534 MYSTIC ISLES 



"Lovaina had good fortune all her life, for, being the 

 first one to die, she was buried as we have always buried 

 our people. All of Tahiti that was not ill walked with 

 her coffin. Oh, Maru, I wept for Lovaina. Vava, 

 whom you whites call the Dummy, is dead, too. When 

 Lovaina was taken to the cemetery, Vava drove her old 

 chaise with her children in it; and then, JNIaru, he was 

 seen again only by a Tahitian who had gone to bathe 

 in the lagoon because the fever was burning him. You 

 know how Vava always took the old horse of Lovaina 

 at sunset to swim in front of the Annexe. This man 

 who was ill said that he saw Vava ride the horse into 

 the sea, and straight out toward the reef. Vava signed 

 farewell to the man with the fever. The man stayed in 

 the lagoon to cool his body until the sun was below 

 Moorea, and your friend, the Dummy, did not return. 

 Maru, we loved dear Lovaina, but to Vava she was 

 mother and God. 



"It is strange, Maru, the way of things in the world. 

 The lepers who are confined towards Arue were for- 

 gotten, and as nobody went near them, the hotahota 

 passed them by. 



"I cannot write more. O Maru, come back to aid us. 

 It is a long time since those happy days when we walked 

 in the Valley of Fautaua. 



"la ora na i te Atua! 



"NOANOA TiABE." 



