The Cruise of the Kawa | Page 2

the Kawa" stands preeminent in the literature of
modern exploration--a supreme, superlative epic of the South Seas.

G.P.P.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER I
We get under way. Polynesia's busiest corner. Our ship's company. A
patriotic celebration rudely interrupted. In the grip of the elements.
Necessary repairs. A night vigil. Land ho!
CHAPTER II
A real discovery. Polynesia analyzed. The astounding nature of the
Filberts. Their curious sound, and its reason. We make a landing. Our
first glimpse of the natives. The value of vaudeville.
CHAPTER III
Our handsome hosts. En route to the interior. Native flora and fauna.
We arrive at the capital. A lecture on Filbertine architecture. A strange
taboo. The serenade.
CHAPTER IV
A few of our native companions. Filbertine diet. Physiological
observations. We make a tour of the island. A call on the ladies.
Baahaabaa gives a feast. The embarrassments of hospitality. An
alcoholic escape.
CHAPTER V
A frank statement. We vote on the question of matrimony. A triple
wedding. An epithalmic verse. We remember the Kawa. An interview
with William Henry Thomas. Triplett's strategy. Safe within the atoll.
CHAPTER VI

Marital memories. A pillow-fight on the beach. A deep-sea devil. The
opening in the atoll. Swank paints a portrait. The fatu-liva bird and its
curious gift. My adventure with the wak-wak. Saved!
CHAPTER VII
Excursions beyond the outer reef. Our aquatic wives. Premonitions. A
picnic on the mountain. Hearts and flowers. Whinney delivers a
geological dissertation. Babai finds a fatu-liva nest. The strange flower
in my wife's hair.
CHAPTER VIII
Swank's popularity on the Island. Whinney's jealousy. An artistic duel.
Whinney's deplorable condition. An assembly of the Archipelago.
Water-sports on the reef. The Judgment.
CHAPTER IX
More premonitions. Triplett's curious behavior. A call from Baahaabaa.
We visit William Henry Thomas. His bride. The christening. A hideous
discovery. Pros and Cons. Out heart-breaking decision. A stirrup-cup of
lava-lava.
CHAPTER X
Once more the Kawa foots the sea. Triplett's observations and our
assistance. The death of the compass-plant. Lost! An orgy of
desperation. Oblivion and excess. The Kawa brings us home. Our
reception in Papeete. A celebration at the Tiare.

ILLUSTRATIONS
THE AUTHOR AND HIS ISLAND BRIDE
CAPTAIN EZRA TRIPLETT

A BEWILDERED BOTANIST
THE W.E. TRAPROCK EXPEDITION
BABAI AND HER TAA-TAA
WALTER E. TRAPROCK, F.R.S.S.E.U
GATHERING DEW-FISH ON THE OUTER REEF
HERMAN SWANK
LUPOBA-TILAANA, MIST ON THE MOUNTAIN
WATCHFUL WAITING
GOLDEN HARMONIES
WILLIAM HENRY THOMAS
THE LAGOON AT DAWN (WHINNEY'S VERSION)
THE LAGOON AT DAWN (SWANK'S VERSION)
THE NEST OF A FATU-LIVA
A FLEDGLING FATU-LIVA
BAAHAABAA MOURNING THE DEPARTURE OF HIS FRIENDS
CHAPTER I
We get under way. Polynesia's busiest corner. Our ship's company. A
patriotic celebration rudely interrupted. In the grip of the elements.
Necessary repairs. A night vigil. Land ho!
"Is she tight?" asked Captain Ezra Triplett. (We were speaking of my
yawl, the Kawa).

"As tight as a corset," was my reply.
"Good. I'll go."
In this short interview I obtained my captain for what was to prove the
most momentous voyage of my life.
The papers were signed forthwith in the parlor of Hop Long's
Pearl-of-the-Orient Cafeteria and dawn of the following day saw us
beyond the Golden Gate.
I will omit the narration of the eventful but ordinary occurrences which
enlivened the first six months of our trip and ask my reader to transport
himself with me to a corner with which he is doubtless already familiar,
namely, that formed by the intersection of the equator with the 180th
meridian.
This particular angle bears the same relation to the Southern Pacific
that the corner of Forty-second Street and Fifth Avenue does to the
Atlantic Seaboard. More explorers pass a given point in a given time at
this corner than at any other on the globe. [Footnote: See L. Kluck.
Traffic Conditions in the South Seas, Chap. IV., pp. 83-92.]
It was precisely noon, daylight-saving time, on July 4th, 1921, when I
stood on the corner referred to and, strange to say, found it practically
deserted. To be more accurate, I stood on the deck of my auxiliary yawl,
the Kawa, and she, the Kawa, wallowed on the corner mentioned. To
all intents and purposes our ship's company was alone. We had the
comforting knowledge that on our right, as one faced the bow, were the
Gilbert and Marshall groups (including the Sandwiches), on our left the
Society, Friendly and Loyalty Archipelagoes, back of us the Marquesas
and Paumotus and, directly on our course, the Carolines and Solomons,
celebrated for their beautiful women. [Footnote: See "Song of
Solomon," King James Version.] But we were becalmed and the
geographic items mentioned were, for the time being, hull-down. Thus
we were free to proceed with the business at hand, namely, the
celebration of our national holiday.

This we had been doing for several hours, with frequent toasts,
speeches, firecrackers and an