Chapter I: Front Matter

IN THE
TRACKS OF THE TRADES

THE ACCOUNT OF A FOURTEEN THOUSAND
MILE YACHTING CRUISE TO THE HAWAIIS,
MARQUESAS, SOCIETIES, SAMOAS AND FIJIS

BY

LEWIS R. FREEMAN

Author of "Many Fronts," "Stories of the Ships,"
"Sea-Hounds," "To Kiel in
the 'Hercules.'"

WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
FROM PHOTOGRAPHS
BY THE AUTHOR

NEW YORK
DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
1920

COPYRIGHT, 1920,
BY DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY, INC.

VAIL-BALLOU COMPANY
BINGHAMTON AND NEW YORK

TO
THE MEMORY OF
'THE COMMODORE'
THE LATE H. H. SINCLAIR

"THE TRACKS OF THE TRADES"

Take me back, take me back to the Tracks of the Trade!
Let me wander again in the coco palms' shade,
Where the drums of the ocean, in pulsating roar,
Beat time for the waltz of the waves on the shore;
Where sunlight and starlight and moonlight conspire
To speed the gay hours on the Wings of Desire;
Let me clamber again through the orchid-bright glade--
Take me back, take me back to the Tracks of the Trade!

Oh, the hot flame of sunset, the tremulous light
When the afterglow fades to the velvet of night!
The star-stencilled headland in blank silhouette
Where the moonbeams are meshed in the flamboyant's net!
Oh, the purple of midnight, the grey mists of dawn,
And the amber flood after the darkness has gone!
The slow-heaving ocean of gold-spangled jade,
When the sun wakes the day in the Tracks of the Trade!

Let my heart thrill again as the tom-tom's dull boom
Floats out from the bush in the flower-fragrant gloom,
And the shriek of the conches, the _hi-mi-ne's_ swell,
Brings word of the feast in the depths of the dell.
Lead my footsteps again to that forest crypt dim,
Where firelight throws shadows on bosom and limb
Of the billowing forms of the trim tropic maids,
When the song wakes the dance in the Tracks of the Trades!

Let my hands close again on the hard-kicking wheel,
As the schooner romps off on a rollicking reel,
To the humming of back-stay and sharp-slatting sail,
And the hiss of the comber that smothers the rail.
Oh, the cadenced lament of the chorusing shroud,
As the spindrift sweeps aft in a feathery cloud!
Oh, the storm-tumbled sea-ways traversed unafraid,
As the squalls spin the spume down the Tracks of the Trade!

Take me back, take me back to the Tracks of the Trade!
For 'tis weary I am of the city's parade,
Of the dust of the traffic, the grey cheerless skies,
And the long lines of people with spiritless eyes.
Take me back to my green sunny islands again,
Away from this treadmill of sorrow and pain,
Away from this tinsel and gilt masquerade--
Let me live, let me die in the Tracks of the Trade!

L. R. F.

Pasadena,
July, 1920.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER PAGE

I SAN PEDRO TO HILO AND HONOLULU 1

II HONOLULU TO TAIO-HAIE 26

III THE MARQUESAS TODAY 52

IV HUNTING IN THE MARQUESAS 72

V THE PASSION PLAY AT UAHUKA 99

VI TAIO-HAIE TO PAPEETE 110

VII CIRCLING TAHITI 134

VIII SOCIETY IN THE SOCIETIES 151

IX THE SONG AND DANCE IN TAHITI 160

X BY THE ABSINTHE ROUTE 182

XI PAPEETE TO PAGO PAGO 195

XII IN PAGO PAGO BAY 212

XIII SAMOAN CRICKET: FAUGA-SA
V. PAGO PAGO 232

XIV A VISIT TO APIA 246

XV KAVA AND THE SIVA 262

XVI PAGO PAGO TO SUVA 283

XVII IN SUVA AND MBAU 296

XVIII "SHARKS" 320

XIX "HIS WONDERS TO PERFORM" 334

XX SUVA TO HONOLULU 357

XXI HONOLULU TO SAN PEDRO 368

ILLUSTRATIONS

A quiet inlet on the coast of Samoa _Frontispiece_

PAGE

_Lurline_ in drydock before sailing 8

"The Commodore laboriously squinted out his
first sights" 9

"Full-and-by" 9

Waiohae Beach, Island of Hawaii 20

Hula dancer with Eukalele 21

"All of the images were covered with moss" 62

"A hardened old offender who preferred white
man to native meat" 63

The best surviving example of Marquesan
tattooing 68

"Into it were thrown the bones of the victims
after the feast was over" 69

"The part of Christ is taken by a native
called Lurau" 102

Marquesan mother and child 103

"Pontius Pilate has been played for twenty
years by an old chief--a quondam cannibal" 108

"Just in time to respond to his 'cue' in the
John the Baptist tableau" 109

"Hatiheu, the most sublime combination
of mountain, vale and sea that my eyes
have ever rested on" 112

A Marquesan fisherman of Hatiheu 113

Native woman washing on the beach,
Tahiti 158

A Mission bathing suit. Before the
bath--and after 159

The inevitable end of every South Sea
trading schooner 200

A Tahitian couple 201

"A naval station at Pago Pago has placed
the United States, strategically, in the
strongest position in western Polynesia" 214

Chief Tufeli in the uniform of a sergeant
of _Fita-fitas_ 215

Faa-oo-pea, chieftainess of Pago Pago,
making _kava_ 222

Seuka, _taupo_ of Pago Pago, illustrating
a movement in the _Siva_ 223

A Samoan house in the course of
construction 226

"Chief Tufeli came over for the express
purpose of buying the yacht" 227

"Chief Mauga squared away to face the
bowling of Chief Malatoba" 236

To-a, who made the best score for Pago
Pago, facing the bowler 237

"Whirling and yelling like dervishes they
made a circuit of the ground" 244

"A sinewy brown figure starts clambering
up the tree" 245

_Lurline_ at anchor in Bay of Apia, Samoa 250

"The London Missionary Society steamer,
_John Williams_, lay near us" 251

Maid of honour to the _Taupo_ of Apia 258

A Samoan sunset 259

The sitting _Sivas_ are essentially dances
of the arms 274

"Never were seen such arms as in Samoa" 275

Fanua, who danced the swimming _Siva_
by the light of the phosphorescent waves 280

Dancer with head knife 281

Forty years ago the Fijis were in a
complete state of savagery 298

A Fijian head hunting canoe 299

"_Lurline's_ cutter finished a
poor second" 304

"Thakambau's great war canoe, over
a hundred feet in length, formerly
launched over human bodies" 305

Shark on the beach at Mbau 324

Fijian boys boxing 325

Weaving the walls of a Fijian house 342

Interior of a Fijian house, showing
how it is bound together with coco
fibre 343

A Fijian warrior 362

Reefing the mainsail 363

Untying a reef in the mainsail 363

IN THE TRACKS OF THE TRADES

IN THE TRACKS OF THE TRADES