the
hands in particular were used very gracefully, and they often took off
their hats and waved them to and fro. But they also climbed on each
other's shoulders, and did other strange things. After dancing for some
time, they sang songs to us in a curious, low, weird kind of crooning.
Altogether it was a strange sort of afternoon party!"

The Marquesas Islands belong to the French, and the commandant in
charge was most cordial to Stevenson, inviting him to his house
frequently during his stay in the islands. When at the expiration of six
weeks it was time for the _Casco_ to weigh anchor and the party sailed
on to explore still farther, they left behind them many friends who
regretted their departure. Here as elsewhere in the South Seas,
Stevenson showed his sympathy and kindliness toward the island people
regardless of who they were or their rank. White or half-caste priest,
missionary, or trader, all were treated the same. No bribe, he said,
would induce him to call the natives savages.

Mr. Johnstone, an English resident in the South Seas at the time of
Stevenson's visit, says: "His inborn courtesy more than any of his other
good traits, endeared him to his fellows in the Pacific ... in the
hearts of our Island people he built a monument more lasting than stone
or brass."

The recollection of the history of his own wild Scottish Islands, the
people and conditions his grandfather found among them, helped him to
understand these people and account for many of their actions. Though at
opposite ends of the earth, many of their customs and legends
corresponded. The dwellers in the Hebrides in the old days likewise
lived in clans with their chief and struggled to retain their
independence against an invading power.

Tahiti, one of the group of Society Islands, was their next stopping
place. Before starting a new mate was shipped, who was more familiar
with the course, which lay through the Dangerous Archipelago--a group of
low, badly lighted islands.

The Society Islands are most beautiful, Tahiti probably the gem of them
all, but on arriving Stevenson was in no condition to appreciate their
loveliness. A cold contracted on the trip made him quite ill. The trip
had proved very dangerous even with the aid of a pilot, and twice they
gave themselves up for lost when they were becalmed and drifted in
toward the shore. "The reefs were close in," wrote Stevenson, "with my
eye! What a surf! The pilot thought we were gone and