THE DREAM SHIP 



43 



Photograph by L,. Gauthier 

 FISHING MEN OF TRITI, NEAR PAPEF.TK, TAHITI 



all he possessed and is perfectly prepared 

 to return to his atolls and his debts. He 

 has lived like a white man and cheated 

 the mosquitos ; what more can Paumotan 

 heart desire? 



PROGRESS HAS NOT DESTROYED PICTUR- 

 ESQUENESS OF PEARE FISHING 



The thing we call progress has slain 

 the picturesque in most industries of this 

 world, but not so with pearling in the 

 Paumotus. During the season, the beach 

 of one of these atolls resembles an Old 

 World fair more than anything I can call 

 to mind. 



A crazy merry-go-round brays and 

 rocks in the shade of the palms, luring 

 the adventurous to invest three pearl 

 shells in a ride on a broken-necked camel. 

 The ubiquitous movie "palace" has reared 

 its unlovely head, and for more shell or 

 five coconuts one may witness on the 

 shores of a South Sea lagoon the bat- 

 tered remnants of a love affair enacted 

 not far from Los Angeles. I have often 

 wondered what happens to all the worn- 

 out films in the world. Now I know. 



This season, and for the first time, the 

 people of the atolls are to be initiated 

 into the mysteries of ice-cream. Truly, 

 the mosquito stops at nothing. 



It was down in this part of the world 

 that I met Air. Mumpus, though that is 

 not his name. To reach him you must 

 pick your way in the motor auxiliary 

 through a maze of reefs, lie off and on, 

 because there is no pass into his lagoon, 

 and plod through blazing sand in a tem- 

 perature of ninety in the shade, which 

 there is not. But it is worth it. 



THE PEARL-MAKER OF THE SOUTH SEAS 



You will probably find him in the pearl 

 orchard, a green-lined umbrella in one 

 hand and a dripping oyster shell in the 

 other. He will stare fixedly for upward 

 of half a minute and then say: "How the 

 devil did you get here?" with a brusque- 

 ness that is alarming until yon get used 

 to it. 



In my own case T indicated the Dream 

 Ship, looking particularly smart in her 

 recent coat of white paint. 



