240 MYSTIC ISLES 



When we came to where the habitations began and 

 the road became passable for vehicles, Noanoa Tiare sat 

 down on a stone. She put on her pale-blue silk stock- 

 ings and her shoes, and asked me for the package she 

 had given me at starting. She unfolded it, and it was 

 an aahuj a gown, for which she exchanged, behind a 

 banana-plant, her soiled and drenched tunic. The new 

 one was of the finest silk, diaphanous, and thus to be 

 worn only at night. The sun was down, and the lagoon 

 a purple lake when we were again at the bust of Bou- 

 gainville. 



I thanked her at parting. 



"Noanoa Tiare," I said, "this day has a heavenly blue 

 page in my record. It has made Tahiti a different 

 island for me." 



"jNIaru, mon ami, you are sympathetic to my race. 

 We shall be dear friends. I will send you the note to 

 Tetuanui, the chief of Mataiea, to-morrow. Au revoir 

 and happy dreams." 



