“The natives have got names for us all.  Louis was at first ’the old man,’ much to his distress; but now they call him ‘Ona’ meaning owner of the yacht, a name he greatly prefers to the first.  Fanny is Vahine, or wife; I am the old woman, and Lloyd rejoices in the name of Mate Karahi, the young man with glass eyes (spectacles).  Perhaps it is a compliment here to be called old, as it is in China, at any rate, one native told Louis that he himself was old, but his mother was not!...

“A native dance was got up for our benefit.  None of the dancing-women appeared, but five men dressed in shirt and trousers, danced together with spirit and grace.  The music was provided by a drum, made out of an old tin box.  Many of the steps reminded me of a Highland reel, but were curiously mixed up with calisthenic, and even gymnastic exercises; the hands in particular were used very gracefully, and they often took off their hats and waved them to and fro.  But they also climbed on each other’s shoulders, and did other strange things.  After dancing for some time, they sang songs to us in a curious, low, weird kind of crooning.  Altogether it was a strange sort of afternoon party!”

The Marquesas Islands belong to the French, and the commandant in charge was most cordial to Stevenson, inviting him to his house frequently during his stay in the islands.  When at the expiration of six weeks it was time for the Casco to weigh anchor and the party sailed on to explore still farther, they left behind them many friends who regretted their departure.  Here as elsewhere in the South Seas, Stevenson showed his sympathy and kindliness toward the island people regardless of who they were or their rank.  White or half-caste priest, missionary, or trader, all were treated the same.  No bribe, he said, would induce him to call the natives savages.

Mr. Johnstone, an English resident in the South Seas at the time of Stevenson’s visit, says:  “His inborn courtesy more than any of his other good traits, endeared him to his fellows in the Pacific ... in the hearts of our Island people he built a monument more lasting than stone or brass.”

The recollection of the history of his own wild Scottish Islands, the people and conditions his grandfather found among them, helped him to understand these people and account for many of their actions.  Though at opposite ends of the earth, many of their customs and legends corresponded.  The dwellers in the Hebrides in the old days likewise lived in clans with their chief and struggled to retain their independence against an invading power.

Tahiti, one of the group of Society Islands, was their next stopping place.  Before starting a new mate was shipped, who was more familiar with the course, which lay through the Dangerous Archipelago—­a group of low, badly lighted islands.