The Project Gutenberg eBook of Faery Lands of the South Seas

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Title: Faery Lands of the South Seas

Author: James Norman Hall

Charles Nordhoff

Release date: January 30, 2018 [eBook #56457]

Language: English

Credits: Produced by Sharon Joiner, Melissa McDaniel, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FAERY LANDS OF THE SOUTH SEAS ***

Transcriber's Note:

Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation in the original document have been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.

"kspok" on page 141 should possibly be "kapok" as on page 148.

Faery Lands
Of the South Seas

South Seas
Lagoon

These lagoons swarm with strange forms of life unknown in northern waters

JAMES NORMAN HALL.
CHARLES BERNARD NORDHOFF.

FAERY LANDS OF THE
SOUTH SEAS

Printer Mark

GARDEN CITY PUBLISHING CO., INC.

GARDEN CITY, NEW YORK

COPYRIGHT, 1921, BY HARPER & BROTHERS.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE
UNITED STATES AT THE COUNTRY LIFE
PRESS, GARDEN CITY, N. Y.

Mountains and Beach

CONTENTS

CHAP. PAGE
Preface ix
I. A Leisurely Approach 3
II. In the Cloud of Islands 20
III. Marooned on Mataora 47
IV. The Land of Ahu Ahu 65
V. A Memory of Mauké 86
VI. Rutiaro 107
VII. A Debtor of Moy Ling 132
VIII. An Adventure in Solitude 148
IX. The Starry Threshold 171
X. Costly Hospitality 196
XI. His Mother's People 207
XII. In the Cook Group 230
XIII. At the House of Tari 251
XIV. In the Valley of Vaitia 277
XV. Tahitian Tales 303
XVI. Anchored off the Reef 321
XVII. The Englishman's Story 328
XVIII. Aboard the "Potii Ravarava" 343

PREFACE

The islands of the South Seas are places of an interest curiously limited. The ethnological problem presented by the native is interesting only to men of science, commerce is negligible, there is little real agriculture, and no industry at all. There remains the charm of living among people whose outlook upon life is basically different from our own; of living with a simplicity foreign to anything in one's experience, amid surroundings of a beauty unreal both in actuality and in retrospect.

It is impossible to write of the islands as one would write of France or Mexico or Japan—the accepted viewpoint of the traveler is not applicable here. A simple attempt to impart information would prove singularly monotonous, and one is driven to essay a different task; to pry into the life of the mingling races, hoping to catch something of its significance and atmosphere. In making such an attempt it is necessary at times to dig deeper than would be consistent with good taste if names were mentioned, and for this reason—in the case of certain small islands—the ancient Polynesian names have been used instead of those given on the chart. All of the islands described are to be found in the Paumotu, Society, and Hervey groups.

J. N. H.
C. B. N.

Tahiti, April 10, 1921.

Landfall

South Seas