oat that had that day arrived.
Tiare introduced me to him, and he handed me his card, a large
card on which was printed <i Rene Brunot>, and underneath,
<i Capitaine au Long Cours.> We were sitting on a little
verandah outside the kitchen, and Tiare was cutting out a
dress that she was making for one of the girls about the
house. He sat down with us.

"Yes; I knew Strickland well," he said. "I am very fond of
chess, and he was always glad of a game. I come to Tahiti
three or four times a year for my business, and when he was at
Papeete he would come here and we would play. When he
married" -- Captain Brunot smiled and shrugged his shoulders --
"<i enfin>, when he went to live with the girl that Tiare
gave him, he asked me to go and see him. I was one of the
guests at the wedding feast." He looked at Tiare, and they
both laughed. "He did not come much to Papeete after that,
and about a year later it chanced that I had to go to that
part of the island for I forgot what business, and when I had
finished it I said to myself: '<i Voyons>, why should I not
go and see that poor Strickland?' I asked one or two natives
if they knew anything about him, and I discovered that he
lived not more than five kilometres from where I was. So I went.
I shall never forget the impression my visit made on me.
I live on an atoll, a low island, it is a strip of land
surrounding a lagoon, and its beauty is the beauty of the sea
and sky and the varied colour of the lagoon and the grace of
the cocoa-nut trees; but the place where Strickland lived had
the beauty of the Garden of Eden. Ah, I wish I could make you
see the enchantment of that spot, a corner hidden away from
all the world, with the blue sky overhead and the rich,
luxuriant trees. It was a feast of colour. And it was
fragrant and cool. Words cannot describe that paradise.
And here he lived, unmindful of the world and by the
world forgotten. I suppose to European eyes it would have
seemed astonishingly sordid. The house was dilapidated and none
too clean. Three or four natives were lying on the verandah.
You know how natives love to herd together. There was a young
man lying full length, smoking a cigarette, and he wore nothing
but a <i pareo>."

The <i pareo> is a long strip of trade cotton, red or blue,
stamped with a white pattern. It is worn round the waist and
hangs to the knees.

"A girl of fifteen, perhaps, was plaiting pandanus-leaf to
make a hat, and a