South-Sea Idyls

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Charles Warren Stoddard. South-Sea Idyls

South-Sea Idyls

Table of Contents

SOUTH-SEA IDYLS. IN THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP

CHUMMING WITH A SAVAGE

PART I. KÁNA-ANÁ

PART II. HOW I CONVERTED MY CANNIBAL

PART III. BARBARIAN DAYS

TABOO.—A FÊTE-DAY IN TAHITI

JOE OF LAHAINA

I

II

THE NIGHT-DANCERS OF WAIPIO

PEARL-HUNTING IN THE POMOTOUS

THE LAST OF THE GREAT NAVIGATOR

A CANOE-CRUISE IN THE CORAL SEA

UNDER A GRASS ROOF. A LEAF TORN AT RANDOM FROM A TROPICAL NOTEBOOK

MY SOUTH-SEA SHOW

THE HOUSE OF THE SUN

THE CHAPEL OF THE PALMS

KAHÉLE

LOVE-LIFE IN A LANAI

IN A TRANSPORT

A PRODIGAL IN TAHITI

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Charles Warren Stoddard

Published by Good Press, 2021

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Flat-headed gonies sat high on the water, piping their querulous note as they tugged at something edible, a dozen of them entering into the domestic difficulty: one after another would desert the cause, run a little way over the sea to get a good start, leap heavily into the air, sail about for a few minutes, and then drop back on the sea, feet-foremost, and skate for a yard or two, making a white mark and a pleasant sound as it slid over the water.

The exquisite nautilus floated past us, with its gauzy sail set, looking like a thin slice out of a soap-bubble; the strange anemone laid its pale, sensitive petals on the lips of the wave and panted in ecstasy; the Petrel rocked softly, swinging her idle canvas in the sun; we heard the click of the anchor-chain in the forecastle, the blessedest seasound I wot of; a sailor sang while he hung in the ratlines and tarred down the salt-stained shrouds. The afternoon waned; the man at the wheel struck two bells,—it was the delectable dog-watch. Down went the swarthy sun into his tent of clouds; the waves were of amber; the fervid sky was flushed; it looked as though something splendid were about to happen up there, and that it could hardly keep the secret much longer. Then came the purplest twilight; and then the sky blossomed all over with the biggest, ripest, goldenest stars,—such stars as hang like fruits in sun-fed orchards; such stars as lay a track of fire in the sea; such stars as rise and set over mountains and beyond low green capes, like young moons, every one of them; and I conjured up my spells of savage enchantment, my blessed islands, my reefs baptized with silver spray; I saw the broad fan-leaves of the banana droop in the motionless air, and through the tropical night the palms aspired heavenward, while I lay dreaming my sea-dream in the cradle of the deep.

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