South-Sea Idyls

and I was driven about homeless, and sometimes friendless, until, by and by, I heard of an opportunity to visit Molokai,-an isl

, out of which he dreads to awaken to a less pathetic life. I rode a day or two among the solemn and reproachful ruins with inexpressible complacence, and, having finally climbed a series of verdant and downy hills, and ridden for twenty minutes in a brisk shower, came suddenly upon the brink of a great precipice, three thousand feet in the air. My horse instinctively braced himself, and I nervously jerked the bridle square up to my breastbone, as I found we were poised between heaven and earth, upon a trembling pinnacle of rock. A broad peninsula was stretched below me, covered with

eemed to be climbing down that crag,-through wreaths of vine, and under leafy cataracts breaking into a foam of blossoms a thousand feet below me; s

be rid of the curious crowd that had gathered to receive me. The little cottage was very comfortable, my host and hostess friends of precious memory; and with them I felt at once a

that grope about you; listen in vain for the voices that have been hushed forever by decay; breathe the tainted atmosphere; and bear ever in mind that, while they hover about you,-forbidden t

ome for little measures of milk, morning and evening. Then there was a continuous raid upon the ointment-pot, with the contents of which they delighted to anoint themselves. Trifling disturbances sometimes brought the plaintiff and defendant to the front gate, for final judgment at the hands of their beloved keeper. And it was a constant entertainment to watch the progress of events in that singular little world of doomed spirits. They

waited till the others were served with their milk, still watching me all the while. Then the keeper entered and told me how I had a friend out there who wished to speak with me,-some one who had seen me somewhere, he supposed, but whom I would hardly remember. It was their way never to forget a face they had once become familiar with. Out I went.

ase had spread with fearful rapidity: the keeper thought he could hardly survive the year. Many linger year after year, and can

"master." I wish I had never seen him so humbled. To think of my disreputable little protégé, who was wont to lord it over me as though he had been a born chief,-to think of Joe as being there in his extremity, grovelling in the dust at

tween us, while we talked very long in the twilight; and I was glad when it grew so dark that I c

nd turning up a white and shining swath! Then, in another place, a grove of cocoa-palms and a melancholy, monastic-looking building, with splendid palm-branches in its broad windows; for it was just after Palm Sunday, and the building belonged to a Sisterhood. And I remembered how the clouds fell and the rain drove us into a sudden shelter, and we ate tamarind-jam, spread thick on

f utterances that you could almost hear and understand but for something that made them all a mystery. I tried then, if ever I tried in my life, to make Joe a little less bad than he was naturally, and he seemed nearly inclined to be better, and would, I think, have been so, but for the thousand temptations that gravitated to him wh

nd the night was wildly and weirdly musical. We walked by the sea the next day, and the day following that, Joe taking pains to stay on the leeward side of me,-he was so careful to keep the knowledge of his fate uppermost in his m

no longer a complete being; his soul was prostrated in

, and get well on my journey before the heat of the day. We took a last walk by the rocks on the shore; heard the sea breathing its long breath under the hollow cones of lava, with a noise like a giant leper in his asthmatic ag

u to my dear friends, the keepers, and mounting, walked the horse slowly up the grass-grown road. I shall never see little Joe again, with his pitiful face, growing gradually as dreadful as a cobra's, and almost as fascinating in its hideousness. I waited, a little way off, in the darkness,-waite

-DANCERS

endeavored to persuade our fagged steeds that they must go and live, or stay and die in the middle of a lava-trail by no means inviting. As we rode,

s seemed to have found dissimilar expression, equally effect

l it. We rode till we were tired out twenty times over; again and again we looked forward to the bit of Mardi-life we were about to experience in the vale of the Waipio, while now and then we passed one of Mr. A's pretty little churches. Once we were impatient enough to make inquiry of a native who was watching our progress with considerable emotion: there is always some one to watch you when you are wishing yourself at the North Pole. Our single spectator affected an air of gravity, and seemed quite interested as he said, "Go six or seven churches farther on that trail, and you'll come to Waipio." On we went with renewed spirits, for the churches were frequent, almost within sight of each other. But we fal

souls, and we slid out of our saddles as though

r. "Come in," said the host; and he led us under the thatched gable, that was fragrant as new-mown hay.

nt greeted us, being guests in the valley, just lifting their slumberous eyelids,-masked batteries, that made Felix forget h

t brought with it a message from the orangery up the valley. "How will you take your oranges?" queried Felix; "in pulp, liquid, or perfume?"-and such a dense odor swept past us at the moment, I

at-you-call-it, and was assured that it was worth seeing,

ound thither, navigable in spots, but from time to time the canoe

s, leaving Felix and me alone. It was deathly still in the valley, though a thousand crickets sang, and the fish smacked their round mou

ing is lost by this ingenious and admirable arrangement. Why should they sleep, when a night there has the very essence of five nights anywhere

ative girls, who seat themselves at our feet, clasping eac

assment, and I appealed to the hospitable gentleman of the

the corner, two of these maids would speedily relieve me o

new joints, and I think the new joints were temporarily set in, for my arms and legs went into angles I had never before seen them in, nor have I since been able to assume those startling attitudes. The stomach was then kneaded like dough. The ribs were crushed down against the spine, and then forced ou

lain flat on the matting, without a curve in me, when Nature, taking pity, gradually let me r

d to ask him how he was reduced to submission, for I little imagined he could so far forget himself. There are some sudden and inexplicable revolutions in the affairs of humanity that should not be looked into too closely, because a chaotic chasm yawns between the old man and the new, which no one has ever yet explored. Felix sprang to his feet like Prometheus unbound, and embraced me with fervor, as one might after a hair-breadth escape, exclaiming, "Di

ly narrow canoe in the very deepest part of the creek. Bands of fishermen and women passed us, wading breast-high in the water, beating it into a foam before them, and singing at the top of their voices as they drove the fish down stream into a broad net a few rods

cle, and dipped in with a vengeance. Six right hands spread their first and second fingers like sign-boards pointing to a focus in the very centre of that poi-paste; six fists dove simultaneously, and were buried in the luscious mass. There was a spasmodic working in the elbows, an effort to come to the top, and in a moment the hands were lifted aloft in triumph, and seemed to be tracin

e form of bread. "Moreover," I added, "this poi is glutinous: the moment a finger enters it, a thin coating adheres to the skin, and that finger may wander about the calabash all day without touching another

er for a safe return to Chicago, as we slid into

ore caution as the channel grew narrow; and pressing through a submerged thicket of reeds, we route

far away. We strode through a cane-field, its smoky plumes just tipped with moonlight, and saw the pinnacle of Mauna Kea, as spacious and splendid as the fairy pavili

ally to drip from her burnished disk. Again Felix exclaimed, or was on the point of exclaiming, when he checked himself in awe. I ran to him, and was silent wit

t provocation. On we paced, in Indian file, through narrow lanes, under the shining leaves. Pale blossoms rained down upon us, and the air was oppressively sweet. Groups of natives sat in the lanes, smoking and laughing. Lovers made love in the face

ature of our visit, which having proved entirely satisfactory, we were welcomed in real earnest, and offered a mat in an inner room of a large

y as possible upon our mats, supported by plump pillows, stuffed with dried ferns. Slender rushes-strung with kukui-nuts, about the size of chestnuts, and very oily-

performers entered, sitting in two lines, face to face,-six women and six men. Each bore a long joint of bamboo, slit at one end like a broom. Then began a singularly intricate exercise, called pi-ulu. Taking a bamboo in one hand, they struck it in the palm of the other, on the shoulder, on the floor in front, to left and right; thrust it out before them, and were parried by the partners opposite; crossed it o

oke, and the conversation became general and noisy. Felix was enthusiastic, and drank

st, who had imbibed with Felix, though he reserved his enthusiasm for something less childish than pi-ulu. It is the national dance, taught t

ile the musicians beat an introductory overture upon the tom-toms, the dancers proceeded to bind shawls and scarfs about their waists, turban-fashion. They sat in a line, facing us, a foot or two apart. Th

ng,-such as a pig or a fowl,-for the dance has a religious significance, and is attended by its appropriate ceremonies. When this clarion cry had ended, the dance began, all joining in with wonderfully accurate rhythm, the body swaying slowly backward and forward, to left and right; the arms tos

reased. Swifter and more wildly the bare arms beat the air, embracing, as it were, the airy forms that haunted the dancers, who rose to their knees, and, with astonishing agilit

"how long they could

s sake, or three whiffs at a pipe that would poison a White Man in ten minutes; and before we half expected it, or ha

g us, now turning from us, they spun and ambled, till the ear was deafen

lowing big lumps of something from their throats clear to the tips of their tails, and the convulsions

een suffered to immolate himself at that inappropriate and unholy time and place. This was the seductive dance still practised in s

Felix said it was not practicable. He felt unwell, and

pon the air. It must have been heard far off in the valley, it was so plaintive and penetrating. Secreted at first behind shawls hung in the corner of the room, some dramatic effect was produced by her entrance at the right moment. She enacted her part with graceful energy. To the regular and melancholy thrumming of the calabash, she sang her

well as several attempts at illustrating the peculiarities of the performance, which came near resulting in a watery grave for three, or an upset canoe, at any rate. Our host, to excuse any impropriety, for whic

g remnants of humanity actually gave a grand ball in their hospital. There was a general clearing out of disabled patients, and a brushing up of old finery, while the ball itself was the topic of conversation. Two or three young fellows, w

f the lazar-house. Many a rejoicing soul had fled from that

the wild sea moaning in the wild night were the sweetest sounds that greeted them. And while the flutes piped dolorously to this unlovely spectacle, there was a rushing to and fro of unlovely figure

e hall of revels, that mad crowd reeled through the hours of the fête. Satiated, at last, in t

extinguished lamps, they fed on the voluptuous abandon of

Felix lay on his mat, sleeping heavily, and ev

lowed me out of the valley to the little chapel on the cliff. Our horses took a

arpet of Nature's richest pattern; that torrent, leaping from the cliff into a garden of citrons; the sea sobbing at its mouth, while wary mariners, coasting in summer afternoons, catch glimpses of the tranquil and forbidd

a moral, though at present he is scarcely in a condition to adorn any tale whatever; and said moral I shall be glad to furn

ING IN THE

inutes. Now the Great Western was nothing more nor less than a seventeen-ton schooner, two hours out

in one hand and a briny biscuit in the other; we never could keep a fire in that galley, and as for hard tack, the

cal kiss or two toward the gloriously green pyramid we were turnin

ry hot-bed of cocoa-nut oil, pearls, half-famished Kanakas, shells, and shipwrecks. The currents are rapid and variable; the winds short, sharp, and equally unreliable. If you would have adventure, the real article and plenty of it, make

ve death in fifty fathoms of phosphorescent liquid and a grave in a shark's maw. Therefore I prayed for more wind from the right quarter, for a sea like a boundless mill-pond; in short, for speedy deliverance on the easiest terms possible. Notwithstanding,

hree hours, scarcely speaking all that time. It's

and felt himself a little lower than Christopher Columbus thereafter. "Where away?" bellowed our chunky little captain, as important as if he were commanding a grown-up ship. "Two points on the weather-bow!" piped the lookout, with the voic

sweep the horizon with unwinking gaze. We could scarcely tell how near the land might lie; fancied we could already hear the roar of surf-beaten reefs, and every wave that reared before us seemed the rounded outline of an isla

nt; we were silently watching, wrapped in th

f spice. We knew what it meant, and our hearts leaped within us as over the bow loomed the wave-like outline of shadow that sank not again l

palm boughs glisten in the moonlight, and the glitter and the

ch way to turn next. This was the Ultima Thule of the Great Western's voyage, and she seemed to know it, for she

reef quite audible; a fellow gets used to such

did easily enough, shaking hands all around over a cup of thick coffee and molasses as three fathoms of chain

a dense growth of tropical foliage and cushioned to the hem of the beach with thick sod of exquisite tint and freshness. The narrow rim of beach that sloped suddenly to the tideless margin of the lake was littered with numberless slender canoes drawn out of the water like so many fish, as thou

ncoherent booming of the sea upon the reef that encircled our nest. But we forgot the wind and the waves in the inexpressible re

l gravitating to the schooner, which was for the time being the head-centre of their local comme

veral; but the canoeless could not resist the superior attraction of a foreign invader, therefore the rest of th

d surface of the water that morning, he would speedily have had more blades in him than a farrier's knife. A few vigorous strokes of the arms and legs in the neighborhood, a fatal lunge or

been thrown overboard in a stress of weather. They gathered about as thick as flies at a honey-pot, all talking, laughing, and spouting mouthfu

ship's crew, threw up an arm like Jove's, clinched the deck-rail with li

would have suffered financially had he attempted boarding us, for his thick back hair was netted with a kind of spacious n

ue received its instant reward (which it doesn't in all climates), for he at

d above water if possible; therefore I unhesitatingly took the eggs, offer

charity, even when he dropped back into the sea, floating for a few moments so as to let the blood circulate in his arm again; but whether this was his magnanimous gift, or merely a trap to involve me in ho

y no means disagreeable to me. He was big enough to whip any two of his fellows

iproc

ude of Juliet in the balcony scene, assuring that egg-boy that

us greeting still observed in the most civilized countries with even g

sented to board the Great Western, which having accomplished with my help, he deposited his eggs at my

ognomen of "Thrown from a horse." Fortunately he doesn't spell it with so many letters in his tongue. His christening happened in this wise: A bosom friend of his mother was thrown from a horse and killed the day of his birth. Therefore the bere

incere thanks of yours truly, together with these fish-hooks, these tenpenny nails, this key-ring." Hua Manu smiled and accepted, burying the fish-hooks in his matted forelock, and insert

rls as he might find in possession of the natives, and for a fresh search for pearl oysters at the earliest possible hour. There were no pearls on hand. What are pearls to a man who has as many wives, children, and cocoa-nuts as he can dispo

anoe, explore the lagoon for fresh oyster-beds, and fill innumerable cocoa-nut shells with these little white seeds. It will be both pleasant and profitable, particularly for me." We were scarcely

ither we would fly and domesticate ourselves. The long, curved point of land soon hid the inner waters from view. We rose and sank on the swell between the great reef and the outer rim of the island, while the sun glowed fiercely overhead and the reef howled in our ears. Still on we skimmed, the water hissing along the smooth side

ff, so low we both ducked our heads instinctively, letting the

e filled with an eternal and sunless twilight that was very so

ms lined with nests, and never a nest without its egg, often two or more together. Below us, in two fathoms of crystal, sunlit and luminous bowers of coral,

ea Monte Christo, and no less magnificent title can do you justice." Thereat Hua Manu laughed immoder

d plunged under. How he struggled to get down to the gaping oysters, literally climbing down head-first! I saw his dark form wrestling with the elements that strove to force him back to the surface, crowding him out into the air again. He seized one of the shells, but it shut immediately, and he tugged and jerked and wrenched at it like a young demon till it gave way, when he struck out and up for air. All this seemed an age to me. I took full twent

ewed his efforts at the bottom of the sea. I scarcely dared to count the minutes now, nor the bubbles that came up to me like little balloons with a death-message in each. Suppose he were to send his last breath i

or three descents are as many as they can make in a da

ed threatening enough, and we were glad to return after an hour's tramp. The next day was darker, and the next after that, when a gale came down upon us that seemed likely to swamp Motu Hilo. A swell rolled o

at the bottom of the sea, the Great Western back at Tahiti, and I loaf

ing for an hour and a half. The swell rather increased; our frail

ury it subsided with a concussion that nearly deafened us, and dragged us with fearful velocity toward the narrow mou

next wave," said Hua, as he seized a large shell and began clearing the canoe of the water that had accumulated. Then he bo

he intense pressure that nearly forced the eyes out of my head and made me faint and giddy. Recovering from the shock, with a cry

r of the elements more awful than anything I had ever heard before. Sheets of wat

rs, cutting us like knives. I could scarcely distinguish Hua's outline, the spray was so dense, and as for him, what could he do? Nothing, in

re blown into the open sea, where the canoe spun for a second in the trough of the waves,

*

l half-drowned people: a panoramic view of my poor life crammed with sin and sorrow and regret; a complete biography written and read through inside of ten seconds. I was half strangled, call it two thirds, for that comes

ause he didn't think that worth towing off to some other island, and he

was clear, the white caps scarce, but the swell still sufficient to make me dizzy as we

ious that he had a deck passenger nearly as big as himself. My hands were twisted into his hair in such

finite satisfaction of the Hawaiian woman who swam for forty hours in such a sea, with an aged and helpless husband upon her back. Reachin

wind continuing, the sea falling, and anon night coming like an

ng before I dared to look for it, and then came sunrise,-a sort of intermittent sunrise that gilded Hua's sh

nk I was excusable for questioning his infallibility then and there. The minute he cried out "Land!" I gave up and went to sleep or to death, for I thought he was daft, an

*

stood on a mound of coarse sand in the middle of the ocean, w

dy's bald head. That's a nice spot to be merry in, isn'

e coming down that way shortly; she'd pic

e ocean; shelterless under a sun that blistered Hua's tough skin; eyes blinded with the glare of sun and sea; the sand glowing like brass and burning into flesh alre

wearily overhead, looking like spirits in the moonlight. Hua scanned earnestly our narrow horizon, noting every inflection in the voic

g, I scarcely knew what. When it had recovered from its fatigue, it sat regarding us curiously. I wanted to wring its short, thick neck, and eat it, feathers and all. Hua objected; there was a superstition that gave that bland bird its life. It might continue to ogle u

painful. A dream came to me after that owl had stared me into stone,-a dream of an island in a sea of glass; soft ripples lapping on the silver shores; sweet airs sighing in a star-lit grove; some one gathering me in his arms, hugging me close with infinite tenderness; I was consumed with thirst, speechless with hunger; like

swashed in my bunk as of yore. The captain sat by me wi

re we?"

from Tahiti,

up and down the record of the last fort

nd the captain shook his bottle, and held on to the side of my bun

ll a hawk from a hernshaw; and, speakin

irst day out, in a light breeze, they all saw a man apparently wading up to his middle in the sea. The fellow hailed the Great Western, but as she could hardly stand up against the rapid current in so light a wind, the captain let her drift past the man in the sea, who suddenly disappeared. A consultation of officers followed. Evidently some one was cast away and ought to be looked aft

evered by the finest teeth you ever saw. That's what saved me. On came the little schooner,

Too late they gathered us up out of the deep and strove to renew our strength. They transported us to the little cabin of the schooner, Hua Manu, myself, and that mincing owl, and swung off into the old course. Probably the Great Western never did

ns, but I don't believe he regretted it. The captain said when he was dying, his faithful eyes were fixed on me. Unconsciously I moved a little; he smiled,

wondered if there were many truer and braver than he in Christian lands. They call him a heathen. It was heathenish to offer up his life vicariously.

ric bright with his sacrificial blood, its theme this glowing text: "Grea

F THE GREA

t of this pellucid sphere the smallest of propellers trailing two plumes of sea-foam, like the tail-feathers of a bi

the sea-shore,-the artist and I seeking to renew our dolce far niente in some new forest of pa

l friends and many islanders. They are so ready to kill time in the simp

with all the sublime resignation of the confessed lounger, we await the approach of tw

-and the world as hot as Tophet. We lie upon our mattresses, brought out of the foul cabin into the sweet air, and pass the night half intoxicated with romance and cigarettes. The natives cover the deck of

he flame a dark face, grotesque it may be, like an antique water-spout with dust in its jaws. But som

broken English. "Annie Laurie," "When the Cruel War is over," and other equally ambitious and proportionately popular ballads ring in goo

Molokai arise before us. It is an island of cliffs and ca?ons, mu

atures of the uncomprehending natives, and here find all of the old superstitions in their original significance, the temples, and

ls! No, we are too far out from shore: then it

g little Lahaina, drowsy and indolent, with its two or three long, long avenues overhung with a green

of its liquors, vile and fortunately scarce, and get us hats plaited of the coarsest straw and of unbounded r

eys folded inland, said to be lovely and mystical. Then there are mites of villages always half-grown and half-starved looking, and always clo

ell by six, however, when we hear the Angelus rung from the low tower of a long coral church in another sea-wedded hamlet. Think of the great barn-like churches, once

at sunset, we turn suddenly into the bay that saw the last of Captain Cook, and here swing at anchor in eight fathoms of liquid crystal over a floor of shining white coral, and cl

with calm eyes of faith for the promised return of a certain god. Where should they look b

uietude of Hawaii like a messenger from heaven, and the signal gun s

moker they had seen, though they are now his most devout apostles. Showing him all due reverence, he failed to r

test the divinity of

y out or attempt to run, he was no god, for the gods are fearless; and if he was no god, he dese

the back. Being close by the shore he fell face downward in the water and died a half-bloody, half-watery, and wholly inglorious death. H

my, and with flag at half-mast were blown sullenly back to England, there to inau

us, and under whose shadow we now float. Which of the hundred is the one so honored is quite uncertain. What does it matter, so long as the whole mountain is a ca

he cliff above. Rude bars of wood are laid across the mouths of some of them. It is the old

heart was left untouched of the flames of this sacrifice. What a

h other," has at least this ground for his affirmation. Natives of the South Sea Islands have been driven as far north as this in their frail canoes. They were cannibals, and no doubt were hungry, and may have e

nook in the Pacific. A turned-down page, it is perhaps a little too dog-eared to be read over again, but

REST RELATING T

ree where Coo

rock where

altar on th

he rive

survivor,-th

men sepulchre

creatures than one would suppose, for he confesses them equal in physical beauty to the Italian models. All sentiment seemed to have been dragged out of him by much travel. At night we sit together on the threshold

made to God's order some few centuries ago. We wonder if He ever changes his mind; this came down red-hot from the hills yonder, and cooled at high-water mark. It holds the heat like an oven-brick, and we find it almost impo

No. II. in the list

over some live coals to our housekeeping. Now down a little pathway at our right comes a native woman, with a plump and tough sort of pillow under each arm. These she implores us to receive and be comfortable. We refuse to be comforted in this fashion, we despise luxuries, and in true cosmopolitan independence hang our heads over our new saddle-trees, and sleep heavily in an atmosphere

thi

e

JAMES CO

h

Circumn

h

ed these

D.

jesty'

og

17,

ist is checked off

under difficulties, and now there is no visible trace of her and her pillows,-only that voice out of

; and such it is, for here the palace of Kamehameha I. stood,-a palace of grass like this one we are sleeping in. Nothing

in the manner of the Christians. We are glad of it. Our fruit diet of yesterday, the horrors of a night in the saddle-a safe and pretty certain mode of dislocating the neck-make us yearn for a good old-fashioned meal. Horses

ew-filled foliage on both sides of the trail, and under the thick webs spun in the upper

osity. A wall half in ruins in the centre, rising from a heap of stones tumbled together, a black, weather-stained cross, higher than

shall finish by noon easily. The sequ

ugh its body, about three feet from the roots, made by the shot of Cook's avengers. A lady could barely thrust her hand through them; they indicate rather light calibre for defence nowadays, but enough to te

slim arms, a round head, sleek and shining as an oiled gourd; sans teeth; eyes like the last drops in desert wells; the skeleton sharply protruding; no motion; apparently no life beyond the quick and incessant blinking of the eyelids,-the curtains fluttering in the half-shut windows of the soul. Is it a man and a brother? Yes, verily! When the uncaptured crew of the Resolution poured their iron shot int

, but balance ourself on its rim and hold our breath for fear of upsetting. These odd-looking out-riggers are honest enough in theory, but tr

eached cave, and with the lad and his smo

othing now but a litter. Here is an infant's skull, but broken, thin and delicate as a sea-shell, and full of dust. Here is a tougher one, whole and solid; the teeth well set and very white; no sign of decay in any one of these molars. Perhaps it is because so little of their food is even warm when they eat it. This rattles as we lift it. The brain and the crumbs of earth are inseparably wedded.

he sea, flowing red-hot, but cooling almost instantly, it mowed down the forests of palms, and the trunks were not consumed,

peculiar loveliness that bewitched us the evening we crossed it in silence. There was something in the air that said, "Peace, peace"

n? There are paths leading to it. Thither the gods journeyed i

The natives love these mountains and the sea. They are the cardinal points of thei

but turn again, and see their steadfast gaze! You feel their earnestness. It is imposing, and you cannot think lightly of it. Who forgets the mountains he has once seen? It is quite probable the mountain cares little for your individuality: but it has given

UISE IN TH

ded to solve, and, having invested my two shirts, I began the solution in this wise: My slender little treasure lay with half its le

te I wandered, with this advertiseme

special fondness for human flesh; not particular as to sex! Apply immediat

evidently ate more than was good for them, which might result disastrously in a canoe-cruise, and I set my heart against them. The afternoon was

d, and I proposed shipping one of the melodious vagabonds, whereupon the entire chorus expressed a willingness to accompany me, in any capacity whatever, remarking, at the same time, that "they were a body bound, so to speak, by chords of harmony, and any proposal to disband them would, by it, be regarded as highly absurd." Then I led the solemn procession of volunteers to my canoe, and we regarded it in silence; it was something larger than a pea-pod, to be sure, but about the shape of one. After a moment of deliberation, during which a great throng of curious spectators had assemble

shore seemed to recede, drawing the low, thatched houses into deeper shadow; other canoes skimmed over the se

en, like a mote in a sheet of flame. Thither I directed the reformed flutist, and then let myself

ssible age and sex, and consisted, in this case, of a thin breadth of cloth, stamped with a deep blue firmament, in which supernaturally yellow suns were perpetually setting in several spots. A round head topped his chubby shoulders, and was shaven from the neck to the crown, with a matted forelock of the blackness of darkness fa

substance that materially impeded our progress and suggested all sorts of disagreeable sensations,-such as knife-grinding in the next yard, saw-filing round the corner, etc. It was as though we were careering madly over a mu

riegated cauliflowers? Or were the elements wafting us over a minute w

howers of buds, purple, and green, and gold, but fading almost as soon as born. I could scarcely believe my eyes, when these tiny, though marvellously brilliant fish shot suddenly out from some lace-like structure, each having the lurid and flame-like beauty of sulphurous fire, and all turning instantly, in sudden consternation at finding us so near, and secreting themselves in the cora

" Fefe gave a deep-mouthed and expressive grunt, as he laid his brown profile against the sunset sky, thereby displaying his solitary ear-ring to the best advantage, and with evident personal satisfaction. "And how do you feel, Fefe?" I asked. He was mum for a moment; arched his back like any wholesome animal when the sun has struck clean through it; ejaculated an ejaculati

her valleys looked full of sleep! while here and there one golden ray lingered for a moment to put the final touch to a fruit it was

ir, like momentary inches of chain-lightning. Our islet swam before us, spiritualized,-suspended, as it were, above the sea,-ready at any moment to fade away. The waves had ceased beating upon the reef; th

sing shadows of the dusk. A sloping beach received us; the young cocoa-palms embraced one another with fringe

it. Descending, he planted a stake in the earth, and striking a nut against it

enthusiasm. There is one end of a cocoa-nut's skull as delicate as a baby's, and a well-directed tap does the business; possibly the same resu

in South Pacific fashion,-which would surely spoil, if imported; I only remember, and will record, that Fefe regarded the nose-flute as a triumph of art, and considered himself no novice in music

ed. At this juncture, voices came over the sea to us,-voices chanting like sirens upon the shore. Instinctively Fefe's nose-flute resumed its tremolo, and I knew the day was lost. "Come!" said the little rascal, as though he were captain and I the crew, and he dragged

-no easy task for one unaccustomed to it. So I moodily embarked with him; and having pushed off into deep w

two exceptions; to sever every tie that bound me to anything under the

one immeasurable drop of quicksilver, and upon the summit of this luminous sphere our shallop was mysteriously poised. A faint wind was breathing over the ocean; Fefe erected his paddle

grave. "La Petite Pologne," whispered Fefe, as he arched his back for the last time, and stepped on shore at the foot of this singular rendezvous,-a narrow lane threading the groves of Papeete, bordered

mances, the audience was dense and demonstrative. Fefe was in his element, sitting with his best side to the public, and flaunting his ear-ring mightily. A dance followed: a dance always follows in that land of light hearts, and as one after another was ushered into the arena and gave his or her body to the interpretation of such songs as would startle Christian ears,-albeit there be some Christian hearts less tender, and Christian lips less true,-to my surprise, Fefe abandoned his piping and danced before me, and then came a flash of intuition,-rather late, it is true, but still useful as an explanatory supplement to my previous vexations. "

nt the air; there was an intoxicating element that enveloped all things. The street was by no means straight, though it could scarcely have been narrower; the waves staggered up the beach, and reeled back again; the moon leered at us, looking blear-eyed as she leaned against a cloud; and half-nude bodies lay here and there in dark corners, steeped to the toes in rum. Out of this human maelstrom, whose fatal tide was

pect you, with your assorted legs, to walk in that straight and narrow way wherein I have frequently found it inconvenient to walk myself, to say n

adow with the mustache and goatee still pursued the shadow with the flowing locks that fled too slowly. Voices faint, though au

sadly upon the remote shores of an ideal sphere, across the window loomed the gigantic shadow of some brown

A GRAS

RANDOM FROM A T

ovided him by the trail-side. The clouds are falling; the cliffs are festooned with damp gauze; the air is moist and cool; a grass hut of uncommon purity stands invitingly by. A moon-faced youth, whose spotless garments appealed to me as he overtook our caravan a mile back, says, "Will you eat and sleep?" I am but human, and a hungry and sleepy human at that

, a dozen of them magically assemble at the smell of smoke and take their turn at the curled shell, with a hollow stalk for a mouth-piece. Dinner at last. O, fish, fruit, and fowl on a mat on a floor in a grass hut at evening! How excellent are these-amen! Night-supper over-some one twanging upon a stringed instrument of rude native origin. Gossip

mine host's household roll themselves into mummies and lie in a solemn row along the side of the room, sleeping. I, also, will sleep. A great bark-cloth (kapa) that rattles as though it had received seven starchings, is all mine for covering,-a royal kapa this, of exceeding stiffness. I lie with my eyes to the roof, and count the beams that look like an arbor. What is it, as large as my thumb, cased in brown armor? A roach!-a melancholy procession of roaches passing from one side of the hut, over the roof, with their backs downward, and descending on the other side by the b

r lofty and sublime revery. More rain outside the hut; gusts of wind, wailing as they rush past us. Thanks for this shelter. My pillow saturated with cocoa-n

ly eating up the side of the grass hut! Anon, quiet restored. A suggestion of moonlight through the open door; the twanging of the stringed affair; a responsive twang in the distance. Some one steals cautiously forth into the starlight. All is not well in Kahakuloa. Rain over; mule vegetating elsewhere; roaches subdued; sea comp

e the trail as it climbs persistently to heaven; but up that trail, int

TH-SEA

s across the hills of spring. Her letter was but half finished, and the village post

ing,

god, drinking the milk of cocoa-nut, and eating bread-fruit,-but wherever you a

over land and sea, till, after many days, it found me dri

eaf, with a thorn stylet, but upon the blank margins of Gai

mer,

burnt and brawny, with a baby cannibal under each arm. Then at a word a tattooed youngster shall reach her a Tahitian pearl, and I will cry, 'Give it to Mistress Gail'; whereat Deborah will willingly withdraw, leaving me motionless in the

silence, and stood knocking at the south entry, in real earnest. Deborah came at last, and the little striped fellow bore aloft his pearl of Tahitian beauty, while I gave my message, and Deborah was terrified and thought she was dreaming. But she to

hither Deborah brought bowls of new milk for the little ones, and was wonderfully amazed a

elping them with their bowls of milk as they nestled at her feet, and I took my striped beauty between my knees and stroked his

ad to escape with our scalps, when a wave took us amidships on the reef, and we swamped in the dreadful spume. Some were drowned; some clung to the boat

sy within ten minutes after the accident. It looked stormy in that neighborhood: hence the caution and haste of the relief-crew, who

oul in its extremity: I was just upon the third sinking, when a tough little arm gripped me under the breast, and I hung over it limp and senseless, know

e of me, to get me out of the way. But that tough little arm that saved me from an early grave in the water was husband to a tough little heart, that resolved I shouldn't be burn

n: this marvellous tattooing proclaims his rank. Only the noble and

tender and affectionate way. He was lithe as a panther, and striped all over with brilliant and changeless

r escape together, though he had to sacrifice all his bone-jewelry, and lots of skulls and scalps: and here he is, and you must like

eer face-ringed, streaked, and striped-up to mine, and laughed his barbaric laugh. He was wonderful to see, with his breast like a pigeon; his round, supple, almost voluptuous limbs, peculi

ed pricked into his skin (there he discounted the zebras, who are limited in their combinations of light and shade): this, together with the mul

ooked like some prostrate idol about to be immolated on that Christian hearth; and the baby cannibals

nest voice of the reader, while the autumn winds rose in gusts, and puffed out the curtains now and then. I thought of the chilly nights and frosty mornings we were to endure,-we exiles o

wake up again into life; and what would I be worth then, without my wild boys?-I, who was born, by some mischance, out of my tropical element, and whose birthright is Polynesia! Gail laughed when she saw me fretting so, and she patted the curly heads of the babies, and stroked the Zebra'

again, and we trotted down to breakfast, as hungry as bears. Deborah was good enough to embrace both the litt

laughed in his dreams. Presently Gail came in, and we sat at table, and came near to eating her out of house and home. Deborah said grace,-rather a long one, considering we were so hungry,-a grace in which my babies were not forgotten, and the Zebra was made the subject of a spec

INS'

E ATTR

E NIGH

AND

SEA BABIES, FROM

ABAL

A

ONDER

BR

FROM THE PALMY PL

RAND MORAL

portunity is now affo

ety how the heathen

to wood

riginal and genuine

and Pottobokee

coral

-. Children,

ngers, while she looked at all four of us savages in a peculiar and ominous manner. Nothing was said, however, to disparage any further announcement of the entertainment; and, having appeased our hunger, we adjourned

who was deeply interested, proposing to take up a collection on the next sabbath, for our benefit,-which proposition I received with a graceful acquiescence peculiarly my own; the professor, at the Seminary, who was less affable, but whose pupils were radiant at the prospect of getting into the cannibals at reduced rates; and the editor, who desired to print ful

te dinner, I went out again, to finish for the evening,-portioning off my charges, as before, and returning, at the last moment, to bring them up to the hall for their début. But judge of my horror

simply raising the voice to the highest and shrillest pitch, and then shaking to an unlimited degree. Gail was by no means charmed at these new developments, and Deborah fled from the room. In a moment the cause of our trouble wa

e early stages of a public and Christian career had quite prostrated the representative from many a palmy plain; and the South Sea

ginable, and sang their love-lyrics, and chanted their passionate war-chants, and gave the funeral wail in a manner that reflected the highest cr

at once saw this, and as I had two or three engagements during that time, I begged Gail to allow him to remain with her during his convalescence, while I went on with the babes and fulfilled my engageme

ses every evening. Delighted and enthusiastic audiences wanted the midgets passed ar

watched moment, had got into the kerosene, and was considered no longer a welcome guest at Gail's. Deborah was pr

as well. I feared it was already too late to save him, for I knew the nature of his ailment, and foresaw the almost inevitable result. When we returned, Gail met us with tears in her eyes and furrows of care foreshadowed in her face. I fel

ity of speaking to any one, save in his broken English, for several days, and he rushed into a torrent of ejaculations so violent and confusing that I was thoroughly alarmed at his condition. Presently he grew quieter, from sheer exhaustion, and then I learned how he had taken Deborah's well-intended efforts toward his spiritual conversion. He believed her praying him to death! Deborah knew nothing of t

bra is a dead boy!" Gail was shocked, and silent. I told her how useless, how hopeless it was to think of saving him. All the doctors and all the medicines in the world were a fallacy where the soul was overshadowed with a malediction. "Gail," I said, "that Zebra says he wants to be an angel, and he couldn't possibly have d

death-angel that walks hand-in-hand with a superstition as antique as Mount Ararat. So day by day the little Zebra grew more and more slender, till his fra

ring in a language unfamiliar to me. I remembered that the chiefs had a dialect of their own,-a vocabulary so sacred and secret that no commoner ev

y; but her earnest soul never rested from prayer in his behalf till his last breath was spent, and his splendid stripes grew

nder, wiry fingers locked over it, but they recognized the death-stroke with prophetic instinct, and, crouchi

arlight, and the sea moaned upon the reef, and the rivulet leaped from crag to crag through silence and shadow: where death seemed but a grateful sleep;

on and co-operation. I basked in its smiles. I trembled at the thought of its displeasure; and now death was robbing me of my hard-earned riches, and annihilating my best attraction. No wonder I fretted myself, and berated my ill-fortune. Poor Gail ha

his humid eyes glowed like twin moons sinking in the far, mystical horizon of the new life he was about to enter upon. I struggled with him no longer. I bowed down by his pillow, and

carried the coffin in my arms thither: how light it was! he could have borne me upon his brawny shoulders once,-strong as a lion's. Gail cried, and Deborah cried; and I was quite beside myself. The mites of cannibals ate earth and ashe

ess after that; seeing, meantim

e l

is fa

of the Sa

Last of

howman has little time to waste in mourning

f buffalo-robes around us, and a layer of hot bricks underfoot, and so we started for our next scene of action. The inexorable calls of the profession forbade our lingering longer under G

overed with drifts of pale apple-blossoms, and in the long winters it would be hidden under the paler drifts of snow,-when it should be strewn with sea-shells, and laid away under a cactus-hedge, in a dense and fragrant shade; and I gathered my little ones closer to me, and said in my soul: "O, if the August Public could only know them as I know them, it would doubt us less, and

*

heathens don't insist upon turning into angels before their time, after the manner of the lamented Zebra. In the me

SE OF T

ng, though it was never cool enough to shut a door, or to think of wearing a hat for any other purpose than to keep the sun out of one's eyes. L--'s veranda ran out into vacancy as blank as cloudless sky and shadowless sea could make it; in fact, all that the eye found to rest upon was the low hill jutting off from one corner of the house beyond a jasmine in blossom; and under the hill a flat-sailed schooner roc

ially as L-- was busy and could not talk much, and L--

he little rascal looked knowing; his hour had come. He fired o

use of the Sun,-we make

e is that

phantly, for he saw he had resurrected my interest in life, and he felt that he had a thing or two worth showing, a glimpse of w

n the Sandwich Islands, supposed

into the S

imb up, and go

t the skylight: this were indeed a roy

e; then down-down-down into the crater, that had been strewn with ashes for a thousand years. After that, out on the other side, toward the sea, where the trade-winds blew, and the country was fresh and fruitful. The young

t, why not take this promising and uncommon tour? The charm of travel is to break new paths. I ceased to yawn any further over life. Kahéle went to the beasts, and began saddling them. L--'s hospitality culminated in a bottle of cold, black co

e brute's tail, overcome with

eward shall come to thee some day, I trust! By-by, multitudes of little L--s, tumbling recklessly in the back-yard, crowned with youth and robust health and plenty of flaxen curls!

ve I could have been bought off after that enlivening farewell. The air of the highlands was charg

mpting bonus to head our little caravan at once, though it goes sorely against the Hawaiian grain to make up a mind inside of three days. Kahéle managed the financial department, whenever he had the opp

-hour. You know there are some impressive sorts of solitude, that seal up a fellow's lips; he can only look about him in quiet wonderment, tempered with a fearless and refreshing trust in that Providence who has enjoined silence. Well, this was one of those times; and right in the midst of it Kahéle sighted a smoke-wreath in the distance. To me it looked very like a cloud, and I ventured to declare it such; but the youngster frowned me down, a

around a kettle, swung under three stakes with their three heads together. Tall figures were moving about the camp, looking almost lik

s that did not sound very lou

ey had been through the whole range of human experience, and

asional whine. Some animal-a sheep, perhaps-rose up in the trail before us, and plunged into the bush, sending our beasts back on their haunches with fright. A field-cricket

our welcome from the chief of the camp, who came a step or two

drank of their coffee, and slept in their blankets,-or

ountains to cut wood, break trails, and make themselves useful in a rough, out-of-door fashion. They had for companions and assistants a few natives, who, no dou

talking of flush times in California. He was one of those men who could and would part with his last quarter, relying upon Nature for his bed and board. He said to me, "If you can rough it, hang on a while,-what's to drive you off?" I could rough it: the fire was out, the night chilly; so we turned in under blue blankets with a fuzz on them like moss, and, having puffed out the candle,-that lived long enough to avenge its death in a houseful of villanous smoke,-we turned over two or three times apiece, and, one after another, fell asleep. At the farther side o

out with their guns cocked. Presently the dog came in from the brush, complaining bitterly, and one of the miners shot at a rag fluttering among the bushes. In the morning we found a horse gone, and a couple of bullet-holes in a shirt sp

, and especially fond of such music as had made the last few hours more or less hideous. Everybody rose with the break o

vapor that swept noiselessly along the awful heights we were scaling. It was a momentary but severe bereavement, the loss of those ears and the head that went with them, becau

rushing like heralds to the four corners of the heavens. We were far above the currents that girdle the lower earth, and seemed in a measure cut off from the life that was past. We lived and breathed in cloud-land. All our pictures were of vapor; our surroundings changed continually. Forests laced with frost; silvery, silent seas; shores of agate and of pearl; blue, shadowy caverns; mountains of light, dissolving and rising again transfigured in glorious resurrection, the sun tingeing them with infinite color. A flood of radiance swept over the mysterious picture,-a deluge of blood-red glory that came and went like a blush; and then the mists faded and fled away, and gradually we saw the deep bed of the crater, blackened, scarred, distorted,-a desert of ashes and cinders shut in by sooty walls; no tinge of green, no suggestion of life, no sound to relieve the imposing silence of that literal death of Nature. We were about to enter the guest-chamber of the House of the Sun. If we had been spirited away to the enchanted cavern of some genie, we could not have been more bewildered. The cloud-world had come to an untimely end, and we were left alone among its blackened and charred ruins. That magician, the sun, hearing the approach of spies, had transformed his fairy palace into a bare and uninviting wilderness. But we were destined to explore it, notwithstanding; and our next move was to dismount and drive our unwilling animals over into the abyss. The angle of our descent was too near the perpendicular to sound like truth, in print. I will not venture to give it; but I remember that our particular guide and his beast were under foot, while Kahéle and his beast were overhead, and I and my beast, sandwiched between, managed to survive the double horror of being buried in the débris that rained upon us from the tail-end of the caravan, and

cular guide ventured to assume an expression of concern, and cautiously remarked that we were pilikia,-that is, in trouble! For once he was equal to an emergency; he knew of a dry well close at hand; we could drop into it and pass the night, since it was impossible to feel our way out of the crater through clouds almost as dense as cotton. Had we matches? No. Had we dry sticks? Yes, in the well, perhaps. Kahéle could make fire without phosphorus, and we could keep warm till morning, and then escape from the crater as early as possible. After much groping about, in and out of clouds, we found the dusty well and dropped into it. Ferns-a few of them-grew about its sides; a dwarfed tree, rejoicing in four angular branches, as full of mossy elbows as possible, stood in the centre of our retreat, and at the roots of this miserable recluse the Kanakas contrived to grind out a flame by boring into a bit of decayed wood with a dry stick twirled rapidl

the face of it. Pictures came and went,-a palimpsest of mysteries. Gargoyles leered at us from under the threatening brows of the bluff; and a white spectre, shining like a sta

But there is a solitude of the earth that is more awful; in it Death taunts you with his presence, yet delays to strike. At sea, one step, and the spirit is set at liberty,-the body is entombed forever.

beasts stamping among the clinkers, and covered my head again with the damp blanket, and besieged sleep. Then we all three started from our unrefreshing dreams, and lo! the clouds were rising and fleeing away, and a faint, rosy light over the summit-peaks looked like sunrise; so we rose and saddled the caravan, and searched about us for the lost tra

in we rode to the edges of the cliffs, whose precipitous walls forbade our descent. Sometimes we clung to the bare ribs of the mountain, where a single misstep might have sent us headlong into th

d like so many bird-notes floating in the wind. All day we saw the little village lying under us temptingly peaceful and lazy. Clouds still hung below us: some of them swept by, pouring copious drops, that drove our audience within doors for a few moments; but the rain was soon over, the

ey are on their mission to Kaupo. A narrow bed, with a crucifix at the foot of it, a small window in the thick wall, with a jug of water in the corner thereof, and a chair with a game-leg, constituted the furnishment of the quaint lodging. Kahéle rushed about to see old friends,-who wept over him

mer, a little mildewed with the frequent rains,-the statue looked down upon us with a smile of welcome. Some youngsters, as naked as day-old nest-birds, tossed a ball into the air; and when it at last lodged in the niche of the Virgin, they clapped their hands, half in merriment and half in awe, and the games of the evening ended. Then the full moo

EL OF TH

where the short grass lies flat in tropical sunshine! On one side sleeps the blue, monot

bit of his foot-sore mustang, lags behind, ta

ng shade as long as it lasts. I watch the sea, swinging my whip by its threadbare lash like a pendulum,-the sea, where a very black rock is being drowned over and over by the tremendous swell that covers

be a flock of goats feeding. But the wind-dried and sunburnt grass under foot, the intangible dust that pervades the air, the rain-cloud in the distance, trailing its banners of crape in the sea as it bears down upon us,-

s; yet I am not sorry. I have the first glimpse of Wailua all to myself.

falls gushing from numerous green corners; silver-white pha?tons floating in mid-air, at a loss to choose between earth and heaven, though evid

f a heavy shower pelting me in the back; and under a great tree, th

s for these apples, they have solitary seed, like a nutmeg, a pulp as white as wax, a juice flavored with roses, and their skin as red as a peony and as glossy as varnish

tecedents, and I feel that some dozen or so of climbs, each more or less fatiguing, still separate me from the rest I

r fresh assaults upon the everlasting hills. Kahé

the archives of the past. I seem to breathe the incense of orang

the west,-but I felt that it was the hour when day ends and night begins. The heavy clouds looked

ong the palms. Hoké saw it, and quickened his pace: he was not so great an ass but he knew that

ate of the chapel-yard, leading the willing Hoké, and at that moment a slender figure, clad all in black, his long robes flowing gracefully about him, his boyish face heightening the effect of his grave and serene demeanor, his thin, sensitive hands held forth

and satisfied? I could not tell whether I was at last waking from a sleep or just sinking into a dream. I could have sat there at his feet contented; I could have put off my worldly cares, resigned

luxurious revery, out of which I was summoned by mon père, who h

me host, himself being my ever-watchful attendant. Then he spoke:

entiment than merit, a table, a wooden form against the window, and a crucifix, complete its inventory. A high window was at my back; a door in front opening upon a veranda shaded with a passion-vine; beyond it a green, undulating country running down into the sea; on either hand a little ce

er, his own handiwork; enter the lads from the sea with excellent fish, knotted in long wisps of grass; ente

ated it almost past recognition; the crickets sang lustily at the doorway; the little natives grew sleepy and curled up on their mats in the corner; Kahéle slept in his spurs like a born muleteer. And now a sudden conviction seized us that it was bedtime in very truth; so mon père led me to one of the cells, saying, "Wi

hand that prepared the frugal but appetizing meal; he made the coffee, such rich, black, aromatic coffee as Frenchmen alone have the faculty of producing

There were welcomes showered upon me for his sake; he was ever ministering t

blessedness of the life to come struck the key-note of universal harmony, and we sang the Magnificat with one voice. There was something that fretted me in all this admirable experien

was, and they would be unable to arrive in season for an earlier mass. Excellent martyr! thought I, to offer thy body a living sacrifice for the edification of these savage Christians! At last he ate, but not until appetite i

ère Amabilis was miles away, repairing a chapel that had suffered somewhat in a late gale; Père Amabilis would be so gl

e threaded through forest, swamp, and wilderness. These obstacles separated the devoted friends, but no

rs, an acolyte of the chapel, would accompany us, and together t

Père Amabilis dwells just beyond that cape," said my companion, fondly; and it seemed not very far distant; but our pace was slow and wearisome, and the hours were sure to distance us. We fathomed dark ravines whose farther walls were but a stone's throw from us, but i

ss for half an hour, until its volume was somewhat spent and the stream was again fordable. Here we talked of the daily miracles in nature. Again and again the young fathers are called forth into the wilderness to attend on the sick

in reach. On the soaked earth, with a pitiless gale sweeping over the land, from sunset to sunrise he lay without the consolation of one companion. Food was frequently s

its complete restoration. Père Fidelis fairly wept for joy at this intelligence, and burst into a panegyric upon the unrivalled ingenuity of his spir

fell against the sunset flashed like falling flame, and a soft haze tinged the slumberous solitudes of wood and pasture with the dreamlike loveliness of a pi

hand, Père Amabilis leaned forth to welcome us. The hammer fell to the earth. Père Amabilis loosened his skirts and clasped his h

riest needed to visit the district at a time, and a very young priest at that. A tiny bed in one corner of the room w

s hotel?" said Père Fidelis as we c

th a grave tone that had an

s came forth to welcome Père Fidelis and the stranger, each bringing some voluntary tribute,-a fi

m, and some few who had no opportunity of joining in the debate gave expression t

h a garland of living flowers. The shadows deepened; stars seemed to cluster over the valley and glow with unusual fervor; the crickets sang mightily,-they are always singing mightily over yonder; supper came to the bare table with its meagre array of dishes; and, s

n to the faithful, but mon père's own coffee, the very aroma of which was invigorating; and then our friendly pipes

ife and acquainted with its follies, each in turn stricken with an illness that threatened death, together they came out of the dark valley with their future consecrated to the work that now absorbs them,

home? do you never re

ents to us; these younger ones are as brothers and sisters; these childr

torrents threatening to ingulf you; faint with journeyings; anhungered often; wea

t feverish. I could see that his life was not

lis, shrugging his shoulders; whereat Père Amabilis, who looked like a German student with his long hair and spectacles, turned aside to wipe the moisture from the

f they had n

have not studied art. And then we are sometimes summoned to the fart

miles away. That his absence might be as brief as possible, he was obliged to travel night and day. Sometimes he would reach the house of his confessor at midnigh

r. "Who'

elis. "I

"Who

. "Fid

"Fidel

kahuna pule!" (Fi

of the greatest surprise.)

lowed must have been most cheering to both, fo

ts confess to one another: conceive of the fellows

nt of the solitary bed. It fell to me, for both were against me, and each was my superior. When I protested, they held up their fingers and said,

d offer me no nobler fellowship,-that all acts to come, however gracious, would bear a

rly part of the night, I saw the young priests bowed over their breviaries, for I had delayed the accustomed offices of devotion, and the

hour mon père was to start for the Chapel of the Palms, while I wended my way onward through a new country, bearing with me the consoling memory of my precious friends. I can forgive a slight and forget the person who slights me, but little kindnesses probe me to the quick. I wonder why the twin fathers were so very careful of

without being stroked by the affectionate creatures who deplored his departure. Père Amabilis insisted

lder and more practical and more worldly, and the exquisite confidence we have in one another will have gr

ittle there was wouldn't last long; Père Amabilis wiped his spectacles and looked utterly forsaken; the natives stood about in awkward, silent groups, coming forward, one by one,

twice I paused in despair under the prickly sunshine, half inclined to go back and begin over again, hoping to renew the past; but just then Hoké felt lik

contagion, and are at hand to close the pestilential lips of unclean death. They have lifted my soul above things earthly, and held it secure for a moment. From beyond the waters my heart returns to them. Again at twilight, over the still sea, floats the sweet Angelus; again I approach the chapel falling to slow de

Hé

ley of Solitude" it was called; albeit, at that moment, and with half an eye, we counted the thirty grass-lodges of the village, and heard the liquid tongues of a trio of waterfalls, that dived head-first into the groves at the farther end of the valley, where the mountain seemed to have open

ut recognition, and then it climbed laboriously up the opposite cliff, and struck off into space. In ten seconds a bird might have spanned the deep ravine, and caught as much of its loveliness as we; but we weren't birds, and, moreover, we had six legs api

ing the very garments they should have had upon their backs-discovered us, and plunged into the stream with a refreshing splash, and a laugh apiece that was worth hearing, it was so genuine and hearty. Another youngster hurried off from a stone-wall like a startled lizard, and struck on his head, but didn't cry much, for he was too frightened. A large woman lay at full len

t once greeted with a shout of welcome, which came faintly to us above the roar of the surf, as it broke heavily on the reef, a half-mile out from shore. It was drawing toward the hour when the fishers came to land, and we had not long to wait, before, one after another, they came out of the sea like so many mermen and mermaids. They were refres

ung athletes; some of them making wry faces, in their last agony; some of them lying still and clammy, with big, round eyes like smoked-pearl vest-buttons set in the middle of their cheeks; all of them smelling fishlike, and none of them looking very tempting. Small boys laid hold on small fry, bit their heads off, and held the silver-coated morsels between their teeth, like animated sticks

not three feet from him. Beyond it, a second roller reared its awful front, but he swam under that with ease; at the sound of his "open sesame," its emerald gates parted and closed after him. He seemed some triton, playing with the elements, and dreadfully "at home" in that very wet place. The third and mightiest of the waves was gathering its strength for a charge upon the shore. Having reached its outer ripple, again Kahéle dived and reappeared on the other side of the watery hill, balanced for a moment in the glassy hollow, turned suddenly, and, mounting the towering monster, he lay at full length on his fragile raft, using his arms as a bird its pinions,-in fact, soaring for a moment with the wave under hi

t of rainbow like a torn banner. That deep, shadowy ravine seemed, for a moment, some mystery about to be divulged; but the light faded too soon, and I never learned the truth of it. The sea quieter than usual; very little sound save the rhythmical vibration of the air, that suggested flowing waters

er, flooding the Vale of Solitude with her vague light, the illusion was perfected; and a group of savages, scenting the savory progress of their supper, sat, hungry and talkative, under every ghostly palm. Clear voices ascended in monotonous and weird recitative

r in the way of color, and the peculiar cut of his garments. I felt as though I was some natural curiosity, in charge of the robustious Kahéle, who waxed more a

e, and patiently await daylight. I did so, for the drowsy sense that best illustrates the tail-end of a day's journey possessed me, and I was finally overcome by the low, monotonous drone of a language that I found about as intelligible as the cooing of the multitudinous pigeon. The boy sat near me, still descanting upon our late experiences, our possible

him. I heard the beating of the tom-toms, and saw the dancers ambling and posing before his august majesty, who reclined in the midst of a retinue of obsequious retainers. The spearsmen hurled their spears, and the strong men swung their clubs; the stone-throwers threw skilfully, and the sweetest singers sang long méles in praise of their royal guest. A cry of fear rent the air as a

me. The room was nearly deserted; some one lay swathed like a mummy in a dark corner of the lodge, but of what sex I knew not,-probably one who had outlived all sensations, and perhaps all desires; a rush, str

rpowering in their fragrance. Against the low eaves of the several lodges sat singers, players upon the rude instruments of the land, and glib talkers, who waxed eloquent, and gesticulated with exceeding grace. Footsteps rustled before and behind me; I stole into the thicket, and saw lovers wandering together, locked in each other's embrace, and saw friends go hand-in-hand conversing in low tones, or perhaps mute, with an impressive air of the most complete tranquillity. The night

, Kahéle, in whom I had placed my trust, and whom, until this hour at least

s. I am inclined to think they were! At any rate, Kahéle went clean back to barbarism that night, and seemed to take to it amazingly. I said nothing; I thought it wiser to seem to hold the reins, tho

, now and then "blowing," whale-fashion, but slipping through the water as noiselessly as trout. I could scarcely tell which was the more attractive,-N

nd fagged, and tongues had stopped wagging from sheer exhaustion. I returned

irst principles, and so ordered the animals saddled by sunrise. At that delicious moment, the youngster lay like one of the Seven Sleepers, whom nothing cou

suggested the advisability of instant departure; he hesitated. I enlarged upon the topic, and drew an enticing picture of the home-stretch, with all the endearing

seemed to me inappropriate to the valley: everybody slept or lazed during the hot hours of the day, and a census-taker might easily have imagined the place a solitude. At sunset, there was more fishing and more surf-swimming. It see

day, and came in at last with a pitiful air of disappointment that quite unmanned me; his voice, too, was sympathetic, and there was something like a tear in his eye when he assured me that the creatures had gone astray, but might be found shortly,-perhaps even then they were approaching; and the young scamp rose to reconnoitre, glad, no doubt, of an excuse

ok in the trail. We were at big odds, Kahéle and I; for another idol of mine had suddenly turned to clay, and, though I am used to that sort of thing, I am never able to bear it with decent composure. On we journeyed, working at cross-purposes, and getting nearer to the sky all the while, and finally losing sight of the bewitching valley that had demoralized and so nearly divorced us; getti

nfruitful, and uninteresting, save as a picture of deep and dreadful desolation. No wonder that Kahéle longed to tarry in the small Eden of Méha, knowing that we were about to journey into the deserts that lie beyond it. No wonder that the shining shores of the valley beg

inted sea, and a smoking plain backed by naked sand-hills. The low brush, scattered thinly over the earth, tried hard to look green, but seldom got nearer to it than a dusty gray. Evidently there was no sap in those charred

y exceeded by all out-of-doors,-this prayer-house, or church, was thrown open to the public, and, to my amazement, Kahéle sugge

orseback, and were happy in their mood, exhibiting the qualities of their animals on the flats before us. Some came on foot, with their shoes in hand; the shoes were carefully put on at the church door, but put off again a few moments after entering the rustic pews. Dogs came, about one for every human; these lay all over th

else followed, and, after a decent pause, the services of the morning were begun. The brief interval of ominous silence that preceded the opening was enlivened by the caprices of a fractious horse, and at least two stampedes of the canine persuasion, at which time the dogs se

devotion; his deportment, likewise, was all that could be desired in any one, under the circumstances. Either he was a rare specimen of the very

ps as restless and incorrigible as themselves. At a later period, some one announced an approaching schooner, and the body of the house was unceremoniously cleared, for a schooner was as rare a visitor to that part of the island as an angel to any quarter of

of spray contemptuously into the air; columns of red dust climbed into the sky, reeling to and fro as they passed over the bleak desert toward the sea on the opposite side of the island. These dust-chimneys were continually moving over the land so long as the wi

thatched house seemed about to go to pieces, and every timber creaked in agony; yet we gathered in its lee, and awaited the slow approach of the schooner. Near shore she put about, and seemed upon the point of scudding off to sea again. For a moment our hearts were in our thro

it of beach, where there was a possible chance of landing, in some shape or other. A few rods from shore, three dusky creatures deliberately plunged overboard and swam toward us. We rushed in a body to welcome them,-two women, old residents of the place, who came out of the sea wailing for joy at their safe return to a home no more inviting than the one who

eath, he seemed at a loss to know what to do next, but suffered himself to be vigorously embraced by nearly everybody in sight, af

eserted prayer-house our straggling community wended its way; everything that had been said before was said again, with some embellishments. It was beginning to grow tiresome.

g, was sufficient to revive me for the moment, and during that moment we mounted, and were blown away on horseback. The wind howled in our ears; sand-clouds peppered us heavily; small pebbles and grit cut our faces; heavier gusts than usual changed earth, sea, and sky into temporary chaos.

ant to be a Christian on an empty stomach. The wind began to sigh, after its passion was somewhat spent; sand sifted over the matting with a low hiss; and the dull red curtains, that stretched across the lower half of the windows, flapped dolefully. Overhead, the wasps had hung their mud-baskets, and the gray atmosphere of everything was depressing in the extreme. Service was soon over; the people departed acro

church with a loud echo,-a prayer-book, probably; and then the priest came out, fastened the door of the deserted sanctuary, and the day's duties were done. We had nothing to do but follow him to his small frame dwelling, where the one

; I felt that there was a charm in living, after all; and the moment was a critical one, for had the lad begged me to return with him to the beguilements of barbarism, I think it possible that I might have consented. B

e knew it. He was Kahéle, the two-sided; Kahéle, the chameleon, whose character and disposition partook of the color of his surroundings; who was pious to the tune of the church-bell, yet agile as any dancer of the lascivious hula at the thump of the tom-tom. He was a representative worthy of some consideration; a typical Hawaiian whose versatility was o

enerous actions that a white-livered sycophant might not aspire to. I can but forgive all, and sometimes long a little to live over the two sides of you,-extremes that met in your precious corporosity, and made me contented with a changeful and sometimes cheerless pilgrimage; fo

FE IN A

's curry. You see the Commodore prided himself on the strength of this identical dish, and ke

or the twentieth time the monotonous recital of his adventures by flood and field. Like most sea-stories, his narratives were ever fresh, as though they had been stow

f shining beach, and nevermore lose sight of land until he should slip his cable for the last time, and sail into undiscovered seas. Meanwhile, he entertained his friends at Wai-ki-ki, a kind of tropical Long Branch a few miles out of Honolulu; and the

in trying to sit in it. Of course, there are other trees with more foliage, and vines that run riot and blossom themselves to death; but somehow the sharp arrows of sunshine dart in and sting a fellow in an unpleasant fashion, and nothing short of a good thatch is to be relied upon. So out from the low eaves of the Commodore's cottage, on the seaward side, there was a dense roof of leaves and grass, that ran clear to the edge of the sea, and looked as though it wanted to go farther; but the Commodore knew i

he always looked to me like a full-blooded snake-charmer,-I had the greatest difficulty in restraining myself, for it seemed to me incredible that any Jack-ashore could dine in a Lanai with his Excellency, and not rise betwee

were about to give some order that we might disregard at the peril of our lives,-these sea-dogs never quite outgrow that sort of thing. "Gentlemen," said he, casting a watchful and s

ed in courteous language, and we were thankful for this consideration; moreover, we were wild to see a native feast! There is a p

ure, but it came in between the courses of the Commodore's dinner as though it were nothing better than a panel-painting in the after-cabin of the Whatyoucallher. However, as she swung in toward the mouth of the harbor, and passed a bottle of Burgundy in safety, but seemed in imminent danger of missing

his friends, countrymen, and lovers. We belonged to the first order; or, rather, the Commodore was his friend, and we speedily became as friendly as possible. As we entered the premises, it appeared to us that half the island was under cover; for limitless Lanais seemed to run on to the end of time in bewitching vistas. Numberless lanterns swung softly in the evening gale. A multitude of white-robed native girls passed to and fro

rs whatever suits his palate, as though he were a packing-case that needed filling, and the sooner filled the more creditable the performance. But the amount of filling that he is equal to is the marvel; and the patient perseverance of the man, so long as there is a cru

nd took a pinch of baked dog. We had limpets with rock-salt; kukui-nuts roasted and pulverized; and the pale, quivering bits of fish-flesh, not an hour dead, and still cool with the native coolne

or the audacious grace of these women, who throw themselves upon the floor and stretch their supple limbs like tigresses, with a kind of imperial scorn for your one-horse proprieties. Their voluminous light garments scarcely concealed the ample

pipe was smoked, and bits of easy and playful conversation filled the intervals. The evening waned. The eaters and drinkers were still unsatisfied, becau

tleman out of his misery, and proposed an immediate adjournment to the beach. The inner court was soon deserted, and our little party-which now embraced, figuratively, several magnificent chiefesses, as well as the primitive Hawaiian orchestra-moved in silence toward the sea. The long, curving beach glistened and sparkled in the moon

air was shining and soft as though the moon had dissolved in an ecstasy, and nothing but a snap of cold weather could congeal her again. Wherever we lay, pillows were mysteriously slipped under our heads, and the willingest hands in the world began an involuntary performance of the lomi-lomi. Let me not think upon the lomi-lomi, for

ord how long their sea-song rang across the waters. I know that we dozed, and woke to watch a silver sail wafted along the vague and shadowy distance like a phantom. We slept again, and woke to a sense of silence broken only by the unceasing monody of the reef; slept and woke yet again in the waning light, f

which we were permitted to appear in undress. The Commodore set the example by inviting us to the table in an extraordinary suit of cream-colored silk, that was suggestive of panjamas, but might have been some Oriental regalia especially designed for morning wear. He looked like a ship under full sail, rocking good-natu

is servant, for he kept everything about the place in ship-shape, even to the flying of his private signal from sunrise to sunset at the top of a tall staff, that rivalled the royal ensign floating from a similar altitude not a quarter

o not hope in this epitome to offer anything novel. The Lieutenant was a typical Jack-ashore. He had twice the mail that came to the rest of us, and he read his love-letters to the mess with a gusto. He boasted fresh victims in every port, and gloried in his lack of principle. It did not surprise me at all that the Lieutenant had shaken his mother. In fact, under the circumstances, I think his mother would have been justified in shaking him, if she could have got her hands on him. In the love-light of the Commodore'

usement to the women, who are wiser in their dark skins than the children of light. He tried to eat poi, and ruined his linen. He suffered himself to be wreathed and garlanded, until he was the picture of a sacrificial calf. He gave gifts, and babbled in his sleep. But in the ho

ter of moonshine. But there were orders superior to the Commodore's, since he was off active duty, and these orders demanded our reappearance on shipboard at an early hour of the day following. There was a farewell round of everything that had been introduced during our b

the old Commodore stowed snugly in the spacious hollow of a bamboo settee, drawn up on the stocks, as it were, for repairs, with a bandanna spread over his face and a dark-eyed crouching figure beside him,

e air, seeking to interpret their pantomimic dances, and doing it with remarkable freedom and grace. I shall hear that one song, like an echo eternally repeated,-the song that was sung by all the lips that had skill to sing, in every valley under th

he breezy heights of Kaupo. I have listened to it in the market-place, where a chorus of a dozen voices held the customer entranced. In the high winds of the middle channel the song is raised, as the schooner lays over at a perilous angle, and ships water enough to dampen the ardor of most singers. It is sung in the church-porch, by the br

I-A

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e large, motherly-looking creatures, with numberless gauzy folds in a dress that fell straight from her broad shoulders, moved in. After three days of feasting, all vestiges of the Commodore's atmosphere had disappeared from the premises. I fancy she always felt at home there, although she was never known to open her lips in the presence of the C

is first at Callao, with a daily jaunt into Lima; then at one of the South Sea paradises; next at Australia, or in the China Sea; and in the future-heaven knows where! H

n as the episodes in an out-of-the-way port,-with nothing but the faint odor of its fruits a little overripe, of its flowers a little overblown, and a general sense of uncomfortable warmth, to give it individuality. I have found these experiences excellent memories; for though the dull "waits" between the acts and the sluggishness of the action at best are a little dreary at times, they are forgotten, together with most dis

TRANS

of a transport that swung at anchor off San Francisco, and, as I looked shoreward for almost the last time,-we were to sail at daybreak for a southern cruise-I hugged my Ollend

nsiderable fervor, feeling that kind Heaven had thrown me into the arms of the exceptional foreigner who would, to a certain extent, console me for the loss of my whole family. The mystery that hangs over the departure of any craft that goes by wind is calculated to appall the landsman; and when the date of sailing is fixed the best thing he ca

n our minds, and we relapsed in turn and forgot ourselves in the fathomless abysses of speculation. Some one saw me off that night,-some one who will never again follow me to the sea, and welcome me on my return to earth after my wandering. We sauntered down the dark streets along the c

e stern, and tried to call out something or other as we shot away from the place, with a cloud over my eyes that was darker than night itself, and a cloud over my heart that was as heavy as lead. After that there was nothing to do but climb up one watery swell and slide down on the other side of it, to count the shadow-ships that shaped themsel

within was the sound of revelry, and I hastened on board to find our little cabin blue with smoke, which, howe

the chorus with a sabre in one hand and the head of the Doctor in the other. Without the support of the faculty, he would probably not have ended his song of triumph as successfully as he ultimately

nch, when he once got started, sounded to me like the well-executed trill of a prima-donna, and quite as intelligible. The joke of it was, that Fr

nd adieus, and kept up the last words as long as we could catch the faintest syllable of a reply. There were streaks of dull red in the east by this time, and the outlines of the city were again becoming visible. This I dreaded a little; and, when our boat had returned and e

e reckless rolling of the vessel and the strange and unfamiliar feeling in my stomach, as though it were some other fellow's stomach, and not my own. My legs were a trifle uncertain; my head was queer. Everybody was rushing everywhere and doing things that had

e horizon under a broadside of breakers that threatened to ingulf the continent; the air was gray with scattering mist; the sea was much disturbed, and of that ugly, yellowish-green tint that signifies soundings. Overhead, a few sea-birds whirled in disorder, shrieking as though their hearts would break. It looked ominous, yet I felt it my duty, as an American under

quence on shipboard. So I withdrew to my hammock, and having climbed into it in safety ended the day aft

ed manner, while a gentle undercurrent of side-dishes lent interest to the occasion. There was a perpetual stream of conversation playing over the table, from the moment that heralded the soup until the last drop of black coffee was sopped up with a bit of dry bread. By the time we had come to cheese, everybody felt called upon to say his say, in the face of everybody else. I alone kept my place, and held it because the heaviest English I knew fell feebly to the floor before the thunders of those five prime Frenchmen, who were flushed with enthusiasm and good wine. I dreamed of

hadow of a smile crouching between the fierce jungles of his intensely black side-whiskers. Ah, sir, it was something to be at sea in a French transport with the tricolor flaunting at the peak; to have four guns with their mouths gagged, and oilcloth capes lashed snugly over them; to see everybody in uniform, each having the pr

in our anathemas the elements and some other things; they (the Frenchmen) might laugh to scorn the great American people,-and they did it, two or three times-and I, in my turn, might feel a secret contempt for Paris, without having the power to express the same in tolerable French, so I felt it and held my tongue. Even Thanaron gave me a French shrug now and then that sent the cold shivers thro

ows, and something in the aspect of Monsieur le Capitaine, with his cap off and a shadow of prayer softening his hard, proud face, that unmanned us; so we rushed to our own little cabin a

ordinary seafarers. The Chevert was shaped a little like a bath-tub, with a bow like a duck's breast, and a high, old-fashioned quarter-deck, resembling a Chinese junk with a reef in her stern. Forty bold sailor-boys, who looked as though they had been built on precisely the same model and dealt out to the government by the dozen, managed to keep the decks very clean and tidy, and the brass-work in a state of dazzling brightness. The ship was wonderfully well ordered. I could tell you by the sounds on deck, while I swung in the comfortable seclusion of my hammock, just the hour of the day or night, but that was after I had once learned the order of events. There was the Sunday morning inspe

is given, and with the utmost speed every Frenchman flies to his post. Already the horizon is darkened with the Prussian navy, yet our confidence in the stanch old Chevert, in each particular soul on board, and in our undaunted leader,-Monsieur le Capitaine, who is even now scouring the sea with an enormous marine glass that of itself is enough to strike terror to the Prussian heart,-our implicit confidence in ourse

n sheets of flame. We are speedily deluged with water, and the conflict is renewed with the greatest enthusiasm. Again, and again, and again, we pour a broadside into the enemy's fleet, and always with terrific effect. We invariably do ourselves the greatest credit, for, by the time our supplies are about exhausted, not a vest

ughts of absinthe, and I am pressed to the proud bosom of Thanaron, who is restored to me without a scar to disfigure his handsome little body. I grew used to these weekly wars, and before we came in sight of our green haven, there was not a Pru

with a few small leaves attached, the husk of a cocoa-nut, or straws such as any dove from any ark would be glad to seize upon,-these gave us ample food for speculation. "Piloted by the slow, unwilling winds," we came close to the star-lit Nouka Hiva, and shor

it with an almost irresistible impulse. Something had to be done before we yielded to the fascinations of this savage enchantress. Our course lay to the windward of the southeastern point of the land; but, finding that we could not weather it, we went off before

and buried themselves in the forests hundreds of feet below, where they were lost forever. Rain-clouds hung over the mountains, throwing deep sh

rips of beach that shone like brass, while beyond them the cocoa-palms that towered above the low, brown huts of the natives seemed to reel and nod in the intense meridian heat. A moist cloud, far up the mountain, hung above a serene and

ured him to the extent of his wits, there was a reconciliation more ludicrous than any other scene in the farce. It was at such moments that B--'s eyes literally swam, when even his beard wilted, while he told of the thousand pathetic eras in Nero's life, when he might have had his liberty, but found the service of his master more beguiling; of the adventures by flood and field, where B-- was distinguishing himself, yet at his side, through thick and thin, struggled the faithful Nero. Thus B-- warmed himself at the fire his own enthusiasm had kindled on the altar of self-love, and every moment added to his fervor. It was the yellow-fever, and the cholera, and the small-pox, that were powerless to separate that faithful slave from the agonizing bedside of his master. It was shipwreck, and famine, and the smallest visible salary, that seemed only to strengthen the ties that bound them the one to the other. Death-cruel death-alone could separate them; and B-- took Nero by the throat and kissed him passionately upon his sooty cheek, and the floating eyes came to a stand-still with an expression of virtuous defiance that was calculated to put all conventionalities to the blush. We were awed by the magnanimity of such conduct, until we got thoroughly used to it, and then we were simply entertained. We kept looking forward to the conclusion of the scene, which usually followed in the course of half an hour. B-

, with moist and truthful eyes, and the ingenuous little Jamaican dropped a couple of colorless tears that would easily have passed for anybody's anywhere. For this mutual exhibition of sentiment every one of us was duly grateful, and we never afterward scorned B-- for his eccentricities,

er day within sound of the same voices, and being utterly unable to flee into never so small a solitude, for there was not an inch of it on board. Swinging at night in my hammock between decks, wakefully dreaming of the future and of th

s,-just as the soft gale in the garden groves suggests pleasant nights at sea, the vibration of the taut stays, and the rush o

the half-savage chants of the Tahitian sailors who helped to swell our crew. As we drew down toward the enchanted islands they seemed fairly bewitched, and it was with the utmost difficulty that they could keep their mouths shut until evening, when they were sure to begin intoning an epic that usually lasted through the watch. Sometimes a fish leaped into the moonlight, and came down with a splash; or a whale heaved a great sigh close to us, and as I looked over the bulwarks, I would catch a glimpse of the old fellow just going down, like a submerged island. Occasionally a flying-fish-a kind of tangible moon

. Fair weather and foul; sunlight, moonlight, and starlight; moments of confidence; oaths of eternal fidelity; plans for the future long

of the sea, palm-crowned, foam-fringed; wreaths of verdure cast upon the bosom of the ocean, forever

to do so. The wind was stiff, and the sea covered with foam; we rolled frightfully all day. Our French dinner lost its identity. Soup was out of the question; we had hard work to keep meat and vegetables from total wreck, while we hung on to t

seems its faithful attendant. I do not wonder that the crew of the Bounty mutinied when they were ordered to make sail and turn their backs on Tahiti; nor am I surprised that they put the captain and one or two other objectionable features into a sma

g sight of the dear California coast, dismissed it from our minds. There was very little wind right under the great green mountains, so the frigate Astrea sent a dozen boats to

ed their best to bury the slim canoes drawn up among their roots. Beyond this barricade of verdure the eye caught glimpses of every sort of tropical habitation imaginable, together with the high roofs and ponderous white walls of the French government buildings. The foliage broke over

on, with your arms about my neck, and B--'s arms about you, and Nero clinging to his master's knees,-in fact, with everybody felicitating every other body, because

GAL IN

ignette done in broad, shadowless line

ring, whitewashed fence high enough to shut out the universe from my point of sight. Yet it hid not all, since it brought into relief a panting cock (w

ill of fare: One fried egg, like the eye of some gigantic Albino; potatoes hollowed out bombshell fashion, primed with liver-sausage, v

ge tearfully surveys its own unshrouded remains. After a brief season of meditation I said, and I trust I meant it, "I thank the Lord for all these blessings." Then I gave the corpse of the chicken C

er temporary humanizing element,-I saw for a fact that the poor cock had wilted, and lay flat in the sun like a last year's duster. That was too much for me. I wheeled towards the door where gleamed the bay with its lovely ridges of light; canoes drifting over it drew the ey

h him; implying that we might, if desirable, become as tight as two bricks. I declined, much to his admiration, he regarding my refus

em. Call it by what name you will, you cannot sweeten servility to my taste. Then why was I there and in bondage? The spirit of adventure that keeps life in us, yet comes near to worrying it out of us now and then, lured me with my handful of dollars to the Garden of the Pacific. "You can easily get work," said some one who had been there and didn't want it. If work I must, why not better there than here? thought I; and the less money I take with me the sur

in the dominion. Clerkships were out of the question likewise. I might keep store, if I could get anything to put in it; or go farther, as some one suggested, if I had money enough to get there. I thought it wiser to endure the ills I had than fly to others that I knew not of. In this state I perambulated the green lanes of Papeete, conscious that I was drawing down tons of immaterial sympathy from hearts of variou

ensation as I might be able to give him in his office during the usual business hours, namely, from daybreak to some time in the afte

them, and no single man could ask to be more; to sit at his table and hope

y, I began business in Papeete, and learned within the hour how sharper than mo

where a myriad fish, dyed like the rainbow, sported unceasingly. Springs gushed from the mountain, singing their song of joy; the winds sang in the dark locks of the sycamore, while the palm-boughs clashed like cymbals in rhythmical acco

ickens; they used to sit in rows on the window-sill and stare me out of countenance. A wide bedstead, corded with thongs, did its best to furnish my apartment. A narrow, a very narrow and thin ship's mattress, that had been a bed of torture for many a sea-sick soul before it descended to me; a flat pillow like a pancake; a condemned horse-blanket contributed by a good-natured Kanack who raked it from a heap of refuse in the yard, together with two sacks of rice, the despair of those hens in the window, were all I could boast of. With this

age, who welcomed me to his frugal meal and desired that I should at least taste before he broke his fast. Canoes shot out from dense, shadowy points, fishers standing in the bows with a poised spear in one hand; a blazing palm-branch held aloft in the other shed a warm glow of light over their superb nakedness. Bathed by the sea, in a fresh, cool spring, and returned to my little coop, which was illuminated by the glare of fifty floating beacons; looking back from the door I could see the dark

ade my toilet at a spring on the way into town; saw a glorious sunrise that was as good as breakfast, and found the whole earth and sea and all that in them is singing again while I listened and gave th

happen; thereupon I doubled myself over the counter like a half-shut jack-knife, and burying my face in my hands said to myself, "O, to be alone with Nature! her silence is religion and her sounds sweet music." After which the rain blew over, and I was sent with a hand-cart and one underfed Kanack to a wharf half a mile away to drag back several loads of potatoes. We two hungry creatures struggled heroically to do our duty. Starting with a multitude of sacks it was quite impossible to proceed with, we grew weaker the farther we went, so that the load had to be reduced from t

n a complacent hour set the good against the evil in single entry, summing u

l.

and none to love me. But I may do as I please in c

rofitable. But I may quit as soon as I feel like it, and shall have no

o my back. But the weather is mild and the fig-tree flouri

But fasting is saintly. Day by day I grow more spiritual, and shall shortly be a fit subject for translatio

e Lord's day. The canoes lay asleep off upon the water, evidently conscious of the long hours of rest they were sure of having. To sum it all, it seemed as though the cover had been taken off from the earth, and the angels were sitting in big circles looking at us. Our clock had run down, and I found myself half an hour too early at mass. Some diminutive native children talked together with infinite gesticulation, like little old men. At every lag in the conversation, two or three of them would steal away to t

nity. It was a serious disappointment when I found later, that we didn't know six words in any common tongue. Concluded to be independent and walked off by myse

near, greeting me kindly. They were evidently lovers; talked in low tones, deeply interested in the most trivial things, such as a leaf falling into the sea at our feet and floating stem up, like a bowsprit; he probably made some poetic allusion

ntered and made themselves at home during my absence,-a fact that scarcely endeared the spot to me. Next morning I was unusually merry; couldn't tell why, but tried to sing as I made my toilet at the spring; laughed nearly all the way into town, saying my prayers, and blessing God, when I came suddenly upon a horse-shoe in the middle

he thought of my perfect liberty. Then I grew nervous, began to feel unhappy, nay, even guilty, as though I had thrown up a good thing. Concluded it was rash of me to leave a situation where I got two meals and a matt

like killing something appropriate as soon as he saw me coming. I said as much to a couple of Frenchmen, brothers, who are living a dream-life over yonder, and whose wildest species of

reason; I, rather impatient, and scarcely hoping to receive so graceful a compliment from head-quarters, trudged on alone with a light purse and an infinitesimal bundle of necessities, caring nothing for the weather nor the number of miles cleared per day, since I laid no plans save the one, to see as much as I might with the best grace possible, keeping an eye on the road for horse-shoes. Through leagues of verdure I wandered, feasting my five senses and finding life a holiday at last. There were numberless streams to be crossed, where I loafed for hours on the bridges, satisfying myself with sunshine. Not a savage in the land was freer than I. No man could say to me, "Why stand ye here idle

ed grace. It wasn't simply showing me to a spare room, but rather unrolling the best mat and turning everything to my account so long as it pleased me to tarry. Sometimes the sea talked in its sleep

the midst of a grassy Venice by the shore. Its moats, shining with gold-fish, were spanned with slender bridges; toy fences of bamboo enclosed the rarer clumps of foliage; and there was such an air of tranquillity pervading it I thought I

eep whenever sleep came along, resting always till the clouds or a shadow from the mountain covered me so as to keep cool and comfortable. Natives passed me with salutations. A white man now and then went by barely nodding, or more frequently eying me with suspicion and giving me as much of his dust as he found convenient. In the

out the unregenerated. Not a house visible all this time, nor a human, though I was in the heart of the hamlet. Passing up the turf-cushioned road I beheld on either hand, through a screen of leaves, a log spanning a rivulet that was softly singing its monody; at the end of each log the summer-house of some Tahitian, who sa

sing the rill by his log and holding out his hand to me in welcome. Back we went together, and I ate and slept there as though it had been arranged a thousand years ago; perhaps it was! There was a racket up at the farther end of the lane, by the chief's house; songs and nose-flutings upon the night air; moreover, a bonfire and doubtless much

bles, richly poetical, telling of orgies and of the mysteries of the forbidden revels in the charmed valleys of the gods, hearing which it were impossible not to be wrought to madness; and the dancers thereat went mad, dancing with infinite gesticulation, dancing to whirlwinds of applause till the undulation of their bodies was serpentine, and at last in frenzy they shrieked with joy, threw off their garments, and were naked as the moon. So much for a vision that kept me awake till morning, when I plodded on in the damp grass and tried to forget it, but couldn't exactly and never have to this hour. Went on and on over more bridges spanning still-flowing streams of silver, past springs that lay like great crystals framed in moss under dripping, fern-clad cliffs that the sun never reaches. Came at last to a shining, whitewashed fort, on an

l, beat the sea impetuously for a few seconds, and fall asleep again. Voices roused me occasionally, greetings from col

sea unmasked a myriad imperishable blossoms, centuries old some of them, but as fair and fresh as though born within the hour. All that afternoon we drifted be

e, if he has any, and deems it more profit

cation retreat among the hills. How they enjoyed the ride, as three children might! and were quite wild with delight at meeting a corpulent père, who smiled amiably from h

y face three mornings a week from the wheels of that very vehicle as I footed it in to business. Passing the spring, my toilet of other days, drawing to the edge of the town, we stopped being jolly and were as proper as befitted travellers. We looked over the wall of the convent garden as we drove up to the gate, and saw the mother-superior hurrying down to u

take half my little whole for your ride, sir! He took it, dropped me where we stood, and

lemen who contribute to its support lounge in when they have leisure for reading or a chat. I grew to know the place familiarly. I stole a night's lodging on its veranda in the shadow of a passion-vine; but, for fear of embarrassing so

By this time the president of the club, whose acquaintance I had the honor of, tendered me the free use of any portion of the premises that might not be otherwise engaged. With a gleam of hope I began my explorations. Up a narrow and w

u come from? What did you come for?

onymous predecessor. Ten nights I crossed the unswept floor that threatened at every step to precipitate me into the reading-room below. With a faint heart and hollow stomach I threw myself upon my elbow and

t my earliest convenience. The American consul secured me a passage, to be settled for at home, and my career in that latitude was evidently at an end. In my superfluous confidence in humanity, I had announced myself as a correspondent for the press. It was quite necessary that I should give some plausible reason for making my appearance in Tahiti friendless and poor. Therefore, I said plainly, "I am a corresp

h sunlit cloisters of palms, I was greeted most tenderly. I would have gladly taken any amount of h

iti in behalf of the foreign traveller, my poor self, had been despatched to me by a special courier, who found me not; and doubtless the fêtes I heard of and was

e hot coffee and chocolate at a dime per cup to any who choose to ask for it. By 7 A. M. the market is so nearly sold out that only the more plentiful fruits of the country are to be obtained at any price. A prodigal cannot long survive on husks,

of whom would go me halves in the most disinterested manner. Then there was sure to be some superb fellow close at hand, with a sensuous lip curled under his nostril, a glimpse of which gave me a dime's worth of satisfaction and more

y fellow sat at his cheap spread, without envying the frow

cessary to fill at the first fountain he came to, or go over on his beam

ly made my toilet, took my first course of breakfast, rinsed out my handkerchiefs and stockings, and went my way. The whole performance was embarrassing, because I was a novice and a dozen people watched me in curious silence. I had also a boot with

neglect of me. I know that I suffered the agony of shame and the pangs of hunger; but they were nothing to the

in mental, moral, or physical conditions? There are seasons when he certainly isn't w

been a living deception all my days? No longer able to identify myself as any one in particular, it occurred to me that it would be well to address a few lines to th

uito

e Avenue

been your son, or about to be something equally near and dear to you. He can repeat several chapters of the New Testament at the shortest notice; reci

he will clothe, feed, and water himself and return immediately to those arms which, if his memory does not belie him, h

with haggard patience the departure of the vessel that was to bear me home with a palpable C. O. D. tacked on to me. Those last hours were brightened by the delicate attentions of a few good souls wh

when lo! a boat was immediately despatched from the plump little corvette Chevere

re made me by those dear fellows who wore the gold-lace and had a piratical-looking cabin all to them

on the shore the picture of despair, waiting sunrise, finding it my sole happiness to watch a canoe-load of children drifting out upon the bay, singing like a railful of larks; nor walked solitarily through the night up and down the narrow streets wherein the gendarmes had learned to

booses" fairly steaming in the sun, wherein

to the bread-fruit trees that had sheltered him, "Shelter me also, and

e in these sad days, with a row of new cannons around its edge, an

ng in the huts of the natives. I felt as though I were treading upon the br

rious green peaks growing dim in the distance; the clouds embraced them in their profound secrecy; like a lovely mirage Tahiti floated upon the bosom of the sea. Between sea and sky was swallowed up vale, garden, and wa

ped and Printed by W

riber'

t when a predominant preference was found in

phical errors

D MY CANNIBAL", before "chum": duplicate "my"

transcriber and release