. Reminiscences of the South seas . ging onlong stems, or lying green by the road. All this was to beseen with cool air full of life, and under a sky more like oursthan the Samoan, but exquisitely blue and gay. Little has been done by us, even of going about; Atamo haswritten many letters; I have tried to sketch a little from ourverandah, in front of which, on the shore, grows a twistedpurau, called fan in Samoa. Through its branches I see thesea and the reef, and the island of IMoorea, in every tint ofblue that keeps the light, even in the evening or in the after-glow, when the sunset lights
. Reminiscences of the South seas . ging onlong stems, or lying green by the road. All this was to beseen with cool air full of life, and under a sky more like oursthan the Samoan, but exquisitely blue and gay. Little has been done by us, even of going about; Atamo haswritten many letters; I have tried to sketch a little from ourverandah, in front of which, on the shore, grows a twistedpurau, called fan in Samoa. Through its branches I see thesea and the reef, and the island of IMoorea, in every tint ofblue that keeps the light, even in the evening or in the after-glow, when the sunset lights up in yellow and purple the skybehind it. yet there is a reminiscence in my mind ofsomething not foreign to us, even at this moment, when thehaze of light seems new, and the pale blue sea is spangled withlittle silver stars, as far as I can see distinctly. We have called on the ex-King; and in the evening, at theclub, I have seen him — a handsome, elderly man, somewhatbroken and far from sober. He was playing with a certain. O Q REMINISCENCES OF THE SOUTH SEAS 309 Keke, a black Senegambian in the French service, a prince ofhis own negro land, who speaks excellent French, and whom Isurprised sitting on the sill of his house one evening (whilewe were taking a rainy walk). Keke wore in this retirementa pair of marvellous trousers, of a brilliant yellow, with redflamboyant pattern — something too fine for the ordinary out-of-door world. Many of the officials are coloured men fromthe French colonies, and so is the governor more or less. Ofcourse the idea is infinitely respectable and humanitarian, asso many French things are, but I fear that the Republic isunwise in sending people whom the native here cannot lookup to as he does to a white man. Of course they are all French and have votes, as the nativeshere can have also; but whether it is for the real good of apopulation accustomed to dependence I am not so are many curious anomalies: our American friends ofSa
Size: 1274px × 1961px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidreminiscence, bookyear1912
