_Yacht_ ‘_Casco_,’ _Anaho Bay_, _Nukahiva_,
_Marquesas Islands_ [_July_ 1888].
MY DEAR COLVIN,—From this somewhat (ahem) out of the way place, I write
to say how d’ye do. It is all a swindle: I chose these isles as having
the most beastly population, and they are far better, and far more
civilised than we. I know one old chief Ko-o-amua, a great cannibal in
his day, who ate his enemies even as he walked home from killing ’em, and
he is a perfect gentleman and exceedingly amiable and simple-minded: no
fool, though.
The climate is delightful; and the harbour where we lie one of the
loveliest spots imaginable. Yesterday evening we had near a score
natives on board; lovely parties. We have a native god; very rare now.
Very rare and equally absurd to view.
This sort of work is not favourable to correspondence: it takes me all
the little strength I have to go about and see, and then come home and
note, the strangeness around us. I shouldn’t wonder if there came
trouble here some day, all the same. I could name a nation that is not
beloved in certain islands—and it does not know it! {114} Strange: like
ourselves, perhaps, in India! Love to all and much to yourself.