den with toys and flowers and food;
The precious forest pouring out
To compass the whole town about;
The town itself with streets of lawn,
Loved of the moon, blessed by the dawn,
Where the brown children all the day
Keep up a ceaseless noise of play,
Play in the sun, play in the rain,
Nor ever quarrel or complain;
And late at night in the woods of fruit,
Hark! do you hear the passing flute?

The school-house was near to the master's home where Choti lived,
and often I heard the children learning by singsong, the way I
myself had been taught the arithmetical tables. The teacher was
Alfred, a Tahitian, who, being a scholar, must have a French name,
and wear clothes and shoes when in his classes, but who very sensibly
sat with Choti upon his veranda in only his pareu. Much of the time
the pupils played in the grounds, hopscotch and wrestling on stilts
being favorite games. Alfred regretted that the ancient Tahitian
games which his grandfather played were out of style. Among these was
a variation of golf, with curved sticks, and a ball made of strips
of native cloth; and foot-ball with a ball of banana-leaves tightly
rolled. Grown-ups in those Tahitian times were experts in all these
sports, women excelling at foot-ball, with thirty on each side, and
captains, backs, and guards, or similar participants, and with hard
struggles for the ball, which, as the games were played on the beach,
often had to be fought for in the sea. The spectators, thousands,
did not view the contest from seats, but literally followed it as it
surged up and down within the space of a mile.

Wrestling was the most notable amusement, and boxing was fashionable
for women, some of whom were skilled in fistic combats. The wrestlers,
as their Greek prototypes, first invoked the favor of the gods, and
offered sacrifices when victorious. The palestra was on a lawn by
the sea, and in formal contests district champions met those of other
districts, and islands competed for supremacy with other islands. The
maona wore a breech-clout and a coat of cocoanut oil freshly laid on,
but not sand, as in the Olympiads. When one was thrown, the victor's
friends shouted in triumph and sang and danced about him to the music
of tom-toms, while the backers of the loser met the demonstrations with
ridicule. This was much like the organized yelling on our gridirons;
and when the wrestling began again there was instant silence. It