th, and they had to pursue them, because
of good manners. You know, Maru, that an illegitimate child is called
to-day taoranono, and taora means to throw."

"When I was in Hawaii," I told her, "the old natives used to talk of a
game there which, under King Kalakaua, their next to last sovereign,
was played at night in Iolani palace or in the garden, but a ball
of twine took the place of the nono, and all stood about, men and
women, in a circle, to speed and receive the token of passion. The
missionaries severely condemned the game."

At the Maison des varos I breakfasted alone, for Tatini was too shy
to break the taboo that separated the sexes at meals. Butscher waited
on me, bringing one plate of ambrosia after another--oysters, shrimp,
varos, and fish. I warmed his frigid blood with a cup or two of Pol
Roger, 1905, a bottle of which he dragged from a cave.

"I am born in Papenoo," he volunteered, "fifty-three years ago. My
father came from Alsace seventy-five years ago, when Tahiti had not
many white people. I am a tinsmith, but I gave up that business many
years ago to keep this maison. I was a catechist in the Catholic
church here nine years, teaching the ignorant. I gave it up; it
didn't pay. I got nothing out of it. I worked about the church,
read the prayers, and led the service when the priest was not there,
and I never made a penny. Everything for me was the future life. Vous
savez, monsieur, toute a l'avenir! Sacre! what a fool I was! Mais,
one day when I was lying on that table as you found me, I was iiii,
and I dreamed that there was no hell and that I was a fool. I turned
over a new leaf that moment. Now I never go near the church, and the
future can take care of itself. That's my son-in-law going by in the
cart. He's the richest young man in Taravao. Ah, oui! he'll spend a
hundred francs here with me in a week for drinks. That's their baby."

Butscher's leathern, yellow visage contracted in an appalling grin.

"They have been married long?" I remarked politely.

"Mais, they are not married yet," replied the father-in-law. "There
is no hurry."

Leaving Tatini to her own pleasures, I rented a horse and cart
of Mephistopheles and drove into the district of Vairao. From the
outset I realized the iniquitous character of the Atua who had tried
to destroy or set adrift the people of the presqu'ile of Taiarapu,
for they were handsomer and, if possible, more hospitable than those
of Tahiti-nui. The road was