SAILING THE SEVEN SEAS 



681 



Photograph by Dr. Edward Burton MacDowell 

 SURE BATHING HAS ITS DELIGHTS FOR MAN AND BEAST IN TAHITI 



was overturned in the surf as they tried 

 to get through the breakers to shore, and 

 he was the sole survivor, clinging to the 

 keel of the boat when it finally drifted 

 onto the beach the next morning. He 

 could not swim, as is so often the case 

 with deep-water sailormen. 



Here we also met a gray-bearded half- 

 caste, one of the sons of the founder of 

 the colony on Palmerston Island. Years 

 ago the father, with his three wives, jour- 

 neyed to this isolated paradise in the 

 Pacific, and now there are more than ioo 

 direct descendants living in the colony. 



Three days later we called at Manahiki 



Island, less than 400 miles distant from 

 Penrhyn, yet the people are quite differ- 

 ent. The white buildings, with their red 

 roofs, stood out in sharp contrast to the 

 green of the coconut palm grove back- 

 ground, as seen from the open roadstead. 



The resident agent came out to meet us 

 in his small, shallow boat, with a huge 

 black and yellow flag flying at the stern. 

 The flag had no particular significance, he 

 said, but some skipper had given it to 

 him and he thought it looked fine. He 

 said it was a Scotch flag ! 



After we had entertained the agent, his 

 son, and one of the traders at luncheon, 



