ly all night. The stream was edged
with trees and ferns and was clear and rippling. At that early hour
there was no sensation of chill for me, though the men of native blood
balked at entering the water until the sun had warmed it. A Chinese
vegetablegrower sat on the bank with his Chinese wife and cleaned
heads of lettuce and bunches of carrots. She watched me apathetically,
as if I were a little strange, but not interesting.

A dozen natives came by and by to bathe in the next pool. They observed
me, and called to me, pleasantly, "Ia ora na!" which is the common
greeting of the Tahitian, and is pronounced "yuranna." The white is
always a matter of curiosity to the native. These simple people have
not lost, though generations of whites have come and bred and died
or gone, at least some of their original awe and enjoyment of their
conquerors and rulers.

When we had coffee in the morning, our serious and distinguished
native hosts stood while we ate and drank. We, guests in their own
comfortable house, did not ask them to join us. Llewellyn, when I
put the question, answered:

"No. I am both white and of too high native rank. You cannot afford
to let the native become your social equal."

McHenry said:

"You're bloody well right. Keep him in his stall, and he's all right;
but out of it, ye'll get no peace."

So the gentle Pai and her husband--they are religious people, and went
to the Faatoai church three times this Sunday--stood while we lolled at
ease. Courtesy here seems a native trait, though even a little native
blood improves on the white as far as politeness is concerned. En
passant, the average white here is not of the leisure class, in which
manners are an occupation; the native, on the other hand, is of a
leisure class by heredity, and it is only when tainted by a desire
to make money quickly or much of it that he loses his urbanity.

We had breakfasted in the bower at ten o'clock, with the band in
attendance. Not one of the musicians had slept except Kelly, who said
he had forty winks. When the pastors and their flocks of the various
competing churches passed on their way to services, the band was
keyed up in G, and was parading the streets, so that the faith of the
Tahitians was severely tried. Even the ministers tarried a minute,
and had to hold tightly their scriptures to control their legs,
which itched to dance.

Aboard the Potii Moorea the bandsmen came sober, a revelation in
recuperation. Ag