The Cruise of the Kawa: Wanderings in the South Seas

Triplett's curious

liam Henry Thomas. His

ros and cons. Our hear

cup of l

and the last of our amiable visitors paddled homeward, some being towed by new-found wives, while not a few remained in our own com

ful period, preceding tragic events wh

tle tapping at the trunk of our tree and, peering over the

quietly to the trees occupied by the Swanks, the Whinneys

" we re

or twenty minutes we threaded a forest trail in which still lurked the

he edge of the densely

Henry

ered sound of old-fashioned, New England cursing. Reassured by B

erie charm of her own which instantly stirred strange emotions in my breast. I heard Swank gasp and Whinney's face was white and drawn, his favorite expression when deeply moved. She stood close to her husband, half-twined about h

y look our a

nly, "first among you all is he to have h

eft foot solemnly and pointed to his own royal appe

s name?" Wh

roudly as his wife replied in thri

Baahaabaa, "Flower of

ed his head as hi

" asked Whinney. Baahaabaa pointed

e fishbones are sharpened; the juice of th

all task. But sunset found it completed. We supped on the beach and at nine, under a rising moon, climbed toward the summit. The peak was reserv

: The Nest of

Note: THE NEST

aint marking; here we see the nest itself, made of delicately woven haro and brought carefully from the tree's summit by its discoverer, Babai-Alova-Babai. An extremely interesting feature of the picture is the presence in the nest of lapa or signal-feather. By close observation, Mr. Whinney, the scientist of the expedition, discovered that whe

shadow of the mountai

rth into the moonlight

at which I could but shudder. It was a giggle, the voice plainly that o

ng has begun,"

as laughed. Now, wilder and yet more wild rang his uncontrollable mirth, rising at times to dem

is vocal expression of it, and thus we sat, in the darkness, our peals of laughter b

y down the mountain; William Henry Thomas, that was, his new name w

owing a bolt fe

the Kawa where the captain was explaining the workings of var

crossbow. "An' this here is a perspective-glass, kind of a telescope, see? Made'er bamboo. The lenses a

s all for?"

smiled ma

w where you be? I've g

chart,

rawn a rough sketch of the island, probabl

on me that Triplett was planning a get-away. "My God!" I cried, "take that thing away! What you trying to do, Triplett? Hook us up to civilizat

y leer seeming to say, "I've got a

er scene was interrupted by

d began swimming madly in our direction. As he drew near I saw that he was deathly whi

it?" we q

in hoarse, broken fragmen

the first... it's here... we've done it..

I shouted. "What's he

Disease! You know ... h

mons... Tongas...

vered his face with his

at is it? W

s nerve, stiffened visibly and answered in a dead vo

d in the other. Through my brain crashed a sequence of sickening pictures, the lepers of Molokai with their hide

llectively we were guilty. Into this Eden, this Paradise in which I had never seen or

I dared not face

ad?" I mana

hinney. "Left knee, sma

et here tomorrow afternoon at the s

sentence by di

e night. When the sun rose a single glance at her polished shoulders and my heart broke

ite conceal and which my beloved tried to dispel by the tenderest tributes o

n: A Fledgli

Note: A FLED

d which would hatch out the four fatu-liva eggs then in the explorer's possession. Owing to their angular and uncomfortable shape it was found impossible to keep a bird brooding for more than three minutes at a time. After much effort one egg was finally hatched

across the lagoon. The purple shadow of the Mountain rested on our tiny craft but a shadow yet deeper shr

y we talked ove

ort. "Saw Baahaabaa scratching his

, how my heart

to leave

truth in plain words. They fell like lead on our spirits.

ittle or no part in the discussion. All

st-on-the-Mountain. How can I desert you? How can we any of us desert our wives

he false reasoning which was but the expression of my desire. And then

there no cure for this a

his hea

e isolation. If we stay here ... and a second epidemic breaks out....

ternly. "Triplett,

s old subservience. "I've got her c

ortly. "We must get

suicide. For an hour we visited our friends. For them i

dently expecting to see me on the morrow!-Merry Hitoia-Upa, kindly Ablutiluti, and Moolitonu, oh! that I might

dare visi

be unnoticed, we found our way to t

e straight look of his eye told me that his christening had worked a tr

e explained the necessity of our

easoned, urg

back to your own peopl

laugh was

name at all. William Henry Thomas! That's a hell of a bunch of names. Who am I here

monkey he bounded up h

the tree and tried to

" I shouted. "Think of

s in

loor-level a large hola-nut struck him squarely

k to the Kawa, our hearts aching as with th

age of the islands. It is mixed with phosphorus and glows and tastes like hell-fire. I saw his plan and for once

ised them to our lips, the last though

Swank crying? And then I realized that it was the chuckling of water under the Kawa's

PTE

he death of the compass-plant. Lost! An orgy of desperation. Oblivion and excess.

oring trades. When our saddened but still intrepid ship's company reassembled on our limited quarterdeck there was no sign of land visible

companions. Most of the time he was our helmsman, his eye cocked aloft at the taut halyards of eva-eva, occasionally

document we could scarcely bear to look at for upon it our beloved island figured prominently. But the course of the

from its aim at the sun-"accordin' to this here jackass-quadrant we o

quadrant," snapped Swank, whose

entioned in so many letters of consolation), "the hand of time," soothed the pain in our hearts. I think

hey are a race of children. They have no written records of the past, no anticipations of the future. They live for the present. Chi

ir memories should be so short

onderful people, it was a wonderful experience. And no matter what art-jur

always looked on the

etting in touch with civilization. What a tale we should have to tell. How we should

we'll land, Captai

nywhere, but accordin' to the jackass (he had dropped the word "quadrant" since Swank's thru

baa Mourning the Depa

AHAABAA MOURNING THE D

s on his island and then so strangely vanished. For several days after their departure he spoke no word. But every evening at sunset he took his place opposite an opening in the reef where the Kawa had first made her appearance and there he sat until

otograph was taken he was stil

figures Whinney and I, like tailors' assistants, took them down, Whinney doing the addin

dreadful th

plant sicken

r whether it was just change of environment, I d

our hope of orientation. In Triplett's great rough paw was a fountain-pen filler of fresh water which he gently dropp

, the size of a robin's egg, from his furrowed ch

ere

plain sailing. Taking an approximate north from sun and stars we

ursts of gaiety and certain excesses in the matter of use of our supplies. Every evening we opened f

reckoning along with other forms of arithmetic. But I well

outer house an' home? We got jest a week's grub in our lockers, if we go on short ratio

ay! O man! that's old stuff. Every explorer that ever wrote has done that, you know-falling insensible in the boat, drifting around for weeks, being t

t Triplett who spat sourly to windward, a thing

forcible feeding for he kept trying to secrete his share of the menu in various parts of his person, slipping fistsful of crawfish in his shirt-bosom and pouring his cup of hoopa into an

wo days, and for two days

st wilds who finally falls exhausted on his pommel an

cture of slow starvation, with its attractive episodes of shoe-eating, sea-drinking, madness, canniba

It was as if we had thrown the reins of guidance on the neck of our staunch little seahorse and she, su

ough which we struggled to the steeply slanting deck, where on ourport bow I glimpsed the picture of a pleasant sandy beach, trees, ships, docks, a large white hotel and hundreds of people-white and brown

on his way to the West Indies; Bill Beebe, with his pocket full of ants; Safroni, "Mac" MacQuarrie, Freeman, "Cap" Bligh-thinner than when I last s

e and breathe,

Joe C

old just enough of it to completely knock my audience off their seats. For ma

sacred amon

give you the Filberts' latitude or longitude.

Dr. Funk's! It was a night of rejoicing and triumph which I

ank's success, Whinney's position in the Academy of Scie

d, ready to sail at a moment's notice. Soon, perhaps, the wanderlust will seize us again

h wreathe those opal isles, too irrevocable the changes which must have

r the best plan will be to leave the choice of our rou

BY WALTER

la in Ha

dances and No

East

rneo on a

for Moderat

he South Se

ia on Rolle

iti-Translatio

lore

plore, an

till has a few copies of "Curry-Dishes for Moderate In

E SOUT

ing from San Francisc

rch 7th. Three

ound trip with stops at all important islands