Chapter I: Front Matter

Mystic Isles of the South Seas

By

Frederick O'Brien

Ia Ora Na!

This is a simple record of my days and nights, my thoughts and dreams, in the mystic isles of the South Seas, written without authority of science or exactitude of knowledge. These are merely the vivid impressions of my life in Tahiti and Moorea, the merriest, most fascinating world of all the cosmos; of the songs I sang, the dances I danced, the men and women, white and tawny, with whom I was joyous or melancholy; the adventures at sea or on the reef, upon the sapphire lagoon, and on the silver beaches of the most beautiful of tropics.

In this volume are no discoveries unless in the heart of the human. I went to the islands below the equator with one thought--to play. All that I have set down here is the profit of that spirit.

The soul of man is afflicted by the machine he has fashioned through the ages to achieve his triumph over matter. In this light chronicle I would offer the reader an anodyne for a few hours, of transport to the other side of our sphere, where are the loveliest scenes the eyes may find upon the round of the globe, the gentlest climate of all the latitudes, the most whimsical whites, and the dearest savages I have known.

"Mystic Isles of the South Seas" precedes in experience my former book, "White Shadows in the South Seas," and will be followed by "Atolls of the Sun," which will be the account of a visit to, and a dwelling on, the blazing coral wreaths of the Dangerous Archipelago, where the strange is commonplace, and the marvel is the probability of the hour.

These three volumes will cover the period I spent during three journeys with the remnants of the most amazing of uncivilized races, whose discovery startled the old world, and whom another generation will cease to know.

Tirara!

Maru-tané.

Kaoha, Sausalito, California.

In this book the reader may be tempted to stumble over some foreign words. I have put them in only when necessary, to give the color and rhythm of Tahiti. The Tahitian words are very easily pronounced and they are music in the mouth of any one who sounds them properly. Every letter and syllable is pronounced plainly. The letters have the Latin value and if one will remember this in reading, the Tahitian words will flow mellifluously. For instance, "tane" is pronounced "tah-nay," "maru" is pronounced "mah-ru." "Tiare" is "tee-ah-ray." The Tahitian language is dying fast, as are the Tahitians. Its beauties are worth the few efforts necessary for the reader to scan them.

Frederick O'Brien.

Contents

Chapter I

Departure from San Francisco--Nature man left behind--Fellow-passengers on the Noa-Noa--Tragedy of the Chinese pundit--Strange stories of the South Seas--The Tahitian Hula

Chapter II

The Discovery of Tahiti--Marvelous isles and people--Hailed by a wind-jammer--Middle of the voyage--Tahiti on the horizon--Ashore in Papeete

Chapter III

Description of Tahiti--A volcanic rock and coral reef--Beauty of the scenery--Papeete the center of the South Seas--Appearance of the Tahitians

Chapter IV

The Tiare Hotel--Lovaina the hostess, the best-known woman in the South Seas--Her strange ménage--The Dummy--A one-sided tryst--An old-fashioned cocktail--The Argentine training ship

Chapter V

The Parc de Bougainville--Ivan Stroganoff--He tells me the history of Tahiti--He berates the Tahitians--Wants me to start a newspaper

Chapter VI

The Cercle Bougainville--Officialdom in Tahiti--My first visit to the Bougainville--Skippers and merchants--A song and a drink--The flavor of the South Seas--Rumors of war

Chapter VII

The Noa-Noa comes to port--Papeete en fête--Rare scene at the Tiare Hotel--The New Year celebrated--Excitement at the wharf--Battle of the Limes and Coal

Chapter VIII

Gossip in Papeete--Moorea, a near-by island--A two-days' excursion there--Magnificent scenery from the sea--Island of fairy folk--Landing and preparation for the feast--The First Christian Mission--A canoe on the lagoon--Beauties of the sea-garden

Chapter IX

The Arearea in the pavilion--Raw fish and baked feis--Llewellyn, the Master of the Revel; Kelly, the I. W. W. and his himene--The Upaupahura--Landers and Mamoe prove experts--The return to Papeete

Chapter X

The storm on the lagoon; making safe the schooners--A talk on missing ships--A singular coincidence--Arrival of three of the crew of the shipwrecked El Dorado--The Dutchman's Story--Easter Island

Chapter XI

I move to the Annexe--Description of the building--The baroness and her baby--Evoa and Poia--The corals of the lagoon--The Chinese shrine--The Tahitian sky

Chapter XII

The princess suggests a walk to the falls of Fautaua, where Loti went with Rarahu--We start in the morning--The suburbs of Papeete--The Pool of Loti--The birds, trees and plants--A swim in a pool--Arrival at the cascade--Luncheon and a siesta--We climb the height--The princess tells of Tahitian women--The Fashoda fright

Chapter XIII

The beach-combers of Papeete--The consuls tell their troubles--A bogus lord--The American boot-blacks--The cowboy in the hospital--Ormsby, the supercargo--The death of Tahia--The Christchurch Kid--The Nature men--Ivan Stroganoff's desire for a new gland

Chapter XIV

The market in Papeete--Coffee at Shin Bung Lung's with a prince--Fish the chief item--Description of them--The vegetables and fruits--The fish strike--Rumors of an uprising--Kelly and the I. W. W.--The mysterious session at Fa'a--Hallelujah! I'm a Bum!--the strike is broken

Chapter XV

A drive to Papenoo--The chief of Papenoo--A dinner and poker on the bench--Incidents of the game--Breakfast the next morning--The chief tells his story--The journey back--The leper child and her doll--The Alliance Française--Bemis and his daughter--The band concert and the fire--The prize-fight--My bowl of velvet

Chapter XVI

A journey to Mataiea--I abandon city life--Interesting sights on the route--The Grotto of Maraa--Papara and the Chief Tati--The plantation of Atimaono--My host, the Chevalier Tetuanui

Chapter XVII

My life in the house of Tetuanui--Whence came the Polynesians--A migration from Malaysia--Their legends of the past--Condition of Tahiti when the white came--The great navigator, Cook--Tetuanui tells of old Tahiti

Chapter XVIII

The reef and the lagoon--Wonders of marine life--Fishing with spears and nets--Sponges and hermit crabs--Fish of many colors--Ancient canoes of Tahiti--A visit to Vaihiria and legends told there

Chapter XIX

The Arioi, minstrels of the tropics--Lovaina tells of the infanticide--Theories of depopulation--Methods of the Arioi--Destroyed by missionaries

Chapter XX

Rupert Brooke and I discuss Tahiti--We go to a wedding feast--How the cloth was spread--What we ate and drank--A Gargantuan feeder--Songs and dances of passion--The royal feast at Tetuanui's--I leave for Vairao--Butscher and the Lermantoffs

Chapter XXI

A heathen temple--The great Marae of Oberea--I visit it with Rupert Brooke and Chief Tetuanui--The Tahitian religion of old--The wisdom of folly

Chapter XXII

I start for Tautira--A dangerous adventure in a canoe--I go by land to Tautira--I meet Choti and the Greek god--I take up my home where Stevenson lived

Chapter XXIII

My life at Tautira--The way I cook my food--Ancient Tahitian sports--Swimming and fishing--A night hunt for shrimp and eels

Chapter XXIV

In the days of Captain Cook--The first Spanish missionaries--Difficulties of converting the heathens--Wars over Christianity--Ori-a-Ori, the chief, friend of Stevenson--We read the Bible together--The church and the himene

Chapter XXV

I meet a sorcerer--Power over fire--The mystery of the fiery furnace--The scene in the forest--Walking over the white-hot stones--Origin of the rite

Chapter XXVI

Farewell to Tautira--My good-bye feast--Back at the Tiare--A talk with Lovaina--The Cercle Bougainville--Death of David--My visit to the cemetery--Off for the Marquesas

MYSTIC ISLES OF THE SOUTH SEAS