TAHITI : THE PLAYGROUND OF NATURE 



325 



ping on the counterpane and engaging in 

 a sparring match with a very unwilling 

 opponent, and I imagined spiders bent 

 on settling themselves snugly in my hair 

 for the night. 



I was eager to go round the inhospi- 

 table shores of Pari, and at Maora I ar- 

 ranged with Paorai, a native, to transport 

 me in an outrigger canoe to Tautira, on 

 the northern side. He warned me, how- 

 ever, that he might not be able to make 

 the passage if the sea became rough, 

 adding that often he had been forced to 

 return after he had started for the home 

 of Punua, god of rocks and precipices. 



At 8 o'clock the next morning we em- 

 barked in a fifteen-foot canoe. The day 

 was dulled by clouds, but the scenery we 

 passed was magnificent. All the way 

 mountains approached close to the water 

 and rose to a height of several thousand 

 feet. Every foot of their length they 

 were covered with dense vegetation, from 

 which innumerable feis thrust their long 

 leaves and over which the pohue spread 

 its ornate canopy. 



On the sharp summits slender rows of 

 thickly clustering trees stood out so 

 clearly defined as to form a remarkable 

 hedge. Thus one sweep of the eye re- 

 vealed a foliaged fringe on the skyline, a 

 palm-bordered shore, and a coral rim at 

 sea. Nowhere in all this panorama was a 

 sterile spot discernible, except the scar 

 of avalanche. 



DEFEATED BY THE SURE 



Near Pari the sea became rougher, es- 

 pecially at the passes, where it rolled in 

 with full force. Off Mitireu we ran into 

 big billows and several times shipped 

 water. Ahead the outlook was still 

 stormier. Soon we were opposite the 

 surf-swept rocks of the abrupt coast and 

 our position became constantly more 

 perilous. 



Paorai was a good pilot. He spoke 

 many words of command and caution to 

 his assistant and watched every oncom- 

 ing swell with riveted eyes. Now and 

 then it seemed that the vaa would be 

 overturned, but the outrigger saved it, 

 though in untried hands it probably 

 would have capsized. 



At last the growing fury of the sea led 

 Paorai to abandon further progress, and 



when we were almost within sight of the 

 cliffs, which rise hundreds of feet and 

 hurl the ocean back into its lawful pre- 

 cincts, he ordered a retreat. 



At that moment we faced one of the 

 wildest spectacles I have ever seen. 

 Huge billows rolled incessantly inland. 

 Along the shore the lashing surf flung it- 

 self high against the barren rocks and. 

 falling back, was thrown upon the im- 

 penetrable barrier again. Ahead, toward 

 a dark horizon, the air was misty with 

 spray, and both there and for miles to 

 our right and rear heaving waters beat 

 themselves into noisy bands of foam as 

 they mounted the coral reef and, partially 

 recovering their momentum there, hur- 

 ried on to their goal. 



MISTAKEN FOR A BOGEY 



On our return to Alaora I had scarcely 

 landed when, treading a beach path, I 

 met a lad wearing only a shirt. To my 

 amazement, he gave me one frightened 

 look and dashed panic-stricken for his 

 home, yelling with every step. It was 

 the first time I had been mistaken for a 

 bogey, and to me the situation was as 

 amusing as it was terrifying to the child. 

 After that, in less frequented places. I 

 was amused to see youths and maidens 

 race madly through banana and coconut 

 groves with shirt tails flying signals of 

 distress, and all at the mere sight of one 

 whom I have always considered to be a 

 harmless-looking Caucasian. 



With the intention of making still an- 

 other effort to conquer Pari, we went to 

 Tautira, where Stevenson once lived for 

 a few weeks, and thence down the coast 

 by canoe and footpath: but after we had 

 almost reached our lonely destination we 

 were baffled again by billow and preci- 

 pice. 



From Tautira we retraced our steps to 

 the isthmus on our way to Hitiaa. We 

 reached the village late in the afternoon., 

 wet to the skin by a heavy rain. 



The most inviting-looking house be- 

 longed to the district chief, where, a na- 

 tive told us. "all the white men stop.'" 

 At our knock the door was opened by the 

 chief himself, and he promptlv assured 

 us of supper and a night's lodging. He- 

 was barefooted and wore only a pair of 

 overalls and an undershirt, but I saw that. 



