. Around the world in the yacht 'Sunbeam,' our home on the ocean for eleven months . one of the natives, who arrivedto-day from Flint Island—ra most picturesque-looking in-dividual, dressed in scarlet and orange-colored flannel,and a mass of black, shiny, curly hair. Flint Island is aplace whose existence has been disputed, it having beenmore than once searched for by ships in vain. It was,therefore, particularly interesting to meet some one whohad actually visited, and had just returned from, thespot in question. That islands do occasionally disappear SOUTH SEA PEARLS. 227 entirely in these p
. Around the world in the yacht 'Sunbeam,' our home on the ocean for eleven months . one of the natives, who arrivedto-day from Flint Island—ra most picturesque-looking in-dividual, dressed in scarlet and orange-colored flannel,and a mass of black, shiny, curly hair. Flint Island is aplace whose existence has been disputed, it having beenmore than once searched for by ships in vain. It was,therefore, particularly interesting to meet some one whohad actually visited, and had just returned from, thespot in question. That islands do occasionally disappear SOUTH SEA PEARLS. 227 entirely in these parts there can be little doubt. TheTahitian schooners were formerly in the habit of tradingwith a small island close to Rarotonga, whose name Iforget ; but about four years ago, when proceeding thitherwith the usual three-monthly cargo of provisions, prints,&c, they failed to find the island, of which no trace hassince been seen. Two missionaries from Rarotonga arebelieved to have been on it at the time of its disappearance, and they seem to have shared its mysterious A Tahitian Lady. Thursday, December 7th.—At eight oclock I took Ma-belle and Muriel for a drive in a pony-carriage whichhad been kindly lent me, but with a hint that the horsewas rather mcchant sometimes. He behaved well on thepresent occasion, however, and we had a pleasant drive inthe outskirts of the town for a couple of hours. Just as we returned, a gentleman came and asked meif I should like to see some remarkably fine pearls, and onmy gladly consenting, he took me to his house, where Isaw some pearls certainly worth going to look at, but too 228 A TAHITI AN STORE. expensive for me, one pear-shaped gem alone having beenvalued at ,£1,000. I was told they came from a neighbor-ing island, and I was given two shells containing pearls invarious stages of formation. It was now time to go on board to receive some friendswhom we had invited to breakfast, and who arrived atabout half-past eleven. After bre
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