There in his board shanty, six by ten feet, we ate our first dinner
in the islands, while the wind surged through swishing palm-leaves
outside, and nuts fell now and then upon the iron roof with the
resounding crash of bombs. It was a plain, but plentiful, meal of
canned foods, served by the tawny gendarme and the wicked Song,
whose term of punishment for distributing brandy seemed curiously
suited to his crime.

At midnight I accompanied a happy governor to his palace, which had
one spare bedroom, sketchily furnished. During the night the slats
of my bed gave way with a dreadful din, and I woke to find the
governor in pajamas of rose-colored silk, with pistol in hand,
shedding electric rays upon me from a battery lamp. There was
anxiety in his manner as he said:

"You never can tell. A chief's son tried to kill my predecessor. I
do not know these Marquesans. We are few whites here. And, _mon dieu!_
the guardian of the palace is himself a native!"

[Illustration: Antoinette, a Marquesan dancing girl]

[Illustration: Marquesans in Sunday clothes
The daughter of Titihuti, chieftess of Hiva-Oa. On the left her husband,
Pierre Pradorat, on the right, his brother]



CHAPTER V