OF THE SOUTH SEAS 873 



fashioned, and equipped with eccentric members that I 

 was startled into bibhcal phrases. In the market they 

 were strange enough, dead and on the marble slabs, or 

 in green leaves, but in the lagoon they were a kaleido- 

 scope of complexions and shapes. They were the lovely 

 elves to complement the fantastic shellfish, yellow, 

 striped with violet ; bright turquoise, with a gold collar ; 

 gold, with broad bands of black terminating in wing- 

 like fins; scarlet, with cobalt polka-dots; silver, with a 

 rosy flush ; glossy green, dazzling crimson, black velvet, 

 solid red. 



They darted and flashed in and out of the caves in the 

 coral, caressed the sea-anemones, idled about the shells, 

 avoided by dexterous twistings and turnings a thousand 

 collisions, and continued ever the primary endeavor, the 

 search for those particular bits of food their appetites 

 craved. 



The effect upon me of all this splendor and grace of 

 water life, as I bent over the surface of the lagoon or 

 walked with lunette among the beds of coral, was, 

 after the oft-repeated periods of bewilderment at the 

 gorgeousness and whimsicality of the universe, a deep 

 rejoicing for its prodigality of design and purpose, and 

 a merry sorrow for those who would inflict dogma and 

 orthodoxy on a practical and heterodox world. I 

 leaned on the side of the canoe or on my spears and 

 laughed at the fools of cities, and at myself, who had 

 been a fool among them for most of my life. Just how 

 this train of reasoning ran I cannot say, but it moved 

 inexorably at the contemplation of the sublime radiancy 

 of the vivarium of the Mataiea lagoon. It always ap- 

 peared a symbol of the cosmic energy which poured the 



