patient as 
 comfortable as possible. The next day there arrived the 
 Princess Moe, ex-queen of Raiatea, one of the kindest and most 
 charming of Tahitians. . . . She had come to the village, and 
 hearing that there was a white man very ill, she came over to 
 the house. " I feel that she saved Louis' life," writes Mrs. 
 Stevenson. " He was lying in a deep stupor when she first saw 
 him, suffering from congestion of the lungs, and in a burning 
 fever. . . ."' {Life of Stevenson, \\. bo). 
 
 71 to T^- The several plants referred to in these notes may 
 best be treated together. The ripe or green bananas are culti- 
 vated varieties of the Musa, of which many sorts are grown in 
 Tahiti ; while the wild plantain, Musa uraitospatha, more fully
 
 304 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 described in note 62, is in its cooked state, as a vegetable, a 
 staple article of diet. The sweet potato, Batatas edulis, was 
 once imported in some quantity to England, and is the potato 
 mentioned by Shakespeare, and other writers of his time ; and 
 Taro is the native name (in Tahiti and other South Sea islands), 
 of Caladium esculenta, the tuberous root of which, though 
 pungent and unwholesome in its natural state, becomes palat- 
 able when peeled and repeatedly washed, and then boiled and 
 mashed into a pulp, which is much used in the preparation of 
 poi and other dishes. 
 
 74. Set of Communion Plate. That Mrs. Stevenson carried 
 out this intention is proved by a letter written from Blair Athol, 
 after her return to Scotland in the following year. It is dated 
 8th July 1889 :— 
 
 'The Tautira Plate is finished, and has been despatched in 
 the s.s. Knmitaka for Tahiti vid New Zealand, and I have just 
 
 written to Captain J H enclosing the bill of lading 
 
 and asking him to send it on to Tautira, paying any extra 
 charges and letting me know the amount. ... I put one or 
 two little odds and ends into the box, a good knife for Ori, a 
 smaller one for Pairai, pen and pencil-case for Beritane and 
 Nanua, needle-book and emery-case for Mrs, Ori and her 
 
 daughter, and a doll for little " G ." I do hope they will 
 
 go the long way safely.' 
 
 75. Climbing fern. Lygodium reticulatum, Schk. 
 
 76. Sensitive plant. Mimosa pudica, a tropical annual ot 
 rapid growth. ' It is curious to watch one's track through it in 
 crossing a piece of open ground. IJefore one is a green mass 
 of vegetation (about a foot high) ; on looking back one sees what 
 appears to be a well-worn track up to where one stands, but 
 after a few minutes all is the same again' {In Savage Isles 
 a?id Settled Lands, B. F. S. Baden-Powell, p. 368). 
 
 77. See note 88, p. 308. 
 
 ydi. Scarlet-flowered acacia. Mrs. Stevenson must have been 
 misinformed ; the tree answering to the above description was 
 not introduced by the French, and had a local name, atai, in the 
 early part of last century, when Ellis wrote his Researches (i. 32). 
 He describes its ' light green acacia foliage and bright red 
 papilionaceous flowers,' and gives its name, Erythrina corallo-
 
 NOTES 305 
 
 dcndro?!, — the coral-tree. The mistake has probably arisen 
 from the fact that the French call more than one conspicuously 
 red-flowered tree by the name of ' flamboyant ' ; the commonest 
 bearer of the name is Poinciana regia, a native of Madagascar, 
 but it is also applied to Cacsalpima ptdcherriina, both of them 
 having been widely cultivated for their brilliant blossoms, and 
 introduced into several of the French possessions in the South 
 Seas. The trees growing in the Marquesas, alluded to by 
 Mrs. Stevenson, and her son (/« the South Seas, p. 122), were 
 probably specimens of Caesalpinia pulcherrima ; but the de- 
 scription quoted above can only apply to Erythrina indica 
 {corallodendron). 
 
 79. Ori. Ori a ori is described by R. L. Stevenson as 
 ' exactly like a colonel in the guards,' and elsewhere as ' a life- 
 guardsman in appearance ; six foot three in bare height ; deep 
 and broad in proportion.' Hence the name ' Colonel ' as 
 applied to him. 
 
 80. Mats. These are made of different fibres, that vary both 
 in appearance and quality ; some islands, also, excel in this 
 kind of work. Pofiape mats are in their way celebrated, and are 
 described as 'thick, soft, elastic, and extraordinarily durable'; 
 they are made of Pandanus leaves, soaked in water, beaten till 
 only a white fibre remains, divided into narrow strips, and woven 
 or plaited to the size desired. In Samoa old mats are the most 
 valuable property a native can have, and are scarcely to be 
 bought at any price whatever. In the Sandwich Islands both 
 matting and native cloth are superior, and very finely dyed and 
 decorated. 
 
 In Tahiti, the mats worn by many of the chiefs and sub-chiefs 
 were generally woven of the bark oi\h& purau, or hibiscus, and 
 were extremely white and soft, though yellowing after exposure 
 to the sun. Floor-mats were made either of coco-nut or Pan- 
 danus leaves, the latter being more durable, and of better quality. 
 The making of matting, as well as of the native cloth, was entirely 
 in the hands of the women, and was not despised even by 'high- 
 chieftesses ' and queens. The ordinary size of a sleeping- or 
 floor-mat was about six feet wide by nine to twelve feet long ; 
 but ' some are twelve feet wide and as much as sixty, eighty, or 
 even a hundred yards in length. Mats of this size, however, 
 
 U
 
 3o6 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 are only made for high chiefs, and in the preparation perhaps 
 the females of several districts have been employed. They are 
 kept rolled up and suspended in some parts of the chiefs 
 dwelling, more for the purpose of displaying his wealth and the 
 number of his dependants, than for actual use' (Ellis, Polynesian 
 Resea7xhes, i. i88). 
 
 8i. Hat-plaiting. For the preparation of Pandanus and 
 Arrowroot for this purpose, see preceding and following notes. 
 
 82. Arrowroot. This is properly a Tacca, either Tacca 
 pinnatifida or T. inaculata, both of which are found in the 
 islands. The native name is pia. The growth is from a tuber, 
 or tuberous root; the leaves, light green and deeply indented, rise 
 separately from the ground, and the central stalk, bearing the 
 flower, resembles in shape a reed or arrow some three or four 
 feet in height. It is crowned with a tuft of greenish flowers, 
 which are succeeded by green berries, not unlike the berries of 
 the potato. From the tuber, grated, pulped, washed, and dried 
 in the sun, arrowroot or its equivalent (for the name is applied 
 to an edible farina prepared from several species of plants) is 
 obtained ; but it is not of good enough quality for the European 
 market, being often discoloured, and even mouldy, through 
 insufficient drying. It is, however, very nutritious, and the 
 natives used it as follows : As they had no means of boiling it, 
 they mixed the meal with coco-nut milk in a large wooden 
 dish ; red-hot stones were dropped in and well stirred about, 
 till the whole mass was heated throughout and thickened into 
 a sort of broken white jelly, very sweet and agreeable to 
 the taste. 
 
 When the arrowroot fibre is required for plaiting into hats or 
 other articles, the hemlock-like hollow flower-stalk is steeped 
 in running water till the green outer fibres begin to decay. It 
 is then scraped with shells till the green coating is entirely 
 removed, and nothing is left but a ribbon that looks as if it 
 were made of white satin, slightly ribbed lengthwise ; this is 
 divided into narrow strips and plaited into the beautiful and 
 valuable hats on the making of which Tahitian ladies pride 
 themselves. Some of the plaits used are difficult and intricate, 
 and the material is not easy to manipulate, so that considerable 
 skill is necessary.
 
 NOTES 307 
 
 This beautiful tibre is also made up into a species of arti- 
 ficial flowers, and woven into wreaths for the haii-, or for table 
 decoration on days of festival ; they are also sewed on to cere- 
 monial tipufas, the splendidly decorated cloak or garment of 
 native cloth formerly worn by ' high-chiefs,' and still a 
 favourite form of gift or presentation in Tahiti and the 
 Society Islands. 
 
 83. Ori and c/iainpagne. ' The next day we gave a com- 
 memoration dinner to Ori, when we produced the champagne. 
 Ori drank his glass and announced it beyond excellence, a 
 drink for chiefs. " I shall drink it continually," he added, 
 pouring out a fresh glass. " What is the cost of it by the 
 bottle?" Louis told him, whereupon Ori solemnly replaced 
 his full glass, saying, " It is not fit that even kings should 
 drink a wine so expensive." It took him days to recover 
 from the shock' {Life of R. L. Stevenson, ii. 63). 
 
 84. Bird-cage houses. This is the term always used to 
 distinguish the native houses, or houses built in the original 
 native fashion, from modern wooden erections. The walls are 
 made of bamboo spaced about an inch or more apart, and 
 fastened or laced together with sinnet ; sometimes the bamboos 
 are twisted in and out so as to make a sort of pattern, but 
 the effect is not so good as when plainly arranged upright. It 
 is both light and cool, and yet a complete protection ; from the 
 inside it is possible to look out quite freely, tljough from the 
 outside nothing can be seen save by peering in at one of the 
 interstices. The roof is thatched, generally with Pandanus, 
 and when well done is durable and very pretty in effect. 
 
 85. 86. Raw fish. R. L. Stevenson mentions that he observed 
 both men and women ' perched on little surf-beat promontories 
 ... as fast as they caught any fish, eat them, raw and living, 
 where they stood' (/;/ the South Seas, p. no). The same 
 practice is recorded by Melville, in his Residence in the Mar- 
 quesas, and in Sunshine and Surf by Hall and Osborne, 
 p. 146. 
 
 87. Bathing in fresh water. It has always been the practice 
 of the Tahitians to prefer the river-pools for bathing in : and 
 even when they have been occupied in fishing and have been 
 in and out of the sea-water perhaps fifty times in the day, they
 
 3o8 FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 always bathe themselves in fresh water before returning to 
 their houses. Ellis states that it is because they find the sea- 
 water produces an irritation which is peculiarly unpleasant 
 {Reseaixhes^ i. 131) ; and 1 have seen it elsewhere observed that 
 the harsher and far less perfect skin of the Fijians is attributed 
 to their greater frequentation of salt water. 
 
 88. Himcnes. Mrs. Stevenson gives no account of these 
 beyond their name, which to the ordinary reader suggests only 
 a mispronunciation of the word 'hymn,' — which, indeed, it 
 well may be. But the hiinene of Tahiti is a thing by itself and 
 apart ; and whatever its origin, is worthy of some individual 
 notice. Miss Gordon-Cumming (in A Lady's Cruise on a French 
 Ma?i-of- War, vol. ii.) refers to them at some length, and states 
 that ' the old songs were sung in the same way, before the days 
 of missionaries.' This I cannot find confirmed in Ellis's Poly- 
 nesian Resea7'ches, minute in point of detail as they are. He 
 refers, certainly, to the ' native ballads,' and adds : 'I have heard 
 them recited, and have often been struck with their pathos and 
 beauty ; . . . the children were early taught these udes, and 
 took great delight in their recital. . . . They were often, when 
 recited on public occasions, accompanied by gestures and actions 
 corresponding to the events described, and assumed a histrionic 
 character' ( i. pp. 198, 199). It will be noted, however, that he 
 here repeatedly uses the word ' recite,' and throughout the 
 chapter on music and musical instruments, and elsewhere in his 
 four volumes, I can find no reference to singi7ig, much less 
 to such an unusual kind as the himene, as being practised 
 by the islanders in pre-missionary days. For the himene is 
 not ordinary singing, and has been described as 'a new sen- 
 sation in music' They are strange unearthly choruses that are 
 almost impossible to follow and catch, and yet indescribably 
 melodious; the voices are arranged in two 'sides' that take up 
 and answer each other, sometimes each side being again divided 
 into two voices, as high and low, male and female. Sometimes 
 there is a conductor, more frequently there is none. The glee or 
 chorus starts from a short solo, which gives the keynote to the 
 melody ; the voices lift and gather and blend together in absolute 
 liberty, each singing as pleases himself, yet in perfect tune and 
 harmony with the whole ; if there is any system deliberately
 
 NOTES 309 
 
 followed by the singers, European hearers have not been able 
 to perceive it. But no one can listen to it unimpressed ; it has 
 been likened to 'a cathedral chime, with haunting undertones,' 
 and to ' a rippling, bubbling torrent of melody.' Sometimes the 
 solo from which it starts, and on which it is probably founded, 
 is a remnant of an old native song, sometimes it is a European 
 air, more frequently a hymn tune, but Tahitianised beyond 
 recognition ; and the words are as various, being both secular 
 and religious, old and new. Miss Gordon-Cumming says that 
 the himcnes got up in Papeete and sung to strangers are 
 miserable travesties of the real thing to be heard in the heart of 
 the country ; and she adds that districts vary in excellence, and 
 that there is much emulation between them. It appears, indeed, 
 that the himhie is, or has become, peculiar to Tahiti, but must 
 be heard in its proper surroundings, in church, at a village 
 festival, or, above all, on such an occasion as the royal progress 
 of the last king and queen to receive the submission of their 
 subjects ; and whatever its origin, whether it be the ancient 
 music of the islanders, or merely a happy appropriation of 
 foreign melodies, the result is beautiful and noteworthy. 
 
 Rose-apple. This is the jambo, or Malay-apple, Eugenia 
 Mallaccensts, called by the Tahitians aJu'a. It resembles in 
 appearance a small oblong apple of a beautiful rosy-red colour, 
 and has a white and juicy flesh which is said to 'taste like the 
 scent of roses.' The Tahiti variety is a little insipid, but in the 
 Sandwich Islands, where it grows to greater perfection, the fruit 
 has a more pronounced flavour. 
 
 89. Pearl fish-hooks. These, though of ancient fashion, are still 
 used and highly esteemed. A strip some Ave or six inches long 
 and nearly one inch wide is cut from a pearl shell, and carefully 
 shaped and polished to resemble a small fish, the natural curve 
 of the shell aiding the likeness. On the under, or belly, side a 
 barb about one and a half inches in length is firmly strapped 
 in place with a twist of flax {romaha) ; this barb was formerly 
 made of tortoiseshell or bone, but is now sometimes an ordinary 
 steel hook. Small white feathers were fastened at either side 
 in imitation of fins, and to conceal the barb ; and frequently 
 also hairs or bristles were attached to the extremity or tail, 
 to increase the resemblance to a flying fish. This hook is called
 
 3IO FROM SARANAC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 the aviti, and is used for the larger kinds of fish, as bonito 
 and albicore ; there is a smaller kind, which is nearly circular 
 and is bent to resemble a worm. Both are employed 
 without bait, the glitter of the shell proving apparently irre- 
 sistible. 
 
 Another ancient form of fish-hook, still used by the natives, is 
 made from the rootlets of the bread-fruit tree, twisted, while 
 growing, into a suitable shape ; they are left uncut till large 
 enough to allow of the soft outer part being removed, when the 
 tough inner fibre remains for use as the hook. They are usually 
 three to four inches long, and about the thickness of a quill ; 
 but a shark-hook is twelve to fifteen inches in length, and the 
 root quite an inch in diameter. Great care is used in the 
 fastening of all these hooks, and they are considered greatly 
 superior to those of European manufacture. See also note 64 
 to this volume, p. 300.
 
 INDEX 
 
 Acacia, scnrlet-flowered, 206, 304. 
 Adirondacks, ordered to, 14. 
 
 departure from, 42. 
 
 benefit from climate, 49. 
 
 Adoption, at or before birth, 106. 
 
 and decrease of population, 
 
 277. 
 
 adult, 126, 285. 
 
 Anaho Bay, 74. 
 
 Arctic Voyages (Kane's), 24, 28, 29. 
 Arrowroot, Tahitian, 306. 
 Artocarpus (bread-fruit), 274. 
 Atolls, description of, 147, 174. 
 Atuona, village of, 126. 
 
 Bananas, cultivated, 299. 
 
 wild, or mountain, 181, ig6, 
 
 227, 299. 
 
 Battle of the, 299. 
 
 Bandmann, the actor, 40. 
 Baptists, 162, 290. 
 Barbedine {Passiflora), 183, 300. 
 Bathing in fresh water, 212, 307. 
 Beards, old men's, 114, 137, 282. 
 B^nitier shells, 155, 289. 
 Biblical parallels, 129, 283. 
 Bird-cage houses, 212, 307. 
 Bishop Dordillon, 92, 262. 
 Boatswain birds, 70, 260. 
 Bread-fruit {Artocarpus incisa), loi, 
 
 274. 
 Bridgeman, Laura, visit to, 36. 
 
 Cannibals, noted, 80, 266, 286. 
 Cannibalism, 261, 266, 268, 286. 
 
 Casco, the, origin of name, 102. 
 
 start on, 59. 
 
 description of, 64. 
 
 dry rot in mast of, 204. 
 
 Clam [Tridacna gigas), 155, 289. 
 Climbing fern, 199, 290. 
 Coco-nut palm, 277. 
 
 in bamboo, 181, 283. 
 
 juice, manner of drinking, 
 
 97. 257. 
 
 salad, 136, 273. 
 
 crab (Birgus latro), 297. 
 
 Communion at Tautira, 193. 
 
 vessels for Tautira, 197, 304. 
 
 Coral- tree, the (scarlet -flowered 
 
 Acacia), 304. 
 Cyclopean remains, 272. 
 
 Dancing, description of, 83, 267. 
 
 ornaments for, 132. 
 
 stilts used in, 267. 
 
 Darsie, Mrs., 176, 179. 
 Day-fly, or no-no, 286. 
 Deluge, traditions of, 284. 
 Dordillon, Bishop, 92, 262. 
 Dry rot in mast of Casco, 204. 
 
 Exchange of names, ceremonial 
 1 219. 
 I Erythrina corallodendron, 304. 
 
 Fakarava (Paumotus), 147. 
 
 illness at, 160. 
 
 Fall, traditions of the, 284. 
 Fei (mountain banana), 227, 299. 
 311
 
 312 FROM S ARAN AC TO THE MARQUESAS 
 
 Fern, climbing, 199, 304. 
 Fish, raw, 212, 307. 
 Fish-hooks, native, 182, 300. 
 
 pearl, 224, 309. 
 
 Fla7}iboyant, 206, 274. 
 
 Fresh water, bathing in, 212, 307. 
 
 ' Gains of Godliness,' 196. 
 Giant clam, 155, 289. 
 
 Hat-plaiting, 209. 
 ' High Places,' 97, 271. 
 Himhie, hymeni!, 216, 308. 
 Holakus (Mother Hubbards), 70, 
 
 259- 
 Honolulu, arrival at, 258. 
 Human hair, use of, 132, 282. 
 ' Hunter's Home," the, 20. 
 Hyde, Jekyll and, 9, 11, 15. 
 
 Idols, native, 82, 267, 273. 
 Infanticide, practice of, 277. 
 Influenza epidemic, 169, 297. 
 
 Jambo (Rose-apple), 221, 309. 
 Jekyll and Hyde, 9, ri, 15. 
 ' Josephites,' 290. 
 
 Ka-kji, preparation of, loi, 104, 
 
 27s, 276. 
 Kanaka, origin of, 116, 282. 
 
 house, 96. 
 
 Kane's Arctic Voyages, 24, 28, 29. 
 
 Landcrabs (Birguslairo), 170, 297. 
 Laura Bridgeman, visit to, 36. 
 
 Malay-apple [Rose-apple), 309. 
 
 Manasquan, 45. 
 
 Mats, native, 209, 305. 
 
 Mimosa pitdica (sensitive plant), 
 
 199, 304, 
 Moe, ex-Queen of Raiatea, 190, 
 
 234. 303- 
 Moorea (Eimeo), 174, 298. 
 
 Mormons, 162, 222, 290. 
 Mountain banana {Fei), 299. 
 Mulberry, paper, 275. 
 Mumus, 70, 259. 
 
 No-no fly, 133, 286. 
 
 legend of, 286. 
 
 No-no {Morinda citnfolia), 293. 
 Nuka-hiva, 73, 260. 
 
 Old men's beards, 114, 137, 282. 
 Oranges, green, 78. 
 Ori, 208, 305. 
 
 Pa-a-a-ewa, 127. 
 Pae-pae, 96, 269, 271. 
 Pandanus, 210. 
 Papeete, 168. 
 
 illness at, 169. 
 
 Passiflora (Rarbedine), 300. 
 Paumotus, the, 146, 287. 
 
 artificial soil in, 288. 
 
 Pearls, 155, 288. 
 Pearl-shell, 288. 
 
 black-edged, 188, 303. 
 
 Pigs, 80, 265. 
 Pilot-bird, 65, 259. 
 Pipe, reed, 105, 276, 
 Plaiting, hat, 209. 
 Poi-poi, 121, 188, 230, 282. 
 Point Venus, 177, 298. 
 Ponap6, ruins in, 273. 
 
 mats, 305. 
 
 ' Pulvis et Umbra,' 40. 
 
 Queen ok Raiatea, ex-, 190, 234, 
 
 303- 
 Queen Vaekehu, 109, 115, 279. 
 
 Raiatea, war in, 100, 274. 
 
 ex-Queen of, 190, 234, 303. 
 
 Raw fish, 212, 307. 
 Reed-pipe, 105, 276. 
 Religion, vagaries of, 290. 
 change of, 298.
 
 INDEX 
 
 3^3 
 
 Rose - apple (Jambo, 
 apple), 221, 309. 
 
 or Malay- 
 
 Saranac, arrival at, 16. 
 
 departure from, 42. 
 
 benefit from climate, 49. 
 
 Scarlet-flowered acacia, 206, 304. 
 School at Tai-o-hae, no, 280. 
 Sea water (as sauce), 211, 212. 
 
 bathing in, 212, 307. 
 
 Sensitive plant, 199, 304. 
 
 Silk cotton, 184, 302. 
 
 Stone, or giant, clam (Tridacna 
 
 gigas), 289. 
 Sweet potatoes (Batata edulls), iglj, 
 
 304- 
 
 Tacca (Tahitian arrowroot), 306. 
 Tahiti, 168, 295. 
 
 Tai-o-hae, 106, 262, 279. 
 Tapa, or native cloth, 280. 
 Tapu, 77, 250, 
 Taravao, 182, 185. 
 Tare, 196. 
 
 Tattooing, 76, 116, 263. 
 Tautira, 184. 
 
 Communion at, 193. 
 
 Communion plate for, 197, 304. 
 
 illness at, 185, 303. 
 
 Tridacna gigas (stone, or giant, 
 
 clam), 289, 
 Tropic-bird, 260. 
 
 Vaekehu, Queen, log, 115, 279. 
 Venus, Point, 177, 298. 
 transit of, 295. 
 
 ' Whistleks," 291. 
 
 Edinburgh : T. and A. Constable, Printers to His Majesty
 
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