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diff --git a/30714.txt b/30714.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bf09943 --- /dev/null +++ b/30714.txt @@ -0,0 +1,21564 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - +Swanston Edition Vol. 25 (of 25), by Robert Louis Stevenson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition Vol. 25 (of 25) + +Author: Robert Louis Stevenson + +Other: Andrew Lang + +Release Date: December 19, 2009 [EBook #30714] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORKS OF STEVENSON *** + + + + +Produced by Marius Masi, Jonathan Ingram and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + + THE WORKS OF + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON + + SWANSTON EDITION + + VOLUME XXV + + + _Of this SWANSTON EDITION in Twenty-five + Volumes of the Works of ROBERT LOUIS + STEVENSON Two Thousand and Sixty Copies + have been printed, of which only Two Thousand + Copies are for sale._ + + _This is No._ ....... + + + [Illustration: Yours truly + Robert Louis Stevenson] + + + THE WORKS OF + + ROBERT LOUIS + STEVENSON + + + VOLUME TWENTY-FIVE + + + LONDON: PUBLISHED BY CHATTO AND + WINDUS: IN ASSOCIATION WITH CASSELL + AND COMPANY LIMITED: WILLIAM + HEINEMANN: AND LONGMANS GREEN + AND COMPANY MDCCCCXII + + + _For permission to use the_ LETTERS _in the_ + SWANSTON EDITION OF STEVENSON'S WORKS + _the Publishers are indebted to the kindness of_ + MESSRS. METHUEN & CO., LTD. + + + ALL RIGHTS RESERVED + + + + + THE LETTERS OF + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON + + EDITED BY + SIDNEY COLVIN + + PARTS XI--XIV + + + + +CONTENTS + + +XI. LIFE IN SAMOA + + FIRST YEAR AT VAILIMA + + PAGE + INTRODUCTORY 3 + + LETTERS-- + To Sidney Colvin 9 + To E. L. Burlingame 24 + To Sidney Colvin 25 + To E. L. Burlingame 32 + To Sidney Colvin 34 + To Henry James 43 + To Rudyard Kipling 46 + To Sidney Colvin 48 + To Marcel Schwob 51 + To Charles Baxter 53 + To Sidney Colvin 54 + To H. B. Baildon 56 + To Sidney Colvin 58 + To the Same 66 + To W. Craibe Angus 69 + To Edmund Gosse 71 + To Miss Rawlinson 74 + To Sidney Colvin 76 + To Miss Adelaide Boodle 80 + To Charles Baxter 82 + To Sidney Colvin 83 + To E. L. Burlingame 86 + To W. Craibe Angus 87 + To H. C. Ide 88 + To Sidney Colvin 90 + To the Same 94 + To the Same 102 + To Henry James 108 + To E. L. Burlingame 110 + To the Same 111 + To Sidney Colvin 112 + To W. Craibe Angus 118 + To Miss Annie H. Ide 118 + To Charles Baxter 120 + To Sidney Colvin 121 + To Fred Orr 127 + To E. L. Burlingame 128 + To Henry James 130 + To Sidney Colvin 132 + + +XII. LIFE IN SAMOA--_continued_ + + SECOND YEAR AT VAILIMA + + INTRODUCTORY 144 + + LETTERS-- + To E. L. Burlingame 146 + To Miss Adelaide Boodle 147 + To Sidney Colvin 152 + To J. M. Barrie 154 + To Sidney Colvin 156 + To William Morris 162 + To Mrs. Charles Fairchild 163 + To Sidney Colvin 166 + To E. L. Burlingame 174 + To the Rev. S. J. Whitmee 174 + To Charles Baxter 177 + To Sidney Colvin 178 + To the Same 193 + To T. W. Dover 209 + To E. L. Burlingame 210 + To Sidney Colvin 211 + To Charles Baxter 213 + To W. E. Henley 214 + To E. L. Burlingame 215 + To Andrew Lang 216 + To Miss Adelaide Boodle 217 + To Sidney Colvin 221 + To the Countess of Jersey 228 + To the Same 229 + To Sidney Colvin 230 + To Mrs. Charles Fairchild 240 + To the Children in the Cellar 243 + To Sidney Colvin 249 + To Gordon Browne 252 + To Miss Morse 253 + To Miss Taylor 254 + To E. L. Burlingame 257 + To Sidney Colvin 258 + To J. M. Barrie 264 + To E. L. Burlingame 266 + To Lieutenant Eeles 267 + To Charles Baxter 270 + To Sidney Colvin 271 + To Mrs. Fleeming Jenkin 273 + To Henry James 274 + To J. M. Barrie 276 + To Charles Baxter 278 + + +XIII. LIFE IN SAMOA--_continued_ + + THIRD YEAR AT VAILIMA + + INTRODUCTORY 280 + + LETTERS-- + To Sidney Colvin 282 + To Charles Baxter 288 + To Sidney Colvin 289 + To the Same 291 + To Charles Baxter 292 + To Sidney Colvin 294 + To A. Conan Doyle 299 + To Sidney Colvin 299 + To S. R. Crockett 305 + To Augustus St. Gaudens 308 + To Sidney Colvin 310 + To Edmund Gosse 317 + To Henry James 320 + To Sidney Colvin 324 + To James S. Stevenson 334 + To Henry James 335 + To A. Conan Doyle 336 + To Charles Baxter 337 + To Sidney Colvin 338 + To A. Conan Doyle 339 + To Augustus St. Gaudens 341 + To James S. Stevenson 342 + To George Meredith 343 + To Charles Baxter 345 + To Sidney Colvin 347 + To the Same 352 + To J. Horne Stevenson 357 + To John P----n 358 + To Russell P----n 359 + To Alison Cunningham 359 + To Charles Baxter 360 + To J. M. Barrie 362 + To R. Le Gallienne 364 + To Mrs. A. Baker 366 + To Henry James 367 + To Sidney Colvin 367 + + +XIV. LIFESAMOA--_concluded_ + + FOURTH YEAR AT VAILIMA--THE END + + INTRODUCTORY 373 + + LETTERS-- + To Charles Baxter 376 + To H. B. Baildon 377 + To W. H. Low 378 + To Sidney Colvin 380 + To H. B. Baildon 381 + To Sidney Colvin 382 + To J. H. Bates 384 + To William Archer 384 + To Sidney Colvin 386 + To W. B. Yeats 390 + To George Meredith 390 + To Charles Baxter 392 + To Mrs. Sitwell 393 + To Charles Baxter 394 + To Sidney Colvin 396 + To R. A. M. Stevenson 398 + To Sidney Colvin 404 + To Henry James 406 + To Marcel Schwob 409 + To A. St. Gaudens 410 + To Miss Adelaide Boodle 410 + To Mrs. A. Baker 413 + To Sidney Colvin 414 + To J. M. Barrie 416 + To Sidney Colvin 422 + To Dr. Bakewell 424 + To James Payn 425 + To Miss Middleton 428 + To A. Conan Doyle 429 + To Sidney Colvin 430 + To Charles Baxter 433 + To R. A. M. Stevenson 434 + To Sir Herbert Maxwell 440 + To Sidney Colvin 441 + To Alison Cunningham 445 + To James Payn 446 + To Sidney Colvin 448 + To Professor Meiklejohn 450 + To Lieutenant Eeles 451 + To Sir Herbert Maxwell 453 + To Andrew Lang 453 + To Edmund Gosse 454 + + + APPENDIX I--Account of the Death and + Burial of R. L. Stevenson, by + Lloyd Osbourne 457 + + APPENDIX II--Address of R. L. + Stevenson to the Chiefs on the + Opening of the Road of Gratitude, + October 1894 462 + + INDEX TO THE LETTERS: + VOLUMES XXIII-XXV 469 + + INDEX TO VOLUMES I-XXII 509 + + + + + THE LETTERS + OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON + + 1890--1894 + + + + + THE LETTERS + OF ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON + + + + +XI + +LIFE IN SAMOA + +FIRST YEAR AT VAILIMA + + +NOVEMBER 1890-DECEMBER 1891 + +Returning from Sydney at the end of October 1890, Stevenson and his wife +at once took up their abode in the wooden four-roomed cottage, or "rough +barrack," as he calls it, which had been built for them in the clearing +at Vailima during the months of their absence at Sydney and on their +cruise in the _Equator_. Mr. Lloyd Osbourne in the meantime had started +for England to wind up the family affairs at Bournemouth. During the +first few months, as will be seen by the following letters, the +conditions of life at Vailima were rough to the point of hardship. But +matters soon mended; the work of clearing and planting went on under the +eye of the master and mistress diligently and in the main successfully, +though not of course without complications and misadventures. Ways and +means of catering were found, and abundance began to reign in place of +the makeshifts and privations of the first days. By April a better +house, fit to receive the elder Mrs. Stevenson, had been built; and +later in the year plans for further extension were considered, but for +the present held over. The attempt made at first to work the +establishment by means of white servants and head-men indoors and out +proved unsatisfactory, and was gradually superseded by the formation of +an efficient native staff, which in course of time developed itself into +something like a small, devoted feudal clan. + +During the earlier months of 1891 Stevenson was not in continuous +residence on his new property, but went away on two excursions, the +first to Sydney to meet his mother; the second, in company of the +American Consul Mr. Sewall, to Tutuila, a neighbouring island of the +Samoan group. Of the latter, to him very interesting, trip, the +correspondence contains only the beginning of an account abruptly broken +off: more, will be found in the extracts from his diary given in Mr. +Graham Balfour's _Life_ (ed. 1906, pp. 312 f.). During part of the +spring he was fortunate in having the company of two distinguished +Americans, the painter Lafarge and the historian Henry Adams, in +addition to that of the local planters, traders, and officials, a +singular and singularly mixed community. After some half-year's +residence he began to realise that the arrangements made for the +government of Samoa by treaty between the three powers England, Germany, +and America were not working nor promising to work well. Stevenson was +no abstracted student or dreamer; the human interests and human duties +lying immediately about him were ever the first in his eyes; and he +found himself drawn deeply into the complications of local politics, as +so active a spirit could not fail to be drawn, however little taste he +might have for the work. + +He kept in the meantime at a fair level of health, and among the +multitude of new interests was faithful in the main business of his +life--that is, to literature. He did not cease to toil uphill at the +heavy task of preparing for serial publication the letters, or more +properly chapters, on the South Seas. He planned and began delightedly +his happiest tale of South Sea life, _The High Woods of Ulufanua_, +afterwards changed to _The Beach of Falesa_; conceived the scheme, which +was never carried out, of working two of his old conceptions into one +long genealogical novel or fictitious family history to be called _The +Shovels of Newton French_; and in the latter part of the year worked +hard in continuation of _The Wrecker_. Having completed this during +November, he turned at once, from a sense of duty rather than from any +literary inspiration, to the _Footnote to History_, a laboriously +prepared and minutely conscientious account of recent events in Samoa. + +From his earliest days at Vailima, determined that our intimacy should +suffer no diminution by absence, Stevenson began, to my great pleasure, +the practice of writing me a monthly budget containing a full account of +his doings and interests. At first the pursuits of the enthusiastic +farmer, planter, and overseer filled these letters delightfully, to the +exclusion of almost everything else except references to his books +projected or in hand. Later these interests began to give place in his +letters to those of the local politician, immersed in affairs which +seemed to me exasperatingly petty and obscure, however grave the +potential European complications which lay behind them. At any rate, +they were hard to follow intelligently from the other side of the globe; +and it was a relief whenever his correspondence turned to matters +literary or domestic, or humours of his own mind and character. These +letters, or so much of them as seemed suitable for publication, were +originally printed separately, in the year following the writer's +death, under the title _Vailima Letters_. They are here placed, with +some additions, in chronological order among those addressed to other +friends or acquaintances. During this first year at Vailima his general +correspondence was not nearly so large as it afterwards became; Mr. +Burlingame, as representative of the house of Scribner, receiving the +lion's share next to myself. + +For the love of Stevenson I will ask readers to take the small amount of +pains necessary to grasp and remember the main facts of Samoan politics +in the ten years 1889-99. At the date when he settled in Vailima the +government of the islands had lately been re-ordered between the three +powers interested--namely, Germany, England, and the United States--at +the Convention of Berlin (July 14, 1889). The rivalries and jealousies +of these three powers, complicated with the conflicting claims of +various native kings or chiefs, had for some time kept the affairs of +the islands dangerously embroiled. Under the Berlin Convention, Malietoa +Laupepa, who had previously been deposed and deported by the Germans in +favour of a nominee of their own, was reinstated as king, to the +exclusion of his kinsman, the powerful and popular Mataafa, whose titles +were equally good and abilities certainly greater, but who was +especially obnoxious to the Germans owing to his resistance to them +during the troubles of the preceding years. In the course of that +resistance a small German force had been worsted in a petty skirmish at +Fagalii, and resentment at this affront to the national pride was for +several years one of the chief obstacles to the reconciliation of +contending interests. For a time the two kinsmen, Laupepa and Mataafa, +lived on amicable terms, but presently differences arose between them. +Mataafa had expected to occupy a position of influence in the +government: finding himself ignored, he withdrew to a camp (Malie) a +few miles outside the town of Apia, where he lived in semi-royal state +as a sort of passive rebel or rival to the recognised king. In the +meantime, in the course of the year 1891, the two white officials +appointed under the Berlin Convention--namely, the Chief Justice, a +Swedish gentleman named Cedercrantz, and the President of the Council, +Baron Senfft von Pilsach--had come out to the islands and entered on +their duties. These gentlemen soon proved themselves unfitted for their +task to a degree both disastrous and grotesque. Almost the entire white +community were soon against them; with the native population they had no +influence or credit; affairs both political and municipal went from bad +to worse; and the consuls of the three powers, acting as an official +board of advisers to the king, could do very little to mend them. + +To the impropriety of some of the official proceedings Stevenson felt +compelled to call attention in a series of letters to the Times, the +first of which appeared in 1891, the remainder in 1892. He had formed +the conviction that for the cure of Samoan troubles two things were +necessary: first and above all, the reconciliation of Laupepa and +Mataafa; secondly, the supersession of the unlucky Chief Justice and +President by men better qualified for their tasks. To effect the former +purpose, he made his only practical intromission in local politics, and +made it unsuccessfully. The motive of his letters to the Times was the +hope to effect the second. In this matter, after undergoing the risk, +which was at one moment serious, of deportation, he in the end saw his +wishes fulfilled. The first Chief Justice and President were replaced by +better qualified persons in the course of 1893. But meantime the muddle +had grown to a head. In the autumn of that year war broke out between +the partisans of Laupepa and Mataafa: the latter were defeated, and +Mataafa exiled to a distant island. At the close of the following year +Stevenson died. Three years later followed the death of Laupepa: then +came more confused rivalries between various claimants to the kingly +title. The Germans, having by this time come round to Stevenson's +opinion, backed the claims of Mataafa, which they had before stubbornly +disallowed, while the English and Americans stood for another candidate. +In 1899 these differences resulted in a calamitous and unjustifiable +action, the bombardment of native villages for several successive days +by English and American war-ships. As a matter of urgent necessity, to +avert worse things, new negotiations were set on foot between the three +powers, with the result that England withdrew her claims in Samoa +altogether, America was satisfied with the small island of Tutuila with +its fine harbour of Pago-pago, while the two larger islands of Upolu and +Savaii were ceded to Germany. German officials have governed them well +and peacefully ever since, having allowed the restored Mataafa, as long +as he lived, a recognised position of headship among the native chiefs. +Stevenson during his lifetime was obnoxious to the German official +world. But his name and memory are now held in honour by them, his +policy to a large extent practically followed, and he would have been +the first to acknowledge the merits of the new order had he lived to +witness it. + +These remarks, following the subject down to what remains for the +present its historic conclusion, will, I hope, be enough to clear it for +the present purpose out of the reader's way and enable him to understand +as much as is necessary of the political allusions in this and the +following sections of the correspondence. + +It need only be added that in reading the following pages it must be +borne in mind that Mulinuu and Malie, the places respectively of +Laupepa's and Mataafa's residence, are also used to signify their +respective parties and followings. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + During the absence of the Stevensons at Sydney some eight acres of + the Vailima property had been cleared of jungle, a cottage roughly + built on the clearing, and something done towards making the track up + the hill from Apia into a practicable road. They occupied the cottage + at once, and the following letters narrate of the sequel. + + _In the Mountain, Apia, Samoa, Monday, November 2nd, 1890._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--This is a hard and interesting and beautiful life that +we lead now. Our place is in a deep cleft of Vaea Mountain, some six +hundred feet above the sea, embowered in forest, which is our strangling +enemy, and which we combat with axes and dollars. I went crazy over +outdoor work, and had at last to confine myself to the house, or +literature must have gone by the board. _Nothing_ is so interesting as +weeding, clearing, and path-making; the oversight of labourers becomes a +disease; it is quite an effort not to drop into the farmer; and it does +make you feel so well. To come down covered with mud and drenched with +sweat and rain after some hours in the bush, change, rub down, and take +a chair in the verandah, is to taste a quiet conscience. And the strange +thing that I mark is this: If I go out and make sixpence, bossing my +labourers and plying the cutlass or the spade, idiot conscience applauds +me; if I sit in the house and make twenty pounds, idiot conscience wails +over my neglect and the day wasted. For near a fortnight I did not go +beyond the verandah; then I found my rush of work run out, and went down +for the night to Apia; put in Sunday afternoon with our consul, "a nice +young man," dined with my friend H. J. Moors in the evening, went to +church--no less--at the white and half-white church--I had never been +before, and was much interested; the woman I sat next _looked_ a +full-blood native, and it was in the prettiest and readiest English that +she sang the hymns; back to Moors', where we yarned of the islands, +being both wide wanderers, till bedtime; bed, sleep, breakfast, horse +saddled; round to the mission, to get Mr. Clarke to be my interpreter; +over with him to the King's, whom I have not called on since my return; +received by that mild old gentleman; have some interesting talk with him +about Samoan superstitions and my land--the scene of a great battle in +his (Malietoa Laupepa's) youth--the place which we have cleared the +platform of his fort--the gulley of the stream full of dead bodies--the +fight rolled off up Vaea mountain-side; back with Clarke to the mission; +had a bit of lunch and consulted over a queer point of missionary policy +just arisen, about our new Town Hall and the balls there--too long to go +into, but a quaint example of the intricate questions which spring up +daily in the missionary path.[1] + +Then off up the hill; Jack very fresh, the sun (close on noon) staring +hot, the breeze very strong and pleasant; the ineffable green country +all round--gorgeous little birds (I think they are humming-birds, but +they say not) skirmishing in the wayside flowers. About a quarter way up +I met a native coming down with the trunk of a cocoa palm across his +shoulder; his brown breast glittering with sweat and oil: +"Talofa"--"Talofa, alii--You see that white man? He speak for you." +"White man he gone up here?"--"Ioe" (Yes)--"Tofa, alii"--"Tofa, soifua!" +I put on Jack up the steep path, till he is all as white as shaving +stick--Brown's euxesis, wish I had some--past Tanugamanono, a bush +village--see into the houses as I pass--they are open sheds scattered on +a green--see the brown folk sitting there, suckling kids, sleeping on +their stiff wooden pillows--then on through the wood path--and here I +find the mysterious white man (poor devil!) with his twenty years' +certificate of good behaviour as a book-keeper, frozen out by the +strikes in the colonies, come up here on a chance, no work to be found, +big hotel bill, no ship to leave in--and come up to beg twenty dollars +because he heard I was a Scotchman, offering to leave his portmanteau in +pledge. Settle this, and on again; and here my house comes in view, and +a war whoop fetches my wife and Henry (or Simele), our Samoan boy, on +the front balcony; and I am home again, and only sorry that I shall have +to go down again to Apia this day week. I could, and would, dwell here +unmoved, but there are things to be attended to. + +Never say I don't give you details and news. That is a picture of a +letter. + +I have been hard at work since I came; three chapters of _The Wrecker_, +and since that, eight of the South Sea book, and, along and about and in +between, a hatful of verses. Some day I'll send the verse to you, and +you'll say if any of it is any good. I have got in a better vein with +the South Sea book, as I think you will see; I think these chapters will +do for the volume without much change. Those that I did in the _Janet +Nicoll_, under the most ungodly circumstances, I fear will want a lot of +suppling and lightening, but I hope to have your remarks in a month or +two upon that point. It seems a long while since I have heard from you. +I do hope you are well. I am wonderful, but tired from so much work; +'tis really immense what I have done; in the South Sea book I have fifty +pages copied fair, some of which has been four times, and all twice +written; certainly fifty pages of solid scriving inside a fortnight, but +I was at it by seven a.m. till lunch, and from two till four or five +every day; between whiles, verse and blowing on the flageolet; never +outside. If you could see this place! but I don't want any one to see it +till my clearing is done, and my house built. It will be a home for +angels. + +[Illustration: + + * Point referred to in text. + ........ Paths. + ======== Our boundary. + + _a. Garden._ _b. Present house._ + _c. Banana Patch._ _d. Waterfall._ + _e. Large waterfall into deep gorge where the heat of the fight was._] + +So far I wrote after my bit of dinner, some cold meat and bananas, on +arrival. Then out to see where Henry and some of the men were clearing +the garden; for it was plain there was to be no work to-day indoors, and +I must set in consequence to farmering. I stuck a good while on the way +up, for the path there is largely my own handiwork, and there were a lot +of sprouts and saplings and stones to be removed. Then I reached our +clearing just where the streams join in one; it had a fine autumn smell +of burning, the smoke blew in the woods, and the boys were pretty merry +and busy. Now I had a private design:--The Vaita'e I had explored +pretty far up; not yet the other stream, the Vaituliga (g=nasal n, as ng +in sing); and up that, with my wood knife, I set off alone. It is here +quite dry; it went through endless woods; about as broad as a Devonshire +lane, here and there crossed by fallen trees; huge trees overhead in the +sun, dripping lianas and tufted with orchids, tree ferns, ferns +depending with air roots from the steep banks, great arums--I had not +skill enough to say if any of them were the edible kind, one of our +staples here!--hundreds of bananas--another staple--and alas! I had +skill enough to know all of these for the bad kind that bears no fruit. +My Henry moralised over this the other day; how hard it was that the bad +banana flourished wild, and the good must be weeded and tended; and I +had not the heart to tell him how fortunate they were here, and how +hungry were other lands by comparison. The ascent of this lovely lane of +my dry stream filled me with delight. I could not but be reminded of old +Mayne Reid, as I have been more than once since I came to the tropics; +and I thought, if Reid had been still living, I would have written to +tell him that, for me, _it had come true_; and I thought, forbye, that, +if the great powers go on as they are going, and the Chief Justice +delays, it would come truer still; and the war-conch will sound in the +hills, and my home will be inclosed in camps, before the year is ended. +And all at once--mark you, how Mayne Reid is on the spot--a strange +thing happened. I saw a liana stretch across the bed of the brook about +breast-high, swung up my knife to sever it, and--behold, it was a wire! +On either hand it plunged into thick bush; to-morrow I shall see where +it goes and get a guess perhaps of what it means. To-day I know no more +than--there it is. A little higher the brook began to trickle, then to +fill. At last, as I meant to do some work upon the homeward trail, it +was time to turn. I did not return by the stream; knife in hand, as long +as my endurance lasted, I was to cut a path in the congested bush. + +At first it went ill with me; I got badly stung as high as the elbows by +the stinging plant; I was nearly hung in a tough liana--a rotten trunk +giving way under my feet; it was deplorable bad business. And an axe--if +I dared swing one--would have been more to the purpose than my cutlass. +Of a sudden things began to go strangely easier; I found stumps, bushing +out again; my body began to wonder, then my mind; I raised my eyes and +looked ahead; and, by George, I was no longer pioneering, I had struck +an old track overgrown, and was restoring an old path. So I laboured +till I was in such a state that Carolina Wilhelmina Skeggs[2] could +scarce have found a name for it. Thereon desisted; returned to the +stream; made my way down that stony track to the garden, where the smoke +was still hanging and the sun was still in the high tree-tops, and so +home. Here, fondly supposing my long day was over, I rubbed down; +exquisite agony; water spreads the poison of these weeds; I got it all +over my hands, on my chest, in my eyes, and presently, while eating an +orange, _a la_ Rarotonga, burned my lip and eye with orange juice. Now +all day, our three small pigs had been adrift, to the mortal peril of +our corn, lettuce, onions, etc., and as I stood smarting on the back +verandah, behold the three piglings issuing from the wood just opposite. +Instantly I got together as many boys as I could--three, and got the +pigs penned against the rampart of the sty, till the others joined; +whereupon we formed a cordon, closed, captured the deserters, and +dropped them, squeaking amain, into their strengthened barracks where, +please God, they may now stay! + +Perhaps you may suppose the day now over; you are not the head of a +plantation, my juvenile friend. Politics succeeded: Henry got adrift in +his English, Bene was too cowardly to tell me what he was after: result, +I have lost seven good labourers, and had to sit down and write to you +to keep my temper. Let me sketch my lads.--Henry--Henry has gone down to +town or I could not be writing to you--this were the hour of his English +lesson else, when he learns what he calls "long explessions" or "your +chief's language" for the matter of an hour and a half--Henry is a +chiefling from Savaii; I once loathed, I now like and--pending fresh +discoveries--have a kind of respect for Henry. He does good work for us; +goes among the labourers, bossing and watching; helps Fanny; is civil, +kindly, thoughtful; _O si sic semper!_ But will he be "his sometime self +throughout the year"? Anyway, he has deserved of us, and he must +disappoint me sharply ere I give him up.--Bene--or Peni--Ben, in plain +English--is supposed to be my ganger; the Lord love him! God made a +truckling coward, there is his full history. He cannot tell me what he +wants; he dares not tell me what is wrong; he dares not transmit my +orders or translate my censures. And with all this, honest, sober, +industrious, miserably smiling over the miserable issue of his own +unmanliness.--Paul--a German--cook and steward--a glutton of work--a +splendid fellow; drawbacks, three: (1) no cook; (2) an inveterate +bungler; a man with twenty thumbs, continually falling in the dishes, +throwing out the dinner, preserving the garbage; (3) a dr----, well, +don't let us say that--but we daren't let him go to town, and he--poor, +good soul--is afraid to be let go.--Lafaele (Raphael), a strong, dull, +deprecatory man; splendid with an axe, if watched; the better for a +rowing, when he calls me "Papa" in the most wheedling tones; desperately +afraid of ghosts, so that he dare not walk alone up in the banana +patch--see map. The rest are changing labourers; and to-night, owing to +the miserable cowardice of Peni, who did not venture to tell me what the +men wanted--and which was no more than fair--all are gone--and my +weeding in the article of being finished! Pity the sorrows of a planter. + +I am, Sir, yours, and be jowned to you, The Planter, + + R. L. S. + +_Tuesday, 3rd._--I begin to see the whole scheme of letter-writing; you +sit down every day and pour out an equable stream of twaddle. + +This morning all my fears were fled, and all the trouble had fallen to +the lot of Peni himself, who deserved it; my field was full of weeders; +and I am again able to justify the ways of God. All morning I worked at +the _South Seas_, and finished the chapter I had stuck upon on Saturday. +Fanny, awfully hove-to with rheumatics and injuries received upon the +field of sport and glory, chasing pigs, was unable to go up and down +stairs, so she sat upon the back verandah, and my work was chequered by +her cries. "Paul, you take a spade to do that--dig a hole first. If you +do that, you'll cut your foot off! Here, you boy, what you do there? You +no get work? You go find Simele; he give you work. Peni, you tell this +boy he go find Simele; suppose Simele no give him work, you tell him go +'way. I no want him here. That boy no good."--_Peni_ (from the distance +in reassuring tones), "All right, sir!"--_Fanny_ (after a long pause), +"Peni, you tell that boy go find Simele! I no want him stand here all +day. I no pay that boy. I see him all day. He no do nothing."--Luncheon, +beef, soda-scones, fried bananas, pine-apple in claret, coffee. Try to +write a poem; no go. Play the flageolet. Then sneakingly off to +farmering and pioneering. Four gangs at work on our place; a lively +scene; axes crashing and smoke blowing; all the knives are out. But I +rob the garden party of one without a stock, and you should see my +hand--cut to ribbons. Now I want to do my path up the Vaituliga +single-handed, and I want it to burst on the public complete. Hence, +with devilish ingenuity, I begin it at different places; so that if you +stumble on one section, you may not even then suspect the fulness of my +labours. Accordingly, I started in a new place, below the wire, and +hoping to work up to it. It was perhaps lucky I had so bad a cutlass, +and my smarting hand bid me stay before I had got up to the wire, but +just in season, so that I was only the better of my activity, not dead +beat as yesterday. + +A strange business it was, and infinitely solitary; away above, the sun +was in the high tree-tops; the lianas noosed and sought to hang me; the +saplings struggled, and came up with that sob of death that one gets to +know so well; great, soft, sappy trees fell at a lick of the cutlass, +little tough switches laughed at and dared my best endeavour. Soon, +toiling down in that pit of verdure, I heard blows on the far side, and +then laughter. I confess a chill settled on my heart. Being so dead +alone, in a place where by rights none should be beyond me, I was aware, +upon interrogation, if those blows had drawn nearer, I should (of course +quite unaffectedly) have executed a strategic movement to the rear; and +only the other day I was lamenting my insensibility to superstition! Am +I beginning to be sucked in? Shall I become a midnight twitterer like my +neighbours? At times I thought the blows were echoes; at times I thought +the laughter was from birds. For our birds are strangely human in their +calls. Vaea mountain about sundown sometimes rings with shrill cries, +like the hails of merry, scattered children. As a matter of fact, I +believe stealthy wood-cutters from Tanugamanono were above me in the +wood and answerable for the blows; as for the laughter, a woman and two +children had come and asked Fanny's leave to go up shrimp-fishing in the +burn; beyond doubt, it was these I heard. Just at the right time I +returned; to wash down, change, and begin this snatch of letter before +dinner was ready, and to finish it afterwards, before Henry has yet put +in an appearance for his lesson in "long explessions." + +Dinner: stewed beef and potatoes, baked bananas, new loaf-bread hot from +the oven, pine-apple in claret. These are great days; we have been low +in the past; but now are we as belly-gods, enjoying all things. + +_Wednesday_, (_Hist. Vailima resumed._)--A gorgeous evening of +after-glow in the great tree-tops and behind the mountain, and full moon +over the lowlands and the sea, inaugurated a night of horrid cold. To +you effete denizens of the so-called temperate zone, it had seemed +nothing; neither of us could sleep; we were up seeking extra coverings, +I know not at what hour--it was as bright as day. The moon right over +Vaea--near due west, the birds strangely silent, and the wood of the +house tingling with cold; I believe it must have been 60 deg.! Consequence: +Fanny has a headache and is wretched, and I could do no work. (I am +trying all round for a place to hold my pen; you will hear why later on; +this to explain penmanship.) I wrote two pages, very bad, no movement, +no life or interest; then I wrote a business letter; then took to +tootling on the flageolet, till glory should call me farmering. + +I took up at the fit time Lafaele and Mauga--Mauga, accent on the first, +is a mountain, I don't know what Mauga means--mind what I told you of +the value of g--to the garden, and set them digging, then turned my +attention to the path. I could not go into my bush path for two reasons: +1st, sore hands; 2nd, had on my trousers and good shoes. Lucky it was. +Right in the wild lime hedge which cuts athwart us just homeward of the +garden, I found a great bed of kuikui--sensitive plant--our deadliest +enemy. A fool brought it to this island in a pot, and used to lecture +and sentimentalise over the tender thing. The tender thing has now taken +charge of this island, and men fight it, with torn hands, for bread and +life. A singular, insidious thing, shrinking and biting like a weasel; +clutching by its roots as a limpet clutches to a rock. As I fought him, +I bettered some verses in my poem, _The Woodman_;[3] the only thought I +gave to letters. Though the kuikui was thick, there was but a small +patch of it, and when I was done I attacked the wild lime, and had a +hand-to-hand skirmish with its spines and elastic suckers. All this +time, close by, in the cleared space of the garden, Lafaele and Mauga +were digging. Suddenly quoth Lafaele, "Somebody he sing out."--"Somebody +he sing out? All right. I go." And I went and found they had been +whistling and "singing out" for long, but the fold of the hill and the +uncleared bush shuts in the garden so that no one heard, and I was late +for dinner, and Fanny's headache was cross; and when the meal was over, +we had to cut up a pineapple which was going bad, to make jelly of; and +the next time you have a handful of broken blood-blisters, apply +pine-apple juice, and you will give me news of it, and I request a +specimen of your hand of write five minutes after--the historic moment +when I tackled this history. My day so far. + +Fanny was to have rested. Blessed Paul began making a duck-house; she +let him be; the duck-house fell down, and she had to set her hand to it. +He was then to make a drinking-place for the pigs; she let him be +again--he made a stair by which the pigs will probably escape this +evening, and she was near weeping. Impossible to blame the indefatigable +fellow; energy is too rare and goodwill too noble a thing to discourage; +but it's trying when she wants a rest. Then she had to cook the dinner; +then, of course--like a fool and a woman--must wait dinner for me, and +make a flurry of herself. Her day so far. _Cetera adhuc desunt._ + +_Friday_--_I think._--I have been too tired to add to this chronicle, +which will at any rate give you some guess of our employment. All goes +well; the kuikui--(think of this mispronunciation having actually +infected me to the extent of misspelling! tuitui is the word by +rights)--the tuitui is all out of the paddock--a fenced park between the +house and boundary; Peni's men start to-day on the road; the garden is +part burned, part dug; and Henry, at the head of a troop of underpaid +assistants, is hard at work clearing. The part clearing you will see +from the map; from the house run down to the stream side, up the stream +nearly as high as the garden; then back to the star which I have just +added to the map. + +My long, silent contests in the forest have had a strange effect on me. +The unconcealed vitality of these vegetables, their exuberant number and +strength, the attempts--I can use no other word--of lianas to enwrap and +capture the intruder, the awful silence, the knowledge that all my +efforts are only like the performance of an actor, the thing of a +moment, and the wood will silently and swiftly heal them up with fresh +effervescence; the cunning sense of the tuitui, suffering itself to be +touched with wind-swayed grasses and not minding--but let the grass be +moved by a man, and it shuts up; the whole silent battle, murder, and +slow death of the contending forest; weigh upon the imagination. My poem +_The Woodman_ stands; but I have taken refuge in a new story, which just +shot through me like a bullet in one of my moments of awe, alone in that +tragic jungle:-- + + _The High Woods of Ulufanua_[4] + + 1. A South Sea Bridal. + 2. Under the Ban. + 3. Savao and Faavao. + 4. Cries in the High Wood. + 5. Rumour full of Tongues. + 6. The Hour of Peril. + 7. The Day of Vengeance. + +It is very strange, very extravagant, I dare say; but it's varied, and +picturesque, and has a pretty love affair, and ends well. Ulufanua is a +lovely Samoan word, ulu = grove; fanua = land; grove-land--"the tops of +the high trees." Savao, "sacred to the wood," and Faavao, "wood-ways," +are the names of two of the characters, Ulufanua the name of the +supposed island. + +I am very tired, and rest off to-day from all but letters. Fanny is +quite done up; she could not sleep last night, something it seemed like +asthma--I trust not. I suppose Lloyd will be about, so you can give him +the benefit of this long scrawl.[5] Never say that I _can't_ write a +letter, say that I don't.--Yours ever, my dearest fellow, + + R. L. S. + +_Later on Friday._--The guidwife had bread to bake, and she baked it in +a pan, O! But between whiles she was down with me weeding sensitive in +the paddock. The men have but now passed over it; I was round in that +very place to see the weeding was done thoroughly, and already the +reptile springs behind our heels. Tuitui is a truly strange beast, and +gives food for thought. I am nearly sure--I cannot yet be quite, I mean +to experiment, when I am less on the hot chase of the beast--that, even +at the instant he shrivels up his leaves, he strikes his prickles +downward so as to catch the uprooting finger; instinctive, say the +gabies; but so is man's impulse to strike out. One thing that takes and +holds me is to see the strange variation in the propagation of alarm +among these rooted beasts; at times it spreads to a radius (I speak by +the guess of the eye) of five or six inches; at times only one +individual plant appears frightened at a time. We tried how long it took +one to recover; 'tis a sanguine creature; it is all abroad again before +(I guess again) two minutes. It is odd how difficult in this world it is +to be armed. The double armour of this plant betrays it. In a thick +tuft, where the leaves disappear, I thrust In my hand, and the bite of +the thorns betrays the top-most stem. In the open again, and when I +hesitate if it be clover, a touch on the leaves, and its fine sense and +retractile action betrays its identity at once. Yet it has one gift +incomparable. Rome had virtue and knowledge; Rome perished. The +sensitive plant has indigestible seeds--so they say--and it will +flourish for ever. I give my advice thus to a young plant--have a strong +root, a weak stem, and an indigestible seed; so you will outlast the +eternal city, and your progeny will clothe mountains, and the irascible +planter will blaspheme in vain. The weak point of tuitui is that its +stem is strong. + +_Supplementary Page._--Here beginneth the third lesson, which is not +from the planter but from a less estimable character, the writer of +books. + +I want you to understand about this South Sea Book. The job is immense; +I stagger under material. I have seen the first big _tache_. It was +necessary to see the smaller ones; the letters were at my hand for the +purpose, but I was not going to lose this experience; and, instead of +writing mere letters, have poured out a lot of stuff for the book. How +this works and fits, time is to show. But I believe, in time, I shall +get the whole thing in form. Now, up to date, that is all my design, and +I beg to warn you till we have the whole (or much) of the stuff +together, you can hardly judge--and I can hardly judge. Such a mass of +stuff is to be handled, if possible without repetition--so much foreign +matter to be introduced--if possible with perspicuity--and, as much as +can be, a spirit of narrative to be preserved. You will find that come +stronger as I proceed, and get the explanations worked through. Problems +of style are (as yet) dirt under my feet; my problem is architectural, +creative--to get this stuff jointed and moving. If I can do that, I will +trouble you for style; anybody might write it, and it would be splendid; +well-engineered, the masses right, the blooming thing travelling--twig? + +This I wanted you to understand, for lots of the stuff sent home is, I +imagine, rot--and slovenly rot--and some of it pompous rot; and I want +you to understand it's a _lay-in_. + +Soon, if the tide of poeshie continues, I'll send you a whole lot to +damn. You never said thank you for the handsome tribute addressed to +you from Apemama;[6] such is the gratitude of the world to the God-sent +poick. Well, well:--"Vex not thou the poick's mind, With thy coriaceous +ingratitude, The P. will be to your faults more than a little blind, And +yours is a far from handsome attitude." Having thus dropped into poetry +in a spirit of friendship, I have the honour to subscribe myself, Sir, +your obedient humble servant, + + SILAS WEGG. + + +I suppose by this you will have seen the lad--and his feet will have +been in the Monument--and his eyes beheld the face of George.[7] Well! + + There is much eloquence in a well! + I am, Sir, + Yours + The Epigrammatist + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON + R N + O O + B S + E N + R E + T V + E + L T + O S + U + I S + S I + U + S O + T L + E + V T + E R + N E + S B + O O + N R + FINIS--EXPLICIT + + + + +TO E. L. BURLINGAME + + + The opening sentences of the following refer of course to _The + Wrecker_, and particularly to a suggestion of mine concerning the + relation of the main narrative to the prologue:-- + + _Vailima, Apia, Samoa, Nov. 7, 1890._ + +I wish you to add to the words at the end of the prologue; they run, I +think, thus, "And this is the yarn of Loudon Dodd"; add, "not as he +told, but as he wrote it afterwards for his diversion." This becomes the +more needful, because, when all is done, I shall probably revert to +Tai-o-hae, and give final details about the characters in the way of a +conversation between Dodd and Havers. These little snippets of +information and _faits-divers_ have always a disjointed, broken-backed +appearance; yet, readers like them. In this book we have introduced so +many characters, that this kind of epilogue will be looked for; and I +rather hope, looking far ahead, that I can lighten it in dialogue. + +We are well past the middle now. How does it strike you? and can you +guess my mystery? It will make a fattish volume! + +I say, have you ever read the _Highland Widow_? I never had till +yesterday: I am half inclined, bar a trip or two, to think it Scott's +masterpiece; and it has the name of a failure! Strange things are +readers. + +I expect proofs and revises in duplicate. + +We have now got into a small barrack at our place. We see the sea six +hundred feet below filling the end of two vales of forest. On one hand +the mountain runs above us some thousand feet higher; great trees stand +round us in our clearing; there is an endless voice of birds; I have +never lived in such a heaven; just now, I have fever, which mitigates +but not destroys my gusto in my circumstances.--You may envy + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + +... O, I don't know if I mentioned that having seen your new tail to the +magazine, I cried off interference, at least for this trip. Did I ask +you to send me my books and papers, and all the bound volumes of the +mag.? _quorum pars_. I might add that were there a good book or +so--new--I don't believe there is--such would be welcome. + +I desire--I positively begin to awake--to be remembered to Scribner, +Low, St. Gaudens, Russell Sullivan. Well, well, you fellows have the +feast of reason and the flow of soul; I have a better-looking place and +climate: you should hear the birds on the hill now! The day has just +wound up with a shower; it is still light without, though I write within +here at the cheek of a lamp; my wife and an invaluable German are +wrestling about bread on the back verandah; and how the birds and the +frogs are rattling, and piping, and hailing from the woods! Here and +there a throaty chuckle; here and there, cries like those of jolly +children who have lost their way; here and there, the ringing +sleigh-bell of the tree frog. Out and away down below me on the sea it +is still raining; it will be wet under foot on schooners, and the house +will leak; how well I know that! Here the showers only patter on the +iron roof, and sometimes roar; and within, the lamp burns steady on the +tafa-covered walls, with their dusky tartan patterns, and the +book-shelves with their thin array of books; and no squall can rout my +house or bring my heart into my mouth.--The well-pleased South Sea +Islander, + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + _Vailima, Tuesday, November 25th,1890._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--I wanted to go out bright and early to go on with my +survey. You never heard of that. The world has turned, and much water +run under bridges, since I stopped my diary. I have written six more +chapters of the book, all good I potently believe, and given up, as a +deception of the devil's, the _High Woods_. I have been once down to +Apia, to a huge native feast at Seumanutafa's, the chief of Apia. There +was a vast mass of food, crowds of people, the police charging among +them with whips, the whole in high good humour on both sides; infinite +noise; and a historic event--Mr. Clarke, the missionary, and his wife, +assisted at a native dance. On my return from this function, I found +work had stopped; no more _South Seas_ in my belly. Well, Henry had +cleared a great deal of our bush on a contract, and it ought to be +measured. I set myself to the task with a tape-line; it seemed a dreary +business; then I borrowed a prismatic compass, and tackled the task +afresh. I have no books; I had not touched an instrument nor given a +thought to the business since the year of grace 1871; you can imagine +with what interest I sat down yesterday afternoon to reduce my +observations; five triangles I had taken; all five came right, to my +ineffable joy. Our dinner--the lowest we have ever been--consisted of +_one avocado pear_ between Fanny and me, a ship's biscuit for the +guidman, white bread for the Missis, and red wine for the twa. No salt +horse, even, in all Vailima! After dinner Henry came, and I began to +teach him decimals; you wouldn't think I knew them myself after so long +desuetude! + +I could not but wonder how Henry stands his evenings here; the +Polynesian loves gaiety--I feed him with decimals, the mariner's +compass, derivations, grammar, and the like; delecting myself, after the +manner of my race, _moult tristement_. I suck my paws; I live for my +dexterities and by my accomplishments; even my clumsinesses are my +joy--my woodcuts, my stumbling on the pipe, this surveying even--and +even weeding sensitive; anything to do with the mind, with the eye, with +the hand--with a part of _me_; diversion flows in these ways for the +dreary man. But gaiety is what these children want; to sit in a crowd, +tell stories and pass jests, to hear one another laugh and scamper with +the girls. It's good fun, too, I believe, but not for R.L.S., _aetat._ +40. Which I am now past forty, Custodian, and not one penny the worse +that I can see; as amusable as ever; to be on board ship is reward +enough for me; give me the wages of going on--in a schooner! Only, if +ever I were gay, which I misremember, I am gay no more. And here is poor +Henry passing his evenings on my intellectual husks, which the +professors masticated; keeping the accounts of the estate--all wrong I +have no doubt--I keep no check, beyond a very rough one; marching in +with a cloudy brow, and the day-book under his arm; tackling decimals, +coming with cases of conscience--how would an English chief behave in +such a case? etc.; and, I am bound to say, on any glimmer of a jest, +lapsing into native hilarity as a tree straightens itself after the wind +is by. The other night I remembered my old friend--I believe yours +also--Scholastikos, and administered the crow and the anchor--they were +quite fresh to Samoan ears (this implies a very early severance)--and I +thought the anchor would have made away with my Simele altogether. + +Fanny's time, in this interval, has been largely occupied in contending +publicly with wild swine. We have a black sow; we call her Jack +Sheppard; impossible to confine her--impossible also for her to be +confined! To my sure knowledge she has been in an interesting condition +for longer than any other sow in story; else she had long died the +death; as soon as she is brought to bed, she shall count her days. I +suppose that sow has cost us in days' labour from thirty to fifty +dollars; as many as eight boys (at a dollar a day) have been twelve +hours in chase of her. Now it is supposed that Fanny has outwitted her; +she grins behind broad planks in what was once the cook-house. She is a +wild pig; far handsomer than any tame; and when she found the cook-house +was too much for her methods of evasion, she lay down on the floor and +refused food and drink for a whole Sunday. On Monday morning she +relapsed, and now eats and drinks like a little man. I am reminded of an +incident. Two Sundays ago, the sad word was brought that the sow was out +again; this time she had carried another in her flight. Moors and I and +Fanny were strolling up to the garden, and there by the waterside we saw +the black sow, looking guilty. It seemed to me beyond words; but Fanny's +_cri du coeur_ was delicious: "G-r-r!" she cried; "nobody loves you!" + +I would I could tell you the moving story of our cart and cart-horses; +the latter are dapple-grey, about sixteen hands, and of enormous +substance; the former was a kind of red and green shandrydan with a +driving bench; plainly unfit to carry lumber or to face our road. +(Remember that the last third of my road, about a mile, is all made out +of a bridle-track by my boys--and my dollars.) It was supposed a white +man had been found--an ex-German artilleryman--to drive this last; he +proved incapable and drunken; the gallant Henry, who had never driven +before, and knew nothing about horses--except the rats and weeds that +flourish on the islands--volunteered; Moors accepted, proposing to +follow and supervise: despatched his work and started after. No cart! he +hurried on up the road--no cart. Transfer the scene to Vailima, where on +a sudden, to Fanny and me, the cart appears, apparently at a hard +gallop, some two hours before it was expected; Henry radiantly ruling +chaos from the bench. It stopped: it was long before we had time to +remark that the axle was twisted like the letter L. Our first care was +the horses. There they stood, black with sweat, the sweat raining from +them--literally raining--their heads down, their feet apart--and blood +running thick from the nostrils of the mare. We got out Fanny's +under-clothes--couldn't find anything else but our blankets--to rub them +down, and in about half an hour we had the blessed satisfaction to see +one after the other take a bite or two of grass. But it was a toucher; +a little more and these steeds would have been foundered. + +_Monday, 31st(?) November._--Near a week elapsed, and no journal. On +Monday afternoon, Moors rode up and I rode down with him, dined, and +went over in the evening to the American consulate; present, +Consul-General Sewall, Lieut. Parker and Mrs. Parker, Lafarge the +American decorator, Adams an American historian; we talked late, and it +was arranged I was to write up for Fanny, and we should both dine on the +morrow. + +On the Friday, I was all forenoon in the mission house, lunched at the +German consulate, went on board the _Sperber_(German war-ship) in the +afternoon, called on my lawyer on my way out to American Consulate, and +talked till dinner time with Adams, whom I am supplying with +introductions and information for Tahiti and the Marquesas. Fanny +arrived a wreck, and had to lie down. The moon rose, one day past full, +and we dined in the verandah, a good dinner on the whole; talk with +Lafarge about art and the lovely dreams of art students.[8] Remark by +Adams, which took me briskly home to the Monument--"I only liked one +_young_ woman--and that was Mrs. Procter."[9] Henry James would like +that. Back by moonlight in the consulate boat--Fanny being too tired to +walk--to Moors's. Saturday, I left Fanny to rest, and was off early to +the Mission, where the politics are thrilling just now. The native +pastors (to every one's surprise) have moved of themselves in the +matter of the native dances, desiring the restrictions to be removed, or +rather to be made dependent on the character of the dance. Clarke, who +had feared censure and all kinds of trouble, is, of course, rejoicing +greatly. A characteristic feature: the argument of the pastors was +handed in in the form of a fictitious narrative of the voyage of one Mr. +Pye, an English traveller, and his conversation with a chief; there are +touches of satire in this educational romance. Mr. Pye, for instance, +admits that he knows nothing about the Bible. At the Mission I was +sought out by Henry in a devil of an agitation; he has been made the +victim of a forgery--a crime hitherto unknown in Samoa. I had to go to +Folau, the chief judge here, in the matter. Folau had never heard of the +offence, and begged to know what was the punishment; there may be lively +times in forgery ahead. It seems the sort of crime to tickle a +Polynesian. After lunch--you can see what a busy three days I am +describing--we set off to ride home. My Jack was full of the devil of +corn and too much grass, and no work. I had to ride ahead and leave +Fanny behind. He is a most gallant little rascal is my Jack, and takes +the whole way as hard as the rider pleases. Single incident: half-way +up, I find my boys upon the road and stop and talk with Henry in his +character of ganger, as long as Jack will suffer me. Fanny drones in +after; we make a show of eating--or I do--she goes to bed about +half-past six! I write some verses, read Irving's _Washington_, and +follow about half-past eight. O, one thing more I did, in a prophetic +spirit. I had made sure Fanny was not fit to be left alone, and wrote +before turning in a letter to Chalmers, telling him I could not meet him +in Auckland at this time. By eleven at night, Fanny got me wakened--she +had tried twice in vain--and I found her very bad. Thence till three, we +laboured with mustard poultices, laudanum, soda and ginger--Heavens! +wasn't it cold; the land breeze was as cold as a river; the moon was +glorious in the paddock, and the great boughs and the black shadows of +our trees were inconceivable. But it was a poor time. + +Sunday morning found Fanny, of course, a complete wreck, and myself not +very brilliant. Paul had to go to Vailele _re_ cocoa-nuts; it was +doubtful if he could be back by dinner; never mind, said I, I'll take +dinner when you return. Off set Paul. I did an hour's work, and then +tackled the house work. I did it beautiful: the house was a picture, it +resplended of propriety. Presently Mr. Moors' Andrew rode up; I heard +the doctor was at the Forest House and sent a note to him; and when he +came, I heard my wife telling him she had been in bed all day, and that +was why the house was so dirty! Was it grateful? Was it politic? Was it +TRUE?--Enough! In the interval, up marched little L. S., one of my +neighbours, all in his Sunday white linens; made a fine salute, and +demanded the key of the kitchen in German and English. And he cooked +dinner for us, like a little man, and had it on the table and the coffee +ready by the hour. Paul had arranged me this surprise. Some time later, +Paul returned himself with a fresh surprise on hand; he was almost +sober; nothing but a hazy eye distinguished him from Paul of the week +days: _vivat!_ + +On the evening I cannot dwell. All the horses got out of the paddock, +went across, and smashed my neighbour's garden into a big hole. How +little the amateur conceives a farmer's troubles. I went out at once +with a lantern, staked up a gap in the hedge, was kicked at by a +chestnut mare, who straightway took to the bush; and came back. A little +after, they had found another gap, and the crowd were all abroad again. +What has happened to our own garden nobody yet knows. + +Fanny had a fair night, and we are both tolerable this morning, only the +yoke of correspondence lies on me heavy. I beg you will let this go on +to my mother. I got such a good start in your letter, that I kept on at +it, and I have neither time nor energy for more.--Yours ever, + + R. L. S. + +_Something new_.--I was called from my letters by the voice of Mr. ----, +who had just come up with a load of wood, roaring, "Henry! Henry! Bring +six boys!" I saw there was something wrong, and ran out. The cart, half +unloaded, had upset with the mare in the shafts; she was all cramped +together and all tangled up in harness and cargo, the off shaft pushing +her over, the carter holding her up by main strength, and right +along-side of her--where she must fall if she went down--a deadly stick +of a tree like a lance. I could not but admire the wisdom and faith of +this great brute; I never saw the riding-horse that would not have lost +its life in such a situation; but the cart-elephant patiently waited and +was saved. It was a stirring three minutes, I can tell you. + +I forgot in talking of Saturday to tell of one incident which will +particularly interest my mother. I met Dr. Davis from Savaii, and had an +age-long talk about Edinburgh folk; it was very pleasant. He has been +studying in Edinburgh, along with his son; a pretty relation. He told me +he knew nobody but college people: "I was altogether a student," he said +with glee. He seems full of cheerfulness and thick-set energy. I feel as +if I could put him in a novel with effect; and ten to one, if I know +more of him, the image will be only blurred. + +_Tuesday, Dec. 2nd._--I should have told you yesterday that all my boys +were got up for their work in moustaches and side-whiskers of some sort +of blacking--I suppose wood-ash. It was a sight of joy to see them +return at night, axe on shoulder, feigning to march like soldiers, a +choragus with a loud voice singing out, "March--step! March--step!" in +imperfect recollection of some drill. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO E. L. BURLINGAME + + + The intention here announced was only carried out to the extent of + finishing one paper, _My First Book_, and beginning a few + others--_Genesis of the Master of Ballantrae, Rosa Quo Locorum_, + etc.; see Edinburgh edition, _Miscellanies_, vol. iv. The "long + experience of gambling places" is a phrase which must not be + misunderstood. Stevenson loved risk to life and limb, but hated + gambling for money, and had known the tables only as a looker-on + during holiday or invalid travels as a boy and young man. "Tamate" is + the native (Rarotongan) word for trader, used especially as a name + for the famous missionary pioneer, the Rev. James Chalmers, for whom + Stevenson had an unbounded respect. + + [_Vailima, December 1890._] + +MY DEAR BURLINGAME,--By some diabolical accident, I have mislaid your +last. What was in it? I know not, and here I am caught unexpectedly by +the American mail, a week earlier than by computation. The computation, +not the mail, is supposed to be in error. The vols. of Scribner's have +arrived, and present a noble appearance in my house, which is not a +noble structure at present. But by autumn we hope to be sprawling in our +verandah, twelve feet, sir, by eighty-eight in front, and seventy-two on +the flank; view of the sea and mountains, sunrise, moonrise, and the +German fleet at anchor three miles away in Apia harbour. I hope some day +to offer you a bowl of kava there, or a slice of a pine-apple, or some +lemonade from my own hedge. "I know a hedge where the lemons +grow"--_Shakespeare_. My house at this moment smells of them strong; and +the rain, which a while ago roared there, now rings in minute drops upon +the iron roof. I have no _Wrecker_ for you this mail, other things +having engaged me. I was on the whole rather relieved you did not vote +for regular papers, as I feared the traces. It is my design from time to +time to write a paper of a reminiscential (beastly word) description; +some of them I could scarce publish from different considerations; but +some of them--for instance, my long experience of gambling +places--Homburg, Wiesbaden, Baden-Baden, old Monaco, and new Monte +Carlo--would make good magazine padding, if I got the stuff handled the +right way. I never could fathom why verse was put in magazines; it has +something to do with the making-up, has it not? I am scribbling a lot +just now; if you are taken badly that way, apply to the South Seas. I +could send you some, I believe, anyway, only none of it is thoroughly +ripe. If you have kept back the volume of ballads, I'll soon make it of +a respectable size if this fit continue. By the next mail you may expect +some more _Wrecker_, or I shall be displeased. Probably no more than a +chapter, however, for it is a hard one, and I am denuded of my proofs, +my collaborator having walked away with them to England; hence some +trouble in catching the just note. + +I am a mere farmer: my talk, which would scarce interest you on +Broadway, is all of fuafua and tuitui and black boys, and planting and +weeding, and axes and cutlasses; my hands are covered with blisters and +full of thorns; letters are, doubtless, a fine thing, so are beer and +skittles, but give me farmering in the tropics for real interest. Life +goes in enchantment; I come home to find I am late for dinner; and when +I go to bed at night, I could cry for the weariness of my loins and +thighs. Do not speak to me of vexation, the life brims with it, but with +living interest fairly. + +Christmas I go to Auckland, to meet Tamate, the New Guinea missionary, a +man I love. The rest of my life is a prospect of much rain, much weeding +and making of paths, a little letters, and devilish little to eat.--I +am, my dear Burlingame, with messages to all whom it may concern, very +sincerely yours, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + _[Vailima] Monday, twenty-somethingth of December 1890._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--I do not say my Jack is anything extraordinary; he is +only an island horse; and the profane might call him a Punch; and his +face is like a donkey's; and natives have ridden him, and he has no +mouth in consequence, and occasionally shies. But his merits are equally +surprising; and I don't think I should ever have known Jack's merits if +I had not been riding up of late on moonless nights. Jack is a bit of a +dandy; he loves to misbehave in a gallant manner, above all on Apia +Street, and when I stop to speak to people, they say (Dr. Stuebel the +German consul said about three days ago), "O what a wild horse! it +cannot be safe to ride him." Such a remark is Jack's reward, and +represents his ideal of fame. Now when I start out of Apia on a dark +night, you should see my changed horse; at a fast steady walk, with his +head down, and sometimes his nose to the ground--when he wants to do +that, he asks for his head with a little eloquent polite movement +indescribable--he climbs the long ascent and threads the darkest of the +wood. The first night I came it was starry; and it was singular to see +the starlight drip down into the crypt of the wood, and shine in the +open end of the road, as bright as moonlight at home; but the crypt +itself was proof, blackness lived in it. The next night it was raining. +We left the lights of Apia and passed into limbo. Jack finds a way for +himself, but he does not calculate for my height above the saddle; and I +am directed forward, all braced up for a crouch and holding my switch +upright in front of me. It is curiously interesting. In the forest, the +dead wood is phosphorescent; some nights the whole ground is strewn with +it, so that it seems like a grating over a pale hell; doubtless this is +one of the things that feed the night fears of the natives; and I am +free to confess that in a night of trackless darkness where all else is +void, these pallid _ignes suppositi_ have a fantastic appearance, rather +bogey even. One night, when it was very dark, a man had put out a little +lantern by the wayside to show the entrance to his ground. I saw the +light, as I thought, far ahead, and supposed it was a pedestrian coming +to meet me; I was quite taken by surprise when it struck in my face and +passed behind me. Jack saw it, and he was appalled; do you think he +thought of shying? No, sir, not in the dark; in the dark Jack knows he +is on duty; and he went past that lantern steady and swift; only, as he +went, he groaned and shuddered. For about 2500 of Jack's steps we only +passed one house--that where the lantern was; and about 1500 of these +are in the darkness of the pit. But now the moon is on tap again, and +the roads lighted. + +[Illustration: + + 1. _Three posts._ 5. _Sink of the Tuluiga._ + 2. _Leather Bottle._ 6. _Silent Falls._ + 3. _Old Walls._ 7. _Garden._ + 4. _Wreck Hill._] + +I have been exploring up the Vaituluiga; see your map. It comes down a +wonderful fine glen; at least 200 feet of cliffs on either hand, winding +like a corkscrew, great forest trees filling it. At the top there ought +to be a fine double fall; but the stream evades it by a fault and +passes underground. Above the fall it runs (at this season) full and +very gaily in a shallow valley, some hundred yards before the head of +the glen. Its course is seen full of grasses, like a flooded meadow; +that is the sink! beyond the grave of the grasses, the bed lies dry. +Near this upper part there is a great show of ruinous pig-walls; a +village must have stood near by. + +To walk from our house to Wreck Hill (when the path is buried in fallen +trees) takes one about half an hour, I think; to return, not more than +twenty minutes; I dare say fifteen. Hence I should guess it was +three-quarters of a mile. I had meant to join on my explorations passing +eastward by the sink; but, Lord! how it rains. + +_Later._--I went out this morning with a pocket compass and walked in a +varying direction, perhaps on an average S. by W., 1754 paces. Then I +struck into the bush, N.W. by N., hoping to strike the Vaituluiga above +the falls. Now I have it plotted out I see I should have gone W. or even +W. by S.; but it is not easy to guess. For 600 weary paces I struggled +through the bush, and then came on the stream below the gorge, where it +was comparatively easy to get down to it. In the place where I struck +it, it made cascades about a little isle, and was running about N.E., 20 +to 30 feet wide, as deep as to my knee, and piercing cold. I tried to +follow it down, and keep the run of its direction and my paces; but when +I was wading to the knees and the waist in mud, poison brush, and rotted +wood, bound hand and foot in lianas, shovelled unceremoniously off the +one shore and driven to try my luck upon the other--I saw I should have +hard enough work to get my body down, if my mind rested. It was a +damnable walk; certainly not half a mile as the crow flies, but a real +bucketer for hardship. Once I had to pass the stream where it flowed +between banks about three feet high. To get the easier down, I swung +myself by a wild-cocoanut--(so called, it bears bunches of scarlet +nutlets)--which grew upon the brink. As I so swung, I received a crack +on the head that knocked me all abroad. Impossible to guess what tree +had taken a shy at me. So many towered above, one over the other, and +the missile, whatever it was, dropped in the stream and was gone before +I had recovered my wits. (I scarce know what I write, so hideous a +Niagara of rain roars, shouts, and demonizes on the iron roof--it is +pitch dark too--the lamp lit at 5!) It was a blessed thing when I struck +my own road; and I got home, neat for lunch time, one of the most +wonderful mud statues ever witnessed. In the afternoon I tried again, +going up the other path by the garden, but was early drowned out; came +home, plotted out what I had done, and then wrote this truck to you. + +Fanny has been quite ill with ear-ache. She won't go,[10] hating the sea +at this wild season; I don't like to leave her; so it drones on, steamer +after steamer, and I guess it'll end by no one going at all. She is in a +dreadful misfortune at this hour; a case of kerosene having burst in the +kitchen. A little while ago it was the carpenter's horse that trod in a +nest of fourteen eggs, and made an omelette of our hopes. The farmer's +lot is not a happy one. And it looks like some real uncompromising bad +weather too. I wish Fanny's ear were well. Think of parties in +Monuments! think of me in Skerryvore, and now of this. It don't look +like a part of the same universe to me. Work is quite laid aside; I have +worked myself right out. + +_Christmas Eve._--Yesterday, who could write? My wife near crazy with +ear-ache; the rain descending in white crystal rods and playing hell's +tattoo, like a _tutti_ of battering rams, on our sheet-iron roof; the +wind passing high overhead with a strange dumb mutter, or striking us +full, so that all the huge trees in the paddock cried aloud, and wrung +their hands, and brandished their vast arms. The horses stood in the +shed like things stupid. The sea and the flagship lying on the jaws of +the bay vanished in sheer rain. All day it lasted; I locked up my papers +in the iron box, in case it was a hurricane, and the house might go. We +went to bed with mighty uncertain feelings; far more than on shipboard, +where you have only drowning ahead--whereas here you have a smash of +beams, a shower of sheet-iron, and a blind race in the dark and through +a whirlwind for the shelter of an unfinished stable--and my wife with +ear-ache! Well, well, this morning, we had word from Apia; a hurricane +was looked for, the ships were to leave the bay by 10 A.M.; it is now +3.30, and the flagship is still a fixture, and the wind round in the +blessed east, so I suppose the danger is over. But heaven is still +laden; the day dim, with frequent rattling bucketfuls of rain; and just +this moment (as I write) a squall went overhead, scarce striking us, +with that singular, solemn noise of its passage, which is to me +dreadful. I have always feared the sound of wind beyond everything. In +my hell it would always blow a gale. + +I have been all day correcting proofs, and making out a new plan for our +house. The other was too dear to be built now, and it was a hard task to +make a smaller house that would suffice for the present, and not be a +mere waste of money in the future. I believe I have succeeded; I have +taken care of my study anyway. + +Two favours I want to ask of you. First, I wish you to get _Pioneering +in New Guinea_, by J. Chalmers. It's a missionary book, and has less +pretensions to be literature than Spurgeon's sermons. Yet I think even +through that, you will see some of the traits of the hero that wrote it; +a man that took me fairly by storm for the most attractive, simple, +brave, and interesting man in the whole Pacific. He is away now to go up +the Fly River; a desperate venture, it is thought; he is quite a +Livingstone card. + +Second, try and keep yourself free next winter; and if my means can be +stretched so far, I'll come to Egypt and we'll meet at Shepheard's +Hotel, and you'll put me in my place, which I stand in need of badly by +this time. Lord, what bully times! I suppose I'll come per British Asia, +or whatever you call it, and avoid all cold, and might be in Egypt about +November as ever was--eleven months from now or rather less. But do not +let us count our chickens. + +Last night three piglings were stolen from one of our pig-pens. The +great Lafaele appeared to my wife uneasy, so she engaged him in +conversation on the subject, and played upon him the following engaging +trick. You advance your two forefingers towards the sitter's eyes; he +closes them, whereupon you substitute (on his eyelids) the fore and +middle fingers of the left hand; and with your right (which he supposes +engaged) you tap him on the head and back. When you let him open his +eyes, he sees you withdrawing the two forefingers. "What that?" asked +Lafaele. "My devil," says Fanny. "I wake um, my devil. All right now. He +go catch the man that catch my pig." About an hour afterwards, Lafaele +came for further particulars. "O, all right," my wife says. "By and by, +that man he sleep, devil go sleep same place. By and by, that man plenty +sick. I no care. What for he take my pig?" Lafaele cares plenty; I don't +think he is the man, though he may be; but he knows him, and most likely +will eat some of that pig to-night. He will not eat with relish. + +_Saturday, 27th._--It cleared up suddenly after dinner, and my wife and +I saddled up and off to Apia, whence we did not return till yesterday +morning. Christmas Day I wish you could have seen our party at table. H. +J. Moors at one end with my wife, I at the other with Mrs. M., between +us two native women, Carruthers the lawyer, Moors's two +shop-boys--Walters and A. M. the quadroon--and the guests of the +evening, Shirley Baker, the defamed and much-accused man of Tonga, and +his son, with the artificial joint to his arm--where the assassins shot +him in shooting at his father. Baker's appearance is not unlike John +Bull on a cartoon; he is highly interesting to speak to, as I had +expected; I found he and I had many common interests, and were engaged +in puzzling over many of the same difficulties. After dinner it was +quite pretty to see our Christmas party, it was so easily pleased and +prettily behaved. In the morning I should say I had been to lunch at the +German consulate, where I had as usual a very pleasant time. I shall +miss Dr. Stuebel[11] much when he leaves, and when Adams and Lafarge go +also, it will be a great blow. I am getting spoiled with all this good +society. + +On Friday morning, I had to be at my house affairs before seven; and +they kept me in Apia till past ten, disputing, and consulting about +brick and stone and native and hydraulic lime, and cement and sand, and +all sorts of otiose details about the chimney--just what I fled from in +my father's office twenty years ago; I should have made a languid +engineer. Rode up with the carpenter. Ah, my wicked Jack! on Christmas +Eve, as I was taking the saddle bag off, he kicked at me, and fetched me +too, right on the shin. On Friday, being annoyed at the carpenter's +horse having a longer trot, he uttered a shrill cry and tried to bite +him! Alas, alas, these are like old days; my dear Jack is a Bogue,[12] +but I cannot strangle Jack into submission. + +I have given up the big house for just now; we go ahead right away with +a small one, which should be ready in two months, and I suppose will +suffice for just now. + +O I know I haven't told you about our _aitu_, have I? It is a lady, +_aitu fafine_: she lives on the mountain-side; her presence is heralded +by the sound of a gust of wind; a sound very common in the high woods; +when she catches you, I do not know what happens; but in practice she +is avoided, so I suppose she does more than pass the time of day. The +great _aitu Saumai-afe_ was once a living woman, and became an _aitu_, +no one understands how; she lives in a stream at the well-head, her hair +is red, she appears as a lovely young lady, her bust particularly +admired, to handsome young men; these die, her love being fatal;--as a +handsome youth she has been known to court damsels with the like result, +but this is very rare; as an old crone she goes about and asks for +water, and woe to them who are uncivil! _Saumai-afe_ means literally, +"Come here a thousand!" A good name for a lady of her manners. My _aitu +fafine_ does not seem to be in the same line of business. It is unsafe +to be a handsome youth in Samoa; a young man died from her favours last +month--so we said on this side of the island; on the other, where he +died, it was not so certain. I, for one, blame it on Madam _Saumai-afe_ +without hesitation. + +Example of the farmer's sorrows. I slipped out on the balcony a moment +ago. It is a lovely morning, cloudless, smoking hot, the breeze not yet +arisen. Looking west, in front of our new house, I saw two heads of +Indian corn wagging, and the rest and all nature stock still. As I +looked, one of the stalks subsided and disappeared. I dashed out to the +rescue; two small pigs were deep in the grass--quite hid till within a +few yards--gently but swiftly demolishing my harvest. Never be a farmer. + +12.30 _p.m._--I while away the moments of digestion by drawing you a +faithful picture of my morning. When I had done writing as above it was +time to clean our house. When I am working, it falls on my wife alone, +but to-day we had it between us; she did the bedroom, I the +sitting-room, in fifty-seven minutes of really most unpalatable labour. +Then I changed every stitch, for I was wet through, and sat down and +played on my pipe till dinner was ready, mighty pleased to be in a +mildly habitable spot once more. The house had been neglected for near a +week, and was a hideous spot; my wife's ear and our visit to Apia being +the causes: our Paul we prefer not to see upon that theatre, and God +knows he has plenty to do elsewhere. + +I am glad to look out of my back door and see the boys smoothing the +foundations of the new house; this is all very jolly, but six months of +it has satisfied me; we have too many things for such close quarters; to +work in the midst of all the myriad misfortunes of the planter's life, +seated in a Dyonisius' (can't spell him) ear, whence I catch every +complaint, mishap and contention, is besides the devil; and the hope of +a cave of my own inspires me with lust. O to be able to shut my own door +and make my own confusion! O to have the brown paper and the matches and +"make a hell of my own" once more! + +I do not bother you with all my troubles in these outpourings; the +troubles of the farmer are inspiriting--they are like difficulties out +hunting--a fellow rages at the time and rejoices to recall and to +commemorate them. My troubles have been financial. It is hard to arrange +wisely interests so distributed. America, England, Samoa, Sydney, +everywhere I have an end of liability hanging out and some shelf of +credit hard by; and to juggle all these and build a dwelling-place here, +and check expense--a thing I am ill fitted for--you can conceive what a +nightmare it is at times. Then God knows I have not been idle. But since +_The Master_ nothing has come to raise any coins. I believe the springs +are dry at home, and now I am worked out, and can no more at all. A +holiday is required. + +_Dec. 28th._--I have got unexpectedly to work again, and feel quite +dandy. Good-bye. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO HENRY JAMES + + + Mr. Lafarge the artist and Mr. Henry Adams the historian have been + mentioned already. The pinch in the matter of eatables only lasted + for a little while, until Mrs. Stevenson had taken her bearings and + made her arrangements in the matter of marketing, etc. + + _Vailima, Apia, Samoa, December 29th, 1890._ + +MY DEAR HENRY JAMES,--It is terrible how little everybody writes, and +how much of that little disappears in the capacious maw of the Post +Office. Many letters, both from and to me, I now know to have been lost +in transit: my eye is on the Sydney Post Office, a large ungainly +structure with a tower, as being not a hundred miles from the scene of +disappearance; but then I have no proof. The _Tragic Muse_ you announced +to me as coming; I had already ordered it from a Sydney bookseller: +about two months ago he advised me that his copy was in the post; and I +am still tragically museless. + +News, news, news. What do we know of yours? What do you care for ours? +We are in the midst of the rainy season, and dwell among alarms of +hurricanes, in a very unsafe little two-storied wooden box 650 feet +above and about three miles from the sea-beach. Behind us, till the +other slope of the island, desert forest, peaks, and loud torrents; in +front green slopes to the sea, some fifty miles of which we dominate. We +see the ships as they go out and in to the dangerous roadstead of Apia; +and if they lie far out, we can even see their topmasts while they are +at anchor. Of sounds of men, beyond those of our own labourers, there +reach us, at very long intervals, salutes from the warships in harbour, +the bell of the cathedral church, and the low of the conch-shell calling +the labour boys on the German plantations. Yesterday, which was +Sunday--the _quantieme_ is most likely erroneous; you can now correct +it--we had a visitor--Baker of Tonga. Heard you ever of him? He is a +great man here: he is accused of theft, rape, judicial murder, private +poisoning, abortion, misappropriation of public moneys--oddly enough, +not forgery, nor arson; you would be amused if you knew how thick the +accusations fly in this South Sea world. I make no doubt my own +character is something illustrious; or if not yet, there is a good time +coming. + +But all our resources have not of late been Pacific. We have had +enlightened society: Lafarge the painter, and your friend Henry Adams: a +great privilege--would it might endure. I would go oftener to see them, +but the place is awkward to reach on horseback. I had to swim my horse +the last time I went to dinner; and as I have not yet returned the +clothes I had to borrow, I dare not return in the same plight: it seems +inevitable--as soon as the wash comes in, I plump straight into the +American consul's shirt or trousers! They, I believe, would come oftener +to see me but for the horrid doubt that weighs upon our commissariat +department; we have _often_ almost nothing to eat; a guest would simply +break the bank; my wife and I have dined on one avocado pear; I have +several times dined on hard bread and onions. What would you do with a +guest at such narrow seasons?--eat him? or serve up a labour boy +fricasseed? + +Work? work is now arrested, but I have written, I should think, about +thirty chapters of the South Sea book; they will all want rehandling, I +dare say. Gracious, what a strain is a long book! The time it took me to +design this volume, before I could dream of putting pen to paper, was +excessive; and then think of writing a book of travels on the spot, when +I am continually extending my information, revising my opinions, and +seeing the most finely finished portions of my work come part by part in +pieces. Very soon I shall have no opinions left. And without an opinion, +how to string artistically vast accumulations of fact? Darwin said no +one could observe without a theory; I suppose he was right; 'tis a fine +point of metaphysic; but I will take my oath, no man can write without +one--at least the way he would like to, and my theories melt, melt, +melt, and as they melt the thaw-waters wash down my writing, and leave +unideal tracts--wastes instead of cultivated farms. + +Kipling is by far the most promising young man who has appeared +since--ahem--I appeared. He amazes me by his precocity and various +endowment. But he alarms me by his copiousness and haste. He should +shield his fire with both hands "and draw up all his strength and +sweetness in one ball." ("Draw all his strength and all His sweetness up +into one ball"? I cannot remember Marvell's words.) So the critics have +been saying to me: but I was never capable of--and surely never guilty +of--such a debauch of production. At this rate his works will soon fill +the habitable globe; and surely he was armed for better conflicts than +these succinct sketches and flying leaves of verse? I look on, I admire, +I rejoice for myself; but in a kind of ambition we all have for our +tongue and literature I am wounded. If I had this man's fertility and +courage, it seems to me I could heave a pyramid. + +Well, we begin to be the old fogies now; and it was high time +_something_ rose to take our places. Certainly Kipling has the gifts; +the fairy godmothers were all tipsy at his christening: what will he do +with them? + +Good-bye, my dear James; find an hour to write to us, and register your +letter.--Yours affectionately, + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO RUDYARD KIPLING + + + In 1890, on first becoming acquainted with Mr. Kipling's _Soldiers + Three_, Stevenson had written off his congratulations red-hot. "Well + and indeed, Mr. Mulvaney," so ran the first sentences of his note, + "but it's as good as meat to meet in with you, sir. They tell me it + was a man of the name of Kipling made ye; but indeed and they can't + fool me; it was the Lord God Almighty that made you." Taking the cue + thus offered, Mr. Kipling had written back in the character of his + own Irishman, Thomas Mulvaney, addressing Stevenson's Highlander, + Alan Breck Stewart. In the following letter, which belongs to an + uncertain date in 1891, Alan Breck is made to reply. "The gentleman I + now serve with" means, of course, R. L. S. himself. + + [_Vailima, 1891._] + +SIR,--I cannot call to mind having written you, but I am so throng with +occupation this may have fallen aside. I never heard tell I had any +friends in Ireland, and I am led to understand you are come of no +considerable family. The gentleman I now serve with assures me, however, +you are a very pretty fellow and your letter deserves to be remarked. +It's true he is himself a man of a very low descent upon the one side; +though upon the other he counts cousinship with a gentleman, my very +good friend, the late Mr. Balfour of the Shaws, in the Lothian; which I +should be wanting in good fellowship to forget. He tells me besides you +are a man of your hands; I am not informed of your weapon; but if all be +true it sticks in my mind I would be ready to make exception in your +favour, and meet you like one gentleman with another. I suppose this'll +be your purpose in your favour, which I could very ill make out; it's +one I would be sweir to baulk you of. It seems, Mr. McIlvaine, which I +take to be your name, you are in the household of a gentleman of the +name of Coupling: for whom my friend is very much engaged. The distances +being very uncommodious, I think it will be maybe better if we leave it +to these two to settle all that's necessary to honour. I would have you +to take heed it's a very unusual condescension on my part, that bear a +King's name; and for the matter of that I think shame to be mingled with +a person of the name of Coupling, which is doubtless a very good house +but one I never heard tell of, any more than Stevenson. But your purpose +being laudable, I would be sorry (as the word goes) to cut off my nose +to spite my face.--I am, Sir, your humble servant, + + A. STEWART, + _Chevalier de St. Louis_. + + + _To Mr. M'Ilvaine, + Gentleman Private in a foot regiment, + under cover to Mr. Coupling._ + +He has read me some of your Barrack Room Ballants, which are not of so +noble a strain as some of mine in the Gaelic, but I could set some of +them to the pipes if this rencounter goes as it's to be desired. Let's +first, as I understand you to move, do each other this rational +courtesy; and if either will survive, we may grow better acquaint. For +your tastes for what's martial and for poetry agree with mine. + + A. S. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + This is the first appearance in Stevenson's letters of the Swedish + Chief Justice of Samoa, Mr. Conrad Cedercrantz, of whom we shall hear + enough and more than enough in the sequel. + + _S.S. Luebeck, between Apia and Sydney, Jan. 17th, 1891._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--The Faamasino Sili, or Chief Justice, to speak your low +language, has arrived. I had ridden down with Henry and Lafaele; the sun +was down, the night was close at hand, so we rode fast; just as I came +to the corner of the road before Apia, I heard a gun fire; and lo, there +was a great crowd at the end of the pier, and the troops out, and a +chief or two in the height of Samoa finery, and Seumanu coming in his +boat (the oarsmen all in uniform), bringing the Faamasino Sili sure +enough. It was lucky he was no longer; the natives would not have waited +many weeks. But think of it, as I sat in the saddle at the outside of +the crowd (looking, the English consul said, as if I were commanding the +manoeuvres), I was nearly knocked down by a stampede of the three +consuls; they had been waiting their guest at the Matafele end, and some +wretched intrigue among the whites had brought him to Apia, and the +consuls had to run all the length of the town and come too late. + +The next day was a long one; I was at a marriage of Gurr the banker to +Fanua, the virgin of Apia. Bride and bridesmaids were all in the old +high dress; the ladies were all native; the men, with the exception of +Seumanu, all white. + +It was quite a pleasant party, and while we were writing, we had a +bird's-eye view of the public reception of the Chief Justice. The best +part of it were some natives in war array; with blacked faces, turbans, +tapa kilts, and guns, they looked very manly and purposelike. No, the +best part was poor old drunken Joe, the Portuguese boatman, who seemed +to think himself specially charged with the reception, and ended by +falling on his knees before the Chief Justice on the end of the pier and +in full view of the whole town and bay. The natives pelted him with +rotten bananas; how the Chief Justice took it I was too far off to see; +but it was highly absurd. + +I have commemorated my genial hopes for the regimen of the Faamasino +Sili in the following canine verses, which, if you at all guess how to +read them, are very pretty in movement, and (unless he be a mighty good +man) too true in sense. + + We're quarrelling, the villages, we've beaten the wooden drums, + Sa femisai o nu'u, sa taia o pate, + Is confounded thereby the justice, + Ua atuatuvale a le faamasino e, + The chief justice, the terrified justice, + Le faamasino sili, le faamasino se, + Is on the point of running away the justice, + O le a solasola le faamasino e, + The justice denied any influence, the terrified justice, + O le faamasino le ai a, le faamasino se, + O le a solasola le faamasino e. + +Well, after this excursion into tongues that have never been +alive--though I assure you we have one capital book in the language, a +book of fables by an old missionary of the unpromising name of Pratt, +which is simply the best and the most literary version of the fables +known to me. I suppose I should except La Fontaine, but L. F. takes a +long time; these are brief as the books of our childhood, and full of +wit and literary colour; and O, Colvin, what a tongue it would be to +write, if one only knew it--and there were only readers. Its curse in +common use is an incredible left-handed wordiness; but in the hands of a +man like Pratt it is succinct as Latin, compact of long rolling +polysyllables and little and often pithy particles, and for beauty of +sound a dream. Listen, I quote from Pratt--this is good Samoan, not +canine-- + + 1 2 3 4 1 + O le afa, ua taalili ai le ulu vao, ua pa mai le faititili. + \__ ___/ \_____ _____/ \____ ___/ \___ ___/ \_____ ____/ + V V V V V + +1 almost _wa_, 2 the two _a's_ just distinguished, 3 the _ai_ is +practically suffixed to the verb, 4 almost _vow_. The excursion has +prolonged itself. + +I started by the _Luebeck_ to meet Lloyd and my mother; there were many +reasons for and against; the main reason against was the leaving of +Fanny alone in her blessed cabin, which has been somewhat remedied by my +carter, Mr. ----, putting up in the stable and messing with her; but +perhaps desire of change decided me not well, though I do think I ought +to see an oculist, being very blind indeed, and sometimes unable to +read. Anyway I left, the only cabin passenger, four and a kid in the +second cabin, and a dear voyage it had like to have proved. Close to +Fiji (choose a worse place on the map) we broke our shaft early one +morning; and when or where we might expect to fetch land or meet with +any ship, I would like you to tell me. The Pacific is absolutely desert. +I have sailed there now some years; and scarce ever seen a ship except +in port or close by; I think twice. It was the hurricane season besides, +and hurricane waters. Well, our chief engineer got the shaft--it was the +middle crank shaft--mended; thrice it was mended, and twice broke down; +but now keeps up--only we dare not stop, for it is almost impossible to +start again. The captain in the meanwhile crowded her with sail; +fifteen sails in all, every stay being gratified with a stay-sail, a +boat-boom sent aloft for a maintop-gallant yard, and the derrick of a +crane brought in service as bowsprit. All the time we have had a fine, +fair wind and a smooth sea; to-day at noon our run was 203 miles (if you +please!), and we are within some 360 miles of Sydney. Probably there has +never been a more gallant success; and I can say honestly it was well +worked for. No flurry, no high words, no long faces; only hard work and +honest thought; a pleasant, manly business to be present at. All the +chances were we might have been six weeks--ay, or three months at +sea--or never turned up at all, and now it looks as though we should +reach our destination some five days too late. + + + + +TO MARCEL SCHWOB + + + _Sydney, January 19th, 1891._ + +MY DEAR SIR,--_Sapristi, comme vous y allez!_ Richard III. and Dumas, +with all my heart: but not Hamlet. Hamlet is great literature; Richard +III. a big, black, gross, sprawling melodrama, writ with infinite spirit +but with no refinement or philosophy by a man who had the world, +himself, mankind, and his trade still to learn. I prefer the Vicomte de +Bragelonne to Richard III.; it is better done of its kind: I simply do +not mention the Vicomte in the same part of the building with Hamlet, or +Lear, or Othello, or any of those masterpieces that Shakespeare survived +to give us. + +Also, _comme vous y allez_ in my commendation! I fear my _solide +education classique_ had best be described, like Shakespeare's, as +"little Latin and no Greek" and I was educated, let me inform you, for +an engineer. I shall tell my bookseller to send you a copy of _Memories +and Portraits_, where you will see something of my descent and +education, as it was, and hear me at length on my dear Vicomte. I give +you permission gladly to take your choice out of my works, and translate +what you shall prefer, too much honoured that so clever a young man +should think it worth the pains. My own choice would lie between +_Kidnapped_ and the _Master of Ballantrae_. Should you choose the +latter, pray do not let Mrs. Henry thrust the sword up to the hilt in +the frozen ground--one of my inconceivable blunders, an exaggeration to +stagger Hugo. Say "she sought to thrust it in the ground." In both these +works you should be prepared for Scotticisms used deliberately. + +I fear my stepson will not have found time to get to Paris; he was +overwhelmed with occupation, and is already on his voyage back. We live +here in a beautiful land, amid a beautiful and interesting people. The +life is still very hard: my wife and I live in a two-roomed cottage, +about three miles and six hundred and fifty feet above the sea; we have +had to make the road to it; our supplies are very imperfect; in the wild +weather of this (the hurricane) season we have much discomfort: one +night the wind blew in our house so outrageously that we must sit in the +dark; and as the sound of the rain on the roof made speech inaudible, +you may imagine we found the evening long. All these things, however, +are pleasant to me. You say _l'artiste inconscient_ set off to travel: +you do not divide me right. 0.6 of me is artist; 0.4, adventurer. First, +I suppose, come letters; then adventure; and since I have indulged the +second part, I think the formula begins to change: 0.55 of an artist, +0.45 of the adventurer were nearer true. And if it had not been for my +small strength, I might have been a different man in all things. + +Whatever you do, do not neglect to send me what you publish on Villon: I +look forward to that with lively interest. I have no photograph at hand, +but I will send one when I can. It would be kind if you would do the +like, for I do not see much chance of our meeting in the flesh: and a +name, and a handwriting, and an address, and even a style? I know about +as much of Tacitus, and more of Horace; it is not enough between +contemporaries, such as we still are. I have just remembered another of +my books, which I re-read the other day, and thought in places +good--_Prince Otto_. It is not as good as either of the others; but it +has one recommendation--it has female parts, so it might perhaps please +better in France. + +I will ask Chatto to send you, then--_Prince Otto_, _Memories and +Portraits_, _Underwoods_, and _Ballads_, none of which you seem to have +seen. They will be too late for the New Year: let them be an Easter +present. + +You must translate me soon; you will soon have better to do than to +transvase the work of others.--Yours very truly, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, + + With the worst pen in the South Pacific. + + + + +TO CHARLES BAXTER + + + Stevenson had been indignant with an old friend at Edinburgh, who had + received much kindness from his mother, for neglecting to call on her + after her return from her wanderings in the Pacific. + + _S.S. Luebeck, at sea [on the return voyage from Sydney, February + 1891]._ + +MY DEAR CHARLES,--Perhaps in my old days I do grow irascible; "the old +man virulent" has long been my pet name for myself. Well, the temper is +at least all gone now; time is good at lowering these distemperatures; +far better is a sharp sickness, and I am just (and scarce) afoot again +after a smoking hot little malady at Sydney. And the temper being gone, +I still think the same.... We have not our parents for ever; we are +never very good to them; when they go and we have lost our front-file +man we begin to feel all our neglects mighty sensibly. I propose a +proposal. My mother is here on board with me; to-day for once I mean to +make her as happy as I am able, and to do that which I know she likes. +You, on the other hand, go and see your father, and do ditto, and give +him a real good hour or two. We shall both be glad hereafter.--Yours +ever, + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + Stevenson had been sharply ailing as usual at Sydney, and was now on + his way back. Having received proofs of some of his _South Sea_ + chapters, he had begun to realise that they were not what he had + hoped to make them. + + [_On Board Ship between Sydney and Apia, February 1891._] + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--The _Janet Nicoll_ stuff was rather worse than I had +looked for; you have picked out all that is fit to stand, bar two others +(which I don't dislike)--the Port of Entry and the House of Temoana; +that is for a present opinion; I may condemn these also ere I have done. +By this time you should have another Marquesan letter, the worst of the +lot, I think; and seven Paumotu letters, which are not far out of the +vein, as I wish it; I am in hopes the Hawaiian stuff is better yet: time +will show, and time will make perfect. Is something of this sort +practicable for the dedication? + + TERRA MARIQUE + PER PERICULA PER ARDUA + AMICAE COMITI + D.D. + AMANS VIATOR + +'Tis a first shot concocted this morning in my berth: I had always +before been trying it in English, which insisted on being either +insignificant or fulsome: I cannot think of a better word than _comes_, +there being not the shadow of a Latin book on board; yet sure there is +some other. Then _viator_ (though it _sounds_ all right) is doubtful; it +has too much, perhaps, the sense of wayfarer? Last, will it mark +sufficiently that I mean my wife? And first, how about blunders? I +scarce wish it longer. + +Have had a swingeing sharp attack in Sydney; beating the fields[13] for +two nights, Saturday and Sunday. Wednesday was brought on board, _tel +quel_, a wonderful wreck; and now, Wednesday week, am a good deal picked +up, but yet not quite a Samson, being still groggy afoot and vague in +the head. My chess, for instance, which is usually a pretty strong game, +and defies all rivalry aboard, is vacillating, devoid of resource and +observation, and hitherto not covered with customary laurels. As for +work, it is impossible. We shall be in the saddle before long, no doubt, +and the pen once more couched. You must not expect a letter under these +circumstances, but be very thankful for a note. Once at Samoa, I shall +try to resume my late excellent habits, and delight you with journals, +you unaccustomed, I unaccustomed; but it is never too late to mend. + +It is vastly annoying that I cannot go even to Sydney without an attack; +and heaven knows my life was anodyne. I only once dined with anybody; at +the club with Wise; worked all morning--a terrible dead pull; a month +only produced the imperfect embryos of two chapters; lunched in the +boarding-house, played on my pipe; went out and did some of my messages; +dined at a French restaurant, and returned to play draughts, whist, or +Van John with my family. This makes a cheery life after Samoa; but it +isn't what you call burning the candle at both ends, is it? (It appears +to me not one word of this letter will be legible by the time I am done +with it, this dreadful ink rubs off.) I have a strange kind of novel +under construction; it begins about 1660 and ends 1830, or perhaps I may +continue it to 1875 or so, with another life. One, two, three, four, +five, six generations, perhaps seven, figure therein; two of my old +stories, "Delafield" and "Shovel," are incorporated; it is to be told in +the third person, with some of the brevity of history, some of the +detail of romance. _The Shovels of Newton French_ will be the name. The +idea is an old one; it was brought to birth by an accident; a friend in +the islands who picked up F. Jenkin,[14] read a part, and said: "Do you +know, that's a strange book? I like it; I don't believe the public will; +but I like it." He thought it was a novel! "Very well," said I, "we'll +see whether the public will like it or not; they shall have the +chance."--Yours ever, + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO H. B. BAILDON + + + The late Mr. H. Bellyse Baildon, for some time Lecturer on English + Literature at the University of Vienna and afterwards at Dundee, had + been an old schoolmate and fellow-aspirant in literature with + Stevenson at Edinburgh. "Chalmers," of course, is the Rev. James + Chalmers of Rarotonga and New Guinea already referred to above, the + admirable missionary, explorer, and administrator, whom Stevenson + sometimes expressed a desire to survive, for the sake only of writing + his life. + + _Vailima, Upolu [Spring 1891]._ + +MY DEAR BAILDON,--This is a real disappointment. It was so long since we +had met, I was anxious to see where time had carried and stranded us. +Last time we saw each other--it must have been all ten years ago, as we +were new to the thirties--it was only for a moment, and now we're in the +forties, and before very long we shall be in our graves. Sick and well, +I have had a splendid life of it, grudge nothing, regret very +little--and then only some little corners of misconduct for which I +deserve hanging, and must infallibly be damned--and, take it all over, +damnation and all, would hardly change with any man of my time, unless +perhaps it were Gordon or our friend Chalmers: a man I admire for his +virtues, love for his faults, and envy for the really A1 life he has, +with everything heart--my heart, I mean--could wish. It is curious to +think you will read this in the grey metropolis; go the first grey, +east-windy day into the Caledonian Station, if it looks at all as it did +of yore: I met Satan there. And then go and stand by the cross, and +remember the other one--him that went down--my brother, Robert +Fergusson. It is a pity you had not made me out, and seen me as +patriarch and planter. I shall look forward to some record of your time +with Chalmers: you can't weary me of that fellow, he is as big as a +house and far bigger than any church, where no man warms his hands. Do +you know anything of Thomson? Of A----, B----, C----, D----, E----, +F----, at all? As I write C.'s name mustard rises in my nose; I have +never forgiven that weak, amiable boy a little trick he played me when I +could ill afford it: I mean that whenever I think of it, some of the old +wrath kindles, not that I would hurt the poor soul, if I got the world +with it. And Old X----? Is he still afloat? Harmless bark! I gather you +ain't married yet, since your sister, to whom I ask to be remembered, +goes with you. Did you see a silly tale, _John Nicholson's +Predicament_,[15] or some such name, in which I made free with your home +at Murrayfield? There is precious little sense in it, but it might +amuse. Cassell's published it in a thing called _Yule-Tide_ years ago, +and nobody that ever I heard of read or has ever seen _Yule-Tide_. It is +addressed to a class we never met--readers of Cassell's series and that +class of conscientious chaff, and my tale was dull, though I don't +recall that it was conscientious. Only, there's the house at Murrayfield +and a dead body in it. Glad the _Ballads_ amused you. They failed to +entertain a coy public, at which I wondered; not that I set much +account by my verses, which are the verses of Prosator; but I do know +how to tell a yarn, and two of the yarns are great. _Rahero_ is for its +length a perfect folk-tale: savage and yet fine, full of tailforemost +morality, ancient as the granite rocks; if the historian, not to say the +politician, could get that yarn into his head, he would have learned +some of his ABC. But the average man at home cannot understand +antiquity; he is sunk over the ears in Roman civilisation; and a tale +like that of _Rahero_ falls on his ears inarticulate. The Spectator said +there was no psychology in it; that interested me much: my grandmother +(as I used to call that able paper, and an able paper it is, and a fair +one) cannot so much as observe the existence of savage psychology when +it is put before it. I am at bottom a psychologist and ashamed of it; +the tale seized me one-third because of its picturesque features, +two-thirds because of its astonishing psychology, and the Spectator says +there's none. I am going on with a lot of island work, exulting in the +knowledge of a new world, "a new created world" and new men; and I am +sure my income will DECLINE and FALL off; for the effort of +comprehension is death to the intelligent public, and sickness to the +dull. + +I do not know why I pester you with all this trash, above all as you +deserve nothing. I give you my warm _talofa_ ("my love to you," Samoan +salutation). Write me again when the spirit moves you. And some day, if +I still live, make out the trip again and let us hob-a-nob with our grey +pows on my verandah.--Yours sincerely, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + The latter part of this letter was written in the course of an + expedition on which Stevenson had been invited by the American + Consul, Mr. Sewall, to the neighbouring island of Tutuila. Unluckily + the letter breaks off short, and the only record of this trip occurs + in the diary partly quoted in Mr. Balfour's _Life_, ch. xiv. + + _Vailima, Friday, March 19th [1891]._ + +MY DEAR S. C.,--You probably expect that now I am back at Vailima I +shall resume the practice of the diary letter. A good deal is changed. +We are more; solitude does not attend me as before; the night is passed +playing Van John for shells; and, what is not less important, I have +just recovered from a severe illness, and am easily tired. + +I will give you to-day. I sleep now in one of the lower rooms of the new +house, where my wife has recently joined me. We have two beds, an empty +case for a table, a chair, a tin basin, a bucket and a jug; next door in +the dining-room, the carpenters camp on the floor, which is covered with +their mosquito nets. Before the sun rises, at 5.45 or 5.50, Paul brings +me tea, bread, and a couple of eggs; and by about six I am at work. I +work in bed--my bed is of mats, no mattress, sheets, or filth--mats, a +pillow, and a blanket--and put in some three hours. It was 9.5 this +morning when I set off to the stream-side to my weeding; where I toiled, +manuring the ground with the best enricher, human sweat, till the +conch-shell was blown from our verandah at 10.30. At eleven we dine; +about half-past twelve I tried (by exception) to work again, could make +nothing on't, and by one was on my way to the weeding, where I wrought +till three. Half-past five is our next meal, and I read Flaubert's +Letters till the hour came round; dined, and then, Fanny having a cold, +and I being tired, came over to my den in the unfinished house, where I +now write to you, to the tune of the carpenters' voices, and by the +light--I crave your pardon--by the twilight of three vile candles +filtered through the medium of my mosquito bar. Bad ink being of the +party, I write quite blindfold, and can only hope you may be granted to +read that which I am unable to see while writing. + +I said I was tired; it is a mild phrase; my back aches like toothache; +when I shut my eyes to sleep, I know I shall see before them--a +phenomenon to which both Fanny and I are quite accustomed--endless vivid +deeps of grass and weed, each plant particular and distinct, so that I +shall lie inert in body, and transact for hours the mental part of my +day business, choosing the noxious from the useful. And in my dreams I +shall be hauling on recalcitrants, and suffering stings from nettles, +stabs from citron thorns, fiery bites from ants, sickening resistances +of mud and slime, evasions of slimy roots, dead weight of heat, sudden +puffs of air, sudden starts from bird-calls in the contiguous +forest--some mimicking my name, some laughter, some the signal of a +whistle, and living over again at large the business of my day. + +Though I write so little, I pass all my hours of field-work in continual +converse and imaginary correspondence. I scarce pull up a weed, but I +invent a sentence on the matter to yourself; it does not get written; +_autant en emportent les vents_; but the intent is there, and for me (in +some sort) the companionship. To-day, for instance, we had a great talk. +I was toiling, the sweat dripping from my nose, in the hot fit after a +squall of rain: methought you asked me--frankly, was I happy. Happy +(said I); I was only happy once; that was at Hyeres; it came to an end +from a variety of reasons, decline of health, change of place, increase +of money, age with his stealing steps; since then, as before then, I +know not what it means. But I know pleasure still; pleasure with a +thousand faces, and none perfect, a thousand tongues all broken, a +thousand hands, and all of them with scratching nails. High among these +I place this delight of weeding out here alone by the garrulous water, +under the silence of the high wood, broken by incongruous sounds of +birds. And take my life all through, look at it fore and back, and +upside down,--though I would very fain change myself--I would not change +my circumstances, unless it were to bring you here. And yet God knows +perhaps this intercourse of writing serves as well; and I wonder, were +you here indeed, would I commune so continually with the thought of you. +I say "I wonder" for a form; I know, and I know I should not. + +So far, and much further, the conversation went, while I groped in slime +after viscous roots, nursing and sparing little spears of grass, and +retreating (even with outcry) from the prod of the wild lime. I wonder +if any one had ever the same attitude to Nature as I hold, and have held +for so long? This business fascinates me like a tune or a passion; yet +all the while I thrill with a strong distaste. The horror of the thing, +objective and subjective, is always present to my mind; the horror of +creeping things, a superstitious horror of the void and the powers about +me, the horror of my own devastation and continual murders. The life of +the plants comes through my finger-tips, their struggles go to my heart +like supplications. I feel myself blood-boltered; then I look back on my +cleared grass, and count myself an ally in a fair quarrel, and make +stout my heart. + +It is but a little while since I lay sick in Sydney, beating the fields +about the navy and Dean Swift and Dryden's Latin hymns; judge if I love +this reinvigorating climate, where I can already toil till my head swims +and every string in the poor jumping Jack (as he now lies in bed) aches +with a kind of yearning strain, difficult to suffer in quiescence. + +As for my damned literature,[16] God knows what a business it is, +grinding along without a scrap of inspiration or a note of style. But it +has to be ground, and the mill grinds exceeding slowly though not +particularly small. The last two chapters have taken me considerably +over a month, and they are still beneath pity. This I cannot continue, +time not sufficing; and the next will just have to be worse. All the +good I can express is just this; some day, when style revisits me, they +will be excellent matter to rewrite. Of course, my old cure of a change +of work would probably answer, but I cannot take it now. The treadmill +turns; and, with a kind of desperate cheerfulness, I mount the idle +stair. I haven't the least anxiety about the book; unless I die, I shall +find the time to make it good; but the Lord deliver me from the thought +of the Letters! However, the Lord has other things on hand; and about +six to-morrow, I shall resume the consideration practically, and face +(as best I may) the fact of my incompetence and disaffection to the +task. Toil I do not spare; but fortune refuses me success. We can do +more, Whatever-his-name-was, we can deserve it. But my misdesert began +long since, by the acceptation of a bargain quite unsuitable to all my +methods.[17] + +To-day I have had a queer experience. My carter has from the first been +using my horses for his own ends; when I left for Sydney, I put him on +his honour to cease, and my back was scarce turned ere he was forfeit. I +have only been waiting to discharge him; and to-day an occasion arose. I +am so much _the old man virulent_, so readily stumble into anger, that I +gave a deal of consideration to my bearing, and decided at last to +imitate that of the late ----. Whatever he might have to say, this +eminently effective controversialist maintained a frozen demeanour and a +jeering smile. The frozen demeanour is beyond my reach; but I could try +the jeering smile; did so, perceived its efficacy, kept in consequence +my temper, and got rid of my friend, myself composed and smiling still, +he white and shaking like an aspen. He could explain everything; I said +it did not interest me. He said he had enemies; I said nothing was more +likely. He said he was calumniated; with all my heart, said I, but there +are so many liars, that I find it safer to believe them. He said, in +justice to himself, he must explain: God forbid I should interfere with +you, said I, with the same factitious grin, but it can change nothing. +So I kept my temper, rid myself of an unfaithful servant, found a method +of conducting similar interviews in the future, and fell in my own +liking. One thing more: I learned a fresh tolerance for the dead ----; +he too had learned--perhaps had invented--the trick of this manner; God +knows what weakness, what instability of feeling, lay beneath. _Ce que +c'est que de nous!_ poor human nature; that at past forty I must adjust +this hateful mask for the first time, and rejoice to find it effective; +that the effort of maintaining an external smile should confuse and +embitter a man's soul. + +To-day I have not weeded; I have written instead from six till eleven, +from twelve till two; with the interruption of the interview aforesaid; +a damned Letter is written for the third time; I dread to read it, for I +dare not give it a fourth chance--unless it be very bad indeed. Now I +write you from my mosquito curtain, to the song of saws and planes and +hammers, and wood clumping on the floor above; in a day of heavenly +brightness; a bird twittering near by; my eye, through the open door, +commanding green meads, two or three forest trees casting their boughs +against the sky, a forest-clad mountain-side beyond, and close in by the +door-jamb a nick of the blue Pacific. It is March in England, bleak +March, and I lie here with the great sliding doors wide open in an +undershirt and p'jama trousers, and melt in the closure of mosquito +bars, and burn to be out in the breeze. A few torn clouds--not white, +the sun has tinged them a warm pink--swim in heaven. In which blessed +and fair day, I have to make faces and speak bitter words to a man--who +has deceived me, it is true--but who is poor, and older than I, and a +kind of a gentleman too. On the whole, I prefer the massacre of weeds. + +_Sunday._--When I had done talking to you yesterday, I played on my +pipe till the conch sounded, then went over to the old house for dinner, +and had scarce risen from table ere I was submerged with visitors. The +first of these despatched, I spent the rest of the evening going over +the Samoan translation of my _Bottle Imp_[18] with Claxton the +missionary; then to bed, but being upset, I suppose, by these +interruptions, and having gone all day without my weeding, not to sleep. +For hours I lay awake and heard the rain fall, and saw faint, far-away +lightning over the sea, and wrote you long letters which I scorn to +reproduce. This morning Paul was unusually early; the dawn had scarce +begun when he appeared with the tray and lit my candle; and I had +breakfasted and read (with indescribable sinkings) the whole of +yesterday's work before the sun had risen. Then I sat and thought, and +sat and better thought. It was not good enough, nor good; it was as +slack as journalism, but not so inspired; it was excellent stuff +misused, and the defects stood gross on it like humps upon a camel. But +could I, in my present disposition, do much more with it? in my present +pressure for time, were I not better employed doing another one about as +ill, than making this some thousandth fraction better? Yes, I thought; +and tried the new one, and behold, I could do nothing: my head swims, +words do not come to me, nor phrases, and I accepted defeat, packed up +my traps, and turned to communicate the failure to my esteemed +correspondent. I think it possible I overworked yesterday. Well, we'll +see to-morrow--perhaps try again later. It is indeed the hope of trying +later that keeps me writing to you. If I take to my pipe, I know +myself--all is over for the morning. Hurray, I'll correct proofs! + +_Pago-Pago, Wednesday._--After I finished on Sunday I passed a miserable +day; went out weeding, but could not find peace. I do not like to steal +my dinner, unless I have given myself a holiday in a canonical manner; +and weeding after all is only fun, the amount of its utility small, and +the thing capable of being done faster and nearly as well by a hired +boy. In the evening Sewall came up (American consul) and proposed to +take me on a malaga,[19] which I accepted. Monday I rode down to Apia, +was nearly all day fighting about drafts and money; the silver problem +does not touch you, but it is (in a strange and I hope passing phase) +making my situation difficult in Apia. + +About eleven, the flags were all half-masted; it was old Captain +Hamilton (Samasoni the natives called him) who had passed away. In the +evening I walked round to the U.S. consulate; it was a lovely night with +a full moon; and as I got round to the hot corner of Matautu I heard +hymns in front. The balcony of the dead man's house was full of women +singing; Mary (the widow, a native) sat on a chair by the doorstep, and +I was set beside her on a bench, and next to Paul the carpenter; as I +sat down I had a glimpse of the old captain, who lay in a sheet on his +own table. After the hymn was over, a native pastor made a speech which +lasted a long while; the light poured out of the door and windows; the +girls were sitting clustered at my feet; it was choking hot. After the +speech was ended, Mary carried me within; the captain's hands were +folded on his bosom, his face and head were composed; he looked as if he +might speak at any moment; I have never seen this kind of waxwork so +express or more venerable; and when I went away, I was conscious of a +certain envy for the man who was out of the battle. All night it ran in +my head, and the next day when we sighted Tutuila, and ran into this +beautiful landlocked loch of Pago Pago (whence I write), Captain +Hamilton's folded hands and quiet face said a great deal more to me +than the scenery. + +I am living here in a trader's house; we have a good table, Sewall doing +things in style; and I hope to benefit by the change, and possibly get +more stuff for Letters. In the meanwhile, I am seized quite +_mal-a-propos_ with desire to write a story, _The Bloody Wedding_, +founded on fact--very possibly true, being an attempt to read a murder +case--not yet months old, in this very place and house where I now +write. The indiscretion is what stops me; but if I keep on feeling as I +feel just now it will have to be written. Three Star Nettison, Kit +Nettison, Field the Sailor, these are the main characters: old Nettison, +and the captain of the man of war, the secondary. Possible scenario. +Chapter I.... + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + _Saturday, April 18th [1891]._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--I got back on Monday night, after twenty-three hours in +an open boat; the keys were lost; the consul (who had promised us a +bottle of Burgundy) nobly broke open his storeroom, and we got to bed +about midnight. Next morning the blessed consul promised us horses for +the daybreak; forgot all about it, worthy man; set us off at last in the +heat of the day, and by a short cut which caused infinite trouble, and +we were not home till dinner. I was extenuated, and have had a high +fever since, or should have been writing before. To-day for the first +time, I risk it. Tuesday I was pretty bad; Wednesday had a fever to kill +a horse; Thursday I was better, but still out of ability to do aught but +read awful trash. This is the time one misses civilisation; I wished to +send out for some police novels; Montepin would have about suited my +frozen brain. It is a bother when all one's thought turns on one's work +in some sense or other; I could not even think yesterday; I took to +inventing dishes by way of entertainment. Yesterday, while I lay asleep +in the afternoon, a very lucky thing happened; the Chief Justice came to +call; met one of our employes on the road; and was shown what I had done +to the road. + +"Is this the road across the island?" he asked. + +"The only one," said Innes. + +"And has one man done all this?" + +"Three times," said the trusty Innes. "It has had to be made three +times, and when Mr. Stevenson came, it was a track like what you see +beyond." + +"This must be put right," said the Chief Justice. + +_Sunday._--The truth is, I broke down yesterday almost as soon as I +began, and have been surreptitiously finishing the entry to-day. For all +that I was much better, ate all the time, and had no fever. The day was +otherwise uneventful. I am reminded; I had another visitor on Friday; +and Fanny and Lloyd, as they returned from a forest raid, met in our +desert, untrodden road, first Father Didier, Keeper of the conscience of +Mataafa, the rising star; and next the Chief Justice, sole stay of +Laupepa, the present and unsteady star, and remember, a few days before +we were close to the sick bed and entertained by the amateur physician +of Tamasese, the late and sunken star. "That is the fun of this place," +observed Lloyd; "everybody you meet is so important." Everybody is also +so gloomy. It will come to war again, is the opinion of all the well +informed--and before that to many bankruptcies; and after that, as +usual, to famine. Here, under the microscope, we can see history at +work. + +_Wednesday._--I have been very neglectful. A return to work, perhaps +premature, but necessary, has used up all my possible energies, and made +me acquainted with the living headache. I just jot down some of the past +notabilia. Yesterday B., a carpenter, and K., my (unsuccessful) white +man, were absent all morning from their work; I was working myself, +where I hear every sound with morbid certainty, and I can testify that +not a hammer fell. Upon inquiry I found they had passed the morning +making ice with our ice machine and taking the horizon with a spirit +level! I had no sooner heard this than--a violent headache set in; I am +a real employer of labour now, and have much of the ship captain when +aroused; and if I had a headache, I believe both these gentlemen had +aching hearts. I promise you, the late ---- was to the front; and K., +who was the most guilty, yet (in a sense) the least blameable, having +the brains and character of a canary-bird, fared none the better for +B.'s repartees. I hear them hard at work this morning, so the menace may +be blessed. It was just after my dinner, just before theirs, that I +administered my redoubtable tongue--it is really redoubtable--to these +skulkers. (Paul used to triumph over Mr. J. for weeks. "I am very sorry +for you," he would say; "you're going to have a talk with Mr. Stevenson +when he comes home: you don't know what that is!") In fact, none of them +do, till they get it. I have known K., for instance, for months; he has +never heard me complain, or take notice, unless it were to praise; I +have used him always as my guest, and there seems to be something in my +appearance which suggests endless, ovine long-suffering! We sat in the +upper verandah all evening, and discussed the price of iron roofing, and +the state of the draught-horses, with Innes, a new man we have taken, +and who seems to promise well. + +One thing embarrasses me. No one ever seems to understand my attitude +about that book; the stuff sent was never meant for other than a first +state; I never meant it to appear as a book. Knowing well that I have +never had one hour of inspiration since it was begun, and have only +beaten out my metal by brute force and patient repetition, I hoped some +day to get a "spate of style" and burnish it--fine mixed metaphor. I am +now so sick that I intend, when the Letters are done and some more +written that will be wanted, simply to make a book of it by the +pruning-knife. I cannot fight longer; I am sensible of having done worse +than I hoped, worse than I feared; all I can do now is to do the best I +can for the future, and clear the book, like a piece of bush, with axe +and cutlass. Even to produce the MS. of this will occupy me, at the most +favourable opinion, till the middle of next year; really five years were +wanting, when I could have made a book; but I have a family, +and--perhaps I could not make the book after all. + + + + +TO W. CRAIBE ANGUS + + + The late Mr. Craibe Angus of Glasgow was one of the chief organisers + of the Burns Exhibition in that city, and had proposed to send out to + Samoa a precious copy of the _Jolly Beggars_ to receive the autograph + of R. L. S. and be returned for the purposes of that Exhibition. The + line quoted, "But still our hearts are true," etc., should, it + appears, run, "But still the blood is strong, the heart is Highland." + The author of the _Canadian Boat Song_ which opens thus was Hugh, + twelfth Earl of Eglinton. The first quotation is of course from + Burns. + + _Vailima, Samoa, April_ 1891. + +DEAR MR. ANGUS,--Surely I remember you! It was W. C. Murray who made us +acquainted, and we had a pleasant crack. I see your poet is not yet +dead. I remember even our talk--or you would not think of trusting that +invaluable _Jolly Beggars_ to the treacherous posts, and the perils of +the sea, and the carelessness of authors. I love the idea, but I could +not bear the risk. However-- + + "Hale be your heart, hale be your fiddle--" + +it was kindly thought upon. + +My interest in Burns is, as you suppose, perennial. I would I could be +present at the exhibition, with the purpose of which I heartily +sympathise; but the _Nancy_ has not waited in vain for me, I have +followed my chest, the anchor is weighed long ago, I have said my last +farewell to the hills and the heather and the lynns: like Leyden, I +have gone into far lands to die, not stayed like Burns to mingle in the +end with Scottish soil. I shall not even return like Scott for the last +scene. Burns Exhibitions are all over. 'Tis a far cry to Lochow from +tropical Vailima. + + "But still our hearts are true, our hearts are Highland, + And we in dreams behold the Hebrides." + +When your hand is in, will you remember our poor Edinburgh Robin? Burns +alone has been just to his promise; follow Burns, he knew best, he knew +whence he drew fire--from the poor, white-faced, drunken, vicious boy +that raved himself to death in the Edinburgh madhouse. Surely there is +more to be gleaned about Fergusson, and surely it is high time the task +was set about. I may tell you (because your poet is not dead) something +of how I feel: we are three Robins who have touched the Scots lyre this +last century. Well, the one is the world's; he did it, he came off, he +is for ever; but I and the other--ah! what bonds we have--born in the +same city; both sickly, both pestered, one nearly to madness, one to the +madhouse, with a damnatory creed; both seeing the stars and the dawn, +and wearing shoe-leather on the same ancient stones, under the same +pends, down the same closes, where our common ancestors clashed in their +armour, rusty or bright. And the old Robin, who was before Burns and the +flood, died in his acute, painful youth, and left the models of the +great things that were to come; and the new, who came after, outlived +his green-sickness, and has faintly tried to parody the finished work. +If you will collect the strays of Robin Fergusson, fish for material, +collect any last re-echoing of gossip, command me to do what you +prefer--to write the preface--to write the whole if you prefer: +anything, so that another monument (after Burns's) be set up to my +unhappy predecessor on the causey of Auld Reekie. You will never know, +nor will any man, how deep this feeling is: I believe Fergusson lives +in me. I do, but tell it not in Gath; every man has these fanciful +superstitions, coming, going, but yet enduring; only most men are so +wise (or the poet in them so dead) that they keep their follies for +themselves.--I am, yours very truly, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO EDMUND GOSSE + + + _Vailima, April 1891._ + +MY DEAR GOSSE,--I have to thank you and Mrs. Gosse for many mementoes, +chiefly for your _Life_ of your father. There is a very delicate task, +very delicately done. I noted one or two carelessnesses, which I meant +to point out to you for another edition; but I find I lack the time, and +you will remark them for yourself against a new edition. There were two, +or perhaps three, flabbinesses of style which (in your work) amazed me. +Am I right in thinking you were a shade bored over the last chapters? or +was it my own fault that made me think them susceptible of a more +athletic compression? (The flabbinesses were not there, I think, but in +the more admirable part, where they showed the bigger.) Take it all +together, the book struck me as if you had been hurried at the last, but +particularly hurried over the proofs, and could still spend a very +profitable fortnight in earnest revision and (towards the end) heroic +compression. The book, in design, subject, and general execution, is +well worth the extra trouble. And even if I were wrong in thinking it +specially wanted, it will not be lost; for do we not know, in Flaubert's +dread confession, that "prose is never done"? What a medium to work in, +for a man tired, perplexed among different aims and subjects, and +spurred by the immediate need of "siller"! However, it's mine for what +it's worth; and it's one of yours, the devil take it; and you know, as +well as Flaubert, and as well as me, that it is _never done_; in other +words, it is a torment of the pit, usually neglected by the bards who +(lucky beggars!) approached the Styx in measure. I speak bitterly at the +moment, having just detected in myself the last fatal symptom, three +blank verses in succession--and I believe, God help me, a hemistich at +the tail of them; hence I have deposed the labourer, come out of hell by +my private trap, and now write to you from my little place in purgatory. +But I prefer hell: would I could always dig in those red coals--or else +be at sea in a schooner, bound for isles unvisited: to be on shore and +not to work is emptiness--suicidal vacancy. + +I was the more interested in your _Life_ of your father, because I +meditate one of mine, or rather of my family. I have no such materials +as you, and (our objections already made) your attack fills me with +despair; it is direct and elegant, and your style is always admirable to +me--lenity, lucidity, usually a high strain of breeding, an elegance +that has a pleasant air of the accidental. But beware of purple +passages. I wonder if you think as well of your purple passages as I do +of mine? I wonder if you think as ill of mine as I do of yours? I +wonder; I can tell you at least what is wrong with yours--they are +treated in the spirit of verse. The spirit--I don't mean the measure, I +don't mean you fall into bastard cadences; what I mean is that they seem +vacant and smoothed out, ironed, if you like. And in a style which (like +yours) aims more and more successfully at the academic, one purple word +is already much; three--a whole phrase--is inadmissible. Wed yourself to +a clean austerity: that is your force. Wear a linen ephod, splendidly +candid. Arrange its folds, but do not fasten it with any brooch. I swear +to you, in your talking robes, there should be no patch of adornment; +and where the subject forces, let it force you no further than it must; +and be ready with a twinkle of your pleasantry. Yours is a fine tool, +and I see so well how to hold it; I wonder if you see how to hold mine? +But then I am to the neck in prose, and just now in the "dark +_interstylar_ cave," all methods and effects wooing me, myself in the +midst impotent to follow any. I look for dawn presently, and a full +flowing river of expression, running whither it wills. But these useless +seasons, above all, when a man _must_ continue to spoil paper, are +infinitely weary. + +We are in our house after a fashion; without furniture, 'tis true, +camping there, like the family after a sale. But the bailiff has not yet +appeared; he will probably come after. The place is beautiful beyond +dreams; some fifty miles of the Pacific spread in front; deep woods all +round; a mountain making in the sky a profile of huge trees upon our +left; about us, the little island of our clearing, studded with brave +old gentlemen (or ladies, or "the twa o' them") whom we have spared. It +is a good place to be in; night and morning, we have Theodore Rousseaus +(always a new one) hung to amuse us on the walls of the world; and the +moon--this is our good season, we have a moon just now--makes the night +a piece of heaven. It amazes me how people can live on in the dirty +north; yet if you saw our rainy season (which is really a caulker for +wind, wet, and darkness--howling showers, roaring winds, pit-blackness +at noon) you might marvel how we could endure that. And we can't. But +there's a winter everywhere; only ours is in the summer. Mark my words: +there will be a winter in heaven--and in hell. _Cela rentre dans les +procedes du bon Dieu; et vous verrez!_ There's another very good thing +about Vailima, I am away from the little bubble of the literary life. It +is not all beer and skittles, is it? By the by, my _Ballads_ seem to +have been dam bad; all the crickets sing so in their crickety papers; +and I have no ghost of an idea on the point myself: verse is always to +me the unknowable. You might tell me how it strikes a professional bard: +not that it really matters, for, of course, good or bad, I don't think I +shall get into _that_ galley any more. But I should like to know if you +join the shrill chorus of the crickets. The crickets are the devil in +all to you: 'tis a strange thing, they seem to rejoice like a strong +man in their injustice. I trust you got my letter about your Browning +book. In case it missed, I wish to say again that your publication of +Browning's kind letter, as an illustration of _his_ character, was +modest, proper, and in radiant good taste.--In Witness whereof, etc. +etc., + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO MISS RAWLINSON + + + The next is written to a young friend and visitor of Bournemouth days + (see vol. xxiv. p. 227) on the news of her engagement to Mr. Alfred + Spender. + + _Vailima, Apia, Samoa, April 1891._ + +MY DEAR MAY,--I never think of you by any more ceremonial name, so I +will not pretend. There is not much chance that I shall forget you until +the time comes for me to forget all this little turmoil in a corner +(though indeed I have been in several corners) of an inconsiderable +planet. You remain in my mind for a good reason, having given me (in so +short a time) the most delightful pleasure. I shall remember, and you +must still be beautiful. The truth is, you must grow more so, or you +will soon be less. It is not so easy to be a flower, even when you bear +a flower's name. And if I admired you so much, and still remember you, +it is not because of your face, but because you were then worthy of it, +as you must still continue. + +Will you give my heartiest congratulations to Mr. Spender? He has my +admiration; he is a brave man; when I was young, I should have run away +from the sight of you, pierced with the sense of my unfitness. He is +more wise and manly. What a good husband he will have to be! And +you--what a good wife! Carry your love tenderly. I will never forgive +him--or you--it is in both your hands--if the face that once gladdened +my heart should be changed into one sour or sorrowful. + +What a person you are to give flowers! It was so I first heard of you; +and now you are giving the May flower! + +Yes, Skerryvore has passed; it was, for us. But I wish you could see us +in our new home on the mountain, in the middle of great woods, and +looking far out over the Pacific. When Mr. Spender is very rich, he must +bring you round the world and let you see it, and see the old gentleman +and the old lady. I mean to live quite a long while yet, and my wife +must do the same, or else I couldn't manage it; so, you see, you will +have plenty of time; and it's a pity not to see the most beautiful +places, and the most beautiful people moving there, and the real stars +and moon overhead, instead of the tin imitations that preside over +London. I do not think my wife very well; but I am in hopes she will now +have a little rest. It has been a hard business, above all for her; we +lived four months in the hurricane season in a miserable house, +overborne with work, ill-fed, continually worried, drowned in perpetual +rain, beaten upon by wind, so that we must sit in the dark in the +evenings; and then I ran away, and she had a month of it alone. Things +go better now; the back of the work is broken; and we are still foolish +enough to look forward to a little peace. I am a very different person +from the prisoner of Skerryvore. The other day I was three-and-twenty +hours in an open boat; it made me pretty ill; but fancy its not killing +me half-way! It is like a fairy story that I should have recovered +liberty and strength, and should go round again among my fellow-men, +boating, riding, bathing, toiling hard with a wood-knife in the forest. +I can wish you nothing more delightful than my fortune in life; I wish +it you; and better, if the thing be possible. + +Lloyd is tinkling below me on the typewriter; my wife has just left the +room; she asks me to say she would have written had she been well +enough, and hopes to do it still.--Accept the best wishes of your +admirer, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + This letter announces (1) the arrival of Mrs. Thomas Stevenson from + Sydney, to take up her abode in her son's island home now that the + conditions of life there had been made fairly comfortable; and (2) + the receipt of a letter from me expressing the disappointment felt by + Stevenson's friends at home at the impersonal and even tedious + character of some portions of the South Sea Letters that had reached + us. As a corrective of this opinion, I may perhaps mention here that + there is a certain many-voyaged master-mariner as well as + master-writer--no less a person than Mr. Joseph Conrad--who does not + at all share it, and prefers _In the South Seas_ to _Treasure + Island_. + + _[Vailima] April 29th, '91._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--I begin again. I was awake this morning about half-past +four. It was still night, but I made my fire, which is always a +delightful employment, and read Lockhart's _Scott_ until the day began +to peep. It was a beautiful and sober dawn, a dove-coloured dawn, +insensibly brightening to gold. I was looking at it some while over the +down-hill profile of our eastern road when I chanced to glance +northward, and saw with extraordinary pleasure the sea lying outspread. +It seemed as smooth as glass, and yet I knew the surf was roaring all +along the reef, and indeed, if I had listened, I could have heard +it--and saw the white sweep of it outside Matautu. + +I am out of condition still, and can do nothing, and toil to be at my +pen, and see some ink behind me. I have taken up again _The High Woods +of Ulufanua_. I still think the fable too fantastic and far-fetched. +But, on a re-reading, fell in love with my first chapter, and for good +or evil I must finish it. It is really good, well fed with facts, true +to the manners, and (for once in my works) rendered pleasing by the +presence of a heroine who is pretty. Miss Uma is pretty; a fact. All my +other women have been as ugly as sin, and like Falconet's horse (I have +just been reading the anecdote in Lockhart), _mortes_ forbye. + +News: our old house is now half demolished; it is to be rebuilt on a new +site; now we look down upon and through the open posts of it like a +bird-cage, to the woods beyond. My poor Paulo has lost his father and +succeeded to thirty thousand thalers (I think); he had to go down to the +consulate yesterday to send a legal paper; got drunk, of course, and is +still this morning in so bemused a condition that our breakfasts all went +wrong. Lafaele is absent at the deathbed of his fair spouse; fair she +was, but not in deed, acting as harlot to the wreckers at work on the +warships, to which society she probably owes her end, having fallen off a +cliff, or been thrust off it--_inter pocula_. Henry is the same, our +stand-by. In this transition stage he has been living in Apia; but the +other night he stayed up, and sat with us about the chimney in my room. +It was the first time he had seen a fire in a hearth; he could not look +at it without smiles, and was always anxious to put on another stick. We +entertained him with the fairy tales of civilisation--theatres, London, +blocks in the street, Universities, the Underground, newspapers, etc., +and projected once more his visit to Sydney. If we can manage, it will be +next Christmas. (I see it will be impossible for me to afford a further +journey _this_ winter.) We have spent since we have been here about +L2,500, which is not much if you consider we have built on that three +houses, one of them of some size, and a considerable stable, made two +miles of road some three times, cleared many acres of bush, made some +miles of path, planted quantities of food, and enclosed a horse paddock +and some acres of pig run; but 'tis a good deal of money regarded simply +as money. K. is bosh; I have no use for him; but we must do what we can +with the fellow meanwhile; he is good-humoured and honest, but +inefficient, idle himself, the cause of idleness in others, grumbling, a +self-excuser--all the faults in a bundle. He owes us thirty weeks' +service--the wretched Paul about half as much. Henry is almost the only +one of our employes who has a credit. + +_May 17th._--Well, am I ashamed of myself? I do not think so. I have +been hammering letters ever since, and got three ready and a fourth +about half through; all four will go by the mail, which is what I wish, +for so I keep at least my start. Days and days of unprofitable stubbing +and digging, and the result still poor as literature, left-handed, +heavy, unillumined, but I believe readable and interesting as matter. It +has been no joke of a hard time, and when my task was done, I had little +taste for anything but blowing on the pipe. A few necessary letters +filled the bowl to overflowing. + +My mother has arrived, young, well, and in good spirits. By desperate +exertions, which have wholly floored Fanny, her room was ready for her, +and the dining-room fit to eat in. It was a famous victory. Lloyd never +told me of your portrait till a few days ago; fortunately, I had no +pictures hung yet; and the space over my chimney waits your counterfeit +presentment. I have not often heard anything that pleased me more; your +severe head shall frown upon me and keep me to the mark. But why has it +not come? Have you been as forgetful as Lloyd? + +_18th._--Miserable comforters are ye all! I read your esteemed pages +this morning by lamplight and the glimmer of the dawn, and as soon as +breakfast was over, I must turn to and tackle these despised labours! +Some courage was necessary, but not wanting. There is one thing at least +by which I can avenge myself for my drubbing, for on one point you seem +impenetrably stupid. Can I find no form of words which will at last +convey to your intelligence the fact that _these letters were never +meant, and are not now meant, to be other than a quarry of materials +from which the book may be drawn_? There seems something incommunicable +in this (to me) simple idea; I know Lloyd failed to comprehend it, I +doubt if he has grasped it now; and I despair, after all these efforts, +that you should ever be enlightened. Still, oblige me by reading that +form of words once more, and see if a light does not break. You may be +sure, after the friendly freedoms of your criticism (necessary I am +sure, and wholesome I know, but untimely to the poor labourer in his +landslip) that mighty little of it will stand. + +Our Paul has come into a fortune, and wishes to go home to the Hie +Germanie. This is a tile on our head, and if a shower, which is now +falling, lets up, I must go down to Apia, and see if I can find a +substitute of any kind. This is, from any point of view, disgusting; +above all, from that of work; for, whatever the result, the mill has to +be kept turning; apparently dust, and not flour, is the proceed. Well, +there is gold in the dust, which is a fine consolation, since--well, I +can't help it; night or morning, I do my darndest, and if I cannot +charge for merit, I must e'en charge for toil, of which I have plenty +and plenty more ahead before this cup is drained; sweat and hyssop are +the ingredients. + +We are clearing from Carruthers' Road to the pig fence, twenty-eight +powerful natives with Catholic medals about their necks, all swiping in +like Trojans; long may the sport continue! + +The invoice to hand. Ere this goes out, I hope to see your expressive, +but surely not benignant countenance! Adieu, O culler of offensive +expressions--'and a' to be a posy to your ain dear May!'--Fanny seems a +little revived again after her spasm of work. Our books and furniture +keep slowly draining up the road, in a sad state of scatterment and +disrepair; I wish the devil had had K. by his red beard before he had +packed my library. Odd leaves and sheets and boards--a thing to make a +bibliomaniac shed tears--are fished out of odd corners. But I am no +bibliomaniac, praise Heaven, and I bear up, and rejoice when I find +anything safe. + +_19th._--However, I worked five hours on the brute, and finished my +Letter all the same, and couldn't sleep last night by consequence. +Haven't had a bad night since I don't know when; dreamed a large +handsome man (a New Orleans planter) had insulted my wife, and, do what +I pleased, I could not make him fight me; and woke to find it was the +eleventh anniversary of my marriage. A letter usually takes me from a +week to three days; but I'm sometimes two days on a page--I was once +three--and then my friends kick me. _C'est-y-bete!_ I wish letters of +that charming quality could be so timed as to arrive when a fellow +wasn't working at the truck in question; but, of course, that can't be. +Did not go down last night. It showered all afternoon, and poured heavy +and loud all night. + +You should have seen our twenty-five popes (the Samoan phrase for a +Catholic, lay or cleric) squatting when the day's work was done on the +ground outside the verandah, and pouring in the rays of forty-eight eyes +through the back and the front door of the dining-room, while Henry and +I and the boss pope signed the contract. The second boss (an old man) +wore a kilt (as usual) and a Balmoral bonnet with a little tartan edging +and the tails pulled off. I told him that hat belong to my +country--Sekotia; and he said, yes, that was the place that he belonged +to right enough. And then all the Papists laughed till the woods rang; +he was slashing away with a cutlass as he spoke. + +The pictures[20] have decidedly not come; they may probably arrive +Sunday. + + + + +TO MISS ADELAIDE BOODLE + + + The reference in the first paragraph is to a previous letter + concerning private matters, in which Stevenson had remonstrated with + his correspondent on what seemed to him her mistaken reasons for a + certain course of conduct. + + [_Vailima, May 1891._] + +MY DEAR ADELAIDE,--I will own you just did manage to tread on my gouty +toe; and I beg to assure you with most people I should simply have +turned away and said no more. My cudgelling was therefore in the nature +of a caress or testimonial. + +God forbid, I should seem to judge for you on such a point; it was what +you seemed to set forth as your reasons that fluttered my old +Presbyterian spirit--for, mind you, I am a child of the +Covenanters--whom I do not love, but they are mine after all, my +father's and my mother's--and they had their merits too, and their ugly +beauties, and grotesque heroisms, that I love them for, the while I +laugh at them; but in their name and mine do what you think right, and +let the world fall. That is the privilege and the duty of private +persons; and I shall think the more of you at the greater distance, +because you keep a promise to your fellow-man, your helper and creditor +in life, by just so much as I was tempted to think the less of you (O +not much, or I would never have been angry) when I thought you were the +swallower of a (tinfoil) formula. + +I must say I was uneasy about my letter, not because it was too strong +as an expression of my unregenerate sentiments, but because I knew full +well it should be followed by something kinder. And the mischief has +been in my health. I fell sharply sick in Sydney, was put aboard the +_Luebeck_ pretty bad, got to Vailima, hung on a month there, and didn't +pick up as well as my work needed; set off on a journey, gained a great +deal, lost it again; and am back at Vailima, still no good at my +necessary work. I tell you this for my imperfect excuse that I should +not have written you again sooner to remove the bad taste of my last. + +A road has been called Adelaide Road; it leads from the back of our +house to the bridge, and thence to the garden, and by a bifurcation to +the pig pen. It is thus much traversed, particularly by Fanny. An +oleander, the only one of your seeds that prospered in this climate, +grows there; and the name is now some week or ten days applied and +published. ADELAIDE ROAD leads also into the bush, to the banana patch +and by a second bifurcation over the left branch of the stream to the +plateau and the right hand of the gorges. In short, it leads to all +sorts of good, and is, besides, in itself a pretty winding path, bound +downhill among big woods to the margin of the stream. + +What a strange idea, to think me a Jew-hater! Isaiah and David and Heine +are good enough for me; and I leave more unsaid. Were I of Jew blood, I +do not think I could ever forgive the Christians; the ghettos would get +in my nostrils like mustard or lit gunpowder. Just so you, as being a +child of the Presbytery, I retain--I need not dwell on that. The +ascendant hand is what I feel most strongly; I am bound in and in with +my forbears; were he one of mine, I should not be struck at all by Mr. +Moss of Bevis Marks, I should still see behind him Moses of the Mount +and the Tables and the shining face. We are all nobly born; fortunate +those who know it; blessed those who remember. + +I am, my dear Adelaide, most genuinely yours, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + +Write by return to say you are better, and I will try to do the same. + + + + +TO CHARLES BAXTER + + + The following refers again to the project of a long genealogical novel + expanded from the original idea of _Henry Shovel_. + + _[Vailima] Tuesday, 19th May '91._ + +MY DEAR CHARLES,--I don't know what you think of me, not having written +to you at all during your illness. I find two sheets begun with your +name, but that is no excuse.... I am keeping bravely; getting about +better every day, and hope soon to be in my usual fettle. My books begin +to come; and I fell once more on the Old Bailey session papers. I have +1778, 1784, and 1786. Should you be able to lay hands on any other +volumes, above all a little later, I should be very glad you should buy +them for me. I particularly want _one_ or _two_ during the course of the +Peninsular War. Come to think, I ought rather to have communicated this +want to Bain. Would it bore you to communicate to that effect with the +great man? The sooner I have them, the better for me. 'Tis for _Henry +Shovel_. But _Henry Shovel_ has now turned into a work called _The +Shovels of Newton French: including Memoirs of Henry Shovel, a Private +in the Peninsular War_, which work is to begin in 1664 with the marriage +of Skipper, afterwards Alderman Shovel of Bristol, Henry's +great-great-grandfather, and end about 1832 with his own second marriage +to the daughter of his runaway aunt. Will the public ever stand such an +opus? Gude kens, but it tickles me. Two or three historical personages +will just appear: Judge Jeffreys, Wellington, Colquhoun, Grant, and I +think Townsend the runner. I know the public won't like it; let 'em lump +it then; I mean to make it good; it will be more like a saga. + +Adieu.--Yours ever affectionately, + + R. L. STEVENSON. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + _[Vailima] June 1891._ + +SIR,--To you, under your portrait, which is, in expression, your true, +breathing self, and up to now saddens me; in time, and soon, I shall be +glad to have it there; it is still only a reminder of your absence. +Fanny wept when we unpacked it, and you know how little she is given to +that mood; I was scarce Roman myself, but that does not count--I lift up +my voice so readily. These are good compliments to the artist.[21] I +write in the midst of a wreck of books, which have just come up, and +have for once defied my labours to get straight. The whole floor is +filled with them, and (what's worse) most of the shelves forbye; and +where they are to go to, and what is to become of the librarian, God +knows. It is hot to-night, and has been airless all day, and I am out of +sorts, and my work sticks, the devil fly away with it and me. We had an +alarm of war since last I wrote my screeds to you, and it blew over, and +is to blow on again, and the rumour goes they are to begin by killing +all the whites. I have no belief in this, and should be infinitely sorry +if it came to pass--I do not mean for us, that were otiose--but for the +poor, deluded schoolboys, who should hope to gain by such a step. + +_Letter resumed, June 20th._--No diary this time. Why? you ask. I have +only sent out four Letters, and two chapters of _The Wrecker_. Yes, but +to get these I have written 132 pp., 66,000 words in thirty days; 2200 +words a day; the labours of an elephant. God knows what it's like, and +don't ask me, but nobody shall say I have spared pains. I thought for +some time it wouldn't come at all. I was days and days over the first +letter of the lot--days and days writing and deleting and making no +headway whatever, till I thought I should have gone bust; but it came at +last after a fashion, and the rest went a thought more easily, though I +am not so fond as to fancy any better. + +Your opinion as to the Letters as a whole is so damnatory that I put +them by. But there is a "hell of a want of" money this year. And these +Gilbert Island papers, being the most interesting in matter, and forming +a compact whole, and being well illustrated, I did think of as a +possible resource. + +It would be called + + _Six Months in Melanesia, + Two Island Kings, + ---- Monarchies, + Gilbert Island Kings, + ---- Monarchies_, + +and I dare say I'll think of a better yet--and would divide thus:-- + + _Butaritari_ + + I. A Town Asleep. + II. The Three Brothers. + III. Around our House. + IV. A Tale of a Tapu. + V. The Five Days' Festival. + VI. Domestic Life--(which might be omitted, but not well, better be + recast). + + _The King of Apemama_ + + VII. The Royal Traders. + VIII. Foundation of Equator Town. + IX. The Palace of Mary Warren. + X. Equator Town and the Palace. + XI. King and Commons. + XII. The Devil Work Box. + XIII. The Three Corslets. + XIV. Tail piece; the Court upon a Journey. + +I wish you to watch these closely, judging them as a whole, and treating +them as I have asked you, and favour me with your damnatory advice. I +look up at your portrait, and it frowns upon me. You seem to view me +with reproach. The expression is excellent; Fanny wept when she saw it, +and you know she is not given to the melting mood. She seems really +better; I have a touch of fever again, I fancy overwork, and to-day, +when I have overtaken my letters, I shall blow on my pipe. Tell Mrs. +Sitwell I have been playing _Le Chant d'Amour_ lately, and have arranged +it, after awful trouble, rather prettily for two pipes; and it brought +her before me with an effect scarce short of hallucination. I could hear +her voice in every note; yet I had forgot the air entirely, and began to +pipe it from notes as something new, when I was brought up with a round +turn by this reminiscence. We are now very much installed; the +dining-room is done, and looks lovely. Soon we shall begin to photograph +and send you our circumstances. My room is still a howling wilderness. I +sleep on a platform in a window, and strike my mosquito bar and roll up +my bedclothes every morning, so that the bed becomes by day a divan. A +great part of the floor is knee-deep in books, yet nearly all the +shelves are filled, alas! It is a place to make a pig recoil, yet here +are my interminable labours begun daily by lamp-light, and sometimes not +yet done when the lamp has once more to be lighted. The effect of +pictures in this place is surprising. They give great pleasure. + +_June 21st._--A word more. I had my breakfast this morning at 4.30! My +new cook has beaten me and (as Lloyd says) revenged all the cooks in the +world. I have been hunting them to give me breakfast early since I was +twenty; and now here comes Mr. Ratke, and I have to plead for mercy. I +cannot stand 4.30; I am a mere fevered wreck; it is now half-past eight, +and I can no more, and four hours divide me from lunch, the devil take +the man! Yesterday it was about 5.30, which I can stand; day before 5, +which is bad enough; to-day, I give out. It is like a London season, and +as I do not take a siesta once in a month, and then only five minutes, I +am being worn to the bones, and look aged and anxious. + +We have Rider Haggard's brother here as a Land Commissioner; a nice kind +of a fellow; indeed, all the three Land Commissioners are very +agreeable. + + + + +TO E. L. BURLINGAME + + + For the result of the suggestion made in the following, see + Scribner's Magazine, October 1893, p. 494. + + _Vailima [Summer 1891]._ + +MY DEAR BURLINGAME,--I find among my grandfather's papers his own +reminiscences of his voyage round the north with Sir Walter, eighty +years ago, _labuntur anni!_ They are not remarkably good, but he was not +a bad observer, and several touches seem to me speaking. It has occurred +to me you might like them to appear in the Magazine. If you would, +kindly let me know, and tell me how you would like it handled. My +grandad's MS. runs to between six and seven thousand words, which I +could abbreviate of anecdotes that scarce touch Sir W. Would you like +this done? Would you like me to introduce the old gentleman? I had +something of the sort in my mind, and could fill a few columns rather _a +propos_. I give you the first offer of this, according to your request; +for though it may forestall one of the interests of my biography, the +thing seems to me particularly suited for prior appearance in a +magazine. + +I see the first number of _The Wrecker_; I thought it went lively +enough; and by a singular accident, the picture is not unlike Tai-o-hae! + +Thus we see the age of miracles, etc.--Yours very sincerely, + + R. L. S. + +Proofs for next mail. + + + + +TO W. CRAIBE ANGUS + + + Referring again to the Burns Exhibition and to his correspondent's + request for an autograph in a special copy of _The Jolly Beggars_. + + _[Summer 1891.]_ + +DEAR MR. ANGUS,--You can use my letter as you will. The parcel has not +come; pray Heaven the next post bring it safe. Is it possible for me to +write a preface here? I will try if you like, if you think I must: +though surely there are Rivers in Assyria. Of course you will send me +sheets of the catalogue; I suppose it (the preface) need not be long; +perhaps it should be rather very short? Be sure you give me your views +upon these points. Also tell me what names to mention among those of +your helpers, and do remember to register everything, else it is not +safe. + +The true place (in my view) for a monument to Fergusson were the +churchyard of Haddington. But as that would perhaps not carry many +votes, I should say one of the two following sites:--First, either as +near the site of the old Bedlam as we could get, or, second, beside the +Cross, the heart of his city. Upon this I would have a fluttering +butterfly, and, I suggest, the citation, + + Poor butterfly, thy case I mourn. + +For the case of Fergusson is not one to pretend about. A more miserable +tragedy the sun never shone upon, or (in consideration of our climate) I +should rather say refused to brighten.--Yours truly, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + +Where Burns goes will not matter. He is no local poet, like your Robin +the First; he is general as the casing air. Glasgow, as the chief city +of Scottish men, would do well; but for God's sake, don't let it be like +the Glasgow memorial to Knox; I remember, when I first saw this, +laughing for an hour by Shrewsbury clock. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO H. C. IDE + + + The following is written to the American Land Commissioner (later + Chief Justice for a term) in Samoa, whose elder daughter, then at + home in the States, had been born on a Christmas Day, and + consequently regarded herself as defrauded of her natural rights to a + private anniversary of her own. + + _[Vailima, June 19, 1891.]_ + +DEAR MR. IDE,--Herewith please find the DOCUMENT, which I trust will +prove sufficient in law. It seems to me very attractive in its +eclecticism; Scots, English, and Roman law phrases are all indifferently +introduced, and a quotation from the works of Haynes Bayly can hardly +fail to attract the indulgence of the Bench.--Yours very truly, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + +I, Robert Louis Stevenson, Advocate of the Scots Bar, author of _The +Master of Ballantrae_ and _Moral Emblems_, stuck civil engineer, sole +owner and patentee of the Palace and Plantation known as Vailima in the +island of Upolu, Samoa, a British Subject, being in sound mind, and +pretty well, I thank you, in body; + +In consideration that Miss Annie H. Ide, daughter of H. C. Ide, in the +town of Saint Johnsbury, in the county of Caledonia, in the state of +Vermont, United States of America, was born, out of all reason, upon +Christmas Day, and is therefore out of all justice denied the +consolation and profit of a proper birthday; + +And considering that I, the said Robert Louis Stevenson, have attained +an age when O, we never mention it, and that I have now no further use +for a birthday of any description; + +And in consideration that I have met H. C. Ide, the father of the said +Annie H. Ide, and found him about as white a land commissioner as I +require; + +_Have transferred_, and _do hereby transfer_, to the said Annie H. Ide, +_all and whole_ my rights and privileges in the thirteenth day of +November, formerly my birthday, now, hereby, and henceforth, the +birthday of the said Annie H. Ide, to have, hold, exercise, and enjoy +the same in the customary manner, by the sporting of fine raiment, +eating of rich meats, and receipt of gifts, compliments, and copies of +verse, according to the manner of our ancestors; + +_And I direct_ the said Annie H. Ide to add to the said name of Annie H. +Ide the name Louisa--at least in private; and I charge her to use my +said birthday with moderation and humanity, _et tamquam bona filia +familiae_, the said birthday not being so young as it once was, and +having carried me in a very satisfactory manner since I can remember; + +And in case the said Annie H. Ide shall neglect or contravene either of +the above conditions, I hereby revoke the donation and transfer my +rights in the said birthday to the President of the United States of +America for the time being; + +In witness whereof I have hereto set my hand and seal this nineteenth +day of June in the year of grace eighteen hundred and ninety-one. + + [Illustration: SEAL] + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + +_Witness_, LLOYD OSBOURNE, +_Witness_, HAROLD WATTS. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + The misgivings herein expressed about the imminence of a native war + were not realised until two years later, and the plans of defence + into which Stevenson here enters with characteristic gusto were not + put to the test. + + [_Vailima, June and July 1891._] + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--I am so hideously in arrears that I know not where to +begin. However, here I am a prisoner in my room, unfit for work, +incapable of reading with interest, and trying to catch up a bit. We +have a guest here: a welcome guest: my Sydney music master, whose health +broke down, and who came with his remarkable simplicity, to ask a +month's lodging. He is newly married, his wife in the family way: +beastly time to fall sick. I have found, by good luck, a job for him +here which will pay some of his way: and in the meantime he is a +pleasant guest, for he plays the flute with little sentiment but great +perfection, and endears himself by his simplicity. To me, especially; I +am so weary of finding people approach me with precaution, pick their +words, flatter, and twitter; but the muttons of the good God are not at +all afraid of the lion. They take him as he comes, and he does not +bite--at least not hard. This makes us a party of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, +8, at table; deftly waited on by Mary Carter, a very nice Sydney girl, +who served us at a boarding-house and has since come on--how long she +will endure this exile is another story; and gauchely waited on by +Faauma, the new left-handed wife of the famed Lafaele, a little creature +in native dress of course and as beautiful as a bronze candlestick, so +fine, clean and dainty in every limb; her arms and her little hips in +particular masterpieces. The rest of the crew may be stated briefly: the +great Henry Simele, still to the front; King, of the yellow beard, +rather a disappointment--I am inclined on this point to republican +opinions: Ratke, a German cook, good--and Germanly bad, he don't make +_my_ kitchen; Paul, now working out his debts outdoor; Emma, a strange +weird creature--I suspect (from her colour) a quarter white--widow of a +white man, ugly, capable, a really good laundress; Java--yes, that is +the name--they spell it Siava, but pronounce it, and explain it +Java--her assistant, a creature I adore from her plain, wholesome, +bread-and-butter beauty. An honest, almost ugly, bright, good-natured +face; the rest (to my sense) merely exquisite. She comes steering into +my room of a morning, like Mrs. Nickleby, with elaborate precaution; +unlike her, noiseless. If I look up from my work, she is ready with an +explosive smile. I generally don't, and wait to look at her as she +stoops for the bellows, and trips tiptoe off again, a miracle of +successful womanhood in every line. I am amused to find plain, healthy +Java pass in my fancy so far before pretty young Faauma. I observed +Lloyd the other day to say that Java must have been lovely "when she was +young"; and I thought it an odd word, of a woman in the height of +health, not yet touched with fat, though (to be just) a little slack of +bust. + +Our party you know: Fanny, Lloyd, my mother, Belle, and "the babe"--as +we call him--Austin. We have now three instruments; Boehm flageolet, +flute, and Bb clarinet; and we expect in a few days our piano. This is a +great pleasure to me; the band-mastering, the playing and all. As soon +as I am done with this stage of a letter, I shall return, not being +allowed to play, to band-master, being engaged in an attempt to arrange +an air with effect for the three pipes. And I'll go now, by jabers. + +[Illustration] + +_July 3rd._--A long pause: occasioned, first by some days of hard work: +next by a vile quinsey--if that be the way to spell it. But to-day I +must write. For we have all kinds of larks on hand. The wars and rumours +of wars begin to take consistency, insomuch that we have landed the +weapons this morning, and inspected the premises with a view to defence. +Of course it will come to nothing; but as in all stories of massacres, +the one you don't prepare for is the one that comes off. All our natives +think ill of the business; none of the whites do. According to our +natives the demonstration threatened for to-day or to-morrow is one of +vengeance on the whites--small wonder--and if that begins--where will it +stop? Anyway I don't mean to go down for nothing, if I can help it; and +to amuse you I will tell you our plans. + +There is the house, upper story. Our weak point is of course the sides +AB, AH; so we propose to place half our garrison in the space HGFD and +half in the opposite corner, BB'CD. We shall communicate through the +interior, there is a water-tank in the angle C, my mother and Austin are +to go in the loft. The holding of only these two corners and deserting +the corner C' is for economy and communication, two doors being in the +sides GF and CD; so that any one in the corner C' could only communicate +or be reinforced by exposure. Besides we are short of mattresses. +Garrison: R. L. S., Lloyd, Fanny, King, Ratke--doubtful, he may +go--Emma, Mary, Belle; weapons: eight revolvers and a shot gun, and +swords galore; but we're pretty far gone when we come to the swords. It +has been rather a lark arranging; but I find it a bore to write, and I +doubt it will be cruel stale to read about, when all's over and done, as +it will be ere this goes, I fancy: far more ere it reaches you. + +_Date unknown._--Well, nothing as yet, though I don't swear by it yet. +There has been a lot of trouble, and there still is a lot of doubt as to +the future; and those who sit in the chief seats, who are all excellent, +pleasant creatures, are not, perhaps, the most wise of mankind. They +actually proposed to kidnap and deport Mataafa; a scheme which would +have loosed the avalanche at once. But some human being interfered and +choked off this pleasing scheme. You ask me in yours just received, what +will become of us if it comes to a war? Well, if it is a war of the old +sort, nothing. It will mean a little bother, and a great deal of theft, +and more amusement. But if it comes to the massacre lark, I can only +answer with the Bell of Old Bow. You are to understand that, in my +reading of the native character, every day that passes is a solid gain. +They put in the time public speaking; so wear out their energy, develop +points of difference and exacerbate internal ill-feeling. Consequently, +I feel less apprehension of difficulty now, by about a hundredfold. All +that I stick to, is that if war begins, there are ten chances to one we +shall have it bad. The natives have been scurvily used by all the white +powers without exception; and they labour under the belief, of which +they can't be cured, that they defeated Germany. This makes an awkward +complication. + +I was extremely vexed to hear you were ill again. I hope you are better. +'Tis a long time we have known each other now, to be sure. Well, well! +you say you are sure to catch fever in the bush; so we do continually; +but you are to conceive Samoa fever as the least formidable malady under +heaven: implying only a day or so of slight headache and languor and ill +humour, easily reduced by quinine or antipyrine. The hot fever I had was +from over-exertion and blood poisoning, no doubt, and irritation of the +bladder; it went of its own accord and with rest. I have had since a bad +quinsey which knocked me rather useless for about a week, but I stuck to +my work, with great difficulty and small success. + +_Date unknown._--But it's fast day and July, and the rude inclement +depth of winter, and the thermometer was 68 this morning and a few days +ago it was 63, and we have all been perishing with cold. All still seems +quiet. Your counterfeit presentments are all round us: the pastel over +my bed, the Dew-Smith photograph over my door, and the "celebrity" on +Fanny's table. My room is now done, and looks very gay, and chromatic +with its blue walls and my coloured lines of books. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + This is the first letter in which Stevenson expresses the opinion + which had been forcing itself upon him, and which he felt it his duty + in the following year to express publicly in letters to the Times, of + the unwisdom of the government established under the treaty between + the Three Powers and the incompetence of the officials appointed to + carry it out. + + _[Vailima] Sunday, Sept. 5(?), 1891._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--Yours from Lochinver has just come. You ask me if I am +ever homesick for the Highlands and the Isles. Conceive that for the +last month I have been living there between 1786 and 1850, in my +grandfather's diaries and letters. I _had_ to take a rest; no use +talking; so I put in a month over my _Lives of the Stevensons_ with +great pleasure and profit and some advance; one chapter and a part +drafted. The whole promises well. Chapter I. Domestic Annals. Chapter +II. The Northern Lights. Chapter III. The Bell Rock. Chapter IV. A +Family of Boys. Chap. V. The Grandfather. VI. Alan Stevenson. VII. +Thomas Stevenson. My materials for my great-grandfather are almost null; +for my grandfather copious and excellent. Name, a puzzle. _A Scottish +Family_, _A Family of Engineers_, _Northern Lights_, _The Engineers of +the Northern Lights: A Family History_. Advise; but it will take long. +Now, imagine if I have been homesick for Barrahead and Island Glass, and +Kirkwall, and Cape Wrath, and the Wells of the Pentland Firth; I could +have wept. + +Now for politics. I am much less alarmed; I believe the _malo_ (= _raj_, +government) will collapse and cease like an overlain infant, without a +shot fired. They have now been months here on their big salaries--and +Cedercrantz, whom I specially like as a man, has done nearly nothing, +and the Baron, who is well-meaning, has done worse. They have these +large salaries, and they have all the taxes; they have made scarce a +foot of road; they have not given a single native a position--all to +white men; they have scarce laid out a penny on Apia, and scarce a penny +on the King; they have forgot they were in Samoa, or that such a thing +as Samoans existed, and had eyes and some intelligence. The Chief +Justice has refused to pay his customs! The President proposed to have +an expensive house built for himself, while the King, his master, has +none! I had stood aside, and been a loyal, and, above all, a silent +subject, up to then; but now I snap my fingers at their _malo_. It is +damned, and I'm damned glad of it. And this is not all. Last "_Wainiu_," +when I sent Fanny off to Fiji, I hear the wonderful news that the Chief +Justice is going to Fiji and the Colonies to improve his mind. I showed +my way of thought to his guest, Count Wachtmeister, whom I have sent to +you with a letter--he will tell you all the news. Well, the Chief +Justice stayed, but they said he was to leave yesterday. I had intended +to go down, and see and warn him! But the President's house had come up +in the meanwhile, and I let them go to their doom, which I am only +anxious to see swiftly and (if it may be) bloodlessly fall. + +Thus I have in a way withdrawn my unrewarded loyalty. Lloyd is down +to-day with Moors to call on Mataafa; the news of the excursion made a +considerable row in Apia, and both the German and the English consuls +besought Lloyd not to go. But he stuck to his purpose, and with my +approval. It's a poor thing if people are to give up a pleasure party +for a _malo_ that has never done anything for us but draw taxes, and is +going to go pop, and leave us at the mercy of the identical Mataafa, +whom I have not visited for more than a year, and who is probably +furious. + +The sense of my helplessness here has been rather bitter; I feel it +wretched to see this dance of folly and injustice and unconscious +rapacity go forward from day to day, and to be impotent. I was not +consulted--or only by one man, and that on particular points; I did not +choose to volunteer advice till some pressing occasion; I have not even +a vote, for I am not a member of the municipality. + +What ails you, miserable man, to talk of saving material? I have a whole +world in my head, a whole new society to work, but I am in no hurry; you +will shortly make the acquaintance of the Island of Ulufanua, on which +I mean to lay several stories; the _Bloody Wedding_, possibly the _High +Woods_--(O, it's so good, the _High Woods_, but the story is craziness; +that's the trouble)--a political story, the _Labour Slave_, etc. +Ulufanua is an imaginary island; the name is a beautiful Samoan word for +the _top_ of a forest; ulu=leaves or hair, fanua=land. The ground or +country of the leaves. "Ulufanua the isle of the sea," read that verse +dactylically and you get the beat; the u's are like our double oo; did +ever you hear a prettier word? + +I do not feel inclined to make a volume of Essays,[22] but if I did, and +perhaps the idea is good--and any idea is better than the _South +Seas_--here would be my choice of the Scribner articles: _Dreams_, +_Beggars_, _Lantern-Bearers_, _Random Memories_. There was a paper +called the _Old Pacific Capital_ in Fraser, in Tulloch's time, which had +merit; there were two on Fontainebleau in the Magazine of Art in +Henley's time. I have no idea if they're any good; then there's the +_Emigrant Train_. _Pulvis et Umbra_ is in a different key, and wouldn't +hang on with the rest. + +I have just interrupted my letter and read through the chapter of the +_High Woods_ that is written, a chapter and a bit, some sixteen pages, +really very fetching, but what do you wish? the story is so wilful, so +steep, so silly--it's a hallucination I have outlived, and yet I never +did a better piece of work, horrid, and pleasing, and extraordinarily +_true_; it's sixteen pages of the South Seas; their essence. What am I +to do? Lose this little gem--for I'll be bold, and that's what I think +it--or go on with the rest, which I don't believe in, and don't like, +and which can never make aught but a silly yarn? Make another end to it? +Ah, yes, but that's not the way I write; the whole tale is implied; I +never use an effect, when I can help it, unless it prepares the effects +that are to follow; that's what a story consists in. To make another +end, that is to make the beginning all wrong. The denouement of a long +story is nothing; it is just a "full close," which you may approach and +accompany as you please--it is a coda, not an essential member in the +rhythm; but the body and end of a short story is bone of the bone and +blood of the blood of the beginning. Well, I shall end by finishing it +against my judgment; that fragment is my Delilah. Golly, it's good. I am +not shining by modesty; but I do just love the colour and movement of +that piece so far as it goes. + +I was surprised to hear of your fishing. And you saw the _Pharos_,[23] +thrice fortunate man; I wish I dared go home, I would ask the +Commissioners to take me round for old sake's sake, and see all my +family pictures once more from the Mull of Galloway to Unst. However, +all is arranged for our meeting in Ceylon, except the date and the +blooming pounds. I have heard of an exquisite hotel in the country, +airy, large rooms, good cookery, not dear; we shall have a couple of +months there, if we can make it out, and converse or--as my grandfather +always said--"commune." "Communings with Mr. Kennedy as to Lighthouse +Repairs." He was a fine old fellow, but a droll. + +_Evening._--Lloyd has returned. Peace and war were played before his +eyes at heads or tails. A German was stopped with levelled guns; he +raised his whip; had it fallen, we might have been now in war. Excuses +were made by Mataafa himself. Doubtless the thing was done--I mean the +stopping of the German--a little to show off before Lloyd. Meanwhile +---- was up here, telling how the Chief Justice was really gone for five +or eight weeks, and begging me to write to the Times and denounce the +state of affairs; many strong reasons he advanced; and Lloyd and I have +been since his arrival and ----'s departure, near half an hour, debating +what should be done. Cedercrantz is gone; it is not my fault; he knows +my views on that point--alone of all points;--he leaves me with my mouth +sealed. Yet this is a nice thing that because he is guilty of a fresh +offence--his flight--the mouth of the only possible influential witness +should be closed? I do not like this argument. I look like a cad, if I +do in the man's absence what I could have done in a more manly manner in +his presence. True; but why did he go? It is his last sin. And I, who +like the man extremely--that is the word--I love his society--he is +intelligent, pleasant, even witty, a gentleman--and you know how that +attaches--I loathe to seem to play a base part; but the poor +natives--who are like other folk, false enough, lazy enough, not heroes, +not saints--ordinary men damnably misused--are they to suffer because I +like Cedercrantz, and Cedercrantz has cut his lucky? This is a little +tragedy, observe well--a tragedy! I may be right, I may be wrong in my +judgment, but I am in treaty with my honour. I know not how it will seem +to-morrow. Lloyd thought the barrier of honour insurmountable, and it is +an ugly obstacle. He (Cedercrantz) will likely meet my wife three days +from now, may travel back with her, will be charming if he does; suppose +this, and suppose him to arrive and find that I have sprung a mine--or +the nearest approach to it I could find--behind his back? My position is +pretty. Yes, I am an aristocrat. I have the old petty, personal view of +honour? I should blush till I die if I do this; yet it is on the cards +that I may do it. So much I have written you in bed, as a man writes or +talks, in a _bittre Wahl_. Now I shall sleep, and see if I am more +clear. I will consult the missionaries at least--I place some reliance +in M. also--or I should if he were not a partisan; but a partisan he is. +There's a pity. To sleep! A fund of wisdom in the prostrate body and the +fed brain. Kindly observe R. L. S. in the talons of politics! 'Tis +funny--'tis sad. Nobody but these cursed idiots could have so driven me; +I cannot bear idiots. + +My dear Colvin, I must go to sleep; it is long past ten--a dreadful hour +for me. And here am I lingering (so I feel) in the dining-room at the +Monument, talking to you across the table, both on our feet, and only +the two stairs to mount, and get to bed, and sleep, and be waked by dear +old George--to whom I wish my kindest remembrances--next morning. I look +round, and there is my blue room, and my long lines of shelves, and the +door gaping on a moonless night, and no word of S. C. but his twa +portraits on the wall. Good-bye, my dear fellow, and good-night. Queer +place the world! + +_Monday._--No clearness of mind with the morning; I have no guess what I +should do. 'Tis easy to say that the public duty should brush aside +these little considerations of personal dignity; so it is that +politicians begin, and in a month you find them rat and flatter and +intrigue with brows of brass. I am rather of the old view, that a man's +first duty is to these little laws; the big he does not, he never will, +understand; I may be wrong about the Chief Justice and the Baron and the +state of Samoa; I cannot be wrong about the vile attitude I put myself +in if I blow the gaff on Cedercrantz behind his back. + +_Tuesday._--One more word about the _South Seas_, in answer to a +question I observed I have forgotten to answer. The Tahiti part has +never turned up, because it has never been written. As for telling you +where I went or when, or anything about Honolulu, I would rather die; +that is fair and plain. How can anybody care when or how I left +Honolulu? A man of upwards of forty cannot waste his time in +communicating matter of that indifference. The letters, it appears, are +tedious; they would be more tedious still if I wasted my time upon such +infantile and sucking-bottle details. If ever I put in any such detail, +it is because it leads into something or serves as a transition. To +tell it for its own sake, never! The mistake is all through that I have +told too much; I had not sufficient confidence in the reader, and have +overfed him; and here are you anxious to learn how I--O Colvin! Suppose +it had made a book, all such information is given to one glance of an +eye by a map with a little dotted line upon it. But let us forget this +unfortunate affair. + +_Wednesday._--Yesterday I went down to consult Clarke, who took the view +of delay. Has he changed his mind already? I wonder: here at least is +the news. Some little while back some men of Manono--what is Manono?--a +Samoan rotten borough, a small isle of huge political importance, heaven +knows why, where a handful of chiefs make half the trouble in the +country. Some men of Manono (which is strong Mataafa) burned down the +houses and destroyed the crops of some Malietoa neighbours. The +President went there the other day and landed alone on the island, which +(to give him his due) was plucky. Moreover, he succeeded in persuading +the folks to come up and be judged on a particular day in Apia. That day +they did not come; but did come the next, and, to their vast surprise, +were given six months' imprisonment and clapped in gaol. Those who had +accompanied them cried to them on the streets as they were marched to +prison, "Shall we rescue you?" The condemned, marching in the hands of +thirty men with loaded rifles, cried out "No"! And the trick was done. +But it was ardently believed a rescue would be attempted; the gaol was +laid about with armed men day and night; but there was some question of +their loyalty, and the commandant of the forces, a very nice young +beardless Swede, became nervous, and conceived a plan. How if he should +put dynamite under the gaol, and in case of an attempted rescue blow up +prison and all? He went to the President, who agreed; he went to the +American man-of-war for the dynamite and machine, was refused, and got +it at last from the Wreckers. The thing began to leak out, and there +arose a muttering in town. People had no fancy for amateur explosions, +for one thing. For another, it did not clearly appear that it was legal; +the men had been condemned to six months' prison, which they were +peaceably undergoing; they had not been condemned to death. And lastly, +it seemed a somewhat advanced example of civilisation to set before +barbarians. The mutter in short became a storm, and yesterday, while I +was down, a cutter was chartered, and the prisoners were suddenly +banished to the Tokelaus. Who has changed the sentence? We are going to +stir in the dynamite matter; we do not want the natives to fancy us +consenting to such an outrage. + +Fanny has returned from her trip, and on the whole looks better. The +_High Woods_ are under way, and their name is now the _Beach of Falesa_, +and the yarn is cured. I have about thirty pages of it done; it will be +fifty to seventy I suppose. No supernatural trick at all; and escaped +out of it quite easily; can't think why I was so stupid for so long. +Mighty glad to have Fanny back to this "Hell of the South Seas," as the +German Captain called it. What will Cedercrantz think when he comes +back? To do him justice, had he been here, this Manono hash would not +have been. + +Here is a pretty thing. When Fanny was in Fiji all the Samoa and Tokelau +folks were agog about our "flash" house; but the whites had never heard +of it. + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, + Author of _The Beach of Falesa_. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + _[Vailima], Sept. 28, 1891._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--Since I last laid down my pen, I have written and +rewritten _The Beach of Falesa_; something like sixty thousand words of +sterling domestic fiction (the story, you will understand, is only half +that length); and now I don't want to write any more again for ever, or +feel so; and I've got to overhaul it once again to my sorrow. I was all +yesterday revising, and found a lot of slacknesses and (what is worse in +this kind of thing) some literaryisms. One of the puzzles is this: It is +a first person story--a trader telling his own adventure in an island. +When I began I allowed myself a few liberties, because I was afraid of +the end; now the end proved quite easy, and could be done in the pace; +so the beginning remains about a quarter tone out (in places); but I +have rather decided to let it stay so. The problem is always delicate; +it is the only thing that worries me in first person tales, which +otherwise (quo' Alan) "set better wi' my genius." There is a vast deal +of fact in the story, and some pretty good comedy. It is the first +realistic South Sea story; I mean with real South Sea character and +details of life. Everybody else who has tried, that I have seen, got +carried away by the romance, and ended in a kind of sugar candy sham +epic, and the whole effect was lost--there was no etching, no human +grin, consequently no conviction. Now I have got the smell and look of +the thing a good deal. You will know more about the South Seas after you +have read my little tale than if you had read a library. As to whether +any one else will read it, I have no guess. I am in an off time, but +there is just the possibility it might make a hit; for the yarn is good +and melodramatic, and there is quite a love affair--for me; and Mr. +Wiltshire (the narrator) is a huge lark, though I say it. But there is +always the exotic question, and everything, the life, the place, the +dialects--trader's talk, which is a strange conglomerate of literary +expressions and English and American slang, and Beach de Mar, or native +English,--the very trades and hopes and fears of the characters, are all +novel, and may be found unwelcome to that great, hulking, bullering +whale, the public. + +Since I wrote, I have been likewise drawing up a document to send in to +the President; it has been dreadfully delayed, not by me, but to-day +they swear it will be sent in. A list of questions about the dynamite +report are herein laid before him, and considerations suggested why he +should answer. + +_October 5th._--Ever since my last snatch I have been much chivied about +over the President business; his answer has come, and is an evasion +accompanied with schoolboy insolence, and we are going to try to answer +it. I drew my answer and took it down yesterday; but one of the +signatories wants another paragraph added, which I have not yet been +able to draw, and as to the wisdom of which I am not yet convinced. + +_Next day, Oct. 7th the right day._--We are all in rather a muddled +state with our President affair. I do loathe politics, but at the same +time, I cannot stand by and have the natives blown in the air +treacherously with dynamite. They are still quiet; how long this may +continue I do not know, though of course by mere prescription the +Government is strengthened, and is probably insured till the next taxes +fall due. But the unpopularity of the whites is growing. My native +overseer, the great Henry Simele, announced to-day that he was "weary of +whites upon the beach. All too proud," said this veracious witness. One +of the proud ones had threatened yesterday to cut off his head with a +bush knife! These are "native outrages"; honour bright, and setting +theft aside, in which the natives are active, this is the main stream of +irritation. The natives are generally courtly, far from always civil, +but really gentle, and with a strong sense of honour of their own, and +certainly quite as much civilised as our dynamiting President. + +We shall be delighted to see Kipling.[24] I go to bed usually about +half-past eight, and my lamp is out before ten; I breakfast at six. We +may say roughly we have no soda water on the island, and just now +truthfully no whisky. I _have_ heard the chimes at midnight; now no +more, I guess. _But_--Fanny and I, as soon as we can get coins for it, +are coming to Europe, not to England: I am thinking of Royat. Bar wars. +If not, perhaps the Apennines might give us a mountain refuge for two +months or three in summer. How is that for high? But the money must be +all in hand first. + +_October 13th._--How am I to describe my life these last few days? I +have been wholly swallowed up in politics, a wretched business, with +fine elements of farce in it too, which repay a man in passing, +involving many dark and many moonlight rides, secret counsels which are +at once divulged, sealed letters which are read aloud in confidence to +the neighbours, and a mass of fudge and fun, which would have driven me +crazy ten years ago, and now makes me smile. + +On Friday, Henry came and told us he must leave and go to "my poor old +family in Savaii"; why? I do not quite know--but, I suspect, to be +tattooed--if so, then probably to be married, and we shall see him no +more. I told him he must do what he thought his duty; we had him to +lunch, drank his health, and he and I rode down about twelve. When I got +down, I sent my horse back to help bring down the family later. My own +afternoon was cut out for me; my last draft for the President had been +objected to by some of the signatories. I stood out, and one of our +small number accordingly refused to sign. Him I had to go and persuade, +which went off very well after the first hottish moments; you have no +idea how stolid my temper is now. By about five the thing was done; and +we sat down to dinner at the Chinaman's--the Verrey or Doyen of +Apia--Gurr and I at each end as hosts; Gurr's wife--Fanua, late maid of +the village; her (adopted) father and mother, Seumanu and Faatulia, +Fanny, Belle, Lloyd, Austin, and Henry Simele, his last appearance. +Henry was in a kilt of grey shawl, with a blue jacket, white shirt, and +black necktie, and looked like a dark genteel guest in a Highland +shooting-box. Seumanu (opposite Fanny, next G.) is chief of Apia, a +rather big gun in this place, looking like a large, fatted, military +Englishman, bar the colour. Faatulia, next me, is a bigger chief than +her husband. Henry is a chief too--his chief name, Iiga (Ee-eeng-a), he +has not yet "taken" because of his youth. We were in fine society, and +had a pleasant meal-time, with lots of fun. Then to the Opera--I beg +your pardon, I mean the Circus. We occupied the first row in the +reserved seats, and there in the row behind were all our +friends--Captain Foss and his Captain-Lieutenant, three of the American +officers, very nice fellows, the Dr., etc., so we made a fine show of +what an embittered correspondent of the local paper called "the shoddy +aristocracy of Apia"; and you should have seen how we carried on, and +how I clapped, and Captain Foss hollered "_wunderschoen!_" and threw +himself forward in his seat, and how we all in fact enjoyed ourselves +like school-children, Austin not a shade more than his neighbours. Then +the Circus broke up, and the party went home, but I stayed down, having +business on the morrow. + +Yesterday, October 12th, great news reaches me, and Lloyd and I, with +the mail just coming in, must leave all, saddle, and ride down. True +enough, the President had resigned! Sought to resign his presidency of +the council, and keep his advisership to the King; given way to the +consuls' objections and resigned all--then fell out with them about the +disposition of the funds, and was now trying to resign from his +resignation! Sad little President, so trim to look at, and I believe so +kind to his little wife! Not only so, but I meet Dunnet on the beach. +Dunnet calls me in consultation, and we make with infinite difficulty a +draft of a petition to the King.... Then to dinner at Moors's, a very +merry meal, interrupted before it was over by the arrival of the +committee. Slight sketch of procedure agreed upon, self appointed +spokesman, and the deputation sets off. Walk all through Matafele, all +along Mulinuu, come to the King's house; he has verbally refused to see +us in answer to our letter, swearing he is gasegase (chief sickness, not +common man's) and indeed we see him inside in bed. It is a miserable low +house, better houses by the dozen in the little hamlet (Tanugamanono) of +bushmen on our way to Vailima; and the President's house in process of +erection just opposite! We are told to return to-morrow; I refuse; and +at last we are very sourly received, sit on the mats, and I open out, +through a very poor interpreter, and sometimes hampered by unacceptable +counsels from my backers. I can speak fairly well in a plain way now. C. +asked me to write out my harangue for him this morning; I have done so, +and couldn't get it near as good. I suppose (talking and interpreting) I +was twenty minutes or half an hour on the deck; then his majesty replied +in the dying whisper of a big chief; a few words of rejoinder +(approving), and the deputation withdrew, rather well satisfied. + +A few days ago this intervention would have been a deportable offence; +not now, I bet; I would like them to try. A little way back along +Mulinuu, Mrs. Gurr met us with her husband's horse; and he and she and +Lloyd and I rode back in a heavenly moonlight. Here ends a chapter in +the life of an island politician! Catch me at it again; 'tis easy to go +in, but it is not a pleasant trade. I have had a good team, as good as I +could get on the beach; but what trouble even so, and what fresh +troubles shaping. But I have on the whole carried all my points; I +believe all but one, and on that (which did not concern me) I had no +right to interfere. I am sure you would be amazed if you knew what a +good hand I am at keeping my temper, talking people over, and giving +reasons which are not my reasons, but calculated for the meridian of +the particular objection; so soon does falsehood await the politician +in his whirling path. + + + + +TO HENRY JAMES + + + Stevenson had again been reading Mr. James's _Lesson of the Master_; + Adela Chart is the heroine of the second story in that collection, + called _The Marriages_. + + [_Vailima, October 1891._] + +MY DEAR HENRY JAMES,--From this perturbed and hunted being expect but a +line, and that line shall be but a whoop for Adela. O she's delicious, +delicious; I could live and die with Adela--die, rather the better of +the two; you never did a straighter thing, and never will. + +_David Balfour_, second part of _Kidnapped_, is on the stocks at last; +and is not bad, I think. As for _The Wrecker_, it's a machine, you +know--don't expect aught else--a machine, and a police machine; but I +believe the end is one of the most genuine butcheries in literature; and +we point to our machine with a modest pride, as the only police machine +without a villain. Our criminals are a most pleasing crew, and leave the +dock with scarce a stain upon their character. + +What a different line of country to be trying to draw Adela, and trying +to write the last four chapters of _The Wrecker_! Heavens, it's like two +centuries; and ours is such rude, transpontine business, aiming only at +a certain fervour of conviction and sense of energy and violence in the +men; and yours is so neat and bright and of so exquisite a surface! +Seems dreadful to send such a book to such an author; but your name is +on the list. And we do modestly ask you to consider the chapters on the +_Norah Creina_ with the study of Captain Nares, and the forementioned +last four, with their brutality of substance and the curious (and +perhaps unsound) technical manoeuvre of running the story together to +a point as we go along, the narrative becoming more succinct and the +details fining off with every page.--Sworn affidavit of + + R. L. S. + +_No person now alive has beaten Adela: I adore Adela and her maker. Sic +subscrib._ + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + A Sublime Poem to follow. + + Adela, Adela, Adela Chart, + What have you done to my elderly heart? + Of all the ladies of paper and ink + I count you the paragon, call you the pink. + The word of your brother depicts you in part: + "You raving maniac!" Adela Chart; + But in all the asylums that cumber the ground, + So delightful a maniac was ne'er to be found. + + I pore on you, dote on you, clasp you to heart, + I laud, love, and laugh at you, Adela Chart, + And thank my dear maker the while I admire + That I can be neither your husband nor sire. + + Your husband's, your sire's were a difficult part; + You're a byway to suicide, Adela Chart; + But to read of, depicted by exquisite James, + O, sure you're the flower and quintessence of dames. + + R. L. S. + + + _Eructavit cor meum_ + +My heart was inditing a goodly matter about Adela Chart. + + Though oft I've been touched by the volatile dart, + To none have I grovelled but Adela Chart, + There are passable ladies, no question, in art-- + But where is the marrow of Adela Chart? + + I dreamed that to Tyburn I passed in the cart-- + I dreamed I was married to Adela Chart: + From the first I awoke with a palpable start, + The second dumbfoundered me, Adela Chart! + +Another verse bursts from me, you see; no end to the violence of the +Muse. + + + + +To E. L. BURLINGAME + + + _[Vailima], October 8th, 1891._ + +MY DEAR BURLINGAME,--All right, you shall have the _Tales of my +Grandfather_ soon, but I guess we'll try and finish off _The Wrecker_ +first. _A propos_ of whom, please send some advanced sheets to +Cassell's--away ahead of you--so that they may get a dummy out. + +Do you wish to illustrate _My Grandfather_? He mentions as excellent a +portrait of Scott by Basil Hall's brother. I don't think I ever saw this +engraved; would it not, if you could get track of it, prove a taking +embellishment? I suggest this for your consideration and inquiry. A new +portrait of Scott strikes me as good. There is a hard, tough, +constipated old portrait of my grandfather hanging in my aunt's house, +Mrs. Alan Stevenson, 16 St. Leonard's Terrace, Chelsea, which has never +been engraved--the better portrait, Joseph's bust, has been reproduced, +I believe, twice--and which, I am sure, my aunt would let you have a +copy of. The plate could be of use for the book when we get so far, and +thus to place it in the Magazine might be an actual saving. + +I am swallowed up in politics for the first, I hope for the last, time +in my sublunary career. It is a painful, thankless trade; but one thing +that came up I could not pass in silence. Much drafting, addressing, +deputationising has eaten up all my time, and again (to my contrition) +I leave you Wreckerless. As soon as the mail leaves I tackle it +straight.--Yours very sincerely, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO E. L. BURLINGAME + + + [_Vailima, October 1891._] + +MY DEAR BURLINGAME,--The time draws nigh, the mail is near due, and I +snatch a moment of collapse so that you may have at least some sort of a +scratch of note along with the + + \ end + \ of + \ _The_ + \ _Wrecker_. Hurray! + +which I mean to go herewith. It has taken me a devil of a pull, but I +think it's going to be ready. If I did not know you were on the stretch +waiting for it and trembling for your illustrations, I would keep it for +another finish; but things being as they are, I will let it go the best +way I can get it. I am now within two pages of the end of Chapter XXV., +which is the last chapter, the end with its gathering up of loose +threads, being the dedication to Low, and addressed to him; this is my +last and best expedient for the knotting up of these loose cards. 'Tis +possible I may not get that finished in time, in which case you'll +receive only Chapters XXII. to XXV. by this mail, which is all that can +be required for illustration. + +I wish you would send me _Memoirs of Baron Marbot_ (French); +_Introduction to the Study of the History of Language_, Strong, Logeman +& Wheeler; _Principles of Psychology_, William James; Morris & +Magnusson's _Saga Library_, any volumes that are out; George Meredith's +_One of our Conquerors_; _La Bas_, by Huysmans (French); O'Connor +Morris's _Great Commanders of Modern Times_; _Life's Handicap_, by +Kipling; of Taine's _Origines de la France Contemporaine_, I have only +as far as _la Revolution_, vol. iii.; if another volume is out, please +add that. There is for a book-box. + +I hope you will like the end; I think it is rather strong meat. I have +got into such a deliberate, dilatory, expansive turn, that the effort to +compress this last yarn was unwelcome; but the longest yarn has to come +to an end some time. Please look it over for carelessnesses, and tell me +if it had any effect upon your jaded editorial mind. I'll see if ever I +have time to add more. + +I add to my book-box list Adams' _Historical Essays_; the Plays of A. W. +Pinero--all that have appeared, and send me the rest in course as they +do appear; _Noughts and Crosses_ by Q.; Robertson's _Scotland under her +Early Kings_. + +_Sunday._--The deed is done, didst thou not hear a noise? "The end" has +been written to this endless yarn, and I am once more a free man. What +will he do with it? + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + _[Vailima] Monday, October 24th._ + +MY DEAR CARTHEW,[25]--See what I have written, but it's Colvin I'm +after--I have written two chapters, about thirty pages of _Wrecker_ +since the mail left, which must be my excuse, and the bother I've had +with it is not to be imagined; you might have seen me the day before +yesterday weighing British sov.'s and Chili dollars to arrange my +treasure chest. And there was such a calculation, not for that only, but +for the ship's position and distances when--but I am not going to tell +you the yarn--and then, as my arithmetic is particularly lax, Lloyd had +to go over all my calculations; and then, as I had changed the amount +of money, he had to go over all _his_ as to the amount of the lay; and +altogether, a bank could be run with less effusion of figures than it +took to shore up a single chapter of a measly yarn. However, it's done, +and I have but one more, or at the outside two, to do, and I am Free! +and can do any damn thing I like. + +Before falling on politics, I shall give you my day. Awoke somewhere +about the first peep of day, came gradually to, and had a turn on the +verandah before 5.55, when "the child" (an enormous Wallis Islander) +brings me an orange; at 6, breakfast; 6.10, to work; which lasts till, +at 10.30, Austin comes for his history lecture; this is rather +dispiriting, but education must be gone about in faith--and charity, +both of which pretty nigh failed me to-day about (of all things) +Carthage; 11, luncheon; after luncheon in my mother's room, I read +Chapter XXIII. of _The Wrecker_, then Belle, Lloyd, and I go up and make +music furiously till about 2 (I suppose), when I turn into work again +till 4; fool from 4 to half-past, tired out and waiting for the bath +hour; 4.30, bath; 4.40, eat two heavenly mangoes on the verandah, and +see the boys arrive with the pack-horses; 5, dinner; smoke, chat on +verandah, then hand of cards, and at last at 8 come up to my room with a +pint of beer and a hard biscuit, which I am now consuming, and as soon +as they are consumed I shall turn in. + +Such are the innocent days of this ancient and outworn sportsman; to-day +there was no weeding, usually there is however, edged in somewhere. My +books for the moment are a crib to Phaedo, and the second book of +Montaigne; and a little while back I was reading Frederic Harrison, +_Choice of Books_, etc.--very good indeed, a great deal of sense and +knowledge in the volume, and some very true stuff, _contra_ Carlyle, +about the eighteenth century. A hideous idea came over me that perhaps +Harrison is now getting _old_. Perhaps you are. Perhaps I am. Oh, this +infidelity must be stared firmly down. I am about twenty-three--say +twenty-eight; you about thirty, or, by'r lady, thirty-four; and as +Harrison belongs to the same generation, there is no good bothering +about him. + +Here has just been a fine alert; I gave my wife a dose of chlorodyne. +"Something wrong," says she. "Nonsense," said I. "Embrocation," said +she. I smelt it, and--it smelt very funny. "I think it's just gone bad, +and to-morrow will tell." Proved to be so. + +_Wednesday._--History of Tuesday.--Woke at usual time, very little work, +for I was tired, and had a job for the evening--to write parts for a new +instrument, a violin. Lunch, chat, and up to my place to practise; but +there was no practising for me--my flageolet was gone wrong, and I had +to take it all to pieces, clean it, and put it up again. As this is a +most intricate job--the thing dissolves into seventeen separate members, +most of these have to be fitted on their individual springs as fine as +needles, and sometimes two at once with the springs shoving different +ways--it took me till two. Then Lloyd and I rode forth on our errands; +first to Motootua, where we had a really instructive conversation on +weeds and grasses. Thence down to Apia, where we bought a fresh bottle +of chlorodyne and conversed on politics. + +My visit to the King, which I thought at the time a particularly +nugatory and even schoolboy step, and only consented to because I had +held the reins so tight over my little band before, has raised a deuce +of a row--new proclamation, no one is to interview the sacred puppet +without consuls' permission, two days' notice, and an approved +interpreter--read (I suppose) spy. Then back; I should have said I was +trying the new horse; a tallish piebald, bought from the circus; he +proved steady and safe, but in very bad condition, and not so much the +wild Arab steed of the desert as had been supposed. The height of his +back, after commodious Jack, astonished me, and I had a great +consciousness of exercise and florid action, as I posted to his long, +emphatic trot. We had to ride back easy; even so he was hot and blown; +and when we set a boy to lead him to and fro, our last character for +sanity perished. We returned just neat for dinner; and in the evening +our violinist arrived, a young lady, no great virtuoso truly, but +plucky, industrious, and a good reader; and we played five pieces with +huge amusement, and broke up at nine. This morning I have read a +splendid piece of Montaigne, written this page of letter, and now turn +to _The Wrecker_. + +_Wednesday._--November 16th or 17th--and I am ashamed to say mail day. +_The Wrecker_ is finished, that is the best of my news; it goes by this +mail to Scribner's; and I honestly think it a good yarn on the whole and +of its measly kind. The part that is genuinely good is Nares, the +American sailor; that is a genuine figure; had there been more Nares it +would have been a better book; but of course it didn't set up to be a +book, only a long tough yarn with some pictures of the manners of to-day +in the greater world--not the shoddy sham world of cities, clubs, and +colleges, but the world where men still live a man's life. The worst of +my news is the influenza; Apia is devastate; the shops closed, a ball +put off, etc. As yet we have not had it at Vailima, and, who knows? we +may escape. None of us go down, but of course the boys come and go. + +Your letter had the most wonderful "I told you so" I ever heard in the +course of my life. Why, you madman, I wouldn't change my present +installation for any post, dignity, honour, or advantage conceivable to +me. It fills the bill; I have the loveliest time. And as for wars and +rumours of wars, you surely know enough of me to be aware that I like +that also a thousand times better than decrepit peace in Middlesex? I do +not quite like politics; I am too aristocratic, I fear, for that. God +knows I don't care who I chum with; perhaps like sailors best; but to go +round and sue and sneak to keep a crowd together--never. My +imagination, which is not the least damped by the idea of having my head +cut off in the bush, recoils aghast from the idea of a life like +Gladstone's, and the shadow of the newspaper chills me to the bone. +Hence my late eruption was interesting, but not what I like. All else +suits me in this (killed a mosquito) A1 abode. + +About politics. A determination was come to by the President that he had +been an idiot; emissaries came to Gurr and me to kiss and be friends. My +man proposed I should have a personal interview; I said it was quite +useless, I had nothing to say; I had offered him the chance to inform +me, had pressed it on him, and had been very unpleasantly received, and +now "Time was." Then it was decided that I was to be made a culprit +against Germany; the German Captain--a delightful fellow and our +constant visitor--wrote to say that as "a German officer" he could not +come even to say farewell. We all wrote back in the most friendly +spirit, telling him (politely) that some of these days he would be +sorry, and we should be delighted to see our friend again. Since then I +have seen no German shadow. + +Mataafa has been proclaimed a rebel; the President did this act, and +then resigned. By singular good fortune, Mataafa has not yet moved; no +thanks to our idiot governors. They have shot their bolt; they have made +a rebel of the only man (_to their own knowledge, on the report of their +own spy_) who held the rebel party in check; and having thus called on +war to fall, they can do no more, sit equally "expertes" of _vis_ and +counsel, regarding their handiwork. It is always a cry with these folks +that he (Mataafa) had no ammunition. I always said it would be found; +and we know of five boat-loads that have found their way to Malie +already. Where there are traders, there will be ammunition; aphorism by +R. L. S. + +Now what am I to do next? + +Lives of the Stevensons? _Historia Samoae_? A History for Children? +Fiction? I have had two hard months at fiction; I want a change. +Stevensons? I am expecting some more material; perhaps better wait. +Samoa? rather tempting; might be useful to the islands--and to me; for +it will be written in admirable temper; I have never agreed with any +party, and see merits and excuses in all; should do it (if I did) very +slackly and easily, as if half in conversation. History for Children? +This flows from my lessons to Austin; no book is any good. The best I +have seen is Freeman's _Old English History_; but his style is so +rasping, and a child can learn more, if he's clever. I found my sketch +of general Aryan history, given in conversation, to have been +practically correct--at least what I mean is, Freeman had very much the +same stuff in his early chapters, only not so much, and I thought not so +well placed; and the child remembered some of it. Now the difficulty is +to give this general idea of main place, growth, and movement; it is +needful to tack it on a yarn. Now Scotch is the only history I know; it +is the only history reasonably represented in my library; it is a very +good one for my purpose, owing to two civilisations having been face to +face throughout--or rather Roman civilisation face to face with our +ancient barbaric life and government, down to yesterday, to 1750 anyway. +But the _Tales of a Grandfather_ stand in my way; I am teaching them to +Austin now, and they have all Scott's defects and all Scott's hopeless +merit. I cannot compete with that; and yet, so far as regards teaching +History, how he has missed his chances! I think I'll try; I really have +some historic sense, I feel that in my bones. Then there's another +thing. Scott never knew the Highlands; he was always a Borderer. He has +missed that whole, long, strange, pathetic story of our savages, and, +besides, his style is not very perspicuous to childhood. Gad, I think +I'll have a flutter. Buridan's Ass! Whither to go, what to attack. Must +go to other letters; shall add to this, if I have time. + + + + +TO W. CRAIBE ANGUS + + + _Vailima, Samoa, November 1891._ + +MY DEAR MR. ANGUS,--Herewith the invaluable sheets. They came months +after your letter, and I trembled; but here they are, and I have +scrawled my vile name on them, and "thocht shame" as I did it. I am +expecting the sheets of your catalogue, so that I may attack the +preface. Please give me all the time you can. The sooner the better; you +might even send me early proofs as they are sent out, to give me more +incubation. I used to write as slow as judgment; now I write rather +fast; but I am still "a slow study," and sit a long while silent on my +eggs. Unconscious thought, there is the only method: macerate your +subject, let it boil slow, then take the lid off and look in--and there +your stuff is, good or bad. But the journalist's method is the way to +manufacture lies; it is will-worship--if you know the luminous quaker +phrase; and the will is only to be brought in the field for study and +again for revision. The essential part of work is not an act, it is a +state. + +I do not know why I write you this trash. + +Many thanks for your handsome dedication. I have not yet had time to do +more than glance at Mrs. Begg; it looks interesting.--Yours very truly, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO MISS ANNIE H. IDE + + + _Vailima, Samoa [November 1891]._ + +MY DEAR LOUISA,--Your picture of the church, the photograph of yourself +and your sister, and your very witty and pleasing letter, came all in a +bundle, and made me feel I had my money's worth for that birthday. I am +now, I must be, one of your nearest relatives; exactly what we are to +each other, I do not know, I doubt if the case has ever happened +before--your papa ought to know, and I don't believe he does; but I +think I ought to call you in the meanwhile, and until we get the advice +of counsel learned in the law, my name-daughter. Well, I was extremely +pleased to see by the church that my name-daughter could draw; by the +letter, that she was no fool; and by the photograph, that she was a +pretty girl, which hurts nothing. See how virtues are rewarded! My first +idea of adopting you was entirely charitable; and here I find that I am +quite proud of it, and of you, and that I chose just the kind of +name-daughter I wanted. For I can draw too, or rather I mean to say I +could before I forgot how; and I am very far from being a fool myself, +however much I may look it; and I am as beautiful as the day, or at +least I once hoped that perhaps I might be going to be. And so I might. +So that you see we are well met, and peers on these important points. I +am very glad also that you are older than your sister. So should I have +been, if I had had one. So that the number of points and virtues which +you have inherited from your name-father is already quite surprising. + +I wish you would tell your father--not that I like to encourage my +rival--that we have had a wonderful time here of late, and that they are +having a cold day on Mulinuu, and the consuls are writing reports, and I +am writing to the Times, and if we don't get rid of our friends this +time I shall begin to despair of everything but my name-daughter. + +You are quite wrong as to the effect of the birthday on your age. From +the moment the deed was registered (as it was in the public press with +every solemnity), the 13th of November became your own _and only_ +birthday, and you ceased to have been born on Christmas Day. Ask your +father: I am sure he will tell you this is sound law. You are thus +become a month and twelve days younger than you were, but will go on +growing older for the future in the regular and human manner from one +13th November to the next. The effect on me is more doubtful; I may, as +you suggest, live for ever; I might, on the other hand, come to pieces +like the one-horse shay at a moment's notice; doubtless the step was +risky, but I do not the least regret that which enables me to sign +myself your revered and delighted name-father, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO CHARLES BAXTER + + + [_Vailima, November 1891._] + +DEAR CHARLES,--[After dealing with some matters of business] I believe +that's a'. By this time, I suppose you will have heard from McClure, and +the _Beach of Falesa_ will be decided on for better for worse. The end +of _The Wrecker_ goes by this mail, an awfae relief. I am now free and +can do what I please. What do I please? I kenna. I'll bide a wee. +There's a child's history in the wind; and there's my grandfather's life +begun; and there's a hist^{ry} of Samoa in the last four or five years +begun--there's a kind of sense to this book; it may help the Samoans, it +may help me, for I am bound on the altar here for anti-Germanism. Then +there's _The Pearl Fisher_ about a quarter done; and there's various +short stories in various degrees of incompleteness. De'il, there's +plenty grist; but the mill's unco slaw! To-morrow or next day, when the +mail's through, I'll attack one or other, or maybe something else. All +these schemes begin to laugh at me, for the day's far through, and I +believe the pen grows heavy. However, I believe _The Wrecker_ is a good +yarn of its poor sort, and it is certainly well nourished with facts; no +realist can touch me there; for by this time I do begin to know +something of life in the XIXth century, which no novelist either in +France or England seems to know much of. You must have great larks over +masonry. You're away up in the ranks now and (according to works that I +have read) doubtless design assassinations. But I am an outsider; and I +have a certain liking for a light unto my path which would deter me from +joining the rank and file of so vast and dim a confraternity. At your +altitude it becomes (of course) amusing and perhaps useful. Yes, I +remember the L.J.R.,[26] and the constitution, and my homily on Liberty, +and yours on Reverence, which was never written--so I never knew what +reverence was. I remember I wanted to write Justice also; but I forget +who had the billet. My dear papa was in a devil of a taking; and I had +to go and lunch at Ferrier's in a strangely begrutten state, which was +_infra dig_. for a homilist on liberty. It was about four, I suppose, +that we met in the Lothian Road,--had we the price of two bitters +between us? questionable! + +Your bookseller (I have lost his letter, I mean the maid has, arranging +my room, and so have to send by you) wrote me a letter about Old Bailey +Papers. Gosh, I near swarfed; dam'd, man, I near had dee'd o't. It's +only yin or twa volumes I want; say 500 or 1000 pages of the stuff; and +the worthy man (much doubting) proposed to bury me in volumes. Please +allay his rage, and apologise that I have not written him direct. His +note was civil and purposelike. And please send me a copy of Henley's +_Book of Verses_; mine has disappeared. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + _Nov. 25th, 1891._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN, MY DEAR COLVIN,--I wonder how often I'm going to write +it. In spite of the loss of three days, as I have to tell, and a lot of +weeding and cacao planting, I have finished since the mail left four +chapters, forty-eight pages of my Samoa history. It is true that the +first three had been a good deal drafted two years ago, but they had all +to be written and re-written, and the fourth chapter is all new. Chapter +I. Elements of Discord--Native. II. Elements of Discord--Foreign. III. +The Success of Laupepa. IV. Brandeis. V. Will probably be called "The +Rise of Mataafa." VI. _Furor Consularis_--a devil of a long chapter. +VII. Stuebel the Pacificator. VIII. Government under the Treaty of +Berlin. IX. Practical Suggestions. Say three-sixths of it are done, +maybe more; by this mail five chapters should go, and that should be a +good half of it; say sixty pages. And if you consider that I sent by +last mail the end of _The Wrecker_, coming on for seventy or eighty +pages, and the mail before that the entire tale of the _Beach of Falesa, +_ I do not think I can be accused of idleness. This is my season; I +often work six and seven, and sometimes eight hours; and the same day I +am perhaps weeding or planting for an hour or two more--and I dare say +you know what hard work weeding is--and it all agrees with me at this +time of the year--like--like idleness, if a man of my years could be +idle. + +My first visit to Apia was a shock to me; every second person the ghost +of himself, and the place reeking with infection. But I have not got the +thing yet, and hope to escape. This shows how much stronger I am; think +of me flitting through a town of influenza patients seemingly unscathed. +We are all on the cacao planting. + +The next day my wife and I rode over to the German plantation, Vailele, +whose manager is almost the only German left to speak to us. Seventy +labourers down with influenza! It is a lovely ride, half-way down our +mountain towards Apia, then turn to the right, ford the river, and three +miles of solitary grass and cocoa palms, to where the sea beats and the +wild wind blows unceasingly about the plantation house. On the way down +Fanny said, "Now what would you do if you saw Colvin coming up?" + +Next day we rode down to Apia to make calls. + +Yesterday the mail came, and the fat was in the fire. + +_Nov. 29th_ (?).--Book.[27] All right. I must say I like your order. And +the papers are some of them up to dick, and no mistake. I agree with you +the lights seem a little turned down. The truth is, I was far through +(if you understand Scots), and came none too soon to the South Seas, +where I was to recover peace of body and mind. No man but myself knew +all my bitterness in those days. Remember that, the next time you think +I regret my exile. And however low the lights are, the stuff is true, +and I believe the more effective; after all, what I wish to fight is the +best fought by a rather cheerless presentation of the truth. The world +must return some day to the word duty, and be done with the word reward. +There are no rewards, and plenty duties. And the sooner a man sees that +and acts upon it like a gentleman or a fine old barbarian, the better +for himself. + +There is my usual puzzle about publishers. Chatto ought to have it, as +he has all the other essays; these all belong to me, and Chatto +publishes on terms. Longman has forgotten the terms we are on; let him +look up our first correspondence, and he will see I reserved explicitly, +as was my habit, the right to republish as I choose. Had the same +arrangement with Henley, Magazine of Art, and with Tulloch, +Fraser's.--For any necessary note or preface, it would be a real service +if you would undertake the duty yourself. I should love a preface by +you, as short or as long as you choose, three sentences, thirty pages, +the thing I should like is your name. And the excuse of my great +distance seems sufficient. I shall return with this the sheets corrected +as far as I have them; the rest I will leave, if you will, to you +entirely; let it be your book, and disclaim what you dislike in the +preface. You can say it was at my eager prayer. I should say I am the +less willing to pass Chatto over, because he behaved the other day in a +very handsome manner. He asked leave to reprint _Damien_; I gave it to +him as a present, explaining I could receive no emolument for a personal +attack. And he took out my share of profits, and sent them in my name to +the Leper Fund. I could not bear after that to take from him any of that +class of books which I have always given him. Tell him the same terms +will do. Clark to print, uniform with the others. + +I have lost all the days since this letter began rehandling Chapter IV. +of the Samoa racket. I do not go in for literature; address myself to +sensible people rather than to sensitive. And, indeed, it is a kind of +journalism, I have no right to dally; if it is to help, it must come +soon. In two months from now it shall be done, and should be published +in the course of March. I propose Cassell gets it. I am going to call it +_A Footnote to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa_, I believe. I +recoil from serious names; they seem so much too pretentious for a +pamphlet. It will be about the size of _Treasure Island_, I believe. Of +course, as you now know, my case of conscience cleared itself off, and I +began my intervention directly to one of the parties. The other, the +Chief Justice, I am to inform of my book the first occasion. God knows +if the book will do any good--or harm; but I judge it right to try. +There is one man's life certainly involved; and it may be all our lives. +I must not stand and slouch, but do my best as best I can. But you may +conceive the difficulty of a history extending to the present week, at +least, and where almost all the actors upon all sides are of my personal +acquaintance. The only way is to judge slowly, and write boldly, and +leave the issue to fate.... I am far indeed from wishing to confine +myself to creative work; that is a loss, the other repairs; the one +chance for a man, and, above all, for one who grows elderly, ahem, is to +vary drainage and repair. That is the one thing I understand--the +cultivation of the shallow solum of my brain. But I would rather, from +soon on, be released from the obligation to write. In five or six years +this plantation--suppose it and us still to exist--should pretty well +support us and pay wages; not before, and already the six years seem +long to me. If literature were but a pastime! + +I have interrupted myself to write the necessary notification to the +Chief Justice. + +I see in looking up Longman's letter that it was as usual the letter of +an obliging gentleman; so do not trouble him with my reminder. I wish +all my publishers were not so nice. And I have a fourth and a fifth +baying at my heels; but for these, of course, they must go wanting. + +_Dec. 2nd._--No answer from the Chief Justice, which is like him, but +surely very wrong in such a case. The lunch bell! I have been off work, +playing patience and weeding all morning. Yesterday and the day before I +drafted eleven and revised nine pages of Chapter V., and the truth is, I +was extinct by lunch-time, and played patience sourly the rest of the +day. To-morrow or next day I hope to go in again and win. Lunch 2nd +Bell. + +_Dec. 2nd, afternoon._--I have kept up the idleness; blew on the pipe to +Belle's piano; then had a ride in the forest all by my nainsel; back and +piped again, and now dinner nearing. Take up this sheet with nothing to +say. The weird figure of Faauma is in the room washing my windows, in a +black lavalava (kilt) with a red handkerchief hanging from round her +neck between her breasts; not another stitch; her hair close cropped and +oiled; when she first came here she was an angelic little stripling, but +she is now in full flower--or half-flower--and grows buxom. As I write, +I hear her wet cloth moving and grunting with some industry; for I had a +word this day with her husband on the matter of work and meal-time, when +she is always late. And she has a vague reverence for Papa, as she and +her enormous husband address me when anything is wrong. Her husband is +Lafaele, sometimes called the archangel, of whom I have writ you often. +Rest of our household, Talolo, cook; Pulu, kitchen boy, good, steady, +industrious lads; Henry, back again from Savaii, where his love affair +seems not to have prospered, with what looks like a spear-wound in the +back of his head, of which Mr. Reticence says nothing; Simi, Manuele, +and two other labourers outdoors. Lafaele is provost of the live-stock, +whereof now, three milk-cows, one bull-calf, one heifer, Jack, +Macfarlane, the mare, Harold, Tifaga Jack, Donald and Edinburgh--seven +horses--O, and the stallion--eight horses; five cattle; total, if my +arithmetic be correct, thirteen head of beasts; I don't know how the +pigs stand, or the ducks, or the chickens; but we get a good many eggs, +and now and again a duckling or a chickling for the table; the pigs are +more solemn, and appear only on birthdays and sich. + +_Monday, Dec. 7._--On Friday morning about eleven 1500 cacao seeds +arrived, and we set to and toiled from twelve that day to six, and went +to bed pretty tired. Next day I got about an hour and a half at my +History, and was at it again by 8.10, and except an hour for lunch kept +at it till four P.M. Yesterday, I did some History in the morning, and +slept most of the afternoon; and to-day, being still averse from +physical labour, and the mail drawing nigh, drew out of the squad, and +finished for press the fifth chapter of my History; fifty-nine pages in +one month; which (you will allow me to say) is a devil of a large order; +it means at least 177 pages of writing; 89,000 words! and hours going to +and fro among my notes. However, this is the way it has to be done; the +job must be done fast, or it is of no use. And it is a curious yarn. +Honestly, I think people should be amused and convinced, if they could +be at the pains to look at such a damned outlandish piece of machinery, +which of course they won't. And much I care. + +When I was filling baskets all Saturday, in my dull mulish way, perhaps +the slowest worker there, surely the most particular, and the only one +that never looked up or knocked off, I could not but think I should have +been sent on exhibition as an example to young literary men. Here is how +to learn to write, might be the motto. You should have seen us; the +verandah was like an Irish bog; our hands and faces were bedaubed with +soil; and Faauma was supposed to have struck the right note when she +remarked (_a propos_ of nothing), "Too much _eleele_ (soil) for me!" The +cacao (you must understand) has to be planted at first in baskets of +plaited cocoa-leaf. From four to ten natives were plaiting these in the +wood-shed. Four boys were digging up soil and bringing it by the boxful +to the verandah. Lloyd and I and Belle, and sometimes S. (who came to +bear a hand), were filling the baskets, removing stones and lumps of +clay; Austin and Faauma carried them when full to Fanny, who planted a +seed in each, and then set them, packed close, in the corners of the +verandah. From twelve on Friday till five P.M. on Saturday we planted +the first 1500, and more than 700 of a second lot. You cannot dream how +filthy we were, and we were all properly tired. They are all at it again +to-day, bar Belle and me, not required, and glad to be out of it. The +Chief Justice has not yet replied, and I have news that he received my +letter. What a man! + +I have gone crazy over Bourget's _Sensations d'Italie_; hence the +enclosed dedication,[28] a mere cry of gratitude for the best fun I've +had over a new book this ever so! + + + + +TO FRED ORR + + + The following is in answer to an application for an autograph from a + young gentleman in the United States:-- + + _Vailima, Upolu, Samoa, November 28th, 1891._ + +DEAR SIR,--Your obliging communication is to hand. I am glad to find +that you have read some of my books, and to see that you spell my name +right. This is a point (for some reason) of great difficulty; and I +believe that a gentleman who can spell Stevenson with a v at sixteen, +should have a show for the Presidency before fifty. By that time + + I, nearer to the wayside inn, + +predict that you will have outgrown your taste for autographs, but +perhaps your son may have inherited the collection, and on the morning +of the great day will recall my prophecy to your mind. And in the papers +of 1921 (say) this letter may arouse a smile. + +Whatever you do, read something else besides novels and newspapers; the +first are good enough when they are good; the second, at their best, are +worth nothing. Read great books of literature and history; try to +understand the Roman Empire and the Middle Ages; be sure you do not +understand when you dislike them; condemnation is non-comprehension. And +if you know something of these two periods, you will know a little more +about to-day, and may be a good President. + +I send you my best wishes, and am yours, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON, + + _Author of a vast quantity of little books_. + + + + +TO E. L. BURLINGAME + + + The next letter announces to his New York publishers the beginning of + his volume on the troubles of Samoa, _A Footnote to History_. + + [_Vailima, December 1891._] + +MY DEAR BURLINGAME,--The end of _The Wrecker_ having but just come in, +you will, I dare say, be appalled to receive three (possibly four) +chapters of a new book of the least attractive sort: a history of +nowhere in a corner, or no time to mention, running to a volume! Well, +it may very likely be an illusion; it is very likely no one could +possibly wish to read it, but I wish to publish it. If you don't cotton +to the idea, kindly set it up at my expense, and let me know your terms +for publishing. The great affair to me is to have per return (if it +might be) four or five--better say half a dozen--sets of the roughest +proofs that can be drawn. There are a good many men here whom I want to +read the blessed thing, and not one would have the energy to read MS. At +the same time, if you care to glance at it, and have the time, I should +be very glad of your opinion as to whether I have made any step at all +towards possibly inducing folk at home to read matter so extraneous and +outlandish. I become heavy and owlish; years sit upon me; it begins to +seem to me to be a man's business to leave off his damnable faces and +say his say. Else I could have made it pungent and light and lively. In +considering, kindly forget that I am R. L. S.; think of the four +chapters as a book you are reading, by an inhabitant of our "lovely but +fatil" islands; and see if it could possibly amuse the hebetated public. +I have to publish anyway, you understand; I have a purpose beyond; I am +concerned for some of the parties to this quarrel. What I want to hear +is from curiosity; what I want you to judge of is what we are to do with +the book in a business sense. To me it is not business at all; I had +meant originally to lay all the profits to the credit of Samoa; when it +comes to the pinch of writing, I judge this unfair--I give too much--and +I mean to keep (if there be any profit at all) one-half for the artisan; +the rest I shall hold over to give to the Samoans _for that which I +choose and against work done_. I think I have never heard of greater +insolence than to attempt such a subject; yet the tale is so strange and +mixed, and the people so oddly charactered--above all, the whites--and +the high note of the hurricane and the warships is so well prepared to +take popular interest, and the latter part is so directly in the day's +movement, that I am not without hope that some may read it; and if they +don't, a murrain on them! Here is, for the first time, a tale of +Greeks--Homeric Greeks--mingled with moderns, and all true; Odysseus +along-side of Rajah Brooke, _proportion gardee_; and all true. Here is +for the first time since the Greeks (that I remember) the history of a +handful of men, where all know each other in the eyes, and live close in +a few acres, narrated at length, and with the seriousness of history. +Talk of the modern novel; here is a modern history. And if I had the +misfortune to found a school, the legitimate historian might lie down +and die, for he could never overtake his material. Here is a little tale +that has not "caret"-ed its "vates"; "sacer" is another point. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO HENRY JAMES + + + Mr. Henry James was in the habit of sending out for Stevenson's + reading books that seemed likely to interest him, and among the last + had been M. Paul Bourget's _Sensations d'Italie_. + + _December 7th, 1891._ + +MY DEAR HENRY JAMES,--Thanks for yours; your former letter was lost; so +it appears was my long and masterly treatise on the _Tragic Muse_. I +remember sending it very well, and there went by the same mail a long +and masterly tractate to Gosse about his daddy's life, for which I have +been long expecting an acknowledgment, and which is plainly gone to the +bottom with the other. If you see Gosse, please mention it. These gems +of criticism are now lost literature, like the tomes of Alexandria. I +could not do 'em again. And I must ask you to be content with a dull +head, a weary hand, and short commons, for to-day, as I am physically +tired with hard work of every kind, the labours of the planter and the +author both piled upon me mountain deep. I am delighted beyond +expression by Bourget's book: he has phrases which affect me almost like +Montaigne; I had read ere this a masterly essay of his on Pascal; this +book does it; I write for all his essays by this mail, and shall try to +meet him when I come to Europe. The proposal is to pass a summer in +France, I think in Royat, where the faithful could come and visit me; +they are now not many. I expect Henry James to come and break a crust or +two with us. I believe it will be only my wife and myself; and she will +go over to England, but not I, or possibly incog. to Southampton, and +then to Boscombe to see poor Lady Shelley. I am writing--trying to write +in a Babel fit for the bottomless pit; my wife, her daughter, her +grandson and my mother, all shrieking at each other round the house--not +in war, thank God! but the din is ultra martial, and the note of Lloyd +joins in occasionally, and the cause of this to-do is simply cacao, +whereof chocolate comes. You may drink of our chocolate perhaps in five +or six years from now, and not know it. It makes a fine bustle, and +gives us some hard work, out of which I have slunk for to-day. + +I have a story coming out: God knows when or how; it answers to the name +of the _Beach of Falesa_, and I think well of it. I was delighted with +the _Tragic Muse_; I thought the Muse herself one of your best works; I +was delighted also to hear of the success of your piece, as you know I +am a dam failure,[29] and might have dined with the dinner club that +Daudet and these parties frequented. + +_Next day._--I have just been breakfasting at Baiae and Brindisi, and +the charm of Bourget hag-rides me. I wonder if this exquisite fellow, +all made of fiddle-strings and scent and intelligence, could bear any of +my bald prose. If you think he could, ask Colvin to send him a copy of +these last essays of mine when they appear; and tell Bourget they go to +him from a South Sea Island as literal homage. I have read no new book +for years that gave me the same literary thrill as his _Sensations +d'Italie_. If (as I imagine) my cut-and-dry literature would be death to +him, and worse than death--journalism--be silent on the point. For I +have a great curiosity to know him, and if he doesn't know my work, I +shall have the better chance of making his acquaintance. I read _The +Pupil_ the other day with great joy; your little boy is admirable; why +is there no little boy like that unless he hails from the Great +Republic? + +Here I broke off, and wrote Bourget a dedication; no use resisting; it's +a love affair. O, he's exquisite, I bless you for the gift of him. I +have really enjoyed this book as I--almost as I--used to enjoy books +when I was going twenty-twenty-three; and these are the years for +reading! + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + _[Vailima] Tuesday, Dec. 1891._ + +SIR,--I have the honour to report further explorations of the course of +the river Vaea, with accompanying sketch plan. The party under my +command consisted of one horse, and was extremely insubordinate and +mutinous, owing to not being used to go into the bush, and being +half-broken anyway--and that the wrong half. The route indicated for my +party was up the bed of the so-called river Vaea, which I accordingly +followed to a distance of perhaps two or three furlongs eastward from +the house of Vailima, where the stream being quite dry, the bush thick, +and the ground very difficult, I decided to leave the main body of the +force under my command tied to a tree, and push on myself with the point +of the advance guard, consisting of one man. The valley had become very +narrow and airless; foliage close shut above; dry bed of the stream much +excavated, so that I passed under fallen trees without stooping. +Suddenly it turned sharply to the north, at right angles to its former +direction; I heard living water, and came in view of a tall face of rock +and the stream spraying down it; it might have been climbed, but it +would have been dangerous, and I had to make my way up the steep earth +banks, where there is nowhere any looting for man, only for trees, which +made the rounds of my ladder. I was near the top of this climb, which +was very hot and steep, and the pulses were buzzing all over my body, +when I made sure there was one external sound in my ears, and paused to +listen. No mistake; a sound of a mill-wheel thundering, I thought, close +by, yet below me, a huge mill-wheel, yet not going steadily, but with a +_schottische_ movement, and at each fresh impetus shaking the mountain. +There, where I was, I just put down the sound to the mystery of the +bush; where no sound now surprises me--and any sound alarms; I only +thought it would give Jack a fine fright, down where he stood tied to a +tree by himself, and he was badly enough scared when I left him. The +good folks at home identified it; it was a sharp earthquake. + +[Illustration: + 1. _Mepi tree._ 4, 4. _Banana patches_ + 2. _Carruthers' Road._ 5. _Waterfall._ + 3. _Vailima Plantation House._ 6. _Banyan tree._] + +At the top of the climb I made my way again to the watercourse; it is +here running steady and pretty full; strange these intermittencies--and +just a little below the main stream is quite dry, and all the original +brook has gone down some lava gallery of the mountain--and just a little +further below, it begins picking up from the left hand in little boggy +tributaries, and in the inside of a hundred yards has grown a brook +again.[30] The general course of the brook was, I guess, S.E.; the +valley still very deep and whelmed in wood. It seemed a swindle to have +made so sheer a climb and still find yourself at the bottom of a well. +But gradually the thing seemed to shallow, the trees to seem poorer and +smaller; I could see more and more of the silver sprinkles of sky among +the foliage, instead of the sombre piling up of tree behind tree. And +here I had two scares--first, away up on my right hand I heard a bull +low; I think it was a bull from the quality of the low, which was +singularly songful and beautiful; the bulls belong to me, but how did I +know that the bull was aware of that? and my advance guard not being at +all properly armed, we advanced with great precaution until I was +satisfied that I was passing eastward of the enemy. It was during this +period that a pool of the river suddenly boiled up in my face in a +little fountain. It was in a very dreary, marshy part among dilapidated +trees that you see through holes in the trunks of; and if any kind of +beast or elf or devil had come out of that sudden silver ebullition, I +declare I do not think I should have been surprised. It was perhaps a +thing as curious--a fish, with which these head waters of the stream +are alive. They are some of them as long as my finger, should be easily +caught in these shallows, and some day I'll have a dish of them. + +Very soon after I came to where the stream collects in another banana +swamp, with the bananas bearing well. Beyond, the course is again quite +dry; it mounts with a sharp turn a very steep face of the mountain, and +then stops abruptly at the lip of a plateau, I suppose the top of Vaea +mountain: plainly no more springs here--there was no smallest furrow of +a watercourse beyond--and my task might be said to be accomplished. But +such is the animated spirit in the service that the whole advance guard +expressed a sentiment of disappointment that an exploration, so far +successfully conducted, should come to a stop in the most promising view +of fresh successes. And though unprovided either with compass or +cutlass, it was determined to push some way along the plateau, marking +our direction by the laborious process of bending down, sitting upon, +and thus breaking the wild cocoanut trees. This was the less regretted +by all from a delightful discovery made of a huge banyan growing here in +the bush, with flying-buttressed flying buttresses, and huge arcs of +trunk hanging high overhead and trailing down new complications of root. +I climbed some way up what seemed the original beginning; it was easier +to climb than a ship's rigging, even rattled; everywhere there was +foot-hold and hand-hold. It was judged wise to return and rally the main +body, who had now been left alone for perhaps forty minutes in the bush. + +The return was effected in good order, but unhappily I only arrived +(like so many other explorers) to find my main body or rear-guard in a +condition of mutiny; the work, it is to be supposed, of terror. It is +right I should tell you the Vaea has a bad name, an _aitu +fafine_--female devil of the woods--succubus--haunting it, and doubtless +Jack had heard of her; perhaps, during my absence, saw her; lucky Jack! +Anyway, he was neither to hold nor to bind, and finally, after nearly +smashing me by accident, and from mere scare and insubordination several +times, deliberately set in to kill me; but poor Jack! the tree he +selected for that purpose was a banana! I jumped off and gave him the +heavy end of my whip over the buttocks! Then I took and talked in his +ear in various voices; you should have heard my alto--it was a dreadful, +devilish note--I _knew_ Jack _knew_ it was an _aitu_. Then I mounted him +again, and he carried me fairly steadily. He'll learn yet. He has to +learn to trust absolutely to his rider; till he does, the risk is always +great in thick bush, where a fellow must try different passages, and put +back and forward, and pick his way by hair's-breadths. + +The expedition returned to Vailima in time to receive the visit of the +R. C. Bishop. He is a superior man, much above the average of priests. + +_Thursday._--Yesterday the same expedition set forth to the southward by +what is known as Carruthers' Road. At a fallen tree which completely +blocks the way, the main body was as before left behind, and the advance +guard of one now proceeded with the exploration. At the great tree known +as _Mepi Tree_, after Maben the surveyor, the expedition struck forty +yards due west till it struck the top of a steep bank which it +descended. The whole bottom of the ravine is filled with sharp lava +blocks quite unrolled and very difficult and dangerous to walk among; no +water in the course, scarce any sign of water. And yet surely water must +have made this bold cutting in the plateau. And if so, why is the lava +sharp? My science gave out; but I could not but think it ominous and +volcanic. The course of the stream was tortuous, but with a resultant +direction a little by west of north; the sides the whole way exceeding +steep, the expedition buried under fathoms of foliage. Presently water +appeared in the bottom, a good quantity; perhaps thirty or forty cubic +feet, with pools and waterfalls. A tree that stands all along the banks +here must be very fond of water; its roots lie close-packed down the +stream, like hanks of guts, so as to make often a corrugated walk, each +root ending in a blunt tuft of filaments, plainly to drink water. Twice +there came in small tributaries from the left or western side--the whole +plateau having a smartish inclination to the east; one of the +tributaries in a handsome little web of silver hanging in the forest. +Twice I was startled by birds; one that barked like a dog; another that +whistled loud ploughman's signals, so that I vow I was thrilled, and +thought I had fallen among runaway blacks, and regretted my cutlass +which I had lost and left behind while taking bearings. A good many +fishes in the brook, and many crayfish; one of the last with a queer +glow-worm head. Like all our brooks, the water is pure as air, and runs +over red stones like rubies. The foliage along both banks very thick and +high, the place close, the walking exceedingly laborious. By the time +the expedition reached the fork, it was felt exceedingly questionable +whether the _moral_ of the force were sufficiently good to undertake +more extended operations. A halt was called, the men refreshed with +water and a bath, and it was decided at a drumhead council of war to +continue the descent of the Embassy Water straight for Vailima, whither +the expedition returned, in rather poor condition, and wet to the waist, +about 4 P.M. + +Thus in two days the two main watercourses of this country have been +pretty thoroughly explored, and I conceive my instructions fully carried +out. The main body of the second expedition was brought back by another +officer despatched for that purpose from Vailima. Casualties: one horse +wounded; one man bruised; no deaths--as yet, but the bruised man feels +to-day as if his case was mighty serious. + +_Dec. 25, '91._--Your note with a very despicable bulletin of health +arrived only yesterday, the mail being a day behind. It contained also +the excellent Times article, which was a sight for sore eyes. I am +still _taboo_; the blessed Germans will have none of me; and I only hope +they may enjoy the Times article. 'Tis my revenge! I wish you had sent +the letter too, as I have no copy, and do not even know what I wrote the +last day, with a bad headache, and the mail going out. However, it must +have been about right, for the Times article was in the spirit I wished +to arouse. I hope we can get rid of the man before it is too late. He +has set the natives to war; but the natives, by God's blessing, do not +want to fight, and I think it will fizzle out--no thanks to the man who +tried to start it. But I did not mean to drift into these politics; +rather to tell you what I have done since I last wrote. + +Well, I worked away at my _History_ for a while, and only got one +chapter done; no doubt this spate of work is pretty low now, and will be +soon dry; but, God bless you, what a lot I have accomplished; _Wrecker_ +done, _Beach of Falesa_ done, half the _History: c'est etonnant_. (I +hear from Burlingame, by the way, that he likes the end of the +_Wrecker_; 'tis certainly a violent, dark yarn with interesting, plain +turns of human nature), then Lloyd and I went down to live in Haggard's +rooms, where Fanny presently joined us. Haggard's rooms are in a strange +old building--old for Samoa, and has the effect of the antique like some +strange monastery; I would tell you more of it, but I think I'm going to +use it in a tale. The annexe close by had its door sealed; poor Dowdney +lost at sea in a schooner. The place is haunted. The vast empty sheds, +the empty store, the airless, hot, long, low rooms, the claps of wind +that set everything flying--a strange uncanny house to spend Christmas +in. + +_Jan. 1st,'92._--For a day or two I have sat close and wrought hard at +the _History_, and two more chapters are all but done. About thirty +pages should go by this mail, which is not what should be, but all I +could overtake. Will any one ever read it? I fancy not; people don't +read history for reading, but for education and display--and who +desires education in the history of Samoa, with no population, no past, +no future, or the exploits of Mataafa, Malietoa, and Consul Knappe? +Colkitto and Galasp are a trifle to it. Well, it can't be helped, and it +must be done, and, better or worse, it's capital fun. There are two to +whom I have not been kind--German Consul Becker and the English Captain +Hand, R.N. + +On Dec. 30th I rode down with Belle to go to (if you please) the Fancy +Ball. When I got to the beach, I found the barometer was below 29 deg., the +wind still in the east and steady, but a huge offensive continent of +clouds and vapours forming to leeward. It might be a hurricane; I dared +not risk getting caught away from my work, and, leaving Belle, returned +at once to Vailima. Next day--yesterday--it was a tearer; we had storm +shutters up; I sat in my room and wrote by lamplight--ten pages, if you +please, seven of them draft, and some of these compiled authorities, so +that was a brave day's work. About two a huge tree fell within sixty +paces of our house; a little after, a second went; and we sent out boys +with axes and cut down a third, which was too near the house, and +buckling like a fishing rod. At dinner we had the front door closed and +shuttered, the back door open, the lamp lit. The boys in the cook-house +were all out at the cook-house door, where we could see them looking in +and smiling. Lauilo and Faauma waited on us with smiles. The excitement +was delightful. Some very violent squalls came as we sat there, and +every one rejoiced; it was impossible to help it; a soul of putty had to +sing. All night it blew; the roof was continually sounding under +missiles; in the morning the verandahs were half full of branches torn +from the forest. There was a last very wild squall about six; the rain, +like a thick white smoke, flying past the house in volleys, and as +swift, it seemed, as rifle balls; all with a strange, strident hiss, +such as I have only heard before at sea, and, indeed, thought to be a +marine phenomenon. Since then the wind has been falling with a few +squalls, mostly rain. But our road is impassable for horses; we hear a +schooner has been wrecked and some native houses blown down in Apia, +where Belle is still and must remain a prisoner. Lucky I returned while +I could! But the great good is this; much bread-fruit and bananas have +been destroyed; if this be general through the islands, famine will be +imminent; and _whoever blows the coals, there can be no war_. Do I then +prefer a famine to a war? you ask. Not always, but just now. I am sure +the natives do not want a war; I am sure a war would benefit no one but +the white officials, and I believe we can easily meet the famine--or at +least that it can be met. That would give our officials a legitimate +opportunity to cover their past errors. + +_Jan. 2nd._--I woke this morning to find the blow quite ended. The +heaven was all a mottled grey; even the east quite colourless; the +downward slope of the island veiled in wafts of vapour, blue like smoke; +not a leaf stirred on the tallest tree; only, three miles away below me +on the barrier reef, I could see the individual breakers curl and fall, +and hear their conjunct roaring rise, as it still rises at 1 P.M., like +the roar of a thoroughfare close by. I did a good morning's work, +correcting and clarifying my draft, and have now finished for press +eight chapters, ninety-one pages, of this piece of journalism. Four more +chapters, say fifty pages, remain to be done; I should gain my wager and +finish this volume in three months, that is to say, the end should leave +me per February mail; I cannot receive it back till the mail of April. +Yes, it can be out in time; pray God that it be in time to help. + +How do journalists fetch up their drivel? I aim only at clearness and +the most obvious finish, positively at no higher degree of merit, not +even at brevity--I am sure it could have been all done, with double the +time, in two-thirds of the space. And yet it has taken me two months to +write 45,500 words; and, be damned to my wicked prowess, I am proud of +the exploit! The real journalist must be a man not of brass only, but +bronze. Chapter IX. gapes for me, but I shrink on the margin, and go on +chattering to you. This last part will be much less offensive (strange +to say) to the Germans. It is Becker they will never forgive me for; +Knappe I pity and do not dislike; Becker I scorn and abominate. Here is +the tableau. I. Elements of Discord: Native. II. Elements of Discord: +Foreign. III. The Sorrows of Laupepa. IV. Brandeis. V. The Battle of +Matautu. VI. Last Exploits of Becker. VII. The Samoan Camps. VIII. +Affairs of Lautii and Fangalii. IX. "_Furor Consularis_." X. The +Hurricane. XI. Stuebel Recluse. XII. The Present Government. I estimate +the whole roughly at 70,000 words. Should anybody ever dream of reading +it, it would be found amusing. 70000/300 = 233 printed pages; a +respectable little five-bob volume, to bloom unread in shop windows. +After that, I'll have a spank at fiction. And rest? I shall rest in the +grave, or when I come to Italy. If only the public will continue to +support me! I lost my chance not dying; there seems blooming little fear +of it now. I worked close on five hours this morning; the day before, +close on nine; and unless I finish myself off with this letter, I'll +have another hour and a half, or _aiblins twa_, before dinner. Poor man, +how you must envy me, as you hear of these orgies of work, and you +scarce able for a letter. But Lord, Colvin, how lucky the situations are +not reversed, for I have no situation, nor am fit for any. Life is a +steigh brae. Here, have at Knappe, and no more clavers! + +_Jan. 3rd._--There was never any man had so many irons in the fire, +except Jim Pinkerton.[31] I forgot to mention I have the most gallant +suggestion from Lang, with an offer of MS. authorities, which turns my +brain. It's all about the throne of Poland and buried treasure in the +Mackay country, and Alan Breck can figure there in glory. + +Yesterday, J. and I set off to Blacklock's (American Consul) who lives +not far from that little village I have so often mentioned as lying +between us and Apia. I had some questions to ask him for my _History_; +thence we must proceed to Vailele, where I had also to cross-examine the +plantation manager about the battle there. We went by a track I had +never before followed down the hill to Vaisigano, which flows here in a +deep valley, and was unusually full, so that the horses trembled in the +ford. The whole bottom of the valley is full of various streams posting +between strips of forest with a brave sound of waters. In one place we +had a glimpse of a fall some way higher up, and then sparkling in +sunlight in the midst of the green valley. Then up by a winding path +scarce accessible to a horse for steepness, to the other side, and the +open cocoanut glades of the plantation. Here we rode fast, did a mighty +satisfactory afternoon's work at the plantation house, and still faster +back. On the return Jack fell with me, but got up again; when I felt him +recovering I gave him his head, and he shoved his foot through the rein; +I got him by the bit however, and all was well; he had mud over all his +face, but his knees were not broken. We were scarce home when the rain +began again; that was luck. It is pouring now in torrents; we are in the +height of the bad season. Lloyd leaves along with this letter on a +change to San Francisco; he had much need of it, but I think this will +brace him up. I am, as you see, a tower of strength. I can remember +riding not so far and not near so fast when I first came to Samoa, and +being shattered next day with fatigue; now I could not tell I have done +anything; have re-handled my battle of Fangalii according to yesterday's +information--four pages rewritten; and written already some half-dozen +pages of letters. + +I observe with disgust that while of yore, when I own I was guilty, you +never spared me abuse--but now, when I am so virtuous, where is the +praise? Do admit that I have become an excellent letter-writer--at least +to you, and that your ingratitude is imbecile.--Yours ever, + + R. L. S. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [1] "In the missionary work which is being done among the Samoans, + Mr. Stevenson was especially interested. He was an observant, + shrewd, yet ever generous critic of all our religious and + educational organisations. His knowledge of native character and + life enabled him to understand missionary difficulties, while his + genial contact with all sorts and conditions of men made him keen to + detect deficiencies in men and methods, and apt in useful + suggestion." The above is the testimony of the Mr. Clarke here + mentioned (Rev. W. E. Clarke of the London Missionary Society). This + gentleman was from the first one of the most valued friends of Mr. + Stevenson and his family in Samoa, and, when the end came, read the + funeral service beside his grave on Mount Vaea. + + [2] The lady in the _Vicar of Wakefield_ who declares herself "all + in a muck of sweat." + + [3] First published in the New Review, January 1895. + + [4] Afterwards changed into _The Beach of Falesa_. + + [5] Mr. Lloyd Osbourne had come to England to pack and wind up affairs + at Skerryvore. + + [6] The lines beginning "I heard the pulse of the besieging sea"; see + Vol. xxiv., p. 366. + + [7] "The Monument" was his name for my house at the British Museum, + and George was my old faithful servant, George Went. + + [8] The late Mr. John Lafarge, long an honoured _doyen_ among New + York artists, whose record of his holiday in the South Seas, in the + shape of a series of water-colour sketches of the scenery and people + (with a catalogue full of interesting notes and observations), was + one of the features of the Champ de Mars Salon in 1895. + + [9] Mrs. B. W. Procter, the stepdaughter of Basil Montagu and widow + of Barry Cornwall. The death of this spirited veteran in 1888 + snapped one of the last links with the days and memories of Keats + and Coleridge. A shrewd and not too indulgent judge of character, + she took R. L. S. into warm favour at first sight, and never spoke of + or inquired after him but with unwonted tenderness. + + [10] On a projected expedition to Sydney. + + [11] See _A Footnote to History_ for more in praise of Dr. Stuebel, + and of his exceptional deserts among white officials in Samoa. + + [12] One of the many aliases of the wicked Skye-terrier of Hyeres, + Davos, and Bournemouth days, celebrated in the essay _On the + Character of Dogs_. + + [13] _Battre les champs_, to wander in mind. + + [14] _Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin_, by R. L. S., prefixed to _Papers + Literary, Scientific, etc., by the late Fleeming Jenkin, F.R.S., + LL.D._; 2 vols. London, Longmans, 1887. The first chapters consist + of a genealogical history of the family. This, to my mind one of the + best works of R. L. S., has lately been separately reprinted, having + long been accessible only in the Edinburgh and Pentland editions. Of + _Delafleld_ I never heard; the plan of _Shovel_, which was to be in + great part a story of the Peninsular War, had been sketched out and + a few chapters written as long ago as the seventies. + + [15] _The Misadventures of John Nicholson._ + + [16] The South Sea Letters. + + [17] The price advanced for these Letters was among the considerations + which originally induced the writer to set out on his Pacific voyage. + + + [18] The first serial tale, says Mr. Clarke, ever read by Samoans in + their own language was the story of the _Bottle Imp_, "which found + its way into print at Samoa, and was read with wonder and delight in + many a thatched Samoan hut before it won the admiration of readers + at home." In the English form the story was published first in Black + and White, and afterwards in the volume called _Island Nights' + Entertainments_. + + [19] Boating expedition: pronounce _malanga_. + + [20] Portraits of myself for which he had asked. + + [21] Miss Fanny Macpherson, now Lady Holroyd. + + [22] In reply to a suggestion which ultimately took effect in the + shape of the volume called _Across the Plains_ (Chatto & Windus, + 1892). + + [23] The steam-yacht of the Commissioners of Northern Lights, on + which he had been accustomed as a lad to accompany his father on the + official trips of inspection round the coast. + + [24] Mr. Rudyard Kipling was at this time planning a trip to Samoa, + but the plan was unfortunately not carried out, and he and Stevenson + never met. + + [25] Readers of _The Wrecker_ will not need to be reminded that this + is the name of the personage on whom the mystery in that story + hinges. + + [26] See vol. xxiii. pp. 46, 48. + + [27] _Across the Plains._ The papers specially referred to in the + next lines are those written at Saranac Lake in the winter of + 1887-88, including _A Letter to a Young Gentleman_, _Pulvis et + Umbra_, _A Christmas Sermon_. + + [28] For the volume _Across the Plains_. + + [29] _i.e._ on the stage. + + [30] As to this peculiar intermittency of the Samoan streams, full + in their upper course, but below in many places dry or lost, compare + the late Lord Pembroke's _South Sea Bubbles_, p. 212:--"One odd + thing connected with these ravines is the fact that the higher you + go the more water you find. Unlike the Thames, which begins, I + believe, in half a mile of dusty lane, and expands in its brimming + breadth as it approaches the sea, a Samoan stream begins in bubbling + plenty and ends in utter drought a mile or two from the salt water. + Gradually as you ascend you become more and more hopeful; moist + patches of sand appear here and there, then tiny pools that a fallen + leaf might cover, then larger ones with little thread-like runs of + water between them; larger and larger, till at last you reach some + hard ledge of trap, over which a glorious stream gurgles and + splashes into a pool ample enough for the bath of an elephant." + + [31] In _The Wrecker_. As to the story thus suggested by Mr. Andrew + Lang, see below, pp. 171, 187, etc. + + + + +XII + +LIFE IN SAMOA--_Continued_ + +SECOND YEAR AT VAILIMA + +JANUARY-DECEMBER 1892 + + +The New Year found Stevenson down with his first attack of the influenza +epidemic, then virulent all over the world. But the illness was not +sufficient to stop his work, and in the first two months of the year he +was busy continuing his conscientious labours on _The Footnote to +History_, seeing _The Wrecker_ and _The Beach of Falesa_ through the +press, planning the South Sea plantation novel _Sophia Scarlet_, which +never got beyond that inchoate stage, and writing the continuation to +_Kidnapped_, first intended to bear the name of the hero, David Balfour, +and afterwards changed to _Catriona_. With this he proceeded swimmingly, +completing it between February and September, in a shorter time than any +other of his sustained narratives; and on publication its success was +great. By May he had finished the _Footnote_, and then had a dash at the +first chapters of _The Young Chevalier_, which stand in their truncated +state a piece of work as vivid and telling as he had ever done. Early in +the autumn he struck a still fuller note in the draft of the first +chapters of _Weir of Hermiston_. + +During this year the household at Vailima received a new temporary +inmate in the person of Mr. Graham Balfour, a cousin whom Stevenson had +not previously known, but with whom he soon formed the closest and most +confidential friendship of his later life. In the summer and early +autumn he was much taken up both with politics and with hospitalities. +As hereinafter narrated, he made, and was thwarted in, a serious attempt +to effect a reconciliation between the two rival chiefs; and continued +his series of letters to the Times showing up the incompetence, and +worse, of the responsible Treaty officials. In August he took lively +pleasure in a visit paid to the islands by Lady Jersey and some members +of her family from Australia. During the course of their stay he +conducted the visitors to the rebel camp under aliases, as the needs of +the time required, and in a manner that seemed like the realisation of a +chapter of a Waverley novel. A month or two later he became aware, with +more amusement than alarm, of measures for his deportation set on foot +but not carried through by the Treaty officials. For a man of his +temper, the political muddle and mismanagement of which the Samoan +Islands were the scene--and not only these, however much he might lament +them for the sake of the inhabitants, but even the risks he ran of +serious personal consequences from his own action,--added to life at +least as much of zest and excitement as of annoyance. + +In October he determined, not without serious financial misgivings and +chiefly in deference to his mother's urgency, to enlarge his house at +Vailima by putting up a new block adjoining and communicating with that +which he had hitherto inhabited. The work was promptly and efficiently +carried out by the German Firm and completed by the end of the year. +Quite towards the close of December, copies of _The Footnote to +History_ reached Samoa, and the book, so far from being a cause of +offence to his friends the managers of that firm, as both he and they +had feared, was found acceptable and devoid of offence by them: a result +celebrated in the convivial manner described in the last letter of this +section. On the whole the year had been a prosperous one, full of +successful work and eager interests, although darkened in its later +months by disquietude on account of his wife's health. He had himself +well maintained the improved strength and the renewed capacity both for +literary work and outdoor activity which life in the South Seas had +brought him from the first. + + + + +TO E. L. BURLINGAME + + + _[Vailima] Jan, 2nd, '92._ + +MY DEAR BURLINGAME,--Overjoyed you were pleased with _The Wrecker_, and +shall consider your protests. There is perhaps more art than you think +for in the peccant chapter, where I have succeeded in packing into one a +dedication, an explanation, and a termination. Surely you had not +recognised the phrase about boodle? It was a quotation from Jim +Pinkerton, and seemed to me agreeably skittish. However, all shall be +prayerfully considered. + +To come to a more painful subject. Herewith go three more chapters of +the wretched History; as you see, I approach the climax. I expect the +book to be some 70,000 words, of which you have now 45. Can I finish it +for next mail? I am going to try! 'Tis a long piece of journalism, and +full of difficulties here and there, of this kind and that, and will +make me a power of friends to be sure. There is one Becker who will +probably put up a window to me in the church where he was baptized; and +I expect a testimonial from Captain Hand. + +Sorry to let the mail go without the Scott; this has been a bad month +with me, and I have been below myself. I shall find a way to have it +come by next, or know the reason why. The mail after, anyway. + +A bit of a sketch map appears to me necessary for my History; perhaps +two. If I do not have any, 'tis impossible any one should follow; and I, +even when not at all interested, demand that I shall be able to follow; +even a tourist book without a map is a cross to me; and there must be +others of my way of thinking. I inclose the very artless one that I +think needful. Vailima, in case you are curious, is about as far again +behind Tanugamanono as that is from the sea. + +M'Clure is publishing a short story of mine, some 50,000 words, I think, +_The Beach of Falesa_; when he's done with it, I want you and Cassell to +bring it out in a little volume; I shall send you a dedication for it; I +believe it good; indeed, to be honest, very good. Good gear that pleases +the merchant. + +The other map that I half threaten is a chart for the hurricane. Get me +Kimberley's report of the hurricane: not to be found here. It is of most +importance; I _must_ have it with my proofs of that part, if I cannot +have it earlier, which now seems impossible.--Yours in hot haste, + + R. L. STEVENSON. + + + + +TO MISS ADELAIDE BOODLE + + + At the news that his correspondent was occupied teaching and + entertaining a class of children in a Kilburn basement, Stevenson + bethinks himself of helping her by writing an account of Samoa and + Samoan life for children. + + _Vailima, January 4th, 1892._ + +MY DEAR ADELAIDE,--We were much pleased with your letter and the news of +your employment. Admirable, your method. But will you not run dry of +fairy stories? Please salute your pupils, and tell them that a long, +lean, elderly man who lives right through on the under side of the +world, so that down in your cellar you are nearer him than the people in +the street, desires his compliments. This man lives in an island which +is not very long, and extremely narrow. The sea beats round it very +hard, so that it is difficult to get to shore. There is only one harbour +where ships come, even that is very wild and dangerous; four ships of +war were broken there a little while ago, and one of them is still lying +on its side on a rock clean above water, where the sea threw it as you +might throw your fiddle bow on the table. All round the harbour the town +is strung out, it is nothing but wooden houses, only there are some +churches built of stone, not very large, but the people have never seen +such fine buildings. Almost all the houses are of one story. Away at one +end lives the king of the whole country. His palace has a thatched roof +which stands upon posts; it has no walls, but when it blows and rains, +they have Venetian blinds which they let down between the posts and make +it very snug. There is no furniture, and the king and queen and the +courtiers sit and eat on the floor, which is of gravel: the lamp stands +there too, and every now and then it is upset. These good folks wear +nothing but a kilt about their waists, unless to go to church or for a +dance, or the New Year, or some great occasion. The children play +marbles all along the street; and though they are generally very jolly, +yet they get awfully cross over their marbles, and cry and fight like +boys and girls at home. Another amusement in country places is to shoot +fish with a bow and arrow. All round the beach there is bright shallow +water where fishes can be seen darting or lying in shoals. The child +trots round the shore, and wherever he sees a fish, lets fly an arrow +and misses, and then wades in after his arrow. It is great fun (I have +tried it) for the child, and I never heard of it doing any harm to the +fishes: so what could be more jolly? The road up to this lean man's +house is uphill all the way and through forests; the forests are of +great trees, not so much unlike the trees at home, only here and there +are some very queer ones mixed with them, cocoa-nut palms, and great +forest trees that are covered with blossom like red hawthorn, but not +near so bright; and from all the trees thick creepers hang down like +ropes, and nasty-looking weeds that they call orchids grow in the forks +of the branches; and on the ground many prickly things are dotted which +they call pine-apples: I suppose every one has eaten pineapple drops. + +On the way up to the lean man's house you pass a little village, all of +houses like the king's house, so that as you ride through you can see +everybody sitting at dinner, or if it be night, lying in their beds by +lamplight; for all these people are terribly afraid of ghosts, and would +not lie in the dark for any favour. After the village, there is only one +more house, and that is the lean man's. For the people are not very +many, and live all by the sea, and the whole inside of the island is +desert woods and mountains. When the lean man goes into this forest, he +is very much ashamed to say it, but he is always in a terrible fright. +The wood is so great and empty and hot, and it is always filled with +curious noises; birds cry like children and bark like dogs, and he can +hear people laughing and felling trees; and the other day (when he was +far in the woods) he heard a great sound like the biggest mill-wheel +possible going with a kind of dot-and-carry-one movement like a dance. +That was the noise of an earthquake away down below him in the bowels of +the earth, and that is the same thing as to say away up towards you in +your cellar in Kilburn. All these noises make him feel lonely and +scared, and he doesn't quite know what he is scared of. Once when he was +just about to cross a river, a blow struck him on the top of his head +and knocked him head-foremost down the bank and splash into the water. +It was a nut, I fancy, that had fallen from a tree, by which accidents +people are sometimes killed. But at the time he thought it was a black +boy. + +Aha, say you, and what is a black boy? Well, there are here a lot of +poor people who are brought here from distant islands to labour as +slaves for the Germans. They are not at all like the king or his people, +who are brown and very pretty; but these are black as negroes and as +ugly as sin, poor souls, and in their own lands they live all the time +at war and cook and eat men's flesh. The Germans thrash them with whips +to make them work, and every now and then some run away into the Bush, +as the forest is called, and build little sheds of leaves, and eat nuts +and roots and fruit, and dwell there by themselves in the great desert. +Sometimes they are bad and wild and come down in the villages and steal +and kill; and people whisper to each other that some of them have gone +back to their horrid old habits, and catch men and women in order to eat +them. But it is very likely not true; and the most of them are only +poor, stupid, trembling, half-starved, pitiful creatures like frightened +dogs. Their life is all very well when the sun shines, as it does eight +or nine months in the year. But it is very different the rest of the +time. The wind rages here most violently. The great trees thrash about +like whips; the air is filled with leaves and great branches flying +about like birds; and the sound of the trees falling shakes the earth. +It rains too as it never rains at home. You can hear a shower while it +is yet half a mile away, hissing like a shower-bath in the forest; and +when it comes to you, the water blinds your eyes, and the cold drenching +takes your breath away as though some one had struck you. In that kind +of weather it must be dreadful indeed to live in the woods, one man +alone by himself. And you must know that, if the lean man feels afraid +to be in the forest, the people of the island and the black boys are +much more afraid than he. For they believe the woods to be quite filled +with spirits; some are like pigs, and some are like flying things; but +others (and these are thought the most dangerous) come in the shape of +beautiful young women and young men, beautifully dressed in the island +manner, with fine kilts and fine necklaces and crowns of scarlet seeds +and flowers. Woe betide he or she who gets to speak with one of these! +They will be charmed out of their wits, and come home again quite silly, +and go mad and die. So that the poor black boy must be always trembling +and looking about for the coming of the women-devils. + +Sometimes the women-devils go down out of the woods into the villages, +and here is a tale the lean man heard last year. One of the islanders +was sitting in his house, and he had cooked fish. There came along the +road two beautiful young women, dressed as I told you, who came into his +house and asked for some of his fish. It is the fashion in the islands +always to give what is asked, and never to ask folk's names. So the man +gave them fish and talked to them in the island jesting way. And +presently he asked one of the women for her red necklace, which is good +manners and their way; he had given the fish, and he had a right to ask +for something back. "I will give it you by and by," said the woman, and +she and her companion went away; but he thought they were gone very +suddenly, and the truth is they had vanished. The night was nearly come, +when the man heard the voice of the woman crying that he should come to +her and she would give the necklace. And he looked out, and behold she +was standing calling him from the top of the sea, on which she stood as +you might on the table. At that, fear came on the man; he fell on his +knees and prayed, and the woman disappeared. It was known afterwards +that this was once a woman indeed, but should have died a thousand years +ago, and has lived all that while as a devil in the woods beside the +spring of a river. Saumai-afe (Sow-my-affy) is her name, in case you +want to write to her.--Ever your friend Tusitala (tale-writer), + + _alias_ ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + The South Sea novel here mentioned, _Sophia Scarlet_, never got + beyond the rough draft of an opening chapter or two. + + _[Vailima] Jan. 31st, '92._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--No letter at all from you, and this scratch from me! +Here is a year that opens ill. Lloyd is off to "the coast" sick--_the +coast_ means California over most of the Pacific--I have been down all +month with influenza, and am just recovering--I am overlaid with proofs, +which I am just about half fit to attend to. One of my horses died this +morning, and another is now dying on the front lawn--Lloyd's horse and +Fanny's. Such is my quarrel with destiny. But I am mending famously, +come and go on the balcony, have perfectly good nights, and though I +still cough, have no oppression and no hemorrhage and no fever. So if I +can find time and courage to add no more, you will know my news is not +altogether of the worst; a year or two ago, and what a state I should +have been in now! Your silence, I own, rather alarms me. But I tell +myself you have just miscarried; had you been too ill to write, some one +would have written me. Understand, I send this brief scratch not because +I am unfit to write more, but because I have 58 galleys of _The Wrecker_ +and 102 of _The Beach of Falesa_ to get overhauled somehow or other in +time for the mail, and for three weeks I have not touched a pen with my +finger. + +_Feb. 1st._--The second horse is still alive, but I still think dying. +The first was buried this morning. My proofs are done; it was a rough +two days of it, but done. _Consummatum est; ua uma_. I believe _The +Wrecker_ ends well; if I know what a good yarn is, the last four +chapters make a good yarn--but pretty horrible. _The Beach of Falesa_ I +still think well of, but it seems it's immoral and there's a to-do, and +financially it may prove a heavy disappointment. The plaintive request +sent to me, to make the young folks married properly before "that +night," I refused; you will see what would be left of the yarn, had I +consented.[32] This is a poison bad world for the romancer, this +Anglo-Saxon world; I usually get out of it by not having any women in it +at all; but when I remember I had _The Treasure of Franchard_ refused as +unfit for a family magazine, I feel despair weigh upon my wrists. + +As I know you are always interested in novels, I must tell you that a +new one is now entirely planned. It is to be called _Sophia Scarlet_, +and is in two parts. Part I. The Vanilla Planter. Part II. The +Overseers. No chapters, I think; just two dense blocks of narrative, the +first of which is purely sentimental, but the second has some rows and +quarrels, and winds up with an explosion, if you please! I am just +burning to get at _Sophia_, but I _must_ do this Samoan +journalism--that's a cursed duty. The first part of _Sophia_, bar the +first twenty or thirty pages, writes itself; the second is more +difficult, involving a good many characters--about ten, I think--who +have to be kept all moving, and give the effect of a society. I have +three women to handle, out and well-away! but only Sophia is in full +tone. Sophia and two men, Windermere, the Vanilla Planter, who dies at +the end of Part I., and Rainsforth, who only appears in the beginning of +Part II. The fact is, I blush to own it, but Sophia is a _regular +novel_; heroine and hero, and false accusation, and love, and marriage, +and all the rest of it--all planted in a big South Sea plantation run by +ex-English officers--_a la_ Stewart's plantation in Tahiti.[33] There is +a strong undercurrent of labour trade which gives it a kind of Uncle Tom +flavour, _absit omen!_ + +The first start is hard; it is hard to avoid a little tedium here, but I +think by beginning with the arrival of the three Miss Scarlets hot from +school and society in England, I may manage to slide in the information. +The problem is exactly a Balzac one, and I wish I had his fist--for I +have already a better method--the kinetic, whereas he continually +allowed himself to be led into the static. But then he had the fist, and +the most I can hope is to get out of it with a modicum of grace and +energy, but for sure without the strong impression, the full, dark +brush. Three people have had it, the real creator's brush: Scott, see +much of _The Antiquary_ and _The Heart of Midlothian_ (especially all +round the trial, before, during, and after)--Balzac--and Thackeray in +_Vanity Fair_. Everybody else either paints _thin_, or has to stop to +paint, or paints excitedly, so that you see the author skipping before +his canvas. Here is a long way from poor Sophia Scarlet! + + This day is published + _Sophia Scarlet_ + + By + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON + + + + +To J. M. BARRIE + + + The following is the first of several letters to Mr. J. M. Barrie, + for whose work Stevenson had a warm admiration, and with whom he soon + established by correspondence a cordial friendship. + + _Vailima, Samoa, February 1892._ + +DEAR MR. BARRIE,--This is at least the third letter I have written you, +but my correspondence has a bad habit of not getting so far as the post. +That which I possess of manhood turns pale before the business of the +address and envelope. But I hope to be more fortunate with this: for, +besides the usual and often recurrent desire to thank you for your +work--you are one of four that have come to the front since I was +watching and had a corner of my own to watch, and there is no reason, +unless it be in these mysterious tides that ebb and flow, and make and +mar and murder the works of poor scribblers, why you should not do work +of the best order. The tides have borne away my sentence, of which I was +weary at any rate, and between authors I may allow myself so much +freedom as to leave it pending. We are both Scots besides, and I suspect +both rather Scotty Scots; my own Scotchness tends to intermittency, but +is at times erisypelitous--if that be rightly spelt. Lastly, I have +gathered we had both made our stages in the metropolis of the winds: our +Virgil's "grey metropolis," and I count that a lasting bond. No place so +brands a man. + +Finally, I feel it a sort of duty to you to report progress. This may be +an error, but I believed I detected your hand in an article--it may be +an illusion, it may have been by one of those industrious insects who +catch up and reproduce the handling of each emergent man--but I'll still +hope it was yours--and hope it may please you to hear that the +continuation of _Kidnapped_ is under way. I have not yet got to Alan, so +I do not know if he is still alive, but David seems to have a kick or +two in his shanks. I was pleased to see how the Anglo-Saxon theory fell +into the trap: I gave my Lowlander a Gaelic name, and even commented on +the fact in the text; yet almost all critics recognised in David and +Alan a Saxon and a Celt. I know not about England; in Scotland at least, +where Gaelic was spoken in Fife little over the century ago, and in +Galloway not much earlier, I deny that there exists such a thing as a +pure Saxon, and I think it more than questionable if there be such a +thing as a pure Celt. + +But what have you to do with this? and what have I? Let us continue to +inscribe our little bits of tales, and let the heathen rage!--Yours, +with sincere interest in your career, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + _[Vailima] Feb. 1892._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--This has been a busyish month for a sick man. First, +Faauma--the bronze candlestick, whom otherwise I called my +butler--bolted from the bed and bosom of Lafaele, the Archangel +Hercules, prefect of the cattle. There was a deuce to pay, and Hercules +was inconsolable, and immediately started out after a new wife, and has +had one up on a visit, but says she has "no conversation"; and I think +he will take back the erring and possibly repentant candlestick; whom we +all devoutly prefer, as she is not only highly decorative, but +good-natured, and if she does little work makes no rows. I tell this +lightly, but it really was a heavy business; many were accused of +complicity, and Rafael was really very sorry. I had to hold beds of +justice--literally--seated in my bed and surrounded by lying Samoans +seated on the floor; and there were many picturesque and still +inexplicable passages. It is hard to reach the truth in these islands. + +The next incident overlapped with this. S. and Fanny found three strange +horses in the paddock: for long now the boys have been forbidden to +leave their horses here one hour because our grass is over-grazed. S. +came up with the news, and I saw I must now strike a blow. "To the pound +with the lot," said I. He proposed taking the three himself, but I +thought that too dangerous an experiment, said I should go too, and +hurried into my boots so as to show decision taken, in the necessary +interviews. They came of course--the interviews--and I explained what I +was going to do at huge length, and stuck to my guns. I am glad to say +the natives, with their usual (purely speculative) sense of justice, +highly approved the step after reflection. Meanwhile off went S. and I +with the three _corpora delicti_; and a good job I went! Once, when our +circus began to kick, we thought all was up; but we got them down all +sound in wind and limb. I judged I was much fallen off from my Elliot +forefathers, who managed this class of business with neatness and +despatch. + +As we got down to town, we met the mother and daughter of my friend +----, bathed in tears; they had left the house over a row, which I have +not time or spirits to describe. This matter dashed me a good deal, and +the first decent-looking day I mounted and set off to see if I could not +patch things up. Half-way down it came on to rain tropic style, and I +came back from my second outing drenched like a drowned man--I was +literally blinded as I came back among these sheets of water; and the +consequence was I was laid down with diarrhoea and threatenings of +Samoa colic for the inside of another week. Meanwhile up came +Laulii,[34] in whose house Mrs. and Miss ---- have taken refuge. One of +Mrs. ----'s grievances is that her son has married one of these +"pork-eaters and cannibals." (As a matter of fact there is no memory of +cannibalism in Samoa.) And a strange thing it was to hear the "cannibal" +Laulii describe her sorrows. She is singularly pretty and sweet, her +training reflects wonderful credit on her husband; and when she began to +describe to us--to act to us, in the tone of an actress walking through +a rehearsal--the whole bearing of her angry guests; indicating the +really tragic notes when they came in, so that Fanny and I were ashamed +to laugh, and touching off the merely ludicrous with infinite tact and +sly humour; showing, in fact, in her whole picture of a couple of irate +barbarian women, the whole play and sympathy of what we call the +civilised mind; the contrast was seizing. I speak with feeling. To-day +again, being the first day humanly possible for me, I went down to Apia +with Fanny, and between two and three hours did I argue with that old +woman--not immovable, would she had been! but with a mechanical mind +like a piece of a musical snuff-box, that returned always to the same +starting-point; not altogether base, for she was long-suffering with me +and professed even gratitude, and was just (in a sense) to her son, and +showed here and there moments of genuine and not undignified emotion; +but O! on the other side, what lapses--what a mechanical movement of the +brain, what occasional trap-door devils of meanness, what a wooden front +of pride! I came out damped and saddened and (to say truth) a trifle +sick. My wife had better luck with the daughter; but O, it was a weary +business! + +To add to my grief--but that's politics. Before I sleep to-night I have +a confession to make. When I was sick I tried to get to work to finish +that Samoa thing; wouldn't go; and at last, in the colic time, I slid +off into _David Balfour_,[35] some 50 pages of which are drafted, and +like me well. Really I think it is spirited; and there's a heroine that +(up to now) seems to have attractions: _absit omen!_ David, on the +whole, seems excellent. Alan does not come in till the tenth chapter, +and I am only at the eighth, so I don't know if I can find him again; +but David is on his feet, and doing well, and very much in love, and +mixed up with the Lord Advocate and the (untitled) Lord Lovat, and all +manner of great folk. And the tale interferes with my eating and +sleeping. The join is bad; I have not thought to strain too much for +continuity; so this part be alive, I shall be content. But there's no +doubt David seems to have changed his style, de'il ha'e him! And much I +care, if the tale travel! + +_Friday, Feb.?? 19th?_--Two incidents to-day which I must narrate. After +lunch, it was raining pitilessly; we were sitting in my mother's +bedroom, and I was reading aloud Kinglake's Charge of the Light Brigade, +and we had just been all seized by the horses aligning with Lord George +Paget, when a figure appeared on the verandah; a little, slim, small +figure of a lad, with blond (_i.e._ limed) hair, a propitiatory smile, +and a nose that alone of all his features grew pale with anxiety. "I +come here stop," was about the outside of his English; and I began at +once to guess that he was a runaway labourer,[36] and that the +bush-knife in his hand was stolen. It proved he had a mate, who had +lacked his courage, and was hidden down the road; they had both made up +their minds to run away, and had "come here stop." I could not turn out +the poor rogues, one of whom showed me marks on his back, into the +drenching forest; I could not reason with them, for they had not enough +English, and not one of our boys spoke their tongue; so I bade them feed +and sleep here to-night, and to-morrow I must do what the Lord shall bid +me. + +Near dinner time, I was told that a friend of Lafaele's had found human +remains in my bush. After dinner, a figure was seen skulking across +towards the waterfall, which produced from the verandah a shout, in my +most stentorian tones: "_O ai le ingoa?_" literally "Who the name?" +which serves here for "What's your business?" as well. It proved to be +Lafaele's friend; I bade a kitchen boy, Lauilo, go with him to see the +spot, for though it had ceased raining, the whole island ran and +dripped. Lauilo was willing enough, but the friend of the archangel +demurred; he had too much business; he had no time. "All right," I said, +"you too much frightened, I go along," which of course produced the +usual shout of delight from all those who did not require to go. I got +into my Saranac snow boots; Lauilo got a cutlass; Mary Carter, our +Sydney maid, joined the party for a lark, and off we set. I tell you our +guide kept us moving; for the dusk fell swift. Our woods have an +infamous reputation at the best, and our errand (to say the least of it) +was grisly. At last they found the remains; they were old, which was +all I cared to be sure of; it seemed a strangely small "pickle-banes" to +stand for a big, flourishing, buck-islander, and their situation in the +darkening and dripping bush was melancholy. All at once, I found there +was a second skull, with a bullet-hole I could have stuck my two thumbs +in--say anybody else's one thumb. My Samoans said it could not be, there +were not enough bones; I put the two pieces of skull together, and at +last convinced them. Whereupon, in a flash, they found the not +unromantic explanation. This poor brave had succeeded in the height of a +Samoan warrior's ambition; he had taken a head, which he was never +destined to show to his applauding camp. Wounded himself, he had crept +here into the bush to die with his useless trophy by his side. His date +would be about fifteen years ago, in the great battle between Laupepa +and Talavou, which took place on My Land, Sir. To-morrow we shall bury +the bones and fire a salute in honour of unfortunate courage. + +Do you think I have an empty life? or that a man jogging to his club has +so much to interest and amuse him?--touch and try him too, but that goes +along with the others: no pain, no pleasure, is the iron law. So here I +stop again, and leave, as I left yesterday, my political business +untouched. And lo! here comes my pupil, I believe, so I stop in time. + +_March 2nd._--Since I last wrote, fifteen chapters of _David Balfour_ +have been drafted, and five _tires au clair_. I think it pretty good; +there's a blooming maiden that costs anxiety--she is as virginal as +billy; but David seems there and alive, and the Lord Advocate is good, +and so I think is an episodic appearance of the Master of Lovat. In +Chapter XVII. I shall get David abroad--Alan went already in Chapter +XII. The book should be about the length of _Kidnapped_; this early part +of it, about D.'s evidence in the Appin case, is more of a story than +anything in _Kidnapped_, but there is no doubt there comes a break in +the middle, and the tale is practically in two divisions. In the first +James More and the M'Gregors, and Catriona, only show; in the second, +the Appin case being disposed of, and James Stewart hung, they rule the +roast and usurp the interest--should there be any left. Why did I take +up _David Balfour_? I don't know. A sudden passion. + +Monday, I went down in the rain with a colic to take the chair at a +public meeting; dined with Haggard; sailed off to my meeting, and fought +with wild beasts for three anxious hours. All was lost that any sensible +man cared for, but the meeting did not break up--thanks a good deal to +R. L. S.--and the man who opposed my election, and with whom I was all +the time wrangling, proposed the vote of thanks to me with a certain +handsomeness; I assure you I had earned it.... Haggard and the great +Abdul, his high-caste Indian servant, imported by my wife, were sitting +up for me with supper, and I suppose it was twelve before I got to bed. +Tuesday raining, my mother rode down, and we went to the Consulate to +sign a Factory and Commission. Thence, I to the lawyers, to the printing +office, and to the mission. It was dinner time when I returned home. + +This morning, our cook-boy having suddenly left--injured feelings--the +archangel was to cook breakfast. I found him lighting the fire before +dawn; his eyes blazed, he had no word of any language left to use, and I +saw in him (to my wonder) the strongest workings of gratified ambition. +Napoleon was no more pleased to sign his first treaty with Austria than +was Lafaele to cook that breakfast. All morning, when I had hoped to be +at this letter, I slept like one drugged, and you must take this (which +is all I can give you) for what it is worth-- + + D. B. + + _Memoirs of his Adventures at Home and Abroad. The Second Part; + wherein are set forth the misfortunes in which he was involved upon + the Appin Murder; his troubles with Lord Advocate Prestongrange; + captivity on the Bass Rock; journey into France and Holland; and + singular relations with James More Drummond or Macgregor, a son of + the notorious Rob Roy._ + +Chapters.--I. A Beggar on Horseback. II. The Highland Writer. III. I go +to Pilrig. IV. Lord Advocate Prestongrange. V. Butter and Thunder. VI. I +make a fault in honour. VII. The Bravo. VIII. The Heather on Fire. IX. I +begin to be haunted with a red-headed man. X. The Wood by Silvermills. +XI. On the march again with Alan. XII. Gillane Sands. XIII. The Bass +Rock. XIV. Black Andie's Tale of Tod Lapraik. XV. I go to Inveraray. + +That is it, as far as drafted. Chapters IV. V. VII. IX. and XIV. I am +specially pleased with; the last being an episodical bogie story about +the Bass Rock told there by the Keeper. + + + + +TO WILLIAM MORRIS + + + The following draft letter addressed to Mr. William Morris was found + among Stevenson's papers after his death. It has touches of + affectation and constraint not usual with him, and it is no doubt on + that account that he did not send it; but though not in his best + manner, it seems worth printing as illustrating the variety of his + interests and admirations in literature. + + _Vailima, Samoa, Feb. 1892._ + +MASTER,--A plea from a place so distant should have some weight, and +from a heart so grateful should have some address. I have been long in +your debt, Master, and I did not think it could be so much increased as +you have now increased it. I was long in your debt and deep in your debt +for many poems that I shall never forget, and for _Sigurd_ before all, +and now you have plunged me beyond payment by the Saga Library. And so +now, true to human nature, being plunged beyond payment, I come and bark +at your heels. + +For surely, Master, that tongue that we write, and that you have +illustrated so nobly, is yet alive. She has her rights and laws, and is +our mother, our queen, and our instrument. Now in that living tongue +_where_ has one sense, _whereas_ another. In the _Heathslayings Story_, +p. 241, line 13, it bears one of its ordinary senses. Elsewhere and +usually through the two volumes, which is all that has yet reached me of +this entrancing publication, _whereas_ is made to figure for _where_. + +For the love of God, my dear and honoured Morris, use _where_, and let +us know _whereas_ we are, wherefore our gratitude shall grow, whereby +you shall be the more honoured wherever men love clear language, whereas +now, although we honour, we are troubled. + +Whereunder, please find inscribed to this very impudent but yet very +anxious document, the name of one of the most distant but not the +youngest or the coldest of those who honour you + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO MRS. CHARLES FAIRCHILD + + + The projected visit of Mr. Kipling, with his wife and brother-in-law, + to Samoa, which is mentioned towards the close of this letter, never + took place, much to the regret of both authors. + + [_Vailima, March 1892._] + +MY DEAR MRS. FAIRCHILD,--I am guilty in your sight, but my affairs +besiege me. The chief-justiceship of a family of nineteen persons is in +itself no sinecure, and sometimes occupies me for days: two weeks ago +for four days almost entirely, and for two days entirely. Besides which, +I have in the last few months written all but one chapter of a _History +of Samoa_ for the last eight or nine years; and while I was unavoidably +delayed in the writing of this, awaiting material, put in one-half of +_David Balfour_, the sequel to _Kidnapped_. Add the ordinary impediments +of life, and admire my busyness. I am now an old, but healthy skeleton, +and degenerate much towards the machine. By six at work: stopped at +half-past ten to give a history lesson to a step-grandson; eleven, +lunch; after lunch we have a musical performance till two; then to work +again; bath, 4.40; dinner, five; cards in the evening till eight; and +then to bed--only I have no bed, only a chest with a mat and +blankets--and read myself to sleep. This is the routine, but often sadly +interrupted. Then you may see me sitting on the floor of my verandah +haranguing and being harangued by squatting chiefs on a question of a +road; or more privately holding an inquiry into some dispute among our +familiars, myself on my bed, the boys on the floor--for when it comes to +the judicial I play dignity--or else going down to Apia on some more or +less unsatisfactory errand. Altogether it is a life that suits me, but +it absorbs me like an ocean. That is what I have always envied and +admired in Scott; with all that immensity of work and study, his mind +kept flexible, glancing to all points of natural interest. But the lean +hot spirits, such as mine, become hypnotised with their bit +occupations--if I may use Scotch to you--it is so far more scornful than +any English idiom. Well, I can't help being a skeleton, and you are to +take this devious passage for an apology. + +I thought _Aladdin_[37] capital fun; but why, in fortune, did he pretend +it was moral at the end? The so-called nineteenth century, _ou va-t-il +se nicher?_ 'Tis a trifle, but Pyle would do well to knock the passage +out, and leave his boguey tale a boguey tale, and a good one at that. + +The arrival of your box was altogether a great success to the castaways. +You have no idea where we live. Do you know, in all these islands there +are not five hundred whites, and no postal delivery, and only one +village--it is no more--and would be a mean enough village in Europe? We +were asked the other day if Vailima were the name of our post town, and +we laughed. Do you know, though we are but three miles from the village +metropolis, we have no road to it, and our goods are brought on the +pack-saddle? And do you know--or I should rather say, can you +believe--or (in the famous old Tichborne trial phrase) would you be +surprised to learn, that all you have read of Vailima--or Subpriorsford, +as I call it--is entirely false, and we have no ice-machine, and no +electric light, and no water supply but the cistern of the heavens, and +but one public room, and scarce a bedroom apiece? But, of course, it is +well known that I have made enormous sums by my evanescent literature, +and you will smile at my false humility. The point, however, is much on +our minds just now. We are expecting an invasion of Kiplings; very glad +we shall be to see them; but two of the party are ladies, and I tell you +we had to hold a council of war to stow them. You European ladies are so +particular; with all of mine, sleeping has long become a public +function, as with natives and those who go down much into the sea in +ships. + +Dear Mrs. Fairchild, I must go to my work. I have but two words to say +in conclusion. + +First, civilisation is rot. + +Second, console a savage with more of the milk of that over-civilised +being, your adorable schoolboy. + +As I wrote these remarkable words, I was called down to eight o'clock +prayers, and have just worked through a chapter of Joshua and five +verses, with five treble choruses, of a Samoan hymn; but the music was +good, our boys and precentress ('tis always a woman that leads) did +better than I ever heard them, and to my great pleasure I understood it +all except one verse. This gave me the more time to try and identify +what the parts were doing, and further convict my dull ear. Beyond the +fact that the soprano rose to the tonic above, on one occasion I could +recognise nothing. This is sickening, but I mean to teach my ear better +before I am done with it or this vile carcase. + +I think it will amuse you (for a last word) to hear that our +precentress--she is the washerwoman--is our shame. She is a good, +healthy, comely, strapping young wench, full of energy and seriousness, +a splendid workwoman, delighting to train our chorus, delighting in the +poetry of the hymns, which she reads aloud (on the least provocation) +with a great sentiment of rhythm. Well, then, what is curious? Ah, we +did not know! but it was told us in a whisper from the cook-house--she +is not of good family. Don't let it get out, please; everybody knows it, +of course, here; there is no reason why Europe and the States should +have the advantage of me also. And the rest of my house-folk are all +chief-people, I assure you. And my late overseer (far the best of his +race) is a really serious chief with a good "name." Tina is the name; it +is not in the Almanach de Gotha, it must have got dropped at press. The +odd thing is, we rather share the prejudice. I have almost +always--though not quite always--found the higher the chief the better +the man through all the islands; or, at least, that the best man came +always from a highish rank. I hope Helen will continue to prove a bright +exception. + +With love to Fairchild and the Huge Schoolboy, I am, my dear Mrs. +Fairchild, yours very sincerely, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + _[Vailima] March 9th [1892]._ + +MY DEAR S. C.,--Take it not amiss if this is a wretched letter. I am +eaten up with business. Every day this week I have had some business +impediment--I am even now waiting a deputation of chiefs about the +road--and my precious morning was shattered by a polite old scourge of a +_faipule_--parliament man--come begging. All the time _David Balfour_ is +skelping along. I began it the 13th of last month; I have now 12 +chapters, 79 pages ready for press, or within an ace, and, by the time +the month is out, one-half should be completed, and I'll be back at +drafting the second half. What makes me sick is to think of Scott +turning out _Guy Mannering_ in three weeks! What a pull of work: +heavens, what thews and sinews! And here am I, my head spinning from +having only re-written seven not very difficult pages--and not very good +when done. Weakling generation. It makes me sick of myself, to make such +a fash and bobbery over a rotten end of an old nursery yarn, not worth +spitting on when done. Still, there is no doubt I turn out my work more +easily than of yore; and I suppose I should be singly glad of that. And +if I got my book done in six weeks, seeing it will be about half as long +as a Scott, and I have to write everything twice, it would be about the +same rate of industry. It is my fair intention to be done with it in +three months, which would make me about one-half the man Sir Walter was +for application and driving the dull pen. Of the merit we shall not +talk; but I don't think Davie is _without_ merit. + +_March 12th._--And I have this day triumphantly finished 15 chapters, +100 pages--being exactly one-half (as near as anybody can guess) of +_David Balfour_; the book to be about a fifth as long again (altogether) +as _Treasure Island:_ could I but do the second half in another month! +But I can't, I fear; I shall have some belated material arriving by next +mail, and must go again at the History. Is it not characteristic of my +broken tenacity of mind, that I should have left Davie Balfour some five +years in the British Linen Company's Office, and then follow him at last +with such vivacity? But I leave you again; the last (15th) chapter ought +to be re-wrote, or part of it, and I want the half completed in the +month, and the month is out by midnight; though, to be sure, last month +was February, and I might take grace. These notes are only to show I +hold you in mind, though I know they can have no interest for man or God +or animal. + +I should have told you about the Club. We have been asked to try and +start a sort of weekly ball for the half-castes and natives, ourselves +to be the only whites; and we consented, from a very heavy sense of +duty, and with not much hope. Two nights ago we had twenty people up, +received them in the front verandah, entertained them on cake and +lemonade, and I made a speech--embodying our proposals, or conditions, +if you like--for I suppose thirty minutes. No joke to speak to such an +audience, but it is believed I was thoroughly intelligible. I took the +plan of saying everything at least twice in a different form of words, +so that if the one escaped my hearers, the other might be seized. One +white man came with his wife, and was kept rigorously on the front +verandah below! You see what a sea of troubles this is like to prove; +but it is the only chance--and when it blows up, it must blow up! I have +no more hope in anything than a dead frog; I go into everything with a +composed despair, and don't mind--just as I always go to sea with the +conviction I am to be drowned, and like it before all other pleasures. +But you should have seen the return voyage, when nineteen horses had to +be found in the dark, and nineteen bridles, all in a drench of rain, and +the club, just constituted as such, sailed away in the wet, under a +cloudy moon like a bad shilling, and to descend a road through the +forest that was at that moment the image of a respectable mountain +brook. My wife, who is president _with power to expel_, had to begin her +functions.... + +_25th March._--Heaven knows what day it is, but I am ashamed, all the +more as your letter from Bournemouth of all places--poor old +Bournemouth!--is to hand, and contains a statement of pleasure in my +letters which I wish I could have rewarded with a long one. What has +gone on? A vast of affairs, of a mingled, strenuous, inconclusive, +desultory character; much waste of time, much riding to and fro, and +little transacted or at least peracted. + +Let me give you a review of the present state of our live stock.--Six +boys in the bush; six souls about the house. Talolo, the cook, returns +again to-day, after an absence which has cost me about twelve hours of +riding, and I suppose eight hours' solemn sitting in council. "I am +sorry indeed for the Chief Justice of Samoa," I said; "it is more than I +am fit for to be Chief Justice of Vailima."--Lauilo is steward. Both +these are excellent servants; we gave a luncheon party when we buried +the Samoan bones, and I assure you all was in good style, yet we never +interfered. The food was good, the wine and dishes went round as by +mechanism.--Steward's assistant and washman, Arrick, a New Hebridee +black boy, hired from the German firm; not so ugly as most, but not +pretty neither; not so dull as his sort are, but not quite a Crichton. +When he came first, he ate so much of our good food that he got a +prominent belly. Kitchen assistant, Tomas (Thomas in English), a Fiji +man, very tall and handsome, moving like a marionette with sudden +bounds, and rolling his eyes with sudden effort.--Washerwoman and +precentor, Helen, Tomas's wife. This is our weak point; we are ashamed +of Helen; the cook-house blushes for her; they murmur there at her +presence. She seems all right; she is not a bad-looking, strapping +wench, seems chaste, is industrious, has an excellent taste in +hymns--you should have heard her read one aloud the other day, she +marked the rhythm with so much gloating, dissenter sentiment. What is +wrong, then? says you. Low in your ear--and don't let the papers get +hold of it--she is of no family. None, they say; literally a common +woman. Of course, we have out-islanders, who _may_ be villeins; but we +give them the benefit of the doubt, which is impossible with Helen of +Vailima; our blot, our pitted speck. The pitted speck I have said is our +precentor. It is always a woman who starts Samoan song; the men who sing +second do not enter for a bar or two. Poor, dear Faauma, the unchaste, +the extruded Eve of our Paradise, knew only two hymns; but Helen seems +to know the whole repertory, and the morning prayers go far more lively +in consequence.--Lafaele, provost of the cattle. The cattle are Jack, my +horse, quite converted, my wife rides him now, and he is as steady as a +doctor's cob; Tifaga Jack, a circus horse, my mother's piebald, bought +from a passing circus; Belle's mare, now in childbed or next door, +confound the slut! Musu--amusingly translated the other day "don't want +to," literally cross, but always in the sense of stubbornness and +resistance--my wife's little dark-brown mare, with a white star on her +forehead, whom I have been riding of late to steady her--she has no +vices, but is unused, skittish and uneasy, and wants a lot of attention +and humouring; lastly (of saddle horses) Luna--not the Latin _moon_, the +Hawaiian _overseer_, but it's pronounced the same--a pretty little mare +too, but scarce at all broken, a bad bucker, and has to be ridden with a +stock-whip and be brought back with her rump criss-crossed like a clan +tartan; the two cart horses, now only used with pack-saddles; two cows, +one in the straw (I trust) to-morrow, a third cow, the Jersey--whose +milk and temper are alike subjects of admiration--she gives good +exercise to the farming saunterer, and refreshes him on his return with +cream; two calves, a bull, and a cow; God knows how many ducks and +chickens, and for a wager not even God knows how many cats; twelve +horses, seven horses, five kine: is not this Babylon the Great which I +have builded? Call it _Subpriorsford_. + +Two nights ago the club had its first meeting; only twelve were present, +but it went very well. I was not there, I had ridden down the night +before after dinner on my endless business, took a cup of tea in the +mission like an ass, then took a cup of coffee like a fool at Haggard's, +then fell into a discussion with the American Consul.... I went to bed +at Haggard's, came suddenly broad awake, and lay sleepless the live +night. It felt chill, I had only a sheet, and had to make a light and +range the house for a cover--I found one in the hall, a macintosh. So +back to my sleepless bed, and to lie there till dawn. In the morning I +had a longish ride to take in a day of a blinding, staggering sun, and +got home by eleven, our luncheon hour, with my head rather swimmy; the +only time I have _feared_ the sun since I was in Samoa. However, I got +no harm, but did not go to the club, lay off, lazied, played the pipe, +and read a novel by James Payn--sometimes quite interesting, and in one +place really very funny with the quaint humour of the man. Much +interested the other day. As I rode past a house, I saw where a Samoan +had written a word on a board, and there was an [inverted A], perfectly +formed, but upside down. You never saw such a thing in Europe; but it is +as common as dirt in Polynesia. Men's names are tattooed on the forearm; +it is common to find a subverted letter tattooed there. Here is a +tempting problem for psychologists. + +I am now on terms again with the German consulate, I know not for how +long; not, of course, with the President, which I find a relief; still, +with the Chief Justice and the English consul. For Haggard, I have a +genuine affection; he is a loveable man. + +Wearyful man! "Here is the yarn of Loudon Dodd, _not as he told it, but +as it was afterwards written_."[38] These words were left out by some +carelessness, and I think I have been thrice tackled about them. Grave +them in your mind and wear them on your forehead. + +The Lang story will have very little about the treasure; the Master[39] +will appear; and it is to a great extent a tale of Prince Charlie +_after_ the '45, and a love story forbye: the hero is a melancholy +exile, and marries a young woman who interests the prince, and there is +the devil to pay. I think the Master kills him in a duel, but don't know +yet, not having yet seen my second heroine. No--the Master doesn't kill +him, they fight, he is wounded, and the Master plays _deus ex machina_. +_I think_ just now of calling it _The Tail of the Race_; no--heavens! I +never saw till this moment--but of course nobody but myself would ever +understand Mill-Race, they would think of a quarter-mile. So--I am +nameless again. My melancholy young man is to be quite a Romeo. Yes, +I'll name the book from him: _Dyce of Ythan_--pronounce Eethan. + + Dyce of Ythan + by R. L. S. + +O, Shovel--Shovel waits his turn, he and his ancestors. I would have +tackled him before, but my _State Trials_ have never come. So that I +have now quite planned:-- + + Dyce of Ythan. (Historical, 1750.) + + Sophia Scarlet. (To-day.) + + The Shovels of Newton French. (Historical, 1650 to 1830.) + +And quite planned and part written:-- + + The Pearl Fisher. (To-day.) (With Lloyd: a machine.)[40] + + David Balfour. (Historical, 1751.) + +And, by a strange exception for R. L. S., all in the third person except +D. B. + + +I don't know what day this is now (the 29th), but I have finished my two +chapters, ninth and tenth, of _Samoa_ in time for the mail, and feel +almost at peace. The tenth was the hurricane, a difficult problem; it so +tempted one to be literary; and I feel sure the less of that there is in +my little handbook, the more chance it has of some utility. Then the +events are complicated, seven ships to tell of, and sometimes three of +them together; O, it was quite a job. But I think I have my facts pretty +correct, and for once, in my sickening yarn, they are handsome facts: +creditable to all concerned; not to be written of--and I should think, +scarce to be read--without a thrill. I doubt I have got no hurricane +into it, the intricacies of the yarn absorbing me too much. But +there--it's done somehow, and time presses hard on my heels. The book, +with my best expedition, may come just too late to be of use. In which +case I shall have made a handsome present of some months of my life for +nothing and to nobody. Well, through Her the most ancient heavens are +fresh and strong.[41] + +_30th._--After I had written you, I re-read my hurricane, which is very +poor; the life of the journalist is hard, another couple of writings and +I could make a good thing, I believe, and it must go as it is! But, of +course, this book is not written for honour and glory, and the few who +will read it may not know the difference. Very little time. I go down +with the mail shortly, dine at the Chinese restaurant, and go to the +club to dance with islandresses. Think of my going out once a week to +dance. + +Politics are on the full job again, and we don't know what is to come +next. I think the whole treaty _raj_ seems quite played out! They have +taken to bribing the _faipule_ men (parliament men) to stay in Mulinuu, +we hear; but I have not yet sifted the rumour. I must say I shall be +scarce surprised if it prove true; these rumours have the knack of being +right.--Our weather this last month has been tremendously hot, not by +the thermometer, which sticks at 86 deg., but to the sensation: no rain, no +wind, and this the storm month. It looks ominous, and is certainly +disagreeable. + +No time to finish.--Yours ever, + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO E. L. BURLINGAME + + + The first sentences of the following refer to _A Footnote to + History_, Chapter x. of which, relating to the hurricane of 1889, was + first published in the Scots Observer, edited by Mr. Henley. + + [_Vailima, March 1892._] + +MY DEAR BURLINGAME,--Herewith Chapters IX. and X., and I am left face to +face with the horrors and dilemmas of the present regimen: pray for +those that go down to the sea in ships. I have promised Henley shall +have a chance to publish the hurricane chapter if he like, so please let +the slips be sent _quam primum_ to C. Baxter, W.S., 11 S. Charlotte +Street, Edinburgh. I got on mighty quick with that chapter--about five +days of the toughest kind of work. God forbid I should ever have such +another pirn to wind! When I invent a language, there shall be a direct +and an indirect pronoun differently declined--then writing would be some +fun. + + DIRECT INDIRECT + + He Tu + Him Tum + His Tus + +Ex.: _He_ seized _tum_ by _tus_ throat; but _tu_ at the same moment +caught _him_ by his hair. A fellow could write hurricanes with an +inflection like that! Yet there would be difficulties too. + +Please add to my former orders-- + + _Le Chevalier Des Touches_ } by Barbey d'Aurevilly. + _Les Diabohques_ } + _Correspondence de Henri Beyle_ (Stendahl). + +Yours sincerely, + + R. L. STEVENSON. + + + + +TO THE REV. S. J. WHITMEE + + + In this letter the essential points of Stevenson's policy for Samoa + are defined more clearly than anywhere else. His correspondent, an + experienced missionary who had been absent from the islands and + lately returned, and whom Stevenson describes as being of a nature + essentially "childlike and candid," had been induced to support the + idea of a one-man power as necessary for putting an end to the + existing confusion, and to suggest the Chief Justice, Mr. + Cedercrantz, as the person to wield such power. In the present letter + and a subsequent conversation Stevenson was able to persuade his + correspondent to abandon at least that part of his proposal which + concerned the Chief Justice. + + _[Vailima] Sunday. Better Day, Better Deed. April 24th, 1892._ + + Private and confidential. + +DEAR MR. WHITMEE,--I have reflected long and fully on your paper, and at +your kind request give you the benefit of my last thoughts. + +I. I cannot bring myself to welcome your idea of one man. I fear we are +too far away from any moderative influence; and suppose it to be true +that the paper is bought, we should not even have a voice. Could we be +sure to get a Gordon or a Lawrence, ah! very well. But in this +out-of-the-way place, are these extreme experiments wise? Remember +Baker; with much that he has done, I am in full sympathy; and the man, +though wholly insincere, is a thousand miles from ill-meaning; and see +to what excesses he was forced or led. + +II. But I willingly admit the idea is possible with the right man, and +this brings me with greater conviction to my next point. I cannot +endorse, and I would rather beg of you to reconsider, your +recommendation of the Chief Justice. I told you the man has always +attracted me, yet as I have earnestly reconsidered the points against +him, I find objection growing.... + +But there is yet another argument I have to lay before you. We are both +to write upon this subject. Many of our opinions coincide, and, as I +said the other day, on these we may reasonably suppose that we are not +far wrong. Now here is a point on which we shall directly counter. No +doubt but this will lessen the combined weight of our arguments where +they coincide. And to avoid this effect, it might seem worth while to +you to modify or cancel the last paragraph of your article. + +III. But I now approach what seems to me by far the most important. +White man here, white man there, Samoa is to stand or fall (bar actual +seizure) on the Samoan question. And upon this my mind is now really +made up. I do not believe in Laupepa alone; I do not believe in Mataafa +alone. I know that their conjunction implies peace; I am persuaded that +their separation means either war or paralysis. It is the result of the +past, which we cannot change, but which we must accept and use or suffer +by. I have now made up my mind to do all that I may be able--little as +it is--to effect a reconciliation between these two men Laupepa and +Mataafa; persuaded as I am that there is the one door of hope. And it is +my intention before long to approach both in this sense. Now, from the +course of our interview, I was pleased to see that you were, if not +equally strong with myself, at least inclined to much the same opinion. +And in a carefully weighed paper, such as that you read me, I own I +should be pleased to have this cardinal matter touched upon. At home it +is not, it cannot be, understood: Mataafa is thought a rebel; the +Germans profit by the thought to pursue their career of vengeance for +Fagalii; the two men are perpetually offered as alternatives--they are +no such thing--they are complementary; authority, supposing them to +survive, will be impossible without both. They were once friends, fools +and meddlers set them at odds, they must be friends again or have so +much wisdom and public virtue as to pretend a friendship. There is my +policy for Samoa. And I wish you would at least touch upon that point, I +care not how; because, although I am far from supposing you feel it to +be necessary in the same sense or to the same degree as I do, I am well +aware that no man knows Samoa but must see its huge advantages. Excuse +this long and tedious lecture, which I see I have to mark private and +confidential, or I might get into deep water, and believe me, yours very +truly, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO CHARLES BAXTER + + + The maps herein bespoken do not adorn the ordinary editions of + _Catriona_, only the Edinburgh edition, for which they were executed + by Messrs. Bartholomew in a manner that would have rejoiced the + writer's heart. + + _[Vailima] April 28, 1892._ + +MY DEAR CHARLES,--I have just written the dedication of _David Balfour_ +to you, and haste to put a job in your hands. This is a map of the +environs of Edinburgh _circa_ 1750. It must contain Hope Park, Hunter's +Bog, Calton Hill, the Mouter Hill, Lang Dykes, Nor' Loch, West Kirk, +Village of Dean, pass down the water to Stockbridge, Silver Mills, the +two mill lakes there, with a wood on the south side of the south one +which I saw marked on a plan in the British Museum, Broughton, Picardy, +Leith Walk, Leith, Pilrig, Lochend, Figgate Whins. And I would like a +piece in a corner, giving for the same period Figgate Whins, +Musselburgh, Inveresk, Prestonpans, battlefield of Gladsmuir, Cockenzie, +Gullane--which I spell Gillane--Fidra, Dirleton, North Berwick Law, +Whitekirk, Tantallon Castle and Castleton, Scougal and Auldhame, the +Bass, the Glenteithy rocks, Satan's Bush, Wildfire rocks, and, if +possible, the May. If need were, I would not stick at two maps. If there +is but one, say, _Plan to illustrate David Balfour's adventures in the +Lothians_. If two, call the first _Plan to illustrate David Balfour's +adventures about the city of Edinburgh_, and the second, _Plan to +illustrate David Balfour's adventures in East Lothian_. I suppose there +must be a map-maker of some taste in Edinburgh; I wish few other names +in, but what I have given, as far as possible. As soon as may be I will +let you have the text, when you might even find some amusement in +seeing that the maps fill the bill. If your map-maker be a poor +creature, plainness is best; if he were a fellow of some genuine go, he +might give it a little of the bird's-eye quality. I leave this to your +good taste. If I have time I will copy the dedication to go herewith; I +am pleased with it. The first map (suppose we take two) would go in at +the beginning, the second at Chapter XI. The topography is very much +worked into the story, and I have alluded in the dedication to our +common fancy for exploring Auld Reekie. + +The list of books came duly, for which many thanks. I am plunged to the +nostrils in various business.--Yours ever, + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + _[Vailima] May 1st, 1892._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--As I rode down last night about six, I saw a sight I +must try to tell you of. In front of me, right over the top of the +forest into which I was descending, was a vast cloud. The front of it +accurately represented the somewhat rugged, long-nosed, and +beetle-browed profile of a man, crowned by a huge Kalmuck cap; the flesh +part was of a heavenly pink, the cap, the moustache, the eyebrows were +of a bluish grey; to see this with its childish exactitude of design and +colour, and hugeness of scale--it covered at least 25 deg.--held me +spell-bound. As I continued to gaze, the expression began to change; he +had the exact air of closing one eye, dropping his jaw, and drawing down +his nose; had the thing not been so imposing, I could have smiled; and +then almost in a moment, a shoulder of leaden-coloured bank drove in +front and blotted it. My attention spread to the rest of the cloud, and +it was a thing to worship. It rose from the horizon, and its top was +within thirty degrees of the zenith; the lower parts were like a glacier +in shadow, varying from dark indigo to a clouded white in exquisite +gradations. The sky behind, so far as I could see, was all of a blue +already enriched and darkened by the night, for the hill had what +lingered of the sunset. But the top of my Titanic cloud flamed in broad +sunlight, with the most excellent softness and brightness of fire and +jewels, enlightening all the world. It must have been far higher than +Mount Everest, and its glory, as I gazed up at it out of the night, was +beyond wonder. Close by rode the little crescent moon; and right over +its western horn, a great planet of about equal lustre with itself. The +dark woods below were shrill with that noisy business of the birds' +evening worship. When I returned, after eight, the moon was near down; +she seemed little brighter than before, but now that the cloud no longer +played its part of a nocturnal sun, we could see that sight, so rare +with us at home that it was counted a portent, so customary in the +tropics, of the dark sphere with its little gilt band upon the belly. +The planet had been setting faster, and was now below the crescent. They +were still of an equal brightness. + +I could not resist trying to reproduce this in words, as a specimen of +these incredibly beautiful and imposing meteors of the tropic sky that +make so much of my pleasure here; though a ship's deck is the place to +enjoy them. O what _awful_ scenery, from a ship's deck, in the tropics! +People talk about the Alps, but the clouds of the trade wind are alone +for sublimity. + +Now to try and tell you what has been happening. The state of these +islands, and of Mataafa and Laupepa (Malietoas _ambo_), had been much on +my mind. I went to the priests and sent a message to Mataafa, at a time +when it was supposed he was about to act. He did not act, delaying in +true native style, and I determined I should go to visit him. I have +been very good not to go sooner; to live within a few miles of a rebel +camp, to be a novelist, to have all my family forcing me to go, and to +refrain all these months, counts for virtue. But hearing that several +people had gone and the government done nothing to punish them, and +having an errand there which was enough to justify myself in my own +eyes, I half determined to go, and spoke of it with the half-caste +priest. And here (confound it) up came Laupepa and his guards to call on +me; we kept him to lunch, and the old gentleman was very good and +amiable. He asked me why I had not been to see him? I reminded him a law +had been made, and told him I was not a small boy to go and ask leave of +the consuls, and perhaps be refused. He told me to pay no attention to +the law but come when I would, and begged me to name a day to lunch. The +next day (I think it was) early in the morning, a man appeared; he had +metal buttons like a policeman--but he was none of our Apia force; he +was a rebel policeman, and had been all night coming round inland +through the forest from Malie. He brought a letter addressed + + _I lana susuga_ To his Excellency + _Misi Mea_. Mr. Thingumbob. + +(So as not to compromise me.) I can read Samoan now, though not speak +it. It was to ask me for last Wednesday. My difficulty was great; I had +no man here who was fit, or who would have cared, to write for me; and I +had to postpone the visit. So I gave up half-a-day with a groan, went +down to the priests, arranged for Monday week to go to Malie, and named +Thursday as my day to lunch with Laupepa. I was sharply ill on +Wednesday, mail day. But on Thursday I had to trail down and go through +the dreary business of a feast, in the King's wretched shanty, full in +view of the President's fine new house; it made my heart burn. + +This gave me my chance to arrange a private interview with the king, and +I decided to ask Mr. Whitmee to be my interpreter. On Friday, being too +much exhausted to go down, I begged him to come up. He did. I told him +the heads of what I meant to say; and he not only consented, but said, +if we got on well with the king, he would even proceed with me to Malie. +Yesterday, in consequence, I rode down to W.'s house by eight in the +morning; waited till ten; received a message that the king was stopped +by a meeting with the president and _faipule_; made another engagement +for seven at night; came up; went down; waited till eight, and came away +again, _bredouille_, and a dead body. The poor, weak, enslaved king had +not dared to come to me even in secret. Now I have to-day for a rest, +and to-morrow to Malie. Shall I be suffered to embark? It is very +doubtful; they are on the trail. On Thursday, a policeman came up to me +and began that a boy had been to see him, and said I was going to see +Mataafa.--"And what did you say?" said I.--"I told him I did not know +about where you were going," said he.--"A very good answer," said I, and +turned away. It is lashing rain to-day, but to-morrow, rain or shine, I +must at least make the attempt; and I am so weary, and the weather looks +so bad. I could half wish they would arrest me on the beach. All this +bother and pother to try and bring a little chance of peace; all this +opposition and obstinacy in people who remain here by the mere +forbearance of Mataafa, who has a great force within six miles of their +government buildings, which are indeed only the residences of white +officials. To understand how I have been occupied, you must know that +"Misi Mea" has had another letter, and this time had to answer himself; +think of doing so in a language so obscure to me, with the aid of a +Bible, concordance, and dictionary! What a wonderful Baboo compilation +it must have been! I positively expected to hear news of its arrival in +Malie by the sound of laughter. I doubt if you will be able to read this +scrawl, but I have managed to scramble somehow up to date; and +to-morrow, one way or another, should be interesting. But as for me, I +am a wreck, as I have no doubt style and handwriting both testify. + +8 P.M.--Wonderfully rested; feel almost fit for to-morrow's dreary +excursion--not that it will be dreary if the weather favour, but +otherwise it will be death; and a native feast, and I fear I am in for a +big one, is a thing I loathe. I wonder if you can really conceive me as +a politician in this extra-mundane sphere--presiding at public meetings, +drafting proclamations, receiving mis-addressed letters that have been +carried all night through tropical forests? It seems strange indeed, and +to you, who know me really, must seem stranger. I do not say I am free +from the itch of meddling, but God knows this is no tempting job to +meddle in; I smile at picturesque circumstances like the Misi Mea +(_Monsieur Chose_ is the exact equivalent) correspondence, but the +business as a whole bores and revolts me. I do nothing and say nothing; +and then a day comes, and I say "this can go on no longer." + +9.30 P.M.--The wretched native dilatoriness finds me out. News has just +come that we must embark at six to-morrow; I have divided the night in +watches, and hope to be called to-morrow at four and get under way by +five. It is a great chance if it be managed; but I have given directions +and lent my own clock to the boys, and hope the best. If I get called at +four we shall do it nicely. Good-night; I must turn in. + +_May 3rd._--Well, we did get off by about 5.30, or, by'r lady! quarter +to six; myself on Donald, the huge grey cart-horse, with a ship-bag +across my saddle bow, Fanny on Musu and Belle on Jack. We were all +feeling pretty tired and sick, and I looked like heaven knows what on +the cart-horse: "death on the pale horse," I suggested--and young Hunt +the missionary, who met me to-day on the same charger, squinted up at my +perch and remarked, "There's a sweet little cherub that sits up aloft." +The boat was ready and we set off down the lagoon about seven, four +oars, and Talolo, my cook, steering. + +_May 9th_ (_Monday anyway_).--And see what good resolutions came to! +Here is all this time past, and no speed made. Well, we got to Malie and +were received with the most friendly consideration by the rebel chief. +Belle and Fanny were obviously thought to be my two wives; they were +served their kava together, as were Mataafa and myself. Talolo utterly +broke down as interpreter; long speeches were made to me by Mataafa and +his orators, of which he could make nothing but they were "very much +surprised"--his way of pronouncing obliged--and as he could understand +nothing that fell from me except the same form of words, the dialogue +languished and all business had to be laid aside. We had kava,[42] and +then a dish of arrowroot; one end of the house was screened off for us +with a fine tapa, and we lay and slept, the three of us, heads and +tails, upon the mats till dinner. After dinner his illegitimate majesty +and myself had a walk, and talked as well as my twopenny Samoan would +admit. Then there was a dance to amuse the ladies before the house, and +we came back by moonlight, the sky piled full of high faint clouds that +long preserved some of the radiance of the sunset. The lagoon was very +shallow; we continually struck, for the moon was young and the light +baffling; and for a long time we were accompanied by, and passed and +repassed, a huge whale-boat from Savaii, pulling perhaps twelve oars, +and containing perhaps forty people who sang in time as they went. So +to the hotel, where we slept, and returned the next Tuesday morning on +the three same steeds. + +Meanwhile my business was still untransacted. And on Saturday morning, I +sent down and arranged with Charlie Taylor to go down that afternoon. I +had scarce got the saddle-bags fixed and had not yet mounted, when the +rain began. But it was no use delaying now; off I went in a wild +waterspout to Apia; found Charlie (Sale) Taylor--a sesquipedalian young +half-caste--not yet ready, had a snack of bread and cheese at the hotel +while waiting him, and then off to Malie. It rained all the way, seven +miles; the road, which begins in triumph, dwindles down to a nasty, +boggy, rocky footpath with weeds up to a horseman's knees; and there are +eight pig fences to jump, nasty beastly jumps--the next morning we found +one all messed with blood where a horse had come to grief--but my Jack +is a clever fencer; and altogether we made good time, and got to Malie +about dark. It is a village of very fine native houses, high, domed, +oval buildings, open at the sides, or only closed with slatted +Venetians. To be sure, Mataafa's is not the worst. It was already quite +dark within, only a little fire of cocoa-shell blazed in the midst and +showed us four servants; the chief was in his chapel, whence we heard +the sound of chaunting. Presently he returned; Taylor and I had our +soaking clothes changed, family worship was held, kava brewed, I was +exhibited to the chiefs as a man who had ridden through all that rain +and risked deportation to serve their master; they were bidden learn my +face, and remember upon all occasions to help and serve me. Then dinner, +and politics, and fine speeches until twelve at night--O, and some more +kava--when I could sit up no longer; my usual bed-time is eight, you +must remember. Then one end of the house was screened off for me alone, +and a bed made--you never saw such a couch--I believe of nearly fifty +(half at least) fine mats, by Mataafa's daughter, Kalala. Here I +reposed alone; and on the other side of the tapa, Majesty and his +household. Armed guards and a drummer patrolled about the house all +night; they had no shift, poor devils; but stood to arms from sun-down +to sun-up. + +About four in the morning, I was awakened by the sound of a whistle pipe +blown outside on the dark, very softly and to a pleasing simple air; I +really think I have hit the first phrase: + +[Illustration: Andante tranquillo] + +It sounded very peaceful, sweet and strange in the dark; and I found +this was a part of the routine of my rebel's night, and it was done (he +said) to give good dreams. By a little before six, Taylor and I were in +the saddle again fasting. My riding boots were so wet I could not get +them on, so I must ride barefoot. The morning was fair but the roads +very muddy, the weeds soaked us nearly to the waist, Sale was twice +spilt at the fences, and we got to Apia a bedraggled enough pair. All +the way along the coast, the pate (small wooden drum) was beating in the +villages and the people crowding to the churches in their fine clothes. +Thence through the mangrove swamp, among the black mud and the green +mangroves, and the black and scarlet crabs, to Mulinuu, to the doctor's, +where I had an errand, and so to the inn to breakfast about nine. After +breakfast I rode home. Conceive such an outing, remember the pallid +brute that lived in Skerryvore like a weevil in a biscuit, and receive +the intelligence that I was rather the better for my journey. Twenty +miles' ride, sixteen fences taken, ten of the miles in a drenching rain, +seven of them fasting and in the morning chill, and six stricken hours' +political discussions by an interpreter; to say nothing of sleeping in +a native house, at which many of our excellent literati would look +askance of itself. + +You are to understand: if I take all this bother, it is not only from a +sense of duty, or a love of meddling--damn the phrase, take your +choice--but from a great affection for Mataafa. He is a beautiful, sweet +old fellow, and he and I grew quite fulsome on Saturday night about our +sentiments. I had a messenger from him to-day with a flannel undershirt +which I had left behind like a gibbering idiot; and perpetrated in reply +another Baboo letter. It rains again to-day without mercy; blessed, +welcome rains, making up for the paucity of the late wet season; and +when the showers slacken, I can hear my stream roaring in the hollow, +and tell myself that the cacaos are drinking deep. I am desperately +hunted to finish my Samoa book before the mail goes; this last chapter +is equally delicate and necessary. The prayers of the congregation are +requested. Eheu! and it will be ended before this letter leaves and +printed in the States ere you can read this scribble. The first dinner +gong has sounded; _je vous salue, monsieur et cher confrere. Tofa, +soifua!_ Sleep! long life! as our Samoan salutation of farewell runs. + +_Friday, May_ 13_th._--Well, the last chapter, by far the most difficult +and ungrateful, is well under way, I have been from six to seven hours +upon it daily since I last wrote; and that is all I have done forbye +working at Samoan rather hard, and going down on Wednesday evening to +the club. I make some progress now at the language; I am teaching Belle, +which clears and exercises myself. I am particularly taken with the +_finesse_ of the pronouns. The pronouns are all dual and plural, and the +first person, both in the dual and plural, has a special exclusive and +inclusive form. You can conceive what fine effects of precision and +distinction can be reached in certain cases. Take Ruth, i. _vv._ 8 to +13, and imagine how those pronouns come in; it is exquisitely elegant, +and makes the mouth of the _litterateur_ to water. I am going to +exercitate my pupil over those verses to-day for pronoun practice. + +_Tuesday._--Yesterday came yours. Well, well, if the dears prefer a +week, why, I'll give them ten days, but the real document, from which I +have scarcely varied, ran for one night.[43] I think you seem scarcely +fair to Wiltshire, who had surely, under his beast-ignorant ways, right +noble qualities. And I think perhaps you scarce do justice to the fact +that this is a place of realism _a outrance_; nothing extenuated or +coloured. Looked at so, is it not, with all its tragic features, +wonderfully idyllic, with great beauty of scene and circumstance? And +will you please to observe that almost all that is ugly is in the +whites? I'll apologise for Papa Randal if you like; but if I told you +the whole truth--for I did extenuate there!--and he seemed to me +essential as a figure, and essential as a pawn in the game, Wiltshire's +disgust for him being one of the small, efficient motives in the story. +Now it would have taken a fairish dose to disgust Wiltshire.--Again, the +idea of publishing the _Beach_ substantively is dropped--at once, both +on account of expostulation, and because it measured shorter than I had +expected. And it was only taken up, when the proposed volume, _Beach de +Mar_, petered out. It petered out thus: the chief of the short stories +got sucked into _Sophia Scarlet_--and _Sophia_ is a book I am much taken +with, and mean to get to, as soon as--but not before--I have done _David +Balfour_ and _The Young Chevalier_. So you see you are like to hear no +more of the Pacific or the nineteenth century for a while. _The Young +Chevalier_ is a story of sentiment and passion, which I mean to write a +little differently from what I have been doing--if I can hit the key; +rather more of a sentimental tremolo to it. It may thus help to prepare +me for _Sophia_, which is to contain three ladies, and a kind of a love +affair between the heroine and a dying planter who is a poet! large +orders for R. L. S. + +O the German taboo is quite over; no soul attempts to support the C. J. +or the President, they are past hope; the whites have just refused their +taxes--I mean the council has refused to call for them, and if the +council consented, nobody would pay; 'tis a farce, and the curtain is +going to fall briefly. Consequently in my History, I say as little as +may be of the two dwindling stars. Poor devils! I liked the one, and the +other has a little wife, now lying in! There was no man born with so +little animosity as I. When I heard the C. J. was in low spirits and +never left his house, I could scarce refrain from going to him. + +It was a fine feeling to have finished the History; there ought to be a +future state to reward that grind! It's not literature, you know; only +journalism, and pedantic journalism. I had but the one desire, to get +the thing as right as might be, and avoid false concords--even if that! +And it was more than there was time for. However, there it is: done. And +if Samoa turns up again, my book has to be counted with, being the only +narrative extant. Milton and I--if you kindly excuse the +juxtaposition--harnessed ourselves to strange waggons, and I at least +will be found to have plodded very soberly with my load. There is not +even a good sentence in it, but perhaps--I don't know--it may be found +an honest, clear volume. + +_Wednesday._--Never got a word set down, and continues on Thursday, 19th +May, his own marriage day as ever was. News; yes. The C. J. came up to +call on us! After five months' cessation on my side, and a decidedly +painful interchange of letters, I could not go down--_could_ not--to see +him. My three ladies received him, however; he was very agreeable as +usual, but refused wine, beer, water, lemonade, chocolate, and at last a +cigarette. Then my wife asked him, "So you refuse to break bread?" and +he waved his hands amiably in answer. All my three ladies received the +same impression that he had serious matters in his mind: now we hear he +is quite cock-a-hoop since the mail came, and going about as before his +troubles darkened. But what did he want with me? 'Tis thought he had +received a despatch--and that he misreads it (so we fully believe) to +the effect that they are to have war ships at command and can make their +little war after all. If it be so, and they do it, it will be the +meanest wanton slaughter of poor men for the salaries of two white +failures. But what was his errand with me? Perhaps to warn me that +unless I behave he now hopes to be able to pack me off in the _Curacoa_ +when she comes. + +I have celebrated my holiday from _Samoa_ by a plunge at the beginning +of _The Young Chevalier_. I am afraid my touch is a little broad in a +love story; I can't mean one thing and write another. As for women, I am +no more in any fear of them; I can do a sort all right; age makes me +less afraid of a petticoat, but I am a little in fear of grossness. +However, this David Balfour's love affair, that's all right--might be +read out to a mother's meeting--or a daughters' meeting. The difficulty +in a love yarn, which dwells at all on love, is the dwelling on one +string; it is manifold, I grant, but the root fact is there unchanged, +and the sentiment being very intense, and already very much handled in +letters, positively calls for a little pawing and gracing. With a writer +of my prosaic literalness and pertinency of point of view, this all +shoves toward grossness--positively even toward the far more damnable +_closeness_. This has kept me off the sentiment hitherto, and now I am +to try: Lord! Of course Meredith can do it, and so could Shakespeare; +but with all my romance, I am a realist and a prosaist, and a most +fanatical lover of plain physical sensations plainly and expressly +rendered; hence my perils. To do love in the same spirit as I did (for +instance) D. Balfour's fatigue in the heather; my dear sir, there were +grossness--ready made! And hence, how to sugar? However, I have nearly +done with Marie-Madeleine, and am in good hopes of Marie-Salome, the +real heroine; the other is only a prologuial heroine to introduce the +hero. + +_Friday._--Anyway, the first prologuial episode is done, and Fanny likes +it. There are only four characters: Francis Blair of Balmile (Jacobite +Lord Gladsmuir) my hero; the Master of Ballantrae; Paradou, a +wine-seller of Avignon; Marie-Madeleine his wife. These two last I am +now done with, and I think they are successful, and I hope I have +Balmile on his feet; and the style seems to be found. It is a little +charged and violent; sins on the side of violence; but I think will +carry the tale. I think it is a good idea so to introduce my hero, being +made love to by an episodic woman. This queer tale--I mean queer for +me--has taken a great hold upon me. Where the devil shall I go next? +This is simply the tale of a _coup de tete_ of a young man and a young +woman; with a nearly, perhaps a wholly, tragic sequel, which I desire to +make thinkable right through, and sensible; to make the reader, as far +as I shall be able, eat and drink and breathe it. Marie-Salome des +Saintes-Maries is, I think, the heroine's name; she has got to _be_ yet: +_sursum corda_! So has the young Chevalier, whom I have not yet touched, +and who comes next in order. Characters: Balmile, or Lord Gladsmuir, +_comme vous voulez_; Prince Charlie; Earl Marischal; Master of +Ballantrae; and a spy, and Dr. Archie Campbell, and a few nondescripts; +then, of women, Marie-Salome and Flora Blair; seven at the outside; +really four full lengths, and I suppose a half-dozen episodic profiles. +How I must bore you with these ineptitudes! Have patience. I am going to +bed; it is (of all hours) eleven. I have been forced in (since I began +to write to you) to blatter to Fanny on the subject of my heroine, there +being two _cruces_ as to her life and history: how came she alone? and +how far did she go with the Chevalier? The second must answer itself +when I get near enough to see. The first is a back-breaker. Yet I know +there are many reasons why a _fille de famille_, romantic, adventurous, +ambitious, innocent of the world, might run from her home in these days; +might she not have been threatened with a convent? might there not be +some Huguenot business mixed in? Here am I, far from books; if you can +help me with a suggestion, I shall say God bless you. She has to be new +run away from a strict family, well-justified in her own wild but honest +eyes, and meeting these three men, Charles Edward, Marischal, and +Balmile, through the accident of a fire at an inn. She must not run from +a marriage, I think; it would bring her in the wrong frame of mind. Once +I can get her, _sola_, on the highway, all were well with my narrative. +Perpend. And help if you can. + +Lafaele, long (I hope) familiar to you, has this day received the visit +of his _son_ from Tonga; and the _son_ proves to be a very pretty, +attractive young daughter! I gave all the boys kava in honour of her +arrival; along with a lean, side-whiskered Tongan, dimly supposed to be +Lafaele's step-father; and they have been having a good time; in the end +of my verandah, I hear Simi, my present incapable steward, talking +Tongan with the nondescript papa. Simi, our out-door boy, burst a +succession of blood-vessels over our work, and I had to make a position +for the wreck of one of the noblest figures of a man I ever saw. I +believe I may have mentioned the other day how I had to put my horse to +the trot, the canter and (at last) the gallop to run him down. In a +photograph I hope to send you (perhaps with this) you will see Simi +standing in the verandah in profile. As a steward, one of his chief +points is to break crystal; he is great on fracture--what do I +say?--explosion! He cleans a glass, and the shards scatter like a +comet's bowels. + +_N.B._--If I should by any chance be deported, the first of the rules +hung up for that occasion is to communicate with you by +telegraph.--Mind, I do not fear it, but it _is_ possible. + +_Monday, 25th._--We have had a devil of a morning of upset and bustle; +the bronze candlestick Faauma has returned to the family, in time to +take her position of step-mamma, and it is pretty to see how the child +is at once at home, and all her terrors ended. + +_27th. Mail day._--And I don't know that I have much to report. I may +have to leave for Malie as soon as these mail packets are made up. 'Tis +a necessity (if it be one) I rather deplore. I think I should have liked +to lazy; but I dare say all it means is the delay of a day or so in +harking back to David Balfour; that respectable youth chides at being +left (where he is now) in Glasgow with the Lord Advocate, and after five +years in the British Linen, who shall blame him? I was all forenoon +yesterday down in Apia, dictating, and Lloyd typewriting, the conclusion +of _Samoa_; and then at home correcting till the dinner bell; and in the +evening again till eleven of the clock. This morning I have made up most +of my packets, and I think my mail is all ready but two more, and the +tag of this. I would never deny (as D. B. might say) that I was rather +tired of it. But I have a damned good dose of the devil in my pipe-stem +atomy; I have had my little holiday outing in my kick at _The Young +Chevalier_, and I guess I can settle to _David Balfour_ to-morrow or +Friday like a little man. I wonder if any one had ever more energy upon +so little strength?--I know there is a frost; the Samoa book can only +increase that--I can't help it, that book is not written for me but for +Miss Manners; but I mean to break that frost inside two years, and pull +off a big success, and Vanity whispers in my ear that I have the +strength. If I haven't, whistle ower the lave o't! I can do without +glory and perhaps the time is not far off when I can do without coin. It +is a time coming soon enough, anyway; and I have endured some two and +forty years without public shame, and had a good time as I did it. If +only I could secure a violent death, what a fine success! I wish to die +in my boots; no more Land of Counterpane for me. To be drowned, to be +shot, to be thrown from a horse--ay, to be hanged, rather than pass +again through that slow dissolution. + +I fancy this gloomy ramble is caused by a twinge of age; I put on an +under-shirt yesterday (it was the only one I could find) that barely +came under my trousers; and just below it, a fine healthy rheumatism has +now settled like a fire in my hip. From such small causes do these +valuable considerations flow! + +I shall now say adieu, dear Sir, having ten rugged miles before me and +the horrors of a native feast and parliament without an interpreter, for +to-day I go alone.--Yours ever, + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + Describing a family expedition to visit Mataafa at Malie. + + + _[Vailima] Sunday, 29th May [1892]._ + +How am I to overtake events? On Wednesday, as soon as my mail was +finished, I had a wild whirl to look forward to. Immediately after +dinner, Belle, Lloyd, and I set out on horseback, they to the club, I to +Haggard's, thence to the hotel, where I had supper ready for them. All +next day we hung round Apia with our whole house-crowd in Sunday array, +hoping for the mail steamer with a menagerie on board. No such luck; the +ship delayed; and at last, about three, I had to send them home again, a +failure of a day's pleasuring that does not bear to be discussed. Lloyd +was so sickened that he returned the same night to Vailima, Belle and I +held on, sat most of the evening on the hotel verandah stricken silly +with fatigue and disappointment, and genuine sorrow for our poor boys +and girls, and got to bed with rather dismal appreciations of the +morrow. + +These were more than justified, and yet I never had a jollier day than +Friday 27th. By 7.30 Belle and I had breakfast; we had scarce done +before my mother was at the door on horseback, and a boy at her heels to +take her not very dashing charger home again. By 8.10 we were all on the +landing pier, and it was 9.20 before we had got away in a boat with two +inches of green wood on the keel of her, no rudder, no mast, no sail, no +boat flag, two defective rowlocks, two wretched apologies for oars, and +two boys--one a Tongan half-caste, one a white lad, son of the Tonga +schoolmaster, and a sailor lad--to pull us. All this was our first taste +of the tender mercies of Taylor (the sesquipedalian half-caste +introduced two letters back, I believe). We had scarce got round Mulinuu +when Sale Taylor's heart misgave him; he thought we had missed the tide; +called a halt, and set off ashore to find canoes. Two were found; in one +my mother and I were embarked with the two biscuit tins (my present to +the feast), and the bag with our dry clothes, on which my mother was +perched--and her cap was on the top of it--feminine hearts please +sympathise; all under the guidance of Sale. In the other Belle and our +guest; Tauilo, a chief-woman, the mother of my cook, were to have +followed. And the boys were to have been left with the boat. But Tauilo +refused. And the four, Belle, Tauilo, Frank the sailor-boy, and Jimmie +the Tongan half-caste, set off in the boat across that rapidly shoaling +bay of the lagoon. + +How long the next scene lasted, I could never tell. Sale was always +trying to steal away with our canoe and leave the other four, probably +for six hours, in an empty, leaky boat, without so much as an orange or +a cocoanut on board, and under the direct rays of the sun. I had at last +to stop him by taking the spare paddle off the outrigger and sticking it +in the ground--depth, perhaps two feet--width of the bay, say three +miles. At last I bid him land me and my mother and go back for the other +ladies. "The coast is so rugged," said Sale.--"What?" I said, "all +these villages and no landing-place?"--"Such is the nature of Samoans," +said he. Well, I'll find a landing-place, I thought; and presently I +said, "Now we are going to land there."--"We can but try," said the +bland Sale, with resignation. Never saw a better landing-place in my +life. Here the boat joined us. My mother and Sale continued in the canoe +alone, and Belle and I and Tauilo set off on foot for Malie. Tauilo was +about the size of both of us put together and a piece over; she used us +like a nurse with children. I had started barefoot; Belle had soon to +pull off her gala shoes and stockings; the mud was as deep as to our +knees, and so slippery that (moving, as we did, in Indian file, between +dense scratching tufts of sensitive) Belle and I had to take hands to +support each other, and Tauilo was steadying Belle from the rear. You +can conceive we were got up to kill, Belle in an embroidered white dress +and white hat, I in a suit of Bedford cords hot from the Sydney tailors; +and conceive us, below, ink-black to the knees with adhesive clay, and +above, streaming with heat. I suppose it was better than three miles, +but at last we made the end of Malie. I asked if we could find no water +to wash our feet; and our nursemaid guided us to a pool. We sat down on +the pool side, and our nursemaid washed our feet and legs for us--ladies +first, I suppose out of a sudden respect to the insane European fancies: +such a luxury as you can scarce imagine. I felt a new man after it. But +before we got to the King's house we were sadly muddied once more. It +was 1 P.M. when we arrived, the canoe having beaten us by about five +minutes, so we made fair time over our bog-holes. + +But the war dances were over, and we came in time to see only the tail +end (some two hours) of the food presentation. In Mataafa's house three +chairs were set for us covered with fine mats. Of course, a native house +without the blinds down is like a verandah. All the green in front was +surrounded with sheds, some of flapping canvas, some of green palm +boughs, where (in three sides of a huge oblong) the natives sat by +villages in a fine glow of many-hued array. There were folks in tapa, +and folks in patchwork; there was every colour of the rainbow in a spot +or a cluster; there were men with their heads gilded with powdered +sandal-wood, others with heads all purple, stuck full of the petals of a +flower. In the midst there was a growing field of outspread food, +gradually covering acres; the gifts were brought in, now by chanting +deputations, now by carriers in a file; they were brandished aloft and +reclaimed over, with polite sacramental exaggerations, by the official +receiver. He, a stalwart, well-oiled quadragenarian, shone with sweat +from his exertions, brandishing cooked pigs. At intervals, from one of +the squatted villages, an orator would arise. The field was almost +beyond the reach of any human speaking voice; the proceedings besides +continued in the midst; yet it was possible to catch snatches of this +elaborate and cut-and-dry oratory--it was possible for me, for instance, +to catch the description of my gift and myself as the _alii Tusitala, O +le alii o malo tetele_--the chief Write Information, the chief of the +great Governments. Gay designation? In the house, in our three curule +chairs, we sat and looked on. On our left a little group of the family. +In front of us, at our feet, an ancient Talking-man, crowned with green +leaves, his profile almost exactly Dante's; Popo his name. He had +worshipped idols in his youth; he had been full grown before the first +missionary came hither from Tahiti; this makes him over eighty. Near by +him sat his son and colleague. In the group on our left, his little +grandchild sat with her legs crossed and her hands turned, the model +already (at some three years old) of Samoan etiquette. Still further off +to our right, Mataafa sat on the ground through all the business; and +still I saw his lips moving, and the beads of his rosary slip stealthily +through his hand. We had kava, and the King's drinking was hailed by the +Popos (father and son) with a singular ululation, perfectly new to my +ears; it means, to the expert, "Long live Tuiatua"; to the inexpert, is +a mere voice of barbarous wolves. We had dinner, retired a bit behind +the central pillar of the house; and, when the King was done eating, the +ululation was repeated. I had my eyes on Mataafa's face, and I saw pride +and gratified ambition spring to life there and be instantly sucked in +again. It was the first time, since the difference with Laupepa, that +Popo and his son had openly joined him, and given him the due cry as +Tuiatua--one of the eight royal names of the islands, as I hope you will +know before this reaches you. + +Not long after we had dined, the food-bringing was over. The gifts +(carefully noted and tallied as they came in) were now announced by a +humorous orator, who convulsed the audience, introducing singing notes, +now on the name of the article, now on the number; six thousand odd +heads of taro, three hundred and nineteen cooked pigs; and one thing +that particularly caught me (by good luck), a single turtle "for the +king"--_le tasi mo le tupu_. Then came one of the strangest sights I +have yet witnessed. The two most important persons there (bar Mataafa) +were Popo and his son. They rose, holding their long shod rods of +talking men, passed forth from the house, broke into a strange dance, +the father capering with outstretched arms and rod, the son crouching +and gambolling beside him in a manner indescribable, and presently began +to extend the circle of this dance among the acres of cooked food. +_Whatever they leaped over, whatever they called for, became theirs._ To +see mediaeval Dante thus demean himself struck a kind of a chill of +incongruity into our Philistine souls; but even in a great part of the +Samoan concourse, these antique and (I understand) quite local manners +awoke laughter. One of my biscuit tins and a live calf were among the +spoils he claimed, but the large majority of the cooked food (having +once proved his dignity) he re-presented to the king. + +Then came the turn of _le alii Tusitala_. He would not dance, but he +was given--five live hens, four gourds of oil, four fine tapas, a +hundred heads of taro, two cooked pigs, a cooked shark, two or three +cocoanut branches strung with kava, and the turtle, who soon after +breathed his last, I believe, from sunstroke. It was a royal present for +"the chief of the great powers." I should say the gifts were, on the +proper signal, dragged out of the field of food by a troop of young men, +all with their lava-lavas kilted almost into a loin-cloth. The art is to +swoop on the food-field, pick up with unerring swiftness the right +things and quantities, swoop forth again on the open, and separate, +leaving the gifts in a new pile: so you may see a covey of birds in a +corn-field. This reminds me of a very inhumane but beautiful passage I +had forgotten in its place. The gift-giving was still in full swing, +when there came a troop of some ninety men all in tapa lava-lavas of a +purplish colour; they paused, and of a sudden there went up from them +high into the air a flight of live chickens, which, as they came down +again, were sent again into the air, for perhaps a minute, from the +midst of a singular turmoil of flying arms and shouting voices; I assure +you, it was very beautiful to see, but how many chickens were killed? + +No sooner was my food set out than I was to be going. I had a little +serious talk with Mataafa on the floor, and we went down to the boat, +where we got our food aboard, such a cargo--like the Swiss Family +Robinson, we said. However, a squall began, Tauilo refused to let us go, +and we came back to the house for half an hour or so, when my ladies +distinguished themselves by walking through a Fono (council), my mother +actually taking up a position between Mataafa and Popo! It was about +five when we started--turtle, pigs, taro, etc., my mother, Belle, +myself, Tauilo, a portly friend of hers with the voice of an angel, and +a pronunciation so delicate and true that you could follow Samoan as she +sang, and the two tired boys Frank and Jimmie, with the two bad oars and +the two slippery rowlocks to impel the whole. Sale Taylor took the +canoe and a strong Samoan to paddle him. Presently after he went +inshore, and passed us a little after, with his arms folded, and _two_ +strong Samoans impelling him Apia-ward. This was too much for Belle, who +hailed, taunted him, and made him return to the boat with one of the +Samoans, setting Jimmie instead in the canoe. Then began our torment, +Sale and the Samoan took the oars, sat on the same thwart (where they +could get no swing on the boat had they tried), and deliberately ladled +at the lagoon. We lay enchanted. Night fell; there was a light visible +on shore; it did not move. The two women sang, Belle joining them in the +hymns she has learned at family worship. Then a squall came up; we sat a +while in roaring midnight under rivers of rain, and, when it blew by, +there was the light again, immovable. A second squall followed, one of +the worst I was ever out in; we could scarce catch our breath in the +cold, dashing deluge. When it went, we were so cold that the water in +the bottom of the boat (which I was then baling) seemed like a warm +footbath in comparison, and Belle and I, who were still barefoot, were +quite restored by laving in it. + +All this time I had kept my temper, and refrained as far as might be +from any interference, for I saw (in our friend's mulish humour) he +always contrived to twist it to our disadvantage. But now came the acute +point. Young Frank now took an oar. He was a little fellow, near as +frail as myself, and very short; if he weighed nine stone, it was the +outside; but his blood was up. He took stroke, moved the big Samoan +forward to bow, and set to work to pull him round in fine style. +Instantly, a kind of race competition--almost race hatred--sprang up. We +jeered the Samoan. Sale declared it was the trim of the boat; "if this +lady was aft" (Tauilo's portly friend) "he would row round Frank." We +insisted on her coming aft, and Frank still rowed round the Samoan. When +the Samoan caught a crab (the thing was continual with these wretched +oars and rowlocks), _we_ shouted and jeered; when Frank caught one, Sale +and the Samoan jeered and yelled. But anyway the boat moved, and +presently we got up with Mulinuu, where I finally lost my temper, when I +found that Sale proposed to go ashore and make a visit--in fact, we all +three did. It is not worth while going into, but I must give you one +snatch of the subsequent conversation as we pulled round Apia bay. "This +Samoan," said Sale, "received seven German bullets in the field of +Fangalii." "I am delighted to hear it," said Belle. "His brother was +killed there," pursued Sale; and Belle, prompt as an echo, "Then there +are no more of the family? how delightful!" Sale was sufficiently +surprised to change the subject; he began to praise Frank's rowing with +insufferable condescension: "But it is after all not to be wondered at," +said he, "because he has been for some time a sailor. My good man, is it +three or five years that you have been to sea?" And Frank, in a defiant +shout: "Two!" Whereupon, so high did the ill-feeling run, that we three +clapped and applauded and shouted, so that the President (whose house we +were then passing) doubtless started at the sounds. It was nine when we +got to the hotel; at first no food was to be found, but we skirmished up +some bread and cheese and beer and brandy; and (having changed our wet +clothes for the rather less wet in our bags) supped on the verandah. + +On Saturday, 28th, I was wakened about 6.30, long past my usual hour, by +a benevolent passer-by. My turtle lay on the verandah at my door, and +the man woke me to tell me it was dead, as it had been when we put it on +board the day before. All morning I ran the gauntlet of men and women +coming up to me: "Mr. Stevenson, your turtle is dead." I gave half of it +to the hotel keeper, so that his cook should cut it up; and we got a +damaged shell, and two splendid meals, beefsteak one day and soup the +next. The horses came for us about 9.30. It was waterspouting; we were +drenched before we got out of the town; the road was a fine going +Highland trout stream; it thundered deep and frequent, and my mother's +horse would not better on a walk. At last she took pity on us, and very +nobly proposed that Belle and I should ride ahead. We were mighty glad +to do so, for we were cold. Presently, I said I should ride back for my +mother, but it thundered again; Belle is afraid of thunder, and I +decided to see her through the forest before I returned for my other +hen--I may say, my other wet hen. About the middle of the wood, where it +is roughest and steepest, we met three pack-horses with barrels of +lime-juice. I piloted Belle past these--it is not very easy in such a +road--and then passed them again myself, to pilot my mother. This +effected, it began to thunder again, so I rode on hard after Belle. When +I caught up with her, she was singing Samoan hymns to support her +terrors! We were all back, changed, and at table by lunch time, 11 A.M. +Nor have any of us been the worse for it sin-syne. That is pretty good +for a woman of my mother's age and an invalid of my standing; above all, +as Tauilo was laid up with a bad cold, probably increased by rage. + +_Friday, 3rd June._--On Wednesday the club could not be held, and I must +ride down town and to and fro all afternoon delivering messages, then +dined and rode up by the young moon. I had plenty news when I got back; +there is great talk in town of my deportation: it is thought they have +written home to Downing Street requesting my removal, which leaves me +not much alarmed; what I do rather expect is that H. J. Moors and I may +be haled up before the C. J. to stand a trial for _lese_-majesty. Well, +we'll try and live it through. + +The rest of my history since Monday has been unadulterated _David +Balfour_. In season and out of season, night and day, David and his +innocent harem--let me be just, he never has more than the two--are on +my mind. Think of David Balfour with a pair of fair ladies--very nice +ones too--hanging round him. I really believe David is as good a +character as anybody has a right to ask for in a novel. I have finished +drafting Chapter XX. to-day, and feel it all ready to froth when the +spigot is turned. + +O, I forgot--and do forget. What did I mean? A waft of cloud has fallen +on my mind, and I will write no more. + +_Wednesday, I believe, 8th June._--Lots of David, and lots of David, and +the devil any other news. Yesterday we were startled by great guns +firing a salute, and to-day Whitmee (missionary) rode up to lunch, and +we learned it was the _Curacoa_ come in, the ship (according to rumour) +in which I was to be deported. I went down to meet my fate, and the +captain is to dine with me Saturday, so I guess I am not going this +voyage. Even with the particularity with which I write to you, how much +of my life goes unexpressed; my troubles with a madman by the name of +----, a genuine living lunatic, I believe, and jolly dangerous; my +troubles about poor ----, all these have dropped out; yet for moments +they were very instant, and one of them is always present with me. + +I have finished copying Chapter XXI. of David--"_solus cum sola_; we +travel together." Chapter XXII., "_Solus cum sola_; we keep house +together," is already drafted. To the end of XXI. makes more than 150 +pages of my manuscript--damn this hair--and I only designed the book to +run to about 200; but when you introduce the female sect, a book does +run away with you. I am very curious to see what you will think of my +two girls. My own opinion is quite clear; I am in love with both. I +foresee a few pleasant years of spiritual flirtations. The creator (if I +may name myself, for the sake of argument, by such a name) is +essentially unfaithful. For the duration of the two chapters in which I +dealt with Miss Grant, I totally forgot my heroine, and even--but this +is a flat secret--tried to win away David. I think I must try some day +to marry Miss Grant. I'm blest if I don't think I've got that hair out! +which seems triumph enough; so I conclude. + +_Tuesday._--Your infinitesimal correspondence has reached me, and I have +the honour to refer to it with scorn. It contains only one statement of +conceivable interest, that your health is better; the rest is null, and +so far as disquisitory unsound. I am all right, but David Balfour is +ailing; this came from my visit to the man-of-war, where I had a cup of +tea, and the most of that night walked the verandah with extraordinary +convictions of guilt and ruin, many of which (but not all) proved to +have fled with the day, taking David along with them; he R.I.P. in +Chapter XXII. + +On Saturday I went down to the town, and fetched up Captain Gibson to +dinner; Sunday I was all day at Samoa, and had a pile of visitors. +Yesterday got my mail, including your despicable sheet; was fooled with +a visit from the high chief Asi, went down at 4 P.M. to my Samoan lesson +from Whitmee--I think I shall learn from him, he does not fool me with +cockshot rules that are demolished next day, but professes ignorance +like a man; the truth is, the grammar has still to be expiscated--dined +with Haggard, and got home about nine. + +_Wednesday._--The excellent Clarke up here almost all day yesterday, a +man I esteem and like to the soles of his boots; I prefer him to any one +in Samoa, and to most people in the world; a real good missionary, with +the inestimable advantage of having grown up a layman. Pity they all +can't get that! It recalls my old proposal, which delighted Lady Taylor +so much, that every divinity student should be thirty years old at least +before he was admitted. Boys switched out of college into a pulpit, what +chance have they? That any should do well amazes me, and the most are +just what was to be expected. + +_Saturday._--I must tell you of our feast. It was long promised to the +boys, and came off yesterday in one of their new houses. My good Simele +arrived from Savaii that morning asking for political advice; then we +had Tauilo; Elena's father, a talking man of Tauilo's family; Talolo's +cousin; and a boy of Simele's family, who attended on his dignity; then +Metu, the meat-man--you have never heard of him, but he is a great +person in our household--brought a lady and a boy--and there was another +infant--eight guests in all. And we sat down thirty strong. You should +have seen our procession, going (about two o'clock), all in our best +clothes, to the hall of feasting! All in our Sunday's best. The new +house had been hurriedly finished; the rafters decorated with flowers; +the floor spread, native style, with green leaves; we had given a big +porker, twenty-five pounds of fresh beef, a tin of biscuit, cocoanuts, +etc. Our places were all arranged with much care; the native ladies of +the house facing our party; the sides filled up by the men; the guests, +please observe: the two chief people, male and female, were placed with +our family, the rest between S. and the native ladies. After the feast +was over, we had kava, and the calling of the kava was a very elaborate +affair, and I thought had like to have made Simele very angry; he is +really a considerable chief, but he and Tauilo were not called till +after all our family, _and the guests_, I suppose the principle being +that he was still regarded as one of the household. I forgot to say that +our black boy did not turn up when the feast was ready. Off went the two +cooks, found him, decorated him with huge red hibiscus flowers--he was +in a very dirty undershirt--brought him back between them like a +reluctant maid, and thrust him into a place between Faauma and Elena, +where he was petted and ministered to. When his turn came in the kava +drinking--and you may be sure, in their contemptuous, affectionate +kindness for him, as for a good dog, it came rather earlier than it +ought--he was cried under a new name. _Aleki_ is what they make of his +own name Arrick; but instead of {the cup of / "le ipu a} Aleki!" it was +called "le ipu a _Vailima_," and it was explained that he had "taken his +chief-name"! a jest at which the plantation still laughs. Kava done, I +made a little speech, Henry translating. If I had been well, I should +have alluded to all, but I was scarce able to sit up; so only alluded to +my guest of all this month, the Tongan, Tomas, and to Simele, partly for +the jest of making him translate compliments to himself. The talking man +replied with many handsome compliments to me, in the usual flood of +Samoan fluent neatness; and we left them to an afternoon of singing and +dancing. Must stop now, as my right hand is very bad again. I am trying +to write with my left. + +_Sunday._--About half-past eight last night, I had gone to my own room, +Fanny and Lloyd were in Fanny's, every one else in bed, only two boys on +the premises--the two little brown boys Mitaiele (Michael), age I +suppose 11 or 12, and the new steward, a Wallis islander, speaking no +English and about fifty words of Samoan, recently promoted from the bush +work, and a most good, anxious, timid lad of 15 or 16--looks like 17 or +18, of course--they grow fast here. In comes Mitaiele to Lloyd, and told +some rigmarole about Paatalise (the steward's name) wanting to go and +see his family in the bush.--"But he has no family in the bush," said +Lloyd. "No," said Mitaiele. They went to the boy's bed (they sleep in +the walled-in compartment of the verandah, once my dressing-room) and +called at once for me. He lay like one asleep, talking in drowsy tones +but without excitement, and at times "cheeping" like a frightened mouse; +he was quite cool to the touch, and his pulse not fast; his breathing +seemed wholly ventral; the bust still, the belly moving strongly. +Presently he got from his bed, and ran for the door, with his head down +not three feet from the floor and his body all on a stretch forward, +like a striking snake: I say "ran," but this strange movement was not +swift. Lloyd and I mastered him and got him back in bed. Soon there was +another and more desperate attempt to escape, in which Lloyd had his +ring broken. Then we bound him to the bed humanely with sheets, ropes, +boards, and pillows. He lay there and sometimes talked, sometimes +whispered, sometimes wept like an angry child; his principal word was +"Faamolemole"--"Please"--and he kept telling us at intervals that his +family were calling him. During this interval, by the special grace of +God, my boys came home; we had already called in Arrick, the black boy; +now we had that Hercules, Lafaele, and a man Savea, who comes from +Paatalise's own island and can alone communicate with him freely. Lloyd +went to bed, I took the first watch, and sat in my room reading, while +Lafaele and Arrick watched the madman. Suddenly Arrick called me; I ran +into the verandah; there was Paatalise free of all his bonds and Lafaele +holding him. To tell what followed is impossible. We were five people at +him--Lafaele and Savea, very strong men, Lloyd, I and Arrick, and the +struggle lasted until 1 A.M. before we had him bound. One detail for a +specimen: Lloyd and I had charge of one leg, we were both sitting on it +and lo! we were both tossed into the air--I, I dare say, a couple of +feet. At last we had him spread-eagled to the iron bedstead, by his +wrists and ankles, with matted rope; a most inhumane business, but what +could we do? it was all we could do to manage it even so. The strength +of the paroxysms had been steadily increasing, and we trembled for the +next. And now I come to pure Rider Haggard. Lafaele announced that the +boy was very bad, and he would get "some medicine" which was a family +secret of his own. Some leaves were brought mysteriously in; chewed, +placed on the boy's eyes, dropped in his ears (see _Hamlet_) and stuck +up his nostrils; as he did this, the weird doctor partly smothered the +patient with his hand; and by about 2 A.M. he was in a deep sleep, and +from that time he showed no symptom of dementia whatever. The medicine +(says Lafaele) is principally used for the wholesale slaughter of +families; he himself feared last night that his dose was fatal; only one +other person, on this island, knows the secret; and she, Lafaele darkly +whispers, has abused it. This remarkable tree we must try to identify. + +The man-of-war doctor came up to-day, gave us a strait-waistcoat, taught +us to bandage, examined the boy and saw he was apparently well--he +insisted on doing his work all morning, poor lad, and when he first came +down kissed all the family at breakfast! The doctor was greatly excited, +as may be supposed, about Lafaele's medicine. + +_Tuesday._--All yesterday writing my mail by the hand of Belle, to save +my wrist. This is a great invention, to which I shall stick, if it can +be managed. We had some alarm about Paatalise, but he slept well all +night for a benediction. This lunatic asylum exercise has no attractions +for any of us. + +I don't know if I remembered to say how much pleased I was with _Across +the Plains_ in every way, inside and out, and you and me. The critics +seem to taste it, too, as well as could be hoped, and I believe it will +continue to bring me in a few shillings a year for a while. But such +books pay only indirectly. + +To understand the full horror of the mad scene, and how well my boys +behaved, remember that they _believed P.'s ravings_, they _knew_ that +his dead family, thirty strong, crowded the front verandah and called on +him to come to the other world. They _knew_ that his dead brother had +met him that afternoon in the bush and struck him on both temples. And +remember! we are fighting the dead, and they had to go out again in the +black night, which is the dead man's empire. Yet last evening, when I +thought P. was going to repeat the performance, I sent down for Lafaele, +who had leave of absence, and he and his wife came up about eight +o'clock with a lighted brand. These are the things for which I have to +forgive my old cattle-man his manifold shortcomings; they are heroic--so +are the shortcomings, to be sure. + +It came over me the other day suddenly that this diary of mine to you +would make good pickings after I am dead, and a man could make some kind +of a book out of it without much trouble. So, for God's sake, don't lose +them, and they will prove a piece of provision for my "poor old family," +as Simele calls it. + +About my coming to Europe, I get more and more doubtful, and rather +incline to Ceylon again as place of meeting. I am so absurdly well here +in the tropics, that it seems like affectation. Yet remember I have +never once stood Sydney. Anyway, I shall have the money for it all +ahead, before I think of such a thing. + +We had a bowl of punch on your birthday, which my incredible mother +somehow knew and remembered. + +By the time you receive this, my Samoan book will I suppose be out and +the worst known. If I am burned in effigy for it no more need be said; +if on the other hand I get off cheap with the authorities, this is to +say that, supposing a vacancy to occur, I would condescend to accept the +office of H.B.M.'s consul with parts, pendicles and appurtenances. There +is a very little work to do except some little entertaining, to which I +am bound to say my family and in particular the amanuensis who now +guides the pen look forward with delight; I with manly resignation. The +real reasons for the step would be three: 1st, possibility of being able +to do some good, or at least certainty of not being obliged to stand +always looking on helplessly at what is bad: 2nd, larks for the family: +3rd, and perhaps not altogether least, a house in town and a boat and a +boat's crew.[44] + +But I find I have left out another reason: 4th, growing desire on the +part of the old man virulent for anything in the nature of a +salary--years seem to invest that idea with new beauty. + +I sometimes sit and yearn for anything in the nature of an income that +would come in--mine has all got to be gone and fished for with the +immortal mind of man. What I want is the income that really comes in of +itself while all you have to do is just to blossom and exist and sit on +chairs. Think how beautiful it would be not to have to mind the critics, +and not even the darkest of the crowd--Sidney Colvin. I should probably +amuse myself with works that would make your hair curl, if you had any +left. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO T. W. DOVER + + + Stevenson's correspondent in this case is an artisan, who had been + struck by the truth of a remark in his essay on _Beggars_ that it is + only or mainly the poor who habitually give to the poor; and who + wrote to ask whether it was from experience that Stevenson knew this. + + _Vailima Plantation, Upolu, Samoa, June 20th, 1892._ + +SIR,--In reply to your very interesting letter, I cannot fairly say that +I have ever been poor, or known what it was to want a meal. I have been +reduced, however, to a very small sum of money, with no apparent +prospect of increasing it; and at that time I reduced myself to +practically one meal a day, with the most disgusting consequences to my +health. At this time I lodged in the house of a working-man, and +associated much with others. At the same time, from my youth up, I have +always been a good deal and rather intimately thrown among the +working-classes, partly as a civil engineer in out-of-the-way places, +partly from a strong and, I hope, not ill-favoured sentiment of +curiosity. But the place where, perhaps, I was most struck with the fact +upon which you comment was the house of a friend, who was exceedingly +poor, in fact, I may say destitute, and who lived in the attic of a very +tall house entirely inhabited by persons in varying stages of poverty. +As he was also in ill-health, I made a habit of passing my afternoon +with him, and when there it was my part to answer the door. The steady +procession of people begging, and the expectant and confident manner in +which they presented themselves, struck me more and more daily; and I +could not but remember with surprise that though my father lived but a +few streets away in a fine house, beggars scarce came to the door once a +fortnight or a month. From that time forward I made it my business to +inquire, and in the stories which I am very fond of hearing from all +sorts and conditions of men, learned that in the time of their distress +it was always from the poor they sought assistance, and almost always +from the poor they got it. + +Trusting I have now satisfactorily answered your question, which I thank +you for asking, I remain, with sincere compliments, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO E. L. BURLINGAME + + + _Vailima, Summer 1892._ + +MY DEAR BURLINGAME,--First of all, _you have all the corrections on The +Wrecker_. I found I had made what I meant and forgotten it, and was so +careless as not to tell you. + +Second, of course, and by all means, charge corrections on the Samoa +book to me; but there are not near so many as I feared. The Lord hath +dealt bountifully with me, and I believe all my advisers were amazed to +see how nearly correct I had got the truck, at least I was. With this +you will receive the whole revise and a type-written copy of the last +chapter. And the thing now is Speed, to catch a possible revision of the +treaty. I believe Cassells are to bring it out, but Baxter knows, and +the thing has to be crammed through _prestissimo, a la chasseur_. + +You mention the belated Barbeys; what about the equally belated Pineros? +And I hope you will keep your bookshop alive to supplying me +continuously with the _Saga Library_. I cannot get enough of _Sagas_; I +wish there were nine thousand; talk about realism! + +All seems to flourish with you; I also prosper; none the less for being +quit of that abhorred task, Samoa. I could give a supper party here were +there any one to sup. Never was such a disagreeable task, but the thing +had to be told.... + +There, I trust I am done with this cursed chapter of my career, bar the +rotten eggs and broken bottles that may follow, of course. Pray +remember, speed is now all that can be asked, hoped, or wished. I give +up all hope of proofs, revises, proof of the map, or sic like; and you +on your side will try to get it out as reasonably seemly as may be. + +Whole Samoa book herewith. Glory be to God.--Yours very sincerely, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + The following consists of scraps merely, taken from a letter almost + entirely occupied with private family affairs. + + _[Vailima] Saturday, 2nd July 1892._ + +The character of my handwriting is explained, alas! by scrivener's +cramp. This also explains how long I have let the paper lie plain. + +1 P.M.--I was busy copying _David Balfour_ with my left hand--a most +laborious task--Fanny was down at the native house superintending the +floor, Lloyd down in Apia, and Belle in her own house cleaning, when I +heard the latter calling on my name. I ran out on the verandah; and +there on the lawn beheld my crazy boy with an axe in his hand and +dressed out in green ferns, dancing. I ran downstairs and found all my +house boys on the back verandah, watching him through the dining-room. I +asked what it meant?--"Dance belong his place," they said.--"I think +this no time to dance," said I. "Has he done his work?"--"No," they told +me, "away bush all morning." But there they all stayed on the back +verandah. I went on alone through the dining-room, and bade him stop. He +did so, shouldered the axe, and began to walk away; but I called him +back, walked up to him, and took the axe out of his unresisting hands. +The boy is in all things so good, that I can scarce say I was afraid; +only I felt it had to be stopped ere he could work himself up by dancing +to some craziness. Our house boys protested they were not afraid; all I +know is they were all watching him round the back door and did not +follow me till I had the axe. As for the out boys, who were working with +Fanny in the native house, they thought it a very bad business, and made +no secret of their fears. + +_Wednesday, 6th._--I have no account to give of my stewardship these +days, and there's a day more to account for than mere arithmetic would +tell you. For we have had two Monday Fourths, to bring us at last on the +right side of the meridian, having hitherto been an exception in the +world and kept our private date. Business has filled my hours sans +intermission. + +_Tuesday, 12th._--I am doing no work and my mind is in abeyance. Fanny +and Belle are sewing-machining in the next room; I have been pulling +down their hair, and Fanny has been kicking me, and now I am driven out. +Austin I have been chasing about the verandah; now he has gone to his +lessons, and I make believe to write to you in despair. But there is +nothing in my mind; I swim in mere vacancy, my head is like a rotten +nut; I shall soon have to begin to work again or I shall carry away some +part of the machinery. I have got your insufficient letter, for which I +scorn to thank you. I have had no review by Gosse, none by Birrell; +another time, if I have a letter in the Times, you might send me the +text as well; also please send me a cricket bat and a cake, and when I +come home for the holidays, I should like to have a pony.--I am, sir, +your obedient servant, + + JACOB TONSON. + +_P.S._--I am quite well; I hope you are quite well. The world is too +much with us, and my mother bids me bind my hair and lace my bodice +blue. + + + + +TO CHARLES BAXTER + + + _Vailima Plantation, Upolu, Samoan Islands, 18th July 1892._ + +MY DEAR CHARLES,-- ... I have been now for some time contending with +powers and principalities, and I have never once seen one of my own +letters to the Times. So when you see something in the papers that you +think might interest the exiles of Upolu, do not think twice, out with +your saxpence, and send it flying to Vailima. Of what you say of the +past, eh, man, it was a queer time, and awful miserable, but there's no +sense in denying it was awful fun. Do you mind the youth in highland +garb and the tableful of coppers? Do you mind the SIGNAL of Waterloo +Place?--Hey, how the blood stands to the heart at such a memory!--Hae ye +the notes o't? Gie's them.--Gude's sake, man, gie's the notes o't; I +mind ye made a tuene o't an' played it on your pinanny; gie's the notes. +Dear Lord, that past. + +Glad to hear Henley's prospects are fair: his new volume is the work of +a real poet. He is one of those who can make a noise of his own with +words, and in whom experience strikes an individual note. There is +perhaps no more genuine poet living, bar the Big Guns. In case I cannot +overtake an acknowledgment to himself by this mail, please let him hear +of my pleasure and admiration. How poorly Kipling compares! He is all +smart journalism and cleverness: it is all bright and shallow and +limpid, like a business paper--a good one, _s'entend_; but there is no +blot of heart's blood and the Old Night: there are no harmonics, there +is scarce harmony to his music; and in Henley--all of these; a touch, a +sense within sense, a sound outside the sound, the shadow of the +inscrutable, eloquent beyond all definition. The First London Voluntary +knocked me wholly.--Ever yours affectionately, my dear Charles, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + +Kind memories to your father and all friends. + + + + +TO W. E. HENLEY + + + _Vailima Plantation, Upolu, Samoa, August 1st, 1892._ + +MY DEAR HENLEY,--It is impossible to let your new volume pass in +silence. I have not received the same thrill of poetry since G. M.'s +_Joy of Earth_ volume and _Love in a Valley_; and I do not know that +even that was so intimate and deep. Again and again, I take the book +down, and read, and my blood is fired as it used to be in youth. +_Andante con moto_ in the _Voluntaries_, and the thing about the trees +at night (No. XXIV. I think) are up to date my favourites. I did not +guess you were so great a magician; these are new tunes, this is an +undertone of the true Apollo; these are not verse, they are +poetry--inventions, creations, in language. I thank you for the joy you +have given me, and remain your old friend and present huge admirer, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + +The hand is really the hand of Esau, but under a course of threatened +scrivener's cramp. + +For the next edition of the Book of Verses, pray accept an emendation. +Last three lines of Echoes No. XLIV. read-- + + "But life in act? How should the grave + Be victor over these, + Mother, a mother of men?" + +The two vocatives scatter the effect of this inimitable close. If you +insist on the longer line, equip "grave" with an epithet. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO E. L. BURLINGAME + + + Accompanying the MS. of the article giving extracts from the record + kept by Robert Stevenson the elder of the trip on which Sir Walter + Scott sailed in his company on board the Northern Lights yacht: + printed in Scribner's Magazine, 1893. + + _Vailima, Upolu, August 1st, '92._ + +MY DEAR BURLINGAME,--Herewith _My Grandfather_. I have had rather a bad +time suppressing the old gentleman, who was really in a very garrulous +stage; as for getting him _in order_, I could do but little towards +that; however, there are one or two points of interest which may justify +us in printing. The swinging of his stick and not knowing the sailor of +Coruiskin, in particular, and the account of how he wrote the lives in +the Bell Book particularly please me. I hope my own little introduction +is not egoistic; or rather I do not care if it is. It was that old +gentleman's blood that brought me to Samoa. + +By the by, vols. vii., viii., and ix. of Adams's _History_ have never +come to hand; no more have the dictionaries. + +Please send me _Stonehenge on the Horse_, _Stories and Interludes_ by +Barry Pain, and _Edinburgh Sketches and Memoirs_ by David Masson. _The +Wrecker_ has turned up. So far as I have seen, it is very satisfactory, +but on pp. 548, 549, there has been a devil of a miscarriage. The two +Latin quotations instead of following each other being separated +(doubtless for printing considerations) by a line of prose. My +compliments to the printers; there is doubtless such a thing as good +printing, but there is such a thing as good sense. + +The sequel to _Kidnapped_, _David Balfour_ by name, is about +three-quarters done and gone to press for serial publication. By what I +can find out it ought to be through hand with that and ready for volume +form early next spring.--Yours very sincerely, + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO ANDREW LANG + + + Mr. Andrew Lang had been supplying Stevenson with some books and + historical references for his proposed novel _The Young Chevalier_. + + [_Vailima, August 1892._] + +MY DEAR LANG,--I knew you would prove a trusty purveyor. The books you +have sent are admirable. I got the name of my hero out of Brown--Blair +of Balmyle--Francie Blair. But whether to call the story _Blair of +Balmyle_, or whether to call it _The Young Chevalier_, I have not yet +decided. The admirable Cameronian tract--perhaps you will think this a +cheat--is to be boned into _David Balfour_, where it will fit better, +and really furnishes me with a desired foothold over a boggy place. + +_Later_; no, it won't go in, and I fear I must give up "the idolatrous +occupant upon the throne," a phrase that overjoyed me beyond expression. +I am in a deuce of a flutter with politics, which I hate, and in which I +certainly do not shine; but a fellow cannot stand aside and look on at +such an exhibition as our government. 'Tain't decent; no gent can hold a +candle to it. But it's a grind to be interrupted by midnight messengers +and pass your days writing proclamations (which are never proclaimed) +and petitions (which ain't petited) and letters to the Times, which it +makes my jaw yawn to re-read, and all your time have your heart with +David Balfour; he has just left Glasgow this morning for Edinburgh, +James More has escaped from the castle; it is far more real to me than +the Behring Sea or the Baring brothers either--he got the news of James +More's escape from the Lord Advocate, and started off straight to +comfort Catriona. You don't know her; she's James More's daughter, and a +respectable young wumman; the Miss Grants think so--the Lord Advocate's +daughters--so there can't be anything really wrong. Pretty soon we all +go to Holland, and be hanged; thence to Dunkirk, and be damned; and the +tale concludes in Paris, and be Poll-parrotted. This is the last +authentic news. You are not a real hard-working novelist; not a +practical novelist; so you don't know the temptation to let your +characters maunder. Dumas did it, and lived. But it is not war; it ain't +sportsmanlike, and I have to be stopping their chatter all the time. +Brown's appendix is great reading. + + My only grief is that I can't + Use the idolatrous occupant. + +Yours ever, + + R. L. S. + +Blessing and praising you for a useful (though idolatrous) occupant of +Kensington. + + + + +TO MISS ADELAIDE BOODLE + + + Samoa and the Samoans for children, continued after an eight months' + pause. + + _Vailima Plantation, Samoan Islands, August 14th, 1892._ + +MY DEAR MISS BOODLE,--The lean man is exceedingly ashamed of himself, +and offers his apologies to the little girls in the cellar just above. +If they will be so good as to knock three times upon the floor, he will +hear it on the other side of his floor, and will understand that he is +forgiven. I believe I got you and the children--or rather left you and +the children--still on the road to the lean man's house. When you get up +there a great part of the forest has been cleared away. It comes back +again pretty quick, though not quite so high; but everywhere, except +where the weeders have been kept busy, young trees have sprouted up, and +the cattle and the horses cannot be seen as they feed. In this clearing +there are two or three houses scattered about, and between the two +biggest I think the little girls in the cellar would first notice a sort +of thing like a gridiron on legs made of logs and wood. Sometimes it +has a flag flying on it made of rags of old clothes. It is a fort (so I +am told) built by the person here who would be much the most interesting +to the girls in the cellar. This is a young gentleman of eleven years of +age answering to the name of Austin. It was after reading a book about +the Red Indians that he thought it more prudent to create this place of +strength. As the Red Indians are in North America, and this fort seems +to me a very useless kind of building, I am anxious to hope that the two +may never be brought together. When Austin is not engaged in building +forts, nor on his lessons, which are just as annoying to him as other +children's lessons are to them, he walks sometimes in the bush, and if +anybody is with him, talks all the time. When he is alone I don't think +he says anything, and I dare say he feels very lonely and frightened, +just as the lean man does, at the queer noises and the endless lines of +the trees. He finds the strangest kinds of seeds, some of them bright +coloured like lollipops, or really like precious stones; some of them in +odd cases like tobacco-pouches. He finds and collects all kinds of +little shells with which the whole ground is scattered, and which, +though they are the shells of land animals like our snails, are nearly +of as many shapes and colours as the shells on our sea-beaches. In the +streams that come running down out of the mountains, and which are all +as clear and bright as mirror glass, he sees eels and little bright fish +that sometimes jump together out of the surface of the brook in a little +knot of silver, and fresh-water prawns which lie close under the stones, +and can be seen looking up at him with eyes of the colour of a jewel. He +sees all kinds of beautiful birds, some of them blue and white, some of +them blue and white and red, and some of them coloured like our pigeons +at home, and these last the little girls in the cellar may like to know +live almost entirely on nutmegs as they fall ripe off the trees. Another +little bird he may sometimes see, as the lean man saw him only this +morning, a little fellow not so big as a man's hand, exquisitely neat, +of a pretty bronze black like ladies' shoes, and who sticks up behind +him (much as a peacock does) his little tail shaped and fluted like a +scallop shell. + +Here are a lot of curious and interesting things that Austin sees round +him every day; and when I was a child at home in the old country I used +to play and pretend to myself that I saw things of the same kind. That +the rooms were full of orange and nutmeg trees, and the cold town +gardens outside the windows were alive with parrots and with lions. What +do the little girls in the cellar think that Austin does? He makes +believe just the other way: he pretends that the strange great trees +with their broad leaves and slab-sided roots are European oaks; and the +places on the road up (where you and I and the little girls in the +cellar have already gone) he calls by old-fashioned, far-away European +names, just as if you were to call the cellar stair and the corner of +the next street--if you could only manage to pronounce the names--Upolu +and Savaii. And so it is with all of us, with Austin and the lean man +and the little girls in the cellar; wherever we are it is but a stage on +the way to somewhere else, and whatever we do, however well we do it, it +is only a preparation to do something else that shall be different. + +But you must not suppose that Austin does nothing but build forts and +walk among the woods and swim in the rivers. On the contrary, he is +sometimes a very busy and useful fellow; and I think the little girls in +the cellar would have admired him very nearly as much as he admired +himself if they had seen him setting off on horseback with his hand on +his hip and his pockets full of letters and orders, at the head of quite +a procession of huge white cart-horses with pack-saddles, and big brown +native men with nothing on but gaudy kilts. Mighty well he managed all +his commissions; and those who saw him ordering and eating his +single-handed luncheon in the queer little Chinese restaurant on the +beach declare he looked as if the place, and the town, and the whole +archipelago belonged to him. But I am not going to let you suppose that +this great gentleman at the head of all his horses and his men, like the +King of France in the old rhyme, would be thought much of a dandy on the +streets of London. On the contrary, if he could be seen there with his +dirty white cap, and his faded purple shirt, and his little brown breeks +that do not reach his knees, and the bare shanks below, and the bare +feet stuck in the stirrup leathers, for he is not quite long enough to +reach the irons, I am afraid the little boys and girls in your part of +the town might feel very much inclined to give him a penny in charity. +So you see that a very, very big man in one place might seem very small +potatoes in another, just as the king's palace here (of which I told you +in my last) would be thought rather a poor place of residence by a +Surrey gipsy. And if you come to that, even the lean man himself, who is +no end of an important person, if he were picked up from the chair where +he is now sitting, and slung down, feet foremost, in the neighbourhood +of Charing Cross, would probably have to escape into the nearest shop, +or take the consequences of being mobbed. And the ladies of his family, +who are very pretty ladies, and think themselves uncommonly well-dressed +for Samoa, would (if the same thing were done to them) be extremely glad +to get into a cab. + +I write to you by the hands of another, because I am threatened again +with scrivener's cramp. My health is beyond reproach; I wish I could say +as much for my wife's, which is far from the thing. Give us some news of +yours, and even when none of us write, do not suppose for a moment that +we are forgetful of our old gamekeeper. Our prettiest walk, an alley of +really beautiful green sward which leads through Fanny's garden to the +river and the bridge and the beginning of the high woods on the +mountain-side, where the Tapu a fafine (or spirit of the land) has her +dwelling, and the work-boys fear to go alone, is called by a name that I +think our gamekeeper has heard before--Adelaide Road. + +With much love from all of us to yourself, and all good wishes for your +future, and the future of the children in the cellar, believe me your +affectionate friend, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + _Vailima [August 1892]._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--You will have no letter at all this month and it is +really not my fault. I have been saving my hand as much as possible for +Davy Balfour; only this morning I was getting on first rate with him, +when about half-past nine there came a prick in the middle of the ball +of my thumb, and I had to take to the left hand and two words a minute. +I fear I slightly exaggerate the speed of my left hand; about a word and +a half in the minute--which is dispiriting to the last degree. Your last +letter with the four excellent reviews and the good news about _The +Wrecker_ was particularly welcome. I have already written to Charles +Baxter about the volume form appearance of _The Beach of Falesa_. In +spite of bad thumbs and other interruptions I hope to send to Baxter by +this mail the whole first part (a good deal more than half) of David +Balfour ready for press. This is pretty satisfactory, and I think ought +to put us beyond the reach of financial catastrophe for the year. + +A cousin of mine, Graham Balfour, arrived along with your last. It was +rather a lark. Fanny, Belle and I stayed down at the hotel two nights +expecting the steamer, and we had seven horses down daily for the party +and the baggage. These were on one occasion bossed by Austin, age +eleven. "I'm afraid I cannot do that now," said he in answer to some +communication, "as I am taking charge of the men here." In the course of +the forenoon he took "his" men to get their lunch, and had his own by +himself at the Chinese restaurant. What a day for a boy. The steamer +came in at last on Saturday morning after breakfast. We three were out +at the place of anchorage in the hotel boat as she came up, spotting +rather anxiously for our guest, whom none of us had ever seen. We chose +out some rather awful cads and tried to make up our mind to them; they +were the least offensive yet observed among an awful crew of cabin +passengers; but when the Simon Pure appeared at last upon the scene he +was as nice a young fellow as you would want. Followed a time of giddy +glory--one crowded hour of glorious life--when I figured about the deck +with attendant shemales in the character of _the_ local celebrity, was +introduced to the least unpresentable of the ruffians on board, dogged +about the deck by a diminutive Hebrew with a Kodak, the click of which +kept time to my progress like a pair of castanets, and filled up in the +Captain's room on iced champagne at 8.30 of God's morning. The Captain +in question, Cap. Morse, is a great South Sea character, like the side +of a house and the green-room of a music-hall, but with all the saving +qualities of the seaman. The celebrity was a great success with this +untutored observer. He was kind enough to announce that he expected +(rather with awe) a much more "thoughtful" person; and I think I pleased +him much with my parting salutation, "Well, Captain, I suppose you and I +are the two most notorious men in the Pacific." I think it will enable +you to see the Captain if I tell you that he recited to us in cold blood +the _words_ of a new comic song; doubtless a tribute to my literary +character. I had often heard of Captain Morse and always had detested +all that I was told, and detested the man in confidence, just as you are +doing; but really he has a wonderful charm of strength, loyalty, and +simplicity. The whole celebrity business was particularly +characteristic; the Captain has certainly never read a word of mine; and +as for the Jew with the Kodak, he had never heard of me till he came on +board. There was a third admirer who sent messages in to the Captain's +cabin asking if the Lion would accept a gift of Webster's _Unabridged_. +I went out to him and signified a manly willingness to accept a gift of +anything. He stood and bowed before me, his eyes danced with excitement. +"Mr. Stevenson," he said and his voice trembled, "your name is very well +known to me. I have been in the publishing line in Canada and I have +handled many of your works for the trade." "Come," I said, "here's +genuine appreciation." + +From this gaudy scene we descended into the hotel boat with our new +second cousin, got to horse and returned to Vailima, passing shot of +Kodak once more on the Nulivae bridge, where the little Jew was posted +with his little Jew wife, each about three feet six in stature and as +vulgar as a lodging house clock. + +We were just writing this when another passenger from the ship arrived +up here at Vailima. This is a nice quiet simple blue-eyed little boy of +Pennsylvania Quaker folk. Threatened with consumption of my sort, he has +been sent here by his doctor on the strength of my case. I am sure if +the case be really parallel he could not have been better done by. As we +had a roast pig for dinner we kept him for that meal; and the rain +coming on just when the moon should have risen kept him again for the +night. So you see it is now to-morrow. + +Graham Balfour the new cousin and Lloyd are away with Clark the +Missionary on a school inspecting _malaga_, really perhaps the prettiest +little bit of opera in real life that can be seen, and made all the +prettier by the actors being children. I have come to a collapse this +morning on D.B.: wrote a chapter one way, half re-copied it in another, +and now stand halting between the two like Buridan's donkey. These sorts +of cruces always are to me the most insoluble, and I should not wonder +if D.B. stuck there for a week or two. This is a bother, for I +understand McClure talks of beginning serial publication in December. If +this could be managed, what with D.B., the apparent success of _The +Wrecker_, _Falesa_, and some little pickings from _Across the +Plains_--not to mention, as quite hopeless, _The History of Samoa_--this +should be rather a profitable year, as it must be owned it has been +rather a busy one. The trouble is, if I miss the December publication, +it may take the devil and all of a time to start another syndicate. I am +really tempted to curse my conscientiousness. If I hadn't recopied Davie +he would now be done and dead and buried; and here I am stuck about the +middle, with an immediate publication threatened and the fear before me +of having after all to scamp the essential business of the end. At the +same time, though I love my Davy, I am a little anxious to get on again +on _The Young Chevalier_. I have in nearly all my works been trying one +racket: to get out the facts of life as clean and naked and sharp as I +could manage it. In this other book I want to try and megilp them +together in an atmosphere of sentiment, and I wonder whether twenty-five +years of life spent in trying this one thing will not make it impossible +for me to succeed in the other. However it is the only way to attempt a +love story. You can't tell any of the facts, and the only chance is to +paint an atmosphere. + +It is a very warm morning--the parrot is asleep on the door (she heard +her name, and immediately awakened)--and my brains are completely addled +by having come to grief over Davy. + +Hurray! a subject discovered! The parrot is a little white cockatoo of +the small variety. It belongs to Belle, whom it guards like a watch dog. +It chanced that when she was sick some months ago I came over and +administered some medicine. Unnecessary to say Belle bleated, whereupon +the parrot bounded upon me and buried his neb in my backside. From that +day on the little wretch attacked me on every possible occasion, usually +from the rear, though she would also follow me along the verandah and as +I went downstairs attack my face. This was far from funny. I am a person +of average courage, but I don't think I was ever more cordially afraid +of anything than of this miserable atomy, and the deuce of it was that I +could not but admire her appalling courage and there was no means of +punishing such a thread-paper creature without destroying it entirely. +Act II. On Graham's arrival I gave him my room and came out to Lloyd's +in the lower floor of Belle's--I beg your pardon--the _parrot's_--house. +The first morning I was to wake Belle early so that breakfast should be +seen to for our guest. It was a mighty pretty dawn, the birds were +singing extraordinary strong, all was peace, and there was the damned +parrot hanging to the knob of Belle's door. Courage, my heart! On I went +and Cockie buried her bill in the joint of my thumb. I believe that Job +would have killed that bird; but I was more happily inspired--I caught +it up and flung it over the verandah as far as I could throw. I must say +it was violently done, and I looked with some anxiety to see in what +state of preservation it would alight. Down it came however on its two +feet, uttered a few oaths in a very modified tone of voice, and set +forth on the return journey to its mansion. Its wings being cut and its +gait in walking having been a circumstance apparently not thoroughly +calculated by its maker, it took about twenty-five minutes to get home +again. Now here is this remarkable point--that bird has never bitten me +since. When I have early breakfast she and the cat come down and join +me, and she sits on the back of my chair. When I am at work with the +door shut she sits outside and demolishes the door with that same beak +which was so recently reddened with my heart's blood--and in the evening +she does her business all over my clothes in the most friendly manner +in the world. I ought to add a word about the parrot and the cat. Three +cats were brought by Belle from Sydney. This one alone remains faithful +and domestic. One of the funniest things I have ever seen was Polly and +Maud over a piece of bacon. Polly stood on one leg, held the bacon in +the other, regarded Maudie with a secret and sinister look and very +slowly and quietly--far too quietly for the word I have to use--gnashed +her bill at her. Maudie came up quite close; there she stuck--she was +afraid to come nearer, to go away she was ashamed; and she assisted at +the final and very deliberate consumption of the bacon, making about as +poor a figure as a cat can make. + +_Next day._--Date totally unknown, or rather it is now known but is +reserved because it would certainly prove inconsistent with dates +previously given. I went down about two o'clock in company with a couple +of chance visitors to Apia. It was smoking hot, not a sign of any wind +and the sun scorching your face. I found the great Haggard in hourly +expectation of Lady Jersey, surrounded by crowds of very indifferent +assistants, and I must honestly say--the only time I ever saw him +so--cross. He directed my attention to all the new paint, his own +handiwork he said, and made me visit the bathroom which he has just +fixed up. I think I never saw a man more miserable and happy at the same +time. Had some hock and a seltzer, went down town, met Fanny and Belle, +and so home in time for a magnificent dinner of prawns and an eel cooked +in oil, both from our own river. + +This morning the overseer--the new overseer Mr. Austin Strong--went down +in charge of the pack-horses and a squad of men, himself riding a white +horse with extreme dignity and what seemed to onlookers a perhaps +somewhat theatrical air of command. He returned triumphantly, all his +commissions apparently executed with success, bringing us a mail--not +your mail, Colonial ways--and the news of Lady Jersey's arrival and +reception among flying flags and banging guns. + +As soon as I had concluded my flattering description of Polly she bit +one of my toes to the blood. But put not your trust in shemales, though +to say the truth she looks more like a Russian colonel. + +_Aug. 15th._--On the Saturday night Fanny and I went down to Haggard's +to dine and be introduced to Lady Jersey. She is there with her daughter +Lady Margaret and her brother Captain Leigh, a very nice kind of +glass-in-his-eye kind of fellow. It is to be presumed I made a good +impression; for the meeting has had a most extraordinary sequel. Fanny +and I slept in Haggard's billiard room, which happens to be Lloyd's +bungalow. In the morning she and I breakfasted in the back parts with +Haggard and Captain Leigh, and it was then arranged that the Captain +should go with us to Malie on the Tuesday under a false name; so that +Government House at Sydney might by no possibility be connected with a +rebel camp. On Sunday afternoon up comes Haggard in a state of huge +excitement: Lady J. insists on going too, in the character of my cousin; +I write her a letter under the name of Miss Amelia Balfour, proposing +the excursion; and this morning up comes a copy of verses from Amelia. I +wrote to Mataafa announcing that I should bring two cousins instead of +one, that the second was a lady, unused to Samoan manners, and it would +be a good thing if she could sleep in another house with Ralala. Sent a +copy of this to Amelia, and at the same time made all arrangements, +dating my letter 1745. We shall go on ahead on the Malie Road; she is to +follow with Haggard and Captain Leigh, and overtake us at the ford of +the Gasi-gasi, whence Haggard will return and the rest of us pursue our +way to the rebeldom. + +This lark is certainly huge. It is all nonsense that it can be +concealed; Miss Amelia Balfour will be at once identified with the Queen +of Sydney, as they call her; and I would not in the least wonder if the +visit proved the signal of war. With this I have no concern, and the +thing wholly suits my book and fits my predilections for Samoa. What a +pity the mail leaves, and I must leave this adventure to be continued in +our next! But I need scarcely say that all this is deadly private--I +expect it all to come out, not without explosion; only it must not be +through me or you. We had a visit yesterday from a person by the name of +Count Nerli, who is said to be a good painter. Altogether the +aristocracy clusters thick about us. In which radiant light, as the mail +must now be really put up, I leave myself until next month,--Yours ever, + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO THE COUNTESS OF JERSEY + + + Following up the last letter, Stevenson here tells the story of the + visit paid to Apia by the Countess of Jersey, who had come over from + Sydney with her brother Captain Leigh and her young daughter Lady + Margaret Villiers. "A warm friendship," writes Lady Jersey, "was the + immediate result; we constantly met, either in the hospitable abode + of our host Mr. Bazett Haggard, or in Mr. Stevenson's delightful + mountain home, and passed many happy hours in riding, walking, and + conversation." The previous letter has shown how it was arranged that + the party should pay a visit of curiosity to the "rebel king," or + more properly the rival claimant to the kingly power, Mataafa, in his + camp at Malie, and how Stevenson at once treated the adventure as a + chapter out of a Waverley novel. "The wife of the new Governor of New + South Wales," writes Lady Jersey on her part, "could not pay such a + visit in her own name, so Mr. Stevenson adopted me as his cousin, + 'Amelia Balfour.' This transparent disguise was congenial to his + romantic instincts, and he writes concerning the arrangements made + for the expedition, carefully dating his letter 'Aug. 14, 1745.'" + + _August 14, 1745._ + +To MISS AMELIA BALFOUR--MY DEAR COUSIN,--We are going an expedition to +leeward on Tuesday morning. If a lady were perhaps to be encountered on +horseback--say, towards the Gasi-gasi river--about six A.M., I think we +should have an episode somewhat after the style of the '45. What a +misfortune, my dear cousin, that you should have arrived while your +cousin Graham was occupying my only guest-chamber--for Osterley Park is +not so large in Samoa as it was at home--but happily our friend Haggard +has found a corner for you! + +The King over the Water--the Gasi-gasi water--will be pleased to see the +clan of Balfour mustering so thick around his standard. + +I have (one serious word) been so lucky as to get a really secret +interpreter, so all is for the best in our little adventure into the +Waverley Novels.--I am, your affectionate cousin, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + +Observe the stealth with which I have blotted my signature, but we must +be political _a outrance_. + + + + +TO THE COUNTESS OF JERSEY + + +MY DEAR COUSIN,--I send for your information a copy of my last letter to +the gentleman in question. 'Tis thought more wise, in consideration of +the difficulty and peril of the enterprise, that we should leave the +town in the afternoon, and by several detachments. If you would start +for a ride with the Master of Haggard and Captain Lockhart of Lee, say +at three o'clock of the afternoon, you would make some rencounters by +the wayside which might be agreeable to your political opinions. All +present will be staunch. + +The Master of Haggard might extend his ride a little, and return through +the marsh and by the nuns' house (I trust that has the proper flavour), +so as a little to diminish the effect of separation.--I remain your +affectionate cousin to command, + + O TUSITALA. + +_P.S._--It is to be thought this present year of grace will be +historical. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + This letter tells without preface the story of the expedition planned + in the preceding. + + [_Vailima, August 1892._] + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--This is Friday night, the (I believe) 18th or 20th +August or September. I shall probably regret to-morrow having written +you with my own hand like the Apostle Paul. But I am alone over here in +the workman's house, where I and Belle and Lloyd and Austin are pigging; +the rest are at cards in the main residence. I have not joined them +because "belly belong me" has been kicking up, and I have just taken 15 +drops of laudanum. + +On Tuesday, the party set out--self in white cap, velvet coat, cords and +yellow half boots, Belle in a white kind of suit and white cap to match +mine, Lloyd in white clothes and long yellow boots and a straw hat, +Graham in khakis and gaiters, Henry (my old overseer) in blue coat and +black kilt, and the great Lafaele with a big ship-bag on his saddle-bow. +We left the mail at the P.O., had lunch at the hotel, and about 1.50 set +out westward to the place of tryst. This was by a little shrunken brook +in a deep channel of mud, on the far side of which, in a thicket of low +trees, all full of moths of shadow and butterflies of sun, we lay down +to await her ladyship. Whisky and water, then a sketch of the encampment +for which we all posed to Belle, passed off the time until 3.30. Then I +could hold on no longer. 30 minutes late. Had the secret oozed out? Were +they arrested? I got my horse, crossed the brook again, and rode hard +back to the Vaea cross roads, whence I was aware of white clothes +glancing in the other long straight radius of the quadrant. I turned at +once to return to the place of tryst; but D. overtook me, and almost +bore me down, shouting "Ride, ride!" like a hero in a ballad. Lady +Margaret and he were only come to shew the place; they returned, and the +rest of our party, reinforced by Captain Leigh and Lady Jersey, set on +for Malie. The delay was due to D.'s infinite precautions, leading them +up lanes, by back ways, and then down again to the beach road a hundred +yards further on. + +It was agreed that Lady Jersey existed no more; she was now my cousin +Amelia Balfour. That relative and I headed the march; she is a charming +woman, all of us like her extremely after trial on this somewhat rude +and absurd excursion. And we Amelia'd or Miss Balfour'd her with great +but intermittent fidelity. When we came to the last village, I sent +Henry on ahead to warn the King of our approach and amend his +discretion, if that might be. As he left I heard the villagers asking +_which was the great lady_? And a little further, at the borders of +Malie itself, we found the guard making a music of bugles and conches. +Then I knew the game was up and the secret out. A considerable guard of +honour, mostly children, accompanied us; but, for our good fortune, we +had been looked for earlier, and the crowd was gone. + +Dinner at the king's; he asked me to say grace, I could think of +none--never could; Graham suggested _Benedictus Benedicat_, at which I +leaped. We were nearly done, when old Popo inflicted the Atua howl (of +which you have heard already) right at Lady Jersey's shoulder. She +started in fine style.--"There," I said, "we have been giving you a +chapter of Scott, but this goes beyond the Waverley Novels." After +dinner, kava. Lady J. was served before me, and the king _drank last_; +it was the least formal kava I ever saw in that house,--no names called, +no show of ceremony. All my ladies are well trained, and when Belle +drained her bowl, the King was pleased to clap his hands. Then he and I +must retire for our private interview, to another house. He gave me his +own staff and made me pass before him; and in the interview, which was +long and delicate, he twice called me _afioga_. Ah, that leaves you +cold, but I am Samoan enough to have been moved. _Susuga_ is my +accepted rank; to be called _afioga_--Heavens! what an advance--and it +leaves Europe cold. But it staggered my Henry. The first time it was +complicated "lana susuga _ma_ lana afioga--his excellency _and_ his +majesty" the next time plain Majesty. Henry then begged to interrupt the +interview and tell who he was--he is a small family chief in Savaii, not +very small--"I do not wish the king," says he, "to think me a boy from +Apia." On our return to the palace, we separated. I had asked for the +ladies to sleep alone--that was understood; but that Tusitala--his +afioga Tusitala--should go out with the other young men, and not sleep +with the highborn females of his family--was a doctrine received with +difficulty. Lloyd and I had one screen, Graham and Leigh another, and we +slept well. + +In the morning I was first abroad before dawn; not very long, already +there was a stir of birds. A little after, I heard singing from the +King's chapel--exceeding good--and went across in the hour when the east +is yellow and the morning bank is breaking up, to hear it nearer. All +about the chapel, the guards were posted, and all saluted Tusitala. I +could not refrain from smiling: "So there is a place too," I thought, +"where sentinels salute me." Mine has been a queer life. + +[Illustration] + +Breakfast was rather a protracted business. And that was scarce over +when we were called to the great house (now finished--recall your +earlier letters) to see a royal kava. This function is of rare use; I +know grown Samoans who have never witnessed it. It is, besides, as you +are to hear, a piece of prehistoric history, crystallised in figures, +and the facts largely forgotten; an acted hieroglyph. The house is +really splendid; in the rafters in the midst, two carved and coloured +model birds are posted; the only thing of the sort I have ever remarked +in Samoa, the Samoans being literal observers of the second commandment. +At one side of the egg our party sat. a=Mataafa, b = Lady J., c = +Belle, d = Tusitala, e =Graham, f = Lloyd, g = Captain Leigh, h = Henry, +i = Popo. The x's round are the high chiefs, each man in his historical +position. One side of the house is set apart for the king alone; we were +allowed there as his guests and Henry as our interpreter. It was a huge +trial to the lad, when a speech was made to me which he must translate, +and I made a speech in answer which he had to orate, full-breathed, to +that big circle; he blushed through his dark skin, but looked and acted +like a gentleman and a young fellow of sense; then the kava came to the +king; he poured one drop in libation, drank another, and flung the +remainder outside the house behind him. Next came the turn of the old +shapeless stone marked T. It stands for one of the king's titles, +Tamasoalii; Mataafa is Tamasoalii this day, but cannot drink for it; and +the stone must first be washed with water, and then have the bowl +emptied on it. Then--the order I cannot recall--came the turn of y and +z, two orators of the name of Malietoa; the first took his kava down +plain, like an ordinary man; the second must be packed to bed under a +big sheet of tapa, and be massaged by anxious assistants and rise on his +elbow groaning to drink his cup. W., a great hereditary war man, came +next; five times the cup-bearers marched up and down the house and +passed the cup on, five times it was filled and the general's name and +titles heralded at the bowl, and five times he refused it (after +examination) as too small. It is said this commemorates a time when +Malietoa at the head of his army suffered much for want of supplies. +Then this same military gentleman must _drink_ five cups, one from each +of the great names: all which took a precious long time. He acted very +well, haughtily and in a society tone _outlining_ the part. The +difference was marked when he subsequently made a speech in his own +character as a plain God-fearing chief. A few more high chiefs, then +Tusitala; one more, and then Lady Jersey; one more, and then Captain +Leigh, and so on with the rest of our party--Henry of course excepted. +You see in public, Lady Jersey followed me--just so far was the secret +kept. + +Then we came home; Belle, Graham, and Lloyd to the Chinaman's, I with +Lady Jersey, to lunch; so, severally home. Thursday I have forgotten: +Saturday, I began again on Davie; on Sunday, the Jersey party came up to +call and carried me to dinner. As I came out, to ride home, the +search-lights of the _Curacoa_ were lightening on the horizon from many +miles away, and next morning she came in. Tuesday was huge fun: a +reception at Haggard's. All our party dined there; Lloyd and I, in the +absence of Haggard and Leigh, had to play aide-de-camp and host for +about twenty minutes, and I presented the population of Apia at random +but (luck helping) without one mistake. Wednesday we had two middies to +lunch. Thursday we had Eeles and Hoskyn (lieutenant and doctor--very, +very nice fellows--simple, good and not the least dull) to dinner. +Saturday, Graham and I lunched on board; Graham, Belle, Lloyd dined at +the G.'s; and Austin and the _whole_ of our servants went with them to +an evening entertainment; the more bold returning by lantern-light. +Yesterday, Sunday, Belle and I were off by about half past eight, left +our horses at a public house, and went on board the _Curacoa_, in the +wardroom skiff; were entertained in the wardroom; thence on deck to the +service, which was a great treat; three fiddles and a harmonium and +excellent choir, and the great ship's company joining: on shore in +Haggard's big boat to lunch with the party. Thence all together to +Vailima, where we read aloud a Ouida Romance we have been secretly +writing; in which Haggard was the hero, and each one of the authors had +to draw a portrait of him or herself in a Ouida light. Leigh, Lady J., +Fanny, R. L. S., Belle and Graham were the authors. + +In the midst of this gay life, I have finally recopied two chapters, and +drafted for the first time three of Davie Balfour. But it is not a life +that would continue to suit me, and if I have not continued to write to +you, you will scarce wonder. And to-day we all go down again to dinner, +and to-morrow they all come up to lunch! The world is too much with us. +But it now nears an end, to-day already the _Curacoa_ has sailed; and on +Saturday or Sunday Lady Jersey will follow them in the mail steamer. I +am sending you a wire by her hands as far as Sydney, that is to say +either you or Cassell, about _Falesa_: I will not allow it to be called +_Uma_ in book form, that is not the logical name of the story. Nor can I +have the marriage contract omitted; and the thing is full of misprints +abominable. In the picture, Uma is rot; so is the old man and the negro; +but Wiltshire is splendid, and Case will do. It seems badly illuminated, +but this may be printing. How have I seen this first number? Not through +your attention, guilty one! Lady Jersey had it, and only mentioned it +yesterday.[45] + +I ought to say how much we all like the Jersey party. Leigh is very +amusing in his way. Lady Margaret is a charming girl. And Lady Jersey is +in all ways admirable, so unfussy, so plucky, so very kind and gracious. +My boy Henry was enraptured with the manners of the _Tamaitai Sili_ +(chief lady). Among our other occupations, I did a bit of a supposed +epic describing our tryst at the ford of the Gasegase; and Belle and I +made a little book of caricatures and verses about incidents on the +visit. + +_Tuesday._--The wild round of gaiety continues. After I had written to +you yesterday, the brain being wholly extinct, I played piquet all +morning with Graham. After lunch down to call on the U.S. consul, hurt +in a steeplechase; thence back to the new girls' school which Lady J. +was to open, and where my ladies met me. Lady J. is really an orator, +with a voice of gold; the rest of us played our unremarked parts; +missionaries, Haggard, myself, a Samoan chief, holding forth in turn; +myself with (at least) a golden brevity. Thence, Fanny, Belle, and I to +town, to our billiard room in Haggard's back garden, where we found +Lloyd and where Graham joined us. The three men first dressed, with the +ladies in a corner; and then, to leave them a free field, we went off to +Haggard and Leigh's quarters, whereafter all to dinner, where our two +parties, a brother of Colonel Kitchener's, a passing globe-trotter, and +Clarke the missionary. A very gay evening, with all sorts of chaff and +mirth, and a moonlit ride home, and to bed before 12.30. And now to-day, +we have the Jersey-Haggard troupe to lunch, and I must pass the morning +dressing ship. + +_Thursday, Sept. 1st._--I sit to write to you now, 7.15, all the world +in bed except myself, accounted for, and Belle and Graham, down at +Haggard's at dinner. Not a leaf is stirring here; but the moon overhead +(now of a good bigness) is obscured and partly revealed in a whirling +covey of thin storm-clouds. By Jove, it blows above. + +From 8 till 11.15 on Tuesday, I dressed ship, and in particular cleaned +crystal, my specialty. About 11.30 the guests began to arrive before I +was dressed, and between while I had written a parody for Lloyd to sing. +Yesterday, Wednesday, I had to start out about 3 for town, had a long +interview with the head of the German Firm about some work in my new +house, got over to Lloyd's billiard-room about six, on the way whither I +met Fanny and Belle coming down with one Kitchener, a brother of the +Colonel's. Dined in the billiard-room, discovered we had forgot to order +oatmeal; whereupon in the moonlit evening, I set forth in my tropical +array, mess jacket and such, to get the oatmeal, and meet a young fellow +C.--and not a bad young fellow either, only an idiot--as drunk as +Croesus. He wept with me, he wept for me; he talked like a bad +character in an impudently bad farce; I could have laughed aloud to +hear, and could make you laugh by repeating, but laughter was not +uppermost. + +This morning at about seven, I set off after the lost sheep. I could +have no horse; all that could be mounted--we have one girth-sore and one +dead-lame in the establishment--were due at a picnic about 10.30. The +morning was very wet, and I set off barefoot, with my trousers over my +knees, and a macintosh. Presently I had to take a side path in the bush; +missed it; came forth in a great oblong patch of taro solemnly +surrounded by forest--no soul, no sign, no sound--and as I stood there +at a loss, suddenly between the showers out broke the note of a +harmonium and a woman's voice singing an air that I know very well, but +have (as usual) forgot the name of. 'Twas from a great way off, but +seemed to fill the world. It was strongly romantic, and gave me a point +which brought me, by all sorts of forest wading, to an open space of +palms. These were of all ages, but mostly at that age when the branches +arch from the ground level, range themselves, with leaves exquisitely +green. The whole interspace was overgrown with convolvulus, purple, +yellow and white, often as deep as to my waist, in which I floundered +aimlessly. The very mountain was invisible from here. The rain came and +went; now in sunlit April showers, now with the proper tramp and rattle +of the tropics. All this while I met no sight or sound of man, except +the voice which was now silent, and a damned pig-fence that headed me +off at every corner. Do you know barbed wire? Think of a fence of it on +rotten posts, and you barefoot. But I crossed it at last with my heart +in my mouth and no harm done. Thence at last to C.'s.: no C. Next place +I came to was in the zone of woods. They offered me a buggy and set a +black boy to wash my legs and feet. "Washum legs belong that fellow +whiteman" was the command. So at last I ran down my son of a gun in the +hotel, sober, and with no story to tell; penitent, I think. As I sat and +looked at him, I knew from my inside the biggest truth in life: there is +only one thing that we cannot forgive, and that is ugliness--_our_ +ugliness. There is no ugliness, no beauty; only that which makes me +(_ipse_) sicken or rejoice. And poor C. makes me sicken. Yet, according +to canons, he is not amiss. Home, by buggy and my poor feet, up three +miles of root, boulder, gravel, and liquid mud, slipping back at every +step. + +_Sunday, Sept. 4th._--Hope you will be able to read a word of the last, +no joke writing by a bad lantern with a groggy hand and your glasses +mislaid. Not that the hand is not better, as you see by the absence of +the amanuensis hitherto. Mail came Friday, and a communication from +yourself much more decent than usual, for which I thank you. Glad the +_Wrecker_ should so hum; but Lord, what fools these mortals be! + +So far yesterday, the citation being wrung from me by remembrance of +many reviews. I have now received all _Falesa_, and my admiration for +that tale rises; I believe it is in some ways my best work; I am pretty +sure, at least, I have never done anything better than Wiltshire. + +_Monday, 13th September 1892._--On Wednesday the Spinsters of Apia gave +a ball to a select crowd. Fanny, Belle, Lloyd, and I rode down, met +Haggard by the way and joined company with him. Dinner with Haggard, and +thence to the ball. The Chief Justice appeared; it was immediately +remarked, and whispered from one to another, that he and I had the only +red sashes in the room,--and they were both of the hue of blood, sir, +blood. He shook hands with myself and all the members of my family. Then +the cream came, and I found myself in the same set of a quadrille with +his honour. We dance here in Apia a most fearful and wonderful +quadrille, I don't know where the devil they fished it from; but it is +rackety and prancing and embraceatory beyond words; perhaps it is best +defined in Haggard's expression of a gambado. When I and my great enemy +found ourselves involved in this gambol, and crossing hands, and kicking +up, and being embraced almost in common by large and quite respectable +females, we--or I--tried to preserve some rags of dignity, but not for +long. The deuce of it is that, personally, I love this man; his eye +speaks to me, I am pleased in his society. We exchanged a glance, and +then a grin; the man took me in his confidence; and through the +remainder of that prance we pranced for each other. Hard to imagine any +position more ridiculous; a week before he had been trying to rake up +evidence against me by brow-beating and threatening a half-white +interpreter; that very morning I had been writing most villainous +attacks upon him for the Times; and we meet and smile, and--damn +it!--like each other. I do my best to damn the man and drive him from +these islands; but the weakness endures--I love him. This is a thing I +would despise in anybody else; but he is so jolly insidious and +ingratiating! No, sir, I can't dislike him; but if I don't make hay of +him, it shall not be for want of trying. + +Yesterday, we had two Germans and a young American boy at lunch; and in +the afternoon, Vailima was in a state of siege; ten white people on the +front verandah, at least as many brown in the cook-house, and countless +blacks to see the black boy Arrick. + +Which reminds me, Arrick was sent Friday was a week to the German Firm +with a note, and was not home on time. Lloyd and I were going bedward, +it was late with a bright moon--ah, poor dog, you know no such moons as +these!--when home came Arrick with his head in a white bandage and his +eyes shining. He had had a fight with other blacks, Malaita boys; many +against one, and one with a knife: "I KNICKED 'EM DOWN, three four!" he +cried; and had himself to be taken to the doctor's and bandaged. Next +day, he could not work, glory of battle swelled too high in his +threadpaper breast; he had made a one-stringed harp for Austin, borrowed +it, came to Fanny's room, and sang war-songs and danced a war dance in +honour of his victory. And it appears, by subsequent advices, that it +was a serious victory enough; four of his assailants went to hospital, +and one is thought in danger. All Vailima rejoiced at this news. + +Five more chapters of David, 22 to 27, go to Baxter. All love affair; +seems pretty good to me. Will it do for the young person? I don't know: +since the Beach, I know nothing, except that men are fools and +hypocrites, and I know less of them than I was fond enough to fancy. + + + + +TO MRS. CHARLES FAIRCHILD + + + [_Vailima, August 1892._] + +MY DEAR MRS. FAIRCHILD,--Thank you a thousand times for your letter. You +are the Angel of (the sort of) Information (that I care about): I +appoint you successor to the newspaper press; and I beg of you, +whenever you wish to gird at the age, or think the bugs out of +proportion to the roses, or despair, or enjoy any cosmic or epochal +emotion, to sit down again and write to the Hermit of Samoa. What do I +think of it all? Well, I love the romantic solemnity of youth; and even +in this form, although not without laughter, I have to love it still. +They are such ducks! But what are they made of? We were just as solemn +as that about atheism and the stars and humanity; but we were all for +belief anyway--we held atheism and sociology (of which none of us, nor +indeed anybody, knew anything) for a gospel and an iron rule of life; +and it was lucky enough, or there would have been more windows broken. +What is apt to puzzle one at first sight in the New Youth is that, with +such rickety and risky problems always at heart, they should not plunge +down a Niagara of Dissolution. But let us remember the high practical +timidity of youth. I was a particularly brave boy--this I think of +myself, looking back--and plunged into adventures and experiments, and +ran risks that it still surprises me to recall. But, dear me, what a +fear I was in of that strange blind machinery in the midst of which I +stood; and with what a compressed heart and what empty lungs I would +touch a new crank and await developments! I do not mean to say I do not +fear life still; I do; and that terror (for an adventurer like myself) +is still one of the chief joys of living. + +But it was different indeed while I was yet girt with the priceless +robes of inexperience; then the fear was exquisite and infinite. And so, +when you see all these little Ibsens, who seem at once so dry and so +excitable, and faint in swathes over a play (I suppose--for a wager) +that would seem to me merely tedious, smile behind your hand, and +remember the little dears are all in a blue funk. It must be very funny, +and to a spectator like yourself I almost envy it. But never get +desperate; human nature is human nature; and the Roman Empire, since the +Romans founded it and made our European human nature what it is, bids +fair to go on and to be true to itself. These little bodies will all +grow up and become men and women, and have heaps of fun; nay, and are +having it now; and whatever happens to the fashion of the age, it makes +no difference--there are always high and brave and amusing lives to be +lived; and a change of key, however exotic, does not exclude melody. +Even Chinamen, hard as we find it to believe, enjoy being Chinese. And +the Chinaman stands alone to be unthinkable; natural enough, as the +representative of the only other great civilisation. Take my people here +at my doors; their life is a very good one; it is quite thinkable, quite +acceptable to us. And the little dears will be soon skating on the other +foot; sooner or later, in each generation, the one-half of them at least +begin to remember all the material they had rejected when first they +made and nailed up their little theory of life; and these become +reactionaries or conservatives, and the ship of man begins to fill upon +the other tack. + +Here is a sermon, by your leave! It is your own fault, you have amused +and interested me so much by your breath of the New Youth, which comes +to me from so far away, where I live up here in my mountain, and secret +messengers bring me letters from rebels, and the government sometimes +seizes them, and generally grumbles in its beard that Stevenson should +really be deported. O my life is the more lively, never fear! + +It has recently been most amusingly varied by a visit from Lady Jersey. +I took her over mysteriously (under the pseudonym of my cousin, Miss +Amelia Balfour) to visit Mataafa, our rebel; and we had great fun, and +wrote a Ouida novel on our life here, in which every author had to +describe himself in the Ouida glamour, and of which--for the Jerseys +intend printing it--I must let you have a copy. My wife's chapter, and +my description of myself, should, I think, amuse you. But there were +finer touches still; as when Belle and Lady Jersey came out to brush +their teeth in front of the rebel King's palace, and the night guard +squatted opposite on the grass and watched the process; or when I and my +interpreter, and the King with his secretary, mysteriously disappeared +to conspire.--Ever yours sincerely, + + R. L. STEVENSON. + + + + +TO THE CHILDREN IN THE CELLAR + + + This time the children in the Kilburn cellar are addressed direct, + with only a brief word at the end to their instructress. + + _Vailima Plantation, Samoan Islands, September 4th, 1892._ + +DEAR CHILDREN IN THE CELLAR,--I told you before something of the black +boys who come here for work on the plantations, and some of whom run +away and live a wild life in the forests of the islands. Now I want to +tell you of one who lived in the house of the lean man. Like the rest of +them here, he is a little fellow, and when he goes about in old, +battered, cheap European clothes, looks very small and shabby. When +first he came he was as lean as a tobacco-pipe, and his smile (like that +of almost all the others) was the sort that makes you half wish to smile +yourself, and half wish to cry. However, the boys in the kitchen took +him in hand and fed him up. They would set him down alone to table and +wait upon him till he had his fill, which was a good long time to wait; +and the first thing we noticed was that his little stomach began to +stick out like a pigeon's breast; and then the food got a little wider +spread and he started little calves to his legs; and last of all he +began to get quite saucy and impudent, so that we could know what sort +of a fellow he really was when he was no longer afraid of being +thrashed. He is really what you ought to call a young man, though I +suppose nobody in the whole wide world has any idea of his age; and, as +far as his behaviour goes, you can only think of him as a big little +child with a good deal of sense. When Austin built his fort against the +Indians, Arick (for that is the black boy's name) liked nothing so much +as to help him. And this is very funny, when you think that of all the +dangerous savages in this island Arick is one of the most dangerous. The +other day, besides, he made Austin a musical instrument of the sort they +use in his own country, a harp with only one string. He took a stick +about three feet long, and perhaps four inches round. The under side he +hollowed out in a deep trench to serve as sounding box; the two ends of +the upper side he made to curve upward like the ends of a canoe, and +between these he stretched the single string. He plays upon it with a +match or a little piece of stick, and sings to it songs of his own +country, of which no person here can understand a single word, and which +are very likely all about fighting with his enemies in battle, and +killing them, and I am sorry to say cooking them in a ground oven and +eating them for supper when the fight is over. + +For Arick is really what you might call a savage, though a savage is a +very different person in reality, and a very much nicer, from what he is +made to appear in little books. He is the sort of person that everybody +smiles to, or makes faces at, or gives a smack to as he goes by; the +sort of person that all the girls on the plantation give the best seat +to, and help first, and love to decorate with flowers and ribbons, and +yet all the while are laughing at him; the sort of person who likes best +to play with Austin, and whom Austin perhaps (when he is allowed) likes +best to play with. He is all grins and giggles, and little steps out of +dances, and little droll ways, to attract people's attention and set +them laughing. And yet when you come to look at him closer, you will +find that his body is all covered with scars. This was when he was a +child. There was a war, as is the way in these wild islands, between his +village and the next, much as if there were war in London between one +street and another; and all the children ran about playing in the +middle of the trouble, and I dare say took no more notice of the war +than you children in London do of a general election. But sometimes, at +general elections, English children may get run over by processions in +the street; and it chanced that as little Arick was running about in the +bush, and very busy about his playing, he ran into the midst of the +warriors on the other side. These speared him with a poisoned spear; and +his own people, when they had found him lying for dead, and in order to +cure him of the poison, cut him up with knives that were probably made +of fish-bones. + +This is a very savage piece of child-life, and Arick, for all his +good-nature, is still a very savage person. I have told you how the +black boys sometimes run away from the plantations, and live behind +alone in the forest, building little sheds to protect them from the +rain, and sometimes planting little gardens of food, but for the most +part living the best they can upon the nuts of the trees and yams that +they dig with their hands out of the earth. I do not think there can be +anywhere in the world people more wretched than these runaways. They +cannot return, for they would only return to be punished. They can never +hope to see again their own land or their own people--indeed, I do not +know what they can hope, but just to find enough yams every day to keep +them from starvation. And in the wet season of the year, which is our +summer and your winter, and the rain falls day after day far harder and +louder than the loudest thunder-plump that ever fell in England, and the +noon is sometimes so dark that the lean man is glad to light his lamp to +write by, I can think of nothing so dreary as the state of these poor +runaway slaves in the houseless bush. You are to remember, besides, that +the people of this island hate and fear them because they are cannibals, +sit and tell tales of them about their lamps at night in their own +comfortable houses, and are sometimes afraid to lie down to sleep if +they think there is a lurking black boy in the neighbourhood. Well now, +Arick is of their own race and language, only he is a little more lucky +because he has not run away; and how do you think that he proposed to +help them? He asked if he might not have a gun. "What do you want with a +gun, Arick?" was asked. And he said quite simply, and with his nice +good-natured smile, that if he had a gun he would go up into the high +bush and shoot black boys as men shoot pigeons. He said nothing about +eating them, nor do I think he really meant to. I think all he wanted +was to clear the property of vermin as gamekeepers at home kill weasels, +or housewives mice. + +The other day he was sent down on an errand to the German Firm where +many of the black boys live. It was very late when he came home on a +bright moonlight night. He had a white bandage round his head, his eyes +shone, and he could scarcely speak for excitement. It seems some of the +black boys who were his enemies at home had attacked him, and one with a +knife. By his own account he had fought very well, but the odds were +heavy; the man with the knife had cut him both in the head and back, he +had been struck down, and if some of the black boys of his own side had +not come to the rescue, he must certainly have been killed. I am sure no +Christmas-box could make any of you children so happy as this fight made +Arick. A great part of the next day he neglected his work to play upon +the one-stringed harp and sing songs about his great victory. And +to-day, when he is gone upon his holiday, he has announced that he is +going back to the German Firm to have another battle and another +triumph. I do not think he will go all the same, or I should be more +uneasy, for I do not want to have my Arick killed; and there is no doubt +that if he begins to fight again, he will be likely to go on with it +very far. For I have seen him once when he saw, or thought he saw, an +enemy. It was one of our dreadful days of rain, the sound of it like a +great waterfall or like a tempest of wind blowing in the forest; and +there came to our door two runaway black boys seeking work. In such +weather as that my enemy's dog (as Shakespeare says) should have had a +right to shelter. But when Arick saw these two poor rogues coming with +their empty bellies and drenched clothes, and one of them with a stolen +cutlass in his hand, through that world of falling water, he had no +thought of pity in his heart. Crouching behind one of the pillars of the +verandah, which he held in his two hands, his mouth drew back into a +strange sort of smile, his eyes grew bigger and bigger, and his whole +face was just like the one word Murder in big capitals. + +Now I have told you a great deal too much about poor Arick's savage +nature, and now I must tell you about a great amusement he had the other +day. There came an English ship of war in the harbour, and the officers +very good naturedly gave an entertainment of songs and dances and a +magic-lantern, to which Arick and Austin were allowed to go. At the door +of the hall there were crowds of black boys waiting and trying to peep +in, the way children at home lie about and peep under the tent of a +circus; and you may be sure Arick was a very proud person when he passed +them all by and entered the hall with his ticket. I wish I knew what he +thought of the whole performance; but the housekeeper of the lean man, +who sat just in front of him, tells me what seemed to startle him the +most. The first thing was when two of the officers came out with +blackened faces like Christy minstrel boys and began to dance. Arick was +sure that they were really black and his own people, and he was +wonderfully surprised to see them dance this new European style of +dance. But the great affair was the magic-lantern. The hall was made +quite dark, which was very little to Arick's taste. He sat there behind +the housekeeper, nothing to be seen of him but eyes and teeth, and his +heart beating finely in his little scarred breast. And presently there +came out on the white sheet that great bright eye of light that I am +sure all you children must have often seen. It was quite new to Arick, +he had no idea what would happen next; and in his fear and excitement, +he laid hold with his little slim black fingers like a bird's claws on +the neck of the housekeeper in front of him. All through the rest of the +show, as one picture followed another on the white sheet, he sat there +gasping and clutching at the housekeeper's neck, and goodness knows +whether he were more pleased or frightened. Doubtless it was a very fine +thing to see all these bright pictures coming out and dying away again +one after another; but doubtless it was rather alarming also, for how +was it done? And at last, when there appeared upon the screen the head +of a black woman (as it might be his own mother or sister), and the +black woman of a sudden began to roll her eyes, the fear or the +excitement, whichever it was, wrung out of him a loud shuddering sob. +And I think we all ought to admire his courage when, after an evening +spent in looking on at such wonderful miracles, he and Austin set out +alone through the forest to the lean man's house. It was late at night +and pitch dark when some of the party overtook the little white boy and +the big black boy marching among the trees with their lantern. I have +told you the wood has an ill name, and all the people of the island +believe it to be full of devils; but even if you do not believe in the +devils, it is a pretty dreadful place to walk in by the moving light of +a lantern, with nothing about you but a curious whirl of shadows and the +black night above and beyond. But Arick kept his courage up, and I dare +say Austin's too, with a perpetual chatter, so that the people coming +after heard his voice long before they saw the shining of the lantern. + +My dear Miss Boodle,--will I be asking too much that you should send me +back my letters to the Children, or copies, if you prefer; I have an +idea that they may perhaps help in time to make up a book on the South +Seas for children. I have addressed the Cellar so long this time that +you must take this note for yourself and excuse, yours most sincerely, + + R. L. STEVENSON. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + _Thursday, 15th September [1892]._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--On Tuesday, we had our young adventurer[46] ready, and +Fanny, Belle, he and I set out about three of a dark, deadly hot, and +deeply unwholesome afternoon. Belle had the lad behind her; I had a pint +of champagne in either pocket, a parcel in my hands, and as Jack had a +girth sore and I rode without a girth, I might be said to occupy a very +unstrategic position. On the way down, a little dreary, beastly drizzle +beginning to come out of the darkness, Fanny put up an umbrella, her +horse bounded, reared, cannoned into me, cannoned into Belle and the +lad, and bolted for home. It really might and ought to have been an A1 +catastrophe; but nothing happened beyond Fanny's nerves being a good +deal shattered; of course, she could not tell what had happened to us +until she got her horse mastered. + +Next day, Haggard went off to the Commission and left us in charge of +his house; all our people came down in wreaths of flowers; we had a boat +for them; Haggard had a flag in the Commission boat for us; and when at +last the steamer turned up, the young adventurer was carried on board in +great style, with a new watch and chain, and about three pound ten of +tips, and five big baskets of fruit as free-will offerings to the +captain. Captain Morse had us all to lunch; champagne flowed, so did +compliments; and I did the affable celebrity life-sized. It made a great +send-off for the young adventurer. As the boat drew off, he was standing +at the head of the gangway, supported by three handsome ladies--one of +them a real full-blown beauty, Madame Green, the singer--and looking +very engaging himself, between smiles and tears. Not that he cried in +public. My, but we were a tired crowd! However, it is always a blessing +to get home, and this time it was a sort of wonder to ourselves that we +got back alive. Casualties: Fanny's back jarred, horse incident; Belle, +bad headache, tears, and champagne; self, idiocy, champagne, fatigue; +Lloyd, ditto, ditto. As for the adventurer, I believe he will have a +delightful voyage for his little start in life. But there is always +something touching in a mite's first launch. + +_Date unknown._--I am now well on with the third part of the +_Debacle_.[47] The two first I liked much; the second completely +knocking me; so far as it has gone, this third part appears the +ramblings of a dull man who has forgotten what he has to say--he reminds +me of an M.P. But Sedan was really great, and I will pick no holes. The +batteries under fire, the red-cross folk, the county charge--perhaps, +above all, Major Bouroche and the operations, all beyond discussion; and +every word about the Emperor splendid. + +_September 30th._--_David Balfour_ done, and its author along with it, +or nearly so. Strange to think of even our doctor here repeating his +nonsense about debilitating climate. Why, the work I have been doing the +last twelve months, in one continuous spate, mostly with annoying +interruptions and without any collapse to mention, would be incredible +in Norway. But I _have_ broken down now, and will do nothing as long as +I possibly can. With _David Balfour_ I am very well pleased; in fact +these labours of the last year--I mean _Falesa_ and _D. B._, not Samoa, +of course--seem to me to be nearer what I mean than anything I have ever +done; nearer what I mean by fiction; the nearest thing before was +_Kidnapped_. I am not forgetting the _Master of Ballantrae_, but that +lacked all pleasurableness, and hence was imperfect in essence. So you +see, if I am a little tired, I do not repent. + +The third part of the _Debacle_ may be all very fine; but I cannot read +it. It suffers from _impaired vitality_, and _uncertain aim_; two deadly +sicknesses. Vital--that's what I am at, first: wholly vital, with a +buoyancy of life. Then lyrical, if it may be, and picturesque, always +with an epic value of scenes, so that the figures remain in the mind's +eye for ever. + +_October 8th._--Suppose you sent us some of the catalogues of the +parties what vends statutes? I don't want colossal Herculeses, but about +quarter size and less. If the catalogues were illustrated it would +probably be found a help to weak memories. These may be found to +alleviate spare moments, when we sometimes amuse ourselves by thinking +how fine we shall make the palace if we do not go pop. Perhaps in the +same way it might amuse you to send us any pattern of wall paper that +might strike you as cheap, pretty, and suitable for a room in a hot and +extremely bright climate. It should be borne in mind that our climate +can be extremely dark too. Our sitting-room is to be in varnished wood. +The room I have particularly in mind is a sort of bed and sitting-room, +pretty large, lit on three sides, and the colour in favour of its +proprietor at present is a topazy yellow. But then with what colour to +relieve it? For a little work-room of my own at the back, I should +rather like to see some patterns of unglossy--well, I'll be hanged if I +can describe this red--it's not Turkish and it's not Roman and it's not +Indian, but it seems to partake of the two last, and yet it can't be +either of them, because it ought to be able to go with vermillion. Ah, +what a tangled web we weave--anyway, with what brains you have left +choose me and send me some--many--patterns of this exact shade. + +A few days ago it was Haggard's birthday and we had him and his cousin +to dinner--bless me if I ever told you of his cousin!--he is here +anyway, and a fine, pleasing specimen, so that we have concluded (after +our own happy experience) that the climate of Samoa must be favourable +to cousins.[48] Then we went out on the verandah in a lovely moonlight, +drinking port, hearing the cousin play and sing, till presently we were +informed that our boys had got up a siva in Lafaele's house to which we +were invited. It was entirely their own idea. The house, you must +understand, is one-half floored, and one-half bare earth, and the dais +stands a little over knee high above the level of the soil. The dais was +the stage, with three footlights. We audience sat on mats on the floor, +and the cook and three of our work-boys, sometimes assisted by our two +ladies, took their places behind the footlights and began a topical +Vailima song. The burden was of course that of a Samoan popular song +about a white man who objects to all that he sees in Samoa. And there +was of course a special verse for each one of the party--Lloyd was +called the dancing man (practically the Chief's handsome son) of +Vailima; he was also, in his character I suppose of overseer, compared +to a policeman--Belle had that day been the almoner in a semi-comic +distribution of wedding rings and thimbles (bought cheap at an auction) +to the whole plantation company, fitting a ring on every man's finger, +and a ring and a thimble on both the women's. This was very much in +character with her native name _Teuila_, the adorner of the ugly--so of +course this was the point of her verse and at a given moment all the +performers displayed the rings upon their fingers. Pelema (the +cousin--our cousin) was described as watching from the house and +whenever he saw any boy not doing anything, running and doing it +himself. Fanny's verse was less intelligible, but it was accompanied in +the dance with a pantomime of terror well-fitted to call up her +haunting, indefatigable and diminutive presence in a blue gown. + + + + +TO GORDON BROWNE + + + _Vailima, Samoa [Autumn 1892]._ + + _To the Artist who did the illustrations to "Uma."_ + +DEAR SIR,--I only know you under the initials G. B., but you have done +some exceedingly spirited and satisfactory illustrations to my story +_The Beach of Falesa_, and I wish to write and thank you expressly for +the care and talent shown. Such numbers of people can do good black and +whites! So few can illustrate a story, or apparently read it. You have +shown that you can do both, and your creation of Wiltshire is a real +illumination of the text. It was exactly so that Wiltshire dressed and +looked, and you have the line of his nose to a nicety. His nose is an +inspiration. Nor should I forget to thank you for Case, particularly in +his last appearance. It is a singular fact--which seems to point still +more directly to inspiration in your case--that your missionary actually +resembles the flesh-and-blood person from whom Mr. Tarleton was drawn. +The general effect of the islands is all that could be wished; indeed I +have but one criticism to make, that in the background of Case taking +the dollar from Mr. Tarleton's head--head--not hand, as the fools have +printed it--the natives have a little too much the look of Africans. + +But the great affair is that you have been to the pains to illustrate my +story instead of making conscientious black and whites of people sitting +talking. I doubt if you have left unrepresented a single pictorial +incident. I am writing by this mail to the editor in the hopes that I +may buy from him the originals, and I am, dear sir, your very much +obliged, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO MISS MORSE + + + The next is an answer to an acknowledgment from a lady in the United + States, one of many similar which he from time to time received, of + help and encouragement derived from his writings. + + _Vailima, Samoan Islands, October 7th, 1892._ + +DEAR MADAM,--I have a great diffidence in answering your valued letter. +It would be difficult for me to express the feelings with which I read +it--and am now trying to re-read it as I dictate this. + +You ask me to forgive what you say "must seem a liberty," and I find +that I cannot thank you sufficiently or even find a word with which to +qualify your letter. Dear Madam, such a communication even the vainest +man would think a sufficient reward for a lifetime of labour. That I +should have been able to give so much help and pleasure to your sister +is the subject of my grateful wonder. + +That she, being dead, and speaking with your pen, should be able to +repay the debt with such a liberal interest, is one of those things that +reconcile us with the world and make us take hope again. I do not know +what I have done to deserve so beautiful and touching a compliment; and +I feel there is but one thing fit for me to say here, that I will try +with renewed courage to go on in the same path, and to deserve, if not +to receive, a similar return from others. + +You apologise for speaking so much about yourselves. Dear Madam, I +thought you did so too little. I should have wished to have known more +of those who were so sympathetic as to find a consolation in my work, +and so graceful and so tactful as to acknowledge it in such a letter as +was yours. + +Will you offer to your mother the expression of a sympathy which (coming +from a stranger) must seem very airy, but which yet is genuine; and +accept for yourself my gratitude for the thought which inspired you to +write to me and the words which you found to express it. + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO MISS TAYLOR + + + Lady Taylor had died soon after the settlement of the Stevenson + family at Vailima. The second paragraph refers to a test which had + been set before an expert in the reading of character by handwriting. + + _Vailima, Samoan Islands, October 7th, 1892._ + +MY DEAR IDA,--I feel very much the implied reproof in yours just +received; but I assure you there is no fear of our forgetting either +Una or yourself, or your dear mother, who was one of the women I have +most admired and loved in the whole of my way through life. The truth is +that Fanny writes to nobody and that I am on the whole rather +overworked. I compose lots of letters to lots of unforgotten friends, +but when it comes to taking the pen between my fingers there are many +impediments. Hence it comes that I am now writing to you by an +amanuensis, at which I know you will be very angry. Well, it was +Hobson's choice. A little while ago I had very bad threatenings of +scrivener's cramp; and if Belle (Fanny's daughter, of whom you remember +to have heard) had not taken up the pen for my correspondence, I doubt +you would never have heard from me again except in the way of books. I +wish you and Una would be so good as to write to us now and then even +without encouragement. An unsolicited letter would be almost certain +(sooner or later, depending on the activity of the conscience) to +produce some sort of an apology for an answer. + +All this upon one condition: that you send me your friend's description +of my looks, age and character. The character of my work I am not so +careful about. But did you ever hear of anything so tantalizing as for +you to tell me the story and not send me your notes? I expect it was a +device to extract an answer; and, as you see, it has succeeded. Let me +suggest (if your friend be handy) that the present letter would be a +very delicate test. It is in one person's handwriting, it expresses the +ideas of another, of the writer herself you know nothing. I should be +very curious to know what the sibyl will make of such a problem. + +If you carry out your design of settling in London you must be sure and +let us have the new address. I swear we shall write some time--and if +the interval be long you must just take it on your own head for +prophesying horrors. You remember how you always said we were but an +encampment of Bedouins, and that you would awake some morning to find +us fled for ever. Nothing unsettled me more than these ill-judged +remarks. I was doing my best to be a sedentary semi-respectable man in a +suburban villa; and you were always shaking your head at me and assuring +me (what I knew to be partly true) that it was all a farce. Even here, +when I have sunk practically all that I possess, and have good health +and my fill of congenial fighting, and could not possibly get away if I +wanted ever so--even here and now the recollection of these infidel +prophesies rings in my ears like an invitation to the sea. _Tu l'as +voulu!_ + +I know you want some of our news, and it is all so far away that I know +not when to begin. We have a big house and we are building another--pray +God that we can pay for it. I am just reminded that we have no less than +eight several places of habitation in this place, which was a piece of +uncleared forest some three years ago. I think there are on my pay rolls +at the present moment thirteen human souls, not counting two washerwomen +who come and go. In addition to this I am at daggers drawn with the +Government, have had my correspondence stopped and opened by the Chief +Justice--it was correspondence with the so-called Rebel King,--and have +had boys examined and threatened with deportation to betray the secrets +of my relations with the same person. In addition to this I might direct +attention to those trifling exercises of the fancy, my literary works, +and I hope you won't think that I am likely to suffer from ennui. Nor is +Fanny any less active. Ill or well, rain or shine, a little blue +indefatigable figure is to be observed howking about certain patches of +garden. She comes in heated and bemired up to the eyebrows, late for +every meal. She has reached a sort of tragic placidity. Whenever she +plants anything new the boys weed it up. Whenever she tries to keep +anything for seed the house-boys throw it away. And she has reached that +pitch of a kind of noble dejection that she would almost say she did not +mind. Anyway, her cabbages have succeeded. Talolo (our native cook, and +a very good one too) likened them the other day to the head of a German; +and even this hyperbolical image was grudging. I remember all the +trouble you had with servants at the Roost. The most of them were +nothing to the trances that we have to go through here at times, when I +have to hold a bed of justice, and take evidence which is never twice +the same, and decide, practically blindfold, and after I have decided +have the accuser take back the accusation in block and beg for mercy for +the culprit. Conceive the annoyance of all this when you are very fond +of both.--Your affectionate friend, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO E. L. BURLINGAME + + + _Vailima Plantation, Samoan Islands, Oct. 10th, 1892._ + +MY DEAR BURLINGAME,--It is now, as you see, the 10th of October, and +there has not reached the Island of Upolu one single copy, or rag of a +copy, of the Samoa book. I lie; there has come one, and that in the +pocket of a missionary man who is at daggers drawn with me, who lends it +to all my enemies, conceals it from all my friends, and is bringing a +lawsuit against me on the strength of expressions in the same which I +have forgotten, and now cannot see. This is pretty tragic, I think you +will allow; and I was inclined to fancy it was the fault of the Post +Office. But I hear from my sister-in-law Mrs. Sanchez that she is in the +same case, and has received no _Footnote_. I have also to consider that +I had no letter from you last mail, although you ought to have received +by that time "My Grandfather and Scott," and "Me and my Grandfather." +Taking one consideration with another, therefore, I prefer to conceive +that No. 743 Broadway has fallen upon gentle and continuous slumber, and +is become an enchanted palace among publishing houses. If it be not so, +if the _Footnotes_ were really sent, I hope you will fall upon the Post +Office with all the vigour you possess. How does _The Wrecker_ go in the +States? It seems to be doing exceptionally well in England.--Yours +sincerely, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + This letter contains the first announcement of the scheme of _Weir of + Hermiston_. + + _Vailima, October 28th, 1892._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--This is very late to begin the monthly budget, but I +have a good excuse this time, for I have had a very annoying fever with +symptoms of sore arm, and in the midst of it a very annoying piece of +business which suffered no delay or idleness.... + +The consequence of all this was that my fever got very much worse and +your letter has not been hitherto written. But, my dear fellow, do +compare these little larky fevers with the fine, healthy, prostrating +colds of the dear old dead days at home. Here was I, in the middle of a +pretty bad one, and I was able to put it in my pocket, and go down day +after day, and attend to and put my strength into this beastly business. +Do you see me doing that with a catarrh? And if I had done so, what +would have been the result? + +Last night, about four o'clock, Belle and I set off to Apia, whither my +mother had preceded us. She was at the Mission; we went to Haggard's. +There we had to wait the most unconscionable time for dinner. I do not +wish to speak lightly of the Amanuensis, who is unavoidably present, but +I may at least say for myself that I was as cross as two sticks. Dinner +came at last, we had the tinned soup which is usually the _piece de +resistance_ in the halls of Haggard, and we pitched into it. Followed an +excellent salad of tomatoes and crayfish, a good Indian curry, a tender +joint of beef, a dish of pigeons, a pudding, cheese and coffee. I was so +over-eaten after this "hunger and burst" that I could scarcely move; and +it was my sad fate that night in the character of the local author to +eloquute before the public--"Mr. Stevenson will read a selection from +his own works"--a degrading picture. I had determined to read them the +account of the hurricane; I do not know if I told you that my book has +never turned up here, or rather only one copy has, and that in the +unfriendly hands of ----. It has therefore only been seen by enemies; +and this combination of mystery and evil report has been greatly +envenomed by some ill-judged newspaper articles from the States. +Altogether this specimen was listened to with a good deal of +uncomfortable expectation on the part of the Germans, and when it was +over was applauded with unmistakable relief. The public hall where these +revels came off seems to be unlucky for me; I never go there but to some +stone-breaking job. Last time it was the public meeting of which I must +have written you; this time it was this uneasy but not on the whole +unsuccessful experiment. Belle, my mother, and I rode home about +midnight in a fine display of lightning and witch-fires. My mother is +absent, so that I may dare to say that she struck me as voluble. The +Amanuensis did not strike me the same way; she was probably thinking, +but it was really rather a weird business, and I saw what I have never +seen before, the witch-fires gathered into little bright blue points +almost as bright as a night-light. + +_Saturday._--This is the day that should bring your letter; it is gray +and cloudy and windless; thunder rolls in the mountain; it is a quarter +past six, and I am alone, sir, alone in this workman's house, Belle and +Lloyd having been down all yesterday to meet the steamer; they were +scarce gone with most of the horses and all the saddles, than there +began a perfect picnic of the sick and maim; Iopu with a bad foot, +Faauma with a bad shoulder, Fanny with yellow spots. It was at first +proposed to carry all these to the doctor, particularly Faauma, whose +shoulder bore an appearance of erysipelas, that sent the amateur below. +No horses, no saddle. Now I had my horse and I could borrow Lafaele's +saddle; and if I went alone I could do a job that had long been waiting; +and that was to interview the doctor on another matter. Off I set in a +hazy moonlight night; windless, like to-day; the thunder rolling in the +mountain, as to-day; in the still groves, these little mushroom lamps +glowing blue and steady, singly or in pairs. Well, I had my interview, +said everything as I had meant, and with just the result I hoped for. +The doctor and I drank beer together and discussed German literature +until nine, and we parted the best of friends. I got home to a silent +house of sleepers, only Fanny awaiting me; we talked awhile, in +whispers, on the interview; then, I got a lantern and went across to the +workman's house, now empty and silent, myself sole occupant. So to bed, +prodigious tired but mighty content with my night's work, and to-day, +with a headache and a chill, have written you this page, while my new +novel waits. Of this I will tell you nothing, except the various names +under consideration. First, it ought to be called--but of course that is +impossible-- + + _Braxfield._[49] + +Then it _is_ to be called either + + _Weir of Hermiston, + The Lord-Justice Clerk, + The Two Kirsties of the Cauldstaneslap_, + + or + + _The Four Black Brothers_. + +Characters: + + Adam Weir, Lord-Justice Clerk, called Lord Hermiston. + Archie, his son. + Aunt Kirstie Elliott, his housekeeper at Hermiston. + Elliott of the Cauldstaneslap, her brother. + Kirstie Elliott, his daughter. + Jim, \ + Gib, | + Hob > his sons. + & | + Dandie, / + Patrick Innes, a young advocate. + The Lord-Justice General. + +Scene, about Hermiston in the Lammermuirs and in Edinburgh. Temp. 1812. +So you see you are to have another holiday from copra! The rain begins +softly on the iron roof, and I will do the reverse and--dry up. + +_Sunday._--Yours with the diplomatic private opinion received. It is +just what I should have supposed. _Ca m'est bien egal._--The name is to +be + + _The Lord-Justice Clerk._ + +None others are genuine. Unless it be + + _Lord-Justice Clerk Hermiston._ + +_Nov. 2nd._--On Saturday we expected Captain Morse of the _Alameda_ to +come up to lunch, and on Friday with genuine South Sea hospitality had a +pig killed. On the Saturday morning no pig. Some of the boys seemed to +give a doubtful account of themselves; our next neighbour below in the +wood is a bad fellow and very intimate with some of our boys, for whom +his confounded house is like a fly-paper for flies. To add to all this, +there was on the Saturday a great public presentation of food to the +king and parliament men, an occasion on which it is almost dignified for +a Samoan to steal anything, and entirely dignified for him to steal a +pig. + +(The Amanuensis went to the _talolo_, as it is called, and saw something +so very pleasing she begs to interrupt the letter to tell it. The +different villagers came in in bands--led by the maid of the village, +followed by the young warriors. It was a very fine sight, for some three +thousand people are said to have assembled. The men wore nothing but +magnificent head-dresses and a bunch of leaves, and were oiled and +glistening in the sunlight. One band had no maid but was led by a tiny +child of about five--a serious little creature clad in a ribbon of grass +and a fine head-dress, who skipped with elaborate leaps in front of the +warriors, like a little kid leading a band of lions. A.M.) + +The A.M. being done, I go on again. All this made it very possible that +even if none of our boys had stolen the pig, some of them might know the +thief. Besides, the theft, as it was a theft of meat prepared for a +guest, had something of the nature of an insult, and "my face," in +native phrase, "was ashamed." Accordingly, we determined to hold a bed +of justice. It was done last night after dinner. I sat at the head of +the table, Graham on my right hand, Henry Simele at my left, Lloyd +behind him. The house company sat on the floor around the walls--twelve +all told. I am described as looking as like Braxfield as I could manage +with my appearance; Graham, who is of a severe countenance, looked like +Rhadamanthus; Lloyd was hideous to the view; and Simele had all the fine +solemnity of a Samoan chief. The proceedings opened by my delivering a +Samoan prayer, which may be translated thus--"Our God, look down upon us +and shine into our hearts. Help us to be far from falsehood so that each +one of us may stand before Thy Face in his integrity."--Then, beginning +with Simele, every one came up to the table, laid his hand on the Bible, +and repeated clause by clause after me the following oath--I fear it may +sound even comic in English, but it is a very pretty piece of Samoan, +and struck direct at the most lively superstitions of the race. "This is +the Holy Bible here that I am touching. Behold me, O God! If I know who +it was that took away the pig, or the place to which it was taken, or +have heard anything relating to it, and shall not declare the same--be +made an end of by God this life of mine!" They all took it with so much +seriousness and firmness that (as Graham said) if they were not innocent +they would make invaluable witnesses. I was so far impressed by their +bearing that I went no further, and the funny and yet strangely solemn +scene came to an end. + +_Sunday, Nov. 6th._--Here is a long story to go back upon, and I wonder +if I have either time or patience for the task? + +Wednesday I had a great idea of match-making, and proposed to Henry that +Faale would make a good wife for him. I wish I had put this down when it +was fresher in my mind, it was so interesting an interview. My gentleman +would not tell if I were on or not. "I do not know yet; I will tell you +next week. May I tell the sister of my father? No, better not, tell her +when it is done."--"But will not your family be angry if you marry +without asking them?"--"My village? What does my village want? Mats!" I +said I thought the girl would grow up to have a great deal of sense, and +my gentleman flew out upon me; she had sense now, he said. + +Thursday, we were startled by the note of guns, and presently after +heard it was an English warship. Graham and I set off at once, and as +soon as we met any towns-folk they began crying to me that I was to be +arrested. It was the _Vossische Zeitung_ article which had been quoted +in a paper. Went on board and saw Captain Bourke; he did not even +know--not even guess--why he was here; having been sent off by cablegram +from Auckland. It is hoped the same ship that takes this off Europewards +may bring his orders and our news. But which is it to be? Heads or +tails? If it is to be German, I hope they will deport me; I should +prefer it so; I do not think that I could bear a German officialdom, and +should probably have to leave _sponte mea_, which is only less +picturesque and more expensive. + +_8th._--Mail day. All well, not yet put in prison, whatever may be in +store for me. No time even to sign this lame letter. + + + + +To J. M. BARRIE + + + _Vailima Plantation, Samoan Islands, November 1st, 1892._ + +DEAR MR. BARRIE,--I can scarce thank you sufficiently for your extremely +amusing letter. No, _The Auld Licht Idyls_ never reached me--I wish it +had, and I wonder extremely whether it would not be good for me to have +a pennyworth of the Auld Licht pulpit. It is a singular thing that I +should live here in the South Seas under conditions so new and so +striking, and yet my imagination so continually inhabit that cold old +huddle of grey hills from which we come. I have just finished _David +Balfour_; I have another book on the stocks, _The Young Chevalier_, +which is to be part in France and part in Scotland, and to deal with +Prince Charlie about the year 1749; and now what have I done but begun a +third which is to be all moorland together, and is to have for a +centre-piece a figure that I think you will appreciate--that of the +immortal Braxfield--Braxfield himself is my _grand premier_, or, since +you are so much involved in the British drama, let me say my heavy +lead.... + +Your descriptions of your dealings with Lord Rintoul are frightfully +unconscientious. You should never write about anybody until you persuade +yourself at least for the moment that you love him, above all anybody on +whom your plot revolves. It will always make a hole in the book; and, if +he has anything to do with the mechanism, prove a stick in your +machinery. But you know all this better than I do, and it is one of your +most promising traits that you do not take your powers too seriously. +_The Little Minister_ ought to have ended badly; we all know it did; and +we are infinitely grateful to you for the grace and good feeling with +which you lied about it. If you had told the truth, I for one could +never have forgiven you. As you had conceived and written the earlier +parts, the truth about the end, though indisputably true to fact, would +have been a lie, or what is worse, a discord in art. If you are going to +make a book end badly, it must end badly from the beginning. Now your +book began to end well. You let yourself fall in love with, and fondle, +and smile at your puppets. Once you had done that, your honour was +committed--at the cost of truth to life you were bound to save them. It +is the blot on _Richard Feverel_, for instance, that it begins to end +well; and then tricks you and ends ill. But in that case there is worse +behind, for the ill-ending does not inherently issue from the plot--the +story _had_, in fact, _ended well_ after the great last interview +between Richard and Lucy--and the blind, illogical bullet which smashes +all has no more to do between the boards than a fly has to do with the +room into whose open window it comes buzzing. It _might_ have so +happened; it needed not; and unless needs must, we have no right to pain +our readers. I have had a heavy case of conscience of the same kind +about my Braxfield story. Braxfield--only his name is Hermiston--has a +son who is condemned to death; plainly, there is a fine tempting fitness +about this; and I meant he was to hang. But now on considering my minor +characters, I saw there were five people who would--in a sense who +must--break prison and attempt his rescue. They were capable, hardy +folks, too, who might very well succeed. Why should they not then? Why +should not young Hermiston escape clear out of the country? and be +happy, if he could, with his----. But soft! I will not betray my secret +or my heroine. Suffice it to breathe in your ear that she was what +Hardy calls (and others in their plain way don't) a Pure Woman.[50] Much +virtue in a capital letter, such as yours was. + +Write to me again in my infinite distance. Tell me about your new book. +No harm in telling _me_; I am too far off to be indiscreet; there are +too few near me who would care to hear. I am rushes by the riverside, +and the stream is in Babylon: breathe your secrets to me fearlessly; and +if the Trade Wind caught and carried them away, there are none to catch +them nearer than Australia, unless it were the Tropic Birds. In the +unavoidable absence of my amanuensis, who is buying eels for dinner, I +have thus concluded my dispatch, like St. Paul, with my own hand. + +And in the inimitable words of Lord Kames, Faur ye weel, ye +bitch.--Yours very truly, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO E. L. BURLINGAME + + + _Vailima Plantation, Nov. 2nd, 1892._ + +MY DEAR BURLINGAME,--In the first place, I have to acknowledge receipt +of your munificent cheque for three hundred and fifty dollars. Glad you +liked the Scott voyage; rather more than I did upon the whole. As the +proofs have not turned up at all, there can be no question of returning +them, and I am therefore very much pleased to think you have arranged +not to wait. The volumes of Adams arrived along with yours of October +6th. One of the dictionaries has also blundered home, apparently from +the Colonies; the other is still to seek. I note and sympathise with +your bewilderment as to _Falesa_. My own direct correspondence with Mr. +Baxter is now about three months in abeyance. Altogether you see how +well it would be if you could do anything to wake up the Post Office. +Not a single copy of the _Footnote_ has yet reached Samoa, but I hear of +one having come to its address in Hawaii. Glad to hear good news of +Stoddard.--Yours sincerely, + + R. L. STEVENSON. + +_P.S._--Since the above was written an aftermath of post matter came in, +among which were the proofs of _My Grandfather_. I shall correct and +return them, but as I have lost all confidence in the Post Office, I +shall mention here: first galley, 4th line from the bottom, for "AS" +read "OR." + +Should I ever again have to use my work without waiting for proofs, bear +in mind this golden principle. From a congenital defect, I must suppose, +I am unable to write the word OR--wherever I write it the printer +unerringly puts AS--and those who read for me had better, wherever it is +possible, substitute _or_ for _as_. This the more so since many writers +have a habit of using as which is death to my temper and confusion to my +face. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO LIEUTENANT EELES + + + The following is addressed to one of Stevenson's best friends among + the officers of H.M.S. the Curacoa, which had been for some time on + the South Pacific station. + + _Vailima Plantation, Upolu, Samoan Islands, November 15th, 1892._ + +DEAR EELES,--In the first place, excuse me writing to you by another +hand, as that is the way in which alone all my correspondence gets +effected. Before I took to this method, or rather before I found a +victim, it simply didn't get effected. + +Thank you again and again, first for your kind thought of writing to me, +and second for your extremely amusing and interesting letter. You can +have no guess how immediately interesting it was to our family. First of +all, the poor soul at Nukufetau is an old friend of ours, and we have +actually treated him ourselves on a former visit to the island. I don't +know if Hoskin would approve of our treatment; it consisted, I believe, +mostly in a present of stout and a recommendation to put nails in his +watertank. We also (as you seem to have done) recommended him to leave +the island; and I remember very well how wise and kind we thought his +answer. He had half-caste children (he said) who would suffer and +perhaps be despised if he carried them elsewhere; if he left them there +alone, they would almost certainly miscarry; and the best thing was that +he should stay and die with them. But the cream of the fun was your +meeting with Buckland. We not only know him, but (as the French say) we +don't know anybody else; he is our intimate and adored original; +and--prepare your mind--he was, is, and ever will be, TOMMY HADDON![51] +As I don't believe you to be inspired, I suspect you to have suspected +this. At least it was a mighty happy suspicion. You are quite right: +Tommy is really "a good chap," though about as comic as they make them. + +I was extremely interested in your Fiji legend, and perhaps even more so +in your capital account of the _Curacoa's_ misadventure. Alas! we have +nothing so thrilling to relate. All hangs and fools on in this isle of +mis-government, without change, though not without novelty, but wholly +without hope, unless perhaps you should consider it hopeful that I am +still more immediately threatened with arrest. The confounded thing is, +that if it comes off, I shall be sent away in the _Ringarooma_ instead +of the _Curacoa_. The former ship burst upon us by the run--she had been +sent off by despatch and without orders--and to make me a little more +easy in my mind she brought newspapers clamouring for my incarceration. +Since then I have had a conversation with the German Consul. He said he +had read a review of my Samoa book, and if the review were fair, must +regard it as an insult, and one that would have to be resented. At the +same time, I learn that letters addressed to the German squadron lie for +them here in the Post Office. Reports are current of other English ships +being on the way--I hope to goodness yours will be among the number. And +I gather from one thing and another that there must be a holy row going +on between the powers at home, and that the issue (like all else +connected with Samoa) is on the knees of the gods. One thing, however, +is pretty sure--_if_ that issue prove to be a German protectorate, I +shall have to tramp. Can you give us any advice as to a fresh field of +energy? We have been searching the atlas, and it seems difficult to fill +the bill. How would Rarotonga do? I forget if you have been there. The +best of it is that my new house is going up like winking, and I am +dictating this letter to the accompaniment of saws and hammers. A +hundred black boys and about a score draught oxen perished, or at least +barely escaped with their lives, from the mud holes on our road, +bringing up the materials. It will be a fine legacy to H.I.G.M.'s +protectorate, and doubtless the Governor will take it for his country +house.[51] The Ringarooma people, by the way, seem very nice. I liked +Stansfield particularly. + +Our middy[53] has gone up to San Francisco in pursuit of the phantom +Education. We have good word of him, and I hope he will not be in +disgrace again, as he was when the hope of the British Navy--need I say +that I refer to Admiral Burney?--honoured us last. The next time you +come, as the new house will be finished, we shall be able to offer you a +bed. Nares and Meiklejohn may like to hear that our new room is to be +big enough to dance in. It will be a very pleasant day for me to see the +_Curacoa_ in port again and at least a proper contingent of her officers +"skipping in my 'all." + +We have just had a feast on my birthday at which we had three of the +Ringaroomas, and I wish they had been three Curacoas--say yourself, +Hoskin, and Burney the ever Great. (Consider this an invitation.) Our +boys had got the thing up regardless. There were two huge sows--O, +brutes of animals that would have broken down a hansom cab--four smaller +pigs, two barrels of beef, and a horror of vegetables and fowls. We sat +down between forty and fifty in a big new native house behind the +kitchen that you have never seen, and ate and public spoke till all was +blue. Then we had about half an hour's holiday with some beer and sherry +and brandy and soda to restrengthen the European heart, and then out to +the old native house to see a siva. Finally, all the guests were packed +off in a trackless black night and down a road that was rather fitted +for the _Curacoa_ than any human pedestrian, though to be sure I do not +know the draught of the _Curacoa_. My ladies one and all desire to be +particularly remembered to our friends on board, and all look forward, +as I do myself, in the hope of your return.--Yours sincerely, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + +And let me hear from you again! + + + + +TO CHARLES BAXTER + + + The following extract gives a hint of Stevenson's intended management + of one of the most difficult points in the plot of _Weir of + Hermiston_. + + _1st Dec. '92._ + +... I have a novel on the stocks to be called _The Justice-Clerk_. It is +pretty Scotch, the Grand Premier is taken from Braxfield--(Oh, by the +by, send me Cockburn's _Memorials_)--and some of the story +is--well--queer. The heroine is seduced by one man, and finally +disappears with the other man who shot him.... Mind you, I expect _The +Justice-Clerk_ to be my masterpiece. My Braxfield is already a thing of +beauty and a joy for ever, and so far as he has gone _far_ my best +character. + +[_Later._]--Second thought. I wish Pitcairn's _Criminal Trials quam +primum_. Also, an absolutely correct text of the Scots judiciary oath. + +Also, in case Pitcairn does not come down late enough, I wish as full a +report as possible of a Scotch murder trial between 1790-1820. +Understand, _the fullest possible_. + +Is there any book which would guide me as to the following facts? + +The Justice-Clerk tries some people capitally on circuit. Certain +evidence cropping up, the charge is transferred to the J.-C.'s own son. +Of course, in the next trial the J.-C. is excluded, and the case is +called before the Lord-Justice General. + +Where would this trial have to be? I fear in Edinburgh, which would not +suit my view. Could it be again at the circuit town? + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + [_Nov. 30, 1892._] + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--Another grimy little odd and end of paper, for which +you shall be this month repaid in kind, and serve you jolly well +right.... This is a strange life I live, always on the brink of +deportation, men's lives in the scale--and, well, you know my character: +if I were to pretend to you that I was not amused, you would justly +scorn me. The new house is roofed; it will be a braw house, and what is +better, I have my yearly bill in, and I find I can pay for it. For all +which mercies, etc. I must have made close on L4,000 this year all told; +but, what is not so pleasant, I seem to have come near to spending them. +I have been in great alarm, with this new house on the cards, all +summer, and came very near to taking in sail, but I live here so +entirely on credit, that I determined to hang on. + +_Dec. 1st._--I was saying yesterday that my life was strange and did not +think how well I spoke. Yesterday evening I was briefed to defend a +political prisoner before the Deputy Commissioner. What do you think of +that for a vicissitude? + +_Dec. 3rd._--Now for a confession. When I heard you and Cassells had +decided to print _The Bottle Imp_ along with _Falesa_, I was too much +disappointed to answer. _The Bottle Imp_ was the _piece de resistance_ +for my volume, _Island Nights' Entertainments_. However, that volume +might have never got done; and I send you two others in case they should +be in time. + +First have _The Beach of Falesa_. + +Then a fresh false title: ISLAND NIGHTS' ENTERTAINMENTS; and then + +_The Bottle Imp_: a cue from an old melodrama. + +_The Isle of Voices._ + +_The Waif Woman_; a cue from a _saga_. + +Of course these two others are not up to the mark of _The Bottle Imp_; +but they each have a certain merit, and they fit in style. By saying "a +cue from an old melodrama" after the _B. I._, you can get rid of my +note. If this is in time, it will be splendid, and will make quite a +volume. + +Should you and Cassells prefer, you can call the whole volume _I. N. +E._--though the _Beach of Falesa_ is the child of a quite different +inspiration. They all have a queer realism, even the most extravagant, +even the _Isle of Voices_; the manners are exact. + +Should they come too late, have them type-written and return to me here +the type-written copies. + +_Sunday, Dec 4th._--3rd start,--But now more humbly and with the aid of +an Amanuensis. First one word about page 2. My wife protests against +_The Waif Woman_ and I am instructed to report the same to you.[54]... + +_Dec. 5th._--A horrid alarm rises that our October mail was burned +crossing the Plains. If so, you lost a beautiful long letter--I am sure +it was beautiful though I remember nothing about it--and I must say I +think it serves you properly well. That I should continue writing to you +at such length is simply a vicious habit for which I blush. At the same +time, please communicate at once with Charles Baxter whether you have or +have not received a letter posted here Oct. 12th, as he is going to +cable me the fate of my mail. + +Now to conclude my news. The German Firm have taken my book like angels, +and the result is that Lloyd and I were down there at dinner on +Saturday, where we partook of fifteen several dishes and eight distinct +forms of intoxicating drink. To the credit of Germany, I must say there +was not a shadow of a headache the next morning. I seem to have done as +well as my neighbours, for I hear one of the clerks expressed the next +morning a gratified surprise that Mr. Stevenson stood his drink so well. +It is a strange thing that any race can still find joy in such athletic +exercises. I may remark in passing that the mail is due and you have had +far more than you deserve. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO MRS. FLEEMING JENKIN + + + _December 5th, 1892._ + +MY DEAR MRS. JENKIN,--... So much said, I come with guilty speed to +what more immediately concerns myself. Spare us a month or two for old +sake's sake, and make my wife and me happy and proud. We are only +fourteen days from San Francisco, just about a month from Liverpool; we +have our new house almost finished. The thing _can_ be done; I believe +we can make you almost comfortable. It is the loveliest climate in the +world, our political troubles seem near an end. It can be done, _it +must_! Do, please, make a virtuous effort, come and take a glimpse of a +new world I am sure you do not dream of, and some old friends who do +often dream of your arrival. + +Alas, I was just beginning to get eloquent, and there goes the lunch +bell, and after lunch I must make up the mail. + +Do come. You must not come in February or March--bad months. From April +on it is delightful.--Your sincere friend, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO HENRY JAMES + + + _December 5th, 1892._ + +MY DEAR JAMES,--How comes it so great a silence has fallen? The still +small voice of self-approval whispers me it is not from me. I have +looked up my register, and find I have neither written to you nor heard +from you since June 22nd, on which day of grace that invaluable work +began. This is not as it should be. How to get back? I remember +acknowledging with rapture _The Lesson of the Master_, and I remember +receiving _Marbot_: was that our last relation? + +Hey, well! anyway, as you may have probably gathered from the papers, I +have been in devilish hot water, and (what may be new to you) devilish +hard at work. In twelve calendar months I finished _The Wrecker_, wrote +all of _Falesa_ but the first chapter, (well, much of) _The History of +Samoa_, did something here and there to my Life of my Grandfather, and +began And Finished _David Balfour_. What do you think of it for a year? +Since then I may say I have done nothing beyond draft three chapters of +another novel, _The Justice-Clerk_, which ought to be a snorter and a +blower--at least if it don't make a spoon, it will spoil the horn of an +Aurochs (if that's how it should be spelt). + +On the hot water side it may entertain you to know that I have been +actually sentenced to deportation by my friends on Mulinuu, C.J. +Cedercrantz, and Baron Senfft von Pilsach. The awful doom, however, +declined to fall, owing to Circumstances over Which. I only heard of it +(so to speak) last night. I mean officially, but I had walked among +rumours. The whole tale will be some day put into my hand, and I shall +share it with humorous friends. + +It is likely, however, by my judgment, that this epoch of gaiety in +Samoa will soon cease; and the fierce white light of history will beat +no longer on Yours Sincerely and his fellows here on the beach. We ask +ourselves whether the reason will more rejoice over the end of a +disgraceful business, or the unregenerate man more sorrow over the +stoppage of the fun. For, say what you please, it has been a deeply +interesting time. You don't know what news is, nor what politics, nor +what the life of man, till you see it on so small a scale and with your +own liberty on the board for stake. I would not have missed it for much. +And anxious friends beg me to stay at home and study human nature in +Brompton drawing-rooms! _Farceurs!_ And anyway you know that such is not +my talent. I could never be induced to take the faintest interest in +Brompton _qua_ Brompton or a drawing-room _qua_ a drawing-room. I am an +Epick Writer with a k to it, but without the necessary genius. + +Hurry up with another book of stories. I am now reduced to two of my +contemporaries, you and Barrie--O, and Kipling--you and Barrie and +Kipling are now my Muses Three. And with Kipling, as you know, there are +reservations to be made. And you and Barrie don't write enough. I should +say I also read Anstey when he is serious, and can almost always get a +happy day out of Marion Crawford--_ce n'est pas toujours la guerre_, but +it's got life to it and guts, and it moves. Did you read the _Witch of +Prague_? Nobody could read it twice, of course; and the first time even +it was necessary to skip. _E pur si muove._ But Barrie is a beauty, the +_Little Minister_ and the _Window in Thrums_, eh? Stuff in that young +man; but he must see and not be too funny. Genius in him, but there's a +journalist at his elbow--there's the risk. Look, what a page is the +glove business in the _Window_! knocks a man flat; that's guts, if you +please. + +Why have I wasted the little time that is left with a sort of naked +review article? I don't know, I'm sure. I suppose a mere ebullition of +congested literary talk. I am beginning to think a visit from friends +would be due. Wish you could come! + +Let us have your news anyway, and forgive this silly stale +effusion.--Yours ever, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +To J. M. BARRIE + + [_Vailima, December 1892._] + +DEAR J. M. BARRIE,--You will be sick of me soon; I cannot help it. I +have been off my work for some time, and re-read the _Edinburgh Eleven_, +and had a great mind to write a parody and give you all your sauce back +again, and see how you would like it yourself. And then I read (for the +first time--I know not how) the _Window in Thrums_; I don't say that it +is better than the _Minister_; it's less of a tale--and there is a +beauty, a material beauty, of the tale _ipse_, which clever critics +nowadays long and love to forget; it has more real flaws; but somehow it +is--well, I read it last anyway, and it's by Barrie. And he's the man +for my money. The glove is a great page; it is startlingly original, and +as true as death and judgment. Tibbie Birse in the Burial is great, but +I think it was a journalist that got in the word "official." The same +character plainly had a word to say to Thomas Haggard. Thomas affects me +as a lie--I beg your pardon; doubtless he was somebody you knew; that +leads people so far astray. The actual is not the true. + +I am proud to think you are a Scotchman--though to be sure I know +nothing of that country, being only an English tourist, quo' Gavin +Ogilvy. I commend the hard case of Mr. Gavin Ogilvy to J. M. Barrie, +whose work is to me a source of living pleasure and heartfelt national +pride. There are two of us now that the Shirra might have patted on the +head. And please do not think when I thus seem to bracket myself with +you, that I am wholly blinded with vanity. Jess is beyond my frontier +line; I could not touch her skirt; I have no such glamour of twilight on +my pen. I am a capable artist; but it begins to look to me as if you +were a man of genius. Take care of yourself for my sake. It's a devilish +hard thing for a man who writes so many novels as I do, that I should +get so few to read. And I can read yours, and I love them. + +A pity for you that my amanuensis is not on stock to-day, and my own +hand perceptibly worse than usual.--Yours, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + _December 5th, 1892._ + +_P.S._--They tell me your health is not strong. Man, come out here and +try the Prophet's chamber. There's only one bad point to us--we do rise +early. The Amanuensis states that you are a lover of silence--and that +ours is a noisy house--and she is a chatterbox--I am not answerable for +these statements, though I do think there is a touch of garrulity about +my premises. We have so little to talk about, you see. The house is +three miles from town, in the midst of great silent forests. There is a +burn close by, and when we are not talking you can hear the burn, and +the birds, and the sea breaking on the coast three miles away and six +hundred feet below us, and about three times a month a bell--I don't +know where the bell is, nor who rings it; it may be the bell in Hans +Andersen's story for all I know. It is never hot here--86 in the shade +is about our hottest--and it is never cold except just in the early +mornings. Take it for all in all, I suppose this island climate to be by +far the healthiest in the world--even the influenza entirely lost its +sting. Only two patients died, and one was a man nearly eighty, and the +other a child below four months. I won't tell you if it is beautiful, +for I want you to come here and see for yourself. Everybody on the +premises except my wife has some Scotch blood in their veins--I beg your +pardon--except the natives--and then my wife is a Dutchwoman--and the +natives are the next thing conceivable to Highlanders before the +forty-five. We would have some grand cracks! + + R. L. S. + +Come, it will broaden your mind, and be the making of me. + + + + +To CHARLES BAXTER + + + This correspondent had lately been on a tour in Sweden. + + _[Vailima] December 28th, 1892._ + +MY DEAR CHARLES,--Your really decent letter to hand. And here I am +answering it, to the merry note of the carpenter's hammer, in an upper +room of the New House. This upper floor is almost done now, but the +Grrrrrreat 'All below is still unlined; it is all to be varnished +redwood. I paid a big figure but do not repent; the trouble has been so +minimised, the work has been so workmanlike, and all the parties have +been so obliging. What a pity when you met the Buried Majesty of +Sweden--the sovereign of my Cedercrantz--you did not breathe in his ear +a word of Samoa! + + O Sovereign of my Cedercrantz, + Conceive how his plump carcase pants + To leave the spot he now is tree'd in, + And skip with all the dibbs to Sweden. + O Sovereign of my Cedercrantz, + The lowly plea I now advantz; + Remove this man of light and leadin' + From us to more congenial Sweden. + +This kind of thing might be kept up a Lapland night. "Let us bury the +great joke"--Shade of Tennyson, forgive! + +I am glad to say, you can scarce receive the second bill for the house +until next mail, which gives more room to turn round in. Yes, my rate of +expenditure is hellish. It is funny, it crept up and up; and when we sat +upon one vent another exploded. Lloyd and I grew grey over the monthly +returns; but every damned month, there is a new extra. However, we +always hope the next will prove less recalcitrant; in which faith we +advance trembling. + +The desiderated advertisement, I think I have told you, was mighty near +supplied: that is, if deportation would suit your view: the ship was +actually sought to be hired. Yes, it would have been an advertisement, +and rather a lark, and yet a blooming nuisance. For my part, I shall try +to do without. + +No one has thought fit to send me Atalanta[55]; and I have no proof at +all of _D. Balfour_, which is far more serious. How about the _D. B._ +map? As soon as there is a proof it were well I should see it to accord +the text thereto--or t'other way about if needs must. Remember I had to +go much on memory in writing that work. Did you observe the dedication? +and how did you like it? If it don't suit you, I am to try my hand +again.--Yours ever, + + R. L. S. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [32] Editors and publishers (since those days we have been _deniaises_ + with a vengeance) had actually been inclined to shy at the terms of + the fraudulent marriage contract, which is the pivot of the whole + story; see below, p. 187. + + [33] For a lively account of this plantation and its history, see + Lord Pembroke's _South Sea Bubbles_, chap. i. + + [34] The native wife of a carpenter in Apia. + + [35] The sequel to _Kidnapped_, published in the following year under + the title _Catriona_. + + [36] Most of the work on the plantations in Samoa is done by "black + boys," _i.e._ imported labourers from other (Melanesian) islands. + + [37] By Howard Pyle. + + [38] In answer to the obvious remark that the length and style of + _The Wrecker_, then running in Scribner's Magazine, were out of + keeping with what professed at the outset to be a spoken yarn. + + [39] Of Ballantrae: the story is the unfinished _Young Chevalier_. + + [40] Afterwards changed into _The Ebb Tide_. + + [41] Wordsworth's _Ode to Duty_, a shade misquoted. + + [42] "Kava, properly Ava, is a drink more or less intoxicating, made + from the root of the _Piper Methysticum_, a Pepper plant. The root + is grated: formerly it was chewed by fair damsels. The root thus + broken up is rubbed about in a great pail, with water slowly added. + A strainer of bark cloth is plunged into it at times, and wrung out + so as to carry away the small fragments of root. The drink is made + and used in ceremony. Every detail is regulated by rules, and the + manner of the mixture of the water, the straining, the handling of + the cup, the drinking out of it and returning, should all be done + according to a well-established manner and in certain cadences." I + borrow this explanation from the late Mr. Lafarge's notes to his + catalogue of South Sea Drawings. It may serve to make clearer + several passages in later letters of the present collection. Readers + of the late Lord Pembroke's _South Sea Bubbles_ will remember the + account of this beverage and its preparation in Chap. viii. of that + volume. + + [43] Referring to the marriage contract in the _Beach of Falesa:_ see + above, p. 152. + + [44] This about the consulship was only a passing notion on the part + of R. L. S. No vacancy occurred, and in his correspondence he does + not recur to the subject. + + [45] I had not cared to send him the story as thus docked and + rechristened in its serial shape. + + [46] Austin Strong, on his way to school in California. + + [47] By Emile Zola. + + [48] The reference is to the writer's maternal cousin, Mr. Graham + Balfour (_Samoice_, "Pelema"), who during these months and again + later was an inmate of the home at Vailima: see above, p. 223. + + [49] Robert MacQueen, Lord Braxfield, the "Hanging Judge," + (1722-1799). This historical personage furnished the conception of + the chief character, but by no means the details or incidents of the + story, which is indeed dated some years after his death. + + [50] The allusion is to _Tess_: a book R. L. S. did not like. + + [51] A character in _The Wrecker_. + + [52] Exactly what in the end actually happened. + + [53] Austin Strong. + + [54] This tale was withheld from the volume accordingly. + + [55] The magazine in which _Catriona_ first appeared in this + country, under the title _David Balfour_. + + + + +XIII + +LIFE IN SAMOA--_Continued_ + +THIRD YEAR AT VAILIMA + +JANUARY-DECEMBER 1893 + + +By the New Year of 1893 the fine addition to the house at Vailima was +finished, and its pleasantness and comfort went far to console Stevenson +for the cost. But the year was on the whole a less fortunate one for the +inmates than the last. A proclamation concerning penalties for sedition +in the Samoan Islands, which from its tenor could have been aimed at no +one else but Stevenson, had been issued at the close of 1892 by the High +Commissioner at Fiji; and with its modification and practical +withdrawal, by order of the Foreign Office at home, the last threat of +unpleasant consequences in connection with his political action +disappeared. But a sharp second attack of influenza in January lowered +his vitality, and from a trip which the family took for the sake of +change to Sydney, in the month of February, they returned with health +unimproved. In April the illness of Mrs. Stevenson caused her husband +some weeks of acute distress and anxiety. In August he suffered the +chagrin of witnessing the outbreak of the war which he had vainly +striven to prevent between the two rival kings, and the defeat and +banishment of Mataafa, whom he knew to be the one man of governing +capacity among the native chiefs, and whom, in the interest alike of +whites and natives, he had desired to see the Powers not crush, but +conciliate. On the other hand, he had the satisfaction of seeing the +Chief Justice and President removed from the posts they had so +incompetently filled, and superseded by new and better men. The task +imposed by the three Powers upon these officials was in truth an +impossible one; but their characters and endeavours earned respect, and +with the American Chief Justice in particular, Mr. C. J. Ide (whom he +had already known as one of the Land Commissioners), and with his family +the Vailima household lived on terms of cordial friendship. In September +Stevenson took a health-trip to Honolulu, which again turned out +unsuccessful. For some weeks he was down with a renewed attack of fever +and prostration, and his wife had to come from Samoa to nurse and fetch +him home. Later in the autumn he mended again. + +During no part of the year were Stevenson's working powers up to the +mark. In the early summer he finished _The Ebb Tide_, but on a plan much +abridged from its original intention, and with an unusual degree of +strain and effort. With _St. Ives_ and his own family history he made +fair progress, but both of these he regarded as in a manner holiday +tasks, not calling for any very serious exercise of his powers. In +connection with the latter, he took an eager interest, as his +correspondence will show, in the researches which friends and kinsmen +undertook for him in Scotland. He fell into arrears in regard to one or +two magazine stories for which he had contracted; and with none of his +more ambitious schemes of romance, _Sophia Scarlet_, _The Young +Chevalier_, _Heathercat_, and _Weir of Hermiston_, did he feel himself +well able to cope. This falling-off of his power of production brought +with it no small degree of inward strain and anxiety. He had not yet +put by any provision for his wife and step-family (the income from the +moderate fortune left by his father naturally going to his mother during +her life). His earnings had since 1887 been considerable, at the rate of +L4,000 a year or thereabouts; but his building expenses and large mode +of life at Vailima, together with his habitual generosity, which scarce +knew check or limit, towards the less fortunate of his friends and +acquaintances in various parts of the world, made his expenditure about +equal to his income. The idea originally entertained of turning part of +the Vailima estate into a profitable plantation turned out chimerical. +The thought began to haunt him, What if his power of earning were soon +to cease? And occasional signs of inward depression and life-weariness +began to appear in his correspondence. But it was only in writing, and +then but rarely, that he let such signs appear: to those about him he +retained the old affectionate charm and inspiring gaiety undiminished, +fulfilling without failure the words of his own prayer, "Give us to +awake with smiles, give us to labour smiling; as the sun lightens the +world, so let our loving-kindness make bright this house of our +habitation." + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + _[Vailima] January 1893._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--You are properly paid at last, and it is like you will +have but a shadow of a letter. I have been pretty thoroughly out of +kilter; first a fever that would neither come on nor go off, then acute +dyspepsia, in the weakening grasp of which I get wandering between the +waking state and one of nightmare. Why the devil does no one send me +Atalanta? And why are there no proofs of _D. Balfour_? Sure I should +have had the whole, at least the half, of them by now; and it would be +all for the advantage of the Atalantans. I have written to Cassell & Co. +(matter of _Falesa_) "you will please arrange with him" (meaning you). +"What he may decide I shall abide." So consider your hand free, and act +for me without fear or favour. I am greatly pleased with the +illustrations. It is very strange to a South-Seayer to see Hawaiian +women dressed like Samoans, but I guess that's all one to you in +Middlesex. It's about the same as if London city men were shown going to +the Stock Exchange as _pifferari_; but no matter, none will sleep worse +for it. I have accepted Cassell's proposal as an amendment to one of +mine; that _D. B._ is to be brought out first under the title _Catriona_ +without pictures; and, when the hour strikes, _Kidnapped_ and _Catriona_ +are to form vols. I. and II. of the heavily illustrated _Adventures of +David Balfour_ at 7s. 6d. each, sold separately. + +----'s letter was vastly sly and dry and shy.[56] I am not afraid now. +Two attempts have been made, both have failed, and I imagine these +failures strengthen me. Above all this is true of the last, where my +weak point was attempted. On every other, I am strong. Only force can +dislodge me, for public opinion is wholly on my side. All races and +degrees are united in heartfelt opposition to the Men of Mulinuu. The +news of the fighting was of no concern to mortal man; it was made much +of because men love talk of battles, and because the Government pray God +daily for some scandal not their own; but it was only a brisk episode in +a clan fight which has grown apparently endemic in the west of Tutuila. +At the best it was a twopenny affair, and never occupied my mind five +minutes. + +I am so weary of reports that are without foundation and threats that go +without fulfilment, and so much occupied besides by the raging troubles +of my own wame, that I have been very slack on politics, as I have been +in literature. With incredible labour, I have rewritten the First +Chapter of the _Justice-Clerk_; it took me about ten days, and requires +another athletic dressing after all. And that is my story for the month. +The rest is grunting and grutching. + +Consideranda for _The Beach_:-- + +I. Whether to add one or both the tales I sent you? + +II. Whether to call the whole volume _Island Nights' Entertainments_? + +III. Whether, having waited so long, it would not be better to give me +another mail, in case I could add another member to the volume and a +little better justify the name? + +If I possibly can draw up another story, I will. What annoyed me about +the use of _The Bottle Imp_ was that I had always meant it for the +centre-piece of a volume of _Maerchen_ which I was slowly to elaborate. +You always had an idea that I depreciated the _B. I._; I can't think +wherefore; I always particularly liked it--one of my best works, and ill +to equal; and that was why I loved to keep it in portfolio till I had +time to grow up to some other fruit of the same _venue_. However, that +is disposed of now, and we must just do the best we can. + +I am not aware that there is anything to add; the weather is hellish, +waterspouts, mists, chills, the foul fiend's own weather, following on a +week of expurgated heaven; so it goes at this bewildering season. I +write in the upper floor of my new house, of which I will send you some +day a plan to measure. 'Tis an elegant structure, surely, and the proid +of me oi. Was asked to pay for it just now, and genteelly refused, and +then agreed, in view of general good-will, to pay a half of what is +still due. + +_24th January 1893._--This ought to have gone last mail and was +forgotten. My best excuse is that I was engaged in starting an +influenza, to which class of exploit our household has been since then +entirely dedicated. We had eight cases, one of them very bad, and +one--mine--complicated with my old friend Bluidy Jack.[57] Luckily +neither Fanny, Lloyd, or Belle took the confounded thing, and they were +able to run the household and nurse the sick to admiration. + +Some of our boys behaved like real trumps. Perhaps the prettiest +performance was that of our excellent Henry Simele, or, as we sometimes +call him, Davy Balfour. Henry, I maun premeese, is a chief; the humblest +Samoan recoils from emptying slops as you would from cheating at cards; +now the last nights of our bad time, when we had seven down together, it +was enough to have made anybody laugh or cry to see Henry going the +rounds with a slop-bucket and going inside the mosquito net of each of +the sick, Protestant and Catholic alike, to pray with them. + +I must tell you that in my sickness I had a huge alleviation and began a +new story. This I am writing by dictation, and really think it is an art +I can manage to acquire. The relief is beyond description; it is just +like a school-treat to me, and the amanuensis bears up extraordinar'. +The story is to be called _St. Ives_; I give you your choice whether or +not it should bear the sub-title, "Experiences of a French prisoner in +England." We were just getting on splendidly with it, when this cursed +mail arrived and requires to be attended to. It looks to me very like as +if _St. Ives_ would be ready before any of the others, but you know me +and how impossible it is I should predict. The Amanuensis has her head +quite turned and believes herself to be the author of this novel (and is +to some extent)--and as the creature (!) has not been wholly useless in +the matter (I told you so! A.M.) I propose to foster her vanity by a +little commemoration gift! The name of the hero is Anne de St. Yves--he +Englishes his name to St. Ives during his escape. It is my idea to get a +ring made which shall either represent _Anne_ or A. S. Y. A., of course, +would be Amethyst and S. Sapphire, which is my favourite stone anyway +and was my father's before me. But what would the ex-Slade professor do +about the letter Y? Or suppose he took the other version, how would he +meet the case, the two N.'s? These things are beyond my knowledge, which +it would perhaps be more descriptive to call ignorance. But I place the +matter in the meanwhile under your consideration and beg to hear your +views. I shall tell you on some other occasion and when the A.M. is out +of hearing how _very_ much I propose to invest in this testimonial; but +I may as well inform you at once that I intend it to be cheap, sir, +damned cheap! My idea of running amanuenses is by praise, not pudding, +flattery and not coins! I shall send you when the time is ripe a ring to +measure by. + +To resume our sad tale. After the other seven were almost wholly +recovered Henry lay down to influenza on his own account. He is but just +better and it looks as though Fanny were about to bring up the rear. As +for me, I am all right, though I _was_ reduced to dictating _Anne_ in +the deaf-and-dumb alphabet, which I think you will admit is a _comble_. + +Politics leave me extraordinary cold. It seems that so much of my +purpose has come off, and Cedercrantz and Pilsach are sacked. The rest +of it has all gone to water. The triple-headed ass at home, in his +plenitude of ignorance, prefers to collect the taxes and scatter the +Mataafas by force or the threat of force. It may succeed, and I suppose +it will. It is none the less for that expensive, harsh, unpopular and +unsettling. I am young enough to have been annoyed, and altogether eject +and renegate the whole idea of political affairs. Success in that field +appears to be the organisation of failure enlivened with defamation of +character; and, much as I love pickles and hot water (in your true +phrase) I shall take my pickles in future from Crosse and Blackwell and +my hot water with a dose of good Glenlivat. + +Do not bother at all about the wall-papers. We have had the whole of our +new house varnished, and it looks beautiful. I wish you could see the +hall; poor room, it had to begin life as an infirmary during our recent +visitation; but it is really a handsome comely place, and when we get +the furniture, and the pictures, and what is so very much more +decorative, the picture frames, will look sublime. + +_Jan. 30th._--I have written to Charles asking for Rowlandson's _Syntax_ +and _Dance of Death_ out of our house, and begging for anything about +fashions and manners (fashions particularly) for 1814. Can you help? +Both the Justice Clerk and St. Ives fall in that fated year. Indeed I +got into St. Ives while going over the Annual Register for the other. +There is a kind of fancy list of Chaps. of St. Ives. (It begins in +Edin^b Castle.) I. Story of a lion rampant (that was a toy he had made, +and given to a girl visitor). II. Story of a pair of scissors. III. St. +Ives receives a bundle of money. IV. St. Ives is shown a house. V. The +Escape. VI. The Cottage (Swanston Cottage). VII. The Hen-house. VIII. +Three is company and four none. IX. The Drovers. X. The Great North +Road. XI. Burchell Fenn. XII. The covered cart. XIII. The doctor. XIV. +The Luddites. XV. Set a thief to catch a thief. XVI. M. le Comte de +Kerouaille (his uncle, the rich _emigre_, whom he finds murdered). XVII. +The cousins. XVIII. Mr. Sergeant Garrow. XIX. A meeting at the Ship, +Dover. XX. Diane. XXI. The Duke's Prejudices. XXII. The False Messenger. +XXIII. The gardener's ladder. XXIV. The officers. XXV. Trouble with the +Duke. XXVI. Fouquet again. XXVII. The Aeronaut. XXVIII. The True-Blooded +Yankee. XXIX. In France. I don't know where to stop. Apropos, I want a +book about Paris, and the _first return_ of the _emigres_ and all up to +the _Cent Jours_: d'ye ken anything in my way? I want in particular to +know about them and the Napoleonic functionaries and officers, and to +get the colour and some vital details of the business of exchange of +departments from one side to the other.[58] Ten chapters are drafted, +and VIII. re-copied by me, but will want another dressing for luck. It +is merely a story of adventure, rambling along; but that is perhaps the +guard that "sets my genius best," as Alan might have said. I wish I +could feel as easy about the other! But there, all novels are a heavy +burthen while they are doing, and a sensible disappointment when they +are done. + +For God's sake, let me have a copy of the new German Samoa White Book. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO CHARLES BAXTER + + + Telling how the projected tale, _The Pearl Fisher_, had been cut down + and in its new form was to be called _The Schooner Farallone_ + (afterwards changed to _The Ebb Tide_). + + [_Vailima, February 1893._] + +MY DEAR CHARLES,--I have had the influenza, as I believe you know: this +has been followed by two goes of my old friend Bloodie Jacke, and I have +had fefe--the island complaint--for the second time in two months. All +this, and the fact that both my womenkind require to see a doctor: and +some wish to see Lord Jersey before he goes home: all send me off on a +month's holiday to Sydney. I may get my mail: or I may not: depends on +freight, weather, and the captain's good-nature--he is one of those who +most religiously fear Apia harbour: it is quite a superstition with +American captains. (Odd note: American sailors, who make British hair +grey by the way they carry canvas, appear to be actually _more_ nervous +when it comes to coast and harbour work.) This is the only holiday I +have had for more than 2 years; I dare say it will be as long again +before I take another. And I am going to spend a lot of money. Ahem! + +On the other hand, you can prepare to dispose of the serial rights of +the _Schooner Farallone:_ a most grim and gloomy tale. It will run to +something between _Jekyll and Hyde_ and _Treasure Island_. I will not +commit myself beyond this, but I anticipate from 65 to 70,000 words, +could almost pledge myself not shorter than 65,000, but won't. The tale +can be sent as soon as you have made arrangements; I hope to finish it +in a month; six weeks, bar the worst accidents, for certain. I should +say this is the butt end of what was once _The Pearl Fisher_. There is a +peculiarity about this tale in its new form: it ends with a conversion! +We have been tempted rather to call it _The Schooner Farallone: a tract +by R. L. S._ and _L. O._ It would make a boss tract; the three main +characters--and there are only four--are barats, insurance frauds, +thieves and would-be murderers; so the company's good. Devil a woman +there, by good luck; so it's "pure." 'Tis a most--what's the +expression?--unconventional work. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + _At Sea, s.s._ Mariposa, _Feb. 19th, '93_. + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--You will see from this heading that I am not dead yet +nor likely to be. I was pretty considerably out of sorts, and that is +indeed one reason why Fanny, Belle, and I have started out for a month's +lark. To be quite exact, I think it will be about five weeks before we +get home. We shall stay between two and three in Sydney. Already, though +we only sailed yesterday, I am feeling as fit as a fiddle. Fanny ate a +whole fowl for breakfast, to say nothing of a tower of hot cakes. Belle +and I floored another hen betwixt the pair of us, and I shall be no +sooner done with the present amanuensing racket than I shall put myself +outside a pint of Guinness. If you think this looks like dying of +consumption in Apia I can only say I differ from you. In the matter of +_David_, I have never yet received my proofs at all, but shall certainly +wait for your suggestions. Certainly, Chaps. 17 to 20 are the hitch, and +I confess I hurried over them with both wings spread. This is doubtless +what you complain of. Indeed, I placed my single reliance on Miss Grant. +If she couldn't ferry me over, I felt I had to stay there. + +About _Island Nights' Entertainments_ all you say is highly +satisfactory. Go in and win. + +The extracts from the Times I really cannot trust myself to comment +upon. They were infernally satisfactory; so, and perhaps still more so, +was a letter I had at the same time from Lord Pembroke. If I have time +as I go through Auckland, I am going to see Sir George Grey. + +Now I really think that's all the business. I have been rather sick and +have had two small hemorrhages, but the second I believe to have been +accidental. No good denying that this annoys, because it do. However, +you must expect influenza to leave some harm, and my spirits, appetite, +peace on earth and goodwill to men are all on a rising market. During +the last week the amanuensis was otherwise engaged, whereupon I took up, +pitched into, and about one half demolished another tale, once intended +to be called _The Pearl Fisher_, but now razeed and called _The Schooner +Farallone_.[59] We had a capital start, the steamer coming in at +sunrise, and just giving us time to get our letters ere she sailed +again. The manager of the German Firm (O strange, changed days!) danced +attendance upon us all morning; his boat conveyed us to and from the +steamer. + +_Feb. 21st._--All continues well. Amanuensis bowled over for a day, but +afoot again and jolly; Fanny enormously bettered by the voyage; I have +been as jolly as a sand-boy as usual at sea. The Amanuensis sits +opposite to me writing to her offspring. Fanny is on deck. I have just +supplied her with the Canadian Pacific Agent, and so left her in good +hands. You should hear me at table with the Ulster purser and a little +punning microscopist called Davis. Belle does some kind of abstruse +Boswell-ising; after the first meal, having gauged the kind of jests +that would pay here, I observed, "Boswell is Barred during this cruise." + +_23rd._--We approach Auckland and I must close my mail. All goes well +with the trio. Both the ladies are hanging round a beau--the same--that +I unearthed for them: I am general provider, and especially great in the +beaux business. I corrected some proofs for Fanny yesterday afternoon, +fell asleep over them in the saloon--and the whole ship seems to have +been down beholding me. After I woke up, had a hot bath, a whisky punch +and a cigarette, and went to bed, and to sleep too, at 8.30; a +recrudescence of Vailima hours. Awoke to-day, and had to go to the +saloon clock for the hour--no sign of dawn--all heaven grey rainy fog. +Have just had breakfast, written up one letter, register and close this. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + Bad pen, bad ink, _S.S._ Mariposa, _at Sea_. + bad light, bad _Apia due by daybreak to-morrow, + blotting-paper. 9 p.m._ [_March 1st, 1893._] + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--Have had an amusing but tragic holiday, from which we +return in disarray. Fanny quite sick, but I think slowly and steadily +mending; Belle in a terrific state of dentistry troubles which now seem +calmed; and myself with a succession of gentle colds out of which I at +last succeeded in cooking up a fine pleurisy. By stopping and stewing in +a perfectly airless state-room I seem to have got rid of the pleurisy. +Poor Fanny had very little fun of her visit, having been most of the +time on a diet of maltine and slops--and this while the rest of us were +rioting on oysters and mushrooms. Belle's only devil in the hedge was +the dentist. As for me, I was entertained at the General Assembly of the +Presbyterian Church, likewise at a sort of artistic club; made speeches +at both, and may therefore be said to have been, like Saint Paul, all +things to all men. I have an account of the latter racket which I meant +to have enclosed in this.... Had some splendid photos taken, likewise a +medallion by a French sculptor; met Graham, who returned with us as far +as Auckland. Have seen a good deal too of Sir George Grey; what a +wonderful old historic figure to be walking on your arm and recalling +ancient events and instances! It makes a man small, and yet the extent +to which he approved what I had done--or rather have tried to +do--encouraged me. Sir George is an expert at least, he knows these +races: he is not a small employe with an ink-pot and a Whitaker. + +Take it for all in all, it was huge fun: even Fanny had some lively +sport at the beginning; Belle and I all through. We got Fanny a dress on +the sly, gaudy black velvet and Duchesse lace. And alas! she was only +able to wear it once. But we'll hope to see more of it at Samoa; it +really is lovely. Both dames are royally outfitted in silk stockings, +etc. We return, as from a raid, with our spoils and our wounded. I am +now very dandy: I announced two years ago that I should change. Slovenly +youth, all right--not slovenly age. So really now I am pretty spruce; +always a white shirt, white necktie, fresh shave, silk socks, O a great +sight!--No more possible. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO CHARLES BAXTER + + + Of the books mentioned below, _Dr. Syntax's Tour_ and Rowlandson's + _Dance of Death_ had been for use in furnishing customs and manners + in the English part of _St. Ives_; _Pitcairn_ is Pitcairn's _Criminal + Trials of Scotland from 1488 to 1624_. As to the name of Stevenson + and its adoption by some members of the proscribed clan of Macgregor, + Stevenson had been greatly interested by the facts laid before him by + his correspondent here mentioned, Mr. Macgregor Stevenson of New + York, and had at first delightedly welcomed the idea that his own + ancestors might have been fellow-clansmen of Rob Roy. But further + correspondence on the subject of his own descent held with a trained + genealogist, his namesake Mr. J. Horne Stevenson of Edinburgh, + convinced him that the notion must be abandoned. + + [_April 1893._] + +... About _The Justice-Clerk_, I long to go at it, but will first try to +get a short story done. Since January I have had two severe illnesses, +my boy, and some heartbreaking anxiety over Fanny; and am only now +convalescing. I came down to dinner last night for the first time, and +that only because the service had broken down, and to relieve an +inexperienced servant. Nearly four months now I have rested my brains; +and if it be true that rest is good for brains, I ought to be able to +pitch in like a giant refreshed. Before the autumn, I hope to send you +some _Justice-Clerk_, or _Weir of Hermiston_, as Colvin seems to prefer; +I own to indecision. Received _Syntax_, _Dance of Death_, and +_Pitcairn_, which last I have read from end to end since its arrival, +with vast improvement. What a pity it stops so soon! I wonder is there +nothing that seems to prolong the series? Why doesn't some young man +take it up? How about my old friend Fountainhall's _Decisions?_ I +remember as a boy that there was some good reading there. Perhaps you +could borrow me that, and send it on loan; and perhaps Laing's +_Memorials_ therewith; and a work I'm ashamed to say I have never read, +_Balfour's Letters_.... I have come by accident, through a +correspondent, on one very curious and interesting fact--namely, that +Stevenson was one of the names adopted by the Macgregors at the +proscription. The details supplied by my correspondent are both +convincing and amusing; but it would be highly interesting to find out +more of this. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + These notes are in reply to a set of queries and suggestions as to + points that seemed to need clearing in the tale of _Catriona_, as + first published in Atalanta under the title _David Balfour_. + + _[Vailima] April 1893._ + +1. _Slip_ 3. Davie would be _attracted_ into a similar dialect, as he is +later--_e.g._ with Doig, chapter XIX. This is truly Scottish. + +4, _to lightly_; correct; "to lightly" is a good regular Scots verb. + +15. See Allan Ramsay's works. + +15, 16. Ay, and that is one of the pigments with which I am trying to +draw the character of Prestongrange. 'Tis a most curious thing to render +that kind, insignificant mask. To make anything precise is to risk my +effect. And till the day he died, Davie was never sure of what P. was +after. Not only so; very often P. didn't know himself. There was an +element of mere liking for Davie; there was an element of being +determined, in case of accidents, to keep well with him. He hoped his +Barbara would bring him to her feet, besides, and make him manageable. +That was why he sent him to Hope Park with them. But Davie cannot +_know_; I give you the inside of Davie, and my method condemns me to +give only the outside both of Prestongrange and his policy. + +- -I'll give my mind to the technicalities. Yet to me they seem a part +of the story, which is historical, after all. + +- -I think they wanted Alan to escape. But when or where to say so? I +will try. + +- -20, _Dean_. I'll try and make that plainer. + +_Chap._ XIII., I fear it has to go without blows. If I could get the +pair--No, can't be. + +- -XIV. All right, will abridge. + +- -XV. I'd have to put a note to every word; and he who can't read Scots +can _never_ enjoy Tod Lapraik. + +- -XVII. Quite right. I _can_ make this plainer, and will. + +- -XVIII. I know, but I have to hurry here; this is the broken back of +my story; some business briefly transacted, I am leaping for Barbara's +apron-strings. + +_Slip_ 57. Quite right again; I shall make it plain. + +_Chap._ XX. I shall make all these points clear. About Lady +Prestongrange (not _Lady_ Grant, only _Miss_ Grant, my dear, though +_Lady_ Prestongrange, quoth the dominie) I am taken with your idea of +her death, and have a good mind to substitute a featureless aunt. + +_Slip_ 78. I don't see how to lessen this effect. There is really not +much said of it; and I know Catriona did it. But I'll try. + +- -89. I know. This is an old puzzle of mine. You see C.'s dialect is not +wholly a bed of roses. If only I knew the Gaelic. Well, I'll try for +another expression. + +_The end._ I shall try to work it over. James was at Dunkirk ordering +post-horses for his own retreat. Catriona did have her suspicions +aroused by the letter, and careless gentleman, I told you so--or she did +at least.--Yes, the blood money.--I am bothered about the portmanteau; +it is the presence of Catriona that bothers me; the rape of the +pockmantie is historic.... + +To me, I own, it seems in the proof a very pretty piece of workmanship. +David himself I refuse to discuss; he _is_. The Lord Advocate I think a +strong sketch of a very difficult character, James More, sufficient; and +the two girls very pleasing creatures. But O dear me, I came near losing +my heart to Barbara! I am not quite so constant as David, and even +he--well, he didn't know it, anyway! _Tod Lapraik_ is a piece of living +Scots: if I had never writ anything but that and _Thrawn Janet_, still +I'd have been a writer. The defects of _D. B._ are inherent, I fear. But +on the whole, I am far indeed from being displeased with the tailie. One +thing is sure, there has been no such drawing of Scots character since +Scott; and even he never drew a full length like Davie, with his +shrewdness and simplicity, and stockishness and charm. Yet, you'll see, +the public won't want it; they want more Alan! Well, they can't get it. +And readers of _Tess_ can have no use for my David, and his innocent but +real love affairs. + +I found my fame much grown on this return to civilisation. _Digito +monstrari_ is a new experience; people all looked at me in the streets +in Sydney; and it was very queer. Here, of course, I am only the white +chief in the Great House to the natives; and to the whites, either an +ally or a foe. It is a much healthier state of matters. If I lived in an +atmosphere of adulation, I should end by kicking against the pricks. O +my beautiful forest, O my beautiful shining, windy house, what a joy it +was to behold them again! No chance to take myself too seriously here. + +The difficulty of the end is the mass of matter to be attended to, and +the small time left to transact it in. I mean from Alan's danger of +arrest. But I have just seen my way out, I do believe. + +_Easter Sunday._--I have now got as far as slip 28, and finished the +chapter of the law technicalities. Well, these seemed to me always of +the essence of the story, which is the story of a _cause celebre_; +moreover, they are the justification of my inventions; if these men went +so far (granting Davie sprung on them) would they not have gone so much +further? But of course I knew they were a difficulty; determined to +carry them through in a conversation; approached this (it seems) with +cowardly anxiety; and filled it with gabble, sir, gabble. I have left +all my facts, but have removed 42 lines. I should not wonder but what +I'll end by re-writing it. It is not the technicalities that shocked +you, it was my bad art. It is very strange that X. should be so good a +chapter and IX. and XI. so uncompromisingly bad. It looks as if XI. also +would have to be re-formed. If X. had not cheered me up, I should be in +doleful dumps, but X. is alive anyway, and life is all in all. + +_Thursday, April 5th._--Well, there's no disguise possible; Fanny is not +well, and we are miserably anxious.... + +_Friday, 7th._--I am thankful to say the new medicine relieved her at +once. A crape has been removed from the day for all of us. To make +things better, the morning is ah! such a morning as you have never seen; +heaven upon earth for sweetness, freshness, depth upon depth of +unimaginable colour, and a huge silence broken at this moment only by +the far-away murmur of the Pacific and the rich piping of a single bird. +You can't conceive what a relief this is; it seems a new world. She has +such extraordinary recuperative power that I do hope for the best. I am +as tired as man can be. This is a great trial to a family, and I thank +God it seems as if ours was going to bear it well. And O! if it only +lets up, it will be but a pleasant memory. We are all seedy, bar Lloyd: +Fanny, as per above; self nearly extinct; Belle, utterly overworked and +bad toothache; Cook, down with a bad foot; Butler, prostrate with a bad +leg. Eh, what a faim'ly! + +_Sunday._--Grey heaven, raining torrents of rain; occasional thunder and +lightning. Everything to dispirit; but my invalids are really on the +mend. The rain roars like the sea; in the sound of it there is a strange +and ominous suggestion of an approaching tramp; something nameless and +measureless seems to draw near, and strikes me cold, and yet is welcome. +I lie quiet in bed to-day, and think of the universe with a good deal of +equanimity. I have, at this moment, but the one objection to it; the +_fracas_ with which it proceeds. I do not love noise; I am like my +grandfather in that; and so many years in these still islands has +ingrained the sentiment perhaps. Here are no trains, only men pacing +barefoot. No cars or carriages; at worst the rattle of a horse's shoes +among the rocks. Beautiful silence; and so soon as this robustious rain +takes off, I am to drink of it again by oceanfuls. + +_April 16th._--Several pages of this letter destroyed as beneath scorn; +the wailings of a crushed worm; matter in which neither you nor I can +take stock. Fanny is distinctly better, I believe all right now; I too +am mending, though I have suffered from crushed wormery, which is not +good for the body, and damnation to the soul. I feel to-night a baseless +anxiety to write a lovely poem _a propos des bottes de ma grand'mere, +qui etaient a revers_. I see I am idiotic. I'll try the poem. + +_17th._--The poem did not get beyond plovers and lovers. I am still, +however, harassed by the unauthentic Muse; if I cared to encourage +her--but I have not the time, and anyway we are at the vernal equinox. +It is funny enough, but my pottering verses are usually made (like the +God-gifted organ voice's) at the autumnal; and this seems to hold at the +Antipodes. There is here some odd secret of Nature. I cannot speak of +politics; we wait and wonder. It seems (this is partly a guess) Ide +won't take the C. J. ship, unless the islands are disarmed; and that +England hesitates and holds off. By my own idea, strongly corroborated +by Sir George, I am writing no more letters. But I have put as many +irons in against this folly of the disarming as I could manage. It did +not reach my ears till nearly too late. What a risk to take! What an +expense to incur! And for how poor a gain! Apart from the treachery of +it. My dear fellow, politics is a vile and a bungling business. I used +to think meanly of the plumber; but how he shines beside the politician! + +_Thursday._--A general, steady advance; Fanny really quite chipper and +jolly--self on the rapid mend, and with my eye on _forests_ that are to +fall--and my finger on the axe, which wants stoning. + +_Saturday_, 22.--Still all for the best; but I am having a heartbreaking +time over _David_. I have nearly all corrected. But have to consider +_The Heather on Fire_, _The Wood by Silvermills_, and the last chapter. +They all seem to me off colour; and I am not fit to better them yet. No +proof has been sent of the title, contents, or dedication. + + + + +TO A. CONAN DOYLE + + + The reference in the postscript here is, I believe, to the Journals + of the Society for Psychical Research. + + _Vailima, Apia, Samoa, April 5th, 1893._ + +DEAR SIR,--You have taken many occasions to make yourself very agreeable +to me, for which I might in decency have thanked you earlier. It is now +my turn; and I hope you will allow me to offer you my compliments on +your very ingenious and very interesting adventures of Sherlock Holmes. +That is the class of literature that I like when I have the toothache. +As a matter of fact, it was a pleurisy I was enjoying when I took the +volume up; and it will interest you as a medical man to know that the +cure was for the moment effectual. Only the one thing troubles me; can +this be my old friend Joe Bell?--I am, yours very truly, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + +_P.S._--And lo, here is your address supplied me here in Samoa! But do +not take mine, O frolic fellow Spookist, from the same source; mine is +wrong. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + The outbreak of hostilities was at this date imminent between Mulinuu + (the party of Laupepa, recognised and supported by the Three Powers) + and Malie (the party of Mataafa). + + _[Vailima] 25th April [1893]._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--To-day early I sent down to Maben (Secretary of State) +an offer to bring up people from Malie, keep them in my house, and bring +them down day by day for so long as the negotiation should last. I have +a favourable answer so far. This I would not have tried, had not old Sir +George Grey put me on my mettle; "Never despair," was his word; and "I +am one of the few people who have lived long enough to see how true that +is." Well, thereupon I plunged in; and the thing may do me great harm, +but yet I do not think so--for I think jealousy will prevent the trial +being made. And at any rate it is another chance for this distracted +archipelago of children, sat upon by a clique of fools. If, by the gift +of God, I can do--I am allowed to try to do--and succeed: but no, the +prospect is too bright to be entertained. + +To-day we had a ride down to Tanugamanono, and then by the new wood +paths. One led us to a beautiful clearing, with four native houses; +taro, yams, and the like, excellently planted, and old Folau--"the +Samoan Jew"--sitting and whistling there in his new-found and +well-deserved well-being. It was a good sight to see a Samoan thus +before the world. Further up, on our way home, we saw the world clear, +and the wide die of the shadow lying broad; we came but a little +further, and found in the borders of the bush a banyan. It must have +been 150 feet in height; the trunk, and its acolytes, occupied a great +space; above that, in the peaks of the branches, quite a forest of ferns +and orchids were set; and over all again the huge spread of the boughs +rose against the bright west, and sent their shadow miles to the +eastward. I have not often seen anything more satisfying than this vast +vegetable. + +_Sunday._--A heavenly day again! the world all dead silence, save when, +from far down below us in the woods, comes up the crepitation of the +little wooden drum that beats to church. Scarce a leaf stirs; only now +and again a great, cool gush of air that makes my papers fly, and is +gone.--The king of Samoa has refused my intercession between him and +Mataafa; and I do not deny this is a good riddance to me of a difficult +business, in which I might very well have failed. What else is to be +done for these silly folks? + +_May 12th._--And this is where I had got to, before the mail arrives +with, I must say, a real gentlemanly letter from yourself. Sir, that is +the sort of letter I want! Now, I'll make my little proposal.[60] I will +accept _Child's Play_ and _Pan's Pipes_. Then I want _Pastoral_, _The +Manse_, _The Islet_, leaving out if you like all the prefacial matter +and beginning at I. Then the portrait of Robert Hunter, beginning +"Whether he was originally big or little," and ending "fearless and +gentle." So much for _Mem. and Portraits_. _Beggars_, sections I. and +II., _Random Memories_ II., and _Lantern Bearers_; I'm agreeable. These +are my selections. I don't know about _Pulvis et Umbra_ either, but must +leave that to you. But just what you please. + +About _Davie_ I elaborately wrote last time, but still _Davie_ is not +done; I am grinding singly at _The Ebb Tide_, as we now call the +_Farallone_; the most of it will go this mail. About the following, let +there be no mistake: I will not write the abstract of _Kidnapped_; write +it who will, I will not. Boccaccio must have been a clever fellow to +write both argument and story; I am not, _et je me recuse_. + +We call it _The Ebb Tide: a Trio and Quartette_; but that secondary name +you may strike out if it seems dull to you. The book, however, falls in +two halves, when the fourth character appears. I am on p. 82 if you want +to know, and expect to finish on I suppose 110 or so; but it goes +slowly, as you may judge from the fact that this three weeks past, I +have only struggled from p. 58 to p. 82: twenty-four pages, _et encore_ +sure to be re-written, in twenty-one days. This is no prize-taker; not +much Waverley Novels about this! + +_May 16th._--I believe it will be ten chapters of _The Ebb Tide_ that go +to you; the whole thing should be completed in I fancy twelve; and the +end will follow punctually next mail. It is my great wish that this +might get into The Illustrated London News for Gordon Browne to +illustrate. For whom, in case he should get the job, I give you a few +notes. A purao is a tree giving something like a fig with flowers. He +will find some photographs of an old marine curiosity shop in my +collection, which may help him. Attwater's settlement is to be entirely +overshadowed everywhere by tall palms; see photographs of Fakarava: the +verandahs of the house are 12 ft. wide. Don't let him forget the Figure +Head, for which I have a great use in the last chapter. It stands just +clear of the palms on the crest of the beach at the head of the pier; +the flag-staff not far off; the pier he will understand is perhaps three +feet above high water, not more at any price. The sailors of the +_Farallone_ are to be dressed like white sailors of course. For other +things, I remit this excellent artist to my photographs. + +I can't think what to say about the tale, but it seems to me to go off +with a considerable bang; in fact, to be an extraordinary work: but +whether popular! Attwater is a no end of a courageous attempt, I think +you will admit; how far successful is another affair. If my island ain't +a thing of beauty, I'll be damned. Please observe Wiseman and Wishart; +for incidental grimness, they strike me as in it. Also, kindly observe +the Captain and _Adar_; I think that knocks spots. In short, as you see, +I'm a trifle vainglorious. But O, it has been such a grind! The devil +himself would allow a man to brag a little after such a crucifixion! And +indeed I'm only bragging for a change before I return to the darned +thing lying waiting for me on p. 88, where I last broke down. I break +down at every paragraph, I may observe; and lie here and sweat, till I +can get one sentence wrung out after another. Strange doom; after having +worked so easily for so long! Did ever anybody see such a story of four +characters? + +_Later, 2.30._--It may interest you to know that I am entirely _tapu_, +and live apart in my chambers like a caged beast. Lloyd has a bad cold, +and Graham and Belle are getting it. Accordingly, I dwell here without +the light of any human countenance or voice, and strap away at _The Ebb +Tide_ until (as now) I can no more. Fanny can still come, but is gone to +glory now, or to her garden. Page 88 is done, and must be done over +again to-morrow, and I confess myself exhausted. Pity a man who can't +work on along when he has nothing else on earth to do! But I have +ordered Jack, and am going for a ride in the bush presently to refresh +the machine; then back to a lonely dinner and durance vile. I acquiesce +in this hand of fate; for I think another cold just now would just about +do for me. I have scarce yet recovered the two last. + +_May 18th._--My progress is crabwise, and I fear only IX. chapters will +be ready for the mail. I am on p. 88 again, and with half an idea of +going back again to 85. We shall see when we come to read: I used to +regard reading as a pleasure in my old light days. All the house are +down with the iffluenza in a body, except Fanny and me. The Iffluenza +appears to become endemic here, but it has always been a scourge in the +islands. Witness the beginning of _The Ebb Tide_, which was observed +long before the Iffle had distinguished himself at home by such +Napoleonic conquests. I am now of course "quite a recluse," and it is +very stale, and there is no amanuensis to carry me over my mail, to +which I shall have to devote many hours that would have been more +usefully devoted to _The Ebb Tide_. For you know you can dictate at all +hours of the day and at any odd moment; but to sit down and write with +your red right hand is a very different matter. + +_May 20th._--Well, I believe I've about finished the thing, I mean as +far as the mail is to take it. Chapter X. is now in Lloyd's hands for +remarks, and extends in its present form to p. 93 incl. On the 12th of +May, I see by looking back, I was on p. 82, not for the first time; so +that I have made 11 pages in nine livelong days. Well! up a high hill he +heaved a huge round stone. But this Flaubert business must be resisted +in the premises. Or is it the result of iffluenza God forbid. Fanny is +down now, and the last link that bound me to my fellow men is severed. I +sit up here, and write, and read Renan's _Origines_, which is certainly +devilish interesting; I read his Nero yesterday, it is very good, O, +very good! But he is quite a Michelet; the general views, and such a +piece of character painting, excellent; but his method sheer lunacy. You +can see him take up the block which he had just rejected, and make of it +the corner-stone: a maddening way to deal with authorities; and the +result so little like history that one almost blames oneself for wasting +time. But the time is not wasted; the conspectus is always good, and the +blur that remains on the mind is probably just enough. I have been +enchanted with the unveiling of Revelations. Grigsby! what a lark! And +how picturesque that return of the false Nero! The Apostle John is +rather discredited. And to think how one had read the thing so often, +and never understood the attacks upon St. Paul! I remember when I was a +child, and we came to the Four Beasts that were all over eyes, the +sickening terror with which I was filled. If that was Heaven, what, in +the name of Davy Jones and the aboriginal night-mare, could Hell be? +Take it for all in all, _L'Antechrist_ is worth reading. The _Histoire +d' Israel_ did not surprise me much; I had read those Hebrew sources +with more intelligence than the New Testament, and was quite prepared to +admire Ahab and Jezebel, etc. Indeed, Ahab has always been rather a hero +of mine; I mean since the years of discretion. + +_May 21st._--And here I am back again on p. 85! the last chapter +demanding an entire revision, which accordingly it is to get. And where +my mail is to come in, God knows! This forced, violent, alembicated +style is most abhorrent to me; it can't be helped; the note was struck +years ago on the _Janet Nicoll_, and has to be maintained somehow; and +I can only hope the intrinsic horror and pathos, and a kind of fierce +glow of colour there is to it, and the surely remarkable wealth of +striking incident, may guide our little shallop into port. If Gordon +Browne is to get it, he should see the Brassey photographs of Papeete. +But mind, the three waifs were never in the town; only on the beach and +in the calaboose. By George, but it's a good thing to illustrate for a +man like that! Fanny is all right again. False alarm! I was down +yesterday afternoon at Papauta, and heard much growling of war, and the +delightful news that the C. J. and the President are going to run away +from Mulinuu and take refuge in the Tivoli hotel. + +_23rd. Mail day._--_The Ebb Tide_, all but (I take it) fifteen pages, is +now in your hands--possibly only about eleven pp. It is hard to say. But +there it is, and you can do your best with it. Personally, I believe I +would in this case make even a sacrifice to get Gordon Browne and +copious illustration. I guess in ten days I shall have finished with it; +then I go next to _D. Balfour_, and get the proofs ready: a nasty job +for me, as you know. And then? Well, perhaps I'll take a go at the +family history. I think that will be wise, as I am so much off work. And +then, I suppose, _Weir of Hermiston_, but it may be anything. I am +discontented with _The Ebb Tide_, naturally; there seems such a veil of +words over it; and I like more and more naked writing; and yet sometimes +one has a longing for full colour and there comes the veil again. _The +Young Chevalier_ is in very full colour, and I fear it for that +reason.--Ever, + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO S. R. CROCKETT + + + Glencorse Church in the Pentlands, mentioned by Stevenson with so + much emotion in the course of this letter, served him for the scene + of Chapter VI. in _Weir of Hermiston_, where his old associations and + feelings in connection with the place have so admirably inspired him. + + _Vailima, Samoa, May 17th, 1893._ + +DEAR MR. CROCKETT,--I do not owe you two letters, nor yet nearly one, +sir! The last time I heard of you, you wrote about an accident, and I +sent you a letter to my lawyer, Charles Baxter, which does not seem to +have been presented, as I see nothing of it in his accounts. Query, was +that lost? I should not like you to think I had been so unmannerly and +so inhuman. If you have written since, your letter also has miscarried, +as is much the rule in this part of the world, unless you register. + +Your book is not yet to hand, but will probably follow next month. I +detected you early in the Bookman, which I usually see, and noted you in +particular as displaying a monstrous ingratitude about the footnote. +Well, mankind is ungrateful; "Man's ingratitude to man makes countless +thousands mourn," quo' Rab--or words to that effect. By the way, an +anecdote of a cautious sailor: "Bill, Bill," says I to him, "_or words +to that effect_." + +I shall never take that walk by the Fisher's Tryst and Glencorse. I +shall never see Auld Reekie. I shall never set my foot again upon the +heather. Here I am until I die, and here will I be buried. The word is +out and the doom written. Or, if I do come, it will be a voyage to a +further goal, and in fact a suicide; which, however, if I could get my +family all fixed up in the money way, I might, perhaps, perform, or +attempt. But there is a plaguey risk of breaking down by the way; and I +believe I shall stay here until the end comes like a good boy, as I am. +If I did it, I should put upon my trunks: "Passenger to--Hades." + +How strangely wrong your information is! In the first place, I should +never carry a novel to Sydney; I should post it from here. In the second +place, _Weir of Hermiston_ is as yet scarce begun. It's going to be +excellent, no doubt; but it consists of about twenty pages. I have a +tale, a shortish tale in length, but it has proved long to do, _The Ebb +Tide_, some part of which goes home this mail. It is by me and Mr. +Osbourne, and is really a singular work. There are only four characters, +and three of them are bandits--well, two of them are, and the third is +their comrade and accomplice. It sounds cheering, doesn't it? Barratry, +and drunkenness, and vitriol, and I cannot tell you all what, are the +beams of the roof. And yet--I don't know--I sort of think there's +something in it. You'll see (which is more than I ever can) whether +Davis and Attwater come off or not. + +_Weir of Hermiston_ is a much greater undertaking, and the plot is not +good, I fear; but Lord Justice-Clerk Hermiston ought to be a plum. Of +other schemes, more or less executed, it skills not to speak. + +I am glad to hear so good an account of your activity and interests, and +shall always hear from you with pleasure; though I am, and must +continue, a mere sprite of the inkbottle, unseen in the flesh. Please +remember me to your wife and to the four-year-old sweetheart, if she be +not too engrossed with higher matters. Do you know where the road +crosses the burn under Glencorse Church? Go there, and say a prayer for +me: _moriturus salutat_. See that it's a sunny day; I would like it to +be a Sunday, but that's not possible in the premises; and stand on the +right-hand bank just where the road goes down into the water, and shut +your eyes, and if I don't appear to you! well, it can't be helped, and +will be extremely funny. + +I have no concern here but to work and to keep an eye on this distracted +people. I live just now wholly alone in an upper room of my house, +because the whole family are down with influenza, bar my wife and +myself. I get my horse up sometimes in the afternoon and have a ride in +the woods; and I sit here and smoke and write, and rewrite, and destroy, +and rage at my own impotence, from six in the morning till eight at +night, with trifling and not always agreeable intervals for meals. + +I am sure you chose wisely to keep your country charge. There a minister +can be something, not in a town. In a town, the most of them are empty +houses--and public speakers. Why should you suppose your book will be +slated because you have no friends? A new writer, if he is any good, +will be acclaimed generally with more noise than he deserves. But by +this time you will know for certain.--I am, yours sincerely, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + +_P.S._--Be it known to this fluent generation that I, R. L. S., in the +forty-third of my age and the twentieth of my professional life, wrote +twenty-four pages in twenty-one days, working from six to eleven, and +again in the afternoon from two to four or so, without fail or +interruption. Such are the gifts the gods have endowed us withal: such +was the facility of this prolific writer! + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO AUGUSTUS ST. GAUDENS + + + _Vailima, Samoa, May 29th, 1893._ + +MY DEAR GOD-LIKE SCULPTOR,--I wish in the most delicate manner in the +world to insinuate a few commissions:-- + +No. 1. Is for a couple of copies of my medallion, as gilt-edged and +high-toned as it is possible to make them. One is for our house here, +and should be addressed as above. The other is for my friend Sidney +Colvin, and should be addressed--Sidney Colvin, Esq., Keeper of the +Print Room, British Museum, London. + +No. 2. This is a rather large order, and demands some explanation. Our +house is lined with varnished wood of a dark ruddy colour, very +beautiful to see; at the same time, it calls very much for gold; there +is a limit to picture frames, and really you know there has to be a +limit to the pictures you put inside of them. Accordingly, we have had +an idea of a certain kind of decoration, which, I think, you might help +us to make practical. What we want is an alphabet of gilt letters (very +much such as people play with), and all mounted on spikes like +drawing-pins; say two spikes to each letter, one at top, and I one at +bottom. Say that they were this height, I I and that you chose a model +of some really exquisitely fine, clear type from some Roman monument, +and that they were made either of metal or some composition gilt--the +point is, could not you, in your land of wooden houses, get a +manufacturer to take the idea and manufacture them at a venture, so that +I could get two or three hundred pieces or so at a moderate figure? You +see, suppose you entertain an honoured guest, when he goes he leaves his +name in gilt letters on your walls; an infinity of fun and decoration +can be got out of hospitable and festive mottoes; and the doors of every +room can be beautified by the legend of their names. I really think +there is something in the idea, and you might be able to push it with +the brutal and licentious manufacturer, using my name if necessary, +though I should think the name of the god-like sculptor would be more +germane. In case you should get it started, I should tell you that we +should require commas in order to write the Samoan language, which is +full of words written thus: la'u, ti'e ti'e. As the Samoan language uses +but a very small proportion of the consonants, we should require a +double or treble stock of all vowels, and of F, G, L, U, N, P, S, T, and +V. + +The other day in Sydney, I think you might be interested to hear, I was +sculpt a second time by a man called ----, as well as I can remember and +read. I mustn't criticise a present, and he had very little time to do +it in. It is thought by my family to be an excellent likeness of Mark +Twain. This poor fellow, by the by, met with the devil of an accident. A +model of a statue which he had just finished with a desperate effort was +smashed to smithereens on its way to exhibition. + +Please be sure and let me know if anything is likely to come of this +letter business, and the exact cost of each letter, so that I may count +the cost before ordering.--Yours sincerely, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + Relating the toilsome completion of _The Ebb Tide_, and beginning + of the account of his grandfather, Robert Stevenson, in _History of a + Family of Engineers_. + + _[Vailima] 29th May [1893]._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--Still grinding at Chap. XI. I began many days ago on p. +93, and am still on p. 93, which is exhilarating, but the thing takes +shape all the same and should make a pretty lively chapter for an end of +it. For XIII. is only a footnote _ad explicandum_. + +_June the 1st._--Back on p. 93. I was on 100 yesterday, but read it over +and condemned it. + +_10 a.m._--I have worked up again to 97, but how? The deuce fly away +with literature, for the basest sport in creation. But it's got to come +straight! and if possible, so that I may finish _D. Balfour_ in time for +the same mail. What a getting upstairs! This is Flaubert out-done. +Belle, Graham, and Lloyd leave to-day on a malaga down the coast; to be +absent a week or so: this leaves Fanny, me, and ----, who seems a nice, +kindly fellow. + +_June 2nd._--I am nearly dead with dyspepsia, over-smoking, and +unremunerative overwork. Last night, I went to bed by seven; woke up +again about ten for a minute to find myself light-headed and altogether +off my legs; went to sleep again, and woke this morning fairly fit. I +have crippled on to p. 101, but I haven't read it yet, so do not boast. +What kills me is the frame of mind of one of the characters; I cannot +get it through. Of course that does not interfere with my total +inability to write; so that yesterday I was a living half-hour upon a +single clause and have a gallery of variants that would surprise you. +And this sort of trouble (which I cannot avoid) unfortunately produces +nothing when done but alembication and the far-fetched. Well, read it +with mercy! + +_8 a.m._--Going to bed. Have read it, and believe the chapter +practically done at last. But Lord! it has been a business. + +_June 3rd_, 8.15.--The draft is finished, the end of Chapter XII. and +the tale, and I have only eight pages _wiederzuarbeiten_. This is just a +cry of joy in passing. + +10.30.--Knocked out of time. Did 101 and 102. Alas, no more to-day, as I +have to go down town to a meeting. Just as well though, as my thumb is +about done up. + +_Sunday, June 4th._--Now for a little snippet of my life. Yesterday, +12.30, in a heavenly day of sun and trade, I mounted my horse and set +off. A boy opens my gate for me. "Sleep and long life! A blessing on +your journey," says he. And I reply "Sleep, long life! A blessing on the +house!" Then on, down the lime lane, a rugged, narrow, winding way, that +seems almost as if it was leading you into Lyonesse, and you might see +the head and shoulders of a giant looking in. At the corner of the road +I meet the inspector of taxes, and hold a diplomatic interview with him; +he wants me to pay taxes on the new house; I am informed I should not +till next year; and we part, _re infecta_, he promising to bring me +decisions, I assuring him that, if I find any favouritism, he will find +me the most recalcitrant tax-payer on the island. Then I have a talk +with an old servant by the wayside. A little further I pass two children +coming up. "Love!" say I; "are you two chiefly-proceeding inland?" and +they say, "Love! yes!" and the interesting ceremony is finished. Down to +the post office, where I find Vitrolles and (Heaven reward you!) the +White Book, just arrived per _Upolu_, having gone the wrong way round, +by Australia; also six copies of _Island Nights' Entertainments_. Some +of Weatherall's illustrations are very clever; but O Lord! the lagoon! I +did say it was "shallow," but, O dear, not so shallow as that a man +could stand up in it! I had still an hour to wait for my meeting, so +Postmaster Davis let me sit down in his room and I had a bottle of beer +in, and read _A Gentleman of France_. Have you seen it coming out in +Longman's? My dear Colvin! 'tis the most exquisite pleasure; a real +chivalrous yarn, like the Dumas' and yet unlike. Thereafter to the +meeting of the five newspaper proprietors. Business transacted, I have +to gallop home and find the boys waiting to be paid at the doorstep. + +_Monday, 5th._--Yesterday, Sunday, the Rev. Dr. Brown, secretary to the +Wesleyan Mission, and the man who made the war in the Western Islands +and was tried for his life in Fiji, came up, and we had a long, +important talk about Samoa. O, if I could only talk to the home men! But +what would it matter? none of them know, none of them care. If we could +only have Macgregor here with his schooner, you would hear of no more +troubles in Samoa. That is what we want; a man that knows and likes the +natives, _qui paye de sa personne_, and is not afraid of hanging when +necessary. We don't want bland Swedish humbugs, and fussy, footering +German barons. That way the maelstrom lies, and we shall soon be in it. + +I have to-day written 103 and 104, all perfectly wrong, and shall have +to rewrite them. This tale is devilish, and Chapter XI. the worst of the +lot. The truth is of course that I am wholly worked out; but it's nearly +done, and shall go somehow according to promise. I go against all my +gods, and say it is _not worth while_ to massacre yourself over the last +few pages of a rancid yarn, that the reviewers will quite justly tear to +bits. As for _D. B._, no hope, I fear, this mail, but we'll see what the +afternoon does for me. + +4.15.--Well, it's done. Those tragic 16 pp. are at last finished, and I +have put away thirty-two pages of chips, and have spent thirteen days +about as nearly in Hell as a man could expect to live through. It's +done, and of course it ain't worth while, and who cares? There it is, +and about as grim a tale as was ever written, and as grimy, and as +hateful. + + _______________________________________ + | | + | SACRED | + | | + | TO THE MEMORY | + | | + | OF | + | | + | J. L. HUISH, | + | | + | BORN 1856, AT HACKNEY, LONDON | + | | + | Accidentally killed upon this Island, | + | | + | 10th September 1889. | + |_______________________________________| + +_Tuesday, 6th._--I am exulting to do nothing. It pours with rain from +the westward, very unusual kind of weather; I was standing out on the +little verandah in front of my room this morning, and there went through +me or over me a wave of extraordinary and apparently baseless emotion. I +literally staggered. And then the explanation came, and I knew I had +found a frame of mind and body that belonged to Scotland, and +particularly to the neighbourhood of Callander. Very odd these +identities of sensation, and the world of connotations implied; +highland huts, and peat smoke, and the brown, swirling rivers, and wet +clothes, and whisky, and the romance of the past, and that indescribable +bite of the whole thing at a man's heart, which is--or rather lies at +the bottom of--a story. + +I don't know if you are a Barbey d'Aurevilly-an. I am. I have a great +delight in his Norman stories. Do you know the _Chevalier des Touches_ +and _L'Ensorcelee_? They are admirable, they reek of the soil and the +past. But I was rather thinking just now of _Le Rideau Cramoisi_, and +its adorable setting of the stopped coach, the dark street, the +home-going in the inn yard, and the red blind illuminated. Without +doubt, _there_ was an identity of sensation; one of those conjunctions +in life that had filled Barbey full to the brim, and permanently bent +his memory. + +I wonder exceedingly if I have done anything at all good; and who can +tell me? and why should I wish to know? In so little a while, I, and the +English language, and the bones of my descendants, will have ceased to +be a memory! And yet--and yet--one would like to leave an image for a +few years upon men's minds--for fun. This is a very dark frame of mind, +consequent on overwork and the conclusion of the excruciating _Ebb +Tide_. Adieu. + +What do you suppose should be done with _The Ebb Tide_? It would make a +volume of 200 pp.; on the other hand, I might likely have some more +stories soon: _The Owl_, _Death in the Pot_, _The Sleeper Awakened_; all +these are possible. _The Owl_ might be half as long; _The Sleeper +Awakened_, ditto; _Death in the Pot_ a deal shorter, I believe. Then +there's the _Go-Between_, which is not impossible altogether. _The Owl_, +_The Sleeper Awakened_, and the _Go-Between_ end reasonably well; _Death +in the Pot_ is an ungodly massacre. O, well, _The Owl_ only ends well in +so far as some lovers come together, and nobody is killed at the +moment, but you know they are all doomed, they are Chouan fellows.[61] + +_Friday, 9th._--Well, the mail is in; no Blue-book, depressing letter +from C.; a long, amusing ramble from my mother; vast masses of Romeike; +they _are_ going to war now; and what will that lead to? and what has +driven them to it but the persistent misconduct of these two officials? +I know I ought to rewrite the end of this bloody _Ebb Tide_: well, I +can't. _C'est plus fort que moi_; it has to go the way it is, and be +jowned to it! From what I make out of the reviews,[62] I think it would +be better not to republish _The Ebb Tide_: but keep it for other tales, +if they should turn up. Very amusing how the reviews pick out one story +and damn the rest! and it is always a different one. Be sure you send me +the article from Le Temps. Talking of which, ain't it manners in France +to acknowledge a dedication? I have never heard a word from Le Sieur +Bourget. + +_Saturday, 17th._--Since I wrote this last, I have written a whole +chapter of my Grandfather, and read it to-night; it was on the whole +much appreciated, and I kind of hope it ain't bad myself. 'Tis a third +writing, but it wants a fourth. By next mail, I believe I might send you +3 chapters. That is to say _Family Annals_, _The Service of the Northern +Lights_, and _The Building of the Bell Rock._ Possibly even 4--_A +Houseful of Boys_. I could finish my Grandfather very easy now; my +father and Uncle Alan stop the way. I propose to call the book: +_Northern Lights: Memoirs of a Family of Engineers_. I tell you, it is +going to be a good book. My idea in sending MS. would be to get it set +up; two proofs to me, one to Professor Swan, Ardchapel, +Helensburgh--mark it private and confidential--one to yourself; and +come on with criticisms! But I'll have to see. The total plan of the +book is this-- + + I. Domestic Annals. + + II. The Service of the Northern Lights. + + III. The Building of the Bell Rock. + + IV. A Houseful of Boys (or the Family in Baxter's Place). + + V. Education of an Engineer. + + VI. The Grandfather. + + VII. Alan Stevenson. + + VIII. Thomas Stevenson. + + There will be an Introduction 'The Surname of Stevenson' which has + proved a mighty queer subject of inquiry. But, Lord! if I were among + libraries. + +_Sunday, 18th._--I shall put in this envelope the end of the +ever-to-be-execrated _Ebb Tide_, or Stevenson's Blooming Error. Also, a +paper apart for _David Balfour_. The slips must go in another enclosure, +I suspect, owing to their beastly bulk. Anyway, there are two pieces of +work off my mind, and though I could wish I had rewritten a little more +of _David_, yet it was plainly to be seen it was impossible. All the +points indicated by you have been brought out; but to rewrite the end, +in my present state of over-exhaustion and fiction-phobia, would have +been madness; and I let it go as it stood. My grandfather is good enough +for me, these days. I do not work any less; on the whole, if anything, a +little more. But it is different. + +The slips go to you in four packets; I hope they are what they should +be, but do not think so. I am at a pitch of discontent with fiction in +all its form--or _my_ forms--that prevents me being able to be even +interested. I have had to stop all drink; smoking I am trying to stop +also. It annoys me dreadfully: and yet if I take a glass of claret, I +have a headache the next day! O, and a good headache too; none of your +trifles. + +Well, sir, here's to you, and farewell.--Yours ever, + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO EDMUND GOSSE + + + _June 10th, 1893._ + +MY DEAR GOSSE,--My mother tells me you never received the very long and +careful letter that I sent you more than a year ago; or is it two years? + +I was indeed so much surprised at your silence that I wrote to Henry +James and begged him to inquire if you had received it; his reply was an +(if possible) higher power of the same silence; whereupon I bowed my +head and acquiesced. But there is no doubt the letter was written and +sent; and I am sorry it was lost, for it contained, among other things, +an irrecoverable criticism of your father's _Life_, with a number of +suggestions for another edition, which struck me at the time as +excellent. + +Well, suppose we call that cried off, and begin as before? It is +fortunate indeed that we can do so, being both for a while longer in the +day. But, alas! when I see "works of the late J. A. S.,"[63] I can see +no help and no reconciliation possible. I wrote him a letter, I think, +three years ago, heard in some roundabout way that he had received it, +waited in vain for an answer (which had probably miscarried), and in a +humour between frowns and smiles wrote to him no more. And now the +strange, poignant, pathetic, brilliant creature is gone into the night, +and the voice is silent that uttered so much excellent discourse; and I +am sorry that I did not write to him again. Yet I am glad for him; light +lie the turf! The Saturday is the only obituary I have seen, and I +thought it very good upon the whole. I should be half tempted to write +an _In Memoriam_, but I am submerged with other work. Are you going to +do it? I very much admire your efforts that way; you are our only +academician. + +So you have tried fiction? I will tell you the truth: when I saw it +announced, I was so sure you would send it to me, that I did not order +it! But the order goes this mail, and I will give you news of it. Yes, +honestly, fiction is very difficult; it is a terrible strain to _carry_ +your characters all that time. And the difficulty of according the +narrative and the dialogue (in a work in the third person) is extreme. +That is one reason out of half a dozen why I so often prefer the first. +It is much in my mind just now, because of my last work, just off the +stocks three days ago, _The Ebb Tide_: a dreadful, grimy business in the +third person, where the strain between a vilely realistic dialogue and a +narrative style pitched about (in phrase) 'four notes higher' than it +should have been, has sown my head with grey hairs; or I believe so--if +my head escaped, my heart has them. + +The truth is, I have a little lost my way, and stand bemused at the +cross-roads. A subject? Ay, I have dozens; I have at least four novels +begun, they are none good enough; and the mill waits, and I'll have to +take second best. _The Ebb Tide_ I make the world a present of; I +expect, and, I suppose, deserve to be torn to pieces; but there was all +that good work lying useless, and I had to finish it! + +All your news of your family is pleasant to hear. My wife has been very +ill, but is now better; I may say I am ditto, _The Ebb Tide_ having left +me high and dry, which is a good example of the mixed metaphor. Our +home, and estate, and our boys, and the politics of the island, keep us +perpetually amused and busy; and I grind away with an odd, dogged, down +sensation--and an idea _in petto_ that the game is about played out. I +have got too realistic, and I must break the trammels--I mean I would if +I could; but the yoke is heavy. I saw with amusement that Zola says the +same thing; and truly the _Debacle_ was a mighty big book, I have no +need for a bigger, though the last part is a mere mistake in my opinion. +But the Emperor, and Sedan, and the doctor at the ambulance, and the +horses in the field of battle, Lord, how gripped it is! What an epical +performance! According to my usual opinion, I believe I could go over +that book and leave a masterpiece by blotting and no ulterior art. But +that is an old story, ever new with me. Taine gone, and Renan, and +Symonds, and Tennyson, and Browning; the suns go swiftly out, and I see +no suns to follow, nothing but a universal twilight of the +demi-divinities, with parties like you and me and Lang beating on toy +drums and playing on penny whistles about glow-worms. But Zola is big +anyway; he has plenty in his belly; too much, that is all; he wrote the +_Debacle_ and he wrote _La Bete humaine_, perhaps the most +excruciatingly silly book that I ever read to an end. And why did I read +it to an end, W. E. G.? Because the animal in me was interested in the +lewdness. Not sincerely, of course, my mind refusing to partake in it; +but the flesh was slightly pleased. And when it was done, I cast it from +me with a peal of laughter, and forgot it, as I would forget a Montepin. +Taine is to me perhaps the chief of these losses; I did luxuriate in his +_Origines_; it was something beyond literature, not quite so good, if +you please, but so much more systematic, and the pages that had to be +"written" always so adequate. Robespierre, Napoleon, were both excellent +good. + +_June 18th, '93._--Well, I have left fiction wholly, and gone to my +Grandfather, and on the whole found peace. By next month my Grandfather +will begin to be quite grown up. I have already three chapters about as +good as done; by which, of course, as you know, I mean till further +notice or the next discovery. I like biography far better than fiction +myself: fiction is too free. In biography you have your little handful +of facts, little bits of a puzzle, and you sit and think, and fit 'em +together this way and that, and get up and throw 'em down, and say damn, +and go out for a walk. And it's real soothing; and when done, gives an +idea of finish to the writer that is very peaceful. Of course, it's not +really so finished as quite a rotten novel; it always has and always +must have the incurable illogicalities of life about it, the fathoms of +slack and the miles of tedium. Still, that's where the fun comes in; and +when you have at last managed to shut up the castle spectre (dulness), +the very outside of his door looks beautiful by contrast. There are +pages in these books that may seem nothing to the reader; but you +_remember what they were, you know what they might have been_, and they +seem to you witty beyond comparison. In my Grandfather I've had (for +instance) to give up the temporal order almost entirely; doubtless the +temporal order is the great foe of the biographer; it is so tempting, so +easy, and lo! there you are in the bog!--Ever yours, + + R. L. STEVENSON. + +With all kind messages from self and wife to you and yours. My wife is +very much better, having been the early part of this year alarmingly +ill. She is now all right, only complaining of trifles, annoying to her, +but happily not interesting to her friends. I am in a hideous state, +having stopped drink and smoking; yes, both. No wine, no tobacco; and +the dreadful part of it is that--looking forward--I have--what shall I +say?--nauseating intimations that it ought to be for ever. + + + + +TO HENRY JAMES + + + _Vailima Plantation, Samoan Islands, June 17th, 1893._ + +MY DEAR HENRY JAMES,--I believe I have neglected a mail in answering +yours. You will be very sorry to hear that my wife was exceedingly ill, +and very glad to hear that she is better. I cannot say that I feel any +more anxiety about her. We shall send you a photograph of her taken in +Sydney in her customary island habit as she walks and gardens and +shrilly drills her brown assistants. She was very ill when she sat for +it, which may a little explain the appearance of the photograph. It +reminds me of a friend of my grandmother's who used to say when talking +to younger women, "Aweel, when I was young, I wasnae just exactly what +ye wad call _bonny_, but I was pale, penetratin', and interestin'." I +would not venture to hint that Fanny is "no bonny," but there is no +doubt but that in this presentment she is "pale, penetratin', and +interestin'." + +As you are aware, I have been wading deep waters and contending with the +great ones of the earth, not wholly without success. It is, you may be +interested to hear, a dreary and infuriating business. If you can get +the fools to admit one thing, they will always save their face by +denying another. If you can induce them to take a step to the right +hand, they generally indemnify themselves by cutting a caper to the +left. I always held (upon no evidence whatever, from a mere sentiment or +intuition) that politics was the dirtiest, the most foolish, and the +most random of human employments. I always held, but now I know it! +Fortunately, you have nothing to do with anything of the kind, and I may +spare you the horror of further details. + +I received from you a book by a man by the name of Anatole France. Why +should I disguise it? I have no use for Anatole. He writes very +prettily, and then afterwards? Baron Marbot was a different pair of +shoes. So likewise is the Baron de Vitrolles, whom I am now perusing +with delight. His escape in 1814 is one of the best pages I remember +anywhere to have read. But Marbot and Vitrolles are dead, and what has +become of the living? It seems as if literature were coming to a stand. +I am sure it is with me; and I am sure everybody will say so when they +have the privilege of reading _The Ebb Tide_. My dear man, the grimness +of that story is not to be depicted in words. There are only four +characters, to be sure, but they are such a troop of swine! And their +behaviour is really so deeply beneath any possible standard, that on a +retrospect I wonder I have been able to endure them myself until the +yarn was finished. Well, there is always one thing; it will serve as a +touchstone. If the admirers of Zola admire him for his pertinent +ugliness and pessimism, I think they should admire this; but if, as I +have long suspected, they neither admire nor understand the man's art, +and only wallow in his rancidness like a hound in offal, then they will +certainly be disappointed in _The Ebb Tide_. Alas! poor little tale, it +is not _even_ rancid. + +By way of an antidote or febrifuge, I am going on at a great rate with +my History of the Stevensons, which I hope may prove rather amusing, in +some parts at least. The excess of materials weighs upon me. My +grandfather is a delightful comedy part; and I have to treat him besides +as a serious and (in his way) a heroic figure, and at times I lose my +way, and I fear in the end will blur the effect. However, _a la grace de +Dieu!_ I'll make a spoon or spoil a horn. You see, I have to do the +Building of the Bell Rock by cutting down and packing my grand-sire's +book, which I rather hope I have done, but do not know. And it makes a +huge chunk of a very different style and quality between Chapters II. +and IV. And it can't be helped! It is just a delightful and exasperating +necessity. You know, the stuff is really excellent narrative: only, +perhaps there's too much of it! There is the rub. Well, well, it will be +plain to you that my mind is affected; it might be with less. _The Ebb +Tide_ and _Northern Lights_ are a full meal for any plain man. + +I have written and ordered your last book, _The Real Thing_, so be sure +and don't send it. What else are you doing or thinking of doing? News I +have none, and don't want any. I have had to stop all strong drink and +all tobacco, and am now in a transition state between the two, which +seems to be near madness. You never smoked, I think, so you can never +taste the joys of stopping it. But at least you have drunk, and you can +enter perhaps into my annoyance when I suddenly find a glass of claret +or a brandy-and-water give me a splitting headache the next morning. No +mistake about it; drink anything, and there's your headache. Tobacco +just as bad for me. If I live through this breach of habit, I shall be a +white-livered puppy indeed. Actually I am so made, or so twisted, that I +do not like to think of a life without the red wine on the table and the +tobacco with its lovely little coal of fire. It doesn't amuse me from a +distance. I may find it the Garden of Eden when I go in, but I don't +like the colour of the gate-posts. Suppose somebody said to you, you are +to leave your home, and your books, and your clubs, and go out and camp +in mid-Africa, and command an expedition, you would howl, and kick, and +flee. I think the same of a life without wine and tobacco; and if this +goes on, I've got to go and do it, sir, in the living flesh! + +I thought Bourget was a friend of yours? And I thought the French were a +polite race? He has taken my dedication with a stately silence that has +surprised me into apoplexy. Did I go and dedicate my book[64] to the +nasty alien, and the 'norrid Frenchman, and the Bloody Furrineer? Well, +I wouldn't do it again; and unless his case is susceptible of +explanation, you might perhaps tell him so over the walnuts and the +wine, by way of speeding the gay hours. Sincerely, I thought my +dedication worth a letter. + +If anything be worth anything here below! Do you know the story of the +man who found a button in his hash, and called the waiter? "What do you +call that?" says he. "Well," said the waiter, "what d'you expect? Expect +to find a gold watch and chain?" Heavenly apologue, is it not? I +expected (rather) to find a gold watch and chain; I expected to be able +to smoke to excess and drink to comfort all the days of my life; and I +am still indignantly staring on this button! It's not even a button; +it's a teetotal badge!--Ever yours, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + _Saturday, 24th (?) June [1893]._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--Yesterday morning, after a day of absolute temperance, +I awoke to the worst headache I had had yet. Accordingly, temperance was +said farewell to, quinine instituted, and I believe my pains are soon to +be over. We wait, with a kind of sighing impatience, for war to be +declared, or to blow finally off, living in the meanwhile in a kind of +children's hour of firelight and shadow and preposterous tales; the king +seen at night galloping up our road upon unknown errands and covering +his face as he passes our cook; Mataafa daily surrounded (when he +awakes) with fresh "white man's boxes" (query, ammunition?) and +professing to be quite ignorant of where they come from; marches of +bodies of men across the island; concealment of ditto in the bush; the +coming on and off of different chiefs; and such a mass of ravelment and +rag-tag as the devil himself could not unwind. + +_Wednesday, 28 June._--Yesterday it rained with but little intermission, +but I was jealous of news. Graham and I got into the saddle about 1 +o'clock and off down to town. In town, there was nothing but rumours +going; in the night drums had been beat, the men had run to arms on +Mulinuu from as far as Vaiala, and the alarm proved false. There were no +signs of any gathering in Apia proper, and the Secretary of State had no +news to give. I believed him, too, for we are brither Scots. Then the +temptation came upon me strong to go on to the ford and see the Mataafa +villages, where we heard there was more afoot. Off we rode. When we came +to Vaimusu, the houses were very full of men, but all seemingly unarmed. +Immediately beyond is that river over which we passed in our scamper +with Lady Jersey; it was all solitary. Three hundred yards beyond is a +second ford; and there--I came face to face with war. Under the trees on +the further bank sat a picket of seven men with Winchesters; their faces +bright, their eyes ardent. As we came up, they did not speak or move; +only their eyes followed us. The horses drank, and we passed the ford. +"Talofa!" I said, and the commandant of the picket said "Talofa"; and +then, when we were almost by, remembered himself and asked where we were +going. "To Faamuina," I said, and we rode on. Every house by the wayside +was crowded with armed men. There was the European house of a Chinaman +on the right-hand side: a flag of truce flying over the gate--indeed we +saw three of these in what little way we penetrated into Mataafa's +lines--all the foreigners trying to protect their goods; and the +Chinaman's verandah overflowed with men and girls and Winchesters. By +the way we met a party of about ten or a dozen marching with their guns +and cartridge-belts, and the cheerful alacrity and brightness of their +looks set my head turning with envy and sympathy. Arrived at Vaiusu, the +houses about the _malae_ (village green) were thronged with men, all +armed. On the outside of the council-house (which was all full within) +there stood an orator; he had his back turned to his audience, and +seemed to address the world at large; all the time we were there his +strong voice continued unabated, and I heard snatches of political +wisdom rising and falling. + +The house of Faamuina stands on a knoll in the _malae_. Thither we +mounted, a boy ran out and took our horses, and we went in. Faamuina was +there himself, his wife Palepa, three other chiefs, and some attendants; +and here again was this exulting spectacle as of people on their +marriage day. Faamuina (when I last saw him) was an elderly, limping +gentleman, with much of the debility of age; it was a bright-eyed boy +that greeted me; the lady was no less excited; all had cartridge-belts. +We stayed but a little while to smoke a selui; I would not have kava +made, as I thought my escapade was already dangerous (perhaps even +blameworthy) enough. On the way back, we were much greeted, and on +coming to the ford, the commandant came and asked me if there were many +on the other side. "Very many," said I; not that I knew, but I would not +lead them on the ice. "That is well!" said he, and the little picket +laughed aloud as we splashed into the river. We returned to Apia, +through Apia, and out to windward as far as Vaiala, where the word went +that the men of the Vaimauga had assembled. We met two boys carrying +pigs, and saw six young men busy cooking in a cook-house; but no sign of +an assembly; no arms, no blackened faces. (I forgot! As we turned to +leave Faamuina's, there ran forward a man with his face blackened, and +the back of his lava-lava girded up so as to show his tattooed hips +naked; he leaped before us, cut a wonderful caper, and flung his knife +high in the air, and caught it. It was strangely savage and fantastic +and high-spirited. I have seen a child doing the same antics long before +in a dance, so that it is plainly an _accepted solemnity_. I should say +that for weeks the children have been playing with spears.) Up by the +plantation I took a short cut, which shall never be repeated, through +grass and weeds over the horses' heads and among rolling stones; I +thought we should have left a horse there, but fortune favoured us. So +home, a little before six, in a dashing squall of rain, to a bowl of +kava and dinner. But the impression on our minds was extraordinary; the +sight of that picket at the ford, and those ardent, happy faces whirls +in my head; the old aboriginal awoke in both of us and knickered like a +stallion. + +It is dreadful to think that I must sit apart here and do nothing; I do +not know if I can stand it out. But you see, I may be of use to these +poor people, if I keep quiet, and if I threw myself in, I should have a +bad job of it to save myself. There; I have written this to you; and it +is still but 7.30 in the day, and the sun only about one hour up; can I +go back to my old grandpapa, and men sitting with Winchesters in my +mind's eye? No; war is a huge _entrainement_; there is no other +temptation to be compared to it, not one. We were all wet, we had been +about five hours in the saddle, mostly riding hard; and we came home +like schoolboys, with such a lightness of spirits, and I am sure such a +brightness of eye, as you could have lit a candle at! + +Do you appreciate the height and depth of my temptation? that I have +about nine miles to ride, and I can become a general officer? and +to-night I might seize Mulinuu and have the C. J. under arrest? And yet +I stay here! It seems incredible, so huge is the empire of prudence and +the second thought. + +_Thursday, 29th._--I had two priests to luncheon yesterday: the Bishop +and Pere Remy. They were very pleasant, and quite clean too, which has +been known sometimes not to be--even with bishops. Monseigneur is not +unimposing; with his white beard and his violet girdle he looks +splendidly episcopal, and when our three waiting lads came up one after +another and kneeled before him in the big hall, and kissed his ring, it +did me good for a piece of pageantry. Remy is very engaging; he is a +little, nervous, eager man, like a governess, and brimful of laughter +and small jokes. So is the bishop indeed, and our luncheon party went +off merrily--far more merrily than many a German spread, though with so +much less liquor. One trait was delicious. With a complete ignorance of +the Protestant that I would scarce have imagined, he related to us (as +news) little stories from the gospels, and got the names all wrong! His +comments were delicious, and to our ears a thought irreverent. "_Ah! il +connaissait son monde, allez!_" "_Il etait fin, notre Seigneur!_" etc. + +_Friday._--Down with Fanny and Belle, to lunch at the International. +Heard there about the huge folly of the hour, all the Mulinuu +ammunition having been yesterday marched openly to vaults in Matafele; +and this morning, on a cry of protest from the whites, openly and +humiliatingly disinterred and marched back again. People spoke of it +with a kind of shrill note that did not quite satisfy me. They seemed +not quite well at ease. Luncheon over, we rode out on the Malie road. +All was quiet in Vaiusu, and when we got to the second ford, alas! there +was no picket--which was just what Belle had come to sketch. On through +quite empty roads; the houses deserted, never a gun to be seen; and at +last a drum and a penny whistle playing in Vaiusu, and a cricket match +on the _malae_! Went up to Faamuina's; he is a trifle uneasy, though he +gives us kava. I cannot see what ails him, then it appears that he has +an engagement with the Chief Justice at half-past two to sell a piece of +land. Is this the reason why war has disappeared? We ride back, stopping +to sketch here and there the fords, a flag of truce, etc. I ride on to +Public Hall Committee and pass an hour with my committees very heavily. +To the hotel to dinner, then to the ball, and home by eleven, very +tired. At the ball I heard some news, of how the chief of Letonu said +that I was the source of all this trouble, and should be punished, and +my family as well. This, and the rudeness of the man at the ford of the +Gase-gase, looks but ill; I should have said that Faamuina, as he +approached the first ford, was spoken to by a girl, and immediately said +good-bye and plunged into the bush; the girl had told him there was a +war party out from Mulinuu; and a little further on, as we stopped to +sketch a flag of truce, the beating of drums and the sound of a bugle +from that direction startled us. But we saw nothing, and I believe +Mulinuu is (at least at present) incapable of any act of offence. One +good job, these threats to my home and family take away all my childish +temptation to go out and fight. Our force must be here, to protect +ourselves. I see panic rising among the whites; I hear the shrill note +of it in their voices, and they talk already about a refuge on the war +ships. There are two here, both German; and the _Orlando_ is expected +presently. + +_Sunday, 9th July._--Well, the war has at last begun. For four or five +days, Apia has been filled by these poor children with their faces +blacked, and the red handkerchief about their brows, that makes the +Malietoa uniform, and the boats have been coming in from the windward, +some of them 50 strong, with a drum and a bugle on board--the bugle +always ill-played--and a sort of jester leaping and capering on the +sparred nose of the boat, and the whole crew uttering from time to time +a kind of menacing ululation. Friday they marched out to the bush; and +yesterday morning we heard that some had returned to their houses for +the night, as they found it "so uncomfortable." After dinner a messenger +came up to me with a note, that the wounded were arriving at the Mission +House. Fanny, Lloyd and I saddled and rode off with a lantern; it was a +fine starry night, though pretty cold. We left the lantern at +Tanugamanono, and then down in the starlight. I found Apia, and myself, +in a strange state of flusteration; my own excitement was gloomy and (I +may say) truculent; others appeared imbecile; some sullen. The best +place in the whole town was the hospital. A longish frame-house it was, +with a big table in the middle for operations, and ten Samoans, each +with an average of four sympathisers, stretched along the walls. Clarke +was there, steady as a die; Miss Large, little spectacled angel, showed +herself a real trump; the nice, clean, German orderlies in their white +uniforms looked and meant business. (I hear a fine story of Miss +Large--a cast-iron teetotaller--going to the public-house for a bottle +of brandy.) + +The doctors were not there when I arrived; but presently it was observed +that one of the men was going cold. He was a magnificent Samoan, very +dark, with a noble aquiline countenance, like an Arab, I suppose, and +was surrounded by seven people, fondling his limbs as he lay: he was +shot through both lungs. And an orderly was sent to the town for the +(German naval) doctors, who were dining there. Meantime I found an +errand of my own. Both Clarke and Miss Large expressed a wish to have +the public hall, of which I am chairman, and I set off down town, and +woke people out of their beds, and got a committee together, and (with a +great deal of difficulty from one man, whom we finally overwhelmed) got +the public hall for them. Bar the one man, the committee was splendid, +and agreed in a moment to share the expense if the shareholders object. +Back to the hospital about 11.30; found the German doctors there. Two +men were going now, one that was shot in the bowels--he was dying rather +hard, in a gloomy stupor of pain and laudanum, silent, with contorted +face. The chief, shot through the lungs, was lying on one side, awaiting +the last angel; his family held his hands and legs: they were all +speechless, only one woman suddenly clasped his knee, and "keened" for +the inside of five seconds, and fell silent again. Went home, and to bed +about two A.M. What actually passed seems undiscoverable; but the +Mataafas were surely driven back out of Vaitele; that is a blow to them, +and the resistance was far greater than had been anticipated--which is a +blow to the Laupepas. All seems to indicate a long and bloody war. + +Frank's house in Mulinuu was likewise filled with wounded; many dead +bodies were brought in; I hear with certainty of five, wrapped in mats; +and a pastor goes to-morrow to the field to bring others. The Laupepas +brought in eleven heads to Mulinuu, and to the great horror and +consternation of the native mind, one proved to be a girl, and was +identified as that of a Taupou--or Maid of the Village--from Savaii. I +hear this morning, with great relief, that it has been returned to +Malie, wrapped in the most costly silk handkerchiefs, and with an +apologetic embassy. This could easily happen. The girl was of course +attending on her father with ammunition, and got shot; her hair was cut +short to make her father's war head-dress--even as our own Sina's is at +this moment; and the decollator was probably, in his red flurry of +fight, wholly unconscious of her sex. I am sorry for him in the future; +he must make up his mind to many bitter jests--perhaps to vengeance. But +what an end to one chosen for her beauty and, in the time of peace, +watched over by trusty crones and hunchbacks! + +_Evening._--Can I write or not? I played lawn tennis in the morning, and +after lunch down with Graham to Apia. Ulu, he that was shot in the +lungs, still lives; he that was shot in the bowels is gone to his +fathers, poor, fierce child! I was able to be of some very small help, +and in the way of helping myself to information, to prove myself a mere +gazer at meteors. But there seems no doubt the Mataafas for the time are +scattered; the most of our friends are involved in this disaster, and +Mataafa himself--who might have swept the islands a few months ago--for +him to fall so poorly, doubles my regret. They say the Taupou had a gun +and fired; probably an excuse manufactured _ex post facto_. I go down +to-morrow at 12, to stay the afternoon, and help Miss Large. In the +hospital to-day, when I first entered it, there were no attendants; only +the wounded and their friends, all equally sleeping and their heads +poised upon the wooden pillows. There is a pretty enough boy there, +slightly wounded, whose fate is to be envied: two girls, and one of the +most beautiful, with beaming eyes, tend him and sleep upon his pillow. +In the other corner, another young man, very patient and brave, lies +wholly deserted. Yet he seems to me far the better of the two; but not +so pretty! Heavens, what a difference that makes; in our not very well +proportioned bodies and our finely hideous faces, the 1-32nd--rather the +1-64th--this way or that! Sixteen heads in all at Mulinuu. I am so stiff +I can scarce move without a howl. + +_Monday, 10th._--Some news that Mataafa is gone to Savaii by way of +Manono: this may mean a great deal more warfaring, and no great issue. +(When Sosimo came in this morning with my breakfast he had to lift me +up. It is no joke to play lawn tennis after carrying your right arm in a +sling so many years.) What a hard, unjust business this is! On the 28th, +if Mataafa had moved, he could have still swept Mulinuu. He waited, and +I fear he is now only the stick of a rocket. + +_Wednesday, 12th._--No more political news; but many rumours. The +government troops are off to Manono; no word of Mataafa. O, there is a +passage in my mother's letter which puzzles me as to a date. Is it next +Christmas you are coming? or the Christmas after? This is most +important, and must be understood at once. If it is next Christmas, I +could not go to Ceylon, for lack of gold, and you would have to adopt +one of the following alternatives: 1st, either come straight on here and +pass a month with us; 'tis the rainy season, but we have often lovely +weather. Or (2nd) come to Hawaii and I will meet you there. Hawaii is +only a week's sail from S. Francisco, making only about sixteen days on +the heaving ocean; and the steamers run once a fortnight, so that you +could turn round; and you could thus pass a day or two in the States--a +fortnight even--and still see me. But I have sworn to take no further +excursions till I have money saved to pay for them; and to go to Ceylon +and back would be torture unless I had a lot. You must answer this at +once, please; so that I may know what to do. We would dearly like you to +come on here. I'll tell you how it can be done; I can come up and meet +you at Hawaii, and if you had at all got over your sea-sickness, I could +just come on board and we could return together to Samoa, and you could +have a month of our life here, which I believe you could not help +liking. Our horses are the devil, of course, miserable screws, and some +of them a little vicious. I had a dreadful fright--the passage in my +mother's letter is recrossed and I see it says the end of /94: so much +the better, then; but I would like to submit to you my alternative plan. +I could meet you at Hawaii, and reconduct you to Hawaii, so that we +could have a full six weeks together and I believe a little over, and +you would see this place of mine, and have a sniff of native life, +native foods, native houses--and perhaps be in time to see the German +flag raised, who knows?--and we could generally yarn for all we were +worth. I should like you to see Vailima; and I should be curious to know +how the climate affected you. It is quite hit or miss; it suits me, it +suits Graham, it suits all our family; others it does not suit at all. +It is either gold or poison. I rise at six, the rest at seven; lunch is +at 12; at five we go to lawn tennis till dinner at six; and to roost +early. + +A man brought in a head to Mulinuu in great glory; they washed the black +paint off, and behold! it was his brother. When I last heard he was +sitting in his house, with the head upon his lap, and weeping. Barbarous +war is an ugly business; but I believe the civilised is fully uglier; +but Lord! what fun! + +I should say we now have definite news that there are _three_ women's +heads; it was difficult to get it out of the natives, who are all +ashamed, and the women all in terror of reprisals. Nothing has been done +to punish or disgrace these hateful innovators. It was a false report +that the head had been returned. + +_Thursday, 13th._--Maatafa driven away from Savaii. I cannot write about +this, and do not know what should be the end of it. + +_Monday, 17th._--Haggard and Ahrens (a German clerk) to lunch yesterday. +There is no real certain news yet: I must say, no man could _swear_ to +any result; but the sky looks horribly black for Mataafa and so many of +our friends along with him. The thing has an abominable, a beastly, +nightmare interest. But it's wonderful generally how little one cares +about the wounded; hospital sights, etc.; things that used to murder me. +I was far more struck with the excellent way in which things were +managed; as if it had been a peep-show; I held some of the things at an +operation, and did not care a dump. + +_Tuesday, 18th._--Sunday came the _Katoomba_, Captain Bickford, C.M.G. +Yesterday, Graham and I went down to call, and find he has orders to +suppress Mataafa at once, and has to go down to-day before daybreak to +Manono. He is a very capable, energetic man; if he had only come ten +days ago, all this would have gone by; but now the questions are thick +and difficult. (1) Will Mataafa surrender? (2) Will his people allow +themselves to be disarmed? (3) What will happen to them if they do? (4) +What will any of them believe after former deceptions? The three consuls +were scampering on horseback to Leulumoega to the king; no Cusack-Smith, +without whose accession I could not send a letter to Mataafa. I rode up +here, wrote my letter in the sweat of the concordance and with the +able-bodied help of Lloyd--and dined. Then down in continual showers and +pitchy darkness, and to Cusack-Smith's; not returned. Back to the inn +for my horse, and to C.-S.'s, when I find him just returned and he +accepts my letter. Thence home, by 12.30, jolly tired and wet. And +to-day have been in a crispation of energy and ill-temper, raking my +wretched mail together. It is a hateful business, waiting for the news; +it may come to a fearful massacre yet.--Yours ever, + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO JAMES S. STEVENSON + + + This is addressed to a very remote cousin in quest of information + about the origins of the family. + + _Vailima, Samoa, June 19th, 1893._ + +DEAR MR. STEVENSON,--I am reminded by coming across some record of +relations between my grandfather, Robert Stevenson, C.E., Edinburgh, +and Robert Stevenson, Esq., Secretary to the Royal Exchange, Glasgow, +and I presume a son of Hugh Stevenson who died in Tobago 16th April +1774, that I have not yet consulted my cousins in Glasgow. + +I am engaged in writing a Life of my grandfather, my uncle Alan, and my +father, Thomas, and I find almost inconceivable difficulty in placing +and understanding their (and my) descent. + +Might I ask if you have any material to go upon? The smallest notes +would be like found gold to me; and an old letter invaluable. + +I have not got beyond James Stevenson and Jean Keir his spouse, to whom +Robert the First (?) was born in 1675. Could you get me further back? +Have you any old notes of the trouble in the West Indian business which +took Hugh and Alan to their deaths? How had they acquired so +considerable a business at an age so early? You see how the queries pour +from me; but I will ask nothing more in words. Suffice it to say that +any information, however insignificant, as to our common forbears, will +be very gratefully received. In case you should have any original +documents, it would be better to have copies sent to me in this +outlandish place, for the expense of which I will account to you as soon +as you let me know the amount, and it will be wise to register your +letter.--Believe me, in the old, honoured Scottish phrase, your +affectionate cousin, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO HENRY JAMES + + + _Apia, July 1893._ + +MY DEAR HENRY JAMES,--Yes. _Les Trophees_ is, on the whole, a book.[65] +It is excellent; but is it a life's work? I always suspect _you_ of a +volume of sonnets up your sleeve; when is it coming down? I am in one of +my moods of wholesale impatience with all fiction and all verging on it, +reading instead, with rapture, _Fountainhall's Decisions_. You never +read it: well, it hasn't much form, and is inexpressibly dreary, I +should suppose, to others--and even to me for pages. It's like walking +in a mine underground, and with a damned bad lantern, and picking out +pieces of ore. This, and war, will be my excuse for not having read your +(doubtless) charming work of fiction. The revolving year will bring me +round to it; and I know, when fiction shall begin to feel a little +_solid_ to me again, that I shall love it, because it's James. Do you +know, when I am in this mood, I would rather try to read a bad book? +It's not so disappointing, anyway. And _Fountainhall_ is prime, two big +folio volumes, and all dreary, and all true, and all as terse as an +obituary; and about one interesting fact on an average in twenty pages, +and ten of them unintelligible for technicalities. There's literature, +if you like! It feeds; it falls about you genuine like rain. Rain: +nobody has done justice to rain in literature yet: surely a subject for +a Scot. But then you can't do rain in that ledger-book style that I am +trying for--or between a ledger-book and an old ballad. How to get over, +how to escape from, the besotting _particularity_ of fiction. "Roland +approached the house; it had green doors and window blinds; and there +was a scraper on the upper step." To hell with Roland and the +scraper!--Yours ever, + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO A. CONAN DOYLE + + + _Vailima, July 12, 1893._ + +MY DEAR DR. CONAN DOYLE,--The _White Company_ has not yet turned up; but +when it does--which I suppose will be next mail--you shall hear news of +me. I have a great talent for compliment, accompanied by a hateful, +even a diabolic frankness. + +Delighted to hear I have a chance of seeing you and Mrs. Doyle; Mrs. +Stevenson bids me say (what is too true) that our rations are often +spare. Are you Great Eaters? Please reply. + +As to ways and means, here is what you will have to do. Leave San +Francisco by the down mail, get off at Samoa, and twelve days or a +fortnight later, you can continue your journey to Auckland per Upolu, +which will give you a look at Tonga and possibly Fiji by the way. Make +this a _first part of your plans_. A fortnight, even of Vailima diet, +could kill nobody. + +We are in the midst of war here; rather a nasty business, with the +head-taking; and there seems signs of other trouble. But I believe you +need make no change in your design to visit us. All should be well over; +and if it were not, why! you need not leave the steamer.--Yours very +truly, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO CHARLES BAXTER + + + _19th July '93._ + +... We are in the thick of war--see Illustrated London News--we have +only two outside boys left to us. Nothing is doing, and _per contra_ +little paying.... My life here is dear; but I can live within my income +for a time at least--so long as my prices keep up--and it seems a clear +duty to waste none of it on gadding about. ... My Life of my family +fills up intervals, and should be an excellent book when it is done, but +big, damnably big. + +My dear old man, I perceive by a thousand signs that we grow old, and +are soon to pass away; I hope with dignity; if not, with courage at +least. I am myself very ready; or would be--will be--when I have made a +little money for my folks. The blows that have fallen upon you are +truly terrifying; I wish you strength to bear them. It is strange, I +must seem to you to blaze in a Birmingham prosperity and happiness; and +to myself I seem a failure. The truth is, I have never got over the last +influenza yet, and am miserably out of heart and out of kilter. Lungs +pretty right, stomach nowhere, spirits a good deal overshadowed; but +we'll come through it yet, and cock our bonnets. (I confess with sorrow +that I am not yet quite sure about the _intellects_; but I hope it is +only one of my usual periods of non-work. They are more unbearable now, +because I cannot rest. _No rest but the grave for Sir Walter!_ O the +words ring in a man's head.) + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + _[Vailima] August 1893._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--Quite impossible to write. Your letter is due to-day; a +nasty, rainy-like morning with huge blue clouds, and a huge indigo +shadow on the sea, and my lamp still burning at near 7. Let me humbly +give you news. Fanny seems on the whole the most, or the only, powerful +member of the family; for some days she has been the Flower of the +Flock. Belle is begging for quinine. Lloyd and Graham have both been +down with "belly belong him" (Black Boy speech). As for me, I have to +lay aside my lawn tennis, having (as was to be expected) had a smart but +eminently brief hemorrhage. I am also on the quinine flask. I have been +re-casting the beginning of the _Hanging Judge_ or _Weir of Hermiston_; +then I have been cobbling on my Grandfather, whose last chapter (there +are only to be four) is in the form of pieces of paper, a huge welter of +inconsequence, and that glimmer of faith (or hope) which one learns at +this trade, that somehow and some time, by perpetual staring and +glowering and re-writing, order will emerge. It is indeed a queer hope; +there is one piece for instance that I want in--I cannot put it one +place for a good reason--I cannot put it another for a better--and every +time I look at it, I turn sick and put the MS. away. + +Well, your letter hasn't come, and a number of others are missing. It +looks as if a mail-bag had gone on, so I'll blame nobody, and proceed to +business. + +It looks as if I was going to send you the first three chapters of my +Grandfather.... If they were set up, it would be that much anxiety off +my mind. I have a strange feeling of responsibility, as if I had my +ancestors' _souls_ in my charge, and might miscarry with them. + +There's a lot of work gone into it, and a lot more is needed. Still +Chapter I. seems about right to me, and much of Chapter II. Chapter III. +I know nothing of, as I told you. And Chapter IV. is at present all ends +and beginnings; but it can be pulled together. + +This is all I have been able to screw up to you for this month, and I +may add that it is not only more than you deserve, but just about more +than I was equal to. I have been and am entirely useless; just able to +tinker at my Grandfather. The three chapters--perhaps also a little of +the fourth--will come home to you next mail by the hand of my cousin +Graham Balfour, a very nice fellow whom I recommend to you warmly--and +whom I think you will like. This will give you time to consider my +various and distracted schemes. + +All our wars are over in the meantime, to begin again as soon as the +war-ships leave. Adieu. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO A. CONAN DOYLE + + + _Vailima, August 23rd, 1893._ + +MY DEAR DR. CONAN DOYLE,--I am reposing after a somewhat severe +experience upon which I think it my duty to report to you. Immediately +after dinner this evening it occurred to me to re-narrate to my native +overseer Simele your story of _The Engineer's Thumb_. And, sir, I have +done it. It was necessary, I need hardly say, to go somewhat farther +afield than you have done. To explain (for instance) what a railway is, +what a steam hammer, what a coach and horse, what coining, what a +criminal, and what the police. I pass over other and no less necessary +explanations. But I did actually succeed; and if you could have seen the +drawn, anxious features and the bright, feverish eyes of Simele, you +would have (for the moment at least) tasted glory. You might perhaps +think that, were you to come to Samoa, you might be introduced as the +Author of _The Engineer's Thumb_. Disabuse yourself. They do not know +what it is to make up a story. _The Engineer's Thumb_ (God forgive me) +was narrated as a piece of actual and factual history. Nay, and more, I +who write to you have had the indiscretion to perpetrate a trifling +piece of fiction entitled _The Bottle Imp_. Parties who come up to visit +my unpretentious mansion, after having admired the ceilings by +Vanderputty and the tapestry by Gobbling, manifest towards the end a +certain uneasiness which proves them to be fellows of an infinite +delicacy. They may be seen to shrug a brown shoulder, to roll up a +speaking eye, and at last secret burst from them: "Where is the bottle?" +Alas, my friends (I feel tempted to say), you will find it by the +Engineer's Thumb! Talofa-soifua. + +O a'u, o lau uo moni, O Tusitala. More commonly known as + + R. L. STEVENSON. + + +Have read the _Refugees_; Conde and old P. Murat very good; Louis xiv. +and Louvois with the letter bag very rich. You have reached a trifle +wide perhaps; too _many_ celebrities? Though I was delighted to +re-encounter my old friend Du Chaylu. Old Murat is perhaps your +high-water mark; 'tis excellently human, cheerful and real. Do it +again. Madame de Maintenon struck me as quite good. Have you any +document for the decapitation? It sounds steepish. The devil of all that +first part is that you see old Dumas; yet your Louis XIV. is _distinctly +good_. I am much interested with this book, which fulfils a good deal, +and promises more. Question: How far a Historical Novel should be wholly +episodic? I incline to that view, with trembling. I shake hands with you +on old Murat. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO AUGUSTUS ST. GAUDENS + + + Mr. St. Gaudens' large medallion portrait in bronze, executed from + sittings given in 1887, had at last found its way to Apia, but not + yet to Vailima. + + _Vailima, September 1893._ + +MY DEAR ST. GAUDENS,--I had determined not to write to you till I had +seen the medallion, but it looks as if that might mean the Greek Kalends +or the day after to-morrow. Reassure yourself, your part is done, it is +ours that halts--the consideration of conveyance over our sweet little +road on boys' backs, for we cannot very well apply the horses to this +work; there is only one; you cannot put it in a panier; to put it on the +horse's back we have not the heart. Beneath the beauty of R. L. S., to +say nothing of his verses, which the publishers find heavy enough, and +the genius of the god-like sculptor, the spine would snap and the +well-knit limbs of the (ahem) cart-horse would be loosed by death. So +you are to conceive me, sitting in my house, dubitative, and the +medallion chuckling in the warehouse of the German firm, for some days +longer; and hear me meanwhile on the golden letters. + +Alas! they are all my fancy painted, but the price is prohibitive. I +cannot do it. It is another day-dream burst. Another gable of Abbotsford +has gone down, fortunately before it was builded, so there's nobody +injured--except me. I had a strong conviction that I was a great hand +at writing inscriptions, and meant to exhibit and test my genius on the +walls of my house; and now I see I can't. It is generally thus. The +Battle of the Golden Letters will never be delivered. On making +preparation to open the campaign, the King found himself face to face +with invincible difficulties, in which the rapacity of a mercenary +soldiery and the complaints of an impoverished treasury played an equal +part.--Ever yours, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + +I enclose a bill for the medallion; have been trying to find your +letter, quite in vain, and therefore must request you to pay for the +bronze letters yourself and let me know the damage. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO JAMES S. STEVENSON + + + _Vailima Plantation, Island of Upolu, Samoa, Sept. 4th, 1893._ + +MY DEAR COUSIN,--I thank you cordially for your kinsmanlike reply to my +appeal. Already the notes from the family Bible have spared me one +blunder, which I had from some notes in my grandfather's own hand; and +now, like the daughters of the horseleech, my voice is raised again to +put you to more trouble. "Nether Carsewell, Neilston," I read. My +knowledge of Scotland is fairly wide, but it does not include Neilston. + +However, I find by the (original) Statistical Account, it is a parish in +Renfrew. Do you know anything of it? Have you identified Nether +Carsewell? Have the Neilston parish registers been searched? I see whole +vistas of questions arising, and here am I in Samoa! + +I shall write by this mail to my lawyer to have the records searched, +and to my mother to go and inquire in the parish itself. But perhaps you +may have some further information, and if so I should be glad of it. If +you have not, pray do not trouble to answer. As to your father's blunder +of "Stevenson of Cauldwell," it is now explained: _Carse_well may have +been confounded with _Cauldwell_: and it seems likely our man may have +been a tenant or retainer of Mure of Cauldwell, a very ancient and +honourable family, who seems to have been at least a neighbouring laird +to the parish of Neilston. I was just about to close this, when I +observed again your obliging offer of service, and I take you promptly +at your word. + +Do you think that you or your son could find a day to visit Neilston and +try to identify Nether Carsewell, find what size of a farm it is, to +whom it belonged, etc.? I shall be very much obliged. I am pleased +indeed to learn some of my books have given pleasure to your family; and +with all good wishes, I remain, your affectionate cousin, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + +The registers I shall have seen to, through my lawyer. + + + + +TO GEORGE MEREDITH + + + _Sept. 5th,1893, Vailima Plantation, Upolu, Samoa._ + +MY DEAR MEREDITH,--I have again and again taken up the pen to write to +you, and many beginnings have gone into the waste paper basket (I have +one now--for the second time in my life--and feel a big man on the +strength of it). And no doubt it requires some decision to break so long +a silence. My health is vastly restored, and I am now living +patriarchally in this place six hundred feet above the sea on the +shoulder of a mountain of 1500. Behind me, the unbroken bush slopes up +to the backbone of the island (3 to 4000) without a house, with no +inhabitants save a few runaway black boys, wild pigs and cattle, and +wild doves and flying foxes, and many parti-coloured birds, and many +black, and many white: a very eerie, dim, strange place and hard to +travel. I am the head of a household of five whites, and of twelve +Samoans, to all of whom I am the chief and father: my cook comes to me +and asks leave to marry--and his mother, a fine old chief woman, who has +never lived here, does the same. You may be sure I granted the petition. +It is a life of great interest, complicated by the Tower of Babel, that +old enemy. And I have all the time on my hands for literary work. + +My house is a great place; we have a hall fifty feet long with a great +redwood stair ascending from it, where we dine in state--myself usually +dressed in a singlet and a pair of trousers--and attended on by servants +in a single garment, a kind of kilt--also flowers and leaves--and their +hair often powdered with lime. The European who came upon it suddenly +would think it was a dream. We have prayers on Sunday night--I am a +perfect pariah in the island not to have them oftener, but the spirit is +unwilling and the flesh proud, and I cannot go it more. It is strange to +see the long line of the brown folk crouched along the wall with +lanterns at intervals before them in the big shadowy hall, with an oak +cabinet at one end of it and a group of Rodin's (which native taste +regards as _prodigieusement leste_) presiding over all from the top--and +to hear the long rambling Samoan hymn rolling up (God bless me, what +style)! But I am off business to-day, and this is not meant to be +literature. + +I have asked Colvin to send you a copy of _Catriona_, which I am +sometimes tempted to think is about my best work. I hear word +occasionally of the _Amazing Marriage_. It will be a brave day for me +when I get hold of it. Gower Woodseer is now an ancient, lean, grim, +exiled Scot, living and labouring as for a wager in the tropics; still +active, still with lots of fire in him, but the youth--ah, the youth +where is it? For years after I came here, the critics (those genial +gentlemen) used to deplore the relaxation of my fibre and the idleness +to which I had succumbed. I hear less of this now; the next thing is +they will tell me I am writing myself out! and that my unconscientious +conduct is bringing their grey hairs with sorrow to the dust. I do not +know--I mean I do know one thing. For fourteen years I have not had a +day's real health; I have wakened sick and gone to bed weary; and I have +done my work unflinchingly. I have written in bed, and written out of +it, written in hemorrhages, written in sickness, written torn by +coughing, written when my head swam for weakness; and for so long, it +seems to me I have won my wager and recovered my glove. I am better now, +have been rightly speaking since first I came to the Pacific; and still, +few are the days when I am not in some physical distress. And the battle +goes on--ill or well, is a trifle; so as it goes. I was made for a +contest, and the Powers have so willed that my battlefield should be +this dingy, inglorious one of the bed and the physic bottle. At least I +have not failed, but I would have preferred a place of trumpetings and +the open air over my head. + +This is a devilish egotistical yarn. Will you try to imitate me in that +if the spirit ever moves you to reply? And meantime be sure that away in +the midst of the Pacific there is a house on a wooded island where the +name of George Meredith is very dear, and his memory (since it must be +no more) is continually honoured.--Ever your friend, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + +Remember me to Mariette, if you please; and my wife sends her most kind +remembrances to yourself. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO CHARLES BAXTER + + + Finished on the way to Honolulu for a health change which turned out + unfortunate. With the help of Mr. J.H. Stevenson and other + correspondents he had now, as we have seen, been able (regretfully + giving up the possibility of a Macgregor lineage) to identify his + forbears as having about 1670 been tenant farmers at Nether Carsewell + in Renfrewshire. The German government at home had taken his + _Footnote to History_ much less kindly than his German neighbours on + the spot, and the Tauchnitz edition had been confiscated and + destroyed and its publisher fined. + + [_Vailima, and s.s. Mariposa, September 1893._] + +MY DEAR CHARLES,--Here is a job for you. It appears that about 1665, or +earlier, James Stevenson {in / of} Nether Carsewell, parish of Neilston, +flourished. Will you kindly send an able-bodied reader to compulse the +parish registers of Neilston, if they exist or go back as far? Also +could any trace be found through Nether-Carsewell? I expect it to have +belonged to Mure of Cauldwell. If this be so, might not the Cauldwell +charter chest contain some references to their Stevenson tenantry? +Perpend upon it. But clap me on the judicious, able-bodied reader on the +spot. Can I really have found the tap-root of my illustrious ancestry at +last? Souls of my fathers! What a giggle-iggle-orious moment! I have +drawn on you for L400. Also I have written to Tauchnitz announcing I +should bear one-half part of his fines and expenses, amounting to L62, +10s. The L400 includes L160 which I have laid out here in land. Vanu +Manutagi--the vale of crying birds (the wild dove)--is now mine: it was +Fanny's wish and she is to buy it from me again when she has made that +much money. + +Will you please order for me through your bookseller the _Mabinogion_ of +Lady Charlotte Guest--if that be her name--and the original of Cook's +voyages lately published? Also, I see announced a map of the Great North +Road: you might see what it is like: if it is highly detailed, or has +any posting information, I should like it. + +This is being finished on board the _Mariposa_ going north. I am making +the run to Honolulu and back for health's sake. No inclination to write +more.--As ever, + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + On a first reading of the incomplete MS. of _The Ebb Tide_, without + its concluding chapters, which are the strongest, dislike of the + three detestable--or rather two detestable and one + contemptible--chief characters had made me unjust to the imaginative + force and vividness of the treatment. + + _[Vailima] 23rd August._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--Your pleasing letter _re The Ebb Tide_, to hand. I +propose, if it be not too late, to delete Lloyd's name. He has nothing +to do with the last half. The first we wrote together, as the beginning +of a long yarn. The second is entirely mine; and I think it rather +unfair on the young man to couple his name with so infamous a work. +Above all, as you had not read the two last chapters, which seem to me +the most ugly and cynical of all. + +You will see that I am not in a good humour; and I am not. It is not +because of your letter, but because of the complicated miseries that +surround me and that I choose to say nothing of.... Life is not all Beer +and Skittles. The inherent tragedy of things works itself out from white +to black and blacker, and the poor things of a day look ruefully on. +Does it shake my cast-iron faith? I cannot say it does. I believe in an +ultimate decency of things; ay, and if I woke in hell, should still +believe it! But it is hard walking, and I can see my own share in the +missteps, and can bow my head to the result, like an old, stern, unhappy +devil of a Norseman, as my ultimate character is.... + +Well, _il faut cultiver son jardin_. That last expression of poor, +unhappy human wisdom I take to my heart and go to _St. Ives_. + +_24th Aug._--And did, and worked about 2 hours and got to sleep +ultimately and "a' the clouds has blawn away." "Be sure we'll have some +pleisand weather, When a' the clouds (storms?) has blawn (gone?) away." +Verses that have a quite inexplicable attraction for me, and I believe +had for Burns. They have no merit, but are somehow good. I am now in a +most excellent humour. + +I am deep in _St. Ives_ which, I believe, will be the next novel done. +But it is to be clearly understood that I promise nothing, and may throw +in your face the very last thing you expect--or I expect. _St. Ives_ +will (to my mind) not be wholly bad. It is written in rather a funny +style; a little stilted and left-handed; the style of St. Ives; also, to +some extent, the style of R. L. S. dictating. _St. Ives_ is +unintellectual, and except as an adventure novel, dull. But the +adventures seem to me sound and pretty probable; and it is a love story. +Speed his wings! + +_Sunday night._--_De coeur un peu plus dispos, monsieur et cher +confrere, je me remets a vous ecrire._ _St. Ives_ is now in the 5th +chapter copying; in the 14th chapter of the dictated draft. I do not +believe I shall end by disliking it. + +_Monday._--Well, here goes again for the news. Fanny is _very well_ +indeed, and in good spirits; I am in good spirits, but not _very_ well; +Lloyd is in good spirits and very well; Belle has a real good fever +which has put her pipe out wholly. Graham goes back this mail. He takes +with him three chapters of _The Family_, and is to go to you as soon as +he can. He cannot be much the master of his movements, but you grip him +when you can and get all you can from him, as he has lived about six +months with us and he can tell you just what is true and what is +not--and not the dreams of dear old Ross.[66] He is a good fellow, is he +not? + +Since you rather revise your views of _The Ebb Tide_, I think Lloyd's +name might stick, but I'll leave it to you. I'll tell you just how it +stands. Up to the discovery of the champagne, the tale was all planned +between us and drafted by Lloyd; from that moment he has had nothing to +do with it except talking it over. For we changed our plan, gave up the +projected Monte Cristo, and cut it down for a short story. My +impression--(I beg your pardon--this is a local joke--a firm here had on +its beer labels, "sole importers")--is that it will never be popular, +but might make a little _succes de scandale_. However, I'm done with it +now, and not sorry, and the crowd may rave and mumble its bones for what +I care. + +Hole essential.[67] I am sorry about the maps; but I want 'em for next +edition, so see and have proofs sent. You are quite right about the +bottle and the great Huish, I must try to make it clear. No, I will not +write a play for Irving nor for the devil. Can you not see that the work +of _falsification_ which a play demands is of all tasks the most +ungrateful? And I have done it a long while--and nothing ever came of +it. + +Consider my new proposal, I mean Honolulu. You would get the Atlantic +and the Rocky Mountains, would you not? for bracing. And so much less +sea! And then you could actually see Vailima, which I _would_ like you +to, for it's beautiful and my home and tomb that is to be; though it's a +wrench not to be planted in Scotland--that I can never deny--if I could +only be buried in the hills, under the heather and a table tombstone +like the martyrs, where the whaups and plovers are crying! Did you see a +man who wrote the _Stickit Minister_,[68] and dedicated it to me, in +words that brought the tears to my eyes every time I looked at them. +"Where about the graves of the martyrs the whaups are crying. _His_ +heart remembers how." Ah, by God, it does! Singular that I should fulfil +the Scots destiny throughout, and live a voluntary exile, and have my +head filled with the blessed, beastly place all the time! + +And now a word as regards the delusions of the dear Ross, who remembers, +I believe, my letters and Fanny's when we were first installed, and were +really hoeing a hard row. We have salad, beans, cabbages, tomatoes, +asparagus, kohl-rabi, oranges, limes, barbadines, pine-apples, Cape +gooseberries--galore; pints of milk and cream; fresh meat five days a +week. It is the rarest thing for any of us to touch a tin; and the +gnashing of teeth when it has to be done is dreadful--for no one who has +not lived on them for six months knows what the Hatred of the Tin is. As +for exposure, my weakness is certainly the reverse; I am sometimes a +month without leaving the verandah--for my sins, be it said! Doubtless, +when I go about and, as the Doctor says, "expose myself to malaria," I +am in far better health; and I would do so more too--for I do not mean +to be silly--but the difficulties are great. However, you see how much +the dear Doctor knows of my diet and habits! Malaria practically does +not exist in these islands; it is a negligeable quantity. What really +bothers us a little is the mosquito affair--the so-called +elephantiasis--ask Ross about it. A real romance of natural history, +_quoi_! + +Hi! stop! you say _The Ebb Tide_ is the "working out of an artistic +problem of a kind." Well, I should just bet it was! You don't like +Attwater. But look at my three rogues; they're all there, I'll go bail. +Three types of the bad man, the weak man, and the strong man with a +weakness, that are gone through and lived out. + +Yes, of course I was sorry for Mataafa, but a good deal sorrier and +angrier about the mismanagement of all the white officials. I cannot +bear to write about that. Manono all destroyed, one house standing in +Apolima, the women stripped, the prisoners beaten with whips--and the +women's heads taken--all under white auspices. And for upshot and result +of so much shame to the white powers--Tamasese already conspiring! as I +knew and preached in vain must be the case! Well, well, it is no fun to +meddle in politics! + +I suppose you're right about Simon.[69] But it is Symon throughout in +that blessed little volume my father bought for me in Inverness in the +year of grace '81, I believe--the trial of James Stewart, with the +Jacobite pamphlet and the dying speech appended--out of which the whole +of _Davie_ has already been begotten, and which I felt it a kind of +loyalty to follow. I really ought to have it bound in velvet and gold, +if I had any gratitude! and the best of the lark is, that the name of +David Balfour is not anywhere within the bounds of it. A pretty curious +instance of the genesis of a book. I am delighted at your good word for +_David_; I believe the two together make up much the best of my work and +perhaps of what is in me. I am not ashamed of them, at least. There is +one hitch; instead of three hours between the two parts, I fear there +have passed three years over Davie's character; but do not tell anybody; +see if they can find it out for themselves; and no doubt his experiences +in _Kidnapped_ would go far to form him. I would like a copy to go to G. +Meredith. + +_Wednesday._--Well, here is a new move. It is likely I may start with +Graham next week and go to Honolulu to meet the other steamer and +return: I do believe a fortnight at sea would do me good; yet I am not +yet certain. The crowded _up_-steamer sticks in my throat. + +_Tuesday, 12th Sept._--Yesterday was perhaps the brightest in the annals +of Vailima. I got leave from Captain Bickford to have the band of the +_Katoomba_ come up, and they came, fourteen of 'em, with drum, fife, +cymbals and bugles, blue jackets, white caps, and smiling faces. The +house was all decorated with scented greenery above and below. We had +not only our own nine out-door workers, but a contract party that we +took on in charity to pay their war-fine; the band besides, as it came +up the mountain, had collected a following of children by the way, and +we had a picking of Samoan ladies to receive them. Chicken, ham, cake +and fruits were served out with coffee and lemonade, and all the +afternoon we had rounds of claret negus flavoured with rum and limes. +They played to us, they danced, they sang, they tumbled. Our boys came +in the end of the verandah and gave _them_ a dance for a while. It was +anxious work getting this stopped once it had begun, but I knew the band +was going on a programme. Finally they gave three cheers for Mr. and +Mrs. Stevens, shook hands, formed up and marched off playing--till a +kicking horse in the paddock put their pipes out something of the +suddenest--we thought the big drum was gone, but Simele flew to the +rescue. And so they wound away down the hill with ever another call of +the bugle, leaving us extinct with fatigue, but perhaps the most +contented hosts that ever watched the departure of successful guests. +Simply impossible to tell how well these blue-jackets behaved; a most +interesting lot of men; this education of boys for the navy is making a +class, wholly apart--how shall I call them?--a kind of lower-class +public school boy, well-mannered, fairly intelligent, sentimental as a +sailor. What is more shall be writ on board ship if anywhere. + +Please send _Catriona_ to G. Meredith. + +_S.S. Mariposa._--To-morrow I reach Honolulu. Good-morning to your +honour. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + In the interval between the last letter and this, the writer had been + down with a sharp and prolonged attack of fever at Honolulu, and Mrs. + Stevenson had come from Samoa to nurse and take him home. + + _Waikiki, Honolulu, H. I., Oct. 23rd, 1893._ + +DEAR COLVIN,--My wife came up on the steamer and we go home together in +2 days. I am practically all right, only sleepy and tired easily, slept +yesterday from 11 to 11.45, from 1 to 2.50, went to bed at 8 P.M., and +with an hour's interval slept till 6 A.M., close upon 14 hours out of +the 24. We sail to-morrow. I am anxious to get home, though this has +been an interesting visit, and politics have been curious indeed to +study. We go to P.P.C. on the "Queen" this morning; poor, recluse lady, +_abreuvee d'injures qu'elle est_. Had a rather annoying lunch on board +the American man-of-war, with a member of the P.G. (provisional +government); and a good deal of anti-royalist talk, which I had to sit +out--not only for my host's sake, but my fellow guests. At last, I took +the lead and changed the conversation. + + R. L. S. + + +I am being busted here by party named Hutchinson.[70] Seems good. + + +[_Vailima--November._]--Home again, and found all well, thank God. I am +perfectly well again and ruddier than the cherry. Please note that 8000 +is not bad for a volume of short stories;[71] the _Merry Men_ did a good +deal worse; the short story never sells. I hope _Catriona_ will do; that +is the important. The reviews seem mixed and perplexed, and one had the +peculiar virtue to make me angry. I am in a fair way to expiscate my +family history. Fanny and I had a lovely voyage down, with our new C.J. +and the American Land Commissioner, and on the whole, and for these +disgusting steamers, a pleasant ship's company. I cannot understand why +you don't take to the Hawaii scheme. Do you understand? You cross the +Atlantic in six days, and go from 'Frisco to Honolulu in seven. Thirteen +days at sea _in all_.--I have no wish to publish _The Ebb Tide_ as a +book, let it wait. It will look well in the portfolio. I would like a +copy, of course, for that end; and to "look upon't again"--which I +scarce dare. + +[_Later._]--This is disgraceful. I have done nothing; neither work nor +letters. On the Me (May) day, we had a great triumph; our Protestant +boys, instead of going with their own villages and families, went of +their own accord in the Vailima uniform; Belle made coats for them on +purpose to complete the uniform, they having bought the stuff; and they +were hailed as they marched in as the Tama-ona--the rich man's children. +This is really a score; it means that Vailima is publicly taken as a +family. Then we had my birthday feast a week late, owing to diarrhoea +on the proper occasion. The feast was laid in the Hall, and was a +singular mass of food: 15 pigs, 100 lbs. beef, 100 lbs. pork, and the +fruit and filigree in a proportion. We had sixty horse-posts driven in +the gate paddock; how many guests I cannot guess, perhaps 150. They came +between three and four and left about seven. Seumanu gave me one of his +names; and when my name was called at the ava drinking, behold, it was +_Au mai taua ma manu-vao!_ You would scarce recognise me, if you heard +me thus referred to! + +Two days after, we hired a carriage in Apia, Fanny, Belle, Lloyd and I, +and drove in great style, with a native outrider, to the prison; a huge +gift of ava and tobacco under the seats. The prison is now under the +_pule_ of an Austrian, Captain Wurmbrand, a soldier of fortune in Servia +and Turkey, a charming, clever, kindly creature, who is adored "by _his_ +chiefs" (as he calls them) meaning _our_ political prisoners. And we +came into the yard, walled about with tinned iron, and drank ava with +the prisoners and the captain. It may amuse you to hear how it is proper +to drink ava. When the cup is handed you, you reach your arm out +somewhat behind you, and slowly pour a libation, saying with somewhat +the manner of prayer, "_Ia taumafa e le atua. Ua matagofie le fesilafaga +nei._" "Be it (high-chief) partaken of by the God. How (high chief) +beautiful to view is this (high chief) gathering." This pagan practice +is very queer. I should say that the prison ava was of that not very +welcome form that we elegantly call spit-ava, but of course there was no +escape, and it had to be drunk. Fanny and I rode home, and I moralised +by the way. Could we ever stand Europe again? did she appreciate that if +we were in London, we should be _actually jostled_ in the street? and +there was nobody in the whole of Britain who knew how to take ava like a +gentleman? 'Tis funny to be thus of two civilisations--or, if you like, +of one civilisation and one barbarism. And, as usual, the barbarism is +the more engaging. + +Colvin, you have to come here and see us in our {native / mortal} spot. +I just don't seem to be able to make up my mind to your not coming. By +this time, you will have seen Graham, I hope, and he will be able to +tell you something about us, and something reliable. I shall feel for +the first time as if you knew a little about Samoa after that. Fanny +seems to be in the right way now. I must say she is very, very well for +her, and complains scarce at all. Yesterday, she went down _sola_(at +least accompanied by a groom) to pay a visit; Belle, Lloyd and I went a +walk up the mountain road--the great public highway of the island, where +you have to go single file. The object was to show Belle that gaudy +valley of the Vaisigano which the road follows. If the road is to be +made and opened, as our new Chief Justice promises, it will be one of +the most beautiful roads in the world. But the point is this: I forgot I +had been three months in civilisation, wearing shoes and stockings, and +I tell you I suffered on my soft feet; coming home, down hill, on that +stairway of loose stones, I could have cried. O yes, another story, I +knew I had. The house boys had not been behaving well, so the other +night I announced a _fono_, and Lloyd and I went into the boys' +quarters, and I talked to them I suppose for half an hour, and Talolo +translated; Lloyd was there principally to keep another ear on the +interpreter; else there may be dreadful misconceptions. I rubbed all +their ears, except two whom I particularly praised; and one man's wages +I announced I had cut down by one half. Imagine his taking this smiling! +Ever since, he has been specially attentive and greets me with a face of +really heavenly brightness. This is another good sign of their really +and fairly accepting me as a chief. When I first came here, if I had +fined a man a sixpence, he would have quit work that hour, and now I +remove half his income, and he is glad to stay on--nay, does not seem to +entertain the possibility of leaving. And this in the face of one +particular difficulty--I mean our house in the bush, and no society, and +no women society within decent reach. + +I think I must give you our staff in a tabular form. + + HOUSE KITCHEN OUTSIDE + + + o _Sosimo_, provost + o _Talolo_, provost + o _Henry Simele_, + and butler, and my and chief cook. provost and overseer + valet. of outside + + o _Iopu_, second cook. boys. + o _Misifolo_, who + is Fanny and _Tali_, his wife, no _L[=u]_. + Belle's chamberlain. wages. + _Tasi Sele_. + _Ti'a_, Samoan cook. + _Maiele_. + _Feiloa'i_, his child, + no wages, likewise no _Pulu_, who is also + work--Belle's pet. our talking man + and cries the ava. + + o _Leuelu_, Fanny's + boy, gardener, odd jobs. + + IN APIA + + + _Eliga_, washman and + daily errand man. + +The crosses mark out the really excellent boys. Ti'a is the man who has +just been fined 1/2 his wages; he is a beautiful old man, the living +image of "Fighting Gladiator," my favourite statue--but a dreadful +humbug. I think we keep him on a little on account of his looks. This +sign o marks those who have been two years or upwards in the family. I +note all my old boys have the cross of honour, except Misifolo; well, +poor dog, he does his best, I suppose. You should see him scour. It is a +remark that has often been made by visitors: you never see a Samoan run, +except at Vailima. Do you not suppose that makes me proud? + +I am pleased to see what a success _The Wrecker_ was, having already in +little more than a year outstripped _The Master of Ballantrae_. + +About _David Balfour_ in two volumes, do see that they make it a +decent-looking book, and tell me, do you think a little historical +appendix would be of service? Lang bleats for one, and I thought I might +address it to him as a kind of open letter. + +_Dec. 4th._--No time after all. Good-bye. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO J. HORNE STEVENSON + + + The following refers again to the introduction to the history of his + own family which Stevenson was then preparing under the title _A + Family of Engineers_. The correspondent was a specialist in + genealogical research. I give this letter as a sample of many which + passed between these two namesakes on this subject; omitting the + remainder as too technical to be of general interest. + + _Vailima, Samoa, November 5th, 1893._ + +MY DEAR STEVENSON,--A thousand thanks for your voluminous and delightful +collections. Baxter--so soon as it is ready--will let you see a proof of +my introduction, which is only sent out as a sprat to catch whales. And +you will find I have a good deal of what you have, only mine in a +perfectly desultory manner, as is necessary to an exile. My uncle's +pedigree is wrong; there was never a Stevenson of Caldwell, of course, +but they were tenants of the Mures; the farm held by them is in my +introduction; and I have already written to Charles Baxter to have a +search made in the Register House. I hope he will have had the +inspiration to put it under your surveillance. Your information as to +your own family is intensely interesting, and I should not wonder but +what you and we and old John Stevenson, "land labourer in the parish of +Dailly," came all of the same stock. Ayrshire--and probably +Cunningham--seems to be the home of the race--our part of it. From the +distribution of the name--which your collections have so much extended +without essentially changing my knowledge of--we seem rather pointed to +a British origin. What you say of the Engineers is fresh to me, and must +be well thrashed out. This introduction of it will take a long while to +walk about!--as perhaps I may be tempted to let it become long; after +all, I am writing _this_ for my own pleasure solely. Greetings to you +and other Speculatives of our date, long bygone, alas!--Yours very +sincerely, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + +_P.S._--I have a different version of my grandfather's arms--or my +father had if I could find it. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO JOHN P----N + + + The next two numbers are in answer to letters of appreciation + received from two small boys in England, whose mother desires that + they should remain nameless. + + _Vailima, Samoa, December 3rd, 1893._ + +DEAR JOHNNIE,--Well, I must say you seem to be a tremendous fellow! +Before I was eight I used to write stories--or dictate them at +least--and I had produced an excellent history of Moses, for which I got +L1 from an uncle; but I had never gone the length of a play, so you +have beaten me fairly on my own ground. I hope you may continue to do +so, and thanking you heartily for your nice letter, I shall beg you to +believe me yours truly, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO RUSSELL P----N + + + _Vailima, Samoa, December 3rd, 1893._ + +DEAR RUSSELL,--I have to thank you very much for your capital letter, +which came to hand here in Samoa along with your mother's. When you +"grow up and write stories like me," you will be able to understand that +there is scarce anything more painful than for an author to hold a pen; +he has to do it so much that his heart sickens and his fingers ache at +the sight or touch of it; so that you will excuse me if I do not write +much, but remain (with compliments and greetings from one Scot to +another--though I was not born in Ceylon--you're ahead of me +there).--Yours very truly, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO ALISON CUNNINGHAM + + + _Vailima, December 5, 1893._ + +MY DEAREST CUMMY,--This goes to you with a Merry Christmas and a Happy +New Year. The Happy New Year anyway, for I think it should reach you +about _Noor's Day_. I dare say it may be cold and frosty. Do you +remember when you used to take me out of bed in the early morning, carry +me to the back windows, show me the hills of Fife, and quote to me + + "A' the hills are covered wi' snaw, + An' winter's noo come fairly"? + +There is not much chance of that here! I wonder how my mother is going +to stand the winter. It she can, it will be a very good thing for her. +We are in that part of the year which I like the best--the Rainy or +Hurricane Season. "When it is good, it is very, very good; and when it +is bad, it is horrid," and our fine days are certainly fine like heaven; +such a blue of the sea, such green of the trees, and such crimson of the +hibiscus flowers, you never saw; and the air as mild and gentle as a +baby's breath, and yet not hot! + +The mail is on the move, and I must let up.--With much love, I am, your +laddie, + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO CHARLES BAXTER + + + The following quotes the extract, from Fountainhall's "Decisions of + the Lords of Council, etc.," which suggested to Stevenson the romance + of Cameronian days and the Darien adventure of which, under the title + of _Heathercat_, he only lived to write the first few introductory + chapters (see vol. xxi. p. 177, of this edition). + + _6th December 1893._ + +"_October 25, 1685._--At Privy Council, George Murray, Lieutenant of the +King's Guard, and others, did, on the 21st of September last, obtain a +clandestine order of Privy Council to apprehend the person of Janet +Pringle, daughter to the late Clifton, and she having retired out of the +way upon information, he got an order against Andrew Pringle, her uncle, +to produce her.... But she having married Andrew Pringle, her uncle's +son (to disappoint all their designs of selling her), a boy of thirteen +years old." But my boy is to be fourteen, so I extract no +further.--FOUNTAINHALL, i. 320. + +"_May 6, 1685._--Wappus Pringle of Clifton was still alive after all, +and in prison for debt, and transacts with Lieutenant Murray, giving +security for 7000 marks."--i. 372. + +No, it seems to have been _her_ brother who had succeeded. + + +MY DEAR CHARLES.--The above is my story, and I wonder if any light can +be thrown on it. I prefer the girl's father dead; and the question is, +How in that case could Lieutenant George Murray get his order to +"apprehend" and his power to "sell" her in marriage? + +Or--might Lieutenant G. be her tutor, and she fugitive to the Pringles, +and on the discovery of her whereabouts hastily married? + +A good legal note on these points is very ardently desired by me; it +will be the corner-stone of my novel. + +This is for--I am quite wrong to tell you--for you will tell others--and +nothing will teach you that all my schemes are in the air, and vanish +and reappear again like shapes in the clouds--it is for _Heathercat_: +whereof the first volume will be called _The Killing Time_, and I +believe I have authorities ample for that. But the second volume is to +be called (I believe) _Darien_, and for that I want, I fear, a good deal +of truck:-- + + _Darien Papers_, + _Carstairs Papers_, + _Marchmont Papers_, + _Jerviswoode Correspondence_, + +I hope may do me. Some sort of general history of the Darien affair (if +there is a decent one, which I misdoubt), it would also be well to +have--the one with most details, if possible. It is singular how obscure +to me this decade of Scots history remains, 1690-1700--a deuce of a want +of light and grouping to it! However, I believe I shall be mostly out of +Scotland in my tale; first in Carolina, next in Darien. I want also--I +am the daughter of the horseleech truly--"Black's new large map of +Scotland," sheets 3, 4, and 5, a 7s. 6d. touch. I believe, if you can +get the + + _Caldwell Papers_, + +they had better come also; and if there be any reasonable work--but no, +I must call a halt.... + +I fear the song looks doubtful, but I'll consider of it, and I can +promise you some reminiscences which it will amuse me to write, whether +or not it will amuse the public to read of them. But it's an unco +business to supply deid-heid coapy. + + + + +TO J. M. BARRIE + + + _Vailima, Samoa, December 7th, 1893._ + +MY DEAR BARRIE,--I have received duly the _magnum opus_, and it really +is a _magnum opus_.[72] It is a beautiful specimen of Clark's printing, +paper sufficient, and the illustrations all my fancy painted. But the +particular flower of the flock to whom I have hopelessly lost my heart +is Tibby Birse. I must have known Tibby Birse when she was a servant's +mantua-maker in Edinburgh and answered to the name of Miss _Broddie_. +She used to come and sew with my nurse, sitting with her legs crossed in +a masculine manner; and swinging her foot emphatically, she used to pour +forth a perfectly unbroken stream of gossip. I didn't hear it, I was +immersed in far more important business with a box of bricks, but the +recollection of that thin, perpetual, shrill sound of a voice has echoed +in my ears sinsyne. I am bound to say she was younger than Tibbie, but +there is no mistaking that and the indescribable and eminently Scottish +expression. + +I have been very much prevented of late, having carried out thoroughly +to my own satisfaction two considerable illnesses, had a birthday, and +visited Honolulu, where politics are (if possible) a shade more +exasperating than they are with us. I am told that it was just when I +was on the point of leaving that I received your superlative epistle +about the cricket eleven. In that case it is impossible I should have +answered it, which is inconsistent with my own recollection of the +fact. What _I_ remember is, that I sat down under your immediate +inspiration and wrote an answer in every way worthy. If I didn't, as it +seems proved that I couldn't, it will never be done now. However, I did +the next best thing, I equipped my cousin Graham Balfour with a letter +of introduction, and from him, if you know how--for he is rather of the +Scottish character--you may elicit all the information you can possibly +wish to have as to us and ours. Do not be bluffed off by the somewhat +stern and monumental first impression that he may make upon you. He is +one of the best fellows in the world, and the same sort of fool that we +are, only better-looking, with all the faults of Vailimans and some of +his own--I say nothing about virtues. + +I have lately been returning to my wallowing in the mire. When I was a +child, and indeed until I was nearly a man, I consistently read +Covenanting books. Now that I am a grey-beard--or would be, if I could +raise the beard--I have returned, and for weeks back have read little +else but Wodrow, Walker, Shields, etc. Of course this is with an idea of +a novel, but in the course of it I made a very curious discovery. I have +been accustomed to hear refined and intelligent critics--those who know +so much better what we are than we do ourselves,--trace down my literary +descent from all sorts of people, including Addison, of whom I could +never read a word. Well, laigh i' your lug, sir--the clue was found. My +style is from the Covenanting writers. Take a particular case--the +fondness for rhymes. I don't know of any English prose-writer who rhymes +except by accident, and then a stone had better be tied around his neck +and himself cast into the sea. But my Covenanting buckies rhyme all the +time--a beautiful example of the unconscious rhyme above referred to. + +Do you know, and have you really tasted, these delightful works? If not, +it should be remedied; there is enough of the Auld Licht in you to be +ravished. + +I suppose you know that success has so far attended my banners--my +political banners I mean, and not my literary. In conjunction with the +Three Great Powers I have succeeded in getting rid of My President and +My Chief-Justice. They've gone home, the one to Germany, the other to +Souwegia. I hear little echoes of footfalls of their departing footsteps +through the medium of the newspapers.... + +Whereupon I make you my salute with the firm remark that it is time to +be done with trifling and give us a great book, and my ladies fall into +line with me to pay you a most respectful courtesy, and we all join in +the cry, "Come to Vailima!" + +My dear sir, your soul's health is in it--you will never do the great +book, you will never cease to work in L., etc., till you come to +Vailima. + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO R. LE GALLIENNE + + + _Vailima, Samoa, December 28th, 1893._ + +DEAR MR. LE GALLIENNE,--I have received some time ago, through our +friend Miss Taylor, a book of yours. But that was by no means my first +introduction to your name. The same book had stood already on my +shelves; I had read articles of yours in the Academy; and by a piece of +constructive criticism (which I trust was sound) had arrived at the +conclusion that you were "Log-roller." Since then I have seen your +beautiful verses to your wife. You are to conceive me, then, as only +too ready to make the acquaintance of a man who loved good literature +and could make it. I had to thank you, besides, for a triumphant +exposure of a paradox of my own: the literary-prostitute disappeared +from view at a phrase of yours--"The essence is not in the pleasure but +the sale." True you are right, I was wrong; the author is not the whore +but the libertine; and yet I shall let the passage stand. It is an +error, but it illustrated the truth for which I was contending, that +literature--painting--all art , are no other than pleasures, which we +turn into trades. + +And more than all this, I had, and I have to thank you for the intimate +loyalty you have shown to myself; for the eager welcome you give to what +is good--for the courtly tenderness with which you touch on my defects. +I begin to grow old; I have given my top note, I fancy;--and I have +written too many books. The world begins to be weary of the old booth; +and if not weary, familiar with the familiarity that breeds contempt. I +do not know that I am sensitive to criticism, if it be hostile; I am +sensitive indeed, when it is friendly; and when I read such criticism as +yours, I am emboldened to go on and praise God. + +You are still young, and you may live to do much. The little artificial +popularity of style in England tends, I think, to die out; the British +pig returns to his true love, the love of the styleless, of the +shapeless, of the slapdash and the disorderly. There is trouble coming, +I think; and you may have to hold the fort for us in evil days. + +Lastly, let me apologise for the crucifixion that I am inflicting on you +(_bien a contre-coeur_) by my bad writing. I was once the best of +writers; landladies, puzzled as to my "trade," used to have their honest +bosoms set at rest by a sight of a page of manuscript.--"Ah," they would +say, "no wonder they pay you for that";--and when I sent it in to the +printers, it was given to the boys! I was about thirty-nine, I think, +when I had a turn of scrivener's palsy; my hand got worse; and for the +first time, I received clean proofs. But it has gone beyond that now. I +know I am like my old friend James Payn, a terror to correspondents; and +you would not believe the care with which this has been +written.--Believe me to be, very sincerely yours, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO MRS. A. BAKER + + + The next is in answer to a request for permission to print some of + the writings of R. L. S. in Braille type for the use of the blind. + + _December 1893._ + +DEAR MADAM,--There is no trouble, and I wish I could help instead. As it +is, I fear I am only going to put you to trouble and vexation. This +Braille writing is a kind of consecration, and I would like if I could +to have your copy perfect. The two volumes are to be published as Vols. +I. and II. of _The Adventures of David Balfour_. 1st, _Kidnapped_; 2nd, +_Catriona_. I am just sending home a corrected _Kidnapped_ for this +purpose to Messrs. Cassell, and in order that I may if possible be in +time, I send it to you first of all. Please, as soon as you have noted +the changes, forward the same to Cassell and Co., La Belle Sauvage Yard, +Ludgate Hill. + +I am writing to them by this mail to send you _Catriona_. + +You say, dear madam, you are good enough to say, it is "a keen pleasure" +to you to bring my book within the reach of the blind. + +Conceive then what it is to me! and believe me, sincerely yours, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + I was a barren tree before, + I blew a quenched coal, + I could not, on their midnight shore, + The lonely blind console. + + A moment, lend your hand, I bring + My sheaf for you to bind, + And you can teach my words to sing + In the darkness of the blind. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO HENRY JAMES + + + _Apia, December, 1893._ + +MY DEAR HENRY JAMES,--The mail has come upon me like an armed man three +days earlier than was expected; and the Lord help me! It is impossible I +should answer anybody the way they should be. Your jubilation over +_Catriona_ did me good, and still more the subtlety and truth of your +remark on the starving of the visual sense in that book. 'Tis true, and +unless I make the greater effort--and am, as a step to that, convinced +of its necessity--it will be more true I fear in the future. I _hear_ +people talking, and I _feel_ them acting, and that seems to me to be +fiction. My two aims may be described as-- + + _1st._ War to the adjective. + _2nd._ Death to the optic nerve. + +Admitted we live in an age of the optic nerve in literature. For how +many centuries did literature get along without a sign of it? However, +I'll consider your letter. + +How exquisite is your character of the critic in _Essays in London_! I +doubt if you have done any single thing so satisfying as a piece of +style and of insight--Yours ever, + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + Recounting a scene of gratitude for bounty shown by him to the + prisoners in Apia gaol. + + [_Vailima, December 1893._] + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--One page out of my picture book I must give you. Fine +burning day; 1/2 past two P.M. We four begin to rouse up from reparatory +slumbers, yawn, and groan, get a cup of tea, and miserably dress: we +have had a party the day before, X'mas Day, with all the boys absent +but one, and latterly two; we had cooked all day long, a cold dinner, +and lo! at two our guests began to arrive, though dinner was not till +six; they were sixteen, and fifteen slept the night and breakfasted. +Conceive, then, how unwillingly we climb on our horses and start off in +the hottest part of the afternoon to ride 4 1/2 miles, attend a native +feast in the gaol, and ride four and a half miles back. But there is no +help for it. I am a sort of father of the political prisoners, and have +_charge d'ames_ in that riotously absurd establishment, Apia Gaol. The +twenty-three (I think it is) chiefs act as under gaolers. The other day +they told the Captain of an attempt to escape. One of the lesser +political prisoners the other day effected a swift capture, while the +Captain was trailing about with the warrant; the man came to see what +was wanted; came, too, flanked by the former gaoler; my prisoner offers +to show him the dark cell, shoves him in, and locks the door. "Why do +you do that?" cries the former gaoler. "A warrant," says he. Finally, +the chiefs actually feed the soldiery who watch them! + +The gaol is a wretched little building, containing a little room, and +three cells, on each side of a central passage; it is surrounded by a +fence of corrugated iron, and shows, over the top of that, only a gable +end with the inscription _O le Fale Puipui_. It is on the edge of the +mangrove swamp, and is reached by a sort of causeway of turf. When we +drew near, we saw the gates standing open and a prodigious crowd +outside--I mean prodigious for Apia, perhaps a hundred and fifty people. +The two sentries at the gate stood to arms passively, and there seemed +to be a continuous circulation inside and out. The captain came to meet +us; our boy, who had been sent ahead was there to take the horses; and +we passed inside the court which was full of food, and rang continuously +to the voice of the caller of gifts; I had to blush a little later when +my own present came, and I heard my one pig and eight miserable +pine-apples being counted out like guineas. In the four corners of the +yard and along one wall, there are make-shift, dwarfish, Samoan houses +or huts, which have been run up since Captain Wurmbrand came to +accommodate the chiefs. Before that they were all crammed into the six +cells, and locked in for the night, some of them with dysentery. They +are wretched constructions enough, but sanctified by the presence of +chiefs. We heard a man corrected loudly to-day for saying "_Fale_" of +one of them; "_Maota_," roared the highest chief present--"palace." +About eighteen chiefs, gorgeously arrayed, stood up to greet us, and led +us into one of these _maotas_, where you may be sure we had to crouch, +almost to kneel, to enter, and where a row of pretty girls occupied one +side to make the ava (kava). The highest chief present was a magnificent +man, as high chiefs usually are; I find I cannot describe him; his face +is full of shrewdness and authority; his figure like Ajax; his name +Auilua. He took the head of the building and put Belle on his right +hand. Fanny was called first for the ava (kava). Our names were called +in English style, the high-chief wife of Mr. St--(an unpronounceable +something); Mrs. Straw, and the like. And when we went into the other +house to eat, we found we were seated alternately with chiefs about +the--table, I was about to say, but rather floor. Everything was to be +done European style with a vengeance! We were the only whites present, +except Wurmbrand, and still I had no suspicion of the truth. They began +to take off their ulas (necklaces of scarlet seeds) and hang them about +our necks; we politely resisted, and were told that the king (who had +stopped off their _siva_) had sent down to the prison a message to the +effect that he was to give a dinner to-morrow, and wished their +second-hand ulas for it. Some of them were content; others not. There +was a ring of anger in the boy's voice, as he told us we were to wear +them past the king's house. Dinner over, I must say they are moderate +eaters at a feast, we returned to the ava house; and then the curtain +drew suddenly up upon the set scene. We took our seats, and Auilua began +to give me a present, recapitulating each article as he gave it out, +with some appropriate comment. He called me several times "their only +friend," said they were all in slavery, had no money, and these things +were all made by the hands of their families--nothing bought; he had one +phrase, in which I heard his voice rise up to a note of triumph: "This +is a present from the poor prisoners to the rich man." Thirteen pieces +of tapa, some of them surprisingly fine, one I think unique; thirty fans +of every shape and colour; a kava cup, etc., etc. At first Auilua +conducted the business with weighty gravity; but before the end of the +thirty fans, his comments began to be humorous. When it came to a little +basket, he said: "Here was a little basket for Tusitala to put sixpence +in, when he could get hold of one"--with a delicious grimace. I answered +as best as I was able through a miserable interpreter; and all the +while, as I went on, I heard the crier outside in the court calling my +gift of food, which I perceived was to be Gargantuan. I had brought but +three boys with me. It was plain that they were wholly overpowered. We +proposed to send for our gifts on the morrow; but no, said the +interpreter, that would never do; they must go away to-day, Mulinuu must +see my porters taking away the gifts,--"make 'em jella," quoth the +interpreter. And I began to see the reason of this really splendid gift; +one half, gratitude to me--one half, a wipe at the king. + +And now, to introduce darker colours, you must know this visit of mine +to the gaol was just a little bit risky; we had several causes for +anxiety; it _might_ have been put up, to connect with a Tamasese rising. +Tusitala and his family would be good hostages. On the other hand, there +were the Mulinuu people all about. We could see the anxiety of Captain +Wurmbrand, no less anxious to have us go, than he had been to see us +come; he was deadly white and plainly had a bad headache, in the noisy +scene. Presently, the noise grew uproarious; there was a rush at the +gate--a rush _in_, not a rush _out_--where the two sentries still stood +passive; Auilua leaped from his place (it was then that I got the name +of Ajax for him) and the next moment we heard his voice roaring and saw +his mighty figure swaying to and fro in the hurly-burly. As the deuce +would have it, we could not understand a word of what was going on. It +might be nothing more than the ordinary "grab racket" with which a feast +commonly concludes; it might be something worse. We made what +arrangements we could for my tapa, fans, etc., as well as for my five +pigs, my masses of fish, taro, etc., and with great dignity, and +ourselves laden with ulas and other decorations, passed between the +sentries among the howling mob to our horses. All's well that ends well. +Owing to Fanny and Belle, we had to walk; and, as Lloyd said, "he had at +last ridden in a circus." The whole length of Apia we paced our +triumphal progress, past the king's palace, past the German firm at +Sogi--you can follow it on the map--amidst admiring exclamations of +"_Mawaia_"--beautiful--it may be rendered "O my! ain't they +dandy"--until we turned up at last into our road as the dusk deepened +into night. It was really exciting. And there is one thing sure: no such +feast was ever made for a single family, and no such present ever given +to a single white man. It is something to have been the hero of it. And +whatever other ingredients there were, undoubtedly gratitude was +present. As money value I have actually gained on the transaction! + +Your note arrived; little profit, I must say. Scott has already put his +nose in, in _St. Ives_, sir; but his appearance is not yet complete; +nothing is in that romance, except the story. I have to announce that I +am off work, probably for six months. I must own that I have overworked +bitterly--overworked--there, that's legible. My hand is a thing that +was, and in the meanwhile so are my brains. And here, in the very midst, +comes a plausible scheme to make Vailima pay, which will perhaps let me +into considerable expense just when I don't want it. You know the vast +cynicism of my view of affairs, and how readily and (as some people say) +with how much gusto I take the darker view? + +Why do you not send me Jerome K. Jerome's paper, and let me see _The Ebb +Tide_ as a serial? It is always very important to see a thing in +different presentments. I want every number. Politically we begin the +new year with every expectation of a bust in 2 or 3 days, a bust which +may spell destruction to Samoa. I have written to Baxter about his +proposal.[73] + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [56] The correspondent whose letter I had sent on was a high official + at the Foreign Office: the subject, Stevenson and Samoa. + + [57] Hemorrhage from the lungs. + + [58] Vitrolle's _Memoires_ and the "1814" and "1815" of M. Henri + Houssaye were sent accordingly. + + [59] Ultimately _The Ebb Tide_. + + [60] For a volume of selected _Essays_, containing the pick of + _Virginibus Puerisque_, _Memories and Portraits_, and _Across the + Plains_. + + [61] _The Owl_ was to be a Breton story of the Revolution; _Death in + the Pot_, a tale of the Sta. Lucia mountains in California; the + scene of _The Go-Between_ was laid in the Pacific Islands; of _The + Sleeper Awakened_ I know nothing. + + [62] Of _Island Nights' Entertainments_. + + [63] John Addington Symonds. + + [64] _Across the Plains._ + + [65] Volume of sonnets by Jose Maria de Heredia. + + [66] Dr. Fairfax Ross, a distinguished physician of Sydney, and + friend of the Stevenson family, who during a visit to England this + summer had conveyed to me no very reassuring impression as to the + healthfulness of the island life and climate. + + [67] W. Hole, R.S.A.: essential for the projected illustrations to + _Kidnapped_ and _Catriona_. + + [68] Mr. S. R. Crockett. The words quoted from this gentleman's + dedication were worked by Stevenson into a very moving and + metrically original set of verses, addressed to him in + acknowledgment (_Songs of Travel_, xlii.). + + [69] Simon Fraser, the Master of Lovat, in _Catriona_: the spelling + of his name. + + [70] The bust was exhibited in the New Gallery Summer Exhibition, 1895. + + [71] _Island Nights' Entertainments._ + + [72] _The Window in Thrums_, with illustrations by W. Hole, R.S.A. + Hodder and Stoughton. 1892. + + [73] The scheme of the Edinburgh Edition. + + + + +XIV + +LIFE IN SAMOA--_Concluded_ + +FOURTH YEAR AT VAILIMA--THE END + +JANUARY-DECEMBER 1894 + + +This new year began for Stevenson with an illness which seemed to leave +none of the usual lowering consequences, and for Samoa with fresh +rumours of war, which were not realised until the autumn, and then--at +least in the shape of serious hostilities--in the district of Atua only +and not in his own. On the whole Stevenson's bodily health and vigour +kept at a higher level than during the previous year. But for serious +imaginative writing he found himself still unfit, and the sense that his +old facility had for the time being failed him caused him much inward +misgiving. In his correspondence the misgiving mood was allowed to +appear pretty freely; but in personal intercourse his high spirits +seemed to his family and visitors as unfailing as ever. Several things +happened during the year to give him peculiar pleasure: first, at the +beginning of the year, the news of Mr. Baxter's carefully prepared +scheme of the Edinburgh Edition, and of its acceptance by the publishers +concerned. On this subject much correspondence naturally passed between +him and Mr. Baxter and myself, over and above that which is here +published; and finally he resolved to leave all the details of the +execution to us. By the early autumn the financial success of the scheme +was fully assured and made known to him by cable; but he did not seem +altogether to realise the full measure of relief from money anxieties +which the assurance was meant to convey to him. Other pleasurable +circumstances were the return of Mr. Graham Balfour after a prolonged +absence; the visit of a spirited and accomplished young English man of +business and of letters, Mr. Sidney Lysaght (see below, pp. 385, 388, +etc.); and the frequent society of the officers of H.M.S. _Curacoa_, +with whom he was on terms of particular regard and cordiality. Lastly, +he was very deeply touched and gratified by the action of the native +political prisoners, towards whom he had shown much thoughtful kindness +during their months of detention, in volunteering as a testimony of +gratitude after their release to re-make with their own hands the branch +road leading to his house: "the Road of Loving Hearts," as it came to be +christened. Soon afterwards, the anniversaries of his own birthday and +of the American Thanks-giving feast brought evidences hardly less +welcome, after so much contention and annoyance as the island affairs +and politics had involved him in, of the honour and affection in which +he was held by all that was best in the white community. By each +succeeding mail came stronger proofs from home of the manner in which +men of letters of the younger generation had come to regard him as a +master, an example, and a friend. + +But in spite of all these causes of pleasure, his letters showed that +his old invincible spirit of inward cheerfulness was beginning not +infrequently to give way to moods of depression and overstrained +feeling. The importunity of these moods was no doubt due to some +physical premonition that his vital powers, so frail from the cradle and +always with so cheerful a courage overtaxed, were near exhaustion. +During the first months of the year he attempted little writing; in the +late spring and early summer his work was chiefly on the annals of his +family and on the tale _St. Ives_. The latter he found uphill work: +after the first ten or twelve chapters, which are in his happiest vein, +the narrative, as he himself was painfully aware, began to flag. Towards +the end of October he gave it up for the time being and turned to a more +arduous task, the tragic _Weir of Hermiston_. On this theme he felt his +inspiration return, and during the month of November and the first days +of December wrought once more at the full pitch of his powers and in the +conscious delight of their exercise. On the third of December, after a +morning of happy work and pleasant correspondence, he was seen gazing +long and wistfully toward the forest-clad mountain, on a ledge of which +he had desired that he should be buried. In the afternoon he brought his +morning's work to his wife, the most exacting of his critics; asked her +whether it was not well done; and in her glow of admiring assent found +his confirmation and his reward. Nevertheless she could not throw off an +oppressive sense of coming calamity. He was reassuring her with gay and +laughing talk when the sudden rupture of a blood-vessel in the brain +laid him almost in a moment unconscious at her feet; and before two +hours were over he had passed away. All the world knows how his body was +carried by the loving hands of his native servants to the burial-place +of his choice, and rests there with the words of his own requiem +engraved on his tomb--the words which we have seen him putting on paper +when he was at grips with death fifteen years before in California-- + + "Home is the sailor, home from sea, + And the hunter home from the hill." + + + + +TO CHARLES BAXTER + + + Mr. Baxter, after much preliminary consideration and inquiry, had + matured and submitted to Stevenson the scheme of the Edinburgh + edition, to which this letter is his reply. The paper on _Treasure + Island_ appeared in the Idler for August 1889, and was afterwards + reprinted in the miscellany _My First Book_ (Chatto and Windus, + 1894). See Edinburgh edition, _Miscellanies_, vol. iv. p. 285. + + _1st January '94._ + +MY DEAR CHARLES,--I am delighted with your idea, and first, I will here +give an amended plan and afterwards give you a note of some of the +difficulties. + + [Plan of the Edinburgh edition--14 vols.] + +... It may be a question whether my Times letters might not be appended +to the _Footnote_ with a note of the dates of discharge of Cedercrantz +and Pilsach. + +I am particularly pleased with this idea of yours, because I am come to +a dead stop. I never can remember how bad I have been before, but at any +rate I am bad enough just now, I mean as to literature; in health I am +well and strong. I take it I shall be six months before I'm heard of +again, and this time I could put in to some advantage in revising the +text and (if it were thought desirable) writing prefaces. I do not know +how many of them might be thought desirable. I have written a paper on +_Treasure Island_, which is to appear shortly. _Master of Ballantrae_--I +have one drafted. _The Wrecker_ is quite sufficiently done already with +the last chapter, but I suppose an historic introduction to _David +Balfour_ is quite unavoidable. _Prince Otto_ I don't think I could say +anything about, and _Black Arrow_ don't want to. But it is probable I +could say something to the volume of _Travels_. In the verse business I +can do just what I like better than anything else, and extend +_Underwoods_ with a lot of unpublished stuff. _A propos_, if I were to +get printed off a very few poems which are somewhat too intimate for the +public, could you get them run up in some luxuous manner, so that fools +might be induced to buy them in just a sufficient quantity to pay +expenses and the thing remain still in a manner private? We could supply +photographs of the illustrations--and the poems are of Vailima and the +family--I should much like to get this done as a surprise for Fanny. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO H. B. BAILDON + + + _Vailima, January 15th, 1894._ + +MY DEAR BAILDON,--Last mail brought your book and its Dedication. +"Frederick Street and the gardens, and the short-lived Jack o' Lantern," +are again with me--and the note of the east wind, and Froebel's voice, +and the smell of soup in Thomson's stair. Truly, you had no need to put +yourself under the protection of any other saint, were that saint our +Tamate himself! Yourself were enough, and yourself coming with so rich a +sheaf. + +For what is this that you say about the Muses? They have certainly never +better inspired you than in "Jael and Sisera," and "Herodias and John +the Baptist," good stout poems, fiery and sound. "'Tis but a mask and +behind it chuckles the God of the Garden," I shall never forget. By the +by, an error of the press, page 49, line 4, "No infant's lesson are the +ways of God." _The_ is dropped. + +And this reminds me you have a bad habit which is to be comminated in my +theory of letters. Same page, two lines lower: "But the vulture's track" +is surely as fine to the ear as "But vulture's track," and this latter +version has a dreadful baldness. The reader goes on with a sense of +impoverishment, of unnecessary sacrifice; he has been robbed by +footpads, and goes scouting for his lost article! Again, in the second +Epode, these fine verses would surely sound much finer if they began, +"As a hardy climber who has set his heart," than with the jejune "As +hardy climber." I do not know why you permit yourself this licence with +grammar; you show, in so many pages, that you are superior to the paltry +sense of rhythm which usually dictates it--as though some poetaster had +been suffered to correct the poet's text. By the way, I confess to a +heartfelt weakness for _Auriculas_.--Believe me the very grateful and +characteristic pick-thank, but still sincere and affectionate, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO W. H. LOW + + + _Vailima, January 15th, 1894._ + +MY DEAR LOW,-- ... Pray you, stoop your proud head, and sell yourself to +some Jew magazine, and make the visit out. I assure you, this is the +spot for a sculptor or painter. This, and no other--I don't say to stay +there, but to come once and get the living colour into them. I am used +to it; I do not notice it; rather prefer my grey, freezing recollections +of Scotland; but there it is, and every morning is a thing to give +thanks for, and every night another--bar when it rains, of course. + +About _The Wrecker_--rather late days, and I still suspect I had somehow +offended you; however, all's well that ends well, and I am glad I am +forgiven--did you not fail to appreciate the attitude of Dodd? He was a +fizzle and a stick, he knew it, he knew nothing else, and there is an +undercurrent of bitterness in him. And then the problem that Pinkerton +laid down: why the artist can _do nothing else_? is one that continually +exercises myself. He cannot: granted. But Scott could. And Montaigne. +And Julius Caesar. And many more. And why can't R. L. S.? Does it not +amaze you? It does me. I think of the Renaissance fellows, and their +all-round human sufficiency, and compare it with the ineffable smallness +of the field in which we labour and in which we do so little. I think +_David Balfour_ a nice little book, and very artistic, and just the +thing to occupy the leisure of a busy man; but for the top flower of a +man's life it seems to me inadequate. Small is the word; it is a small +age, and I am of it. I could have wished to be otherwise busy in this +world. I ought to have been able to build lighthouses and write _David +Balfours_ too. _Hinc illae lacrymae._ I take my own case as most handy, +but it is as illustrative of my quarrel with the age. We take all these +pains, and we don't do as well as Michael Angelo or Leonardo, or even +Fielding, who was an active magistrate, or Richardson, who was a busy +bookseller. _J'ai honte pour nous_; my ears burn. + +I am amazed at the effect which this Chicago exhibition has produced +upon you and others. It set Mrs. Fairchild literally mad--to judge by +her letters. And I wish I had seen anything so influential. I suppose +there was an aura, a halo, some sort of effulgency about the place; for +here I find you louder than the rest. Well, it may be there is a time +coming; and I wonder, when it comes, whether it will be a time of +little, exclusive, one-eyed rascals like you and me, or parties of the +old stamp who can paint and fight, and write and keep books of double +entry, and sculp, and scalp. It might be. You have a lot of stuff in the +kettle, and a great deal of it Celtic. I have changed my mind +progressively about England: practically the whole of Scotland is +Celtic, and the western half of England, and all Ireland, and the Celtic +blood makes a rare blend for art. If it is stiffened up with Latin +blood, you get the French. We were less lucky: we had only +Scandinavians, themselves decidedly artistic, and the Low-German lot. +However, that is a good starting-point, and with all the other elements +in your crucible, it may come to something great very easily. I wish you +would hurry up and let me see it. Here is a long while I have been +waiting for something _good_ in art; and what have I seen? Zola's +_Debacle_ and a few of Kipling's tales. Are you a reader of Barbey +d'Aurevilly? He is a never-failing source of pleasure to me, for my +sins, I suppose. What a work is the _Rideau Cramoisi!_ and +_L'Ensorcelee!_ and _Le Chevalier Des Touches!_ + +This is degenerating into mere twaddle. So please remember us all most +kindly to Mrs. Low, and believe me ever yours, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + +_P.S._--Were all your privateers voiceless in the war of 1812? Did _no +one_ of them write memoirs? I shall have to do my privateer from chic, +if you can't help me.[74] My application to Scribner has been quite in +vain. See if you can get hold of some historic sharp in the club, and +tap him; they must some of them have written memoirs or notes of some +sort; perhaps still unprinted; if that be so, get them copied for me. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + _Vailima, Jan. 29th, 1894._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--I had fully intended for your education and moral +health to fob you off with the meanest possible letter this month, and +unfortunately I find I will have to treat you to a good long account of +matters here. I believe I have told you before about Tui-ma-le-alii-fano +and my taking him down to introduce him to the Chief Justice. Well, Tui +came back to Vailima one day in the blackest sort of spirits, saying the +war was decided, that he also must join in the fight, and that there was +no hope whatever of success. He must fight as a point of honour for his +family and country; and in his case, even if he escaped on the field of +battle, deportation was the least to be looked for. He said he had a +letter of complaint from the Great Council of A'ana which he wished to +lay before the Chief Justice; and he asked me to accompany him as if I +were his nurse. We went down about dinner time; and by the way received +from a lurking native the famous letter in an official blue envelope +gummed up to the edges. It proved to be a declaration of war, quite +formal, but with some variations that really made you bounce. White +residents were directly threatened, bidden to have nothing to do with +the King's party, not to receive their goods in their houses, etc., +under pain of an accident. However, the Chief Justice took it very +wisely and mildly, and between us, he and I and Tui made up a plan which +has proved successful--so far. The war is over--fifteen chiefs are this +morning undergoing a curious double process of law, comparable to a +court martial; in which their complaints are to be considered, and if +possible righted, while their conduct is to be criticised, perhaps +punished. Up to now, therefore, it has been a most successful policy; +but the danger is before us. My own feeling would decidedly be that all +would be spoiled by a single execution. The great hope after all lies in +the knotless, rather flaccid character of the people. These are no +Maoris. All the powers that Cedercrantz let go by disuse the new C. J. +is stealthily and boldly taking back again; perhaps some others also. He +has shamed the chiefs in Mulinuu into a law against taking heads, with a +punishment of six years' imprisonment and, for a chief, degradation. To +him has been left the sole conduct of this anxious and decisive inquiry. +If the natives stand it, why, well! But I am nervous. + + + + +TO H. B. BAILDON + + + _Vailima, January 30th, 1894._ + +MY DEAR BAILDON,--"Call not blessed."--Yes, if I could die just now, or +say in half a year, I should have had a splendid time of it on the +whole. But it gets a little stale, and my work will begin to senesce; +and parties to shy bricks at me; and now it begins to look as if I +should survive to see myself impotent and forgotten. It's a pity suicide +is not thought the ticket in the best circles. + +But your letter goes on to congratulate me on having done the one thing +I am a little sorry for; a little--not much--for my father himself lived +to think that I had been wiser than he. But the cream of the jest is +that I have lived to change my mind; and think that he was wiser than I. +Had I been an engineer, and literature my amusement, it would have been +better perhaps. I pulled it off, of course, I won the wager, and it is +pleasant while it lasts; but how long will it last? I don't know, say +the Bells of Old Bow. + +All of which goes to show that nobody is quite sane in judging himself. +Truly, had I given way and gone in for engineering, I should be dead by +now. Well, the gods know best. + +... I hope you got my letter about the _Rescue_.--Adieu. + + R. L. S. + + +True for you about the benefit: except by kisses, jests, song, _et hoc +genus omne_, man _cannot_ convey benefit to another. The universal +benefactor has been there before him. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + _Feb. 1894._ + +DEAR COLVIN,--By a reaction, when your letter is a little decent, mine +is to be naked and unashamed. We have been much exercised. No one can +prophesy here, of course, and the balance still hangs trembling, but I +_think_ it will go for peace. + +The mail was very late this time: hence the paltriness of this note. +When it came and I had read it, I retired with _The Ebb Tide_ and read +it all before I slept. I did not dream it was near as good; I am afraid +I think it excellent. A little indecision about Attwater, not much. It +gives me great hope, as I see I _can_ work in that constipated, mosaic +manner, which is what I have to do just now with _Weir of Hermiston_. + +We have given a ball; I send you a paper describing the event. We have +two guests in the house, Captain-Count Wurmbrand and Monsieur Albert de +Lautreppe. Lautreppe is awfully nice--a quiet, gentlemanly fellow, +_gonfle de reves_, as he describes himself--once a sculptor in the +atelier of Henry Crosse, he knows something of art, and is really a +resource to me. + +Letter from Meredith very kind. Have you seen no more of Graham? + +What about my Grandfather? The family history will grow to be quite a +chapter. + +I suppose I am growing sensitive; perhaps, by living among barbarians, I +expect more civility. Look at this from the author of a very interesting +and laudatory critique. He gives quite a false description of something +of mine, and talks about my "insolence." Frankly, I supposed "insolence" +to be a tapu word. I do not use it to a gentleman, I would not write it +of a gentleman: I may be wrong, but I believe we did not write it of a +gentleman in old days, and in my view he (clever fellow as he is) wants +to be kicked for applying it to me. By writing a novel--even a bad +one--I do not make myself a criminal for anybody to insult. This may +amuse you. But either there is a change in journalism, too gradual for +you to remark it on the spot, or there is a change in me. I cannot bear +these phrases; I long to resent them. My forbears, the tenant farmers of +the Mures, would not have suffered such expressions unless it had been +from Cauldwell, or Rowallan, or maybe Auchendrane. My Family Pride +bristles. I am like the negro, "I just heard last night" who my great, +great, great, great grandfather was.--Ever yours, + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO J. H. BATES + + + The next is to a correspondent in Cincinnati, who had been the + founder of an R. L. S. Society in that city, "originally," he writes + me, under date April 7, 1895, "the outcome of a boyish fancy, but it + has now grown into something more substantial." + + _Vailima, Samoa, March 25th, 1894._ + +MY DEAR MR. JOE H. BATES,--I shall have the greatest pleasure in +acceding to your complimentary request. I shall think it an honour to be +associated with your chapter, and I need not remind you (for you have +said it yourself) how much depends upon your own exertions whether to +make it to me a real honour or only a derision. This is to let you know +that I accept the position that you have seriously offered to me in a +quite serious spirit. I need scarce tell you that I shall always be +pleased to receive reports of your proceedings; and if I do not always +acknowledge them, you are to remember that I am a man very much occupied +otherwise, and not at all to suppose that I have lost interest in my +chapter. + +In this world, which (as you justly say) is so full of sorrow and +suffering, it will always please me to remember that my name is +connected with some efforts after alleviation, nor less so with purposes +of innocent recreation which, after all, are the only certain means at +our disposal for bettering human life. + +With kind regards, to yourself, to Mr. L. C. Congdon, to E. M. G. Bates, +and to Mr. Edward Hugh Higlee Bates, and the heartiest wishes for the +future success of the chapter, believe me, yours cordially. + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO WILLIAM ARCHER + + + _Vailima, Samoa, March 27th, 1894._ + +MY DEAR ARCHER,--Many thanks for your _Theatrical World_. Do you know, +it strikes me as being really very good? I have not yet read much of +it, but so far as I have looked, there is not a dull and not an empty +page in it. Hazlitt, whom you must often have thought of, would have +been pleased. Come to think of it, I shall put this book upon the +Hazlitt shelf. You have acquired a manner that I can only call august; +otherwise, I should have to call it such amazing impudence. The _Bauble +Shop_ and _Becket_ are examples of what I mean. But it "sets you weel." + +Marjorie Fleming I have known, as you surmise, for long. She was +possibly--no, I take back possibly--she was one of the greatest works of +God. Your note about the resemblance of her verses to mine gave me great +joy, though it only proved me a plagiarist. By the by, was it not over +_The Child's Garden of Verses_ that we first scraped acquaintance? I am +sorry indeed to hear that my esteemed correspondent Tomarcher has such +poor taste in literature.[75] I fear he cannot have inherited this trait +from his dear papa. Indeed, I may say I know it, for I remember the +energy of papa's disapproval when the work passed through his hands on +its way to a second birth, which none regrets more than myself. It is an +odd fact, or perhaps a very natural one; I find few greater pleasures +than reading my own works, but I never, O I never read _The Black +Arrow_. In that country Tomarcher reigns supreme. Well, and after all, +if Tomarcher likes it, it has not been written in vain. + +We have just now a curious breath from Europe. A young fellow just +beginning letters, and no fool, turned up here with a letter of +introduction in the well-known blue ink and decorative hieroglyphs of +George Meredith. His name may be known to you. It is Sidney Lysaght. He +is staying with us but a day or two, and it is strange to me and not +unpleasant to hear all the names, old and new, come up again. But oddly +the new are so much more in number. If I revisited the glimpses of the +moon on your side of the ocean, I should know comparatively few of +them. + +My amanuensis deserts me--I should have said you, for yours is the loss, +my script having lost all bond with humanity. One touch of nature makes +the whole world kin: that nobody can read my hand. It is a humiliating +circumstance that thus evens us with printers! + +You must sometimes think it strange--or perhaps it is only I that should +so think it--to be following the old round, in the gas lamps and the +crowded theatres, when I am away here in the tropical forest and the +vast silences! + +My dear Archer, my wife joins me in the best wishes to yourself and Mrs. +Archer, not forgetting Tom; and I am yours very cordially, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + Partly concerning a fresh rising, this time of the partisans of + Tamasese from the district of Atua, which had occurred and was after + some time suppressed; partly in reference to the visit of Mr. Sidney + Lysaght; partly in reply to a petition that his letters might be less + entirely taken up with native affairs, of relatively little meaning + to his correspondent. + + [_Vailima, April 1894._] + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--This is the very day the mail goes, and I have as yet +written you nothing. But it was just as well--as it was all about my +"blacks and chocolates," and what of it had relation to whites you will +read some of in the Times. It means, as you will see, that I have at one +blow quarrelled with _all_ the officials of Samoa, the Foreign Office, +and I suppose her Majesty the Queen with milk and honey blest. But +you'll see in the Times. I am very well indeed, but just about dead and +mighty glad the mail is near here, and I can just give up all hope of +contending with my letters, and lie down for the rest of the day. These +Times letters are not easy to write. And I dare say the consuls say, +"Why, then, does he write them?" + +I had miserable luck with _St. Ives_; being already half-way through it, +a book I had ordered six months ago arrives at last, and I have to +change the first half of it from top to bottom! How could I have dreamed +the French prisoners were watched over like a female charity school, +kept in a grotesque livery, and shaved twice a week? And I had made all +my points on the idea that they were unshaved and clothed anyhow. +However, this last is better business; if only the book had come when I +ordered it! _A propos_, many of the books you announce don't come as a +matter of fact. When they are of any value, it is best to register them. +Your letter, alas! is not here; I sent it down to the cottage, with all +my mail, for Fanny; on Sunday night a boy comes up with a lantern and a +note from Fanny, to say the woods are full of Atuas and I must bring a +horse down that instant, as the posts are established beyond her on the +road, and she does not want to have the fight going on between us. +Impossible to get a horse; so I started in the dark on foot, with a +revolver, and my spurs on my bare feet, leaving directions that the boy +should mount after me with the horse. Try such an experience on Our Road +once, and do it, if you please, after you have been down town from nine +o'clock till six, on board the ship-of-war lunching, teaching Sunday +School (I actually do) and making necessary visits; and the Saturday +before, having sat all day from 1/2-past six to 1/2-past four, scriving +at my Times letter. About half-way up, just in fact at "point" of the +outposts, I met Fanny coming up. Then all night long I was being wakened +with scares that really should be looked into, though I _knew_ there was +nothing in them and no bottom to the whole story; and the drums and +shouts and cries from Tanugamanono and the town keeping up an all-night +corybantic chorus in the moonlight--the moon rose late--and the +search-light of the war-ship in the harbour making a jewel of brightness +as it lit up the bay of Apia in the distance. And then next morning, +about eight o'clock, a drum coming out of the woods and a party of +patrols who had been in the woods on our left front (which is our true +rear) coming up to the house, and meeting there another party who had +been in the woods on our right {front / rear} which is Vaea Mountain, +and 43 of them being entertained to ava and biscuits on the verandah, +and marching off at last in single file for Apia. Briefly, it is not +much wonder if your letter and my whole mail was left at the cottage, +and I have no means of seeing or answering particulars. + +The whole thing was nothing but a bottomless scare; it was _obviously_ +so; you couldn't make a child believe it was anything else, but it has +made the consuls sit up. My own private scares were really abominably +annoying; as for instance after I had got to sleep for the ninth time +perhaps--and that was no easy matter either, for I had a crick in my +neck so agonising that I had to sleep sitting up--I heard noises as of a +man being murdered in the boys' house. To be sure, said I, this is +nothing again, but if a man's head was being taken, the noises would be +the same! So I had to get up, stifle my cries of agony from the crick, +get my revolver, and creep out stealthily to the boys' house. And there +were two of them sitting up, keeping watch of their own accord like good +boys, and whiling the time over a game of Sweepi (Cascino--the whist of +our islanders)--and one of them was our champion idiot, Misifolo, and I +suppose he was holding bad cards, and losing all the time--and these +noises were his humorous protests against Fortune! + +Well, excuse this excursion into my "blacks and chocolates." It is the +last. You will have heard from Lysaght how I failed to write last mail. +The said Lysaght seems to me a very nice fellow. We were only sorry he +could not stay with us longer. Austin came back from school last week, +which made a great time for the Amanuensis, you may be sure. Then on +Saturday, the _Curacoa_ came in--same commission, with all our old +friends; and on Sunday, as already mentioned, Austin and I went down to +service and had lunch afterwards in the wardroom. The officers were +awfully nice to Austin; they are the most amiable ship in the world; and +after lunch we had a paper handed round on which we were to guess, and +sign our guess, of the number of leaves on the pine-apple; I never saw +this game before, but it seems it is much practised in the Queen's +Navee. When all have betted, one of the party begins to strip the +pine-apple head, and the person whose guess is furthest out has to pay +for the sherry. My equanimity was disturbed by shouts of _The American +Commodore_, and I found that Austin had entered and lost about a bottle +of sherry! He turned with great composure and addressed me. "I am afraid +I must look to you, Uncle Louis." The Sunday School racket is only an +experiment which I took up at the request of the late American Land +Commissioner; I am trying it for a month, and if I do as ill as I +believe, and the boys find it only half as tedious as I do, I think it +will end in a month. I have _carte blanche_, and say what I like; but +does any single soul understand me? + +Fanny is on the whole very much better. Lloyd has been under the +weather, and goes for a month to the South Island of New Zealand for +some skating, save the mark! I get all the skating I want among +officials. + +Dear Colvin, please remember that my life passes among my "blacks or +chocolates." If I were to do as you propose, in a bit of a tiff, it +would cut you off entirely from my life. You must try to exercise a +trifle of imagination, and put yourself, perhaps with an effort, into +some sort of sympathy with these people, or how am I to write to you? I +think you are truly a little too Cockney with me.--Ever yours, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO W. B. YEATS + + + _Vailima, Samoa, April 14, 1894._ + +DEAR SIR,--Long since when I was a boy I remember the emotions with +which I repeated Swinburne's poems and ballads. Some ten years ago, a +similar spell was cast upon me by Meredith's _Love in the Valley_; the +stanzas beginning "When her mother tends her" haunted me and made me +drunk like wine; and I remember waking with them all the echoes of the +hills about Hyeres. It may interest you to hear that I have a third time +fallen in slavery: this is to your poem called the _Lake Isle of +Innisfree_. It is so quaint and airy, simple, artful, and eloquent to +the heart--but I seek words in vain. Enough that "always night and day I +hear lake water lapping with low sounds on the shore," and am, yours +gratefully, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO GEORGE MEREDITH + + + The young lady referred to in the following is Mr. Meredith's + daughter, now Mrs. H. Sturgis; the bearer of the introduction, Mr. + Sidney Lysaght, author of _The Marplot_ and _One of the Grenvilles._ + It is only in the first few chapters of Mr. Meredith's _Amazing + Marriage_ that the character of Gower Woodseer has been allowed to + retain any likeness to that of R. L. S. + + _Vailima, Samoa, April 17th, 1894._ + +MY DEAR MEREDITH,--Many good things have the gods sent to me of late. +First of all there was a letter from you by the kind hand of Mariette, +if she is not too great a lady to be remembered in such a style; and +then there came one Lysaght with a charming note of introduction in the +well-known hand itself. We had but a few days of him, and liked him +well. There was a sort of geniality and inward fire about him at which I +warmed my hands. It is long since I have seen a young man who has left +in me such a favourable impression; and I find myself telling myself, +"O, I must tell this to Lysaght," or, "This will interest him," in a +manner very unusual after so brief an acquaintance. The whole of my +family shared in this favourable impression, and my halls have re-echoed +ever since, I am sure he will be amused to know, with _Widdicombe Fair_. + +He will have told you doubtless more of my news than I could tell you +myself; he has your European perspective, a thing long lost to me. I +heard with a great deal of interest the news of Box Hill. And so I +understand it is to be enclosed! Allow me to remark, that seems a far +more barbaric trait of manners than the most barbarous of ours. We +content ourselves with cutting off an occasional head. + +I hear we may soon expect _The Amazing Marriage_. You know how long, and +with how much curiosity, I have looked forward to the book. Now, in so +far as you have adhered to your intention, Gower Woodseer will be a +family portrait, age twenty-five, of the highly respectable and slightly +influential and fairly aged _Tusitala_. You have not known that +gentleman; console yourself, he is not worth knowing. At the same time, +my dear Meredith, he is very sincerely yours--for what he is worth, for +the memories of old times, and in the expectation of many pleasures +still to come. I suppose we shall never see each other again; flitting +youths of the Lysaght species may occasionally cover these +unconscionable leagues and bear greetings to and fro. But we ourselves +must be content to converse on an occasional sheet of notepaper, and I +shall never see whether you have grown older, and you shall never +deplore that Gower Woodseer should have declined into the pantaloon +_Tusitala_. It is perhaps better so. Let us continue to see each other +as we were, and accept, my dear Meredith, my love and respect. + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + +_P.S._--My wife joins me in the kindest messages to yourself and +Mariette. + + + + +TO CHARLES BAXTER + + + _[Vailima], April 17, '94._ + +MY DEAR CHARLES,--_St. Ives_ is now well on its way into the second +volume. There remains no mortal doubt that it will reach the +three-volume standard. + +I am very anxious that you should send me-- + +1st. _Tom and Jerry_, a cheap edition. + +2nd. The book by Ashton--the _Dawn of the Century_, I think it was +called--which Colvin sent me, and which has miscarried, and + +3rd. If it is possible, a file of the Edinburgh Courant for the years +1811, 1812, 1813, or 1814. I should not care for a whole year. If it +were possible to find me three months, winter months by preference, it +would do my business not only for _St. Ives_, but for the +_Justice-Clerk_ as well. Suppose this to be impossible, perhaps I could +get the loan of it from somebody; or perhaps it would be possible to +have some one read a file for me and make notes. This would be extremely +bad, as unhappily one man's food is another man's poison, and the reader +would probably leave out everything I should choose. But if you are +reduced to that, you might mention to the man who is to read for me that +balloon ascensions are in the order of the day. + +4th. It might be as well to get a book on balloon ascension, +particularly in the early part of the century. + + * * * * * + +III. At last this book has come from Scribner, and, alas! I have the +first six or seven chapters of _St. Ives_ to recast entirely. Who could +foresee that they clothed the French prisoners in yellow? But that one +fatal fact--and also that they shaved them twice a week--damns the whole +beginning. If it had been sent in time, it would have saved me a deal of +trouble.... + +I have had a long letter from Dr. Scott Dalgleish, 25 Mayfield Terrace, +asking me to put my name down to the Ballantyne Memorial Committee. I +have sent him a pretty sharp answer in favour of cutting down the +memorial and giving more to the widow and children. If there is to be +any foolery in the way of statues or other trash, please send them a +guinea; but if they are going to take my advice and put up a simple +tablet with a few heartfelt words, and really devote the bulk of the +subscriptions to the wife and family, I will go to the length of twenty +pounds, if you will allow me (and if the case of the family be at all +urgent), and at least I direct you to send ten pounds. I suppose you had +better see Scott Dalgleish himself on the matter. I take the opportunity +here to warn you that my head is simply spinning with a multitude of +affairs, and I shall probably forget a half of my business at last. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO MRS. SITWELL + + + [_Vailima, April 1894._] + +MY DEAR FRIEND,--I have at last got some photographs, and hasten to send +you, as you asked, a portrait of Tusitala. He is a strange person; not +so lean, say experts, but infinitely battered; mighty active again on +the whole; going up and down our break-neck road at all hours of the day +and night on horseback; holding meetings with all manner of chiefs; +quite a political personage--God save the mark!--in a small way, but at +heart very conscious of the inevitable flat failure that awaits every +one. I shall never do a better book than _Catriona_, that is my +high-water mark, and the trouble of production increases on me at a +great rate--and mighty anxious about how I am to leave my family: an +elderly man, with elderly preoccupations, whom I should be ashamed to +show you for your old friend; but not a hope of my dying soon and +cleanly, and "winning off the stage." Rather I am daily better in +physical health. I shall have to see this business out, after all; and I +think, in that case, they should have--they might have--spared me all my +ill-health this decade past, if it were not to unbar the doors. I have +no taste for old age, and my nose is to be rubbed in it in spite of my +face. I was meant to die young, and the gods do not love me. + +This is very like an epitaph, bar the handwriting, which is anything but +monumental, and I dare say I had better stop. Fanny is down at her own +cottage planting or deplanting or replanting, I know not which, and she +will not be home till dinner, by which time the mail will be all closed, +else she would join me in all good messages and remembrances of love. I +hope you will congratulate Burne Jones from me on his baronetcy. I +cannot make out to be anything but raspingly, harrowingly sad; so I will +close, and not affect levity which I cannot feel. Do not altogether +forget me; keep a corner of your memory for the exile + + LOUIS. + + + + +TO CHARLES BAXTER + + + [_Vailima, May 1894._] + +MY DEAR CHARLES,--My dear fellow, I wish to assure you of the greatness +of the pleasure that this Edinburgh Edition gives me. I suppose it was +your idea to give it that name. No other would have affected me in the +same manner. Do you remember, how many years ago--I would be afraid to +hazard a guess--one night when I communicated to you certain intimations +of early death and aspiration after fame? I was particularly maudlin; +and my remorse the next morning on a review of my folly has written the +matter very deeply in my mind; from yours it may easily have fled. If +any one at that moment could have shown me the Edinburgh Edition, I +suppose I should have died. It is with gratitude and wonder that I +consider "the way in which I have been led." Could a more preposterous +idea have occurred to us in those days when we used to search our +pockets for coppers, too often in vain, and combine forces to produce +the threepence necessary for two glasses of beer, or wander down the +Lothian Road without any, than that I should be strong and well at the +age of forty-three in the island of Upolu, and that you should be at +home bringing out the Edinburgh Edition? If it had been possible, I +should almost have preferred the Lothian Road Edition, say, with a +picture of the old Dutch smuggler on the covers. I have now something +heavy on my mind. I had always a great sense of kinship with poor Robert +Fergusson--so clever a boy, so wild, of such a mixed strain, so +unfortunate, born in the same town with me, and, as I always felt, +rather by express intimation than from evidence, so like myself. Now the +injustice with which the one Robert is rewarded and the other left out +in the cold sits heavy on me, and I wish you could think of some way in +which I could do honour to my unfortunate namesake. Do you think it +would look like affectation to dedicate the whole edition to his memory? +I think it would. The sentiment which would dictate it to me is too +abstruse; and besides, I think my wife is the proper person to receive +the dedication of my life's work. At the same time, it is very odd--it +really looks like the transmigration of souls--I feel that I must do +something for Fergusson; Burns has been before me with the gravestone. +It occurs to me you might take a walk down the Canongate and see in what +condition the stone is. If it be at all uncared for, we might repair it, +and perhaps add a few words of inscription. + +I must tell you, what I just remembered in a flash as I was walking +about dictating this letter--there was in the original plan of the +_Master of Ballantrae_ a sort of introduction describing my arrival in +Edinburgh on a visit to yourself and your placing in my hands the papers +of the story. I actually wrote it, and then condemned the idea--as being +a little too like Scott, I suppose. Now I must really find the MS. and +try to finish it for the E.E. It will give you, what I should so much +like you to have, another corner of your own in that lofty monument. + +Suppose we do what I have proposed about Fergusson's monument, I wonder +if an inscription like this would look arrogant-- + + This stone originally erected + by Robert Burns has been + repaired at the + charges of Robert Louis Stevenson, + and is by him re-dedicated to + the memory of Robert Fergusson, + as the gift of one Edinburgh + lad to another. + +In spacing this inscription I would detach the names of Fergusson and +Burns, but leave mine in the text. + +Or would that look like sham modesty, and is it better to bring out the +three Roberts? + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + _Vailima, May 18th, 1894._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--Your proposals for the Edinburgh Edition are entirely +to my mind. About the _Amateur Emigrant_, it shall go to you by this +mail well slashed. If you like to slash some more on your own account, I +give you permission. 'Tis not a great work; but since it goes to make up +the two first volumes as proposed, I presume it has not been written in +vain.[76]--_Miscellanies_. I see with some alarm the proposal to print +_Juvenilia_; does it not seem to you taking myself a little too much as +Grandfather William? I am certainly not so young as I once was--a lady +took occasion to remind me of the fact no later agone than last night. +"Why don't you leave that to the young men, Mr. Stevenson?" said +she--but when I remember that I felt indignant at even John Ruskin when +he did something of the kind I really feel myself blush from head to +heel. If you want to make up the first volume, there are a good many +works which I took the trouble to prepare for publication and which have +never been republished. In addition to _Roads_ and _Dancing Children_, +referred to by you, there is _An Autumn Effect_ in the Portfolio, and a +paper on Fontainebleau--_Forest Notes_ is the name of it--in Cornhill. I +have no objection to any of these being edited, say with a scythe, and +reproduced. But I heartily abominate and reject the idea of reprinting +_The Pentland Rising_. For God's sake let me get buried first. + +_Tales and Fantasies._ Vols. I. and II. have my hearty approval. But I +think III. and IV. had better be crammed into one as you suggest. I will +reprint none of the stories mentioned. They are below the mark. Well, I +dare say the beastly _Body-Snatcher_ has merit, and I am unjust to it +from my recollections of the Pall Mall. But the other two won't do. For +vols. V. and VI., now changed into IV. and V., I propose the common +title of _South Sea Yarns_. There! These are all my differences of +opinion. I agree with every detail of your arrangement, and, as you see, +my objections have turned principally on the question of hawking unripe +fruit. I dare say it is all pretty green, but that is no reason for us +to fill the barrow with trash. Think of having a new set of type cast, +paper especially made, etc., in order to set up rubbish that is not fit +for the Saturday Scotsman. It would be the climax of shame. + +I am sending you a lot of verses, which had best, I think, be called +_Underwoods_ Book III., but in what order are they to go? Also, I am +going on every day a little, till I get sick of it, with the attempt to +get _The Emigrant_ compressed into life; I know I can--or you can after +me--do it. It is only a question of time and prayer and ink, and should +leave something, no, not good, but not all bad--a very genuine +appreciation of these folks. You are to remember besides there is that +paper of mine on Bunyan in the Magazine of Art. O, and then there's +another thing in Seeley called some spewsome name, I cannot recall it. + +Well--come, here goes for _Juvenilia_. _Dancing Infants_, _Roads_, _An +Autumn Effect_, _Forest Notes_ (but this should come at the end of them, +as it's really rather riper), the t'other thing from Seeley, and I'll +tell you, you may put in my letter to the Church of Scotland--it's not +written amiss, and I dare say _The Philosophy of Umbrellas_ might go in, +but there I stick--and remember _that_ was a collaboration with James +Walter Ferrier. O, and there was a little skit called _The Charity +Bazaar_, which you might see; I don't think it would do. Now, I do not +think there are two other words that should be printed.--By the way, +there is an article of mine called _The Day after To-morrow_ in the +Contemporary which you might find room for somewhere; it's no' bad. + +Very busy with all these affairs and some native ones also. + + + + +TO R. A. M. STEVENSON + + + [_Vailima, June 17th, 1894._] + +MY DEAR BOB,--I must make out a letter this mail or perish in the +attempt. All the same, I am deeply stupid, in bed with a cold, deprived +of my amanuensis, and conscious of the wish but not the furnished will. +You may be interested to hear how the family inquiries go. It is now +quite certain that we are a second-rate lot, and came out of Cunningham +or Clydesdale, therefore _British_ folk; so that you are Cymry on both +sides, and I Cymry and Pict. We may have fought with King Arthur and +known Merlin. The first of the family, Stevenson of Stevenson, was quite +a great party, and dates back to the wars of Edward First. The last male +heir of Stevenson of Stevenson died 1670, L220, 10s. to the bad, from +drink. About the same time the Stevensons, who were mostly in Cunningham +before, crop up suddenly in the parish of Neilston, over the border in +Renfrewshire. Of course, they may have been there before, but there is +no word of them in that parish till 1675 in any extracts I have. Our +first traceable ancestor was a tenant farmer of Mure of +Cauldwell's--James in Nether Carsewell. Presently two families of +maltmen are found in Glasgow, both, by re-duplicated proofs, related to +James (the son of James) in Nether Carsewell. We descend by his second +marriage from Robert; one of these died 1733. It is not very romantic up +to now, but has interested me surprisingly to fish out, always hoping +for more--and occasionally getting at least a little clearness and +confirmation. But the earliest date, 1655, apparently the marriage of +James in Nether Carsewell, cannot as yet be pushed back. From which of +any number of dozen little families in Cunningham we should derive, God +knows! Of course, it doesn't matter a hundred years hence, an argument +fatal to all human enterprise, industry, or pleasure. And to me it will +be a deadly disappointment if I cannot roll this stone away! One +generation further might be nothing, but it is my present object of +desire, and we are so near it! There is a man in the same parish called +Constantine; if I could only trace to him, I could take you far afield +by that one talisman of the strange Christian name of Constantine. But +no such luck! And I kind of fear we shall stick at James. + + I. JAMES, a tenant of the Mures, in Nether-Carsewell, + || Neilston, married (1665?) Jean Keir. + || | + ---------------------------------------------- + | + II. ROBERT (Maltman in Glasgow), died 1733, + | married 1st; married second, + | Elizabeth Cumming. + | || + | ------------------------------ + | | + WILLIAM (Maltman in Glasgow). III. ROBERT (Maltman in + | Glasgow), married + -------------------- Margaret Fulton (had + | | | a large family). + | | | || + ROBERT, MARION, ELIZABETH. IV. ALAN, West India + merchant, married + Jean Lillie. + || + V. ROBERT, married + Jean Smith. + | + ------- + | + VI. ALAN.--Margaret Jones. + | + VII. R. A. M. S. + + NOTE.--Between 1730-1766 flourished in Glasgow Alan the Coppersmith, + who acts as a kind of a pin to the whole Stevenson system there. He + was caution to Robert the Second's will, and to William's will, and to + the will of a John, another maltman. + +So much, though all inchoate, I trouble you with, knowing that you, at +least, must take an interest in it. So much is certain of that strange +Celtic descent, that the past has an interest for it apparently +gratuitous, but fiercely strong. I wish to trace my ancestors a thousand +years, if I trace them by gallowses. It is not love, not pride, not +admiration; it is an expansion of the identity, intimately pleasing, and +wholly uncritical; I can expend myself in the person of an inglorious +ancestor with perfect comfort; or a disgraced, if I could find one. I +suppose, perhaps, it is more to me who am childless, and refrain with a +certain shock from looking forwards. But, I am sure, in the solid +grounds of race, that you have it also in some degree. + +Enough genealogy. I do not know if you will be able to read my hand. +Unhappily, Belle, who is my amanuensis, is out of the way on other +affairs, and I have to make the unwelcome effort. (O this is beautiful, +I am quite pleased with myself.) Graham has just arrived last night (my +mother is coming by the other steamer in three days), and has told me of +your meeting, and he said you looked a little older than I did; so that +I suppose we keep step fairly on the downward side of the hill. He +thought you looked harassed, and I could imagine that too. I sometimes +feel harassed. I have a great family here about me, a great anxiety. The +loss (to use my grandfather's expression), the "loss" of our family is +that we are disbelievers in the morrow--perhaps I should say, rather, in +next year. The future is _always_ black to us; it was to Robert +Stevenson; to Thomas; I suspect to Alan; to R. A. M. S. it was so almost +to his ruin in youth; to R. L. S., who had a hard hopeful strain in him +from his mother, it was not so much so once, but becomes daily more so. +Daily so much more so, that I have a painful difficulty in believing I +can ever finish another book, or that the public will ever read it. + +I have so huge a desire to know exactly what you are doing, that I +suppose I should tell you what I am doing by way of an example. I have a +room now, a part of the twelve-foot verandah sparred in, at the most +inaccessible end of the house. Daily I see the sunrise out of my bed, +which I still value as a tonic, a perpetual tuning fork, a look of God's +face once in the day. At six my breakfast comes up to me here, and I +work till eleven. If I am quite well, I sometimes go out and bathe in +the river before lunch, twelve. In the afternoon I generally work again, +now alone drafting, now with Belle dictating. Dinner is at six, and I am +often in bed by eight. This is supposing me to stay at home. But I must +often be away, sometimes all day long, sometimes till twelve, one, or +two at night, when you might see me coming home to the sleeping house, +sometimes in a trackless darkness, sometimes with a glorious tropic +moon, everything drenched with dew--unsaddling and creeping to bed; and +you would no longer be surprised that I live out in this country, and +not in Bournemouth--in bed. + +My great recent interruptions have (as you know) come from politics; not +much in my line, you will say. But it is impossible to live here and not +feel very sorely the consequences of the horrid white mismanagement. I +tried standing by and looking on, and it became too much for me. They +are such illogical fools; a logical fool in an office, with a lot of red +tape, is conceivable. Furthermore, he is as much as we have any reason +to expect of officials--a thoroughly common-place, unintellectual lot. +But these people are wholly on wires; laying their ears down, skimming +away, pausing as though shot, and presto! full spread on the other tack. +I observe in the official class mostly an insane jealousy of the +smallest kind, as compared to which the artist's is of a grave, modest +character--the actor's, even; a desire to extend his little authority, +and to relish it like a glass of wine, that is _impayable_. Sometimes, +when I see one of these little kings strutting over one of his +victories--wholly illegal, perhaps, and certain to be reversed to his +shame if his superiors ever heard of it--I could weep. The strange thing +is that they _have nothing else_. I auscultate them in vain; no real +sense of duty, no real comprehension, no real attempt to comprehend, no +wish for information--you cannot offend one of them more bitterly than +by offering information, though it is certain that you have _more_, and +obvious that you have _other_, information than they have; and talking +of policy, they could not play a better stroke than by listening to you, +and it need by no means influence their action. _Tenez_, you know what a +French post office or railway official is? That is the diplomatic card +to the life. Dickens is not in it; caricature fails. + +All this keeps me from my work, and gives me the unpleasant side of the +world. When your letters are disbelieved it makes you angry, and that +is rot; and I wish I could keep out of it with all my soul. But I have +just got into it again, and farewell peace! + +My work goes along but slowly. I have got to a crossing place, I +suppose; the present book, _St. Ives_, is nothing; it is in no style in +particular, a tissue of adventures, the central character not very well +done, no philosophic pith under the yarn; and, in short, if people will +read it, that's all I ask; and if they won't, damn them! I like doing it +though; and if you ask me why! After that I am on _Weir of Hermiston_ +and _Heathercat_, two Scotch stories, which will either be something +different, or I shall have failed. The first is generally designed, and +is a private story of two or three characters in a very grim vein. The +second--alas! the thought--is an attempt at a real historical novel, to +present a whole field of time; the race--our own race--the west land and +Clydesdale blue bonnets, under the influence of their last trial, when +they got to a pitch of organisation in madness that no other peasantry +has ever made an offer at. I was going to call it _The Killing Time_, +but this man Crockett has forestalled me in that. Well, it'll be a big +smash if I fail in it; but a gallant attempt. All my weary reading as a +boy, which you remember well enough, will come to bear on it; and if my +mind will keep up to the point it was in a while back, perhaps I can +pull it through. + +For two months past, Fanny, Belle, Austin (her child), and I have been +alone; but yesterday, as I mentioned, Graham Balfour arrived, and on +Wednesday my mother and Lloyd will make up the party to its full +strength. I wish you could drop in for a month or a week, or two hours. +That is my chief want. On the whole, it is an unexpectedly pleasant +corner I have dropped into for an end of it, which I could scarcely have +foreseen from Wilson's shop, or the Princes Street Gardens, or the +Portobello Road. Still, I would like to hear what my _alter ego_ thought +of it; and I would sometimes like to have my old _maitre-es-arts_ +express an opinion on what I do. I put this very tamely, being on the +whole a quiet elderly man; but it is a strong passion with me, though +intermittent. Now, try to follow my example and tell me something about +yourself, Louisa, the Bab, and your work; and kindly send me some +specimens of what you're about. I have only seen one thing by you, about +Notre Dame in the Westminster or St. James's, since I left England, now +I suppose six years ago. + +I have looked this trash over, and it is not at all the letter I wanted +to write--not truck about officials, ancestors, and the like +rancidness--but you have to let your pen go in its own broken-down gait, +like an old butcher's pony, stop when it pleases, and go on again as it +will.--Ever, my dear Bob, your affectionate cousin, + + R. L. STEVENSON. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + _Vailima, June 18th, '94._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--You are to please understand that my last letter is +withdrawn unconditionally. You and Baxter are having all the trouble of +this Edition, and I simply put myself in your hands for you to do what +you like with me, and I am sure that will be the best, at any rate. +Hence you are to conceive me withdrawing all objections to your printing +anything you please. After all, it is a sort of family affair. About the +Miscellany Section, both plans seem to me quite good. Toss up. I think +the _Old Gardener_ has to stay where I put him last. It would not do to +separate John and Robert. + +In short, I am only sorry I ever uttered a word about the edition, and +leave you to be the judge. I have had a vile cold which has prostrated +me for more than a fortnight, and even now tears me nightly with +spasmodic coughs; but it has been a great victory. I have never borne a +cold with so little hurt; wait till the clouds blow by, before you begin +to boast! I have had no fever; and though I've been very unhappy, it is +nigh over, I think. Of course, _St. Ives_ has paid the penalty. I must +not let you be disappointed in _St. I._ It is a mere tissue of +adventures; the central figure not very well or very sharply drawn; no +philosophy, no destiny, to it; some of the happenings very good in +themselves, I believe, but none of them _bildende_, none of them +constructive, except in so far perhaps as they make up a kind of sham +picture of the time, all in italics and all out of drawing. Here and +there, I think, it is well written; and here and there it's not. Some of +the episodic characters are amusing, I do believe; others not, I +suppose. However, they are the best of the thing such as it is. If it +has a merit to it, I should say it was a sort of deliberation and swing +to the style, which seems to me to suit the mail-coaches and +post-chaises with which it sounds all through. 'Tis my most prosaic +book. + +I called on the two German ships now in port, and we are quite friendly +with them, and intensely friendly of course with our own _Curacoas_. But +it is other guess work on the beach. Some one has employed, or +subsidised, one of the local editors to attack me once a week. He is +pretty scurrilous and pretty false. The first effect of the perusal of +the weekly Beast is to make me angry; the second is a kind of deep, +golden content and glory, when I seem to say to people: "See! this is my +position--I am a plain man dwelling in the bush in a house, and behold +they have to get up this kind of truck against me--and I have so much +influence that they are obliged to write a weekly article to say I have +none." + +By this time you must have seen Lysaght and forgiven me the letter that +came not at all. He was really so nice a fellow--he had so much to tell +me of Meredith--and the time was so short--that I gave up the +intervening days between mails entirely to entertain him. + +We go on pretty nicely. Fanny, Belle, and I have had two months alone, +and it has been very pleasant. But by to-morrow or next day noon, we +shall see the whole clan assembled again about Vailima table, which will +be pleasant too; seven persons in all, and the Babel of voices will be +heard again in the big hall so long empty and silent. Good-bye. Love to +all. Time to close.--Yours ever, + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO HENRY JAMES + + + _Vailima, July 7th, 1894._ + +DEAR HENRY JAMES,--I am going to try and dictate to you a letter or a +note, and begin the same without any spark of hope, my mind being +entirely in abeyance. This malady is very bitter on the literary man. I +have had it now coming on for a month, and it seems to get worse instead +of better. If it should prove to be softening of the brain, a melancholy +interest will attach to the present document. I heard a great deal about +you from my mother and Graham Balfour; the latter declares that you +could take a First in any Samoan subject. If that be so, I should like +to hear you on the theory of the constitution. Also to consult you on +the force of the particles _o lo'o_ and _ua_, which are the subject of a +dispute among local pundits. You might, if you ever answer this, give me +your opinion on the origin of the Samoan race, just to complete the +favour. + +They both say that you are looking well, and I suppose I may conclude +from that that you are feeling passably. I wish I was. Do not suppose +from this that I am ill in body; it is the numskull that I complain of. +And when that is wrong, as you must be very keenly aware, you begin +every day with a smarting disappointment, which is not good for the +temper. I am in one of the humours when a man wonders how any one can be +such an ass as to embrace the profession of letters, and not get +apprenticed to a barber or keep a baked-potato stall. But I have no +doubt in the course of a week, or perhaps to-morrow, things will look +better. + +We have at present in port the model warship of Great Britain. She is +called the _Curacoa_, and has the nicest set of officers and men +conceivable. They, the officers, are all very intimate with us, and the +front verandah is known as the Curacoa Club, and the road up to Vailima +is known as the Curacoa Track. It was rather a surprise to me; many +naval officers have I known, and somehow had not learned to think +entirely well of them, and perhaps sometimes ask myself a little +uneasily how that kind of men could do great actions? and behold! the +answer comes to me, and I see a ship that I would guarantee to go +anywhere it was possible for men to go, and accomplish anything it was +permitted man to attempt. I had a cruise on board of her not long ago to +Manu'a, and was delighted. The goodwill of all on board; the grim +playfulness of[77] quarters, with the wounded falling down at the +word; the ambulances hastening up and carrying them away; the Captain +suddenly crying, "Fire in the ward-room!" and the squad hastening +forward with the hose; and, last and most curious spectacle of all, all +the men in their dust-coloured fatigue clothes, at a note of the bugle, +falling simultaneously flat on deck, and the ship proceeding with its +prostrate crew--_quasi_ to ram an enemy; our dinner at night in a wild +open anchorage, the ship rolling almost to her gunwales, and showing us +alternately her bulwarks up in the sky, and then the wild broken cliffy +palm-crested shores of the island with the surf thundering and leaping +close aboard. We had the ward-room mess on deck, lit by pink wax tapers, +everybody, of course, in uniform but myself, and the first lieutenant +(who is a rheumaticky body) wrapped in a boat cloak. Gradually the +sunset faded out, the island disappeared from the eye, though it +remained menacingly present to the ear with the voice of the surf; and +then the captain turned on the searchlight and gave us the coast, the +beach, the trees, the native houses, and the cliffs by glimpses of +daylight, a kind of deliberate lightning. About which time, I suppose, +we must have come as far as the dessert, and were probably drinking our +first glass of port to Her Majesty. We stayed two days at the island, +and had, in addition, a very picturesque snapshot at the native life. +The three islands of Manu'a are independent, and are ruled over by a +little slip of a half-caste girl about twenty, who sits all day in a +pink gown, in a little white European house with about a quarter of an +acre of roses in front of it, looking at the palm-trees on the village +street, and listening to the surf. This, so far as I could discover, was +all she had to do. "This is a very dull place," she said. It appears she +could go to no other village for fear of raising the jealousy of her own +people in the capital. And as for going about "tafatafaoing," as we say +here, its cost was too enormous. A strong able-bodied native must walk +in front of her and blow the conch shell continuously from the moment +she leaves one house until the moment she enters another. Did you ever +blow the conch shell? I presume not; but the sweat literally hailed off +that man, and I expected every moment to see him burst a blood-vessel. +We were entertained to kava in the guest-house with some very original +features. The young men who run for the _kava_ have a right to +misconduct themselves _ad libitum_ on the way back; and though they were +told to restrain themselves on the occasion of our visit, there was a +strange hurly-burly at their return, when they came beating the trees +and the posts of the houses, leaping, shouting, and yelling like +Bacchants. + +I tasted on that occasion what it is to be great. My name was called +next after the captain's, and several chiefs (a thing quite new to me, +and not at all Samoan practice) drank to me by name. + +And now, if you are not sick of the _Curacoa_ and Manu'a, I am, at least +on paper. And I decline any longer to give you examples of how not to +write. + +By the by, you sent me long ago a work by Anatole France, which I +confess I did not _taste_. Since then I have made the acquaintance of +the _Abbe Coignard_, and have become a faithful adorer. I don't think a +better book was ever written. + +And I have no idea what I have said, and I have no idea what I ought to +have said, and I am a total ass, but my heart is in the right place, and +I am, my dear Henry James, yours, + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO MARCEL SCHWOB + + + _Vailima, Upolu, Samoa, July 7, 1894._ + +DEAR MR. MARCEL SCHWOB,--Thank you for having remembered me in my exile. +I have read _Mimes_ twice as a whole; and now, as I write, I am reading +it again as it were by accident, and a piece at a time, my eye catching +a word and travelling obediently on through the whole number. It is a +graceful book, essentially graceful, with its haunting agreeable +melancholy, its pleasing savoury of antiquity. At the same time, by its +merits, it shows itself rather as the promise of something else to come +than a thing final in itself. You have yet to give us--and I am +expecting it with impatience--something of a larger gait; something +daylit, not twilit; something with the colours of life, not the flat +tints of a temple illumination; something that shall be _said_ with all +the clearnesses and the trivialities of speech, not _sung_ like a +semi-articulate lullaby. It will not please yourself as well, when you +come to give it us, but it will please others better. It will be more of +a whole, more worldly, more nourished, more commonplace--and not so +pretty, perhaps not even so beautiful. No man knows better than I that, +as we go on in life, we must part from prettiness and the graces. We +but attain qualities to lose them; life is a series of farewells, even +in art; even our proficiencies are deciduous and evanescent. So here +with these exquisite pieces the XVIIth, XVIIIth, and IVth of the present +collection. You will perhaps never excel them; I should think the +"Hermes," never. Well, you will do something else, and of that I am in +expectation.--Yours cordially, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO A. ST. GAUDENS + + + _Vailima, Samoa, July 8, 1894._ + +MY DEAR ST. GAUDENS,--This is to tell you that the medallion has been at +last triumphantly transported up the hill and placed over my +smoking-room mantelpiece. It is considered by everybody a first-rate but +flattering portrait. We have it in a very good light, which brings out +the artistic merits of the god-like sculptor to great advantage. As for +my own opinion, I believe it to be a speaking likeness, and not +flattered at all; possibly a little the reverse. The verses (curse the +rhyme) look remarkably well. + +Please do not longer delay, but send me an account for the expense of +the gilt letters. I was sorry indeed that they proved beyond the means +of a small farmer.--Yours very sincerely, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO MISS ADELAIDE BOODLE + + + _Vailima, July 14, 1894._ + +MY DEAR ADELAIDE,--... So, at last, you are going into mission work? +where I think your heart always was. You will like it in a way, but +remember it is dreary long. Do you know the story of the American tramp +who was offered meals and a day's wage to chop with the back of an axe +on a fallen trunk. "Damned if I can go on chopping when I can't see the +chips fly!" You will never see the chips fly in mission work, never; and +be sure you know it beforehand. The work is one long dull +disappointment, varied by acute revulsions; and those who are by nature +courageous and cheerful, and have grown old in experience, learn to rub +their hands over infinitesimal successes. However, as I really believe +there is some good done in the long run--_gutta cavat lapidem non vi_ in +this business--it is a useful and honourable career in which no one +should be ashamed to embark. Always remember the fable of the sun, the +storm, and the traveller's cloak. Forget wholly and for ever all small +pruderies, and remember that _you cannot change ancestral feelings of +right and wrong without what is practically soul-murder_. Barbarous as +the customs may seem, always hear them with patience, always judge them +with gentleness, always find in them some seed of good; see that you +always develop them; remember that all you can do is to civilise the man +in the line of his own civilisation, such as it is. And never expect, +never believe in, thaumaturgic conversions. They may do very well for +St. Paul; in the case of an Andaman islander they mean less than +nothing. In fact, what you have to do is to teach the parents in the +interests of their great-grandchildren. + +Now, my dear Adelaide, dismiss from your mind the least idea of fault +upon your side; nothing is further from the fact. I cannot forgive you, +for I do not know your fault. My own is plain enough, and the name of it +is cold-hearted neglect; and you may busy yourself more usefully in +trying to forgive me. But ugly as my fault is, you must not suppose it +to mean more than it does; it does not mean that we have at all +forgotten you, that we have become at all indifferent to the thought of +you. See, in my life of Jenkin, a remark of his, very well expressed, on +the friendships of men who do not write to each other. I can honestly +say that I have not changed to you in any way; though I have behaved +thus ill, thus cruelly. Evil is done by want of--well, principally by +want of industry. You can imagine what I would say (in a novel) of any +one who had behaved as I have done. _Deteriora sequor_. And you must +somehow manage to forgive your old friend; and if you will be so very +good, continue to give us news of you, and let us share the knowledge of +your adventures, sure that it will be always followed with +interest--even if it is answered with the silence of ingratitude. For I +am not a fool; I know my faults, I know they are ineluctable, I know +they are growing on me. I know I may offend again, and I warn you of it. +But the next time I offend, tell me so plainly and frankly like a lady, +and don't lacerate my heart and bludgeon my vanity with imaginary faults +of your own and purely gratuitous penance. I might suspect you of irony! + +We are all fairly well, though I have been off work and off--as you know +very well--letter-writing. Yet I have sometimes more than twenty +letters, and sometimes more than thirty, going out each mail. And Fanny +has had a most distressing bronchitis for some time, which she is only +now beginning to get over. I have just been to see her; she is +lying--though she had breakfast an hour ago, about seven--in her big +cool, mosquito-proof room, ingloriously asleep. As for me, you see that +a doom has come upon me: I cannot make marks with a pen--witness +"ingloriously" above; and my amanuensis not appearing so early in the +day, for she is then immersed in household affairs, and I can hear her +"steering the boys" up and down the verandahs--you must decipher this +unhappy letter for yourself and, I fully admit, with everything against +you. A letter should be always well written; how much more a letter of +apology! Legibility is the politeness of men of letters, as punctuality +of kings and beggars. By the punctuality of my replies, and the beauty +of my hand-writing, judge what a fine conscience I must have! + +Now, my dear gamekeeper, I must really draw to a close. For I have much +else to write before the mail goes out three days hence. Fanny being +asleep, it would not be conscientious to invent a message from her, so +you must just imagine her sentiments. I find I have not the heart to +speak of your recent loss. You remember perhaps, when my father died, +you told me those ugly images of sickness, decline, and impaired reason, +which then haunted me day and night, would pass away and be succeeded by +things more happily characteristic. I have found it so. He now haunts +me, strangely enough, in two guises; as a man of fifty, lying on a +hillside and carving mottoes on a stick, strong and well; and as a +younger man, running down the sands into the sea near North Berwick, +myself--_aetat. 11_--somewhat horrified at finding him so beautiful when +stripped! I hand on your own advice to you in case you have forgotten +it, as I know one is apt to do in seasons of bereavement.--Ever yours, +with much love and sympathy, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO MRS. A. BAKER + + + This refers again to the printing of some of his books in Braille + type for the blind. + + _Vailima, Samoa, July 16, 1894._ + +DEAR MRS. BAKER,--I am very much obliged to you for your letter and the +enclosure from Mr. Skinner. Mr. Skinner says he "thinks Mr. Stevenson +must be a very kind man"; he little knows me. But I am very sure of one +thing, that you are a very kind woman. I envy you--my amanuensis being +called away, I continue in my own hand, or what is left of it--unusually +legible, I am thankful to see--I envy you your beautiful choice of an +employment. There must be no regrets at least for a day so spent; and +when the night falls you need ask no blessing on your work. "Inasmuch as +ye have done it unto one of these."--Yours truly, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + _July, 1894._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--I have to thank you this time for a very good letter, +and will announce for the future, though I cannot now begin to put in +practice, good intentions for our correspondence. I will try to return +to the old system and write from time to time during the month; but +truly you did not much encourage me to continue! However, that is all +by-past. I do not know that there is much in your letter that calls for +answer. Your questions about _St. Ives_ were practically answered in my +last; so were your wails about the edition, _Amateur Emigrant_, etc. By +the end of the year _St. I._ will be practically finished, whatever it +be worth, and that I know not. When shall I receive proofs of the Magnum +Opus? or shall I receive them at all? + +The return of the Amanuensis feebly lightens my heart. You can see the +heavy weather I was making of it with my unaided pen. The last month has +been particularly cheery largely owing to the presence of our good +friends the Curacoas. She is really a model ship, charming officers and +charming seamen. They gave a ball last month, which was very rackety and +joyous and naval.... + +On the following day, about one o'clock, three horsemen might have been +observed approaching Vailima, who gradually resolved themselves into two +petty officers and a native guide. Drawing himself up and saluting, the +spokesman (a corporal of Marines) addressed me thus. "Me and my +shipmates inwites Mr. and Mrs. Stevens, Mrs. Strong, Mr. Austin, and Mr. +Balfour to a ball to be given to-night in the self-same 'all." It was of +course impossible to refuse, though I contented myself with putting in a +very brief appearance. One glance was sufficient; the ball went off like +a rocket from the start. I had only time to watch Belle careering around +with a gallant bluejacket of exactly her own height--the standard of +the British navy--an excellent dancer and conspicuously full of +small-talk--and to hear a remark from a beach-comber, "It's a nice sight +this some way, to see the officers dancing like this with the men, but I +tell you, sir, these are the men that'll fight together!" + +I tell you, Colvin, the acquaintance of the men--and boys--makes me feel +patriotic. Eeles in particular is a man whom I respect. I am half in a +mind to give him a letter of introduction to you when he goes home. In +case you feel inclined to make a little of him, give him a dinner, ask +Henry James to come to meet him, etc.--you might let me know. I don't +know that he would show his best, but he is a remarkably fine fellow, in +every department of life. + +We have other visitors in port. A Count Festetics de Tolna, an Austrian +officer, a very pleasant, simple, boyish creature, with his young wife, +daughter of an American millionaire; he is a friend of our own Captain +Wurmbrand, and it is a great pity Wurmbrand is away. + +Glad you saw and liked Lysaght. He has left in our house a most cheerful +and pleasing memory, as a good, pleasant, brisk fellow with good health +and brains, and who enjoys himself and makes other people happy. I am +glad he gave you a good report of our surroundings and way of life; but +I knew he would, for I believe he had a glorious time--and gave one.[78] + +I am on fair terms with the two Treaty officials, though all such +intimacies are precarious; with the consuls, I need not say, my position +is deplorable. The President (Herr Emil Schmidt) is a rather dreamy man, +whom I like. Lloyd, Graham and I go to breakfast with him to-morrow; the +next day the whole party of us lunch on the _Curacoa_ and go in the +evening to a _Bierabend_ at Dr. Funk's. We are getting up a paper-chase +for the following week with some of the young German clerks, and have in +view a sort of child's party for grown-up persons with kissing games, +etc., here at Vailima. Such is the gay scene in which we move. Now I +have done something, though not as much as I wanted, to give you an idea +of how we are getting on, and I am keenly conscious that there are other +letters to do before the mail goes.--Yours ever, + + R. L. STEVENSON. + + + + +TO J. M. BARRIE + + + _Vailima, July 13, 1894._ + +MY DEAR BARRIE,--This is the last effort of an ulcerated conscience. I +have been so long owing you a letter, I have heard so much of you, fresh +from the press, from my mother and Graham Balfour, that I have to write +a letter no later than to-day, or perish in my shame. But the deuce of +it is, my dear fellow, that you write such a very good letter that I am +ashamed to exhibit myself before my junior (which you are, after all) in +the light of the dreary idiot I feel. Understand that there will be +nothing funny in the following pages. If I can manage to be rationally +coherent, I shall be more than satisfied. + +In the first place, I have had the extreme satisfaction to be shown that +photograph of your mother. It bears evident traces of the hand of an +amateur. How is it that amateurs invariably take better photographs than +professionals? I must qualify invariably. My own negatives have always +represented a province of chaos and old night in which you might dimly +perceive fleecy spots of twilight, representing nothing; so that, if I +am right in supposing the portrait of your mother to be yours, I must +salute you as my superior. Is that your mother's breakfast? Or is it +only afternoon tea? If the first, do let me recommend to Mrs. Barrie to +add an egg to her ordinary. Which, if you please, I will ask her to eat +to the honour of her son, and I am sure she will live much longer for +it, to enjoy his fresh successes. I never in my life saw anything more +deliciously characteristic. I declare I can hear her speak. I wonder my +mother could resist the temptation of your proposed visit to Kirriemuir, +which it was like your kindness to propose. By the way, I was twice in +Kirriemuir, I believe in the year '71, when I was going on a visit to +Glenogil. It was Kirriemuir, was it not? I have a distinct recollection +of an inn at the end--I think the upper end--of an irregular open place +or square, in which I always see your characters evolve. But, indeed, I +did not pay much attention; being all bent upon my visit to a +shooting-box, where I should fish a real trout-stream, and I believe +preserved. I did, too, and it was a charming stream, clear as crystal, +without a trace of peat--a strange thing in Scotland--and alive with +trout; the name of it I cannot remember, it was something like the +Queen's River, and in some hazy way connected with memories of Mary +Queen of Scots. It formed an epoch in my life, being the end of all my +trout-fishing. I had always been accustomed to pause and very +laboriously to kill every fish as I took it. But in the Queen's River I +took so good a basket that I forgot these niceties; and when I sat down, +in a hard rain shower, under a bank, to take my sandwiches and sherry, +lo! and behold, there was the basketful of trouts still kicking in their +agony. + +I had a very unpleasant conversation with my conscience. All that +afternoon I persevered in fishing, brought home my basket in triumph, +and sometime that night, "in the wee sma' hours ayont the twal," I +finally forswore the gentle craft of fishing. I dare say your local +knowledge may identify this historic river; I wish it could go farther +and identify also that particular Free kirk in which I sat and groaned +on Sunday. While my hand is in I must tell you a story. At that antique +epoch you must not fall into the vulgar error that I was myself ancient. +I was, on the contrary, very young, very green, and (what you will +appreciate, Mr. Barrie) very shy. There came one day to lunch at the +house two very formidable old ladies--or one very formidable, and the +other what you please--answering to the honoured and historic name of +the Miss C---- A----'s of Balnamoon. At table I was exceedingly funny, +and entertained the company with tales of geese and bubbly-jocks. I was +great in the expression of my terror for these bipeds, and suddenly this +horrid, severe, and eminently matronly old lady put up a pair of gold +eye-glasses, looked at me awhile in silence, and pronounced in a +clangorous voice her verdict. "You give me very much the effect of a +coward, Mr. Stevenson!" I had very nearly left two vices behind me at +Glenogil--fishing and jesting at table. And of one thing you may be very +sure, my lips were no more opened at that meal. + +_July 29th._--No, Barrie, 'tis in vain they try to alarm me with their +bulletins. No doubt, you're ill, and unco ill, I believe; but I have +been so often in the same case that I know pleurisy and pneumonia are in +vain against Scotsmen who can write. (I once could.) You cannot imagine +probably how near me this common calamity brings you. _Ce que j'ai +tousse dans ma vie!_ How often and how long have I been on the rack at +night and learned to appreciate that noble passage in the Psalms when +somebody or other is said to be more set on something than they "who dig +for hid treasures--yea, than those who long for the morning"--for all +the world, as you have been racked and you have longed. Keep your heart +up, and you'll do. Tell that to your mother, if you are still in any +danger or suffering. And by the way, if you are at all like me--and I +tell myself you are very like me--be sure there is only one thing good +for you, and that is the sea in hot climates. Mount, sir, into "a little +frigot" of 5000 tons or so, and steer peremptorily for the tropics; and +what if the ancient mariner, who guides your frigot, should startle the +silence of the ocean with the cry of land ho!--say, when the day is +dawning--and you should see the turquoise mountain tops of Upolu coming +hand over fist above the horizon? Mr. Barrie, sir, 'tis then there would +be larks! And though I cannot be certain that our climate would suit you +(for it does not suit some), I am sure as death the voyage would do you +good--would do you _Best_--and if Samoa didn't do, you needn't stay +beyond the month, and I should have had another pleasure in my life, +which is a serious consideration for me. I take this as the hand of the +Lord preparing your way to Vailima--in the desert, certainly--in the +desert of Cough and by the ghoul-haunted woodland of Fever--but whither +that way points there can be no question--and there will be a meeting of +the twa Hoasting Scots Makers in spite of fate, fortune and the Devil. +_Absit omen!_ + +My dear Barrie, I am a little in the dark about this new work of yours:[79] +what is to become of me afterwards? You say carefully--methought +anxiously--that I was no longer me when I grew up? I cannot bear this +suspense: what is it? It's no forgery? And AM I HANGIT? These are the +elements of a very pretty lawsuit which you had better come to Samoa to +compromise. I am enjoying a great pleasure that I had long looked +forward to, reading Orme's _History of Indostan_; I had been looking out +for it everywhere; but at last, in four volumes, large quarto, +beautiful type and page, and with a delectable set of maps and plans, +and all the names of the places wrongly spelled--it came to Samoa, +little Barrie. I tell you frankly, you had better come soon. I am sair +failed a'ready; and what I may be if you continue to dally, I dread to +conceive. I may be speechless; already, or at least for a month or so, +I'm little better than a teetoller--I beg pardon, a teetotaller. It is +not exactly physical, for I am in good health, working four or five +hours a day in my plantation, and intending to ride a paper-chase next +Sunday--ay, man, that's a fact, and I havena had the hert to breathe it +to my mother yet--the obligation's poleetical, for I am trying every +means to live well with my German neighbours--and, O Barrie, but it's no +easy!... To be sure, there are many exceptions. And the whole of the +above must be regarded as private--strictly private. Breathe it not in +Kirriemuir: tell it not to the daughters of Dundee! What a nice extract +this would make for the daily papers! and how it would facilitate my +position here! + +_August 5th._--This is Sunday, the Lord's Day. "The hour of attack +approaches." And it is a singular consideration what I risk; I may yet +be the subject of a tract, and a good tract too--such as one which I +remember reading with recreant awe and rising hair in my youth, of a boy +who was a very good boy, and went to Sunday Schule, and one day kipped +from it, and went and actually bathed, and was dashed over a waterfall, +and he was the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. A dangerous +trade, that, and one that I have to practise. I'll put in a word when I +get home again, to tell you whether I'm killed or not. "Accident in the +(Paper) Hunting Field: death of a notorious author. We deeply regret to +announce the death of the most unpopular man in Samoa, who broke his +neck, at the descent of Magiagi, from the misconduct of his little +raving lunatic of an old beast of a pony. It is proposed to commemorate +the incident by the erection of a suitable pile. The design (by our +local architect, Mr. Walker) is highly artificial, with a rich and +voluminous Crockett at each corner, a small but impervious Barrieer at +the entrance, an arch at the top, an Archer of a pleasing but solid +character at the bottom; the colour will be genuine William-Black; and +Lang, lang may the ladies sit wi' their fans in their hands." Well, +well, they may sit as they sat for me, and little they'll reck, the +ungrateful jauds! Muckle they cared about Tusitala when they had him! +But now ye can see the difference; now leddies, ye can repent, when ower +late, o' your former cauldness and what ye'll perhaps allow me to ca' +your _tepeedity_! He was beautiful as the day, but his day is done! And +perhaps, as he was maybe gettin' a wee thing fly-blown, it's nane too +shuene. + +_Monday, August 6th._--Well, sir, I have escaped the dangerous +conjunction of the widow's only son and the Sabbath Day. We had a most +enjoyable time, and Lloyd and I were 3 and 4 to arrive; I will not tell +here what interval had elapsed between our arrival and the arrival of 1 +and 2; the question, sir, is otiose and malign; it deserves, it shall +have no answer. And now without further delay to the main purpose of +this hasty note. We received and we have already in fact distributed the +gorgeous fahbrics of Kirriemuir. Whether from the splendour of the robes +themselves, or from the direct nature of the compliments with which you +had directed us to accompany the presentations, one young lady blushed +as she received the proofs of your munificence.... Bad ink, and the +dregs of it at that, but the heart in the right place. Still very +cordially interested in my Barrie and wishing him well through his +sickness, which is of the body, and long defended from mine, which is of +the head, and by the impolite might be described as idiocy. The whole +head is useless, and the whole sitting part painful: reason, the recent +Paper Chase. + + There was racing and chasing in Vailele plantation, + And vastly we enjoyed it, + But, alas! for the state of my foundation, + For it wholly has destroyed it. + +Come, my mind is looking up. The above is wholly impromptu.--On oath, + + TUSITALA. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + The missionary view of the Sunday paper-chase, with an account of + Stevenson's apologies to the ladies and gentlemen of the mission, + have been printed by Mr. W. E. Clarke in the Chronicle of the London + Missionary Society for April and May 1908. + + _[Vailima] Aug. 7th, 1894._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--This is to inform you, sir, that on Sunday last (and +this is Tuesday) I attained my ideal here, and we had a paper-chase in +Vailele Plantation, about 15 miles, I take it, from us; and it was all +that could be wished. It is really better fun than following the hounds, +since you have to be your own hound, and a precious bad hound I was, +following every false scent on the whole course to the bitter end; but I +came in 3rd at the last on my little Jack, who stuck to it gallantly, +and awoke the praises of some discriminating persons. (5 + 7 + 2-1/2 = +14-1/2 miles; yes, that is the count.) We had quite the old sensations +of exhilaration, discovery, an appeal to a savage instinct; and I felt +myself about 17 again, a pleasant experience. However, it was on the +Sabbath Day, and I am now a pariah among the English, as if I needed any +increment of unpopularity. I must not go again; it gives so much +unnecessary tribulation to poor people, and, sure, we don't want to make +tribulation. I have been forbidden to work, and have been instead doing +my two or three hours in the plantation every morning. I only wish +somebody would pay me L10 a day for taking care of cacao, and I could +leave literature to others. Certainly, if I have plenty of exercise, and +no work, I feel much better; but there is Biles the butcher! him we +have always with us. + +I do not much like novels, I begin to think, but I am enjoying +exceedingly Orme's _History of Hindostan_, a lovely book in its way, in +large quarto, with a quantity of maps, and written in a very lively and +solid eighteenth century way, never picturesque except by accident and +from a kind of conviction, and a fine sense of order. No historian I +have ever read is so minute; yet he never gives you a word about the +people; his interest is entirely limited in the concatenation of events, +into which he goes with a lucid, almost superhuman, and wholly ghostly +gusto. "By the ghost of a mathematician" the book might be announced. A +very brave, honest book. + +Your letter to hand. + +Fact is, I don't like the picter.[80] O, it's a good picture, but if you +_ask_ me, you know, I believe, stoutly believe, that mankind, including +you, are going mad. I am not in the midst with the other frenzy dancers, +so I don't catch it wholly; and when you show me a thing--and ask me, +don't you know--Well, well! Glad to get so good an account of the +_Amateur Emigrant_. Talking of which, I am strong for making a volume +out of selections from the South Sea letters; I read over again the King +of Apemama, and it is good in spite of your teeth, and a real curiosity, +a thing that can never be seen again, and the group is annexed and +Tembinoka dead. I wonder, couldn't you send out to me the _first_ five +Butaritari letters and the Low Archipelago ones (both of which I have +lost or mislaid) and I can chop out a perfectly fair volume of what I +wish to be preserved. It can keep for the last of the series. + +_Travels and Excursions_, vol. II. Should it not include a paper on S. F. +from the Mag. of Art? The A. E., the New Pacific capital, the Old ditto. +_Silver._ _Squat._ This would give all my works on the States; and though +it ain't very good, it's not so very bad. _Travels and Excursions_, vol. +III., to be these resuscitated letters--_Miscellanies_, vol. II.--_comme +vous voudrez, cher monsieur!_ + +_Monday, Aug. 13th._--I have a sudden call to go up the coast and must +hurry up with my information. There has suddenly come to our naval +commanders the need of action, they're away up the coast bombarding the +Atua rebels. All morning on Saturday the sound of the bombardment of +Luatuanu'u kept us uneasy. To-day again the big guns have been sounding +further along the coast. One delicious circumstance must not be +forgotten. Our blessed President of the Council--a kind of hoary-headed +urchin, with the dim, timid eyes of extreme childhood and a kind of +beautiful simplicity that endears him to me beyond words--has taken the +head of the army--honour to him for it, for his place is really +there--and gone up the coast in the congenial company of his +housekeeper, a woman coming on for sixty with whom he takes his walks +abroad in the morning in his shirt-sleeves, whom he reads to at night +(in a kind of Popular History of Germany) in the silence of the +Presidential mansion, and with whom (and a couple of camp stools) he +walked out last Sunday to behold the paper-chase. I cannot tell you how +taken I am with this exploit of the President's and the housekeeper's. +It is like Don Quixote, but infinitely superior. If I could only do it +without offence, what a subject it would make! + +To-morrow morning early I am off up the coast myself. Therefore you must +allow me to break off here without further ceremony.--Yours ever, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO DR. BAKEWELL + + + The following is to a physician in Australia. + + _Vailima, August 7, 1894._ + +DEAR DR. BAKEWELL,--I am not more than human. I am more human than is +wholly convenient, and your anecdote was welcome. What you say about +_unwilling work_, my dear sir, is a consideration always present with +me, and yet not easy to give its due weight to. You grow gradually into +a certain income; without spending a penny more, with the same sense of +restriction as before when you painfully scraped two hundred a year +together, you find you have spent, and you cannot well stop spending, a +far larger sum; and this expense can only be supported by a certain +production. However, I am off work this month, and occupy myself instead +in weeding my cacao, paper-chases, and the like. I may tell you, my +average of work in favourable circumstances is far greater than you +suppose: from six o'clock till eleven at latest,[81] and often till +twelve, and again in the afternoon from two to four. My hand is quite +destroyed, as you may perceive, to-day to a really unusual extent. I can +sometimes write a decent fist still; but I have just returned with my +arms all stung from three hours' work in the cacao.--Yours, etc., + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO JAMES PAYN + + + _Vailima, Upolu, Samoa [August 11, 1894]._ + +MY DEAR JAMES PAYN,--I hear from Lang that you are unwell, and it +reminds me of two circumstances: First, that it is a very long time +since you had the exquisite pleasure of hearing from me; and second, +that I have been very often unwell myself and sometimes had to thank you +for a grateful anodyne. + +They are not good, the circumstances, to write an anodyne letter. The +hills and my house at less than (boom) a minute's interval quake with +thunder; and though I cannot hear that part of it, shells are falling +thick into the fort of Luatuanu'u (boom). It is my friends of the +_Curacoa_, the _Falke_, and the _Bussard_ bombarding (after all +these--boom--months) the rebels of Atua. (Boom-boom.) It is most +distracting in itself; and the thought of the poor devils in their fort +(boom) with their bits of rifles far from pleasant. (Boom-boom.) You can +see how quick it goes, and I'll say no more about Mr. Bow-wow, only you +must understand the perpetual accompaniment of this discomfortable +sound, and make allowances for the value of my copy. It is odd, though, +I can well remember, when the Franco-Prussian war began, and I was in +Eilean Earraid, far enough from the sound of the loudest cannonade, I +could _hear_ the shots fired, and I felt the pang in my breast of a man +struck. It was sometimes so distressing, so instant, that I lay in the +heather on the top of the island, with my face hid, kicking my heels for +agony. And now, when I can hear the actual concussion of the air and +hills, when I _know_ personally the people who stand exposed to it, I am +able to go on _taut bien que mal_ with a letter to James Payn! The +blessings of age, though mighty small, are tangible. I have heard a +great deal of them since I came into the world, and now that I begin to +taste of them--Well! But this is one, that people do get cured of the +excess of sensibility; and I had as lief these people were shot at as +myself--or almost, for then I should have some of the fun, such as it +is. + +You are to conceive me, then, sitting in my little gallery room, shaken +by these continual spasms of cannon, and with my eye more or less singly +fixed on the imaginary figure of my dear James Payn. I try to see him in +bed; no go. I see him instead jumping up in his room in Waterloo Place +(where _ex hypothesi_ he is not), sitting on the table, drawing out a +very black briar-root pipe, and beginning to talk to a slim and +ill-dressed visitor in a voice that is good to hear and with a smile +that is pleasant to see. (After a little more than half an hour, the +voice that was ill to hear has ceased, the cannonade is over.) And I am +thinking how I can get an answering smile wafted over so many leagues +of land and water, and can find no way. + +I have always been a great visitor of the sick; and one of the sick I +visited was W. E. Henley, which did not make very tedious visits, so +I'll not get off much purgatory for them. That was in the Edinburgh +Infirmary, the old one, the true one, with Georgius Secundus standing +and pointing his toe in a niche of the facade; and a mighty fine +building it was! And I remember one winter's afternoon, in that place of +misery, that Henley and I chanced to fall in talk about James Payn +himself. I am wishing you could have heard that talk! I think that would +make you smile. We had mixed you up with John Payne, for one thing, and +stood amazed at your extraordinary, even painful, versatility; and for +another, we found ourselves each students so well prepared for +examinations on the novels of the real Mackay. Perhaps, after all, this +is worth something in life--to have given so much pleasure to a pair so +different in every way as were Henley and I, and to be talked of with so +much interest by two such (beg pardon) clever lads! + +The cheerful Lang has neglected to tell me what is the matter with you; +so, I'm sorry to say, I am cut off from all the customary consolations. +I can't say, "Think how much worse it would be if you had a broken leg!" +when you may have the crushing repartee up your sleeve, "But it is my +leg that is broken." This is a pity. But there are consolations. You are +an Englishman (I believe); you are a man of letters; you have never been +made C.B.; you hair was not red; you have played cribbage and whist; you +did not play either the fiddle or the banjo; you were never an aesthete; +you never contributed to ----'s Journal; your name is not Jabez Balfour; +you are totally unconnected with the Army and Navy departments; I +understand you to have lived within your income--why, cheer up! here are +many legitimate causes of congratulation. I seem to be writing an +obituary notice. _Absit omen!_ But I feel very sure that these +considerations will have done you more good than medicine. + +By the by, did you ever play piquet? I have fallen a victim to this +debilitating game. It is supposed to be scientific; God save the mark, +what self-deceivers men are! It is distinctly less so than cribbage. But +how fascinating! There is such material opulence about it, such vast +ambitions may be realised--and are not; it may be called the Monte +Cristo of games. And the thrill with which you take five cards partakes +of the nature of lust--and you draw four sevens and a nine, and the +seven and nine of a suit that you discarded, and O! but the world is a +desert! You may see traces of discouragement in my letter: all due to +piquet! There has been a disastrous turn of the luck against me; a month +or two ago I was two thousand ahead; now, and for a week back, I have +been anything from four thousand eight hundred to five thousand two +hundred astern. I have a sixieme, my beast of a partner has a septieme; +and if I have three aces, three kings, three queens, and three knaves +(excuse the slight exaggeration), the devil holds quatorze of tens!--I +remain, my dear James Payn, your sincere and obliged friend--old friend +let me say, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO MISS MIDDLETON + + + A letter from the lady to whom this is addressed, and who had been a + friend of the Stevenson family in Edinburgh, had called up some + memories of a Skye terrier, Jura, of whom readers have heard + something already. + + _Vailima, Samoa, September 9, 1894._ + +DEAR MISS MIDDLETON,--Your letter has been like the drawing up of a +curtain. Of course I remember you very well, and the Skye terrier to +which you refer--a heavy, dull, fatted, graceless creature he grew up to +be--was my own particular pet. It may amuse you, perhaps, as much as +"The Inn" amused me, if I tell you what made this dog particularly mine. +My father was the natural god of all the dogs in our house, and poor +Jura took to him of course. Jura was stolen, and kept in prison +somewhere for more than a week, as I remember. When he came back +Smeoroch had come and taken my father's heart from him. He took his +stand like a man, and positively never spoke to my father again from +that day until the day of his death. It was the only sign of character +he ever showed. I took him up to my room and to be my dog in +consequence, partly because I was sorry for him, and partly because I +admired his dignity in misfortune. + +With best regards and thanks for having reminded me of so many pleasant +days, old acquaintances, dead friends, and--what is perhaps as pathetic +as any of them--dead dogs, I remain, yours truly, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO A. CONAN DOYLE + + + The following refers to the papers originally contributed by various + writers to Mr. Jerome's periodical The Idler, under the title _My + First Book_, and afterwards republished in a volume. The references + towards the end are to the illustrations in the pages of The Idler. + + _Vailima, Samoa, September 9, 1894._ + +MY DEAR CONAN DOYLE,--If you found anything to entertain you in my +_Treasure Island_ article, it may amuse you to know that you owe it +entirely to yourself. _Your_ "First Book" was by some accident read +aloud one night in my Baronial 'All. I was consumedly amused by it, so +was the whole family, and we proceeded to hunt up back Idlers and read +the whole series. It is a rattling good series, even people whom you +would not expect came in quite the proper tone--Miss Braddon, for +instance, who was really one of the best where all are good--or all but +one!... In short, I fell in love with "The First Book" series, and +determined that it should be all our first books, and that I could not +hold back where the white plume of Conan Doyle waved gallantly in the +front. I hope they will republish them, though it's a grievous thought +to me that that effigy in the German cap--likewise the other effigy of +the noisome old man with the long hair, telling indelicate stories to a +couple of deformed negresses in a rancid shanty full of wreckage--should +be perpetuated. I may seem to speak in pleasantry--it is only a +seeming--that German cap, sir, would be found, when I come to die, +imprinted on my heart. Enough--my heart is too full. Adieu.--Yours very +truly, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + (in a German cap, damn 'em!). + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + [_Vailima, September 1894._] + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--This must be a very measly letter. I have been trying +hard to get along with _St. Ives_. I should now lay it aside for a year +and I dare say I should make something of it after all. Instead of that, +I have to kick against the pricks, and break myself, and spoil the book, +if there were anything to spoil, which I am far from saying. I'm as sick +of the thing as ever any one can be; it's a rudderless hulk; it's a +pagoda, and you can just feel--or I can feel--that it might have been a +pleasant story, if it had been only blessed at baptism. + +Our politics have gone on fairly well, but the result is still doubtful. + +_Sept. 10th._--I know I have something else to say to you, but +unfortunately I awoke this morning with colly-wobbles, and had to take a +small dose of laudanum with the usual consequences of dry throat, +intoxicated legs, partial madness and total imbecility; and for the +life of me I cannot remember what it is. I have likewise mislaid your +letter amongst the accumulations on my table, not that there was +anything in it. Altogether I am in a poor state. I forgot to tell Baxter +that the dummy had turned up and is a fine, personable-looking volume +and very good reading. Please communicate this to him. + +I have just remembered an incident that I really must not let pass. You +have heard a great deal more than you wanted about our political +prisoners. Well, one day, about a fortnight ago, the last of them was +set free--Old Poe, whom I think I must have mentioned to you, the +father-in-law of my cook, was one that I had had a great deal of trouble +with. I had taken the doctor to see him, got him out on sick leave, and +when he was put back again gave bail for him. I must not forget that my +wife ran away with him out of the prison on the doctor's orders and with +the complicity of our friend the gaoler, who really and truly got the +sack for the exploit. As soon as he was finally liberated, Poe called a +meeting of his fellow-prisoners. All Sunday they were debating what they +were to do, and on Monday morning I got an obscure hint from Talolo that +I must expect visitors during the day who were coming to consult me. +These consultations I am now very well used to, and seeing first, that I +generally don't know what to advise, and second that they sometimes +don't take my advice--though in some notable cases they have taken it, +generally to my own wonder with pretty good results--I am not very fond +of these calls. They minister to a sense of dignity, but not peace of +mind, and consume interminable time, always in the morning too, when I +can't afford it. However, this was to be a new sort of consultation. Up +came Poe and some eight other chiefs, squatted in a big circle around +the old dining-room floor, now the smoking-room. And the family, being +represented by Lloyd, Graham, Belle, Austin and myself, proceeded to +exchange the necessary courtesies. Then their talking man began. He +said that they had been in prison, that I had always taken an interest +in them, that they had now been set at liberty without condition, +whereas some of the other chiefs who had been liberated before them were +still under bond to work upon the roads, and that this had set them +considering what they might do to testify their gratitude. They had +therefore agreed to work upon my road as a free gift. They went on to +explain that it was only to be on my road, on the branch that joins my +house with the public way. + +Now I was very much gratified at this compliment, although (to one used +to natives) it seemed rather a hollow one. It meant only that I should +have to lay out a good deal of money on tools and food and to give wages +under the guise of presents to some workmen who were most of them old +and in ill-health. Conceive how much I was surprised and touched when I +heard the whole scheme explained to me. They were to return to their +provinces, and collect their families; some of the young men were to +live in Apia with a boat, and ply up and down the coast to A'ana and +Atua (our own Tuamasaga being quite drained of resources) in order to +supply the working squad with food. Tools they did ask for, but it was +especially mentioned that I was to make no presents. In short, the whole +of this little "presentation" to me had been planned with a good deal +more consideration than goes usually with a native campaign. + +[I sat on the opposite side of the circle to the talking man. His face +was quite calm and high-bred as he went through the usual Samoan +expressions of politeness and compliment, but when he came on to the +object of their visit, on their love and gratitude to Tusitala, how his +name was always in their prayers, and his goodness to them when they had +no other friend, was their most cherished memory, he warmed up to real, +burning, genuine feeling. I had never seen the Samoan mask of reserve +laid aside before, and it touched me more than anything else. A.M.] + +This morning as ever was, bright and early up came the whole gang of +them, a lot of sturdy, common-looking lads they seemed to be for the +most part, and fell to on my new road. Old Poe was in the highest of +good spirits, and looked better in health than he has done any time in +two years, being positively rejuvenated by the success of his scheme. He +jested as he served out the new tools, and I am sorry to say damned the +Government up hill and down dale, probably with a view to show off his +position as a friend of the family before his workboys. Now, whether or +not their impulse will last them through the road does not matter to me +one hair. It is the fact that they have attempted it, that they have +volunteered and are now really trying to execute a thing that was never +before heard of in Samoa. Think of it! It is road-making--the most +fruitful cause (after taxes) of all rebellions in Samoa, a thing to +which they could not be wiled with money nor driven by punishment. It +does give me a sense of having done something in Samoa after all. + +Now there's one long story for you about "my blacks."--Yours ever, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO CHARLES BAXTER + + + The following was written on hearing of the death of his friend's + father. + + [_Vailima, September 1894._] + +MY DEAR CHARLES,--... Well, there is no more Edmund Baxter now; and I +think I may say I know how you feel. He was one of the best, the +kindest, and the most genial men I ever knew. I shall always remember +his brisk, cordial ways and the essential goodness which he showed me +whenever we met with gratitude. And the always is such a little while +now! He is another of the landmarks gone; when it comes to my own turn +to lay my weapons down, I shall do so with thankfulness and fatigue; and +whatever be my destiny afterward, I shall be glad to lie down with my +fathers in honour. It is human at least, if not divine. And these deaths +make me think of it with an ever greater readiness. Strange that you +should be beginning a new life, when I, who am a little your junior, am +thinking of the end of mine. But I have had hard lines; I have been so +long waiting for death, I have unwrapped my thoughts from about life so +long, that I have not a filament left to hold by; I have done my +fiddling so long under Vesuvius, that I have almost forgotten to play, +and can only wait for the eruption, and think it long of coming. +Literally, no man has more wholly outlived life than I. And still it's +good fun. + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO R. A. M. STEVENSON + + + Stevenson had received from his cousin a letter announcing, among + other things, the birth of a son to the writer, and rambling + suggestively, as may be guessed from the following reply, over many + disconnected themes: the ethnology of Scotland, paternity and + heredity, civilisation _versus_ primitive customs and instincts, the + story of their own descent, the method of writing in collaboration, + education, Christianity and sex, the religion of conduct, anarchism, + etc.; all which matters are here discursively touched on. "Old Skene" + is, of course, the distinguished Scottish antiquarian and historian, + William Forbes Skene, in whose firm (Skene & Edwards, W.S.) Stevenson + had for a time served irregularly enough as an unpaid clerk. + + [_Vailima, September 1894._] + +DEAR BOB,--You are in error about the Picts. They were a Gaelic race, +spoke a Celtic tongue, and we have no evidence that I know of that they +were blacker than other Celts. The Balfours, I take it, were plainly +Celts; their name shows it--the "cold croft," it means; so does their +country. Where the _black_ Scotch come from nobody knows; but I +recognise with you the fact that the whole of Britain is rapidly and +progressively becoming more pigmented; already in one man's life I can +decidedly trace a difference in the children about a school door. But +colour is not an essential part of a man or a race. Take my Polynesians, +an Asiatic people probably from the neighbourhood of the Persian Gulf. +They range through any amount of shades, from the burnt hue of the Low +Archipelago islander, which seems half negro, to the "bleached" pretty +women of the Marquesas (close by on the map), who come out for a +festival no darker than an Italian; their colour seems to vary directly +with the degree of exposure to the sun. And, as with negroes, the babes +are born white; only it should seem a _little sack_ of pigment at the +lower part of the spine, which presently spreads over the whole field. +Very puzzling. But to return. The Picts furnish to-day perhaps a third +of the population of Scotland, say another third for Scots and Britons, +and the third for Norse and Angles is a bad third. Edinburgh was a +Pictish place. But the fact is, we don't know their frontiers. Tell some +of your journalist friends with a good style to popularise old Skene; or +say your prayers, and read him for yourself; he was a Great Historian, +and I was his blessed clerk, and did not know it; and you will not be in +a state of grace about the Picts till you have studied him. J. Horne +Stevenson (do you know him?) is working this up with me, and the fact +is--it's not interesting to the public--but it's interesting, and very +interesting, in itself, and just now very embarrassing--this rural +parish supplied Glasgow with such a quantity of Stevensons in the +beginning of last century! There is just a link wanting; and we might be +able to go back to the eleventh century, always undistinguished, but +clearly traceable. When I say just a link, I guess I may be taken to +mean a dozen. What a singular thing is this undistinguished perpetuation +of a family throughout the centuries, and the sudden bursting forth of +character and capacity that began with our grandfather! But as I go on +in life, day by day, I become more of a bewildered child; I cannot get +used to this world, to procreation, to heredity, to sight, to hearing; +the commonest things are a burthen. The prim obliterated polite face of +life, and the broad, bawdy, and orgiastic--or maenadic--foundations, form +a spectacle to which no habit reconciles me; and "I could wish my days +to be bound each to each" by the same open-mouthed wonder. They _are_ +anyway, and whether I wish it or not. + +I remember very well your attitude to life, this conventional surface of +it. You had none of that curiosity for the social stage directions, the +trivial _ficelles_ of the business; it is simian, but that is how the +wild youth of man is captured; you wouldn't imitate, hence you kept +free--a wild dog, outside the kennel--and came dam near starving for +your pains. The key to the business is of course the belly; difficult as +it is to keep that in view in the zone of three miraculous meals a day +in which we were brought up. Civilisation has become reflex with us; you +might think that hunger was the name of the best sauce; but hunger to +the cold solitary under a bush of a rainy night is the name of something +quite different. I defend civilisation for the thing it is, for the +thing it has _come_ to be, the standpoint of a real old Tory. My ideal +would be the Female Clan. But how can you turn these crowding dumb +multitudes _back?_ They don't do anything _because_; they do things, +write able articles, stitch shoes, dig, from the purely simian impulse. +Go and reason with monkeys! + +No, I am right about Jean Lillie. Jean Lillie, our double +great-grandmother, the daughter of David Lillie, sometime Deacon of the +Wrights, married, first, Alan Stevenson, who died May 26, 1774, "at +Santt Kittes of a fiver," by whom she had Robert Stevenson, born 8th +June 1772; and, second, in May or June 1787, Thomas Smith, a widower, +and already the father of our grandmother. This improbable double +connection always tends to confuse a student of the family, Thomas Smith +being doubly our great-grandfather. + +I looked on the perpetuation of our honoured name with veneration. My +mother collared one of the photos, of course; the other is stuck up on +my wall as the chief of our sept. Do you know any of the Gaelic-Celtic +sharps? you might ask what the name means. It puzzles me. I find a +_M'Stein_ and a _MacStephane_; and our own great-grandfather always +called himself Steenson, though he wrote it Stevenson. There are at +least three _places_ called Stevenson--_Stevenson_ in Cunningham, +_Stevenson_ in Peebles, and _Stevenson_ in Haddington. And it was not +the Celtic trick, I understand, to call places after people. I am going +to write to Sir Herbert Maxwell about the name, but you might find some +one. + +Get the Anglo-Saxon heresy out of your head; they superimposed their +language, they scarce modified the race; only in Berwickshire and +Roxburgh have they very largely affected the place names. The +Scandinavians did much more to Scotland than the Angles. The Saxons +didn't come. + +Enough of this sham antiquarianism. Yes, it is in the matter of the +book[82] of course, that collaboration shows; as for the manner, it is +superficially all mine in the sense that the last copy is all in my +hand. Lloyd did not even put pen to paper in the Paris scenes or the +Barbizon scene; it was no good; he wrote and often rewrote all the rest; +I had the best service from him on the character of Nares. You see, we +had been just meeting the man, and his memory was full of the man's +words and ways. And Lloyd is an impressionist, pure and simple. The +great difficulty of collaboration is that you can't explain what you +mean. I know what kind of effect I mean a character to give--what kind +of _tache_ he is to make; but how am I to tell my collaborator in words? +Hence it was necessary to say, "Make him So-and-so"; and this was all +right for Nares and Pinkerton and Loudon Dodd, whom we both knew, but +for Bellairs, for instance--a man with whom I passed ten minutes fifteen +years ago--what was I to say? and what could Lloyd do? I, as a personal +artist, can begin a character with only a haze in my head, but how if I +have to translate the haze into words before I begin? In our manner of +collaboration (which I think the only possible--I mean that of one +person being responsible, and giving the _coup de pouce_ to every part +of the work) I was spared the obviously hopeless business of trying to +explain to my collaborator what _style_ I wished a passage to be treated +in. These are the times that illustrate to a man the inadequacy of +spoken language. Now--to be just to written language--I can (or could) +find a language for my every mood, but how could I _tell_ any one +beforehand what this effect was to be, which it would take every art +that I possessed, and hours and hours of deliberate labour and selection +and rejection, to produce? These are the impossibilities of +collaboration. Its immediate advantage is to focus two minds together on +the stuff, and to produce in consequence an extraordinarily greater +richness of purview, consideration, and invention. The hardest chapter +of all was "Cross Questions and Crooked Answers." You would not believe +what that cost us before it assumed the least unity and colour. Lloyd +wrote it at least thrice, and I at least five times--this is from +memory. And was that last chapter worth the trouble it cost? Alas, that +I should ask the question! Two classes of men--the artist and the +educationalist--are sworn, on soul and conscience, not to ask it. You +get an ordinary, grinning, red-headed boy, and you have to educate him. +Faith supports you; you give your valuable hours, the boy does not seem +to profit, but that way your duty lies, for which you are paid, and you +must persevere. Education has always seemed to me one of the few +possible and dignified ways of life. A sailor, a shepherd, a +schoolmaster--to a less degree, a soldier--and (I don't know why, upon +my soul, except as a sort of schoolmaster's unofficial assistant, and a +kind of acrobat in tights) an artist, almost exhaust the category. + +If I had to begin again--I know not--_si jeunesse savait, si vieillesse +pouvait_ ... I know not at all--I believe I should try to honour Sex +more religiously. The worst of our education is that Christianity does +not recognise and hallow Sex. It looks askance at it, over its shoulder, +oppressed as it is by reminiscences of hermits and Asiatic +self-tortures. It is a terrible hiatus in our modern religions that they +cannot see and make venerable that which they ought to see first and +hallow most. Well, it is so; I cannot be wiser than my generation. + +But no doubt there is something great in the half-success that has +attended the effort of turning into an emotional religion, Bald Conduct, +without any appeal, or almost none, to the figurative, mysterious, and +constitutive facts of life. Not that conduct is not constitutive, but +dear! it's dreary! On the whole, conduct is better dealt with on the +cast-iron "gentleman" and duty formula, with as little fervour and +poetry as possible; stoical and short.... There is a new something or +other in the wind, which exercises me hugely: anarchy,--I mean, +anarchism. People who (for pity's sake) commit dastardly murders very +basely, die like saints, and leave beautiful letters behind 'em (did you +see Vaillant to his daughter? it was the New Testament over again); +people whose conduct is inexplicable to me, and yet their spiritual life +higher than that of most. This is just what the early Christians must +have seemed to the Romans. Is this, then, a new _drive_[83] among the +monkeys? Mind you, Bob, if they go on being martyred a few years more, +the gross, dull, not unkindly bourgeois may get tired or ashamed or +afraid of going on martyring; and the anarchists come out at the top +just like the early Christians. That is, of course, they will step into +power as a _personnel_, but God knows what they may believe when they +come to do so; it can't be stranger or more improbable than what +Christianity had come to be by the same time. + +Your letter was easily read, the pagination presented no difficulty, and +I read it with much edification and gusto. To look back, and to +stereotype one bygone humour--what a hopeless thing! The mind runs ever +in a thousand eddies like a river between cliffs. You (the ego) are +always spinning round in it, east, west, north, and south. You are +twenty years old, and forty, and five, and the next moment you are +freezing at an imaginary eighty; you are never the plain forty-four that +you should be by dates. (The most philosophical language is the Gaelic, +which has _no present tense_--and the most useless.) How, then, to +choose some former age, and stick there? + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO SIR HERBERT MAXWELL + + + _Vailima, Samoa, September 10, 1894._ + +DEAR SIR HERBERT MAXWELL,--I am emboldened by reading your very +interesting Rhind Lectures to put to you a question: What is my name, +Stevenson? + +I find it in the forms Stevinetoun, Stevensoune, Stevensonne, Stenesone, +Stewinsoune, M'Stein, and MacStephane. My family, and (as far as I can +gather) the majority of the inglorious clan, hailed from the borders of +Cunningham and Renfrew, and the upper waters of the Clyde. In the Barony +of Bothwell was the seat of the laird Stevenson of Stevenson; but, as of +course you know, there is a parish in Cunningham and places in Peebles +and Haddington bearing the same name. + +If you can at all help me, you will render me a real service which I +wish I could think of some manner to repay.--Believe me, yours truly, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + +_P.S._--I should have added that I have perfect evidence before me that +(for some obscure reason) Stevenson was a favourite alias with the +M'Gregors. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + _Vailima, Samoa, October 6th, 1894._ + +MY DEAR COLVIN,--We have had quite an interesting month and mostly in +consideration of that road which I think I told you was about to be +made. It was made without a hitch, though I confess I was considerably +surprised. When they got through, I wrote a speech to them, sent it down +to a Missionary to be translated, and invited the lot to a feast. I +thought a good deal of this feast. The occasion was really interesting. +I wanted to pitch it in hot. And I wished to have as many influential +witnesses present as possible. Well, as it drew towards the day I had +nothing but refusals. Everybody supposed it was to be a political +occasion, that I had made a hive of rebels up here, and was going to +push for new hostilities. + +The Amanuensis has been ill, and after the above trial petered out. I +must return to my own, lone Waverley. The captain refused, telling me +why; and at last I had to beat up for people almost with prayers. +However, I got a good lot, as you will see by the accompanying newspaper +report. The road contained this inscription, drawn up by the chiefs +themselves: + + "THE ROAD OF GRATITUDE + +"Considering the great love of Tusitala in his loving care of us in our +distress in the prison, we have therefore prepared a splendid gift. It +shall never be muddy, it shall endure for ever, this road that we have +dug." + +This the newspaper reporter could not give, not knowing any Samoan. The +same reason explains his references to Seumanutafa's speech, which was +not long and _was_ important, for it was a speech of courtesy and +forgiveness to his former enemies. It was very much applauded. Secondly, +it was not Poe, it was Mataaf[=a] (don't confuse with Mataafa) who spoke +for the prisoners. Otherwise it is extremely correct. + +I beg your pardon for so much upon my aboriginals. Even you must +sympathise with me in this unheard-of compliment, and my having been +able to deliver so severe a sermon with acceptance. It remains a nice +point of conscience what I should wish done in the matter. I think this +meeting, its immediate results, and the terms of what I said to them, +desirable to be known. It will do a little justice to me, who have not +had too much justice done me. At the same time, to send this report to +the papers is truly an act of self-advertisement, and I dislike the +thought. Query, in a man who has been so much calumniated, is that not +justifiable? I do not know; be my judge. Mankind is too complicated for +me; even myself. Do I wish to advertise? I think I do, God help me! I +have had hard times here, as every man must have who mixes up with +public business; and I bemoan myself, knowing that all I have done has +been in the interest of peace and good government; and having once +delivered my mind, I would like it, I think, to be made public. But the +other part of me _regimbs_.[84] + +I know I am at a climacteric for all men who live by their wits, so I do +not despair. But the truth is I am pretty nearly useless at literature, +and I will ask you to spare _St. Ives_ when it goes to you; it is a sort +of _Count Robert of Paris_. But I hope rather a _Dombey and Son_, to be +succeeded by _Our Mutual Friend_ and _Great Expectations_ and _A Tale of +Two Cities_. No toil has been spared over the ungrateful canvas; and it +_will not_ come together, and I must live, and my family. Were it not +for my health, which made it impossible, I could not find it in my heart +to forgive myself that I did not stick to an honest, commonplace trade +when I was young, which might have now supported me during these ill +years. But do not suppose me to be down in anything else; only, for the +nonce, my skill deserts me, such as it is, or was. It was a very little +dose of inspiration, and a pretty little trick of style, long lost, +improved by the most heroic industry. So far, I have managed to please +the journalists. But I am a fictitious article and have long known it. I +am read by journalists, by my fellow-novelists, and by boys; with these, +_incipit et explicit_ my vogue. Good thing anyway! for it seems to have +sold the Edition. And I look forward confidently to an aftermath; I do +not think my health can be so hugely improved, without some subsequent +improvement in my brains. Though, of course, there is the possibility +that literature is a morbid secretion, and abhors health! I do not think +it is possible to have fewer illusions than I. I sometimes wish I had +more. They are amusing. But I cannot take myself seriously as an artist; +the limitations are so obvious. I did take myself seriously as a workman +of old, but my practice has fallen off. I am now an idler and cumberer +of the ground; it may be excused to me perhaps by twenty years of +industry and ill-health, which have taken the cream off the milk. + +As I was writing this last sentence, I heard the strident rain drawing +near across the forest, and by the time I was come to the word "cream" +it burst upon my roof, and has since redoubled, and roared upon it. A +very welcome change. All smells of the good wet earth, sweetly, with a +kind of Highland touch; the crystal rods of the shower, as I look up, +have drawn their criss-cross over everything; and a gentle and very +welcome coolness comes up around me in little draughts, blessed +draughts, not chilling, only equalising the temperature. Now the rain +is off in this spot, but I hear it roaring still in the nigh +neighbourhood--and that moment, I was driven from the verandah by random +raindrops, spitting at me through the Japanese blinds. These are not +tears with which the page is spotted! Now the windows stream, the roof +reverberates. It is good; it answers something which is in my heart; I +know not what; old memories of the wet moorland belike. + +Well, it has blown by again, and I am in my place once more, with an +accompaniment of perpetual dripping on the verandah--and very much +inclined for a chat. The exact subject I do not know! It will be bitter +at least, and that is strange, for my attitude is essentially _not_ +bitter, but I have come into these days when a man sees above all the +seamy side, and I have dwelt some time in a small place where he has an +opportunity of reading little motives that he would miss in the great +world, and indeed, to-day, I am almost ready to call the world an error. +Because? Because I have not drugged myself with successful work, and +there are all kinds of trifles buzzing in my ear, unfriendly trifles, +from the least to the--well, to the pretty big. All these that touch me +are Pretty Big; and yet none touch me in the least, if rightly looked +at, except the one eternal burthen to go on making an income for my +family. That is rightly the root and ground of my ill. The jingling, +tingling, damned mint sauce is the trouble always; and if I could find a +place where I could lie down and give up for (say) two years, and allow +the sainted public to support me, if it were a lunatic asylum, wouldn't +I go, just! But we can't have both extremes at once, worse luck! I +should like to put my savings into a proprietarian investment, and +retire in the meanwhile into a communistic retreat, which is +double-dealing. But you men with aries don't know how alas family weighs +on a fellow's mind. + +I hear the article in next week's _Herald_ is to be a great affair, and +all the officials who came to me the other day are to be attacked! This +is the unpleasant side of being (without a salary) in public life; I +will leave any one to judge if my speech was well intended, and +calculated to do good. It was even daring--I assure you one of the +chiefs looked like a fiend at my description of Samoan warfare. Your +warning was not needed; we are all determined to _keep the peace_ and to +_hold our peace_. I know, my dear fellow, how remote all this sounds! +Kindly pardon your friend. I have my life to live here; these interests +are for me immediate; and if I do not write of them, I might as soon not +write at all. There is the difficulty in a distant correspondence. It is +perhaps easy for me to enter into and understand your interests; I own +it is difficult for you; but you must just wade through them for +friendship's sake, and try to find tolerable what is vital for your +friend. I cannot forbear challenging you to it, as to intellectual +lists. It is the proof of intelligence, the proof of not being a +barbarian, to be able to enter into something outside of oneself, +something that does not touch one's next neighbour in the city omnibus. + +Good-bye, my lord. May your race continue and you flourish.--Yours ever, + + TUSITALA. + + + + +TO ALISON CUNNINGHAM + + + For a fuller account of the road-making affair here mentioned, see + pp. 431, 462. + + _[Vailima] October 8th, 1894._ + +MY DEAR CUMMY,--So I hear you are ailing? Think shame to yoursell! So +you think there is nothing better to be done with time than that? and be +sure we can all do much ourselves to decide whether we are to be ill or +well! like a man on the gymnastic bars. We are all pretty well. As for +me, there is nothing the matter with me in the world, beyond the +disgusting circumstance that I am not so young as once I was. Lloyd has +a gymnastic machine, and practises upon it every morning for an hour: +he is beginning to be a kind of young Samson. Austin grows fat and +brown, and gets on not so ill with his lessons, and my mother is in +great price. We are having knock-me-down weather for heat; I never +remember it so hot before, and I fancy it means we are to have a +hurricane again this year, I think; since we came here, we have not had +a single gale of wind! The Pacific is but a child to the North Sea; but +when she does get excited, and gets up and girds herself, she can do +something good. We have had a very interesting business here. I helped +the chiefs who were in prison; and when they were set free, what should +they do but offer to make a part of my road for me out of gratitude? +Well, I was ashamed to refuse, and the trumps dug my road for me, and +put up this inscription on a board:-- + +"_Considering the great love of His Excellency Tusitala in his loving +care for us in our tribulation in the prison we have made this great +gift; it shall never be muddy, it shall go on for ever, this road that +we have dug!_" We had a great feast when it was done, and I read them a +kind of lecture, which I dare say Auntie will have, and can let you see. +Weel, guid bye to ye, and joy be wi' ye! I hae nae time to say mair. +They say I'm gettin' _fat_--a fact!--Your laddie, with all love, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO JAMES PAYN + + + _Vailima, Samoa, Nov. 4, 1894._ + +MY DEAR JAMES PAYN,--I am asked to relate to you a little incident of +domestic life at Vailima. I had read your _Gleams of Memory_, No. 1; it +then went to my wife, to Osbourne, to the cousin that is within my +gates, and to my respected amanuensis, Mrs. Strong. Sunday approached. +In the course of the afternoon I was attracted to the great 'all--the +winders is by Vanderputty, which upon entering I beheld a memorable +scene. The floor was bestrewn with the forms of midshipmen from the +_Curacoa_--"boldly say a wilderness of gunroom"--and in the midst of +this sat Mrs. Strong throned on the sofa and reading aloud _Gleams of +Memory_. They had just come the length of your immortal definition of +boyhood in the concrete, and I had the pleasure to see the whole party +dissolve under its influence with inextinguishable laughter. I thought +this was not half bad for arthritic gout! Depend upon it, sir, when I go +into the arthritic gout business, I shall be done with literature, or at +least with the funny business. It is quite true I have my battlefields +behind me. I have done perhaps as much work as anybody else under the +most deplorable conditions. But two things fall to be noticed: In the +first place, I never was in actual pain; and in the second, I was never +funny. I'll tell you the worst day that I remember. I had a hemorrhage, +and was not allowed to speak; then, induced by the devil, or an errant +doctor, I was led to partake of that bowl which neither cheers nor +inebriates--the castor-oil bowl. Now, when castor-oil goes right, it is +one thing; but when it goes wrong, it is another. And it went wrong with +me that day. The waves of faintness and nausea succeeded each other for +twelve hours, and I do feel a legitimate pride in thinking that I stuck +to my work all through and wrote a good deal of _Admiral Guinea_ (which +I might just as well not have written for all the reward it ever brought +me) in spite of the barbarous bad conditions. I think that is my great +boast; and it seems a little thing alongside of your _Gleams of Memory_ +illustrated by spasms of arthritic gout. We really should have an order +of merit in the trade of letters. For valour, Scott would have had it; +Pope too; myself on the strength of that castor-oil; and James Payn +would be a Knight Commander. The worst of it is, though Lang tells me +you exhibit the courage of Huish, that not even an order can alleviate +the wretched annoyance of the business. I have always said that there +is nothing like pain; toothache, dumb-ague, arthritic gout, it does not +matter what you call it, if the screw is put upon the nerves +sufficiently strong, there is nothing left in heaven or in earth that +can interest the sufferer. Still, even to this there is the consolation +that it cannot last for ever. Either you will be relieved and have a +good hour again before the sun goes down, or else you will be liberated. +It is something after all (although not much) to think that you are +leaving a brave example; that other literary men love to remember, as I +am sure they will love to remember, everything about you--your +sweetness, your brightness, your helpfulness to all of us, and in +particular those one or two really adequate and noble papers which you +have been privileged to write during these last years.--With the +heartiest and kindest good-will, I remain, yours ever, + + R. L. S. + + + + +TO SIDNEY COLVIN + + + This was the last letter I received from my friend. On the morning of + his death the following month he spoke of being behindhand with his + December letter and of his intention to write it next day. + + [_Vailima, November 1894._] + +DEAR COLVIN,--Saturday there was a ball to the ship, and on Sunday Gurr +had a child to be baptized. Belle was to be godmother and had to be got +down; which was impossible, as the jester Euclid says. However, we had +four men of very different heights take the poles of a sort of bier and +carry her shoulder high down the road, till we met a trap. On the return +journey on Sunday, they were led by Austin playing (?) on a bugle, and +you have no idea how picturesque a business it was; the four half-naked +bearers, the cane lounge at that height from the ground, and Belle in +black and pretty pale reclining very like a dead warrior of yore. +However she wasn't dead yet. All the rest of the afternoon we hung +about and had consultations about the baptism. Just as we went in to +dinner, I saw the moon rise accurately full, looking five times greater +than nature, and the face that we try to decipher in its silver disk +wearing an obliterated but benignant expression. The ball followed; +bluejackets and officers danced indiscriminately, after their pleasant +fashion; and Belle, who lay in the hotel verandah, and held a sort of +reception all night, had her longest visit from one of the blue-jackets, +her partner in the last ball. About one on the Sunday morning all was +over, and we went to bed--I, alas! only to get up again, my room being +in the verandah, where a certain solemnly absurd family conclave (all +drunk) was being held until (I suppose) three. By six, I was awake, and +went out on the verandah. On the east the dawn had broken, cold and pink +and rust colour, and the marshes were all smoking whitely and blowing +into the bay like smoke, but on the west, all was golden. The street was +empty, and right over it hung the setting moon, accurately round, yellow +as an apricot, but slumberous, with an effect of afternoon you would not +believe if you had not seen it. Then followed a couple of hours on the +verandah I would be glad to forget. By seven X. Y. had joined me, as +drunk as they make 'em. As he sat and talked to me, he smelt of the +charnel house, methought. He looked so old (he is one month my senior); +he spoke so silly; his poor leg is again covered with boils, which will +spell death to him; and--enough. That interview has made me a +teetotaller. O, it is bad to grow old. For me, it is practically hell. I +do not like the consolations of age. I was born a young man; I have +continued so; and before I end, a pantaloon, a driveller--enough again. +But I don't enjoy getting elderly. Belle and I got home about three in +the afternoon, she having in the meantime renounced all that makes life +worth living in the name of little Miss Gurr, and I seriously reflecting +on renouncing the kindly bowl in earnest! Presently after arrived the +news of Margery Ide (the C.J.'s daughter) being seriously ill, +alarmingly ill. Fanny wanted to go down; it was a difficult choice; she +was not fit for it; on the other hand (and by all accounts) the patient +would die if she did not get better nursing. So we made up our own +minds, and F. and I set out about dusk, came to the C.J.'s in the middle +of dinner, and announced our errand. I am glad to say the C.J. received +her very willingly; and I came home again, leaving her behind, where she +was certainly much wanted. + +_Nov. 4th._--You ask about _St. Ives_. No, there is no Burford Bridge in +it, and no Boney. He is a squire of dames, and there are petticoats in +the story, and damned bad ones too, and it is of a tolerable length, a +hundred thousand, I believe, at least. Also, since you are curious on +the point, St. Ives learned his English from a Mr. Vicary, an English +lawyer, a prisoner in France. He must have had a fine gift of languages! + +Things are going on here in their usual gently disheartening gait. The +Treaty Officials are both good fellows whom I can't help liking, but who +will never make a hand of Samoa.--Yours ever, + + R. L. STEVENSON. + + + + +TO PROFESSOR MEIKLEJOHN + + + Congratulating an old friend of Savile Club days (see vol. xxiii. p. + 263) on his sailor son. + + _Vailima, Samoa, Nov. 6th, 1894._ + +MY DEAR MEIKLEJOHN,--Greeting! This is but a word to say how much we +felicitate ourselves on having made the acquaintance of Hughie. He is +having a famous good chance on board the _Curacoa_, which is the best +ship I have ever seen. And as for himself, he is a most engaging boy, of +whom you may very well be proud, and I have no mortal manner of doubt +but what you are. He comes up here very often, where he is a great +favourite with my ladies, and sings me "the melancholy airs of my +native land" with much acceptancy. His name has recently become changed +in Vailima. Beginning with the courteous "Mr. Meiklejohn," it shaded off +into the familiar "Hughie," and finally degenerated into "the +Whitrett."[85] I hear good reports of him abroad and ashore, and I +scarce need to add my own testimony. + +Hughie tells me you have gone into the publishing business, whereat I +was much shocked. My own affairs with publishers are now in the most +flourishing state, owing to my ingenuity in leaving them to be dealt +with by a Scotch Writer to the Signet. It has produced revolutions in +the book trade and my banking account. I tackled the Whitrett severely +on a grammar you had published, which I had not seen and condemned out +of hand and in the broadest Lallan. I even condescended on the part of +that grammar which I thought to be the worst and condemned your +presentation of the English verb unmercifully. It occurs to me, since +you are a publisher, that the least thing you could do would be to send +me a copy of that grammar to correct my estimate. But I fear I am +talking too long to one of the enemy. I begin to hear in fancy the voice +of Meiklejohn upraised in the Savile Club: "No quarter to publishers!" +So I will ask you to present my compliments to Mrs. Meiklejohn upon her +son, and to accept for yourself the warmest reminiscences of auld lang +syne.--Yours sincerely, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO LIEUTENANT EELES + + + _Vailima, Samoa, November 24, 1894._ + +MY DEAR EELES,--The hand, as you will perceive (and also the spelling!), +is Teuila's, but the scrannel voice is what remains of Tusitala's. +First of all, for business. When you go to London you are to charter a +hansom cab and proceed to the Museum. It is particular fun to do this on +Sundays when the Monument is shut up. Your cabman expostulates with you, +you persist. The cabman drives up in front of the closed gates and says, +"I told you so, sir." You breathe in the porter's ears the mystic name +of _Colvin_, and he immediately unfolds the iron barrier. You drive in, +and doesn't your cabman think you're a swell. A lord mayor is nothing to +it. Colvin's door is the only one in the eastern gable of the building. +Send in your card to him with "From R. L. S." in the corner, and the +machinery will do the rest. Henry James's address is 34 De Vere Mansions +West. I cannot remember where the place is; I cannot even remember on +which side of the park. But it's one of those big Cromwell Road-looking +deserted thoroughfares out west in Kensington or Bayswater, or between +the two; and anyway Colvin will be able to put you on the direct track +for Henry James. I do not send formal introductions, as I have taken the +liberty to prepare both of them for seeing you already. + +Hoskyn is staying with us. + +It is raining dismally. The Curacoa track is hardly passable, but it +must be trod to-morrow by the degenerate feet of their successor the +Wallaroos. I think it a very good account of these last that we don't +think them either deformed or habitual criminals--they seem to be a +kindly lot. + +The doctor will give you all the gossip. I have preferred in this letter +to stick to the strictly solid and necessary. With kind messages from +all in the house to all in the wardroom, all in the gunroom, and (may we +dare to breathe it) to him who walks abaft, believe me, my dear Eeles, +yours ever, + + R. L. STEVENSON. + + + + +TO SIR HERBERT MAXWELL + + + _Vailima, Samoa, December 1, 1894._ + +DEAR SIR HERBERT,--Thank you very much for your long and kind letter. I +shall certainly take your advice and call my cousin, the Lyon King, into +council. It is certainly a very interesting subject, though I don't +suppose it can possibly lead to anything, this connection between the +Stevensons and M'Gregors. Alas! your invitation is to me a mere +derision. My chances of visiting Heaven are about as valid as my chances +of visiting Monreith. Though I should like well to see you, shrunken +into a cottage, a literary Lord of Ravenscraig. I suppose it is the +inevitable doom of all those who dabble in Scotch soil; but really your +fate is the more blessed. I cannot conceive anything more grateful to +me, or more amusing or more picturesque, than to live in a cottage +outside your own park-walls.--With renewed thanks, believe me, dear Sir +Herbert, yours very truly, + + ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON. + + + + +TO ANDREW LANG + + + The following refers of course to _Weir of Hermiston_, the chief + character of which was studied from the traditions of Lord Braxfield, + and on which Stevenson was working at the full height of his powers + when death overtook him two days later. + + _Vailima, Samoa, December 1, 1894._ + +MY DEAR LANG,--For the portrait of Braxfield, much thanks! It is +engraved from the same Raeburn portrait that I saw in '76 or '77 with so +extreme a gusto that I have ever since been Braxfield's humble servant, +and am now trying, as you know, to stick him into a novel. Alas! one +might as well try to stick in Napoleon. The picture shall be framed and +hung up in my study. Not only as a memento of you, but as a perpetual +encouragement to do better with his Lordship. I have not yet received +the transcripts. They must be very interesting. Do you know I picked up +the other day an old Longman's where I found an article of yours that I +had missed, about Christie's? I read it with great delight. The year +ends with us pretty much as it began, among wars and rumours of wars, +and a vast and splendid exhibition of official incompetence.--Yours +ever, + + R. L. STEVENSON. + + + + +TO EDMUND GOSSE + + + The next, and last, letter is to Mr. Gosse, dated also only two days + before the writer's death. It acknowledges the dedication "To + Tusitala" of that gentleman's volume of poems, _In Russet and + Silver_, just received. + + _Vailima, Samoa, December 1, 1894._ + +I AM afraid, my dear Weg, that this must be the result of bribery and +corruption! The volume to which the dedication stands as preface seems +to me to stand alone in your work; it is so natural, so personal, so +sincere, so articulate in substance, and what you always were sure +of--so rich in adornment. + +Let me speak first of the dedication. I thank you for it from the heart. +It is beautifully said, beautifully and kindly felt; and I should be a +churl indeed if I were not grateful, and an ass if I were not proud. I +remember when Symonds dedicated a book to me; I wrote and told him of +"the pang of gratified vanity" with which I had read it. The pang was +present again, but how much more sober and autumnal--like your volume. +Let me tell you a story, or remind you of a story. In the year of grace +something or other, anything between '76 and '78, I mentioned to you in +my usual autobiographical and inconsiderate manner that I was hard up. +You said promptly that you had a balance at your banker's, and could +make it convenient to let me have a cheque, and I accepted and got the +money--how much was it?--twenty or perhaps thirty pounds? I know +not--but it was a great convenience. The same evening, or the next day, +I fell in conversation (in my usual autobiographical and ... see above) +with a denizen of the Savile Club, name now gone from me, only his +figure and a dim three-quarter view of his face remaining. To him I +mentioned that you had given me a loan, remarking easily that of course +it didn't matter to you. Whereupon he read me a lecture, and told me how +it really stood with you financially. He was pretty serious; fearing, as +I could not help perceiving, that I should take too light a view of the +responsibility and the service (I was always thought too light--the +irresponsible jester--you remember. O, _quantum mutatus ab illo_!) If I +remember rightly, the money was repaid before the end of the week--or, +to be more exact and a trifle pedantic, the se'nnight--but the service +has never been forgotten; and I send you back this piece of ancient +history, _consule Planco_, as a salute for your dedication, and propose +that we should drink the health of the nameless one, who opened my eyes +as to the true nature of what you did for me on that occasion. + +But here comes my Amanuensis, so we'll get on more swimmingly now. You +will understand perhaps that what so particularly pleased me in the new +volume, what seems to me to have so personal and original a note, are +the middle-aged pieces in the beginning. The whole of them, I may say, +though I must own an especial liking to-- + + "I yearn not for the fighting fate, + That holds and hath achieved; + I live to watch and meditate + And dream--and be deceived." + +You take the change gallantly. Not I, I must confess. It is all very +well to talk of renunciation, and of course it has to be done. But, for +my part, give me a roaring toothache! I do like to be deceived and to +dream, but I have very little use for either watching or meditation. I +was not born for age. And, curiously enough, I seem to see a contrary +drift in my work from that which is so remarkable in yours. You are +going on sedately travelling through your ages, decently changing with +the years to the proper tune. And here am I, quite out of my true +course, and with nothing in my foolish elderly head but love-stories. +This must repose upon some curious distinction of temperaments. I gather +from a phrase, boldly autobiographical, that you are--well, not +precisely growing thin. Can that be the difference? + +It is rather funny that this matter should come up just now, as I am at +present engaged in treating a severe case of middle age in one of my +stories--"The Justice-Clerk." The case is that of a woman, and I think +that I am doing her justice. You will be interested, I believe, to see +the difference in our treatments. _Secreta Vitae_ comes nearer to the +case of my poor Kirstie. Come to think of it, Gosse, I believe the main +distinction is that you have a family growing up around you, and I am a +childless, rather bitter, very clear-eyed, blighted youth. I have, in +fact, lost the path that makes it easy and natural for you to descend +the hill. I am going at it straight. And where I have to go down it is a +precipice. + +I must not forget to give you a word of thanks for _An English Village_. +It reminds me strongly of Keats, which is enough to say; and I was +particularly pleased with the petulant sincerity of the concluding +sentiment. + +Well, my dear Gosse, here's wishing you all health and prosperity, as +well as to the mistress and the bairns. May you live long, since it +seems as if you would continue to enjoy life. May you write many more +books as good as this one--only there's one thing impossible, you can +never write another dedication that can give the same pleasure to the +vanished + + TUSITALA. + + +FOOTNOTES: + + [74] This question is with a view to the adventures of the hero in + _St. Ives_, who according to Stevenson's original plan was to have + been picked up from his foundered balloon by an American privateer. + + [75] As to admire _The Black Arrow_. + + [76] The suppressed first part of the _Amateur Emigrant_, written in + San Francisco in 1879, which it was proposed now to condense and to + some extent recast for the Edinburgh Edition. + + [77] Word omitted in MS. + + [78] I may be allowed to quote the following sentence from a letter + of this gentleman written when the news of our friend's death + reached England:--"So great was his power of winning love that + though I knew him for less than a week I could have borne the loss + of many a more intimate friend with less sorrow than Stevenson's. + When I saw him, last Easter, there was no suggestion of failure of + strength. After all I had heard of his delicacy I was astonished at + his vigour. He was up at five, and at work soon after, and at eleven + o'clock at night he was dancing on the floor of the big room while I + played Scotch and Irish reels on the rickety piano. He would talk to + me for hours of home and old friends, but with a wonderful + cheerfulness, knowing himself banished from them for life and yet + brought close to them by love. I confidently counted on his living; + he took keen interest in my own poor work, and it was one of my + ambitions to send him a book some day which would better deserve his + attention." + + [79] _Sentimental Tommy_: whose chief likeness to R. L. S. was meant + to be in the literary temperament and passion for the _mot propre_. + + [80] A proposed frontispiece for one of the volumes of the Edinburgh + Edition. + + [81] _Sic_: query "least"? + + [82] Of _The Wrecker_. + + [83] _Trieb_, impulse. + + [84] It seemed an obvious duty to publish the speech in question + through the English press, as the best proof both of Stevenson's + wise and understanding methods of dealing with his native friends, + and of the affection and authority which he enjoyed among them. I + have reprinted it, as a necessary supplement to this letter, in + Appendix II. at end of the present volume. + + [85] Whitrett or Whitrack is Scots for a weasel: why applied to Mr. + Meiklejohn I know not. + + + + +APPENDIX I + +ACCOUNT OF THE DEATH AND BURIAL OF R. L. STEVENSON, BY LLOYD OSBOURNE + + +He wrote hard all that morning of the last day; his half-finished book, +_Hermiston_, he judged the best he had ever written, and the sense of +successful effort made him buoyant and happy as nothing else could. In +the afternoon the mail fell to be answered; not business +correspondence--for this was left till later--but replies to the long, +kindly letters of distant friends, received but two days since, and +still bright in memory. + +At sunset he came downstairs; rallied his wife about the forebodings she +could not shake off; talked of a lecturing tour to America that he was +eager to make, "as he was now so well," and played a game at cards with +her to drive away her melancholy. He said he was hungry; begged her +assistance to help him make a salad for the evening meal; and to enhance +the little feast, he brought up a bottle of old Burgundy from the +cellar. He was helping his wife on the verandah, and gaily talking, when +suddenly he put both hands to his head, and cried out, "What's that?" +Then he asked quickly, "Do I look strange?" Even as he did so he fell on +his knees beside her. He was helped into the great hall, between his +wife and his body-servant, Sosimo, losing consciousness instantly as he +lay back in the arm-chair that had once been his grandfather's. Little +time was lost in bringing the doctors--Anderson, of the man-of-war, and +his friend Dr. Funk. They looked at him and shook their heads; they +laboured strenuously, and left nothing undone; but he had passed the +bounds of human skill. + +The dying man lay back in the chair, breathing heavily, his family about +him frenzied with grief, as they realised all hope was past. The dozen +and more Samoans that formed part of the little clan of which he was +chief sat in a wide semicircle on the floor, their reverent, troubled, +sorrow-stricken faces all fixed upon their dying master. Some knelt on +one knee, to be instantly ready for any command that might be laid upon +them. A narrow bed was brought into the centre of the room, the Master +was gently laid upon it, his head supported by a rest, the gift of +Shelley's son. Slower and slower grew his respiration, wider the +interval between the long, deep breaths. The Rev. Mr. Clarke was now +come, an old and valued friend; he knelt and prayed as the life ebbed +away. + +He died at ten minutes past eight on Monday evening the 3rd of December, +in the forty-fifth year of his age. + +The great Union Jack that flew over the house was hauled down, and laid +over the body, fit shroud for a loyal Scotsman. He lay in the hall which +was ever his pride, where he had passed the gayest and most delightful +hours of his life, a noble room with open stairway and mullioned +windows. In it were the treasures of his far-off Scottish home: the old +carved furniture, the paintings and busts that had been in his father's +house before him. The Samoans passed in procession beside his bed, +kneeling and kissing his hand, each in turn, before taking their places +for the long night watch beside him. No entreaty could induce them to +retire, to rest themselves for the painful and arduous duties of the +morrow. It would show little love for Tusitala, they said, if they did +not spend their last night beside him. Mournful and silent, they sat in +deep dejection, poor, simple, loyal folk, fulfilling the duty they owed +their chief. + +A messenger was despatched to the few chiefs connected with the family, +to announce the tidings and bid them assemble their men on the morrow +for the work there was to do. + +Sosimo asked on behalf of the Roman Catholics that they might be allowed +to recite the prayers for the dead. Till midnight the solemn chants +continued, the prolonged, sonorous prayers of the Church of Rome, in +commingled Latin and Samoan. Later still, a chief arrived with his +retainers, bringing a precious mat to wrap about the dead. + +He too knelt and kissed the hand of Tusitala, and took his place amid +the sleepless watchers. Another arrived with a fine mat, a man of higher +rank, whose incipient consumption had often troubled the Master. + +"Talofa Tusitala!" he said as he drew nigh, and took a long, mournful +look at the face he knew so well. When, later on, he was momentarily +required on some business of the morrow, he bowed reverently before +retiring. "Tofa Tusitala!" he said, "Sleep, Tusitala!" + +The morning of the 4th of December broke cool and sunny, a beautiful +day, rare at this season of the year. More fine mats were brought, until +the Union Jack lay nigh concealed beneath them. Among the new-comers was +an old Mataafa chief, one of the builders of the "Road of the Loving +Hearts," a man who had spent many days in prison for participation in +the rebellion. "I am only a poor Samoan, and ignorant," said he, as he +crouched beside the body; "others are rich, and can give Tusitala the +parting presents of rich fine mats; I am poor, and can give nothing this +last day he receives his friends. Yet I am not afraid to come and look +the last time in my friend's face, never to see him more till we meet +with God. Behold! Tusitala is dead; Mataafa is also dead to us. These +two great friends have been taken by God. When Mataafa was taken, who +was our support but Tusitala? We were in prison, and he cared for us. We +were sick, and he made us well. We were hungry, and he fed us. The day +was no longer than his kindness. You are great people and full of love. +Yet who among you is so great as Tusitala? What is your love to his +love? Our clan was Mataafa's clan, for whom I speak this day; therein +was Tusitala also. We mourn them both." + +A meeting of chiefs was held to apportion the work and divide the men +into parties. Forty were sent with knives and axes to cut a path up the +steep face of the mountain, and the writer himself led another party to +the summit--men chosen from the immediate family--to dig the grave on a +spot where it was Mr. Stevenson's wish that he should lie. Nothing more +picturesque can be imagined than the narrow ledge that forms the summit +of Vaea, a place no wider than a room, and flat as a table. On either +side the land descends precipitously; in front lies the vast ocean and +the surf-swept reefs; to the right and left green mountains rise, +densely covered with the primeval forest. Two hundred years ago the eyes +of another man turned towards that same peak of Vaea as the spot that +should ultimately receive his war-worn body: Soalu, a famous chief. + +All the morning, Samoans were arriving with flowers; few of these were +white, for they have not learned our foreign custom, and the room glowed +with the many colours. There were no strangers on that day, no +acquaintances; those only were called who would deeply feel the loss. At +one o'clock a body of powerful Samoans bore away the coffin, hid beneath +a tattered red ensign that had flown above his vessel in many a corner +of the South Seas. A path so steep and rugged taxed their strength to +the utmost; for not only was the journey difficult in itself, but +extreme care was requisite to carry the coffin shoulder-high. + +Half an hour later, the rest of his friends followed. It was a +formidable ascent, and tried them hard. Nineteen Europeans, and some +sixty Samoans, reached the summit. After a short rest, the Rev. W. E. +Clarke read the burial service of the Church of England, interposing a +prayer that Mr. Stevenson had written and had read aloud to his family +only the evening before his death:-- + + We beseech Thee, Lord, to behold us with favour, folk of many + families and nations, gathered together in the peace of this roof; + weak men and women, subsisting under the covert of Thy patience. + + Be patient still; suffer us yet a while longer--with our broken + purposes of good, and our idle endeavours against evil--suffer us a + while longer to endure, and (if it may be) help us to do better. + Bless to us our extraordinary mercies; if the day come when these + must be taken, have us play the man under affliction. Be with our + friends; be with ourselves. Go with each of us to rest; if any awake, + temper to them the dark hours of watching; and when the day returns + to us, our sun and comforter, call us up with morning faces and with + morning hearts--eager to labour--eager to be happy, if happiness + shall be our portion--and if the day be marked for sorrow, strong to + endure it. + + We thank Thee and praise Thee; and in the words of Him to whom this + day is sacred, close our oblation. + + + + +APPENDIX II + +ADDRESS OF R. L. STEVENSON TO THE CHIEFS ON THE OPENING OF THE ROAD OF +GRATITUDE, OCTOBER 1894 + + +Mr. Stevenson said, "We are met together to-day to celebrate an event +and to do honour to certain chiefs, my friends,--Lelei, Mataafa, +Salevao, Poe, Teleso, Tupuola Lotofaga, Tupuola Amaile, Muliaiga, Ifopo, +and Fatialofa. You are all aware in some degree of what has happened. +You know these chiefs to have been prisoners; you perhaps know that +during the term of their confinement I had it in my power to do them +certain favours. One thing some of you cannot know, that they were +immediately repaid by answering attentions. They were liberated by the +new administration; by the King, and the Chief Justice, and the +Ta'its'ifono, who are here amongst us to-day, and to whom we all desire +to tender our renewed and perpetual gratitude for that favour. As soon +as they were free men--owing no man anything--instead of going home to +their own places and families, they came to me; they offered to do this +work for me as a free gift, without hire, without supplies, and I was +tempted at first to refuse their offer. I knew the country to be poor, I +knew famine threatening; I knew their families long disorganised for +want of supervision. Yet I accepted, because I thought the lesson of +that road might be more useful to Samoa than a thousand breadfruit +trees; and because to myself it was an exquisite pleasure to receive +that which was so handsomely offered. It is now done; you have trod it +to-day in coming hither. It has been made for me by chiefs; some of them +old, some sick, all newly delivered from a harassing confinement, and in +spite of weather unusually hot and insalubrious. I have seen these +chiefs labour valiantly with their own hands upon the work, and I have +set up over it, now that it is finished, the name of 'The Road of +Gratitude' (the road of loving hearts) and the names of those that built +it. 'In perpetuam memoriam,' we say, and speak idly. At least so long as +my own life shall be spared, it shall be here perpetuated; partly for my +pleasure and in my gratitude; partly for others; to continually publish +the lesson of this road." + +Addressing himself to the chiefs, Mr. Stevenson then said:-- + +"I will tell you, Chiefs, that, when I saw you working on that road, my +heart grew warm; not with gratitude only, but with hope. It seemed to me +that I read the promise of something good for Samoa: it seemed to me, as +I looked at you, that you were a company of warriors in a battle, +fighting for the defence of our common country against all aggression. +For there is a time to fight, and a time to dig. You Samoans may fight, +you may conquer twenty times, and thirty times, and all will be in vain. +There is but one way to defend Samoa. Hear it before it is too late. It +is to make roads, and gardens, and care for your trees, and sell their +produce wisely, and, in one word, to occupy and use your country. If you +do not, others will." + +The speaker then referred to the Parable of the Talents, Matt. xxv. +14-30, and continuing, impressively asked: "What are you doing with your +talent, Samoa? Your three talents, Savaii, Upolu, and Tutuila? Have you +buried it in a napkin? Not Upolu at least. You have rather given it out +to be trodden under feet of swine: and the swine cut down food trees and +burn houses, according to the nature of swine, or of that much worse +animal, foolish man, acting according to his folly. 'Thou knewest that I +reap where I sowed not, and gather where I have not strawed.' But God +has both sown and strawed for you here in Samoa; He has given you a rich +soil, a splendid sun, copious rain; all is ready to your hand, half +done. And I repeat to you that thing which is sure: if you do not occupy +and use your country, others will. It will not continue to be yours or +your children's, if you occupy it for nothing. You and your children +will in that case be cast out into outer darkness, where shall be +weeping and gnashing of teeth; for that is the law of God which passeth +not away. I who speak to you have seen these things. I have seen them +with my eyes--these judgments of God. I have seen them in Ireland, and I +have seen them in the mountains of my own country--Scotland--and my +heart was sad. These were a fine people in the past--brave, gay, +faithful, and very much like Samoans, except in one particular, that +they were much wiser and better at that business of fighting of which +you think so much. But the time came to them as it now comes to you, and +it did not find them ready. The messenger came into their villages, and +they did not know him; they were told, as you are told, to use and +occupy their country, and they would not hear. And now you may go +through great tracts of the land and scarce meet a man or a smoking +house, and see nothing but sheep feeding. The other people that I tell +you of have come upon them like a foe in the night, and these are the +other people's sheep who browse upon the foundation of their houses. To +come nearer; and I have seen this judgment in Oahu also. I have ridden +there the whole day along the coast of an island. Hour after hour went +by and I saw the face of no living man except that of the guide who rode +with me. All along that desolate coast, in one bay after another, we +saw, still standing, the churches that have been built by the Hawaiians +of old. There must have been many hundreds, many thousands, dwelling +there in old times, and worshipping God in these now empty churches. For +to-day they were empty; the doors were closed, the villages had +disappeared, the people were dead and gone; only the church stood on +like a tombstone over a grave, in the midst of the white men's sugar +fields. The other people had come and used that country, and the +Hawaiians who occupied it for nothing had been swept away, 'where is +weeping and gnashing of teeth.' + +"I do not speak of this lightly, because I love Samoa and her people. I +love the land, I have chosen it to be my home while I live, and my grave +after I am dead; and I love the people, and have chosen them to be my +people to live and die with. And I see that the day is come now of the +great battle; of the great and the last opportunity by which it shall be +decided whether you are to pass away like these other races of which I +have been speaking, or to stand fast and have your children living on +and honouring your memory in the land you received of your fathers. + +"The Land Commission and the Chief Justice will soon have ended their +labours. Much of your land will be restored to you, to do what you can +with. Now is the time the messenger is come into your villages to summon +you; the man is come with the measuring rod; the fire is lighted in +which you shall be tried, whether you are gold or dross. Now is the time +for the true champions of Samoa to stand forth. And who is the true +champion of Samoa? It is not the man who blackens his face, and cuts +down trees, and kills pigs and wounded men. It is the man who makes +roads, who plants food trees, who gathers harvests, and is a profitable +servant before the Lord, using and improving that great talent that has +been given him in trust. That is the brave soldier; that is the true +champion; because all things in a country hang together like the links +of the anchor cable, one by another: but the anchor itself is industry. + +"There is a friend of most of us, who is far away; not to be forgotten +where I am, where Tupuola is, where Poe Lelei, Mataafa, Solevao, Poe +Teleso, Tupuola Lotofaga, Tupuolo Amaile, Muliaiga, Ifopo, Fatialofa, +Lemusu are. He knew what I am telling you; no man better. He saw the day +was come when Samoa had to walk in a new path, and to be defended not +only with guns and blackened faces, and the noise of men shouting, but +by digging and planting, reaping and sowing. When he was still here +amongst us, he busied himself planting cacao; he was anxious and eager +about agriculture and commerce, and spoke and wrote continually; so that +when we turn our minds to the same matters, we may tell ourselves that +we are still obeying Mataafa. Ua tautala mai pea o ia ua mamao. + +"I know that I do not speak to idle or foolish hearers. I speak to those +who are not too proud to work for gratitude. Chiefs! You have worked for +Tusitala, and he thanks you from his heart. In this, I could wish you +could be an example to all Samoa--I wish every chief in these islands +would turn to, and work, and build roads, and sow fields, and plant food +trees, and educate his children and improve his talents--not for love of +Tusitala, but for the love of his brothers, and his children, and the +whole body of generations yet unborn. + +"Chiefs! On this road that you have made many feet shall follow. The +Romans were the bravest and greatest of people! mighty men of their +hands, glorious fighters and conquerors. To this day in Europe you may +go through parts of the country where all is marsh and bush, and perhaps +after struggling through a thicket, you shall come forth upon an ancient +road, solid and useful as the day it was made. You shall see men and +women bearing their burdens along that even way, and you may tell +yourself that it was built for them perhaps fifteen hundred years +before,--perhaps before the coming of Christ,--by the Romans. And the +people still remember and bless them for that convenience, and say to +one another, that as the Romans were the bravest men to fight, so they +were the best at building roads. + +"Chiefs! Our road is not built to last a thousand years, yet in a sense +it is. When a road is once built, it is a strange thing how it collects +traffic, how every year, as it goes on, more and more people are found +to walk thereon and others are raised up to repair and perpetuate it and +keep it alive; so that perhaps even this road of ours may, from +reparation to reparation, continue to exist and be useful hundreds and +hundreds of years after we are mingled in the dust. And it is my hope +that our far-away descendants may remember and bless those who laboured +for them to-day." + + + + +INDEX TO THE LETTERS + +[_For short Index to VOLS. I.-XXII., see pp. 509-519._] + + + "Abbe Coignard" (France), xxv. 409, 410 + + _Academy, The_, xxiii. _intro._ xvii., 166; contributions to, xxiii. + 184, xxv. 364 + + "Across the Plains," xxv. 123 & _n._ 1, xxv. 207, 224, 301 _n._ 1; + dedication, xxv. 127 & _n._ 1, xxv. 323 & _n._ 1; inception, xxv. 97 & + _n._ 1 + + "Actor's Wife," projected, xxiii. 308 + + Adams, Henry, historian, xxv. 4, 29, 41, 43, 45 + + "Address to the Unco Guid" (Burns), xxiii. 225 + + "Adela Chart" ("The Marriages," H. James), xxv. 108-9, 110 + + "Adelaide," song (Beethoven), xxiii. 64 + + Adirondack Mountains, stay in, xxiv. 234, 306 _et seq._ + + Admiral Benbow inn (Treasure Island), xxiii. 327 + + "Admiral Guinea," play (with Henley), xxiii. 327; xxiv. 106, 119, 120, + 146, 147; xxv. 447 + + "Admiral," the (Story of a Lie), xxiii. 248, 249; xxiv. 90 + + "Adventures of David Balfour," proposed double volume of, xxv. 283, + 357, 366 + + "AEneid," reading of, xxiv. 186, 265, 306 + + "AEsthetic Letters" (Schiller), xxiv. 71 + + Ahab, King, xxv. 304 + + "Ah perfido spergiuro," song, xxiii. 166 + + _Aitu fafine_, an, xxv. 41, 135 + + Alabama case, xxiii. 110 + + "Aladdin" (Pyle), xxv. 164 + + Alais, visit to, xxiii. 216 + + "Alan Breck Stewart," ("Catriona" and "Kidnapped"), xxiv. 201, 203, + xxv. 46, 142; letter as from, xxv. 46-8 + + Alexander, J. W., xxiv. 249, 250; drawing by, of R. L. S., xxiv. 199 + + Allan Ramsay, Fergusson and Burns, essay on, projected, xxiii. 191, + 192, 193 + + Allen, Grant, ballade by, xxiv. 248 + + "Amateur Emigrant," xxiii. 235, 237, 239, 240, 244, 252, 254, 255, + 259, 260, 265, 266, 267, 277, 352; xxv. 396-7 & _n._ 1, 398, 414, 423 + + "Amazing Marriage" (Meredith), R. L. S. drawn in, xxv. 344, 390-1 + + "Amelia Balfour," _see_ Jersey, Countess of + + American politics, xxiii. 112 + + Anderson, Dr., xxv. 457-8 + + Andrews, Mrs., xxiii. 113 + + Angelo, Michael, xxiii. 32 + + Angus, W. Craibe, letters to, xxv. 69, 87, 118 + + "Annals of the Persecutions in Scotland" (Aikman), xxiii. 18 + + Anser, xxiii. 22 + + Anstey, F., xxv. 275 + + Anstruther, at, xxiii. 12 + + "Antichrist, L'" (Renan), xxv. 304 + + "Antiquary, The" (Scott), xxiv. 91 + + Antwerp, xxiii. 185 + + Apemama, Gilbert Islands, xxiv. 358 + + Apia, at, xxiv. 293, 370, 375; xxv. 226; famous hurricane at, xxiv. + 345, 346, 369, 371; xxv. 147, 172-3, 174; prisoners at, gratitude + shown by, to R. L. S., xxv. 367 _et seq._ + + Apiang, Island, xxiv. 358 + + Apology, difficulty of, xxiii. 133, 134 + + "Apology for Idlers," xxiii. 203, 204, 205, 207, 210 + + "Appeal to the Clergy of the Church of Scotland," xxiii. 141, 142 + + Appin case (Catriona), xxv. 161, 351 + + Appin country, in, xxiii. 284 + + Appin Murder, xxiii. 284, 331, 332; xxv. 161, 351 + + Appleton, Dr., xxiii. _intro._ xvii. 143, 144, 168, 178 + + "Arblaster" (Black Arrow), xxiii. _intro._ xx. + + Arbroath, Abbot of, xxiii. 29 + + Archer, Thomas, letter to, xxiv. 305 + + Archer, William, xxiv. 105, 161, 214; letters to, xxiv. 147, 156, 161, + 163, 247, 270, 272, 273, xxv. 384 + + Archer, William and Thomas, letter to, xxiv. 300 + + Areia, chief, xxiv. 315 + + Arnold, Matthew, xxiii. 15 + + Arthur's Seat, xxiii. 71 + + Artist, the, problem of, xxv. 378-9 + + "Art of Literature," projected, xxiii. 342 + + "Art of Virtue," xxiii. 265 + + Asceticism and Christianity, xxiii. 213 + + Assurance of Faith, xxiii. 299,300 + + "As You Like It" (Shakespeare), xxiv. 96 + + _Atalanta_, magazine, contributions to, xxv. 279 & _n._ 1, 283 + + _Athenaeum_, xxiii. 239 + + "At Last" (Kingsley), xxiv. 101 + + "Attwater" (Ebb Tide), xxv. 301, 307, 350, 382 + + Atua, bombardment of, xxv. 424, 426 + + Auckland, visits to, xxv. 30, 34; xxv. 290, 291, 292 + + "Auld Licht Idylls" (Barrie), xxv. 264 + + "Auntie's Skirts" (Child's Garden of Verse), xxiii. 223 + + Aurevilly, Barbey d', works of, xxiv. 83; xxv. 174, 314, 379 + + "Ausfuerliche Erklarung der Hogarthischen Kupferstiche" (Lichtenberg), + xxiii. 178 + + "Autolycus at Court," xxiii. 170 + + "Autumn Effect, An," xxiii. 155, 166; xxv. 397-8 + + Autun, xxiii. 216, 219 + + Avignon, at, xxiii. 77 + + Ayrshire and Galloway, walking tour in, xxiii. 182, 202 + + + Babington, Mrs. Churchill, xxiii. 54; letter to, xxiii. 30 + + Babington, Professor Churchill, xxiii. 30, 54; xxiv. 130 + + Bacon, Sir F., on Time, xxiii. 81 + + Baildon, H. B., xxv. 56; letters to, xxv. 56, 377, 381 + + Baker, Mrs. A., letters to, xxv. 366, 413 + + Baker, Shirley, of Tonga, xxv. 40, 44 + + Baker, Sir Samuel, xxv. 175 + + Bakewell, Dr., letter to, xxv. 424 + + Balfour, Dr. George, xxiii. 330 + + Balfour, Graham, xxv. 221, 251 & _n._ 1, 292, 339, 348, 351, 355, 363, + 406, 416; "Life" of R. L. S., by, xxiii. _intro._ xix.; at Vailima, + xxv. 144, 374, 401, 403 + + Balfour, James, xxiii. 4 + + Balfour, Miss Jane, letter to, xxiii. 223 + + Balfour, Mr., of the Shaws, xxv. 47 + + Balfour, Mrs. Lewis, xxiii. 4, 5 + + Balfour of Burley (Old Mortality), xxiii. 130 + + Balfour, Rev. Lewis, xxiii. 4 + + "Balfour's Letters," xxv. 293 + + "Ballade in Hot Weather" (Henley), xxiv. 248 + + "Ballades, Rondeaus, etc." (collected by Gleeson White), xxiv. 248 + + "Ballads," xxiv. 380; xxv. 34, 53, 57, 73 + + Ballantyne, R., xxiii. _intro._ xxiii. + + Balzac, xxv. 154; on literary frenzy, xxiii. 173; style of, xxiv. 60 + + Bamford, Dr. W., xxiii. 271; letter to, xxiii. 272 + + "Barbara" (Catriona), xxv. 294-5 + + Barbizon, visits to, xxiii. 174 _et seq._, 183 + + Barmouth, visits to, xxiii. 124, 146 + + "Baronial and Ecclesiastical Antiquities" (Billing), xxiv. 270 + + "Barrack Room Ballads" (Kipling), xxv. 48 + + "Barrel Organ," xxiii. 171 + + Barrie, J. M., appreciation, xxv. 276-7: letters to, xxv. 154, 264, + 276, 362, 416 + + Barrie, Mrs. (Margaret Ogilvie), xxv. 417 + + Bartholomew, Messrs., xxv. 177 + + Basin, Thomas, xxiii. 203 & _n._ 1 + + Basselin, Olivier, poems by, xxiii. 193 + + Bass Rock, xxiii. 207 + + Bates, --, xxiii. 89 + + Bates, Edward Hugh Higlee, xxv. 384 + + Bates, E. M. G., xxv. 384 + + Bates, J. H., letter to, xxv. 384 + + Bathgate, the inn maid at, xxiii. 226, 227 + + "Bauble Shop," play (H. A. Jones), xxv. 385 + + Baudelaire, --, xxiii. 160, 195 + + Baxter, Charles, xxiii. 3, 159, 174, 285, 336, 341, 353, 356; xxiv. + 14, 47, 79; xxv. 174, 240, 266, 273, 306, 357; letters to, xxiii. 33, + 34, 46, 49, 52, 92, 193, 217, 262, 285, 336, 341; xxiv. 14, 121, 122, + 200, 251, 260, 268, 286, 294, 296, 301, 303, 322, 327, 343, 344, 369, + 375, 384, 392; xxv. 53, 82, 120, 177. 213, 270, 278, 288, 292, 337, + 345, 360, 376, 392, 394, 433; literary agency of, xxiv. 252; scheme + of, for "Edinburgh Edition," xxv. 372 & _n._ 1, 373 + + Baxter, Edmund, xxiv. 394; xxv. 54; death of, xxv. 433 + + Baynes, Professor Spencer, editor "Encyclopaedia Britannica," xxiii, + 202 + + "Beachcombers" (with Lloyd Osbourne), xxiv. 361 + + "Beach de Mar," projected xxv. 187 + + "Beach of Falesa," xxv. 5, 20, 25, 76, 97, 102, 103 & _n._ 1, 120, + 122, 131, 138, 147, 152, 221, 224, 235-6, & _n._ 1, 239, 240, 250, + 266, 272, 274, 284; illustrations to, xxv. 253-4, 288; marriage + contract in, xxv. 187 & _n._ 1; publication, xxv. 1. + + "Beau Austin," play (with Henley), xxiv. 106 + + Becker, Consul, xxv. 139, 141, 268 + + "Becket" (Tennyson), xxv. 385 + + "Bedtime" projected, xxiv. 99 + + "Beggars" (_Scribner's_), xxiv. 235, 253; xxv. 97, 209, 301 + + Bell Rock, book on, xxiv. 78; xxv. 322; controversy on, xxiv. 121 + + Bell, the, in the Vailima woods, xxv. 277 + + Ben More, xxiii. 318 + + Bennet, Dr., xxiii. 84, 101 + + Bentley, publisher, xxiii. 336, 339, 346 + + Beranger, article on, xxiii. 186, 191, 193 + + Bereavement, xxiv. 52 + + Berlin Convention, xxv. 6 + + Berlioz, paper on (Henley), xxiii. 318 + + "Bete Humaine" (Zola), xxiv. 396; xxv. 319 + + "Betteredge" (Moonstone), xxiii. 18 + + Bickford, Captain, R.N., C.M.G., xxv. 334, 351 + + Bitter Creek, xxiii. 234 + + _Black and White_, contributions to, xxiii. 286, 337, 341 + + "Black Arrow," xxiv. 5, 31, 56, 247, 376, 385 & _n._ 1; serial issue, + xxiv. 55; success, xxiv. 68; suggested French version, xxiv. 398 + + "Black Canyon" (L. Osbourne), xxiii. 347, 348, 349 + + Blackie, Professor, xxiii. 28, 30, 306 + + Blacklock, Consul, xxv. 142 + + "Black Man," xxiii. 308 + + _Blackwood's Magazine_, xxiv. 370 + + Blair of Blairmyle (_see_ "Young Chevalier"), xxv. 216 + + "Blanche Amory" (Thackeray), xxiv. 212 + + "Bloody Wedding," projected, xxv. 66, 97 + + Board of Trade Offices, xxiv. 87 + + Boccaccio, xxv. 301 + + "Body Snatchers," xxiii. 308, 316, 321; xxiv. 125, 130; xxv. 397 + + "Bondage of Brandon" (Hemming), xxiii. 333 + + "Bondman, The" (Hall Caine), xxiv. 396-7 + + Boodle, Miss Adelaide, xxiv. 375; letters to, xxiv. 231, 259, 267, + 284, 297, 339, 401; xxv. 80, 147, 217, 243, 248, 410 + + "Book, A, of Stories," projected contents, xxiii. 171 + + "Book of Verses" (Henley), xxv. 121 + + _Book Reader_, notice of "Prince Otto," xxiv. 195 + + Books wanted, xxiii. 36, 332; xxiv. 78, 101, 130, 134, 270, 274, 338; + xxv. 111, 112, 174, 215, 271, 287, 293, 346, 361, 392 + + Boswell, James, xxiii. 193, 203, 295 + + "Bottle Imp," xxiv. 292; xxv. 272, 284, 340; Samoan translation, xxv. + 64 & _n._ 1 + + Bough, Sam, painter, xxiii. 24, 26-30; xxiv. 60 + + Bourget, Paul, xxv. 130-2, 315, 323 + + Bourke, Captain, R.N., xxv. 263 + + Bournemouth, at, xxiv. 104 _et seq._; xxv. 111 + + "Bouroche, Major" (Debacle), xxv. 250 + + Braemar, at, xxiii. 282, 313, 320 + + Braille, books by R. L. S., to be issued in, xxv. 366, 413 + + Brandeis, xxv. 141 + + "Brashiana," burlesque sonnets, xxiii. 283; xxiv. 14, 38, 39 + + Brash, the publican, xxiii. 336; xxiv. 14 + + Braxfield (Weir of Hermiston), xxv. 260 & _n._ 1, 264-5; portrait of, + xxv. 453 + + Bridge of Allan, at, xxiii. 33, 174 + + British Museum, visits to, xxiv. 105, 107, 186-7, 202, 229, 365 + + Bronson, --, editor, xxiii. 240 + + Brooke, Rajah, xxv. 129 + + Brown, --, xxiv. 230 + + Brown, Dr. John, verses to, xxiii. 296, 297 + + Brown, Horatio F., xxiii. 303, 304; letters to, xxiii. 303, 304 + + Brown, Mrs., xxiii. 13 + + Brown, Rev. Dr., xxv. 312 + + Brown R. Glasgow (editor of _London_), xxiii. 184, 251; illness, + xxiii. 214 & _n._ 1 + + Browne, Gordon, xxv. 301, 305; letter to, xxv. 252 + + Browning, Robert, xxiv. 107, 202; book on, by Gosse, xxv. 74 + + Bruce, Michael, xxiii. 71 + + Bruno, Father, xxiv. 312, 334 + + Brussels, at, xxiii. 36 + + Buckinghamshire, walking tour in, xxiii. 124, 155 + + Buckle, Mrs., xxiv. 176 + + "Bucolics" (Virgil), xxiii. 18 + + "Bummkopf" (typical pedant), xxiii. 225 + + Bunner, --, xxiv. 64, 154 + + Bunting, --, xxiv. 227 + + Bunyan, John, xxiv. 29; essay on, xxiii. 334; xxv. 398 + + Burford Bridge, visit to, xxiii. 183 + + Burial customs, Gilbert Islanders', xxiv. 400-1 + + Burke, Edmund, xxiii. 71 + + Burlingame, E. L., editor of _Scribner's Magazine_, xxiv. 233; xxv. 6, + 138; letters to, xxiv. 253-4, 269, 273-4, 319, 338, 367, 376, 387, + 394, xxv. 24, 32, 86, 110, 128, 145, 174, 210, 215, 257, 266 + + Burne-Jones, Sir Edward, xxiii. 224; xxiv. 101, 107, 202; xxv. 394 + + Burney, "Admiral," R.N., xxv. 394 + + Burn, Miss, xxiv. 89 + + Burns Exhibition, Glasgow, xxv. 69, 87 _et seq._ + + Burns, Robert, xxiii. _intro._ xxiii.; xxv. 69, 70, 88, 395-6; + articles and writings on, xxiii. 111, 151, 179, 191, 192, 193, 202, + 203, 224, 226, 237, 241, 245, 250, 263, 273, 358, xxiv. 63; house of, + Dumfries, xxiii. 66; judgment on, xxiii. 224; poems of, xxiii. 4, + xxiv. 256 + + Burt, xxiii. 298 + + _Bussard_, the ship, xxv. 425 + + Butaritari, Gilbert Islands, xxiv. 358 + + "But still our hearts are true" (Eglinton), xxv. 69, 70 + + "But yet the Lord that is on high" (Scotch Psalter), xxiii. 23 + + "By Proxy" (Payn), xxiv. 7 + + Byron, Lord, xxiii. 132; essay on (Henley), xxiii. 318; xxiv. 7 + + + Caldecott, Randolph, xxiii. 248, 267 + + California, visit to, xxiii. 228 + + Calistoga, at, xxiii. 277 + + Calton Hill (Picturesque Notes on Edinburgh), xxiii. 216 + + Calvin, John, studies in, xxiii. 126 + + Cambridge, visits to, xxiii. 219; xxiv. 105 + + Cameron, Captain, xxiv. 349, 350 + + Campagne Defli, at, xxiv. 4, 8 _et seq._ + + Campbell of Glenure, murder of, xxiii. 284, 331, 332 + + Campbell, Rev. Professor Lewis, xxiii. 278, 316; letter to, xxiv. 113 + + "Canadian Boat Song" (Earl of Eglinton), xxv. 69, 70 + + Candlish, Dr., xxiv. 63 + + "Cannon Mills," projected, xxiv. 403 + + Canoe Journey in France (_see_ Inland Voyage), xxiii. 204 + + "Canoe, The, Speaks" (Underwoods), xxiv. 89, 231 + + "Canterbury Pilgrimage" (Chaucer), illustrated, gift of, xxiv. 149 + + "Capitaine Fracasse, Le" (Theophile Gautier), xxiii. 75 + + Cap Martin, xxiii. _intro._ xxxiv., 93, 114 + + "Captain Singleton" (Defoe), xxiv. 101, 102 + + Carlyle, Thomas, xxiii. 302; xxiv. 135; appreciation of, xxiii. 301, + 302; on Coleridge, xxiii. 220 + + "Carmosine" (Musset), xxiv. 97 + + Carrington, C. Howard, letter to, xxiv. 152 + + Carr, T. Comyns, xxiv. 68 + + Carruthers, --, xxv. 40 + + Carson, Mrs., xxiii. 252 + + "Carthew" (Wrecker), xxv. 112 & _n._ 1 + + "Casamassima" (H. James), xxiv. 263 + + _Casco_, schooner, cruise in, xxiv. 234, 287 _et seq._, 290-1, 300, + 305, 310, 312-3, 316 _et seq._, 325 _et seq._ + + "Case Bottle," xxiii. 281 + + "Cashel Byron's Profession" (Shaw), xxiv. 270-1 + + "Casparidea," unpublished, xxiii. 283 + + "Cassandra" (Mrs. R. L. Stevenson), xxiv. 22 + + Cassell and Co., xxiv. 110, 127; xxv. 57, 110, 124, 272, 283 + + "Catriona" (at first called "David Balfour," _q.v._), xxiii. _intro._ + xxiii., 331; xxiv. 190, 402; xxv. 108, 144, 155, 158 & _n._ 1, 160-1, + 163, 166-7, 172, 187, 192, 201-2, 211, 215, 240, 250, 264, 274, 283, + 290, 298, 301, 305, 310, 316, 344, 351 & _n._ 1, 352, 378; in Braille, + xxv. 366; characters in, xxv. 216; draft of, xxv. 162; maps for, xxv. + 177-8; "my high-water mark," xxv. 393 (but _see_ 379); projected + illustrations, xxv. 349 _n._ 1; replies to remarks on, xxv. 294 _et + seq._; restraint of description in, xxv. 367 + + Cavalier (de Sonne), xxiii. 307 + + Cavalier, Jean, xxiii. 306, 307 + + "Cavalier," The (G. P. R. James), xxiv. 274 + + Cedercrantz, Conrad, Chief Justice of Samoa, xxv. 7, 13, 48-9, 67, + 95-6, 98-100, 102, 124-5, 175, 188, 239, 256, 275, 278, 281, 286, 305, + 364, 376, 380-1 + + Celtic blood in Britain, xxv. 379 + + _Century Magazine_, xxiv. 26, 30, 55, 90, 171; article in, by H. + James, on R. L. S., xxiv. 250-1; contributions to, xxiii. 338, xxiv. + 55, 170, 171, 185; critical notice in, of R. L. S., xxiv. 63, 64 + + Cevennes, the tramp in (_see_ "Travels with a Donkey"), xxiii. 183 + + Ceylon, projected visit, xxv. 98 + + Chair of History and Constitutional Law, Edinburgh University, + candidature for, xxiii. 282, 309 _et seq._, 331, 335, 336 + + Chalmers, Rev. J., xxv. 30, 33, 39, 56-7 + + "Chapter of Artistic History," suggested title for proposed book by + Henley, xxiii. 318 + + "Chapter on Dreams" (_Scribner's_), xxiv. 235; xxv. 97 + + "Character of Dogs" (_English Illustrated_), xxiv. 67; xxv. 41 _n._ 2 + + "Charity Bazaar," xxv. 398 + + Charles of Orleans, paper on, xxiii. 182, 191, 192, 202, 203, 204 + + "Charlotte" (Sorrows of Werther), xxiii. 60, 61 + + Charteris, Rev. Dr., xxiv. 276; letters to, xxiv. 276, 279 + + Chastity, xxiii. 338, 360 + + Chateaubriand (Sainte-Beuve), xxiii. 78 + + Chatto, Andrew, letter to, xxiv. 110 + + Chatto and Windus, publishers, xxiii. 335; xxiv. 110; xxv. 395; letter + to, xxiv. 231 + + Chepmell, Dr., xxiv. 242 + + Chester visited, xxiii. 145, 146 + + "Chevalier Des Touches" (d'Aurevilly), xxv. 174, 314, 380 + + Chicago Exhibition, xxv. 379 + + Children, feelings towards, xxiii. 99, 101, 147, 171 + + Children in the [Kilburn] Cellar (_see also_ Boodle), letter to, xxv. + 243 + + "Child's Garden of Verse," xxiii. 282; xxiv. 5, 17 _et seq._, 24, 54, + 55, 70, 99 _et seq._, 106, 116, 154; xxv. 385; dedication, xxiv. 16, + 19, 27, 92; illustrations, xxiv. 18 _et seq._, 32, 115; publication, + xxiv. 138, 140; reviews, xxiv. 147 + + "Child's Play," xxiv. 70; xxv. 301 + + Chiltern Hills, visited, xxiii. 155 + + "Choice of Books" (F. Harrison), xxv. 113 + + Christianity and Asceticism, xxiii. 213 + + Christmas Books (Dickens), xxiii. 148 + + Christmas Day at Vailima, xxv. 40-1 + + "Christmas Sermon," xxv. 123 _n._ 1 + + Christ's Hospital, xxiv. 206, 207 + + Chrystal, Professor, xxiv. 118 + + "Cimourdain" (Quatre-vingt Treize, by Hugo), xxiii. 130 _n._ 1 + + "Clarissa Harlowe" (Richardson), xxiii. 210 + + Clarke, Mrs. W. E., xxv. 26 + + Clark, R. & R., printers, xxv. 124 + + Clark, Rev. W. E., missionary, xxiv. 371; xxv. 10, 11 & _n._ 1, 26, + 30, 64 _n._ 1, 101; xxv. 203, 236, 329, 330, 422, 458, 460 + + Clark, Sir Andrew, xxiii. 55, 77, 84 + + Claxton, missionary, xxv. 64 + + Clinton, --, xxiii. 332, 333 + + Clouds, descriptions of, xxv. 178-9 + + Club, at Vailima, xxv. 168, 170, 176 + + Clytie, bust of, xxiii. 170 + + Cockfield Rectory, xxiii. 276; at, xxiii. 54, 56 + + "Coggie," _see_ Ferrier, Miss + + Coleridge, S. T., xxiii. 220 + + Colinton, manse of, xxiii. 5 + + "Collected Essays" (Huxley), xxiv. 219 + + Collins, Wilkie, xxiii. 238 + + "Colonel Jack" (Defoe), xxiv. 101, 103 + + Colorado, xxiv. 110 _et seq._, 229 _et seq._, 234 + + Colvin, Lady (_see also_ Sitwell, Mrs.), xxiii. 54 + + Colvin, Sir Sidney, xxiii. 88, 91, 93, 94 _et seq._, 116, 117, 152; + xxiv. 13, 47, 133, 191, 210, 216, 278, 323, 343, 396; choice of, for + literary executor, xxiii. _intro._ xviii.; introduction of Eeles to, + xxv. 452; letters to (_see_ especially xxv. 5), xxiii. 75, 76, 105, + 106, 108, 124, 127, 129, 140, 141, 143, 157, 167, 169, 173, 178, 186, + 191, 195, 196, 201, 202, 206, 211, 212, 225, 230, 232, 234, 235, 241, + 244, 247, 251, 253, 258, 267, 269, 272, 273, 274, 276, 284, 291, 297, + 300, 308, 310, 316, 320, 339, 349; xxiv. 15, 33, 55, 69, 81, 98, 99, + 101, 134, 136, 137, 186, 189, 192, 210, 219, 227, 235-6, 238, 264, + 265, 275, 283, 285, 293, 295, 298, 316, 329, 336, 353, 357, 362, 385; + xxv. 9, 25, 34, 48, 54, 58, 66, 76, 83, 90, 94, 102, 112, 121, 132, + 152, 156, 166, 178, 193, 211, 221, 230, 249, 258, 271, 282, 289, 291, + 294, 299, 310, 324, 338, 347, 352, 367, 380, 382, 387, 396, 404, 414, + 422, 430, 441 (the last), 448; letters to, from Mrs. R. L. Stevenson, + xxiv. 308, 347; portraits of, xxv. 78-9, 80 & _n._ 1, 83-5, 94, 100; + testimonial from, xxiii. 316 + + "Come back" (Clough), xxiii. 294 + + Comines, Philippe de, xxiii. 193 + + Commissioners of Northern Lights, yacht of, xxv. 98 & _n._ 1 + + "Comtesse d'Escarbaguas" (Moliere), xxiv. 123 + + "Comtesse de Rudolstadt" (Sand), xxiii. 135 + + "Confessions" (St. Augustine), xxiv. 82-3 + + Congdon, L. C., xxv. 384 + + Conrad, Joseph, xxv. 76 + + "Consuelo" (Sand), xxiii. 87, 135 + + Consulship, xxv. 208 & _n._ 1 + + _Contemporary Review_, contributions to, xxiv. 143, 181, 227; xxv. 398 + + Cook's "Voyages," xxv. 346 + + "Coolin," Skye terrier, xxiv. 201 + + Coquelin, xxiii. 276 + + _Cornhill Magazine_, xxiii. _intro._ xvii.; xxiv. 355; contributions + to, xxiii. 56, 104, 125, 129, 180, 184, 191, 201, 203, 204, 205, 206, + 208, 210, 211, 224, 237, 238, 256, 258, 264, 281, 341, 352, 355; xxiv. + 90; xxv. 397; Henley's "Hospital" poems in, xxiii. 174 _n._ 1, 176 + + Cornwall, Barry, xxv. 29 _n._ 2 + + Cornwall, impressions of, xxiii. 207 + + "Correspondence" (Wodrow's), xxiii. 291 + + Corsica, glimpse of, xxiii. 108 + + "Country Dance," xxiii. 171, 172 + + "Country Wife" (Wycherley), Lamb's essay on, xxiv. 87 + + Covenanters, xxiii. 65, 67; rhyming by, xxv. 363 + + Craig, --, xxiii. 25 + + Cramond, xxiii. 61 + + "Cramond" and other cousins, xxiv. 44 + + Crane, Walter, xxiii. 212; xxiv. 32 + + "Crashaw," essay (Gosse), xxiii. 291 + + "Crime inconnu" (Mery), xxiii. 258 + + "Crime, Le, et le Chatiment" (Dostoieffsky), xxiv. 182 _n._ 1, 183 + + "Criminal Trials" (Arnott), xxiii. 332 + + "Critical Kitcats" (Gosse), xxiv. 235 + + _Critic, The_, notice in, xxiv. 64 + + Crockett, S. R., xxv. 349 & _n._ 2, 403; letters to, xxiv. 280; xxv. + 305 + + Crosse, Henry, sculptor, xxv. 383 + + Cumming, Miss Gordon, xxiv. 308 + + Cummy (_see_ Cunningham) + + Cunningham, Alison, xxiii. 5, 69, xxiv. 100; letters to, xxiii. 32, + 340; xxiv. 16, 17, 44, 167, 196, 200, 202, 204, 220; xxv. 359, 445 + + _Curacoa_, H.M.S., xxv. 189, 202, 234, 267 _et seq._, 416, 425; + officers of, xxv. 374, 389, 405-9, 414, 447, 450; petty officers' + ball, xxv. 414-5 + + "Curate of Anstruther's Bottle," xxiii. 108, 109, 170 + + Curtin, Jeremiah, widow and daughters of, xxiv. 108, 222 + + Cusack-Smith, Sir Berry, xxv. 334 + + + Dalgleish, Dr. Scott, and the Ballantyne Memorial, xxv. 393 + + Damien, Father, xxiv. 291-2, 349, 354, 356; letter on, xxiv. 383-4, + 391 _n._ 1, 404; xxv. 124 + + "Damned Ones of the Indies" (Joseph Mery), xxiii. 258 + + Damon, Rev. F., xxiv. 383 + + "Dance of Death" (Rowlandson's), xxv. 292-3 + + Dancing Children (Notes on the Movements of Young Children), xxv. + 397-8 + + "Daniel Deronda" (George Eliot), xxiii. 210 + + Darien affair, books on, wanted, xxv. 361 + + Darwin, Charles, xxiii. 57, 122 + + David Balfour, character, xxv. 155, 189-90 + + "David Balfour" (title first given both to "Kidnapped" and "Catriona," + _q.v._), xxiv. 179, 190-1, 196, 201, 204; xxv. 108, 144, 158 & _n._ 1, + 160, 161-2, 163, 167, 172, 177, 279, 283, 313, 316, 351, 366, 379; + "Catriona" issued as, in serial form, xxv. 294; historical + introduction planned, xxv. 376; unfinished, xxiv. 402 + + Davis, Dr., of Savaii, xxv. 32 + + Davos, visits to, xxiii. _intro._ xxxiv., 280 _et seq._, 331 _et + seq._; papers on (_Pall Mall Gazette_), xxiii. 281, 347 + + "Dawn of the Century" (Ashton), xxv. 392 + + "Day after To-morrow" (_Contemporary_), xxv. 398 + + "Deacon Brodie," play (with Henley), xxiii. 185, 257; xxiv. 119, 230, + 248; production, xxiv. 99, 102, 261 + + "Dead Man's Letter," projected, xxiii. 249, 308 + + Deans, Jeanie, xxiii. 65 + + "Death in the Pot," projected, xxv. 314 & _n._ 1 + + Death, thoughts on, xxiii. 136, 275, 276; xxiv. 58, 162, 183, 227 + + "Debacle" (Zola), xxv. 250 & _n._ 1, 318, 319, 379 + + Deborah and Barak, fancies on, xxiii. 154, 155 + + "Decisions of the Lords of Council" (Fountainhall), xxv. 293, 336, 360 + + "Defence of Idlers" (_see_ "Apology for Idlers") + + Defoe, Daniel, works of, xxiv. 101, 103 + + "Delafield," xxiii. 350; xxv. 55-6 _n._ 1 + + "Delhi," and other cousins, xxiv. 44 + + de Mattos, Mrs., letters to, xxiii. 199; xxiv. 152, 167 + + "Demi-Monde" (Dumas _fils_), scene in, xxiv. 273 + + Depression, xxiii. 199, 200 + + De Quincey, Thomas, biography of (Japp), xxiii. 321 + + "Derniere Aldini, La," xxiv. 97 + + Desborough, Mrs., xxiv. 177 + + Descamps, Maxime, xxiv. 405 + + "Descent of Man" (Darwin), xxiii. 57 + + des Ursins, Juvenal, xxiii. 192 + + "Devil on Cramond Sands," xxiii. 170, 249, 308 + + Dew-Smith, A. G., xxiv. 151; letter to, xxiii. 287 + + Dhu Heartach lighthouse, xxiii. 10 + + "Diaboliques, Les" (d'Aurevilly), xxv. 174 + + "Dialogue of Character and Destiny," unfinished, xxiii. 257, 267 + + "Dialogue on Man, Woman, and 'Clarissa Harlowe,'" projected, xxiii. + 211 + + Diana of the Ephesians, play on, planned, xxiii. 124, 125 + + "Diary," suggested publication of, xxv. 208 + + Dick, Mr., xxiv. 135; letter to, xxiv. 83 + + "Dickon Crookback" (Black Arrow), xxiii. _intro._ xx. + + "Dictionary of Music" (Grove), xxiii. 151 + + Didier, Father, xxv. 67 + + "Die Judin" at Frankfurt, xxiii. 44 + + Disappointment, xxiii. 295 + + Dobell, Dr., xxiv. 201, 230 + + Dobson, Austin, xxiii. 307; xxiv. 205; letter to, xxiv. 126 + + "Dr. Syntax's Tour," xxv. 292-3 + + "Dodd" (Wrecker), xxv. 378 + + "Dogs" (Mayhew), xxiii. 341 + + "Dolly" (Way of the World), xxiii. 215 + + Donadieu's restaurant, xxiii. 254 + + Donat, --, xxiv. 312 + + "Don Juan" (Byron), xxiii. 354 + + "Don Juan," unfinished play (with Henley), xxiii. 256, 257, 258 + + Dorchester, visited, xxiv. 153 + + Dostoieffsky's works, xxiv. 182-3 + + Dover, T. W., letter to, xxv. 209 + + Dowden, Professor, xxiv, 211-12 + + Dowdney, --, xxv. 138 + + Dowson, Mr., xxiii. 86, 88 + + Doyle, Sir A. Conan, letters to, xxv. 298, 336, 429 + + "Dreams," xxv. 97 + + Duddingston Loch, xxiii. 75, 164 + + "Du hast Diamanten und Perlen," song, xxiii. 58 + + Dumas, Alexandre (_pere_), xxiii. 347; Henley's book on, xxiv. 54, 257 + + Dumas, novels of, xxiv. 398 + + Dumfries, at, xxiii. 64 + + Dunblane, at, xxiii. 33 + + Dunnet, --, xxv. 106 + + Dunoyer, Olympe, xxiii. 307 + + "Du schoenes Fischermaedchen," song (Schubert), xxiii. 139 + + Dutra, Augustin, xxiii. 240 + + Dutton, Mr., xxiv. 356 + + "Dyce of Ythan," projected (_see also_ "The Young Chevalier"), xxv. 172 + + "Dynamiter, The," xxiv. 114, 176 + + Dynamite, views on, xxiv. 108 + + + Earraid, Isle of, xxiii. 10, 24, 318 + + "Earthly Paradise" (Morris), xxiii. 36 + + Easter Island, images from, xxiv. 362, 367 + + "Ebb Tide" (with Lloyd Osbourne), xxiv. 361, 399 & _n._ 1, 402; xxv. + 120, 172 & _n._ 1, 281, 288 _et seq._, 290 & _n._ 1, 301 _et seq._, + 307, 310, 314 _et seq._, 318, 321, 325, 350, 353, 372; criticism, xxv. + 347 _et seq._; illustrations for, notes on, xxv. 301 + + "Echoes" (Henley), xxv. 215 + + Eckenhelm, xxiii. 39 + + "Eclogues" (Virgil), xxiii. 34 + + Edinburgh Academy (school), old boys' dinner, xxiii. 168, 169 + + Edinburgh, at, xxiii. _passim_; homes in, xxiii. 5; life at, 1874-5, + xxiii. 123 _et seq._ + + Edinburgh Castle, xxiii. 69, 71 + + _Edinburgh Courant_, wanted, xxv. 392 + + Edinburgh Edition of works, xxv. 372-3, 394, 396, 404, 414; + illustrations in, xxv. 423 & _n._ 1; suggested prefaces, xxv. 376 + + "Edinburgh Eleven" (Barrie), xxv. 276 + + Edinburgh, influence of, xxv. 155 + + Edinburgh, "Picturesque Notes on," xxiii. 185, 211, 216, 218 + + _Edinburgh Review_, article in, on Rembrandt, by Colvin, xxiii. 225 + + Edinburgh Society of Arts, medal awarded to R. L. S., xxiii. 10 + + Edinburgh streets, xxiv. 100 + + Edinburgh University, Speculative Society at, xxiii. 35, 64, 184; + xxiii. 312; xxiv. 178 studies at, xxiii. 8 _et seq._ + + Eeles, Lieutenant, R.N., xxv. 415; letters to, xxv. 267, 451 + + Effort, uses of, xxiv. 88 + + Eglinton, Hugh, 12th Earl of, xxv. 69 + + "Egoist, The" (Meredith), xxiii. 353 + + Eimeo, storm near, xxiv. 324 + + "Einst, O Wunder, einst," song, xxiii. 65 + + "Elements of Style" (_Contemporary Review_), xxiv. 181 + + Elgin marbles, the, xxiii. 158-60, 163-4 + + Eliot, George, works of, xxiii. 210 + + Elstree murder, xxiii. 338 + + "Emerson" (H. James), xxiv. 278 + + "Emigrant Train, The," xxv. 97 + + "Encyclopaedia Britannica," contributions to, xxiii. 179, 186, 191, + 202-3 + + "Endymion" (Keats), xxiv. 170 + + "Engineer's Thumb" (Doyle), xxv. 340 + + England and Samoa, xxv. 6 _et seq._ + + England and Scotland, contrasts between, xxiii. 56 _et seq._ + + _English Illustrated Magazine_, contributions to, xxiv. 68 & _n._ 1 + + "English Odes," edited by Gosse, xxiii. 292; suggestions concerning, + xxiii. 293-4 + + English, the, mock definition of, xxiii. 225 + + "English Village, An" (Gosse), xxv. 457 + + "English Worthies" Series, book for, xxiv. 134 + + "Ensorcelee, L'" (d'Aurevilly), xxv. 314, 380 + + "Epilogue to an Inland Voyage," xxiv. 68 + + Epitaph for himself, by R. L. S., xxiii. 269; xxv. 375 + + Epitaph (mock) on himself, xxiv. 69 + + _Equator_, schooner, cruise in, xxiv. 291-2, 340, 343, 347, 357-8, + 369, 390; xxv. 3 + + "Eroica" Symphony (Beethoven), xxiii. 166 + + "Escape at Bedtime" ("Child's Garden"), xxiv. 55 + + Essays, xxiii. 143; selected, projected volume and suggested contents, + xxv. 301 & _n._ 1 + + "Essays in Art" (Hamerton), xxiii. 242 + + "Essays in London" (H. James), xxv. 367 + + "Essays on the Art of Writing," xxiv. 265 + + "Essays on Travel," xxiii. 201, 281 + + "Etherege," essay (Gosse), xxiv. 45 + + "Evan Harrington" (Meredith), characters in, xxiv. 97 + + Evictions, Highland, xxiii. 298 + + "Evictions" (Miller), xxiii. 297 + + Ewing, Professor, xxiv. 226 + + Exeter, visited, xxiv. 105, 153 + + "Expansion of England" (Seeley), xxiv. 55, 56 + + + "Fables in Song," xxiii. 127-8, 132, 141, 142 + + "Fables" (Lord Lytton), xxiii. 129 + + Fage, xxiii. 307 + + Fairchild, Blair, xxiv. 239, 405 + + Fairchild, Charles, xxiv. 233, 237, 239, 250; letter to, xxiv. 246 + + Fairchild, Mrs. Charles, xxiv. 233, 237, 239, 250; xxv. 379; letters + to, xxiv. 403; xxv. 163, 240 + + Fair Isle, visit to, xxiii. 24 + + Fakarava, at, xxiv. 295, 312 + + "Falconers, The Two, of Cairnstane," xxiii. 170 + + _Falke_, the, xxv. 425 + + Fall of Man, the, xxiii. 212 + + "Familiar Essays," xxiv. 230 + + "Familiar Studies of Men and Books," xxiii. 149, 224, 229, 351, 355; + publication, xxiii. 335. + + "Family of Engineers" ("History of the Stevensons" or the "Northern + Lights"), unfinished; xxv. 120, 310, 315-6, 319-20, 322, 334, 339, + 348, 357; germ of, xxiv. 279; xxv. 95 + + "Family of Love," xxiii. 170 + + "Fantasio" (de Musset), xxiv. 97 + + Farehau, xxiv. 310, 315 + + "F.A.S., In Memoriam" (Underwoods), xxiii. 300 + + Fast-day, xxiii. 153 + + "Fastidious Brisk," sobriquet, xxiv. 72 + + "Faust" (Goethe), xxiv. 71 + + Faxon, --, xxiv. 390 + + "Femmes Savantes" (Moliere), xxiv. 123 + + Fenian dynamite outrages, xxiii. 320 + + Fergusson, Robert, poet, xxiv. 214, 215; xxv. 57, 70-1, 88; monument, + xxv. 395-6 + + Ferrier, James Walter, xxiii. 48, 223; xxiv. 46, 47, 63, 98; + appreciation of, xxiv. 46 _et seq._; collaboration with, xxv. 398; + death, xxiv. 6, 46 _et seq._, 59, 69, 71-2, 96 _n._ 1; letter to, + xxiii. 269 + + Ferrier, Miss, xxiv. 90; letters to, xxiv. 46, 52, 71, 88, 121, 132, + 282 + + Festetics de Solna, Count, at Apia, xxv. 415 + + Fielding, Henry, xxiii. 129 + + Fiji, xxv. 50, 96, 102 + + Fiji, High Commissioner of, proclamation by, xxv. 280 + + "Finsbury Tontine, The" (_see_ "Wrong Box") + + Flaubert, Gustave, on prose, xxv. 71-2 + + Fleming, Marjorie, xxiv. 245 _n._ 1; verses of, xxv. 385 + + "Flint, Captain" ("Treasure Island"), xxiii. 326 + + "Flowers of the Forest," air, xxiii. 113 + + Folau, --, Chief Judge, xxv. 30 + + "Folk Lore" (Lang), xxiv. 130 + + Follete, M., xxiii. 100 + + "Fons Bandusiae" (Macdonald), xxiv. 249 + + Fontainebleau (_see also_ Barbizon, _and_ "Forest Notes"), visits to, + xxiii. 124, 182, 183, 184, 189, 282, 305 + + "Footnote to History," xxiv. 362 _et seq._, 369 _et seq._, 386; xxv. + 5, 41 _n._ 1, 117, 120, 122, 124, 126, 129-30, 138, 140-4, 146, 163, + 172, 188, 192, 211, 250, 257, 267, 274; publication of, xxv. 146; + German reception of, xxv. 346 + + "Foreigner, The, at Home," essay, xxiii. 56 + + "Forester," unfinished paper (J. W. Ferrier), xxiii. 269 + + "Forest Notes," essay on Fontainebleau (_Magazine of Art_), xxiii. + 180, 181, 186, 198, 201, 202; xxiv. 32, 57, 58, 67, 68 _n._ 1; xxv. + 397-8 + + "Forest State, The: A Romance" (_see also_ "Prince Otto"), xxiii. 259, + 265, 266 + + Forfeited Estates, tenants of, xxiii. 298 + + Forster, --, xxiii. 321 + + Forth, Firth of, xxiii. 61, 68, 69 + + _Fortnightly Review_, contributions to, xxiii. 127, 132, 281 + + "Fortune by Sea and Land" (Heywood), xxiii. 354 + + Fortune, Mr. and Mrs., xxiii. 15 + + "Fortunes of Nigel" (Scott), xxiv. 91 + + Foss, Captain, xxv. 106 + + "Four Great Scotsmen," project for, xxiii. 111 + + "Fra Diavolo," at Frankfurt, xxiii. 42 + + France, Anatole, xxv. 321, 409 + + Franchise for working men, xxiii. 97 + + Francois, a baker, xxiii. 240; xxiv. 42 + + Francois Villon, xxiii. 182, 191, 192, 207; xxiv. 397; Schwob's + writings on, xxv. 52 + + Frank, --, xxv. 330 + + Frankfurt, at, xxiii. 38 + + Franklin, Benjamin, article on, projected, xxiii. 253, 265, 266, 333 + + _Fraser's Magazine_, contribution to, xxv. 97, 123 + + French possessions in the Pacific, xxiv. 293 + + French translations, _see_ letters to Schwob + + "Friend," the (S. T. Coleridge), xxiii. 221 + + Friends, the six, xxiv. 47 + + "Fruits of Solitude" (Penn), xxiii. 303 + + Funk, Dr., xxv. 416, 458 + + + Galitzin, Prince Leon, xxiii. 119, 120, 121, 125, 155 + + Galpin, --, xxiv. 202 + + "Gamekeeper," sobriquet for Miss Boodle, xxiv. 259, 284 + + "Game of Bluff," _see_ "Wrong Box" + + Garschine, Madame, xxiii. 98, 99, 102, 108, 115, 147; letter from, + xxiii. 128 + + "Gauvain" (Quatre-vingt Treize, by Hugo), xxiii. 130 _n._ 1 + + "Gavin Ogilvy," character (Barrie), xxv. 277 + + "Gavottes Celebres" (Litolf's edition), xxiv. 188 + + "Gebir," line from, quoted (Landor), xxiii. 329 + + "Genesis of the Master of Ballantrae," xxv. 33 + + "Gentleman of France" (Weyman), xxv. 312 + + "George the Pieman" (Deacon Brodie), xxiii. 257 + + German policy in Samoa, xxiv. 370; xxv. 6 _et seq._, 176 _et passim_ + + Gevaudan, xxiii. 218 + + "Giant Bunker," xxiv. 70 + + Gibson, Captain, xxv. 203 + + Gilbert Islands, burial customs in, xxiv. 399, 400; papers on, xxv. + 84; suggested plan and title, 84; visited, xxiv. 291-2, 356-7 _et + seq._, 368 + + Gilder, R. W., editor _Century Magazine_, xxiii. 338; xxiv. 26, 29, + 30, 64, 98, 149, 185, 250 + + Gilfillan, --, xxiv. 349, 352 + + Gladstone, Rt. Hon. W. E., xxiii. 113; xxiv. 136-7, 139, 192 + + Glasgow, Knox memorial at, xxv. 88 + + "Gleams of Memory" (Payn), xxv. 447 + + Glencorse Church, xxiii. 180; xxv. 305, 307 + + "Go Between," xxv. 314-5 & _n._ 1 + + "Goguclat" (St. Ives), xxiii. _intro._ xx. + + "Good Boy, A" ("Child's Garden"), xxiv. 55, 170 + + "Gordon Darnaway" ("Merry Men"), xxiii. _intro._ xx. + + Gordon, General C. G., xxiv. 107, 137, 139-40, 183; xxv. 57 + + Gosse, Edmund, xxiii. 311, 316, 328, 329, 341; xxiv. 36, 120, 244; + appointment to Clark Readership, xxiv. 99; letters to, xxiii. 219, + 224, 226, 236, 243, 245, 260, 271, 292, 293, 306, 311, 313, 324, 325, + 332, 338, 350, 359, 360; xxiv. 26, 29, 30, 45, 50, 87, 97, 125, 139, + 173, 181, 244, 277; xxv. 71, 317, 454; "Life" by, of his father, xxv. + 71, 130, 317 + + Gosse, Mrs. Edmund, xxiii. 225, 227; letter to, xxiii. 347 + + Gosse, P. H., "Life" of, by E. Gosse, xxv. 71, 130, 317 + + "Gossip, A, on Romance," xxiii. 283, 342, 349 + + Goettingen, xxiii. 118, 122, 125 + + "Gower Woodseer" ("Amazing Marriage," by Meredith), prototype of, xxv. + 344, 390-1 + + Grange, Lady, xxiii. 298 + + Grant, --, xxiii. 316 + + Grant, Geordie, xxiii. 19 + + Grant, Lady, xxiv. 53, 72 + + Grant, Mrs., of Laggan, xxiii. 298 + + Granton, xxiii. 8 + + Grant, Sir Alexander, xxiv. 53, 72, 132 + + "Grape from a Thorn" (Payn), xxiv. 7 + + Graves, home and foreign, xxv. 349 & _n._ 1 + + "Gray, Thomas" ("English Men of Letters"), by Gosse, xxiii. 350, 351, + 360; works of, edited by Gosse, xxiv. 140 + + "Great Expectations" (Dickens), xxiv. 22-3 + + "Great North Road," unfinished, xxiii. 328; xxiv. 106, 127, 139, 152, + 402 + + Greenaway, Kate, xxiv. 32 + + Green, Madame, singer, xxv. 249 + + Grey, Sir George, xxv. 290, 298-9; visit to, xxv. 292 + + Grez, at, xxiii. 183, 185, 187; meeting with Mrs. Osbourne at, xxii. + 183, 228 + + Grove, Sir George, xxiii. _intro._ xviii. 151, 178, 204 + + Guerin, Maurice de, xxiii. 165 + + Gurr, --, xxv. 48, 105, 116, 448 + + Gurr, Mrs., xxv. 107 + + Guthrie, Charles J., letters to, xxiii. 312; xxiv. 178 + + "Guy Mannering" (Scott), xxiv. 91; xxv. 167 + + + Habakkuk, prophet, xxiii. 211 + + Haddon, Trevor, letters to, xxiii. 357, 360; xxiv. 10, 39, 93 + + Haggard, Bazett, xxv. 138, 161, 170-1, 193 _et passim_ + + Haggard, Rider, xxiv. 257; xxv. 86, 226-7 + + "Haggis, The" (Burns), xxiv. 256 + + "Hair Trunk," xxiii. 205-6 + + Hake, Dr. Gordon, xxiv. 239 + + Hall, Basil, xxv. 111 + + Halle, Sir Charles, xxiii. 169, 198 + + "Hall, Mr." (Clarissa Harlowe), xxiii. 211 + + Hamerton, P. G., xxiii. _intro._ xvii., 58, 216, 218, 315 _n._ 1, 316, + 336; letters to, xxiii. 242, 314, 335; xxiv. 143 + + "Hamerton, P. G., An Autobiography," xxiii. 216 + + Hamilton, Captain, death of, xxv. 65 + + "Hamlet" (Shakespeare), xxv. 51 + + Hammond, Basil, xxiv. 13 & _n._ 1 + + Hampstead, at, xxiii. 124, 133 + + Hand, Captain, R.N., xxv. 139 + + Handwriting, tests of, xxv. 254-5 + + Hansome, Rufe, xxiii. 278 + + Happiness, xxiv. 183-4 + + Hardy, Thomas, xxiv. 153; xxv. 266 + + Hargrove, Mr., xxiii. 25, 26 + + "Harry Richmond" (Meredith), characters in, xxiv. 97 + + Harte, Bret, xxiii. 210 + + "Hastie" (Kidnapped), xxiv. 196 + + Hawaiian Islands, stay in, xxiv. 291 + + "Hawthorne" (H. James), xxiii. 273, 277 + + Hayley, --, xxiii. 252 + + Hazlitt, William, xxv. 385 + + "Heart of Midlothian" (Scott), xxiii. 65; xxv. 154 + + "Heathercat," unfinished, xxv. 281, 360-1, 403 + + Hebrides, yachting trip in, xxiii. 124, 139, 140 + + Hecky, a dog, xxiv. 202 + + Hegel, --, xxiv. 75 + + Heintz, Dr., xxiii. 244 + + Henderson, Mr., xxiii. 6, 328; xxiv. 31 + + Henley, Anthony, xxiii. 238, 240 + + Henley, E. J., xxiv. 261 + + Henley, W. E., xxiii. 124, 171, 172, 177, 284, 285, 334, 352; xxiv. + 29, 47, 52, 59, 67, 79, 99, 151, 155, 191, 202, 302, 377; xxv. 97, + 121, 123, 174; appreciation of, xxv. 213; dramatic collaboration with, + xxiii. 185, 256, 257; xxiv. 99, 106, 119, 146; editor of _London_, + xxiii. 184; in hospital, xxv. 427; letters to, xxiii. 204, 217, 219, + 221, 233, 238, 249, 255, 256, 265, 317, 319, 326, 328, 330, 334, 341, + 342, 352, 362; xxiv. 17, 23, 31, 32, 34, 36, 37, 47, 54, 57, 65, 72, + 79, 91, 96, 102, 111, 114, 120, 123, 127, 131, 133, 146, 147, 155, + 229, 239, 248, 257; xxv. 214; poems by, xxv. 122, 214 + + "Henry Shovel," _see_ "Shovels of Newton French" + + _Herald_, ship, xxv. 444 + + Herbert, George, poetry of, xxiii. 18 + + Herrick, Robert, xxiii. _intro._ xx.; xxiv. 36, 82 + + "Herrick, Robert," essay (Gosse), xxiv. 45 + + _Hester Noble_, unfinished play (with Henley), xxiii. 256, 257 + + "Hey, Johnnie Cope, are ye waukin' yet?" air, xxiii. 113 + + Highland History, projected, xxiii. 280, 290-1, 297; xxv. 117 + + "Highland Widow" (Scott), xxv. 24 + + "High Woods of Umfanua," _see_ "Beach of Falesa" + + Hiroshige, prints by, xxiii. 157 + + "Histoire d'Israel" (Renan), xxv. 304 + + "Histoire des Origines de Christianisme" (Renan), xxv. 304 + + "History of America" (Adams), xxv. 215, 266 + + "History of England" (Macaulay), xxiii. 70 + + "History of France" (Martin), xxiii. 193 + + "History of Indostani" (Orme), xxv. 419, 423 + + "History of Notorious Pirates" (Johnson), xxiv. 101 + + "History of the Great Storm" (Defoe), xxiv. 101 + + "History of the Rebellion" (Clarendon), xxiii. 31 + + "History of the Stevensons," _see_ "Family of Engineers" + + "History of the United States" (Bancroft), xxiii. 246 + + Hogarth, William, xxiii. 69; Cambridge lectures on, by Colvin, xxiii. + 178 + + Hokusai (_Magazine of Art_), xxiv. 32 + + Hole, W., illustrator, xxiv. 270, 319, 321-2, 346; xxv. 349 & _n._ 1, + 362 _n._ 1 + + "Holy Fair" (Burns), xxiii. 4; xxiv. 265 _n._ 1 + + Homburg, visit to, xxiii. 182 + + "Home is the Sailor," lines chosen for epitaph, xxiii. 269; xxv. 375 + + Home Rule Bill of 1885, xxiv. 192 + + "Homme, L', qui rit" (Hugo), xxiii. 125 & _n._ 1 + + Honolulu, visits to, xxiv. 291, 319 _et seq._, 329, 353; xxv. 281, + 345, 349, 362 + + "Horatian Ode" (Marvell), xxiii. 293 + + Hoskin, Dr., xxv. 268, 270, 452 + + "House of Eld" Fables, xxiii. 12, 141 + + Houses, characteristics of, xxiii. 145, 146 + + Howard Place, 8, Edinburgh, birthplace, xxiii. 5 + + "Howe, Miss" (Clarissa Harlowe), xxiii. 210 + + "Huckleberry Finn" (Twain), xxiv. 139 + + "Huguenots, Les," opera, xxiii. 200 + + "Huish" (Ebb Tide), xxv. 313 + + "Human Compromise," xxiii. 267 + + Humble Apology (Longman's), xxiv. 181 + + Humble Remonstrance (Longman's), xxiv. 127 + + Hume, David, xxiii. 4, 72, 111, 145 + + "Humilies et offenses" (Dostoieffsky), xxiv. 183 + + Hunter, Robert, "portrait" of, xxv. 301 + + Hurricane at Apia, the great, xxiv. 345, 346, 369; xxv. 141, 172-4; + chapter on, in "Footnote," issued in _Scots Observer_, xxv. 174 + + Hutchinson, --, bust by, of R. L. S., xxv. 353 & _n._ 1 + + Hyde, Rev. Dr., and Father Damien, xxiv. 292; controversy with, xxiv. + 383-4, 391 & _n._ 1, 402, 404 + + Hyeres, at, xxiv. 5, 21 _et seq._; xxv. 60 + + Hyndman, --, xxiv. 141 + + "Hyperion" (Keats), xxiv. 170 + + + Iceland, book on, by Gosse suggested, xxiii. 333 + + "Ich unglueckselige Atlas," song (Schubert), xxiii. 139 + + Ide, Annie H., and R. L. S.'s birthday, xxv. 89-90, 118-9; letter to, + xxv. 118 + + Ide, C. J., Land Commissioner and afterwards Chief Justice in Samoa, + xxv. 281, 298, 380-1, 450; letter to, xxv. 88 + + Ide, Margery, xxv. 450 + + _Idler, The_, xxv. 372, 429; contributions to, xxv. 376 + + _Illustrated London News_, xxv. 301 + + Inchcape bell, xxiii. 29 + + Income-tax, xxiii. 113, 114 + + Inglis, John, Justice-General, xxiii. 181 + + Ingram, John H., xxiii. 166 + + "Inland Voyage," xxiii. 183, 185, 204, 211, 212, 218, 229, 247; xxiv. + 103; criticisms on, xxiii. 215-6 + + "Inn Album" (Robert Browning), review of, xxiii, 198, 199 + + "Inn, The," xxv. 429 + + "In Russet and Silver" (Gosse), dedication of, xxv. 454 + + "In the Garden," projected, xxiv. 99 + + "In the South Seas," first published as "The South Seas," xxiv. 290, + 292, 297, 320-1, 358, 362, 399, 403; xxv. 5, 12, 16, 22, 26, 34, 45, + 54, 61 & _nn._ 1 & 2, 68, 69, 77, 78, 80, 97, 100; criticisms, xxiv. + 293, 348-9; xxv. 76; dedication proposed, xxiv. 304 + + Intimate Poems, suggested edition, xxv. 377 + + _Iona_, vessel, xxiii. 24 + + Ireland, Alexander, letter to, xxiii. 342 + + Ireland, plan for life in, xxiv. 108, 222 + + Irongray, tombs at, xxiii. 65 + + "Isabella and the Pot of Basil" (Keats), xxiv. 170 + + Isaiah, prophet, xxiii. 211 + + "Is it not verse except enchanted groves" (Herbert), xxiii. 18 + + "Island Nights' Entertainments," xxv. 64, 272, 284, 290; + illustrations, xxv. 312; length, xxv. 353 & _n._ 1; reviews xxv. + 315 & _n._ 1 + + "Isle of Voices," xxv. 272 + + "Islet, The," xxv. 301 + + "Ivanhoe" (Scott), xxiv. 31 + + + Jack, the island horse, xxv. 35-6, 41, 136, 142 + + James, G. P. R., novels by, ordered by R. L. S., xxiv. 273 + + James, Henry, xxiv. 105, 127, 130, 133, 143, 154, 182, 235, 250, 359; + xxv. 29, 317, 415, 452; letters to, xxiv. 127, 160, 214, 215, 237, + 249, 262, 278, 288, 334, 382, 396; xxv. 43, 108, 130, 274, 320, 335, + 367, 406 + + "James More," xxv. 161, 216, 295 + + _Janet Nicoll_, ss., cruise in, xxiv. 292-3, 385 _et seq._, 392, 403; + xxv. 11, 54, 304 + + Japan and Japanese art, interest in, xxiii. 157, 158, 159; xxiv. 32, + 57 + + Japp, Dr. Alexander, xxiii. 329; letters to, xxiii. 321, 327, 351 + + Jeafferson, --, xxiv. 178 + + "Jedidiah Cleishbotham" (Scott), xxiii. 65 + + Jenkin family, xxiii. 25, 100 + + Jenkin, Mrs. Fleeming, xxiii. 10, 25; xxiv. 300; letters to, xxiv. + 150, 151, 187, 221, 225, 258; xxv. 273 + + Jenkin, Professor Fleeming, xxiii. 10, 25, 118, 122, 175, 176, 183, + 247, 311, 341, 353; xxiv. 48, 258, 272; death, xxiv. 106, 150, 151; + memoir of, by R. L. S. (_see_ "Memoir"); debt to, xxiv. 331 + + Jerome, Jerome K., xxv. 372, 429 + + "Jerry Abershaw," projected, xxiii. 328, 329; xxiv. 152 + + Jersey, Countess of, in Samoa, xxv. 145, 227, 228, 325; letters to, + xxv, 228-9; on her visit to R. L. S., xxv. 228 + + Jersey, Earl of, xxv. 288 + + "Jess" (Window in Thrums), xxv. 277 + + Jhering, Professor, xxiii. 118, 122 + + _J. L. Tiernan_, schooner, xxiv. 359 + + Joan of Arc, Byron's epithet for, xxiii. 354 + + "Jock o' Hazeldean," air, xxiii. 113 + + "John Peel" of the song, xxiii. 28 + + "John Silver" (Treasure Island), xxiv. 112, 123; genesis of, xxiv. 31 + + Johnson, --, an American, xxiii. 108, 110, 111, 112 + + "Johnson," or "Johnstone," pseudonym, xxiv. 14, 121 + + Johnson, Samuel, xxiii. 298; "Life" of, xxiii. 193, 203 + + Johnstone, Marie, Mary, or May, xxiii. 94, 95, 98, 99, 101 + + Johnstone, Mr. and Mrs., xxiii. 96, 99 + + _John Williams_, missionary barque, xxiv. 387 + + "Jolly Beggars" (Burns), sent for autograph, xxv. 69, 87, 118 + + Jones, Henry Arthur (_see also_ "Bauble Shop"), letter to, xxiv. 133 + + Jonson, Ben, xxiii. 294 + + Journalistic work, xxiii. 184 + + "Joy of Earth" (Meredith), xxv. 214 + + Jura, Skye terrier, xxv. 428-9 + + "Justice Clerk," _see_ Weir of Hermiston + + "Juvenilia," xxv. 397-8 + + + Kaiulani, Hawaiian Princess, xxiv. 345, 346 + + Kalakaua, King, xxiv. 320 + + Kalaupapa, Molokai, xxiv. 351 _et seq._ + + Kalawao, Molokai, xxiv. 353-4 + + _Katoomba_, H.M.S., xxv. 334; band of, xxv. 351 + + Kava, native beverage, xxv. 183 & _n._ 1 + + "Keats" ("English Men of Letters," by Colvin), xxiii. 349, 350-1; + xxiv. 210, 211 + + Keir, Jean, xxv. 335 + + Kelso, xxiii. 156 + + "Kenilworth" (Scott), xxiv. 91 + + "Kidnapped," xxiii. 24, 331; xxiv. 106, 146, 147, 179, 190, 195-6, + 203, 233, 265, 317, 370, 377; xxv. 108, 160, 215, 250, 283, 301, 351; + in Braille, xxv. 366; projected illustrations, xxv. 349 _n._ 1; + reception, xxiv. 198; reviews, xxiv. 203; sequel (_see_ "Catriona"), + xxv. 144; suggested French translation, xxv. 52 + + Killigrew, Anne, xxiii. 293 _n._ 1 + + "King Lear" (Shakespeare), xxv. 51 + + "King Matthias's Hunting Horn" lost, xxiii. 158, 160, 170 + + Kinglake, W., xxiii. 70 + + "King's Horn, The," xxiii. 308 + + Kingston, W.G., xxiii. _intro._ xxiii. + + Kingussie, at, xxiii. 284, 357 + + Kipling, Rudyard, anticipated visit from, xxv. 105 & _n._ 1; xxv. 163, + 165; appreciations of, xxiv. 396; xxv. 46, 213, 275; letter to, xxv. + 46; writings of, xxv. 379 + + Kirriemuir, xxv. 417 + + "Kirstie Elliot" (Weir of Hermiston), xxiii. _intro._ xx.; xxv. 457 + + Kitchener, Colonel, _ib._ + + Kitchener, Viscount, xxv. 236-7 + + Knappe, Consul, xxiv. 370; xxv. 139, 141 + + "Knox, John, and his Relations with Women," xxiii. 141, 149, 150, 153, + 155 + + Knox, John, "Works" of, xxiii. 117 + + Knox, John, writings on, xxiii. 55, 61, 111, 141, 146, 147, 148, 149, + 150, 153, 155, 158, 159, 167, 170, 171, 173 + + Ko-o-amua, ex-cannibal chief, xxiv. 293 + + "Kubla Khan" (Coleridge), xxiii. 92, 220 + + Kuniyoshi, prints by, xxiii. 157 + + + Labiche, --, xxiii. 239 + + Labour, imported, in Samoa, xxv. 159 & _n._ 1 + + Lacy, Mr., xxiii. 307 + + "Lady Barberina" (H. James), xxiv. 128 + + "Lady Carbury" ("Way of the World"), xxiii. 215 + + Lafarge, John, painter, xxv. 4, 29 & _n._ 1, 41, 43, 45 + + La Fontaine, "Fables" of, xxv. 49 + + "Lake Isle of Innisfree" (Yeats), xxv. 390 + + Lamb, Charles, xxiii. 209 + + "Lamia" (Keats), illustrated by Low, xxiv. 142, 166; dedication of, + xxiv. 169-71 + + Lampman, Archibald, sonnet by, xxiv. 321 & _n._ 1 + + Landor, W. S., xxiii. 302, 317, 320-1 + + "Landscape" (Hamerton), xxiv. 143-4 + + Land's End, visited, xxiii. 183, 209 + + Lang, Andrew, xxiii. 115, 117, 222, 311, 316; xxiv. 106, 134, 206, + 257, 278, 381, 388; xxv. 357, 427; letters to, xxiv. 399; xxv. 216, + 453; story suggested by, xxv. 141 & _n._ 1; on "Treasure Island," + xxiv. 67 + + Lantenac, M. (Victor Hugo), xxiii. 130 _n._ 1 + + "Lantern Bearers, The" (_Scribner's_), xxiv. 235, 254; xxv. 97, 301 + + Large, Miss, xxv. 329-31 + + La Sale, Antoine, projected essay on, xxiii. 207 + + "Last Sinner, The," xxiii. 171 + + Laupepa, _see_ Malietoa + + Lautreppe, Albert de, xxv. 383 + + Lavenham, xxiii. 56 + + Law examination passed, xxiii. 182 + + "Lay Morals," 86, 185; xxiv. 62 _et seq._ + + "Leading Light, The," projected, xxiii. 329 + + "Leaves of Grass" (Whitman), xxiii. 70 + + Le Gallienne, Richard, letter to, xxv. 364 + + Legal work, xxiii. 182, 184 + + Leigh, Hon. Capt., xxv. 227-8, 231, 233, 234, 235 + + Leith, xxiii. 159, 202 + + Lemon, --, picture by, xxiv. 167 + + Lenz, --, xxiv. 198 + + Le Puy, xxiii. 217 + + "Lesson, The, of the Master" (H. James), xxiv. 382; xxv. 108, 274 + + "Letter to the Church of Scotland," xxv. 398 + + "Letter to a Young Gentleman," xxv. 123 _n._ 1 + + "Letters and Memories of Jane Welsh Carlyle" (Froude), xxiii, 301, 302 + + Letters, desiderata in, xxiii. 259 + + "Letters" (Flaubert), xxiv. 405; xxv. 59 + + "Letters from a Gentleman in the North of Scotland to his Friend in + London" (Burt), xxiii. 291 + + "Letters to his Family and Friends," xxiii. _intro._ xix. + + Leven, xxiii. 61 + + "Library, The" (Lang), xxiii. 307 + + "Lieder und Balladen" (Burns), Silbergleit's translation, xxiii. 39 + + Life, two views on, xxiv. 158, 164, 165 + + "Life and Death," xxiii. 171 + + "Life of General Hutchinson" (Mrs. Hutchinson), xxiii. 30, 31, 32 + + "Life of Hazlitt," projected, xxiii. 283, 336, 339, 345 + + "Life of P. H. Gosse" (Edmund Gosse), xxv. 71, 130, 317 + + "Life of R. L. S." (Balfour), xxiii. _intro._ xix.; xxv. 4, 59 + + "Life of Robertson" (Dugald Stewart), xxiii. 119 + + "Life of Samuel Johnson" (Boswell), xxiii. 193, 203 + + "Life of Sir Walter Scott" (Lockhart), xxiv. 75, 84, 170, 171 + + "Life of Wellington" ("English Worthies"), unfinished, xxiv. 106, 134, + 139 + + "Life on the Lagoons" (H. F. Brown), xxiii. 303 + + Lillie, Jean and David, connection of, with the Stevensons, xxv. 436 + + "Lion of the Nile," xxiv. 321 + + Lions, xxiii. 307 + + Lippincott, xxiv. 54-5, 90 + + "Literary Recollections" (Payn), xxiv. 381 + + "Little Minister" (Barrie), xxv. 265, 276 + + "Lives of the Admirals" (Southey), xxiii. 70 + + "Lives of the Stevensons," _see_ "Family of Engineers" + + "L. J. R.," Essay Club, xxiii. 46, 48; xxv. 121 + + Llandudno, visited, xxiii. 124, 148 + + Locker-Lampson, Frederick, letters to, xxiv. 205, 206, 207, 208, 215 + + "Lodging for the Night," xxiii. 184, 191, 248 + + Logan, John, xxiii. 71, 72 + + _London_, contributions to, xxiii. 184 + + "London Life" (H. James), xxiv. 289 + + London, visits to (see _also_ British Museum), xxiii. 77, 155, 330; + xxiv. 105, 107, 186-7, 189, 202, 209, 229 + + "London Voluntaries" (Henley), xxv. 214 + + Longman, --, publisher, xxiv. 30, 66, 111, 134; xxv. 123, 125 + + _Longman's Magazine_, contributions to, xxiv. 127, 130, 134, 143, 181; + xxv. 454 + + "Lord Nidderdale" (Way of the World), xxiii. 215 + + "Lord Rintoul" (Little Minister), xxv. 265 + + "Lost Sir Massingberd" (Payn), xxiv. 7, 177 + + Loti, Pierre (M. Viaud), xxiv. 308 + + "Loudon Dodd" (Wrecker), xxv. 24, 172 & _n._1 + + "Louis XIV. et la Revocation de l'Edit de Nantes" (Michelet), xxiii. + 69 + + "Louse, The" (Burns), xxiv. 256 + + "Love in the Valley" (Meredith), xxiv. 54; xxv. 214, 390 + + "Lovelace" (Clarissa Harlowe), xxiii. 210 + + Love, young, advice on, xxiii. 358 + + Lowell, John Russell, xxiv. 107 + + Low, Mrs. W. H., xxiv. 107, 202, 217 + + Low, W. H., xxiv. 107, 202, 217, 234, 250, 251, 255, 288, 369, 390; + xxv. 25, 111; illustrated edition by, of "Lamia," xxiv. 142, 166; + dedication of, xxiv. 169-71; letters to, xxiv. 57, 63, 72, 89, 115, + 142, 153, 166, 169, 172, 177, 185, 217, 230, 245, 346; xxv. 378 + + _Luebeck_, s.s., passage on, xxiv. 375 _et seq._; xxv. 48, 50, 53, 81 + + _Ludgate Hill_, s.s., passage in, xxiv. 110, 230, 232; xxiv. 235 _et + seq._ + + Lully, J.B., gavotte by, xxiv. 188-9 + + Lysaght, Sidney, xxv. 385-6, 388, 405, 415 & _n._ 1; books by, xxv. + 390; visit from, xxv. 374 + + + _Macaire_, play (with Henley), xxiv. 146, 147 + + _Macbeth_ (Shakespeare), xxiv. 57 + + M'Carthy, Justin, xxiv. 173 + + McClure, S. S., publisher, relations with, xxiv. 234, 252, 321, 379; + xxv. 120 + + McCrie, --, xxiii. 117 + + Macdonald, David, xxiii. 20 + + Macdonald, Flora, xxiii. 298 + + Macdonald, George, xxiv. 248 + + Macdonald, J. H. A., xxiii. 114 + + Macgregor, clan, xxv. 293, 346 + + M'Gregor-Stevenson connection, question of, xxv. 440 + + Mackay, Professor AEneas, xxiii. 282; letters to, xxiii. 309 + + Mackintosh family, xxiii. 169 + + M'Laren, Duncan, xxiii. 96, 97, 114 + + MacMahon, President, xxiii. 116 + + Macmillan, Alexander, xxiii. 151 + + _Macmillan's Magazine_, xxiii. _intro._ xvii. 204; contributions to, + xxiii. 125, 149, 151 + + Macpherson, Miss Fanny (Lady Holroyd), xxv. 83 & _n._ 1 + + Madeira, plan to visit, xxiv. 328 + + "Mademoiselle Merquem" (Sand), xxiii. 87 + + _Magazine of Art_, contributions to, xxiii. 333-4; xxiv. 54, 57, 115, + 181; xxv. 97, 123, 398, 423 + + Majendie, Colonel, xxiv. 283 + + "Malade Imaginaire" (Moliere), xxiv. 123 + + "Malbrook s'en va-t-en guerre," xxiii. 102 + + Malie, abode and following of Malietoa, xxv. 6, 9 _et seq._ + + Malietoa Laupepa, xxv. 9, 176, 234, 466; friendliness with, xxv. 10; + and Mataafa, troubles concerning, xxv. 6-9 _et seq._ + + Manasquan, at, xxiv. 234, 286-8 + + Manchester Ship Canal, xxiv. 135 + + _Manhattan_, magazine, xxiv. 57, 90 + + "Manse, The," xxiii. 4; xxv. 301 + + Manu'a, islands of, "queen" of, xxv. 407-8 + + Marat, xxiv. 183 + + Marbot, "Memoires" of, xxv. 274, 321 + + "Marche funebre" (Chopin), xxiii. 139 + + Marcus Aurelius, xxiv. 183 + + "Marden, Colonel" (Clarissa Harlowe), xxiii. 210 + + "Margery Bonthron," xxiii. 171 + + "Marion," xxiii. 307 + + _Mariposa_, s.s., xxv. 346 + + "Markheim," xxiii. _intro._ xx., xxiii.; xxiv. 125, 213 + + "Marmont's Memoirs," xxiv. 134 + + Marot, Clement, poems by, xxiii. 108 + + "Marplot, The" (Lysaght), xxv. 390 + + Marquesas Islands, visited, xxiv. 290, 293, 371 + + Marryat, Captain, works by, ordered by R. L. S., xxiv. 338 + + Marseilles, at, xxiv. 5, 12-14, 98 + + Marshall Islands, visited, xxiv. 292 + + Martial, xxiv. 82 + + Martin, A. Patchett, letters to, xxiii. 208, 209 + + "Martin's Madonna," xxiii. 171 + + Marvell, Andrew, xxv. 46 + + Mary, Queen of Scots, xxiii. 62 + + "Mary Wollstonecraft" (Mrs. Pennell), xxiv. 149 + + "Master of Ballantrae," xxiii. _intro._ xxiii.; xxiv. 235, 265, + 268-70, 274, 276, 278, 279, 291, 314, 317, 328, 338, 339, 346, 349, + 360, 369, 370, 377, 398; xxv. 43, 171 & _n._ 2, 250, 357; + illustrations, xxiv. 319, 320; original plan of, xxv. 396; paper on, + xxv. 376; suggested French translation, xxv. 52 + + Mataafa, xxiv. 370; xxv. 176, 256; troubles concerning, xxv. 6-9 _et + seq._, 93 _et seq._, 280, 332-3, 350; visits to, xxv. 193 _et seq._, + 242; with Lady Jersey, xxv. 228 _et seq._ + + Matlock, visited, xxiv. 105, 189 + + Maupassant, Guy de, xxiv. 383 + + Maxwell, Sir Herbert, xxv. 437; letters to, xxv. 440, 453 + + "Mazeppa" (Byron), xxiii. 132 + + Medallion portrait by St. Gaudens, xxv. 410 + + Medea (Ordered South), xxiii. 86 & _n._ 1 + + Mediterranean, impression of, xxiii. 104, 105 + + Meiklejohn, Hugh, xxv. 269, 450, 451 + + Meiklejohn, Professor John, xxiii. 263, 316; compliments on "Burns" + article, xxiii. 241; letters to, xxiii. 263; xxv. 450 + + "Mein Herz ist im Hochland," xxiii. 41 + + Melford, xxiii. 56 + + Melville, Herman, xxiv. 295, 348, 381 + + "Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin," xxiv. 106-7, 150, 169, 174, 187, 225 + + "Memoirs of a Cavalier" (Defoe), xxiv. 101 + + "Memoirs of an Islet," essay, xxiii. 23 + + "Memoirs of Henry Shovel," unfinished, xxiv. 402 + + "Memorials" (Laing), xxv. 293 + + "Memorials of a Scottish Family," projected (_see also_ "Family of + Engineers"), xxiv. 279 + + "Memories and Portraits," xxiii. 56, 318 _n._ 1; xxiv. 96 _n._ 1, 214, + 215, 230, 231, 257; xxv. 51, 53, 301 & _n._ 1 + + "Men and Books," xxiii. 86 + + Menken, Adah, xxiii. 275 + + Mentone, at, xxiii. 55, 77, 81 _et seq._, 143-4 + + Meredith, George, xxiii. 183, 311; xxiv. 97, 278 & _n._ 1; xxv. 351-2; + letters to, xxv. 343, 390 + + "Merry Men, The," xxiii. 282, 316, 317, 321; xxiv. 35, 90, 125, 213, + 215; xxv. 353; criticisms on, xxiii. 319; dedication, xxiv. 211; germ + of, xxiii. 308; places described in, xxiii. 317 + + Michaels, barber, xxiii. 244 + + Michelet, --, xxv. 304 + + Middleton, Miss, letter to, xxv. 428 + + Millais, Sir John E., xxiv. 139; on R. L. S., as artist, xxiii. + _intro._ xxx. + + Milne, Mrs., letter to, xxiv. 70 + + Milson, John, xxiv. 130 + + "Mimes" (Schwob), xxv. 409 + + "Misadventure in France, A," essay, xxiv. 67-8 + + "Misadventures of John Nicholson" (_Yule-Tide_), xxiii. 12; xxiv. 211, + 214; xxv. 57 & _n._ 1 + + "Miscellanies" (Edinburgh edition), xxv. 33, 376, 397 & _n._ 1, 424 + + "Miserables, Les" (V. Hugo), xxiii. 129 _n._ 1 + + Missions and missionary work, xxv. 10, _n._ 1, 33, 56, 57, 203, + 410-11, 422 + + Moee, Princess, xxiv. 308, 309, 313 + + "Mobray" (Clarissa Harlowe), xxiii. 210 + + Moedestine, the donkey of the Cevennes journey, xxiii. 218 + + Moliere, xxiii. 69; plays, xxiv. 96, 123 + + "Moll Flanders" (Defoe), xxiv. 101 + + Molokai, visited, xxiv. 291, 345, 349 _et seq._, 356 + + Monaco, at, xxiii. 93 + + Monastier, visit to, xxiii. 217 + + Monkhouse, Cosmo, letters to, xxiv. 85, 95 + + Monroe, Miss, letters to, xxiv. 191, 193, 261 + + "Monsieur Auguste" (Mery), xxiii. 257, 258 + + Montagu, Basil, xxv. 29 _n._ 2 + + Montaigne, xxiv. 130, 144 + + Monterey, xxiv. 36; ranche life at, xxiii. 229, 234, 235, 236 + + "Monterey, California," xxiii. 241, 242 + + Montpellier, at, xxiv. 4 + + "Moonstone, The" (Wilkie Collins), xxiii. 18 + + Moors, H. J., xxiv. 292, 370, 371; xxv. 10, 28, 29, 30, 31, 40, 96, + 107 + + "Morality, the, of the Profession of Letters" (_Fortnightly_), xxiii. + 281 + + "More New Arabian Nights," xxiv. 106, 108, 114, 127, 139, 140, 142 + + Morley, Charles, of the _Pall Mall Gazette_, xxiv. 125 + + "Morley Ernstein" (G. P. R. James), xxiv. 75 + + Morley, John (Viscount Morley), xxiii. 127, 132, 226, 268 + + _Morning Star_, missionary ship, cruise in, projected, xxiv. 337, + 338-9, 340, 343, 384 + + Morris, William, letter to, xxv. 162 + + Morse, Captain, xxv. 222 + + Morse, Miss, letter to, xxv. 253 + + Mount Chessie, xxiv. 44 + + Mount Saint Helena, xxiii. 277 + + Mount Vaea, burial-place of R. L. S., xxv. 9, 10, _n._ 1, 458 _et + seq._ + + Mulinuu, abode and party of Malietoa, xxv. 9 _et seq._, 107, 330, 332, + 333, 370 + + "Mulvaney" (Soldiers Three), letter as from, xxv. 46 + + "Murder of Red Colin," projected, xxiii. 331 + + Murders, famous, volume on, projected by Gosse and R. L. S., xxiii. + 338, 350 + + "Murders in the Rue Morgue" (Poe), xxiii. _intro._ xxiii + + Mures, the, of Caldwell, xxv. 358 + + Murphy, Tommy, a lost child, story of, xxiii. 161, 162 + + Murrayfield, xxv. 57 + + Murray, Grahame, xxiii. 90 + + Murray, W. C., xxv. 69 + + Musset, Alfred de, comedies of, xxiii. 212 + + Mutiny, Indian, novel on, projected, xxiv. 283-4 + + "My Boy Tammie," air, xxiii. 113 + + "My First Book," series in _Idler_, xxv. 33, 376, 429 + + Myers, F. W. H., letter to, xxiv. 184 + + + Napoleon III., xxv. 250, 319 + + Nares, Captain (The Wrecker), xxv. 269 + + Navigator Islands, xxiii. 180, 205; xxiv, 405 + + Navy, British, men of, xxv. 351-2 + + Nebraska, aspect of, xxiii. 233-4 + + Nerli, Count, xxv. 228 + + Neruda, Mme. Norman, xxiii. 169, 198 + + Nether Carsewell, xxv. 342, 346 + + "New Arabian Nights," xxiii. 185, 218; xxiv. 7, 256 + + New Caledonia, visited, xxiv. 293, 385, 392 + + "New Poems" (Edmund Gosse), xxiii. 245-6 + + Newport, U.S.A., at, xxiv. 233, 237-8, 255 + + _New Quarterly_, contributions to, xxiii. 237 + + _New Review_, contribution to, xxv. 18 _n._ 1 + + New Year's wish, a, xxiii. 212 + + New York, at, xxiv. 233-4, 238 + + _New York Ledger_, contribution to, xxiv. 361 + + _New York Tribune_, editor of, letter to, xxiv. 7 + + New Zealand, xxiv. 405 + + Nice, visits to, xxiii. 84; xxiv. 4, 6, 79, 92 + + Nile Campaigns, xxiv. 81 + + Noel-Pardon, M., xxiv. 394 + + "Noll and Nell," poem (Martin), xxiii. 210 + + "Norma," opera, xxiii. 252 + + "Northern Lights" (_see also_ "Family of Engineers"), xxiii. 4, 10; + xxv. 322 + + Norwood, at, xxiii. 57 + + "Note on Realism" (_Magazine of Art_), xxiv. 59, 62, 181 + + "Notes on the Movements of Young Children," xxiii. 133, 143 & _n._ 2 + + "Notre Dame" (Hugo), xxiii. 129 _n._ 1 + + Noumea, visited, xxiv. 293, 392, 396 + + Nukahiva Island, at, xxiv. 290, 293 + + Nulivae Bridge, at, xxv. 223 + + + "Ode to Duty" (Wordsworth), xxv. 173 & _n._ 1 + + "Ode to the Cuckoo," authorship of, xxiii. 71, 72 + + O'Donovan Rossa, xxiii. 321 + + "OEdipus King" (Sophocles), xxiv. 114 + + "Olalla," xxiv. 106 + + Old English History (Freeman's), xxv. 117 + + "Old Gardener," xxv. 404 + + "Old Mortality" (Scott), xxiii. 129 _n._ 1; essay on, xxiv. 6, 68, 96 + + "Old Pacific Capital" (_Fraser's Magazine_), xxv. 97 + + Oliphant, Mrs., xxiv. 370, 382 + + Omission, art of, xxiv. 60 + + Omond, --, xxiv. 178 + + "Omoo" (Melville), xxiv. 348 + + "One of the Grenvilles" (Lysaght), xxv. 390 + + "Only Child," projected, xxiv. 99 + + "On the Enjoyment of Unpleasant Places," xxiii. 15, 151-3 + + "On the Principal Causes of Silting in Estuaries" (T. Stevenson), + xxiv. 135 + + "On some Aspects of Burns" (_Cornhill_), xxiii. 224, 227 + + "On some Ghostly Companions at a Spa," xxiii. 285 + + "Operations of War" (Hamley), xxiii. _intro._ xxxiv. + + Orange, at, xxiii. 80 + + "Ordered South," xxiii. _intro._ xxvii., 56, 77, 83, 86, 87 & _n._ + 1, 116, 122, 126, 267; published, xxiii. 125 + + Organ-grinder episode, xxiii. 155-6 + + Ori a Ori, chief, xxiv. 291, 302, 304, 306-7, 309-10 _et seq._, 317, + 334; letter from, xxiv. 332-3, 337 + + "Origines de la France Contemporaine" (Taine), xxiv. 258; xxv. 111-2, + 319 + + "Origines" (Renan), xxv. 304 + + Orkneys and Shetlands, tour of, xxiii. 10, 24 + + _Orlando_, H.M.S., xxv. 329 + + Orr, Fred, letter to, xxv. 127 + + "Orsino" (_Twelfth Night_), R. L. S. as, xxiii. 175, 176 + + Osbourne, Lloyd, xxiii. _intro._ xvii., 300, 348 _et seq._; xxiv. 28, + 139, 178, 198, 199, 201, 290, 309, 323, 330, 341, 366, 392, 396, 399, + 402; xxv. 3, 21 & _n._ 2, 50, 52, 67, 78, 96, 98, 99, 390, 445; + account by, of death of R. L. S., xxv. 457 _et seq._; collaboration + with (_see also_ "Wrecker"), xxiv. 235, 249, 250, 256, 283-4, 328, + 361, 367, 379, 380, 389, 399, 402; xxv. 347-9, 437-8; illness, xxv. + 152 + + Osbourne, Mrs., _see_ Stevenson, Mrs. R. L. + + Ossianic controversy, xxiii. 298 + + _Othello_ (Shakespeare), xxv. 51 + + Otis, Captain, xxiv. 234, 290 + + Otway, essay on (Gosse), xxiv. 45 + + Our Lady of the Snows, monastery, poem on (Underwoods), xxiii. 221-2 + + "Owl, The," projected, xxv. 315 & _n._ 1 + + "Oxford Dictionary of the English Language" (Murray), xxiv. 37 + + + P--N, John, letter to, xxv. 358 + + P--n, Russell, letter to, xxv. 359 + + Pacific Ocean, xxiii. 240 + + Pacific voyages, _see_ "In the South Seas" + + Page, H. A., pseudonym for Dr. Japp, _q.v._ + + Pago-pago harbour, xxv. 8, 65 + + Painters and their art, xxiv. 60-1 + + "Painters' Camp, in the Highlands" (Hamerton), xxiii. 216 + + _Pall Mall Gazette_, contributions to, xxiii. 281, 346; xxiv. 120, + 125, 130, 131, 227; xxv. 397; Henley's articles in, xxiii. 238 + + "Pan's Pipes," xxiii. 212; xxv. 301 + + Papeete (Tahitian Islands), xxiv. 291, 296, 308, 314 + + Paperchase, Sunday, xxv. 422 + + Paris Exhibition of 1878, xxiii. 183 + + Paris, visits to, xxiii. 183, 305; xxiv. 105, 107 + + Parker, Lieutenant and Mrs., xxv. 29 + + "Parliament Close" (Picturesque Notes on Edinburgh), xxiii. 216 + + Parliament House, Edinburgh, verses on, xxiii. 193-4 + + Parnessiens, proposed paper on, xxiii. 168 + + "Paston Letters," xxiii. 203 + + "Pastoral" (Longman's), xxiv. 221; xxv. 301 + + Paton, John, and Co., xxiv. 252 + + Paul, C. Kegan, xxiii. 212 + + Paumotus atolls, visited, xxiv. 290, 293-4 + + "Pavilion, The, on the Links," xxiii. 229, 238, 249, 256, 259, 262, + 267 + + Payne, John, xxv. 427 + + Payn, James, xxiv. 355; handwriting of, xxv. 365; letters to, xxiv. + 176, 355, 381; xxv. 425, 446; novel by, xxv. 171; works of, xxiv. 7-9 + + "Pearl Fisher" (with Lloyd Osbourne, _see_ "Ebb Tide"), changes of + name for story, xxv. 288 _et seq._ + + "Pegfurth Bannatyne," xxiii. 361, 362 + + Pella, letter from, xxiii. 115, 128 + + Pembroke, Earl of, xxv. 290 + + "Penn" (H. Dixon), xxiii. 277 + + Pennell, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph, xxiv. 149; letter to, xxiv. 149 + + Penn, William, article on, projected, xxiii. 265 + + "Penny plain and Twopence coloured," essay, xxiv. 93 + + "Penny Whistles," _see_ "Child's Garden of Verse" + + "Pentland Hills" (Picturesque Notes on Edinburgh), xxiii. 216 + + "Pentland Rising," xxv. 397 + + Penzance, visit to, xxiii. 206 + + Pepys, Samuel, xxiv. 29, 183; essay on, xxiii. 281 + + "Petit Jehan de Saintre" (La Sale), essay on projected, xxiii. 267 + + "Petits Poemes en Prose," xxiii. 195, 196, 197 + + "Petronius Arbiter," xxiv. 83 + + "Pew" (_Admiral Guinea_), xxiv. 119, 120 + + Peyrat, Napoleon, xxiii. 307 + + _Pharos_, s.y., xxv. 98 & _n._ 1 + + "Phasellulus loquitur," xxiv. 116 + + Pheidias, xxiii. 159 + + "Philosophy of Umbrellas" (with Ferrier), xxv. 398 + + Picts, the, xxv. 434-6 + + "Picturesque Notes on Edinburgh," xxiii. 185, 211, 216, 218 + + "Pilgrim's Progress" (Bunyan), xxiii. 203; Bagster's edition, essay on + cuts in, xxiii. 334 + + Pilsach, Baron Senfft von, President of the Council, Samoa, xxv. 7, 95 + _et seq._, 100-1, 275, 281, 286, 305, 364, 376 + + "Pinkerton" (Wrecker), xxiv. 368; xxv. 141 & _n._ 1, 146, 378 + + "Pioneering in New Guinea" (Chalmers), xxv. 39 + + Piquet, xxv. 428 + + "Pirate, The" (Marryat), xxiii. 329 + + "Pirate, The" (Scott), xxiii. 318 + + "Pirbright Smith," xxiii. 361 + + "Pitcairn's Criminal Trials of Scotland," xxv. 271, 293 + + Pitlochry, at, xxiii. 282, 306 + + "Plain Speaker" (Hazlitt), xxiv. 130 + + Platz, Herr, xxiv. 194 + + Poe, Edgar, xxiii. _intro._ xxiii., 166; xxiv. 83 + + Poems by Baildon, technique discussed, xxv. 377 + + Poepoe, Joseph, xxiv. 330 + + Poland, projected visit to, xxiii. 151, 152, 155 + + Pollington, Lord, xxiv. 260 + + Pollock, ----, xxiv. 36 + + Pomare V., King, xxiv. 309 + + Poor folk, charity of, xxv. 209-10 + + "Poor Thing, The," xxiii. 141 + + Poquelin, ----, xxiv. 123 + + _Portfolio, The_, xxiii. _intro._ xvii.; contributions to, xxiii. 58, + 77, 141, 146, 151, 152, 153, 164, 166, 168, 185, 216; xxv. 397-8; + Colvin's work for, xxiii. 178 + + Portobello, beach incident, xxiii. 73; train incident, xxiii. 63 + + "Portrait of a Lady" (H. James), xxiv. 263 + + Positivism, studies in, xxiii. 159 + + Pratt, ----, fables by, xxv. 49 + + "Prince de Galles," xxiii., 356 + + "Prince of Gruenewald," _see_ "Prince Otto" + + "Prince Otto" (Forest State _q.v._), xxiii. 229, 265, 266, 267, 278, + 353; xxiv. 5, 23, 24, 34, 35, 36, 54, 66, 68, 73, 81, 106, 110, 142, + 154, 173, 181; xxv. 53, 376; criticisms, xxiv. 191; publication, + xxiv. 138; reviews, xxiv. 155-6 + + "Princess Casamassima" (H. James), xxiv. 160 _n._ 1 + + Princes Street, Edinburgh, xxiii. 72, 74 + + Pringle, Janet, xxv. 361 + + "Printemps, Le," group (Rodin), xxiv. 202, 209 + + Prisoners, Samoan, gratitude of, _see_ "Road of Loving Hearts" + + Privateers, enquiry on, xxv. 380 & _n._ 1 + + Proctor, Mr. B. W., xxv. 29 & _n._ 2 + + "Professor Rensselaer," xxiii. 249 + + Pronouns, "direct and indirect," quip on, xxv. 174 + + "Providence and the Guitar," xxiii. _intro._ xx., 185, 219, 248, 268 + + Publishers, xxv. 123-5 + + "Pulvis et Umbra" (_Scribner's_), xxiv. 235, 253, 264, 274,284, 384; + xxv. 123 & _n._ 1 + + "Pupil, The" (H. James), xxv. 132 + + Purcell, Rev. ----, xxiii. 332-3; xxiv. 159 + + Purple passages in literature, xxv. 72-3 + + "Pye," ----, xxv. 30 + + Pyle, Howard, xxv. 164 _n._ 1 + + + _Queen_, ship, xxv. 353 + + Queensferry, xxiii. 68, 69 + + Queen's River, xxv. 417 + + "Quentin Durward" (Scott), xxiii. 129 _n._ 1; xxiv. 91 + + + "RAB and his Friends" (Brown) xxiii. 296 + + Raiatea, xxiv. 308 _et seq._ + + Raleigh, Walter, on restrained egoism in literature, xxiii. _intro._ + xxvi., xxvii. + + "Randal" (The Ebb Tide), xxv. 187 + + "Random Memories: the Coast of Fife" (_Scribner's_), xxiii. 12, 15; + xxiv. 235, 387; xxv. 97, 301 + + Rarotonga, xxv. 269 + + "Raskolnikoff" (Le Crime et le Chatiment), xxiv. 182 + + Rawlinson, Miss, letters to, xxiv. 227; xxv. 274; verses to, xxiv. 227 + + Rawlinson, Mrs., xxiv. 227 + + Reade, Charles, xxiii. 129 _n._ 1 + + "Real Thing" (H. James), xxv. 322 + + "Redgauntlet" (Scott), xxiii. _intro._ xxiii., 287 _n._ 1 + + Reformation, studies in, xxiii. 159 + + "Refugees" (Doyle), xxv. 340 + + Reid, Captain Mayne, works of, xxv. 13 + + "Reign of Law" (Duke of Argyll), xxiii. 67 & _n._ 1 + + "Rembrandt," article on, by Colvin (_Edinburgh Review_), xxiii. 225 + + "Reminiscences" (Carlyle), xxiii. 301 + + Remy, Pere, xxv. 327 + + Renaissance story, projected, xxiii. 167, 168 + + Renan, Ernest, works, xxv. 304 + + Rennie, John, xxiv. 121 + + Resignation, xxiv. 62, 76 _et seq._ + + "Restoration Dramatists," essay on (Lamb), xxiv. 85 + + Retrospective musings, xxv. 437-8 + + Revenge, Christian doctrine of, xxiii. 214 + + Rhone, the, xxiii. 79 + + "Richard Feverel" (Meredith), xxv. 265 + + _Richard III._ (Shakespeare), xxiv. 398; xxv. 51 + + Richardson, Samuel, novelist, xxiii. 129 _n._ 1 + + Richmond, Sir W. B., xxiv. 107; portrait by, xxiv. 202 + + _Richmond_, s.s., xxiv. 337, 343 + + Richmond, stay at, xxiv. 104 + + "Rideau Cramoisi, Le" (d'Aurevilly), xxv. 314, 380 + + _Ringarooma_, ship, xxv. 268-9 + + "Rising Sun," projected, xxiv. 403 + + "Ritter von dem heiligen Geist" (Heine), xxiii. 88 & _n._ 1 + + R. L. S. Society, Cincinnati, xxv. 384 + + "R. L. Stevenson in Wick" (Margaret H. Roberton), xxiii. 15 _n._ 1 + + "Roads," paper on, xxiii. 55, 58, 59, 60, 62, 63, 67, 76, 77, 117, + 119, 121, 141, 143, 201; xxv. 397-8 + + "Road, the, of Loving Hearts," xxv. 374, 431 _et seq_., 441, 442, 446, + 459 _et seq._; inscription on, xxv. 441, 446; speech by R. L. S. at + opening of, xxv. 441, 446, 462 _et seq._ + + Robert, Louis, xxiv. 28 + + Roberts, Earl, xxiv. 81 + + Robertson, --, xxiii. 117 + + Robertson's Sermons, xxiv, 268 + + Robinet, --, painter, xxiii. 98, 99 + + "Robin Run-the-Hedge," unfinished, xxiv. 402 + + "Robinson Crusoe" (Defoe), xxiv. 101, 103 + + Rob Roy, xxv. 293 + + "Rob Roy" (Scott), xxiv. 91 + + "Rocambole" (Ponson du Terrail), xxiii. 254 + + Roch, Valentine, xxiv. 110, 238 _et passim_ + + "Roderick Hudson" (H. James), xxiv. 262-3, 265 + + Rodin, Auguste, sculptor, xxiv. 107, 202; letters to, xxiv. 209, 216 + + Rodriguez Albano, xxiii. 244 + + "Rois en Exil" (Daudet), xxiii. 346 + + "Romance" (Longman's), xxiv. 181 + + Roman Law, studies in, xxiii. 126 + + Rondeaux, xxiii. 188-9 + + "Rosa Quo Locorum," xxv. 33 + + "Rose," character of (Meredith), xxiv. 97 + + "Rosen, Countess von" (Forest State), xxiii. 266 + + Ross, Dr. Fairfax, xxv. 348 & _n._ 1, 350 + + Ross family, xxiii. 28 + + Ross of Mull, used in "The Merry Men," xxiii. 41 + + Rossetti, D. G., xxiv. 239 + + Ross, Rev. Alexander and Mrs., xxiii. 27 + + Rothschild, Baron, xxiii. 195 + + "Rover," verses (Gosse), xxiv. 27 + + Rowfant, xxiv. 215 + + "Rowfant Rhymes" (Locker-Lampson), xxiv. 205 + + Royal Society of Edinburgh, xxiv. 118, 135 + + Royat, visits to, actual and projected, xxiv. 39, 98, 99 _et seq._; + xxv. 105, 131 + + Ruedi, Dr., xxiii. 297 + + Rui = Louis, in Samoan pronunciation, xxiv. 307, 310 _et alibi_ + + Ruskin, John, xxiii. 117; xxv. 397 + + Russel family, xxiii. 21, 22 + + Russel, Miss Sara, xxiii. 21, 22 + + Russel, Mrs., xxiii. 22 + + Russel, Sheriff, xxiii. 21, 22 + + Ruysdael, --, painting by, xxiii. 178 + + + Sachsenhausen, xxiii. 43 + + Sagas, love of, xxiii. 332; xxiv. 207; xxv. 162, 211 + + "St. Agnes' Eve" (Keats), xxiv. 170 + + St. Augustine, xxiii. _intro._ xxiv. + + St. Gaudens, Augustus, sculptor, xxiv. 170, 234, 238, 390; xxv. 25; + letters to, xxv. 308, 341, 410; medallion portrait by, xxiv. 238-9, + 250, 255 + + St. Gaudens, Homer, letters to, xxiv. 287 + + St. Germain, at, xxiii. 305 + + "St. Ives," xxv. 281, 347-8, 371, 375, 380 & _n._ 1, 387, 392, 403, + 405, 414, 430, 450; inception of, xxv. 285-6; parallel to, xxv. 442; + scheme for, xxv. 287 + + St. John, apostle, and the Revelation (in Renan's book), xxv. 304 + + St. Paul, xxv. 304; teaching of, xxiii. 214 + + Saintsbury, Professor G., xxiii. 307 + + Salvini, T., article on, xxiv. 72 + + Samoa and the Samoans for children (letters to Miss Boodle on), xxv. + 147, 217, 243 + + Samoa, climate of, xxv. 250, 278, 333, 348 _n._ 1, 350, 419 contrasted + with Europe, xxv. 355 exile in, xxv. 349 letters from, xxv. 9 _et + seq._ missionary work, in, interest in, xxv. 10 & _n._ 1; xxv. 33, 56, + 57 rain in, xxv. 443-4 rivers of, xxv. 132-3 _et seq._ visit to, and + settlement in, xxiv. 290 _et seq._ war trouble in, projected work on, + xxiv. 370, 379, 380 + + Samoan character, xxv. 381, 432 chiefs, road made by, _see_ "Road of + Loving Hearts" history, _see_ "Footnote to History" language, xxv. 49; + study of, xxv. 181, 203 politics, apologies for dwelling on, xxv. 388, + 445; interest in. xxv. 4 _et passim_ prisoners (chiefs), _see_ "Road + of Loving Hearts" + + _Samoa Times_, xxiv. 392 + + "Samuel Pepys," essay (_Cornhill_), xxiii. 281 + + Sanchez, Adolpho, xxiii. 240 + + Sanchez, Mrs., xxv. 257 + + Sand, George, writings of, xxiii. 87 + + Sandwich Islands, xxiv. 292, 340 + + "San Francisco," xxiii. 342 + + San Francisco, stay at, and visits to, xxiii. 229, 230; xxiv. 234, + 283, 286, 289, 290 + + "Sannazzaro," xxiii. 167 + + Saone and Rhone, projected journey down and book on, xxiv. 98, 99 + + Saranac Lake, at, xxiv. 233-4, 240 _et seq._; xxv. 123 _n._ 1 + + Sargent, John S., artist, xxiv. 105, 167; portrait by, xxiv. 117, 155 + + _Saturday Review_, xxiii. 58, 69, 77 + + Savage Island, at, xxiv. 387 + + Savile Club, the, xxiii. 124, 127, 133, 186, 263; xxiv. 187 + + Schmidt, Emil, President of Council, Samoa, xxv. 416, 424 + + "Schooner Farallone," _see_ "Ebb Tide" + + Schopenhauer, studies in, xxiii. 159 + + Schwob, Marcel, letters to, xxiv. 327, 397; xxv. 51, 409 + + Sciatica, xxiv. 92 + + "Scotch Church and Union" (Defoe), xxiv. 101 + + Scotch labourer and politics, xxiii. 61 + + Scotch murder trials, books on, asked for, xxv. 271 + + Scotch songs, Russian pleasure in, xxiii. 113 + + "Scotland and the Union," projected, xxiii. 297 + + Scotland, last visit, xxiv. 227 + + Scotland, whisky, etc., of, xxiii. 41 + + _Scotsman_, xxv. 398 + + _Scots Observer_, contribution to, xxv. 174 + + "Scots wha hae," air, xxiii. 113 + + Scott, Dr., letter to, xxiv. 374 + + Scott, Sir Walter (_see also_ Waverley Novels), xxiii. 65 & _n._ 1, + 111, 130 _n._ 1, 264, 333; xxiv. 75, 76, 84, 91, 382; xxv. 86, 110, + 154, 164, 167,371; love of action, xxiii. _intro._ xxxiv.; nobility of + character, xxiii. _intro._ xxxv.; novels, xxv. 24; novels contrasted + with R. L. S.'s, xxiii. _intro._ xxiii. + + Scribner, C., xxiv. 233, 253-4, 390; xxv. 25, 380, 392; letters to, + xxiv. 252 + + Scribner, Messrs., verse published by, xxiv. 395 + + _Scribner's Magazine_, xxiv. 110, 142, 253, 258; contributions, actual + and suggested, xxiv. 233, 235, 239, 240, 247, 252, 268, 277, 287, 367, + 377 _et seq._, 387, 393; xxv. 86, 97, 110, 115, 171 _n._ 1 + + "Sea-Cook, The" (_see also_ "Treasure Island"), xxiii. 326-7 + + Sedan, xxv. 250, 318 + + Seed, Hon. J., xxiii. 179; xxiv. 405 + + Seeley, Professor, style of, xxiv. 55-6 + + Seeley, Richmond, publisher and editor (_see also_ "Portfolio"), + xxiii. _intro._ xvii., 141, 142, 143, 148, 398 + + Sellar, Mrs., xxiii. 115 + + "Sensations d'Italie" (Bourget), xxv. 127, 130-1 + + "Sentimental Journey" (Sterne), xxiii. _intro._ xxiii. + + "Sentimental Tommy" (Barrie), xxv. 419 & _n._ 1 + + Seraphina (_see also_ "Prince Otto"), xxiii. _intro._ xx. + + "Service of Man" (Cotter Morison), xxiv. 219-20 + + Seumanutafa, Chief, of Apia, xxv. 26, 48-9, 105 + + "Seventeenth Century Studies" (Gosse), xxiv. 45 + + Sewall, Mr., American Consul at Samoa, xxv. 4, 29, 58, 65-6 + + "Shadow, The, on the Bed" (Mrs. R. L. S.), xxiii. 308, 316, 321 + + Shairp, Professor, xxiii. 191, 263 + + Shaltigoe, wreck at, xxiii. 22 + + Shannon, W. J., xxiii. 332-3 + + Shaw, Bernard, appreciation of, xxiv. 270-1 + + Shelley, Lady, xxiv. 105, 149, 177, 179, 211; xxv. 131 + + "Shelley Papers" (Dowden), xxiv. 211, 212 + + Shelley, P. B., xxiv. 177-8, 212; 372, 373-4; and Keats, xxiv. 211 + + Shelley, Sir P. B., xxiv. 177-8, 211, 373; xxv. 458 + + "Sherlock Holmes" (Doyle), xxv. 299 + + Shetland, visited, xxiii. 10, 24 + + "Shovels of Newton French," projected, xxv. 5, 55-6, 82-3, 172 + + Sick child, episode of, xxiii. 230, 269 + + "Sign of the ship" causerie (Lang), xxiv. 278, 388 + + "Sigurd" (W. Morris), xxiii. 334; xxv. 162 + + Silverado, life at, xxiii. 278 + + "Silverado Squatters," xxiii. 230, 279, 283, 352, 355; xxiv. 5, 26, + 27, 30 & _n._ 1, 34, 56, 66, 67, 73, 92; xxv. 423; serial issue of, + xxiv. 55 + + "Silver Ship," _see_ "Casco" + + Simoneau, Jules, xxiii. 239, 240, 244; xxiv. 423; letters to, xxiv. + 36, 41 + + Simoneau, Mrs., xxiv. 42 + + "Simon Fraser" (Catriona), xxv. 351 & _n._ 1 + + Simpson, Sir Walter, xxiii. 36,43, 46, 49, 69, 89, 124, 159, 174, 182, + 187, 259, 341, 353; xxiv. 47; letter to, xxiv. 117, 229, 242; yachting + trip with, xxiii. 124, 139, 140 + + Simson, Dr., xxiv. 91 + + Sinclair, Miss Amy, xxiii. 24, 27-8 + + Sinclair, Sir Tollemache, xxiii. 27 + + Sinico, --, singer, xxiii. 166 + + "Sire de Maletroit's Door," xiii. 184, 206, 207, 211, 248 + + Siron, aubergiste, Barbizon, xxiii. 187 + + Sitwell, Mrs. (_see also_ Colvin, Lady), xxiii. 54, 300; xxiv. 335; + xxv. 85; letter to, from Mrs. R. L. Stevenson, xxiv. 331; letters to, + from R. L. S., xxiii. 57, 58, 61, 63, 66, 68, 71, 74, 77, 83, 86, 91, + 93, 101, 103, 104, 110, 115, 121, 125, 127, 131, 133, 137, 139, 140, + 144, 148, 149, 151, 153, 155, 156, 158, 161, 164, 166, 168, 171, 174, + 175, 177, 180 _bis_, 181, 187, 189, 197, 198, 200, 203, 205, 207, 323; + xxiv. 24; xxv. 393 + + Skelt, xxiv. 57, 93 + + Skene, William Forbes, xxv. 434-5 + + Skerryvore, article on (Archer), xxiv. 305 + + "Skerryvore" (house), xxiv. 105, 109, 141, 196, 252; xxv. 31 _n._ 2, + 75 + + Skinner, Mr., xxv. 413 + + Slade School, xxiv. 39 + + "Sleeper Awakened," xxv. 314 & _n._ 1 + + Smeoroch, Skye terrier, xxiv. 77 & _n._ 1; xxv. 429 + + Smiles, Samuel, xxiv. 121 + + Smith, Adam, xxiii. 72 + + Smith, Captain, xxiii. 235 + + Smith, Rev. George, xxiii. 4; xxiv. 265 _n._ 1 + + Soalu, Chief, xxv. 460 + + Society for Psychical Research, Journals of, xxv. 299 + + "Soldiers Three" (Kipling), xxv. 46 + + "Solemn Music" (Milton), xxiii. 294 + + "Solomon Crabb," xxiii. 343-4 + + "Solution, The" (Lesson of the Master, H. James), xxiv. 382 + + "Song at the Feast of Brougham Castle" (Wordsworth), xxiii. 315 & _n._ 1 + + "Song of To-morrow," xxiii. 141 + + "Songs of Scotland without words, for the Pianoforte" (Surrenne), + xxiii. 113 + + "Songs of Travel," xxiv. 190, 239, 337, 362, 375, 378, 395; xxv. 349 & + _n._ 1 + + "Sonnet to England" (Martin), xxiii. 210 + + "Sophia Scarlett," proposed, xxv. 144, 152-3, 172, 187, 281 + + Sophocles, translation (Campbell), xxiv. 113 + + Sorrow, discipline of, xxiv. 163 + + Soudan affairs, xxiv. 107 + + Southey, R., xxiii. 302 + + "South Sea Ballads," xxiv. 298-9, 317, 321, 380, 395, 399 + + "South Sea Bubble" (Earl of Pembroke), xxv. 153 _n._ 1; on Kava, xxv. + 183 _n._ 1; on Samoan streams, xxiv. 133 _n._ 1 + + "South Sea Idylls" (Stoddard), xxiv. 180 + + South Sea Islands, call of, xxiii. 180, 205 + + "South Sea Letters," published first as "The South Seas," later as "In + the South Seas," _q.v._; selection from, projected, xxv. 423 + + South Seas, cruises in, xxiv. 233 _et seq._, 286 _et seq._ + + "South Sea Yarns" (with Lloyd Osbourne), projected, xxiv. 361, 367, + 379; xxv. 397 + + Spain, xxiii. 119 + + _Spectator_, xxiii. 239, 264; xxv. 58 + + "Spectator" (Addison's), style of, xxiii. 252 + + Speculative Society, Edinburgh University, xxiii. 35, 64, 184, 312; + xxiv. 178 + + Speed, --, xxv. 210 + + Spencer, --, xxv. 74-5 + + Spencer, Herbert, xxiii. 169 + + _Sperber_, German warship, xxv. 29 + + Speyside, in, xxiii. 284 + + "Spring Sorrow" (Henley), xxiii. 186 + + "Spring time," xxiii. 191, 193, 196, 197, 202 + + "Squaw Men," projected, xxiii. 329 + + "Squire" (Story of a Lie), xxiii. 249 + + "Squire Trelawney" (Treasure Island), xxiii. 326-7 + + Stansfield, --, xxv. 269 + + "Stepfather's Story," projected, xxiii. 207 + + Stephen, Leslie, xxiii. _intro._ xvii., 174, 184, 205, 206, 207, 241, + 256, 257, 264, 267, 302, 311; xxiv. 47; letter from with appreciation + of "Victor Hugo," xxiii. 129 _et seq._ & _n._ 1; introduction by, of + R. L. S. and Henley, xxiii. 172; on "Forest Notes," xxiii. 201, 202; + testimonial from, xxiii. 316 + + Stephenson, --, xxiii. 25 + + Sterne, Laurence, xxiii. _intro._ xxiii. + + Stevenson, Alan, xxv. 335, 401, 436 + + Stevenson family, inquiries concerning, xxv. 293, 335, 342, 357, 399, + 435-7 + + Stevenson, Hugh, xxv. 335 + + Stevenson, James, xxv. 334 + + Stevenson, James S., letter to, xxv. 334, 342 + + Stevenson, J. Horne, xxv. 293, 345, 435; letter to, xxv. 357 + + Stevenson, John, xxv. 358 + + Stevenson, Katharine (_see also_ de Mattos), xxiii. 138 + + Stevenson, Macgregor, xxv. 293 + + Stevenson, Mrs. Alan, xxv. 110, 436 + + Stevenson, Mrs. R. L., xxiv. 234, 247-8, 251, 256, 258-9, 275, 282, + 291-2, 323, 330-1, 341-2, 390; xxv. 29, 30, 31, 38, 249-50, 371, 377; + character, xxiii. 279-80; first meeting, xxiii. 183, 228; marriage, + xxiii. 228 _et seq._, 260, 262, 268, 270, 272, 274; xxiv. 105; + collaboration with R. L. S., xxiii. 282; letter to, on avoiding the + infliction of pain in literary work, xxiii. _intro._ xxvi.; story by + (_see_ "Shadow on the Bed"); ill health and illness of, xxiii. 280, + 283-4, 320-1,355; xxv. 146, 280, 297 _et seq._, 320-1 _et alibi_; + letter to, xxiv. 349; letters from, to S. Colvin, xxiv. 309, 347, to + Mrs. Sitwell, xxiv. 331, to J. A. Symonds, xxiv. 11 + + Stevenson, Mrs. Thomas (_nee_ Balfour), xxiii. 4, 6, 148; xxiv. 39, + 147, 199, 216, 220, 234, 248, 251, 258, 276, 280, 290, 291, 309, 310, + 314, 323, 331, 336, 341, 343, 366, 375, 405; xxv. 3, 31, 50, 53, 193 + _et seq._, 259, 282, 403, 406, 416; letters to, xxiii. 14, 15, 17, 19, + 21, 24, 36, 38, 39, 44, 56, 81, 94, 96, 97, 99, 107, 112, 116, 117, + 118, 120, 187, 215, 216, 218, 298, 337, 354; xxiv. 9, 21, 66, 76, 202, + 383; settled in Samoa, xxv. 76, 78 + + Stevenson, Mrs. Thomas, and Thomas Stevenson, letters to (jointly), + _see_ Stevenson, Thomas, _infra_ + + Stevenson, name, query on to Sir H. Maxwell, xxv. 440 + + Stevenson, Robert, xxiii. 4, 13, 160, 200; xxiv. 359; xxv. 87, 95, 98, + 120, 310, 315, 401, and _see_ "Family of Engineers" + + Stevenson, Robert (the first), xxv. 335 + + Stevenson, Robert Alan Mowbray (Bob), xxiii. 49, 57, 58, 83, 103, + 105, 109, 110, 124, 133, 135, 137, 138, 140, 149, 174, 183, 187, 239, + 308, 341; xxiv. 3, 69, 89, 124, 167, 196, 328 & _n._ 1; letters to, + xxiii. 356; xxiv. 8, 59, 196, 198, 240, 323; xxv. 398, 401, 434 + + Stevenson, Robert Louis Balfour ("R. L. S."), ancestry, xxiii. 4, 5; + appearance, xxiii. _intro._ xxxviii.; appreciation of, by Lysaght, + xxv. 415 _n._ 1; appreciation of his own literary skill, xxv. 443; + characteristics and habitudes, xxiii. _intro._ xxii., xxvi. _et seq._, + 8-12, 186; xxiv. 296; xxv. 33, 415, _n._ 1; charm, xxiii. _intro._ + xxiii., xxvi., xxvii.-ix., xxxi., 55; xxv. 415; conversation, xxiii. + _intro._ xxxi., 9. 123; help derived from writings of, xxii., _intro._ + xxix., 253-4; interest in missionary work, xxv. 10 & _n._ 1, 33, 56, + 57; interest in music, xxiv. 188-9, 196 _et seq._, 285, 302; xxv. 85, + 92, 125, 185; literary style and methods, xxiii. _intro._ xix. _et + seq._; xxv. 173; political views, xxiv. 107-8; portraits, busts, + photographs of, xxiv. 117, 154, 170, 177, 199, 202, 238-9, 250, 255; + xxv. 309, 310, 341, 353 & _n._ 1; relations with his father, xxiv. 5, + 6 _et alibi_; religious views, xxiii. _intro._ xxxii., 11, 12, 53-4, + 67 + + Life, 1850-57, Birth and Early delicacy, xxiii. 5 + + 1858-67, Education and home life and early travels, xxiii. 6-8 + + 1868-70, Engineering studies, xxiii. 10 + + 1871-4, Law studies, religious differences with parents, xxiii. + 10-12 + + 1874-5 (May to June), Law studies, home life, experimental + literature, travels, home and foreign, and friendships, xxiii. 123-4 + + 1875-79 (July to July), Bar studies concluded, travels in France and + Germany, life at the bar abandoned for literature; Fontainebleau + again, xxiii. 182-3; early journalistic and other writing, xxiii. + 184-5 + + 1879-1880 (July to July), Californian visit, hardships, illness, + marriage, xxiii. 228-30 + + 1880, Aug.-1882, Oct., Home from California, xxiii. 279; summers in + Scotland, xxiii. 279-80; winters at Davos, and literary work, xxiii. + 280, 283 + + 1882, Oct.-1884, Aug., The Riviera again, Montpellier and + Marseilles, Nice, xxiv. 5; Hyeres home life, happier relations with + parents, illness and literary work, letters, xxiv. 3-5 + + 1874, Sept.-1887, Aug., Bournemouth homes--"Skerryvore," invalid + life, friendships, and literary work, xxiv. 104-9; visit to Paris, + schemes for life in Ireland, xxiv. 108; death of his father, and + departure for Colorado, xxiv. 110 + + 1887, Aug.-1888, June, Voyage to New York and reception there, + friends new and old, stay in the Adirondacks, journey to San + Francisco, xxiv. 233-4 + + 1888, June-1890, Oct., Voyages in the Pacific, xxiv. 290-3; + settlement at Vailima, xxiv. 291-2; controversy about Father Damien, + xxiv. 292 + + 1890, Nov.-1891, Dec., First year at Vailima, Samoan politics, + letters on, to _The Times_--building of the first Vailima house, + xxv. 3-8 + + 1892, Jan. to Dec., Life at Vailima, second year, visitors, + enlargement of the house, Samoan politics, threatened deportation, + xxv. 144-6 + + 1893, Jan. to Dec., Life at Vailima, third year, the addition to the + house completed, Samoan politics, proclamation aimed at him, illness + of Mrs. R. L. Stevenson, trips to Sydney, to Honolulu, to New + Zealand, outbreak of war, financial anxieties, signs of + life-weariness, xxv. 280-2 + + 1894, Jan. to Dec., fourth year at Vailima, illness and recovery, + loss of literary facility, financial position, visitors, xxv. 373-5; + the making of the Road of Gratitude, xxv. 374, 432 _et seq._, 441, + 446; speech and feast to the chiefs, xxv. 441, 446, 462 _et seq._; + sudden death and burial, xxv. 8, 10 _n._ 1, 375; account of, by + Lloyd Osbourne, xxv. 457 _et seq._; epitaph, xxiii. 268; xxv. 375 + + Stevenson, Thomas, xxii. 4, 5, 11, 12, 20, 24, 146, 148, 180, 260, 261 + & _n._ 1, 279, 285, 298, 328, 347, 353; xxiv. 5, 6, 39, 58, 105, 107, + 108, 118, 119, 135, 138, 147, 161, 187, 188, 189, 196, 199, 210, 216, + 220, 234, 276, 280, 365, 405; xxv. 335, 382, 401; affection for Mrs. + R. L. S., xxiii. 279; gift to her of a Bournemouth house, xxiv. 105; + biographical essay on, xxiii. 21; letters to, xxiii. 13, 42, 111, 113, + 213, 290, 330; xxiv. 9, 22, 62, 74, 90, 118, 119, 137, 159, 179, 190, + 201; Memories of, xxv. 413; misunderstandings with, xxiii. _intro._ + xvii., 11, 12, 55, 67; religious views, xxiii. 11, 12, 52, 67; death, + xxiii. 5; xxiv. 109, 227 + + and Mrs. Thomas Stevenson, joint letters to, xxiii. 215, 296, 305; + xxiv. 27, 75, 76, 78, 100, 110, 130, 168, 199 + + "Stewart, Alan Breck," xxv. 46-8 + + Stewart, James (_see_ Appin murder) + + Stewart, Miss (Bathgate), xxiii. 227 + + Stewart, Sir Herbert, xxiv. 81 + + Stewart's plantation, Tahiti, xxv. 153 & _n._ 1 + + "Stickit Minister" (Crockett), dedication of, xxv. 349 & _n._ 1 + + Stobo Manse, at, xxiii. 284, 357 + + Stockton, F. R., verse to, xxiv. 125 + + Stoddard, Charles Warren, xxv. 267; letters to, xxiii. 275, 294; xxiv, + 180 + + "Stories and Interludes" (Barry Pain), xxv. 215 + + "Stories," or "A Story Book," projected, xxiii. 249 + + Storm, ideas on, xxiii. 150 + + "Story of a Lie," xxiii. 12, 229, 230, 235, 237, 247, 249; xxiv. 90 + + "Strange Adventures of Mr. Nehemiah Solny," projected, xxiii. 170 + + "Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," xxiii. _intro._ xxiii.; + xxiv. 106, 169, 171, 182, 233, 253, 398; xxv. 289; publication, xxiv. + 166; dedication, xxiv. 167; criticisms, xxiv. 184 + + Strathpeffer, at, xxiii. 280, 284, 285 + + Streams, Samoan, peculiarities of, xxv. 36 + + Strong, Austin, xxiv. 151, 341; xxv. 92, 117, 249 & _n._ 1, 269 & _n._ + 1, 389, 403, 446 + + Strong, Mrs., xxiv. 325 & _n._ 1, 341; xxv. _passim_; letter to, + xxiii. 286 + + Stuebel, Dr., German Consul, xxv. 35, 41 & _n._ 1, 141 + + Sturgis, Mrs., xxv. 391 + + "Subpriorsford," nickname for Vailima, xxv. 165, 170 + + "Such is Life," poem (Martin), xxiii. 209 + + Sudbury, Suffolk, at, xxiii. 56 + + Suffering, value of, xxiii. 251 + + Suffolk, peasantry, xxiii. 61 + + "Suicide Club," xxiii. _intro._ xx., 356 + + Sullivan, Russell, xxv. 25 + + Sunrise, tonic of, xxv. 401 + + Sutherland, Mr., xxiii. 15 + + Sutherland, Mrs., xxiii. 22 + + Swan, Professor, xxiii. 193; xxiv. 143; xxv. 315 + + Swanston Cottage, Lothianburn, xxiii. 8, 123, 126 _et seq._, 312 + + "Sweet Girl Graduate, A," and other poems (Martin), xxiii. 208-9 + + Swift, Dr. and Mrs., of Molokai, xxiv. 351-2 + + Swinburne, A. C., poems, xxv. 390 + + Sydney, N.S.W., visits to, and illnesses at, xxiv. 292-3, 325, 375, + 382 _et seq._, 394; xxv. 4, 38, _n._ 1, 53 _et seq._, 61, 77, 81, 208, + 288-9, 296 + + Symonds, J. A., xxiii. 281, 304, 311, 317, 334, 341, 351, 361; xxiv. + 142; dedication of book by, xxv. 454; epithet of, for R. L. S., xxiii. + _intro._ xxvi.; letter to, from Mrs. R. L. Stevenson, xxiv. 11; + letters to, xxiv. 182, 254, 304; on Southey, xxiii. 302; death of, + xxv. 317 & _n._ 1 + + + "Table Talk" (Hazlitt), xxiv. 130 + + Tacitus, xxiv. 83 + + Tahiti, xxiv. 291, 371 + + Tahitian Islands, xxiv. 293; stay in, xxiv. 291, 296 _et seq._ + + Tait, Professor, xxiv. 118 + + "Tales and Fantasies," xxv. 397. + + "Tales for Winter Nights," projected title, xxiii. 316, 318 + + "Tales of a Grandfather" (Scott), xxv. 117 + + "Tales of my Grandfather" (_see also_ "Family of Engineers"), xxv. 110 + + "Talk and Talkers" (_Cornhill_), xxiii. 283, 341, 349; xxiv. 138 + + Tamasese, xxiv. 371; xxv. 67, 351 + + Tamate, _see_ Chalmers + + Tati, high chief of the Tevas, xxiv. 317 + + Tauchnitz, Baron, and "Footnote," xxv. 346 + + Tautira, at, xxiv. 291, 302 _et seq._, 317 + + Taylor, Ida and Una, xxiv. 105, 372, 374 + + Taylor, Lady, xxiv. 105, 180; xxv. 203; death of, xxv. 254; letters + to, xxiv. 211, 212, 286, 357, 372 + + Taylor, Miss, xxv. 364; letter to, xxv. 254 + + Taylor, Sir Henry, xxiv. 145, 180 + + Tembinoka, King of Apemama, xxiv. 358-9, 368, 400; verses to, xxiv. + 378, 380 + + _Temple Bar_, contributions to, xxiii. 184, 206, 207, 211 + + Tennyson, Alfred, Lord (_see also_ "Becket"), xxiv. 205 + + "Tentation de St. Antoine" (Flaubert), xxiii. 150 + + Teriitera, Samoan name of R. L. S., xxiv. 308, 310, 317, 321 + + "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" (Hardy), xxv. 266 _n._ 1, 296 + + Thackeray, W. M., xxv. 154 + + "Theatrical World" (Archer), xxv. 384 + + "Therese Raquin" (Zola), xxiv. 57 + + "The Tempest" (Shakespeare), xxiv. 96 + + "Thomas Haggard" (Window in Thrums), xxv. 276 + + Thomson, Maggie, xxiii. 25 + + Thomson, Mr., xxiii. 8 + + "Thomson," pseudonym, letters in character of and as to, xxiv. 14, + 121, 122 + + Thoreau, Henry David, essay on (Familiar Studies), xxiii. 226, 229, + 252, 255, 262, 263, 265, 273; xxiv. 149, 158; criticisms on, xxiii. + 322 + + "Thoughts on Literature as an Art," xxiii. 266 + + "Thrawn Janet" (_Cornhill_), xxiii. 282, 308, 316, 321; xxiv. 90; xxv. + 295 + + "Tibby Birse" (Window in Thrums), xxv. 276, 362 _n._ 1 + + Time, Archer's criticisms in, xxiv. 156, 159, 160, 161 + + "Time" (Milton), xxiii. 294 + + _Times, The_, letters to, on Samoan affairs, xxv. 7, 94, 98, 119, 137, + 145, 212, 376, 386, 387 + + Todd, John, xxiv. 221 + + Todd, Mrs., xxiv. 221 + + "Tod Lapraik" (Catriona), xxv. 294-5 + + "Tommy Haddon" (Wrecker), xxv. 268 & _n._ 1 + + "Toothache, The" (Burns), xxiv. 256 + + "Torn Surplice, The," suggested title, xxiii. 321 + + Torquay, at, xxiv. 109 + + Torrence, Rev. ----, xxiii. 181 + + "Touchstone, The," xxiii. 141 + + Tourgenieff, ----, xxiii. 222 + + "Tourgue, la" ("Quatre-vingt Treize," Hugo), xxiii. 130 + + Trades Unions, xxiii. 97 + + "Tragedies of the Wilderness" (Drake), xxiv. 270 + + "Tragic Comedians" (Meredith), xxiii. 224 + + "Tragic Muse, The" (H. James), xxiv. 397; xxv. 44, 130-1 + + "Transformation of the Scottish Highlands," projected, xxiii. 297 + + Traquair, Willie, xxiii. 20, xxiv. 70 + + "Travailleurs de la Mer" (Hugo), xxiii. 129 _n._ 1 + + Travel-books, cheap edition projected, xxiii. 294 + + "Travelling Companion, The," projected, xxiii. 321; xxiv. 68, 149 + + "Travels and Excursions," Vols. II. and III. discussed, xxv. 423 + + "Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes," xxiii. 183, 184, 185, 216, + 217, 219, 225, 229, 248, 250, 257 + + "Treasure Island," xxiii. _intro._ xxxv., 282, 283, 326, 334, 352, + 355; xxiv. 31, 93, 101, 112, 179, 233; xxv. 76, 124, 289, 429; + publication as serial, xxiii. 328; in book form, xxiv. 6, 27, 35, 67; + criticisms, xxiv. 66; genesis of, xxiv. 101; illustrated edition, + xxiv. 159; paper on, xxv. 376 + + "Treasure of Franchard," xxiv. 4, 398; xxv. 153 + + "Trial of Joan of Arc," xxiii. 203 + + "Trials of the Sons of Rob Roy, with Anecdotes," xxiii. 332 + + "Tricoche et Cacolet," xxiii. 219 + + "Tristram Shandy" (Sterne), xxiii. 118 + + Trollope, Anthony, novels of, xxiii. 215 + + "Trophees, Les" (Heredia), xxv. 331 & _n._ 1 + + Trudeau, Dr., xxiv. 234 + + Tulloch, Principal, xxiii. 280, 290, 297, 316; xxv. 97, 123 + + Tupper, Martin, xxiii. 348 + + "Tushery," xxiv. 6, 31, 32 + + Tusitala, xxv. 196 _et aliter_ + + Tutuila, visited, xxv. 4, 8, 58, 65 + + "Twa Dogs" (Burns), xxiii. 225 + + Twain, Mark (Samuel Clemens), xxiii. 276 + + _Twelfth Night_ (Shakespeare) at the Jenkins', xxiii. 175, 176, 178 + + "Two Falconers, The, of Cairnstane," xxiii. 170 + + "Two St. Michael's Mounts," essay, projected, xxiii. 207 + + "Two Years before the Mast" (Dana), xxiv. 297 + + "Typee" (Melville), xxiv. 348 + + + Ulufanua, island, xxv. 97 + + "Underwoods," collected verses, xxiii. 222, 271, 281, 296, 300; xxiv. + 36, 89, 107, 170, 173 _n._ 1, 189-90, 214, 215, 229-30, 231, 395; xxv. + 376, 398; dedication of, xxiv. 374; review by Gosse, xxiv. 244; + success of, xxiv. 239, 255-6 + + United States, the, and Samoa, xxv. 6 _et seq._ + + Upolu and Savaii, xxv. 8 + + + Vacquerie, ----, xxiii. 307 + + Vaea, Mount, xxv. 9, 135, 388; burial-place, xxv. 10 _n._ 1, 460 + + Vaea river, xxv. 132 _et seq._ + + Vailima, home at, xxiv. 291; purchase of, xxiv. 292, 372-3, 374, 377, + 390; life at, xxv. 3 _et seq._, 148-51, 156 _et seq._, 280 _et seq._; + visitors to, xxv. 228; expenses, xxv. 282; household staff, xxv. + 356-7; joy of colour at, xxv. 378; new house, xxv. 145-6, 251, 269, + 271, 278-9, 284, 287; decorations for, xxv. 308-9; feeling about, xxv. + 349 + + "Vailima Letters," xxiii. _intro._ xviii., xxix.; xxv. 5 + + _Vanity Fair_, magazine, contributions to, xxiii. 184, 198, 199 + + "Vanity Fair" (Thackeray), xxv. 154 + + Vedder, Elihu, illustrator of "Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam," xxiv. 116 + + "Velasquez" (R. A. M. Stevenson), xxiii. 57 + + "Vendetta, in the West," unfinished, xxiii. 229, 238-9, 241, 244, 255, + 256, 259, 266 + + Verses, Miscellaneous and Impromptu-- + + "Adela, Adela, Adela Chart," xxv. 109 + + "Bells upon the City are ringing in the night," xxiv. 167 + + "Blame me not that this Epistle," letter in verse to Baxter, xxiii. + 46 + + "Brave lads in olden musical centuries," xxiii. 304 + + "Dear Henley, with a pig's snout on," xxiii. 330 + + "Do you remember--can we e'er forget?--," xxiv. 376 + + "Far have you come, my lady, from the town," rondel, xxiii. 188 + + "Feast of Famine" (Ballads, 1890), xxiv. 298-9, 321, 330, 395 + + "Figure me to yourself, I pray," xxiii. 287 + + "He may have been this and that," xxiv. 190 + + "Here's breid an' wine an' kebbuck," xxiii. 257 + + "Home no more home to me, where must I wander?" (Songs of Travel), + xxiv. 303 + + "I heard the pulse of the besieging sea" (to Colvin), xxiv. 366; + xxv. 23 & _n._ 1 + + "In the beloved hour that ushers day" (Songs of Travel), xxiv. 240 + + "I was a barren tree before," xxv. 366 + + "I would shoot you, but I have no bow," xxiii. 360 + + "Let us who part like brothers part like bards" (Songs of Travel), + xxiv. 378, 380 + + "My Stockton if I failed to like," xxiv. 125 + + "Noo lyart leaves blaw ower the green," xxiii. 193 + + "Nor you, O Penny Whistler, grudge," xxiv. 20 + + "Not roses to the rose, I trow," xxiv. 205 + + "Not yet, my soul, these friendly fields desert," xxiii. 271 + + "Nous n'irons plus au bois," rondel, xxiii. 188-9 + + "Of the many flowers you brought me" (to Miss Rawlinson), xxiv. 227 + + "Of where or how, I nothing know," xxiii. 232 + + "O Henley, in my hours of ease," xxiii. 222 + + "O, how my spirit languishes," xxiv. 299 + + "O Sovereign of my Cedercrantz," xxv. 278 + + "Priests' Drought, The," ballad, xxiv. 321 + + "Song of Rahero," ballad, xxiv. 317, 321, 330, 395; xxv. 58 + + "Tandem Desino," xxiv. 79 _et seq._ "The pleasant river gushes," + xxiv. 32 + + "There was racing and chasing in Vailima plantation," xxv. 422 + + "Though I've often been touched with the volatile dart," xxv. 109 + + "Ticonderoga," ballad, xxiv. 321, 395 + + "To Felix," xxiv. 189, 190 "We're quarrelling, the villages," xxv. 50 + + "When from her land to mine she goes" (Songs of Travel), xxiv. 345 + + "Woodman, The" _(New Review)_, xxv. 18 & _n._ 1, 20 + + "Youth now flees on feathered foot," xxiv. 172, 181 + + "Vicar of Wakefield," xxv. 14 _n._ 1 + + "Vicomte de Bragelonne" (Dumas), xxiv. 398; xxv. 51 + + Victor Hugo's romances, essay on, xxiii. 56, 124-5, 126, 127, 135 + + Victoria, Queen, xxiii. 323 + + Villiers, Lady Margaret, xxv. 228, 236 + + "Viol and Flute" (Gosse), xxiv. 98 + + "Virginibus Puerisque," xxiii. 184, 185, 203, 204, 208, 212, 284, 294; + xxv. 301 _n._ 1; publication, xxiii. 281; new edition, xxiv. 195, 216; + reprint, xxiv. 230 + + Vitrolles, Baron de, xxv. 288 _n._ 1, 321 + + Viviani, Emillia, xxiv. 212 + + Vogelweide, Walther von der (Studies in the Literature of Modern + Europe), Gosse's introduction to, xxiii. 221 + + "Volsungs" (Morris), xxiii. 334 + + Voltaire, xxiii. 297; on OEdipus, xxiv. 114 + + _Vossische Zeitung_, xxv. 263 + + + Wachtmeister, Count, xxv. 96 + + "Waif Woman, The," xxv. 272 & _n._ 1 + + Walker, Patrick, xxiv. 91 + + "Walking Tours," xxiii. 202 + + _Wallaroo_, H.M.S., officers, xxv. 452 + + Walter, the Skye terrier, and his sobriquets, xxiii. 280, 281, 318; + xxv. 41 & _n._ 2, _et alibi_ + + "Wandering Willie," air, xxiii. 113 + + "Wandering Willie's Tale" (Redgauntlet), xxiii. 287 + + "Washington" (Irving), xxv. 30 + + Watts-Dunton, T., letter to, xxiv. 203 + + Waverley Novels (Scott), xxiv. 75, 76, 84, 91; xxv. 228 + + "Waverley" (Scott), xxiii. _intro._ xxiii.; xxiv. 91 + + "Way of the World" (Trollope), xxiii. 215 + + Weather and the old woman, xxiii. 175 + + Webster, essay on (Gosse), xxiv. 45 + + Week, The, xxiv. 45 + + "Wegg, Silas," (Our Mutual Friend), xxiii. 226 + + "Weg," nickname for Gosse, xxiii. 224, 226, 227 + + "Weir of Hermiston," unfinished, xxiii. _intro._ xx., 12; xxv. 144, + 170, 264-5, 274, 281, 284, 287, 293, 306-7, 338, 350, 375, 383, 392, + 403, 453, 456-7; scheme for, xxv. 258, 260-1, 270-1 + + Wellington, Duke of (_see also_ "Life" of), xxiv. 34 _n._ 1; + Tennyson's "Ode" on, xxiii. 293 + + Went, George, xxv. 23 & _n._ 1, 100 + + "Werther" (Goethe's "Sorrows of Werther"), xxiii. 60 + + Western Islands, trip among, xxiii. 124 + + West Highlands, visit to, xxiii. 183 + + "What was on the Slate," xxiii. 222, 267 + + "When the Devil was well," xxiii. 167, 168, 186 + + "Where" and "Whereas," use discussed, xxv. 163 + + "White Company" (Doyle), xxv. 336 + + Whitman, Walt, essays on, xxiii. 55, 70, 72, 86, 89, 103, 104, 139, + 140; works of, xxiii. 70, 72, 357-8; xxiv. 183 + + Whitmee, Rev. S. J., missionary xxv. 174, 180, 202, 203; letter to, + xxv. 174 + + Wick, at, xxiii. 12, 15 + + "Widdicombe Fair," song, xxv. 391 + + Wiesbaden, visit to, xxiii. 182 + + "Wild Man of the Woods," xxiii. 249 + + "Will o' the Mill," xxiii. 184, 207, 248, 268 + + Williams, Dr., of Nice, xxiv. 59 + + Williams, Mr. and Mrs., xxiii. 353 + + "William Wilson" (Poe), xxiii. _intro._ xxiii. + + "Wiltshire" (Beach of Falesa), xxv. 187 + + "Window in Thrums" (Barrie), xxv. 276, 362 & _n._ 1 + + Winslow Reef, xxiv. 362 + + "Winter and New Year" (Picturesque Notes on Edinburgh), xxiii. 216 + + "Winter's Walk, The," unfinished, xxiii. 201, 202 + + Wise, ----, xxv. 55 + + "Witch of Prague" (Crawford), xxv. 275 + + "Wogg" (_see_ Walter), other names for, xxiii. 280-1, 318 + + Wolseley, Viscount, xxiv. 81 + + "Woman killed with Kindness" (Heywood), xxiii. 354 + + Women characters, dissatisfaction with, xxiv. 398 + + Women, thoughts on (_see also_ Elgin marbles), xxiii. 162-4, 358 + + Wood, Sir Evelyn, xxiv. 81 + + "Wrecker" (with Lloyd Osbourne), xxiii. 12, 275; xxiv. 362, 367-8, + 379, 380, 389, 396, 399, 402; xxv. 5, 11, 24, 33, 84, 87, 108, 110, + 115, 128, 138,141, 152, 171, 210, 215, 221, 224, 274, 376, 378; + finished, xxv. 111-2 & _n._ 1, 113, 115, 120, 122; comments, xxv. 146; + discussed, xxv. 437 & _n._ 1; publication of, xxv. 87, 144; success + of, xxv. 238, 258, 357 + + Wreck of the _Susannah_, xxiii. 308 + + "Wrong Box, The," or "The Finsbury Tontine," or "The Game of Bluff" + (with Lloyd Osbourne), xxiv. 235, 249-50, 256, 258, 282, 291, 320, + 322, 328, 360, 370 + + Wurmbrand, Captain Count, xxv. 354, 369, 370, 383, 415 + + Wyatt, Mr., xxiii. 6 + + + Yeats, W. B., letter to, xxv. 390 + + "Yellow Paint," xxiii. 141 + + Yelverton, ----, xxiii. 275 + + "Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum" (Treasure Island), xxiii. 326 + + Yoshida Torajiro, essay on (Familiar Studies), xxiii. 229, 262, 264, + 265 + + "Young Chevalier," unfinished, xxv. 144, 171 _n._ 1, 187-8, 189, 192, + 216-7, 264, 281, 305; characters in, xxv. 190-1 + + _Young Folks_, contributions to, xxiii. 328, 329, 332, 339; xxiv. 31, + 55, 148 + + _Yule-Tide_, contribution to, xxv. 57 + + + Zassetsky, Madame, xxiii. 97, 99, 102, 105, 108, 110, 113, 114, 115, + 118, 122 + + Zassetsky, Nelitchka, xxiii. 98, 102, 104, 107, 108, 112, 114, 115, + 116 + + Zola, Emile, xxiii. 346-7; xxiv. 396; xxv. 250 _n._ 1, 318, 319, 379 + + + + +INDEX TO VOLUMES I-XXII + +[_For Index to the_ LETTERS, _see pp. 469-507 of this Volume._] + + + "A birdie with a yellow bill," xiv. 23 + + "A child should always say what's true," xiv. 5 + + Additional Memories and Portraits, xvi. 155 + + Additional Poems, xiv. 259 + + "Adela, Adela, Adela Chart," xiv. 276 + + Admiral Guinea, xv. 145 + + Advertisement of "Moral Emblems," Edition de Luxe, xxii. (end) + + Advertisement of "Moral Emblems," Second Collection, xxii. (end) + + Advertisement of "The Graver and the Pen," xxii. (end) + + AEs Triplex, ii. 358 + + "All night long, and every night," xiv. 4 + + "All round the house is the jet-black night," xiv. 28 + + "All the names I know from nurse," xiv. 46 + + "A lover of the moorland bare," xiv. 74 + + Alpine Diversions, xxii. 248 + + Alps, The Stimulation of the, xxii., 252 + + Amateur Emigrant, The: Part I., From the Clyde to Sandy Hook: The + Second Cabin, ii. 7; Early Impressions, ii. 15; Steerage Scenes, ii. + 24; Steerage Types, ii. 32; The Sick Man, ii. 43; The Stowaways, ii. + 53; Personal Experiences and Review, ii. 66; New York, ii. 77. Part + II., Across the Plains: Notes by the Way to Council Bluffs, ii. 93; + The Emigrant Train, ii. 107; The Plain of Nebraska, ii. 115; The + Desert of Wyoming, ii. 119; Fellow Passengers, ii. 124; Despised + Races, ii. 129; To the Golden Gates, ii. 133 + + "A mile an' a bittock, a mile or twa," xiv. 110 + + "_A naked house, a naked moor_," xiv. 71 + + Antwerp to Boom, i. 7 + + "A picture-frame for you to fill," xiv. 74 + + Apology, An, for Idlers, ii. 334 + + Appeal, An, to the Clergy of the Church of Scotland, xxii. 199 + + "As from the house your mother sees," xiv. 59 + + "As the single pang of the blow, when the metal is mingled well," xiv. + 254 + + "At evening when the lamp is lit," xiv. 36 + + Autumn Effect, An, xxii. 112 + + + Back to the World, i. 120 + + Bagster's "Pilgrim's Progress," xxii. 186 + + Balfour, David, xi. 1 + + Ballads, xiv. 139 + + Ballantrae, The Master of, xii. 5; its genesis, xvi. 341 + + Beach, The, of Falesa: A South Sea Bridal, xvii. 193; The Ban, xvii. + 206; The Missionary, xvii. 228; Devil-work, xvii. 240; Night in the + Bush, xvii. 258; The Bottle Imp, xvii. 277; The Isle of Voices, xvii. + 311 + + Beau Austin, xv. 91 + + Beggars, xvi. 190 + + "Berried brake and reedy island," xiv. 226 + + "Birds all the sunny day," xiv. 44 + + Black Arrow, The: Prologue, viii. 7; Book I. The Two Lads, viii. 25; + Book II. The Moat House, viii. 83; Book III. My Lord Foxham, viii. + 123; Book IV. The Disguise, viii. 165; Book V. Crookback, viii. 217 + + Black Canyon, Advertisement of, xxii. (end) + + Black Canyon or Wild Adventures in the Far West, xxii. (end) + + "Blame me not that this epistle," xiv. 261 + + "Blows the wind to-day, and the sun and the rain are flying," xiv. 257 + + Boarders, The, i. 195 + + Body-snatcher, The, iii. 277 + + Books which have Influenced Me, xvi. 272 + + Bottle Imp, The, xvii. 275 + + "Brave lads in olden musical centuries," xiv. 270 + + "Bright is the ring of words," xiv. 227 + + "Bring the comb and play upon it," xiv. 15 + + Builder's Doom, The, xxii. (end) + + Burns, Robert, Some Aspects of, iii. 43 + + "By Lyne and Tyne, by Thames and Tees," xiv. 133 + + + Calton Hill, Edinburgh, i. 314 + + Camisards, The Country of the, i. 211 + + Camp, A, in the Dark, i. 167 + + Catriona: Part I. The Lord Advocate, xi. 7; Part II. Father and + Daughter, xi. 203 + + Changed Times, i. 99 + + Character, A, xxii. 37 + + Character, The, of Dogs, ix. 105 + + Charity Bazaar, The, xxii. 213 + + Charles of Orleans, iii. 171 + + Cheylard and Luc, i. 177 + + "_Chief of our aunts_, not only I," xiv. 56 + + "Children, you are very little," xiv. 18 + + Child's Garden, A, of Verses, xiv. 1 + + Child's Play, ii. 394 + + Christmas at Sea, xiv. 207 + + Christmas Sermon, A, xvi. 306 + + Cockermouth and Keswick, xxii. 80 + + College Magazine, A, ix. 36 + + College Memories, Some, ix. 19 + + College Papers: Edinburgh Students in 1824, xxii. 41; The Modern + Student considered generally, xxii. 45; Debating Societies, xxii. 53; + The Philosophy of Umbrellas, xxii. 58; The Philosophy of Nomenclature, + xxii. 63 + + "Come up here, O dusty feet," xiv. 24 + + Compiegne, At, i. 94 + + Crabbed Age and Youth, ii. 321 + + Criticisms: Lord Lytton's "Fables in Song," xxii. 171; Salvini's + "Macbeth," xxii. 180; Bagster's "Pilgrim's Progress," xxii. 186 + + + "Dark brown is the river," xiv. 10 + + Davos in Winter, xxii. 241 + + Davos Press, The, xxii. (end) + + Day, The, after To-morrow, xvi. 279 + + Deacon Brodie, or the Double Life, xv. 1 + + "Dear Andrew, with the brindled hair," xiv. 79 + + "Dear Thamson class, whaure'er I gang," xiv. 121 + + "Dear Uncle Jim, this garden ground," xiv. 50 + + Debating Societies, xxii. 53 + + "Do you remember--can we e'er forget?" xiv. 242 + + Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Strange Case of, v. 227 + + Donkey, the Pack, and the Pack Saddle, i. 143 + + "Down by a shining water well," xiv. 32 + + Dreams, A Chapter on, xvi. 177 + + Dynamiter, The: Prologue of the Cigar Divan, v. 7; Challoner's + Adventure, v. 15; Somerset's Adventure, v. 73; Desborough's + Adventure, v. 149; Epilogue of the Cigar Divan, v. 212 + + + Ebb-Tide, The: Note by Mr. Lloyd Osbourne, xix. 3; Part I. The Trio, + xix. 7; Part II. The Quartette, xix. 81 + + Edinburgh: Picturesque Notes, i. 269; Introductory, i. 271 + + Edinburgh Students in 1824, xxii. 41 + + Education, The, of an Engineer, xvi. 167 + + El Dorado, ii. 368 + + Engineers, Records of a Family of, xvi. 3 + + English Admirals, The, ii. 372 + + Enjoyment, The, of Unpleasant Places, xxii. 103 + + Epilogue to An Inland Voyage, i. 122 + + Episodes in the Story of a Mine, ii. 254 + + Essays of Travel: Davos in Winter, xxii. 241; Health and Mountains, + xxii. 244; Alpine Diversions, xxii. 248; The Stimulation of the + Alps, xxii. 252 + + "Even in the bluest noonday of July," xiv. 77 + + "Every night my prayers I say," xiv. 13 + + + Fables: The Persons of the Tale, xxi. 269; The Sinking Ship, xxi. + 272; The Two Matches, xxi. 274; The Sick Man and the Fireman, xxi. + 275; The Devil and the Inn-keeper, xxi. 276; The Penitent, xxi. 277; + The Yellow Paint, xxi. 277; The House of Eld, xxi. 280; The Four + Reformers, xxi. 286; The Man and His Friend, xxi. 287; The Reader, + xxi. 287; The Citizen and the Traveller, xxi. 288; The Distinguished + Stranger, xxi. 289; The Cart-horses and the Saddle-horse, xxi. 290; + The Tadpole and the Frog, xxi. 291; Something in it, xxi. 291; + Faith, Half-faith, and No Faith at all, xxi. 295; The Touchstone, + xxi. 297; The Poor Thing, xxi. 304; The Song of the Morrow, xxi. 310 + + Falling in Love, On, ii. 302 + + Familiar Studies of Men and Books: Preface by Way of Criticism, iii. + 5; Victor Hugo's Romances, iii. 19; Some Aspects of Robert Burns, + iii. 43; Walt Whitman, iii. 77; Henry David Thoreau: His Character + and Opinions, iii. 101; Yoshida-Torajiro, iii. 129; Francois Villon, + Student, Poet, and Housebreaker, iii. 142; Charles of Orleans, iii. + 171; Samuel Pepys, iii. 206; John Knox and his Relations to Women, + iii. 230 + + "Far from the loud sea beaches," xiv. 72 + + "Far have you come, my lady, from the town," xiv. 263 + + "Farewell, fair day and fading light," xiv. 233 + + Farewell, Modestine! i. 253 + + "Far 'yont amang the years to be," xiv. 105 + + "Faster than fairies, faster than witches," xiv. 24 + + Father Apollinaris, i. 183 + + Father Damien: An Open Letter to the Rev. Dr. Hyde of Honolulu, xvi. + 315 + + Feast, The, of Famine; Marquesan Manners, xiv. 167; The Priest's + Vigil, xiv. 169; The Lovers, xiv. 172; The Feast, xiv. 176; The + Raid, xiv. 182; Notes, xiv. 213 + + Fife, The Coast of, xvi. 155 + + "Figure me to yourself, I pray," xiv. 268 + + Fleeming Jenkin, Memoir of, ix. 165 + + Florac, i. 234 + + Fontainebleau: Village Communities of Painters, xvi. 215 + + Footnote, A, to History: Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa: The + Elements of Discord, I. Native, xvii. 5; II. Foreign, xvii. 15; The + Sorrows of Laupepa, xvii. 27; Brandeis, xvii. 53; The Battle of + Matautu, xvii. 70; Last Exploits of Becker, xvii. 83; The Samoan + Camps, xvii. 103; Affairs of Laulii and Fangalii, xvii. 112; "Furor + Consularis," xvii. 128; The Hurricane, xvii. 142; Laupepa and + Mataafa, xvii. 156 + + Foreigner, The, at Home, ix. 7 + + Forest Notes, xxii. 142 + + "For love of lovely words, and for the sake," xiv. 97 + + "Forth from her land to mine she goes," xiv. 239 + + "Frae nirly, nippin', Eas'lan' breeze," xiv. 106 + + "Friend, in my mountain-side demesne," xiv. 73 + + "From breakfast on all through the day," xiv. 12 + + + Genesis, The, of "The Master of Ballantrae," xvi. 341 + + "Give to me the life I love," xiv. 219 + + "God, if this were enough," xiv. 234 + + "Go, little book, and wish to all," xiv. 67 + + Gossip, A, on a Novel of Dumas's, ix. 124 + + Gossip, A, on Romance, ix. 134 + + Goulet, Across the, i. 203 + + Graver, The, and the Pen, xxii. (end) + + "Great is the sun, and wide he goes," xiv. 46 + + Great North Road, The, xxi. 203 + + Green Donkey Driver, The, i. 149 + + Greyfriars, Edinburgh, i. 298 + + + Health and Mountains, xxii. 244 + + Heart of the Country, The, i. 7 + + Heather Ale: A Galloway Legend, xiv. 201; Notes, xiv. 215 + + Heathercat, xxi. 177 + + "He hears with gladdened heart the thunder," xiv. 233 + + "Here all is sunny, and when the truant gull," xiv. 97 + + "Here, from the forelands of the tideless sea," xiv. 273 + + "Home no more home to me, whither must I wander?" xiv. 229 + + "How do you like to go up in a swing?" xiv. 22 + + Hugo's, Victor, Romances, iii. 19 + + Human Life, Reflections and Remarks on, xvi. 354 + + Humble Remonstrance, A, ix. 148 + + Hunter's Family, The, ii. 230 + + + "I am a kind of farthing dip," xiv. 95 + + Ideal House, The, xvi. 370 + + "If I have faltered more or less," xiv. 86 + + "If two may read aright," xiv. 55 + + "I have a goad," i. 158 + + "I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me," xiv. 12 + + "I have trod the upward and the downward slope," xiv. 233 + + "I heard the pulse of the besieging sea," xiv. 244 + + "I knew a silver head was bright beyond compare," xiv. 240 + + "I knew thee strong and quiet like the hills," xiv. 232 + + "I know not how it is with you," xiv. 225 + + "In all the grove, nor stream nor bird," xiv. 249 + + "In ancient tales, O friend, thy spirit dwelt," xiv. 80 + + "In dreams unhappy I behold you stand," xiv. 221 + + Inland Voyage, An, i. 7; Epilogue to, i. 122 + + "In mony a foreign pairt I've been," xiv. 125 + + "In rigorous hours, when down the iron lane," xiv. 230 + + "In the beloved hour that ushers day," xiv. 231 + + "In the highlands, in the country places," xiv. 228 + + "In the other gardens," xiv. 49 + + Introduction, by Andrew Lang, to the Swanston Edition, i. ix. + + "In winter I get up at night," xiv. 3 + + "I read, dear friend, in your dear face," xiv. 85 + + "I saw you toss the kites on high," xiv. 16 + + "I should like to rise and go," xiv. 7 + + "I sit and wait a pair of oars," xiv. 78 + + Island Nights' Entertainments, xvii. 193 + + Isle, The, of Voices, xvii. 311 + + "It is not yours, O mother, to complain," xiv. 90 + + "It is the season now to go," xiv. 70 + + "It is very nice to think," xiv. 4 + + "It's an owercome sooth for age an' youth," xiv. 135 + + "It's rainin'. Weet's the gairden sod," xiv. 116 + + "It's strange that God should fash to frame," xiv. 120 + + "I was a barren tree before," xiv. 276 + + "I will make you brooches and toys for your delight," xiv. 225 + + "I woke before the morning, I was happy all the day," xiv. 14 + + + Juvenilia, and other Papers, xxii. 3 + + + Kidnapped, x. 77 + + Knox, John, and his Relations to Women, iii. 230 + + + La Fere, of Cursed Memory, i. 79 + + Landrecies, At, i. 46 + + Lantern-Bearers, The, xvi. 200 + + Last Day, The, i. 248 + + "Last, to the chamber where I lie," xiv. 28 + + "Late in the nicht in bed I lay," xiv. 129 + + "Late lies the wintry sun a-bed," xiv. 25 + + Later Essays, xvi. 215 + + Lay Morals, xvi. 379 + + Legends, Edinburgh, i. 291 + + "Let Beauty awake in the morn from beautiful dreams," xiv. 224 + + "Let now your soul in this substantial world," xiv. 255 + + Letter to a Young Gentleman who proposes to embrace the Career of Art, + xvi. 290 + + Letters from Samoa, xviii. 351 + + "Let us, who part like brothers part like bards," xvi. 245 + + "Light foot and tight foot," xiv. 277 + + Light-keeper, The, xxii. 217 + + "Little Indian, Sioux or Crow," xiv. 19 + + Lodging, A, for the Night, iv. 227 + + "Long must elapse ere you behold again," xiv. 241 + + Lord Lytton's "Fables in Song," xxii. 171 + + Lozere, Across the, i. 213 + + + Macaire, xv. 205 + + Manse, The, ix. 61 + + Markheim, viii. 273 + + Martial Elegy, A, for some Lead Soldiers, xxii. (end) + + Master, The, of Ballantrae, xii. 5; its genesis, xvi. 341 + + Maubeuge, At, i. 21 + + Memoirs of an Islet, ix. 68 + + Memories and Portraits, ix. 7; Additional Memories and Portraits, xvi. + 155 + + Merry Men, The, xxi. 69 + + Mimente, In the Valley of the, i. 237 + + Monks, The, i. 188 + + Montvert, Pont de, i. 218 + + Moral Emblems, xxii. (end) + + Moral Emblems: Second Collection, xxii. (end) + + Morality, The, of the Profession of Letters, xvi. 260 + + More New Arabian Nights, v. 7 + + Mountain Town, A, in France, i. 257 + + Movements of Young Children, Notes on the, xxii. 97 + + Moy, Down the Oise to, i. 74 + + "My bed is like a little boat," xiv. 21 + + "My body which my dungeon is," xiv. 98 + + "My bonny man, the warld, it's true," xiv. 118 + + My First Book, "Treasure Island," xvi. 331 + + "'_My house_,' I say. But hark to the sunny doves," xiv. 98 + + "My tea is nearly ready and the sun has left the sky," xiv. 2 + + + New Arabian Nights, iv. 3; More New Arabian Nights, v. 7 + + New Form of Intermittent Light for Lighthouses, xxii. 220 + + New Town, Edinburgh: Town and Country, i. 305 + + Nicholson, John, The Misadventures of, x. 3 + + Nomenclature, The Philosophy of, xxii. 63 + + "Noo lyart leaves blaw ower the green," xiv. 265 + + Note, A, on Realism, xvi. 234 + + Notes and Essays, chiefly of the Road: A Retrospect, xxii. 71; + Cockermouth and Keswick, xxii. 80; Roads, xxii. 90; Notes on the + Movements of Young Children, xxii. 97; On the Enjoyment of + Unpleasant Places, xxii. 103; An Autumn Effect, xxii. 112; A + Winter's Walk in Carrick and Galloway, xxii. 132; Forest Notes, + xxii. 142 + + Not I, and other Poems, xxii. (end) + + "Not yet, my soul, these friendly fields desert," xiv. 89 + + "Nous n'irons plus au bois," xiv. 263 + + Noyon Cathedral, i. 86 + + Nuits Blanches, xxii. 27 + + Nurses, xxii. 34 + + + "Of a' the ills that flesh can fear," xiv. 131 + + "Of his pitiable transformation," xiv. 263 + + "Of speckled eggs, the birdie sings," xiv. 9 + + "Of where or how, I nothing know," xiv. 267 + + Oise, The, in Flood, i. 55; Down the Oise to Moy, i. 74; Through the + Golden Valley, i. 84; To Compiegne, i. 91 Church Interiors, i. 105 + + "O it's I that am the captain of a tidy little ship," xiv. 32 + + "O, I wad like to ken--to the beggar-wife says I," xiv. 116 + + "O mother, lay your hand on my brow," xiv. 92 + + Olalla, xxi. 127 + + Old Mortality, ix. 26 + + Old Scots Gardener, An, ix. 46 + + Old Town, Edinburgh: The Lands, i. 278 + + "Once only by the garden gate," xiv. 220 + + "On the great streams the ships may go," xiv. 68 + + Ordered South, ii. 345 + + Origny Sainte-Benoite: A By-Day, i. 62; The Company at Table, i. 68 + + Our Lady of the Snows, i. 181 + + "Out of the sun, out of the blast," xiv. 87 + + "Over the borders, a sin without pardon," xiv. 17 + + + Pacific Capitals, The Old and New: Monterey, ii. 141; San Francisco, + ii. 159 + + Pan's Pipes, ii. 415 + + Parliament Close, Edinburgh, i. 285 + + Pastoral, ix. 53 + + Pavilion on the Links, The: Tells how I camped in Graden Sea-wood, + and beheld a Light in the Pavilion, iv. 167; Tells of the Nocturnal + Landing from the Yacht, iv. 174; Tells how I became Acquainted with + my Wife, iv. 180; Tells in what a Startling Manner I learned that I + was not alone in Graden Sea-wood, iv. 189; Tells of an Interview + between Northmour, Clara, and myself, iv. 197; Tells of my + Introduction to the Tall Man, iv. 202; Tells how a Word was cried + through the Pavilion Window, iv. 208; Tells the last of the Tall + Man, iv. 214; Tells how Northmour carried out his Threat, iv. 221 + + "Peace and her huge invasion to these shores," xiv. 93 + + Penny Plain and Twopence Coloured, xi. 116 + + Pentland Hills, To the, Edinburgh, i. 327 + + Pentland Rising, The: The Causes of the Revolt, xxii. 3; The + Beginning, xxii. 6; The March of the Rebels, xxii. 8; Rullion Green, + xxii. 13; A Record of Blood, xxii. 17 + + Pepys, Samuel, iii. 206 + + Pines, A Night among the, i. 206 + + "Plain as the glistering planets shine," xiv. 223 + + Plea, A, for Gas Lamps, ii. 420 + + Pont-sur-Sambre: We are Pedlars, i. 31; The Travelling Merchant, i. 36 + + Portraits, Some, by Raeburn, ii. 385 + + Prayers written for Family Use at Vailima, xvi. 431 + + Precy and the Marionnettes, i. 111 + + Prince Otto: Book I. Prince Errant, vii. 7; Book II. Of Love and + Politics, vii. 49; Book III. Fortunate Misfortune, vii. 171 + + Providence and the Guitar, iv. 273 + + Pulvis et Umbra, xvi. 299 + + + Raeburn, Some Portraits, by, ii. 385 + + Rajah's Diamond, The: Story of the Bandbox, iv. 86; Story of the + Young Man in Holy Orders, iv. 111; The Story of the House with the + Green Blinds, iv. 127; The Adventure of Prince Florizel and a + Detective, iv. 159 + + Random Memories: I. The Coast of Fife, xvi. 155; II. The Education + of an Engineer, xvi. 167; _Rosa quo Locorum_, xvi. 345 + + Realism, A Note on, xvi. 234 + + Records of a Family of Engineers, xvi. 3 + + Reflections and Remarks on Human Life, xvi. 354 + + "Resign the rhapsody, the dream," xiv. 236 + + Retrospect, A, xxii. 71 + + Roads, xxii. 90 + + Robin and Ben, or the Pirate and the Apothecary, xxii. (end) + + _Rosa quo Locorum_, xvi. 345 + + Royal Sport Nautique, The, i. 16 + + + St. Ives, xx. 3 + + Salvini's "Macbeth," xxii. 180 + + Sambre and Oise Canal: Canal Boats, i. 50 + + Sambre Canalised, On the: To Quartes, i. 26; To Landrecies, i. 41 + + Satirist, The, xxii. 25 + + "Say not of me that weakly I declined," xiv. 99 + + Scots Gardener, An old, ix. 46 + + Sea-Fogs, The, ii. 239 + + "She rested by the Broken Brook," xiv. 222 + + Silverado Squatters, The, ii. 173; In the Valley: 1, Calistoga, ii. + 179; 2, The Petrified Forest, ii. 184; 3, Napa Wine, ii. 188; 4, The + Scot Abroad, ii. 194. --With the Children of Israel: 1, To Introduce + Mr. Kelmar, ii. 201; 2, First Impressions of Silverado, ii. 205; 3, + The Return, ii. 215 + + "Since I am sworn to live my life," xiv. 263 + + "Since long ago, a child at home," xiv. 237 + + "Sing clearlier, Muse, or evermore be still," xiv. 96 + + "Sing me a song of a lad that is gone," xiv. 256 + + Sire de Maletroit's Door, The, iv. 250 + + Sketches: The Satirist, xxii. 25; Nuits Blanches, xxii. 27; The Wreath + of Immortelles, xxii. 30; Nurses, xxii. 34; A Character, xxii. 37 + + "Smooth it slides upon its travel," xiv. 23 + + "Some day soon this rhyming volume, if you learn with proper speed," + xiv. 58 + + Songs of Travel, xiv. 217 + + Song, The, of Rahero: A Legend of Tahiti, xiv. 139; The Slaying of + Tamatea, xiv. 139; The Venging of Tamatea, xiv. 148; Rahero, xiv. + 159; Notes, xiv. 211 + + "Son of my woman's body, you go, to the drum and fife," xiv. 227 + + South Seas, In the: Part I. The Marquesas.--An Island Landfall, + xviii. 5; Making Friends, xviii. 12; The Maroon, xviii. 21; Death, + xviii. 28; Depopulation, xviii. 36; Chiefs and Tapus, xviii. 44; + Hatiheu, xviii. 53; The Port of Entry, xviii. 61; The House of + Temoana, xviii. 69; A Portrait and a Story, xviii. 77; Long Pig--A + Cannibal High Place, xviii. 85; The Story of a Plantation, xviii. + 95; Characters, xviii. 105; In a Cannibal Valley, xviii. 112; The + Two Chiefs of Atuona, xviii, 119. Part II. The Paumotus.--The + Dangerous Archipelago--Atolls at a Distance, xviii. 129; Fakarava: + An Atoll at Hand, xviii. 137; A House to Let in a Low Island, xviii. + 146; Traits and Sects in the Paumotus, xviii. 155; A Paumotuan + Funeral, xviii. 165; Graveyard Stories, xviii. 170. Part III. The + Eight Islands.--The Kona Coast, xviii. 187; A Ride in the Forest, + xviii. 197; The City of Refuge, xviii. 203; Koahumanu, xviii. 209; + The Lepers of Kona, xviii. 215. Part IV. The Gilberts.--Butaritari, + xviii. 223; The Four Brothers, xviii. 229; Around Our House, xviii. + 237; A Tale of a Tapu, xviii. 247, 255; The Five Days' Festival, + xviii. 265; Husband and Wife, xviii. 278. Part V. The + Gilberts--Apemama.--The King of Apemama: The Royal Trader, xviii. + 289; Foundation of Equator Town, xviii. 298; The Palace of Many + Women, xviii. 306; Equator Town and the Palace, xviii. 313; King and + Commons, xviii. 321; Devil-work, xviii. 320; The King of Apemama, + xviii. 342 + + Squatting, The Act of, ii. 221 + + Starry Drive, A, ii. 250 + + Stevenson at Play: Introduction by Lloyd Osbourne, xxii. 259; War + Correspondence from Stevenson's Note-book, xxii. 263 + + Stevenson, Thomas, ix. 75 + + Story, The, of a Lie, xxi. 3 + + Student, The Modern, considered generally, xxii. 45 + + Suicide Club, The, iv. 3; Story of the Young Man with the Cream + Tarts, iv. 5; The Story of the Physician and the Saratoga Trunk, iv. + 37; The Adventure of the Hansom Cabs, iv. 65 + + "Summer fading, winter comes," xiv. 33 + + + Talk and Talkers: I., ix. 81; II., ix. 94 + + Tarn, In the Valley of the, i. 224 + + Technical Elements, Some, of Style in Literature, xvi. 241 + + "The bed was made, the room was fit," xiv. 96 + + "The clinkum-clank o' Sabbath bells," xiv. 111 + + "The coach is at the door at last," xiv. 26 + + "Thee, Mackintosh, artificer of light," xiv. 273 + + "The embers of the day are red," xiv. 257 + + "The friendly cow, all red and white," xiv. 16 + + "The ganger walked with willing foot," xiv. 67 + + "The gardener does not love to talk," xiv. 49 + + "The infinite shining heavens," xiv. 222 + + "The jolly English Yellowboy," xiv. 274 + + "The lamps now glitter down the street," xiv. 37 + + "The lights from the parlour and kitchen shone out," xiv. 14 + + "The Lord Himsel' in former days," xiv. 123 + + "The moon has a face like the clock in the hall," xiv. 22 + + "The morning drum-call on my eager ear," xiv. 233 + + "The pleasant river gushes," xiv. 272 + + "The rain is raining all around," xiv. 5 + + "The red room with the giant bed," xiv. 56 + + Thermal Influence of Forests, xxii. 225 + + "The Silver Ship, my King--that was her name," xiv. 238 + + "The stormy evening closes now in vain," xiv. 230 + + "The sun is not a-bed when I," xiv. 20 + + "The tropics vanish, and meseems that I," xiv. 243 + + "The unfathomable sea, and time, and tears," xiv. 75 + + "These nuts, that I keep in the back of the nest," xiv. 34 + + "The world is so full of a number of things," xiv. 16 + + "The year runs through her phases; rain and sun," xiv. 82 + + Thoreau, Henry David: His Character and Opinions, iii. 101 + + Thrawn Janet, v. 305 + + "Three of us afloat in the meadow by the swing," xiv. 6 + + "Through all the pleasant meadow side," xiv. 26 + + Ticonderoga: A Legend of the West Islands, xiv. 187; The Saying of + the Name, xiv. 189; The Seeking of the Name, xiv. 194; The Place of + the Name, xiv. 196; Notes, xiv. 214 + + Toils and Pleasures, ii. 264 + + Toll House, The, ii. 245 + + "To see the infinite pity of this place," xiv. 240 + + "To the heart of youth the world is a highway side," xiv. 221 + + "To you, let snow and roses," xiv. 224 + + Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes, i. 141 + + Treasure Island-- Part I. The Old Buccaneer, vi. 9; Part II. The + Sea-Cook, vi. 49; Part III. My Shore Adventure, vi. 87; Part IV. The + Stockade, vi. 109; Part V. My Sea Adventure, vi. 145; Part VI. + Captain Silver, vi. 185; My First Book, xvi. 331 + + Treasure, The, of Franchard, vi. 267 + + "Trusty, dusky, vivid, true," xiv. 235 + + Truth of Intercourse, ii. 311 + + + Umbrellas, The Philosophy of, xxii. 58 + + "Under the wide and starry sky," xiv. 86 + + Underwoods: I. In English, xiv. 67; II. In Scots, xiv. 105 + + "Up into the cherry-tree," xiv. 6 + + Upper Gevaudan, i. 165, 201 + + + Velay, i. 141 + + Villa Quarters, Edinburgh, i. 311 + + Villon, Francois: Student, Poet, and Housebreaker, iii. 142 + + Virginibus Puerisque, I., ii. 281; II., ii. 292; On Falling in Love, + ii. 302; Truth of Intercourse, ii. 311; Crabbed Age and Youth, ii. + 321; An Apology for Idlers, ii. 334; Ordered South, ii. 345; AEs + Triplex, ii. 358; El Dorado, ii. 368; The English Admirals, ii. 372; + Some Portraits by Raeburn, ii. 385; Child's Play, ii. 394; Walking + Tours, ii. 406; Pan's Pipes, ii. 415; A Plea for Gas Lamps, ii. 420 + + + Walking Tours, ii. 406 + + Walt Whitman, iii. 77 + + War Correspondence from Stevenson's Note-book, xxii. 263 + + "We built a ship upon the stairs," xiv. 9 + + Weir of Hermiston, xix. 159; Sir Sidney Colvin's Note, xix. 284; + Glossary of Scots Words, xix. 297 + + "We see you as we see a face," xiv. 85 + + "We travelled in the print of olden wars," xiv. 96 + + "We uncommiserate pass into the night," xiv. 255 + + "What are you able to build with your blocks?" xiv. 35 + + "When aince Aprile has fairly come," xiv. 109 + + "When at home alone I sit," xiv. 38 + + "When children are playing alone on the green," xiv. 31 + + "When chitterin' cauld the day sail daw," xiv. 275 + + "Whenever Auntie moves around," xiv. 11 + + "Whenever the moon and stars are set," xiv. 7 + + "When I am grown to man's estate," xiv. 9 + + "When I was sick and lay a-bed," xiv. 11 + + "When the bright lamp is carried in," xiv. 27 + + "When the golden day is done," xiv. 43 + + "When the grass was closely mown," xiv. 47 + + "Where the bells peal far at sea," xiv. 84 + + "Who comes to-night? We ope the doors in vain," xiv. 83 + + Willebrock Canal, On the, i. 11 + + Will o' the Mill, vi. 235 + + Winter and New Year, Edinburgh, i. 320 + + Winter's Walk, A, in Carrick and Galloway, xxii. 132 + + "With half a heart I wander here," xiv. 94 + + Wreath, The, of Immortelles, xxii. 30 + + Wrecker, The: Prologue, xiii. 5; The Yarn, xiii. 19; Epilogue, xiii. + 427 + + Wrong Box, The, vii. 219 + + + "Yet, O stricken heart, remember, O remember," xiv. 93 + + Yoshida-Torajiro, iii. 129 + + Young Chevalier, The, xxi. 253 + + "Youth now flees on feathered foot," xiv. 76 + + "You, too, my mother, read my rhymes," xiv. 55 + + + + +THE END. + + +PRINTED BY CASSELL & COMPANY, LIMITED, LA BELLE SAUVAGE, LONDON, E.C. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - +Swanston Edition Vol. 25 (of 25), by Robert Louis Stevenson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WORKS OF STEVENSON *** + +***** This file should be named 30714.txt or 30714.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/0/7/1/30714/ + +Produced by Marius Masi, Jonathan Ingram and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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