OF THE SOUTH SEAS 297 



We drove through Aapahi and Faaripoo and saw a 

 funeral. In the grounds of the dead man sat two large 

 groups of people, the men and the women separate. 

 They talked of his dying and his property, and his chil- 

 dren, while those who liked to do so made him ready for 

 the grave. A hundred yards away, in a school-yard, 

 twoscore men, women, boys, and girls played football. 

 The males were in parens, naked except about the waist, 

 and they kicked the heavy leather sphere with their bare 

 feet. 



Pare, Arue, and Mahina districts behind us, we were 

 in Papenoo, a straggling village of a few hundred peo- 

 ple along the road, the houses, all but the half-dozen 

 stores of the Chinese, set back a hundred yards, and the 

 domestic animals and carts in the front. 



With a flourish we drove into the inclosure of the 

 largest, newest, and most pretentious house, and were 

 greeted by Teriieroo, the Tahitian chief, all native, but 

 speaking French easily and musically. Count Polon- 

 sky shook hands with him, as did we all, but when a 

 daughter appeared, neither Polonsky nor we paid her 

 any attention. Yet she was Polonsky's "girl," as they 

 say here, and he kept her in good style in a house near 

 her father's, sending his yellow automobile for her when 

 he wanted her at his villa near Papeete. 



The chief's house had four bedrooms, each with an 

 European bed, three-quarter size, and with a mattress 

 two feet high, stuffed with kapok, the silky cotton which 

 grows on trees all over Tahiti. These mattresses were 

 beveled, and one must lie in their middle not to slip off. 

 The coverlets were red and blue in stamped patterns. 



It was dark when we touched the earth after two 



