154 MYSTIC ISLES 



handsome face, generally calm and unexpressive, was 

 aglow with excitement. Mamoe recognized her gj'ra- 

 tory equal in this giant, and often their bodies met in 

 the ecstasy of their curveting. Landers, towering above 

 her, and bigger in bone and muscle than she in sheer 

 flesh, was like a figure from a SatumaHa. The call 

 of the isles was ringing in his ears, and one had only to 

 glance at him to hear Pan among the reeds, to be back 

 in the glades where fauns and nymphs were at play. 



I saw Landers a care-free animal for the moment, 

 rejoicing in his strength and skill, answering the appeal 

 of sex in the dance. When he sat down the animal was 

 still in him, but care again had clouded his brow. I 

 think our early ancestors must have been much like 

 Landers in this dance, strong, and merry for the time, 

 seeking the woman in pleasures, fiery in movement for 

 the nonce, and relapsing into stolidity. I can see why 

 Landers, who takes what he will of womankind in these 

 islands, still dominates in the trading, and bends most 

 people his way. The animal way is the way here. 

 The way of the city, of mere subtlety, of avoidance of 

 issues, of intellectual control, is not the way of Poly- 

 nesia. Bulk and sinew and no fear of God or man are 

 the rules of the game south of the line, as "north of 53." 



With Landers dancing, so must the others. Hobson 

 had dropped in, and he, David, McHenry, Schlyter, 

 and Lying Bill, trod a measure, and I, though with 

 only a Celtic urge and a couple of years in Hawaii to 

 teach me, faced Temanu. The bandsmen could not re- 

 main still, and, with Kelly to play the accordion, the 

 rout became general. McHenry did not molest Hob- 

 son, who remained. 



