OF THE SOUTH SEAS 381 



relative being buried in a sailor's chest; "Press Me" be- 

 cause the chief so named had heard these as the last 

 word uttered by a dying grandchild, and Dim Sight 

 because his grandfather had weak eyes. 



Taata Mata, the name of a charming Tahitian wo- 

 man I knew, signifies "Man's Eye," her own large eyes, 

 perhaps, explaining the name, and Mauu, the name 

 borne by a Tahitian man of good family in Papeete, 

 "Moist." In all Polynesia one found picture names 

 for people, as among the American Indians, and as 

 among all nations, though with Europeans the mean- 

 ings are forgotten. Moses means "Pulled out of the 

 Water," or "Water Baby." Some of our names of 

 people and places have ridiculous import in Tahiti. I 

 remember Lovaina laughed immoderately, and called 

 all the maids to view a line in the Tiare Hotel register 

 in which a man had put himself down from "Omaha." 

 After we had eaten, we sat smoking in the darkness, 

 I feeling very close to the blue field of stars. In the 

 tropics the mountains, even so low as these, are impres- 

 sive of a vast harmony of nature and of kinship with the 

 force that rumpled them with its mighty hand. They 

 have always inspired great thoughts. Moses framed 

 in the mountains the ten taboos of Israel, which we 

 hold as sacred as did the chosen people. Jesus made 

 the mountains the seat of his most important acts, and 

 was there transfigured in glory. 



We had been pointed out by Tiura a great crack in 

 the precipice, called Apoo Taria, the "Hole of the 

 Ears." In the bloody struggles of the ancient tribes 

 here the conquerors cut off the ears of their victims — 

 some say their captives — and threw them in this hole. 



