OF THE SOUTH SEAS 301 



ing cards," McHenry advised as he scooped in the pot. 

 "The cards are all queens to you." 



Chief Teriieroo a Teriieroterai sat ten feet removed 

 from the players, but kept his eyes on the money. 

 They played with notes, five francs being the smallest, 

 and the others twenties and hundreds. The chief 

 smiled whenever Count Polonsky drew in a heap of 

 these, and when one fell on the floor, he scrambled under 

 the table to prevent it being blown on the rocks. The 

 Javanese served the drinks, and a crowd of natives 

 watched curiously the shifting vantages from a respect- 

 ful distance. 



It was three o'clock when the scores were settled, and, 

 the chief leading with a lantern, we tramped through 

 the great cocoanut-grove to his residence. 



Landers and I each took a bed, I being warned to be 

 forehanded by my experience in Moorea, where I slept 

 on the floor. The chief retired, and Polonsky went off 

 with his arm about his inamorata's waist, she having ap- 

 parently awaited his return. When Llewellyn and 

 McHenry appeared half an hour later, having emptied 

 a bottle reminiscent to McHenry of his father's liking 

 for Auld Reekie, they were discomfited by the beds 

 being all occupied, the other two having been early 

 claimed by two men who ate and drank and immediately 

 slept. 



When I awoke, the sun was up half an hour, and 

 Landers and I went for a bath in the brook. We found 

 a pool famed in the legends of the natives. In the 

 olden days the kings and chiefs would have made it 

 tabu to themselves. 



