In the South Seas: Being an Account of experiences and observations in the Marquesas, Paumotus and Gilbert Islands (Classic Reprint) Book

PART I : THE MARQUESASCHAPTER IAN ISLAND LANDFALLFor nearly ten years my health had been declining; and for some while before I set forth upon my voyage, I believed I was come to the afterpiece of life, and had only the nurse and undertaker to expect. It was suggested that I should try the South Seas; and I was not unwilling to visit like a ghost, and be carried like a bale, among scenes that had attracted me in youth and health. I chartered accordingly Dr. Merritfs schooner yacht, the Casco, seventy-four tons register; sailed from San Francisco towards the end of June 1888, visited the eastern islands, and was left early the next year at Honolulu. Hence, lacking courage to return to my old life of the house and sick-room, I set forth to leeward in a trading schooner, the Equator, of a little over seventy tons, spent four months among the atolls (low coral islands) of the Gilbert group, and reached Samoa towards the close of '89. By that time gratitude and habit were beginning tTable of Contents CONTENTS PART I : THE MARQUESAS; I AN ISLAND LANDFALL II MAKING FRIENDS; III THE MAROON; IV DEATH; V DEPOPULATION; VI CHIEFS AND TAPUS; VII HATIHEU ; VIII THE PORT OP ENTRY ; IX THE HOUSE OF TEMOANA ; X A PORTRAIT AND A STORY XI LONG PIG-A CANNIBAL HIGH PLACE XII THE STORY OF A PLANTATION ; XIIL rHARAfiTRRS; XIV IN A CANNIBAL VALLEY XV THE TWO CHIEFS OF ATUONA ; vi; CONTENTS; PART II : THE PAUMOTUS; PAGE; i the dangerous archipelago-atolls at a distance 140; ii fakarava : an atoll at hand 149; iii a house to let in a low island 159; iv traits and &ects in the paumotus 1G9 v a paumotuan funeral 180; vi graveyard stories 1BG; PART III : THE GILBERTS; i butaritari 204; II THE FOUR BROTHERS ,211; iii around our house 220; iv a tale of A tapu 231; v a tale of a tapu-continued 240; vi the fiRead More