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adorning his own hat, and those of his neighbors, with | arranged in rows so as to form two squares. A space is these lovely plumes and all the pretty fanciful flowers. Then we adjourned to the grassy shore, and watched the clear, full moon rise from the calm sea, while the gleesingers sang their soft, beautiful choruses. I wish it were possible to describe Tahitian himenés, so

left between these, where the "conductor" (should there chance to be one) walks up and down, directing the choruses. But very often there is no leader, and all sing apparently according to their own sweet will, introducing any variations that occur to them. One voice commences

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and there high falsetto notes strike in, varied from verse to verse, and then the chorus of La and Ra comes bubbling in liquid melody, while the voices of the principal singers now join in unison, now diverge as widely as it is possible for them to do, but all combine to produce the quaintest, most melodious, most perplexing wild, rippling glee that ever was heard. Some himenés have an accompaniment of measured hand-clapping, by hundreds of those present. This is curious in its way, chiefly as a triumph of perfect time; but I do not think it attractive. The clear, mellifluous voices need no addition, and as they ring out suddenly and joyously in the cool evening, I can imagine no sound more inspirating. Yet none can be more tantalizing, for however often you may hear the same fascinating tune, it somehow seems impossible to catch it. The air seems full of musical voices, perfectly harmonized-now lulled to softest tones, then swelling in clear ringing tones, like most melodious cathedral chimes heard from afar on a soft Summer night.

In many instances the singers compose their own words, which sometimes describe the most trivial details of passing events, sometimes are fragments of most sacred hymns, according to the impulse of the moment. Probably the last fact gives us a clew to the origin of the word Hymn-ené, but I fancy that the words are often those of much older and less seemly songs than the hymns taught by the early missionaries. Some of the airs, too, are really old native tunes, while others were originally imported from Europe, but have become so completely Tahitianized that no mortal could recognize them; which is all in their favor, for the wild melodies of the isle are beyond measure attractive and characteristic.

At every stage of this Royal progress we were greeted by these bands of glee-singers.

I, a guileless stranger, accepted this delight as a matter of courso, supposing that music was the life of these happy people, and that they warbled like biràs really because they could not help doing so. But it was all a delusion. It appears they only sing on occasions, and though I remained six months in the Society Isles, all the himenés I heard were crowded into the first fortnight. After that I only heard one, and that a very poor one. But the hideous dancing, which is the only ugly thing in Tahiti, and which was reduced to a minimum during the stay of the paternal admiral (who strove so hard to inculcate the practice of all virtues), received so great encouragement after his departure, that all its votaries assembled at Papeete, and their evening revels took the place of the pleasant gatherings at the band, which were among the marked features of the early part of my visit. Consequently, the more respectable section of the community were conspicuous by their absence.

But to return to the royal progress round the isles. On the following morning we were all astir by five A.M., and started immediately after early coffee-every one cheery and good-tempered-on every side hearty greetings, "Yarra-na! Yarra-na !" and sounds of careless laughter and merry voices. There is certainly a great charm in the pretty liquid language, and in the gentle, affectionate manner of the people, who seem to be overflowing with genial kindliness.

Two hours drive us to Papara, where a very grand reception awaited the young King and Queen, Mrs. Salmon, tue Queen's mother, being chieftainess of the district. Her true native name is very long, and I fear I cannot write it correctly, so my readers must be content with that of her husband. She had assembled all her vassals in most imposing array, and a double row of himené-singers lined the road singing choruses of congratulation, taken

up alternately on the right hand and on the left with very pretty effect. Many relations of the family had also assembled to greet their royal kinsfolk, including two more of Mrs. Salmon's pretty daughters, and her handsome sons, fine stalwart men. Very quaint ceremonial garments were presented to the King and the admiral. They are called Tiputa, and are the ancient Tahitian dress of great occasions.

They are precisely similar in form to the Spanish poncho, being passed over the head and falling over the back and chest, to the knee. They are made from the fibre of breadfruit bark, and covered with flowers and twists of the glossy arrowroot fibre, each stitched on separately. To the Queen, the admiral, and myself, were presented the most lovely crowns of the same silvery arrowroot, while for the gentlemen were provided garlands and necklaces of fragrant white or yellow blossoms, and charming hats of white bamboo fibre.

The house was most tastefully decorated with great ferns and bright-yellow banana-leaves, plaited to form a sort of fringe. Wild melodious himenés were sung all the time of the feast, and afterward the band played operatic airs, till it was time for us to resume our journey.

In that district much cultivation has somewhat impaired the beauty of wild Nature, large tracts of land having been laid out for scientific planting of cotton and coffee, and, after all, the fields have been abandoned; the crops, left to run wild, are now rank straggling bushes, struggling for life with the overmastering vines or with the wild guava, which, having once been imported as a fruit-tree, has now become the scourge of the planters, from the rapidity and tenacity with which it spreads and takes possession of the soil. At the same time, a scrub, which yields wholesome and abundant food for men and beast, cannot be said to be altogether an evil.

It is not often that civilization improves the picturesque beauty of a country, but assuredly the lovely hills and valleys of Tahiti and Moorea have greatly gained in richness by the introduction of the fruit-bearing trees which now form so important a feature in the general wealth of foliage, the dense thickets of orange-trees having all grown from those brought from Sydney by Mr. Henry, one of the early missionaries. Strangely enough, the most healthy trees are those which have grown, self-sown, from the seed carelessly thrown about by the natives, when they retired to some quiet valley to brew their orange rum in secret.

The splendid mango-trees, whose mass of dark foliage is now so prominent a feature on all sides, were introduced less than twenty years ago by the French, who have taken infinite trouble to procure all the very best sorts, and have succeeded to perfection.

A pleasant afternoon drive, through fragrant orange groves, brought us to Papeooriri, where Queen Marau offered me a share of the house assigned to her (which, being purely Tahitian, and not built of wood, as so many now are, felt like living in a bamboo cage), exceedingly airy and transparent, but lined with temporary curtains of white calico, to screen us from the general public. We strolled along the coast till we found a delightful bathingplace, where the Anapu river flows into the sea. The two pretty girls, of course, bore us company, as also the Queen's handmaid, who was laden with pareos and towels; the pareo being simply a couple of fathoms of bright-colored calico, which, knotted over one shoulder, forms an efficient and picturesque bathing gown.

We returned just in time for such a fish dinner as Greenwich never surpassed. Fish of all sorts and kinds, cooked and raw to suit all tastes, excellent lobsters and crabs, huge fresh-water prawns, delicate little oysters which

grow on the roots and branches of the mangrove which fringes some muddy parts of the shore. But most excellent of all is another product of the briny mud, altogether new to me, a hideous, but truly delicious, white cray-fish, called varo or wurrali.

We all registered a solemn vow never to lose a chance of a varo feast. The tables were decorated in a manner quite in character, having pillars of the banana root stem, white as alabaster, with a fringe of large prawns at the top, and a frieze of small lobsters below-a very effective study in scarlet and white.

On the following day we crossed the ridge which connects the peninsula with the main isle. We journeyed to one end of it, slept there, then retraced the road to the isthmus, and went down the other side, as there is no passable road round the further end.

The scenery here was, if possible, lovelier than on the great isle, and we spent delightful days strolling about the beautiful shore, and living in villages of bird-cage houses with kindly people, who seemed never weary of warbling like thrushes, nightingales, and larks, all in chorus. The very best himenés of Tahiti were those we heard on the peninsula. The houses are embowered in large-leaved bananas and orange groves, and gay with rosy oleanders and crimson hybiscus.

On the two following days we repeated much the same story, as we made our way round the other side of the isle, always by the same delightful grass road, with days of calm sunlight, followed by clear moonlight. At Tiarei we were heartily welcomed by a kind old chieftainess, who kissed us all on both cheeks, down to the aide-de-camp, when the Queen's laughter stopped her proceeding to the remaining eighteen officers.

A most lovely drive along a basaltic shore, the road being cut on the face of the cliffs, brought us to Papenoo, which is close to a broad, clear river, where, of course, we bathed, then rambled in the warm moonlight, and sat on the shore, where the rippling wavelets murmured on a pebbly beach.

The chief gave the half of his large house to the Queen, who shared it with me, he and his family occupying the other end. Of course, it was really one large room, but travelers soon learn the art of rigging up curtains, and so improvising separate quarters.

On the night of our return a very pretty surprise awaited us. The Tahitians had determined on a grand demonstration in honor of Admiral Serre, to prove their gratitude for the good he has done in many ways and his sympathy with the people, especially as shown in the support of their ancient rules.

It had been arranged that we should remain at Point Venus till evening, and drive back to Papeete after sunset. It is a distance of twelve miles, and the moon being late, we knew that a few torches would be necessary for the last part of the way. Instead of this we were met, nine miles from the town, by crowds, and a large body of splendid, stalwart men, bearing torches, twelve feet long, of cocoapalm leaves. These, some on horseback, some on foot, headed the procession, and were continually joined by new-comers, till at last there were fully a thousand torches blazing, throwing a ruddy glare on the rich, glossy foliage of bread-fruit and palm, while the smoke gave a dreamy, mysterious look to the whole scene.

The effect was altogether very striking, and as the procession was only allowed to advance at a foot's pace for the sake of those on foot, the band fell into the spirit of the thing, and played cheery tunes, such as the Tahitians love. At the entrace to the town all lights were extinguished, to avoid all danger of fire, for the air was full of sparks from

the cocoa-torches, and the dry wooden houses are too combustible to run any risk. So we came in, in the dark—a. great crowd, but all quiet and orderly.

A week later, a French man-of-war took the same large party to the island of Moorea, there to repeat the ceremony of visiting each district. Of all the multitude of beautiful isles I have visited, Moorea undoubtedly deserves the palm. Such marvelous basaltic needles and pinnacles, gigantic dolomite forms, like vast serrated shark's teeth, towering in midair, apparently rising from above the clouds, and the lower mountains and valleys clothed with vegetation of the same rich character as that of Tahiti. Here our transit from one village to another was by boat, all in dead calm water, within the coral reef, giving us the very best opportunity of seeing the coast to perfection.

Our first night's halt was at Haapiti, where the King and Queen were magnificently received by Mrs. Brander, the Queen's eldest sister and Great Chieftainess of the Isle. A large and very pretty temporary building had been erected for the great feast. It was built of palm and bamboo, and entirely thatched, with large glossy fronds of the great bird's-nest fern.

The interior of the hall of feasting was lined with treeferns and oleanders, and festooned with miles of yellow hybiscus fibre. It was lighted with Chinese lanterns. Here were assembled a very large number of Mrs. Brander's relations and retainers—each with a shawl of yellow native cloth thrown over the black dress to express mitigated mourning. She herself wore only black, with a most becoming crown of arrowroot fibre, and plume of

reva-reva.

I ought to record her native name, which is of a preternatural length Tetuanuiyeiaiteruiatea. The pretty name by which she is known to her friends is Titaua, and the two baby daughters who accompanied her are Paloma and May, the youngest of a pretty flock of nine sons and daughters, the eldest of whom was born when her mother was but fifteen! After her, in the procession came several gentlemen, wearing very handsome tiputas of breadfruit cloth bark, richly ornamented with fibre flowers, and fringed with reva-reva.

The labor expended on making them must have been very great. They made the usual address to the King and admiral, and the people sang joyous himenés of welcome. Then the chiefs presented their tiputas, and all present threw their yellow scarfs and their pretty hats and plumes at the feet of the royal party. I noted this with especial interest, having so often witnessed the same form of homage among the Fijians, who, at the close of their dances, invariably deposit their finery at the feet of the principal persons present.

Many picturesque incidents in the course of our beautifal expedition round Moorea rise to my memory, and visions of such beauty of scenery as could scarcely be surpassed in the most enchanting of dreams. Ono splendid grove of glossy-leaved tamanu - trees remains especially impressed on my mind in connection with the very best himenés we heard in all our travels, some of the women having very fine falsetto voices.

That tamanu grove, and a few noble old casuarina-trees close by, mark the spot where, in heathen days, many a human sacrifice was offered to the cruel gods. Now a Christian church occupies the site of the ancient Marai, and all is peaceful and happy.

About two miles inland from that village of Tiaia lies a lake about a mile long. It is not attractive, its waters being brackish and its banks muddy, but it contains good fish, and wild-duck haunt its sedgy shores.

At a later period I returned to this isle of beauty on a

A MODERN TAHITIAN VILLAGE.

visit to the French pasteur (the Protestant mission having found it necessary to send French clergy to the assistar ce of the missionaries of the London Society, in order to be able to claim their rights as French citizens).

About the same period I had the pleasure of again forming one of an expedition to the atoll group of Tetiaroa, where Pomare was duly recognized as sovereign. Altogether his position was apparently secure, and all save a very favored few in Papeete were taken by surprise, when one fine day in June, 1880, it was suddenly announced that the King and the native governors had ceded the kingdom to France, and that same afternoon the protectorate flag was hauled down and the tricolor run up.

What influence was brought to bear on Pomare V. is not known, but doubtless the certainty of a life pension of $12,000 a year (to be enjoyed in peace, in his own fashion, free from the incessant tutoring which made his kingly rank a burden, devoid of all honor) was a very strong inducement. The annexation of Tabiti was formally proclaimed

in Papeete on the 24th of March, 1881, and was made the occasion of a brilliant festival, such as the lighthearted crowd are ever ready to wel

come.

Great were the official rejoicings. From every ship in the harbor, and every corner of the town, floated the tricolor, which, being freely distributed, likewise adorned the tresses of the women and the buttonholes of the 'men. Great was the noise of big guns, and the amount of powder expended on salutes. An imposing

column of all branches of the service-sailors and marines, marine artillery, with their guns, infantry and gendarmes, marched round the town, headed by the band. "A Tahiti, comme en France, on aime à voir passer les soldats," says the Messager de Tahiti.

So the lovely little town was en fête. Every himené-chorus had arrived from every corner of the isles, making the whole air musical. Thousands of natives, all in their brightest, freshest dresses, kept up incessant movement in the clear light or cool shade. Everywhere games and feasting were the order of the day. In the governor's gardens a brilliant banquet for upward of a hundred persons was served in a

great tent, all as graceful as the combined taste of France and Tahiti could make it. Then followed a lovely gardenfestival-games, music, waltzing, with a night of brilliant illuminations and fireworks.

All these, combined with lovely surroundings and perfect weather, made the great official festival of Tahiti a day which the French naval officers very naturally consider one to be remembered for ever, but which, perchance, may have caused some of the older inhabitants an angry and bitter pang for the independence of their country, thus lost for ever.

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ONE who is never busy can never enjoy rest; for rest implies relief from previous labor. It our whole time were spent in amusing ourselves, we should find it more wearisome than the hardest day's work. Recreation is only valuable as it unbends us; the idle can know nothing of it.

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