Stevenson's Shrine: The Record of a Pilgrimage

A travel account recounts a pilgrimage from New Zealand through Tongan and Samoan islands to the grave of Robert Louis Stevenson, blending vivid landscape and seascape sketches with humane observations of island life. The narrator describes coral gardens, plantations, village scenes, native ceremonies such as kava gatherings, and the house and grounds at Vailima, including the difficult ascent to the hillside burial. Interwoven reflections consider the author's complex relationship with nature and the emotional aftermath of visiting the shrine, followed by notes on subsequent stops in Fiji and Sydney.