A SOUTH SEA ISLAND LANE 
LINED WITH PALMS AND TROPICAL FRUITS 
Chicago, and at the Mid-winter Fair in San Fran- 
cisco. They know the warm brown skins, the 
bushy black hair, except where it is stained a dull 
golden brown by the plentiful bleachings with lime. 
They have heard their plaintive and warlike songs, 
their dances with beating of clubs and spears in 
time to the music ; have seen the comely women and 
their gentle swayings in rhythm with the more active 
dances of the men. They know, too, their costumes, 
the lava-lava of tapa, mulberry bark cloth, about the 
loins, the necklaces, armlets, and anklets, and the 
tall and fantastic headdresses of the warriors. 
' Besides this costume they wear an abundant coat 
of cocoanut oil,— which causes them to glisten as if 
varnished — and the men are tattooed. 
But all these things give but a superficial idea. 
without the least danger of receiving anything but 
the kindest, most courteous, nay, even the most 
;*d#tnly hospitable treatment. 
The misleading nature of maps has long been 
realized. Little dots in the Pacific are supposed to 
be islands which one may reach by rowing from one 
to the other in fifteen minutes. It is something of a 
surprise to learn that in reality they lie 100 miles, 
and more, apart. 
There is some change in the temperature 
when the wooded heights of Tutuila are left behind. 
If it happens to be the spring of the northern lati- 
tudes, it is the aftermath of autumn in the Anti- 
podes— the pleasantest season to visit the colonies. 
The thick clothing that was put off at Hawaii is 
once more donned and found most acceptable ; there 
is an invigorating quality in the air not felt in the 
tropics ; the languor that has made the comfort of 
the deck chair peculiarly inviting, vanishes as by 
magic, and the arrival in Sydney is anticipated with 
fresh energy and interest. 
S. S. Sonoma, on her first voyage in the new 
service of the Sydney Short Line, was met at Pango 
Pango by 4,000 Samoans, who came from a radius 
of 500 miles, wearing full warpaint and feathers, and 
for three hours entertained the passengers with 
native songs and dances. Following the dances a 
big native feast was held, winding up with the 
passing of a huge bowl of Kava, the native drink, of 
which all partook. 
The steaming time of eighteen days and fourteen 
hours is being maintained by the Sonoma and 
Ventura between San Francisco and Sydney, on both 
outward and homeward voyages. 
On her outbound trip the S. S. Sonoma from 
Pango Pango sighted a volcano in full eruption on a 
barren Tongan Island, making a beautiful spectacle 
at night. Norfolk Island and Lord Howe Island 
were also sighted on the way to Sydney. 
