In Stevenson's Samoa

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Smith, Elder, & Company, 1895 - Počet stran: 190
 

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Strana 190 - Under the wide and starry sky, Dig the grave and let me lie. Glad did I live and gladly die, And I laid me down with a will. This be the verse you grave for me: Here he lies where he longed to be; Home is the sailor, home from the sea, And the hunter home from the hill.
Strana 30 - ... which Vailima takes its name. Scattered about everywhere were clusters of scarlet and cream-coloured hibiscus blossom, yellow allamanda, and fragrant sweet-scented ginger ; the posts of the house even being decorated with hibiscus and frangipani with an art of which the Samoan is master. After having enjoyed the prawns, and, in the absence of serviettes, were wondering what was to happen next, we were quite reassured by the appearance of the boys, who knelt with a basin of water and napkin beside...
Strana 29 - Ropes of many coloured, sweet-smelling flowers were twisted round our necks and waists, and wreaths placed on our heads. Everyone was decked out in like manner — our host wearing his wreath of white jessamine with grace and distinction as if to the manner born. When all was ready there was some debate in the household as to the correct procedure, according to native courtesy, for the guests to go into the feast spread in a large native house which had just been completed. At last the intricacies...
Strana 34 - The time was passed pleasantly chatting, and nearly everyone smoking cigarettes. At Vailima all are inveterate smokers, and all scorn to smoke anything but cigarettes made by themselves of their own American tobacco, and as Louis Stevenson remarked, ' We are slaves to our own special brand.' They had a terrible reminiscence of having run out of their tobacco for, I think, two days, while cruising on board their yacht the Casco. The beef might ' give out ' or the flour might
Strana 26 - veha,' a little rail with mottled black and brown plumage, would emerge from the bushes and warily creep across the grass, picking up insects here and there, but on the slightest alarm would stand motionless or squat close to the ground — always near a brown leaf or a stone, and was then as invisible as our own ptarmigan under similar conditions. Then as the sun flashed his first beams on dew-laden tree and flower, the clear liquid note of the 'jao...
Strana 31 - ... the taro leaves and cocoa-nut cream. Then a mysterious dish, or rather leaf, was handed round, which the Europeans treated coldly, but which was received with marked distinction by the natives. It was a sad-coloured filmy mass, and was considered a great treat, as it consisted of green worms (palolo) that appear in the sea at certain intervals according to the state of the moon. From time to time cocoa-nuts with the tops knocked off were presented, and we drank out of them and passed them on.
Strana 24 - Things are certainly allowed to ' occur ' here ; any attempt at order would be but coldly received. The only other room on this floor is a large apartment hung with tapa (native cloth), and many wonderful curios and reminiscences scattered about of our hostess's wanderings in the South Seas. This, during our visit, was used ,as a guest chamber, for it was the room allotted to us, when, after Christmas, we paid a long visit to Vailima. The new wing, which was completed while we were there, begins...
Strana 35 - ... or native dance. They chanted extempore verses concerning all present, swaying their supple bodies to the rhythm, moving their hands and arms in lithe fantastic movements, now fast, now slow, and as far as possible illustrating by their actions the bulk of the songs. When the first part was over they rose, and the principal actors separately went through whole scenes in pantomime illustrative of playing a long game of cricket, rowing, and suffering the pangs of starvation. This latter was realistically...
Strana 26 - ... similar conditions. Then, as the sun flashed his first beams on dew-laden tree and flower, the clear, liquid note of the ' jao' (wattled honey-eater) was heard, and he and his mate might be seen busy among the blossoms of the mummy apple; and the ' fuia,' a darkplumaged starling, which represented the spirit of a sort of god called ' Moso,

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