ysters, furbelowed clams,
sea-urchins, and sponges. The mao is the turbo, the queer gastropod
sold in the market in Papeete. He lives in a beautiful spiral shell,
and has attached to him a round piece of polished shell, blue, green,
brown, or yellow, which he puts aside when he wishes to feed on the
morsels passing his door, and pulls shut when he wants privacy. He fits
himself tightly into a hollow in the reef and dozes away the hours
behind his shield, but ready to open it instantly at the perception
of his favorite food. The mao was wedged in the recess so cleverly
that it was difficult to extract him by my hand alone. His portal
I kept after eating him raw or cooked, to have set in silver as an
exquisite souvenir of my visit. These jewels studded the drinking
cups from which the Vikings drank "Skoal to the Northland!"

The starfish were magnificent, of many colors, and one with fifteen
arms covered with sharp, gray spines, and underneath pale yellow,
fleshy feelers with suckers like a sea-anemone. These were as pliant
as rubber in the water, but, when long out, as hard as stone. The
sea-urchins were of many kinds, some with large spikes, as firm as
rock, and others almost as brittle as glass, their needles, half
a dozen inches long and sharp, dangerous to step on even with my
rubber-soled, canvas shoes. All hues were these urchins, blood-red
and heavenly blue, almost black, and as white as snow, the last with
a double-star etched upon his shell. Others were round like blow-fish,
with their spickles at every angle, menacing in look.

The clams and oysters were small, except the furbelowed clam, whose
shell is fluted, and who grows to an immense size in the atolls of
the Paumotus. I always ate my fill of these delicacies raw as I walked
along the reef, smashing the shells to get at the inmates.

When the tide was approaching high or when it began to ebb I had
immortal experiences upon the reef. I went with Tiura or with the chief
and a party, and found the waves dashing and foaming upon the natural
mole, sweeping over it with the noise of thunder, crashing upon the
sloping front, and riding their white steeds over the solid flagging
to the lower lagoon. In this smother of water we stood knee-deep,
receiving its buffets upon our waists and the spray upon our faces,
and watched for the fish that were carried upon its crests. With
spears couched, we waited the flying chance to arrest them upon the
points, a hazardous