234 MYSTIC ISLES 



"Mais, c'est vrair she said, musingly. "The Ta- 

 hitian woman will not endure that. She is on a par with 

 the man in seeking. Without fear and without shame, 

 and, attendez, Maru, without any more monogamy than 

 you men. I have told some of those suffrage ladies of 

 London and of Washington that we are in advance of 

 their most determined feminism. They will come to it. 

 More women than men in Europe will bring it there." 



Her long, black lashes touched her cheeks. 



"We are a little sleepy, n'est-ce pas?'' she asked. 

 "B'en, we will have a taoto/' 



She made herself a pillow of leaves with her pareu, 

 and arranging her hair in two braids, she stretched her- 

 self out, with her face toward the sky, and a cool banana- 

 leaf laid over it. I copied her action, and lulled by the 

 falling water, the rippling of the pool, and the drowsy 

 rustling of the trees, I fell fast asleep, and dreamed of 

 Eve and the lotus-eaters. 



When I awoke, the princess was refreshing her face 

 and hands in the water. 



"A Mo! Look!" she said eagerly. "O tane and O 

 vahineT 



In the mist above the pool at the foot of the cascade 

 a double rainbow gleamed brilliantly. O tane is the 

 man, which the Tahitians call the real arch, and O 

 vahine, the woman, the reflected bow. They appeared 

 and disappeared with the movement of the tiny, fleecy 

 clouds about the sun. The air, as dewy as early morn 

 in the braes o' Maxwelton, was deliciously cool. 



"If you have courage and strength left," the princess 

 said excitedly, "we will go to the fort of Fautaua, and 

 I will show you where the last of my people perished 



