to ambitious chiefs, and there are no records to enlighten us. But these
relics are convincing proofs that the islands have been inhabited for
many hundreds of years, and we are left to conjecture regarding the
origin and history of the people.

The Dance of the Centipede, which Holman and Verslun witnessed in the
Long Gallery, can be seen to-day by any tourist who leaves the beaten
paths. Every missionary to the islands can tell of "devil dances" that
take place in secluded groves, and in which, to his great disgust, his
converts often take part. It takes time to turn the savage from his old
beliefs. Although the South Seas constitute the last fortress of
romance, and a mention of the coral atolls immediately conjures up a
vision of palms and rice-white beaches, the sensitive person senses the
dark and bloody past when the wizard men were the rulers, and death
stalked in the palm groves.

J.F.D.
New York, March, 1912.


[Illustration]


CONTENTS


CHAPTER

I. The Song of the Maori
II. The Professor's Daughters