492 MYSTIC ISLES 



the fishermen was described, but the beatitudes brought 

 out to the fullest his deep, melancholy voice, as by the 

 light of the lamp upon the low table the chief intoned the 

 thrilling gospel of humility and unselfishness. 



Never before had I appreciated so well the divine 

 character of Jesus or conjectured so clearly the scenes 

 of his teaching upon the shores of the Lake of Gahlee. 

 Excepting the tropical plants and the eternal accent of 

 the reef, the old Tahitian and I might have been in Pal- 

 estine with Peter and the sons of Zebedee and the dis- 

 ciples. They were people of slender worldly knowl- 

 edge, the carpenter's son knew nothing of history, and 

 ate with his fingers, as did Ori-a-Ori; but their open 

 eyes, unclouded by sophistication and complex interests, 

 looked at the universe and saw God. They lived mostly 

 under the open sky in touch with nature, dependent on 

 its manifestations immediately about them for their sus- 

 tenance, and with its gifts and curses for their concerns 

 and symbols. 



Occidentals, who seldom muse, to whom contempla- 

 tion is waste of time, do not enjoy the oneness with na- 

 ture shared by these Polynesians with the sacred Com- 

 moner whose beatitudes were to bring anarchy upon the 

 Roman world, and destroy the effects of the philoso- 

 phies of the ablest minds of Greece. The fishermen of 

 Samaria were gay and somber by turn, as were the Ta- 

 hitians, doing little work, but much thinking, and inno- 

 cent and ignorant of the perplexing problems and offen- 

 sive indecencies of striving and luxury. The air and 

 fight nurtured them, and they confidently leaned upon 

 the hand of God to guide and preserve. 



Thoreau's "Cry of the Human" echoed in the dark 



