Frederick OBrien - Atolls of the Sun

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The cover image was created by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain.

ATOLLS OF THE SUN

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Photo from L. Gauthier
Natures mirror showed him why he could not leave

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ATOLLS

OF THE SUN

BY

FREDERICK OBRIEN

Author of Mystic Isles of the South Seas , White Shadows

in the South Seas , etc.

WITH MANY

ILLUSTRATIONS

FROM

PAINTINGS, DRAWINGS AND PHOTOGRAPHS

TORONTO

McCLELLAND & STEWART

1922

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Copyright, 1922, by

The Century Co.

PRINTED IN U. S. A.

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To G

FOREWORD

Atolls of the Sun is a book of experiences, impressions, and dreams in the strange and lonely islands of the South Seas. It does not aim to be literal, or sequential, though everything in it is the result of my wanderings in the far and mysterious recesses of the Pacific Ocean.

I am not a scientist or scholar, and can relate only what I saw and heard, felt and imagined, in my dwelling with savage and singular races among the wonderful lagoons of the coral atolls, and poignant valleys of disregarded islands.

If I can make my reader see and feel the sad and beautiful guises of life in them, and the secrets of a few unusual souls, I shall be satisfied. The thrills of adventure upon the sea and in the shadowy glens, the odors of rare and sweet flowers, the memories of lovable humans, are here written to keep them alive in my heart, and to share them with my friends.

Life is not real. It is an illusion, a screen upon which each one writes the reactions upon himself of his sensory knowledge. The individual is the moving camera, and what he calls life is his projection of the panorama about himnot more actual than the figures and storms upon the cinema screen. In this book I have put the film that passed through my mind in wild places, and among natural people.

It is useless to look to find in the South Seas what I have found. It is there, glowing and true, and yet, as each beholder conjures a different vision of the human spectacle about him, each can see the islands of romance only by the lens life has fitted upon his soul.

To seek a replica of experience or scenes is to spoil a possession.

If this book has interest, one may read and laugh, be entertained or repelled with thanks that one can sit at ease, and watch this picture made on anothers mind in long journeys and in many days and nights of hazard and delight.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

Leaving TahitiThe sunset over MooreaBound for the Paumotu AtollsThe Schooner Marara, Flying FishCaptain Jean Moet and others aboardSighting and Landing on Niau

CHAPTER II

Meeting with Tommy Eustace, the traderStrange soil of the atollA bath in the lagoonMomuni, the thirsty bread bakerOff for Anaa

CHAPTER III

Perilous navigationCurious green skyArrival at AnaaReligion and the moviesCharacter of Paumotuans

CHAPTER IV

The copra marketDangerous passage to shore at KaukuraOur boat overturns in the passI narrowly escape deathJosephite MissionariesThe deadly nohuThe himene at night

CHAPTER V

Captain Moet tells of Mapuhi, the great PaumotuanKopcke tells about womenVirginies jealousyAn affrighting waterspoutThe wrecked shipLanding at Takaroa

CHAPTER VI

Diffidence of TakaroansHiram Mervins description of the cycloneTeamos wonderful swimMormon missionaries from AmericaI take a bath

CHAPTER VII

Breakfast with eldersThe great Mapuhi entersHe tells of San FranciscoOf prizefighters and Police gazettesI reside with NoheaRobber-crabsThe cats that warred and caught fish

CHAPTER VIII

I meet a Seventh Day Adventist missionary, and a descendant of a mutineer of the BountyThey tell me the story of Pitcairn islandAn epic of isolation

CHAPTER IX

The fish in the lagoon and seaGiant clams and fish that poisonHunting the devilfishCatching bonitoSnarling turtlesTrepang and sea cucumbersThe mammoth manta

CHAPTER X

Traders and divers assembling for the divingA story told by Llewellyn at nightThe mystery of Easter IslandStrangest spot in the worldCurious statues and housesBorrowed wivesArrival of English girlTragedy of the Meke Meke festival

CHAPTER XI

Pearl hunting in the lagoonPrevious methods wastefulMapuhi shows me the wonders of the lagoonMarvelous stories of sharksWoman who lost her armShark of SamoaDeacon who rode a shark a half-hourEels are terrible menace

CHAPTER XII

History of the pearl hungerNoted jewels of pastI go with Nohea to the divingBeautiful floor of the LagoonNohea dives many timesEscapes shark narrowlyDescends 148 feetNo pearls reward usMandel tells of culture pearls

CHAPTER XIII

Story of the wondrous pearls planted in the lagoon of PukapukaTepeva a Tepeva, the crippled diver, tells itHow a European scientist improved on natureTragedy of Patasy and MauraiiThe robbed coral bankDeath under the sea

CHAPTER XIV

The palace of the governor of the Marquesas in the vale of AtuonaMonsieur LHermier des Plantes, Ghost Girl, Miss Tail, and Song of the NightingaleTapus in the South SeasStrange conventions that regulate lifeA South Seas PankhurstHow women won their freedom

CHAPTER XV

The dismal abode of the PeyralsStark-white daughter of PeyralOnly white maiden in the MarquesasI hunt wild bullsPeyrals friendlinessI visit his houseHe strikes me and threatens to kill meI go armedExplanation of the bizarre tragic comedy

CHAPTER XVI

In the valley of VaitahuWith Vanquished Often and Seventh Man He Is So Angry He Wallows in the MireWorship of beauty in the South SeasLike the ancient GreeksCare of the bodyPreparations for a belles dbutMassage as a cure for ills

CHAPTER XVII

Skilled tattooers of Marquesas Islands a generation agoEntire bodies covered with intricate tattooed designsThe foreigner who had himself tattooed to win the favor of a Marquesan beautyThe magic that removed the markings when he was recalled to his former life in England

CHAPTER XVIII

A fantastic but dying languageThe Polynesian or Maori TongueMaking of the first lexiconsWords taken from other languagesDecay of vocabularies with decrease of populationHumors and whimsicalities of the dictionary as arranged by foreigners

CHAPTER XIX

Tragic Mademoiselle NarbonneWhom shall she marry?Dinner at the home of Wilhelm LutzThe Taua, the sorcererLemoal says Narbonne is a leperI visit the TauaThe prophecy

CHAPTER XX

Holy WeekHow the rum was saved during the stormAn Easter Sunday CelebrationThe Governor, Commissaire Bauda and I have a discussionPaul Vernier, the Protestant Pastor, and his churchHow the girls of the Valley imperilled the immortal souls of the first missionariesJimmy Kekela, his familyA watch from Abraham Lincoln

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