mily. When asked where I wished to go, I could only say
to the largest native village and the most wild. Ill as Louis was, I
brought him the next day, and shall never cease to be thankful for my
courage, for he has gained health and strength every day. He takes sea
baths and swims, and lives almost entirely in the open air as nearly
without clothes as possible, a simple pyjama suit of striped light
flannel his only dress. As to shoes and stockings we all have scorned
them for months except Mrs. Stevenson, who often goes barefoot and
never, I believe, wears stockings. Lloyd's costume, in which he looks
remarkably well, consists of a striped flannel shirt and a pareu. The
pareu is no more or less than a large figured blue and white cotton
window curtain twisted about the waist, and hanging a little below the
bare knees. Both Louis and Lloyd wear wreaths of artificial flowers,
made of the dried pandanus leaf, on their hats.

Moe has gone to Papeete by the command of the king, whose letter was
addressed "To the great Princess at Tautira. P.V." P.V. stands for
Pomare 5th. Every evening, before she went, we played Van John lying in
a circle on pillows in the middle of the floor with our heads together:
and hardly an evening passed but it struck us afresh how very much you
would like Moe, and we told her of you again. The house (really here a
palace) in which we live, belongs to the sub-chief, Ori, a subject and
relation of the Princess. He, and his whole family, consisting of his
wife, his two little adopted sons, his daughter and her two young
babies, turned out to live in a little bird-cage hut of one room. Ori is
the very finest specimen of a native we have seen yet; he is several
inches over six feet, of perfect though almost gigantic proportions, and
looks more like a Roman Emperor in bronze than words can express. One
day, when Moe gave a feast, it being the correct thing to do, we all
wore wreaths of golden yellow leaves on our heads; when Ori walked in
and sat down at the table, as with one voice we all cried out in
admiration. His manners and I might say his habit of thought are
English. In some ways, he is so like a Colonel of the Guards that we
often call him Colonel. It was either the day before, or the morning of
our public feast, that Louis asked the Princess if she thought Ori would
accept his name. She was sure of it, and much pleased at the idea. I
wish you could have seen Louis, blushing like a schoolgirl, wh