90 MYSTIC ISLES 



soul with cooling drinks. Naturally, every one played 

 cards, dominoes, or dice for the honor of signing the 

 chitSj and it goes without saying that one might roar out 

 an oath against the Government and go unscathed. 

 Even in the Bougainville lines were drawn ; only heads of 

 commercial affairs were admitted. It was bourgeois 

 absolutely, but bosses could not imbibe and play freely 

 in the presence of their employees whom they might have 

 to reprimand severely for bad habits, nor scold them for 

 inattention to trade when their employers spent precious 

 hours at ecarte or razzle-dazzle. 



The club was within fifty feet of the lagoon, close to 

 the steamship quay, its broad verandas overlooking the 

 fulgent reef and the quiet waters within it. In odd 

 hours one might find Joseph, the steward, angling on 

 the coral wall for the black and gold fish, and a shout 

 from the balcony would bring him to the swift succor 

 of a thirsty member. During the four hours before the 

 l^te dejeuner and dinner, he had incessant work to an- 

 swer the continuous calls. 



When Joseph became overwhelmed with orders he 

 summoned his family from secret quarters in the rear, 

 and father, mother, and children squeezed, shook, and 

 poured for the impatient crowd. 



When the monthly mail between America and Aus- 

 tralasia was in, few packs of cards were sold, for every 

 one was busied with letters and orders for goods. But 

 only three or four days a month were so disturbed, and 

 for nearly four weeks of the month Papeete lolled at 

 ease, with endless time for games and stimulants. 

 Leisure, the most valuable coin of humanity in the 

 tropics, was spent by white or brown in pleasure or 



