s a trifle disgracefully in
Gauguin's _Noanoa_, the woman he found boring after a few weeks, her
French blood being insufficiently exotic to his spirit.)

"Said Titi: 'M'sieur Morn? Yes, him I know; he speak good French, and take
the door down from the _fare_ on which is the picture done by Gauguin of
the lady whose legs are like thin pillows and her arms like fat ropes,
very what you call strained, and funny.'

"After which her remarks centred around a lover of her sister, who had
just died at the age of seventy, and Titi considered that the denouement
made by Manu, the sister, was uncalled for at the death bed, since the
true and faithful wife stood there surrounded by nine children, all safely
born the right side of the sheet. She did mention that the removal of the
door from the _fare_ caused the wind to enter. And although I often made
inquiries, I never gained much information. Tahiti, as a whole, seemed
unaware of Maugham's visit.

"They may have adored him; but I suspect he was a quiet joy, the kind
native Tahiti soon forgets, certainly not the kind of joy she embodies in
her national songs and _himines_. Such are the merry drunkards,
inefficient though earnest white hulahula dancers and the plain (more than
everyday) sinners who cut up rough with wild jagged edges and cruel
tearings.

"His occasional appearance at the French club would raise his status,
removing any light touches with his junketings, perhaps turning them into
dignified ceremonies. Which, for the Tahitian, approaches the end. The
Tahitian never quite understands the white man who consorts with the
French officials, although many do. 'For are not these men of Farane,'
says the native, 'like the hen that talks without feathers?'--whatever
that may mean, but it suggests at once the talkative Frenchman denuding
himself on hot evenings, and wearing but the native _pareu_ to hide
portions of his bad figure.

"But although, in some ways, Maugham hid himself from the natives and
pleasant half-castes, he saw them all right, and clearly, since the
closing pages of the _The Moon and Sixpence_ display a magical picture of
that portion of Tahiti he found time to explore."

=iv=

Mr. Maugham now offers us _On a Chinese Screen_, sketches of Chinese life,
and _East of Suez_, his new play.

There are fifty-eight sketches in _On a Chinese Screen_, portraits
including European residents in China as well as native types. Here is a
sample of the book, the