Capitaine Halley; return
to Atuona.

Life in Vait-hua was idyllic. The whites, having desolated and
depopulated this once thronged valley, had gone, leaving the remnant
of its people to return to their native virtue and quietude. Here,
perhaps more than in any other spot in all the isles, the Marquesan
lived as his forefathers had before the whites came.

Doing nothing sweetly was an art in Vait-hua. Pleasure is nature's
sign of approval. When man is happy, he is in harmony with himself
and his environment. The people of this quiet valley did not crave
excitement. The bustle and nervous energy of the white wearied them
excessively. Time was never wasted, to their minds, for leisure was
the measure of its value.

Domestic details, the preparation of food, the care of children, the
nursing of the sick, were the tasks of all the household. Husband
and wife, or the mates unmarried, labored together in delightful
unity. Often the woman accompanied her man into the forests,
assisting in the gathering of nuts and breadfruit, in the fishing
and the building. When these duties did not occupy them, or when
they were not together bathing in the river or at the _via puna_,
they sat side by side on their _paepaes_ in meditation. They might
discuss the events of the day, they might receive the visits of
others, or go abroad for conversation; but for hours they often were
wrapped in their thoughts, in a silence broken only by the rolling
of their pandanus cigarettes or the lighting of the mutual pipe.

"Of what are you thinking?" I said often to my neighbors when
breaking in upon their meditation.

"Of the world. Of those stars," they replied.

They would sympathize with that Chinese traveler who, visiting
America and being hurried from carriage to train, smiled at our idea
of catching the fleeting moment.

"We save ten minutes by catching this train," said his guide,
enthusiastically.

"And what will you do with that ten minutes?" demanded the Chinese.

To be busy about anything not necessary to living is, in Marquesan
wisdom, to be idle.

Swimming in the surf, lolling at the _via puna_, angling from rock
or canoe or fishing with line and spear outside the bay, searching
for shell-fish, and riding or walking over the hills to other valleys,
filled their peaceful, pleasant days. A dream-like, care-free life,
lived by a people sweet to know, handsome and generous and loving.

That he never saw or heard of the slightes