CHAPTER XXII 



I start for Tautira — A dangerous adventure in a canoe — I go by land to 

 Tautira — I meet Choti and the Greek God — I take up my home where 

 Stevenson lived. 



SEEING the way the Lermontoffs Hved, caused 

 me to resolve that during the remainder of my 

 stay in Tahiti I would go even farther from Pa- 

 peete than Mataiea. They suggested Tautira, a village 

 they had never visited, but which was at the very end of 

 the habitable part of the Presqu'ile of Taiarapu. My 

 easiest route to Tautira was by crossing the isthmus of 

 Taravao, to the other side of the peninsula, as nowhere 

 in Tahiti except at Lake Vaihiria were there even pas- 

 sable trails across the lofty spine of the island. I was 

 for sending back the cart and horse to Taravao and tak- 

 ing a canoe to Tautira. A council of the elders of 

 Vaieri opposed me, but yielded to my persistence by ad- 

 vising me at least to ride as far as possible in the cart 

 along the western road, and to find, nearer to Tautira, 

 in Maora, or farther on, in Puforatoai, a canoe and 

 canoeists for the risky attempt. 



Tatini, who had lagged behind at Butscher's, ap- 

 peared as I harnessed the horse. She had accompanied 

 the Tinito storekeeper of Taravao to Vaieri, and would 

 not permit me to go on alone. She climbed into the 

 vehicle, :^nd we wended a winding road, and forded 

 several streams until we came to Puforatoai, having gone 

 thiough Hatiti and Maora. There was a pass in the 



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