is another delusion of the poet. Small, pretty, bare feet are only to be seen on the stage, they are an impossibility in active women who really use them out of doors. In short, to compare any brown beauty with a neat Scotch lassie or an English country girl is absurd. To compare the prettiest SOLOMON ISLAND WARRIORS. Their skins well rubbed and shining with cocoanut oil. Tongan, Samoan, Tahitian, or even Rotuman to the plainest and most simply-educated Irish, French, or Colonial girl that has been decently brought up is an insult to one's intelligence. Seeing, however, is believing, and I can assure my readers that if they wish to make up their minds on this point, the best way is to book themselves for a month's trip (if they can spare no longer time) among the islands of Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji, by the steamers of the Union Steamship Company of New Zealand, at a cost of £20. A good alternative course is to take the Frisco mailboat from Auckland or San Francisco as far as Samoa, and join the coasting steamer there, proceeding via Fiji, Vavau, and Tongatabu. By this route Haapai, one of the most interesting groups, cannot be visited without another month's delay.1 They will be charmed with what they see, for here they will see natural men and women, and judge how far holding up the mirror to nature shows her perfections and her imperfections, and may decide for themselves the important question, Does civilization improve the primitive man and woman, or is nature best? Even if unable to decide this vexed question, they will at all events have a new experience, to recall which in after life will be a constant source of pleasure. If they do visit these islands, I recommend June, July, and August as the best months. The following register of dates and places may be useful as a guide to intending tourists: ITINERARY OF THE MONTHLY ROUND TRIP OF THE UNION STEAMSHIP COMPANY OF NEW ZEALAND FOR AUGUST, 1895. From Apia can proceed by monthly large mail steamer direct to Auckland, or via Honolulu Left Apia, Samoa Arrived Suva, Fiji Left Suva From Suva can proceed direct to Sydney or to Auckland by same company's steamers. Arrived Neuafa, Vavau, to load During October, November, December, January, when oranges are out of season, steamers cannot be calculated on to call at Vavan twice in the same round trip. 1 The Cook and Society Groups have a different-I may say, unique interest-but they can only be reached by a separate steamer, and a rather long, tedious, and more expensive voyage from Auckland, or by schooners carrying the French mails from San Francisco to Tahiti. Starting more conveniently for me from New Zealand, I choose July-August as being the very middle of the south tropical winter, and the driest season in Samoa.1 The whole of the round trip from Opua, in the Bay of Islands, New Zealand, to the South Sea Islands and back to Auckland or Sydney, calmer in summer, with rain and a chance hurricane, is generally a rough voyage in July and August. Indeed, both in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres the "Pacific" Ocean is misnamed. It is not pacific. There is a constant, long swell in the lower southern and higher northern latitudes, as well as in the regions of the north-east and south-east trade-winds, and throughout a great portion of the tropics. The south-east tradewinds have been so irregular during the last few years that it is difficult to say what sort of weather may be expected at particular seasons. For some time past, either on account of the strong continued southerly winds, or from other causes, a wave of cold air has swept over the whole of Australasia. There have been great atmospheric disturbances proceeding out of the Antarctic regions, and, in consequence, gales and rain. In Australia, which unlike New Zealand and the South Sea Islands, is subject to violent changes, the temperature in the shade rising to 120, snow has fallen where it never fell before within the memory of the oldest inhabitant, and ice actually formed, for a brief space of time, in the sheltered portion of a New Zealand harbour. This wave of cold has even reached latitude 29 south, where we wore heavy woollen clothing and top-coats on the 1st August, 1895. The weather in the South Pacific has also been unusually rough. A run of thousands of miles over a smooth sea in a dead calm, frequent in the Indian Ocean, is a rare occurrence here. Compared to the Atlantic Liners, or even to the new boats of the P. & O., Orient and Messagerie, Services from the Australian Colonies to England, the South Pacific steamers are slow and small.2 1 SAMOA AVERAGE OF SEVEN YEARS-1851-1858. From January March April May June July August September October November December 78 Fahrenheit. 76 77 77 the first moment he goes on board until nearing a harbour, or a protecting island, or a coral reef, the traveller is pitched and rolled about until his body is tired-if he be a good sailor. If inclined to sea-sickness he is glad to keep to the seclusion of his cabin until drawn out by sheer force of hunger, thirst, or need of fresh air. SAMOAN CHIEF IN FULL DRESS. The four rows of large beads and the flowers in the head-dress are red. Our steamer, although expressly built for the island trade, is not, in my opinion, a suitable boat. One of the other boats of this line is larger and a little better fitted. They need not be of an inferior class. There is plenty of water and ample steerage way in the harbours of Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji for good vessels of ordinary draught, and even for men-of-war. The tourist traffic would undoubtedly increase were the steamers of a better class. Saloons ought to be amid-ship, extending from side to side. Thus not only would they be cooler and more comfortable, but the sleeping cabins would also be freed from the stuffiness caused by the latter opening out of the dining-room. There should be more sleeping berths on deck with windows opening on to both the port and starboard covered decks. Electric light should replace kerosene. The objection to kerosene is not only its dis agreeable smell, but the stifling atmosphere caused by the necessity for closing sky-lights and ports in a breeze, for fear of lamps exploding or being blown out. Add a comfortable social hall, currents of compressed air passed through cabin passages down stairs, a small refrigerating apparatus instead of an ice-chest, in larger and faster boats. With these and a few other less costly improvements there is no reason why tourists should not travel over this route through most of the summer with more comfort than we now do in winter. |