OF THE SOUTH SEAS 433 



a penny. Everything for me was the future hfe. Fous 

 savez, monsieur, toute a Vavenir! Sacre! what a fool 

 I was! Mais, one day when I was lying on that table 

 as you found me, I was iiii, and I dreamed that there 

 was no hell and that I was a fool. I turned over a new 

 leaf that moment. Now I never go near the church, and 

 the future can take care of itself. That 's my son-in-law 

 going by in the cart. He 's the richest young man in 

 Taravao. Ah, oui! he '11 spend a hundred francs here 

 with me in a week for drinks. That 's their baby." 



Butscher's leathern, yellow visage contracted in an 

 appalling grin. 



"They have been married long?" I remarked politely. 



"Mais, they are not married yet," repHed the father- 

 in-law. "There is no hurry." 



Leaving Tatini to her own pleasures, I rented a horse 

 and cart of Mephistopheles and drove into the district 

 of Vairao. From the outset I realized the iniquitous 

 character of the Atua who had tried to destroy or set 

 adrift the people of the prcsquile of Taiarapu, for they 

 were handsomer and, if possible, more hospitable than 

 those of Tahiti-nui. The road was closer to the water 

 of the lagoon, and the reef and coral banks were nearer. 

 I allowed the horse to go his own gait, and we jogged 

 slowly, stopping to browse and to consider the land- 

 scape. The beach was covered with seeds and pods, 

 the square-shaped seeds of the Barringtonia in their 

 outer case of fiber, tutui-nuts, cocoanuts, flowers and 

 bits of wood, and objects that would cause a naturalist 

 to weep for lack of time. Our beaches of the temperate 

 zones are wastes compared with these, for not only were 

 the sands strewn with a vast debris of forest and jungle, 



