OF THE SOUTH SEAS 65 



southern hemisphere, the Milky Way showing ten 

 thousand gleaming members of the galaxy that are hid- 

 den in our skies. I thought of those happy mariners 

 who first sailed their small, wooden ships into these mys- 

 terious seas, and first of our race, saw this strangely bril- 

 liant macrocosm, and appreciated it for its marvels and 

 its differences from their own bleaker. Western vault. 



There were no doors in the openings into my room 

 from the verandas, but hangings of gorgeous scarlet cal- 

 ico, parens, kept out the blazing sun, and lent a little 

 privacy at night. All the furniture was a chair, a dress- 

 ing-table, and two large beds, canopied with mosquito- 

 nets, evidently provided for a double lodging if needed. 



As I finished my letters twenty feet away, a Tahitian 

 girl parted the farther curtain nearest the stairway, and 

 slipped into the room with the silence of the accustomed 

 barefooted. Imagine her in her gayest gown of rose 

 color, a garland of hinano-^owers on her glossy head, her 

 tawny hair in two plaits to her unconfined waist, and her 

 eyes shining with the spirit of her quest ! 



She looked through the room to where I sat in the 

 semi-obscurity, and then knelt down by the first bed, 

 and waited. I gazed again at the starry heavens, and, 

 stepping over the threshold, entered the chamber, lamp 

 in hand. I undressed leisurely, and putting about me 

 the pareu Lovaina had given me, I threw the light upon 

 the two beds to make my nightly choice. I surveyed 

 them both critically, but the one nearest to me having 

 the netting arranged for entrance, I selected it, and 

 setting the lamp upon the dresser, extinguished it, 

 groped to the bed in darkness, and lay down upon the 

 coverless sheet. A few minutes I stayed awake going 



