110 MYSTIC ISLES 



tivities of the wedding of Cowan, the prize-fighter, 

 brought in a throng from the districts to add to the 

 Papeete population and the voyagers. 



The streets were a blaze of colored gowns and flower- 

 crowned girls and women. The quays were lined with 

 singing and playing country folk. Small boats and 

 canoes were arriving every few minutes during the aft- 

 ernoon with natives who preferred the water route to the 

 Broom Road. Cowan was a favorite boxer, and shortly 

 to face the noted Christchurch Kid, of Christchurch, 

 New Zealand, whose fist was described on the bill-boards 

 as "a rock thrown by a mighty slinger." Cowan, ^a 

 half -Polynesian, was beloved for his island blood, and 

 was marrying into a Tahitian family of note and 

 means. The nuptials at the church were preceded by a 

 triumphal procession of the bride and groom in an auto- 

 mobile, with a score of other cai'^ following, the entire 

 party gorgeously adorned with wreaths, — hei in Tahi- 

 tian, — and the vehicles lavishly decorated with sugar- 

 cane and bamboo tassels. The band of the cinema led 

 the entourage, and played a free choice of appropriate 

 music, "Lohengrin" before the governor's palace, and 

 "There '11 be a Hot Time in the Old Town To-night" 

 as they passed Lovaina's. The company sang lustily, 

 and toasts to the embracing couple were drunk gener- 

 ously from spouting champagne-bottles as the cortege 

 circled the principal streets. 



There was rare life at Lovaina's, for besides all the 

 diners in ordinary and extraordinary in the salle-a-man- 

 ger, Stevens, the London stockbroker, had a retired 

 table set for the American, British, and German consuls 

 and their wives. The highest two officials of France in 



