OF THE SOUTH SEAS 111 



this group, Messieurs, I'lnspecteurs des Colonies, were 

 there, eating solemnly alone, as demanded by their ex- 

 alted rank, and their mission of criticism. They glanced 

 down often at their broad bosoms to see that their many 

 orders were on straight, to note the admiration of lesser 

 officialdom, and to make eyes at the women. Their long 

 and profuse black beards were hidden by their napkins, 

 which all Frenchmen of parts hereabouts tuck in their 

 collars, and draw up to their mouths, a precaution which, 

 when omitted, is seen to have been founded on an eti- 

 quette utiHtarian and esthetic. 



The company was complex. At a table opposite me 

 sat the juge inferieur and the daughter of the Chinese 

 cook at the Hotel Central, a smart, slender woman with 

 burning eyes, and with them, in full uniform, were two 

 French civil officials, who wore, as customary, clothes 

 like soldiers. One unfamiliar with their regalia might 

 mistake, as I did, a pharmacist for an admiral. Mary, 

 the cook's half-Tahitian daughter, was in elaborate Eu- 

 ropean dress, with a gilded barret of baroque pearls in 

 her copious, ebon tresses, and with red kid shoes buckled 

 in silver and blister pearls. 



The son of Prince Hinoe, who would have been the 

 King of Tahiti had the dynasty continued to reign, had a 

 dozen chums at a table, oafs from seventeen to twenty, 

 and with the fish course they began to chant. The cap- 

 tain of the Saint Michel was with Woronick, the pearl- 

 buyer, who had made the fearful trip to the Marquesas 

 with him. There was Heezonorweelee, as the natives 

 call the Honorable Walter WilUams, the most famous 

 dentist within five thousand miles, and the most dis- 

 tinguished white man of Tahiti; Landers; Polonsky; 



