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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Cruise of the Kawa, by Walter E. Traprock
+
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+
+Title: The Cruise of the Kawa
+
+Author: Walter E. Traprock
+        [Pseudonym of George S. Chappell]
+
+Release Date: September, 2004 [EBook #6586]
+[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule]
+[This file was first posted on December 29, 2002]
+
+Edition: 10
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUISE OF THE KAWA ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Phil McLaury, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks
+and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The Author and His Island Bride]
+
+
+THE CRUISE OF THE KAWA
+
+WANDERINGS IN THE SOUTH SEAS
+
+BY
+
+WALTER E. TRAPROCK, F.R.S.S.E.U.
+
+
+WITH SEVENTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS AND A MAP
+
+
+1921
+
+
+
+
+DEDICATION
+
+TO THE GIRLS WE LEFT BEHIND--
+
+KIPPIPUTUONA
+(DAUGHTER OF PEARL AND CORAL)
+
+LUPOBA-TILAANA
+(MIST ON THE MOUNTAIN)
+
+BABAI-ALOVA-BABAI
+(ESSENCE OF ALOVA)
+
+THIS VOLUME IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED
+
+
+
+PUBLISHER'S NOTE
+
+Of late the lure of the South Seas has laid its gentle spell rather
+overwhelmingly upon American readers. To be unread in Polynesiana is
+to be intellectually _declasse_.... In the face of this avid
+appetite for tropic-scented literature, one may well imagine the
+satisfaction of a publisher when offered opportunity of association
+with such an expedition as that of the Kawa, an association
+involving the exclusive privilege of publishing the manuscript of
+Walter E. Traprock himself.
+
+The public, we feel, is entitled to a frank word regarding the inception
+of this volume. Now at last it is possible to withdraw the veil of
+secrecy which has shrouded the undertaking almost until the date of
+publication. _Almost_, we say, because some inklings of information
+found their way into the newspapers early this summer. The leak, we
+have reason to be believe, is traceable to a Marquesan valet who was
+shipped at Papeete to fill the place left vacant by William Henry
+Thomas, the strange facts surrounding whose desertion are recorded in
+the pages which follow.
+
+    "Filbert Islands" Found
+    by South Seas Explorers
+
+    _Special to The Evening Telegram._
+
+    SAN FRANCISCO. Friday.--Returning
+    from an extensive exploring trip in the
+    South Seas, the auxiliary yacht Kawa,
+    which reached this port today, reports
+    the discovery of a new group of Polynesian
+    Islands. The new archipelago
+    has been named the Filbert Islands, because
+    of the extraordinary quantity of
+    nuts of that name found there, according
+    to the ship's company.
+
+    The Kawa is owned by Walter E.
+    Traprock. of Derby, Conn., head of the
+    expedition. Traprock leaves for Washington
+    today, where he will lay before
+    the National Geographic Society data
+    concerning his explorations.
+
+The telltale newspaper item, reproduced above, outlines the story
+behind this volume. What is not made clear is the fact that the entire
+expedition was painstakingly planned many months ago, the publishers
+themselves making it financially possible by contracting with Dr.
+Traprock for his literary output. Provision was also made for recording
+every phase of experience and discovery. With this in view, Dr.
+Traprock's literary attainments were complemented by securing as his
+companions the distinguished American artist, Herman Swank, and Reginald
+K. Whinney, the scientist. By this characteristic bit of foresight was
+the inclusive and authoritative character of the expedition's findings
+assured.
+
+How well we recall our parting with Traprock.
+
+"Any further instructions?" queried the intrepid explorer from the
+shadow of that ingenious yardarm.
+
+"None," I replied. "You understand perfectly. Get the goods. See South
+Sea life as it actually is. Write of it without restraint. Paint it.
+Photograph it. Spare nothing. Record your scientific discoveries
+faithfully. Be frank, be full...."
+
+"Trust us!" came back Traprock's cheery cry, as the sturdy little
+Kawa bore them toward their great adventures.
+
+Herein are recorded many of their experiences and discoveries,
+contributions of far-reaching significance and appeal.
+
+Uninfluenced by professional self-interest, unshaken by our genuine
+admiration for its predecessors, and despite our inherent inclination
+toward modest conservatism, we unhesitatingly record the conviction
+that "The Cruise of the Kawa" stands preeminent in the literature
+of modern exploration--a supreme, superlative epic of the South Seas.
+
+G.P.P.
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+We get under way. Polynesia's busiest corner. Our ship's company. A
+patriotic celebration rudely interrupted. In the grip of the elements.
+Necessary repairs. A night vigil. Land ho!
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+A real discovery. Polynesia analyzed. The astounding nature of the
+Filberts. Their curious sound, and its reason. We make a landing. Our
+first glimpse of the natives. The value of vaudeville.
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+Our handsome hosts. En route to the interior. Native flora and fauna.
+We arrive at the capital. A lecture on Filbertine architecture. A
+strange taboo. The serenade.
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+A few of our native companions. Filbertine diet. Physiological
+observations. We make a tour of the island. A call on the ladies.
+Baahaabaa gives a feast. The embarrassments of hospitality. An alcoholic
+escape.
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+A frank statement. We vote on the question of matrimony. A triple
+wedding. An epithalmic verse. We remember the Kawa. An interview
+with William Henry Thomas. Triplett's strategy. Safe within the atoll.
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+Marital memories. A pillow-fight on the beach. A deep-sea devil. The
+opening in the atoll. Swank paints a portrait. The _fatu-liva_ bird and
+its curious gift. My adventure with the _wak-wak_. Saved!
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+Excursions beyond the outer reef. Our aquatic wives. Premonitions. A
+picnic on the mountain. Hearts and flowers. Whinney delivers a
+geological dissertation. Babai finds a _fatu-liva_ nest. The strange
+flower in my wife's hair.
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+Swank's popularity on the Island. Whinney's jealousy. An artistic duel.
+Whinney's deplorable condition. An assembly of the Archipelago.
+Water-sports on the reef. The Judgment.
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+More premonitions. Triplett's curious behavior. A call from Baahaabaa.
+We visit William Henry Thomas. His bride. The christening. A hideous
+discovery. Pros and Cons. Out heart-breaking decision. A stirrup-cup
+of lava-lava.
+
+CHAPTER X
+
+Once more the Kawa foots the sea. Triplett's observations and
+our assistance. The death of the compass-plant. Lost! An orgy of
+desperation. Oblivion and excess. The Kawa brings us home. Our
+reception in Papeete. A celebration at the Tiare.
+
+
+
+
+ILLUSTRATIONS
+
+
+THE AUTHOR AND HIS ISLAND BRIDE
+
+CAPTAIN EZRA TRIPLETT
+
+A BEWILDERED BOTANIST
+
+THE W.E. TRAPROCK EXPEDITION
+
+BABAI AND HER TAA-TAA
+
+WALTER E. TRAPROCK, F.R.S.S.E.U
+
+GATHERING DEW-FISH ON THE OUTER REEF
+
+HERMAN SWANK
+
+LUPOBA-TILAANA, MIST ON THE MOUNTAIN
+
+WATCHFUL WAITING
+
+GOLDEN HARMONIES
+
+WILLIAM HENRY THOMAS
+
+THE LAGOON AT DAWN (WHINNEY'S VERSION)
+
+THE LAGOON AT DAWN (SWANK'S VERSION)
+
+THE NEST OF A FATU-LIVA
+
+A FLEDGLING FATU-LIVA
+
+BAAHAABAA MOURNING THE DEPARTURE OF HIS FRIENDS
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I
+
+We get under way. Polynesia's busiest corner. Our ship's company. A
+patriotic celebration rudely interrupted. In the grip of the elements.
+Necessary repairs. A night vigil. Land ho!
+
+
+"Is she tight?" asked Captain Ezra Triplett. (We were speaking of my
+yawl, the Kawa).
+
+"As tight as a corset," was my reply.
+
+"Good. I'll go."
+
+In this short interview I obtained my captain for what was to prove
+the most momentous voyage of my life.
+
+The papers were signed forthwith in the parlor of Hop Long's
+Pearl-of-the-Orient Cafeteria and dawn of the following day saw us
+beyond the Golden Gate.
+
+I will omit the narration of the eventful but ordinary occurrences
+which enlivened the first six months of our trip and ask my reader to
+transport himself with me to a corner with which he is doubtless already
+familiar, namely, that formed by the intersection of the equator with
+the 180th meridian.
+
+This particular angle bears the same relation to the Southern Pacific
+that the corner of Forty-second Street and Fifth Avenue does to the
+Atlantic Seaboard. More explorers pass a given point in a given time
+at this corner than at any other on the globe. [Footnote: See L. Kluck.
+_Traffic Conditions in the South Seas_, Chap. IV., pp. 83-92.]
+
+It was precisely noon, daylight-saving time, on July 4th, 1921, when
+I stood on the corner referred to and, strange to say, found it
+practically deserted. To be more accurate, I stood on the deck of my
+auxiliary yawl, the Kawa, and she, the Kawa, wallowed on the corner
+mentioned. To all intents and purposes our ship's company was alone. We
+had the comforting knowledge that on our right, as one faced the bow,
+were the Gilbert and Marshall groups (including the Sandwiches), on our
+left the Society, Friendly and Loyalty Archipelagoes, back of us the
+Marquesas and Paumotus and, directly on our course, the Carolines and
+Solomons, celebrated for their beautiful women. [Footnote: See "Song of
+Solomon," King James Version.] But we were becalmed and the geographic
+items mentioned were, for the time being, hull-down. Thus we were free
+to proceed with the business at hand, namely, the celebration of our
+national holiday.
+
+This we had been doing for several hours, with frequent toasts,
+speeches, firecrackers and an occasional rocket aimed directly at the
+eye of the tropical sun. Captain Triplett, being a stickler for marine
+etiquette, had conditioned that there should be no liquor consumed
+except when the sun was over the yard-arm. To this end he had fitted
+a yard-arm to our cross-trees with a universal joint, thus enabling
+us to keep the spar directly under the sun at any hour of the day or
+night. Consequently our celebration was proceeding merrily.
+
+While in this happy and isolated condition let me say a few words of
+our ship's company. Having already mentioned the Captain I will dispose
+of him first. Captain Ezra Triplett was a hard-bitten mariner. In fact,
+he was, I think, the hardest-bitten mariner I have ever seen. He had
+been bitten, according to his own tell, man-and-boy, for fifty-two
+years, by every sort of insect, rodent and crustacean in existence.
+He had had smallpox and three touches of scurvy, each of these blights
+leaving its autograph. He had lost one eye in the Australian bush
+where, naturally, it was impossible to find it. This had been replaced
+by a blue marble of the size known, technically, as an eighteen-er,
+giving him an alert appearance which had first attracted me. By nature
+taciturn, he was always willing to sit up all night as long as the gin
+was handy, an excellent trait in a navigator. About his neck he wore
+a felt bag containing ten or a dozen assorted marbles with which he
+furnished his vacant socket according to his fancy, and the effect of
+his frequent changes was both unusual and diverting.
+
+[Illustration: Captain Ezra Triplett]
+
+[Illustration Note: CAPTAIN EZRA TRIPLETT
+
+The annals of maritime history will never be complete until the name
+of Captain Ezra Triplett of New Bedford, Massachusetts, receives the
+recognition which is justly its. For more than ten generations the
+forebears of this hard-bitten mariner have followed the sea in its
+various ramifications.
+
+The first Triplett was one of the companions of Goswold who, in 1609,
+wintered on Cuttyhunk Island in Buzzard's Bay. From then on the members
+of this hardy New England family have earned positions of trust and
+honor. By courage and perseverance the subject of this portrait has
+worked himself up from cabin boy on the sound steamer _Puritan_ (wrecked
+on Bartlett's Reef, 1898) to his present position of commander of the
+Kawa.
+
+Of his important part in connection with the historic cruise described
+in these pages, the Kawa's owner, Dr. Traprock, has no hesitancy in
+saying, "Frankly, without Triplett the thing never could have been
+done." The accompanying photograph was taken just after the captain
+had been hauled out of the surf in Papeete. It will be remarked that
+he still maintains an indomitable front and holds his trusty Colt in
+readiness for immediate action.]
+
+But sail! Lord bless you, how Triplett could sail! It was wizardry,
+sheer wizardry; "devil-work," the natives used to call it. Triplett,
+blindfolded, could find the inlet to a hermetically sealed atoll. When
+there wasn't any inlet he would wait for a seventh wave--which is
+always extra large--and take her over on the crest, disregarding the
+ragged coral below. The Kawa was a tight little craft, built
+for rough work. She stood up nobly under the punishment her skipper
+gave her.
+
+Triplett's assistant was an individual named William Henry Thomas, a
+retired Connecticut farmer who had chosen to end his days at sea. This,
+it should be remarked, is the reverse of the usual order. The back-lots
+of Connecticut are peopled by retired sea-captains who have gone back
+to the land, which accounts in large measure for the condition of
+agriculture in these communities. William Henry Thomas had appeared
+as Triplett's selection. Once aboard ship his land habits stood him
+in good stead in his various duties as cook, foremost-hand, butler and
+valet, for it must not be supposed that the Kawa, tight though
+she might be, was without a jaunty style of her own.
+
+Our first-class cabin passengers were three, Reginald K. Whinney,
+scientific man, world wanderer, data-demon and a devil when roused;
+Herman Swank, bohemian, artist, and vagabond, forever in search of new
+sensations, and myself, Walter E. Traprock, of Derby, Connecticut,
+editor, war correspondent, and author, jack-of-all-trades, mostly
+literary and none lucrative.
+
+Our object? What, indeed, but life itself!
+
+I had known my companions for years. We had been class-mates at New
+Haven when our fathers were working our way through college. How far
+away it all seemed on that torrid Fourth of July as we sat on the
+Kawa's deck singing "Oralee", to which we had taught Triplett the bass.
+
+    "Like a blackbird in the spring,
+    Chanting Ora-lee...."
+
+"Very un-sanitary," said Whinney, "a blackbird ... in the spring ...
+very un-sanitary."
+
+We laughed feebly.
+
+Suddenly, as they do in the tropics, an extraordinary thing happened.
+A simoon, a monsoon and a typhoon met, head on, at the exact corner
+of the equator and the 180th meridian. We hadn't noticed one of
+them,--they had given us no warning or signal of any kind. Before we
+knew it they were upon us!
+
+I have been in any one of the three separately many a time. In '95 off
+the Blue Canary Islands I was caught in an octoroon, one of those
+eight-sided storms, that spun our ship around like a top, and killed
+all the canaries for miles about--the sea was strewn with their bodies.
+But this!
+
+"Below," bellowed Captain Triplett, and we made a dive for the hatch.
+William Henry Thomas was the last in, having been in the bow setting
+off a pinwheel, when the blow hit us. We dragged him in. My last memory
+is of Triplett driving a nail back of the hatch-cover to keep it from
+sliding.
+
+How long we were whirled in that devil's grip of the elements I cannot
+say. It may have been a day--it may have been a week. We were all
+below, battened down ... tight. At times we lost consciousness--at
+times we were sick--at times, both. I remember standing on Triplett's
+face and peering out through a salt-glazed port-hole at a world of
+waterspouts, as thick as forest trees, dancing, melting, crashing upon
+us. I sank back. _This was the end_ ...
+
+[Illustration: A Bewildered Botanist]
+
+[Illustration Note: A BEWILDERED BOTANIST Here, against the background
+of a closely woven hedge of southern hornbeam (_Carpinus Tropicalis_),
+we see that eminent scientist, Reginald Whinney, in the act of
+discovering, for the first time in any country, a magnificent specimen
+of wild modesty (_Tiarella nuda_), which grows in great profusion
+throughout the Filbert Islands. This tiny floweret is distantly related,
+by marriage, to the European sensitive plant (_Plantus pudica_) but is
+infinitely more sensitive and reticent. An illustration of this amazing
+quality is found in the fact that its snowy blossoms blush a deep
+crimson under the gaze of the human eye. At the touch of the human hand
+the flowers turn inside-out and shrink to minute proportions. Dr.
+Whinney attempted in vain to transplant specimens of this fragile
+creation to our old-world botanical gardens but found the conditions of
+modern plant life an insuperable barrier. The seeds of wild modesty
+absolutely refuse to germinate in either Europe or America.]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Calm. Peace and sun! The beneficence of a warm, golden finger that
+reached gently through the port-hole and rested on my eye. What had
+happened? Oh--yes. "Like a blackbird in the spring." Slowly I fought
+my way back to consciousness. Triplett was sitting in a corner still
+clutching the hammer. On the floor lay Whinney and William Henry Thomas,
+their twisted legs horribly suggestive of death.
+
+"Air," I gasped.
+
+Triplett feebly wrenched out the nail and we managed to pull the hatch
+far enough back to squeeze through. Enlivened by the fresh air the
+others crawled slowly after, except poor William Henry Thomas who still
+lay inert.
+
+"He's all right," said Whinney. "The gin bottle broke and dripped into
+his mouth. He'll come to presently." He added in an undertone, "The
+wages of gin..." Whinney was always quoting.
+
+Minus our factotum we stood and silently surveyed what once had been
+the Kawa. The leathern features of Captain Triplett twisted into a grin.
+"Bald's a badger!" he murmured.
+
+Everything had gone by the board. Mast, jigger, bow-sprit and running
+gear. Not a trace of block or tackle rested on the surrounding sea.
+We were clean-shaven. Of the chart, which had hung in a frame near the
+binnacle, not a line remained. All our navigating instruments, quadrant,
+sextant, and hydrant, with which we had amused ourselves making foolish
+observations during that morning of the glorious Fourth, our chronometer
+and speedometer,--all had absolutely disappeared.
+
+"And there we are!" said Swank.
+
+Triplett coughed apologetically and pulled his forelock.
+
+"If you don't mind, sir, night'll be comin' on soon and I think we'd
+better make sail."
+
+"Make sail?" I murmured blankly. "How?"
+
+"The bedding, sir," said Triplett.
+
+"Of course!" I cried. "All hands abaft to make sail."
+
+How we knotted our sheets and blankets together to fashion a rough
+main-sail would be a tedious recital, for it was slow work. Our combined
+efforts made, I should say, about eight knots an hour but half of them
+pulled out at the least provocation. We persevered, however, and finally
+completed our task. Nor were we an instant too soon, for just as we
+had succeeded in getting the oars to stand upright and were anxiously
+watching our well-worn army blankets belly out with the steady trade
+wind, the sun, which for the last hour had hung above the horizon,
+suddenly fell into the sea and night was upon us.
+
+"There's that," said Whinney quietly.
+
+Thus we slid through the velvet night with the Double Cross hanging
+low, sou'west by south.
+
+It must have been about an hour before dawn that a shiver of expectancy
+thrilled us unanimously.
+
+"Did you hear that, sir?" said Captain Triplett in a low tone.
+
+"No ... what was it?"
+
+"A sea-robin ... we must be near land ... there it is again."
+
+I heard it that time ... the faint, sweet note of the male sea-robin.
+
+Shortly afterward we heard the mewing of a sea-puss, evidently chasing
+the robin.
+
+"Sure enough, sir," said Triplett. "It'll be land." Somehow we felt
+sure of it.
+
+In calm elation and tired expectancy we strained our eyes through the
+slow crescendo of the day's birth. Suddenly, the sun leaped over the
+horizon and the long crimson rays flashed forward to where, dead ahead,
+we could see a faint swelling on the skyline. "Land-ho!" we cried in
+voices of strangled joy.
+
+"Boys," said Captain Triplett, apologetically ... "we ain't got no
+yard-arm, but the sun's up and there's land dead ahead, and I
+reckon..."
+
+He paused. Through the hatchway came William Henry Thomas bearing a
+tray with four lily cups.
+
+"Fair as a lily..." said Whinney (I knew he would).
+
+Two minutes later we had fallen into heavy slumber while the Kawa
+steered by the faithful Triplett, moved steadily toward our unknown
+haven.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II
+
+A real discovery. Polynesia analyzed. The astounding nature of the
+Filberts. Their curious sound, and its reason. We make a landing. Our
+first glimpse of the natives. The value of vaudeville.
+
+
+There is nothing better, after a hurricane, than six hours' sleep. It
+was high noon when we were awakened by William Henry Thomas and the
+odor of coffee, which drew us to the quarter-deck. There, for the first
+time, we were able to make an accurate survey of our surroundings and
+realize the magnitude and importance of what had befallen us. While
+we slept Captain Triplett had warped the denuded Kawa through
+a labyrinth of coral and we now lay peacefully at anchor with the
+island lying close in-board.
+
+Its appearance, to put it mildly, was astonishing. Let me remind the
+reader that for the previous four months we had been prowling through
+the Southern Pacific meeting everywhere with disappointment and
+disillusionment. We had inspected every island in every group noted
+on every map from Mercator to Rand-McNally without finding any variation
+in type from, "A," the low lying coral-atoll of the well-known broken
+doughnut formation, to, "B," the high-browed, mansard design popularized
+by F. O'Brien. [Footnote: This is the type "E". of Melville's overrated
+classification--_Ed._] In a few of the outlying suburbs of
+Melanesia and the lower half of Amnesia, we had found a few designs
+which showed sketchy promise of originality: coral reefs in quaint
+forms had been begun, outlining a scheme of decoration in contrast
+with the austere mountains and valleys. But everywhere these had been
+abandoned. Either the appropriation had given out, or the polyps had
+gotten to squabbling among themselves and left their work to be slowly
+worn away by the erosive action of sea and shipwrecked bottoms.
+[Footnote: In Micronesia it was even worse, the islands offering a
+dead-level of mediocrity which I have never seen equalled except in
+the workingmen's cottages of Ampere, New Jersey, the home of the General
+Electric Company.] Add to the geographic sameness the universal blight
+of white civilization with its picture post-cards, professional hula
+and ooh-la dancers, souvenir and gift shops, automat restaurants,
+movie-palaces, tourists, artists and explorers, and you have some idea
+of the boredom which had settled down over the Kawa and her
+inmates.
+
+Only a few days before Whinney, usually so philosophical, had burst
+out petulantly with: "To hell with these islands. Give me a good mirage,
+any time." Swank and I had heartily agreed with him, and it was in
+that despondent spirit that we had begun our Fourth of July celebration.
+
+As we sat cozily on deck, sipping our coffee, it slowly dawned on us
+that we had made the amazing discovery of an absolutely new type of
+island!--something so evidently virgin and unvisited that we could
+only gaze in awe-struck silence.
+
+"Do you know," whispered Swank, "I think this is the first time I have
+ever seen a virgin"--he choked for an instant on a crumb--"island."
+
+We could well believe it.
+
+The islands lay before us in echelon formation. The one in our immediate
+foreground was typical of the others. Its ground-floor plan was that
+of a circle of beach and palm enclosing an inner sea from the center
+of which rose an elaborate mountain to a sheer height of two thousand,
+perhaps ten thousand, feet. The general effect was that of a pastry
+masterpiece on a gigantic scale. [Footnote: Oddly enough the scene
+struck me as strangely familiar but it was not until weeks afterward
+that I recalled its prototype in the memory of a decoration worn by
+General Grosdenovitch, Minister very-extraordinary to America from
+Montenegro just before the little mountain kingdom blew up with a faint
+pop and became absorbed by Jugo-Slovakia (sic).] We could only stare
+in open-mouthed amazement, thrilled with the thought that we were
+actually discoverers. A gorgeous feature of our find, in addition to
+its satisfactory shape, was its color. Sand and vegetation were of the
+conventional hues, but where the flanks of the rock rose from the
+enclosed pool we observed that they were of the pure elementary colors,
+red, blue and yellow, fresh and untarnished as in the latest masterpiece
+from the brush of the Master of All Painters. Here before our eyes was
+an unspoiled sample of what the world must have looked like on
+varnishing day.
+
+Swank, who is ultra-modern in his tendencies, was in ecstasies over
+the naive simplicity of the color scheme. "Look at that red!" he
+shouted. "Look at that blue!! Look at that yaller!!!" He dove below
+and I heard rattling of tubes and brushes that told me he was about
+to commit landscape. This time I knew he couldn't possibly make the
+colors too violent.
+
+Fringing the exquisitely tinted coral strand were outlying reefs,
+alternately concave and convex, which gave the shore edge a scalloped,
+almost rococo finish, which I have heard decorators call the
+Chinese-Chippendale "effect." Borne to our nostrils by an occasional
+reflex of the zooming trades came, ever and anon, entrancing whiffs
+of a brand new odor.
+
+It is always embarrassing to attempt to describe a new smell, for,
+such is our inexperience in the nasal field, that a new smell must
+invariably be described in terms of _other_ smells, and by reason of a
+curious, inherited prudery this province has been left severely alone by
+English writers. I know of but one man, M. Sentant, the governor of
+Battambang, Cambodia, who frankly makes a specialty of odors. [Footnote:
+See _Journal des Debats_, '09, "Le nez triomphant" de Lucien Sentant.]
+
+"J'aime les odeurs!" he said to me one day as we sat sipping a siem-bok
+on the piazza, of the residency.
+
+"Mais il y en a des mauvaises," I deprecated.
+
+"_Meme_ les mauvaises," he insisted, "Oui, _surtout les_ mauvaises!"
+
+But Sentant is unique. I can only say that as I sat sniffing on the
+deck of the Kawa there was about us a _soupcon_ of the _je-ne-sais-quoi
+tropicale_, half nostalgie, half diablerie. It was ... but what's the
+use? You will have to go out there some time and smell it for yourself.
+
+[Illustration: The W.E. Traprock Expedition]
+
+[Illustration Note: THE W.E. TRAPROCK EXPEDITION It is doubtful if a
+camera's eye ever recorded the presence of a more remarkable group
+than that presented on the opposite page. Here we see the ship's company
+of the yawl Kawa, assembled under the shade of the broad
+panjandrus leaves which fringe the Filbert Islands. They are, reading
+from left to right, William Henry Thomas, the crew; Herman Swank,
+Walter E. Traprock, Reginald Whinney. At their feet lies Kippiputuona
+(Daughter of Pearl and Coral). The black and white of photography can
+give no idea of the magnificent tropical coloring, nor of the exquisite
+sounds and odors which permeate every inch of the island paradise. At
+the moment of taking this picture, which was obligingly snapped by
+Captain Triplett, the entire party was listening to the thrilling cry
+of the fatu-liva bird. Captain Triplett had just requested the group
+to "listen to the little birdie" when the distant wood-notes were
+heard, the coincidence falling in most happily with the photographer's
+attempts to secure the absolute attention of his subjects.]
+
+I have mentioned the contour, color and fragrance of our island. I now
+come to the strangest feature of all. I refer to its sound. I had for
+some time noticed a queer, dripping noise which I had foreborne to
+mention fearing it might be inside my own head--a devilish legacy of
+our recent buffeting. You can imagine my relief when Whinney asked
+apologetically, "Do you fellows hear anything?"
+
+"I do!" was my rejoinder, seconded by Swank who had come up for air.
+
+We all listened intently.
+
+Though the sky was cloudless, a distinct pattering sound as of a light
+rain reached us.
+
+"Nuts..." said Captain Triplett suddenly, spitting on the nose of a
+fish that had made a face at him. A glance through our mercifully
+preserved field-glasses corroborated the Captain's vision.
+
+"For the love of Pete!" I gasped. "Take a squint at those trees." They
+were literally crawling with nuts and tropical fruits of every
+description. In the shadow of the broad panjandrus leaves we could see
+whole loaves of breadfruits falling unassisted to the ground while
+between the heavier thuds of cocoanuts and grapefruit we heard the
+incessant patter of light showers of thousands of assorted nutlets,
+singing the everlasting burden and refrain of these audible isles. It
+was this predominant feature--though I anticipate our actual
+decision--which ultimately settled our choice of a name for the new
+archipelago,--the Filbert Islands, now famous wherever the names of
+Whinney, Swank and Traprock are known.
+
+It was now about half-past two bells and an excellent time to make a
+landing, preparations for which were forthwith set in motion. Now, if
+ever, we had occasion to bless the tightness of the Kawa, for
+in the confusion below, somewhat ameliorated by the labors of William
+Henry Thomas, we found most of our duffle in good order, an occasional
+stethoscope broken or a cork loose, but nothing to amount to much. Our
+rifles, side-arms, cartridges, camera and my bundles of rejected
+manuscript were as dry as ever. I was thankful as I had counted on
+writing on the other side of them. A tube of vermilion had run amuck
+among Swank's underclothes but, in the main, we were intact.
+
+After some delay in getting our folding-dory stretched on its frame,
+due to Whinney's contention that the bow and stern sections belonged
+on the same end, we finally shoved off, leaving William Henry Thomas
+to answer the door in case of callers.
+
+In the brief interval of our passage, I could not help noticing the
+remarkable submarine flora over which we passed. The water, perfectly
+clear to a depth of four-hundred and eighty-two feet, showed a
+remarkable picture of aquatic forestry. Under our keel spread limeaceous
+trees of myriad hues in whose branches perched variegated fish nibbling
+the coral buds or thoughtfully scratching their backs on the roseate
+bark. Pearls the size of onions rolled aimlessly on ocean's floor. But
+of these later; for the nonce our tale leads landward.
+
+As our canvas scraped the shingle we leaped out, tossing the dory
+lightly beyond the reach of the waves, and fell into the agreed-upon
+formation. Triplett in the van, then Whinney, Swank and myself, in the
+order named. Beyond the beach was a luxuriant growth of _haro_.
+[Footnote: Similar to the photographer's grass; is used in the
+foreground of early Sarony full lengths. I have seen a similar form
+of vegetation just off the fairway of the third hole at Garden City.]
+Into this we proceeded gingerly, intrepid and alert, but ready to bolt
+at the slightest alarm.
+
+The nut noises became constantly more ominous and menacing, but still
+we saw no sign of human life. Near the edge of the forest we came to
+a halt. Plainly it would be unwise to venture within range of the
+arboreal hailstones without protection, for though our pith-helmets
+were of the best quality they were, after all, but pith, and a cocoanut
+is a cocoanut, the world over. While we were debating this point and
+seeking a possible way into the jungle which was not overarched by
+trees I heard a low bird-call, as I supposed, the even-song of the
+cross-billed cuttywink. On the instant a towering circle of dark forms
+sprang from the haro and at a glance I saw that we were completely
+surrounded by gigantic Filbertines!
+
+Darting a look over my shoulder I noted to my dismay an enormous
+land-crab towing our dory seaward. It was a harrowing moment. As agreed
+upon, we waited for Triplett to take the initiative and in the interim
+I took a hasty inventory of our reception committee. The general
+impression was that of great beauty and physique entirely unadorned
+except for a narrow, beaded water-line and pendent apron (_rigolo_
+in the Filbertine language) consisting of a seven-year-old clam shell
+decorated with brightly colored papoo-reeds. The men's faces were calm,
+almost benign, and as far as I could see unarmed except for long,
+sharply pointed bundles of leaves which they carried under their arms.
+Their tattooing was the finest I have ever seen.
+
+At this moment, however, my observations were concluded by Triplett's
+suddenly wheeling and saying sharply, "Traprock! ... target practice!"
+This was a stunt we had often performed for the amusement and
+mystification of kindly cannibals in the Solomons. I had seen it in
+vaudeville and taught it to Triplett. As was my custom, I had in the
+pocket of my singlet a number of ship biscuit. Plucking out one of
+these I placed it on my forehead and nose, holding it in place with
+the index finger. Triplett leveled his Colt a good yard above my head
+and fired, I on the instant pressing the biscuit so that it fell in
+pieces to the ground.
+
+The effect on the Filbertines was marvelous.
+
+They were too simple to be afraid. Their one emotion was wonder. Then
+Swank, grinning broadly, uttered the one word, "Cinch!"
+
+To a nation which had never heard a word ending in a consonant, this
+was apparently intensely humorous. They burst into loud guffaws,
+supplemented with resounding slaps of their cupped hands on their
+stomachs, at the same time raising an imitative cry of "Sink-ka!
+Sink-ka!"
+
+This was our welcome to the Filbert Islands, and also the beginning
+of the formation of that new tongue, Filbertese or nut-talk, which in
+the ensuing months was to mean so much to our small but absolutely
+intrepid band.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III
+
+Our handsome hosts. En route to the interior. Native flora and fauna. We
+arrive at the capitol. A lecture on Filbertine architecture. A strange
+taboo. The serenade.
+
+
+With the first burst of laughter it seemed that all embarrassment on
+the part of the natives had been dissipated. Those nearest us insisted
+on patting our stomachs gently, at the same time uttering a soft,
+crooning "soo-soo," [Footnote: This same sound is used by the natives
+of Sugar Hill, New Hampshire, when calming their horses.] which it was
+obviously the proper thing to return, which we did to the delight of
+the bronze warriors about us.
+
+After a few moments of this friendly massage, the most ornamental of
+the savages, whom I judged to be the chief, uttered dissyllabic command
+of "Oo-a," and slapped his right thigh smartly with his left hand, a
+feat more easily described than accomplished. Coincident with this
+signal came a cheerful riffling sound as the Filbertines broke out
+their large umbrellas of panjandrus leaves which we had first mistaken
+for weapons. This implement, (known technically as a _naa-naa_ or _taa-
+taa_, depending on whether it was open or closed), was in reality not
+only a useful and necessary protection against the continuous nut-
+showers but also a weapon of both of- and de-fensive warfare. [Footnote:
+This primitive people we soon found to be profoundly pacifistic, a
+natural condition in a race who, since the dawn of time, had known no
+influence other than that of the Pacific Ocean. Warfare with its cruel
+attributes had never penetrated their isolation. With nations as with
+people, it takes two to make a quarrel. Here was but one.]
+
+We stood thus, in open formation, among the luxurious haro until in
+response to another signal from the chief, a resounding slap on the
+left shank, they escorted us ceremoniously along a winding path which
+led toward the interior of the island. It was for all the world as if
+we were being taken out to dinner, a thought which suggested for an
+instant the reflection that we might turn out to be not _guests_ but
+_courses_ at the banquet, in which case I promised myself I should be a
+_piece-de-resistance_ of the most violent character.
+
+But these solemn thoughts were not proof against the gaiety of our
+surroundings, the soft patter of the constantly dropping nuts bounding
+from the protective _taa-taas_, and the squawks and screeches of
+countless cuttywinks and _fatu-liva_ birds, those queens of the tropics
+whose gorgeous plumage swept across our path.
+
+For Whinney and Swank as well as myself the promenade was a memorable
+one, the former feasting his cool eyes on the hundreds of new scientific
+items which he was later to classify, the bulbous _oo-pa_, a sort of
+vegetable cream-puff, the succulent _tuki-taki_, pale-green with red
+dots, a natural cross between the banana and the cocoanut, having the
+taste of neither, and the numerous crawling things, the whistling-ants
+and shy, lamp-eyed lily-bugs (_anchoridae flamens_) who flashed their
+signals as we passed.
+
+Swank revelled in the rainbow colors about us, the flaming nabiscus
+blossoms and the unearthly saffron of the _alova_ blooms, one inhale of
+which, we were to learn, contained the kick of three old-fashioned
+mint-juleps. Only Triplett's hard-boiled countenance reflected no
+interest whatever in his surroundings.
+
+It was doubtless this unintelligent dignity on our Captain's part,
+coupled with what was left of his brass buttons and visor cap on which
+the legend "Kawa" still glimmered faintly, which prompted the aborigines
+to select him as our chief, an error which I at first thought of
+correcting by some sort of dramatic tableau such as having Triplett
+lie down and letting me place my foot on his Adam's apple, of which
+he had a splendid specimen. On second thought, however, I decided that
+it would be more modest to allow him any honors he might receive
+together with the responsibilities attendant upon his position. It is
+the invariable habit of South Sea Islanders, in the event of trouble,
+to capture and hold as hostages the chief men of a tribe. Their heads,
+with or without the original bodies, seem to have a peculiar value.
+
+[Illustration: Babai and Her Taa-Taa]
+
+[Illustration Note: BABAI AND HER TAA-TAA
+
+In this picture the joyous island queen Babai-Alova-Babai is seen
+carrying her taa-taa, the curious implement which serves so many
+purposes in the Filbert Group. It is in turn a protection against the
+sun, the rain and the constant showers of falling nuts, and also, when
+occasion demands, a most effective weapon of defensive warfare. The
+taa-taa is made of closely laced panjandrus leaves on a frame of the
+tough eva-eva. When closed, which is seldom, it is known as a naa-naa.
+In addition to its other uses it is most evidently a charming background
+for a splendid example of Filbertine youth and beauty.]
+
+Soon the trail widened, and we were called upon to hurdle several low
+barriers of _papoo-reeds_, designed to confine the activities of the
+countless Alice-blue wart-hogs which whined plaintively about our feet.
+At a majestic gesture from the chief the _taa-taas_ were furled
+(becoming _naa-naas_), and we halted in a bright clearing about sixty
+feet in diameter, plainly the public square, or, to be exact, circle.
+
+My first impression was that of complete isolation in an unbroken
+forest. Peer as I would, I could discern no sign of human habitation.
+We had arrived, but where? My question was soon answered. By most
+gracious gestures, soft sounds and a series of fluttering finger
+exercises on the abdominal walls we were led to one side of the circle
+where, as our guides pointed upward, white eyes for the first time in
+history rested on a Filbertine dwelling!
+
+The houses were in the trees!
+
+Architecture is said to express deeply the inner characteristics of
+a people, a statement I am glad to corroborate. But never had it struck
+me so forcibly as now. Gazing up at a dim picture of informal
+construction, interlaced and blended with the trunks, boughs and foliage
+of the overarching palms I saw at a glance the key-note of the life
+of this simple people--_absence of labor_.
+
+The houses,--nests, were the better word--were formed by a most naive
+adaptation of natural surroundings to natural needs. The curving fronds
+of the towering coco-palms and panjandrus had been interlaced; and
+nature did the rest, the gigantic leaves interweaving, blending,
+over-lapping, meeting in a passionate and successful desire to form
+a roof, proof alike against sun and rain. Some ten feet below this and
+an equal distance from the ground the tendrils of the _eva-eva_ vine had
+been led from tree to tree, the subordinate fibres and palpitating
+feelers quickly knitting themselves into a floor with all the hygienic
+properties and tensile strength of linen-mesh.
+
+Access to these apartments was something of a puzzle until, to instruct
+us, a tall Filbert, who was evidently to be our neighbor, approached
+a nearby dwelling and, seizing a pendent halyard of _eva-eva_, gently
+but firmly pulled down the floor to a convenient level, vaulted into the
+hammock-like depression and was immediately snapped into privacy. From
+below we could see the imprint of his form rolling toward the center of
+his living-room and then the depressions of his feet as he proceeded to
+lurch about his dwelling.
+
+It was now mid-afternoon; we were hot, tired, and, though we did not
+know it, mildly intoxicated by the inhalations of alova which we had
+absorbed during our journey. I looked forward eagerly to getting
+up-stairs, so to speak, and taking a sound nap. One thing only deterred
+me; I was thirsty.
+
+[Illustration: Walter E. Traprock, F.R.S.S.E.U.]
+
+[Illustration Note: WALTER E. TRAPROCK, F.R.S.S.E.U.
+
+This striking likeness of Dr. Traprock, the author of the present
+volume, admirably expresses the intensity, alertness and intrepidity
+which have carried this remarkable personage through so many harrowing
+experiences. A certain bold defiance, which is one of Dr. Traprock's
+characteristics, has here been caught to the life. With just this
+matchless courage we know that he must have faced death a thousand
+times even though, as now, he had not a cartridge in his belt. That
+Dr. Traprock knows no fear is evidenced by the fact that he has not
+only explored every quarter of the globe, but that he has also written
+a number of books of travel, plays, musical comedies and one cook-book.
+The background of this picture shows the densely matted bush of the
+Filbert Islands in their interior portion, a jungle growth which might
+well baffle any but the most skillful threader of the trackless wilds.
+The gun carried by Dr. Traprock is a museum-piece, having been presented
+to the author's great-grandfather by Israel Putnam immediately after
+the Battle of Fort Ticonderoga. Thanks to constant upkeep it is in as
+good condition as ever. This is also true of Dr. Traprock.]
+
+On the edge of the clearing I heard the tinkling of a brook. Walking
+to its edge, I knelt and dipped my hot wrists in the cold stream,
+wetting my hands, face and matted locks, while the natives eyed me
+solemnly but with, I thought, looks of anxiety. And then a strange
+thing happened. As I took off my duck's-back fishing hat, filled it
+to the brim and raised it to my lips, a cry of horror burst from the
+throats of those swarthy giants. The chief strode forward and dashed
+the cap from my hand, at the same time thundering the word "Bapoo!"
+
+In an instant it flashed upon me that this was Filbertese for _tapu_ or
+_taboo_, that strange, sacred kibosh which is laid on certain acts,
+objects or localities throughout these far-flung islands. Water it
+appeared was for drinking purposes--_bapoo_. I then did what I think was
+exactly the right thing under the circumstances, namely, to wring out
+the offending head-covering and throw it as far from me as possible, an
+act which was greeted with a hearty burst of applause.
+
+It was not necessary for me to indicate further that I was thirsty.
+Two henchmen almost immediately appeared with a large nut-shell of
+unfamiliar appearance,--it was about the size of a half watermelon and
+bright red on the outside,--full of a pale pink liquid. The chief,
+one or two of the leading men, and the rest of my party were similarly
+equipped. Raising his shell the chief and nobles said simultaneously
+"Wha-e-a" and we drank.
+
+Two minutes afterward I had a faint sensation of being borne away by
+the trade wind. Swank was beside me and I heard him murmur, "I'm glad
+I don't have to sleep with Triplett."
+
+The rest was silence, and the silence was rest....
+
+We awoke many hours later. It was moonlight and we were lying in a
+complicated knot in the exact center of our domicile. Unraveling
+ourselves we tested our heads with gentle oscillations.
+
+Suddenly, in the distance, we heard a sound which sent a chill thrill
+running up and down our spines, the sound of singing, a faint far-off
+chorus of the loveliest voices that ever fell on mortal ears. The tone
+had that marvelous silver clang of the woodland thrush with yet a
+deeper, human poignancy, a note of passionate longing and endearment,
+shy but assertive, wild, but oh! so alluring. We chinned ourselves
+expectantly on the edge of our floor and waited, panting.
+
+"A serenade," whispered Swank, and Whinney shush-ed him savagely.
+
+Through the forest glades we could see the choir approaching, the dusky
+flash of brown bodies swaying, palpitating to the intoxicating rhythm
+of the song. Slowly and with great dignity they entered the clearing
+and stood, a score of slender creatures, in the full blaze of the moon,
+their lithe-limbed bodies clad only in delicate mother-of-pearl
+_rigolos_.
+
+Thus standing, they again burst into the melody of their national
+love-song. I transcribe the original words which for simple, primitive
+beauty are without rival.
+
+    A-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a
+    E-e-e-e-e-e-e-e-e
+
+    I-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i
+    O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o
+    U-u-u-u-u-u-u-u-u
+
+and sometimes
+
+    W-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w
+
+And
+
+    Y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y
+
+The music is indescribable, I can only say that it is as beautiful as
+the words.[Footnote: "The peculiarly liquid quality of Polynesian
+phonetics is impossible for foreigners to acquire. Europeans who attempt
+a mastery of these sounds invariably suffer from what etymologists
+call metabelia, or vowel complaint."--_Prof. C.H. Towne, Nyack
+University_.]
+
+On the third encore they turned and slowly but surely filed out of the
+clearing into the forest. Long after they had disappeared our eyes
+still hung over the edge of our apartment and we could hear in our
+memories the sweet refrain--
+
+    W-w-w-w-w-w-w-w-w
+    Y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y-y
+
+As we lay there like men in a trance I saw a dull red glow on the
+horizon and then, far off a rocket split the velvet night, burst into
+stars and disappeared.
+
+It was William Henry Thomas, aboard the Kawa--a signal of
+distress! Poor goof! We had completely forgotten him.
+
+I had a vague sense, shared, I think, by the others, that I ought to
+worry a bit about him. But it was no use. One by one we lowered
+ourselves into the pit of our arboreal home and drifted into delicious
+languorous reveries, not of William Henry Thomas. We had other things
+to think about.
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV
+
+A few of our native companions. Filbertine diet. Physiological
+observations. We make a tour of the island. A call on the ladies.
+Baahaabaa gives a feast. The embarrassments of hospitality. An alcoholic
+escape.
+
+
+"We really must do something about William Henry Thomas," I said on
+the day following our serenade.
+
+My companions agreed, and we really meant it. But alas, how easy it
+is to put things off. Day after day slipped by and we thought less and
+less of our boat-tending sailorman and more and more of what a
+magnificent time we were having.
+
+The chief's name was Baahaabaa, meaning in Filbertese "Durable Drinker."
+Among his companions were several who soon became our
+intimates--Hitoia-Upa (Cocoanut That Never Falls) and Abluluti (Big
+Wind Constantly Blowing).
+
+In every case reference in names was to simple, natural beauties. How
+much more interesting than our own meaningless nomenclature.
+
+We soon found that these simple folk had evolved an admirable standard
+day in which there was no labor whatever, no cooking, even. Imagine
+a civilization, and I use the word advisedly, in which the question
+of having or not having a cook is eliminated. We were two weeks on the
+island before any one of us realized that we had seen no fire. The
+matches which we used to light our pipes were thought to be marvelous
+flowers that blossomed and immediately disappeared.
+
+Nature, all bountiful, supplied a menu of amazing variety. Fruits,
+vegetables, combinations of the two, edible flowers and, above all,
+the thousand and one kinds of nuts from which the islands receive their
+name, were at hand for the plucking. Our breakfast grew on the ceiling
+of our bedroom and dropped beside us with charming punctuality at the
+first shiver of the rising trade.
+
+It must not be supposed that we were strict vegetarians. Many varieties
+of fish and crustacea, as well as certain insects and some of the
+smaller birds were eaten raw. European and American civilizations alike
+are hopelessly backward in this regard. True, we eat with avidity
+oysters and clams (except in the Bapoo-period), knowing that they are
+not only raw but also alive. In the Filberts it was but a slight step
+forward to pop into one's mouth a wriggling _limpataa_ (a kind of marine
+lizard), whose antics after he is swallowed are both pleasant and novel.
+The hors d'oeuvre course of a Filbert Island banquet is one roar of
+laughter caused by the interior tickling of the agile food. This of
+course promotes good feeling and leads to many lasting friendships.
+
+With one's meals thus always ready-to-serve, with no cook glowering
+at the clock, no cheese souffle ready to collapse, no dishes to wash
+or frying-pans to scour, life is one long gastronomic song.
+
+In physical stature and beauty the Filbertines are far above the
+average. The men are six feet in height and upwards, and proportionately
+wide. By a combination of equable climatic and economic conditions
+this altitude has become standardized and there is little variation
+from it. A sort of rough control is exercised in this regard. When a
+young male Filbertine has got his growth he is measured with a bamboo
+yardstick to see if he comes up to requirements.
+
+If not, he simply disappears. Little is said about it, but the fact
+is that the physical failures are moored at low tide to a lump of coral
+on one of the outer reefs. Sharks, octopi and the man-eating _Wak-waks_
+do the rest. This, as I say, is a rough sort of control but effective.
+
+[Illustration: Gathering Dew-Fish on the Outer Reef]
+
+[Illustration Note: GATHERING DEW-FISH ON THE OUTER REEF
+
+There is no pleasanter sight in the world than that of the stalwart
+young Filbertine youths gathering dew-fish in the early dawn of a
+perfect tropical day. It is only at this time that these edible little
+creatures can be caught. Just as the sun's rays flash across the horizon
+they rise to the surface of the water in vast numbers, turning the entire
+ocean to a pulsating mirror of silver. For five minutes they lie thus,
+then suddenly sink simultaneously. Their work for the day, so far as
+we know it, is done. The natives fill their cheeks--which are very
+elastic--with hundreds of these tiny fish which they afterwards eject
+on the shore. Here we see Hitoia-Upa and Ablutiluti gathering dew-fish
+for the great feast given in honor of Dr. Traprock and his companions.]
+
+In facial character the tribe is regular and well proportioned,
+presenting no traces of negroid antecedents. Noses are slender and
+slightly retroussed, lips clean-cut, chins modestly assertive with
+lower jaws superbly adapted to cracking cocoanuts and oysters, foreheads
+low with sufficient projection at the eye-line for shade purposes. All
+in all, they are entitled to an A-plus in beauty and reminded me less
+of Polynesians than of a hand-picked selection of Caucasians who had
+been coated with a flat-bronze radiator paint.
+
+Beards, moustaches, imperials, goatees, side-whiskers and Galways are
+unknown, a fact which was to me strange considering the luxuriance of
+other vegetation until I learned that, from infancy, it is the custom
+of the Filbertine mother to scour her offspring's face with powdered
+coral which discourages the facial follicles. These eventually give
+up and, turning inward and upward, result in a veritable crown of glory
+on the top of the head, the place, after all, where the hair ought to
+grow. Their teeth, as with most gramnivora, are sound, regular,
+brilliantly white and exceptionally large, the average size being that
+of the double-blank domino.
+
+So much for the men, and far too much, if you ask me, when you think
+that we still have the adorable women to speak of.
+
+Ever since our first nocturnal glimpse of the charming creatures you
+can imagine that my companions and I were most eager to see more of
+them. During the entire next day not one of "les belles sauvages" was
+visible. It was next to impossible to make inquiries, but Swank, the
+irrepressible, resolved to try and plied Baahaabaa with questions in
+French, English, German and beche-de-mer, which only resulted in loud
+laughter on the part of our host. Swank next tried pantomime, using
+the French gesture for beauty, a circular motion of the hands about
+his face accompanied by sickening smiles. Baahaabaa watched him
+intently, slapped his hip sharply, uttering a melodious command and
+shortly afterward Hitoia-Upa presented Swank with a beautifully made
+wreath of elecampane blossoms (_inula helenion_) exactly matching his
+beard. This was all very well but got us nowhere.
+
+On the day following, however, our difficulties were unexpectedly
+solved. Abluluti and a companion of his, Moolitonu
+(Bull-lost-in-a-Thunder-Storm), indicated by certain large gestures
+that if we liked they would be glad to make a tour of the island, a
+proposition we gladly accepted. Moolitonu was our official map. On his
+broad back in the most exquisite azure tattooing was a diagram of the
+island showing all main-routes, good and bad trails and points of
+interest. Moolitonu was, in fact, a human Blue-book.
+
+Equipped with individual _taa-taas_ and quart cocoanut shells of
+_hoopa_, a delicious twenty-seven per cent. milk, we set out along
+a well-traveled trail, stopping ever and anon to enjoy the tranquil
+beauty of the outer sea or the more spectacular glimpses of the inner
+lagoon dominated by the mountain. We had made the circuit of
+approximately three-fourths of the island, when suddenly, without a
+word of warning, we stumbled into the _Hativa-faui_, or ladies'
+dressing-room. Instantly we were surrounded by a bevy of captivating
+beauties. Our guides had evidently counted on our surprise for they
+laughed uproariously, their mirth being joyously echoed by the graceful
+women who crowded about us, patting, petting and bidding us unmistakable
+welcome to their compound. I have never seen a more charming sylvan
+retreat.
+
+[Illustration: Herman Swank]
+
+[Illustration Note: HERMAN SWANK
+
+Since the exhibition of Herman Swank's South Sea Studies in the Graham
+Galleries, New York City, it is hardly necessary to introduce by name
+the illustrious artist who has justly earned the title of "Premier
+Painter of Polynesia." A whole school of painters have attempted to
+reproduce the exotic color and charm of these entrancing isles. It
+remained for Herman Swank, by his now famous method of diagrammatic
+symbolism, to bring the truth fully home. This he accomplished by
+living, to the limit, the native life of the Filbertese. Clad only in
+the light lamitu, or afternoon wrap of the islands, it was the artist's
+custom to spend entire days inhaling the perfume of the fragment alova
+flower, a practice which undoubtedly accounts for the far-away, dreamy
+expression so evident in the photograph. He is also wearing the paloota,
+or wedding crown, the gift of his lovely island bride.]
+
+Let me briefly outline the Filbertine domestic arrangements as they
+were gradually unfolded to us. To begin with, make no mistake, marriage
+in the Filbert Islands is a distinct success. This is accomplished by
+the almost complete separation of the husband from his wives. During
+the day these joyous maids and matrons lead their own lives in their
+own community, rehearsing their songs, weaving chaplets of flowers,
+stringing pearls for their simple costumes, playing games and exchanging
+the badinage and gossip which are the life-breath of womanhood the
+world over. They are inordinately proud of their hair, as well they
+may be, and spend hours at a time dressing and undressing it.
+
+The men, on their side, are equally free. The result is that a meeting
+with their wives is an event. Happiness, love and the elation of
+celebration are the harmonious notes of this beautiful domestic
+diapason.
+
+Feast-days, banquets, picnics, swimming parties--the Filbertines adore
+salt water, which is not potable but thirst-producing--these are the
+occasions of a frank and joyous mingling of the sexes.
+
+Before we left the clearing we were treated to a most graceful
+spectacle, a performance of the _Ataboi_, a dance descriptive of the
+growth and blossoming of the _alova_ flower. This was performed by seven
+beautiful girls to an accompaniment of song and clapping. The plaintive
+love-motif was unmistakably introduced by a deep-chested dame who played
+on the _bazoola_, a primitive instrument fashioned from the stalk of the
+figwort (_Scrophulariaceae_). It may interest music lovers to know that
+the Filbertines employ the diatetic scale exclusively, four notes in the
+ascent and five on the recoil.
+
+At the close of the performance we were shown the nursery compound,
+an enclosure teeming with beautiful children, screened by hedges where
+the little ones could be heard but not seen.
+
+Two days subsequent to our amble we were invited to a grand banquet
+which led to disturbing problems and momentous decision on our part.
+This feast was our formal welcome; the keys of the islands, so to
+speak, were presented to us. There were ladies present--and everything.
+
+It was served in a special clearing lighted by the moon and countless
+_anchoridae_ tied by their legs in festoons, a procedure which causes
+them to open and shut their lambent eyes very rapidly, and gave a quaint
+cinema effect to the scene. After counting the courses up to
+twenty-seven I lost as each was accompanied by a new brand of island
+potion. Fortunately we were seated on the ground.
+
+Triplett was in his glory. If I have failed to mention recently our
+hard-bitten old navigator it is only because we had seen comparatively
+little of him. Resting on his titular dignity as chief he seldom
+appeared in public, spending most of his time up his tree snoozing or
+reading an old copy of the New Bedford "Argus," which he was never
+without. Tonight, however, he blazed forth in full regalia, wearing
+his best blue marble, his visor-cap wreathed with nabiscus blossoms,
+his case-hardened countenance lighted with conviviality. Following an
+interminable period of eating and drinking came a long speech by
+Baahaabaa which, like most after-dinner speeches, meant nothing to me.
+Captain Triplett replied. The gist of Triplett's remarks, memorized
+from the "Argus," were taken from the 1916 report of the New Bedford
+Board of Trade. When he proclaimed that "besides cotton goods, 100,000
+pianos were turned out yearly and 8,500 derby hats every day," his
+audience, set off by Whinney, burst into uproarious applause. The
+climax was reached when he lowered his voice dramatically and said,
+"And keep always in mind, O Baahaabaa and friends, that the New England
+Fur Company uses daily 35,000 rabbit pelts! Gentlemen, I thank you."
+
+Pandemonium broke loose. Triplett was showered with congratulations.
+Music and dancing followed, among others an amazing performance by a
+sturdy youth, Zambao-Zambino (Young-Man-Proud-of-His-Waist-Line) who
+rendered a solo by striking his distended anatomy with his clenched
+fist, varying the tone by relaxing or tightening the abdominal muscles.
+Whinney sang a very dreary arrangement of "Mandalay"--his one parlor
+trick; Swank did an imitation of Elsie Janis's imitation of Ethel
+Barrymore and I sang "The Wreck of the Julie Plante," an amusing ballad
+describing the loss by drowning of an entire ship's company.
+
+But the climax was yet to come.
+
+There was a vague sort of commotion among the banqueters and Baahaabaa
+rose with amazing steadiness and made another speech, short this time,
+but aimed point-blank at us, after which, through the center of a sort
+of kick-off formation I saw approaching four of the most exquisite
+women in the world. When ten feet away they fell on all fours and,
+using the Australian crawl-stroke, crept slowly toward us, exhaling
+sounds of passionate endearment mingled with the heart-stopping
+fragrance of _alova_. Beyond the glimmering lights, an unseen choir
+burst into the "a-a-a" of the national love-song.
+
+It was a critical not to say embarrassing moment. These lovely ladies
+were very evidently presents, banquet-favors so to speak, which we
+were expected to take home with us. To refuse them meant certain
+offense, perhaps death. Triplett was plainly non-plussed. Swank and
+Whinney were too far gone to be of any assistance. Summoning all my
+reserve strength I rose and faced the whirling assembly.
+
+"Gentlemen," I said solemnly, "one final toast, to the President of
+the United States,"--at the same time draining a huge shell of _hoopa_.
+My companions followed suit and we fell simultaneously.
+
+For the next twenty-four hours we were safe. After that, who knew?
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V
+
+A frank statement. We vote on the question of matrimony. A triple
+wedding. An epithalmic verse. We remember the "Kawa." An interview
+with William Henry Thomas. Triplett's strategy. Safe within the atoll.
+
+
+In most volumes on the South Seas the chapter which I am about to write
+would be omitted. I mean to say that we have reached a point in my
+narrative in which the status of our relations with the Filbertine
+women, as such, must either be discussed frankly and openly, or treated
+in the usual tongue-in-cheek fashion which seems to be the proper thing
+with English and American writers.
+
+I have looked them all over carefully (the writers, I mean), and find
+them divided into two categories, those who take their wives along as
+a guarantee of virtue, or those who are by nature Galahads, Parsifals
+and St. Anthonys. This latter group is to me particularly trying. They
+revel in descriptions of desirous damsels with burning eyes who crave
+companionship, but when an artfully devised encounter throws one of
+these passionate persons across the path of the man behind the pen,
+does he falter or swerve or make a misstep? Never. Right there is where
+the blood of the Galahads tells. Supremely he rises above temptation!
+Gracefully he sidesteps! Innocently he falls asleep!
+
+I don't believe a word of it. I think it's just a case of literary men
+sticking together.
+
+Two days after the Grand Banquet described in the last chapter, Whinney,
+Swank and I awoke with a sigh of simultaneous satisfaction, completely
+rested and restored. Ten minutes later we were engaged in a brisk
+debate in which the question before the house was, stated boldly,
+Should we or should we not "go native?" In other words, should we hold
+ourselves aloof, live contrary to the customs of the country and
+mortally offend our hosts,--to say nothing of our hostesses,--or
+should we fulfil our destinies, take unto ourselves island brides and
+eat our equatorial fruit, core and all?
+
+For the purpose of discussion Whinney was designated to uphold the
+negative, and for an hour we argued the matter pro and con. Whinney
+advanced a number of arguments, the difference in our nationalities,
+our standing in our home communities (which I thought an especially
+weak point), our lack of a common language, and several other trivial
+objections, all of which Swank and I demolished until Whinney got
+peevish and insisted that he and I change sides.
+
+I spoke very seriously of the lack of precedent for the step which we
+were considering and of what my people in Derby, Conn., would say when
+they learned that a Traprock had married a Filbert. Swank replied with
+some heat that he didn't believe that anything could be said in Derby
+that hadn't been said already and Whinney was much more eloquent on
+the affirmative than he had been on the negative. Finally when I thought
+we had talked enough I said--
+
+"Well, gentlemen, are you ready for a ballot?"
+
+"We are," said Swank and Whinney.
+
+"Remember," I warned, "The green nuts are for the affirmative,--the
+black ones for the negative. Secret ballots, of course."
+
+Wrapping our votes in _metani_ leaves we dropped them in the ballot
+shell. Whinney was teller. It was an anxious moment until he looked up
+and said with a hysterical quiver in his voice:
+
+"Unanimously green."
+
+"Let's go!" shouted Swank, but I stopped him.
+
+"Hold on," I said. "Triplett is in on this. We agreed that it must be
+unanimous."
+
+My companions' faces lengthened like barrel-staves.
+
+"Damn," muttered Whinney. "I hadn't thought of him."
+
+You can imagine our disgust when we interviewed the Captain.
+
+"Not on your life!" he said decidedly. "Why, boys, I got two a 'em
+a-ready, one in Noo Bedford--she's my lawful,--and one--a sort of
+'erdeependence, in Sausalito. But boys, I don't go for to commit
+trigonometry, no sir!"
+
+Thunder rested on our brows but the Captain continued,--
+
+"But you--you boys, you ain't married, leastways if you are I don't
+know about it, and if you ain't"--he looked at us severely,--"if you
+ain't, it's high time you was. And what's more, if you want to be, I
+kin do it for you." "What do you mean?" we gasped.
+
+"Justice of the peace," he said proudly, "dooly signed and registered
+in Dartmouth County, Mass."
+
+We were overwhelmed. This was more than we dared hope for,--more than
+we had even dreamed of!
+
+"Now, boys," said the Captain in a fatherly tone, "lemme tell you
+something. While I've been a-roostin' up here in my perch, I've been
+a-watchin' you boys; a-watchin' an' a-worryin'. What have you been
+a-doin'? You've been a-raisin' hell, you have. Son, you ain't a rote
+a word, have yer? An' you, Whinney--boy, you ain't ketched a bug nor
+a beetle, have yer? And you, ole Swanko-panko, you ain't drawed a line,
+have yer?"
+
+We hung our heads like schoolboys before the master. Of course if
+Triplett put it that way, on moral grounds, so to speak, there was no
+more to be said.
+
+"Well, what's the answer?" he continued. "It's time you got married
+an' settled down, ain't it? When is it to be?"
+
+       *       *       *
+
+It was a triple wedding, the first and probably the last in the Filbert
+Islands, and one of the most charming affairs I have ever seen. We
+left the selection of our brides to Baahaabaa and, believe me, he
+showed himself a master-picker. The ceremony took place on the beach
+at high midnight, the fashionable island hour.
+
+How happy we all were! Triplett's qualifications had completely cleared
+the atmosphere of any moral misgivings which might have clouded the
+beauty of the gorgeous tropical night. The Captain read a service of
+his own composition full of legal whereases and aforesaids and
+containing one reference to the laws of the Commonwealth of the State
+of Massachusetts which struck me as rather far-fetched but which under
+the circumstances I decided to let pass.
+
+Mrs. Traprock, of whom I can even now write only with deep emotion,
+was an exquisite creature, constructed in accordance with the best
+South Sea specifications in every particular. Swank and Whinney were
+equally fortunate. We would not have traded wives for ten tons of copra
+though Moolitonu, who was my best man, explained that this was perfectly
+possible in case we were not satisfied.
+
+The gayest of wedding breakfasts followed at which all the ushers
+behaved in the orthodox manner after which we were conducted to our
+individual trees with appropriate processional and epithalamic chorals.
+The ladies' singing society had composed for the occasion a special
+ode which ran as follows:
+
+    Hooio-hoaio uku kai unio,
+    Kipiputuonaa aaa titi huti,
+    O tefi tapu, O eio hoki
+    Hoio-hooio ona haasi tui.
+
+This was set to a slow five-eighths rhythm. A crude translation of the
+words, lacking entirely the onomatopoetic quality of the original goes
+something like this:
+
+    Stay, O stay, Moon in your ascending!
+    Daughter of Pearl and Coral to the Moon up-goes,
+    Stay, O stay, Moon with light unending,
+    Coral, Pearl and Moonlight, guard them from falling cocoanuts.
+
+I should stand convicted of ingratitude if I did not here and now pay
+tribute to the sound common-sense of Captain Triplett at whose
+instigation we had embarked upon this our great adventure. As Triplett
+had predicted, ere a few days had passed we found awakening within us
+the fires of ambition which had sunk lower and lower in our breasts
+during our two weeks of carousing. We were now responsible married
+men. We wanted to do something to take our places in the community.
+
+I began to scribble furtively on the back of an old manuscript--the
+book of an operetta I had once written, a musical version of _Les
+Miserables_ called "Jumping Jean," in reference to which one of the
+New York producers, Dillingham, I think, wrote me: "You have out-Hugo-ed
+Hugo; this is more miserable than _Les Miserables_ itself!" I noticed
+also that Swank began to use his atelier jargon of "tonal values" and
+"integrity of line," while Whinney showed up one morning in the village
+circle with a splendid blossom of the bladder-campion (_Silene
+latifolia_) pinned to the center of his helmet.
+
+It was doubtless this renaissance of mental activity that reminded us
+of the Kawa and of William Henry Thomas. Great heavens, what
+would he think of us? Here nearly a month had elapsed, we were mostly
+married and had never given him a thought. We were filled with
+compunction. On top of this Triplett came to us with the announcement
+that Baahaabaa had informed him that we might expect a big wind about
+this time. Remembering what we had been through the Captain was worried
+about our tight little craft.
+
+"He allows," said Triplett, jerking his thumb at the chief, "that we
+orter git the Tree-with-Wings in out'er the wet. The question is,
+where be she?"
+
+I explained our anxieties to Ablutiluti who, after a glance at
+Moolitonu's diagrammatic shoulder blades, immediately set out along
+a winding path to the shore. I was surprised at the shortness of the
+distance. A half-hour's walk brought us to the beach and there lay the
+Kawa as handy as you please. She had been considerably tidied
+up since our departure. Our blanket-sail had been stowed and between
+the dingey-oars, which were rigged fore-and-aft, stretched a rope of
+_eva-eva_ from which, to our surprise, hung an undershirt and a dainty
+feminine _rigolo_. But no sign of William Henry Thomas. In vain we
+shouted, "Kawa ahoy!" and hurled lumps of coral. All was mysteriously
+quiet.
+
+Triplett finally pulled out his Colt and, being a dead shot, drilled
+the undershirt through the second button. This had the desired effect.
+Our crew almost immediately appeared on deck and shouted peevishly,
+"Hey there, quit it."
+
+I will not repeat what we said in reply as this is a book for the home,
+but it had a surprising result.
+
+"Is _that_ so?" yelled William Henry Thomas and proceeded to step
+jauntily over the rail and _walk_ in our direction. I knew he couldn't
+swim a stroke and yet here he was, performing an apparent miracle right
+in our faces. Then it suddenly dawned on me--he was walking on the coral
+branches!
+
+It was not a particularly pleasant interview.
+
+[Illustration: Lupoba-Tilaana, Mist on the Mountain]
+
+[Illustration Note: LUPOBA-TILAANA. MIST ON THE MOUNTAIN
+
+Readers of the text may have noticed that animal life plays a very
+unimportant part in the life of the Filbertines. Exception must be
+made in the case of a magnificent ooka-snake, the only one on the
+islands, which was the proudest possession of lovely Lupoba, who later
+became the wife of Herman Swank. The ooka-snake lives entirely upon
+cocoanut milk which gives him a gentle disposition admirably adapted
+for petting. Mr. Swank has confessed that his wife's fondness for the
+creature stirred in him a very real jealousy which, in view of the
+charming testimony of her portrait, we can well understand. A painting
+of Mrs. Swank by her husband has recently been purchased by the Corcoran
+Art Gallery of Washington, D.C.]
+
+After apologizing for our absence, which we attributed to illness, we
+broke the news as gently as possible that we were married.
+
+"Well," said William Henry Thomas, "so be I ... the lady's on board."
+
+"You old land-crab!" blazed Whinney. "Who married you?"
+
+"She did," he replied.
+
+"But who performed the ceremony?" asked Swank.
+
+"Me," answered William Henry.
+
+In vain we tried to explain the necessity of proper rites. His only
+rejoinder was, "You're too late."
+
+But what made our sailor-man maddest was the information that the yawl
+had to be moved.
+
+"Here I be as snug as a bug in a rug," he stormed, "an' you go
+gallivantin' round marrying an' what all, an' now you show up an boost
+me out. Its e-viction, that's what it is, e-viction."
+
+This was a long speech for William Henry Thomas; fortunately it was
+his last. While he was delivering it I heard a slight splash and turned
+just in time to see a seal-like form slip over the Kawa's counter and
+disappear. I watched in vain for her reappearance. Doubtless like all
+Filbertines she could stay under water for hours at a time. After that
+Thomas sullenly did Triplett's bidding and half-heartedly assisted in
+the work of getting the Kawa into the atoll.
+
+It was an arduous task. For four days we labored, working our vessel
+close in shore opposite a clearing in the forest, where the outer
+island was not more than quarter of a mile wide and free from trees.
+Instructed by Triplett, we paved the highway to the lagoon with
+cocoanuts. Our wives and friends thinking it was a game, assisted us.
+If they had known it was work they would, of course, have knocked off
+immediately. And then the promised storm broke and I saw Triplett's
+plan.
+
+It was such a storm as this, undoubtedly, that had struck us on July
+4th. This time, crouched in the shelter of the near-by trees, clinging
+to the matted _haro_, we were free to watch a stupendous spectacle.
+Triplett alone went aboard and lashed himself to the improvised steering
+post. Our sail had been stretched and rigged with hundreds of yards
+of _eva-eva_, in addition to which four large _taa-taas_ were lashed
+along the scuppers.
+
+In less time than it takes to tell, the wind had risen to
+super-hurricane force. Suddenly Baa-haabaa let out a yell of warning
+and pointed seaward. Rushing toward us at lightning speed was a wall
+of white water, sixty feet high! In a trice we were all in the treetops,
+my wife hauling me after her with praiseworthy devotion. All, did I
+say? All but Triplett. He was sublime. Then for the first time I knew
+that he was, in truth, our chief. Waving his free arm at the advancing
+maelstrom, he yelled defiance. Then this towering seawall hit him
+square in the stern.
+
+I caught one fleeting glimpse of the Kawa gallantly riding the
+foam. An instant later she was flung with a tremendous crash far down
+the leafy lane. Fully half the distance she must have gone in that
+first onslaught. The last eighth-of-a-mile she ground her way through
+a torrent of sea and cocoanuts. The forest rang with the bellowing
+wind, the snapping coral branches and the screams of the whistling-trout
+fighting vainly against the current. What a plan was Triplett's! The
+cocoanuts, being movable, rolled with the flood and actually acted as
+ball bearings. Without them our craft must certainly have burst asunder.
+
+The storm passed as quickly as it had come and by the time we had
+clambered to the ground and rushed across the atoll there lay our tight
+little darling, peacefully at anchor in the still waters of the lagoon,
+with Triplett on her quarter-deck immersed in the New Bedford "Argus."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI
+
+Marital memories. A pillow-fight on the beach. A deep-sea devil.
+The opening in the atoll. Swank paints a portrait. The fatu-liva bird
+and its curious gift. My adventure with the wak-wak. Saved!
+
+
+I shall never forget a day when my bride and I sat on the edge of the
+lagoon after our matinal dip in its pellucid waters. It was a perfect
+September morn. So was she.
+
+"My dear," I said suddenly, "Hatiaa Kappa eppe taue."
+
+It sounds like a college fraternity but really means, "My woodlark,
+what is your name?"
+
+I had been married over a week and I did not know my wife's name.
+
+"Kippiputuonaa," she murmured musically.
+
+"Taro ititi aa moieha ephaa lihaha?" I questioned, which, freely
+translated, is "What?"
+
+"Kippiputuonaa."
+
+Then, throwing back her head with its superb aureole of hair she softly
+crooned the words and music of the choral which the community chorus
+had sung on our wedding night.
+
+    Hooio-hooio uku hai unio
+    Kippiputunonaa aaa titi huti
+    O tefi tapu, O eio hoki
+    Hooio-hooio, one naani-tui
+
+How it all came back to me! Leaning towards her, I gently pressed the
+lobe of her ear with my chin, the native method of expressing deep
+affection. Her dusky cheeks flushed and with infinite shyness she
+lifted her left foot and placed it on my knee. Tattooed the length of
+the roseleaf sole in the graceful ideographic lettering of the islands
+I read--
+
+"Kippiputuonaa," (Daughter of Pearl and Coral).
+
+"What an exquisite name!" I murmured, "and so unusual!"
+
+I was awed. I felt as if this superb creature, my mate, had revealed
+to me the last, the most hidden of her secrets. I had heard of Mother
+of Pearl,--but of the Daughter--never...and I was married to her!
+
+"And you," she whispered, "are Naani-Tui, Face-of-the-Moon!"
+
+I liked that. Frankly I was a bit set up about it. It sounded so much
+better than Moon-face. I thrust out my left foot, bare of any
+inscription, and she tickled it playfully with a blade of _haro_.
+Radiant Kippiputuonaa--whom I soon called "Kippy" for short--your name
+shall ever remain a blessed memory, the deepest and dearest wound in
+my heart.
+
+Kippy proposed that I should be marked for identification in the usual
+manner, but I shuddered at the thought. I was far too ticklish; I
+should have died under the needle!
+
+What days of joyous romping we had! One morning a little crowd of us,
+just the Swanks, Whinneys and ourselves, met on the beach for a
+pillow-fight. It was a rare sport, and, as the pillows were
+eighteen-inch logs of _rapiti-wood_, not without its element of danger.
+A half-hour of this and we lay bruised and panting on the beach
+listening to the hoarse bellowing of the _wak-waks_.
+
+The _wak-wak_ is without exception the most outrageous creature that
+ploughs the deep in fishy guise. For man-eating qualities he had the
+shark skinned a nautical mile.
+
+Whinney made a true remark to me one night,--one of the few he ever
+made. The ocean was particularly audible that evening.
+
+[Illustration: Watchful Waiting]
+
+[Illustration Note: WATCHFUL WAITING
+
+There was something about the unfamiliar appearance of Dr. Traprock's
+yawl, the Kawa, which filled the beautiful native women with a wonder
+not unmixed with apprehension. This was particularly true of the lovely
+creatures who married the three intrepid explorers. The strange object
+which had brought to the islands these wonderful white men might some
+day carry them away again! In view of the tragic subsequent events there
+is something infinitely pathetic in this charming beach-study where
+Kippiputuonaa is seen anxiously watching "the tree-with-wings" (as she
+naively called the yawl), where her husband, Dr. Traprock, is at work
+rigging a new yard-arm. The Kawa, unfortunately, is just out of the
+picture.]
+
+"Listen to that surf," I remarked. "I never heard it grumble like that
+before."
+
+"You'd grumble, if you were full of _wak-waks_," he said.
+
+The _wak-wak_ has a mouth like a subway entrance and I was told that so
+great was his appetite for human flesh that when, as occasionally
+happened, some unfortunate swimmer had been eaten by a shark, a
+_wak-wak_ was sure to come rushing up and bolt shark, man and all.
+Consequently I did most of my swimming in the lagoon.
+
+Speaking of the lagoon reminds me of an absurd bit of information I
+picked up from Kippy that made me feel as flat as a pressed fern. We
+were wandering along the shore one morning and she suddenly pointed
+to the Kawa and said laughingly.
+
+"Why Tippi-litti (Triplett) bring Tree-with-Wings over _Hoopoi_
+(cocoanuts)?"
+
+"Why not swim?" she asked. "Look see. Big hole."
+
+I looked and saw. A whole section of the atoll near where we were
+standing was movable! Kippy jumped up and down on it and it rocked
+like a raft. At the edges I saw that it was lashed to the near-by trees
+with vines! Cheap? You could have bought me for a bad clam. As I thought
+of the days we had sweated over those damned cocoanuts, of Triplett's
+peril, of the danger to the yawl, while our very families looked on
+and laughed, thinking it was a game, and we might have slipped out the
+movable lock-gate and simply eased through--well, for the first time
+in my married life I was mad. Kippy was all tenderness in an instant.
+
+"Face-of-Moon, no rain," she begged, "Daughter of Pearl and Coral eat
+clouds."
+
+She chinned my ear passionately, and I was disarmed in an instant.
+
+I hated to tell Triplett--it seemed to dim his glory, but I needn't
+have worried.
+
+"Good business," he exclaimed. "We can get her out inter the open an'
+have some sailin' parties. I'd like to catch one of them _wak-waks_."
+
+That was the sort Triplett was. He'd done his trick and there was an
+end of it. The next day he had William Henry Thomas busy re-rigging
+the Kawa. William Henry Thomas, by the way, insisted on living
+on board in happy but unholy wedlock, and Whinney, Swank and I felt
+that it was better so. Somehow we considered him the village scandal.
+
+During these peaceful days I wrote a great deal, posting up my diary
+as far as we had gone and jotting down a lot of valuable material.
+Swank had got his impediments off the boat and began daubing furiously,
+landscapes, seascapes, monotypes, ideographs, everything. Most of them
+were hideously funny, but he did one thing,--inspired by love, I
+suppose--a portrait of his wife that was a hummer. She was a lovely
+little thing with a lovely name, Lupoba-Tilaana, "Mist-on-the-Mountain."
+
+"Swank," I said, "that's a ten-strike. The mountain is a little out
+of focus but the mist is immense!"
+
+He squirted me with yellow ochre.
+
+Whinney was in his element. Ornithology, botany, ethulology, he took
+them all on single-handed.
+
+"Listen to that," he said to me one night as we were strolling back
+from a friendly game of _Kahooti_ with Baahaabaa and some of our
+friends.
+
+I listened. It was the most unearthly and at the same time the most
+beautiful bird-song I have ever heard.
+
+"What is it?" I asked, as the cry resounded again, a piercing screech
+of pain ending in a long yowl of joy.
+
+"It is the motherhood cry of the _fatu-liva_," he said. "She has just
+laid an egg."
+
+"But why the note of suffering?" I queried.
+
+"The eggs of the _fatu-liva_ are square," said Whinney, and I was
+silenced.
+
+Motherhood is indeed the great mystery. Little did I realize that night
+how much I was to owe to the _fatu-liva_ and her strange maternal gift
+which saved my life in one of the weirdest adventures that has ever
+befallen mortal man.
+
+It was a placid day on the sea and Kippy and I were returning from a
+ten-mile swim to a neighboring island whither I had been taken to be
+shown off to some relatives.
+
+"_Wak-wak,_" I had said when she first proposed the expedition, but she
+had laughed gaily and nodded her head to indicate that there was not the
+slightest danger, and, shamed into it, we had set forth and made an
+excellent crossing.
+
+On the return trip, midway between the two islands, I was floating
+lazily, supported by a girdle of inflated dew-fish bladders and towed
+by Kippy. She had propped over my head her verdant _taa-taa_
+without which the natives never swim for fear of the tropical sun, and
+I think I must have dozed off for I was suddenly roused by a hoarse
+Klaxon-bellow "Kaaraschaa-gha!" which told me all too plainly that I
+was in the most hideous peril.
+
+_"Wak-wak!"_ I barked, and all my past life began to unfold before me.
+
+It was a horrid sight--the _wak-wak,_ I mean. He was swimming on the
+surface, and at ten feet I saw his great jaws open, lined with row
+upon row of teeth that stretched back into his interior as far as the
+eye could reach and farther. Mixed up with this dreadful reality were
+visions of my past. I seemed to be peering into one of those vast,
+empty auditoriums that had greeted my opera, "Jumping Jean," when it
+was finally produced, privately.
+
+"Help! Help!" I screamed, reverting to English.
+
+Suddenly Kippy seized the _taa-taa_ from my nerveless grasp. Half
+closing it, she swam directly toward the monster into whose widening
+throat she thrust the sharp-pointed instrument, in, in, until I thought
+she herself would follow it. And then, as she had intended, the point
+pierced the _wak-wak's_ tonsil.
+
+With a shriek of pain his jaws began to close and, on the instant,
+Kippy yanked the handle with all her might, opening the _taa-taa_ to its
+full extent in the beast's very narrows.
+
+Choked though he was, unable for the moment to bite or expel the outer
+air and submerge, the brute was still dangerous. Kippy was towing me
+shoreward at a speed which caused the sea to foam about my bladders but
+the _wak-wak_ still pursued us. A second time my dauntless mate
+rose to the occasion.
+
+With amazing buoyancy she lifted herself to a half-seated position on
+the surface of the water and poured forth the most astounding imitation
+of the motherhood cry of the _fatu-liva_.
+
+"Biloo-ow-ow-ow-ow-zing-aaa!"
+
+Again, and yet again, it rang across the waters, and in the distance,
+flying at incredible speed, I saw the rainbow host of _fatu-livas_
+coming towards us!
+
+Gallant fowl! Shall I ever forget how they circled about us. One of
+their clan, as they supposed, was in dire danger and they functioned
+as only a _fatu-liva_ can. Flying at an immense height, in battle
+formation, they began laying eggs with marvelous precision. The first
+two struck the _wak-wak_ square on the nose and he screamed with
+pain. The third, landing corner-wise, put out his right eye and he
+began to thrash in helpless circles. The fourth was a direct hit on
+my left temple. "Face-of-the-Moon" passed over the horizon into oblivion
+whence he emerged to find himself in a tree, his brow eased with an
+_alova-leaf_ poultice, his heart comforted by Daughter of Pearl and
+Coral.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII
+
+Excursions beyond the outer reef. Our aquatic wives. Premonitions.
+A picnic on the mountain. Hearts and flowers. Whinney delivers a
+geological dissertation. Babai finds a fatu-liva nest. The strange
+flower in my wife's hair.
+
+
+As I look back on the months which followed I can truthfully say that
+they were the happiest of my existence. The semi-detachment of our
+island domesticity was a charm against tedium; our family reunions
+were joys.
+
+Often we organized picnics to distant points. With hold-alls of
+_panjandrus_ leaves packed with a supply of breadfruit sandwiches,
+sun-baked cuttywink eggs and a gallon or two of _hoopa,_ we would
+go to one of the lovely retreats with which our wives were familiar.
+
+Occasionally we sailed in the Kawa, at which times the intrepid
+Triplett accompanied us. Remembering those happy times I now realize
+that his presence cast the only shadow across the bright sunlight of
+our days. Why this was I could not have said,--indeed I should have
+probably denied that it was so, yet the fact remains that on some of
+our excursions to neighboring islands, when, having pulled back the
+terrestrial cork of the atoll, we had eased our tight little craft
+into the outer waters, I experienced a distinct dorsal chill.
+
+Both Kippiputuonaa and Lupoba-Tilaana felt this to a marked degree,
+but most of all was it apparent in its affect on Mrs. Whinney whose
+maiden name, Babai-Alova-babai (Triple extract of Alova), only faintly
+describes the intoxicating fragrance of her beauty.
+
+"Tiplette, naue aata b'nau boti!" she used to cry. "Do not let Triplett
+go in the boat."
+
+The old man was insistent. He had worked William Henry Thomas to
+exhaustion rerigging the craft and then thrust him out, bag and baggage.
+But I must admit that between them they had done a good job. William
+Henry and his bride took up lodgings in a tall tree near the lagoon
+whence they used mournfully to regard the floating home in which they
+had spent their unhallowed honeymoon. When we actually began to sail
+her the William Henry Thomases disappeared from view as if the sight
+were too much for them, and we seldom saw them thereafter.
+
+Triplett's ingenuity was responsible for the bamboo mast, woven
+_paa-paa_ sail and the new yard-arm, which, in the absence of a
+universal joint was cleverly fashioned of braided _eva-eva_.
+
+On our cruises our wives spent a large part of their time overboard,
+sporting about the ship like porpoises, ever and anon diving deep under
+our counter only to appear on the other side decked with polyp buds
+as if crowned by Neptune himself. At this game Babai-Alova-Babai
+excelled. Never shall I forget the day she suddenly popped up close
+alongside and playfully tossed a magnificent pearl into Triplett's lap.
+
+But, as I say, I did not feel at ease. Perhaps it was my experience
+with the _wak-waks_,--perhaps,--however, I anticipate.
+
+Our merriest jaunts were nearer home. Most memorable of all was our
+first trip to the mountain, that gorgeous pile on the center of the
+lagoon.
+
+It was early morning when we set out, disdaining our trim
+"Tree-with-Wings" from the deck of which Triplett watched our short
+three-mile swim across the still water. At every stroke flocks of
+iridescent dew-fish rose about us uttering their brittle note,
+"Klicketty-inkle! Klicketty-inkle!" [Footnote: One of the pleasantest
+sights imaginable is that of the natives gathering these little
+creatures as they rise to the surface at dawn. The dew-fish or
+_kali-loa_ are similar to our white-bait, but much whiter. W.E.T.]
+
+[Illustration: Golden Harmonies]
+
+[Illustration Note: GOLDEN HARMONIES
+
+This was the sort of thing that greeted the intrepid explorers of the
+Kawa when they made their first tour of the island and were
+entertained by the entrancing inhabitants of the women's compound. The
+two performers are respectively Lupoba-Tilaana and Baibai-Alova-Baibai.
+It was only after much persuasion that they agreed to be photographed
+but, when finally posed to Mr. Whinney's satisfaction, they entered
+into the spirit of the occasion by bursting into the national anthem
+of Love, which is described in Chapter II. The instruments are the
+bombi, a hollow section of rapiti-wood covered with fish membrane,
+and the lonkila, a stringed instrument of most plaintive and persuasive
+tone. These two instruments, with the addition of the bazoota, a
+wood-wind affair made from papoo reeds, make up the simple orchestral
+equipment of the Filberts.]
+
+We were all wearing the native costume and Swank, I remember, caught
+his _rigolo_ on a coral branch and delayed us five minutes. But we were
+soon on the inner beach laughing over the incident while Babai made
+repairs.
+
+The path up the mountain led through a paradise of tropical wonders.
+On this trip Whinney was easily the star, his scientific knowledge
+enabling him to point out countless marvels which we might not otherwise
+have seen. As he talked I made rapid notes.
+
+"Look," he said, holding up an exquisite rose-colored reptile. "The
+_tritulus annularis_ or pink garter snake! Almost unheard of in the
+tropics."
+
+Kippy insisted on tying it around her shapely limb. Then, of course,
+Babai must have one, too, and great were our exertions before we bagged
+an additional pair for our loved ones.
+
+Thus sporting on our way, crowned with _alova_ and girdled with
+_tontoni_ (a gorgeous type of flannel-mouthed snapdragon which kept all
+manner of insects at bay), we wound toward the summit, stopping ever and
+anon to admire the cliffs of mother-of-pearl, sheer pages of colorful
+history thrown up long ago by some primeval illness of mother earth.
+
+Swank was so intoxicated by it all that I made almost the only break
+of our island experience.
+
+"You've been drinking," I accused.
+
+"You lie," he answered hotly, "it's these colors! Wow-wow! Osky-wow-wow!
+Skinny wow-wow Illinois!"
+
+"Oh, shut up!" I remonstrated, when I saw Tilaana advancing toward me,
+fluttering her _taa-taa_ in the same menacing way in which Kippy had
+attacked the _wak-wak_.
+
+"I beg your pardon," I said. "I was wrong. I apologize."
+
+We stood in a circle and chinned each other until peace was restored.
+
+The view from the summit was, as authors say, indescribable.
+Nevertheless I shall describe it, or rather I shall quote Whinney who
+at this moment reached his highest point. We were then about three
+thousand feet above sea-level.
+
+I wish I could give his address as it was delivered, in Filbertese,
+but I fear that my readers would skip, a form of literary exercise
+which I detest.
+
+Try for a moment to hold the picture; our little group standing on the
+very crest of the mountain as if about to sing the final chorus of the
+Creation to an audience of islands. Far-flung they stretched, these
+jeweled confections, while below, almost at our very feet, we could
+see the Kawa and Triplett, a tiny speck, frantically waving his
+yard-arm! Even at three thousand feet he gave me a chill.... But let
+Whinney speak.
+
+"It is plain," he said, "that the basalt monadnock on which we stand
+is a carboniferous upthrust of metamorphosed schists, shales and
+conglomerate, probably Mesozoic or at least early Silurian."
+
+At this point our wives burst into laughter. In fact, their attitude
+throughout was trying but Whinney bravely proceeded.
+
+"You doubtless noticed on the shore that the deep-lying metamorphic
+crystals have been exposed by erosion, leaving on the upper levels
+faulted strata of tilted lava-sheets interstratified with
+pudding-stone."
+
+"We have!" shouted Swank.
+
+"Evidently then," continued the professor, "the atoll is simply an
+annular terminal moraine of detritus shed alluvially into the sea,
+thus leaving a geosyncline of volcanic ash embedded with an occasional
+trilobite and the fragments of scoria, upon which we now stand."
+
+[Illustration: William Henry Thomas]
+
+[Illustration Note: WILLIAM HENRY THOMAS
+
+Of all the members of the now famous cruise of the Kawa into hitherto
+uncharted waters it is doubtful if any one entered so fully into the
+spirit of adventure as the silent fore-mast hand whose portrait faces
+this text. It was he who first adopted native costume. The day after
+landing in the Filberts he was photographed as we see him wearing a
+native wreath of nabiscus blooms and having discarded shoes. Every day
+he discarded some article of raiment. It was he who first took unto
+himself an island mate. It was he who ultimately abandoned all hope
+of ever seeing his home and country again, electing rather to remain
+among his new-found people with his new-found love and his new-found
+name, Fatakahala (Flower of Darkness). Truly, strange flowers of fancy
+blossom in the depths of the New England character. It is reported
+that he has lately been elected King of the Filberts.]
+
+We gave Whinney a long cheer with nine Yales at the close to cover the
+laughter of the women, for the discourse was really superb. In English
+its melodic charm is lost, but you must admit that for an indescribable
+thing it is a very fine description.
+
+After several days of idyllic life in our mountain paradise we felt
+the returning urge of our various ambitions.
+
+"Kippy, my dear," I said, "I think we ought to be going."
+
+Sweet soul that she was! that they all were, these beautiful women of
+ours! Anything we proposed was agreeable to them. As we trooped down
+the mountain singing, our merry chorus shook the forest glades and
+literally brought down the cocoanuts.
+
+Whinney was not alone in his scientific discoveries for on the return
+trip Babai suddenly gave a cry of delight and the next instant had
+climbed with amazing agility to the top of a towering palm whence she
+returned bearing a semi-spheric bowl of closely woven grass in which
+lay four snow-white, polka-dotted cubes, the marvelous square eggs of
+the _fatu-liva_!
+
+"Kopaa kopitaa aue!" she cried. "Hide them. Quickly, away!"
+
+I knew the danger, of which my temple still bore the scar. Concealing
+our find under our _taa-taa_ we scraped and slid over the faulted
+and tilted strata to which Whinney had referred until we reached the
+beach. High above us I could hear the anguished cry of the mother
+_fatu-liva_ vainly seeking her ravished home and potential family.
+
+The marking of the eggs is most curious and Whinney took a photograph
+of them (see [Illustration: THE NEST OF A FATU-LIVA]) when we reached
+the yawl. It is an excellent picture though Whinney, with the
+raptiousness of the scientist, claims that one of the eggs moved.
+
+Just before we left the mountain beach my own radiant Daughter of Pearl
+and Coral made a discovery which in the light of after events was
+destined to play an important part in our adventures. Kippiputuona,
+my own true mate, there is something ironically tragic in the thought
+that the simple blue flower which you plucked so carelessly from the
+cliff edge and thrust into your hair would some day--but again, I
+anticipate.
+
+We had reached the yawl, which we made a sort of half-way house and
+were chatting with Captain Triplett. Whinney was repeating parts of
+his talk and I noticed that Triplett's attention was wandering. His
+eye was firmly fixed on the flower in Kippy's hair. That called my
+attention to it and I saw that whenever my wife turned her head the
+blossom of the flower slowly turned in the opposite direction.
+
+Suddenly Triplett interrupted Whinney to say in a rather shaky voice,
+"Mrs. Traprock, if you please, would you mind facin' a-stern."
+
+I motioned to Kippy to obey, which she would have done anyway.
+
+"An' now," said the Captain, "kindly face forrard."
+
+Same business.
+
+The flower slowly turned on Kippy's head!
+
+Stretching forth a trembling hand, Triplett plucked the blossom from
+Kippy's hair!
+
+You can only imagine the commotion which ensued when I tell you that,
+in the Filberts, for a man to pluck a flower from a woman's hair means
+only one thing. Poor Kippy was torn between love of me and what she
+thought was duty to my chief. I had a most difficult time explaining
+to her that Triplett meant absolutely nothing by his action, a statement
+which he corroborated by all sorts of absurd "I don't care,"
+gestures--but he clung to the flower.
+
+An hour later when we had escorted the ladies safely to their compound,
+I paddled back to the yawl. Peering through the port-hole I could see
+Triplett by the light of a phosphorous dip working on a rude diagram;
+at his elbow was the blue flower in a _puta-shell_ of water.
+
+"Triplett," I asked sternly, as I stood beside him an instant later,
+"_what is that flower?_"
+
+"That," said Triplett, "is a compass-plant."
+
+"And what is a compass-plant?"
+
+"A compass-plant," said Triplett, "is---," but for the third and last
+time, I anticipate.
+
+I _must_ get over that habit.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII
+
+Swank's popularity on the island. Whinney's jealousy. An artistic
+duel. Whinney's deplorable condition. An assembly of the Archipelago.
+Water-sports on the reef. The Judgment.
+
+
+Whinney and I were surprised to find that the islanders took Swank
+more seriously than they did either of us. Of course, since the Kawa's
+forcible entry into the atoll premier honors were Triplett's, but Swank
+was easily second.
+
+The curious reason was that his pictures appealed. I think I have
+indicated that Swank was ultramodern in his tendencies. "Artless art,"
+was his formula, often expressed by his slogan--_"A bas l'objectif!
+Vive le subjonctif."_ Whatever that means, he scored with the
+Filbertines who would gather in immense numbers wherever he set up his
+easel.
+
+This was due in part to his habit of standing with his back to the
+scene which he proposed to paint and, bending over until his head
+almost touched the ground, peering at the landscape between his
+outspread legs.
+
+"It intensifies the color," he explained. "Try it."
+
+Baahaabaa bestowed a title on our artist--"Maimaue Ahiiahi"--"Tattooer
+of Rainbows"--by which he was loudly acclaimed. Whinney and I used
+to sing, "He's always tattooing rainbows!" but artistic vanity was
+proof against such _bourgeoisie_.
+
+Baahaabaa was tireless in suggesting new subjects for him to paint.
+One day it would be a performance of the _Ataboi_, the languorously
+sensuous dance which we had first seen in the women's compound; again
+he would stage a scene of feasting, at which the men passed foaming
+shells of _hoopa_ from hand to hand. A difficulty was that of
+preventing the artist from quitting work and joining his models which
+Swank always justified by saying that the greatest art resulted from
+submerging oneself with one's subject.
+
+"Look at Gaugin!" he used to say.
+
+"But I don't like to look at Gaugin," I remonstrated.
+
+Whinney foolishly tried to compete with Swank by means of his
+camera--foolishly, I say, though the result was one of the finest
+spectacles I have ever witnessed.
+
+For days Whinney had been stalking Swank, photographing everything he
+painted. In a darkroom of closely woven _panjandrus_ leaves the
+films were developed and a proof rushed off to Baahaabaa long before
+the artist had finished his picture.
+
+This naturally irritated Swank and he finally challenged the scientist
+to mortal combat, an artistic duel, camera against brush, lens against
+eye.
+
+When the details were explained to Baahaabaa, he was in a frenzy of
+excitement. As judge, his decision was to be final, which should have
+warned Whinney, who, as the challenged party, had the right to select
+the subject. His choice was distinctly artful.
+
+"I think I've got him!" he confided. "We're to do the 'lagoon at dawn.'
+You know what that means? Everything's gray and I can beat him a mile
+on gray; secondly, there won't be a gang of people around, and, thirdly,
+Swank simply loathes getting up early. They're all alike, these artists;
+any effort before noon is torture!"
+
+"All right," said Swank, when I explained the conditions, "I won't go
+to bed at all."
+
+[Illustration: The Lagoon at Dawn (Whinney's Version)]
+
+[Illustration Note: THE LAGOON AT DAWN
+
+(Whinney's Version)
+
+What the camera can do in interpreting the subtle values of a delicate
+color scheme is here shown in the prize photograph submitted by Reginald
+Whinney in the great competition presided over by Chief Baahaabaa. It
+is rare indeed to find a beach in the Filbert Islands so deserted. An
+hour after this photograph was taken more than three thousand natives
+were assembled to witness the judging of the exhibits. In the small
+hours of night, the entire strand is covered with pita-oolas, or giant
+land-crabs, about the size of manhole covers, who crawl inland to cut
+down the palm trees with which they build their nests. An examination
+of the picture with a powerful microscope will reveal the presence on
+the surface of the water of millions of dew-fish enjoying their brief
+interval of day and dew.]
+
+When the rivals showed up on the beach at the appointed time I regret
+to say that Swank was not himself. He had spent the night with Baahaabaa
+and Hitoia-Upa, who supported him on either side, and balanced him
+precariously on his sketching-stool where he promptly fell asleep. In
+the meantime Whinney was dodging about with his camera, squinting in
+the finder, without finding anything--one never does--peering at the
+brightening sky, holding his thumb at arm's length, [Footnote: In
+Southern Peru the same gesture used to signify contempt and derision.]
+in a word going through all the artistic motions which should have
+been Swank's. The latter finally aroused himself and laboriously got
+onto all fours, looking like a dromedary about to lie down, from which
+position he contemplated the sunrise for several minutes and then began
+to fumble in his painting box.
+
+"Ver' funny--ver' funny," he crooned, "forgot my brushes."
+
+"Let me get them for you," I suggested.
+
+He waived me aside. "Gimme air."
+
+Whinney's shutter was now clicking industriously. He had decided to
+use an entire film, and submit the picture which came out best. Swank
+was gradually covering his canvas by squeezing the paint directly from
+the tubes, a method which has since been copied by many others--the
+"Tubistes" so called. Every few moments he would lurch forward and
+press his nose against the canvas, once falling flat on his masterpiece,
+most of which was transferred to his chest. But he persevered.
+
+Whinney by this time had retired to his darkroom; Baahaabaa and
+Hitoia-Upa snored; Swank worked and I, from a near-by knoll, watched
+the miracle of a tropical dawn.
+
+It was a scene of infinite calm, low in color-key, peaceful in
+composition, the curve of purple and lavender beach unbroken, the crest
+of dark palms unmoved, "like a Turk verse along a scimitar." The waters
+of the lagoon, a mirror of molten amber, reflected the soft hues of
+the sky from which the trailing garments of night were gradually
+withdrawn before his majesty, the Day.
+
+Swank only allowed himself the use of the three primary
+colors--consequently his rendering of the opalescent beauty of this
+particular dawn was somewhat beyond me.
+
+Where I saw the glowing promise of color rather than color itself,
+Swank saw red. Where I felt the hushed presence of dawn "like a pilgrim
+clad," Swank vibrated to the harmonies of pure pigment, the full brass
+of a tonal orchestra.
+
+Of a sudden his color hypnotism transported him.
+
+"Eee--yow!" he howled, brandishing a handful of Naples yellow mixed
+with coral which he hurled at the canvas. "Zow! Bam! Ooh, la la!" His
+shrieks roused his escorts and brought a rapidly swelling crowd to the
+dune, where, to the sound of his own ravings and the plaudits of the
+spectators, he finished his masterpiece.
+
+Late afternoon of the same day was the hour agreed upon for the
+Judgment. Baahaabaa had sent invitations by express swimmers to all
+the near-by islands. He invited the entire archipelago.
+
+The picture of their approach was interesting. Kippy haled me to the
+top of a tall tree whence we watched the convergent argosies, hundreds
+of tiny specks each bearing an outspread _taa-taa_ of gleaming leaves.
+It was as if Birnam Wood had gone yachting.
+
+"Tapa nui ekilana lohoo-a" chanted my mate.
+
+Following her outstretched hand I discerned a group of _taa-taas,_
+arranged in wedge formation, the enclosing sides being formed by
+swimmers carrying a web of woven _haro_, in the center of which
+reposed a visiting chief with three or four of his wives.
+
+[Illustration: The Lagoon at Dawn (Swank's Version)]
+
+[Illustration Note: THE LAGOON AT DAWN
+
+(Swank's Version)
+
+An interesting example of the way in which the mind of a painter works
+will be found in this reproduction of the masterpiece created by Herman
+Swank in competition with the photograph of the same title. Both
+camera and painter were to reproduce the same subject, yet how
+differently they reacted to it. In the beauty of nature about him it
+is evident that the great artist felt only the dominant feature of
+island life, the glorious, untrammeled womanhood of the South Seas.
+The wild abandon, the primitive gesture of modesty, the eyes of
+adoration--symbolically expressed as detached entities floating about
+the loved one--all are present in this remarkable picture. Thus
+expressed, too, we may find the ever-present ocean, the waving palms
+and, if we seek carefully, the Kawa herself, scudding before
+the trade wind. Truly may this be called, as the artist prefers, the
+Venus of Polynesia.]
+
+By four o'clock the beach was thronged with thousands of gleaming
+bodies. Festivity and rejoicing were in every eye. Shouts of welcome,
+bursts of laughter, and the resounding slap of friendly hand on visiting
+hip or shoulder, the dignified welcome of the chiefs, cries of children,
+dances and games, myriad details of social amity--all presented a
+picture of unspoiled Polynesia such as is found in the Filberts alone.
+When I forget it, may I be forgot.
+
+Of course Swank, Whinney and I were objects of much curiosity--and
+admiration. Hundreds of times my radiant Daughter of Pearl and Coral
+repeated:
+
+"Ahoa tarumea--Kapatooi Naani-Tui"--"I should like to make you
+acquainted with my husband, Face-of-the-Moon."
+
+Hundreds of times did I press my chin against soft ears and submit to
+the same gentle greeting. Hundreds of times did I raise the welcoming
+hoopa-shell with the usual salutation--"Lomi-lomi,"--"May you live
+for a thousand years and grow to enormous size."
+
+In a rest period Kippy and I swam to the reef where the younger set
+were sporting among the coral, diving for pearls which rolled on the
+purple floor. As I think now of the value of those milky globes, the
+size of gooseberries, I marvel that not a thought of covetousness
+crossed my mind. What were pearls to us?
+
+"Catch!" cried Kippy, and threw a fish-skin beauty in my direction.
+I admired its lustre for an instant and its perfect roundness
+acquiredfrom the incessant rolling of the tides--then carelessly tossed
+it
+back. It slipped between Kippy's fingers.
+
+"I'll get it," I cried, making ready to dive, but she shouted a warning.
+
+"Arani electi. Oki Kutiaa!"-"Look out! The snapping oysters!"
+
+Gazing down through the crystal depths into which our bauble had fallen
+I saw a great gaping _kutiaa_, the fiercest of crustacea, its shelly
+mouth slightly ajar, waiting for the careless hand or foot that might
+come within its grasp. We let the pearl go and amused ourselves by
+sucking the eggs of the _liho_, a bland-faced bird which makes its nest
+in the surface coral branches. [Footnote: The _liho_ is in many respects
+the most remarkable fowl in existence. It is of the _gallinaris_ or hen-
+family crossed with the male shad which causes the bird to produce eggs
+in unheard of quantity.] Here, too, we laughed over the ridiculous
+_ratatia_, that grotesque amphibian who is built like a ferry-boat, with
+a head at either end and swivel fins so that however he may move he is
+always going forward.
+
+From these diversions the sound of singing summoned us. The Judgment
+was about to take place. At top speed we swam ashore and joined the
+crowd. For once I was glad that literature had no place in the
+competition, so that Kippy and I were free to watch the proceedings.
+
+Years ago I saw the ceremonial by which the British Government conferred
+on the Bahia of Persia the title of "The Bab of Babs," but it was
+nothing compared to what I now gazed upon.
+
+As far as the eye could reach stretched the crowd. Under a gorgeous
+dais of _panjandrus_ leaves respondent with _alova_ blossoms sat
+Baahaabaa, on his right Captain Triplett, on his left Hanuhonu, the
+ranking visitor, and all about retinues of nobles, with their superb
+families, groups of dancers, slim and straight as golden birches,
+singers, orators and athletes. It was grand opera on a titanic scale,
+with the added distinction of really meaning something.
+
+Baahaabaa spoke first--in fact I think I may say that he spoke first,
+last and all the time. I can conscientiously claim that he is the
+champion long-distance orator of the world. Ever and anon he gave way
+to a guest but only for a moment.
+
+"We are met," he said--I translate freely--"we are met to witness the
+emulation of friends." Could anything be more delicate?
+
+"We have with us tonight, in this corner, Wanooa-Potonopoa (Whinney),
+the Man with his Eye in a Box" (this was plainly a reference to
+Whinney's camera)--"while in this corner, we have Mainaue Ahiiahi,
+Tattooer-of-Rainbows. Both boys are members of this island."
+
+The applause was enormous but Swank had the grace to rise and kiss his
+finger-tips toward the audience which immediately put him on a friendly
+footing.
+
+After a few more speeches by Baahaabaa the exhibits were unveiled. Of
+course, the result was foregone. I must admit that Whinney's was not
+hung to advantage. The two pictures were placed against tufts of _haro_
+at forty yards distance where, naturally, the detail of the photograph
+lost something of its effectiveness. Swank's picture on the contrary
+blazed like a pin-wheel. The further you got from it the better it
+looked.
+
+A characteristic point in the competition was that Swank had introduced
+figures into his composition where no figures had existed. "What do
+I care?" he said to my objection. "I was there, wasn't I? And you were
+there? There may have been others."
+
+A mighty roar followed the unveiling, a shout of such force that tons
+of breadfruit and thousands of cocoanuts fell from the adjacent trees.
+But it was plain to see whom the shouting was for. Then Baahaabaa made
+the awards and--the prizes were identical--two royal _rigolos_ of
+mother-of-pearl, elaborately trimmed with corals and pendants of
+limpid aquamarine. What tact, what grace and charm in these identical
+rewards!
+
+I am fortunate in being able to reproduce both masterpieces, so that
+my readers may form their own decision. Personally, Whinney's photograph
+seems to me to reproduce more completely my memories of "The Lagoon
+at Dawn." But I may be wrong. Modern artists will probably back up the
+popular judgment and on that memorable day in the Filberts I would
+certainly have been in the minority.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX
+
+More premonitions. Triplett's curious behavior. A call from
+Baahaabaa. We visit William Henry Thomas. His bride. The christening.
+A hideous discovery. Pros and cons. Our heart-breaking decision. A
+stirrup-cup of lava-lava.
+
+
+It was two weeks after the great Competition before the celebrations
+which followed it terminated, the tumult and the shouting died, and
+the last of our amiable visitors paddled homeward, some being towed
+by new-found wives, while not a few remained in our own community,
+infusing our society with the novelty and fresh gossip of their islands.
+Little by little we settled back into domestic quiet.
+
+A blithe incident enlivened that peaceful period, preceding tragic
+events which must be told in their proper place.
+
+On the fairest of tropical mornings Kippy and I heard a gentle tapping
+at the trunk of our tree and, peering over the floor, saw below
+Baahaabaa, his face shining with happiness.
+
+"Katia?" we questioned, but he was mysterious and led us quietly to
+the trees occupied by the Swanks, the Whinneys and finally Triplett,
+all of whom he roused as he had us.
+
+"Katia?" we repeated.
+
+"Hoko," he answered, and to our surprise, again motioned us forward.
+For twenty minutes we threaded a forest trail in which still lurked
+the shadows of night. At a giant palm tree our leader again tapped
+gently.
+
+Who should look over the edge of the densely screened dwelling but
+William Henry Thomas!
+
+At first glimpse of us he hastily drew back and I heard the muttered
+sound of old-fashioned, New England cursing. Reassured by Baahaabaa,
+however, he slid down to join us, followed by his wife.
+
+It was the first time I had ever really seen her and I must say that
+I was completely bowled over by the sight. Plainly not of the same
+social class as the beautiful women whom Baahaabaa had selected for
+us, she yet possessed an eerie charm of her own which instantly stirred
+strange emotions in my breast. I heard Swank gasp and Whinney's face
+was white and drawn, his favorite expression when deeply moved. She
+stood close to her husband, half-twined about him with the grace and
+strength of an _eva-eva_ vine while her kindling eyes burned
+questioningly, her lithe body tense and protective. "He is to be
+christened," said Baahaabaa, with a magnificent gesture toward William
+Henry Thomas.
+
+We could only look our astonishment.
+
+"Yes," continued the chief, smiling benignly, "first among you all is
+he to have his name recorded in our ancient fashion."
+
+As he pronounced these words Baahaabaa lifted his left foot solemnly
+and pointed to his own royal appellation tattooed on the sole. Our
+wives did likewise.
+
+"What is his name?" Whinney asked.
+
+William Henry Thomas's head rose proudly as his wife replied in
+thrilling, woodland tones, "Fatakahala."
+
+"Fatakahala!" repeated Baahaabaa, "Flower of Darkness," and William
+Henry Thomas raised his head as high as it would go.
+
+"When does the ceremony take place?" asked Whinney. Baahaabaa pointed
+to the distant peak of the mountain.
+
+"Tonight. Maka, the Tattooer, is ready; the fishbones are sharpened;
+the juice of the tupa-berries fills the holy shell. We go."
+
+All that day we strung ceremonial garlands about the base of the
+mountain, which, with its circumference of a mile and three-quarters,
+was no small task. But sunset found it completed. We supped on the
+beach and at nine, under a rising moon, climbed toward the summit. The
+peak was reserved for William Henry Thomas, Maka and her four attendants
+who bore the utensils and long ropes of _eva-eva_--"to tie him with,"
+whispered Baahaabaa.
+
+[Illustration: The Nest of a Fatu-Liva]
+
+[Illustration Note: THE NEST OF A FATU-LIVA
+
+This is without question the most extraordinary picture which has ever
+been taken of any natural history subject. It corroborates in most
+convincing manner the author's claim to the discovery of the wonderful
+fatu-liva bird with its unique gift of laying square eggs. Here we see
+the eggs themselves in all the beauty of their cubical form and quaint
+marking; here we see the nest itself, made of delicately woven haro
+and brought carefully from the tree's summit by its discoverer,
+Babai-Alova-Babai. An extremely interesting feature of the picture is
+the presence in the nest of lapa or signal-feather. By close
+observation, Mr. Whinney, the scientist of the expedition, discovered
+that whenever the mother-bird left the nest in search of food she
+always decorated her home with one of her wing feathers which served
+as a signal to her mate that she would return shortly, which she
+invariably did. Skeptics have said that it would be impossible to lay
+a square egg. To which the author is justly entitled to say: "The
+camera never lies."]
+
+At exactly ten, by the shadow of the mountain on the atoll, William
+Henry Thomas stepped forth into the moonlight to face his ordeal--alone.
+
+In the darkness we waited, Kippy clinging close to me. Then came a
+sound at which I could but shudder. It was a giggle, the voice plainly
+that of William Henry Thomas. This was followed by a hysterical sob
+of laughter.
+
+"The christening has begun," murmured Kippy.
+
+You can not imagine anything more horrible. _Never_ before to my
+knowledge had William Henry Thomas laughed. Now, wilder and yet more
+wild rang his uncontrollable mirth, rising at times to demoniac screams,
+anon sinking to convulsive chuckles. The worst of it was that it was
+infectious.
+
+Conscious though we were of the poor wretch's suffering, we could not
+help joining his vocal expression of it, and thus we sat, in the
+darkness, our peals of laughter bursting forth at every fresh paroxysm.
+Tears of distress rolled down Swank's cheeks.
+
+An hour later the vines parted and a recumbent form was borne gently
+down the mountain; William Henry Thomas, that was, his new name wrapped
+in soft leaves over which his wife sobbed in tender ecstasy.
+
+On the day following a bolt fell from the blue.
+
+Swank and I were spending the afternoon with Triplett on board the
+Kawa where the captain was explaining the workings of various
+home-made navigating instruments which he had manufactured.
+
+"This here is a astrolabe," he said, "jackass quadrant, I call it."
+He displayed a sort of rudimentary crossbow. "An' this here is a
+perspective-glass, kind of a telescope, see? Made'er bamboo. The
+lenses ain't very good; had to use fish-skin. Got my compass-plant
+nicely rooted in sand, see--she's doin' fine."
+
+"What's this all for?" asked Swank.
+
+Triplett smiled malevolently.
+
+"Don't you want to know where you be? I've got it all figgered out.
+Got a chart, too."
+
+He unrolled a broad leaf on which he had drawn a rough sketch of the
+island, probable north and possible latitude and longitude.
+
+Again the chill of dismay and apprehension which I had felt before in
+Triplett's presence ran up and down my spine. It was beginning to dawn
+upon me that Triplett was planning a get-away. "My God!" I cried, "take
+that thing away! What you trying to do, Triplett? Hook us up to
+civilization with all its deviltry and disease and damned conventions?
+Don't you appreciate the beauty of getting outside of the covers of
+a geography?"
+
+The old devil only grinned, his very leer seeming to say, "I've got
+a trump card up my sleeve, young man."
+
+What might have been a bitter scene was interrupted by something much
+more serious.
+
+We saw Whinney running along the edge of the lagoon into which he
+presently plunged and began swimming madly in our direction. As he
+drew near I saw that he was deathly white. When we dragged him over
+the rail he collapsed in the scuppers and burst into tears.
+
+"What is it?" we questioned.
+
+He jerked out his answer in hoarse, broken fragments, while our blood
+froze.
+
+"It's come.... I was afraid of it.... from the first... it's here...
+we've done it... we've got to get out... it is not fair..."
+
+"For heaven's sake," I shouted. "What's here? What have we done?"
+
+"Disease!" he panted. "Disease! You know ... how the other islands...
+Marquesas... Solomons... Tongas... dying, all dying."
+
+His voice sank and he covered his face with his hands, shoulders
+shaking.
+
+"What... what is it? Who has it?"
+
+It was then that Whinney made the supreme call on his nerve, stiffened
+visibly and answered in a dead voice, "My wife, Babai-Alova-Babai, has
+prickly-heat!"
+
+It seemed to me in that moment that the entire atoll revolved rapidly
+in one direction while the mountain twirled in the other. Through my
+brain crashed a sequence of sickening pictures, the lepers of Molokai
+with their hideous affliction imported from China, the gaunt, coughing
+wrecks of Papeete, the scarecrows of Samoa--and now this!
+
+And Whinney was right. _We_ had done it; who individually, I know
+not, nor cared, but collectively we were guilty. Into this Eden, this
+Paradise in which I had never seen or heard of the slightest ailment,
+we, the prideful whites, had brought this deadly thing!
+
+Should we remain, I dared not face the consequences.
+
+"Is it... bad?" I managed to ask.
+
+"Pretty," moaned poor Whinney. "Left knee, small of back... spreading."
+
+"I'm going home," I said. "We'll meet here tomorrow afternoon at the
+same tune. If this thing develops" ...
+
+I finished my sentence by diving overboard.
+
+Early next morning I knew the worst. Daughter of Pearl and Coral was
+restless during the night. When the sun rose a single glance at her
+polished shoulders and my heart broke, never to be repaired. Folding
+her gently in my arms, I trembled in a paroxysm of grief.
+
+We spent the entire day together, I in an agony of soul which I could
+not quite conceal and which my beloved tried to dispel by the tenderest
+tributes of her consuming love. I cannot speak more of what lies too
+deeply in my heart.
+
+[Illustration: A Fledgling Fatu-Liva]
+
+[Illustration Note: A FLEDGLING FATU-LIVA
+
+It was by the rarest good fortune that Dr. Traprock was able to secure
+what is probably the only living specimen now in captivity of the
+hitherto unknown fatu-liva bird. Immediately upon his arrival at Papeete
+efforts were made to secure a mother bird of any kind which would hatch
+out the four fatu-liva eggs then in the explorer's possession. Owing
+to their angular and uncomfortable shape it was found impossible to
+keep a bird brooding for more than three minutes at a time. After much
+effort one egg was finally hatched from which was derived the handsome
+specimen shown in the illustration. The youngster is now doing finely
+in the Bronx aviary. Unfortunately he is a male, so that his hope of
+posterity rests entirely upon the success of another expedition to the
+Filbert Islands.]
+
+It was a tragic trio which reassembled on the Kawa's deck as the late
+afternoon sun spread its golden hand across the lagoon. The purple
+shadow of the Mountain rested on our tiny craft but a shadow yet deeper
+shrouded our hearts. Each of us carried the consciousness of a terrible
+duty. We ought to leave the Filberts.
+
+Broken-heartedly we talked over the situation.
+
+"Getting worse," was Whinney's report. "Saw Baahaabaa scratching his
+leg this morning--probably got it."
+
+Poor Baahaabaa, how my heart ached for him.
+
+"We ought to leave," I said.
+
+It was the first time any of us had dared state the hideous truth in
+plain words. They fell like lead on our spirits. Swank's sensitive
+soul was perhaps the most harrowed of all.
+
+He sat moaning on the taffrail taking little or no part in the
+discussion. All at once he sprang up with blazing eyes.
+
+"I can't do it!" he shouted. "I can't--and I won't. Blessed little
+Lupoba,--my Mist-on-the-Mountain. How can I desert you? How can we any
+of us desert our wives--let us stay, let us live, and, if we must, let
+us die. Love is more than life."
+
+It was a powerful appeal. Overwrought as I was, I nearly succumbed to
+the false reasoning which was but the expression of my desire. And
+then once more the vision of those deadly inroads of disease rose
+before me.
+
+"Whinney," I asked, "is there no cure for this awful thing? No
+antitoxin?"
+
+He shook his head sadly.
+
+"We have been studying it for years. The only hope is in their complete
+isolation. If we stay here ... and a second epidemic breaks out....
+"; he shrugged hopelessly and Swank buried his face in the bilge-sponge.
+
+"Enough!" I said sternly. "Triplett, when can we leave?"
+
+"Tonight, sir," he answered with his old subservience. "I've got her
+completely stored, watered and ready."
+
+"Come on," I said shortly. "We must get William Henry Thomas."
+
+We swam ashore dejectedly, each, I know, contemplating suicide. For
+an hour we visited our friends. For them it was but a friendly call,
+for us the agony of parting.
+
+Gentle, dignified Baahaabaa, shall I ever forget you as you stood with
+your hands resting on my shoulder, confidently expecting to see me on
+the morrow!--Merry Hitoia-Upa, kindly Ablutiluti, and Moolitonu, oh!
+that I might send some message across the waste of waters to tell your
+loving hearts of the love which still kindles in mine.
+
+We did not dare visit our wives.
+
+At dusk, that our conference might be unnoticed, we found our way to
+the William Henry Thomas family tree.
+
+He came down instantly. All his old deference was gone. Something in
+the straight look of his eye told me that his christening had worked
+a tremendous moral change in the man, but I was not prepared for its
+extent.
+
+"Not me," he said briefly, when we explained the necessity of our
+departure. "Not by a damn sight."
+
+In vain we reasoned, urged and argued.
+
+"Don't you want to go back to your own people?" asked Swank weakly.
+
+A mocking laugh was the reply.
+
+"My own people! Who was I among my own people? Just a bunch of first
+names--no last name at all. William Henry Thomas! That's a hell of a
+bunch of names. Who am I here? Fatakahala--Flower of Darkness--I guess
+that'll be about all. Good night, gentlemen."
+
+With the agility of a monkey he bounded up his tree and disappeared.
+I stood at the foot of the tree and tried to argue further with him.
+"Remember Henry James," I shouted. "Think of Charles Henry George."
+It was in vain.
+
+Swank started after him, but as he reached the floor-level a large
+_hola-nut_ struck him squarely on the top of the head and he fell back,
+stunned.
+
+Still further depressed we made our way back to the Kawa, our
+hearts aching as with the hurt of burns, a dull, throbbing torture.
+
+"Drink?" said Captain Triplett in his most treacly manner. He held out
+a cup of _lava-lava_, the most deadly beverage of the islands. It is
+mixed with phosphorus and glows and tastes like hell-fire. I saw his
+plan and for once was grateful. We took the bowl from his hands and
+filed into the tiny cabin--each picking out a corner to fall in.
+
+In silence we filled our shells and raised them to our lips, the last
+thought of each of us for our lost loved ones!
+
+Hours--perhaps days--later I was dimly aware of a soft sobbing sound
+near my ear. Was it Swank crying? And then I realized that it was the
+chuckling of water under the Kawa's counter as manned by the intrepid
+Triplett she merrily footed it over the wrinkled sea.
+
+
+
+CHAPTEK X
+
+Once more the "Kawa" foots the sea. Triplett's observations and our
+assistance. The death of the compass-plant. Lost! An orgy of
+desperation. Oblivion and excess. The "Kawa" brings us home. Our
+reception in Papeete. A celebration at the Tiare.
+
+
+That Triplett's refitting of the Kawa had been thorough and
+seamanlike was amply proven by the speed with which she traveled under
+the favoring trades. When our saddened but still intrepid ship's company
+reassembled on our limited quarterdeck there was no sign of land visible
+in any direction. The horizon stretched about our collective heads
+like an enormous wire halo. It was as if the Filberts had never existed.
+
+The captain alone was cheerful. Joy bubbled from that calloused heart
+of his in striking contrast to the gloom of his companions. Most of
+the time he was our helmsman, his eye cocked aloft at the taut halyards
+of _eva-eva_, occasionally glancing from the sun to the compass-plant
+which bloomed in a shell of fresh water lashed to an improvised
+binnacle.
+
+At regular intervals he took observations, figured the results, and
+jotted down our probable course on his chart. This document we could
+scarcely bear to look at for upon it our beloved island figured
+prominently. But the course of the Kawa interested us. It was
+a contradictory course and even Triplett seemed puzzled by the results
+of his calculations.
+
+"Can't quite figger it out," he would mutter, lowering the astrolabe
+from its aim at the sun--"accordin' to this here jackass-quadrant we
+orter be dee-creesing our latitude--but the answer comes out different."
+
+"Too much jackass and too little quadrant," snapped Swank, whose nerves
+were still like E strings.
+
+Little by little, however, the calm of the great ocean invaded our
+souls and that well-known influence (mentioned in so many letters of
+consolation), "the hand of time," soothed the pain in our hearts. I
+think it was the quiet, self-contained Whinney who brought the most
+reasoned philosophy to bear on the situation.
+
+"They will forget," he said one evening, as we sat watching the Double
+Cross slowly revolve about its axis. "We must remember that they are
+a race of children. They have no written records of the past, no
+anticipations of the future. They live for the present. Childlike,
+they will grieve deeply, for a day maybe; then another sun will rise,
+Baahaabaa will give another picnic--" he sighed deeply.
+
+"The tragedy of it is that their memories should be so short and ours
+so long," I commented.
+
+"Yes," agreed Swank, "but I suppose we ought to be thankful. They were
+a wonderful people, it was a wonderful experience. And no matter what
+art-juries of the future may do to me, my pictures were a success in
+the Filberts."
+
+Blessed old Swank, he always looked on the bright side of things!
+
+Day by day matters mended--and our spirits rose. We began to think
+more and more of getting in touch with civilization. What a tale we
+should have to tell. How we should put it over the other explorers
+with their trite Solomons and threadbare Marquesas!
+
+"Where do you think we'll land, Captain?" I asked Triplett.
+
+"Hard to say," he answered, "accordin' to compass-plant I'm steerin'
+a straight course for anywhere, but accordin' to the jackass (he had
+dropped the word "quadrant" since Swank's thrust) we're spinnin' a web
+round these seas from where we started to nowhere via where we be."
+
+[Illustration: Baahaabaa Mourning the Departure of His Friends]
+
+[Illustration Note: BAAHAABAA MOURNING THE DEPARTURE OF HIS FRIENDS
+
+In all the history of great friendships there is nothing more touching
+and more noble than the beautiful bond which existed between Baahaabaa,
+the simple, primitive chief of the Filbertines and the white men who
+spent the happiest months of their lives on his island and then so
+strangely vanished. For several days after their departure he spoke
+no word. But every evening at sunset he took his place opposite an
+opening in the reef where the Kawa had first made her appearance
+and there he sat until darkness covered him. "Whom are you awaiting?"
+his chieftains asked him. He shook his head mournfully; memories in
+the Filberts are mercifully short. Then placing his hand over his heart
+he said, "I know not who it is, but something is gone--from here."
+
+Three weeks later when this photograph was taken he was still keeping
+up his lonely vigil.]
+
+We tried to help him. While the Captain pointed his astrolabe sunward
+and announced the figures Whinney and I, like tailors' assistants,
+took them down, Whinney doing the adding, I the subtracting and Swank
+the charting. The results were confusion worse confounded.
+
+And then a dreadful thing happened.
+
+The compass-plant sickened and died.
+
+Whether some sea-water splashed into the shell or whether it was just
+change of environment, I do not know. But day by day it drooped and
+faded.
+
+I shall never forget the night she breathed her last. With white faces
+we sat about the tiny brown bowl in which lay our hope of orientation.
+In Triplett's great rough paw was a fountain-pen filler of fresh water
+which he gently dropped on the flowerlet's unturned face. At exactly
+one-thirty, solar time, the tiny petals fluttered faintly and closed.
+
+"She's gone," groaned Triplett, and dashed a tear, the size of a robin's
+egg, from his furrowed cheek. In that ghastly light we stared at each
+other.
+
+We were lost!
+
+From then on we gave up all attempts at navigation and went in for
+plain sailing. Taking an approximate north from sun and stars we simply
+headed our tight little craft on her way and let her pound.
+
+A sort of desperate feeling, the panic which always comes to those who
+are lost, led us to wild outbursts of gaiety and certain excesses in
+the matter of use of our supplies. Every evening we opened fresh gourds
+of _hoopa_ and made large inroads into our stores of _pai_, pickled
+_gobangs_ and raw crawfish.
+
+How long this kept up I cannot say, for we had given up time reckoning
+along with other forms of arithmetic. But I well remember that it was
+the Captain who had to intervene at last.
+
+"Look here, boys," he said. "Do you realize that you're eatin' an'
+drinkin' yourselves outer house an' home? We got jest a week's grub
+in our lockers, if we go on short rations. Beyond that,"--he waved his
+arm toward the ocean, as if to say "overboard for ours."
+
+"Look here!" cried Swank excitedly, "do you suppose I want to go in
+for one of these slow starvation stunts, perishing miserably on half
+a biscuit a day! O man! that's old stuff. Every explorer that ever
+wrote has done that, you know--falling insensible in the boat, drifting
+around for weeks, being towed into port, sunbaked, like mummies. Not
+on your life! What I propose is one final party--let's eat the whole
+outfit tonight, hook, line and sinker."
+
+We carried the proposition by acclamation, except Triplett who spat
+sourly to windward, a thing few men can do. And we were as good as our
+word.
+
+Late into the night we roared our sea-songs over the indifferent ocean,
+pledging our lost ones, singing, laughing and weeping with the abandon
+of lost sheep. With Triplett it was a case of forcible feeding for he
+kept trying to secrete his share of the menu in various parts of his
+person, slipping fistsful of crawfish in his shirt-bosom and pouring
+his cup of _hoopa_ into an old fire-extinguisher which rolled in the
+ship's waist. Pinioning his arms we squirted the fiery liquid between
+his set jaws, after which he too gave himself up to unrestrained
+celebration.
+
+Our supplies lasted for two days, and for two days our wild orgy
+continued.
+
+We have all read of the hunter lost in trackless forest wilds who
+finally falls exhausted on his pommel and is brought safely home by
+his loose-reined mustang.
+
+That is exactly what happened to us. I know I am departing from literary
+custom when I abandon the picture of slow starvation, with its
+attractive episodes of shoe-eating, sea-drinking, madness, cannibalism
+and suicide which make up the final scene of most tales of adventure.
+But I must tell the truth.
+
+While we caroused, our helm was free, the tiller banging, sail flapping,
+boom gibing, blocks rattling. It was as if we had thrown the reins of
+guidance on the neck of our staunch little seahorse and she, superbly
+sturdy creature, proceeded to bring us home. On we went across the
+waters, steered only by fate.
+
+In the midst of a rousing rendering of "Hail, hail, the gang's all
+here," we were startled by a grinding crash that threw us in a heap
+on the floor. Down the companion way burst a flood of green water
+through which we struggled to the steeply slanting deck, where on
+ourport bow I glimpsed the picture of a pleasant sandy beach, trees,
+ships, docks, a large white hotel and hundreds of people--white and
+brown, in bathing! In one thundering burst of amazement the truth swept
+over me; we were in the harbor of Papeete! In the next instant strong
+arms seized me and I was borne through the breakers and up the beach.
+
+Well, they were all there! O'Brien--dear old Fred, and Martin Johnson,
+just in from the Solomons with miles of fresh film; McFee, stopping
+over night on his way to the West Indies; Bill Beebe, with his pocket
+full of ants; Safroni, "Mac" MacQuarrie, Freeman, "Cap" Bligh--thinner
+than when I last saw him in Penang--and, greatest surprise of all, a
+bluff, harris-tweeded person who peered over the footboard of my bed
+and roared in rough sea-tones:
+
+"Well, as I live and breathe, Walter Traprock!"
+
+It was Joe Conrad.
+
+I told my story that night in the dining-room of the Tiare, or, at
+least, I told just enough of it to completely knock my audience off
+their seats. For many good reasons I avoided exact details of latitude,
+longitude, and the like.
+
+No island is sacred among explorers.
+
+"Gentlemen," I said, rather neatly, "I cannot give you the Filberts'
+latitude or longitude. But I will say that their pulchritude is 100!"
+
+The place was in an uproar. They plied me with questions, and Dr.
+Funk's! It was a night of rejoicing and triumph which I shall never
+forget, and which only Fred O'Brien can describe.
+
+The later results are too well known to need recital, Swank's success,
+Whinney's position in the Academy of Sciences, my own recognition by
+the Royal Geographic Society.
+
+The tight little Kawa still rides the seas, Triplett in command.
+She is kept fully stocked, ready to sail at a moment's notice. Soon,
+perhaps, the wanderlust will seize us again and, throwing down our
+lightly won honors, we will once more head for the trackless trail.
+
+But we will not make for the Filberts. Too tender are the memories
+which wreathe those opal isles, too irrevocable the changes which must
+have taken place. Rather let us preserve their undimmed beauty in our
+hearts.
+
+On our next trip we have agreed, all of us, that by far the best plan
+will be to leave the choice of our route, destination and return (if
+any) to the Kawa herself.
+
+
+
+
+OTHER BOOKS BY WALTER E. TRAPROCK
+
+Who's Hula in Hawaii                           1899
+Dances, Near-dances and No-dances of the
+  Far East                                     1902
+Through Borneo on a Bicycle                    1904
+Curry-Dishes for Moderate Incomes              1907
+Sobs from the South Seas-Poems                 1912
+Around Russia on Roller Skates                 1917
+Crazy With Tahiti-Translations from Native
+  Folklore                                     1918
+How to Explore, and What                       1919
+
+NOTE:--Most of the above are out of print. The author still has a few
+copies of "Curry-Dishes for Moderate Incomes" which may be had at the
+publication price, $200.
+
+
+
+
+SEE THE SOUTH SEAS
+
+S. S. _Love-Nest_, sailing from San Francisco, June 1st, Sept. 3rd,
+Dec 2nd and March 7th. Three months' cruise.
+
+See the cute cannibals. Excursion rates for round trip with stops at all
+important islands. Everybody's doing it. Don't be a back number.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Cruise of the Kawa, by Walter E. Traprock
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CRUISE OF THE KAWA ***
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