The Cruise of the Kawa: Wanderings in the South Seas

ations. We make a tour of the island. A call on the ladies. Baahaabaa

t William Henry Thomas," I said o

things off. Day after day slipped by and we thought less and less of our boat-

haabaa, meaning in Filbe

ons were several

Cocoanut That Never Fa

stantly

ple, natural beauties. How much more intere

and I use the word advisedly, in which the question of having or not having a cook is eliminated. We were two weeks on the island before any one of us real

ve all, the thousand and one kinds of nuts from which the islands receive their name, were at hand for the plucking. Our breakf

, we eat with avidity oysters and clams (except in the Bapoo-period), knowing that they are not only raw but also alive. In the Filberts it was but a slight step forward to pop into one's mouth a wriggling limpataa (a kind of marine lizard), whose antics

ng at the clock, no cheese souffle ready to collapse, no dishes t

ination of equable climatic and economic conditions this altitude has become standardized and there is little variation from it. A sort of rough control

ures are moored at low tide to a lump of coral on one of the outer reefs. Sharks, octopi and

thering Dew-Fish

: GATHERING DEW-FI

sh across the horizon they rise to the surface of the water in vast numbers, turning the entire ocean to a pulsating mirror of silver. For five minutes they lie thus, then suddenly sink simultaneously. Their work for the day, so far as we know it, is done.

odestly assertive with lower jaws superbly adapted to cracking cocoanuts and oysters, foreheads low with sufficient projection at the eye-line for shade purposes. All in all,

Filbertine mother to scour her offspring's face with powdered coral which discourages the facial follicles. These eventually give up and, turning inward and upward, result in a veritable crown of glory on the top of t

if you ask me, when you think that we s

, resolved to try and plied Baahaabaa with questions in French, English, German and beche-de-mer, which only resulted in loud laughter on the part of our host. Swank next tried pantomime, using the French gesture for beauty, a circular motion of the hands about his face accompanied by sic

large gestures that if we liked they would be glad to make a tour of the island, a proposition we gladly accepted. Moolitonu was our official map. On his broad back in th

n dominated by the mountain. We had made the circuit of approximately three-fourths of the island, when suddenly, without a word of warning, we stumbled into the Hativa-faui, or ladies' dressing-room. Instantly we were surrounded by a bevy of captivating beauties. Our gu

tion: Her

ion Note:

color and charm of these entrancing isles. It remained for Herman Swank, by his now famous method of diagrammatic symbolism, to bring the truth fully home. This he accomplished by living, to the limit, the native life of the Filbertese. Clad only in the light lamitu, or afternoon wrap of the is

e separation of the husband from his wives. During the day these joyous maids and matrons lead their own lives in their own community, rehearsing their songs, weaving chaplets of flowers, stringing pearls for their simple costum

g with their wives is an event. Happiness, love and the elation of ce

adore salt water, which is not potable but thirst-producing-thes

even beautiful girls to an accompaniment of song and clapping. The plaintive love-motif was unmistakably introduced by a deep-chested dame who played on the bazoola, a primitive instrument fashion

pound, an enclosure teeming with beautiful children, screened

problems and momentous decision on our part. This feast was our formal welcome; the keys o

causes them to open and shut their lambent eyes very rapidly, and gave a quaint cinema effect to the scene. After counting the co

s best blue marble, his visor-cap wreathed with nabiscus blossoms, his case-hardened countenance lighted with conviviality. Following an interminable period of eating and drinking came a long speech by Baahaabaa which, like most after-dinner speeches, meant nothing to me. Captain Triplett replied. The gist of Triplett's remarks, memorized from the "Argus," were taken from the 1916 report of the New Bedford B

ho rendered a solo by striking his distended anatomy with his clenched fist, varying the tone by relaxing or tightening the abdominal muscles. Whinney sang a very dreary arrangement of "Mandalay"-his one

imax was y

nter of a sort of kick-off formation I saw approaching four of the most exquisite women in the world. When ten feet away they fell on all fours and, using the Australian crawl-stroke, crept slowly t

ch we were expected to take home with us. To refuse them meant certain offense, perhaps death. Triplett was plainly non-plussed. Sw

of the United States,"-at the same time draining a huge shell o

ur hours we were safe.