oom, the hibiscus and pandanus,
green and glossy, the _petavii_, a kind of banana the curving fronds
of which spread high in air, the snake-plant, _makomako_, a
yellow-flowered shrub, and many others none of us could name,
carpeted the farther mountain-sides with brilliant colors.
Everywhere were cocoanuts, guavas, and mangos. In the tree-tops over
our heads the bindweed shook its feathery seed-pods, the parasite
_kouna_ dripped its deeply serrated leaves and crimson umbels, and
thousands of orchids hung like butterflies.

"It is beautiful in your islands, is it not?" Vanquished Often said
wistfully. "Tell us more of the marvels there! Are the girls of your
valleys very lovely, and do they all sleep in golden beds?"

All daughters of chiefs slept in golden beds, I told her. Often they
wore golden slippers on their feet. When they wished to go over the
mountains they did not walk, or ride on donkeys, but went in seats
covered with velvet, a kind of cloth more soft than the silk ribbon
of her pink garter-armlet, and these seats were drawn at incredible
speed by a snorting thing made of iron, not living, but stronger
than a hundred donkeys.

"How do they make that cloth?" said Vanquished Often, eagerly. They
did not make it, I explained. It was made for them by girls who were
not daughters of chiefs, and therefore had no golden beds.

Her eyes clouded with bewilderment, but Exploding Eggs listened
breathlessly, and demanded more tales. I told them of wireless
telegraphy. This they believed as they believed the tales of magic
told by old sorcerers, but they scoffed at my description of an
elevator, perceiving that I was loosing the reins of my fancy and
soaring to impossibilities.

"The girls in your island must always be happy," said Vanquished
Often, sighing. All daughters of chiefs were happy, I said.
"What is the manner of their fishing?" asked Exploding Eggs.

In such conversation we proceeded, walking for miles through a
fairyland in which we were the only living creatures, save for the
small scurrying things that slipped across the trail, and the
bright-colored birds that fluttered through the tree-tops.

At noon we paused for luncheon. Vanquished Often disappeared in the
forest, to return shortly with her gathered-up tunic filled with
mangos and guavas, four cocoanuts slung in a neatly plaited basket
of leaves on her bare shoulders. Exploding Eggs, cutting two sticks
of dry wood from the underbrush, whirled