the Marquesan from his lethargy. Over all the landward shore of

Anaho cotton runs like a wild weed; man or woman, whoever comes to

pick it, may earn a dollar in the day; yet when we arrived, the

trader's store-house was entirely empty; and before we left it was

near full. So long as the circus was there, so long as the Casco

was yet anchored in the bay, it behoved every one to make his

visit; and to this end every woman must have a new dress, and every

man a shirt and trousers. Never before, in Mr. Regler's

experience, had they displayed so much activity.

In their despondency there is an element of dread. The fear of

ghosts and of the dark is very deeply written in the mind of the

Polynesian; not least of the Marquesan. Poor Taipi, the chief of

Anaho, was condemned to ride to Hatiheu on a moonless night. He

borrowed a lantern, sat a long while nerving himself for the

adventure, and when he at last departed, wrung the Cascos by the

hand as for a final separation. Certain presences, called

Vehinehae, frequent and make terrible the nocturnal roadside; I was

told by one they were like so much mist, and as the traveller

walked into them dispersed and dissipated; another described them

as being shaped like men and having eyes like cats; from none could

I obtain the smallest clearness as to what they did, or wherefore

they were dreaded. We may be sure at least they represent the

dead; for the dead, in the minds of the islanders, are all-

pervasive. 'When a native says that he is a man,' writes Dr.

Codrington, 'he means that he is a man and not a ghost; not that he

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