OF THE SOUTH SEAS 307 



for it. She 's dead now, poor little devil, or they 'd have 

 shut her up in the lazaretto." 



Bemis bought cocoanuts for shipment for food pur- 

 poses. His firm sold them all over America to fruit- 

 dealers for eating raw by children, and shredded and 

 prepared them for confectioners and grocers. He was 

 the only buyer in Tahiti of fresh nuts, as all others pm*- 

 chased them as copra, split and dried, for the oil. 

 Bemis had been here years ago, he said. 



"I 'm married now," he told me, "but in those days 

 I was a damn fool about the Tahitian girls. I put in 

 six months here before I was married." 



He became thoughtful, and asked me to accompany 

 him to the soiree of the Alliance Fran9aise, in the Palais 

 cinema-hall. The Alliance was for encouraging the 

 study and use of the French language. A few decades 

 ago Admiral Serre, the governor, had forbidden the 

 teaching of French to girls in the country districts as 

 hurtful to their moral weal. It was feared that they 

 would seek to air their learning in Papeete, and, as said 

 Admiral Serre, be corrupted. A new regime reckoned 

 a knowledge of French a requisite of patriotism. 



At the Palais the scene was brilliant. Two large 

 banana-trees were apparently growing at the sides of 

 the stage, and the pillars of the roof were wreathed in 

 palm-leaves. Scores of French flags draped the walls. 

 Pupils of the government schools occupied many seats, 

 and their families, friends, and officials the others. The 

 galleries were filled with native children. Marao, the 

 former queen, and her daughters, the Princesses Boots 

 and Tekau, with a party of English acquaintances, were 



