MYSTIC ISLES 325 



David, abandoned himself to the night life, the cinema 

 bars, with their hilarious girls and men, the prize-fights, 

 and the dancing on the beach in the starlight. Schlyter, 

 the tailor, an occasional companion, was busied cutting 

 and sewing a hundred uniforms for a war-ship's crew. 



I bethought me of the letter Princess Noanoa Tiare 

 had given me to the chief of Mataiea, and with a bag I 

 departed for that village at daybreak, after taofe tau 

 for four sous at Shin Bung Lung's Fare Tamaaraa. 

 The diligence was open at the sides and roofed with an 

 awning, and was drawn by two mules, with bells on their 

 collars. 



On the stage I paid twenty centimes a kilometre, or 

 six and a half cents a mile. It carried the mail, passen- 

 gers, and freight. In every district there was a mail- 

 box on the fence of the chefferie, the chief's office, and 

 on the trees alongside the road at regular intervals, and 

 the driver took mails from people who hailed him. Ar- 

 riving at a chefferie, the stage halted, the district mutoi, 

 or native policeman-postman, appeared leisurely, 

 opened the locked box on the diligence, looked at ease 

 over the contents, took out what he liked, and put back 

 the remainder, with the postings of the chefferie. 



A glance at the map of Tahiti shows it shaped like a 

 Samoan fan, or, roughly, like a lady's hand mirror. It 

 is really two islands, joined by the mile-wide isthmus of 

 Taravao. The larger island is Poroiunu or Tahiti-nui 

 (big Tahiti), and the smaller Taiarapu, or Tahiti-iti 

 (little Tahiti) . Tahiti-nui is almost round ; and Tahiti- 

 iti, oval. Both are volcanic, distinct in formation. 

 They are united by a sedimentary piece of land long 

 after they were raised from the ocean's bed. 



