Islands far away; Fijian pictures with pen and brush . self to show it till now, but he was pleased to seeus, and he shook hands warmly as he stepped into the canoewhich was to carry him to his j^acht, which was tossingamong white-crested waves some way out from the shore. Itdid not seem at all safe to start. The sky was very black,and blasts of rain and wind whipped our faces. We re-monstrated, but he said I shall be all right. No one else knew when he was going, so it was a very quietsend off. Fusi was crying indoors, and none but our twoselves stood on the rocks to receive his last wave, as
Islands far away; Fijian pictures with pen and brush . self to show it till now, but he was pleased to seeus, and he shook hands warmly as he stepped into the canoewhich was to carry him to his j^acht, which was tossingamong white-crested waves some way out from the shore. Itdid not seem at all safe to start. The sky was very black,and blasts of rain and wind whipped our faces. We re-monstrated, but he said I shall be all right. No one else knew when he was going, so it was a very quietsend off. Fusi was crying indoors, and none but our twoselves stood on the rocks to receive his last wave, as he wentoff in the storm, never to return to his hereditary home asRoko any more. I knew it was right and had to be, yet I feltdisinclined to return again to the festivities to welcome hissuccessor. We found that he had left word that we were to have somelunch, and that some hot soup and biscuits were waiting readyfor us. We were touched with this attention and very gratefulfor the refreshment. When we got back the first meke was about to begin. For-. u ^^^ 136 Islands Far Away. tunately the lovely flowery dresses of the men were not injuredby the rain which fell pretty heavily and it did not interferewith the wild barbaric grace of their movements as they wavedtheir clubs and danced and leaped and stamped in unison, itwas astonishing what perfect time they kept. These greatbig men, in their gay fantastic garments and shiny dark skinshad a most strangely striking appearance. As each man de-signed and made his own dress there was a great variety, andall were more or less interesting. The wreaths and garlandswere very beautiful and most skilfully and artistically puttogether. They were veritable works of art and must havetaken a long time to make, and it seemed a pity they couldserve for only one occasion. Most of the performers worebroad white sashes of light transparent native cloth, tied inhuge bows behind, and many of them too had head dresses ofthe same, the long broad strea
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookidislandsfaraw, bookyear1921
