THE DREAM SHIP 



47 



world the name of a man who can make 

 pearls, and that name will not be Mr. 

 Mumpus. 



Chapter V 



dream's end 



Regretfully leaving the people of the 

 atolls, the Dream Ship set sail for Pa- 

 peete, Tahiti, and arrived there without 

 mishap. 



A greater contrast in two groups of 

 islands a bare day's journey apart can 

 hardly be imagined than that between the 

 coral reefs of the Paumotus and the 

 cloud-capped volcanic peaks of the So- 

 cieties. It is like approaching another 

 world. 



At the pass in the barrier reef a genial 

 French pilot took charge and secured us 

 the best berth in the harbor. Here the 

 coral wall that forms the beach is so 

 sheer that it is possible to make fast to 

 the trunk of a flamboyant, as though to a 

 bollard on a quay, and walk ashore on a 

 gangplank, which we of the Dream Ship 

 promptly did, and dined in splendor at 

 the best hotel. 



With unaccustomed collars chafing our 

 leathern necks, and perspiring freely 

 under the burden of clothes after a 

 regime of towel and sola topee, we con- 

 sumed iced vin rouge, poulet roti with 

 salad, and omelette au maitre d'hotel. 

 Papeete was a pleasant place in that hour. 



Indeed, Papeete is a pleasant place at 

 any hour. It is the metropolis of the 

 southeastern Pacific islands, just as Hon- 

 olulu is of the northeastern, attracting as 

 varied an assortment of humanity as any 

 in the world. 



Here we have the planter of vanilla 

 and coconuts, the trader in anything 

 from copra to silk stockings, the pearl- 

 buyer, the schooner skipper, and the 

 ubiquitous adventurer on their native 

 heath and under conditions that make it 

 possible for each to live and prosper. 



THE DREAM SHIP LOSES ITS COOK 



The French may be wrong from our 

 iron-bound, Anglo-Saxon point of view, 

 but they certainly have the knack of mak- 

 ing life a more enjoyable affair under 

 their administration than under any other 

 at the present time. 



It was at Papeete that we of the Dream 

 Ship lost our cook. It may be remem- 

 bered that in the Galapagos Islands, 

 5,000 miles back on our tracks, we res- 

 cued an exquisite Ecuadorean Govern- 

 ment official from a delicate position by 

 christening him "Bill" and installing him 

 in our culinary department, where he was 

 expected to work his passage to Aus- 

 tralia. 



He proved to be an expert cigarette 

 smoker and little more, so that when he 

 approached us after the first night in 

 Papeete and intimated that he found it 

 necessary to leave, we were neither sur- 

 prised nor pained. 



And so you may see to this day "Bill" 

 of the biscuit-colored silk socks and es- 

 thetic tie, leaning gracefully over the soft- 

 goods counter of a French store, extoll- 

 ing the virtues of a new line in under- 

 wear or gallantly escorting a bevy of 

 Tahitian beauties to the movies of an 

 evening. 



"Bill" has found his niche in the 

 scheme of things, and who can say more? 



THE BENEFICIAL STREAM THREATENS TO 

 BECOME A FLOOD 



The main trouble in the Societies, as 

 elsewhere in the Pacific islands, is scarcity 

 of labor. Each group in this mighty 

 ocean is struggling with the problem at 

 the present time, and has not yet suc- 

 ceeded in reaching a solution. 



The native will not work. He does not 

 believe in toiling for others when he is a 

 self-supporting land-owner himself : and, 

 when vou come to think of it. whv should 

 he? 



The Pacific islands, ambitious for de- 

 velopment, are consequently forced to 

 turn for help to the more congested quar- 

 ters of the globe, such as India and China, 

 and herein lies the danger. The influx 

 has already begun, and there is not a 

 doubt that in rime it will swell from a 

 beneficial stream into an overwhelming 

 flood, unless ultimately returned to its 

 source by a conduit of stringent legisla- 

 tion. 



Between the Societies and Australia, 

 there is a regular line of steamships call- 

 ing at Rarotonga. Samoa, and Xew Zea- 

 land. and it was in order to avoid this 

 cut-and-dried route that we of the Dream 



