they had recently left; too modern by far to suit Stevenson,
who preferred the unconventional wild life of the islands they had come
from.

At the Royal Palace in Honolulu, Kalakaua, the last of the Hawaiian
kings, still held court. He enjoyed R.L.S. and invited him often to the
palace and told him the history and legends of many of the islands of
the South Seas. It was from Kalakaua he first learned to know the
troubled history of the Samoan Islands and of Apia, which was to be his
future home.

The Island of Molokai, the leper colony, lay not far off. While in
Honolulu he spent several days there, in the place where Father Damien
had lately done his splendid work.

According to their original scheme they were to return home from
Honolulu, but having come so far they were eager to see more. They had
tasted the dangers and fascination of the life among the wild islands,
each so different, and it had only whetted their appetites for what lay
still beyond. The chances of coming so far again were slight; it seemed
too good an opportunity to miss. So Stevenson wrote to the friends at
home, whom he longed daily to see: "Yes--I own up--I am untrue to
friendship and (what is less, but still considerable) to civilization. I
am not coming home for another year.... But look here and judge me
tenderly. I have had more fun and pleasure of my life these past months
than ever before, and more health than any time in ten long years....
And this precious deep is filled with islands which we may still visit,
and though the sea is a dreadful place, I like to be there, and like
squalls (when they are over) and to draw near to a new island I can not
say how much I like....

"Remember me as I was at home, and think of me sea-bathing and walking
about, as jolly as a sand boy; you will own the temptation is strong;
and as the scheme, bar fatal accidents, is bound to pay into the
bargain, sooner or later, it seems it would be madness to come home now,
with an imperfect book ... and perhaps fall sick again by autumn.

"It is a singular thing that as I was packing up old papers ere I left
Skerryvore, I came on the prophecies of a drunken Highland sibyl, when I
was sixteen. She said I was to be very happy,--to visit America and _to
be much upon the sea_.... I can not say why I like the sea ... my poor
grandfather it is from him I inherit the taste I fancy, and he was
around many islands in his day; but I, please God, shall beat him at
that