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diff --git a/41716-8.txt b/41716-8.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 11a392f..0000000 --- a/41716-8.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,14513 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pacific Triangle, by Sydney Greenbie - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with -almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or -re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included -with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license - - -Title: The Pacific Triangle - -Author: Sydney Greenbie - -Release Date: December 27, 2012 [EBook #41716] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PACIFIC TRIANGLE *** - - - - -Produced by Greg Bergquist and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - - - - - - - - -THE PACIFIC TRIANGLE - - - - - [Illustration: ERUPTION OF VOLCANO ON THE ISLAND OF KYUSHU, JAPAN - To the world a symbol: to Japan a fact] - - - - - THE - PACIFIC TRIANGLE - - BY - SYDNEY GREENBIE - AUTHOR OF "JAPAN: REAL AND IMAGINARY" - - ILLUSTRATED - WITH PHOTOGRAPHS - - [Illustration] - - NEW YORK - THE CENTURY CO. - 1921 - - - - - Copyright, 1921, by - THE CENTURY CO. - - - Printed in U. S. A. - - - - -TO BARRIE - - WHO DID HIS BEST TO - PREVENT THE WRITING OF THIS - BOOK, IN THE HOPE THAT HE MAY - SOME DAY READ IT AND REPENT OF HIS SINS. - - - - -PREFACE - - -This book is an attempt to bring within focus the most outstanding -factors in the Pacific. With the exception of Chapter II, which deals -with the origin of the Polynesian people, there is hardly an incident in -the whole book that has not come within the scope of my own personal -experience. Hence this is essentially a travel narrative. I have -confined myself to the task of interpreting the problems of the Pacific -in the light of the episodes of everyday life. Wherever possible, I have -tried to let the incident speak for itself, and to include in the -picture the average ideals of the various races, together with my own -impressions of them and my own reflections. The field is a tremendous -one. It encompasses the most important regions that lie along the great -avenues of commerce and general intercourse. The Pacific is a great -combination of geographical, ethnological, and political factors that is -extremely diverse in its sources. I have tried to discern within them a -unit of human commonality, as the seeker after truth is bound to do if -his discoveries are to be of any value. - -But the result has been an unconventional book. For I have sometimes -been compelled to make unity of time and place subservient to that of -subject matter. Hence the reader may on occasion feel that the book -returns to the same field more than once. That has been unavoidable. The -problems that are found in Hawaii are essentially the same as those in -Samoa, though differing in degree. It has therefore been necessary, -after surveying the whole field in one continuous narrative of my own -journey, to assemble stories, types, and descriptions which illustrate -certain problems, in separate chapters, regardless of their -geographical settings. If the reader bears this in mind he will not be -surprised in Book Two to find himself in Fiji, Samoa, Hawaii, or New -Zealand all at once--for issues are always more important than -boundaries. - -The plan of the book has been to give the historical approach to the -Pacific and its native races; then to take the reader upon a journey of -over twenty thousand miles around the Pacific. I hope that he will come -away with a clear impression of the immensity of the Ocean, of the -diversity of its natural and human elements, and the splendor and -picturesqueness of its make-up. Out of this review certain problems -emerge, the problems of the relations of native and alien races, of -marriages and divorces, of markets and ideals--problems that affect the -primitive races in their own new place in the world. But over and above -and about these come the issues that involve the more advanced races of -Asia, Australasia, and America--where they impinge upon each other and -where their interests in these minor races center. This is the logic of -the Pacific. - -Though the importance of these problems is now obvious to the world, I -feel grateful to those who encouraged me while I still felt myself -almost like a voice crying in the wilderness, on the subject. I -therefore feel specially indebted to the editors of _North American -Review_, _World's Work_ and the _Outlook_, who first published some of -the material here incorporated. But so rapid has been the movement of -events that in no case has it been possible for me to use more than the -essence of the ideas there published. In order to bring them up to date, -they have been completely re-written and made an integral part of this -book. Two or three of the descriptive chapters have also appeared in -_Century Magazine_ and _Harper's Monthly_, for permission to reprint -which I am indebted to them. - -There is a further indebtedness which is much more difficult of -acknowledgment. To my wife, Marjorie Barstow, I am under obligation -not only for her steadfast encouragement, but for her judgment, -understanding, and untiring patience, without which my career of -authorship would have been trying indeed. - - SYDNEY GREENBIE. - Greensboro, Vermont, - August 4, 1921. - - - - -CONTENTS - - -BOOK ONE - -HISTORICAL AND TRAVEL MATERIAL - - CHAPTER PAGE - I THE HEART OF THE PACIFIC 3 - II THE MYSTERY OF MYSTERIES 15 - III OUR FRONTIER IN THE PACIFIC 30 - IV THE SUBLIMATED, SAVAGE FIJIANS 52 - V THE SENTIMENTAL SAMOANS 79 - VI THE APHELION OF BRITAIN 108 - VII ASTRIDE THE EQUATOR 128 - VIII THE AUSTRALIAN OUTLANDS 143 - IX OUR PEG IN ASIA 158 - X BRITAIN'S ROCK IN ASIA 168 - XI CHINA'S EUROPEAN CAPITAL 179 - XII WORLD CONSCIOUSNESS 192 - - -BOOK TWO - -DISCUSSION OF NATIVE PROBLEMS--PERSONAL AND SOCIAL - - XIII EXIT THE NOBLE SAVAGE 205 - XIV GIVE US OUR VU GODS AGAIN! 222 - XV HIS TATTOOED WIFE 237 - XVI GIVING HEARTS A NEW CHANCE 254 - XVII "THIS LITTLE PIG WENT TO MARKET" 265 - - -BOOK THREE - -DISCUSSION OF THE POLITICAL PROBLEMS INVOLVING AUSTRALASIA, -ASIA AND AMERICA - - XVIII AUSTRALASIA 281 - XIX JAPAN AND ASIA 297 - XX AMERICA 312 - XXI WHERE THE PROBLEM DOVETAILS 330 - XXII AUSTRALIA AND THE ANGLO-JAPANESE ALLIANCE 347 - XXIII POLITICAL ALLIES AND FINANCIAL CONSORTS 364 - XXIV UNCHARTED SEAS 384 - - APPENDIX 395 - - INDEX 397 - - - - -LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS - - - Eruption of volcano on the island of Kyushu, Japan _Frontispiece_ - FACING PAGE - Map of the Pacific 16 - - Diamond head near Honolulu 20 - - The hulk of the German man-of-war, the _Adler_ 20 - - After seven days of sea--this emerged 21 - - Hilo, Hawaii 21 - - Even Fijians are loath to forget the arts of their forefathers 28 - - In giant canoes Heliolithic immigrants roamed the South Seas 29 - - There are only a few Chinese women in Hawaii 36 - - A sage in a china shop at Honolulu 36 - - Feminine propriety 37 - - Whoa! Let's have our picture taken 37 - - Miles away rose the fumes of Kilauea 44 - - The largest cauldron of molten rock on earth 44 - - A river of rock pouring out into the sea 45 - - Whirling eddies of lava undermining frozen lava projections 45 - - Where the tides turn to stone 48 - - A blizzard of fuming heat 48 - - The lake of spouting molten lava 49 - - A corner of Suva, Fiji 64 - - Food for a day's gossip 64 - - The long and the short of it 65 - - A Hindu patriarch 65 - - The scowl indicates a complex 68 - - Instructor of the Fijian constabulary 68 - - A Fijian Main Street 69 - - Little Fijians 69 - - One of the most gifted of Fijian chiefs 76 - - Cacarini (Katherine), the chief's daughter 76 - - Fijians dance from the hip up 77 - - A Fijian wedding 77 - - The street along the waterfront of Apia, Samoa 96 - - I thought the village back of Apia, Samoa, was deserted, but - it was only the noon hour 96 - - Tattooing of the legs is an essential in Samoa 97 - - Contact with California created this combination of scowl, - bracelets and boy's boots--but Fulaanu beside her was - incorruptible 97 - - Dunedin, New Zealand 112 - - Bridges are still luxuries in many places in New Zealand 112 - - The fiords and sounds of New Zealand 113 - - Lake Wanaka, New Zealand 113 - - The S. S. _Aurora_ 128 - - Mount Cook of the New Zealand Alps in summer 128 - - Circular quay, Sydney, Australia 129 - - Monument to Captain Cook 129 - - One of the oldest Australian residences is now a public - domain 144 - - The interior of a wealthy sheep station owner's home in - Melbourne 144 - - Australian blacks in their native element 145 - - An Australian black in Melbourne 145 - - Filipino lighters drowsing in the evening shadows 160 - - The docile water buffalo is used to walking in mud 160 - - One can throw a brick and hit seven cathedrals in Manila 161 - - Cool and silent are the mossy streets of the walled city - of Manila 161 - - In China drinking-water, soap-suds, soup and sewers all find - their source in the same stream 176 - - Shanghai youngsters putting their heads together to make - us out 176 - - This old woman is laying down the law to the wild young - things of China 177 - - China could turn these mud houses into palaces if she - wished--she is rich enough 177 - - Fujiyama 192 - - Sea, earth and sky 193 - - This Hindu has usurped the job of the chieftains' daughters 224 - - An Indian coolie village 224 - - A Maori Haka in New Zealand 225 - - A Maori canoe hurdling race 225 - - Three views of a Maori woman 240 - - A group of whites and half-castes in Samoa 241 - - A ship-load of "picture-brides" arriving at Seattle 241 - - A Maori woman with her children 241 - - Beauty is more than skin-deep 256 - - A half-caste Fijian maiden 257 - - A full-blooded Fijian maiden 257 - - Fijian village 272 - - Little fish went to this market 272 - - Good luck must attend these traders at the doors of the - cathedrals in Manila 273 - - A Fijian bazar is a red letter day 273 - - The mountains are called the Remarkables 284 - - The Blue Mountains of Australia 284 - - Australia denuding herself 285 - - Australia is not all desert and plain 288 - - People are small amidst Australia's giant tree ferns 289 - - Japan's first reaction to foreign influence 304 - - Second stage in Westernization 304 - - Third stage in Westernization 305 - - Fourth stage in Westernization 305 - - Lord Lansdowne and Baron Tadasu Hayashi 352 - - Prince Ito 352 - - Dr. Sun Yat-Sen 352 - - Thomas W. Lamont 353 - - Wellington Koo 353 - - Yukio Osaki, M.P. and Ex-Minister of Justice 353 - - - - -BOOK ONE - -HISTORICAL AND TRAVEL MATERIAL - - - - -CHAPTER I - -THE HEART OF THE PACIFIC - -_The First Side of The Triangle_ - - -1 - - ... stared at the Pacific--and all his men - Looked at each other with a wild surmise-- - Silent, upon a peak in Darien. - -Exactly four centuries after the event immortalized by Keats, I -outstripped Balboa's most fantastic dreams by setting out upon the -Pacific and traversing the length and breadth of it. "It is a sight," we -are told, "in beholding which for the first time any man would wish to -be alone." I was. But whereas Balboa's desires were accomplished in -having obtained sight of the Pacific, that achievement only whetted -mine. He said: - - You see here, gentlemen and children mine, how our desires are - being accomplished, and the end of our labors. Of that we ought to - be certain, for, as it has turned out true what King Comogre's son - told of this sea to us, who never thought to see it, so I hold for - certain that what he told us of there being incomparable treasures - in it will be fulfilled. God and His blessed Mother who have - assisted us, so that we should arrive here and behold this sea, - will favor us that we may enjoy all that there is in it. - -The story of how far he was so assisted is part of the tale of this -book, for in all the wanderings which are the substance of my -accomplishment I can recall having met with but a half-dozen of Balboa's -kinsmen. Instead there are streaming backward and forward across the -Pacific descendants of men Balboa hated and of others of whom he knew -nothing. - -Balboa was the first to see the ocean. He had left his men behind just -as they were about to reach the peak from which he viewed it. But he was -not the first to step upon its shores. He sent some of his men down, and -of them one, Alonso Martin, was the first to have that pleasure. Martin -dipped his sword dramatically into the brine and took possession of it -all as far as his mind's eye could reach. Yet to none of the men was -this vast hidden world more than a vision and a hope, and the accidental -name with which Magellan later christened it seems, by virtue of the -motives of gain which dominated these adventurers, anything but -descriptive. To be pacific was not the way of the kings of Castile; nor, -sad to say, is it the way of most of their followers. - -What was it that Balboa took possession of in the name of his Castilian -kings? Rather a courageous gamble, to say the least. The dramatic and -fictional possibilities of such wholesale acquisition are illimitable. -In the mid-Pacific were a million or more savage cannibals; in the -far-Pacific, races with civilizations superior to his own. At that very -time China was extending the Great Wall and keeping in repair the Grand -Canal which had been built before Balboa's kings were chiefs. Japan was -already a nation with arts and crafts, and a social state sufficiently -developed to be an aggressive influence in the Oriental world, making -inroads on Korea through piracy. Korea was powerful enough to force -Japan to make amends. Four years after Balboa's discovery the Portuguese -arrived in Canton and opened China for the first time to the European -world. The Dutch were beginning to think of Java. It was hardly Balboa's -plan to make of all these a little gift for his king: his act was but -the customary flourish of discoverers in those days. Men who loved -romance more than they loved reality were ready to wander over the -unknown seas and rake in their discoveries for hire. Balboa, Magellan, -Drake, roamed the seas out of sheer love of wind and sail. Many a man -set forth in search of treasure never to be heard from again; some only -to have their passage guessed by virtue of the signs of white blood in -the faces of some of the natives. For two hundred years haphazard -discoveries and national jealousies confused rather than enlightened the -European world. But late in the eighteenth century, after a considerable -lessening of interest in exploration, Captain James Cook began that -memorable series of voyages which added more definite knowledge to the -geographical and racial make-up of the South Seas than nearly all the -other explorers put together. The growth of the scientific spirit and -the improvement in navigation gave him the necessary impetus. Imbued -with scientific interest, he went to observe the transit of Venus and to -make close researches in the geography of the Pacific. But to George -Vancouver falls the praise due to a constructive interest in the people -whose lands he uncovered. Wherever he went he left fruits and domestic -animals which contributed much to the happiness of the primitives, and -probably laid the foundation for the future colonization of these -scattered islands by Europeans. - -Backward and forward across the Pacific through four centuries have -moved the makers of this new Atlantis. First from round Cape Horn, -steering for the setting sun, then from the Australian continent to the -regions of Alaska, these shuttles of the ages have woven their fabric of -the nations. Now the problem is, what is going to be done with it? - -I suppose I was really no worse than most people in the matter of -geography when I set forth on my venture. Though the Pacific had lain at -my feet for two years, I seem to have had no definite notions of the -"incomparable treasures" that lay therein. Japan was stored away in my -mind as something to play with. Typee, the cannibal Marquesas--ah! there -was something real and vigorous! Then the South Sea maidens! Ideal -labor conditions in New Zealand! Australia was Botany Bay; the -Philippines, the water cure. Confucius was confusion to me, but -Lao-tsze, the great sage of China--in his philosophy I had found a -meeting-ground for East and West. - -But I was sizzling with curiosity. I wanted to bring within my own range -of experience that "unplumbed, salt estranging sea" with its area of -seventy million square miles, equivalent to "three Atlantics, seventy -Mediterraneans," and--aside from the hundreds of millions of people -round its shore--the seventy-odd millions within its bosom. Yet of the -myths, the beliefs, the aspirations of these peoples, even the most -knowing gave contradictory accounts, and curiosity was perforce my -compass. - - -2 - -Something in a voyage westward across the Pacific gives one the sense of -a great reunion; it is not a personal experience, but an historic -sensation. One may have few incidents to relate, there may be only an -occasional squall. But in place of events is an abstraction from world -strife, a heading for the beginning of a cycle of existence--for Asia, -the birthplace of the human race. The feeling is that of one making a -tour of the universe which has lasted ten thousand centuries and is but -at the moment nearing completion. For eons the movement has been a -westward one. Races have succumbed to races in this westward reach for -room. Pursuing the retreating glaciers, mankind snatched up each inch of -land released, rushing wildly outward. After the birth of man there was -a split, in which some men went westward and became Europeans, some -eastward and became Asiatics. The Amerindians were the kick of that -human explosion eastward which occurred some time during the Wurm ice -age. - -One cannot grasp the significance of the Pacific who crosses it too -swiftly. Every mapped-out route, every guide-book must be laid aside, -and schedules must cease to count. With half a world of water to -traverse, its immensity becomes a reality only when one permits oneself -to be wayward, with every whim a goal. - -A fellow-passenger said to me, "My boss has given me two weeks' -vacation." - -"Mine has given me a lifetime," I answered. - -In that mood I watched the _Lurline_ push its way into the San Francisco -fogs and out through the fog-choked Golden Gate. The fogs stayed with us -a space beyond and were gone, and the wide ocean lay in every direction -roundabout us. - -I was bound for Japan by relays. Unable to secure through passage to the -Land of the Rising Sun, I did the next best thing and booked for -Honolulu. There I planned to wait for some steamer with an unused berth -that would take me to Kyoto, Japan, in time to attend the coronation of -the Tenno, the crownless Emperor. After all, Honolulu was not such an -unfavorable spot in which to prepare my soul for the august sight of -emperor-worship on a grand scale, I thought. - -And at last I was out upon the bosom of the Pacific, sailing without -time limit or fixed plan, sailing where did Cook and Drake and -Vancouver, and knowing virtually as little of what was about me as did -they. Our ship became the axis round which wheeled the universe, and -progress "a succession of days which is like one day." We went on and -on, and still the circle was true. We moved, yet altered nothing. When -the sky was overcast, the ocean paled in sympathy; when it was bright, -the whitecapped, cool blue surface of the sea abandoned itself to the -light. At night the cleavage between sea and sky was lost. Then we lost -distance, altitude, depth, and even speed. All became illusive--a time -for strong reason. - -Then came a storm. The vast disk, the never-shifting circle shrank in -the gathering mist. From the prow of the ship, where I loved most to be, -the world became more lonely. The iron nose of the vessel burrowed into -the blue-green water, thrusting it back out of the way, curling it over -upon a volume of wind which struggled noisily for release. The blue -became deeper, the strangled air assumed a thick gray color and emerged -in a fit of sputtering querulousness. But the ship lunged on, as -unperturbed as the Bhodistava before Mara, the Evil One, sure that he -was becoming Buddha. - -We were dipping southward and soon tasted the full flavor of the -luscious tropical air. The ship never more than swayed with the swells. -During the days that followed there was never more than the most -elemental squall. The nights were as clear and balmy as the days. For -seven days we danced and made merry to Hawaiian melodies thrummed by an -Hawaiian orchestra, or screeched by an American talking-machine, or -hammered by a piano-player. The warm air began to play the devil with -our feelings. - -Thus seven days passed. I had taken to sleeping out on deck, under the -open sky. The moon was brilliant, the sea as smooth as a pond. I was -awakened by whispered conversation at five o'clock of that last day and -found a group of women huddling close on the forward deck. Their hair -was streaming down their backs, their feet were bare, and their bodies -wrapped in loose kimonos. Some of the officers were pointing to the -southwestern horizon, where a barely perceptible streak of smoke was -rising over the rim of the sea. It was from Kilauea, the volcano on the -island of Hawaii, two hundred miles away. - -The air was fresh and balmy as on the day the earth was born. Rolling -cumulous clouds sought to postpone the day by retarding the rising sun. -Lighthouse lights blinked their warnings. Molokai, the leper island, -emerged from the darkness. A blaze of sunlight broke through the clouds -and day was in full swing. And as we neared the island of Oahu, a -full-masted wind-jammer, every strip of sail spread to the breeze, came -gliding toward us from Honolulu. - -By noon we were in the open harbor,--a fan-spread of still water. The -_Lurline_ glided on and turned to the right and we were before the -little city of Honolulu. I can still see the young captain on the -bridge, pacing from left to right, watching the water, issuing quiet -directions to the sailor who transmitted them, by indicator, to the -engine-room. We edged up to the piers amid a profusion of greetings from -shore and appeals for coins from brown-skinned youngsters who could a -moment later be seen chasing them in the water far below the surface. - -This, then, is progress. In 1778, Captain Cook was murdered by these -islanders. To-day they "grovel" in the seas for petty cash. One hundred -and forty years! Seven days! - - -3 - -But Hawaii was only my half-way house. I was still reaching out for -Japan. According to the advice of steamship agencies I might have waited -seven years before any opportunity for getting there would come my way. -At twelve o'clock one day I learned that the _Niagara_ was in port. She -was to sail for the Antipodes at two. By two I was one of her -passengers. Hadn't "my boss" given me a lifetime's vacation? - -The world before me was an unknown quantity, as it doubtless is to at -least all but one in a million of the inhabitants of our globe. My -ticket said Sydney, Australia. How long would it take us? Two weeks? -What should we see en route? Two worlds? Here, in one single journey I -should cut a straight line across the routes of Magellan, Drake, Cook, -and into those of Tasman,--all the great navigators of the last four -hundred years. Here, then, I was to trace the steps of Melville, of -Stevenson, of Jack London,--largely with the personal recommendations of -Jack,--and of one then still unfamed, Frederick O'Brien. All the courage -in the face of the unknown, all the conflicts between the world -civilizations in their various stages of development, all the dreams of -romance, of future welfare and achievement, would unfold in my progress -southward and fall into two much-talked-of and little-understood -divisions--East and West. I was to discover for myself what it was that -Balboa and his like had taken possession of in their grandiloquent -fashion and were ready to defend against all comers. Yet the flag at the -mast was not Balboa's flag, nor Tasman's, and the passengers among whom -fate had wheeled me were, with one exception, neither Spanish nor Dutch, -but British. As long as I moved from San Francisco westward and as long -as I remained in Honolulu, I was, as far as customs and people were -concerned, in America. But from the moment I considered striking off -diagonally across the South Seas in the direction of the Antarctic I was -thrown among Britons. The clerk in the steamship office was Canadian, -the steamer was British, the passengers were British, and the cool, -casual way in which the _Niagara_ kicked herself off from the pier and -slipped out into the harbor was confirmation of a certain cleavage. For -there was none of the gaiety which accompanies the arrival and departure -of American vessels,--no music, no serpentines, no cheering. We just -took to our screws and the open sea as though glad to get away from an -uncordial "week-end." This was a British liner that was to cut across -the equator, to climb over the vast ridge of earth and dip down into the -Antipodes. We were to leave America far behind. Henceforward, with but -the single exception of tiny Pago Pago, Samoa, we could not enter an -American owned port,--and on this route would miss even that one. And -now that mandates have become the vogue, there is in all that world of -water hardly an important spot that does not fly the Union Jack. The -sense of private ownership in all that could be surveyed gave to the -bearing of the passengers an air of dignity which was not always latent -in the individual. - -Meanwhile the ship pressed steadily on, coldly indifferent, fearless and -emotionless. We were nearing the equator, and the days in its -neighborhood steeped us all in drooping feebleness. Climate gets us all, -ultimately. We forgot one another beneath the heavy weight of -nothingness which hangs over that equatorial world. Sleep within my -cabin was impossible, so I had the steward bring me a mattress out on -deck. At midnight a heavy wind turned the air suddenly so cold that I -had to secure a blanket. The wind howling round the mast and the -flapping of the canvas sounded like a tragedy without human agency. The -night was pitch-black and the blackness was intensified by intermittent -streaks of lightning. But there was no rain. - -It was Tuesday, yet the next day was Thursday. Where Wednesday went I -have never been able to find out. We had arrived at the point in the -Pacific where one day swallows up another and leaves none. The European -world, measuring the earth from its own vantage-point, had allotted no -day for the mid-Pacific, so that instead of arriving at Suva, Fiji, in -proper sequence of time, we were both a day late and a day ahead. We had -cut across the 180th meridian, where time is dovetailed. - -That afternoon we sighted land for the first time in seven days. Alofa -Islands, pale blue, smooth-edged, were a living lie to reality. A -peculiar feeling came over me in passing without touching terra firma. -It was like the longing for the sun after days and days of gray, the -longing for rain in the desert. It was the longing for the return to the -actualities of life after days on the unvariable sea. And presently I -was in Fiji, and the _Niagara_ sailed on without me. Once again I -changed my course to wander among the South Seas and leave Sydney for -the future. - -Yet even on land he who has been brought up on a continent cannot escape -a feeling of isolation, the consciousness of being completely surrounded -by water. After you have had the deep beneath you for seven days, and -again seven days, you begin to feel that even the islands are but -floating in the same fluid. The fact that you cannot go anywhere without -riding the waves, and that it takes two whole days by steamer to get -from Fiji to Samoa, and four from Fiji to New Zealand, and then four -again between New Zealand and Australia, a water-consciousness takes -possession of you, and the islands become mere ledges upon which you -rest occasionally. Something of the joy of being a bird on the wing is -the experience of the traveler in the Pacific seas. - -Imagine, then, my delight and surprise, early one morning on my return -trip from Samoa to Fiji, to find the _Talune_ sidling up to an unknown -isle considerably off our course. It was, we were told, the island of -Niuafoou, and was visited every month or so to deliver and take off the -mails. It was a chill morning. Everything was blue with morning cold. -The waves dashed in desperation against the cliffs. Glad was I that we -were not run ashore, for I have never yet been able to see the virtue in -ice-cold sea-water. Fancy our consternation when down slid a native, -head first, from the bluff half a mile away into the water, as we slide -into a swimming-pool. For a moment he was lost behind the tossing -crests. Then we saw him coming slowly toward us, resting on a plank and -paddling with his free hand, seeming like a tremendous water-spider. -Tied to a stick like to a mast was a tightly wrapped bundle of mail. The -_Talune_ kept swerving like an impatient horse, waiting for the arrival -of that amphibian. When he came alongside he dropped the little bundle -into a bucket let down to him at the end of a rope, and kicked himself -away. A second man arrived with a packet,--the parcels-post man of -Niuafoou. A third came merely as an inspector. Meanwhile, on the bluff -the whole community had gathered for the irregular lunar event. - -Or, days later, after my second call at Fiji as the ship pressed -steadily on toward Auckland, New Zealand, we passed the island of Mbenga -where dwell the mystic fire-walkers so vividly portrayed by Basil -Thomson in his "South Sea Yarns." I wished that I had had a "callous" on -my habits in cleanliness to protect me from the unpleasantnesses of the -vessel, as have those Fijian fire-walkers on their soles, then I should -have been happier. Their soles are half an inch thick. I should have -needed a callous at least two inches thick to endure the _Talune_ more -than the six days it took us to get from Samoa to Auckland. - -Early in the morning of the fourth day of our journey from Suva, Fiji, -we passed the Great Barrier Island, which stands fifty miles from -Auckland. We crept down the Hauraki Gulf, passed Little Barrier Island, -and entered Waitemata Harbor, where we dropped anchor, awaiting the -doctor's examination. Just from the tropics, I was taken by surprise to -find the wind biting and chill as we went farther south, and here at the -gates of Auckland the coat I had unnecessarily carried on my arm for -months became most welcome. Before I could adjust myself to the new -landing-place, I had to readjust my mind to another fact which had never -been any vital part of my psychology,--that henceforth the farther south -I should go the colder it would feel, and that though it was the sixth -of November, the longer I remained the warmer it would become. In the -presence of such phenomena, losing a thirteenth day of one's month while -crossing the 180th meridian was a commonplace. The habits of a short -lifetime told me to put on my coat, for winter was coming. But here I -had come amongst queer New Zealanders who told me to unbutton it, even -to shed it, for spring, they assured me, was not far behind. - -And then for the first time in months I felt the spirit of the -landlubber work its way into my consciousness again. I had cut a -diagonal line of 6,000 miles across a mysterious, immeasurable sea, and -my reason, my heart and my body longed for respite from its benumbing -influence. I had seen enough to last me a long time. I fairly ached for -retirement inland, for sight of a cool, still lake, for contact with -snow-capped mountain peaks. More than all else, I yearned for the cold, -for the scent of snow, for the snug satisfaction of self-generated -warmth. My soul and my body seemed seared and scorched by the blazing -tropical sun under the wide, unsheltered seas. Later, when I should be -"well" again, I thought, I would risk the climb up over the equator, the -curve of the world that lies so close to the sun. - -And now that I was settled I had time to reflect on all I had seen. I -had cut a diagonal line through the heart of the Pacific, and had seen -in succession the various types of native races--the Hawaiians, the -Fijians, the Samoans--while all about me were the Maories. So I reviewed -and classified my memories before I started north on another diagonal -course which led me among the transplanted white peoples of Australia -and Asia. Yet one question preceded all others: whence came these -Pacific peoples and when? The answer to that must be given before -specific descriptions of the South Sea Islanders can be clear. - - - - -CHAPTER II - -THE MYSTERY OF MYSTERIES - - -1 - -Not even the speed of the fastest steamer afloat can transport the white -man from his sky-scraper and subway civilization over the hump of the -earth and down into the South Seas without his undergoing a -psychological metamorphosis that is enchanting. He cannot take his -hard-and-fast materialistic illusions along with him. Were he a -passenger on the magic carpet itself, and both time and space -eliminated, the instant he found himself among the tawny ones he would -forget enough of square streets and square buildings, square meals and -square deals, to become another person. Upon that cool dewdrop of the -universe, the Pacific, the giant steamer chugs one rhythmically to rest -and one dreams as only one in a new life can dream, without being -disturbed by past or future. - -One slumbers through this adolescent experience with the smile and the -conceit of youth. At last one arrives. The enormous ship, upon whose -deck have shuffled the games of children too busy to play, slips away -from the pier and is swallowed up in the evening twilight. Left thus -detached from iron and certainty, one wonders what would happen if there -never should be iron and certainty again in life. What if that ship -should never return, nor any other, and the months and years should lose -track of themselves, and memory become feeble as to facts and fumble -about in hyperbolic aspirations? What if the actualities that knotted -and gnarled one's emotions, or flattened them out in precise -conventions, should cease to affect one's daily doings? What if, for -you, never again were there to be factories and dimensions of purse, or -ambitions that ramble about in theories and ethics, but only the need of -filling one's being with food and converting it into energy for the -further procuring of food, and the satisfaction of impulses that lead -only to the further vent of impulse,--and in that way a thousand years -went by? What would the white man be when the lure of adventure and -discovery suddenly revealed him to a world phenomenally different from -the one he left behind in the bourn of his forgotten past? - -As I let myself loose from such moorings as still held me in touch with -my world, the wonder grew by inversion. When the _Niagara_, wingless -dinosaur of the deep, slid out into the lagoon beyond, I felt overcome -with a sense of drooping loneliness, like one going off into a trance, -like one for whom amazement is too intoxicating. - -It had not been that way in Hawaii, for there already the grip of the -girder has made rigid the life of nature and the people. But down -beneath the line one could still look over the corrugated iron roofs of -sheds and forget. Everywhere in the Fiji or the Samoan islands something -of antiquity cools one's senses with unheard questionings. Instantly one -wants to know how it happens that these people came to be here, what -accident or lure of paleolithic life led them into this isolation. One -cannot get away from the feeling--however far inland one may go--that -the outer casings of this little lump of solid earth beneath us is a -fluent sea, a sea endless to unaided longing. Homesickness never was -like that, for ordinary homesickness is too immediate, too personal. But -this longing for contact which comes over one in the mid-Pacific islands -is universal; it is a sudden consciousness of eternity, and of the atom. -One begins to conceive of days and events and conditions as absolutely -incompatible with former experience. One's mind is set aglow with -inquiry, and over and over again, as one looks into the face of some -shy native or some spoiled flapper, one wonders whence and how. And a -slight fear: what if I, too, were now unable ever to return, should I -soon revert to these customs, to the feeling of distance between men and -women, to the nakedness, not so much of body as of mind? - -That was what happened to Tahiti, to Maoriland, to Hawaii, to the -popping peaks of illusive worlds which to ante-medieval isolated Europe -could not exist because it did not know of them. For thousands of years -these innumerable islands in the Pacific had been the habitation of -passionate men, of men who had come out in their vessels from over -_Kim's_ way with decks that carried a hundred or more persons; persons -who doubtless also entertained themselves with games because too busy to -play; persons with hopes and aspirations. A thousand and more years ago -the present inhabitants of Polynesia may have dreamed of rearing a new -India, a wider Caucasia, just as the Pilgrims and the persecuted of -Europe dreamed, or the ambitious Englanders of New Zealand. Welcomed -here and ejected there, they passed on and on and on, as far as Samoa -and Tahiti. And slowly the film of forgetfulness fixed their -experiences. The big ships and the giant canoes rotted in the harbors. -They had come to stay. The sun was burning their bridges behind them. -What need for means of going farther? Eden had been found. And the soft, -sweet flesh of young maidens began, generation after generation, to be -covered with the tattooings of time, the records of the number of times -the race had been reborn. So, while the nakedness of youth was being -clothed, mind after mind stored up unforgettable tales of exploit and of -passion, till fancy sang with triumph over things transitory, and tawny -men felt that never would they have to wander more. - -Is not this the history of every race on earth? Has not every nation -gloated over its antiquity and its security? Was not permanence a -surety, and pride the father of ease? And have not song and story been -handed down from generation to generation, or, with the more skilled and -the more proud races, been graved in stone or wax or wood? And have not -the more mighty and the more venturesome come over the pass, or over the -crest and invaded and conquered and changed? - -So it was when Polynesia awoke to see that which could only be a god, -because fashioned in the form of its own imaginings, swept by its -gorgeous sails into view,--the ship of Captain Cook. Thus the racial -memories that had lain dormant in the Polynesians for centuries were -revived by Europeans. Narrative renders vividly their surprise and -wonder, especially on seeing the vessel girt in iron such as had drifted -in on fragments from the unknown wrecks and had become to these natives -more precious than gold. - -It seems to me that in the hearts and minds of heliolithic man when he -ventured eastward across the chain of islands which links, or rather -separates, Polynesia and Melanesia from its home in Asia, he must have -felt just as Cook and Vancouver and Magellan felt. Bit by bit I picked -up those outer resemblances which give to men the world over their basic -brotherliness. They may hate one another justly, but they cannot get -away from that fraternity. And they generally reveal relationship when -they least expect it. - -Thus, as we kicked our way up the smooth waters of the Rewa River, Fiji, -in a launch laden with black faces and proud shocks of curly hair, mixed -with sleek people of slightly lighter-hued India, a suggestion of the -origin of these people came to me. As these alien Indians, so must have -come these native negroids. I should have felt successful in my method -of inquiry, hopeful of feeling my way into a solution of this wondering, -had not an outrigger canoe dragged itself across our course with a -dilapidated sail of bark-cloth. - -"Where did they learn to sail?" I asked the white skipper. - -"They have always known it," he answered. "But you seldom see these -sails nowadays." - -I wanted to take a snap-shot of it, but the lights of evening, as those -of tradition, were against me, and we were clipping along too rapidly. -The last example of an art which brought the whole race eastward was -being carelessly retained. - -A few days later I caught another glimpse of a past that was working my -sun-baked brain too much. We were going up the river in a comfortable -launch, some missionaries and I, their unknown guest. We were about -twenty or thirty miles up the Rewa. With us was a young native who spoke -English rather well. I plied him with questions, but his shyness and -reticence, so characteristic of isolated human beings, inhibited him. At -last he spoke, with an eye to my reactions, of the methods of warfare -along the palisades of the river. - -"In my boyhood days," he said, "nobody knew anything of his neighbor. -People lived just a mile apart, but you white people were not much -stranger to us than they were to one another. There was constant war. We -children were afraid to venture very far from our village." - -"Has that always been the way?" - -"I suppose so, but I don't know," and that was all I could get out of -him. Yet it has not always been so, for nothing is always so among -people, and the Melanesian-Fijians in many cases have welcomed and -received among them Samoans and Tongans, races distinctly different from -them. There is a definite separation, however, between ourselves and the -Fijians that is obvious even to the casual tourist, and affords no easy -solution of the whence and why. - -Not so among the Polynesians as in Samoa, where one instantly feels at -home. That which attracted me to the Fijian was his incompatibility, -his unconscious aloofness, his detachment. - -There is, however, not much greater difference between some of the races -in the Pacific and the white men than there is between any two of the -European peoples themselves. There is less difference between an -Hawaiian and a Maori, though they are separated by nearly four thousand -miles of unbroken sea, than there is between an Englishman and a -Frenchman with only a narrow channel between them. In the Pacific, the -chain of relationship between races from New Zealand to Hawaii is -somewhat similar to that running north and south in Europe. The -variation becomes similarly more pronounced in the latitudinal -direction. In other words, the diversity existing between European and -Turk is something akin to that between Samoan and Fijian,--from the -point of view of appearances. - -Something of the kinship of peoples scattered over the millions of -square miles of Pacific seas becomes evident, not so much in their own -features and customs as in the way in which they lend themselves to -fusion with the modern incoming nomads of the West. Something of the -possible migrations said to have taken place in that unromantic age of -man somewhere back in Pleistocene days may be grasped from the streams -that now flow in and become part of the life of the South Pacific. -Scientists detect in the Melanesian-Fijian slight traces of Aryan blood -without being definite as to how it got there. When I ran into a little -fruit shop in Suva, just before sailing, to taste for the last time the -joys of mummy-apple, I glimpsed for a second the how. For the proprietor -was a stout, gray-haired, dark-complexioned individual from the island -of St. Helena. In a vivid way he described to me the tomb of Napoleon, -spicing his account with a few incidents of the emperor's life on the -island. Should no great flood of Europeans come to dilute the present -slight infusions, the centuries that lie in waiting will perhaps -augment this accidental European strain into some romantic story. In a -thousand years it would not at all be impossible for this story of -Napoleon to become part of Fijian legend, and for children to refer to -that unknown god of war as their god and the father of their ideals. -This genial islander from St. Helena will puzzle anthropologists and -afford them opportunities for conjecture, fully as much as the evidence -of Aryan and Iberian races in Asia and the islands east of it does -to-day. - - [Illustration: DIAMOND HEAD, NEAR HONOLULU - Once a volcano, now a fortress] - - [Illustration: THE HULK OF THE GERMAN MAN-OF-WAR, THE _ADLER_ - Wrecked in the hurricane of 1889 at Samoa] - - [Illustration: AFTER SEVEN DAYS OF SEA--THIS EMERGED] - - [Illustration: HILO, HAWAII - An oasis in the desert of the Pacific] - -Or the wail of the Indian, into whose shop I strayed to get out of the -sun, at the downfall of "his" empire, may be the little seed of thought -out of which the aspirations of a Fiji reborn will spring. - - -2 - -According to the traditions of almost every race on earth, the place of -its nativity is the cradle of mankind. Nor does mere accident satisfy. -In nearly every instance not only is the belief extant among natives -that their race was born there, but that, be the birthplace island or -continent, it came into existence by some form of special creation as an -abiding-place for a chosen people. The Japanese _kami_, Izanagi and -Izanami, were commissioned by the other gods to "make, consolidate, and -give birth to the drifting land." "According to the Samoan cosmogony, -first there was Leai, nothing; thence sprung Nanamu, fragrance; then -Efuefu, dust; then Iloa, perceivable; then Maua, obtainable; then -Eleele, earth; then Papatu, high rocks; then Maataanoa, small stones; -then Maunga, mountains. Then Maunga married Malaeliua, or changeable -meeting-place, and had a daughter called Fasiefu, piece of dust." The -more primitive Melanesians, the Fijians, and the Australoids are less -definite in their conceptions of whence they came, having in many cases -no traditions or myths to offer. - -With all our scientific inquiry, we are to-day still lost in the maze of -probable origins of various races. The birthplace of man is as much of a -mystery as it ever was. Ninety years ago, Darwin said of the South -Pacific: "Hence, both in space and time, we seem to be brought somewhat -near to that great fact--that mystery of mysteries--the first appearance -of new beings on this earth." And in 1921 Roy Chapman Andrews set out -upon a third expedition to Mongolia in search of relics and fossils of -the oldest man. He writes: - - With the exception of the Java specimen, all fossil human fragments - have been discovered in Europe or England. Nevertheless, the - leading scientists of the day believe that Asia was the early home - of the human race and that whatever light may be thrown upon the - origin of man will come from the great central Asian plateau north - of the Himalaya Mountains. - -Thus his antiquity will doubtless interest man to his dying day. Slogans -epitomizing the spirit of races fan the flames of human conflict. -Conflict wears down the differences between them, or shatters them and -scatters them to the whirling winds. Doubtless the records which seem to -us so lucid and so permanent will vanish from the earth in the next -half-million years, and our descendants will mumble in terms of vague -tradition expressions of their beginning. Or perhaps their linguistics -will make ours vulgar and primitive by comparison. Possibly, if our -progress and development are not impeded, the hundreds of tongues now -spoken on this globe will seem childishly incomplete, and in their stead -will be one extremely simple but flexible language spoken in every islet -in the seas. - -What our present world will seem to the man of the future, the world of -the Pacific, wreathed in races of every hue--Asia, Australasia, the -Americas--seems to us now. In the wide spaces of the Pacific we have -several thousands of islands, anchored at various distances from one -another in about seventy million square miles of sea. Grouped with a -healthy regard for the freedom of individual needs there are enough -separate races, speaking separate languages and abiding by separate -customs, to make the many-colored map of Europe seem one primary hue by -comparison. Yet all the romance which brightens the pages of European -history and its intake of Asiatic culture is ordinary beside the -mysterious silence that steeps the origin and age of the cultures of the -Pacific. There, beneath the heavy curtain of unknown antiquity, dwell -innumerable people who, if they are not the Adams and Eves of creation, -have wandered very little from the birthplace of the human race. It -seems as though the overflow of living creatures from the heart of Asia -had found an underground channel back into the Garden of Eden, like some -streamlet lost in the sands of the seashore, but worming its way into -the very depths below. Polynesia, Micronesia, Melanesia, are the names -by which we know them. The drawer of water, as he lets his bucket down -to the farthest reaches of the wells of antiquity, finds in his vessel -evidence of kinship with races now covering the whole of Europe. Romance -has it that the Amerindians are descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel -and Mormon missionaries are carrying that charm among the Polynesians. -They are very successful in New Zealand among the Maories. Like a great -current of warm water in the sea, the Polynesian races have run from -Hawaii to Samoa, the Marquesas, Tahiti, and Maoriland. How they got -there is still part of conjecture. - -To most of us, the South Seas mean simply cannibals and naked girls. -Dark skins and giant bodies are synonymous with Polynesians. The -grouping of these peoples into Poly-Mela-Micronesian has some scientific -meaning which, if not esoteric and awe-inspiring, slips by our -consciousness as altogether too highbrow to deserve consideration. Or we -are satisfied with pictures such as Melville and O'Brien have given us, -pictures that as long as the world is young will thrill us as do those -of Kinglake and Marco Polo. But, those of us who have gone beyond our -boyhood rhymes of "Wild man from Borneo just come to town" and have been -White Shadows ourselves, are keenly interested in the whence and the why -of these people. Can it be that Darwin was right? Have we approached the -spot whereon man made his first appearance on the earth? Or are others -right whose soundings divulge a hidden course that gives these people a -birthplace ten thousand miles away, in central Asia? Is it that all the -people of the world were first made men on land that is now beneath the -waters of the Pacific,--men who, because of geological changes, fell -back across Asia, leaving scattered remnants in the numerous island -peaks now standing alone in that sun-baked world? "There is ground for -the belief," says Griffith Taylor,[1] "that the Pacific Ocean was -smaller in the Pleistocene period, being reduced by a belt of land -varying in width from 100 to 700 miles." Or are the further calculations -more accurate,--that there have been constant migrations of people from -Asia? - - [1] Griffith Taylor: _Geographical Review_, January, 1912, p. 61. - -Slowly scientists are groping their way through legend. No one who has -been among the South Sea people, and those of the western Pacific -islands, can help being impressed with certain remarkable likenesses -between them and European people. Present-day anthropologists are at -variance with the old evolutionary school which believed in "a general, -uniform evolution of culture in which all parts of mankind -participated." "At present," according to Franz Boas, "at least among -certain groups of investigators in England and also in Germany, -ethnological research is based on the concept of migration and -dissemination rather than upon that of evolution." In connection with -Polynesia and the Pacific peoples, it seems to be fairly well known that -they drifted from island to island in giant canoes. They had no sails -nor compass, but, guided by stars and directed by the will of the winds, -they roved the high seas and landed wherever the shores were hospitable. -During ages when Europe dreaded the sea and hugged the land, when the -European universe consisted of a flat table-like earth and a dome-like -heaven of stars,--even before the vikings ventured on their wild -marauding excursions, the Polynesians made of the length and breadth of -the Pacific a highway for their canoes. "Somewhat before this (450 -A. D.) one bold Polynesian had reached polar ice in his huge war -canoe."[1] Our Amerindians dared the swiftest rapids in their frail bark -canoes; but what was that compared with the courage and love of freedom -which sent this lone Polynesian out upon the endless waters of the -Pacific? Some day a poet will give him his deserving place among the -great heroes. - - [1] Griffith Taylor: _Geographical Review_, January, 1912, p. 61. - -Dr. Macmillan Brown tells us that the Easter Islands were once the -center of a great Pacific empire. Here men came from far and wide to pay -tribute to one ruling monarch. He builded himself a Venice amid the -coral reefs, with canals walled in by thirty feet of stone. Fear of the -control over the winds which this monarch was said to possess, and -superstitious dread of his ire brought the vassal islanders to him with -their choicest possessions, though he had no military means of -compelling respect. This monarch, like the Pharaohs who built the -pyramids, must have had thousands of laborers to have been able to cut, -shape, and build the giant platforms of stone or the great canals which -are referred to as the Venice of the Pacific. It must have taken no -little engineering skill so to adjust them to one another as to require -no mortar to keep them together. In the Caroline Islands, now under -Japanese mandate, there still stand remains of stone buildings of a -forgotten day's requirements. - -These relics of unknown days make it reasonably certain that after -having been "shot" out from the mainland, the early people of the -Pacific reached all the way across to the island of Savaii, in the -Samoan group, and later as far as Tahiti. Why they did not go on to the -Americas is hard to say. Perhaps the virginity of the islands and the -congenial climate offered these artless savages all they desired. Beyond -were cold and drudgery. Here, though labor and war were not wanting, -still there was balmy weather. Probably they were the tail-end of the -great migration of the Wurm ice age. More venturesome than most, and -having arrived at lands roomy enough for their small numbers, they must -have called themselves blessed in that much good luck and decided to -take no further chances with the generosity of the gods. - - Linguistic and ethnological data link the Polynesians with the - Koreans, Japanese, Formosans, Indonesians, and Javanese. Legends - and genealogies show that about the dawn of our era the early - Polynesians were among the Malay Islands. By 450 A. D. they had - reached Samoa and by 850 A. D., Tahiti.... In 1175 A. D. the - primitive Maoriori were driven out of New Zealand to the Chatham - Isles. No doubt New Zealand was first reached several hundred years - before this. Tahiti seems to have been a center of dispersal, as - Percy Smith has pointed out in his interesting book "Hawaiki." We - must, however, remember that Melanesians preceded the Polynesians - to many of these islands at a much earlier date.[1] - - [1] Griffith Taylor: _Geographical Review,_ January, 1921. - -However, mutation is the law of life. Even these small groups split into -smaller factions. Some went south to the islands of the Antipodes and -called themselves Maories; others went north of the equator and called -themselves Hawaiians. The physical distribution of all the races in the -Pacific, rooting, as we have seen, in Asia, represents a virile plant -the stem of which runs eastward and is known as Micronesia and -Melanesia, with the flowers, in all their diversified loveliness, -Hawaii, Samoa, Tahiti, the Marquesas, and Maoriland. - -What made them what they are? How is it that being, as it seems, people -of extraction similar to that of Europeans, they have remained in such a -state of arrested development? How is it that they became cannibals, -eaters of men's flesh? Again the answer is not far to seek. Just like -the Europeans, they followed the line of least resistance, having as yet -developed no artificial or brain-designed weapons against the stress of -nature. Europeans, in time of great famine, have not themselves been -above cannibalism. In our Southern States we have isolated mountaineers -to show us what men can revert to. And in northern China to-day, -essentially Buddhist and non-flesh-eating, cannibalism was reported -during the famine last year. - -But Europe had what Polynesia did not have. Driven by the force of -necessity out of continental Asia, Polynesia hid itself away in the -cracks and crannies of the Pacific; Europeans spread over a small -continent and broke up into innumerable warring and learning tribes. -Backward and forward along peninsular Europe, men communicated to one -another their emotional and objective experiences. The result has been a -culture amazing only in its diversity,--amazing because, with contact -and interchange of racial experiences, the coursing and recoursing of -the same blood, stirred and dissolved, it is amazing that such diversity -should persist. - -But in Polynesia, Melanesia, Micronesia,--in all the distant land-specks -of the Pacific,--contact was impossible in the larger sense. Though -canoes did slide into strange harbors or drift or row in and about the -atolls, they afforded at most romantic stimuli to these isolated groups. -Infusion of culture was very difficult. At most, these causal meetings -added to or confused the stories of their origin. And in a little time -the different island groups forgot their beginnings. - -Presently, the pressure upon their small areas with the limited food -supply began to make itself felt. Some method had to be devised for the -limitation of population and to keep in food what few numbers there -were. There seem to have been no indigenous animals anywhere in the -islands. Darwin found only a mouse, and of this he was uncertain as to -whether it really was indigenous. Except for a few birds, and the giant -Moa which roamed the islands of New Zealand, animal life was everywhere -insufficient to the needs of so vital a people as were these. But much -less is heard to-day of the cannibalism said to have run rampant among -them. It is even disputed. The fruits of the tropics, doubtless rich in -vitamines, are peculiarly suited to the sustenance of so spirited a -race. - - -3 - -The Polynesians found in the various islands they approached, during -that slow, age-long migration eastward, tribes and islanders inferior to -themselves. So did the Europeans in their movement westward. The -primitive Caucasians remained and mixed slightly along the way, leaving -here and there traces of their contact. And their ancestors in Asia -forgot their exiled offspring. - -With the landing of Cook at Tahiti, at Poverty Bay, at Hawaii, the -counter invasion of the Pacific began. For over a hundred years now the -European has been injecting his culture, his vices, his iron exactitude -into the so-called primitive races. These hundred years make the second -phase of civilization in the Pacific. It might have been the last. It -might have meant the reunion of Caucasic peoples, their blending and -their amalgamation, and the world would have lived happily ever after. -But the eternal triangle plays its part in politics no less than in -love, and the third period, the period of rivalry and jealousy, of -suspicion and scandal, of still-born accomplishment in many fields has -set in. And tragedy, which men love because it is closest to truth, is -on the stage. - - [Illustration: EVEN FIJIANS ARE LOATH TO FORGET THE ARTS OF THEIR - FOREFATHERS - F. W. Caine, Photo] - - [Illustration: IN GIANT CANOES HELIOLITHIC IMMIGRANTS ROAMED THE - SOUTH SEAS - Photo, H. Winkelmann] - -The third period dates largely from the discovery and the awakening -of Japan. It is the blocking of the European invasion of the Pacific, -and the institution of a counter move,--that of the expansion of Asia -into the Pacific,--which will be treated in the last section of this -book. - -To-day, Polynesia is barely holding its own. Its sons have studied -"abroad," they have been in our schools and universities, they have -fought in "our" war. Rapidly they are putting aside the uncultured -simplicity of adolescence. For long they treasured drifts of iron-girded -flotsam which the waves in their impartiality cast upon their shores; -to-day iron is supplanting thatch, and a belated iron age is reviving -their imaginations, just as iron guns and leaden bullets shattered them -a century ago. In the light of their astonishment, _Rip Van Winkle_ is a -crude conception; Wells has had to revise and enlarge "When the Sleeper -Wakes" into "The Outline of History." No man knows what is pregnant in -the Pacific; nor will the next nine eons reveal the possibilities. - - - - -Chapter III - -OUR FRONTIER IN THE PACIFIC - - -1 - -Honolulu marks our frontier in the Pacific. Honolulu has been conquered. -If the conquest is that of love, then the offspring will be lovely; if -of mere force, or intrigue, then Heaven help Honolulu! As far as outward -signs go, we are in a city American in most details. The numerous -trolleys, the modern buildings, the motor-cars, the undaunted Western -efficiency which no people is able to withstand has gripped Hawaii in an -iron grip. True that the foreign (that is, Hawaiian, Chinese, Japanese, -Portuguese) districts are steeped in squalor, but this is old Honolulu. -The new is a little Los Angeles with all its soullessness, and it has -taken all the illusions of modern civilization to accomplish it. The -first illusion was that the natives would be better off as Americans -than as Hawaiians; the second, that Hawaiians were lazy and Japanese and -Chinese were necessary; the third, that cleanliness is next to -godliness. How have these things worked out? The Hawaiians are in the -ever-receding minority, the Japanese in the unhappy majority, and -enjoyment of cleanliness has made most men forget that it is only _next_ -to something else. If the invited are coming to Honolulu expecting -money-grabbers to turn to poetry and petty politicians to philosophy, -they had better save their fares. If readers of magazines expect to find -a melting-pot in which all the ingredients are dancing about with their -arms round one another's neck, they had better remain at home. - -For the first and foremost effect of the tropics is to individualize -things. In colder climes people huddle together to conserve warmth; here -they give one another plenty of space. Virtually one of the first things -the new-comer does is to name and separate things from the mass. Every -little thing has its personality. Plants grow in profusion, but each -opens out to its utmost. One is much more inclined to ask what this -flower is called in Honolulu than in America, for each stands out, and -one stands out to each. Honolulu exudes moisture and fragrance, stirring -the passions as does the scent of a clean woman. It limbers up one's -reasoning faculties and arouses one's curiosity. - -On the street every Chinese and every Japanese comes in for his share of -attention. One begins to single out types as it has never occurred to -one to do in New York. In Honolulu all intermingle, flower in a sort of -unity, but in the very mass they retain their natural variations. The -white people are ordinarily good, they have mastered the technique of -life sufficiently and play tolerably well to an uncritical audience. -While the Hawaiian policeman in charge of the traffic stands out in bold -relief because the dignity and importance of his position have stiffened -the easy tendencies of his race,--he is self-conscious. Monarch of -Confusion, arrayed in uniform, tall and with the manner of one always -looking from beneath heavy eyebrows, it is said that he causes as much -trouble as he allays. But that is mere prejudice. Who would dare ignore -his arm and hand as he directs the passing vehicle? He fascinates. He -commands. His austere silence is awe-inspiring. When he permits a driver -to pass, there is a touch of the contemptuous in that relinquishment. -Nor dare the driver turn the corner till, in like manner, this human -indicator points the direction for him. The finger follows now almost -mockingly, until another car demands its attention, and it becomes -threatening again. - -One hears of the all-inclusive South Seas as though it were something -totally without variation. The average tourist and scribe soon acquires -the South-Sea style. But the more discriminating know full well that the -expressions which describe one of the South Sea islands fall flat when -applied to another. "Liquid sunshine" is a term peculiarly Hawaiian. It -would never apply to Fiji, for instance, for there the words -"atmospheric secretion" are more accurate. Hence, it is more than mere -political chance that has made Hawaii so utterly different from the -Philippines and the litter of South Seas. - -Honolulu is essentially an American city. The hundreds of motor-cars -that dash in and about the streets do so just as they would in "sunny -California." The shops that attract the Americans are just like any in -America,--clean, attractive, with their best foot forward. So -meticulous, so spotless, so untouchable are they that the soul of the -seeker nearly sickens for want of spice and flavor. To have to live on -Honolulu's Main Street would be like drinking boiled water. One imagines -that when the white men came thither, finding disease and uncleanliness -rampant, they determined that if they were to have nothing else they -would have things clean. All newcomers to Oriental and primitive -countries cling to that phase of civilization with something akin to -terror. Generally they get used to the dirt. They have not done so in -Honolulu. It may be that mere distance has something to do with the -different results, but certain it is that Manila, under American control -just as is Honolulu, has none of these prim, not primitive, drawbacks. -Twenty years of American rule have done little really to Americanize -Manila, while they have utterly metamorphosed Honolulu. - -The man-made machine has now outlived the vituperation of idealists. The -man-made machine is running, and even the most romantic enjoys life the -better for it. Clean hotels, swimming-pools within-doors, motor-cars -that bring nature to man with the least loss of time and cost of -fatigue,--these are things which only a fool would despise. But one -longs for some show of the human touch, none the less, and cities that -are built by machine processes are, despite all their virtues, not -attractive. At least, they are not different enough from any other city -in the modern world to justify a week's journey for the seeing. One -hears that steamers and trains and airplanes are killing romance. That -is so, but not because they in themselves conduce to satiety, but -because they destroy indigenous creations and substitute importations -and iron exactitude. Within the next few generations there will, indeed, -be a South Seas, indistinguishable and without variety. Honolulu is an -example. But Honolulu is not Hawaii! It is only a bit of decoration. So -we shall leave this phase of Hawaii for consideration at a time when, -having seen the things native to the Pacific, we reflect upon the -meaning and purport of things alien. - -In Hawaii, we are told,--and without exaggeration,--one can stand in the -full sunshine and watch the rain across the street. So, too, can one -enjoy some of the material blessings of modern life, yet be within touch -of nature incomparably exquisite. - - -2 - -He was only a street-car conductor. Every day he journeyed from the -heart of Honolulu, like a little blood corpuscle, through arteries of -trade hardened by over-feeding, in a jerking, rocking old trolley car, -to the very edge of Manoa Valley. His way lay along the fan-shaped plane -behind the sea, and was lined with semi-palatial residences and Oahu -College. Palms swayed in the breeze, and the night-blooming cereus slept -in the glittering sunlight upon the stone walls. He was only a -street-car conductor, furnished with his three spare meals a day and his -bed, but he fed along the way on sweets that no street-car conductor in -any other place in the world has by way of compensation. He was carved -with wrinkles and his frail frame bent slightly forward, but his heart -was young within him, and he acted like a plutocrat whose hobby was -gardening and whose gardens were rich with the finest flowers on earth. -The delight he took in the open country, barely the edge of which he -reached so many times a day, was pathetic. When I asked him to let me -off where I could wander on the open road, he beamed with pleasure and -delight, and told me where I should have to go really to reach the wild. -There may be other places in the world as beautiful and even more so, -but no place ever had such a street-car conductor to recommend it. And -no recommendation was ever more poetic and inspiring than this,--not -even that of the Promotion Committee of Honolulu. - -And, strange to say, I have never been guided more honestly and more -truthfully than when that street-car conductor advised me to go to Manoa -Valley. I lived an eternity of joy in the few hours I spent there. I -knew that not many miles beyond I should again be blocked by the sea. I -could not see it because of the hills which spend three hundred and -sixty-five days of every year dressing themselves in their very best and -posing before the mirror of the sky. Not more than one or two natives -passed me, nor did any other living creature appear. I could only -romance with myself, refusing to be fooled by the talk about fair -maidens with leis round their necks. I was certain that back home there -were maidens whose beauty could not be equaled here; whose soft, white -skins and shapely forms were never excelled by tropical loveliness. But -I was just as certain that there was nothing at home that compared to -nature as it is lavished upon man here in Hawaii, and especially in -Manoa Valley. - -We all have our compensations, and I have even shown preference for a -return to the joys of genuine human beauty which the maker of worlds -gave to America, and to leave to the mid-Pacific verdure and altitudes -whose combination stirs my mind with passionate adoration to this very -day. Still, I shall ever be grateful to that wizened street-car -conductor for having suggested that I visit his little valley, which he -himself can enter only after paying a penalty of sixteen journeys -between Heaven and Honolulu every day, carrying the money-makers -backward and forward. Perhaps he does not regard it as a penalty. -Perhaps he feels himself fully compensated if one or two of his human -parcels asks him where may be found the Open Road. - - -3 - -Sullen and less concerned with emotional or spiritual values was the -driver of the motor-bus whom we exhumed one day from the heart of -Honolulu's "foreign" section. He evidently regarded nature on his route -as too great a strain on his brakes, though he, too, must have felt that -compensation was meted out to him manifold. For few people come to -Hawaii and leave without contributing some small share to his support, -as he is the shuttle between Honolulu and Kaneohe, and carries the -thread of sheer joy through the eye of that wondrous needle, the Pali. - -At the Pali one senses the youth and vigor of our earth. Its peak, -piercing the sky, seems on the point of emerging from the sea. It has -raised its head above the waters and stands with an air of contempt for -loneliness, wrapped in mist, defying the winds. The world seems to fall -away from it. It has triumphed. There is none of that withdrawing -dignity of Fujiyama, the great man who looks on. The Pali imposes itself -upon your consciousness with spectacular gusto, like the villain -stamping his way into the very center of the stage and gazing roundabout -over a protruding chin. - -The palm-trees bow solemnly before changeless winds, in the direction of -Honolulu, which lies like an open fan at the foot of the valley near the -sea. Color is in action everywhere,--spots of metallic green, of -volcanic red, filtered through a screen of marine gray. Honolulu lies -below to the rear; Kaneohe, beyond vast fields of pineapple, before us; -the sea, wide, open, limitless except for the reaches of the heavens, -binding all. And then there is an upward, circular motion,--that of the -rising mists drawn by the burning rays of the sun pressing landward and -dashing themselves into the valley and falling in sheets of rain upon -the earth. Wedged into a gully, as though caught and unable to break -away, was a heavy cloud,--but it was being drained of every drop of -moisture as a traveler held up by a gang of highway-men. - -This circular motion is found not only in inanimate nature. Once, at -least, it has whirled the Hawaiians into tragedy. Here, history tells -us, Kamehameha I (the fifth from the last of Hawaii's kings) hurled an -army of native Oahu islanders over this bluff, back into the source of -their being. Without quarter he pressed them on, over this pass; while -they, unwilling to yield to capture, chose gladly to dash themselves -into the valley below. One is impressed by the striking interplay of -emotion with sheer nature. The controlling element which directs both -man and mountain seems the same. States and stars alike emerge, crash, -and crumble. - -We rolled rapidly down into the valley past miles and miles of pineapple -fields. Then we came, as it were, to the land's end. Nothing sheer now -before us, nothing precipitate. A bit of freshness, of coolness, and an -imperceptible tapering off. The sea. - - [Illustration: A SAGE IN A CHINA SHOP AT HONOLULU] - - [Illustration: THERE ARE ONLY A FEW CHINESE WOMEN IN HAWAII] - - [Illustration: WHOA! LET'S HAVE OUR PICTURE TAKEN - We don't know whether we're Hawaiian, Chinese or American, but who - cares. Giddap!] - - [Illustration: FEMININE PROPRIETY - Oriental and Occidental versions] - -Here at Kaneohe dwelt Arthur Mackaye, brother of the poet, whose name -was vaguely known to me. He was slender, bearded, loosely clad, with -open collar but not without consciousness and conventionality,--a -conventionality in accordance with prescribed notions of freedom. -Refreshing, cool as the atmosphere roundabout, distinct from the -tropical lusciousness which is the general state of both men and nature -in and about Honolulu, the personality of this lone man--this man who -had flung everything aside--was a fit complement to the experience of -Manoa Valley and the Pali. - -He conducted a small sight-seeing expedition on his own. The proprietor -of a number of glass-bottomed launches, he took me over the quiet waters -of the reefs. Throwing a black cloth over my head to shield me from the -brilliant sky, I gazed down into the still world within the coral reefs. -There lay unimaginable peace. What the Pali affords in panorama, the bay -at Kaneohe offers in concentrated form. Pink-and-white forests twenty to -forty feet deep, with immense cavities and ledges of delicate coral, -fringe the shore. Fish of exquisite color move in and out of these giant -chambers, as much at home in one as in another. Droll, sleepy sponges, -like lumps of porous mud, lie flat against the reefs, waiting for -something edible to come their way. Long green sea-worms extend and -contract like the tentacles of an octopus in an insatiable search for -food. - -An unusual silence hangs over the memory of that trip. I cannot recall -that the unexpected companion I picked up in Honolulu said anything; the -lonely one who furnished the glass-bottomed boat certainly said nothing; -the fish and sponges emphasized the tone of silence associated with the -experience. But the Pali shrieked; it was the one imposing element that -defied stillness. And below it is Honolulu, where silence is not to be -found. - - -4 - -For the Honolulu spirit is averse to silence. Honolulu is the most -talkative city in the world. The people seem to talk with their eyes, -with their gait, with their postures. Night and day there stirs the -confusion of people attending to one another's wants. One is in a -ceaseless whirl of extraverted emotions. One cannot get away from it. -The man who could be lonely in Honolulu would have to have his ears -closed with cement. If New York were as talkative as Honolulu, not all -of America's Main Streets together would drown it out. - -For Honolulu teems with good-fellowship. It is the religion of Honolulu -to have a good time, and every one feels impelled before God and Patria -to live up to its precepts. Everybody not only has a good time but talks -having a good time. Not that there are no undercurrents of jealousy and -gossip. By no means. The stranger is let into these with the same gusto -that swirls him into pleasurable activities. It is a busy, whirligig -world. Even the Y.M.C.A. spirit prevails without restraint. I had found -the building of the association very convenient, and stopped there. That -put the stamp of goodness on me, but it did not exclude me from being -drawn into a roisterous crowd that danced and drank and dissipated -dollars, and heaved a sigh of relief that I did not preach to it. Its -members were glad that I was just "stopping" at the Y. They didn't see -how I could do it, but that was my affair. If I still managed to be a -good fellow,--well, I belonged to Honolulu. - -Charmian London had given me a note of introduction to a friend, Wright, -of the "Bulletin." Wright was a bachelor and had a little bungalow -across from the Waikiki Hotel on the beach. There we met one evening. It -had every indication of the touch of a woman's hand. It was neatly -furnished, cozy, restful. Two nonchalant young men came in, but after a -delightful meal hurried away to some party. Wright and I were left. What -should we do? Something must be done. - -He ordered a touring-car. We whirled along under the open sky with a -most disporting moon, and it seemed a pity we had none with us over whom -to romanticize. Quietly, as though we were on a moving stage, the world -slipped by,--palms, rice-fields ashimmer with silver light. Through -luxuriant avenues, we passed up the road toward the Pali. Somewhere -half-way we stopped. The Country Club. A few introductions, a moment's -stay, and off we went again, this time to avoid the dance that was to -take place there. Slipping along under the moonlight, we made our way -back to Waikiki beach, dismissed the car, and took a table at Heinie's -which is now, I understand, no more. - -But we had only jumped from the frying-pan into the fire. Others, bored -with the club dance, had come to Heinie's for more fling than dancing -afforded. The hall was not crowded, so we were soon noticed. Mr. Wright -was known. - -"They want us to come over," he said. "Just excuse me a moment." - -Presently he returned. I had been specifically invited over with him. I -accepted the invitation. Then, till there were no more minutes left of -that day, we indulged in one continuous passing of wits and wets. Before -half the evening was over, I was one of the crowd in genuine Honolulu -fashion, and nothing was too personal for expression. - -But one there was in the group to whom all her indulgences were -obviously strange, though she seemed well practised. She was a romantic -soul, and sought to counteract the teasing of the others. Her -deprecation of whisky and soda was almost like poor Satan's hatred of -hell. She vibrated to romantic memories like a cello G string. When she -learned that I was westward bound, she fairly moaned with regret. - -"China!--oh, dear, beloved China! I would give anything in the world to -get back there!" she exclaimed, and whatever notions I had of the Orient -became exalted a thousandfold. But my own conviction is that she missed -the cheap servants which Honolulu lacks. In other words, there were -still not enough leisure and Bubbling Well Roads in Honolulu, nor the -international atmosphere that is Shanghai's. But that is mere -conjecture, and she was a romantic soul, and good to look at. - -But there were two others in the crowd who did not, in their hilarious -spirits, whirl into my ken until some time afterward. Their speed was -that of the comet's, and what was a plodding little planet like myself -to do trying to move into their orbit? They were not native daughters of -Honolulu; most of their lives they had spent in California, which in the -light of Hawaii is a raw, chill land. There they carried on the drab -existence of trying to earn a living,--just work and no play. But -evidently they had never given up hope. They were tall, thin, fair, and -jolly. They invested. They won. It was only two thousand dollars. They -earned as much every year, no doubt, but it came to them in instalments. -Now they had a real roll. _Bang_ went the job! American industry, all -that depended on their being stable, honest producers, the smoothness of -organization, was banished from their minds. Let the country go to the -dogs; they were heading for Honolulu for a good time. And when they got -there they did not find the cupboard bare, nor excommunication for being -jobless. - -For as long as two thousand dollars will last where money flows freely -(and there are plenty of men ready to help stretch it with generous -entertainment) these two escaped toilers from the American deep ran the -gamut of Honolulu's conviviality. Night after night they whispered -amorous compliments in the ears of the favorite dancers; day after day -they flitted from party to party. I had met them just as their two -thousand dollars were drawing to a close, but the only thing one could -hear was regret that they could not possibly be extended. Honolulu was -richer by two thousand; they were poorer to the extent of perpetual -restlessness and rebellion against the necessity of holding down a job. -Yet the "Primer" published by the Promotion Committee tells us that -Hawaii is "not a paradise for the jobless." These folk had no jobs, yet -they certainly felt and acted and spoke as though they were in Paradise. - -Witness the arrivals and departures of steamers. The crowds gather as -for a fête or a carnival. Bands play, serpentines stream over the ship's -side, and turn its dull color into a careless rainbow. Hawaiian women -sell leis, necklaces of the most luscious flowers whose scent is enough -to empassion the most passionless. But as to jobs,--why, even the -longshoremen seem to be celebrating and the steamer moves as by -spirit-power. - -Visit Waikiki beach, and every day it is littered with people who enjoy -the afternoon hours on the tireless breakers. Go to the hotels, and -hardly an hour finds them deserted. The motor-cars are constantly -carrying men and women about as though there was nothing in the wide -world to do. Even those who are unlucky enough to have jobs attend to -them in a leisurely sort of way. Yet these jobless people hold up their -hands in warning to possible immigrants that there is no room for them, -that "Hawaii is not a paradise for the jobless." - - -5 - -Who, then, does the work of the island? It is obvious that it is being -done. There isn't another island in the whole Pacific so modernized, so -thoroughly equipped, so American in every detail, so progressive and -well-to-do. It is the most sublimated of the sublime South Seas. One -wonders how white men could have remained so energetic in the tropics, -but one is not long left uninformed. Honolulu is an example of a most -ideal combination of peoples, the inventive, progressive, constructive -white man with the energetic, persistent, plodding Oriental. Without the -one or the other, Honolulu would not be what it is; both have -contributed to the welfare of the islands in ways immeasurable. - -It is not surprising, therefore, to find the Oriental elements as much -in evidence as the Occidental. One hardly knows where one begins and the -other ends. As spacious and individualized as are the European sections, -so the Asiatic are a perfect jumble of details. The buildings are drab, -the streets are littered, the smells are insinuating, the sounds -excruciating. - -A most painful noise upon an upper balcony of an overhanging Chinese -building made me come to with a sudden clapping of my hands against my -ears. As noise goes, it was perfect,--without theme or harmony. It could -not have been more uncontrolled. What consolation was it that in China -there was more of it! Gratitude awakened in me for the limitations a -wise joss had placed upon the capacities of the individual. Yet men are -never satisfied. These Chinese weren't, and combined their energies. -What one man couldn't accomplish, several could at least approach. So we -had a band. I should certainly never have thought it possible, myself. - -However, they were trying to achieve something. It was neither gay nor -mournful; nor was it sentimental. What purpose could it possibly have -served? Surely they had no racial regrets or aspirations, they who -played it! The bird sings to his mate, but what mate would listen to -such tin-canning and howling, and not die? - -To me there was something charming in this shamelessness of the Chinese, -something childlike and naïve. I had never realized the meaning of that -little rhyme, - - I would not give the weakest of my song - For all the boasted strength of all the strong - If but the million weak ones of the world - Would realize their number and their wrong. - -The thought is almost terrifying when applied to the teeming hordes of -the world, whether of Asia, Europe, or the South Seas. If sheer numbers -are any justification of supremacy, God had better take His old world -back and reshape it nearer something rational. One becomes conscious of -this welling up of the world in Hawaii. Not that the Chinese and the -Japanese haven't the same right to life and to its fulfilment in -accordance with latent instinct and ability, with all its special racial -traits and customs, but one doesn't just exactly see how numbers have -anything to do with it. Yet here are the Chinese and Japanese slowly, -quietly, persistently out-distancing the white by a process of doubling -in numbers, where mentality and ingenuity would doubtless fail. - -One hears much about the progress of the Orient. That is, white folk -talk much about the way in which the East is taking to Western ways, and -call that progress. One would not expect that sort of progress to -proceed with any great velocity in the East itself, but it is only -necessary to observe the ingrowing tendencies of life in Hawaii, however -superficially, to see how foolishly optimistic is the expectation of -such progress. For even in Hawaii, where everything has had to be built -afresh, where everybody is an alien--with very few exceptions--and where -the dominant element is European, the East is still the East, and the -West the West. There is a slight overlapping, but not enough to make one -lose one's way,--to make a white man walk into a Chinese restaurant and -not know it. The fastidious white man whose curiosity gets the better of -him, moves about the Chinese and Japanese districts fully conscious of -his own shortcomings. He is less able to feel at home there than the -Oriental on the main street; but why doesn't the Oriental build for -himself a main street? - -I was abroad early one Sunday morning, headed for the Chinese section. -Lost in thought, I went along, gazing on the ground. Had Charlie -Chaplin's feet suddenly come into my range of vision I should not have -been more surprised than I was when two tiny shoes, hardly bigger than -those of a large-sized doll, and with some of that stiff, automatic -movement of the _species mechanicus_, dissipated my reflections. I -raised my eyes slowly, as when waking, up, up, up,--hem of skirt, -knees, waist-line, flat bosom, narrow shoulders, sallow face, and slit -eyes! A Chinese woman! She was as big as a fourteen-year-old girl, but -her feet were a third of their due proportion. How many thousands of -years of natural selection went into the making of those little feet? -Yet she was a rare enough exception to astound my abstracted mind. About -her strolled hundreds of others of her race, who would have given much -of life to possess those two little feet. - -Differences abound in Hawaii. The Chinese is no twin brother of the -Japanese. In fact, there is probably as much relationship between the -Hawaiian and the Japanese as there is between these two "Oriental" -races. The major part of the Japanese being Malay and the Polynesian -Hawaiians having at least lived with the Malays some hundreds of years -ago and infused some of their Caucasic ingredients into them, there is -more of "home-coming" when "Jap" meets "Poly," than when he meets -"Chink." But notwithstanding proximity and propinquity, over which -diplomatic letter-writers labor hard, when the Chinese and the Japanese -and the Hawaiian come together, the Hawaiian "vanishes like dewdrops by -the roadside," the Chinese jogs along, and the Japanese runs motor-cars -and raises children. The Japanese obtrudes himself much more upon the -life of the community than the other two races, but with no more -relinquishment of his own ways. He drives the cars and he drives white -men to more activity than they really enjoy. And the Hawaiian sells -necklaces of luscious flowers under the shaded porticoes of the -buildings along the waterfront. - - [Illustration: MILES AWAY ROSE THE FUMES OF KILAUEA - During the day they were ashen and at night like rose dawn] - - [Illustration: THE LARGEST CAULDRON OF MOLTEN ROCK ON EARTH - Eight hundred feet below it seethed] - - [Illustration: A RIVER OF ROCK POURING OUT INTO THE SEA - Photo, Otto C. Gilmore] - - [Illustration: WHIRLING EDDIES OF LAVA UNDERMINING FROZEN LAVA - PROJECTIONS - Photo, Otto C. Gilmore] - -Aside from the adoption of our trousers and coat and hat, and a few -other unimportant aspects of our civilization, the observer on the -streets of Honolulu sees no mingling of races. The only outward sign of -this mixing is the Salvation Army. There, large as life, with the -usual circular crowd about them, stood these soldiers of misfortune, -praising the Lord in English. A row of unlimited Oriental offspring upon -the curb; a few grown-ups on the walk; a converted Japanese who looked -as though his Shinto father had disowned him; a self-conscious white boy -who confessed to having been converted just recently; two -indifferent-looking soldiers; a distrustful-looking leader and a -hopeless-visaged white woman. Twenty feet away, a saloon. I wonder what -the Salvation Army is going to do now that that object of attraction is -no more. - -As far as Honolulu was concerned, it seemed to me that barter and trade -were more intoxicating to the majority than was drink. The world -everywhere about seemed a-litter with boxes and bales and shops and -indulgences. How much of all the things exchanged, how many of the -things for which these people toil endlessly, are worth while or -essential, or even truly satisfying? The dingy stores, their only worth -their damp coolness; the huddling and the innocent dirt; the -inextricable mesh of little things to be done,--only the Chinese sage -who posed for my camera in front of his wee stock of yarns was able to -tell their value to life. His long, thin, pointed beard, his lack of -vanity in accepting my interest in him, his genial smile and fatherly -disinterestedness symbolized more than anything I saw in Honolulu the -virtue and endurance of race. Beside the eager, grasping Japanese and -the rolling, expanding white men, he looked like the overtowering -palm-tree that seems to grow out of the monkey-pod in the park. - - -6 - -To a creature from another world, hovering over us in the unseen ether, -watching us move about beneath the sea of air which is life to us, -Honolulu would seem like a little glass aquarium. The human beings move -about as though on the best of terms with one another. Some look more -gorgeous than others, but from outward appearances they are as innocent -of ill intentions against one another as the aquatic creatures for which -Hawaii is famous, out in the cool, moist aquarium at Waikiki. - -Kihikihi, the Hawaiians call one of them, and his friends the white folk -have christened him Moorish Idol. I don't know what Kihikihi means, but -as to his being an idol, I can't accept that for a moment, except in so -far as he deserves to be idolized. For about him there is no more of -that static, woodeny thing which idols generally are than there is about -Pavlowa. Yet he is only a fish, and not so very large at that. He is -moon-shaped, but rainbow-hued. He is perhaps three-quarters of an inch -across the shoulders, but six inches up and down, and perhaps eight from -nose to the ends of his two tails. And so he looks like a three-quarter -moon. Soft, vertical bands of black, white, and egg-yellow run into one -another on both sides, and a long white plume trails downward in a -semicircle. He is the last word in form, translucent harmony of color -and of motion. He moves about with rhythmic dignity and grace. At times -his eyes bulge with an eagerness and self-importance as though the world -depended on him for its security. Though he is constantly searching for -food, he does not seem avaricious; and while he admits his importance, -he is not proud. - -Kihikihi has a rival in Nainai, who has been given an alias,--Surgeon -Fish, light brown with an orange band on his sides. Nainai is heavier -than Kihikihi, more plump. His color, too, is heavier and therefore -seems more restrained. It is richer and hence stimulates envy and -desire. - -Lauwiliwili Unkunukuoeoe has no aliases, thank you, but he has a snout -on which his Hawaiian name could be stamped in fourteen-point type and -still leave room for half a dozen aliases. Only a water-creature could -possess such a title as this and keep from dragging it in the mud. -Knowing that he would be called by that appellation in life, his Creator -must have compensated him with plenty of snout. - -But it is better to have one long snout than eight. And though no one -would give preference to any devil-fish, this long-snouted creature is -the rival by an inverse ratio of that eight-snouted glutton. The -octopus, the devil of the deep, is an insult to fishdom. The Moorish -Idol and this Medusa-like monster in the same aquarium make a worse -combination than Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. This ugly, flabby, boneless -body, just thick skin and muscle, with a large bag for a head,--eight -sea-worms extending and contracting in an insatiable search for food is -the paramount example of gross materialism. If only the high cost of -living would drive to suicide this beast with hundreds of mouths to -feed, the world might be rid of a perfidious-looking monster. But his -looks do him great injustice, and were the Hawaiian variety--which is, -after all, only squid--to disappear, the natives would be deprived of -one of their chief delicacies. At the markets--that half-way house -between aquaria and museums--numerous dried octopus, like moth-eaten -skins, lie about waiting for the housewife's art to camouflage them. But -I shall have something to say elsewhere about markets and museums, and -now shall turn, for a moment, to more startling wonders still. - - -7 - -An artist is delighted if he finds a study with a perfect hand or a -beautiful neck; or, in nature, if a simple charm is left undisturbed by -the confusion of human creation. Yet at night as our ship passed the -island of Maui, it seemed to me that all the sweet simplicities that -make life worth while had been assembled here in the beginning of the -world and left untouched. The moon rose on the peak of the cone-shaped -mountain, and for a time stood set, like a moonstone in a ring. The -pyramid of night-blue earth was necklaced in street lights, which -stretched their frilled reflections across the surface of the sea; and -just back of it all lay the crater of Haleakala, the House of the Sun. - -At sunrise next morning we were docked at Hilo on the island of Hawaii, -two hundred miles from Honolulu. There was nothing here impressive to -me, despite the waterfalls. For two and a half hours we drove by motor -over the turtle-back surface of Hawaii toward Kilauea. Tree-ferns, -palms, and plantations stretched in unending recession far and wide. A -sense of mystery and awe crept slowly over me as we neared the region of -the volcano. At eleven we arrived at the Volcano House. - -Yet, in a mood of strange indifference I gazed across the five miles of -flat, dark-brown frozen lava which is the roof of the crater. -Ash-colored fumes rose from the field of fissures, like smoke from an -underground village. Sullen, sallow vapors, these. Sulphur banks, tree -molds cast in frozen lava, empty holes! Nothing within left to rot, but -fringed with forests and brush, sulphur-stained or rooted in frozen -lava. Everywhere promise of volcanic fury, prophecy of the end of the -world. - -The road lay like a border round the rim of an antique bowl which had -been baked, cracked, chipped, but shaped to a usefulness that is beauty. -All day long we waited, watching the clouds of gray fumes rise steadily, -silently, and with a sad disinterestedness out of the mouth of the -crater. - -Frozen, the lava was the great bed of assurance, a rock of fearlessness. -It seemed to say to the volcano: "I can be indifferent. Down there, deep -down, is your limitation. Rise out of the pit and you become, like me, -congealed. There, down in that deep, is your only hope of life. This -great field of lifeless lava is proof of your effort to reach beyond -your sphere. So why fear?" And there was no fear. - - [Illustration: A BLIZZARD OF FUMING HEAT - Photo, Otto C. Gilmore] - - [Illustration: WHERE THE TIDES TURN TO STONE - Photo, Otto C. Gilmore] - - [Illustration: THE LAKE OF SPOUTING MOLTEN LAVA - In the volcano of Kilauea. At night the white here shown is pink - and terrifying - Photo, Otto C. Gilmore] - -As night came on the gray fumes began to flush pink with the reflection -of the heart of the crater. We set out in cars for the edge. Extinct -craters yawned on every side, their walls deep and upright. Some were -overgrown with green young trees, but as we came nearer to the living -crater, life ceased. Great rolls of cloud-fumes rose from the gulch to -wander away in silence. What a strange journey to take! From out a -boiling pit where place is paid for by furious fighting, where pressure -is father of fountains of boiling rock, out from struggle and howling -fury, these gases rose into the world of living matter, into the world -of wind and water. Out of the pit of destruction into the air, never -ceasing, always stirring down there, rising to where life to us is death -to it. The lava, seething, red, shoots aimlessly upward, only to quell -its own futile striving in intermittent exhaustion. - -We stood within a foot of the edge. Eight hundred feet below us the lava -roared and spit. In the night, the entire volcano turned a pink glow, -and before us lay three-quarters of a mile of Inferno come true. The red -liquid heaves and hisses. Some of it shoots fully fifty feet into the -air; some is still-born and forms a pillar of black stone in the midst -of molten lava. From the other corner a steady stream of lava issues -into the main pool, and the whole thumps and thuds and sputters and -spouts, restless, toiling eternally. - -On our way to the crater we were talkative. We joked, burnt paper over -the cracks, discussed volcanic action, and expressed opinions about -death and the probability of animal consciousness after death. But as we -turned away from the pit we fell silent. It was as though we had looked -into the unknown and had seen that which was not meant for man to see. -And the clouds of fumes continued to issue calmly, unperturbed, with a -dreadful persistence. - -Just as our car groped its way through the mists to the bend in the -road, a Japanese stepped before us with his hands outstretched. "Help!" -he shouted. "Man killed." We rushed to his assistance and found that a -party of Japanese in a Ford had run off the road and dropped into a -shallow crater. Down on the frozen bed below huddled a group of men, -women, and children, terrified. As we crawled down we found one Japanese -sitting with the body of his dead companion in his arms, pressing his -hot face against the cold cheek of his comrade. A chill drizzle swept -down into the dark pit. It was a scene to horrify a stoic. To the -wretched group our coming was a comfort the richness of which one could -no more describe than one could the torture of lava in that pit over -yonder. - -Japanese are said to be fatalists. They hover about Kilauea year in and -year out. One man sat with a baby in his arms, his feet dangling over -the volcano. Playfully he pretended to toss the child in, and it -accepted all as play. The same confidence the dead man had had in the -driver whose carelessness had overturned the car. And now it seemed that -his body belonged in the larger pit at which he had marveled not more -than half an hour earlier. - - -As I look back into the pit of memory where the molten material, -experience, has its ebb and flow, I can still see the seething of rock -within a cup of stone, the boiling of nature within its own bosom. Where -can one draw the line between experience past and present? Wherever I -am, the shooting of that fountain of lava is as real as it was to me -then; nor can conglomerate noises drown out the sound of lava pouring -back into lava, of undermined rock projections crashing with a hissing -sound back upon themselves. It is to me like the sound of voices when -King Kamehameha I forced the natives of the island of Oahu over the -Pali, and the group of terrified Japanese were like the fish in the -coral caves at Kaneohe when aware of the approach of a fish that feeds -upon them. - -Yet there is a sound rising clear in memory, perhaps more wonderful even -than the shrieking of tortured human beings or the hissing of molten -lava. As I stood upon the rim of Halemaumau there arose the vision of -Kapiolani, the Hawaiian girl who, defying superstition, ventured down -into the jaws of the crater and by her courage exorcised Kilauea of its -devils. What in all the world is more wonderful than frailty imbued with -passion mothering achievement? Kapiolani may be called Hawaii's Joan of -Arc. Unable to measure her strength with men, she defied their gods. A -world of prejudice, all the world to her, stood between her and Kilauea. -Courage triumphant had conquered fear. In defiance of her clan and of -her own terror, she was the first native to approach the crater, and in -that she made herself the equal of Kilauea. As she cast away the -Hawaiian idols, herself emerged an idol. - - - - -CHAPTER IV - -THE SUBLIMATED, SAVAGE FIJIANS - - -1 - -Fiji is to the Pacific what the eye is to the needle. Swift as are the -vessels which thread the largest ocean on earth, travelers who do more -than pass through Fiji on their way between America and the Antipodes -are few. Yet the years have woven more than a mere patchwork of romance -round these islands. In climate they are considered the most healthful -of the South Sea groups, though socially and from the point of view of -our civilization they do not occupy the same place in our sentiments as -do Samoa, Tahiti, the Marquesas, and the Sandwich Islands. Largely, I -suppose, because of the ethnological accident that planted there a race -of people that is farther from Europeans than the Polynesians. The -Fijians are Melanesians, a negroid people said by some to be a -"sub-branch" of the Polynesians. They have been slightly mixed through -their contact with the Tongans and the Samoans, but they are not -definitely related to either and full mixture is unlikely. - -A century ago a number of Australian convicts escaped to Fiji. They -brought to these savage cannibal islanders all the viciousness and -arrogance of their type, and imposed themselves upon the primitive -natives. The effect was not conducive of the best relations between -white people and natives, nor did it have an elevating influence upon -the latter. However, despite their cannibalism and their unwillingness -to yield to the influence of our benign civilization, the Fijians are a -people in many ways superior to both the Polynesians east of them and -the true Melanesians or Papuans to the west. They are more moral; they -are cleanly; their women occupy a better position in relation to their -men; and in character and skill they are superior to their neighbors. I -was impressed with this dignity of the Fijians, conscious and -unconscious, from the time I first laid eyes on them. I felt that, -notwithstanding all that was said about them, here was a people that -stood aloof from mere imitation. - -Yet such is the nature of reputation that when I announced my intention -of breaking my journey from Honolulu to Australia at Fiji, my -fellow-passengers were inclined to commiserate with me. They wondered -how one with no special purposes--that is, without a job--could risk -cutting loose from his iron moorings in these savage isles. Had they not -read in their school geographies of jungles and savages all mixed and -wild, with mocking natives grinning at you from behind bamboo-trees, -living expectations of a juicy dinner? They warned me about dengue -fever; they extolled the virtues of the Fijian maidens, and exaggerated -the vices of the Fijian men. The word "cannibals" howled round my head -as the impersonal wind had howled round the masts of the steamer one -night. But the adventurer soon learns that there is none so unknowing as -the average globe-trotters (the people who have been there); so he -listens politely and goes his own way. - -When, therefore, I got the first real whiff of tropical sweetness, mixed -though it was with copra and mold, all other considerations vanished. -From the cool heights the hills looked down in pity upon the little -village of Suva as it lay prostrate beneath the sun. If there was any -movement to be seen, it was upon the lapping waters of the harbor, where -numerous boats swarmed with black-bodied, glossy-skinned natives in that -universal pursuit of life and happiness. As the _Niagara_ sidled up to -the pier and made fast her hawsers, these black fellows rushed upon her -decks and into the holds like so many ants, and what had till then been -inanimate became as though possessed. - - -2 - -I had been under the impression that the natives were all lazy, but the -manner of their handling of cargo soon dissipated that notion. Further -to discredit the rumor-mongers, three Fijians staged an attempt to lead -a donkey ashore which would have shamed the most enthusiastic believer -in the practice of counting ten before getting angry and trying three -times before giving up. The Fijian is as indifferent to big as to little -tasks, and seems to be alone, of all the dwellers in the tropics, in -this apathetic attitude toward life. There is none in all the world more -lazy, indolent, and do-nothing than the white man. As soon as he comes -within sight of a native anywhere, that native does his labor for him; -you may count on it. - -So it was that with fear and trembling I announced to the stewards that -I had a steamer trunk which I wanted ashore with me. They grunted and -growled as the two of them struggled with it along the gang-plank and -dropped it as Atlas might have been expected to drop the earth, and -stood there with a contemptuous look of expectation. I took out two -half-dollars and handed one to each. The sneer that formed under their -noses was well practised, I could see, and they took great pains to -inform me that they were no niggers, they would not take the trunk -another foot. There it was. I was lost, scorned, and humiliated. Why did -I have so much worldly goods to worry about? Just then a portly Fijian -stepped up. Beside him I felt puny, doubly humble now. Before I had time -to decide whether or not he was going to pick me up by the nape of the -neck and carry me off to a feast, he took my trunk instead. Though it -weighed fully a hundred and sixty-five pounds, it rose to his -shoulders--up there a foot and a half above me--and the giant strode -along the pier with as little concern as though it were empty. The two -stewards stood looking on with an air of superiority typical of the -white men among colored. - -I cannot say that mere brawn ever entitles any man to rank, and that the -white generally substitutes brain for brawn is obvious. But I failed to -see wherein they justified their conceit, for to men of their type the -fist is still the symbol of their ideal, as it is to the majority of -white men. And as I came away from the ship again that afternoon I found -a young steward, a mere lad, standing in a corner crying, his cheek -swollen and red. I asked him what happened. "The steward hit me," he -said, trying to restrain himself from crying. "I thought I was through -and went for my supper so as to get ashore a bit. He came up and asked -me what I was doing. I told him, and he struck me with his fist." Yet -the stewards thought themselves too good to do any labor with black men -about. No ship in a tropical port is manned by the sailors; there they -take a vacation, as it were. - -From the customs shed to my hotel the selfsame Fijian carried my trunk -majestically. I felt hopeful that for a time at least I should see the -last of stewards and their ilk. But before I was two days in Suva I -learned that shore stewards are often not any better, and was happy to -get farther inland away from the port for the short time I could afford -to spend in the tropics. - -Meanwhile, some of the younger of my fellow-passengers came on shore and -began doing the rounds, into which they inveigled me. From one store to -the other we went, examining the moldy, withered, incomplete stocks of -the traders. Magazines stained brown with age, cheap paper-covered -novels, native strings of beads formed part of the stock in trade. We -soon exhausted Suva. - -At the corner of the right angle made by Victoria Parade and the pier -stood a Victoria coach. A horse slept on three legs, in front of it, -and a Hindu sat upon the seat like a hump on an elongated camel. We -roused them from their dozing and began to bargain for their hire. Six -of us climbed into the coach and slowly, as though it were fastened to -the ground, the horse began to move, followed by the driver, the -carriage, and the six of us. For an hour we continued in the direction -in which the three had been standing, along the beach, up a little -knoll, past corrugated-iron-roofed shacks, and down into Suva again; the -horse stopped with the carriage behind him in exactly the same position -in which we had found them, and driver and beast went to sleep again. - -Much is heard these days about the effects of the railroad and the -steamer and the wireless telegraph on the unity of the world, but to -those travelers and that Hindu and to the Fijians whom we passed en -route, not even the insertion of our six shillings in the driver's -pocket has, I am sure, as much as left the faintest impression on any of -us except myself. And on me it has left the impression of the utter -inconsequence of most traveling. - -Thus Suva, the eye of Fiji and of the needle of the Pacific, is -threaded, but there is nothing to sew. The unexpected never happens. -There are no poets or philosophers, no theaters or cabarets in Suva, as -far as mere eye can see,--nothing but smell of mold and copra (cocoanut -oil). - -In Suva one cannot long remain alert. The sun is stupefying. The person -just arrived finds himself stifled by the sharp smells all about him as -though the air were poisoned with too much life. The shaggy green hills, -rugged and wild in the extreme, show even at a distance the struggle -between life and death which moment by moment takes place. Luxuriant as -on the morning of creation, the vegetation seems to be rotting as after -a period of death. In Suva everything smells damp and moldy. You cannot -get away from it. The stores you buy in, the bed you sleep in, the room -you eat in,--all have the same odor. The books in the little library -are eaten full of holes through which the flat bookworms wander as by -right of eminent domain. Offensive to the uninitiated is the smell of -copra. The swarms of Fijians who attack the cargo smell of it and -glisten with it. The boats smell of it and the air is heavy with it. If -copra and mold could be banished from the islands, the impression of -loveliness which is the essence of the South Seas would remain -untainted. Yet to-day, let me but get a whiff of cocoanut-oil from a -drug store and I am immediately transported to the South Seas and my -being goes a-wandering. - - -3 - -I seldom dream, but at the moment of waking in strange surroundings -after an unusual run of events my mind rehearses as in a dream the -experiences gained during consciousness. When the knuckles of the -Fijian--and he has knuckles--sounded on my door at seven to announce my -morning tea, I woke with a sense of heaviness, as though submerged in a -world from which I could never again escape. At seven-fifteen another -Fijian came for my laundry; at seven-thirty a third came for my shoes. -Seeing that it was useless to remain in bed longer, I got up. I was not -many minutes on the street before I realized the urgency in those -several early visits. Daylight-saving is an absolute necessity in the -tropics, for by eight or nine one has to endure our noonday sun, and -unless something is accomplished before that time one must perforce wait -till late afternoon for another opportunity. To keep an ordinary coat on -an ordinary back in Suva is like trying to live in a fireless cooker -while angry. Even in the shade one is grateful for white duck instead of -woolens, so before long I had acquired an Irish poplin coat. Yet Fiji is -one of the most healthful of the South Sea islands. - -Owing to the heat, most likely--to give the white devils their -due--procrastination is the order of life. "Everything here is 'malua,'" -explained the manager of "The Fiji Times" to me. "No matter what you -want or whom you ask for it, 'wait a bit' will be the process." And he -forthwith demonstrated, quite unconsciously, that he knew whereof he -spoke. I wanted to get some information about the interior which he -might just as easily have given me off-hand, but he asked me to wait a -bit. I did. He left his office, walked all the way up the street with me -to show me a photographer's place where I should be able to get what I -was after, and stood about with me waiting for the photographer to make -up his mind whether he had the time to see me or not. There's no use -rushing anybody. The authorities have been several years trying to get -one of the off streets of Suva paved. It has been "worked on," but the -task, turned to every now and then for half an hour, requires numerous -rest periods. - -In Fiji, every one moves adagio. The white man looks on and commands; -the Indian coolie slinks about and slaves; the Fijian works on occasion -but generally passes tasks by with sporty indifference. Yet there is no -absence of life. Beginning with the noise and confusion at the pier, -there is a steady stream of individuals on whom shadows are lost, though -they have nothing on them but their skins and their sulus. The Fijian -idles, allows the Indian to work, happy to be left alone, happy if he -can add a shilling to his possessions,--an old vest, a torn pair of -trousers of any shape, an old coat, or a stiff-bosomed shirt sans coat -or vest or trousers. Tall, mighty, and picturesque, his coiffure the -pride of his life, he watches with a confidence well suited to his -origin and his race the changes going on about him. - -Thus, while his island's fruits are being crated and carted off by the -ship-load for foreign consumption, he helps in the process for the mere -privilege of subsidized loafing. All the fun he gets out of trade in the -tropics seems to be the opportunity of swearing at his fellows in -fiji-ized versions of curses taught him by the white man. Or he stands -erect on the flat punt as it comes in from regions unknown, bearing -bananas green from the tree, the very picture of ease and contentment. -Yet one little tug with foreign impertinence tows half a dozen punts, -depriving him even of this element of romance in his life. - -Still, there is nothing sullen in his make-up. A dozen -mummy-apples--better than bread to him--tied together with a string, -suffice to make his primitive heart glad. Primitive these people are; -their instincts, never led astray very far by such frills and trappings -as keep us jogging along are none the less human. Unfold your camera and -suggest taking a picture of any one of them and forthwith he straightens -up, transforms his features, and adjusts his loin-cloth; nor will he -forget to brush his hair with his hand. What a strange thing is this -instinct in human nature anywhere in the world which substitutes so much -starch for a slouch the moment one sees a one-eyed box pointing in his -direction! None ever hoped to see a print of himself, but all posed as -though the click of that little shutter were the recipe for perpetual -youth. - -The motive is not always one of vanity. Generally, at the sound of the -shutter, a hand shoots out in anticipation of reward. In the tropics it -is no little task to bring oneself together so suddenly, and the effort -should be fully compensated. The expenditure of energy involved in -posing is worthy of remuneration. Nevertheless, vanity is inherent in -this response. The Fijian is a handsome creature, and he knows it. He -knows how to make his hair the envy of the world. "Permanent-wave" -establishments would go out of business here in America if some skilled -Fijian could endure our climate. He would give such permanence to -blondes and brunettes as would cost only twenty-five cents and would -really last. He would not plaster the hair down and cover it with a net -against the least ruffle of the wind. When he got through with it it -would stand straight up in the air, four to six inches long, and would -serve as an insulator against the burning rays of the sun unrivaled -anywhere in the world. While I squinted and slunk in the shade, the -native chose the open highway. Give him a cluster of breadfruit to carry -and a bank messenger with a bag of bullion could not seem more -important. - -The Fijians, notwithstanding the fact that they take less to the -sentimental in our civilization than the Samoans, are a fine race. Their -softness of nature is a surprising inversion of their former ferocity. -What one sees of them in Suva helps to fortify one in this conclusion; a -visit farther inland leaves not a shadow of doubt. And pretty as the -harbor is, it is as nothing compared with the loveliness of river and -hills in the interior. - -I was making my way to the pier in search of the launch that would take -me up the Rewa River, when a giant Fijian approached me. He spoke -English as few foreign to the tongue can speak it. A coat, a watch, and -a cane--a lordly biped--he did not hesitate to refer to his virtues -proudly. He answered my unspoken question as to his inches by assuring -me he was six feet three in his stocking feet (he wore no stockings) and -was forty-five years old. For a few minutes we chatted amicably about -Fiji and its places of interest. There was never a smug reference to -anything even suggestive of the lascivious--as would have been the case -with a guide in Japan, or Europe--yet he cordially offered to conduct -and protect me through Fijiland. Had I had a billion dollars in gold -upon me I felt that I might have put myself in his care anywhere in the -world. But I was already engaged to go up the Rewa River and could not -hire him. Cordially and generously, as an old friend might have done, he -told me what to look for and bid me have a good time. - - -4 - -I took the launch which makes daily trips up the Rewa. The little vessel -was black with natives--outside, inside, everywhere, streaming over to -the pier. It was owned and operated by an Englishman named Message. Even -in the traffic on this river combination threatens individual -enterprise. "The company has several launches. It runs them on schedule -time, stopping only at special stations, regardless of the convenience -to the Fijians. It is trying to force me out of business," said Mr. -Message, a look of troubled defiance in his face. "But I am just as -determined to beat it." - -So he operates his launch to suit the natives, winning their good-will -and patronage. It was interesting to see how his method worked. No -better lesson in the instinctive tendency toward coöperation and mutual -aid could be found. He had no white assistant, but every Fijian who -could find room on the launch constituted himself a longshoreman. They -enjoyed playing with the launch. They helped in the work of loading and -unloading one another's petty cargo, such as kerosene, corrugated iron -for roofing (which is everywhere replacing thatch), and odd sticks of -wood. And the jollity that electrified them was a delightful commentary -on this one white man's humanity. - -Delight rides at a spirited pace on this river Rewa. The banks are -seldom more than a couple of feet above the water. The launch makes -straight for the shore wherever a Fijian recognizes his hut, and he -scrambles off as best he can. Here and there round the bends natives in -_takias_ (somewhat like outrigger canoes with mat sails, now seldom -used), punts, or rowboats slip by in the twilight. - -The sun had set by the time all the little stops had been made between -Suva and Davuilevu, the last stopping-place. Each man, as he stepped -from this little float of modernism, clambered up the bank and -disappeared amid the sugar-cane. What a world of romance and change he -took into the dark-brown hut he calls his own! What news of the world -must he not have brought back with him! A commuter, he had probably gone -in by that morning's launch, in which case he spent three full hours in -"toil" or in the purchase of a sheet of corrugated iron or a tin of oil. -He may have helped himself to a shirt from somebody's clothes-line in -the spare time left him. One thing was certain, there were no chocolates -in his pockets, for he had no pockets, and I saw no young woman holding -a baby in her arms for daddy to greet. - -Yet even from a distance one recognized something of family affection. -To enter and examine closely would perhaps have made a difference in my -impressions. I was content with these hazy pictures, to see these -dark-skinned people merge with their brown-thatched huts curtained by -shadows within the cane-fields. When night came on all was dissolved in -shadow, and voices in song rose on the cool air. - - -5 - -The Rewa River runs between two antagonistic institutions. At Davuilevu -(the Great Conch-Shell) there is a mission station on one side and a -sugar-mill on the other. Both are deeply affecting the character and -environment of the Fijians, yet the contrast in the results is too -obvious to be overlooked by even the most casual observer. - -As I stepped off the boat a young New Zealander whose cousin had come -down with us on the _Niagara_ and whom I had met the day of our arrival -in Suva, came out of a building across the road. He was conducting a -class in carpentry composed of young Fijian students of the mission. -They were so absorbed in their work that they barely noticed me, and the -atmosphere of sober earnestness about the place was thrilling. From -time out of mind the Fijians have been good carpenters, the craft being -passed down from generation to generation within a special caste. Their -shipbuilding has always been superior to that of their neighbors, the -Tongans. It was not to be wondered at, therefore, that the main -department here should be that of wood-turning, and some of the work the -students were doing at the time was exceptionally fine. - -The buildings of the mission had all been constructed with native labor -under the direction of the missionaries. They were simply but firmly -built, the absence of architectural richness being due fully as much to -the spirit of the missionaries as to the lack of decorativeness in the -character of the natives. - -However, there was something to be found at the mission which was -harshly lacking at the sugar-mill. The students moved about in a -leisurely manner, cleanly and thoughtful; whereas across the river not -only were the buildings of the very crudest possible, but the Hindus and -the Fijians roamed around like sullen, hungry curs always expecting a -kick. Those who were not sullen, were obviously tired, spiritless, and -repressed. Their huts were set close to one another in rows, whereas the -mission buildings range over the hills. The crowding at the mill, upon -such vast open spaces, gave the little village all the faults of a -tenement district. Racial clannishness seems to require even closer -touch where space is wide. The very expanse of the world seems to -intensify the fear of loneliness, so men huddle closer to sense somewhat -of the gregarious delights of over-populated India. But there is also -the squeezing of plantation-owners here at fault, and the total -disregard of the needs of individual employees. - -The mill is worked day and night, in season, but it is at night that -one's reactions to it are most impressive. The street lamps, assisted by -a dim glow from within the shacks, the monotonous invocation of prayer -by Indians squatting before the wide-open doors, the tiny kava -"saloons," and the great, giant, grinding, grating sugar-mills crushing -the juice out of the cane and precipitating it (after a chain of -processes) in white dust for sweetening the world, are something never -to be forgotten. The deep, pulsating breath of the mill sounded like the -snore of a sleeping monster. Yet that monstrous mill never sleeps. - -The sound did not cease, but rather, became more pronounced after I -returned that night. Deeply imprinted on my memory was the figure of a -sullen-looking Indian at his post--small, wiry, persistent--with the -whirring of machinery all about him, the steaming vats, the broken -sticks of cane being crunched in the maw of the machine. The toilers -sometimes dozed at their tasks. I was told that once an Indian fell into -one of the vats in a moment of dizzy slumber. The cynical informer -insisted that the management would not even stop the process of turning -cane into sugar, and that into the tea-cups of the world was mixed the -substance of that man. My reflection was along different lines,--that -into the sweets of the world we were constantly mixing the souls of men. - - -6 - -But unfortunately those who look after the souls of these men at the -mission are apt to forget that they have bodies, too, and that body is -the materialization of desire. There is something wonderful, indeed, in -the sight of men known to have been of the most ferocious of human -creatures going about their daily affairs in an attitude of great -reverence to the things of life. And reverence added to the extreme -shyness of the Fijian is writ large in the manner of every native across -the way from the mill. Sometimes I felt that there was altogether too -much restraint, too much checking of wholesome and healthy impulses -among them for it to be true reverence. That was especially marked on -Sunday morning, when from all the corners of the mission fields gathered -the sturdy black men in the center of the grounds where stood the little -church. - - [Illustration: A CORNER OF SUVA, FIJI - The unexpected happened--the cab moved] - - [Illustration: FOOD FOR A DAY'S GOSSIP] - - [Illustration: THE LONG AND THE SHORT OF IT - My Fijian guides] - - [Illustration: A HINDU PATRIARCH - On board the launch going up the Rewa River, with shy Fijians all - about] - -They were a sight to behold, altogether too seriously concerned to be -amusing, and to the unbiased the acme of gentleness. There they -were--muscular, huge, erect, and black, their bushy crops of coarse hair -adding six inches to their heads; dressed in sulus neatly tucked away, -and stiff-bosomed white shirts over their bodies. Starched white shirts -in the tropics! And the Bible in Fijian in their hands. In absolute -silence they made their way into the church, the shuffle of their unshod -feet adding intensity to that silence. When they raised their voices in -the hymns it seemed to me that nothing more sincere had ever been sung -in life. But then something occurred which made me wonder. - -From the Solomon Islands had come on furlough the Rev. Mr. Ryecroft and -his delicate wife. He was a man of very gentle bearing and great fervor. -He and his plucky wife had suffered much for their convictions. All men -who really believe anything suffer. The missionary is as much anathema -in his field as the anarchist is in America, and is generally as violent -an agent for the disruption of custom. Mr. Ryecroft rose to speak before -the congregation. He spoke in English and was interpreted by the -missionary in charge. He told of his trials in the Solomon Islands, and -appealed for Fijian missionaries to go back with him and save the -blood-thirsty Solomons. I watched the faces of these converted Fijians. -Some of them were intent upon the speaker, repugnance at the cruelties -rehearsed coming over them as at something of which they were more -afraid as a possible revival in themselves than as an objective danger. -Some, however, fell fast asleep, their languid heads drooping to one -side. I am no mind-reader, nor is my observation to be taken for more -than mere guess-work, but I felt that there were two conflicting -thoughts in the minds of the listeners, for while Mr. Ryecroft was -urging them to come arrest brutality in the Solomons there were other -recruiters at work in Fiji for service in Europe. While one told that -the savage Solomon Islanders swooped down upon the missionary compound -and left sixteen dead behind them, in Europe they were leaving a -thousand times as many every day, worse than dead. To whom were they to -listen! - -That afternoon Mr. Waterhouse, one of the missionaries, asked me to give -the young men a little talk on my travels, he to interpret for me. I -asked him what he would like to have me tell them and he urged me to -advise them not to give up their lands. I complied, pointing out to them -how quickly they would go under as a race if they did so. The response -was more than compensating. - -The outlook is all the more reassuring when you sit of an evening as I -did in the large, carefully woven native house, elliptical in shape, -with thatched roof and soft-matted floors, which serves as a sort of -night school for little tots. The children, who were then rehearsing -some dances for the coming festival, sat on tiers of benches so built -that one child's feet were on a level with the shoulders of the one in -front. Like a palisade of stars their bright eyes glistened with the -reflections of the light from the kerosene lamps hanging on wires from -the rafters. Lolohea Ratu, a girl of twenty, educated in Sydney, -Australia, spoke to them in a plaintive, modulated voice, soft and low. -All Fijian voices are sad, but hers was slightly sadder than most of -them, tinged, it seemed, with knowledge of the world. She had studied -the Montessori method and was trying to train her little brothers and -sisters thereby. But she was not forgetful of what is lovely in her own -race, primitive as it is, and was preparing these children in something -of a compromise between native and foreign dances. Round and round the -room they marched, the overhanging lamps playing pranks with their -shadows. Others sat upon the mats, legs crossed, beating time and -clapping hands in the native fashion. Their glistening bodies and -sparkling, mischievous eyes, their response to the enchanting rhythm and -melody borrowed from a world as strange to them as theirs is to us, -showed their delight. I wondered what strange images--ghostly pale -folk--they were seeing through our songs. Perhaps the music was merely -another kind of "savage" song to them, even a wee bit wilder than their -own. On the following day they were to sing and dance to the amazement -of their skeptical elders. - -Thus does Fijian "civilization" steer its uncertain course between the -two contending influences from the West--the planters and the -missionaries--just as the river Rewa runs between them over the jungle -plains, struggling to supplant wild entangling growths with earth -culture. - - -7 - -And that "civilization" leans at one time toward the mill and at another -toward the mission. Frankly, Fiji grows more interesting as one gets -away from these two guy-wires and floats on the sluggish river. My -opportunity of seeing that Fiji which is least confused by either -influence came unexpectedly. The missionaries generously invited me to -go with them up the river in their launch early Monday morning. -Everywhere along the banks of the broad, deep stream stood groups of -huts and villages amid the sugar-cane fields. I gazed up the wide way of -the river toward the hazy blue mountains which stood fifty miles away. -They seemed to be a thousand miles and farther still from reality. The -Himalayas which lured the Lama priest and _Kim_ could not have been more -enticing. Because of the cloying atmosphere of the day, this distant -coolness was like an oasis in the desert, and I longed for some phantom -ship to bear me away on the breeze. - -For twenty miles we glided on through cane plantations, banana- and -cocoanut-trees, and miniature palisades here and there rising to the -dignity of hills. We landed, toward noon, at a village which stood on a -little plateau,--quiet, self-satisfied, though in no way elaborate. The -best of the huts stood against the hill across the "street" formed by -two rows of thatch-roofed and leaf-walled huts. It belonged to the -native Christian teacher. He turned it over to us, himself and his wife -and baby disappearing while we lunched. Much of our repast remaining, -the missionary offered it to the teacher, but I noticed that he looked -displeased and turned the platter over to the flock of children which -had gathered outside,--a brood of little fellows, their bellies bulging -out before them, not even the shadow of a garment covering their -nakedness. - -I returned to the hut a little later for my camera, not knowing that any -one was there. Inside, in one corner, lay the teacher's wife, stretched -face downward, nursing her baby, which lay on its back upon the soft -mats. She smiled, slightly embarrassed, and I withdrew. Here, then, was -the place where civilization and savagery met. - -There were few Fijians in the village, mostly children and several old -women. A Solomon Islander, who had got there during the days when -blackbirding or kidnapping was common, moved among them. He had quite -forgotten his own language and could not understand Mr. Ryecroft when -the missionary spoke to him. An elderly man beckoned to me from his hut -and there offered to sell me a heavy, ebony carved club that could kill -an ox, swearing by all the taboos that it was a sacred club and had -killed many a man in his father's time. - - [Illustration: INSTRUCTOR OF THE FIJIAN CONSTABULARY - At Suva] - - [Illustration: THE SCOWL INDICATES A COMPLEX - For he is not quite certain that the missionaries are right about that - club not being a god] - - [Illustration: A FIJIAN MAIN STREET - The corrugated iron-roofed shack is the one we ate our lunch in] - - [Illustration: LITTLE FIJIANS - The only things some of these had on were sores on the tops of their - heads] - -A narrow path climbing the hill close behind the village led us to a -view over the long sweep of the river and its valley. The utmost of -peace and tranquillity hung, without a tremor, below us. Twenty huts -fringed the plateau, forming a vague ellipse, interwoven with lovely -salvias, coleuses, and begonias. The village seemed to have been caught -in the crook of the river, while a field of sugar-cane filled the plain -across the stream, the shaggy mountains quartering it from the rear. -Distant, reaching toward the sun, ranged the mountains from which the -river is daily born anew. - -As our launch chugged steadily, easily down-stream, and the evening -shadows overstepped the sun, Fiji emerged fresh and sweet as I had not -seen it before. The missionaries, till then sober and reserved, relaxed, -the men's heads in the laps of their wives. Sentimental songs of long -ago, like a stream of soft desire through the years, supplanted precept -in their minds, and I realized for the first time why some men chose to -be missionaries. It was to them no hardship. The trials and sufferings -were romance to their natures, and the giving up of everything for -Christ was after all only living out that world-old truism that in order -to have life one must be ready to surrender it. - - -8 - -Next day Mr. Waterhouse and I wandered about the village of the sugar -factory. At the bidding of several minor chiefs who had described a -circle on the mats, we entered one of the dark huts by way of a low -door. In a corner a woman tended the open fire, and near an opening a -girl sat munching. The room was thick with smoke, the thin reeds -supporting the roof glistening with soot. Everything was in order and -according to form. They were making _kava_ (or _ava_ or _yangana_), the -native drink. This used to be the work of the chieftain's daughter, who -ground the ava root with her teeth and then mixed it with water. The law -doesn't permit this now; so it is crushed in a mortar (_tonoa_). -Specialization has reached out its tentacles even to this place, so that -now the captain of this industry is an Indian. - -The ava mixed, it was passed round in a well-scraped cocoanut-shell cut -in half. As guests we were offered the first drink. Extremely bitter, it -is nevertheless refreshing. After I made a pretense of drinking, the -bowl was passed to the most respected chief. With gracious -self-restraint he declined it. "This is too full. You have given me -altogether too much." A little bit of it was poured back, and he drank -it with one gulp. He would really have liked twice as much, not half, -but there is more modesty and decorum among savages than we imagine. In -fact, our conventions are often only atrophied taboos. - -But the women, not so handsome nor so elegantly coifed as the men, were -excluded from a share in the toast. They were not even part of the -entertainment. The sexes seldom meet in any form of social intercourse. -The boys never flirt with the girls, nor do they ever seem to notice -them. In public there is a never-diminishing distance between them. A -world without love-making, primitive life is outwardly not so romantic -as is ours. The "romance" is generally that of the foreigner with the -native women, not among the natives themselves. - -The daughter of the biggest living Fijian chief wandered about like an -outcast. She wore a red Mother-Hubbard gown, and nothing else. Her hair -hung down to her shoulders. Having gone through the process of -discoloration by the application of lime, according to the custom among -the natives in the tropics, it was reddish and stiff, but, being long, -had none of the leonine quality of the men's hair. Andi Cacarini (Fijian -for Katherine), daughter of a modern chief, spoke fairly good English. -She wasn't exactly ashamed, but just shy. The better class of Fijians, -they who have come in contact with white people, all manifest a timid -reticence. Andi Cacarini was shy, but hardly what one could call bashful -or fastidious. She posed for me as though an artist's model, not at all -ungraceful in her carriage or her walk. - -The male Fijian is extremely timid, but none the less fastidious. The -care with which he trains and curls his hair would serve as an -object-lesson to the impatient husband of the vainest of white women. -This doesn't mean that the Fijian man is effeminate in his ways, but he -is particular about his hair. The process of discoloring it is exact. A -mixture of burnt coral with water makes a fine substitute for soap. When -washed out and dried, the hair is curled and combed and anointed. From -the point of view of sanitation, the treatment is excellent, and from -that of art--just watch the proud male pass down the road! - -No matter where one goes in Fiji--or any of the South Sea Islands--the -dance goes with one. Here at Davuilevu one afternoon in the hot, -scorching sun, the natives gathered on the turf for merrymaking. It was -no special holiday, no unusual event. To our way of thinking it is a -tame sort of dance they do. We hear much of the freedom between the -sexes in the tropics, and one gains the impression that there are -absolutely no taboos. But just as there is nothing in all Japan--however -delightful--to compensate the child, or even grown-ups, for the lack of -the kiss, so none of the Fijian dances fill that same emotional -requirement which with us is secured through the embrace of men and -women in the dance. From the Fijian point of view, the whirling of -couples about together must be extremely immodest, if not immoral. - -Sitting in a double row, one in front of the other, were oiled and -garlanded Fijians. Behind them and in a circle sat a number of singers -and lali-players. As they began beating time, the oiled natives began to -move from side to side rhythmically. Their arms and bodies jerked in a -most fascinating and interpretative manner. No voices in the wide world -are lovelier than the voices of Fijians in chorus; no other music issues -so purely as the Fijian music from the depths of racial experience. -Sometimes the dancers swung half-way round from side to side, with arms -akimbo, or extended their arms in all directions, clapping their hands -while chanting in soothing, melodious deep tones. - -Judging from what I heard of the music of the Tongans, the Samoans, and -the Fijians, I give the prize to the Fijians for richness of tone. More -primitive than the plaintive Tongans, the Fijian music is a weird -combination of the intellectual, the martial, and the industrial,--more -fascinating than the passionate, voluptuous tunes and dances of the -Samoans and the Hawaiians. The Polynesians, probably because of their -close kinship with the Europeans, are much more sentimental in their -music. The Fijian is more vigorous and to me more truly artistic. - -No study, it seems to me, would throw more light on the history and -unity of the human race than that of the dance and music. Why two races -so far apart as the Japanese and the Maories of New Zealand should be so -strikingly alike in their cruder dances, is hard to say. And the Fijians -seem in some way the link between these two. The Fijian doubtless -inherits some of his musical qualities from his negroid mixture, but he -has certainly improved upon it if that is so. He has no regrets, no -sentimental longings, and in consequence his songs are free from racial -affectation. - -The Fijians always sing. The instant the day's work is done and groups -form they begin to sing. Half a dozen of them sit down and cross their -legs before them, each places a stick so that one end rests lightly on -one toe, the other on the ground; and while they tap upon these sticks, -others sing and clap hands, swaying in an enchantment of loveliness. One -carries the melody in a strained tenor, the others support him with a -bass drawl. Once in a while an instrument is secured, as a flute, and -the ensemble is complete. Even the tapping on the stick becomes -instrumental in its quality. - -As the day draws to a close, from the cane-fields smoke rises in all -directions. The plantation workers have gathered piles of cane refuse -for destruction. Like miniature volcanoes, these, with the coming of -darkness, shine in the lightless night. It makes one slightly sad, this -clearing away of the remnants of daily toil, this purification by fire. -Then the sound of that other lali (the hollow tree-trunk), once the -war-alarum or call to a cannibal feast, now at Davuilevu the invitation -to prayer, the dampness, and the sense of crowding things in -growth,--this is what will ever remain vivid to me. - - -9 - -Poor untroubled Fijians! This simple love of harmony, a majestic sense -of force and brutality,--yet, withal, so naïve, withal so easily -satisfied, so easily led. Once a foreigner met a native who seemed in -great haste and trembling. The native inquired the time, in dread lest -he miss the launch for Suva. In his hand he carried a warrant for his -own arrest, with instructions to present himself at jail. When the -foreigner told him that it was up to the jailer to worry about it, he -seemed greatly shocked. One of the missionaries had been asked to keep -his eye on a friend's house. In the absence of the owner, the missionary -found a Fijian in the act of burglarizing. When questioned it was found -that the native wanted to get into jail, where he was sure of three -meals and shade, without worry. This is almost worthy of civilized man, -by whom it is perhaps more commonly practised. - -But the kind of jail in which men were at that time incarcerated was not -enough to frighten the most liberty-loving individual. Because of the -humidity and dampness, the structure was left open on one side, only -three substantial walls and a roof being practical. Before the white man -got full control and the native had some iron injected into his nature, -it was not an arduous life the prisoners led. The missionary told me -that once the head jailer was found sitting out of sight, with the -officer in charge of the prisoners, tilting his chair against the wall -of the jail. The prisoners had been ordered to labor. The officer in -charge was to execute the command. Between puffs of tobacco, he would -shout: "Up shot!" and rest a while; then "Down shot!"--more rest. Not a -prisoner moved a muscle, the weights never rose from the ground. The men -were deep within the shadows. The period of punishment over, they were -ordered into their heaven of still more rest and more shade. - -From our way of thinking, these are flagrant deceptions. But to the -Fijian (and to most South Sea races) the inducements for greater -exertion are simply non-existent. His revelries have been tabooed, his -wars have been stopped, his native arts are in constant competition with -cheap importations from our commercialized, industrialized world. What -is there, then, for him to do? Little wonder that his native -indifference to life is growing upon him. His conception of life after -death never held many horrors. Even in the fierce old days it was easy -for a Fijian to announce most casually that he would die at eight -o'clock the following day. He would be oiled and made ready, and at the -stated time he died. Most likely a state of catalepsy, but he was buried -and none thought a second time about it. One boy was recently roused -from such a condition and still lives. - -The only means of counteracting this apathy are education and the -awakening of ambition through manual training and the teaching of -trades. This, the head of the mission told me, was his main object. -Missionary efforts, according to one man, were directed more to this -purpose than to the inculcation of any special religious precepts. And -there is no question that that will work. The will to live may yet -spring afresh in the Fijian. - -From the nucleus formed by the mission is growing a more elaborate -educational system. Recently the several existing schools have been -amalgamated under a new ordinance. A proposal in reference to a more -efficient system of vernacular or sub-primary schools was embodied in a -bill put before the legislative council. A more satisfactory method of -training teachers was deliberated upon. The Fijians are, it is seen, -outgrowing the kindergarten stage, but the grown-ups are largely -children still. - - -10 - -A fortnight after I landed in Suva I was steaming for Levuka, the former -capital of the islands, situated on a much smaller land-drop not many -hours' journey away. These are the only two important ports in the -group, and inter-island vessels seldom go to one without visiting the -other. Levuka is a much prettier place than Suva. Its little clusters of -homes and buildings seem to have dug their heels into the hillside to -keep from sliding into the sea. - -Along the shore to the left stood a group of Fijian huts,--a suburb of -Levuka, no doubt. Only a few old women were at home, and one old man. -Nothing in the wide world is more restful to one's spirit than to arrive -at a village which is deserted of toilers. Nothing is more symbolic of -the true nature of home, the village being more than an isolated home, -but a composite of the home spirit which is not tainted by any evidence -of barter and trade. - -On the other side of Levuka, however, was an altogether different kind -of village, that of the shipwrights. Upon dry-docks stood the skeletons -of ships, fashioned with hands of love and ambition. In such vessels -these ancient rovers of the sea wandered from island to island, -learning, teaching, mixing, and disturbing the sweetness of nature, with -which no race on earth was more blessed. - -The _Atua_, on which I had sailed from Suva, was a fairly large -inter-island steamer that made the rounds of all the important groups. -She was bound for Samoa, whither I had determined to go. There is no -better opportunity of getting a glimpse of the contrast between the -natives of the various South Sea islands than on board one of these -inter-island vessels. They are generally manned by the natives of one of -the groups,--in this case, the Fijians. These men handle the cargo at -all ports, and remain on board until the vessel returns to Fiji en route -to the Antipodes. They feed and sleep on the open deck and make -themselves as happy and as noisy as they can. A gasoline tin of tea, -baked potatoes, hard biscuit, and a chunk of fat meat, which is all -placed before them on the dirty deck (they are given no napkins),--that -is Fijian joy. - -After their work, which in port sometimes keeps them up till the morning -hours, these strange creatures, untroubled by thought, stretch -themselves on the wooden hatchway and sleep. There I found them at -half-past five in the morning, all covered with the one large sheet of -canvas and never a nose poking out. Air! Perhaps they got some through a -little hole in the great sheet. Some stood and slept like tired, -overworked horses. - -One queer Fijian with turbaned head grinned in imitation of none other -than himself, a vague, undefined curiosity rolling about in his skull. -He followed me everywhere, his white eyes staring and his mouth wide -open. Here was a future Fijian statesman in the process of formation. -His nebular, chaotic mentality was taking note of a creature as far -removed from his understanding as a star from his reach. - - [Illustration: ONE OF THE MOST GIFTED OF FIJIAN CHIEFS - But who said that the wearing of hats causes baldness (?)] - - [Illustration: CACARINI (KATHERINE), THE CHIEF'S DAUGHTER - In her filet gown of Parisian simplicity] - - [Illustration: FIJIANS DANCE FROM THE HIP UP] - - [Illustration: A FIJIAN WEDDING - Puzzle: find the bride. No, not the one with the hoop-skirt; that's - the groom] - -One white soldier, an elderly man, wished to protect himself from the -wind, and asked a Fijian to haul over a piece of canvas. The black -man did so, but when the boatswain saw it, he was enraged. The Fijian -took all the scolding, said never a word, and quickly replaced the -sheet. As the boatswain moved away, the soldier handed the native a -cigarette, saying: "Have one of these, old sport. One must expect -reverses in war." The native grinned and felt the row was worth while. - -There were Tongans, Indians, Samoans, and whites on board, and though -these are nearer kin to us, I liked the Fijians most. Yet the Tongans -are an attractive lot, refined in feature, in manner, and in person. -Perhaps that is why they have the distinction of being the only South -Sea people with their own kingdom, a cabinet, and a parliament. - -The noise the Fijians make while in port is excruciating. It is -something unclassifiable. They roll their r's, shout as though mad with -anger, and then burst out in childish laughter at nothing. These boyish -barbarians enjoy themselves much more in yelling than they would in -chorus with a Caruso. How torrential is the stream of invective which -issues against some fellow-laborer! With what a terrific crash it falls -upon its victim! But how utter the disappointment when, after one has -expectantly waited for a scrap, a gurgle of hilarity breaks from the -throats which the moment before seemed such sirens of hate and malice! - -And so they toil, happy to appear important, busy, honestly busy, -loading the thousands of crates of green bananas, the cargo which passes -to and fro. Happier than the happiest, sharing the scraps of a meal -without the growl so common among our sailors, each always seems to get -just what he wants and helps in the distribution of the portions to the -others. The missus never bothers him, no matter how long he is away, and -instantly labor ceases the group is "spiritualized" into a singing -society and the racial opera is in full swing. - -I had anticipated relief at their absence when the steamer set off for -the colder regions south. Yet something pleasant was gone out of life -the moment the ship steamed out. The sailors moved about like pale -ghosts who had mechanically wandered back to a joyless life. The white -man's virtues are his burdens. His tasks are done so that he may -purchase pleasure. The ship was orderly, everything took its place, even -the cursing and yelling came within control. We were heading again for -civilization. - -I felt somewhat like the old folks after their wish had rid the town of -all mischievous little boys, and my heart strained back for an inward -glimpse of the life behind. The smell of mold and copra returned; the -damp beds; the cool, clear night air; the moonlight upon the shallow -reefs; dappled gray breakers, playing upon the shore as upon a child's -ocean; in the dark, along Victoria Parade, the shuffle of bare feet in -the dust, the dim figures of tall, bushy-haired men and slim, wiry -Hindus; the thud of heeled boots on the dry earth. And far off there, -the sound of the lali, the singing of deep voices, the vision of an -earthly paradise,--shattered by the sighting of land ahead. - - - - -CHAPTER V - -THE SENTIMENTAL SAMOANS - - -1 - -On the _Niagara_ was a troupe of Samoan men and women who had been to -San Francisco demonstrating their arts at the Panama-Pacific Exhibition. -This, our meeting on the wide, syrup-like tropical sea seemed to me -almost a welcome, a coming out to greet me and to lead me to the portals -of their home. They were en route to Suva, Fiji, where they were to -await an inter-island vessel to take them to Samoa. They were traveling -third class, and the way I discovered them is not to their discredit. We -were becoming more or less bored with life on deck, the games of ship -tennis and quoits being too obviously make-believe to be entertaining. -At times I would get as far away from the gregarious passengers as -possible, and again a number of us would gather upon the hatchway and -read or chatter. It was a thick latticed covering, and the warm air from -below none too agreeable. But with it rose strains of strange melodies, -as from Neptune's regions of the deep. Peering down, we espied a number -of Samoan men and women, lounging upon the floor of the hold. We took -our reputations in our hands and made the descent. - -There were big, burly men and broad, sprawling women, half-naked and -asleep. One could see at a glance that they had been spoiled by the -attention they had received while on exhibition at the fair, but the -freedom of life among third-class passengers somewhat softened the -acquired stiffness, and they relaxed again into native ways. Hour by -hour, as the vessel moved southward, they seemed to come back to life, -to thaw out as it were, while we were wilting by degrees. - -The scene was one which could have been found only in tropical waters -under the burning sun. Smoke, bare feet, nakedness, people fat with the -sprawly fatness which is the style of the South Seas, unwashed -sailors,--a medley of people and cargo and steamer stench. But also of -the sweetly monotonous song of the Samoan girl, the swishing of the -water against the nose of the ship in the twilight without, and the -steady push of the vessel toward the equator. - -I whiled away many a pleasant hour, learning a few of the native words -in song and gossip. It is hard to distinguish one native from the other -at first, but Fulaanu stood out above the rest like a creature -over-imbued with good-nature. She was flat, flabby, with a drawl in -speech that had the effect not only in her voice but her entire bearing -of a leaning Tower of Pisa. Her body bent backward, her head was tilted -up, and her long, prominent nose also slanted almost with pride. She was -an enormous girl, plain, soft, with absolutely no fighting-spirit in -her, but she stood her ground against all masculine advances with a -charm that was in itself teasingly alluring. She was always flanked on -each side by a sailor. They pretended to teach her the ukulele, they -proffered English lessons, they found one excuse after another for being -near her, and she never shooed them away; but I'd swear by all the gods -that not one of them ever more than held her hand or leaned lovingly -against her. - -Yet Fulaanu was as sentimental a maiden as I have ever laid eyes on. She -was constantly drawling some sentimental song she had learned in -California, the ukulele was seldom out of her hands, she never joined in -any of the card games going on constantly roundabout her, and she was -always ready to swap songs with any one willing to teach her. - -"I teach you my language," she said to me, and slowly, with twinkling -eyes, she pronounced certain words which I repeated. We had often taught -French to our boys at our little school in California in that way,--the -Marseillaise, for instance,--and the method was not strange to me. She -used the song method, too, an old English song that was just then the -rage in Samoa. The English words run somewhat like this: - - And you will take my hand - As you did when you took my name; - But it's only a beautiful picture, - In a beautiful golden frame. - -I'm sure I have them all muddled, but let me hum this tune to myself and -immediately Fulaanu, the hold, Fiji, Samoa, and all the scents and -sounds of savagedom come instantly to my mind. For everywhere I went -they were singing this song, through their noses but with all the -sentimental ardor of the young flapper; as at a summer resort in America -when a new song hit has been made, the sound of it is heard from -delivery boy to housemaid and as many different renderings of it as -individual temperament demands. - -There was Setu, too,--tall, straight, with that easy grace known only -among people free of clothes. Setu spoke English very well, and was as -companionable a chap as one could pick up in many a mile. But Setu's -heart was not his own; he stood guardian over a treasure he had found in -San Francisco. Not an American girl, no, sir! These savage boys did not -play the devil in our land as our savages do in theirs. But Setu was the -personification of chivalry, and, what was more, he was in love. To look -at him and then at her was to despair of human instinct of natural -selection. How an Apollo of his excellence should have been unable to -find a more handsome objet d'amour, I cannot imagine. She was short, -well rounded, with a head as square as Fulaanu's was oblong, and a nose -as snubby as Fulaanu's was romanesque. She was evidently committed, body -and soul, to Setu for she was as devoid of charm for the others as -Fulaanu was full of it. And so all day long, Setu and his sweetheart -hugged each other in a corner, as oblivious of the presence of a -ship-load of people as though they had been ensconced in a hut of their -own. They were evidently taking advantage of proximity to civilization, -for such immodest behavior is not frequent in the tropics. Civilization -had taught the savages some things at least. Whenever Setu was free from -love-making, he would spare a moment to me, and on those rare occasions -he stirred my spirit with promises of guidance in his native island that -threatened to exhaust my funds. - -The romantic associations we have with the South Seas were in this group -reversed, for to these primitive people the greatest romance imaginable -came with their journey to America. There young people from different -islands met and fell in love with one another; there, under the benign -influence of American spooning, one couple was married, and there their -first baby was born,--an American subject, brought back to Pago Pago -(American Samoa) to resume his citizenship. There they learned true -modesty, which comprised stockings and heavy boys' shoes; the art of -playing solitaire, in which one fat, matronly-looking woman indulged all -day as though she had been brought along as chaperon and felt herself -considerably out of it; and even en route for home they were learning -the art of striking by calculation and without passion or frenzy. - -I was sitting on the hatch with Fulaanu, who was strumming away on her -ukulele, when a ring was formed in the middle of the hold and a young -white man began boxing with a Samoan. The white boxer was obviously an -amateur, bearing himself with all the unpleasant mannerisms of his -profession,--a haughty, pugnacious, overbearing self-conceit. He had -every advantage in training over his antagonist, whom he peppered -vigorously. He kept it up when it was evident that the young Samoan was -going under. One last blow and the fellow doubled over, bleeding from -nose and mouth. It took ten minutes to bring him round. In the -meanwhile, the victor of the unfair bout strutted around as though he -had accomplished something remarkable. - -It was interesting to see the effect this had on the "primitive" -Samoans. There was consternation among them; a hush came over the hold. -The vibration of the steamer and the splashing of the water against its -iron side alone broke the stillness. The Samoan girls, though they did -not grow hysterical, were most decidedly displeased, turning in disgust -from the sight of blood. Yet according to our notions they are -primitive, and the fact is that a few generations ago they were savages. - -But they were not long in distress. The spell of the equatorial sun was -upon them, and they soon relaxed. There upon mats, as in their own huts, -lay rows of fat, large, voluptuous men and women; nor was there even a -rope to separate the sexes as in an up-to-date Japanese bath. They -seemed to sleep all day, in shifts governed by impulse only. A woman -would rise and move about a while, then go back to lounge again. -Enormous, broad-shouldered and black mustached men would snore gently, -rise and inspect life, and decide that slumber was better for one's -soul. But Fulaanu lounged with her ukulele, surrounded by amorous -sailors who gazed longingly into her eyes. - -One night we arranged for a meeting of the "classes." We promised the -Samoans a good collection if they would come and dance for us on deck. -We invited the first-class folk to come, too. They stood as far to one -side of us as was consonant with first-class dignity represented by an -extra few pounds sterling in the price of the ticket. But for a moment -we forgot that there were class and race in the world. - -It was not one of those interminable revelries one reads about, that -begin with twilight and end with twilight. On the contrary, it was a -little squall of entertainment, one that breaks out of a clear sky and -leaves the sky just as clear in a trice. There was no occasion for -self-expression here. They had been asked to dance for our -entertainment, not for theirs. There we stood, ready to applaud; there -they were, ready to be applauded, to receive the collection promised. It -was another little thing they had picked up in our world, from our -civilization,--the commercialization of art. Our artists, scribes, and -entertainers have been considerably raised above prostitution of their -talents by a certain commercialization, by the translation of their -worth in dollars and cents; and we need a little more of it to free art -from bondage to patronage. But in the tropics, where the dance and -jollity are no private matters, there is something sterile in -commercialization. No doubt to the natives there is little difference -between a woman giving herself for gain and a man dancing for the money -there is in it without the whole group becoming part of the performance: -the dancer feels that his purchaser, his public, is cold and -unresponsive. And so it seemed to me at this dance. They finished, they -expected their money, they got it and departed, and there seemed -something immoral to me in the exploitation of their emotions. - -What a different lot they were one night when I visited the little house -they rented in Suva while waiting for the _Atua_ to arrive from New -Zealand and take them on to Samoa. There it was song and dance out of -sheer ecstasy: life was so full. They were again in their home -atmosphere, and their voices only helped swell the volume of song which -issued forth everywhere about,--an electrification of humanity all along -the line, in village after village. - -They hung about the pier before sailing for Samoa till after midnight, -singing sentimental songs and hobnobbing with the Fijians. The Fijian -constable joined them with a flute, and the lot of them tried to drown -out the voices of the natives loading and unloading cargo. Not until -notice was given that the ship was about to get under steam did they -think of going aboard. They looked as though ready for rest, but by no -means dissipated, by no means weary. The spell of song was still upon -them. - -When we woke next morning, we were tied up to a pier at the foot of the -hills of Levuka. But I have already dwelt upon the features of this -former capital, and am only concerned with it here as it was reflected -in the eyes of the Samoans. Levuka to me was one thing; to them it was -quite another. The moldy little stores afforded them more interest than -the village to the left, or the shipyards to the right which were to my -Western notions commendable. - -I followed in the wake of these gliding natives as we left the steamer. -They looked neither to the right nor to the left, but wended their ways, -like cattle in the pasture, straight toward the shops. Into one and out -the other they went, bargaining, pricing, buying little trinkets and -simple cloths, chatting with the Fijians as though friends of old. - -Setu's sweetheart and the pretty mother of the young American citizen, -who was left in the care of the fat "chaperon," set off by themselves -through the one and only street of Levuka. It was obvious that they were -quite aware of whither they were going,--so direct was their journey. My -curiosity was roused and I wandered along with them. They said never a -word to me, nor objected to my presence. We turned to the left, off into -a side street that began to insinuate its way along the bed of a stream -lined with wooden huts and shacks. Some of these were fairly well -constructed, with verandas, like the houses of a miniature American -town, garlanded in flowers. Just above the village, where the stream -began to emerge from behind a rocky little gorge, the two women turned -in at a gate to a private cottage. A bridge led across the stream to -the little house, the veranda of which extended slightly over the -stream. Beneath, in a corner formed by a projecting boulder, lay a quiet -little pool of water--clear, cool, fresh and deep. - -Without asking permission from the owners, the women began slowly, -cautiously to wade into the pool. Seeing that I had no thought of going, -they put modesty aside, slipped the loose garments down to their waists -and immersed themselves up to their necks. One of them was tattooed from -below her breasts to her hips; the other's breasts alone bore these -designs. They dipped and rose, splashed and spluttered, but there was -none of that intimacy with their own flesh which is the essence of -cleanliness and passion in our world. There was no soap, no scrubbing. -It was something objective, almost, a contact with nature like looking -at a landscape or listening to a storm. - -Presently some of the inmates of the cottage, evidently well-to-do -Fijians, came out to greet them. I could not tell whether they were -friends or not, but the women were invited in,--and I turned into town -through back roads and alleys that were just like the back roads and -alleys anywhere in the world. - -That afternoon we steamed out again for Apia, Samoa. The sea was -disturbed somewhat and gave us various sensations; but the vile odors -that threatened my nautical pride never changed. - -Most of the Samoans were under the weather. They did not look cheerful, -and all song was gone out of them. Setu and his sweetheart were here -even more inseparable than on the _Niagara_. She was not very well and -stretched out on the bench on the edge of which he took his seat. In her -squeamish condition she could hardly be expected to pay much attention -to proprieties she had acquired in less than a year's residence in -America. Her sprawly bare feet on several occasions made too bold an -exit from beneath the loose Mother-Hubbard gown she wore, and each time -Setu would draw the skirt farther over them, affectionately pressing -them with his hand. This one instance, exceptional as it was, made me -notice more consciously the absence of that public intimacy which is the -bane of the prude with us. Not all the charm of the tropics which is so -real to me can take the place of the cleanliness of the West, the -tenderness of clean men and women in public, to be observed even on our -crowded subways, the loveliness of white skin tinged with pink and -scented with the essence of flowers. - -I did not see them again before we arrived at Samoa the next day; the -sea was too choppy. But in the afternoon Setu came out with a pillow -held aloft over his head, and declared he would take a nap. There was -childish glee in his face at the prospect, and he stretched out on the -hard deck in perfect ease. And long after I ceased to figure in his -fancies, the beaming, sparkling eyes and merry grin seemed to light up -the soul within him. - -Toward sundown we passed the first island of the group,--Savaii, the -largest. It lay at our left, Mua Peak emitting a sluggish smoke from -reaches beyond the depth of the waters which had nearly submerged it, -and as the sea made furious charges into blow-holes or half-submerged -caverns, the earth spit back the invading waters with an easy contempt. - -At our right lay the island of Manono, much smaller, and nearer our -course. Shy Samoan villages hid in little ravines, almost afraid to show -their faces. - -Shortly after eight o'clock we neared the island of Upolu. The troupe of -Samoans came out on deck with the eagerness in their eyes that marks -such arrivals at every port of the world. The lights of the village of -Apia pricked the delicate evening haze. One strong, steady lamp, like a -planet, shone from above the others. Setu called to me eagerly, his -right hand pointing toward it. - -"That is from Vailima, Stevenson's home," he said, with some pride. - -When at last we anchored just outside the reefs before Apia, these -natives, who had grown close to one another during the year of their -pilgrimage, began bidding one another farewell before slipping back to -the little separate grooves they called home. The women kissed one -another, cheek touching cheek at an angle, a practice common both at -meeting (_talofa_) and at parting (_tofa_). But with the men they only -shook hands. Then, clambering over into canoes, they were borne across -the reefs to their homes. And as long as Polynesia is Polynesia there -will echo the stories of this journey to the land of the white man and -all children will know that what the white man said about his lands is -true. - - -2 - -The reader who has never entered a strange port nor come home from -foreign lands will not be able to imagine the psychological effect of my -entry of Samoa. Not only did the thousands of eyes of the natives seem -to turn their gaze upon me, but it seemed, and I was quite sure, that at -least two thousand pale faces with as many bayonets were fixed upon me. -Samoa was under occupation. I asked the captain of the forces what I -could do to avoid trouble. - -"See that you don't get shot," he said. I assured him there was nothing -nearer my heart's desire, and, seeing that I looked harmless, he -ventured to reassure me: "Oh, just keep away from the wireless. That's -all." I had come to see the natives, not electric gymnastics, so I found -it very easy to keep away from the wireless. - -What there was of Apia was essentially European and lay along the -waterfront. Here stood the three-story hotel, built and until then -managed by Germans. Diagonally across from it and nearer the water's -edge, was a two-story ramshackle building even then run by Germans. The -little barber to whom I had been directed spoke with a most decided -German accent. He cut and shampooed my hair, but let me walk out with as -much of a souse on top of my head as I ever had in a shower-bath. -Wherever I went were Germans,--and yet they said the islands were under -occupation. Turn to the right and there, back off the street within a -small compound that seemed to lie flat and low, was a German school -still being conducted by black-bearded German priests. But to the left, -within the dark-red fence, stood the dark-red buildings of the German -Plantation Company, closed, and the little building that once was the -German Club had become the British Club; while at the other end of the -street were the office buildings of the military staff, where once ruled -the German militarists. In between, in a little building a block or two -behind the waterfront, was the printing-office,--where, strange to say, -the daily paper was still being printed in both German and English. With -the few structures that filled in the gaps between these outposts we had -small concern. They were the nests of traders, the haven of so-called -beach-combers and the barracks and missionary compounds. And alien Samoa -is at an end. - -Mindful of the mild instructions not to get myself shot, I took as -little interest in the details of occupation as was compatible with my -sense of freedom; but this course was precarious, for at the time any -one who was not with us was against us. However, details of such -differences must be reserved for a later chapter. Here we are interested -in Samoa itself. But in my very interest in the place I struck a snag, -for every other day Germans were being deported or coraled for -attempting to stir up a native uprising. Still, inasmuch as I could not -acquire the language in so short a time, I felt secure, and took to the -paths that led to the Stone Age as a Dante without a love-affair to -guide him. - -The island is hemmed in by coral reefs on the edge of which the waves -break, spreading in foam and gliding quietly toward shore. As they sport -in the brilliant sunlight, it seems as though the sea were calling back -the life lost to it through evolution. The tall, gaunt palms which lean -toward the sea, bow in a humble helplessness. There, a quarter of a mile -out, upon the unseen reefs, lies the iron skeleton of the _Adler_, the -German man-of-war which was wrecked on the memorable day in 1889. Such -seems to be the fate of the Germans: even their skeletons outlive -disaster. But the sea has been the protector of the natives. It would be -interesting to speculate as to what course events about the South Seas -would have taken had not that hurricane intervened. The natives are -indifferent to such speculations; for, as far as they were concerned, -one turn was as good as another. Borne over the swelling waves from -island drift to island drift, the ups and downs of eternity seem to -leave no great changes in their lives. - -Roaming along the waterfront to the left of Apia with the sun near high -noon, all by myself, I met with nothing to disturb the utter sweetness -and glory of life about. I wavered between moods of exquisite -exhilaration and deep depression. Bound by the encircling consciousness -of the occupation, the sense of wrong done these natives who had neither -asked for our civilization nor invited us to squabble over their -"bones," I felt that but for the presence of the white man this would -have been the loveliest land in the world. For here one becomes aware of -nature as something altogether different from nature anywhere else. That -distant pleading of the sea; the gentle yielding of the palms to the -landborn breezes,--there was much more than peace and ease; there was -absolute harmony. But where was man? - -I became restless. Nature was not sufficient. I went to seek out man, -for at that hour there was none of him anywhere about. I was, for all -intents and purposes, absolutely the only human being on that island. -Every one else had taken to cool retreats. But where should I go? I -wondered. I knew no one, and the sense of loneliness I had for a while -forgotten came back to me with a rush. For a moment I was again in -civilization, again in a world of fences and locked doors. "I will go -and look up Setu," I thought. "He promised to guide me about Samoa. I -have his address. I'll look up Setu." So I turned back toward the hills -and in among the palm groves, where I could see the huts of the village -of Mulinuu, where Setu lived. - -When I arrived I realized why I had suddenly become conscious of my -loneliness. Throughout the village there wasn't a soul abroad. The domes -of thatch resting on circles of smooth pillars were deserted, it seemed, -and the fresh coolness that coursed freely within their shade was -untasted. Nowhere upon the broad, grassy fields beneath the palms was -there a walking thing; and I was a total stranger. It was slightly -bewildering, as though I were in a graveyard, or a village from which -the inhabitants had all gone. I approached one of the huts and found, to -my satisfaction, that there was a human being there. It was a woman, -attending to her household duties. She was just under the eaves on the -outside, beside the floor of the hut, which was like a circular stage -raised a foot or two above the ground, and paved with loose shingles -from the shore. I hardly knew how to approach her, not thinking she -might know my language. - -"Good afternoon," she said in perfect English. "Sit down." The shock was -pleasant. So there were no fences or doors to social intercourse in -Samoa, after all. Still, I must find Setu. I asked her where I could -locate his home. Before directing me, she chatted a while and assured me -that I could go to any one of the huts about and make myself -comfortable. I was not to hesitate, as it was the custom of the country -and in no way unusual. She was a fine-looking woman, robust and tall, -genial and attentive, as housewifely a person as could be found -anywhere. I have since had occasion to talk with many a housewife in New -Zealand and Australia when searching for private quarters and cannot say -that their manners, their dress, their regard for a stranger's welfare -in any way exceeded those of this woman who had nothing to offer me but -rest and no wish for reward but my content. - -Taking her directions, I turned across the village to where she said -Setu could be found. Beneath the shade of a palm squatted a group of men -who when they spied me called for me to come over to them. Had I not -been on curiosity bent, I should have regarded their request as sheer -impudence, for when I arrived they wanted me to employ them as guides. -It was amusing. Instead of running after hire, they commanded the -stranger to come to them. It was too comfortable under the spreading -palm branches. I told them that I had arranged with Setu to guide me and -was in search of him. They began running Setu down. He was -untrustworthy, they assured me, and would charge me too high a price. -Then they asked me what my business was, what Setu had said, when he was -going,--everything imaginable. But never an inch would they move to show -me the way to Setu's house. I wandered about for a while, inquiring of -one stray individual and another, but no one had seen Setu, and at last -I learned that he had left the village early that morning for his -father's place, far inland, and would not return. Setu had gone back on -me. He had promised to call for me with his horse and buggy and convey -me over the island. But Setu had forsaken me, and there was nothing to -do but to make the best of the day right there. - -Taking the word of the well-spoken woman, I approached the most -attractive-looking hut, where sat a number of people roundabout the -pillars. It was a mansion-like establishment even to my inexperienced -judgment of huts. It was roofed with corrugated iron instead of thatch, -and the pillars were unusually straight and smooth. The raised floor was -very neatly spread with selected, smooth, flat stones four to five -inches in diameter, and framed with a rim of concrete. Fine straw mats -lay like rugs over a polished parquet floor at all angles to one -another, and straw drop curtains hung rolled up under the eaves, to be -lowered in case of rain or hurricane. The floor space must have been at -least thirty-five feet in diameter, and it was plain that each -inhabitant occupied his own section of the hut round the outer circle. - -I was cordially greeted and invited to rest, which I did by sitting on -the ground with my legs out, and my back to a pillar for support. From -the quiet and decorum it was evident that the householders were -entertaining guests. Each couple or family sat upon its own mats. There -were twelve adults and three children. It happened that the man who -greeted me and bade me be seated was the guest of honor, a gentleman -from Rarotanga, passing through Samoa on his way to Fiji. He was a very -refined-looking individual, and made me feel that the Rarotangans were a -superior race, but the contrary is true. However, his regular features -and courtly manners were a distinction which might well have led to such -a supposition. His handsome wife, who sat with him, was as retiring as a -Japanese woman, and as considerate of his comfort. - -The others were set in pairs all round the hut. At the extreme left were -two women, sewing; opposite us, a man and woman apportioning the -victuals; to my right, a man and a woman grinding the ava root -preparatory to the making of the drink. Farther way squatted a very fat -woman, with barely a covering over her breasts, which were full as -though she were in the nursing-stage. The children moved about freely -neither disturbing nor being curbed. In the center of the company sat -two men, one evidently the head of the family, with his back up against -a pillar, the other his equal in some relationship. - -The dinner was being served by a portly individual, a man who could not -have been exactly a servant, yet who did not act as though he were a -member of the family. He passed round the ample supply of fish, meats, -and vegetables on enamel plates, his services always being acknowledged -graciously. No one looked at or noticed his neighbor, but indulged with -the aid of spoon or finger as he saw fit, and had any made a _faux pas_ -there would have been none the wiser. That, I thought, was true -politeness. - -Dinner over, the remains were removed and each person leaned back -against the nearest pillar. After a slight pause, the eldest man, he in -the center of the hut, clapped his hands, and uttered a gentle sound, as -one satisfied would say: "Well! Let's get down to business." But it was -nothing so serious or so material as that. It was ava-drinking time. The -polished cocoanut bowl was passed round, by the same old waiter, to the -man whose name was called aloud by the head of the household, and each -time all the rest clapped hands two or three times to cheer his cup. It -was like the Japanese method of "ringing" for a servant, not like our -applause. Then fruits were passed around. Cocoanuts, soft and ripe, the -outer shell like the skin of an alligator pear and easily cut with an -ordinary knife, were first in order, after which the companion of the -man in the middle of the hut, like a magician on the stage, drew out of -mysterious regions an enormous pineapple which may have been thirty -inches in circumference. It might have had elephantiasis, for all I -knew, but it was the cause of the only bit of disharmony I had noticed -during the entire time I rested with them. The man to whom it fell to -dispense its juicy contents--he who had sat unobtrusively beside the -head of the house now found it necessary to stretch his legs in order -the better to carve the fruity porcupine. The shock to my sense of form -the moment I caught sight of those legs was enough to dissipate my -greediest interest in the pineapple. They were twice the size of the -fruit, and as knotty. He was suffering from elephantiasis of the legs, -poor man,--a disease, according to the encyclopædia, "dependent on -chronic lymphatic obstruction, and characterized by hypertrophy of the -skin and subcutaneous tissue." Morbid persons seem to enjoy taking away -with them photographs of people affected by this hideous disease in -various parts of the body, but it was enough for me that I saw this one -case; and sorry enough was I that I saw it at that quiet, peaceful hut, -from which I should otherwise have carried away the loveliest of -memories. - -For as soon as the meal was over, and the ava-drinking at an end, -pleasures more intellectual were in order. Neighbors began to arrive, -including the fine woman who had urged me to rest wherever I wished. As -each new guest appeared, he passed round on the outside and shook hands -with those to whom he was introduced, finally finding a quiet corner. - -When the interruptions ceased, the head of the house began to speak in a -low, reflective tone of voice. All the others relaxed, as do men and -women over their cigarettes. My Tongan neighbor acted as interpreter for -me, being the only person present who could speak English. The head of -the house was telling some family legend, the point of which was the -friendship between his forefathers and the fathers of this Tongan guest. -Then one at a time, quietly, in a subdued tone, each one present -expressed his gratitude for the hospitality extended, or recited some -family reminiscence. There wasn't the slightest affectation, nor the -semblance of an argument. Here, then, was Thoreau's principle of -hospitality actually being practised. As each one spoke he gazed out -upon the open sky decorated with the broad green leaves of the palm. -Sometimes the listeners smiled at some witticism, but most of the time -they were interested in a sober way. Last of all arose the companion of -the head of the house, upon his heavy, elephantine legs, and in a -dramatic manner--probably made to seem more so by the tragic distortion -of his limbs--related a story, several times emphasizing a -generalization by a sweep of the hands toward the open world about. - -A gentle breeze crept down from the hills and swept its way among the -pillars of this peaceful hut and skipped on through the palms out to -sea. As far as the eye could reach through the village there was no sign -of uncleanliness, no stifling enclosures, no frills to catch the unwary. - -The afternoon was well-nigh gone when I moved reluctantly away from this -charmed spot. Slowly life was becoming more discontented with ease and -bestirred itself to the satisfaction of wants. A few hours of toil, in -the gathering of fruits, and one phase of tropical life was rounded out. -It might be more pleasant to believe that that is the only side, but -such faith is treacherous. The life of the average South Sea islander is -as arduous as any. Fruits there are usually a-plenty, but they must be -gathered and stored against famine and storm. Be that as it may, the -open life, the things one has which require only wishing to make them -one's own, the uncramped open world,--by that much every man is -millionaire in the tropics, and it is pleasant to forget if one can that -there is exploitation, despoliation, and oppression as well, both of -native and of alien origin. But for the time at least we may as well -enjoy that which is lovely. - - -3 - -That night I witnessed the usual events at the British Club. The -substance of the evening's conversation, every word of which was in my -own language, was quite foreign to me. It comprised "Dr. Funk" and -his special services in counteracting dengue fever. The aim and object -of every man there seemed to be to make me drink, quite against my will. -A visiting doctor added the weight of his learning to induce me to turn -from heedlessly falling a victim to fever by engaging "Dr. Funk." I was -inclined to dub him "Dr. Bunk," but why arouse animosity in the tropics? -there is enough of it. - - [Illustration: THE STREET ALONG THE WATERFRONT OF APIA, SAMOA] - - [Illustration: I THOUGHT THE VILLAGE BACK OF APIA, SAMOA, WAS - DESERTED, BUT IT WAS ONLY THE NOON HOUR] - - [Illustration: CONTACT WITH CALIFORNIA CREATED THIS COMBINATION OF - SCOWL, BRACELETS AND BOY'S BOOTS--BUT FULAANU BESIDE HER WAS - UNCORRUPTIBLE] - - [Illustration: TATTOOING OF THE LEGS IS AN ESSENTIAL IN SAMOA] - -But I couldn't help contrasting in my own mind the little gathering on -the shingle-paved floor of that corrugated iron hut with the more -elaborate club that changed its name from German to British with no -little hauteur. More than once I wished that I had had command of the -language of those people in the hut where allegory, mixed with -superstition but seasoned with gentle hospitality--and not rum--was the -order of the day. - -Weary of refusing booze and more booze, I set off for the shore. Though -military order forbade either natives or Germans or any one else without -a permit to be out after ten o'clock, I had had no difficulty in -securing a permit to roam about at will, day or night. The new military -Inspector of Police strolled out with me and we took to the road that -led out of Apia to the left, past the barracks, past the school, and the -church, past all the crude replicas of our civilization. - -"Oh, how I loathe it all!" said Heasley to me. "God, what wouldn't I -give to be back with my wife and kiddies! This everlasting boozing, this -mingling with people whom I wouldn't recognize in Wellington, being -herded with the riffraff of the world. They talk of the lovely maidens. -Tell me, Greenbie, have you seen any here you'd care to mess about with? -The tropics!--rot!" - -I saw that I had to deal with a frightfully homesick man, and there was -no point in running counter to him. The fact that to me the tropics were -lovely only when seen as an objective thing, not as something to feel a -part of, would have made little impression on his mind. He was -condemned to an indefinite sojourn, whereas I was foot-loose, had come -of my own free will, and was going as soon as I had had enough of it. To -him the daily round of drink and cheap disputes, the longing for his -wife and kiddies, the heat, the mosquitos, the mold, the cheap beds and -unvaried fare, the weeks during which the British troops had virtually -camped on the beach in the steady downpouring tropical rains; the -inability to dream his way into appreciation of South Sea life; the -necessity of looking upon the natives as possible rebels; suspicions of -the few Germans there, suspicions of every new-comer, suspicions of even -the death-dealing sun,--no wonder there was nothing romantic about it to -him! - -But as we wandered along, chatting in an intimate way, as only men gone -astray from home will chat when they meet on the highways of the world, -he seemed to grow more cheerful. Time and again he told me what a relief -I was to him, how being able really to talk freely with me was balm to -his troubled spirit. I knew that an hour after my departure he would -forget all about me, that there was nothing permanent in his regard, -that I really meant nothing to him beyond an immediate release for his -pent-up mind,--but I felt that he was sincere. - -As we kicked our way along the dusty road we came to a stretch where the -palm-trees stood wide apart. The smooth waters covered the reefs, and a -million moonbeams danced over them. Within the palm groves camp-fires -blazed beneath domes of moon-splattered thatch, and from all directions -deep, clear voices quickened the night air. We of the Northern lands do -not know what communal life is. We move in throngs, we crowd the -theaters, we crowd the summer resorts,--but still we do not know what -communal life is. We are separate icicles compared with the people of -the tropics. Only to one adrift at night within a little South Sea -village is the meaning of human commonalty revealed. It seemed to touch -Heasley as nothing had done before. After our little conversation he -appeared relieved and receptive. We wandered about till long after -midnight, long after the village had sung itself to sleep, even then -reluctant to take to our musty beds. - -Thus did one day pass in Samoa, and every day is like the other, and my -tale is told. - - -4 - -I tapped one man after another in Samoa for some personal recollections -of Stevenson, but without success. At last I heard of an American trader -who had been an intimate friend of R. L. S. and knew more about him than -any other. So to him I went. He was a round-headed, red-faced, bald -individual in the late fifties, deeply engrossed in the sumptuous -accumulations he had made during more than a quarter-century of -residence in Samoa. His reactions to my declaration of interest in -Stevenson made me think he was turning to lock his safe and order his -guard, but instead he really opened the safe and dismissed all pretense. -In other words, he realized, it seemed to me, that he had another chance -of adding luster not to Stevenson, but to himself. Stevenson he -dismissed with, "Well, you know, after all he was just like other men. -Often he was disagreeable, ill-tempered," etc. The thing worth while was -the fact that _he_ had written a book about Stevenson, in which _he_ had -exhausted all he knew of the man, so why did I not read that and not -bother him about it! I felt apologetic, almost inclined to bow myself -out, backward, when he announced that he too had written stories of the -South Seas. My interest was whetted. I asked to be shown. He drew from -among his bills and invoices a packet of manuscripts, and handed one to -me to read. I thought of Setu and his enthusiasm at the recognition at -sea of the light from Vailima, and felt that, as far as Stevenson's own -life went, Setu was, to me at least, more important. - -Notwithstanding all the cynics who laugh at those who come to Samoa to -climb to Stevenson's grave, I was determined to make the ascent. I could -get no one to make it with me. At five o'clock in the morning I mustered -what energy I had left from the North, ready to spend it all for the -sake of seeing Stevenson's grave. By six, the wind was already warm and -dragged behind it heavy rain-clouds. Hot and brain-fagged, I pressed on, -my body pushing listlessly forward while my mind battled with the -temptation to turn back. Near the end of European Apia I turned toward -the hills, into a wide avenue cut through the growths of shaggy palms. -Suddenly opening out from the main street, it as suddenly closes up, an -oblong that dissipates in a narrow, irregular roadway farther on. It was -too overgrown to indicate any great usefulness, yet in the history of -roads, none, I believe, is more unique. In the days when Samoa was the -scene of cheap international squabbles among England, France, Germany, -and America, Stevenson, the Scotsman, mindful of the fate of Scotland -and of the similarity between his adopted and his native land, stood by -the natives as against the foreign powers (Germany in particular). He -took up the challenge for Mataafa, courageously cuddled these children -while in prison, and won their everlasting good-will. Later, as a mark -of gratitude, they decided voluntarily to build a wide road to Vailima, -Stevenson's home. Their ambitions did not live long. The road was never -finished. But this is indicative not of diminished gratitude, but of the -overwhelming hopelessness of their situation in face of foreign pressure -and native temperature. - -For everything in the tropics seems on the verge of exhaustion, a keen -enthusiasm in life which finds its ebb before it has reached high tide. -Only a supreme endeavor, a will sharper than nature, can overcome the -spirit of non-resistance which condemns native life from very birth. And -it was the remnant of determination bred in another climate that -carried me on toward the remains of the object of that gratitude which -this road symbolized. - -Vailima was four miles from Apia, hidden within a rich tropical growth -well up the mountain side. Half the time I rested in the shade, taking -my cue from my idol that it was better to travel than to arrive. No one -was about, except here and there a child in search of fruit dropped from -the tall trees. Presently I came to a set of wooden buildings on the -road which upon investigation turned out to be the temporary barracks -for the guard of Colonel Logan, commander of the forces of occupation. -The soldiers directed me most cordially to a path near the barracks, and -there a board sign announced the way to "STEVENSON'S GRAVE." - -Crossing a creek and turning to the right, I found myself immediately at -the foot of Mount Vaea. At this juncture lay a small concrete pool -obviously belonging to the cottage, well-preserved and clean. So was the -path upward. Strange contrasts here, for both pool and path were the -result of the private interest of the German Governor of Samoa who, -despite Stevenson's bitter opposition to German possession of the -islands, had generously had the path cleared and widened so that lovers -of the great man might visit his tomb with ease. It had been neglected -for ten years until this German reclaimed it. - -For a decade the grave lay untended. At the moment of death, the silence -is deep. The pain is too fresh. Out of very love neglect is justifiable, -for it is the train of dejected mourners who cannot think of niceties. -But then come the "knockers at the gate," they who know nothing of the -frailties of men and revel in an immortality that is memory. - -I paused frequently during that half-hour climb. Cooing doves called to -one another understandingly across the death-like stillness which filled -the valley below. From the direction of Apia came the sound of the -lali, which seemed only to quicken mystery into being. I breathed more -heavily. There, alone on the slopes of that peak, with the only thing -that makes it memorable beneath the sod on the summit, I felt strangely -in touch with the dead. The isolation gave distinction to him who had -been laid there, which no monument, however superb, can give in the -crowded graveyard. The personality of the departed hovers round in the -silence. - -Still, the thought of death itself is alien here. Fear is barren. One -climbs on with an easy, smiling recognition of the summit of all -things,--not as death, but as life. Oh, the sweet silence that muffles -all! - -A strange relapse into the ordinary came to me as I reached the top. I -took a picture of the tomb, gazed out across the hazy blue world -about,--and thought of nothing. I was not disappointed, nor sad. Had I -found myself sinking, dying, I believe that it would not have ruffled my -emotions any more than the flight of a bird leaves ripples in the air. -Below, five miles away, the waves broke upon the reefs and spread in -smooth foam which reached endlessly toward the shore. "It is better to -travel than to arrive," they seemed to say to me across the void. - -The red hibiscus was in bloom around the tomb. A sweet-scented yellow -flower made the air heavy with its rich perfume. The trees speckled the -simple concrete casing over the grave with their restless little shadow -leaves. The spot was cool and free from growths. And it was, then, a -symbol of a quarter of a century made real. - - Glad did I live and gladly die - And I laid me down with a will. - -Savage, child, romancer, literary stylist,--all have been under the -influence of this wandering Scotsman, and the manner of showing him love -and gratitude has been not in imitation only. At Monterey in California -he was nursed by an old Frenchman through a long period of illness; in -semi-savage Samoa men untutored in our codes of affection beat not a -path but a road to his door, and carried his body up the steep slope of -Mount Vaea. And the month before I stood beside his tomb, the ashes of -his wife and devoted helpmate were deposited beside him by his -stepdaughter, who had journeyed all the way from California to unite -their remains. - -Tusitala, the tale-teller, the natives called him, and in the sheer -music of that strange word one senses something of the regard it was -meant to convey. And in the years to come, when Samoans become a nation -in the Pacific, part of the Polynesian group, Tusitala will doubtless be -one of the heroes, tales of whose beneficence will light the way for -little Polynesians growing to manhood. - - -It was becoming too hot up there on the peak for me before -breakfast-time was over, so I slipped down into the valley. At the -barracks the soldiers invited me to have a bite with them. The simple -porridge, the crude utensils, the bare benches would elsewhere after so -long a walk and so steep a climb have been a Godsend; but here, in the -tropics, it seemed that more would have been a waste of human life. The -sergeant-at-arms asked me if I should like to have some breadfruit. He -stepped out into the yard and gathered a round, luscious melon-like -fruit which, when cut, opened the doors of alimentary bliss to me. The -trees grow in bisexual pairs, male and female, the female tree bearing -the fruit. - -The sergeant then took me to Vailima, Stevenson's last home, now the -residence of the governor-general. It was, of course, stripped of -everything which once was Stevenson's, and had acquired wings and -porticos, gaunt and disproportioned. I could not work up any sentimental -regret at this change, for that is what Stevenson himself would have -wished. The best way to preserve a thing is to keep it growing. -Stevenson worked here for four years; others may tamper with it for -four hundred years without completely obliterating the character given -it by its first maker. - -When I entered I was somewhat surprised at the hangings on the walls. -Pictures of the kaiser, pretty scenes along the Rhine, German -castles,--what had they to do with Stevenson? what with Colonel Logan -and British occupation? The chambers are so large and the woodwork is so -somber that these pictures fairly shrieked out at one, like a flock of -eagles in high altitudes. I felt almost guilty, myself, simply for being -in the presence of such enemy decorations, and remarked about them to my -guide. - -"The colonel won't touch them," he said, respectfully. "They are the -property of the German Governor, and till the disposition of the islands -is finally settled, the colonel won't move them. He's a soldier, -y'know." - -We came out again upon the veranda just in time to see Colonel and Mrs. -Logan arrive in their trap. He was tall, straight, an icy chill of -reserve in his bearing. Mrs. Logan was a pretty young woman, as warm and -cordial as he was stiff. He preceded her up the steps and was saluted by -the sergeant with the explanation of my presence. - -"Am showing this gentleman round a bit," he said. - -"Has he had a look round?" said the colonel, perfunctorily, saluted -stiffly, and passed by as though I didn't exist. As Mrs. Logan came up -behind she suppressed a smile that threatened to make her face still -more charming, and the two passed within. - -I smiled to myself. How should I have been received had Stevenson come -up those steps that day? To the colonel there was nothing in my journey -to the tomb. Nor was there anything in it to the soldiers at the -barracks. Yet the fact that I had been there made me one of them. - -"How'd ye like it?" asked a soldier on my return, with the same manner -as though I had gone to see a cock-fight. "Blaim me if Oi'd climb that -yer 'ill on a day as 'ot as this to see a dead man's grave." - -They asked me if I'd like to take a swim in the stream Stevenson liked -so well, and on the strength of my great interest three of them got -leave to accompany me. They winked to me when the sergeant agreed. We -wandered along, jumping fences, crossing a grassy slope, and cutting -through a spare woods. The bamboo-trees creaked like rusty hinges. Cocoa -plantations stood ripe for picking. The luscious mango kept high above -our reach, so that we were compelled to devise means of getting at it. -The soldiers seemed concerned about my seeing everything, tasting -everything, learning everything the place afforded. We chatted sociably, -plunging about in the stream, with only a few stray natives looking on. -Then we made our way back as leisurely as possible, they being in no -hurry to return to the barracks. How I got back to Apia I haven't the -faintest recollection. - - -5 - -I had set out to see the world without any definite notion of whither I -was drifting. I had bartered the liquid sunshine of Hawaii for Fiji's -humid shade, and twisted a day in a knot between Suva and Apia so that I -hardly knew whether or not Fiji was more devilishly hot than Samoa. And -then for four days I endured the stench of ripening bananas in the hold -of a resurrected vessel which, if ships are feminine, as sailors seem to -believe, was decidedly beyond the age of spinsterhood. I was headed for -New Zealand. Little wonder, then, that when I found that we had finally -arrived with our olfactory senses still sane and were about to land in a -real country with real cities and a social life dangerously near -perfection, I felt as though I were coming to after ether. - -When I suddenly found myself alone on the streets of Auckland, a sense -of the icy chill of reserve in civilization came over me. The weeks in -the tropics were of the past. There, though the faces were more than -strange to me and the speech quite unintelligible, there was a sense of -human kinship which stole from man to man through the still air. There -was the lali thumping its way across the valley; the chatter of voices -by day, the mutter of voices by night when the people gathered beneath -their thatched roofs; the gradual infusion of native melody with the -swish of palms and the hiss of the sea; call answering call across the -village; songs with that deep, primitive harmony which effects a ferment -of emotion not in one's heart, but in the pit of the stomach. In such a -place, the word _alone_ has no meaning. One cannot be a stark outsider. -Everything is done so freely and sociably that even the stranger, -despite thousands of years of restraint in civilization, merges into an -at-one-ment known to no group in our world. - -Social life in New Zealand (as in all white communities) contained no -such admixture. Not even on Sunday, on which day I landed, did the -crowds that sauntered up and down the street, present any kindred -closeness. People just sauntered back and forth across the three or four -business blocks known as Queens Street. The sweeps and curves and -windings which were its offshoots made a short thoroughfare look -picturesque, but they were just flourishes. They did not lead to -anything. And one immediately returned to Queens Street. - -There, the wheeled traffic having been withdrawn, the people leaving -church flooded the wide way, coursing up and down in what seemed to me -an utterly aimless journey between the monument at the upper fork in the -street and the piers at its foot. As a white man's city goes, in the -three-story structures and spacious business fronts, and the massing of -architecture tapering in an occasional turret, there was stability -enough in the appearance of things. - -There were jolly flirtations, girls singly and in pairs, some mere -children in short skirts, gadding about with eyes on young men whom they -doubtless knew, and of whom they seemed in eternal pursuit. Groups -gathered for political or religious argument; platitudes and -pleasantries were exchanged, some interesting, some dull, seldom truly -cordial. A vague suspicion one of another was manifest in every -relationship. - -Suddenly the crowd vanished. A few persistent ones hung about the lower -extremity of the street or lurked about the piers, spooning. The street -became deserted. Not a sound from anywhere. No joyous singing under the -eaves, no flickering lamp-lights beneath thatched roofs. Blinds drawn, -doors locked. Sunday evening in civilization! I had returned. - - - - -CHAPTER VI - -THE APHELION OF BRITAIN - - -1 - -There are no holy places in New Zealand, none of the worn and curious -trappings of forgotten civilizations to search out and to revere. There -are no signposts which lead the wanderer along, despite himself, in -search of sacred spots; no names which make life worth while. Whom shall -he try to see? Is there a Romain Rolland or a Shaw, or an Emerson to -whom he could bow in that reverence which invites the soul rather than -bends the knee? - -There are only boiling fountains and snow-packed ranges and wild-waste -places to which neither man nor beast go willingly. Yet an unknown urge -pushes one on, that urge which from time immemorial has impelled saint -in search of salvation, and age in search of youth, as well as youth in -search of adventure, to the most inaccessible reaches of the world. All -of us bring back accounts of what we've seen, but which of us can answer -why we went? - -First impressions in older countries are generally confusing. Ages of -accumulations pile up, covered with the dust of centuries which has gone -through innumerable processes of sifting. But the stranger in the -Antipodes is plunged into a bath of youth. Every aspect of the country -is young. The volcanoes are mostly extinct, but about them lurks the -warmth of the camp fire just died down. In mountain, bush, and plain -something of the childhood of Mother Earth is still felt; at most, an -adolescence, rich in possibilities. One almost feels that the very -rivers are only the remnants of the receding floods after the rising of -the land from beneath the sea. There is nothing old anywhere. Instead of -being disappointed at the apparent paucity of man-made products, one is -greatly surprised that so little and young a country should have so -much. There is room, much room, ample acres which lie fallow, the winds -of opportunity blowing over them, wild with abandon. - -New Zealand, as I said, was a kind of resting-place. It was the point -where the lines of interest in the native peoples of the Pacific, and -those of the efforts of the white men, intersected, just as later I was -to find a point of intersection between the white men and the Orientals -at Hongkong. For here the new social life of the South Pacific, and the -remnants of the old races of the Pacific equally divide the attention. - -I had some little difficulty locating Auckland from the steamer, so many -suburbs littered the forty miles of irregular bluff which surrounds the -harbor. The homes upon the hills seemed reserved and unambitious. There -were no streams of smoke from factory and mill. One felt, at the moment -of arrival, that were it morning, noon, or night, whatever the season, -Auckland would still be the same, and New Zealand would continue to be -proud of the resemblance the youngest of its cities has for its parent. -All seemed quiet, restful and inactive. - -If all these were inactive, not so the human elements. Their rumblings -on localisms were to be heard even before we landed. As a new-comer, I -was made aware of Wellington, the capital, and its winds; of the city of -Christchurch and its plains; of prides and jealousies which provincial -patriots acclaimed in good-natured playfulness. Dunedin's raininess was -said to have been a special providence for the benefit of the Scotch who -have isolated themselves there. The wonders of this place and the beauty -of that broke through the mists of my imagination like tiny star-holes -through the night. - - -2 - -I had returned to civilization, and though all my instincts settled into -an assurance which was comforting, a feeling that dengue fever was no -more, that damp and moldy beds and smell of copra would not again be -mingled with my food and slumber, still, I knew I was not a part of it. -Almost immediately my mind began moving spiral-like, outward and upward, -to escape. I was to do it all in a month. I was to see Auckland, with -its neighbor, Mt. Eden, an extinct volcano; I was to visit the other -large cities,--vaguely their existence was becoming real to me,--I was -to penetrate at least some of New Zealand's dangerous bush, to see the -primitive-civilized lives of the native Maories. But, strange to say, -return to civilization had the identical effect on me that return to -primitive life is said to have on the white man. It entered my being in -the form of indolence. I did not want to move. I wanted to rest. To stay -a while in that place, to make myself part of the life of the city, to -remain fixed, became a burning desire with me. And days went by without -my being able to stir myself on again. - -The life in the Dominion was conducive to ease and dreaming. Nobody -seemed in any hurry about anything, least of all about taking you in. -Every one went upon a way long worn down by the tread of familiar feet. -The conflicts of pioneer aggressiveness were over. The differences -between the aboriginal and the foreign elements were lost in the -overpowering crowding in of the alien. The stone and wooden structures, -the railways and the piers, the homes wandering along over the hills as -far as the eye could see, completely concealed that which originally was -New Zealand. - -I spent one month wandering up and down Auckland's one main street, and -I can assure you it was like no other main street in the world, except -those of every other city in New Zealand. There were the carts and the -cars by day, and the clearing of the pavement of every vehicle for -pedestrian parades by night. There were the carnivals and the fêtes on -Queens Street, and on every other royal highway during the summer -months; and during the two hours which New Zealanders require for lunch, -there was nothing to be done but to lunch too. And then on Sunday nights -there was the confusion of cults and isms each with its panacea for -spiritual and social ills. Nobody was expected to do anything but go to -church; hence the street cars didn't run during church hours, and the -bathing-places were closed. And after ten o'clock it was as impossible -to get a cup of tea outside one's own home as it is to get whisky in an -open saloon in New York to-day. - -On the _Niagara_ I had been assured by a young lady from New Zealand -that we Americans didn't know what home life was and that she would show -me the genuine thing when I got to her little country. She did, and I -have been most grateful to her for it. It was sober and clean and quiet, -and I accepted with great satisfaction every invitation offered me, -because it was a thousand times better than being alone on the deserted -streets. But the good Lord was wise when He made provision for one -Sunday a week, as His human creation could hardly endure it more -frequently; and that is what one might say of New Zealand home life. It -is all that is good and wholesome, all that is necessary for the rearing -of unobstreperous young, but red blood should not be made to run like -syrup, though I quite agree with my New Zealand friend that it should -not be kept at the boiling-point, either. Our evenings were usually -spent in quiet chatting on safe generalities interspersed with home -songs and nice cocoa; and at ten o'clock we would separate. I hope that -my New Zealand friends will not feel hurt at what I say. Let them put it -down to my wild-Americanism. But home life on a Sunday evening was not -worth going all the way diagonally across the Pacific to taste. - -Hence, a month in Auckland was quite enough for me. By that time the -call of the mountains and lakes had come to me, and in natural beauty -New Zealand can rival any other country of its size I have ever been to, -except Japan. In answering that call I accepted the swagger's account of -how life should be lived and took to the open road. In the year that -followed I filled my memory with treasures that cannot be classified in -any summary. From Auckland in the North Island to Dunedin in the South -Island I journeyed on foot through three long months, zigzagging my way -virtually from coast to coast, dreaming away night after night along the -great Waikato River, holding taut my soul in the face of the mysteries -of the hot-springs districts, and quenching feverish experiences upon -the shores of placid cold lakes and beneath snow-covered peaks of -mountain ranges thirteen thousand feet high; gripping my reason during -long night tramps in the uninhabited bush (forests) or in Desolation -Gully, forty miles from nowhere. I know what wild life in New Zealand -is, as well as tame. It is not all that it used to be when men left -their home lands for that new start in life which Heaven knows every man -is entitled to, considering what our notions of childhood are and the -eagerness of man to pounce upon any one who has not reached -insurmountable success. - - [Illustration: DUNEDIN, NEW ZEALAND - From the belt of wild wood that girdles the city] - - [Illustration: BRIDGES ARE STILL LUXURIES IN MANY PLACES IN NEW - ZEALAND] - - [Illustration: THE FIORDS AND SOUNDS OF NEW ZEALAND - The pride of the Dominion - Post Card. J. B. Series No. 205] - - [Illustration: LAKE WANAKA, NEW ZEALAND] - -In between I saw the courageous struggles these selfsame men have gone -through and are still enduring in order to make of the whole of New -Zealand what it is as yet only in parts. Those parts are rich farm -lands, with swiftly scouting motor-cars used by great capitalist-farmers -who have more than one station to look after. It is a strange phenomenon -of New Zealand life that the small farm towns are generally much more -alert and progressive than the big cities. The New Zealanders build -houses that look like transplanted suburbs from around New York, and -bring to their villages some of the love of plant life that the -city-dweller is soon too sophisticated to share. They draw out to -themselves the moving-picture theaters, which are now the all-possessing -rage in the Dominion as elsewhere, and read the latest periodicals with -the interest of the townsman. There are over a thousand newspapers in -the Dominion, which for a population of a million is a goodly number, -though one cannot regard this as too great an indication of the -intellectual advancement of the people. Yet literacy is the possession -of the farmer as much as and frequently more than the city-dweller in -New Zealand. His children go to school even if they have to use the -trains to get there; free railway passes on these are accorded by the -Government. And on the whole the farmer's life in New Zealand is richer -than that of most rural communities. But the struggle is still great. I -have seen some who do not feel that the promise is worth it. - -Though each of the big cities in the Dominion has its own special -characteristics, they are all considerably alike. The three chief ones -are all port cities of about 80,000 inhabitants each, and except for the -fact that Dunedin in the far south is essentially Scotch and somewhat -more stolid than the rest, and Wellington in the center is the capital -of the Dominion and therefore suspicious, one may go up and down their -steep hills without any change in one's social gears. The colonial -atmosphere is at once charming and chilling. There is a certain sobriety -throughout which makes up for lack of the luxuries of modern life. But -one cannot escape the conviction that regularity is not all that man -needs. Everything moves along at the pace of a river at low -level,--broad, spacious, serene, but without hidden places to explore or -sparkling peaks of human achievement to emulate. One paddles down the -stream of New Zealand life without the prospect of thrills. One might -be transported from Auckland in the north to Wellington or Dunedin in -the south during sleep, and after waking set about one's tasks without -realizing that a change had been made. - -Every city is well lighted; good trams (trolley-cars) convey one in all -directions, but at an excessively high fare; the water and sewerage -systems are never complained of; the theaters are good and the shops -full of things from England and America. There are even many fine -motor-cars. But there are few signs of great wealth, though -comparatively big fortunes are not unknown. It is rumored that -ostentation is never indulged in, as the attitude of the people as a -whole is averse to it. - -On the other hand, neither are there any signs of extreme poverty, -though it exists; and slums to harbor it. While the usual evils of -social life obtain, the small community life makes it impossible for -them to become rampant. Every one knows every one else and that which is -taboo, if indulged in, must be carried out with such extreme secrecy as -to make it impossible for any blemish to appear upon the face of things. - -In these circumstances, one is immediately classified and accepted or -rejected, according as one is or is not acceptable. Having recognized -certain outstanding features of the gentleman in you, the New Zealander -is Briton enough to accept you without further ado. There is in a sense -a certain naïveté in his measurement of the stranger. He is frank in -questioning your position and your integrity, but shrinks from carrying -his suspicions too far. He will ask you bluntly: "Are you what you say -you are?" "Of course I am," you say. "Then come along, mate." But he -does not take you very far, not because he is niggardly, but because he -is thrifty. - -As a result of this New Zealand spirit I found myself befriended from -one end of New Zealand to the other by a single family, the elder -brother having given me letters of introduction to every one of his -kin,--in Hamilton, Palmerston North, Wellington, Christchurch, and -Dunedin. And with but two or three exceptions I have always found New -Zealanders generous and open-hearted. Wherever I went, once I broke -through a certain shyness and reserve, I found myself part of the group, -though generally I did not remain long, because I felt that new -sensations could not be expected. - -My one great difficulty was in keeping from falling in love with the New -Zealand girls. Rosy-cheeked, sturdy, silently game and rebellious, they -know what it is to be flirtatious. For them there is seldom any other -way out of their loneliness. Only here and there do parents think it -necessary to give their daughters any social life outside the home. In -these days of the movies, New Zealand girls are breaking away from -knitting and home ties. But even then few girls care to preside at -representations of others' love-affairs without the opportunity of going -home and practising, themselves. Hence the streets are filled with -flirtatious maidens strolling four abreast, hoping for a chance to break -into the couples and quartets of young men who choose their own manly -society in preference to that of expensive girls. I have seen these -groups pass one another, up and down the streets, frequent the -tea-houses and soda fountains, carry on their flirtations from separate -tables, pay for their own refreshments or their own theater tickets; but -real commingling of the sexes in public life is not pronounced. - -At the beaches! That is different. There the dunes and bracken are alive -with couples all hours of the day or night during the holiday and summer -seasons. Thence emerge engagements and hasty marriages, nor can parental -watchfulness guard against it. - - -3 - -The most difficult thing in all my New Zealand experiences was to -reconcile the latent conservatism of the people with their outstanding -progressiveness. It would be easy to assert without much fear of -contradiction that notwithstanding all the talk of radicalism in the -matter of labor legislation there is little of it in practice in the -Dominion. The reason for this is twofold. First, New Zealand, unlike -Australia and America, was not a rebellious offshoot of England, not a -protest against Old-World curtailment. Quite the contrary, it was made -in the image of the mother country, and natural selection for the time -being was dormant. Furthermore, it was simple for labor to dominate in a -country where labor was to be had only at that premium. - -Nowhere in the whole Dominion did I come across concrete evidence of -awakened consciousness on the part of the masses to their opportunities. -None of that feverish haste to raise monuments of achievement to -accompany the legislative enactments which have given New Zealand an -illustrious place among the nations. True, the country is young; true, -there are not enough people there to pile creation on creation. But that -is not it. It is that they are not keyed up to any great notions of what -they ought to expect of themselves, but are content with what freedom -and leisure of life they possess. - -Throughout the length and breadth of the two islands, islands more than -two thirds the size of Japan, there isn't an outstanding structure of -any great architectural value; there isn't a statue or a monument of -artistic importance; there is hardly a painting of exceptional quality; -nor, with all the remarkable beauty of nature which is New Zealand's, is -there any poetic outpouring of love of nature that one would expect from -a people heirs to some of the finest poetry in the world. Even British -India has its Kipling and its Tagore. With all the excellence of their -efforts to solve the problem of the welfare of the masses, New -Zealanders show no excessive largeness of heart in the sort of welcome -they extend to labor of other lands. Here, it would seem, is a land -where the world may well be reborn, where there is every opportunity for -the correction of age-long wrongs that have become too much a part of -Europe for Europeans to resent them too heartily. Yet what is New -Zealand doing and what has it done in seventy-five years to approximate -Utopia? - -This is not meant as a criticism of New Zealand; rather is it meant to -let New Zealand know that the eyes of the world are upon it and expect -much from it. Possession may be nine points of the law; but the -utilization of opportunity which possession entails is the tenth point -toward the retention of that which one has. - -Babies are cared for better in New Zealand than any other place in the -world, yet boys and girls still receive that antiquated form of -correction, corporal punishment, and thought of letting the youth find -his own salvation, with guidance only, not coercion, is still alien to -the New Zealand pedagogic mind. Women have had the vote for over -twenty-five years, but the freedom of woman to seek her own development, -to become a factor in the social life of the community apart from the -man's, is still a neglected dream. And young women are dying of ennui -because they aren't given enough to do. The country is fairly rich, with -its enormous droves of sheep, great pastures full of cattle, its -coöperative capitalistic farming-schemes; but the human genius for -beauty and self-expression must find opportunity in Britain or America. -And even the old romance of pioneer life is virtually of the past. In -all my wanderings I came across only one home that made me throw out my -emotional chest to contain the spirit of the pioneer life of which we -all love to hear. It was a house as rough as it was old, laden with -shelving and hung with guns, horns, and lithographs, and cheered by a -blazing open fire,--an early virility New Zealand has now completely -outgrown. The house must have been fifty years old, to judge from the -Scotsman living there. He was keen, alert, and quick, a most -interesting opponent in discussion, most firm in his beliefs without -being offensive. Here, in the very heart of one of the earliest of New -Zealand's settlement districts in the South Island, he lived with his -family; and something of the old sweetness of life, the atmosphere of -successful conquest, obtained. And ever as I dug down into New Zealand's -past, I found it charming. The present is too steeped in cheap machine -processes to be either durable or really satisfying. - -Discouraging as this may sound, he who has lived in the little Dominion -and has learned to love its people and their ways, hastens to contradict -his own charges. For in time, as one becomes better acquainted, one -finds a healthy discontent brewing beneath that apathetic exterior. Just -as the Chinese will do anything to "save face" so the Briton will do -anything not to "lose face." He loses much of his latent charm in so -restricting himself, but when assured that a new convention is afoot and -that it is safe for him to venture forth with it, he will do so with a -zest that is itself worth much. - -Furthermore, there is in the atmosphere of staid New Zealand life a -passion for the out-of-doors which is worth more than all the Greenwich -Village sentiment twice over. Girls are always just as happy in the open -and more interesting than when indulging in cigarettes and exposing -shapely legs in intellectual parlors. Given twenty million people -instead of one New Zealand would blossom forth into one of the loveliest -flowers of the Pacific. - - -4 - -In the Auckland (New Zealand) Art Gallery hangs a picture representing -the coming of the Maories to New Zealand. Their long canoe is filled -with emaciated people vividly suggesting the suffering and privation -they must have undergone in coming across the mainland some four hundred -years ago. Venturing without sail or compass, these daring Polynesians -must have possessed intrepid and courageous natures. - -Yet at the time I was in that gallery the place was full of stifled -boyish laughter. A half-dozen little tots, with spectacles and -school-bags, one with blazing red hair, had come to see the pictures. -They were not Maori children, but the offspring of the white race, which -less than a hundred years ago came in their sailing-vessels and -steamers, with powder and lead, and took with comparative ease a land -won by such daring travail. - -I had heard much of these natives,--idyllic tales of their charm and the -lure of their maidens. Those lovely Maori girls! I expected to see them -crowding the streets of Auckland. But they were conspicuous by their -absence. Occasionally a few could be seen squatting on the sidewalks, -more strangers to the city than I, more outstanding from the display of -color and manner which thronged Queens Street than any American could be -in so ultra a British community as dominates New Zealand. Where are the -Maories? I wondered. Upon their "reservations" like our own Amerinds, or -lost to their own costumes and even to their own blood and color? - -I had returned to Auckland from a visit with a friend whose wife was -Maori, in the company of her nephew. He carried with him a basket of -eels as a gift to his mother, and walked up the street with me. At a -corner he was hailed by a dark-skinned man in a well-cut business suit, -and said, "There is my father. I must leave you." In another moment he -was in a large touring car and was whizzed away by his Maori father at -the wheel. No wonder I hadn't been able to see any Maories. - -I visited a school where Maori boys are being encouraged to artificial -exercises,--sports, hurdle-jumping, running. I watched them make ready, -eager for the petty prizes offered. Off went their shoes, out went their -chests, expanded with ancestral joy. In their bare feet, still as tough -as in former days before they were induced to buy cowhides, they -skipped over the ground, filled for the moment with the glory of being -alive. Their faces broke out in fantastic, native grimaces and -contortions as though an imaginary enemy confronted them. But alas, they -were seeking him in the wrong direction! The enemy comes with no spears, -and no clang, but he is more deadly. He is not without but within. He -makes them cough. They fall behind. - -"They do not last long," said the Briton who was instructing them. "They -are dying rapidly of consumption. As long as we keep them here in school -they are all right. Finer specimens of human physique could not be found -anywhere. But as soon as they return to their _pas_, and live in the -squalor of the native villages, they return to all the old methods of -life and soon go under." - -I set out on my tramp through New Zealand. At Bombey, a few days' jaunt -from Auckland, I met an old settler, whose accounts of the great and -last war of the redcoats with the fierce fighters of Maoriland dated -back to our own Civil War, 1861-64. Until that time both Maories and -Britons said, with few exceptions, "Our races cannot mix. One or the -other of us must give away." Naturally, the Maories had the prior claim, -but they finally yielded, surrendering their lands to the aliens at -Ngaruawahia, "The Meeting of the Waters," that little hamlet lying in -the crotch between the beautiful Waikato River and one of its -tributaries. And henceforward, the two races were constrained to meet, -and rush down together into that green sea of human commonalty, albeit -one of them contributes the dominant volume. - -Maori legend has it that the Maories are the descendants of the great -_Rangatira_ (chief) who was the offspring of a similarly great _Tanewa_ -(shark). He was born in the dark southern caves of the Tongariro -Mountains, and the spirits of their ancestors have always dwelt along -the broad Waikato. Along this river I wandered for many days, but I -found few of the Rangatira's descendants. If one is quiet and alone the -voice of the great Tanewa will call softly through the marsh rushes from -out of the heart of the quivering flax. It is peaceful and encompassing, -modest and almost afraid. I heard it and I am sure those Maories hear it -who are not too engrossed in the scramble after foreign trinkets. It -said: "The last mortal or man descendant of mine will be the offspring -of a Pakeha-Maori (a white man who lives among the Maories) who will -live in the cities and rush about in motor-cars, but I shall remain in -the marshes, the calm rivers, and near the glittering leaves of flax." - -A few miles farther on I came to Huntley, and hearing that there was a -native village across the Waikato River, I turned thither by way of the -bridge. I overtook two _wahines_, slovenly, indolent, careless in their -manners. They spoke to me flippantly. They wanted to know if I was bound -for the missionaries' place. This led to questions from me: Why were -they turning Mormon? Which sect did they prefer? But I could obtain -answers only by innuendo. I left these two women behind and found three -others chasing a pig in an open field, three boys bathing a horse in the -deep river. All about the village was strewn refuse; vicious dogs slunk -hungrily about,--neglect, neglect, on every hand. But instead of flimsy -native huts there were wooden shacks with corrugated iron roofs, the -longer to remain unregenerate, breeders of disease and wasters of human -energy. - -But the more elaborate native village at Rotorua, at the other end of -the island, where visitors are frequent, was more up-to-date and -cleaner. And on a little knoll was a model of an old Maori _pah_, such -as was used in the days before guns made it possible to fight in ambush -and in the valleys, and brought the sturdy savages down not only from -their more wholesome heights but from their position of vantage as a -race. - -Here I met an odd sort of article in the way of human ware. Only -seventeen, he was twice my size, and lazy and pliable in proportion. He -would come into my room and just stay. With a steady, piercing, yet -stolid and almost epileptic stare, cunning, yet not shrewd, not steady, -nor guided by any evident train of thought, he would watch me write. I -was a mystery to him, and he frankly doubted the truth of things I told -him. - -First he said I had the build of a prize-fighter; then, perhaps on -thinking it over, he doubted that I had ever done any hard work in my -life. As to himself, he said he loved to break in wild horses. His -father, according to one tale, was wealthy; two of his brothers were -engineers on boats. But he hated study. He was altogether lacking in any -notion of time, but he was not lazy. He was even ready to do work that -was not his to do. - -One afternoon he was in a most jovial mood. He was about to have a tent -raised in which he would spend the summer, instead of the hotel room -allotted to the help. He was full of glee at the prospect. Primitive -instincts seemed to waken in him. But there was a sudden -reaction,--whimsical. We had stepped upon the lawn which afforded an -open view across Lake Rotorua. - -"Strange, isn't it," he said without any preamble, "how money goes from -one man to another, from here to Auckland and to Sydney? So much money." -He became reminiscent: "Maories didn't know a thing about money. They -were rich. See, across this lake,--that little island,--the whole was -once a battle-field. The Maories went out in their canoes and fought -with their battle-axes. What for? Oh, to gain lands. But now they are -poor. Things are so dead here now. Nothing doing." A moment later he was -called and disappeared. It was the only time he was ever communicative. -The tent had roused in him racial regrets. - -One evening he came up to my door and told me there was a dance at the -hall, and that he was going to it. Again that strange revival of racial -memories, but these of hope and prospect, came into his face, "I'm going -to take my 'tart' (girl) with me," he announced. And later in the -evening, as I sat alone, watching the moon rise over the lake, the -laughter of those Maories rang out across the hills. - -Though I wandered for many miles, running into the hundreds, the number -of Maori villages and people I came across were few and far between. Yet -records show that once these regions were alive with more than a hundred -thousand fighting natives. At Rotorua, the hot-springs district in the -North Island, the _pah_ was in exceptionally good condition, but it was -so largely because the New Zealand Government has made of the place one -of its most attractive tourist resorts and the natives are permitted to -exact a tax from every visitor who wishes to see the geysers. Elsewhere -the villages are dull, dreary, and neglected: the farther away from -civilization, the worse they get. The consequence is not surprising. - -According to the census of 1896, there were 39,854 people of the Maori -race: 21,673 males, 18,181 females, of which 3,503 were half-castes who -lived as Maories, and 229 Maori women married to Europeans. The Maori -population fell from 41,993 in 1891 to 39,854 in 1896, a decrease in -five years of 2,139. But in 1901 it had risen to 43,143, going steadily -up to 49,844 in 1911, and dropping to 49,776 in 1916 on account of the -European war. - -There was considerable discussion in the New Zealand Parliament on the -question of whether the Maories should be included in the Draft Act, -most white men declaring that a race which was dying, despite this -seeming increase, should not be taxed for its sturdiest young men in a -war that was in truth none of its concern. But the Maories--that is, -their representatives--objected, saying they did not wish to be -discriminated against. Among the young men, however, I found not a few -who were inclined to reason otherwise. So it was that while I was -talking to the young fellows who were washing their horse in the -Waikato, one of them said to me: - -"Yes. Years ago the white men came to us with guns and cannon and powder -and compelled us to give up our warfare, which kept us in good condition -individually and as a race. We put aside our weapons. Now they come to -us and tell us we must go to Europe and fight for them." And he became -silent and thoughtful. - -As I came back into Huntly from my visit to the _pah_ I passed the -little court-house, before which was a crowd of Maories. Some of the -_wahines_ sat with shawls over their heads smoking their pipes as though -they were in trousers, not skirts. I chatted with the British Bobby who -stood at the door, asking him what was bestirring Maoriland so much. - -"Oh, that bally old king of theirs has been subpoenaed to answer for his -brother. The blighter has been keeping him out of sight so that he won't -be taken in the draft." - -"But," I protested--democrat though I was, my heart went out to the old -"monarch"--"can't the king get his brother, the archduke and possible -successor to the throne, out of performing a task that might hazard the -foundation of the imperial line?" - -"King be damned! Wait till we get the blighter in here," said the -servant of the law, pressing his heels into the soft, oozy tar pavement -as he turned scornfully from me. - - -5 - -A few days later I was cutting my way through a luxuriant mountain -forest above Te Horoto in the North Island, listening to the melodious -_tui_, the bell-bird, and to the song of the parson-bird in his black -frock of feathers with a small tuft of white under his beak, like the -reversed collar of a cleric. No sound of bird in any of the many -countries I have been to has ever filled me with greater rapture than -did this. There are thousands of skylarks in New Zealand, brought from -England, but had Shelley heard the _tui_ he might have written an ode -more beautiful even than that to the "blithe spirit" he has -immortalized. Yet, like the human natives, these feathery folk have -vastly decreased since the coming of the white man. No wonder Pehi Hetan -Turoa, great chief of a far country on the other side of the island, in -complaining of the decay of his race, said: "Formerly, when we went into -a forest, and stood under a tree, we could not hear ourselves speak for -the noise of the birds--every tree was full of them.... Now, many of the -birds have died out." - -Enraptured with the loveliness of the native bush and the clear, sweet -air, I pressed up the mountain side with great strides. Presently I -passed a simple Maori habitation. It was about noon. Seeing smoke rise -out of an opening in the roof, indicating that the owners were at home, -I entered the yard. My eyes, full of the bright, clear sunlight, could -not discern any living thing as I poked my head in at the door, but I -could hear a voice bidding me enter. I stepped into a sort of -antechamber, a large section of the hut with a floor of beaten earth and -a single pillar slightly off the center supporting the roof. Gradually, -as my eyes became accustomed to the subdued light, I saw an aged couple -within a small alcove on the farther side. An open fire crackled in the -center of its floor. The old woman sitting on her bed-space, was bending -over the flame, fanning it to life. The old man, who was very tall, lay -on a mat-bed to the right, his legs stretched in my direction. The two -beds, the fire, and the old couple took up the entire space of the -alcove,--a sort of kitchenette-bedroom affair like our modern "studio" -apartments. - -"Where are you from?" asked the old man, after I had seated myself -before the fire. "America," I said. My reply evoked no great surprise in -him. - -"The village is quiet," I said. "Where are the people?" - -"Oh, down in the valley, working in the fields." - -"Don't you go out, too?" I asked. - -"Oh, I'm too old now. My legs ache with rheumatism. I go no more. Let -the young fellows work. Stay and have tea with us," he urged. - -I looked at their stock. They did not seem to have any too much -themselves, and the old woman seemed a little worried. I knew that the -heart of the hostess was the same the world over, so I assured them I -had had my meal, and only wished to rest a while away from the sun. The -old woman showed relief. - -We chatted as cordially as it is possible where tongues cannot fully -make themselves understood. I learned that the man was an old chief. He -could not fall in with the times, acknowledged his inability to direct -the affairs of this strange world, and only asked for rest and quiet, -and the respect due one of his position. He did not expect to live long, -nor did he much care. "These are not days for me," he said with a smile. -He did not speak of the former glories of his race. Doubtless he could -not exactly make up his mind whether to look before or after: if there -were great chiefs before, are there not big M.P.'s now? - -The fire was burning low, and I knew that the old woman would have to go -for more wood unless she hurried with the preparation of her meal, and -that as long as I was there I was delaying her. So I rose to go. The old -man excused himself for not rising by pointing to his lame legs. She saw -me to the gate, and as I struck down the road she waved her hand after -me in farewell, and remained behind the screen of trees round which I -veered. - -Down in the valley lying almost precipitately below me were a number of -natives working in their fields; but my road led me on to the cities, -and it is there that the future of this race hangs in the balance. - -Some months later, while I was living in Dunedin in the far south of the -South Island, the newspapers came out in a way almost American, so -exciting was the bit of news. The editorial world forgot all decorum and -dignity and pulled out the largest type it had on hand. It was announced -that the Maori priest, Rua, was caught. Several persons were wounded and -one, I believe, was killed in the process. The priest was treated with -no respect and little consideration and thrown into prison,--all because -he believed in having several wives as his men-folk always had, if they -were chiefs and priests, and was trying to put a little life into his -race, trying to stir it up to casting out these "foreign devils." He had -built himself a temple that was an interesting work of art, but it holds -worshipers no more, even though the priest has since been released. His -efforts to rouse his people failed. Such efforts are only the reflex -action of a dying race. - - - - -CHAPTER VII - -ASTRIDE THE EQUATOR - -_The Second Side of The Triangle_ - - Dark is the way of the Eternal as mirrored in this world of Time: - God's way is in the sea, and His path in the great deep.--Carlyle. - - -1 - -More than a year went by before I began drawing in the radial thread -that held me suspended from the North Star under the Southern Cross,--a -year replete with lone wanderings and searching reflections. During all -those months not a single day had passed without my surveying in my -mind's eye the reaches of the Pacific that lay between me and the -Orient. Roundabout New Zealand I had become familiar with the Tasman Sea -looking toward Australia, on the shores of which I had spent some of the -most mysterious nights of my life; on Hawkes Bay looking out toward -South America; and across the surging waters of Otago Harbor at Dunedin, -looking in the direction of the frozen reaches of Antarctica. - -Once staid Dunedin was thrilled by a wireless S.O.S. from the direction -of the South Pole. The _Aurora_, Shackleton's ship which had gone down -to the polar regions, was calling for help. She had snapped the cables -which tied her to land when the ice-packs gave way and had drifted out -to sea. Fortunately, most of the officers and crew were at the moment on -board, but sixteen men were left marooned. To add to the prospect of -tragedy, the ice smashed the rudder, and a jury-rudder, worked by hand -from the stern deck, had to be improvised. With these handicaps the -vessel made her way slowly till within five hundred miles of New -Zealand, the reach of her wireless. Here she was rescued by a Dunedin -tug and brought to Port Chalmers. - - [Illustration: THE S. S. _AURORA_ - Just arrived at Port Chalmers, N. Z., from the South Pole] - - [Illustration: MOUNT COOK OF THE NEW ZEALAND ALPS IN SUMMER] - - [Illustration: CIRCULAR QUAY, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - A whirl of pleasure-seeking and business] - - [Illustration: MONUMENT TO CAPTAIN COOK - At Botany Bay, Australia] - -I made friends with the mate and the chief engineer and gained access to -their superb collection of Emperor Penguin skins and an unusual number -of photographs. Months afterward they wanted four men to complete the -crew necessary for another journey south and I was tempted to join them, -but tallow and bladder and a repressed pen were the negatives, while -China and Japan were the positives. So I sailed away with the rising sun -in the direction of the great West that is the Far East. Crisp and clear -in the bright morning air shone the towering peaks of the New Zealand -Alps as I sailed toward Australia and to Botany Bay,--not, however, -without being nearly wrecked in the fog which had gathered in Foveaux -Strait, which separates Steward Island from the South Island in New -Zealand. Bluff, the last little town in New Zealand, is said to have the -most southerly hotel in the world. I saw it. - - -2 - -Four days from Bluff to Melbourne on a sea that seemed on the verge of -congealing into ice. It was not cold, yet autumn-like. And the -passengers seemed the fallen leaves. The stewards maintained the -reputation for impudence and unmannerliness of the Union Steamship -Company crews, but I had grown used to that, and thanked my stars that -this was the last coupon in the ticket I had purchased in Honolulu more -than a year before. Of human incidents there was therefore none to -relate. - -But chill and melancholy as that Southern sea was, there hovered over it -a creature whose call upon one's interest was more than compensating. -Swooping with giant wings in careless ease, the albatross followed us -day in and day out. Always on the wing, awake or asleep, in sunshine or -in storm, the air his home as the water is to fish, and earth to mammal. -Even the ship was no lure for him by way of support. He followed it, -accepted whatever was thrown from it, but as for dependence upon it,--no -such weakness, you may be sure. His sixteen feet of wing-spread moved -like a ship upon the waves, like a combination of a ship and sails. -Swift, huge, glorious, unconsciously majestic, he is indeed a bird of -good omen. How he floats with never a sign of effort! How he glides atop -the waves, skims them, yet is never reached by their flame-like -leapings; simulates their motion without the exhaustion into which they -sink incessantly. - -The albatross had left us, and now the swarming is his artistry, so -refined his "table manners." He does not gorge himself as does the -sea-gull, nor is he ever heard to screech that selfish, hungry, -insatiable screech. Silent, sadly voiceless, rhythmic and symbolic -without being restrained by pride of art, he exemplifies right living. -He is our link between shores, the one dream of reality on an ocean of -opiate loveliness wherein there is little of earth's confusion and pain. -For the traveler he keeps the balance between the deadly stability of -land life and the dream-like mystery of the sea. But for him it were -impossible to come so easily out of an experience of a long voyage. Away -down there he is the only reminder of reality. Which explains the -reverence sailors have for him and their superstitious dread of killing -him. It is like the dread of the physician that his knife may too -sharply stir the numbed senses of his patient under anæsthesia. - -Land may be said to begin where the albatross is seen to depart. He -knows, and off he swoops, ship or no ship to follow and to guide; back -over the thousand miles of watery waste, to measure the infinite with -his sixteen-foot wings, glide by glide, with the speed of a twin-screw -turbine. Only when the female enters the breeding season does she seek -out a lost island to rear her young. Independent of the sea, these birds -are utterly confined to it, a mystery floating within mystery. - -The albatross have left us, and now the swarming gulls abound. Why they -are dignified with the Christian name "Sea" when they are such homely -land-lubbers, is a question that I cannot answer. Pilots, rather, they -come to see us into the harbor, or, with their harsh screeching, to -frighten us away. - -But something within me would not know Australia, nor any lands, just -then. Perhaps it was that my unconscious self was still with the -albatross; for strange as it may seem I could not sense any forward -direction at all that day, but only one that pointed backward,--toward -home. Try as I would to realize myself on my way to Australia, still my -mind persisted in pointing toward America. Not until we got the first -sight of land ahead was my soul set right. Then it was the Sister -Islands, Wilson's Promontory, the Bass Straits, with Tasmania barely in -sight, Cape Liptrap, and finally Port Phillip. And Australia was on all -fours, veiled in blue,--a thin rind of earth steeped in summer splendor. - -Flag signals were exchanged with the lonely pilot-ship that hung about -the entrance. All being well, we passed on, crossing that point at the -entrance where five strong water-currents meet and vanquish one another, -turning into a smooth, glassy coat of treachery. The _Wimmera_ hugged -the right shore of the largest harbor I have ever seen. In places the -other shore could not be seen with the naked eye. But it is very shallow -and innumerable lights float in double file to guard all ships from -being stranded. - -Just as we entered, the sun set. A stream of color unconstrained -obliterated all detail as it poured over the point of the harbor, -filling the spacious port. Clots of amber and orange gathered and were -dissipated, softened, diffused, till slowly all died down and were -gone. Darkness and the blinking lights of the buoys remained. - -Two big ships, brilliantly lighted, flinging their manes of smoke to the -winds, passed, one on its way to Sydney, the other to Tasmania and -Adelaide in the south. Far in the distance ahead we could see the string -of shore lights at Port Williamson. It took us three hours to overtake -them, and we arrived too late to receive pratique. For half an hour the -captain and the customs carried on a conversation with blinking lights. -The winches suddenly began their rasping sound, and the anchor dropped -to the bottom. We did not debark that night. - - -3 - -I spent nearly six months in Melbourne and Sydney, those two eastern -eyes of that wild old continent, and for the first time in a twelvemonth -the sense of security from the sea obtained. For a fortnight I occupied -a little shack on Manly Beach, near Sydney, but oh, how different it was -there from the sand-dunes on the shores at Dunedin, in New Zealand! In -the Dominion one had to hide within the interior to get away from the -sea: on the beach one felt about to slip into Neptune's maw. But at -Manly, Bondi, Botany Bay, the sea might hammer away for another eternity -without putting a landlubber off his ease. - -But we shall return to Australia in another section. The sea is still -much in the blood, there is still a vast length that lies close to Asia -and marks off another line of our imaginary triangle. Here are no -landless reaches, but all the way to Japan one passes strip after strip, -as though some giant earthquake had shattered part of the main. - -Months afterward I took passage once more, this time on the _Eastern_, -bound for Japan. - -There was no mistaking the side of the world I was on and the direction -of my journey from the moment I stepped upon the pier to which the -_Eastern_ was made fast. Hundreds of Chinese, with thousands of boxes -and bundles, scurried to and fro in an ant-like attention to little -details. Then as the steamer was about to depart, mobilization for the -counting of noses took place, and veritable regiments of emaciated -yellow men lined the decks. Here and there a fat, successful-looking -Chinese moved round the crowd, an altogether different-looking species, -more as one who lives on them than as one who lives with them. On the -dock stood several groups waiting to wave farewell to their Oriental -kin. One of these groups was composed of a stout white woman with two -very pretty Eurasian daughters,--as handsome a pair of girls as I saw in -Australia. Their father was a well-to-do Chinese merchant taking one of -his regular trips to China. In Australian fashion they were ready for a -mild flirtation, spoke Australian English with Australian slang, and, -aside from their pater, they were native to all intents and purposes. -And in Australia they remained. - -Of those who departed, the major number likewise remained native--though -to China--despite years and years of residence in Australia. It is a -one-sided argument to maintain that because of that the Chinese are -unassimilable. There is no ground for such a deduction, because they -arrived mainly after maturity, and the Chinese could challenge any white -man to become one of them after he has fully acquired his habits and -prejudices. But we had not been many minutes at sea before it was our -misfortune to find that we had among us a Chinese boy who was born and -brought up in New Zealand and was just then going to China for the first -time. Here I had ample opportunity of observing the assimilability of -the Oriental. And here I bow before the inevitable. - -He had assimilated every obnoxious characteristic of our civilization, -the passion for slang, the impertinence, the false pride, the bluff -which is the basis of Western crowd psychology. He was not a -Chinese,--that he denied most vehemently,--he was a New Zealander, and -by virtue of his birth he assumed the right to impose his boyish -larrikinism upon all the ship's unfortunate passengers. He banged the -piano morning, noon, and night; he affected long, straight black hair, -which was constantly getting in his way and being brushed carefully back -over his head; and he took great pains to make himself as generally -obnoxious as possible. He was not that serious, struggling Chinese -student who comes to America afire with hope for the regeneration of his -race. He was a New Zealander, knew no other affiliations, had no -aspirations, and lorded it over "those Chinese" who occupied every bit -of available space on the steamer. - -In his way he was also a Don Juan, for he hovered over the young -half-Australian wife of a middle-aged Chinese merchant who was taking -her back to China for her confinement. She was morose, sullen, as -unhappy a spirit as I have seen in an Oriental body. Obviously, China -held few fine prospects for her. She was seldom seen in her husband's -company, for he was generally below playing fan-tan or gambling in some -other fashion. And the Australian half of her was longing for home. It -seemed to devolve upon our young Don Juan to court this unhappy -creature, and court her he did. But she had no resilience, no flash, her -Chinese half-self offering him as little reward for his pains as a cow -would offer the sun for a brilliant setting. - -I expected any hour of the day to see that woman throw herself into the -sea, or that husband stick a knife into the bold, bad boy, but nothing -happened; the husband and the wife were seemingly oblivious of the -love-making, and all went well. - -Besides the Chinese crew and passengers there were perhaps a dozen white -people, including the officers. An old English army captain whose -passport confirmed his declaration that he was seventy-three years old, -was taking a little run up to Japan. His only reason was that Japan was -an ally, hence he wanted to see it. Such is the nature of British -provincialism. Otherwise, there were but two or three young Australians -bound for Townsville, and the stewardess. Somewhere along the coast we -picked up a Russian peasant, who with his wife had been induced to -emigrate to Australia, but who was now going home to enlist. As though -there weren't already enough men in Russia armed with sticks and stones! -At still another port we commandeered a veritable regiment of Australian -children, colloquially called larrikins. These were bound for the -Philippines, where their father had preceded them some months before. -Their exploits deserve an exclusive paragraph. - -Suddenly, out of a clear sky, there would be a shriek like the howl of a -dingo on the Australian plains. There would be a rush to the defenses by -an excited female,--the mother. There would follow such a slapping as -would delight the English Corporal Correction League, except that it -wasn't done cold-bloodedly enough. And thereafter for half an hour there -was bedlam all around. After exhaustion, a new series of pranks set in. -This time they were playing a "back-blocks" game which entailed a -hanging. One of them needs must be hanged, and was rescued just in time -by an ever-swooping mother. After hours of hunger-stimulating escapades -on deck, the dinner-bell sent them scurrying down into the saloon. -Before any of us had time to be seated all the fruit on the table was -divided according to the best principles of individual enterprise. -Beginning with the first thing on the menu, they went down the sheet, -leaving nothing untasted; nor did it matter much whether it was -breakfast or dinner,--steak enough for a meal in itself comprised the -entrée. And the littlest kept pace with the biggest. Nor did afternoon -and morning tea escape them. Fully stoked up, they were ready for -another beating and another hanging on deck. - -In contrast were the little Chinese children,--quiet, shy, never -spanked; and though they put away enough within their Oriental -bread-baskets, one never saw that same wild struggle for existence which -told the tale of life on an Australian station better than anything I -wot of. - -We had now reached Brisbane, 519 miles from Sydney, a distance which -took the _Eastern_ from noon of the 8th to sunrise of the 10th of -October to negotiate. And from the outer channel to the docks on the -Brisbane River we steamed till half-past one in the afternoon. Here we -were "beached" in the mud when the tide went out and had to wait -twenty-four hours before floating out again. In the meantime we picked -up two more gems,--mature larrikin this time. One of them was so drunk -he couldn't see straight, the other was sober enough to bring him on -board. Unfortunately for me, they were placed in my cabin, and from then -on, after the youngsters had turned the day into chaos, these two would -come in to sleep, and the cursing, the spitting, the reference to women -with which they consoled their souls, would have shocked the most -hardened beach-comber, I am sure. - -To avoid annoyances I explored every nook and corner of the vessel. At -last I discovered a sanctuary on the roof of the unused hospital. It -could not be called a model of order and comfort, for various air-tanks -and stores of sprouting potatoes belittered it. But it was like the holy -of holies to me, for there I might just as well have been on a lone -craft of my own. No sound reached me from any living thing,--except an -occasional extra-loud shriek from the youngsters. Above and about me -there was nothing to obstruct my view, and within, absolute peace. - -On the following day we were on the Great Barrier Reef, grayish green in -color, languid in temperament, shallow and therefore dangerous in -make-up. Numerous islands, neutral in color and sterile of vegetation, -seemed to stare at us and at one another in mute indifference. For the -first time the storied reality of being stranded on a desolate island -came home to me. As I sat watching this filmy show, I became conscious -of a familiar something in the world about me, be it warmth or color, a -something which immediately brought the picture of Santa Anna Valley in -California back to mind. Sometimes we come across a face we feel certain -we have seen before: that was the case with the atmosphere along the -Great Barrier Reef. The setting is that of the island home of _Paul and -Virginia_. Near and far, lowly and majestic, in generous succession on -each side, were islands and continent,--an avenue wide, spacious, and -clear. Occasional peaks along the mainland recalled old-fashioned -etchings,--dense clouds, heaven-reaching streaks and shafts of -twice-blended astral blue; rain-driven mountain fiords. - -Early one day, an hour before dawn, the _Eastern_ moored before Magneta -Isle with her stern toward Townsville, as though ready for instant -flight, if necessary. With an early-morning shower of filthy words, one -of my cabin-mates pulled himself together and dressed. Shortly afterward -he slipped over the side of the ship into a tossing and pitching launch -and was rushed to Townsville. His rousing me at that hour was the only -thing I had reason to be grateful to him for in our short acquaintance. - -For the world was exquisitely beautiful in its delicate gown of night. -Dawn was but waking. Four-o'clock stupor superintended the easy -activities. A few lights in a corner, a bolder and more purposeful flash -from a search-light, and all set in twilight. A ring of islands--the -Palm Isles--stones set in a placid bay. That was all I saw of -Townsville. - -And perhaps it is just as well. It may have been "ordained" that my -ignorance obtain, be the city's virtues and its right to fame what they -may. What if I had gathered closer impressions, added meaningless -statistics or announced the prevalence of diphtheria throughout -Queensland, or discovered the leading citizen of Townsville to an -apathetic world? But it may be of interest to hear that Townsville -claims one distinction. It is the Episcopal See of Australia and the -seat of the Anglican Bishop and possesses a cathedral. - - -4 - -On the afternoon of the following day a heavy wind or squall came up. -This time the ship did not defy it. No foolhardy resistance here. The -reefs are too near and they stretch for thirty miles seaward. Again we -anchored. The horizon contracted like a noose of mist; it stifled one. -The ship seemed to crouch beneath the winds. An hour, and the anchor was -heard being lifted and the propellers were slowly revived to action. A -little later we anchored again. A light was hoisted to the stern mast -and twilight lowered on a calm gray sea. Distant little flat islands -loomed through the mist. Two sailing-vessels at anchor, moored in -companionship, rested within an inlet. A gentle swish, a murmur of human -voices, and our little world was swaying gently upon a curious world. -And there we remained all night. - -As the sun gave notice of day, we moved off, and all day the sea was so -still that but for the vibration of the screws it would have been hard -to realize that the ship was in motion. Here we came to where the jagged -coastline has run down. Tiny islets, flat and low, most of them but a -landing-place for a few tropical trees. Summer calm, with barely a -ripple of the sea. That night we anchored again, having come, it was -said, to the most dangerous pass on the reefs. - -Ten days after having left Sydney we arrived at the last port in -Australia, Thursday Island. A cloudy morning had turned clear for us, -but on ahead to the northwest hung heavy mists. Because of these, I was -later told by two soldiers on guard atop the mountain fortification, -they could not see us coming. They saw our smoke, but the steamer was -hidden from them by mist. Then suddenly we shot into view. All the while -we had been in the clearest sunshine, the sea glassy and the flying-fish -darting about. It was no place for speed. We moved just fast enough to -leave the scene undisturbed. And thus we stole into Torres Straits. - -Of all the numerous harbors I have entered in the Pacific, none, with -the exception of the Inland Sea in Japan, is more picturesque than that -at Thursday Island. Shelter, space, and depth, and stillness! One's eyes -sweep round this pearly promise with greed for its beauty. Seventy-five -sail-boats, their sailless masts swaying with the swells, are anchored -on the reefs. It is Sunday and they are at rest, but what enchantment -lies hid in those folded sails! I wish for the power to utter some word -which could put them to flight; but that remains for Monday, when "the -word" is spoken. - -And on Monday, too, immediately upon leaving port at ten o'clock, the -ship's time was returned to standard time, leaving Australia and its -"bunkum" daylight-saving time behind. Thence we lived again by "dinkum" -time. The ship about-faced and left the channel the same way it had -entered, and shortly afterward we struck across the Arafua Sea. - - -5 - -From that day until I reached Japan it was all I could do to keep track -of the seas we passed through,--Arafua, Banda, Molucca, Celebes, Sulu, -China, and the Inland Sea. - -As we neared the equator again, there was nothing to disturb the -peaceful splendor of life, except the little hoodlums on board. About -sixty miles south of it a tiny creature, like a turtle, sailed along the -still surface; the flying-fish blistered the water, the scars broadened -and healed again just as the sportive amphibians pierced it and -disappeared. What a contrast to the albatross! - -Then the miracle occurred. From the west, hidden from me by the ship, -the sun reached to the eastern clouds, dashing them with pink and bronze -and blue. I could not tell where the horizon went to, and was roused to -curiosity as to what kind of sunset could effect such lovely tints. It -wasn't a sunset, but a sunfall, a revelation. Where suggestion through -imitation glistened on the eastern side, daring prodigality of color -swept away emotion on the western side. It was neither saddening nor -joyous. It was a vision of a consciousness in nature as full of -character, as definitely meaningful and emotional as a human face. There -was something almost terrifying in the expression of that sunset face. -One could read into it what one felt in one's own soul. And a little -later a crescent moon peeped over the horizon. - -At about midnight of the seventeenth day after leaving Sydney we crawled -over the equator, and no home-coming ever meant more to me than seeing -the dipper again and the Northern stars. During all those days nothing -wildly exciting had happened at sea; but just after we left the equator -we passed a series of water-spouts--six in all--which formed a -semi-circle east, south, and west. The spout to the east seemed to me to -be at least two or three hundred feet high, and tremendous in -circumference. It drew a solid column of water from the sea far into a -heavy black cloud. On the sea beneath it rose a flutter of water fully -fifty feet high, black as the smoke produced by a magician's wand. Weird -and illusive, the giants beggared description as they stalked away to -the southeast, like animated sky-scrapers. - -Then we reached Zamboanga, the little town on the island of Mindanao of -the Philippines. From there, for twelve hours, we crept long the coast -till we entered Manila Harbor. - -There remained but two days' voyage before I would reach Asia, the -object of my interest for years, and of all my efforts for two. But it -was not so easy as all that, for two days upon the China Sea are worth a -year upon the Atlantic. Riding a cyclone would be riding a hobby-horse -or a camel compared with the Yellow Sea, and though I was the only -passenger who missed only one meal during the whole period, I was beaten -by the seventy-three-year-old English captain,--who managed all but half -a meal. The sea would roll skyward as though it were striving to stand -on end and for a moment the ship would lurch downward as though on a -loop-the-loop. Sometimes it seemed as though the world were turning -completely over. Yet I was told this was only normal, and that typhoons -visit it with stated regularity. The China Sea is "the very metropolis -of typhoons." - -A month had well-nigh gone before we reached Hong-Kong, the British -portal to Cathay, a month of dreamy weather. Only one thing more,--a -thing more like a scene in the Arabian Nights. Toward the end of the -journey I discovered where the five hundred Chinese whose noses had been -counted when we left Sydney had gone. Going forward, I looked over into -an open hatchway, down into the hold, and there was a sight I shall -never forget. These hundreds of deck passengers were all in a muddle -amid cargo, parcels, hundreds of birds in cages, parrots, a -kangaroo,--yet oblivious of everything. For the entire voyage nothing -that I tell of could possibly have come within their ken, as during -those days their minds were bent on one thing and one alone,--on playing -fan-tan. There in the bottom of the hold hundreds of gold sovereigns -passed from hand to hand in a game of chance. And at last they were to -be released, to spread, a handful of sand thrown back upon the beach. - -As for myself, with my arrival at Hong-Kong and a visit to Shanghai -ended the longest continuous voyage I had made upon the Pacific, and the -second side of that great Pacific Triangle was drawn. But meanwhile let -me review in detail the outposts of the white man in the far -Pacific--the lands I had passed on the white man's side of the triangle, -ending in Hong-Kong, where white man and Oriental meet. - - - - -CHAPTER VIII - -THE AUSTRALIAN OUTLANDS - - -1 - -In the normal course of human variation, there should have been -virtually no change of experience for me in going from New Zealand to -Australia, notwithstanding the twelve hundred miles of sea that separate -them. And though the sea is hardly responsible, there was a difference -between these two offshoots of the "same" race for which distance offers -little explanation. To me it seemed that regardless of the pride of race -which encourages people to vaunt their homogeneity, the way these two -counterparts of Britain have developed proves that homogeneity exists in -wish more than in fact. It seems to me that the New Zealander has -developed as though he were more closely related to the insular -Anglo-Saxon, and the Australian as though he were the continental strain -in the Englishman cropping out in a new and vast continent. However, -this is sheer conjecture. All I can do is to offer in the form of my own -observations reasons for the faith that is in me. - -From the moment that I set foot in Australia I felt once again on a -continent. Melbourne is low, flat, and gave me the impression of -roominess which New Zealand cities never gave. They, with the exception -of Christchurch on the Canterbury plains, always clambered up bare brown -hills and hardly kept from slipping down into the sea. But in Australia -I felt certain that if I set out in any direction except east I could -walk until my hair grew gray without ever coming across a mountain. It -was a great satisfaction to me that first day, for it was intensely hot -and I had a heavy coat on my arm and two cameras and no helmet. Added to -my difficulties was the cordiality of an Australian fellow-passenger who -was determined that I should share with him his delight at home-coming. -He was a short, stout, olive-skinned young man of about twenty-three who -had a slightly German swing in his gait and accentuated his every -statement with a diagonal cut outward of his right hand, palm down. - -He lured me from one end of Melbourne to the other, made me lunch with -him at a vegetarian restaurant,--which is a very popular resort in -Melbourne,--introduced me to Cole's Book Arcade, to the Blue-bird Tea -Rooms, where fine orchestral music flavors one's refreshments, to the -latest bank building and even to the station of the railway, which -"carries the largest suburban passenger traffic of any in the world." -"Meet me under the clock," is the Melbournian motto. How they can all do -so is beyond me, for the half-dozen stone steps that lead to the narrow -doors at the corner of the station could not, I am sure, afford a -rendezvous for more than thirty people at one time; yet the old clock -ticks away in patience,--the most popular and most persistent thing in -Melbourne. - - [Illustration: ONE OF THE OLDEST AUSTRALIAN RESIDENCES IS NOW A PUBLIC - DOMAIN] - - [Illustration: THE INTERIOR OF A WEALTHY SHEEP STATION OWNER'S HOME IN - MELBOURNE] - - [Illustration: AUSTRALIAN BLACKS IN THEIR NATIVE ELEMENT - A. A. White, Brisbane] - - [Illustration: AN AUSTRALIAN BLACK IN MELBOURNE - Out of his element but happy none the less] - -I had so much trouble keeping pace with this Australian, who seemed to -grow more energetic the hotter it became, that I was grateful when he -said he would have to leave me, and I was alone again. Then I realized -for the first time that I could really like Melbourne; that it had long, -broad, spacious streets with clean, fresh-looking office and -department-store buildings, that even the narrower side streets were -clean and inviting, and that the street cars were propelled by cables -and not by trolley wires. So easy were these cars and so low that no one -ever waited for them to stop, but hopped aboard anywhere along the -street. Melbourne was to me a perfect bath in cleanliness and -orderliness,--just what a city ought to be. Even in the very heart of -the city the homes had a suburban gentility about them, and there were -no unnecessary noises, no smoke, and no end of pretty girls. The people -were a joy to look at. Something of the tropical looseness in both dress -and flesh, as though their skins were always being fully ventilated, -made them attractive. The New Zealanders made me feel as though I were -in a bushel of apples; the Australians, carefully packed yellow plums. I -have never enjoyed just being on the street more than I did in -Melbourne. - -On Bourke Street, in the very midst of the pushing crowd, a soft-voiced -lad approached me for some information and strutted off, tall in his -self-confidence. Victorian belles, tall, graceful, russet-skinned, plump -but not flabby, moved with a fine air of self-reliance. On closer -acquaintance, I found that these girls were not silent and opinionless -as were most of the New Zealand girls. Whatever the issue before the -public, they had their defined opinions concerning it, and they were not -sneered at by the men. Then, too, there was a companionship between the -boys and girls, without reserve, that was balm to my soul after the year -in New Zealand. - -Melbourne was the home of Madame Melba, and in consequence the city is -the most musical of any I lived in in the Antipodes. Even the babies -sing operatically on the streets, and the voices one hears from open -windows are not the head-voices of prayer-meetings, but those of people -who seem to know the value of the human larynx. - -During the two weeks that I was in Melbourne, I was, whenever I chose, a -guest of the Master of the Mint, Mr. Bagg, who was the uncle of a New -Zealand girl of my acquaintance; lunched, dined and afternoon tea-ed -with his family whenever I felt like it; was rushed to the theater to -see an old pioneer play; and went to attend public meetings at which the -mayor and the prime minister spoke; visited the beaches, and knew the -joy of the most refreshing companionship it was my good-fortune to meet -with in all my wanderings,--though there were others. And it was so with -whomever I met in Melbourne, from the clerk in the haberdashery, who -acquainted me with the jealousy that exists between Sydney and -Melbourne, to the woman in whose home I roomed on Fitzroy Park, or the -young couple with the toddling baby and the glorious sheep-dog, who -engaged me in conversation on the lawn near the beach at St. Kilda. - -And so I still see Melbourne in memory as a place I should enjoy living -in. I was often alone, but never lonely in it. And I see it from its -Botanic Gardens, with the broad Yarra Yarra River slowly cleaving it in -two, its soft, semi-tropical mists hanging over it, its temperate -climate, its cleanliness and its low, rolling hills where it hides its -suburbs. - -I didn't go to see Adelaide, in South Australia, because I was destined -to live in Sydney, in New South Wales. - - -2 - -It is more than mere accident that Victoria has broader-gaged railways -than New South Wales, and that travelers from one state to the other -must get off at Albury and change, or between New South Wales and -Queensland to the north of it. It is not mere accident, I am sure, for -there is a like difference in the width of streets between Melbourne and -Sydney. - -Sydney is hilly, exposed, bricky, and crowded, and though it is the -premier city of Australia, it grows without changing. There is a -conservatism about it which, in view of the activity of Australians, is -inexplicable. Sydney is almost an old city. Its streets wind as though -the settlers had been uncertain of the prevailing winds; and the hills -tend to give it an appearance of huddling. The red roofs of the -cottage-like houses, and their architectural style give it a European -tone, slightly like an English city. It has none of the fresh, -"hand-me-down" regularity of the American, nor the sober coziness of the -English, village. Every street leads one to the center of the city, and -wind as it will there is hardly any relief from commonplaceness. The -thoroughfares are crowded with street cars which cross and -circumambulate, some of the main streets are too narrow for more than -single-track lines. Yet instead of seeing the earlier error and trying -to correct it by prohibiting the erection of buildings on the present -curb lines, the authorities have permitted one of the finest office -buildings in the city--the Commonwealth Bank Building, to be placed on -the same line as the rest of the old structures. It is hardly to be -expected that such methods will ever broaden the streets. - -There are no tenements in Sydney, in the New York sense of the term, but -the average home as I saw it on my usual rounds in search of quarters, -was ordinary. The rooms were small, and there were few conveniences. - -But this is Sydney proper. Newer Sydney, with its suburbs and homes -along the numerous peninsulas projecting into the waters of Port -Jackson, is modern, clean, and airy, and really convenient. Man is a -lazy animal and prone to dote on nature's beauties, neglecting his -responsibilities to nature. Sydney, proud of its harbor, builds there -and forgets its city-self. There are no fine structures to speak of, no -monuments, no art, and even the library has to borrow a roof for itself -in a building essentially excellent but neglected as a municipal white -elephant. But there is a municipal organ in the Town Hall, and that -makes up for much that is wanting in Sydney. - -I took up my quarters across the water from Sydney, and from there I -could see the city through the glory-lens, its harbor. Little -peninsulas, crossed in but a few minutes, project into the waters of the -harbor, making it look like an oak-leaf and affording sites for the -splendid homes that have been built there. Crowding is impossible; -views of the water may be had from all angles. And here, in a borrowed -nest, I sat for hours perched above the water, noting and gloating over -its moods and character. What charm it works, when in the blood-red -streaks of sunset the tidal floods cool the peaceful turquoise; when the -busy little ferries of day become fairy transports with streaks of -shimmering light as escort, moving across the still waters; when on -Sunday morning Sydney across the way relaxes, amazing with revelations. -With street and sky-line clear, quiet hangs in the air; or on more windy -days, myriad whitecaps royne at the numerous ships which cross and -recross one another's paths. In one direction, industry is idealized; in -others, nature and beauty lie naked, above idealization. - -For two weeks I lived out at Manly Beach, nine miles by ferry from -Sydney, and went in and out every day. The Heads lie to the right, and -as we made our way across, the swells from the sea beyond rolled the -little ferry teasingly. At times, when the swells were heavier and the -crowds excessive, a sort of panic would spread over them, but some of -the inevitable minstrels that swarm the streets and by-ways of Sydney, -would counteract contagion with music and song. - -The beaches are always crowded. Annette Kellerman is Australian, and -somehow, whether as cause or effect, Sydney people are the most -amphibious folk in the world. They seem to live in the water. Every -spare hour is spent on the wide stretches of sand that lie warm and -white in the blazing sun. But nothing takes precedence over the harbor -in the adoration of Sydneyites. - -Sydney is known for its gaiety, yet I was lonely in Sydney,--bitterly -so. Perhaps people are too gay to think of others, perhaps their gaiety -made me exaggerate my loneliness. "Nothing like the Australian larrikin -when he gets going," you will be told. But what struck me was the latent -distemper that lurked beneath much of the hilarity that I saw in Sydney. -Australia is not very different from any of us,--a little more -imitative, a little more outspoken, a little more gruff, a little more -youthful. But wildness is not specially Australian; nor is bluntness; -nor yet youthfulness. The Australian is perhaps a little more reckless, -individually or _en masse_, than the people of other lands, but he puts -up with the same social inconveniences; he reasons falsely at times and -gets fooled; he gloats over the spectacular, becomes intensely excited -over nothing,--and suddenly relapses. In a crowd he sometimes becomes -belligerent, yet is easily led and easily relinquishes. But, above all -else, he is gregarious. And it is because of this that he takes you in -in Sydney,--and drops you out before you have known what has happened to -you. Hence he is an inveterate sportsman, a heavy drinker, a perpetual -gambler at the races,--faithful to his whimsicalities. - -Intellectually he is a fanatic, but tolerates all sorts of fanaticisms. -A Sunday morning on the beautiful grounds of the Public Domain is enough -to convince you that Sydney would welcome the most freakish freak in the -world, imprison him for the fun of it, then sympathize with him if he -dies in prison, as did the famous naked man, Chidley. I have seen Sydney -men who seemed to me men without hearts, as soft and gentle as women in -the face of another man's hurt. Yet when a well-known army officer stole -funds that belonged to wounded soldiers and their needy families, I -heard respectable Sydney men say they were glad he got away with it. I -have seen girls at carnivals, who at ten o'clock went about tickling -strange men under the chin, snarl at them at eleven and order them to -"Trot along, now." I have heard Australians say harsh things of -themselves in criticism, but true loyalty is widely prevalent among -Australians. An Australian always wants a mate, "some one who would -stick like lead" if he were up against it. The self-criticism comes -rather from the more thoughtful Australians, who, looking out upon the -future, want to see their country hold on to the prize it has won, and -grow and become a leader in the affairs of the Pacific. - -But though Sydney and Melbourne are the leading cities of the -commonwealth, he who has to judge of the nation by them wonders where -that leadership is to come from. The love of pleasure is a sign of -health in any people; and Australia is in that sense most healthful. -Material progress is the next best indication of the state of a nation; -and Australia is universally prosperous. But it is in the outlook on -life that a country justifies its existence and insures itself against -decay. Until the war, all reports of Australia on that score were -negative. Provincialism, of the most ingrowing kind, obtained. Every -state thought chiefly of itself; every city of itself only; every -district of none other than itself. But with the war Australia took a -tremendous leap forward. For the first time in her history, her men had -a chance to leave the land which intellectually was little more than a -sublimated prison to them. Half a million men left Australia for Europe -and other sections of the globe. And if Australia knew what she was -about she would now send the rest of her men and women abroad with the -same end in view,--the education of the people for the place they occupy -in the world. - -Much criticism is flung at Australia because her young men and women are -inclined to enjoy life rather than burden themselves with a succeeding -generation. If the beginning and end of life is reproduction, then that -is a just criticism. But the welfare of the living is as important as -the welfare of civilization. The greatest criticism is not that people -will not bear children in the face of trying economic conditions, but -that, having exceptionally favorable circumstances, they show no special -inclination to become parents, and that nothing is being done to create -conditions under which the bearing of young would be no handicap. But -that requires an intellectual outlook which is at present wanting in -the cities of Melbourne and Sydney. There is an over-emphasis of -pleasure _per se_, a lack of seriousness in the concerns of life. - -Sydney lures men and women from the back-blocks and makes them feel -human again, makes them forget the plains are sear, and that manliness -is next to cleanliness. It affords dull station-owners a chance to mix -with folk where sweetness and refinement, and not crudeness, is the -order of the day and of life. It takes men and women who have been told -that to increase and multiply is the only contribution they can make to -the welfare of the community and shows them that there is something in -life besides that. So when I think of what Sydney means to the world -that lies behind it I cannot refrain from offering my contribution of -praise. But then I ask myself and Sydney what it has done to make the -back-blocks better, what it is doing to build up the country, and the -fact becomes evident that it is only draining it. Fully 51 per cent of -the inhabitants of Australia live in cities. It is for these cities to -lay railroads and highways and to open the vast continent; and that can -be done only by putting prejudices aside, by adding to recreation real -creation and a soberness in the affairs of life which alone will win for -Australia its place in the affairs of the Pacific. - -What, socially and individually, then, is the contribution of Australia -to the civilization of the Pacific? Is her position to be one of eminent -leadership commensurate with the welfare of the individual members of -the Commonwealth, or is their joyousness going to make her citizens -forget ambition and their ruling destiny? This much must not be -forgotten,--that born as a convict colony, Australia has more than -justified itself; that the term "convict colony" is now no more -applicable to Australia than it is to Virginia. That handicap -notwithstanding, Australia to-day is as far advanced as any nation in -the world. The people do not generally take to higher mathematics, to -philosophical thinking, or to science, but illiteracy is rare in -Australia. Given a continent wherein nothing of civilization was to be -found, Australia has made of it, in a little more than a century, a land -productive, healthful, and promising. Much praise is due Japan for what -she has accomplished along material lines in seventy years; how much -more praise is due Australia for what she has done in about the same -time! - - -3 - -As one journeys north along the Australian coast, life begins to thin -out. Fate must have been in a comic mood when it apportioned me my -experiences as I was leaving that island continent, for in Brisbane it -allotted me an august funeral, and in Thursday Island it sent a -missionary out to "attack me." Thereby hang two tales. - -I had walked what seemed to me fully two miles from the pier in the -Brisbane River to the heart of town and was rather overheated. My -septuagenarian Englishman trudged along by my side. When we arrived in -the central thoroughfare I took note of the fact that things looked -fresh and clean, that there was a tendency toward pink paint, but that -otherwise I might have saved myself the journey. Alas, it was Saturday -afternoon, and a half-holiday! Leaving my venerable comrade behind, I -strode along at my own pace in search of adventure, my camera across my -shoulder. I had taken to a hilly side street, and must have looked like -a professional tourist. Absorbed in seeking, I was startled by an -appealing voice behind me. Turning, I found the owner of that voice -gazing intently at my camera. - -"That's a camera you have there, sir." - -I admitted my guilt, wondering what crime lurked in the possession of a -camera. - -"I've been trotting all over town trying to find a photographer, sir, -but their shops are all closed. Would you mind coming along with me, -sir, and taking a picture of a funeral as the mourners come out of -church. Lady ---- is so anxious to have a picture of them just leaving -church. The deceased, sir, her husband, was a very much beloved -gentleman, a prominent official, and devoted to the church in which now -lie his remains, and she would be so pleased if you would come and taik -a fouto for her." In his excitement, he slipped into the use of cockney, -so prevalent in Australia. I threw out my chest and thought to myself: -"See here, old man, do you think I've lived in New York and London and -Paris, and Sydney, and ---- to be sold a gold brick in Brisbane? But -I'll show you I'm game." And I followed him up the street. But sure -enough, there at the top of the hill, from an imposing church, emerged a -funeral, posing to be taken. It did not matter to this man that I told -him my ship was in port only for the day and that before I could -possibly make a print I should be either in China or Japan. But just -then Fate thought she was carrying the joke too far and sent along a -native son with a camera, and I was released. I set out for the ship. - -In the little gullies that lie along the way were shacks or cottages, -raised on piles, with inverted pans between them and the floor beams. -White ants were eating to pulp these supports. We were in the tropics -again. - - -Fate must have chuckled. She is fond of practical jokes. The next time -she tried one on me, I was in Cairns. Having entered Australia on the -ground floor, Melbourne, I suppose Cairns might be said to be the -fifth-story window. I left the ship the moment she was made fast, keyed -up with expectation of seeing the tropics again. Ashore, the spirit -hovering about tropical villages took me in hand. No better guide can be -found on earth. With a voice subdued, it urged me to pass quickly -through the town, which was still asleep except for the saloons and -their keepers. The spirit leading me complained of that other spirit -which leads and captures most men in the tropics. My spirit, happy to -have a patron, offered me luxurious scenes, melodious sounds, and mellow -colors,--happy in receiving a grateful stranger. While pressing through -the little village, I noticed the mission type of architecture of the -post-office; the concrete columns guarding the entrance of the newspaper -office; the arched balconies of a hotel; the delicate, dainty cottages -raised on wooden piles, the verdure hiding defects, and the main -building lost in a massive growth of yellow flowers overgrowing roof and -all. A small opening for entrance and a pugnacious corner were the only -indications of its nature as a residence. Then there were a "School of -Arts" and a double-winged girls' school. The whole town was pretty and -in concord with the scenes about. - -But I was not held. I pressed on toward the hills, to the open road. -_Allons!_ But alas! I betrayed myself by doubting the "spirit of the -tropics" which was guiding me. I resorted to a tiny mortal for -information, and in that way angered the spirit, which instantly -deserted me. Not content with whisperings, I had sought definition, -asked for distance,--Where? Whence? How? And I lost! - -He was a little man, with worn shoes from the holes of which peeped -stockingless feet. In the early morning he had slipped on shoes which -would not deprive him of the dew. He had covered his little legs with a -dark pair of dirty trousers, his body with a soiled white coat, and his -mind with misunderstood scripture. His bulging eyes betrayed his inward -confusion. - -Upon inquiring, he informed me that the road led to the hospital and -would take me fifteen minutes to negotiate. Then he wanted to know if I -came off the _Eastern_. "Any missionaries on board?" he asked. "I don't -know," I answered. "I suppose that is something you don't trouble much -about." I agreed. "Ah, that's just it. Don't you know the Bible says, -'Be prepared to meet thy Maker?' How do you know but what any moment you -may be called?" "Well, if I am, I have lived well enough to have no -fear." "Yes, that is just it. You live in carnal sin. You have no doubt -looked upon some woman with lustful eyes this very morning. I sin, too, -every moment." Heaven knows I had not been tempted. I hadn't seen any -woman to look at, and nothing was further from my mind just then. And so -it was,--sin, assumption and condemnation. I talked with him a few -minutes, asserted my fearlessness, the consciousness of a reasonably -good life. But nothing would do. The poison of fear with which he -contrived to wound me I now had to fight off. I had come out all joy and -happiness in the new day, the loveliness of life. If worship was not on -my lips it was in my heart, and he had tarnished it. He brought thoughts -of sin and death to my mind, which, at that moment, if at any time in my -life, was free from selfishness and from unworthy desires. - -I cut across to the sea,--not even an open avenue being fresh enough for -me now. It was as though I had suddenly inhaled two lungfuls of poison -gas and struggled for pure air. I turned back to the boat, not caring to -go too far lest she leave port. A tropical shower poured its warm water -over me as though the spirit of the tropics felt sorry, and forgave me. -I returned to the ship, and quarter of an hour later we were moving out -into the open sea again. - - -4 - -The next and last time that I landed on Australian soil was at Thursday -Island, one of the smallest of the Prince of Wales group, north of Cape -York Peninsula, in the Torres Strait. German New Guinea (now a British -mandatory) lies not far away. There is not much of a village and most of -the buildings are made of corrugated iron. But there was not at that -time that stuffy, damp odor which pervades Suva; nor, in fact, was there -much of that mugginess that is Fiji. Yet it is only eleven degrees from -the equator, whereas Fiji is thirteen. The street is only a country -road, and dozens of goats and kids pasture upon it. The few stores -(closed on Sunday) were not overstocked. There are two large churches. -One was built from the wreckage of a ship that had some romantic story -about it which I cannot recall. There was also another institution, the -purpose of which I could not discern. It was musty, dirty, dilapidated, -with shaky chairs and shelves of worm-eaten books. I suppose it was a -library. Hotels there were galore, and though bars were supposed to be -closed on Sunday, a small party of passengers succeeded in striking a -"spring." - -I wandered off by myself. Slowly the great leveler, night, crept into -the heart of things, and they seemed glad. Orientals and natives from -New Guinea lounged about their little corrugated iron houses, obedient -to law and impulse for rest. Japanese kept off nakedness with loose -kimonos. One of them lay stretched upon the mats before the open door, -reading. Others squatted on the highway. Tiny Japanese women walked -stiffly on their wooden _geta_ as they do in Japan. Tiny babies wandered -about alone like wobbling pups. Upon the sea-abandoned beach groups of -New Guinea natives gathered to search for crabs or other sea-food. A cow -waded into the water to cool herself. And the sail-boats, beached with -the receding tides, lunged landward. - -Peace and evening. Nay, more. There is not only indolent forgetfulness -here; there is more than mere ease in the tropics: there is affluence in -ease. A something enters the bone and sinew of moving creatures which -awakens and yet satisfies all the dearest desires. And nothing remains -when night comes on but lamplight and wandering white shadows. - -Late that night I returned to the ship. Deep, familiar sounds revived my -memory of Fiji, on the other line of my triangle. A chorus of New Guinea -voices,--rich, deep, harmonious, and rhythmic--rose from a little boat -beside us. In it were a half-dozen natives, squatting round a lantern, -reading and singing hymns in their own tongue. Such mingled sadness with -gladness,--one does not know where one begins and the other ends. Shiny -black bodies crouching and chanting. Hymns never seemed more sincere, -more earnest. - -They were waiting there for midnight to come, when Sunday ends for them, -and toil begins. The ship must be loaded. Then voices will rattle with -words and curses. All night long they labored with good things for other -men. When I came out in the morning they breakfasted on boiled yams and -turtle, a mixture that looked like dough. Instead of using their -fingers, they employed sharp pointed sticks, doubtless in imitation of -Japanese chop-sticks. Progress! - -Shortly afterward we struck across the Arafua Sea, and saw Australia no -more. - - - - -CHAPTER IX - -OUR PEG IN ASIA - - -1 - -Venturing round the Pacific is like reincarnation. One lives as an -Hawaiian for a spell, enters a state of non-existence and turns up as a -Fijian; then another period of selflessness, and so on from one isle to -another. From such a period of transmigration I woke one morning to the -sight of Zamboanga, and knew myself for a moment as a dual -personality,--a Filipino and an American in one. All day long we hugged -the coast of the islands of the group--Mindanao, Negros, Panay, Mindoro, -Luzon--the cool blue surface of the choppy sea between us and reality. -After so many days' journey along the coast of Australia, through sea -after sea, it seemed unreasonable to require a turn of the sun in which -to outstrip a few Oriental islands. Then we swung to the right. Ahead of -us, we were told, lay Manila, but even the short run to that city seemed -interminable. At last the unknown became the known. A red trolley-car -emerged from behind the Manila Hotel. Life became real again. - -Our ship had hardly more than buoyed when a fleet of lighters surrounded -her,--flat, blunt, ordinary skiffs; long, narrow, peculiar ones. The -former I thought represented American efficiency; the latter, Filipino -whimsicality. The Filipino craft were decorated in black, with -flourishes and letters in red and white. Over their holds low hoods of -matting formed an arch upon which swarmed the native owners. How -business-like, yet withal attractive. And business became the order of -the night. - -From beneath the matted hoods of the lighters flickered glimmers of -faint firelight. Life there was alert, though quiet. It hid in the -shadows of night; confined in the holds, dim candles and lanterns -quivered: peace reigned before performance. A quiet harbor; moon and -stars and mast-lights above; a cool, refreshing breeze. That was my -first night in Manila Harbor. - -Morning. Not really having stretched my legs in nearly three weeks, -since sailing from Sydney, Australia, I naturally felt in high spirits -upon landing. The mists which hung over Manila quickened my pace, for I -knew that before I could see much of that ancient town they would be -gone, dissipated by the intense heat of the tropical sun. I was eager to -put on my seven-leagued boots to see all that I had selected years -before as the things I wanted to stride the seas to see. But I soon -discovered that I was only a clumsy iron-weighted deep-sea diver. All -round the Pacific I had traveled alone. I wanted no mate but freedom. -But the three weeks _en route_ from the Antipodes, on board a small -liner whose major passenger list was made up of monosyllabic Oriental -names drove me, willy-nilly, into the companionship of the -septuagenarian English captain. - - -2 - -On account of the keying down of my reactions to the tempo of -seventy-three plus British sedateness, I wrote many things in my book of -vistas that seem to me now mere aberrations. Just to indicate what the -effect was I shall confess that as I approached the Walled City I -conceived of myself as almost a full-fledged Don Quixote storming the -citadel of ancient aggression. But my elderly Sancho Panza held me back -lest the shafts of burning sunlight strike me down. - -Standing before the gates of antiquity, even the most haughty of human -beings moves by instinct back along the line of the ages, like a spider -pulling himself up to his nest on his web. Round the black stone wall -which encircles the old Spanish city, that which was once a moat is now -a pleasant grass-grown lawn. The wall itself, still well preserved, has -been overreached by two-story stone houses with heavy balconies which -seem to mock the pretenses of their "protector." Outwardly, things look -old; within change has kept things new. Mixed with surprised curiosity -at two Antipodes so close together comes a feeling of contact with -eternity, the present of yesterday linking itself with the antiquity -which is to be. - -A long, narrow street stretched across the city. Spanish buildings -tinted pink and delicately ornamented, lined the sides. White stone -buildings, chipped and seamed with use and age, lined the way. Broad -entrances permitted glimpses of sumptuous patios, refreshed by tropical -plants; low stone steps leading up to dark vault-like chambers; windows -barred but without glass,--spacious retreats built by caballeros who -thought they knew the value of life. Indeed, they knew how to build -against invasion of the sun and the Oriental pirate, but not against the -invasion of time. Perhaps they live better as Spaniards to-day than they -lived as conquerors yesterday. - -Here, within the walled city, everything looks as though change were not -the order of eternity. Everything is as it was, yet nothing is so. -Trolley-cars clank, motor-cars of the latest models throb quietly, -pony-traps and bullock-carts stir the ancient quiet. One wonders how so -much new life can find room to move about in such narrow streets with -their still narrower sidewalks that permit men to pass in single file -only, and angular corners and low buildings. But there they are, and -there they bid fair to remain. Even the unused cathedrals, whose doors -are here and there nailed shut, stand their ground. Some of them even -close the street with their imposing fronts, the courage of fervent -human passion in their crumbling façades. - - [Illustration: FILIPINO LIGHTERS DROWSING IN THE EVENING SHADOWS] - - [Illustration: THE DOCILE WATER BUFFALO IS USED TO WALKING IN MUD] - - [Illustration: ONE CAN THROW A BRICK AND HIT SEVEN CATHEDRALS IN - MANILA] - - [Illustration: COOL AND SILENT ARE THE MOSSY STREETS OF THE WALLED - CITY OF MANILA] - -At that early hour there was little sign of human life. Into some of the -cathedrals native women crept for prayer. Here and there a confined -human being passed across the glassless windows; here and there a -tourist flitted by in search of sights. And I soon realized that within -the walls, intramuros, there was nothing. Across the park, across the -Pasig River, there one finds life. - -Yet within that ancient crust there is new life. Some old buildings have -been turned into government offices, high schools, a public library -fully equipped, an agricultural institute, everything standing as in -days of old, but new flowers and plants growing in those crude -pots,--old surroundings with a new spirit. Something mechanical in that -spirit,--typewriters clicking everywhere under native fingers; still, -typewriters don't click without thoughts. - -Here, then, is the conflict in growth between the ends of time, heredity -struggling with environment, the fountains of youth washing the bones of -old ambitions. They may not become young bones, but may we not hope they -will at least be clean? May not time and patience remold antiquity, -absorb its bad blood and rejuvenate it? Typewriters clicking everywhere; -tongues born to Filipino, then turned to Spanish, now twisting -themselves with English. The trough has been brought to the horse. Will -he drink? The library was full of intelligent-looking young Filipinos, -the cut of their clothes as obviously American as the typewriters -clicking behind doors. Both typewriters and garments indicated -efficiency, but I could no more say what was the impulse in the being -within those clothes than what thoughts were being fixed in permanence -to the sound of an American typewriter. - -The most symbolical thing of all was the aquarium built beneath one wing -of the great wall round this little village. If in the hard shell of -American possession arrangement can still be made for the freedom, -natural and unconfining, of the native Filipinos, we shall not lay -ourselves open to censure. The natives may not be satisfied, they may -prefer the open sea; but that is up to them to achieve. As long as we -keep the water fresh and the food supplies free, they can complain only -of their own crustaceous natures and nothing else. - - -3 - -All Manila does not live within the walls, however,--not even a goodly -portion of it,--and the exits are numerous. Passing through the eastern -gate, one comes into a park which lies between the walled city and the -Pasig River. Beyond the river and on its very banks is Manila proper. As -I got my first glimpse of the crowded, dirty waterway, I could not say -much in reply to my companion, whose patriotic fervor found expression -in criticism of American colonization. It was like looking into a -neglected back yard. The Englishman did not seem to see, however, that -to have done better in so short a time would have been to inflict -hardships on the natives which no amount of progress ever justifies. -Still, with memories of Honolulu as a basis for judgment I was not a -little disappointed. How to change people without destroying their -souls,--that is the problem for future social workers for world -betterment to solve. - -Meanwhile I had succeeded in eluding my burden of seventy-three years -and opened my eyes to the life round about me. There was still a bridge -to cross. It was narrow, wooden and crowded. It was only a temporary -structure, built to replace the magnificent Bridge of Spain which was -washed away in the great flood of September, 1914. During the few -minutes it took me to saunter across it, the traffic was twice blocked. -Perhaps to show me how full the traffic was, for in that moment there -lined up as many vehicles and people and of sufficient variety to -illustrate the stepping-stones in transportation progress. There were -traps, motor-cars, carts drawn by carabao, or water-buffalo, bicycles, -and trolley-cars. Everybody seems to ride in some fashion. - -Yet everybody seems to walk, and in single file at that. Gauze-winged -Filipino women,--tawdry, small and ill-shod, or, rather, dragging -slippers along the pavement--insist on keeping to the middle of the -narrow walks. Frequently they are balancing great burdens on their -heads, with or without which they are not over-graceful or comely. Their -stiff, transparent gauze sleeves stand away from them like airy wings. -One hasn't the heart to brush against them lest these angelic extensions -be demolished, and so one keeps behind them all the way. - -The men also shuffle along. They wear embroidered gauze coats which veil -their shirts and belts and trousers. There is something in this -lace-curtain-like costume that seems the acme of laziness. Neither stark -nakedness nor the durability of heavy fabrics seem so prohibitive of -labor as does this thin garment. No inquiry into the problem of the -Philippines would seem to me complete without full consideration of the -origin of this costume. - -But one is swept along over the bridge, and is dropped down into Manila -proper by way of a set of steps, through a short alley. The main street -opens to the right and to the left. It is brought to a sudden turn one -block to the left and then runs on into the farther reaches of the city; -to the right it winds its way along till it encompasses the market-place -and confusion. This chiseling out of streets in such abrupt fashion is -puzzling to the person with notions of how tropical people behave. Why -such timidity in the pursuance of direction and desire? The obstruction -of the bridge promenade by the main street and of the main street by a -side street have a tendency to shoot the seer of sights about in a -fashion comparable to one of those games in which a ball is shot through -criss-cross sections so that the players never know in what little -groove it will fall or whether the number will be a lucky one or not. - -I first fell into a bank, and the amount of money one can lose in -exchanging Australian silver notes into American dollars is sufficient -to dishearten one. The shops were too damp and insignificant to attract -me much, however, so I ventured on into the outer by-ways of the city. -There the dungeon-like stores and homes and Chinese combinations had at -least the virtue of ordinary Oriental manner in contrast to our own. The -Chinese cupboard-like stores, that seem to hang on the outside of the -buildings like Italian fruit-stands, held few attractions. There was an -obvious utilitarianism about them which, strange as it may seem, is the -last thing the man with no fortune to spend enjoys. Shops and museums -afford the unpossessing compensation for his penury. - -As I made my way ahead to a small open square, my attention was arrested -by a performance the full significance of which did not at first appear -to me. At the gateway of a large cigar-factory from which came strolling -male and female workers, sat two individuals--two women at the women's -gate, two men at the men's--and each worker was examined before leaving. -As a woman came along, the inspector passed her hands down the side of -the skirts, up the thighs, over the bosom,--then slapped her genially -and off she went. Through it all, the girls assumed a most dignified -manner, absolutely without self-consciousness and oblivious of the gaze -of the passers-by. What is more certain to break down a man's or a -woman's self-respect than becoming indifferent to the opinion of the -public as to the method of being searched? A Freudian complex formed to -the point of one's believing oneself capable of theft, the next thing -is to live out that unconscious thought of theft and to care nothing for -the censure of the world. - -When at work, these girls possessed a sort of sixth sense. The -cigarettes are handed over to them at their benches to be wrapped in -bundles of thirty. They never stop to count them--just place the -required number in their left hands encircling them with thumb and -fingers, reject an odd one if it creeps in, and tie the bundle. I -counted a dozen packets, but did not find one either short or over, and -the overseers are so certain of this accuracy that they never count them -either. - -But what a different world is found at the public school not very far -from the factory! The building was not much of a building,--just an -old-fashioned wooden structure with a court. Its sole purpose seemed to -be to furnish four thousand children with training in the use of a new -tongue. "Speak English," stared every one in the face from sign-boards -nailed to pillars. I listened. The command was honored more in the -breach than in the observance, yet where it was respected strange -English sounds tripped along tongues that were doubtless more accustomed -to Tagalog and Spanish. There was nothing shy in the behavior of these -boys and girls. They moved about with a certain monastic self-assurance, -less gay than our children, more free than most Oriental youngsters. In -a few years they will be advocating Filipino independence, in no -mistaken terms,--if they have not been caught by the factory process. - -I went straight ahead and found myself on my way back into the -city,--but from a side opposite that from which I had left it. The -squalor and the dungeon-like atmosphere were indeed nothing for American -efficiency to be proud of. Slums in the tropics fester rapidly. One -cannot say these places were slums; but they certainly were not native -villages. One felt that here in Manila America's heart was not in her -work. Why build up something that would in the end revert to the -natives, to be laid open to possible aggression and conquest! One felt -further that the Filipinos did not exactly rejoice in being Americans. -What they actually are they have long since forgotten. Once -foster-children of Philip of Spain. To-day the adopted sons of America. -To-morrow? How much more fortunate their Siamese cousins or relatives by -an ancient marriage! Yet all who know Manila as it was ten years ago -agree that there have been vast improvements in a decade. One does not -include in this generalization the residences and hotels of the -foreigners, for obvious reasons; still, the welfare of a community is -raised by good example. - - -That afternoon I stretched in the shade of one of the walls of the old -walled citadel with its fine gateways. I pondered the significance of -those stones against which I was resting. One gains strength from such -structures as one does from the sea,--not only in the actual contact, -but in the thought that that which human effort accomplished human -effort can do again. My septuagenarian had returned to the ship for -rest. I thought of his criticisms of the American occupation of Manila, -of his suggestions that England would have made of it a fine city. I -wondered what drove the Spanish to build this wall. To protect -themselves against Chinese pirates? There is not a country in the world -that has not tried to safeguard itself against invasion by the process -of invasion. Yet any attempt to do otherwise is decried as impractical. -All the while, decay weakens the arm of the conqueror. - -But more luring scenes distracted my thoughts. The sinking sun stretched -the lengthening shadows of the wall as a fisherman, at sunset, spreads -his serviceable nets. Filipinos passed quietly to and fro; cars, -motor-cars, and electric cars cut a St. Andrew's cross before me. The -scent of mellow summer weighted the air. Slowly everything drew closer -in the net of night. - -Two days later I was in Hong-Kong, where the Oriental dominates the -scene. I was at the third angle of the triangle, and hereafter the -subject is Asia. - - - - -CHAPTER X - -BRITAIN'S ROCK IN ASIA - - -1 - -To one who had received his most vivid impressions of China from her -noblest philosopher, Lao-tsze, it was somewhat disconcerting to peep -through the porthole just after dawn and find oneself the center of a -confusion indescribable. The sleepy, heaving sea was more in tune with -the mystic "Way" of the great sage. I had not anticipated being thrust -so suddenly among the masses and the babel on which Lao-tsze, that -gray-beard child, had tried to pour some intellectual oil. - -Yet, I had been living on the top floor of a Chinese "den" for -twenty-six days between Sydney and Hong-Kong. On board I was ready to -blame the steamship company for the crowding and the uncleanliness. Had -there been a dozen murders, I should not have regarded it as unnatural. -Had I been compelled to spend three weeks in such circumstances, I -should either have committed hara-kiri or killed off at least four -hundred and fifty-five to make the decent amount of room necessary for -the remaining fifty. So I was prepared to exonerate them, to praise them -for their pacifism and their orderliness in such conditions. - -But when I peeped out of the porthole that morning and saw the swarming -thousands struggling with one another to secure a pittance of privilege, -which these five hundred had to offer by way of baggage, my heart went -out to the great sage of 650 B. C. He must have been courageous indeed. - -Full families of them on their shallow sampans cooperating with one -another against odds which would sicken the stoutest-hearted white folk. -Yet in that Oriental mass there was the ever-present exultation of -spirit. Laughter and good-natured bullying, full recognition of the -other man's right to rob and be robbed. No smug morality teaching you to -be shy and generous in the face of an obviously bad world, a world -ordered so as to make goodness the most expensive instead of the least -expensive quality. But I soon discovered that beneath that external -jollity only too frequently fluttered a fearful heart, filled with dread -of the slightest change of circumstances. - -The distance between the ship and the shore was not like Charon's river -Styx, but it was a way between the Elysium of an alien metropolis and a -Hades of hopeless nativity, none the less. Beyond stood the towering -hills of Hong-Kong with its massive palaces in marble at the very -summit. Chinese will to live had builded these, but the people had not, -it seems, enough will left to build for themselves. From the very foot -of the hills upward rose a steady series of buildings which looked -surprisingly familiar, yet somewhat alien to my expectations. It was -something of a shock to me to find that Hong-Kong was Chinese in name -and character only, while being European-owned and ordered. I felt -fooled. I had gone to see China, but found only another outpost of Great -Britain. My American passport had had most fascinating Chinese -characters on the back of it. But the "Emergency Permit" issued to me in -Sydney, had none. Between British ports one can always expect British -courtesy and that largeness of heart which comes from having taken -pretty nearly all there is worth while in the world without being afraid -of losing it. So I made some hurried mental adjustments as we chugged -our way across, amidst bobbing sampans, and convinced myself that it -might have been worse. - -In that great future which will put modern civilization somewhere -half-way between the Stone Age and itself, the stones of Hong-Kong will -give investigators much to think about. Everything in Hong-Kong is -concrete and stone. From the spacious office buildings that stand along -the waterfront, to the palaces upon the peak, stone is the material out -of which everything is built. What achievement! What a monument to -Britain! But as the stones become harder beneath one's feet, one senses -the toil embodied in them. Male and female coolies still trudge over -these stony paths, carrying baskets of gravel, tar, or sand higher and -higher. These structures seemed to me like human bridges which great -leaders of men sometimes lay for their armies to pass over. Where do -they lead to? Perhaps to England's greatness; perhaps to the world's -shame. - -At first one is prone to be rigid in one's judgment. There seems too -much evidence of desire to build securely, rather than humanely or -beautifully. The Orient, one hears, builds more daintily, more softly, -more picturesquely; America builds more comfortably and more thoroughly. -One might add, apologetically, that had not the masters driven these -coolies to such stony tasks, the poor creatures would simply have built -another Chinese wall at the behest of one of their own tyrants. Cheap -labor makes pyramids and walls, and palaces on the peaks of Hong-Kong. -But it also makes an unsightly slough of humanity about itself. -Considering how costly pyramids and palaces such as those at Hong-Kong -are, considering the plodding toil it took to build them, for the sake -of humanity it is better that they were built of stone, so that -rebuilding may never be necessary. - -Everywhere as we climb we pass rest stations, coolies buying a few -cents' worth of food, coolies carrying cement. While far beneath lies -murky, moldy Hong-Kong with its worm-like streets, its misty harbor -waters, its hundreds of steamers, sail-boats, sampans, piers, and -dry-docks, and all around stand the peaks of earth and the inverted -peaks of air. Returning by another route, down more winding and more -precipitous paths, one passes great concrete reservoirs, tennis-courts, -an incline railway, water-sheds,--and the city again. - - -2 - -The days draw on even here, and sunlight is curtained by dim night. The -din of human voices loses its shrill tone of bargaining, the rickshaw -men trot regularly but more slowly. Carriers of sedan-chairs lag beneath -their loads; their steps slow down to a walk. Women by the dozen slip -by, still with their burdens, but their voices have a note of softness, -pleasing sadness. And now comes the time of day when no matter in what -station one's life may be cast, spirit and body shift to better -adjustment. And through the dim blue mist the shuffling of feet is -heard, or the sounding of loose wooden slippers like drops of water in a -well. Whatever revived activities may follow this twilight hour, now, -for the world entire, is rest,--even in toil-worn, grubbing, groveling -China, which seems not to have been born to rest. - -"Business" is not yet gone from the streets of Hong-Kong, though it is -now wholly dark. Every one is working as though the day were but just -beginning and it were not Sunday night. It is impossible to select -"important" things from out this heap of human debris. Filth, odors, -activity, jewelry, dirty little heaps and packets of food,--all are -handled over and over again, and each one is content with a lick of the -fingers for the handling. Then when quite worn out one may rest his -bones on the pavement covered with straw or mat, or if more fortunate, -may have a hovel or a house in which to breed. The number of homeless -wretches sleeping on the inclined stone pavements of Hong-Kong was -simply appalling. And Hong-Kong is British made. Hong-Kong was a barren -island twenty-nine miles in area when seventy-five years or so ago -Britain demanded it from China; to-day its population is nearly a tenth -of that of the whole continent of Australia. But what a difference in -the status of that population! Certainly no man who sees the result of -over-population in proportion to a people's industrial ingenuity can -blame Australia for keeping herself under reproductive self-control. - -A few of the things one sees as a matter of course in Hong-Kong will -illustrate. As I was coming down Pottinger Street I was horror-struck at -the sight of a small boy on his knees groaning and wailing as though he -were in unendurable agony. I thought at first he was having a fit, but -it became obvious that there was method in his madness. He was repeating -some incantation, bowing his head to the ground, tapping frantically -with a tin can on the stones, and chanting or shrieking out his -blessings or his curses, which ever the case may have been. He was a -blind beggar, and though he must have received more money than many a -coolie does (for even Chinese have coins to give) and in a way certainly -earned it, I could not but smile at his wisdom,--for at its worst it was -no worse than the labor of the coolie. Yet from many passers-by he -evoked only slight amusement. - -Upon some steps in an unlighted thoroughfare stood a Chinese haranguing -a crowd. His voice was not unpleasant, his manner was persuasive. But -what to? Had he been urging China to stop breeding, to cease this -worm-like living and reproducing, I should have regarded him as a public -benefactor. For it made me creepy, this proximity to such squirming -numbers. - -Beside a dirty wall around the corner was a medicine man selling a -miraculous bundle of herbs. He screeched its powers, gave each a smell, -which each one took since it cost nothing, and then he went into -frightful contortions to demonstrate that which these herbs could allay. -But from the expression on his face it was obvious they could not allay -his disappointment that the purchasers were few. - -At an open store was a crowd. I edged my way up to see the excitement. -It was a "doctor's operating-room." Upon a bench sat an old man, -gray-haired and almost toothless. The "doctor" stood astride the -patients' knees and with a steel instrument, somewhat rusty, calmly and -carelessly stirred about in the old man's eyeless socket. All the -sufferer did was to mutter "Ta, ta, ta," pausing slightly between the -ta's, but never stirring. No guarding against infection out on the open, -dusty, dirty thoroughfare. - -The crowd looked on without any sign of emotion. A few women sat on a -bench inside, but seemed quite indifferent. There was one exception. A -little mother with a boy of about six contemplated the performance with -a pained expression. Her boy's eyes were crossed and turned upward. He -had to be treated, too. - -Finally even these things end. It is nine o'clock. Shops are closing, -the crowds on the streets die down. And for one brief spell the world -will rest. - -Here we have four examples of life in China. When we examine them -closely, haphazardly chosen as they have been, there is a strange -uniformity and contradiction in their basic situations. The blind -beggar-boy, the charlatan advocate and medicine man, the careless -surgeon,--at bottom all charlatans, yet all essentially sincere. That -ranting little beggar howled his lying appeals, but at home, no doubt, -were other mouths to be fed for which he--blind head of the family--was -responsible. The herb-specialist seemed, from the tone of his voice, -sincere in the belief in his remedies; the surgeon, certain of his -operation. Yet that is what China is suffering from most, and because of -the faith in their crude panaceas and the conviction that five thousand -years of tradition gives folk, the Rockefeller Foundation will have to -work for many generations before it will make China prophylactic. - - -3 - -There was another incident that illustrated, to me at least, China's -ailment. Hong-Kong seemed possessed one night. I thought a riot or a -revolution had broken out, but it was only a house on fire. Thousands of -Chinese scurried about like rats looking for ways of escape. From the -littered roof and balcony of a five-story tenement a flame leaped -skyward as though itself trying to escape from the unpleasant task of -consuming so dirty a structure. The curious collected in hordes from -everywhere. - -I made my way into this mass not unaware of being quite alone in the -world. It was interesting to be in this sort of mob. The reason for -China's subjugation showed itself in the ease with which it was -controlled. One single white policeman, running back and forth along the -length of a block, kept the whole mob well along the curb. It was -amazing to watch the crowd retreat at the officer's approach and then -bulge out as soon as he passed by. One young Chinese stood out a little -too far. The officer came up on his rear, yanked him by the ear, and -sent him scurrying back into the mob. They who dared rushed timidly -across the street. I remarked this to the policeman. He was pleased. "If -you want to get closer up, just walk straight ahead," he said. And so I -did, as did other white men who arrived, without being stopped. That was -it: we were quite different; we could go. Later a host of special -police, Chinese and Indian regulars, arrived and relieved this lone -white officer. - -This incident seemed to me to symbolize China's present state. No -leader, no cohesion, no common thinking. Had the mob been -resentful,--what then! It was a mob the like of which I had never seen -before. A dull murmur sounded through all the confusion. It seemed to -be of one tone, as though all the notes of the scale were sung at once -and they blended into one another like the colors of the spectrum. The -people seemed wonderfully alert. Their hearing was keen. Two tram-car -conductors conversed forty feet away from each other, with dozens of -yapping Chinese between. - -Thus, China enjoys a oneness like that of water. Easily separated, -lightly invaded, rapidly reunited, her masses flow on together when -directed into any channel, and it matters little where or why. And the -white policeman assured me that when the Chinese still wore queues a -policeman raided a den and tied the queues of fifteen Chinese together -and with these as reins drove them to prison. - - -4 - -Yet, what nation or race in the world has maintained such indivisibility -against so much separation! Think of what the family is and has been to -China,--its creeds, its government, its entire existence. Yet the family -and concubinage obtain side by side. - -There was evidence of this in British Hong-Kong. Upon the street one day -I saw another crowd. It was waiting for the appearance of the Governor -of Canton. When the worthy governor emerged from a very unworthy-looking -building, the crowd cheered and gathered close around the automobile. - -A well-dressed young Chinese in European clothes emerged from the hall. -I asked him what was toward, surmising his understanding. He spoke -English fluently and seemed pleased to inform me. So we strolled down -the street together. He was not very hopeful about Chinese democracy as -yet, but believed in it and expressed great admiration for America. -Britain, he said, was not well liked. He spoke of his religion, his -belief in Confucianism. He regretted that Hong-Kong had no temples and -that he and his friends were compelled to meet at the club for prayer. - -Yet though he was a Confucianist, he decried the family system. "Chinese -cling too much to family," he said. "One man goes to America, then he -sends for a brother simply because he is a relative. The brother may be -a very bad character, but that doesn't matter. So it is in official -circles in China to-day. Graft goes on, jobs are dispensed to relatives -worthy or unworthy, efficient or inefficient. And the country is getting -deeper and deeper into difficulties." - -As though to prove the truth of his assertions, he told me of his own -experiences as a child. "Chinese obey," he said. "My father paid for my -education, therefore my duty toward him should know no bounds." His -father had had ten children, only two of whom survived,--he and an elder -sister. When his father died, he became the head of the family. -Therefore he had to marry, even though then only fifteen years of age. -He had been married for sixteen years. I should never have believed it, -to judge from his appearance. He seemed no more than a student himself, -but he assured me he had five children,--one daughter fifteen years old. -Birth-control! Limitation of offspring! Why bother? If his father could -"raise" a family of ten on "nothing" and then just let them die -off,--why not he? So does duty keep the race alive. - -And duty tolerates that which is sapping the very foundation of the -race,--not only the enslavement of the wife in such circumstances, but -the entertainment of the concubine. I saw the way that works. - -At the opposite end of the city is the quarter where the concubines -abound. Life there does not begin till eight o'clock in the evening, if -as early. The clanging of cans and the effort at music is terrifying. -Hotels of from four to five stories, with all their balconies -illuminated, gave an effect of festive cheerfulness which the rest of -the city lacked utterly. - - [Illustration: IN CHINA DRINKING-WATER, SOAP-SUDS, SOUP AND SEWERS ALL - FIND THEIR SOURCE IN THE SAME STREAM] - - [Illustration: SHANGHAI YOUNGSTERS PUTTING THEIR HEADS TOGETHER TO - MAKE US OUT] - - [Illustration: THIS OLD WOMAN IS LAYING DOWN THE LAW TO THE WILD YOUNG - THINGS OF CHINA] - - [Illustration: CHINA COULD TURN THESE MUD HOUSES INTO PALACES IF SHE - WISHED--SHE IS RICH ENOUGH] - -Upon the ground floors, which opened directly upon the street, the -women could be seen dressing for the evening. Nothing in their behavior -or dress would indicate their profession,--so unlike the licensed -districts of Japan. The women never as much as noticed any stranger on -the street. At the appointed time each little woman emerged, dainty, -clean and sober, and passed from her own quarters to the hotels and -restaurants where she was to meet her chartered libertine. Her decorum -approximated saintly modesty, and she moved with a childlike innocence. -There was throughout the district no rowdyism, no disorderliness. -Everything was businesslike and according to regulation. Strange, that -with so much self-control should go so much licentiousness. But it is -part of the mystery of the Orient. - - -5 - -Yet, this is no stranger than that with so much of excellence in -Hong-Kong, there should also go the perpetuation of coolieism; to -paraphrase, that with so much dignity and honesty in trade should go so -much inhumanity in the treatment of men. That is the mystery of -Britannia,--and her success. America went into the Orient and -immediately began educating it. In answer to a German criticism of -British educational work in Hong-Kong, the "Japan Chronicle" (British) -says: - - Considering how much greater British interests in China have - hitherto been than American, the Americans are far more guilty of - the abominable crime of educating the Chinese than the British, - having spent a great deal of money, and induced young Chinese to - come to America and get Americanized. Most people, including - impartial British subjects, would find fault rather with the narrow - limits of English education in China than with its intentions. - Hongkong has been for many years the center of an enormously - profitable trade, and had things been done with the altruism that - one would like to see in international relations, there would be - ten universities instead of only one and a hundred students sent to - England for college or technical training where only one is sent - to-day. - -Hitherto, it has been Britain's success that she has not interfered with -the habits of the races she has ruled. In Hong-Kong she has built a -modern city out of nothing, but has permitted Asiatic defects to find -their place within it. - -For instance, there was no sewerage system in Hong-Kong,--a fact than -which no greater criticism could be made of Britain, or of any other -nation pretending to be civilized. In this no question of altruism is -involved, but purely one of self-interest. And if greater concern for -such matters were manifest, doubtless it would work its way back through -concubinage, ancestor worship, charlatanism in public and private life. - -Having taken my chances with criticism, I shall risk praise. Englishmen -have never, to my knowledge, been given credit for the possession of -romantic souls; yet nothing but a deep love of romance could be -responsible for the manner in which Britain has preserved Hong-Kong's -Chinese face. Despite the fact that it is entirely Western in its -structure, I never felt the Oriental flavor more in all Japan than I did -at Hong-Kong. The sedan-chairs that take one up the steeps and remind -one of the swells on the China Sea in their motion, the thousands of -rickishaws that roll swiftly, quietly over smoothly paved streets, the -particularly attractive Chinese signs that lure one into dazzling shops -with unmistakable Eastern atmosphere, the money-changers and the markets -dripping with Oriental messes, left an impression on my mind that none -of my later experiences can dispel. - - - - -CHAPTER XI - -CHINA'S EUROPEAN CAPITAL - - -1 - -Under the benign influence of a Salvation Army captain, my feet were -guided safely through some of the lesser evils of Shanghai. The greater -could not be fathomed in the short time allotted to me in the European -capital of China. Miss Smythe, who resented being called Smith, in a -manner that revealed she had long since ceased to be shy of mere man, -belonged to New Zealand by birth and heaven by adoption. She chose -Hong-Kong, Shanghai, and Tokyo as temporary resting-places. It was her -task, every five years or so, to make a complete tour of the Orient to -collect funds for the Salvation Army. Hence her captaincy. - -I was walking along Queens Street, Hong-Kong, somewhat lone in spirit, -when a rickshaw passed quickly by. The occupant, a fair lady, bowed -pleasantly to me and disappeared in the mêlée. I could not recall ever -having seen her face and wondered who in Hong-Kong she could be. Then it -struck me that she wore a hat with bright red on it. Later that day, as -I stepped into the launch to be taken across to the _Tamba Maru_, who -should appear but this selfsame lady. We greeted each other, both -surprised at the second meeting and at the coincidence of our joining -the same ship. - -"I thought I had met you when I greeted you on the street this morning," -she said. - -All the way from Hong-Kong to Shanghai she was as busy going from class -to class as she was on shore, spreading the faith, placing literature -where it could be found and read, organizing hymn parties and -discouraging booze. The Japanese on board took her good-naturedly. She -spoke their language fluently, but I could not see that they drank one -little cup of saké the less for her. - -When we arrived at Shanghai she would have nothing else but that I -should go with her to some friends of hers for dinner. Into one rickshaw -she loaded her bags, into another me, with the manner of one handling -cargo, and then deposited herself in a third. The train made its way -along the Bund and out of confusion. And that was the way I was -shanghaied. - -Somewhere in a street that might for all the world have been in Chicago, -our train drew up. It was quiet, had a little open park in it, where two -streets seemed to have got mixed and, scared at losing their identity -like the Siamese twins, ran off in an angle of directions. Here at a -brick-red building with balconies and porticoes, and a dark, damp door, -we made our announcement and were received. Now what would the world -have thought if a Salvation Army man had picked up a strange young woman -on a steamer and haled her into a strange house? None but a Salvation -Army Lassie could have done what Miss Smythe,--not Smith, mind -you!--dared to do. We were welcomed as though the appearance of a -stranger were in the usual course of events, and I was asked to stay for -dinner. The hostess, a quiet woman, with her pretty young daughter, kept -a boarding-house, and was always prepared for extra folk. - -It was a boarding-house like any I should have expected to find in -America. The rooms were spacious, hung with framed prints, and dark and -slightly damp, according to Shanghai climate. There was something -haunting about the house, but to a homeless vagabond like myself it -seemed the acme of comfort. And to one who had had no real home meal in -five weeks or more, but only ship's food, the spread we sat down to was -delicious. - -Miss Smythe did not enjoy her dinner as much as I did, for she feared -all along that she would not be able to get to church on time. Then it -was too late for me to regain my ship, so I was invited to spend the -night under a roof instead of a deck. - -The next day I wandered off by myself, but not till I had promised to -return for Chinese "chow." In the meantime Miss Smythe had spread my -fame among others of her profession, and made a date for me to go to a -"rescue house" or some such place that evening. It was a mission home -for Japanese, run by a woman who, if she wasn't from Boston, I'm sure -must have come from Brookline. The only thing Oriental about that -mission was its Japanese. A sumptuous dinner was served which, despite -the fact that I had had "chow" only twenty minutes before, I was -compelled to eat. With two heavy meals where one is accustomed to berth, -accommodations were somewhat crowded. - -Everything would have gone well if I hadn't promised to give the -residents a talk on my travels. I began. Miss Smythe felt that I wasn't -emphasizing the presence of God in the numerous regions I had visited. I -took His omnipresence for granted, but she kept breaking into my talk at -every turn. Two meals inside of two people who both tried to lecture at -once didn't go very well, especially at a mission in China run by -Europeans and attended by Japanese. It seemed that there was not -over-much love lost on the part of the sons of Tenno for those of the -Son of Heaven, nor did the European missionaries at this place encourage -the intermarriage of these illustrious spirits. The Bostonian in exile -on more than one occasion spoke disparagingly of the cleanliness of the -Chinese, much to the satisfaction of the Japanese. But then, she was -winning and holding them to the Son of God, and when they reached heaven -they would all be one. Miss Smythe afterward apologized to me for -interrupting me during my talk, and we parted as cordially as we had -met. Some months later I found her roaming the streets of Kobe, Japan, -as active as ever in the militant cause. Her insinuations about what -goes on in Japanese inns seemed to me unjustifiable. So I asked her -whether it was fair to the Japanese and Chinese for her to be forever -repeating hearsay when she would resent it were I to repeat what I had -heard about the morality of the Australians. It took her aback, but I am -sure that she is still pursuing vice and drink and irreverence, aided -and abetted by the dollars which she extracts from foreign business men -and reprobates throughout the East. - - -2 - -But I must get back to Shanghai, even though Miss Smythe is so -attractive. As long as I remained under her wing I had taken virtually -no notice of China. So it is in Shanghai; one cannot see the Orient for -the Occidentals. For if Hong-Kong is an example of adulterated British -imperialism, Shanghai is one of European internationalism grafted upon -China. At Shanghai the forces of two contending racial streams meet, -like the waters at the entrance of Port Philip, and here, though the -surface is smooth and glassy, there are eddies and whirlpools within, -which are a menace to any small craft that may attempt to cross. - -How strange to wander about streets and buildings quite European but to -see only here and there a white face! It is an ultra-modern city built -upon a flat plain. The streams of Chinese that come wandering in from -regions unknown to the transient, give him a sense of contact with a -vast, endless world beyond. They might be coming from just round the -corner, but their manner is of plainsmen bringing their goods and -chattels to market. In comparison with the Southern Chinese, these are -giants, but still dirty and most of them chestless. In constant turmoil -and travail, beggars pleading for a pittance with which to sustain -their empty lives, limousines making way for themselves between -rickshaws and one-wheeled barrows, coolies pulling and carrying loads, -some grunting as they jig their way along, others chanting in -chorus,--yet all in the "foreign" settlement, amid buildings that are -alien to them, and largely for men who see only the gain they here -secure. I wonder if the Chinese say of the Europeans as Americans are -often heard to say of Italians and Orientals,--that they come only to -make money and return to spend it? - -Yet the white have built Shanghai. Shanghai is not Chinese. Had it not -been for the white men, the plain would still be swampy, would still be -a litter of hovels with here and there a mansion flowering in the mud. -The mud still messes up the edge of things in Shanghai. The creek is an -example. There are the sampans and barges, some loaded with pyramid-like -stacks of hay, some with heavy, thick-walled mahogany coffins, the -myriads of families huddling within the holds, and the murky tides -washing in and washing out beneath them. Here the sexes live in greater -intimacy, it seemed to me, than in Hong-Kong. I actually saw one woman -place her hand in what I was sure was an affectionate way on the -shoulder of a man: and some were mutually helpful. But otherwise, -despite the great conglomeration and greater coöperation, in the entire -mass one cannot see how ancestor-worshipers can show so little regard -for one another. - -In the market-place the confusion is more orderly. Here even white women -come to stock up their kitchens, and here Japanese women move about, -sober by nature and by virtue of the superiority they possess as -conquerors in their husbands' rights. Two girls are quarreling -vociferously and the more self-controlled look on both sympathetically -and antipathetically. The washed-down pavement of the market floor is no -place, however, for a serious bout. - -Through the long hours of early evening I wandered into one street and -out the other. I had become more or less reconciled to the alien aspects -of Shanghai, to good stores selling good goods, to fashionable hotels -and spacious residences, but one thing was inalienably alien to it, and -that was a second-hand book-shop. It had not occurred to me that -foreigners in China would part with their books if they ever got hold of -them. And for a moment I was altogether transported, and my magic carpet -lay in San Francisco, in Chicago, in New York all at once. But it was -chilly and the rain made the city worse than a washed-down market, for -it depopulated the streets, leaving me as dreary in heart as in body. I -was glad when the hour came for me to make my appearance at the kind -woman's house for chow. - -Though I was sorry to hear the missionary at the mission decry the -Chinese to the satisfaction of her Japanese patrons, and felt that it -turned me slightly against both, still both Japanese and missionaries -were kind and attentive to me. In the evening, a young Japanese business -man called for a motor-car and took us out in the bleak, wet night to -see the great white way of Shanghai. The rain deflected the strange -glimmers of electric light through the isinglassed curtains of the car. -For a time we skidded along over slushy streets, turning into the -theater district as the attraction supreme. Here the gonfalons drooped -in the watery air, while Chinese mess merchants stood in out of the rain -with their little wagonettes of steaming portions. In a whirl we were -through the cluttering crowds and making for the residential districts. -Then wide avenues opened out in serpentine ways, shaggy trees dripping -overhead, the slippery pavement swinging us from side to side as our -dare-devil Chinese driver sped on to Bubbling Well. For an hour we rode, -I did not know whither, but everywhere at my right and left were -palatial Chinese and foreign residences. Without knowing it we had -turned and were back in Shanghai, and presently within doors again,--and -asleep. - - -3 - -Next day, this same Japanese business man volunteered to escort me to -Chinese City. I would have gone by myself, but every one looked -horrified at the idea; so I accepted this knightly guide. At the -appointed time I presented myself at his office. He had asked his -Chinese clerk to accompany us for protection, and ordered three -rickshaws. Though he had lived in Shanghai for years, he had never gone -to see Chinese City, and was glad to avail himself of an excuse for -doing so now. The Japanese is a natural-born cicerone. - -In a few minutes we had left the international section of the -settlement--that jointly occupied by Britain and America--and wobbled -into the French district. Suddenly we stopped, and our carriers lowered -their shafts to the ground. We were at a narrow opening three or four -feet wide, and I could not understand why we should pay our respects to -it. "From here we have to walk," said the Chinese, and in single file we -entered, dropping out of Shanghai as into a bog. That was real China, -but only as little Italy in New York is real Italy. - -The whole of Chinese City can be summed up hastily and in but a few -words. Narrow, dirty little thoroughfares laid out in broken stone -paving, tiny shops where luxuries, necessities, and coolie requisites -are sold,--dark, dirty, open to the damp! What destitution is the -inheritance of these thousands of years of civilization! - -The first thing to greet us, standing out against the general -wretchedness, was not beautiful. To one accustomed to hard sights and -scenes, to one not easily perturbed by human degradation, that which -passed as we entered was sufficient to unnerve him. Upon the wet, filthy -street rolled a legless boy. He had no crutches; his business required -none. He was begging: howling, chanting, and rolling all at the same -time. I could not say "Poor child!" Rather, poor China, that it should -come to this! - -Immediately after, though having no business connections, came an old -man. Came? Walked crouching, bowing his gray head till it touched the -filthy pathway. He was kotowing before the menials of China, not its -empress. - -The third was the worst of all. One old, ragged, broken beggar was -carrying on his back what might have been a corpse, but was another -beggar; the two--one on top of the other--were not more than four feet -above the ground. - -I felt as though Mara, the Evil One, was trying to frighten me by an -exhibition of his pet horrors so that I might not go farther. I was not -being perturbed, the horrors ceased. - -But what beauties or treasures were they meant to guard? What was there -that I was not to see? What ogre dwelt within? Nothing but a bit of -business, so to speak, in a social bog. - -Beside a tideless creek, advertised as a lake, stood a pagoda-like -structure, just a broken reflection imaged in the mud. As we approached -we were immediately taken in charge by a Chinese guide and led along a -path crudely paved with cobblestones into an "ancient" tea-garden. The -wall around it was topped with a vicious-looking dragon that stretched -around it. A tremendous monster of wood, it lay there; and perhaps it -will continue to lie there long after China shall have forsaken the -dragon. Then from chamber to chamber we strolled, past tables of stone -and shrines and effigies, and into the heart of China's superstitious -soul. Though in itself not ancient, what a peep it afforded into -antiquity,--dull, dead, yet powerful! - -For within these secret chambers there were displayed endless numbers of -emperors and their dynastic celebrities. In one chamber, blue with smoke -and stifling incense, lighted with red candles, burning joss-sticks, -behung with lanterns, and crowded with lazy Chinese, we found several -"emperors" with red-painted wooden effigies of their wives. To me the -smoke was choking; not so to them. The incense was sweet in their -nostrils, and nourishing. And in payment for the sacrificial generosity -and the prayers of fat, wealthy Chinese women who fell upon their knees, -rose, and fell again, bowing and repeating incantations, they were to -make the husbands of these women--too busy to come themselves--meet with -success in business. Seriousness and earnestness marked the features of -these women, and who can say their faith was ignored? - -We emerged from this underground chamber upon another thoroughfare, -pursuing which we came upon an open, unused plot. Here a circus had -attracted a crowd. A three-year-old baby, a pretty little sister, a -feminine father, and a masculine mother were the entertainers. They were -acrobats. A family row--which, it would seem, is not unknown in -China--was enacted without any of the details being omitted; nor did -they stop at coarse and vulgar acts which would have brought the police -down upon them in America. Yet the audience seemed highly amused, while -some of the spectators might easily have posed for paintings of Chinese -bearded saints, or have been models for some of the sacred effigies -which, not more than a block away, were idols in the temple. - -These are the high spots in Chinese City, a city into which I was urged -not to venture alone. That human life should be considered of little -worth here is not marvelous; but that any one there should consider the -prolongation of his own a bit worth the taking of mine, is one of the -inexplicable marvels of the world. - -Is this China? By no means. It is merely the back-wash of the contact -with European life which has been imposed on China without sufficient -chance for its absorption. It is no more typical of China than our -metropolitan slums are really typical of American life. True, they are -the result of it, but where the rounding out of relationships and -conditions have been accomplished there follows a graduation of elements -to where good and evil obtain side by side. And Chinese City is but the -worst phase of Chinese slums plastered upon Shanghai. - - -4 - -Poverty in Chinese City is one thing; in Shanghai it is another. It is -all a matter of the background. Buddha the beggar is still Buddha the -Prince. - -After I came out of Chinese City I took much greater note of the details -of the life of the coolie, the toiler in Shanghai proper. I was out on -the Bund. The stone walls hemming in the river Whang-po rise at a level -round the city. For five feet more the human wall of coolies shuts out -the tide of poverty and despair from a world as foreign to China as -water is alien to stone. From both walls a murmur reaches the outer -world: the swish of the tide, the hum of coolie consolation. I let -myself believe that they chant beneath their burdens to disguise their -groans. Up and down the Bund they course, here at exporting, there at -importing. Their gathering-places are at the godowns, and in and out -they pass up and down inclined planks, each with a sack, or in couples -with two or more sacks hanging from their shoulders, never resting from -these rounds. - -At another point they are delivering mail to the ship's launch. Two -cart-loads arrive. Coolies swarm about the carts, waiting for orders. -Some are mere boys, but already inured to the tread. As each lifts a bag -of mail he passes a Japanese, who hands him a stiletto-shaped piece of -wood with some inscription on it,--painted green to the hilt. He takes -two steps and is on the gang-plank, two more, and he has burdened -himself with three bags of mail, and returns; he received and returns -three sticks. That is the way count is kept of the mail. I couldn't -understand this close precaution. Could the coolie possibly abscond with -a bag of mail under the very eyes of an officer? - -Two small boys eagerly rushed a distance on, to pick up some bags that -had been left there. They were acting without order,--spontaneously. -They would have saved themselves some labor in that way. But the officer -in charge shrieked his reprimand at them. One, in his enthusiasm, -ignored the command. The officer rushed after him and boxed his ears. -The boy received the punishment, but went right ahead with his burden. -Hardened little sinner! calloused little soul! poor little ant! - -One youngster came up, chanting the sale of some sweet-cakes. Looking -into his face, I wondered what he was thinking just then. He must think! -No one could be so young and have such a cramped neck, such sad eyes, -such furrowed brows without hard thoughts to make them so. - -In the slush and rain, under semi-poverty and destitution, barefoot, -ragged, and in infinite numbers,--still they toil. Yet against the -background of sturdy Shanghai, their labor and their travail does not -hurt as much as it does in Chinese City. The perplexities of -life--national, racial, of caste--pervaded my thoughts. Why has China -remained dormant so long? Why is she now waking? How will she tackle the -problem of poverty? To me it seems that nations rise and fall not -because fluctuation is the inherent law of life, but simply because -universally accepted glory and prestige are positions generally paid for -by accompanying poverty and disease. No nation can dominate for a long -time with such coolieism as that in China. - -China has standards all her own. We come with our ways and claim -superiority. China grants it, yet goes her own way. And when we see her -sons we like them, though we may criticize, condemn, and try to change -them. This is the oneness of China and the consensus of opinion is that -it is lovable. People come, employ Chinese as servants, and try to train -them. They may take that which they think you do not need, carry out -their own and not your ideas. You in turn rave and roar, but in the end -they are still there as servants and you as master. But they have -educated you, you have not changed them. And when you leave China you -long for them as did that American woman I met in Honolulu who fairly -wailed her longing aloud to me. China has done this with whole nations, -and, to the very end of time, whatever nation sets out to rule and -conquer that new republic must make up its mind to be lost. - -And so behind Shanghai is Chinese City, and behind that there is China, -out upon the flat plains. There is another China yet beyond, and still -another and as many as there are billows on the sea. Build modern -buildings and cities, and the Chinese take them and turn them inside -out, and they are what he wants them to be. This plastic people,--what -is their destiny? And what, still, is there awaiting the world as they -fulfil that destiny? - -How strange it feels to call her republic! Yet China has taken to -republicanism as though it had been brewing in her these thousands of -years. From outward appearances one would never know that she is a -republic to-day. Some say she really isn't. Coolies still are coolies, -and Chinese, Chinese. And I dare say she is both empire and republic, -two in one. - -For centuries China has lain dormant as though stung by a paralyzing -wasp. Centuries have been lost in sleep. But what are centuries, when -waking is so simple and is always possible? China has wakened. She is -rising. An hour's work has been accomplished in the first fresh flush of -the new dawn. Perhaps that is all that will be done that day, the house -put in a little better order. To-morrow is time enough for real work. A -Chinese junk comes out of its night-mist retreat with its own dim -lights. A shrill whistle of a passing launch echoes across the flat -plains about Shanghai. The rain of yesterday remains only as a sorry -mist. A vision of clearer day shimmers through, but soon grows dull -again. China seems to have shaped her climate in her own image. - -A two-days' steam to Moji, Japan, on the bosom of that heaving mistress -the China Sea, and my journey was over for a long while. The sea was -black, the sky somber; even the sun was sad as it stooped that evening -to kiss the cheek of Japan good night. I did not know just then that I -was to say farewell to the sea for two and a half years,--a farewell -that resulted in _Japan: Real and Imaginary_. - - - - -CHAPTER XII - -WORLD CONSCIOUSNESS - -_The Third Side of the Triangle_ - - ... For surely once, they feel, we were - Parts of a single continent. - Now round us spreads the watery plain-- - Oh, might our marges meet again! - - -1 - -I had gone out to the _Katori-maru_ to inspect my quarters. I always -loved to get away from shore, even if only in a launch or sampan; it was -so much cleaner and fresher on the bay. That afternoon it was altogether -too attractive out there, and the city of Kobe lay so snugly below the -hills that I decided to remain on board till late in the evening, and -missed the last launch. I hailed a sampan. In this, with the wind -splashing the single sail and the spray scattering all about us, we -slipped romantically back to the American Hatoba. It was my last -entrance to Kobe. - -All of the next day I kept changing trains and creeping over Japanese -hills and rice-fields in my devious and indirect route to Yokohama by -way of Japan's national shrine, Yamada Ise. A few days later I was on -board the _Katori-maru_, the newest type of Japanese shrine, the modern -commercial floating shrine, named after one of the most ancient of -shrines in Japan. The Katori shrine is said to have been founded some -twenty-five hundred years ago during the reign of the mythical first -emperor, Jimmu Tenno. It was dedicated to deities who possessed great -military skill and has always been patronized mainly by soldiers. -Transferring shrines from land to sea is a hazardous procedure. For me, -however, I was ready to give my offering most willingly as long as it -brought me to Seattle. There were too many people willing to patronize -floating shrines at that time for me to be too particular about deities. - - [Illustration: FUJIYAMA - Japanese roofs may be monotonous--but never so is Fujiyama - Photo from Brown Bros.] - - [Illustration: SEA, EARTH AND SKY - All are one in this glorious Pacific World - Photo from Brown Bros.] - -For a moment, as we slipped away from the pier, I felt what a dying man -is said to feel when the flash-like review of life's experiences course -through his sinking consciousness. I saw Japan and all its valleys, its -dirt and its sublimity; and with all its past confusions I loved it. - -Waiting for a final glimpse of Fuji left me idle enough to observe the -little things about me. There was, for instance, the two-by-two-by-five -sailor who was showing two Japanese girls through the "shrine" he was -serving. I followed them about the ship. He was explaining to them -various mysteries. - -The Sailor: "Kore wa otoko no bath. [This is the men's bath.]" To the -minds of these Japanese maidens such a distinction was surprising. - -The Sailor: "Kore wa second class. [This is second class.]" This was -like treading on sacred ground to these lowly born mites. - -The Sailor: "Kore wa kitsu en shitsu. [This is the smoking-room.]" Why a -special room for so simple a service--and why men only? - -He led them above to the hospital. He never made any comments, they -asked him no questions, but followed, single file, as is proper for -Japanese girls, agape with curiosity. They passed the life-saving -equipment. A tiny voice ventured a question. An amazed member of the -Japanese Government (it was a government subsidized vessel) said, with -semi-scorn: - -"Kore wa? _Boat._ [This? _Boat._]" And they went below. - - -2 - -All of that forenoon, waiting for the _Katori-maru_ to slip away from -the pier, I watched for Fujiyama, that exquisite pyramid (to the summit -of which I had climbed twice), but it was veiled in mist. I wanted to -see what it looked like from the sea, just as I had seen what the sea -and the universe looked like from its peak. All afternoon, as Japan was -receding into the past, I tried to distinguish old Fuji, but there was -only a glittering edge, like a sword, beneath the low, bright sun. After -dinner I went on deck and there in all that simple splendor which has -made it the wonder of the world, stood Fujiyama, with a soft, sunset -glow beneath its peak. The symbolic sword had vanished. And I felt that -in all those years and miles and space which gather in my memory as that -single thing--the Pacific Ocean--nothing transcends in loveliness the -last view of Fuji from the sea. - -Then for two days the world seemed to swoon in mist. The fog-horn kept -blowing drearily every two minutes; yet the steamer never slackened its -speed for a moment; in fact, we made more miles those two days than -during the clear days that followed. We had taken the extreme northern -route and were soon in a cold latitude. The fog became crisp, as though -threatening to crystallize, and when I stood on the forward deck it was -almost like being out in a blizzard. The siren continued to emit its -melancholy wail across a wilderness of waves lost in mist. One could not -see the length of the ship. At midnight I woke, startled by the sudden -cessation of the propellers. For three hours we were stationary, owing -to engine trouble. The steamer barely rocked, giving me the sensation of -the deep as nothing ever did before. It was at once weird and lovely, -and in the darkness I could imagine our vessel as lone and isolated, a -thing lost in an open wilderness of space. The siren continued moaning -like the wail of a child in the night, and once I thought I heard -another siren off in the distance. We started off again and from then on -didn't once slacken our speed in the least, so large, so spacious, so -unfrequented is the Pacific in these days. - -The fog hung close for so many days that a rumor went round that the -captain was unable to get his bearings. With neither sun nor stars to -rely on men's best instruments are altogether inadequate. At half-past -nine o'clock one evening, however, the steel blinds were closed over the -port-holes. The ship began to pitch and roll. The waves rushed at us and -broke against the iron cheek of the vessel. The fittings on deck rolled -back and forth, and those passengers unused to the sea clung to their -berths. - -Only when we were within three days of the American coast did the sun -come out. For over a week we had been in a dull-gray world which was -becoming terribly depressing. We were considerably farther north than I -had expected to be. - -Five days after our departure, I was again at the 180th meridian, and -enjoyed what only a very eager, active person could enjoy,--a -forty-eight-hour day. This time, going eastward, we gained a day. I also -had the pleasure of being within fifty degrees of the north pole just as -three years before I had been within fifty degrees of the south pole. In -other words, I had touched two points along the 180th meridian which -were six thousand miles away from each other, or twice the distance from -New York to San Francisco. - -Calculations are somewhat misleading at times. For instance, when we -were near the Aleutian Islands, I chanced to compare the records of that -day's run as posted in the first saloon with those posted in the second -saloon. The first read 4,240 miles from Yokohama; the second, 4,235 -miles. Japanese handling of figures made the prow of the ship five miles -nearer its destination than the stern. Japanese historians also have a -tendency to make such innocent mistakes in their imperialistic -calculations. Japan's feet do not seem to be able to keep pace with her -desires. - -As though to investigate this phenomenon, a little bird,--slightly -larger than a sparrow, with the same kind of feathered back, but with a -white breast, flitted down upon the deck before me,--and began hopping -about. It approached to within two feet of me, then sneaked into a warm -place out of sight. A stowaway from birdland, stealing a ride and -planning, most likely, to enter America without a passport. Perhaps it -thought that being near the stern of the boat, according to the -calculations above quoted, it could still remain beyond the three-mile -limit. - -Then the homeward-bound spirit took possession of me,--that selfsame -realization of my direction which had come over me upon sight of the -Australian coast three years previously, a psychological twisting which -baffled me for a time. Another day and we were within the last square -marked off by the latitudinal and longitudinal lines,--the nearest I had -been to America in nearly five years. To remind me of my wanderings, the -flags of the nations hung in the dining-saloon: under nearly every one -of them I had at some time found hospitality. - - -3 - -The reader who has followed me thus far has been with me about three -months on the sea. What to the Greeks and the Romans was the -Mediterranean, the Pacific will be to us seventy times over. Already -there is a wealth of literature and of science which has come to us -through the inspiration of that great waterway. For Darwin and Stevenson -and O'Brien the Pacific has been mother of their finest passions. In the -near future, our argosies will cross and recross those tens of thousands -of miles as numerously as those of the Phoenicians on the -Mediterranean in antiquity. They will bring us back the teas and spices -and silks of the Orient. But there are those of us who have watched the -"White Shadows" of the Pacific who would wish that something were -brought away besides the ephemeral materials. For there is in the sea a -kinship with the infinite and the absolute, and who studies its moods -comes nearer understanding life. - -I wandered along one night with a New Zealand man, without knowing where -he was leading me. Suddenly we came, by way of a narrow pathway, against -a wall of darkness. We were at the seashore. It was as though we had -come to the world's end and the white glistening breakers arrived as -messengers from eternity, warning us against venturing farther. I -strained my eyes to see into that pitch-black gulch, but I might just as -well have shut my eyes and let the persistent breakers tell the story of -the sea in their own way. Afterward I often made my way out to that -beach and sat for hours, or trod the sands till night left of the sea -nothing but mournful whisperings. - -One day in August, when the first snow fell over our little winter world -in the far South, I had climbed the hills up to the belt of wildwood -that girds the city of Dunedin. The very joy of life was in the air. -Keenly I sensed the larger season,--that of human kinship merged in the -centuries. I looked across the hills to mountains I had known; but it -was then not the Alps I saw, not the Rockies, the Aeta Roa under the -Southern Cross, nor yet the Himalayas nor the snow-packed barriers of -the Uriankhai, the unrenowned Turgan group. In truth, I was not seeing -impassable peaks at all, but imprisoned ranges which were themselves -trying to outreach their altitudinal limitations. It was a world -consciousness which was mine, and I towered far above the highest peaks, -above the world itself. I saw no single group, no political sections nor -geographical divisions, the conquest of ridges, the commingling of -noises, the concord of peoples. And when men come to this world -consciousness they will recognize and accept all, include the barrier -and the plain. They will see these great, sheer rugged peaks knifing the -floating clouds, yielding to the creeping glaciers, yet one and all, -when released sweeping down the valleys as impassioned rivers, filling -the lowest depths of earth, depths deeper than the sea, lower than the -deserts. In such moments of world consciousness men will have to step -downward from the bottom of the sea and upward from the summit of -McKinley. Then barriers will become beacons. Mankind lives at sea-level. -We care little about our neighbors over the ranges. That mental attitude -makes barriers real and valleys dark. But when we turn them into beacons -we shall climb the barriers in order to look into the valleys of our -neighbors and they will become the ladders of heaven and the light unto -nations. That is the lesson of the sea. - -At present we live at a sea-level, but beneath and behind the barriers, -are the peaks of earth. Hence walls of houses are as great barriers as -mountains. Hence even thoughts are barriers and ideals become terrible, -cold, insurmountable prominences. - -But in world consciousness, which is the lesson of the sea, we do not -reject anything,--the religions, the political parties, the -anti-religions, and the negations,--but we bring them to the level of -human understanding by absorption, by taking them in. That is the story -of the sea. - -The ocean breaks incessantly before us, but only the one majestic wave -thrills as it rises and overleaps the rocky barrier. A forest is densely -grown, yet only the stately, beautiful tree stirs the forest-lover. The -street swarms with human beings all of whom are material for the -friend-maker, yet only one of the mass, in passing, steeps the day's -experience in the essence of love. But loving that one wave, or tree, or -being does not shut us against the source of its becoming; rather does -it teach us the possibilities latent in the mass. That is the moral of -the sea. - -But what is the sea? How can we know the sea? Is it water, space, -depth? Can we measure it in miles, in the days required to traverse it, -in steamship lines, by the turning of the screws, or by the system of -the fourth dimension? To me who have been round the greatest sea on -earth comes the realization that I have seen only a narrow line of it, -and that I can only believe that the rest is what it has been said to -be. Yet my faith is founded on my knowledge of the faithfulness of the -sea. - -The sea, we sometimes say, has its moods, but rather should they be -called enthusiasms. It is really not the sea at all to which we refer, -but to something which in the vague world of infinitude is in itself a -sea whipping the surface of an unfathomable wonder. The sea's moods are -not in its breakers, any more than is the surface phenomenon which -floors the region between our atmosphere and ether, the story of our -earth. We cannot reach down beneath the breakers and learn the secret of -the heart of the sea. In ourselves, as in the sea, we obtain a record of -that tremendous silence which is the harbinger of all sound, as the -heavens are of all color. - -One day in New Zealand I witnessed a conflict between the earth and the -sea. A tremendous wind swept north-westward, and pressed heavily down -upon the shore. It sent the sand scurrying back into the sea. Even the -breakers, like the sand, fell back in furious spray like the waves of -sea-horses,--back into the ocean. The entire length of the beach for -three miles was alive with retreating spray, mingled with the bewildered -sand-legions scurrying at my ankles. - -One night, on the shores of Otago Harbor, the moon, blasted and blunted -by heavy clouds, had started on its journey. In a little cave huddled a -cloud of black night. We had spread the faithful embers of our camp fire -so they could not touch one another, and wanting touch they died in the -darkness. We had put the curse of loneliness upon each of them. The -little cave had become only a darker spot on a dark landscape,--a -landscape so rough, so rare and rugged, reaching the sea and the -western sky of night. So rough, so unformed, so uncompleted. The maker -of lands was beating against it impatiently, rushing it, forming it. -What uncanny projections, what sandy cliffs! For ages the wind and sea -have been whipping them into shape. Yet man could remove them with a -blast or two. For thousands of miles, all round the rim of the great -Pacific, the same process is going on, day and night. While upon land, -man has continued working out his mission in the same persistent, -unconscious manner. - -O Maker of lands' ends, O Sea, when will man be formed? When will the -conflicts among men cease? They have tried to curb one another and to -subject one another to slavish uses, even and kempt. But still, after -ages of whipping and lashing, they are still unfinished as though never -to be formed. Are the various little groups which lie so far apart, -scattered by some ancient camper, to die for want of the touch of -comrade, like those embers in the darkness of that empty cavelet? - -Here round the Pacific we dwell, each in his own little hollow. May not -this vast, generous ocean become the great experiment station for human -commonalty, for distinction without extinction? The dreams that centered -in the other great seas--the Mediterranean, the Atlantic--were only -partially fulfilled. But here at the point where East is West, it ought -to be possible, because of the very obvious differences, to maintain -relations without irritating encroachment. There was a time when -passionate desire justified a man taking a woman from another with the -aid of a club. To-day the decent man knows that however much he may -love, only mutual consent makes relationship possible. And from the -frenzy of untutored souls let those who feel repugnance withdraw till -the force of a higher morality makes the rest of the world follow in its -wake. - - ... now I only hear - Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, - Retreating to the breath - Of the night-wind down the vast edges drear - And naked shingles of the world. - - Ah, love, let us be true - To one another! for the world, which seems - To lie before us like a land of dreams, - So various, so beautiful, so new, - Hath really neither joy, nor love nor light, - Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain: - And we are here as on a darkling plain - Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, - Where ignorant armies clash by night. - - - - -BOOK TWO - -DISCUSSION OF NATIVE PROBLEMS--PERSONAL AND SOCIAL - - - - -CHAPTER XIII - -EXIT THE NOBLE SAVAGE - - -1 - -To the primitive or simple races of the world marriage, divorce, and -supply of only the elemental wants are the most intense problems. -Nourishment and reproduction make up the rounds of life. While the -highly developed nations around the Pacific are concerned with the -exploitation of the resources of the islands, and with political -problems growing out of their reciprocal interests, the natives are -struggling with matters that lie nearer the real foundations of life. -For them the question of survival is an immediate and pressing one. -Extinction is facing many of them, absorption by inflowing races is -creating altogether new difficulties and relationships, such as marriage -and divorce, while newer conceptions of exchange and trade, the buying -and selling of meats and vegetables, are introducing social and moral -factors they could not as yet be expected to understand. Nor can we who -have thrust ourselves upon them or accepted responsibility for their -well-being understand our obligations unless we think of them as human -beings, or without visualizing their problems by human examples. Nor can -we escape these responsibilities or shirk them. Out of the stuff their -lives are made of grow the larger problems, those of the relationship of -the great civilizations that touch each other on the Pacific--Asia, -Australasia, America. - -Threnodies and elegies a-plenty have mourned the passing of the -Polynesians of the South Seas. The noble savage whose average height -often measured six feet--plus thick callouses--has stalked among us, as -a mythical figure, maidens unabashed in their naked loveliness have -lured men to the tropics oblivious of home ties. Leisure and unlimited -harems in prospect have afforded many a civilized man salacious joys the -like of which the white race has not altogether abandoned, but which few -have the courage to pursue in the open. The passing of these Pacific -peoples has in some quarters been hailed as an indication of the -viciousness of civilization; their yielding to virtue has been deplored -by others. The sentimentalist has clothed them in romance; the cynic has -stuck horns in their brows. But whether the romancer is wrong or the -missionary devoid of appreciation of nature unadorned, the passing of -the Polynesian is an admitted danger. Whether it was the vice of the -drunken sailor or the clothes of the devout disciple that brought about -this downfall shall not here be determined. It will be mine merely to -depict in living examples the episodes that indicate their evanescence, -and to point to the silent forces of regeneration that are at -work,--forces that, having accomplished the virtual decease of some of -the finest races in the world, and yet are bringing about their rebirth. - -One cannot live in the tropics without romancing. The simplicity, the -earnestness of life, devoid of many of the outer signs of avarice so -consonant with the individualism of our civilization; the slovenliness -unhampered by too many clothes,--these take one by a storm of pleasure. -One forgets the natives once were cannibals; or rather, one delights in -saying to oneself "they were," and forgets to thank the missionary and -the trader for having altered these tastes before one arrived; one -exalts every sprawling female into a symbol of naturalness, though -Heaven knows the soft white skins and hidden bosoms of the North come as -welcome reminders in face of native temptations. And with Professor -Brown of New Zealand, one deplores that the selfsame missionaries and -traders "in spite of their antipodal purposes and methods, alike force -the race to decay." Their contract with the white race is demoralizing -even where it aims to be most just and helpful. Their lands, made secure -to them by legislation (as in New Zealand), often become the means of -gratifying wild tastes for motor-cars and fineries which leave them -bankrupt physically and morally. - - -2 - -It was a steaming day. I had been up from before dawn in order to make -my pilgrimage to Vailima. Half the morning was not yet gone when I -returned to the little hotel in Apia, situated beside the reefs, to hide -myself away from the burning sun. Even within the shade of the upper -veranda my flesh squirmed beneath my shirt and the shoes upon my feet -became unbearable. So off went my shoes. Nothing merely romantic could -have induced me to crawl from under the shadows. There I was content to -listen to the lapping of the broken waves as they washed shoreward over -the reefs. There I inhaled the scent of tropical vegetation as it -reached me, tempered and sifted to the satisfaction of one who dreads -the sun and its overweening brilliance. - -Suddenly a wail lanced the silence. It sounded for all the world like -the melancholy "extra" which New York newsboys cry through the side -streets when they wish to make a fire the concern of the world. I sprang -up and, leaning over the veranda rail, strained my neck in the direction -of the crier, who was still behind the bend in the road which is Apia's -Main Street. It seemed to take him an unconscionable time to come into -view, his voice approaching and receding, and being battologized as -though by a hundred megaphones. Prancing, crouching, and shading his -eyes in the manner of an Amerindian scout, he finally made his -appearance,--a grotesque fiend, one to strike terror to the heart of a -god. His oiled body glistened in the sun; his charcoal-blackened jaw -resembled that of a gorilla; while a scarlet turban of cheese-cloth -wound after the fashion of the Hindu gave flaming finish to this -frightful impersonation of the devil. Nothing but the presence of the -army of occupation and the _Encounter_ out in the harbor could have -allayed my apprehension, not even the vanity of racial superiority or -the oft-repeated prophecies about this vanishing race. For he seemed -savagery come to life. - -Presently four others, similar personifications of deviltry, came on -behind him. In addition to make-up, each brandished a long knife used -for cutting sugar-cane, or a clumsy ax. They squatted, they jumped, -whirling their weapons in heavy blows at imagined enemies. Never was -make-believe played with greater conviction, never was the wish father -to the act with more pathetic earnestness. The pitcher of a chosen nine -never hurled his ball across an empty field with greater determination -to win the coming game than did these warless warriors wield their -weapons. - -Slowly from the rear came the army, four abreast, in stately procession. -There were seventy-five Samoans, each over six feet tall, men of girth -and bone and pride. Their glistening bodies reflected the sun like a -heaving sea. Their loins were draped in leaves in place of the every-day -sulu, with girdles of pink tissue paper round them. Their faces, too, -were blackened with charcoal, and turbans of red cheese-cloth capped -them. Those of them who could not secure knives or axes, wielded sticks -with threatening realism. - -In an instant I was in my shoes again and out upon the road, a bit of -flotsam in the wake of a great pageant. - -I fell in with a Samoan policeman, dressed like an English Bobby, -trailing along in the rear. "What's the trouble?" I asked. "Is this a -preliminary uprising?" There was much talk of the Germans stirring the -natives to rebellion against British occupation, but evidently the -natives had had enough of alien squabbles, and it seemed to matter -little to them by which of the white invaders they were ruled. A strange -expression came into the policeman's face, a mixture of awe and -contempt. He could speak only a very scant amount of English, but enough -to unlock this awe-inspiring secret. "Tamasese, the king he dead," he -said. I fumbled about in my memory for coincidences. The policeman was -old enough to have been an understanding boy at the time Stevenson took -up the cause of Mataafa as opposed to the German interests and -antagonistic even to the British and American attitude. It must have -been strange to him, therefore, to find himself a British policeman in a -uniform of blue, with a heavy helmet, timidly following a funeral -procession in honor of the son of a king disfavored of Stevenson,--while -all about were the soldiers of New Zealand. I got nothing from him of -any political significance, but much in the way of the spirit of his -race. For though an officer of "the" law, perhaps the only one of his -kind in Samoa, he dared not go too close to the ranks of these -stalwarts. They had come from every islet of the Samoan group, the pick -of the race, representatives declaring before the whole world: Our race -is not dead; long live our race! - -So, all along the way for over a mile into the country behind Apia, -continued the procession. Not for a moment did the antics cease; not for -a moment did the wail of the warriors subside. Every time the advance -scouts called out, "O-o-o-o-s-o-o-o" [The king is dead], the four behind -him thundered their denial, "E sa" [Long live the king], and the entire -regiment droned the confession "O so." For the king was truly no more. -Not only the king but his kingdom. For not only was there now no -struggle of aliens over its precincts, but the second conqueror, -Britain, who once did not think Samoa worthy as spoils, had stepped in -and taken possession. - -The procession filled the native population with awe. No one ventured -near. A dog ran across the road and was immediately cut down by the -sugar-cane knife in a warrior's hand. A Chinese, with the contempt of -the fanatic for the fanaticism of others, drove his cart indifferently -into their line. Knives, axes, and other borrowed, stolen, or improvised -weapons found their way into the chariot of the Celestial. - -Half-way along, a limping old man whose leg was swollen with -elephantiasis advanced against them. He challenged their approach. They -cut the air with furious blows aimed in his direction. He pretended to -fall, in the manner of a Russian dancer, picked himself up and started -on a wild retreat. The army had routed an enemy. - -Here the roadside spread in open land dotted everywhere with native -huts. Presently the army arrived at the king's grounds, where a simple -hut sat back about two hundred feet from the road, with a bit of green -before it. The army broke "rank," and squatted in a double row just at -the side of the road. For a few minutes there was silence. - -Then out of the group rose Maii, the leader. Silently he strode the full -width of the space in front of the thirty seated men, leaning lightly -upon the long rough stick in his hand. His giant-like figure was the -personification of dignity; his roughened face the acme of sobriety; he -seemed lost in thought. Facing about, he started to retrace his steps in -front of the seated men, then, as though suddenly recollecting himself, -turned his head in the direction of the king's hut and in a subdued tone -no higher than that in ordinary conversation, addressed the house of -Tamasese, which stood fully half a block away. Quietly, but not without -emotion, he spoke and paused; and every time he paused the leading four -men would shout "O-o-o-s-o-o," and the entire group would answer "O sa." -Convincing and convinced, the leader proceeded with his oration. An -hour later, to the minute, he finished. - -At the king's house appeared an old man in a snow-white sulu, leaning -heavily on a stick. I could see his lips moving, but could not hear a -word. He was speaking to the leader, who could not hear any more than I. -They kept up the pretense at conversation for a few minutes and all was -agreed upon. A servant, who had followed the old man with a soft mat in -his hand which to me looked like silk, advanced cautiously toward the -warriors. - -Two of them jumped instantly to their feet, brandishing their knife and -ax furiously as though to protect the leader or to drive away evil -spirits, I knew not which. But certain it was the cautious servant -became still more cautious, timidly arriving with his offering and -presenting it to the chief. The manner in which the gift was accepted, -though solemn enough, was full of admonition, much as to say: "Now, -don't you do that again." The mat-bearer's heart seemed relieved of a -great terror, and he started back to the house of the king. On his way -he passed a mango-tree, stopped, looked up as though he had spied an -evil spirit, picked up a mango, stepped back, and dramatically hurled it -at the tree as a boy would who was playing make-believe. At that the -whole army of stalwarts rose and departed to the right. - -As soon as they left the grounds, eleven girls, in single file, each -with a mat of the loveliest texture imaginable flung to the breeze, came -out upon the road from the other side of the grounds and followed round -the front to the right after the way of the warriors. And the ceremony -was over. - -I had squatted on the ground, close to the warriors. They treated me as -though I were an innocent child who did not know the dangers of evil -things, nor enough to respect my superiors. Not so the natives. Even the -policeman with whom I had arrived had retreated to the protection of a -hut some three hundred feet away from the road. All the people in the -neighborhood--men, women and children--kept within their own huts, their -solemn faces full of awe and respect. Nor did the tension slacken until -the last of the maidens had made her way out of sight. - -Thus was the son of the last Samoan king escorted in safety along the -other way,--a way which to the native mind seemed as vivid and real as -heaven and hell were to Dante and Swedenborg. - - -3 - -Exit the Noble Savage. "Think," says Bancroft, spokesman of the arrogant -"Blond Beast," "what it would mean to civilization if all these -worthless primitives were to pass away before us." The beginning of this -end was witnessed and told by Stevenson in 1892, but the natives' -version of it has yet to be related. Against those who mourn his loss as -the Hellenist the Greeks, are some of our most practical men. - -The Samoans are not vanishing as rapidly as are the Hawaiians and the -Maories, for two very simple reasons: their climate is not so suitable -to the white man as is that of New Zealand and of Hawaii. Nor, like -Fiji, has Samoa been hampered by indentured coolieism, though Chinese do -come. Racially there seems no immediate prospect of Samoa being -submerged, though politically it fell before Hawaii did. Socially, -however, it is going, as are the native features of most of the more -progressive and more assimilable peoples of the Pacific. - -Simple naturalness is fast fading even from Samoa. I do not mean to say -that because Samoans are drifting farther and farther from their -primitive customs they are losing their "charm." With progress, one -expects not oddity, but simplicity; not shiftlessness, but a certain -tightening up of the finer fibers of the race. It is satisfying to see -the contrast between the loosely built native hut and that whose pillars -are set in concrete and roofed with durable materials. But it is -disheartening when the change is only from thatch, which needs to be -replaced every so often, to corrugated iron, without any other signs of -durability. In other words, the corrugated iron roof is no proof that -the race is becoming more thrifty, less lazy,--but the reverse. It -indicates that indolence has found an easier way, a more permanent -manner. - -My presence at the ceremony in honor of the royal demise gave me an -opportunity to see at once some of the best specimens of Samoan manhood. -It left me with the impression that no race capable of mustering so many -men of such build was on the decline. There was nothing in their manner -to indicate servility or despair. And some day Setu, with his knowledge -of Western civilization gained at first hand, may be the means of -arousing his fellow-Samoans to great things. - - -4 - -The process of assimilation and decline is taking place with far more -rapidity in Hawaii. Hawaii crashed like a meteor into America and was -comminuted and absorbed. The finer dust of its primitive civilization is -giving more color to our atmosphere than any other American possession. -But the real Hawaii is rapidly receding into the past. On the beach at -Waikiki there is a thatch-roofed hut, but like most of the Hawaiians -themselves, it bears too obviously the ear-marks of the West, the -imprint of invasion. - -What there is left of the Hawaiians still possesses a measure of -strength and calmness. Big, burly, self-satisfied, they wend their way -unashamed of having been conquered. Only a few thousand can now claim -any racial purity. The mixture of Hawaiians with the various peoples -now in occupation of their lands is growing greater every year; those of -pure Hawaiian blood, fewer. And after all, is it any reflection upon any -race that it has been assimilated by its conquerors? - -And assimilated to the point of extinction Hawaii has been. It has -become an integral part of a continental nation of whose existence it -had hardly known a hundred years ago. When Captain Cook discovered -Hawaii he estimated its population at 400,000. Fifty years later there -were only 130,000. To-day there may not be more than 30,000. The white -race has had its revenge on these natives for the death of this intrepid -captain. And the last of the great Hawaiian rulers, Queen Liliuokalani, -shorn of her power, passed away on November 11, 1917. She, the -descendant of great warriors and remarkable political leaders, had -turned to the only thing left her--expressing the sentiments of her -people in music. - -The submersion is nearly complete. Politically, there isn't a son among -them who would feel any happier for a revival. So little fear is there -of such a hope ever rising even for a moment in the Hawaiian breast that -the key to the former throne-room hangs indifferently on a nail in the -outer office of the present government. I believe that that is the only -throne-room under the American flag. It is a small room, modern and -finished in every detail. On its walls hang paintings of kings and -queens and ministers of state. There is a musty odor about it, which -could easily be removed. All one need do is open the windows and an -inrush of sensuous air would sweeten every corner of it. This would be -doing only what the race is doing with every intake of alien blood. - -A broad-shouldered, broad-nosed, broad-faced--and seemingly -broad-hearted--Hawaiian clerk took me into the room. As we wandered -about he told who the worthies were, enframed in gilt and under glass. -Interspersed with some facts was inherited fancy. His enthusiasm rose -appreciably when he recited the deeds of Kamehameha I, their most -renowned king. - -"Once he saw an enemy spy approach," said my guide. "He threw his spear -with such force that it penetrated the trunk of the cocoa-palm behind -which the traitor was hiding, and pierced the man's heart." A merry -twinkle lit up the cicerone's eyes. That twinkle was something almost -foreign to the man: it must have been the white blood in him that was -mocking the tales of his native ancestry. - -Aside from these few portraits there was nothing in the throne-room -which gave evidence of Hawaii's former prestige. Here that king's -descendants planned to lead his race to glory among nations. And here -they were outwitted. The guide had recounted among the king's exploits -his ability to break the back of his strongest enemy with his naked -hands. Yet the white man came along and broke the Hawaiian back. And -to-day he who wishes to learn the habits, the arts, and the exploits of -these people has to go to the Bishop Museum in Honolulu. - -A primer got up for children, to be learned parrot-like, and distributed -to tourists, tells us "the Hawaiians never were savages." We are also -assured they "never were cannibals," and "speedily embraced religion." -The first is an obvious misstatement; the second is an apology of -uncertain value; as to the third, the son of one of Hawaii's best -missionaries, who just died in his eighty-fifth year, said: "Not until -the world shall learn how to limit the quantity and how to improve the -quality of races will future ages see any renewal of such idyllic life -and charm as that of the ancient Polynesians." Dr. Titus Munson Coan, -whose father converted some fifteen thousand Hawaiians to Christianity, -deplored the effect on the native of the high-handed suppression of -native taboos and attributes their extinction--which seems -inevitable--to the imposition of clothes which they put on and off -according to whim, and to customs unsuited to their natures. Dr. Coan -said that though his father had a powerful voice he remembered that -often he could not hear him preach because of the coughing and sneezing -of the natives. - -Be that as it may, a visit to the Bishop Museum would quickly contradict -the primer. There the array of weapons shows that the natives were not -only barbarous but savage. This is no serious condemnation, for none of -Europe's races can show any cleaner record. Arts, indeed, the Hawaiians -had, and sense of form and color. An apron of feathers worn by the king -required a tax of a feather apiece on hundreds of birds. After this -feather was extracted, the bird was set free, an indication of thrift if -not kindliness. Yet they did not hesitate to strip the flesh off every -bone of Captain Cook and distribute portions among the native chiefs. No -one has proved that they ate it; but cannibalism is, after all, a -relative vice and was not unknown in northwestern Europe. - - -5 - -The passing of the Hawaiians, like that of many other races in the -Pacific, is due to a cannibalism and a barbarism which are less -emphasized in the ordinary discussions of the problem. There are more -ways than one of eating your neighbor. However harrowing that savage -diet was, it did not work for the destruction of any of these South Sea -islanders as ruthlessly as did the practice among the Hawaiians of -infanticide. Mothers were in the habit of disposing of their impetuous -children by the simple method of burying them alive, frequently under -the very shelter of their roofs, lying down upon the selfsame floor and -sleeping the sleep of the just with the tiny infant squirming in its -grave beside them. Parents were not allowed to have more than a given -number of children because of the strain on the available food supply. -This more than anything else depleted the number of natives most -disastrously. But in addition came the white man with his diseases, -contagious and infectious,--a form of destruction that, from the native -point of view, is quite as dastardly as eating the flesh of the -vanquished. - -Certainly, whatever the viciousness of the occasional or annual -outbursts of passion among these primitive folk, there was no example of -regulated, insistent pandering to vice such as has been set them by the -Europeans, especially in Hawaii. There one evening I wandered through -the very depths of degradation; there I witnessed a process of fusion of -races which had only one possible end,--extinction. Its Hawaiian name -had a strange similarity to the word evil: it is _Iwilei_. McDuffie, -Chief of Detectives of Honolulu, was making his inspection of medical -certificates, which was part of the work of "restriction," and took me -with him. - -Mr. McDuffie had been standing near the window of the outer office, with -one foot upon a chair, talking to another detective, when I called out -his name. Tall, massive, with hair almost gray, a rather kindly face, he -looked me up and down without moving. I explained my mission. - -"Who are you?" he asked bluntly. - -A mean question, always asked by the white man in the tropics. Well, -now, who in thunder was I, anyway? I murmured that I was a "writer." -"Be round at seven-thirty, and you can come along," he said dryly. - -On his office walls hung hatchets, daggers, pistols, sabers, and many -other such toys of a barbarous world hacking away against or toward -perfection. On the floor were dozens of opium pipes, taken in a raid -upon Chinese dens,--toys of another kind of world trying to forget its -progress away from barbarism. One Japanese continued his game of cards -nonchalantly. Flash-lights were in evidence, fearlessly protruding from -hip pockets. - -At half-past seven I was there again. As we were about to enter the -motor-car, I ventured some remark, thinking to make conversation. "Get -in there," said the chief, abruptly. For an instant he must have thought -he was taking a criminal to confinement. - -Zigzagging our way through the streets and across the river, we entered -an unlighted thoroughfare, hardly to be called a street. A steady stream -of straggling shadows moved along like spirits upon the banks of the -river Styx. Our way opened out upon a lighted section, crowded with -negro soldiers and civilians of all nationalities. Here, then, and not -only beyond the grave, class and distinction and race dissolve. A -perfect hubbub of conversation, soda fountains and plain noise, and -reeling of drunkies. A futurist conception of confusion would do it -justice. We were at the gates of Babylon. - -A closely boarded fence surrounded this city of dreadful night. Hundreds -of men crowded the passageway. Within were rows and rows of shacks and -cottages. Men stood gazing in at open doors and windows. Outside one -shack a negro soldier remained fixed with his foot upon the door-step, -but ventured no farther. Within, on a bed in full view, sat a Portuguese -female, smoking, an Hawaiian woman companion lounging beside her. Both -ignored the male at the door. But he remained, silent. Hope fading from -his mind, and some interest elsewhere creeping in, he moved away. The -Hawaiian woman smiled contemptuously. - -Then for three-quarters of an hour we made strange calls. Our card was a -club which the assistant to the detective--a massive Hawaiian--rapped on -every porch step, announcing the expected visitor. He was not unwelcome. -From every door emerged a woman, covered with a light kimono, and neatly -shod. At cottage after cottage, door after door, they appeared, showed -their "health" certificates, and retreated. Japanese, Hawaiian, white, -brown, and yellow. Some extremely pretty and not altogether unrefined -in manner; some ugly and coarse. The inspection was done hastily. Where -appearance of the inmate was delayed, a stamp of the foot brought the -tardy one scurrying out. Some greeted the detective familiarly; others -showed their certificates and retreated. One Japanese woman called after -us when we had passed her door without stopping. - -Wherever there was any transgression against the proprieties, the -inspector commanded the guilty to desist, and went on. One woman -complained that a negro had just attacked her with a knife. She whistled -and called, she said, "But I might have been killed for all the -assistance I got." The inspector spoke kindly to her, assured her he -would order the guard to come round. But nothing was done. - -Two or three doors farther on a fat and playful woman entertained a -number of men who stood outside her porch. The inspector told her to -keep still. "Just such remarks as that cause trouble. You get inside and -stay there." She shrugged her shoulders, made faces at him, and danced -playfully within-doors. - -We came upon two groups of negroes, gambling. The inspector slapped one -of them upon the shoulder in a kindly way and told them to get out of -sight. "You know it's not allowed here." They moved away. - -It was a network of streets. Not an underworld but a hinterland, a dark -swamp-land, full of scum and squirming creatures. A dreadful city, full -of "joy" and abandon. A city in which women are the monarchs, the -business factors, the independent, fearless beings, needing no -protection. Protection from what could they need? Surely not from -poverty, for wealth seemed to favor these. From loss of reputation? They -had no reputations to lose. Protection they needed, but rather from -themselves than from outside dangers. - -For this was a restricted district which harbored no restrictions. This -was the crater of human passion, of animal passion. The well-ordered -universe without; within, the toils of voluptuousness. In this pit the -lava of lust kept stirring, the weight of unbalanced emotion overturned -within itself. The crater was thought to be deep and secure against -overflow. But if it did boil over, was it far from the city? - -In the city the sound of pianos playing, people reading, swimming-pools -full, streets crowded with racing automobiles, soda fountains crowded, -theaters agog, gathering of folks in homes and cafés,--a great world -with allotted places to keep men and women and children happy; that is, -away from themselves. A heavy curtain of order protects one section. The -most disgusting polyandry shrieks from out the other. Yet no savage -community needed such an outlet for its emotions. - -From various sources I learn that that little crater has overflowed. The -Chamber of Commerce, backed by the missionaries and others, secured -legislation against the "regulation" of the district in 1917. From -another source I got it that it was not the forces for good that -banished it, but that two contending and competing forces for evil had -mutually eliminated themselves. But still another source gives it out -that certain "slum" sections where housing facilities are inadequate are -now the center of evil, and that Filipino panderers are the most guilty. -And a year after _Iwilei_ was "done away with"--in April, 1918--the -Chief of Detectives asked for "thirty days" in which to show what he -could do to clean up the place so as to make it fit for the soldiers to -come to Honolulu. - -Little wonder that, with such examples of "self-respect" and -shamefulness, lovers of the Hawaiians are throwing themselves into the -work of saving the few remaining natives from demoralization. Before -Cook's time these people did not know what prostitution was. Now they -have lost hope and confidence in themselves. The less pessimistic say -that another hundred years will see the last of the Hawaiians, as we -have seen the last of the Tasmanians. Others fear it will come sooner. -The Hawaiian Protective Association is stimulating racial pride in them -so that they may take courage anew, and, with what sturdy men and women -there still are, rejuvenate the race. But the odds are against them, for -besides disease and demoralization we have introduced Japanese, Chinese, -and all sorts of other coolies who have completely undermined the -Hawaiian status in the islands, and are rapidly outnumbering them in the -birth-rate and survival rate. What factors are at work for possible -regeneration will be discussed in a later chapter. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV - -GIVE US OUR VU GODS AGAIN! - - -1 - -Some of the gravest mistakes the white man has made in his efforts to -regenerate the Pacific peoples have been indirect rather than direct. -This fact is best illustrated by the method Australia and New Zealand -resorted to in order to exterminate certain pests. To eliminate the -rabbit they introduced the ferret. The ferret then began to reproduce so -rapidly that it, too, soon became a pest. So the cat was let loose upon -the ferret. Forthwith the cat ran wild and is now one of the most -serious problems in Australia. - -So has it been in the matter of many of the native races. Commercial -greed, which was not satisfied to use what native labor was extant -because it is never the manner of natives to be willing serfs to their -conquerors, looked everywhere about for people who might be imported -under crushing conditions and then cast out. It was that which created -the Japanese and Chinese situation in Hawaii; and it is that which has -created a similar situation in Fiji. - -One would have to be an unadulterated sentimentalist to contend that the -passing of the natives is not justified by the present development of -the Antipodes. None of the native elements--the Australoids or the -Tasmanians or the Maories--would, of their own accord, even with years -of Caucasian example and precedent, have made of these dominions the -healthful, productive lands they now are. As long as the problem remains -one of the ascendancy of the fittest over the fit, it is simple, and -the present solution justifiable. But the introduction of other races -who have only their servility to recommend them is a poor practice and -soon turns into a more serious problem still. In most cases, a little -patience and foresight would have obviated such contingencies. Had the -white folk who tried to exploit Hawaii contented themselves with a -slower development, the Hawaiians would to-day be as secure as are the -Samoans and the Maories. In all cases such as these and that of the -Philippines, the native, when given a chance, soon justifies his -existence and our faith in him. - -In Fiji we have an example of the introduction of the Hindu to the -extinction of the Fijian for the sake of the enrichment of the white -man. The indentured Indian, small and wiry, who seems too delicate for -any task and is stopped by none, acts as a reinforcement in the South -Sea labor market. He glides along in purposeful indifference. As coolie, -he may be seen at any time wending his way along Victoria Parade, -bareheaded, a thin sulu of colored gauze wound about his loins. As freed -man, he is the tailor, the jeweler, the grocer, and the gardener. As -proprietor he is buying up the lands and becoming plantation-owner. Then -he bewails the woes of his native land, India, far off in the distance. -Here in Fiji, where the coolie has a chance to start life anew, the -longing for rebirth in this world, still fresh, bursts into being. But -no sooner does it see the sunlight than it turns to crush the Fijian, in -whose lands the Hindu is as much of an invader as ever Briton was in -India. - -The introduction of the Indian into Fiji was not accomplished without -considerable protest from small planters, who saw in it and the taxation -scheme introduced over thirty years ago, great danger to the Fijian -laborer. Aside from the burdens imposed upon the people by a law which -compelled them to work for their chiefs without wages, for the same -length of time that they worked for some plantation-owner with wages, -there was the equally bad law being "experimented" with which compelled -the people to pay in kind instead of in money. So serious had the -situation become that the "Saturday Review" of June 19, 1886, declared: -"As the Natives must eat something to live, it is perhaps not unnatural -that many people who know Fiji entertain distinct fears that the -combination of over-taxation and want of food will drive the Fijians to -return to cannibalism." The charge of cannibalism was denied by the Rev. -Mr. Calvert, though further evidence is not at hand, as I have seen only -the Government's side of the case. - -However, with the admission of some 3,800 Indians as indentured laborers -in 1884 (or thereabouts) among a population of 115,000 natives, the -vital statistics of the islands have changed so that there were only -87,096 Fijians against 40,286 Indians in 1911, and 91,013 Fijians -against 61,153 Indians in 1917. This would seem to indicate a healthier -state of affairs for the Fijians as well as for the Indians, were not -the comparison of births with deaths for the last year named taken into -consideration. This shows that to 3,267 births there were 2,583 deaths -among the Fijians; while among the Indians the births were 2,196 as -against only 588 deaths. This proportion obtained also in 1911. The -struggle between the Fijians and the indentured Indians, even if the -former were not to become extinct within the century, would place the -Fijians in the minority in no time; and what were their lands would be -theirs no more. - -This, briefly, is the story of the submersion of the Fijians. - - [Illustration: AN INDIAN COOLIE VILLAGE - Near the sugar factory, Fiji - Western Pacific-Herald Post Card Series] - - [Illustration: THIS HINDU HAS USURPED THE JOB OF THE CHIEFTAINS' - DAUGHTERS - He is grinding the Kava root in a mortar. What the girls are doing - with their teeth now no one knows] - - [Illustration: A MAORI HAKA IN NEW ZEALAND - It is a procession of gesticulating, grimacing savages whose - protruding tongues are not the least attraction] - - [Illustration: A MAORI CANOE HURDLING RACE - At Ngaruawahia, North Island, N. Z.] - -In itself, the situation is not very serious. What if the Fijian passes, -or gives way to the Indian? The contribution of the Fijian to the -culture or the romance of the Pacific is small compared with that of -other races, such as the Samoans or the Marquesans. Of that more anon. -But there are problems involved that are of more immediate import. -Two races like these cannot live together without creating a situation -of strength or of weakness that is very far-reaching. We are concerned -with the attitude they assume toward each other, or in the substitution -of a race like the Indians, with their fixed traditions and destructive -castes, which will introduce Hindu problems into the very heart of the -Pacific. India is no longer within bounds, and sooner or later we shall -be face to face with new conditions. In eliminating the Fijian or the -Hawaiian, or any other Pacific islander, by the Indian or the Japanese -coolie process, we are only intensifying the difficulty, unless we are -ready completely to overlook the questions of likes and dislikes. - - -2 - -In Fiji one is not yet compelled to ask, "Where are the Fijians?" As -long as one's gaze is fixed slightly upward, the Fijian face with the -bushy head of coarse, curly hair stands out against the green of the -hills. But let the eye fall earthward and the resultant confusion of -forms and manners forthwith raises the problem of the survival of the -fittest. For among these towering negroids there now dwell over sixty -thousand Telugus, Madrasis, Sardars, Hindustanis, and a host of other -such strange-sounding peoples from India, and "Sahib" greets one's ears -more frequently than the native salutation. In the smaller hotels the -bushy head bows acknowledgment of your commands; in the one fashionable -and Grand Hotel the turban does it. In the course of the day's demands -for casual service, the assistant is the stalwart one; for the more -permanent work--as, for instance, the making of a pongee silk suit--the -artisan is the slender one. If your mood is for sight of sprawling -indolence, you wander along the little pier and open places among the -Fijians; if it is for the damp, cool, darkly kind to help you visualize -the dreams of the Arabian Nights, you enter some little shop in an -alley with an unexpected curve, in the district of transplanted India. - -Feeling venturesome, I let fancy be my guide, though, to tell truth, I -was escaping from the burning sun. Life on the highway was alluring, -but, large as the Fijian is, his shadow is no protection. I hoped for -some sight of him within-doors. The row of shops which walls in the -highway, links without friction the various elements of Suva's humanity. -In a dirty little shop I ran into an unusual medley of folk. A blind -Indian woman in one corner; a Fijian chatting with an Indian in another; -a boy whistling "Chin-chin"; boys and girls fooling with one another; -while in the little balcony, like a studio bedroom hung in the deeper -shadows of the rafters, slept one whose snoring did not lend distinction -to his paternity. The place was evidently a saloon, but minus all the -glitter so requisite in colder regions. Here the essential was dampness -and coolness and improvised night. Hence the walls had no windows and -the floors no boarding. Hence the brew had need of being cool and -cutting, regardless of its name; and whether one called it _yagona_, -_kava_, _buza_ or beer, it had the effect of making a dirty little -dungeon in hiding not one whit worse than the Grand Hotel in the beach -breezes. Better yet, where in all Fiji was fraternization more simple? - -Still, too much love is not lost between the sleepy Fijian dog and his -Indian flea. Does the Fijian not hear the white man--whom he respects, -after a fashion--call his slim competitor "coolie?" And is not _kuli_ -the word with which he calls his dog? Infuriated, conscious of his -centuries of superiority, the Indian retorts with _jungli_, and feels -satisfied. His indentured dignity shall not decay. At any rate, he knows -and proves himself to be the cleverer. The future is his. While the -Fijian, seeing that the importation the white man calls "dog" gets on in -life none the less, seeks to steep himself in the Indian's immorality -and trickery in the hope that he may thereby acquire some of that -shrewdness, as when he devoured a valiant enemy he hoped to absorb that -enemy's strength. Thus in that dark little underworld the Fijian Adonis -vegetates in anticipation of the future Fiji some day to spring into -being. - -Though the Indians are said to despise the Fijians, I saw -representatives of the two races sitting sociably together upon the -launch up the Rewa River, smoking and chatting quite without any signs -of friction. Indian women, all dressed in colored-gauze raiment and -laden with trinkets, huddled behind their men. They seemed a bit of -India sublimated, cured of the ills of overcrowding. One woman had -twelve heavy silver bracelets on each wrist, a number on her ankles, -several necklaces and chains around her neck, and many rings on each of -her fingers and toes, with ornaments hanging from her nose and ears. But -there was more than vanity in this, for, pretty as she was, she refused -to permit me to photograph her. Not so the men. One Indian had his -flutes with him and began to play. His eyes rolled as he forced out the -monotonous tones, over and over again. His heart and his soul must have -had a hard time trying to emerge simultaneously from these two tiny -reeds. One bearded patriarch smiled and rose with a jerk when I asked if -he would pose for me. A young Indian woman crouched on the floor, all -covered with her brilliantly colored veil. She shared a cigarette with a -Fijian boy in a most Oriental fashion. But those who know distrust this -fraternization. It is the subtle demoralization of the Fijian. - -For the type of Indian men and women who now accept the terms of -indenture are even worse than those who did so formerly, and the -conditions under which they are compelled to carry out their "contracts" -are such as to develop only the worst traits of Indian nature. In -consequence, the Fijian is being ground between the upper (white) and -nether (Indian coolie) mill-stones. His primitive taboos which worked -so well are taboos no longer. The missionary has destroyed them -well-meaningly; the plantation-owner has preyed upon them knowingly, has -turned the predatory native chiefs upon them; and now the riffraff of -India is loose upon them, too. I am convinced, from what I saw in the -missionary settlements, that had the missionaries alone been left to -lead these people away from barbarism, they would have accomplished -it,--as they partially have. But unfortunately, the one weakness in -their civilizing process, the overestimation of minor conventions, such -as the wearing of clothing, only left an opening for the intake of -diseases and defects of our civilization. The insistence on monogamy is -another weakness, for to that the steady decline of the native can be -traced. - -This dual process of degradation going on in Fiji is a great -disappointment to the adventurous. Though the natives number 91,000, -their ancient rites and festivities are without newer expression, -without newer form. And though one hears much of Fiji as another India, -because nearly half the population is Indian, still, as C. F. Andrews -has pointed out, the utter absence of anything Indian in the -architecture, the religious practices, or the other expressions of -Indian ideals leaves one wondering what is wrong with that newer world. -Everywhere one hears the appeal, "Give the man a chance," and democracy -and the advocates of self-determination for nations repeat and repeat -the plea. One believes that somehow if India were partially depopulated -and the remaining Indians were given a chance, the soul which is India -would blossom with renewed life and glory. One believes that here in -Fiji such a miracle might occur. But no promise of regeneration greets -the seeker, go where he may. Then, too, there is something lacking in -the native. One is led to conclude that the inhibitions upon the mind -and the soul of all the Fijians, through the preaching of doctrines -strange to them, or through the practices of foreigners over them, has -put the seal upon their lips. Trying to approximate the ruling religions -and to live in their ways must create emotional complexes in the natives -that are clogging the wells of their beings. - -From Suva for forty miles up the Rewa River, the only manifestation of -life is in labor. Aside from the crude ornaments on the limbs of the -women of India there is virtually nothing of art or higher expression to -be seen. Nothing but the tropical loveliness, which cannot be denied. - - -3 - -The regeneration of the Fijian seemed more possible after I had spent a -few moments in the hut of the chief of the district. In the middle of -the village stood one plain, unpainted wooden house, distinctive if not -palatial. It was altogether wanting in decoration and with us might have -passed as a respectable shed. But here, surrounded by thatched huts, -picturesque when not too closely scrutinized, it assumed exceeding -importance through contrast. - -The door, reached by a flight of four or five steps, stood wide open. -The interior was not partitioned into rooms. Half of it was a raised -platform-like divan or sleeping-section, spread with native mats. Upon -this elevation sat a fine-looking man,--clean-shaven, with a head as -bald as those of his brethren are bushy, dressed in clean and not -inexpensive materials, and wearing a gold watch on his left wrist. On my -being introduced, he greeted me in English so fluent and pure that I was -considerably taken aback. He was as self-possessed as most Fijians are -shy. This was Ratu Joni, Mandraiwiwi, chief of eighty thousand Fijians, -one of the only two native members of the Legislative Council, highly -respected, and the most powerful living chief of his race. - -He remained seated in native fashion, legs crossed before him, and after -a few general remarks indicated a desire to resume his confab with the -half-dozen natives--all big, powerful men--facing him on the lower -section of the chamber. His reception of me was cordial, yet his was the -reserve of a prime minister. His bearing gave the impression of a man -intelligent, calm, just, and not without vision. He knew his rank. Had I -been a native and dared to cross his door-step--plebeian that I am--I -should most likely have seen dignity in anger. But, though an -insignificant white man, I still bore the mark of "rank" sufficient to -gain admission unceremoniously and was given a place beside him on the -divan. But he had an uncanny way of making me feel suddenly extremely -shy. I was aware of intruding, of having been presumptuous,--an -uninvited guest. So I withdrew. - -The district over which he rules, though inferior to many another in -productivity, has always had the reputation for being well kept up and -in healthful condition and was pointed out as an example to the other -chiefs as early as 1885. At Bau, five miles the other side of the river, -Ratu Joni has a home European in every detail. It forms an interesting -background for his European entertainments. His income is enough to make -a white man envious. One son, an Oxford man, was wounded in Flanders at -the outbreak of the war; another was at the time attending college in -Australia. Ratu Joni is _Roko_ (native governor) of the province of -Tailevu (Greater Fiji). - -Mr. Waterhouse, the missionary who kindly went about with me and made it -possible for me to meet this chief and to understand some of the native -problems, gave me a brief story of this impressive man's life. Though -his father had been hanged or strangled for plotting against the life of -the chief who ruled then, Ratu Joni succeeded in making his way to the -fore in Fijian politics. He set himself the task of cleaning up his -country. Of him it could not be said that he ever had reason to be -ashamed of his rule. Of him none could say as did a British governor in -a speech say of another Fijian: "What! has this chief been indolent? -Perhaps he limes his head, paints his face, and stalks about, thinking -only of himself; or is it that he squabbles with his neighbors about -some border town, and lets his people starve?" - -One cannot judge a people by the conditions of its chiefs or rulers; but -with regard to the natives of the Pacific, as in the case of other -people accustomed to the rigorous life of battle, their safety lies in -the uses to which they have been put by their conquerors. The British -Government has utilized the Sikhs, its most difficult Indians, by making -them the constabulary throughout the length and breadth of its Asiatic -empire. This has been done in Fiji, too. But the most hopeful sign to me -in these islands on the 180th meridian was the Fijian constabulary. A -finer lot of men could not be found anywhere in the world. Not only -their physique but their intelligent faces and their alacrity suggest -great promise. One of them came on board our ship with his clean, tidy, -sturdy wife--a public companionship rare for these people--and was -received by the officers. His white sulu, serrated on the edge like some -of the latest fashions on Broadway, hung only to his knees. His massive -legs and broad shoulders were a delight to look upon. His wife was as -handsome a woman as I have seen in the tropics. The two gladly posed for -me, and asked me to send them a print. - - -4 - -Generally the thought and feeling of the natives in the South Seas come -to the outer world through the works of white men,--missionaries and -scientists. But rare indeed is the revelation of the mind of a strange -people brought to us pure and clear without the white man's bias or -reaction. Here and there I have run across snatches of native thinking -that were revelations, but no others so full and vivid as the essay by -a native Fijian on the decline of his race, which appeared in the -"Hibbert Journal" (Volume XI). The translator opens the door to the -Fijian mind as by magic. After reading that, I felt that personal -contact with these natives akin to contact with any other human being, -for I looked behind dark skin and bushy head, and saw the spirit of hope -within. The translator says: - - It shows exactly how an intelligent Fijian may conceive - Christianity. That is a point we need to know badly, for most - missionaries see the bare surface. It also contains hints how the - best intentions of a government may be misconstrued, and suspicion - engendered on one side, impatience and reproaches of ingratitude on - the other, which a more intimate knowledge of native thought might - remove. - -The argument of the essay is that "The decline of native population is -due to our abandoning the native deities, who are God's deputies in -earthly matters. God is concerned only with matters spiritual and will -not harken to our prayers for earthly benefits. A return to our native -deities is our only salvation." - -The native reflects: - - Concerning this great matter, to wit the continual decline of us - natives at this time, it is a great and weighty matter. For my part - I am ill at ease on that account; I eat ill and sleep ill through - my continual pondering of this matter day after day. Three full - months has my soul been tossed about as I pondered this great - matter, and in those three months there were three nights when - pondering of this matter in my bed lasted even till day, and - something then emerged in my mind, and these my reflections touch - upon religion and touch upon the law, and the things that my mind - saw stand here written below. - -He then takes up the points that have disturbed him: - - Well, if the very first thing that lived in the world is Adam, - whence did he come, he who came to tell Eve to eat the fruit? From - this fact it is plain that there is a Prince whom God created first - to be Prince of the World, perchance it is he who is called the Vu - God [Noble Vu].... Consider this: It is written in the Bible that - there were only two children of Adam, to wit Cain and Abel. But - whence did the woman come who was Cain's wife?... - - It seems to me as though the introducers of Christianity were - slightly wrong in so far as they have turned into devils the Vu - Gods of the various parts of Fiji; and since the Vu Gods have - suddenly been abandoned in Fiji, it is as though we changed the - decision of the Great God, Jehovah, since that very Vu God is a - great leader of the Fijians. That is why it seems to me a possible - cause for the Decline of Population lies in the rule of the Church - henceforth to treat altogether as devil work the ghosts and the - manner of worshiping the Vu Gods of the Fijians, who are their - leaders in the life in the flesh, whom the Great God gave, and - chose, and sent hither to be man's leader. But now that the Vu Gods - whom Jehovah gave us have been to a certain extent rudely set - aside, and we go to pray directly to the God of Spirit for things - concerning the flesh [life in the flesh], it appears as if the - leader of men resents it and he sets himself to crush our little - children and women with child. Consider this: - - If you have a daughter, and she loves a youth and is loved of him, - and you dislike this match, but in the end they none the less - follow their mutual love and elope forthwith and go to be married, - how is it generally with the first and the second child of such a - union, does it live or does it die? The children of Fijians so - married are as a rule already smitten from their mother's womb. - Wherefore? Does the woman's father make witchcraft? No. Why then - does the child die thus? - - Simply that your Vu sees your anger and carries out his crushing - even in its mother's womb; that is the only reason of the child's - death. Or what do you think in the matter? Is it by the power of - the devil that such wonders are wrought? No, that is only the power - that originates from the God of Spirit, who has granted to the - Prince of men, Vu God, that his will and his power should come to - pass in the earthly life. - -He develops this theme with ever-increasing emotion, until his poor mind -can think no more. - - Alas! Fiji! Alas! Fiji is gone astray, and the road to the - salvation of its people is obstructed by the laws of the Church and - the State. Alas! you, our countrymen, if perchance you know, or - have found the path which my thoughts have explored and join - exertions to attain it, then will Fiji increase. - -But Fijians have prayed to God, yet they have not increased, he -exclaims, faced with the unalterable facts. Why not? Christianity has -been with them many years. Does God hear their prayer! He proceeds to -give his own observations of life, and asks: "Is this true, reverend -sirs? Yes, it is most true." After making some comparisons between his -land and others, neglected of God in that they have no Vu Gods, he -expostulates: - - And if the Vu were placed at our head ... there would be no still - births and Fiji would then be indeed a people increasing rapidly, - since our conforming to our native customs would combine with - progress in cleanly living at the present time. Now, in the past - when the ancients only worshiped Vu Gods and there was no - commandment about cleanly living, yet they kept increasing. Then if - ... this were also combined with the precept of cleanly living, I - think the villages would then be full of men. Or what, sir, is your - conclusion? - -A few more excerpts, taken here and there, will reveal the interesting -mind of this Fijian: - - If this is right, then it is plain how far removed we are from - certain big countries. How wretched they are and weak, whose - medicines are constantly being imported and brought here in - bottles.[1] As for me, I simply do my duty in saying what appears - in my mind when I think of my country and my friends who are its - inhabitants; for since it wants only a few years to the extinction - of the people it is right that I reveal what has appeared in my - soul, for it may be God's will to reveal in my soul this matter. - Now it is not expedient for me to suppress what has been revealed - to me, and if I do not declare what has appeared from forth my - soul, I have sinned thereby in the eyes of the Spirit God: I shall - be questioned regarding it on the day of judgment of souls; nor is - it fitting that one of the missionaries should be angry with me by - reason of my words; it is right that they should consider - everything that I have here said, and judge accordingly. It is no - use being ashamed to change the rules of the Church, if the country - and its inhabitants will thereby be saved. - - [1] The translator says in a footnote: "Whites pity Fijians, - but they find reasons to pity us. That is what white men - generally fail to realize; they put down to laziness or - stupidity their reluctance to assimilate our civilization, - whereas it arises from a different point of view; and that - point of view is not always wrong or devoid of common - sense. Is Fijian medicine more absurd than our patent - medicines, or as expensive?" - -There is great hope for a people with such thinkers among them. And -if there are such hopes for the Fijians, there are still greater -possibilities for the Maories, Samoans, Tahitians, and Hawaiians. - - -5 - -Politically, as separate island races, they are no more. The little -Kingdom of Rarotonga is one of the last to remain independent. The -European war, oddly enough, in which Maories and Fijians fought for "the -rights of little nations," has sold them out completely, just as it did -Shantung in China. No one thought that a war in a continent fifteen -thousand miles away would play such havoc with the destinies of these -people. The "mandates," yielded with such cynical generosity, put the -seal upon their fate, and opened new international sores. - -Pessimistic as this may sound, there are evidences of resuscitation in -the working out of these mandates, as will appear in the chapter on -Australasia. The Polynesians are becoming conscious of unity, and talk -of leadership under the New Zealand mandate is rife in Parliament. -"Nothing would hasten the depletion of the race more than the loss of -hope and confidence in themselves," says the Hawaiian "Friend." That -hope seems to be flickering into new life. - -No people have suffered more, directly, from contact with the -"civilized" white races than the Polynesians. Morally undermined, -politically deprived of powers, physically subjected to scourge after -scourge of epidemic introduced by white men, their own standards of -living brushed aside as vulgar and infantile,--these heliolithic people -with their neolithic culture approached the very verge of extinction. -Then the white race began to sentimentalize over them, and sincere -scientific people to deplore their evanescence. Some of these latter -have earned the eternal gratitude not only of the natives but of the -whole world. Some of them I have mentioned in other connections. Two -others decidedly deserve recognition. Mr. Elsdon Best, the curator of -the Wellington Museum, is a tall, thin individual who has roamed all -over the Pacific. He has worked his way for years in the interests of -the Amerindians, Hawaiians, and Maories. Now he has one of the finest -museums in the South Seas--excepting that, of course, in Honolulu--in -which he treasures anything and everything that will help throw light on -the history of these interesting people. The other is Mrs. Bernice -Bishop, a part-Hawaiian woman, who established the museum in Honolulu -which bears her name. These are the centers round which we white folk -shall be able to gather for the preservation of this other type of the -human species. In the summer of 1921 a Scientific Congress under the -auspices of the Pan-Pacific Union and the immediate directorship of -Professor Gregory of Yale was held to devise ways and means of -furthering the study of these races, and its work is proceeding apace. - -Museums and "models" of native architecture are the modern white man's -diaries, recalling the acts of ravishment and destruction which his -development and expansion entailed. Let us hope that out of the efforts -of scientists will spring a new consciousness of worth, which early -missionaries and scheming traders did everything to destroy. Yet it must -not be forgotten that much of our knowledge of these races comes from -those missionaries who were broad-minded enough to recognize the value -of recording customs and beliefs, even if their purpose was the more -effectively to counteract them. - - - - -CHAPTER XV - -HIS TATTOOED WIFE - - -1 - -Something there is in the very bearing of the people in the Pacific -which, despite the obvious differences between us, strikes a note of -kinship in the mind of the white man least conscious of his true -relationship to these brown folk. A certain chemical affinity, as it -were, makes the problem of intermarriage with the Polynesians an -altogether different matter from that among Eurasians. For in the -marriage of an Occidental and a true Oriental there is the clashing of -two antagonistic cultures each equally complex and tenacious, while -"here there is evidence in the physique of the people that three great -divisions of mankind have intermixed." - -But in the Pacific islands the white man feels himself among his kind. -The reason is hard to explain. Certainly it is not the loose and -ungainly Mother-Hubbard gowns which are still the style of the native -maiden. Yet the stoutish, portly individual who is introduced to you as -a chief and who parades the street along the waterfront in a suit of -silk pajamas might easily be a continental sleep-walker who has no -remembrance of the thousands of years that lie between him and the men -among whom he is waking. And the white man just arrived drops off under -the anæsthetic influence of the tropics, forgetful of the thousands of -years in which he has been busy laying up his treasures on earth. - -Under this narcotic influence I wandered along the shores of Apia, -Samoa, toward sundown, the day before my departure. Within me was a -melancholy satisfaction, an unwillingness to admit even to myself the -truth that I was glad to go, like one conscious of being cured of a -delightful vice. I had had my fill of association with men whose main -theme of conversation when together was the virtues of whisky and soda -as an antidote for dengue fever, and when apart, the faults of one -another. I had watched the process of acclimatization as it attacks the -souls of men, and pitied some of them. Many would have scorned my pity. -Some did not deserve it. Others did not need it. The story of one is -worth while, though it has no solution. - -He had been stationed in Samoa as a member of the military staff with -police duties. Behind him he had left a wife and kiddies. He longed for -them as only a man struggling against tropic odds to remain faithful to -his promise needs must long. He was faithful, but she was fearful. She -was writing to him daily not to forget. No woman forgets easily the -ill-repute of her fellow-women, and all Northern women distrust their -sisters of the warmer worlds. Women hear and believe that there is none -of their kind of virtue in the tropics, and they do not trust the best -of their men. They do not seem to be at all aware of the fact that -faithfulness and devotion are as strong impulses in the breasts of the -dark maidens as among themselves, and that semi-savage girls have -hearts, too, which can be broken. So this man whose friendship I had won -urged that I write to his wife and, in my own way, assure her of his -loyalty. I have never heard the end. But if ever she reads this account, -I hope she will believe in him. - -For there are women in the tropics, just like her, who pray that their -men will be faithful. I was walking along, thinking of him and of her. -The evening glow, full to overflowing of tropic loveliness, was all -about. The white foam of the breakers dashing themselves against the -reefs out there, a quarter of a mile away, came softly in, over the -smooth water, to land. The laughter of little children on the beach -seemed to tease, the hiss of the sea, a combination of elemental things -utterly without tragedy. - -Just then I came upon a group of people gathered at the little pier. -Strewn about their feet were trunks and bags and kits, indicating -departure in haste, while the presence of a handful of soldiers, -standing at attention, was an unspoken explanation of what was toward. -The civilians clustered in a little group, quiet, communicating with one -another in whispers. They comprised seventeen Germans, erstwhile the -wealthiest plantation-owners, now prisoners of war, and their wives and -children, from whom they were to be parted. The cause of their departure -is not pertinent here. The human equation is. - -As the officer issued his order for embarkation, there was a momentary -commotion. Soldiers, by no means unfriendly to their prisoners, assisted -them in the placing of luggage on the boat. The men, turning to their -women and children with warm embraces, called in forced cheerfulness -that they would soon be back. All the men stepped into the rowboats and -with full, powerful strokes of Samoan oarsmen they were borne out across -the reefs toward the steamer anchored beyond. Upon the beach remained -bewildered native women and their half-caste children, some of them in -an agony of grief now run wild. One family lingered, weeping silently. A -group of two middle-aged women, a girl of about twenty, two small girls, -and two boys stood gazing out toward the ship. They brushed away tears -absent-mindedly. A little girl and boy cried quietly. And like that -white wife in the temperate world, these dark-skinned women of the -tropics were left to wonder whether their husbands would remain faithful -to them in a world of which they had vague if not altogether wrong -notions. - -A full, mellow afterglow threw the ship for a moment into relief, and -twilight lowered. Upon the end pile of the pier sat a young Samoan in a -halo of dim light. From this modern scene which may some day be the -theme for a South Sea "Evangeline" I moved away wondering what this -cleavage of people would mean to the Polynesians. An unconscious -curiosity led me into the village. It was night. From the various huts -rang the voices of happy natives. Fires flamed under their evening -meals. Dim lamps revealed shadow-figures of men and women. A slight -drizzle brushed over the valley and disappeared. Then the firm tread of -feet sounded in the dusty road. About twenty girls, two abreast, -stamping their naked feet, passed by and on into the darkness to drop, -matrice-like, each into her own home. Earlier that evening they had -escorted to the ship the white woman who was their missionary teacher. -One long skiff had held them all. Each had a single oar in hand, short -and spear-headed, with which she struck the gunwale of the boat after -every stroke, thus beating time to a native song. Here was another case -of contact and cleavage. Their teacher was returning to her land, -leaving them with the glimmer of her ideals, her notions of life and -loyalty. How much of it would hold them? Coming and going, the fusion of -races, once of a common stock, is taking place. - - -2 - -I cannot recall having received any definite invitation from any of the -principals responsible for the party I attended one evening in Apia, but -in the islands the respectable stranger does not find himself lonely. It -was sufficient that I was a friend of one of the guests. Four young men -who were leaving were given a send-off; and the celebrations were to -take place in the little Sunday-school shack. - - [Illustration: THREE VIEWS OF A MAORI WOMAN - In European clothes - With her New Zealand husband at home - In her native costume] - - [Illustration: A GROUP OF WHITES AND HALF-CASTES IN SAMOA - The father of the two girls was a lawyer and the son of a Sydney - (Australia) clergyman] - - [Illustration: A SHIP-LOAD OF "PICTURE-BRIDES" ARRIVING AT SEATTLE - Japanese seldom marry other than Japanese women] - - [Illustration: A MAORI WOMAN WITH HER CHILDREN - The father is a white man--a New Zealand shepherd] - -That evening the little structure was metamorphosed from crude solemnity -by a generous trimming in palm branches and flowers, as though it had -been turned outside in. Oil-lamps hung from the rafters by stiff -wires, unyielding even to the weight of the light-giving vessels. The -awkwardness of some of the natives in their relations with the whites -could not be overcome even by their obvious inclination. But the music -stirred us all into a whirl of equality. It was furnished by an old -crone of a native woman. She was dressed in a shabby Mother-Hubbard gown -and her feet were bare. Her stiff fingers worked upon the keys of an -accordion in a sluggish fashion, as she confused old-fashioned -barn-dances with sentimental melodies. She was stirred on to greater -sentiment by the teasing approaches of one white man fully -three-quarters drunk. As for the dancers,--what to them were -half-expressed notes? Their own fresh blood more than overcame any lack. - -Pretty young flappers, eager for the arms of the white chaps, moved -about among stolid dames whose purity of race revealed itself in russet -skins and slightly flattened noses. They had finer features than the -matrons. The white "impurities" shone out of them. But they were not -quite free, not quite absolved from the weight of their primitive -forebears. They were shy and had little to say for themselves, and it -seemed they wished they could just cast off the high-heeled shoes and -tight garments and be that which at least half of themselves wished to -be. Yet they were erect and proud,--and gay. - -Behind the curtain which hung across the little rostrum stood tables -fairly littered with bananas, mangos, and watermelons, mingled with the -fruits of the Northern kitchen stove,--cakes, pies, and meats enough to -satisfy a harvesting-gang. And when the call to supper came, the -invasion of this hidden treasure island and its despoliation proved that -however much mankind may be differentiated socially and intellectually, -gastronomically there is universal equality. - -There is another basis upon which the wide world is one, and that is in -its affections. Long after midnight the party would have still been in -progress but for the threat of the ferry-men. They wished to retire and -announced that the last boat was soon to start across the -moon-splattered reefs. There was a hurried meeting of lips in farewell. -The silver light revealed more than one sweet face crumpled before -separation. Then with the first dip of their oars into the sea the -swarthy oarsmen began the song which, exotic and sentimental as it was, -left every heart as aching for the shore as it did those of the simple -half-caste maidens for their casual lovers of the colder Antipodes. - -"Oh, I neva wi' fo-ge-et chu," drawled the oarsmen, and they on shore -joined in with the softer voices of that gentler world. - - -3 - -I had been an unknown and unknowing guest, paying my rates for keep at -the hotel. For most of an hour I had been in a small upper room with -three or four white men whose sole object seemed to be to get as drunk -as they could and to induce me to join them. In those clear moments that -flash across leary hours, they gave voice to their disapproval of -intermarriage with the natives. Then I learned of the wedding taking -place below. My curiosity led me downstairs, and though an utter -stranger, I made my way into the company. Not for a moment did I feel -myself out of place. Such is the nature of life in the tropics. Among -those present were pretty half-caste maidens, slovenly full-blooded -native matrons, men and women of all ages and conditions of attire. -There were German-Samoans, English, English-Samoans, American and -American-Samoans, with a salting of no (or forgotten) nationality. Some -were in Mother-Hubbard gowns, some in pongee silks, some in canvas and -white duck, cut either for street or evening wear. One young chap, the -clerk at the customs, came dressed in the latest tuxedo. And a -half-caste chief appeared in a suit of silk pajamas. - -The marriage-feast was as sumptuous as any that ever tempted the palate -of man. It was spread not on acres, as in the olden days, but on a long -table which stretched the length of the thirty-foot room. Photographs -are everywhere sold displaying so-called cannibal feasts, with huge -turtles and hundreds of tropical vegetables. However it may have been in -those days, at this feast the guests were cannibal in manners only. They -stood round the table and helped themselves with that disregard of -to-morrow's headache and the hunger of the day after which is said to be -primitive lack of economy. - -As the guests were led out into the dance-hall, one young stalwart took -the remnant of the watermelon rind he had been gnawing and slung it -straight at the pretty back of a Euro-Polynesian girl in evening frock. -She tittered at him. The jollity was running too high for any one to be -disturbed by anything like that. - -Soon the dance was in full swing. Not the tango, which we regard as -primitive and wild, but sober editions of dances with us long out of -date. The need is more pressing in the tropics among folk of part-white -parentage than an appearance of real civilization. And though it is not -so long in the history of the Pacific since the coming of the first -white man, there is already an intermediate race growing up which, -beginning with Samoa, spreads northward and southward and all around as -far as the reaches of the sea. Nor is the mixture always to be -deprecated. - -The night wore on. The dancing ceased. Flushed faces and perspiring -forms slipped out into the moonlight. The white collar which had adorned -the tuxedo of the clerk was now brother to the pajamas. The white men -who had tried to drown their objections to intermarriage had yielded to -the lure of the pretty half-caste maidens. One of them now disappeared -with his "tart." - -A traveling-salesman from Suva, thin and wiry, had been in dispute with -a new civil officer. They contradicted each other just to be contrary. -The officer had a wife at home to whom he was bound to be faithful in -matters of sex; in the matter of spirits he could not be unfaithful, -since in that all the world is one. When the two of them and I left the -party, they were still disputing the question of intermarriage, in which -neither believed but on which both had pronounced complexes. - -To change the subject, which was bordering on a fight, I asked: "Why do -the palms bend out toward the sea?" - -"Now, what difference does it make to you?" said the salesman. "You're -always asking why this, why that?" - -"Why shouldn't he?" grumbled the officer, more sober and more -intelligent. - -We rambled along. The salesman soon slipped into his hotel. The officer -and I wandered toward the native village. - -"Strange," he said, somewhat sobered by the sea air. "If I met him in -Auckland I wouldn't speak to him. He's beneath me." - -Free and easy as the relationship of marriage seems to be here, one not -infrequently runs across descendants of very happy and desirable unions. -I had gone on a little motor jaunt with some of the men of the British -Club. Our way was along the road the natives had built in gratitude to -R. L. S., and our destination the home of a friend of his, who had -married a native woman. The house was of European construction, solid -and comfortable, with a veranda affording a view of the open sea. The -interior was in every way as typical of British colonial life as any I -later saw in New Zealand. There were photographs on the wall, hanging -shelves, bric-á-brac, a piano,--all importations of crude Western -manufactories. - -The hosts were Euro-Polynesians; the father a lawyer and son of a -clergyman of Sydney, Australia, who had settled in the islands years -ago. I do not recall whether, like his closest friend, Stevenson, he was -buried on the island, but certainly he left by no means unworthy -offspring, whatever prejudice may say. - -Thus, in the mixture of emotions often sterile, and in the bones of -white devotees is the reunion of the races of these regions being slowly -effected. And at the two extremities of the Pacific--New Zealand and -Hawaii--we find the process nearer completion. - - -4 - -In the journeys to and fro across the vast spaces of the South Pacific -one rarely meets a white man who takes his native wife with him. One -such I did meet when slipping down from Hawaii to the Fiji Islands. -There were two couples on board who always kept more or less to -themselves, two rough-looking white men, a white woman, and one who for -all I could tell was a middle-class Southern European woman. She wore -simple clothes,--a blouse hanging over her skirt and comfortable shoes. -She was in no sense shy, laughed heartily, moved about with a -self-conscious air of importance, but with ease, and made no effort to -hide the curving blue lines of tattooing that decorated her chin. She -was a Maori princess, and all the vigor of her race disported itself in -the supple lines of her figure. - -Her husband, Mr. Webb, however, was not a British prince. Blunt in his -manners, he was ultra-radical in his opinions,--a proud member of New -Zealand's working class. Domineering in his temperament he was, but she -was a match for him. It was obvious that she had missed in her native -training any lessons in subservience to a mere husband. She spoke a -clear, broad, fluent English without the slightest accent, and when her -extremely argumentative husband made a strong point, she gave her assent -in no mistaken terms. - -At table she was more mannerly than her spouse, though laboring under no -difficulties whatever in the acquisition of food. I have never seen a -person more self-possessed. Her royal lineage was writ large in her -every expression. Though out on deck they both seemed somewhat out of -place among the white folk and preferred a corner apart, in the -dining-room they were kin to all men. - -I found them both extremely interesting, and when the usual invitations -were passed round for a continuance of the acquaintanceship after -landing, I accepted theirs more readily than any other. Blunt and -without finesse as they were, there was an obvious cordiality and -virility in their manner, and no man alert to adventure turns so -promising an offer aside. - -Months afterward I was in Auckland, New Zealand, and made myself known -to them. Most cordial was the reception they gave me when I stepped upon -the well-built pier that jutted out into the inlet from the little -launch that brought me there. Back upon the knoll stood Madame, her -heavy head of curly hair loose about her shoulders. Her very being -greeted me with welcome, firmness of foot and arm and calmness of poise -proclaiming her nativity. When I approached, her strong hand grasped -mine, her face beamed, and she led the way over the grass-grown path to -the porch with even more self-confidence than when she had gone to her -seat in the saloon, on shipboard. - -Yet it was no saloon they led me into, but a simple hollow-tile -structure with slate roofing and plain plastered walls. Just an ordinary -four-roomed house, the haven of the rising pioneer. There were no -decorations on the walls, no modern equipment of any kind, not even a -stove. The table was machine-turned, the chairs ordinary, and on the -mantelpiece stood some bleached photographs. My hosts went about in -their bare feet, and otherwise as loosely clad as the early November -spring permitted. They prepared their meals on the open fire, and the -menu was as simple as anything ever offered me; and for the first time -in my life I ate boiled eels, the great Maori staple and delicacy. Had -it not been for the emanation of her genial personality and his -vigorous, breezy, almost hard pleasure in my presence, I should have -felt chilled in that habitation. But in place of things was sincere -welcome. I had proof of that that night, for I was placed in the -guest-room, upon a soft, comfortable bed, while my hosts themselves -spread a mattress on the floor in the living-room. Lest I misunderstand, -they explained that it was their custom, Maori fashion, to sleep on the -floor, as they preferred the hard support to that of the yielding -spring. - -I woke next morning just as the sun peeped over the hill directly into -my window. It was a sober dawn,--just a healthy flush of life, with -crisp, invigorating air. One branch of a young kauri pine-tree stretched -across the rising orb like nature rousing itself from sleep. And in the -other room I could hear my hosts moving quietly about, preparing -breakfast. - -Without word of warning or any apparent welcome, the wife's brother and -his young bride arrived. It was obvious that the visit was no unusual -occurrence. They made themselves as much a part of the place as -possible, and were ignored by the white man and his Maori wife as though -they were servants. Yet they were both, to me at least, delightful. He -was broad-shouldered, erect, rounded of limb but muscular,--as handsome -a boy of twenty as I have ever seen, and it gave one joy to see him -mated to so fine a girl. Their beings vibrated to each other with the -joy of their union. - -And she was as fine a mate for him. Though she accentuated every feature -of her sex, it was with the joy of fitness for him, not with any effort -to be alluring. She wore a very close fitting middy-blouse, which made -more firm the rounded breasts of her young maidenhood. She was supple -and plump and moved with litheness and grace, full of animal spirits. -With an affected air she swung about to the step of an American rag, and -every once in a while she would throw herself into her lover's arms, and -take a turn about out of sheer happiness. It had never occurred to me -how extremely civilized and not primitive our rag-time music is until I -saw these young "savages" affect it. But however ill-fitting the tune to -their emotions, there was something absolutely natural in their -adoration and their rushing into each other's arms which no amount of -civilization could tarnish. - -In the afternoon they went digging for eels in the mud of the inlet. -While they were gone, my host and his wife cleared the yard of overgrown -weeds and rubbish. - -"That's the way they are," said he. "All day long they dance and fool -away their time. They think they've done a lot if they dig for eels all -afternoon. When we went away to Hawaii we left them to look after our -house without charging them any rent. This is what we found when we -returned. The whole place was overgrown with weeds, the fences were -broken down, the gates were off, and the place was strewn with rubbish. -They don't know what it is to be careful." And he struck a match to the -heap of weeds he and his wife had gathered. - -Presently the two lovers returned with a basket full of eels. The young -"housewife" hung her catch by the tails on the clothes-line to dry, and -in a pail of clear water washed the mud-suckers they had gathered as -by-product. Then they felt they were entitled to rest. - -All afternoon until late evening they lay upon the spring of an unused -matressless bedstead, which stood upon the veranda. Their heads were at -the opposite ends of the bed. He kicked his feet in the air, but every -time a move of hers showed more of her legs than he thought proper, he -pulled down her tight skirt. He held an accordion over him upon which -he played a medley of airs, while she whirled a soft hat with her -fingers. From their throats issued a fountain of song, harmonious only -in the spirit of joy which inspired it. - -So far they might just as well have been guests at a hotel for all the -attention their elders paid to them. We had had our meals by ourselves. -They were simply tolerated. But after nightfall, they joined their -relatives in a game of cards. Every move provoked a burst of laughter, -whether successful or unsuccessful to the hilarious one, and never a -suggestion of strife or thought of gain was manifest. - -The Maories are more sober than their kinsmen of the upper South Seas. -Life was never to them less than a serious struggle. I daresay they are -happier to-day than they were in their own time, with peace and -prosperity guaranteed them. But that is problematical. Laughter and play -are to-day urgent necessities. The dances and games that were native to -them--when not stimulated by some social event--do not come to them with -the same old spontaneity. It took considerable begging on my part and -nudging from Mr. Webb to persuade the women to show me a native dance. -Donning her skirt of rushes, Mrs. Webb stepped into the center of the -room, giggling all the while, and insisting that her sister-in-law dance -with her. The latter took a stick in her hand and they began. But after -two or three movements they doubled over with laughter, and faltered. I -kept urging them on. At last they caught the spirit of it, and for a few -minutes they were as though possessed. Their movements, mainly of the -hands and hips, were not unlike those of the geisha dances of Japan. -They kept them up for fifteen minutes. Suddenly they stopped, as though -struck self-conscious, almost as a modest girl who had wakened from a -somnambulant journey in her nightgown. They slipped into chairs, and -were silent. Then for about half an hour they sat "yarning" soberly -before the hearth fire. And something sad seemed to creep away up the -chimney. - -The two young lovers decided they would take a bath, and went into -another chamber to heat the water. My bed was spread for me; the hosts -unrolled the mattress which had been lying in the corner on the floor -all day. We retired. Then from the other room came sounds of hilarious -laughter, the splashing of water in the tub, and the slapping of naked -wet flesh. It kept up for hours, long after midnight. When silence -finally reigned over the household, an adorably cool moon peeped in at -our windows, and I knew that the two lovers in the room next mine were -at last overcome by the conspiracy of moonlight and fatigue. - -"Did you hear those mad Maories?" said Mr. Webb to me the first thing in -the morning. "Such mad things! To keep the whole house awake till long -after midnight!" Then he, too, seemed to become self-conscious. Wasn't -he passing reflections on the tribe of his wife? We strolled out into -the fields. He seemed to feel the necessity of an explanation. Among his -people, the white folk, though he was not ostracized for having taken a -native wife (for it is common enough), still it did lower one in the -social scale. I steered the conversation round till he himself spoke of -it. He referred to his wife, somewhat soberly. "I like her and am -satisfied with her. She's a good woman." And during the whole of my -visit I saw nothing to indicate that their marriage was not a success. -She was tidy, thrifty, and companionable. He always treated her with -respect and affection, though once or twice with undue firmness. But she -always stood her ground with dignity and good-nature. When he poked -kindly fun at some photographs of her, she smiled and winked at me. Then -she said of a picture taken of him on the beach: "I wouldn't lose it for -all the world, just for his sake." - -By way of apology for the absence of more furnishings, they explained -that they had sold out; they were tired of labor conditions in New -Zealand, of the too great closeness to the "tribe" and in consequence -had paid a visit to Hawaii, where they bought a plantation. Thither they -went shortly afterward, the Briton and his Maori wife, he to mix with -his European cousins, she with her Polynesian kinsfolk, and a more -general reunion, after centuries of separation, consummated. - -Not the least lovable among the fifty-seven blends of humanity that make -up the inhabitants of the South Seas and the Pacific are these Maories -and their half-brothers and sisters. - - -5 - -From a Member of Parliament I had received several letters of -introduction, one of which was to the famous Dr. Pomare, the native M. -P. who represented native interests in the Dominion's parliament. When I -arrived at Wellington, the capital, I presented myself at his office and -was received by a most genial, well-spoken, widely read individual whose -tongue would have entertained the most sophisticated of European -gatherings. There was hardly a subject we touched in which he was not -well versed, and his native qualities rang out in intermittent bursts of -laughter such as only a healthy-minded and healthy-bodied individual -could indulge in. When we began to discuss the question of the virtues -and vices of his native race, the Maories, he assured me: - -"Oh, we're just like any people. There are good and bad amongst us. Some -of our people will sell their lands, if they can, and buy an automobile -which they run madly about and then leave in an open plot in ruin. On -the other hand, one of our women has been very clever with her property, -has sold it off, and invested her money in stocks so that to-day she -owns the greatest number of shares in the Wellington tram lines. So you -see we are just like other people." - -And so it is. But there is a slight exception, for I have heard from -every one that the tendency to revert to type is very great, and that -one of the wealthiest native woman in the Dominion will frequently leave -her mansion, her jewels, her limousine, her fine clothes, and spend a -time in a Maori _pah_, eating eels in the good old native way. - -But such reversions cannot last long. Despite that drift, there are -indications of a racial recrudescence through the half-castes, a -tendency noticed by students of the primitive peoples throughout the -Pacific. Hope for the Maories is in the younger elements who have that -happy mixture in them, called Pakeha-Maori. Visiting a class of young -women in a commercial school in Dunedin I noticed among them one whose -dark face and black eyes were full of a certain wicked fascination. She -was as bright and alert as any member of the class. And when I spoke of -her to the head of the school, he said, "Oh, that little half-caste -girl." I should not have known it. - -One does not like to be too enthusiastic, but if these savage -Polynesians can in the course of three generations, and with the aid of -a slight mixture, change from fierce cannibalism to something as sweet -and lovable as this, there is indeed great hope for them. What though -the prejudiced assure you that, however far the mixture may have gone, -it reveals itself in a tendency to squat when least expected? There is -in the most civilized of us still enough of the savage strain to make us -wary of carrying our aversions too far. - -Doubtless the Britons of New Zealand would enter any debate with the -Americans of Hawaii as to which is the superior people, the Maories or -the Hawaiians. For our own peace of mind let us accept their Polynesian -kinship at the outset. Both are worth saving as separate races or in -mixture with others. - -The Maori M.P., the rebellious priest, Rua, later released from prison, -the Hawaiian clerk in the throne-room, the Fijian chief turned governor, -the Samoan chief in pajamas who, with the customs officials, boarded the -steamer anchored beyond the reefs, and Mrs. Webb, the princess,--all -these are natives playing the new part allotted to them in this strange -new world. - -Thus slowly, into the life and fabric of the South Seas, is coming this -consciousness of rebirth. It is a new class, a new race. Not the -Eurasians, scorned by the white and the superior Asiatics,--but the -reverse. Half-caste, but the proud possessors of the virtues of the -natives, with the strength and superiority of the white; half-caste in -blood but not always so in spirit. - - - - -CHAPTER XVI - -GIVING HEARTS A NEW CHANCE - - -1 - -Casual, impermanent, or broken as these unions hitherto have been, their -cyclonic process of attraction and repulsion has created a suction -drawing in both good and evil. The white sailor and vagabond who -ravished the brown maiden never intended to father the consequences. But -gradually, as communication increased and mutual interests developed, -greater stability entered into the relations of the races. Marital -contracts became necessary and, from the point of view of property and -other acquisitions, even desirable. Readjustment of conceptions of sex -grew urgent. This entailed the complement, divorce. - -From all corners of the world came people whose notions of man's -relations with woman were as divergent as the seas. The Japanese and -Chinese brought their Oriental attitude toward women; the American his -Occidental. Besides, with the passing of native control, European -nations superimposed European regulations upon the islands. We have, -then, the introduction of legalism into the casual affairs of the -tropics, and the vanishing of primitive license. We have the Japanese -woman, subject to the control of her husband, finding herself protected -by the laws of another race. These raise her status and her -self-respect. She rebels against unpleasant sex-unions. Divorce in these -conglomerate regions, therefore, means the idealization of sex, raising -it above the stage of animal possession and material interest; based -upon the sense of justice to woman, it recreates marriage, makes decent -unions possible. - -Hence, in the wake of queer marriages we see even more queer divorces, -as though hearts, having become self-conscious, seek a new chance. As -age mellows racial associations, we find that men's hearts the world -over beat as one, and relationships which are at all compatible seek -permanency, if not "normalcy." - -It was easy enough for a wanderer or a few hundred traders and romancers -to leave their imprint on the native races. It is another matter when -the native races are overwhelmed by a hundred thousand aliens of -twenty-odd races, and the work of amalgamation falls to the lot of the -white man. An altogether new problem manifests itself,--not only that of -bringing them together in a legal and permanent manner, but of -separating such types and individuals as cannot work for the betterment -of the new race. - -Throughout the Pacific already reviewed, the mixture is as yet -essentially accidental and occasional. But in no spot in the Pacific has -the problem assumed such serious proportions as in Hawaii, where, added -to the great diversity of conglomerations, comes the factor of white and -Asiatic superiority in number. As we have seen, the infusion of this -flood of foreign blood into the thin native element has fairly swamped -it. This jungle of humanity seems at first sight utterly beyond cultural -purification. The streets throb with such multiplicity of little ways -that one feels bewildered. One has to snatch a sample of the life and -place it beneath the magnifying-glass of tradition and code to be able -to separate it from the whole. And that I did one day in Honolulu. - -The sun was pouring down in veritable splutters of softness and -mellowness. It was warm in an all-embracing tenderness of warmth. To be -in the shade with another human being was here as unifying in spirit as -sitting before an open fire is on a blizzardy day in the North. And on -such a day I entered the court-room of Honolulu. The dusty tread of -people from every land has sounded across this court-house floor and -all the simple tragedies of life with their hoarse warnings have been -enacted within its walls. Hundreds of disappointed men and women have -come into that room hoping to have their lives straightened out, their -affections given a new chance. - -When I entered, the court-room was empty. A massive Hawaiian looked in, -and walked away. Then a thin white man approached and, when he learned -what brought me, he sat down on one of the wooden benches to talk to me. -It was Judge William L. Whitney, who died in New York just recently. - -Presently, an emaciated-looking Chinese entered and sat down to wait. A -small, wrinkled, sallow little woman from the Celestial Republic, -accompanied by a compatriot, came in after him, and seated herself a -little distance away. Then came the fat Hawaiian again who had peered in -earlier, and with that everything seemed in order. Judge Whitney left -me, approached the bench, and, though he wore only his ordinary street -clothes, he was forthwith crowned with the halo of his office. - -The proceedings began. Proceedings in this case meant great round eyes -rolling in tremendous sockets, a tongue free with the dialects and -linguistics of every mixture, and a temperament free from ambition or -guile. The judge could speak no Chinese, the respondents could speak no -English, the witnesses (of whom two strayed in later) could speak -neither English nor Chinese,--and so among them the Hawaiian interpreter -had all the fun to himself. He was in reality the dispenser of justice. - -The case was rehearsed. The Chinese was suing his wife for divorce. - -"Where were you when you saw this man kiss your wife?" asked the judge. - -The interpreter took up the question in Chinese as though the language -were part of his inheritance, and after the Chinese spoke, back came -the reply through the lips of the Hawaiian, but in the first person. - -"I was in the garden. When I looked up into our bedroom I saw this man -kiss my wife." - -The evidence was vague. To John Chinaman it meant more than a few facts, -for his wife had borne him no offspring. What a timid-daring attempt to -reach out for new life! At home he would just have dismissed her, but -here it was different. Yet from their appearance it was doubtful that -either of them would ever have the courage to try to live life over. - -This was only one of the many entangled lives that came to be -straightened out in Hawaii. There are more than forty-seven different -combinations of races there, such as American and American, German -and German, Korean and Korean, Russian and Russian, Spanish-Marshall -and English, Half-Hawaiian and Chinese-Hawaiian, Hawaiian and -Chinese-Hawaiian, Hawaiian and Hawaiian-Portuguese, Chinese and -Chinese, Hawaiian and Hawaiian, Portuguese and Portuguese, Spanish -and Spanish, Spanish-Hawaiian and Spanish-Hawaiian, Portuguese and -Creole-Spanish-Portuguese, Chinese and Irish, American and -Half-Hawaiian, Portuguese and Pole, Half-Hawaiian and Half-Hawaiian, -American and Hawaiian-Chinese, English and Half-Hawaiian, Japanese and -American, American-Japanese and Japanese, Half-Hawaiian and German, -Portuguese and Hawaiian, German and Irish, Hawaiian-Chinese and -Spanish-Italian, Portuguese and Hawaiian-Chinese, Half-Hawaiian -and Spanish, Porto-Rican and Porto-Rican, Oginawa and Oginawa, -French-Porto-Rican and Porto-Rican, Swede and Portuguese, English and -English, Hawaiian and Chinese, American and French-Spanish, Portuguese -and Japanese, American-Portuguese and German-Irish, Portuguese-Hawaiian -and Portuguese, Portuguese and German-Irish, Portuguese-Hawaiian and -Portuguese, Portuguese-Irish and Hawaiian, Hawaiian and American-Negro, -Portuguese-Hawaiian-Chinese and Chinese. And I am certain that I can add -another, that of my New Zealand acquaintance and his Maori wife. - -They are but one phase of the whole problem of the mixture of races and -the melting of their silvers and bronzes down to the human essence -within them. For there were in Judge Whitney's time on an average of two -hundred and thirty couples divorced under that ceiling every year. -Figures make human facts seem so remote that I hate to use them. As soon -as figures are quoted the individuals lose their identity. That which is -living and real becomes, as it were, an astronomical calculation and one -might as well talk of stars. But the figures of the divorces in Hawaii -are in themselves a living thing, as they interpret the life there more -than words could do; so I'll risk giving a few of the figures Judge -Whitney published while I was in Honolulu. - -The Japanese contributed 49% of the divorces in Hawaii, though they -comprise only 34% of the population; the Americans, 7%, though they were -8% of the population. The rest were distributed among the other -nationalities. This is how those statistics compared with divorce -statistics in other countries. There were in England out of every -hundred thousand inhabitants, two divorces per year; in Austria, one; in -Norway, six; in Sweden, eight; in Italy, three; in Denmark, seventeen; -in Germany, twenty-three; and in France, the same; in the United States, -seventy-three; and in the island of Oahu (Honolulu), four hundred. - -Hundreds of little folk, a host of children, have passed out of that -room either fatherless or motherless. Back in the lands which they might -have called home it would not have happened in just this way, or having -happened so, it would not have had the same tragic meaning. For in -Oriental countries fathers frequently put the mothers of their children -aside. Yet, somehow the tragedies do not fret and strut in such -distorted ways in lands where distortion is much more common, as in the -East. In most Oriental countries it is enough for a man to say his wife -talks too much and declare her divorced, but when he comes to the -half-way house, Hawaii, he must be cruel, extremely cruel to his wife -before the law will grant him a divorce. So he is "cruel" in a way he -may be sure will secure his freedom. - - -2 - -What the results of all these mixtures will be, no one can as yet tell, -but the consensus of opinion gives the Chinese-Hawaiian the prize for -superiority. However promiscuous other races may be, the Japanese seldom -stoops to conquer in that way. The maiden of Japan shares with the white -woman an aversion for these strangers in Hawaii, though the number of -Japanese women who marry white men is far greater than that of white -women marrying into any of the races in the Pacific. - -One of the most prolific causes of divorce in Hawaii has been the -so-called "picture bride." Because of the exclusion of Asiatic laborers, -few Japanese and Chinese women have been born in the island. But because -of their preference for their own women, Japanese sent home for wives. -To get round the exclusion laws, they stretched the home process a bit, -selected by photograph the girls they wished, had themselves married by -proxy (a method recognized in Japan as legal), and then simply sent for -their "wives." Aside from the subsequent divorces which very frequently -ensued, there have been cases not without their humorous sides. - -One story was told that must be accepted with caution. - -Mr. Goto, who just a short while ago was Goto San, wants a wife. He sees -a go-between who secures for him the pictures of some girls of his own -district. He makes his selection and the process of marriage is -accomplished. With something little short of glee, he waits the maid's -arrival. - -She comes. But alas, not alone! Mr. Goto waits with others at the pier. -Everybody is blessed but him. Chagrin and impatience battle in his -heart. Nearly everybody has been supplied with a wife. There are only -two women left. Neither seems to be the one he married. Goto -thinks,--thinks rapidly. Who will ever know the difference? He claims -the prettier; she accepts him, and off they dash on their honeymoon, à -la Occident, a two-day trip round the island of Oahu in a motor-car. And -never were nuptials more satisfactory. - -In the meantime Fujimoto San comes rushing up pell-mell. His garage -business has kept him. He finds a lone girl, but she does not tally with -the reproduction he married. "Not so nice," is the first thought that -flashes across his brain. "Little too broad in the nose, lips thicker -than those on the photograph. Can I mistake?" But she is the only one -left. He bows at least a half-dozen times, bows clean over, half-way to -the ground, but alas! every time his head bobs up he sees the same -disheartening face, a face he never ordered, a face he cannot accept. He -must clear up the mystery. He calls the agent. Investigations reveal -that Goto was there ahead of him; so Fujimoto sets out on a chase after -the honeymoon pair. It ends in Honolulu two days later, and another -divorce case comes up in court. - -The "picture bride" is now a thing of the past, as the Japanese -Government has agreed to deny her a passport in accordance with the -spirit of our treaty with Japan. From the point of view of immigration, -this may be a solution; but there is a phase of the problem of the -mixture of races in Hawaii I have never yet seen discussed,--that is, -the woman. In the case of the Japanese woman, much more than in that of -the man, entrance to Hawaii or America is freedom such as has never been -known before. At home she has been taught obedience and deference to -her husband. There are many others ready to accept that burden if she is -unwilling. But in Hawaii, where there are so many Japanese seeking wives -and where she moves among peoples whose standards are an inversion of -everything she has been taught to regard as virtuous and feminine, she -finds herself in an altogether different position. On the streets she -sees many white women treated with courtesy; in the courts women receive -even more sympathy than men,--to her an unheard-of thing. And so we find -that when all the divorces in the Hawaiian Islands have been tabulated, -these little timid creatures of Japan have been emboldened to the extent -of deserting their husbands in veritable shoals, making up 90% of the -entire number of Japanese divorces. It is a scramble for readjustment of -conjugal relations based on something nearer emotional equality. - -But where do the Hawaiians come in? will be asked in all reason. They -are virtually no more. Of the entire race which at the time of their -discovery by Captain Cook numbered some 130,000 to 300,000, only a few -thousand are left. At the time of the annexation of Hawaii by America -(1898) there were some 31,000 Hawaiians of pure blood, or about 28% of -the population. Of Orientals there was about 42% of the population, with -24,400 Japanese and 21,600 Chinese. Then there were 15,191 Portuguese, -2,250 Britons, 1,437 Germans, 8,400 Americans, 1,479 Norwegians, French -and others combined. Already there were 8,400 part-Hawaiian. From the -rulers down there was a free mixture, even the queen had a white spouse. -Some of the best types of Hawaiian women had been married by men of fine -caliber, unlike almost any other place in the Pacific. The relationships -were of a permanent nature, for, as the governmental report in -connection with annexation stated: - - The Hawaiians are not Africans, but Polynesians. They are brown, - not black. There has never been and there is not any color line in - Hawaii as against native Hawaiian, and they participate fully and - on an equality with the white people in affairs, political, - social, religious, and charitable. The two races freely intermarry - one with the other, the results being shown in a population of some - 7,000 of mixed blood. They are a race which will in the future, as - they have in the past, easily and rapidly assimilate with and adopt - American ways and methods. - - -3 - -In defiance of prejudice, intermarriage between the races in the Pacific -is taking place. What the result is to be, no one as yet knows -definitely. The number of white men legalizing their relations with -native women is large. The tropics are veritable whispering-galleries -sounding the stories of men who have returned to keep their promises -even after they have been despatched from the islands under the -influence of the cup so as to prevent their marrying. In the -mid-Pacific, in the South Seas, in the Far East, white men are marrying -native women, even in cases where these have been their mistresses for -years. - -In Japan, many leading white men have married Japanese women, among whom -the most celebrated has been Lafcadio Hearn. The list is long. In the -ports, many foreigners have married Japanese women, and though there is -a strong feeling against it socially, discrimination is not universal. -The French and the British are not nearly so fastidious in these matters -as are the Americans and the Japanese. Wherever there is outward -opposition, it comes from the Japanese side as well as from the white. -Japanese complain against discrimination here, but we are received with -no more open arms by them in Japan. - -The girl from Japan coming to the West is by virtue of her immigration -alone to some extent emancipated; but to the white woman turning her -steps east there is only the emancipation, in part, from drudgery by -means of ample servants. To the white woman who goes a step farther and -links herself in marriage with a Japanese or Chinese there is in the -majority of cases only sorrow, soreness of heart, isolation, and regret. -It is not that she might not be happy with the individual Oriental, but -in the East she becomes part of a vicious family system that strangles -her individuality. Though the maid of Japan is not over-welcome in the -West, as the wife of a white man she comes into a higher plane of life. -By no means is that true in the case of the white woman in the East. -There are too many cases, still warm with regret, to be named in proof -of the statement. I have come across several cases of American girls who -had married Japanese and returned with them to Japan. They were content -enough with their husbands, but their position in the Japanese home was -intolerable. I remember the loneliness of a New York girl who had gone -to live in Kyoto. The contemptuous way in which some notable Japanese -looked at their countryman's white wife was only comparable to the -treatment she would have received here. The children, born in the same -labor, are not respected as are either "pure" Japanese or white. The -Eurasian is frequently disqualified. The white father regrets that his -children are not Aryan as did Lafcadio Hearn. - -This is no attempt to make out a case for the mixture of natives and -white in the Pacific. There are not enough facts at hand. Unfortunately, -for the next few hundred years the differences between the peoples -living on the borders of the Pacific will continue to irritate, and -experiments in blood-mixture will probably be tried externally. I have -only mobilized such incidents as have come within my own personal -observation that will take the problem out of the cold, statistical -plane. It is with human flesh and blood, human hearts and affections, -human gropings and aspirations that we are dealing,--not with the -conflicts of imaginary hordes and with terrifying invasions. - -To me, the human elements in Honolulu and throughout the Pacific remain -a memory of one perpetual stirring of sounds, colors, and desires. The -whole is not confusing, for it is outside one's consciousness. In a -sense it is an inverted world consciousness. Instead of nationals -thinking outward, they have come together and are thinking inward, -recognizing themselves as part of some whole. Eventually, after all the -races in the Pacific have been mixed more or less, or have proved -mixture impossible, they will find some way in which they can dwell at -one another's elbows without nudging. The mixture may even assume an -appearance of unity. The color scheme, like a thorough blending of all -the colors of the spectrum, may yet become white. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII - -"THIS LITTLE PIG WENT TO MARKET" - - -1 - -The basket was growing heavier and heavier, and his stomach weaker and -weaker. How to convert his burden into a meal was a problem, written as -large upon his face as the delight in the bargains he was making shone -in the face of the marketer beside him. He was a young chap just -emerging from boyhood. He had been employed by this restaurant-keeper -because he said he needed a meal. It was not to be a real job. He was to -get his meal all right, but not till he earned it by going with the boss -to market and carrying his basket for him. - -The basket was soon full to overflowing, and the young man bearing it -was nigh exhaustion. They were now going home. At the corner of the open -square that had been assigned to garden-truck venders the old man -stopped to buy a rose. He disputed the price with the flower-girl, got -it at a reduction, and went on. "I always bring my wife a rose from -market," he remarked in semi-soliloquy, and they disappeared, the young -fellow with his burden, the old man with his rose. - -Thus does the European little pig go to market, and he's the most -civilized little pig in the world. For hundreds of years he has been -learning to market, and that most essential of social functions is the -progenitor of communal life. The way in which it is performed is a test -of the civilization of a people. - -The first democrats and artists of Europe, the Greeks, knew this, and -made the agora a market-place, a focus of public art, and the scene of -their political gatherings. Wretched, indeed, was the little pig that -stayed home when the agora was convoked, for he it was whom the Greeks -had determined to ostracize. Despite their efforts as democrats, there -were only too many who had to stay home when the affairs of that world -were being decided; but as a market, with all the architectural genius -concentrated on making it attractive and beautiful, and Socrates leading -his classes through it, it was a certain success. - -In the ruder parts of Europe, owing to the absence of means of -communication and the dangers of carrying one's possessions abroad, -definite market-places became an imperative necessity, and charters for -their existence were granted by decree. They became an important means -of securing revenue. - -Even the Church recognized the value of festivals as means of enriching -itself in a combination of barter with merrymaking and adoration. -Festivals and fairs alike enhanced the material and the artistic life of -medieval Europe, and marked, as it were, the embryonic element out of -which grew all the later laws and ethics of trade. The legitimacy of -piracy at sea and robbery on land had to be counteracted in some way, -and the dignity and decency of exchange established. - -The evolutionary process by which civilization has achieved some sort of -business morality may yet be traced in various countries, especially -among the primitive peoples of the South Seas, the more advanced -Filipinos, the recently awakened Japanese, the Mexicans, and the -accomplished New Zealanders. Beneath the surface of the market-place, -the wide world over, one finds the source of civilization, and at its -level, the level of human commonalty. For as men hunt to cover up their -love of wild life and nature, so women market as an excuse for mingling -with people. There is in the behavior of the marketer all the cunning -of the animal in search of prey, and the degree to which these instincts -are developed gives in a sense the measure of a man's civilization. - -Even outside the bonds of law and order the mere process of exchange -tends to establish social ethics. This is nowhere better exemplified -than at the thieves' market in Mexico or in the hidden reaches of the -Orient. Thither all robbers bring their stolen wares for sale. Thither -all the robbed hasten, to recover their lost property. The instinct -within each and all of them is the gambling spirit. The despoiler is -eager to sell as quickly and as successfully as possible lest the -rightful owner arrive and claim the booty. The general public is anxious -to buy, for the prices naturally are low, and many a bargain may be -secured. The despoiled, chagrined though they may be at their loss, are -in part compensated by the hope of a purchase made at somebody else's -expense. - - -2 - -I had not known that buying and selling was ever part of the scheme of -things among people whose needs were as few as those of the South-Sea -islanders. Saints and philosophers are always teaching us that the most -desirable state is that in which wants are few, and their indulgence is -still more limited. But it seems to me that where that condition holds, -the few necessaries of life become so much more desirable and so much -more difficult to obtain that, instead of a release from slavery, -slavery is even more rigorous. Our pictured impressions of the tropics -are full of breadfruit-trees and fruits growing in abundance without -labor. But quite the contrary is the case. The fear of famine and the -insecurity of life have dampened the joys of many a wild man, and the -pressure of population has only too frequently resulted in infanticide -and cannibalism. - -When, therefore, I heard that there was to be a native bazaar across -the Rewa River, in Vita Levu, the largest island of the Fiji group, I -defied the yellow sun that hung overhead, secured a complement of guides -in two Fijian boys who were more afraid of me than they were of their -chief, and set out for real primitive excitement. We were pulled across -the river on a punt secured to each shore by a cable, and made our way -up the banks in the direction of the sugar-mill. - -It was noon when we arrived at the fair-grounds. Aside from long wooden -tables that stood beneath arbors of palms, there was nothing completed -by way of preparation. A few straggling natives wended their ways from -hut to hut of slab-board and thatch, their quiet manners reminding me of -the monks in monasteries, absorbed in their duties. Gradually, venders -arrived; the tables began to sprout with banana-leaves and flowers. -Strings of berry beads were displayed, like fish out of -water,--appealing eyes of the plant world asking why, with nature so -near at hand, they needed to be torn from life. Bottles of liquid fats, -like capsules of the castor-plant, stood ensconced in green-leaved -packages containing sweet messes that left the eager natives, old and -young, literally web-handed. - -The goods displayed, the crowds from the surrounding huts arrived, drawn -by an irresistible charm. A Fijian never came with his mate; maiden -never approached on her lover's arm. Though they all appeared -indiscriminately, there was no obvious grouping of friends with friends. -They moved like shoals of fish that had got the scent or the sight of -food. It was a crowd with every evidence of cohesiveness except that of -companionship. - -To me there was something pathetic in that crowd. An outsider by all the -laws of centuries of contrary development, I had no means of entering -their emotional lives, of guessing the promptings which made them leave -privacy for herding. I had only the most outward signs to go by, and I -thought what spiritless, barren lives they must lead who could be -brought together on such an occasion in so casual a mood. For aside from -the bottles of oil, the strings of beads, and the wrappings of stuff in -banana-leaves, there was nothing from my view to make a hundred or two -hundred thousand pounds of sluggish flesh rise from its mats and dare -the piercing sun. - -Yet the women, who did most of the selling, with their unkempt hair and -their crude alien costumes, awoke to something universal under the game -of barter they were here called upon to play crudely. Rummage-sales and -carnivals, dog-shows and dances, likewise change the glitter of blue -eyes and pink cheeks; and I smiled at the thought of Lao-tsze and -Tolstoy, who between 650 B. C. and A. D. 1910 preached the ugliness of -trade. - -When the play of barter and exchange had stirred these primitive folk to -a little more life, they quite naturally sought a way of giving it off -again; but so foreign did a real bazaar seem to them that they entered -the recreations with little zest. In these days of savage sedateness, -with trade becoming more and more a feature and a pastime of life, it is -not surprising that the natives attend with spirits in abeyance. -Following the great exchange of beads and oils and edible messes, the -crowds moved out to a more open space, under the clear sun. There, with -the aid of a native band, under the conductorship of a Catholic priest, -they made merry, with strange sounds and more familiar dances. But it -all seemed perfunctory and not without a touch of sadness. The Fijian -voice at its best is rich, deep, and stately. One cannot imagine it -attuned to singing jazz or rag-time. It seems exclusively made for -hymns. In consequence, the crowds could not rise to the occasion, and -stood behind the entertainers like so many solemn Japanese in the -presence of royalty. - - -3 - -But lest the little pig who stays at home may really starve to death, -the world sometimes indulges him a little by letting the market go to -him, and never have I seen a market more picturesque and more -self-possessed than one of this sort that visited our steamer as she lay -anchored in the harbor of Manila. - -All about us during the night had crept Filipino lighters, their -gunwales capped with low-arched mats. They hugged the steamer like a -brood of younglings waiting for their food. They were to receive the -cargo of boxes and canned goods from New York and other markets of the -world. - -It was still cool. A native Filipino woman squatted on the ridge of a -lighter top between two men. She was enjoying her morning cigarette. As -she caught my gaze her face beamed flirtatiously. Then and there I tried -my tongue for the first time in the real use of Spanish, and failed. As -the morning advanced, children crept from the darkness of the covered -lighters; charcoal pails were fanned into a glow like that of the dawn; -and roosters, tied to the boats by one leg with a string, crowed, their -contempt, protest, or indifference to a gluttonous and unjust world. - -As the hour of breakfast's needs arrived, a thin, long canoe came up, -insinuating its way among the many more capacious crafts, quietly, -slowly, like a thing just stirring with the new day. On its narrow -bottom flopped dozens of little fish in agony, dying of too much air. -They looked like so many bars of silver when they lay dead. A basket of -bananas and a few simple vegetables comprised the rest of the stock of -these aquatic tradespeople, this man and his woman. She squatted -comfortably, looking from side to side for customers, while he pushed -the canoe along with easy strokes. They did not cry their wares, and -handed their stores out as though known to all for fair dealing and -fearless of competition. Thus with the freshness of morning air they -stimulated this little world to action. - -By noon that day I was slipping through narrow streets, avoiding the -moldy shops of the main street, seeking out the men and women who make -life interesting. The coolness of the morning was gone, crowded out by -steaming noon. The casual, gift-like manners of those two aquatic -traders was now a thing not even to expect, for I was in the midst of -civilized trade. Unexpectedly, I came upon the public market. - -What a different world! The hand of the law was in evidence. Here, -despite the general confused appearance, the concrete drains and stone -tables gave an assurance of at least periodical cleansing. Here the laws -of barter held men tied to fair dealing, as the roosters were tied to -those lighters. Venders make a mad dash for freedom through cheating, -but were jerked back to honesty by the bargain-hunter who watches the -scales and knows the laws. Values are measured by the size of the pupil -or the intensity of the gaze; if eagerness is manifest, up goes the -price. - -A Buddhist, looking upon a market like this, if he were unaccustomed to -pagan ways, would shrink from the sight as we would at a cannibal feast. -Here the world was calmly cruel. All the things we eat lay in their -naked ghastliness,--the thin streams of blood, the bulging eyes of -little creatures, the stiff inflexibility of limbs once quick and -supple. And the men and women were unconsciously affected by the scene. - -For nothing stimulates the snarling quarrelsomeness of human beings more -than the sight of food or the fear of imposition. The appeals of the -sellers were mingled with the bargainings and bickerings of the buyers, -a competition among both to best one another. Two women stood over a -fish-bin engaged in a matching of wits that might well have been envied -by filibustering senators. The debate was over a tray of tiny fish. - -A white woman, firmly knit in body and in character, made her way -through the many aisles, purchasing with a precision as clearly -civilized as it was silent. A Spanish woman, dark and dashing, swung -through the same aisles like a little whirlwind. There was brilliance in -her eyes, and brilliancy in the gems on her fingers and in her ears. She -was exceedingly well dressed, buxom, and attractive, but every purchase -was made with a gust of austerity and command quite uncalled for. She -bullied the fisherwoman, she bullied her hackman, she bullied the -servant who had come to carry her purchases for her; and then she sat -down at one of the little restaurant tables and ate the strange -concoctions with a dexterity obviously native to her. She was a -half-caste, but the Spanish vein was strong in her blood, and Spanish -passion actuated her. She got into her ancient-looking hackney-coach -with flash and gusto; but not, however, before she had gained her point -in the matter of an extra piece of fat upon which she was insisting. She -was the little pig who had roast beef because she knew how to market -economically. - - -4 - -But the little pig that has none, and the one who cries, _wee! wee! -wee!_ all the way home, in the Far East, is like the Greek about to be -ostracized by the community in the agora. Indeed, he has been ostracized -in Japan for hundreds of years, and even modernization and imperial -edict have changed his status but little. He is known as the _eta_. To -him has been allotted the task of attending to dead animals, whether -edible or not, and though his touch profanes the lowest classes of -Japan, his labor keeps the country clean after a fashion. Much more. Not -only do these outcasts remove dead carcasses from a careless Oriental -world, but in one place at least they have been given the sweetest of -all professions,--that of selling flowers with which to decorate the -_tokonoma_, the most honorable place in the Japanese home. And all -through the day, if one is not too much engrossed in the marts of the -foreign settlement, one will hear the voice of these flower-girls -calling plaintively, "_Hana! hana-i! hana-iro!_" Flowers are the things -that stand between her and the degradation of her class, because for -years the shrine of a loyal servant of the neglected emperor who was -struggling against a greater and more powerful group of disloyal -Japanese had been kept fresh with flowers by these _eta_, or outcasts, -who did not know whose grave they cherished. - - [Illustration: FIJIAN VILLAGE - One is content with its peaceful aspects] - - [Illustration: LITTLE FISH WENT TO THIS MARKET - Before Japan woke up - © Harper Brothers] - - [Illustration: A FIJIAN BAZAR IS A RED LETTER DAY] - - [Illustration: GOOD LUCK MUST ATTEND THESE TRADERS AT THE DOORS OF THE - CATHEDRALS IN MANILA] - -Otherwise the market in Japan is in the hands of Japanese now in good -social standing, men who before the opening of the country numbered -among those not much above the outcasts. To be in trade was worse in -Japan than in England, and when one watches the behavior of men at -markets, one is not surprised. One who takes the average trader at his -word in Japan--not the big concerns, to be sure--deserves to cry, _wee! -wee! wee!_ all the way home. - -While all over the world woman goes to market, in Japan the market goes -to her. She has had to have most of her daily supplies brought to her -door by the cobbler, the bean-curd-maker, or the fisherman. In -consequence, except when she has servants, she has been deprived of the -educational advantages of market gossip, and has been kept in her sphere -more easily. She will be the last to come forward to freedom. - -Not so the men. All the social advantages of barter and exchange are -theirs. They communicate their experiences to one another at four -o'clock in the morning over the fish-tub. They test their wits and their -eyes with the auctioneer who starts them running in competition with one -another over an attractive specimen from the sea. Or the more -imaginative resist confusion in the pit of the stock-market, where they -keep in touch with their entire country and with the world. They are -becoming, in consequence, more efficient and more practised in -world-wide ethics of business. - -Yet within the last few years public markets have sprung into vogue in -Japan, and I look toward a revolution in the relations of the sexes, for -no woman who goes to market remains long an obedient and submissive -little soul. This is obvious to any one who wanders into the market of -Shanghai. There one can see the status of the various women who -replenish their household supplies and the most humble, it seemed to me, -was the woman of Japan. She moved about like _Priscilla_ suddenly -brought back to life and sent to compete with the modern American woman. - - -5 - -In ancient Greece, of course, no woman of refinement went marketing -herself. She sent her slaves. But in modern New Zealand not only are -there no slaves, but there is no one to do any personal service of that -nature. In the old days, in Europe, the market was the general -rendezvous where life played its pranks at all levels. The religious -festivals also afforded dramatic pageantry, and sometimes the two -interplayed with each other. But in our modern times, when the public -market is largely supplanted by the great department store, shielded, -protected, organized into a minimum of human interest and a maximum of -efficiency, the charm of the market is no more. So, too, our festivals -have surrendered much of their artistry. This was somewhat revived -during the war. New Zealand, because of the still evident atmosphere of -pioneer life, the lack of interlocking systems of communication, and its -distance from the most advanced places in the world, still affords some -of that simple charm of a life one reads about. The streets of the main -cities nightly resemble something one has dimly heard of and never -hoped to see. The people have laid aside all thought of business or -barter. There is in their attitude something of that suppressed -amazement that revealed the thoughts of the South-Sea islanders when -asked to thrill to an alien band conducted by the Catholic priest. Both -the whites and the primitives seemed to recall that once they knew how -to celebrate. - -Queens Street of Auckland was decorated one day, and booths were erected -on which simple products were offered for sale. A parade of two -fire-department machines, a number of men in Chinese costumes, others -painted and foolscapped, boys with enormous masks, and girls in -dominoes, marched through the city, and in their wake was a rush of just -plain pedestrians. Other than that nothing happened. From five to ten -thousand people jammed the street. The crowd was essentially like every -other crowd in the world,--the same in gregariousness, the same in -hunting after pleasure that abideth but a moment. - -One evening the events were more thrilling. Sulky races, men driven by -girls, and May-pole dances round the street lamps that stand between the -tram-lines gave a suggestion of antiquity to the city. The only -difference between these performances and those in the upper regions of -the tropics was in the absence of palms and green arbors. In place of -wide spaces were narrow streets, lined with brick buildings and studded -with iron poles whose only blossoms were glowing electric lights, and -whose only branches were pairs of stiff arms holding the trolley wires. - -So, too, the market side of this carnival was a sharp contrast to the -fairs and markets in more modernized communities. Britons are -essentially traders, but they trade by rule. Even when they play -trading, as at this carnival, they are more constrained. What little was -done to allay the sober spirit was revived by the element of barter. The -gambling spirit, checked in normal times, was stimulated. Raffles, -wheels, and rings were employed to extract coins from the under-zealous. -The only abandon was in the confetti, which was scattered generously -about in the throngs. - -In the booths conservation was the key-note. Everything, from motor-cars -to potatoes, was auctioned and raffled. A man from Coney Island, -accustomed to that hysterical release of emotion, would have felt that -he was attending not a carnival, but an open market in which only the -basic necessities of life were in demand. - -Not so in Napier, New Zealand, or in Sydney, Australia. There they seem -as different from their British ancestry as Hottentots are from -Polynesians. There men and women know how to make merry in ways almost -unforgettable, and to ripple the smooth surface of sedate civilization -with lovely flirtations that would weaken the most stoic of mortals and -paragons of propriety. - -Otherwise, in all New Zealand, life goes along in its leisurely, -businesslike way. Men attend horse-sales with great zest; salesmen rush -across the country in their little motor-cars, bringing the wares of the -world's elaborate markets to the doors of stations or ranches; -auctioneers dash hither and thither to confuse, if they can, farmers -into the exchange of sheep or cattle. - -While tramping along the road to Wellington, I was overtaken by a -touring-car. - -"Want a ride?" asked the driver. And when I mounted, he asked: "Seeing -our little country, are you? Nothing like it in the world. Ever been to -a sheep auction? Want to come along?" And the next thing I knew we were -rushing over the dirt road toward Onga Onga. We drew up at the -accommodation house with a sudden jolt. - -The guest-room was filled with farmers. Sallow, hollow-cheeked, with -voices that seemed to plow through their brains for thoughts, their -conversation was labored. Dinner was devoured in semi-silence. - -But when they got to the stockyards, they became more alert. The -auctioneer mounted the fence like an orator. He began cackling like a -bewitched hen. The farmers moved about, feeling sheep offered for sale, -the more expert glancing at them with pride in judgment. One sleek -farmer, whose elaborate motor-car stood by the roadside, scrutinized the -yards as one who might buy the entire lot as a whim. - -The psychology of the auction-sale crowd is distinct from that of the -bargain-hunter. The latter believes himself to be the winner because of -the confessed misjudgment of the trader. But the auction-buyer moves -about quietly, makes his own judgments of values, exchanges opinions -only with his associates, and waits his chances. At a bargain-counter -every one rushes for the thing he wants; here the very thing most wanted -is ignored, as though to lead other hunters off the scent. As soon as -the sale was over, men fell apart, like boiling rice in a pot when -suddenly douched with cold water. - -So far has civilized man made certain the processes by which he secures -the satisfaction of his wants that one begins to wonder why men like to -buy and sell at all. They are like the artisans and the mechanists who -have become specialized and divorced from contact with the living, -finished product. So much so is this true that much of New Zealand's -real marketing is done in London. Once the manager of a station wired -his London principals: - - SNOWING DURING LAMBING - -The principals, according to New Zealand's version, replied: - - STOP LAMBING AT ONCE - - -6 - -Wander where one may this wide world over, one finds that the places to -which tourists are drawn mostly are the markets. There one finds the -richest reward for curiosity. The traveler in foreign lands, especially -if he is alone and somewhat homesick, knows no pleasanter thrill than -the sight upon the pier, amid cargoes from every known quarter of the -globe, of a box of canned goods stamped in black-stenciled letters with -the seven signs of bliss, "NEW YORK." - -When lost in that good old town, it had never occurred to him that ships -trail the seven seas carrying canned soups and fruits and vegetables to -black-faced, sprawling-toed savages. But out there in the wide spaces of -the globe he realizes how strikingly alike are the alimentary failings -of mankind. Lost in reminiscences, when on Broadway again, he thinks -himself forever cut off from romance, until he happens to turn into a -side street, a public market, or even a small chain-store grocery. There -he finds that in a way romance is not dead. The sedate housewife permits -herself on occasion to flirt with the butcher or the baker; incidents -the on-looker has not thought possible prevail here as well as in the -markets of the Orient. And packages with the imprint of Japan, of China, -coffee from South America, awaken in him memories irresistible. He goes -away wishing he were again off there where New York seems like romance -to him. The day will never come when silks and spices and marts will not -conjure up in the minds of the most prosaic the very essence of -romance. - - - - -BOOK THREE - -DISCUSSION OF THE POLITICAL PROBLEMS INVOLVING AUSTRALASIA, ASIA AND -AMERICA - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII - -AUSTRALASIA - - -New Zealand and Australia are to-day the only spots in the world wherein -the white race may expand without encroaching upon already existing and -developed races. The extent to which they are taking advantage of their -opportunities, the extent to which they are enlarging the scope and the -quality of progressive civilization is the measure of their right to the -maintenance of their exclusive "White-Australasia" policy. - -I confess at the outset that I am at a loss for an adequate argument -against this policy. Narrow, selfish, dog-in-the-manger-like as it may -be, we are faced with the other question: From time out of mind China -and India have had two of the largest slices of the world's surface. -What have they done with them? How can India and Asia, having littered -up their domains with human beings, ask that more of the world be turned -over to them for a repetition of the same ghastly reproduction? They -have made it impossible, with their degradation of womanhood and their -exaltation of caste and ancestry, for new life to start with anything -like a decent chance. Is there not every reason to believe that -permitted to take up quarters in the open spaces of the white man's -world, they will do the same? - -True that the white man, in both of these cases, has wrested his lands -from existing native tribes. But it was also true that, in New Zealand -at least, and through Polynesia, the natives were immigrants who in -their turn imposed on yet more primitive natives, as did the Japanese. -Furthermore, no race on earth has been given a better opportunity to -make good than has the Maori in New Zealand. The Australoid seems on the -whole not equipped for the effort. There have been cases of Australian -blacks making good. There is the case of the savage who after receiving -an education became a Shakespearean scholar. But the exception only -proves the rule. Furthermore, though there is bitter opposition to any -white man marrying a native black woman in Australia--an opposition that -is calling for legal action from some quarters so that such marriage -will be in future impossible--still, the White-Australia policy is not -aimed against the blacks. These will either take hold of themselves and -make good, in time, or will die out. Be that as it may, there is no -answer to the Asiatic demand for admission based on the argument about -the white man's plunder. - -The only other argument is that, if this is the case, the white man must -get out of Asia. There too, it seems to me, is a weak spot. The white -man in Asia--as man to man--does not lower the standard of the -civilization of the native; nor is he ever likely to migrate in numbers -large enough to create a problem. Only politically, where a -leeching-process exists, where native industries are destroyed by cheap -foreign products (like that of cotton goods, which were forced upon the -Indians by the British, to the utter ruination of the Indian textiles) -has the havoc been serious. That is a real argument, and it is up to the -Asiatics so to adjust their own affairs and to come together as to -"oust" the white man,--a problem for the natives to solve for -themselves. - -There is still another consideration. What of Japan? Japan has national -unity, she is advancing. Is she, then, to be made an exception in the -White-Australia policy? The answer is, Japan must do as she would be -done by, an answer which will be enlarged upon in the chapter dealing -with Japan. - -Having thus focused on the negative phases of this discussion, let us -see what is written on the inner side of the Australasian shield. Before -we can at all understand the motives that move Australasia in the -direction she is going, and foresee the future, we shall have to know by -what channels she came to be what she is, what ideals are parents to her -being, and what ideals are her offspring. - -Strange as it may seem, Britain's interest in her south Pacific -possessions have always been more or less mild. When the question of -annexing New Zealand came up in 1839, the Duke of Wellington said in -Parliament that Great Britain already had too many colonies. It is -common knowledge that she gave them as much rope as they would take, -that when she had the opportunity of acquiring the Samoan group in 1889 -she let it slip, and that she took the Fiji Islands only after their -chief, Thakambau, offered them in liquidation of unjust debts to -America. In other words, it was New Zealand and Australia that held on -to the mother country, instead of the reverse. And in order to -understand the spirit of the Dominion and the Commonwealth, we must -consider the reasons for their clinging to "home." - -Australia was first settled by men convicted of offences against -Britain's then crude sense of justice; but New Zealand was devised as a -colonial scheme under which every feature of British life was to be -transplanted. When Europeans came to America, political and religious -freedom was sought. When Great Britain went to New Zealand, eighty-five -years ago, society was politically and religiously free, but industrial -organization was awaiting an ambitious hand. In New Zealand it was not, -as Havelock Ellis puts it so vividly, "the roving of a race with -piratical and poetic instincts invading old England where few stocks -arrived save by stringent selection of the sea." They did not come -because of romantic longing, nor to escape oppression and restriction. -The story of the development of New Zealand, from settlement and -conquest of the Maories to the beginning of that legislation which has -made it famous, is the story of conservatism. When the first shipload of -colonists set out from England, their prospectus was a document of -conservatism. The aim of the projectors was to transplant every phase -and station and class of English life, to build in the other end of the -world another England. - -Doubtless the fathers of this scheme were seeking to overcome the fear -of forced transplantation which had made of Australia a land of horror -in anticipation, and hence they spread broadcast accounts of the sort of -colony New Zealand was to be, which made it alluring. But such are the -erring tendencies of human nature that Australia, intended to be the -land of one of the worst forms of indentured and penal servitude and the -perpetuation of unprogressiveness, set the pace for the entire world in -untried liberalism in industry, while New Zealand, likewise advanced, -has developed her latent conservatism in regard to imperialism to a -marked degree. - - [Illustration: THE MOUNTAINS ARE CALLED THE REMARKABLES - Farmer M---- had the reputation for being the worst boss in the - Wakatipu (New Zealand)] - - [Illustration: THE BLUE MOUNTAINS OF AUSTRALIA - Seen from this side they look more like gorges] - - [Illustration: AUSTRALIA DENUDING HERSELF - Photo from Brown Bros.] - -For apart from the experiments in labor legislation, New Zealand has -never lost any of the dependence on England. She seems to be afraid of -her isolation, lest, deprived of communication with the world, she -should be forced into a condition such as that in which the white man -found the heliolithic Maories. Canada might become a nation separate -from Britain; so might Australia. But New Zealand has not even that -proximity to a continent which made England what she is, for she is -twelve hundred miles from her nearest neighbor. In consequence, the New -Zealanders have always maintained a strong leaning toward the homeland, -whereas in Australia early resentment alienated the settlers. The New -Zealander to-day is the exact replica of the Englishman as we knew him; -the Australian is a compromise between an Englishman and an American. -The modern Australian on the east coast of the continent is as little an -Englishman as possible. I have heard any number of Australians resent -being called English. The last "convict" was brought to Australia in -1840; yet the Australians are very conscious of this stigma on them. The -other day an English engineer told me that in Subiaco, one of the -suburbs of Perth, it was impossible for one to join the tennis-club -whose grandfather was born in Australia--lest that ignoble ancestor -should have passed on some of the "taint" to his unfortunate offspring. -Yet in the eyes of enlightened legislation, the taint involved is of -course questionable. - -It is therefore not to be wondered at that Australia kept growing -farther and farther from England. In the early days each settlement -maintained its own government, and so great was the jealousy among the -settlements that they sought to bar one another even in the construction -of railroads. Victoria built a broad-gage line, New South Wales, a -narrower, and Queensland the narrowest,--not mere engineering accident -due to any notion of superiority of the special line, but clearly and -openly to make communication of one with another difficult. But by 1900 -the settlements had outgrown their childish squabbling, and they became -federated into the Commonwealth of Australia. - -Though this brought them together within Australia, it awoke New Zealand -to the danger of being drawn into that union against her will. "The -Melbourne Age" prophesied that in a quarter of a century they would be -federated. "The fate and destiny of Australia and New Zealand were the -same and they should be united in the defense of these distant lands -that were held by people of the same thought and same political system." -But there never has been much love lost between them. New Zealanders -have been anathema in Australia, and Australians hadn't a ghost of a -chance of getting a job in New Zealand. Nor was this a matter of -different standards of living, except that they both discriminated -against the Englishman. And not without reason, for the type of -Englishman who set out for the Antipodes was one who generally had -nothing to sustain him at home. To the Australasians he was virtually a -foreigner, and foreigners of any sort are few in the far South, and are -encouraged still less. Yet there is excessive pride in the fact that -something like 98 per cent. of the inhabitants are British. - -In view of the economic departures they have taken from European -conceptions, this would seem a paradox. But even among the workers, the -psychological effect of "home" is apparent to the most casual observer. -Though material security has been assured by the State, the result of -much of the legislation in the Antipodes seems to me to have been -something akin to the class system in England. The worker has become -legally recognized as a worker, he has been given a minimum wage and -protection against imposition, but any effort on the part of labor to -crystallize its ideals is still obnoxious to the masses. There is not -even any of the impulse found among American workers toward that rise in -the social scale which is essentially bourgeois. There is a most decided -tendency to accept the status of worker in the good old English fashion. -Working-people do not regard themselves as "gentlemen" or as "ladies," -these terms in New Zealand having the same significance they have in the -old country. Deference to one who does not look like a laborer is -pronounced, and the average workman is more ambitious for the -"gentleman" than he is for himself. This spirit obtains much more in New -Zealand than in Australia. - -Than dignity in labor nothing in the world could be more worthy. But if -that dignity spells merely content, it lays society open to a renewal of -the very class divisions industrial progress has sought to remove. The -laborer is too content to remain a laborer actively to enter the lists -against injustice. And in a short time you have those who refused to be -doped by the talk of virtue in labor on the top, and the laborer at the -bottom. - -Yet, socially and outwardly, there are not the gaps between the classes -in New Zealand that are found in Australia. There are no great -restaurants and pleasure places for the rich. All people visit the -dainty little tea-rooms, and often workingmen come dressed in their -working-clothes, with unwashed hands. In Dunedin the proprietor of one -of the best tea-rooms handed out little cards to laborers with "Your -Patronage is Undesirable" on them, but the public howled his practice -out of existence. This is largely because the level of life in New -Zealand is more even. The wealthy do not display themselves over-much, -and the most obvious club life is that among the workers. Workingmen's -clubs are equipped with very good libraries and reading-rooms, but also -with tremendous circular bars fully as much frequented as the -book-shelves. - -The result is that though, from a progressive point of view, New Zealand -is outwardly tame and sober, from a consideration of health, the -standard of life is universally good. Any great influx of peoples with -standards of living that would of necessity demoralize this normality, -would give the country a setback which might take generations to -overcome. On the other hand, though the present state of affairs might -continue indefinitely, unless New Zealand gains in numbers, her place -among the influential members of the Pacific Ocean nations is certain to -be strained, if not jeopardized. - -Torn between these economic enthusiasms of a small country and the -restraining influences of a tradition that is essentially imperialistic, -New Zealand has a pretty hard time of it. Naturally enough, she is -holding on to her beloved mother country with an excessive amount of -talk, while at the same time nibbling away at the ties that bind her. -She is in the hardest position of any of the Pacific countries. By -tradition adoring England and scorning Australia, emulating the one and -trying to keep peace with the other, realizing that proximity makes her -more than a brother of her continental kin, looking toward America for -applause and assistance, New Zealand is shaping a policy that will -probably become a patchwork of colors,--and most interesting to look at. - -But Australia is cutting the waters with the force of a triple-screw -turbine. And toward Australia we shall have to look for the leadership -of British policy in the Pacific. Canada is too close to Europe and -America ever to become the real leader in the destinies of the Pacific. -The truth of this statement becomes manifest when one watches the inner -workings of the island continent. Though New Zealand is more widely -known for its great liberalism, there is really more freedom of thought -in Australia, more freedom from traditional thinking, more boldness of -expression. That was manifest during the war when the conscription issue -came up. The New Zealand Legislature simply enacted a conscription -measure. In Australia, the Government tried twice to force it through by -way of a referendum, and twice it failed. William Morris Hughes, the -Prime Minister, had gone to England to attend a conference, promising -that conscription would never be proposed. He was wedded to -voluntaryism. When he returned, Australians suspected him of having -conscription up his sleeve. There was an outburst of indignation. -Australians charged him with having had his head turned by fawning lords -and ladies at "home" and with sidling up to a title himself. Australians -are not very keen about rank; in that matter they are more like -Americans. Hughes nearly committed political suicide by declaring -himself in favor of conscription. It is said that he was warned by labor -not to try to put it through without a referendum. What happened then -illuminates the Australian character. - - [Illustration: AUSTRALIA IS NOT ALL DESERT AND PLAIN - South Australian Government Photo] - - [Illustration: PEOPLE ARE SMALL AMIDST AUSTRALIA'S GIANT TREE FERNS - See the group on the rocks at lower right-hand corner - Photo from Brown Bros.] - -For weeks the country was in as wild a state as pending civil war -could produce anywhere. The feeling was tense. Conflicts and wrangling -occurred everywhere. Up to the last night of the discussion it seemed as -though there would be war. Then came the day of the vote. The quiet and -the orderliness was one of the greatest boosts for democracy ever -staged. Everything was bathed in sunny restfulness. Workingmen lay upon -the grass of the public domain like seals. When they talked it was about -anything but conscription. Conscription lost. It lost a second time the -year after. Two main factors stood out against the sending of more men -to Europe,--labor and Asia. - -Almost immediately after the referendum the coal strike occurred. The -situation became grave. To conserve fuel for industrial purposes, the -Government prohibited the use of electricity and gas except during -specified hours. Places of business on the main streets were lit with -kerosene lamps, movies were closed, the ferry stations stood in -semi-darkness. People conversed as though certain doom were impending. -Things looked forlorn indeed. Shops and factories were closing down, -throwing thousands out of work. One heard remarks about things heading -for a revolution. - -Australia is reputed to have done wonders in the way of solving the -problems of capital and labor, but there are as many strikes in that -Commonwealth as in any other state. The country is crystallizing quickly -and is bound to become more and more conservative. Despite the worthy -democracy to be found there, every public utterance seemed to bear -itself as though made by a lord. One is constantly aware of the presence -of the crown, even though it has been removed, like the sense of -pressure behind one's ears after having taken off one's spectacles. For -notwithstanding its democracy, Australia is bound up in the monarchy. -Revolution was hinted at every now and then, but at its mention one also -heard the creaking of the bones of empire. It was evident and clear, -though hardly spoken. One felt the security which comes from the -accumulation of tradition and custom, but it was not comfortable. Even -in Australia change seems to be regarded as synonymous with destruction. -A marvelous structure, this British Empire, and fit for the residence of -any human being,--but not an American. He is too dynamic, too restless, -too eager for creation. - -And here is where we arrive at the point of meeting and of parting in -our relations with Australia. America has determined upon keeping the -country "white" against the invasion of Asia. So has Australia. But -America has the inclusive tendencies of an empire; Australia the -exclusive. America is heterogeneous; Australia is homogeneous. American -strikes are regarded as importations, but what about the strikes in -Australia? America has a population of 110,000,000 in an area but a -little larger than Australia, while Australia has only a paltry -4,500,000. America is trying to amalgamate the diverse races it already -has without taking in such people as the Asiatics, whose racial -characters are so unyielding. But Australia is herself unyielding. -Homogeneous as her population is, she has great difficulty in keeping it -from disagreement. With a vast region not likely to be touched by labor -in generations, Australia uses the same arguments against outsiders -coming in as does America in regions already well developed. - -Keeping Australia "white" is the keynote of all Australian politics. For -this reason half of the leaders waged war against Germany; while to keep -Australia white, the other half stayed conscription. Labor is at the -bottom of the "white" Australia policy. The most serious problem the -country has to face is her insufficient population. Yet what labor is to -be found there receives no more consideration than anywhere else in the -world. It is no better off than elsewhere. There is less poverty simply -because poverty is synonymous with over-population. To protect itself -against invasion of cheap (not necessarily Asiatic) labor, Australia -passed the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901. To speak of restricting -immigration into a country containing only four and a half million seems -suicidal, but Australia went at it without any trepidation and declared -for the exclusion from "immigration into the Commonwealth ... any person -who fails to pass the dictation test; that is to say, who, when an -officer dictates to him not less than fifty words in any prescribed -language in the presence of the officer" fails to pass in the judgment -of the immigration officer. This is the crux of the Act; other than -that, restriction is placed only on those diseased or incapable. In -other words, this restriction places a person failing in the test on a -level with the criminal, lunatic, and the leper. It is obviously a -snare, for it means that an officer may spring any language he may -choose on an immigrant. He may ask a Frenchman to write Greek, or a -Greek Spanish, failure to comply giving the officer the power to exclude -the applicant. The law has kept Australia white, but with pallor rather -than purity. - -Veiled and unveiled, this White-Australia policy was at the bottom of -the failure of conscription. The spirit which dominated both camps was -fear of invasion. Argued the pro-conscriptionist: "If we do not stand -behind the empire and the Allies in this war, Prussia or whoever may -become her ally in future will swoop down upon us." Argued the -anti-conscriptionist: "If that is the danger, then let us keep our men -at home to protect us against this possible peril." The antis were more -open. They pictured an invasion following the sending of men to Europe, -and pointed to the importation of coolies for labor in Europe. One -member of Parliament was fined a thousand dollars and made to enter into -"cognizance and comply with the provisions of the Regulation" because he -specified whom they were afraid of,--Japan. And to add grist to their -mill, a hundred natives of the island of Malta (British subjects, mind -you) appeared at the beautiful front door of Australia, Sydney Harbor, -and asked for admission. They did not land. Even Indians are excluded, a -deposit of five hundred dollars being required of any admitted, to -guarantee his return. A transport has been fitted out in Java with -native labor, but Australian workers refused to load it till the -fittings were torn out and done over by Australian labor. - -Now, the White-Australia policy is, if you care to stretch a point, a -humane attempt to avoid conflict. The Australians say to themselves and -to the world: "We would rather call you names across the sea than -scratch your eyes or pull your ears over a wooden fence." They point to -the American Civil War and the present problem in the South as an -example. They wish to save themselves future operations by avoiding the -cancer and are willing to bear the burden of retarded development for -this promised peace. Let us see how it worked out. - -It is interesting to note that in 1915, 890 Germans were admitted to -Australia, and only 423 Japanese; in 1914, 3,395 Germans and 387 -Japanese. The number of Germans for the two years previous was virtually -the same, whereas that of Japanese fluctuated from 698 in 1912 to 822 in -1913, and 387 in 1914. From 1908 to 1915 the Germans entered in -increasing numbers, while the Japanese decreased. Chinese gained -admission in vastly greater number than the Japanese, exceeding them by -1,500 and 2,000 yearly. On the whole the preponderance of arrivals over -the departure was seldom excessive, most of the steamers from the south -bound for the Orient being taken up by returning Asiatics. With the vast -regions of the island continent uninhabited and untouched, this movement -of Orientals is only evidence of the check the Government keeps on -invasion. The fallacy in the White-Australia policy is obvious. Its -psychological significance was pointed to above,--a tendency on the -part of Australians, though politically democrats, to revert to habits -of thought inherited from England. England is an island kingdom, but the -Englishman cannot forget this even when he has taken up his home on a -vast continent like Australia. In this day and age of steel ships and -submarines, with possibilities of the airship clear before us, for any -one to think in an insular way is to lack the common sense of a King -Canute. Australia has shown that even with an enemy recognized and -fought she has been unable to remain unified in thought, yet she thinks -that merely by excluding the Asiatic she will be able to maintain her -integrity. Capital in Australia would be willing to admit the Oriental -in order to reduce the cost of labor; but as soon as he becomes a -factor in commerce--as in the case of the Chinese furniture-makers -who exploit Chinese laborers and undersell Australian furniture -manufacturers--Capital becomes wroth and shouts for the exclusion of the -coolie. Labor, on the other hand, swaggering about the brotherhood of -man and the common cause of labor throughout the world, becomes just as -nationalistic when "foreign" labor threatens to undersell it. True that -it would be easy enough to establish a minimum wage by law, so that no -Chinese would be allowed to receive less than that wage for his work, -but the principle doesn't work out so easily. Even with a minimum wage -and an eight-hour day, the Chinese with his intense application to his -job and his manner of living would threaten the white man. But have we -not the same difficulty even among a given number of white men, where -some are ready to undersell others? Australia, the experiment-station -for labor legislation, is the last country where one would expect to -find the exclusiveness which she condemns so vigorously. She has shown -herself exclusive in her discrimination against the English workingman; -she has even been exclusive in her attitude toward her neighbor, New -Zealand (an exclusiveness, which is reciprocated, of course); and -finally and foremost, she is exclusive of Asiatic and colored people. - -This exclusiveness has left a continent with barely the fringe of it -scratched. To people like the Japanese, Chinese and Indians, this must -indeed seem the height of selfishness. True, that sparse as her -population is, Australia has done more to better the condition of her -people than has Japan or China; and there is the rub. That mere -excessive breeding gives a nation a right to invade other lands is a -principle that no decent-minded man could tolerate for a moment. Only -people to whom woman is merely a breeding-machine would advance such an -argument. And in the chapter on Japan and the Far East I shall elucidate -the basic facts in that contention for the elimination of a -White-Australia policy. - -From the Australian point of view, though admitting that hardships are -bound to result, admitting that ethically discrimination is -unprogressive, the country is faced by the danger of sheer numbers. -Idealistically the Australian policy is wrong. Individually, those of us -who know the Japanese and the Chinese would just as soon live next door -to them as to any other human beings. But as long as numbers are the -racial ideal of the East, there is no solution that would not undermine -quality if quality did not defend itself against quantity. I am ready to -admit that there are many Australians who are as inferior to the Chinese -as the coolie is to us. But the Australasian has one virtue: he does not -breed like the Oriental. - -The problem of assimilation and Australianization is intricate and -sometimes extremely unjust. There is the case of the young Chinese boy -born and brought up in Port Darwin, North Australia. In every way he is -an Australian citizen. To further his education and westernization, he -came to America to study at Harvard, and here fell in love with a -Chinese student born in Boston. Now, she is an American citizen. They -are to be married. He has every reason for wishing to return to Port -Darwin with his wife. But, says the Australian Immigration Law, you -can't come in because you're a Chinese. "But I'm an American Citizen, -and the wife of an Australian," she argues. "That doesn't matter. We -exclude Indians, who are British subjects, from entering Australia, and -we intend to exclude you. Australia is the only country in the world in -which the white race is still free to expand, and we intend to keep it -free for them." "What is America going to do about it?" I asked my -informer. "What can she do? The only thing she could do would be to come -to a clash of arms with us, and we intend to let the Chinese do their -own fighting if they want to. We won't let Japanese who are -American-born citizens enter Australia; we may seem a bit piggish about -it, but we intend to hold to our own nevertheless." This question was up -for the British Minister to decide upon, but at the time of writing no -decision has yet been arrived at. - -That injustice such as the above is bound to result is obvious. But for -generations to come the onus rests on the Orientals, and on those white -men who would profit by either cheap or untiring laborers whose minds -ask for nothing, and whose bodies are content with little. - -Though Australia's contribution to the intellectual welfare of the world -has as yet been slim, the advance in political and economic thought has -been exceedingly worth while. The freedom of the individual to go his -way in life, to develop the best that is in him, the standard of general -welfare and the quality of life as a whole so far excels the average of -Oriental social life that Australasia is justified in trying to prevent -the dilution of its concentrated comfort. We all know and admit that -both China and Japan have civilizations, intellectual and artistic, the -like of which might well be emulated in the West. But beneath it all is -the dreadful waste of human life for which China and Japan must give -answer before demanding of the West certain physical and material -advantages which we have. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX - -JAPAN AND ASIA - - -When I completed the final section of my book "Japan: Real and -Imaginary," last year, and sent it to the publisher, I was not a little -worried lest the movement of events in the Far East proceed so rapidly -that the cart upon which I was riding slip from under me and leave me to -rejoin the earth as best I could. So fast did things run that I thought -surely there would be a revolution in Japan, or at least universal -manhood suffrage, and that without doubt Japan would withdraw from -Shantung. I am afraid I shall have to confess that the wish was father -to the thought. So far nothing has happened in that intricate island -empire seriously to affect any of the generalizations in that book. Nor -have any criticisms from my Japanese friends come forward so that I -might now be able to alter my position in any way. - -However, enough has happened to make it necessary for me to extend and -enlarge upon some of the phases of the Japanese situation as they now -obtain. In my former book I handled Japan as an integer, avoiding -implications. Here I shall attempt to show how the Japanese phase of the -problem of the Pacific affects the three important elements round the -Pacific,--America, Australasia, and Asia. Under that head I shall have -to begin where I left off in "Japan: Real and Imaginary," with the -question of emperor-worship and its natural offspring, Pan-Asianism and -the so-called Monroe Doctrine of Asia; with the ingrowing phases of it, -democracy in Japan, and the Open Door without; with Japan's new -mandates and what she is doing with them; with the fortification of the -Bonin Islands and the Pescadores. - -At the very outset, let me crystallize in one short paragraph the -essence of the whole situation. We have in Japan now a heterogeneous -nation whose ideals are essentially those of imperialism, the political -grip on the people being based on the worship of the emperor. The -outward consequence of this is that the entire nation is fairly united -upon the questions that affect the nation as a whole, such as -Pan-Asianism, the leadership of Asia. But if that were all, Japanese -rulers would have things pretty much their own way. This strange -consequence results, however,--that having been stimulated to feeling -that a Japanese is the most superior person on earth, the populace, in -this pride, is demanding greater recognition for themselves as -individuals. Hence that which the military and naval parties in Japan -win in their hold upon the people through increased pride of race, they -lose in the enhanced difficulty which comes from a restive population. -Added to which are the numerous alien elements that aggression has -inherited,--a rebellious Korea and Formosa, a boycotting China, and a -native element that sees itself being flaunted by world powers and -unable to obtain recognition of racial equality. - -It is Japan's misfortune that she is still unable to live down her -reputation. With all her might she is trying to stand up to the world as -a man, and not as a pretty boy such as she has been regarded heretofore. -Hence, it is necessary, that after having paragraphed the make-up of -Japan, I do the same with the attitude of the world toward Japan. -Wherever I have gone I have been asked a certain type of question that -seems to me to hold the mirror up to Japan. The questions are generally -these: What business is it of ours, after all, what Japan does in Asia? -Isn't it only the conceit of the white man that makes him regard himself -as superior to the Japanese? Isn't it true that the Japanese haven't -any room for their surplus population? Or, the more knowing, those who -have read up on the subject--like the man who signed a contract with a -publisher to produce four boys' books at once, one of which was on -Shintoism in Japan--assume this attitude: "Let them adore their -emperors; it's a charming little peculiarity." There is still a third -group. It belongs to the adolescent class, to the age of boys who -threaten to lick other boys with their little finger, or "I'll fight you -with my right hand tied behind my back," and has been fed by the -romancers who portrayed everything Japanese as petite and charming. The -_Miles Gloriosus_, suffering from political second childhood, asserts: -"America could wipe the floor with Japan with one hand, just as she -could Ecuador." This statement was made by an Englishman with remarkably -wide international experience. - -Now, until Japan lives down this reputation she will be forced to make -as big a showing of her might as is safe, and until then we shall -doubtless have ample reason for shouting for an increased navy and an -increased army. In other words, as long as we continue to publish the -impression that Japan need not be regarded seriously, so long will Japan -have to continue to convey the impression that she might become a -menace. To deny that Japan is a disconcerting problem is to stick one's -head in the sand. But Japan is no more of a menace to us than we are to -her. Japan is not simply going to walk across the Pacific and slap us in -the face. If any such catastrophe takes place over there, it will be a -conflict. "A conflict supposes a violent collision, a meeting of force -against force; the unpremeditated meeting of one or more persons in a -violent or hostile manner" with another, according to Crabb. On the -other hand, it is equally true that those who urge and stimulate war -talk with Japan are playing into the hands of special interests that are -too narrow in their thinking and too broad in their avarice, and make -war inevitable. - -There is only one solution, and that is the presentation of facts. But -facts alone are sometimes worse than figures. They lie like a trooper. -Hence we are in the habit of saying: It is an honest fact. Facts are the -most irresponsible things in the world, and without the motives and the -spirit that underlie every circumstantial thing in life, they are the -source of all conflict and all sorrow. Therefore, let us consider the -questions that appear to be typical enough to clarify the situation, but -with the motives and spiritual factors included in the answer. - -First of all, then, is it really any of our business what Japan does in -Asia? I shall have to split this question in two. The "our" side of the -matter will have to be answered in the succeeding chapter on America in -this Pacific Triangle. Here I shall handle it by inverting it. Is it any -of Japan's business what interest we take in Asia? This may sound like a -pugnacious question, but it is asked with all due respect to Japan. It -raises the question of the Open Door in China, of Pan-Asianism, of the -misnamed Monroe Doctrine of Asia. We have come to a new stage in the -history of the world. People with a developed sense of justice no longer -admit that a man may declare himself monarch of all he surveys without -consideration of the rights of the inhabitants of the "surveyed" areas. -When, during the war, everything was being done to placate Japan, a -certain "understanding" was reached between Secretary Lansing and -Viscount Ishii. While declaring for the Open Door it acknowledged the -precedence of propinquity over distance, of time, place, and -relationship. That is, it admitted that Japan was nearer the continent -of Asia geographically than was America. A very remarkable observation -it was. Certainly had that not been put in black and white, -"understanding" would never have been possible. But what was the result -of that "understanding"? Japan immediately translated it into a "Monroe -Doctrine of Asia." Here, then, was a fact. Japan most decidedly is -nearer Asia than are we. Ergo, Japan has the right to set herself up as -the god and little Father of China, to declare the Mikado Doctrine of -Asia. But is there any parallel whatsoever? Not only no parallel, but an -apparent contradiction in the use of the Monroe Doctrine from the -American angle; for that pronouncement involved non-interference in -European or foreign affairs. If we adhere strictly to the Monroe -Doctrine we have no right to set any limitations for Japan. Our concern -is only with the Americas. Even the amount of understanding involved in -the Ishii-Lansing agreement is in violation of our doctrine of -isolation. On the other hand, we virtually pledged ourselves to keep our -own hands off South America, Hence, the Monroe Doctrine, if applied to -Asia by Japan, would mean the denouncement of the Twenty-one Demands -made on China in 1915, the withdrawal of Japanese troops from Shantung -and Siberia, the return of independence to Korea,--and then the demand -on the part of Japan that all European powers abstain from further -extension of their influence on the continent of Asia. If ever a Monroe -Doctrine of Asia was really declared, it was in the principles of Hay in -his Open-Door policy. If Japan should set herself up as the guardian of -Asia in this wise, she would never raise the question of whether we have -any business in Asia or not. It would not be necessary. And Japan would -be able to enjoy the fruits of propinquity to her heart's content. Then -Japan would truly be the sponsor for a doctrine that could be called the -Mikado's Doctrine of Asia and its worth would recommend itself to the -respect and admiration of the world. But this, of course, is a dream, -and in the words of a worthy Japanese author who "deplored" in his book -"the gross diplomatic blunder which Japan made in 1915 in her dealings -with China" and the "atrocities perpetrated in the attempt to crush the -Korean uprising": "Manifestly, the dawn of the millennium is still far -away. We have to make the best of the world as it is." - -Into these criticisms of Japan's foreign policies one could read the -usual white man's conceit,--asking that a yellow man make such -sacrifices as no white man has ever made. There is nothing further from -my mind. There is only a groping down into the depths of Japanese -practices to discover, if possible, a real basis for the justification -of her Pan-Asiatic pretensions. - -To me, Oriental civilization is something to conjure with. - -There is in the Far East more art and beauty than there is in America. -When Europe was so poor as to make the Grand Moguls laugh at the simple -presents which Englishmen brought them, to remark with scorn and truth -that nothing in Europe compared with the silks and gold and silver of -the East, the white man was humble. He wandered all over the world in -search of riches which were unknown to him except by hearsay. His -dominions never extended over such vast spaces as seemed mere -checker-boards to Oriental monarchs. But the white man had his ships, -his latent genius, and these he has developed to where his realms now so -far outstrip the realms of old as thought outstrips creation. With these -the white man has secured for himself a place in the world which the -brown and the yellow man now greatly envy. But the Asiatics have much to -look back upon and be proud of. - -How much of this splendor is Japan's? A great deal! But not as much as -the splendor of China, nor as much as that of India. Japan is to the -East what England is to Europe. Japan is building up her ships and her -material arts to such an extent that she is destined to wield and does -now partly wield the same influence in Asia that England wields in -Europe. But is that to be her sole contribution? Is that to justify her -place as leader of Asia? Let us see. - -In Europe to-day there is no crowned head who really rules. The monarch, -where he does exist, is the memorial symbol of the nation's past. But -the basis of rule is the people. The extent to which democracy exists in -fact is not for this chapter to discuss. The slogan of rulership is -democracy. Even China calls itself a republic. Round the Pacific alone -are three great republican or democratic countries--Australia, New -Zealand, America--whose people are reaching for greater and greater -independence in the working out of their own destinies. - -But what have we in Japan? We have a monarchy with a "constitutional" -form of government. The monarch is said to have held his power from the -beginning of time. He is literally regarded as a descendant of the gods -who created Japan,--which was then the world entire. The myth of his -origin would not be very different from any other myth of the origins of -rulers, were it not for the recent developments in the history of Japan. -At the time of the restoration of the previous emperor to power, it was -decided by the rebellious daimyo that the long-neglected mikado, he who -for hundreds of years had had absolutely no say in the government of his -lands, should be restored to power. That is to say, because there was no -one daimyo who could himself take the leadership and become shogun, they -determined to rule with the tenno as nominal leader, but themselves as -the real rulers. Other than in the superstitious reverence of the -ignorant masses for the symbol of the tenno--whose person they had never -seen--that lowly illustrious one might just as well have been -non-existent for all the say he had in his country's affairs. So far, -the situation might not be different from that in England, but England's -Parliament is in the control of the Commons, while Japan's Diet--both -upper and lower houses--is at the mercy of the cabinet, which, though -ostensibly responsible to the emperor, is actually in the control of the -genro and the military and naval clans. The worship of the emperor, on -the other hand, is made part of the political function, the better to -cow the masses into reverential obedience to the wishes of the actual -rulers. - -The basis for this theocratical grip on the people is Shintoism. With -the Restoration in 1868, Shintoism, that ancestor-worshiping cult, was -revived as the spiritual core of the new empire; Buddhism was sent -packing, and all the cunning of pseudo-historians was resorted to to -bolster up this effete and primitive national ideal. - -"Let them worship their old emperor," say some, largely those with a -love of pageantry in their unconscious. And no one could raise an -argument against this if that was where it ended. If it merely meant the -binding together in a communal nationalism the thought and devotion of -the people, it would be a desirable performance. But the natural result -of an artificially stimulated nationalism based on a myth and a -deception is that it becomes proselytic in its tendencies. It is not -satisfied with its native influence, but begins to reach out. In other -words, it takes upon itself the duty of making the entire world one, -just as religion and democracy seek to convert the world. And Shintoism -is a short step to Pan-Asianism. Pan-Asianism is the logical consequence -of Shintoism. - -What is Shintoism? In this connection, none is more authoritative than -Basil Hall Chamberlain, Emeritus Professor of Japanese and Philology at -the Imperial University of Tokyo, and author of numerous scientific -works on Japan. In "The Invention of a New Religion" he says (page 6): - - Agnostic Japan is teaching us at this very hour how religions are - sometimes manufactured for a special end--to observe practical - worldly purposes. - - Mikado-worship and Japan-worship--for that is the new Japanese - religion--is, of course, no spontaneously generated phenomenon. - Every manufacture presupposes a material out of which it is made, - every present a past on which it rests. But the twentieth-century - Japanese religion of loyalty and patriotism is quite new, for in it - pre-existing ideas have been sifted, altered, freshly compounded, - turned to new uses, and have found a new center of gravity.... - Shinto, a primitive nature cult, which had fallen into discredit, - was taken out of its cupboard and dusted. - -Thus Shintoism, a cult without any code of morals, in which nature was -worshiped in primitive fashion, was made the basis of the national -ideal. There is nothing in Shintoism that might with the greatest -possible stretch of imagination become the ideal of any other nation in -the world. However much Japan might assume the economic leadership of -Asia, it would never be because she could obtain a following for her -Shinotistic ideals. "Democracy" has become a rallying cry even to the -Japanese, but there is nothing in Shintoism that might counteract that -appeal. - - [Illustration: JAPAN'S FIRST REACTION TO FOREIGN INFLUENCE] - - [Illustration: SECOND STAGE IN WESTERNIZATION - Some of my students leaving Kobe for a cross-country hike] - - [Illustration: THIRD STAGE IN WESTERNIZATION - This is not England, but Shioya, Japan] - - [Illustration: FOURTH STAGE IN WESTERNIZATION - This is not Manchester, but Osaka, Japan] - -"What about Bushido?" Japanese will ask. Regarding this, it is also well -to read what Professor Chamberlain has to say: - - As to Bushido, so modern a thing is it that neither Kaempfer, - Siebold, Satow, nor Rein--all men knowing their Japan by - heart--ever once allude to it in their voluminous writings. The - cause of their silence is not far to seek: Bushido was unknown - until a decade or two ago! _The very word appears in no dictionary, - native or foreign, before the year 1900._ Chivalrous individuals of - course existed in Japan, as in all countries at every period; but - Bushido as an institution or a code of rules, has never existed. - The accounts given of it have been fabricated out of whole cloth, - chiefly for foreign consumption. An analysis of medieval Japanese - history shows that the great feudal houses, so far from displaying - an excessive idealism in the matter of fealty to one emperor, one - lord, or one party, had evolved the eminently practical plan of - letting different members take different sides, so that the family - as a whole might come out as winner in any event, and thus avoid - the confiscation of its lands. Cases, no doubt, occurred of - devotion to losing causes--for example, to Mikados in disgrace; but - they were less common than in the more romantic West. - -And when it is further taken into consideration that Bushido, or the -so-called code of the samurai, was the ideal of a special class, a class -that held itself aloof from contact with the _heimin_, or common people, -whom it at at all times treated with contempt, and cut down even for no -other reason than that of trying the edge of a new sword, one sees how -utterly unacceptable it would be to peoples of other races and nations -asked to come to the support of its standards. And according to one -Japanese spokesman in America, only by methods that "had the appearance -of browbeating her to submission by brandishing the sword" was China -brought to accept the infamous Twenty-one Demands. - -I search my memory and experience earnestly trying to find a basis for -Japan's leadership in Asia that is not materialistic, and I cannot find -any. Energy and intellectual capacity Japan has. Her present leadership -in practical affairs is a great credit to her. In time, when greater -leisure will become the possession of her teeming millions, there is -doubtless going to appear much more that is fine and valuable in the -fabric of the race. For Japan has fire. Her people are an excitable, -flaming people who may burst out in a spasmodic revulsion against their -commercialization. But for the time being, her only right to a voice in -the destinies of Asia is found in her industrial leadership of the East, -but that is a leadership which is fraught with more menace to Japan than -to the world. - -Let us review hastily the results of this preëminence. From being one of -the most admired nations in the world, Japan has suddenly become the -object of almost universal suspicion. To a very great extent, commercial -jealousy is playing its part in this change. But that is not all, by any -means. There is as much enmity between British and American traders in -the Far East as there is between Japanese and American, or any other two -groups of nationals. - -But the animosity toward Japan is deeper than that of mere trade. It -lies at the bottom of much of the seeming equivocation of Japan's best -foreign friends. I was talking recently to one of the leading members of -the Japan Society in New York, and said of myself that I deplored being -regarded as anti-Japanese in some quarters, because I was not. "But," -spoke up this Japanophile, "the majority of the members of the Japan -Society are anti-Japanese, or pro-Chinese, if you will." They are trying -their best to defend Japan, it would seem, and to cement bad relations -with good, but the result is that the ground of many sympathizers of -Japan is constantly shifting, though perhaps unconsciously. It is due, I -presume, to the disappointment of people in that, having regarded Japan -as worthy of their sympathy and adoration, they are now finding that all -is not as well as it might be. - -Then there is that peculiar twist to Japanese psychology that somewhat -unnerves the Westerner. This is not a language difficulty, though it is -best illustrated by a linguistic example. A Canadian in Kobe told me -that he felt a strange shifting in his own mentality as a result of the -study of Japanese, something queer entered his thinking processes. This -is of course absurd as a concrete argument, but it indicates that which -I am striving to uncover in the Japanese mind and method which works -upon the Western mind, and puzzles and perplexes the white man in his -relations with the Japanese. And in the wider fields of Japanese life, -it makes us tighten our muscles when we survey and weigh the expressions -of the best Japanese minds, expressions by which they hope, earnestly no -doubt, to better our relations with them. - -Take, for instance, the growth of democracy. As I have said, when I left -Japan it was with a sense of revolution impending. Agitation had got so -far out of bonds that it seemed nothing but complete collapse of the -Government could follow. The agitation has gone on, violent expressions -are often used, democracy is hailed and Japanese "propagandists" abroad -assert with a boldness that is inexplicable their faith in democracy and -their hatred of militarism and bureaucracy. But democracy in Japan is -virtually non-existent. Japan is to-day no nearer liberalism than Russia -was in 1905. One dreads to make parallels, when one thinks how it was -that Russia got rid of her czars, that the dreadful war in Europe alone -made it possible for a change in the Russian Government. Is it going to -take such a war to accomplish this in Japan? Some of the most ardent -Japanese in America boldly answer, "Yes." - -Again, China! Many Japanophiles will say that our love of China is based -on our trade with her, and her own weakness to resist it, while at the -same time pointing to our enormous trade with Japan as proof of -friendship. That is false. True, that, compared with Japan, China is no -"menace" to America. But though China is the root of our problem, there -is something in the nature of the true Oriental that makes him charming, -jovial, childlike and lovable. Japan is, of course, not truly Oriental. -Japan is essentially Malay, mixed with some Oriental and a little -Caucasian. But in the two and a half years of my residence in Japan I -did not once come across a white person who had that same unexplainable -admiration for the native that is the outstanding characteristic of -white men in China. Be that as it may--and that is, after all, a -personal matter--that which enters into the Sino-Japanese problem is the -attitude of the Japanese to the Chinese. None was so ready to exalt the -Japanese as were the foreigners after the Boxer uprising in 1900. Then -the Japanese were hailed for their helpfulness and their dexterity. But -the manner of Japanese in China to-day goes against the grain of people. -They ask themselves constantly: For nearly seven years Japan has -promised faithfully to withdraw from Shantung, and her promises are as -earnestly being expressed to-day. Is it, then, so hard to remove troops? -Not so hard to move them in, it seems. - -Those of us who listen to Japanese promises are from Missouri. Japan in -conjunction with the Allies sent troops to Siberia to "protect" -Vladivostok. Each of the Allies were supposed to send seven thousand -troops. Japan sent close to one hundred thousand. She has earnestly -promised to withdraw them ever since. Why are they not withdrawn? - -Then comes the hardest thing of all to reconcile with her -promises,--Japan's actions in Korea. It is easy to sentimentalize over -the fate of nations. Korea's independence is a slogan that doesn't mean -much, though Korea claims four thousand years of civilized existence. An -independent Korea doesn't offer very great promise, even if one is -constrained to sympathize with her aspiration for independence. Korea -might just as well be an integer of the Japanese Empire. She had ample -time in which to expel foreign intriguers and denounce her own grafters, -for the sake of independence, years ago. But what has that to do with -Japanese atrocities in Korea? What has that to do with the action of -Japanese merchants who, according to Japan's own envoy to Korea, Count -Inouye, acted worse than conquerors. Count Inouye said: - - All the Japanese are overbearing and rude in their dealings with - the Koreans.... The Japanese are not only overbearing but violent - in their attitude towards the Koreans. When there is the slightest - misunderstanding, they do not hesitate to employ their fists. - Indeed, it is not uncommon for them to pitch Koreans into the - river, or to cut them down with swords. If merchants commit these - acts of violence, the conduct of those who are not merchants may - well be imagined. They say: "We have made you an independent - nation, we have saved you from the Tonghaks, whoever dares to - reject our advice or oppose our actions is an ungrateful traitor." - Even military coolies use language like that towards the - Koreans.[1] - - [1] In _Nichi, Nichi Shimnun_, quoted by Professor Longford in - _The Story of Korea_, pp. 137-338. - -The atrocities in Korea committed by the Japanese in the uprising of -1919 would parallel the most exaggerated reports of what happened to -Belgium. Yet America's treaty with the Kingdom of Korea, ignored when -Japan annexed the empire in 1910, has never been abrogated. Where is -Bushido in Japan, that it does not rise in indignation at these -atrocities? It has done so, but so faintly that it might just as well -have saved itself the effort. Apology after apology, but atrocity -following each apology with the same inexorable ruthlessness of fate. -Likewise, the massacres in Nikolajevks, and Chien-tao are still -unanswered. They require a public apology of some sort. - -If I am charged with deliberately selecting things derogatory to Japan, -I can only say that nothing, in my mind, that Japan may have done for -the good of Korea and of the world, none of the virtues which Japan -possesses can ever counterbalance these crimes. Yet intelligent Japanese -write: - - Fortunately, a change of heart has come to the Mikado's Government - ... there will be established ... a School Council to discuss - matters relating to education. [No mention is made of the - up-rooting of the native language.] The step may be slow, but the - goal is sure. Korea's union with Japan was consummated after the - bitter experience of two sanguinary wars and _the mature - deliberation of the best minds of the two peoples_. - -The italics are mine. Who were these minds? No mention is made of the -assassination of the Korean Queen by Japanese, later "exonerated." In -other words, now that the lion has eaten the lamb he is going to tell -the lamb the best way in which he can be digested, for they are -"discussing matters" to their mutual advantage. - -One is inclined to become bitter in the rehearsal of such facts, the -feeling being induced by the evasive apologies of rhetoricians. But -these outstanding facts must be faced if any true judgment can be formed -of Japan's position in the Far East: If it is her aim merely to dominate -in Asia, then Japan has set out to do it masterfully. But if the -leadership of the yellow race is her aim, if Pan-Asianism means the -uplifting of all Oriental races now under the heel of the white race, -then Japan has chosen the most unfortunate line of action. She is -running an obstacle race in which the silken garments of Bushido are -likely to suffer considerable wear and tear. Credit Japan deserves for -her administrative ability. Certain it is that no country in the Orient -to-day has the same capacity to rule that Japan has. In international -affairs, Japan has proved herself a match for the shrewdest diplomats of -the Western world. It is not to be marveled at that the yellow races -should be willing to yield her her position and her prestige. Thousands -of Chinese who could not afford a Western education are now being -educated in the universities of Japan; many Indians are doing likewise. -In the simple matter of road-building, Japan has done what few Oriental -countries seem to have the capacity to do. It is natural that the Orient -should look to Japan for leadership in government and industry, in -direction and help. But is Japan giving it? - -The experiences of Tagore in Japan are not reassuring. He turned from -Japan as from a gross imitator of the West from which he had escaped. He -expressed keen disappointment at what he saw in modern Japan. In the -"New York Times," recently, there was an article by a Chinese called -"The Uncivilized United States," the thesis of the writer being that the -Americans lacked the gentlemanliness of the English. The Chinese was -obviously a great admirer of the Japanese and repeated over and over -again that the Tokugawas were great rulers because they advocated the -rule by "tenderness of heart"; but he, too, despaired of the modern -Japan, of its great industries and little heart. - -That, of course, has been the oft-repeated criticism of America from -older countries, and need not discourage Japan. But Japan is making that -greater error of believing that a world which has won civil liberty and -enlightenment after so many centuries of strife, has builded for the -masses at least a semblance of economic freedom and democracy, is going -to yield all this blithely to an antiquated ideal of Oriental -imperialism that has not even the virtues of Oriental mysticism to -recommend it. - - - - -CHAPTER XX - -AMERICA - - -1 - -Johnny Appleseed, whose real name was John Chapman, ended his career at -Fort Wayne, Indiana, in 1847. Step by step he made his way over the -wilderness, winning the good-will of the pioneers and the devotion of -the Indians, and planting apple-seeds which time nourished into -orchards. Johnnie Appleseed has been glorified by Vachel Lindsay,--and -with him, not a little of the richness of life that went into the -make-up of America. - -Unfortunately, Johnny Appleseed died in Indiana, at the early age of -seventy-two. Had he lived twice as long he would most likely have -reached the coast. By most he was regarded as rather a queer character, -but there were men who felt the current of greatness in his being, and -to-day Johnny Appleseed might well be hailed as the symbol of America. - -For if the virtue of England lay in that process of selection which was -the result of "the roving of a race with piratical and poetic instincts -invading old England where few stocks arrived save by stringent -selection of the sea," how much more is the hardihood of pioneering the -very bone and marrow of America. For the sifting process here did not -end merely by the crossing of the Atlantic. To those who broke through -the fears of the Atlantic, lanced the gathering ills of Europe, that -Eastern ocean was only the symbol of a tradition. The way has been kept -open by the passage of millions of men and women and children who, year -after year, for four centuries, have been invading young America. But -what is that coming compared with the arduous reaching out across the -wilderness of this vast continent itself, a reaching that left its -mile-stones in the form of log cabins, graves, and roaring cities. -Following the trade-winds or beating up against the billows of the -Northern seas was a joyous pastime compared with the windless waiting -and tireless pressing on of the prairie schooner. The conquest of the -mountains, of the Mississippi, of the treeless plains, of the desert, -and of the rocky barriers in the farthest West is a story replete with -tragic episodes, and it is destined to become the dominating tradition -of America. - -It is a strange story, and because it was essentially so lowly in its -early impulse, because it was seemingly a secondary phenomenon, snobs -and cynics dispose of it with indifference. The movement westward was -undertaken by men of small means and little culture. Pathetic in its -simple requirements, seeking fortunes that always lay on the fringe of -fortune, moving on with a restlessness that seemed to despise rest and -ease, it still left in its wake sorrows that approached tragedy but -never felt it. If "Main Street" is a necessary corrective, "The Son of -the Middle Border" is the crystallization of an unconscious ideal. This -westward movement is a vivid rehearsal of a belated migration that tells -the tale of man's first yielding to the mobile impulse in his nature, an -impulse that has made of him the conqueror of the globe. These thousands -of Johnny Appleseeds were not utilitarian seekers after wealth alone; in -them was the unconscious mother principle yielding to the forces that -were fathering a new race. - -And that new race has come. Centuries of arduous trial and tribulation -have molded it. Go where you will, except for some slight differences in -tonal expression, there is one people. Beneath their Americanism are the -crude complexes resulting from a war between refinement and the unkind -forces of nature. The pioneers had all known what civilization meant, -but circumstances thwarted their inclinations. They brought with them a -respect for woman which no other people had known so well. Primitive and -Oriental people--and many European races of to-day--do not have the same -exalted notion of woman, simply because they have developed along with -women whose functions of life were determined by the savage -circumstances. But Americans found themselves in the continent with few -women, and those in danger of savage ruthlessness. Hence they became -doubly concerned for their welfare, even to the point of sentimentalism. - -So, too, with regard to personal liberty. The pioneer knew what his -freedom meant to him, and fought for it as a lion or a tiger fights for -his. Too frequently his own freedom could be bought only at the expense -of others around him. The word itself became a magic with esoteric -properties. Hence we find throughout our West a fanatical regard for the -term "freedom" that sometimes works itself into a frenzy of intolerance. -So fine are the achievements of our coast states, on so high a level is -the standard of life, that men cannot see the exceptions. When such are -pointed out to them there arises in their unconscious a fear of those -horrible days, a something which terrified their childhood and which -must be downed as the ghost of a crime one imagines himself to have -committed. Hence, not to be "with" certain people in the West in the -shouting adulation of their state or their city or their orchards is a -worse sacrilege than counteracting one prayer by another ritual. The -winning of the West was the aim of all the pioneers. For years and years -they were faced with the most obvious threats to its consummation. -Mountains, climate, savages, European jealousies, lack of -population,--everything that spelled despair stood before them. But an -uncomprehended passion drove them on. Perhaps it was the recrudescence -of intolerance which marked the early settlers in the East. Perhaps it -was the lack of opportunity resulting from overcrowding after the -advertisement of the desirability of life in America. It may have been -any one of a dozen possibilities that kept men and women moving on and -on and on,--nor always, by any means, the yielding to ideals. But on it -was and on it continued till the Pacific was reached. - -This, superficially, is the accepted story of the development of our -West. I have attempted neither criticism nor laudation. It is an -unavoidable approach to the discussion of America's place in the -Pacific, an approach which even the most Western of our Westerners is -not always prone to take cognizance of. But within it lies the kernel of -future American life. To some, like the founders of the State of Oregon, -it was more defined. Some as early as 1844 realized that to the nation -which developed the coast lands belonged the spoils of the Pacific and -in its hands would lie the destinies of the largest ocean on the globe. -The opening of the Panama Canal has placed the Pacific at the door-step -of New York, and fulfilled the dream. - -But to the vast majority of people on the coast to-day, occupation and -development of those enormous areas seem to carry with them opportunity, -but little responsibility. They have one concern which is akin to fear, -and that is of the Japanese. They only vaguely grasp the significance of -their fate. They do not see that they have hauled in a whale along with -their catch and that unless they are skilful they will drag the whole -nation into the sea with them. - -But if they have forgotten the vision for the appearance of the catch, -what about the East? The East is as indifferent to matters pertaining to -the Pacific and the West. Its face is turned toward Europe. We think -that America is a nation, but the utter ignorance of one section with -regard to another, the lounging in local ease, is appalling. Easterners -are like the philosopher who when told that his house was on fire, said -it was none of his business, for hadn't he a wife to look after such -things! These are strange phenomena in a democracy. People think that -they discharge their duty by voting, but how many people are in the -least concerned with the problems that will some day light up the -country like a prairie fire? Westerners are generally much more -acquainted with Eastern affairs. As unpleasant as is the promotion -publicity of Los Angeles, it is a much more healthful condition than the -seeming ignorance of New York in matters pertaining to Los Angeles. - -Yet while the East is aflame over affairs in Europe--the Irish Republic, -for instance--it probably thinks that Korea is the name of a Chinese -joss over which no civilized man should bother to yap about. This -indifference is not to be found in the man on the street alone. That man -is often uninformed simply because the dispensers of information are -uninformed. There is much he would want if he knew its value to him. And -so while we are becoming embroiled in European affairs another and -henceforward more sinister problem is threatening to back-wash over us. - -It was while in such an apathetic state that America changed her status -from a continental republic to a colonial empire. Few Americans have -ever taken any interest in their insular possessions. Hawaii and the -rest had fallen to the lot of the Government, and would sooner or later -be returned; that was the sum and substance of their outlook on the -whole affair. That the Monroe Doctrine ceased to be a real factor with -the acquisition of these outlying possessions, that we virtually -abrogated it, did not seem to matter much. At large, the notion was that -American altruism would never involve the country in any difficulty. - -But whatever a man's motives, once he has stuck his tongue against a -frozen pipe only a tremendous outpouring of altruism will ever detach -it. America began her adventures in the Pacific when she urged young men -to go West. Now we have the whole continent, we have Hawaii, the -Philippines, Pago Pago, Samoa, and Alaska,--a hefty armful. Are we going -to let these things go, or are we simply going to drift to where they -drag us into conflict with others who want them and want them badly? We -cannot merely blow them full of democracy and then wait for any one who -wishes to to prick the bubbles. For it must be borne in mind that the -issues are clear. The Pacific cannot remain half-citizen and -half-subject. Every time we stir up within a small island the -self-respect of individuals, we destroy the balance of power between an -expression of the wills of people and the wills of autocracies. Is -America going to set out to make the world safe for democracy in Europe -and then withdraw just when Europe needs her help most? Is she going to -continue to make treaties with small nations like Korea and then when -Korea is devoured body and soul simply overlook the little fellow as -though he had never existed. - -Let me make the case of Korea clearer by a parallel. We had a treaty -with the Kingdom under which we had assured her that in the event of any -other power interfering with her independence we would exert our good -offices toward an amicable solution. Then came the Russo-Japanese war. -Korea received a pledge from Japan that her sovereignty would be -protected if she permitted Japanese troops to pass over her territory. -Korea, at the risk of being devoured by Russia for violating neutrality, -acceded to Japan's request. Five years after the Russo-Japanese War, -Korea was annexed by Japan, and we said never a word in her favor. Nor -have we ever denounced our treaty with Korea. - -But here is the parallel. Belgium refused to let Germany cross her -territory. Because of Germany's invasion of Belgium, Great Britain -entered the war. What if Great Britain now decided to annex Belgium? -What if America did so? - -Yet Colonel Roosevelt, who was so vociferous in his denouncement of the -Wilson Administration for its early neutrality in the face of the rape -of Belgium, himself condoned the annexation of Korea by saying that -inasmuch as Korea was unable to defend herself it was not up to us to -rush to her assistance. In other words, our treaty was only a scrap of -paper which was to be in force if the other high contracting party was -strong enough to have no need for our aid. - -Is America going to drag China into world wars with promises of -friendship, and then concede Shantungs whenever diplomatic shrewdness -shows her to be beaten? Is she going to promise the Philippines -independence, allow her governor-generals to withhold their veto power -for years so that the natives may the better handle their own affairs, -and then simply let any who will come and undermine or explode the thing -entire? - -This is not meant to imply by any manner of means that America is to -display force and employ it for the sake of democracy. It is not navies -nor armies that will count, but principles. It is America's duty as a -free country to encourage freedom and discourage autocracy. And in that -spirit, and that alone, can she justify her place in the sun. On several -occasions she has done so, though only those in which the Pacific are -involved need reference here. - - -2 - -Apropos of the Philippines: Two factors and two alone are involved. It -is not a question of whether America shall or shall not hold on to the -islands. In that America has given her word. The Philippines will -become, must become, free. There, as elsewhere, it is not our concern -whether one group or another gains the upper hand. It is not our concern -that the Filipinos, being Malay-Orientals, will evolve a democracy that -is not compatible with our notions of democracy. Our concern is, and has -been repeatedly stated to be, only the welfare and happiness of the -Filipinos. McKinley, Taft, Roosevelt, Wilson,--all have considerably -discoursed upon Filipino independence and Filipino welfare. We have -recently been on the very verge of granting independence, but, -unfortunately, oil has been discovered by the Standard Oil Company, and -the question will doubtless now depend on the amount of oil there is. If -a great deal, then fare thee well Filipino independence! However, the -real reason for our being in the islands is neither the altruistic -concern for the democratization of the people, nor to protect the -immediate interests of sugar, tobacco, or oil-handling capitalists. The -one and only basis for our action should be the extent to which Filipino -independence or our protectorate ministers to the peace of the Pacific. -If an independent Philippines will allay the suspicions of Japan, then -they should be independent. But Japan would have to give more than the -usual promise of her word that she would keep her hands off the -Philippines. The extent to which her word may be relied upon can easily -be determined. One need only mention Korea, Shantung, Siberia, the -Marshall Islands. We say to Japan: "As soon as you live up to the -promises in your treaty and other relations with these Orientals, we -shall be able to accept your further promises in regard to the -Philippines." - -Yet it must not be overlooked that Japan saw our coming to the -Philippines with apprehension. Japan is an Oriental nation and cannot -understand any one doing anything out of pure goodness of heart. Fact -is, neither can we. Let the most honest man in the world offer any other -a solid-gold watch and that other would suspect something was wrong. We -declared to the world that we had only the best intentions toward the -Philippines--to democratize them. To Japan that was like holding up a -red flag to a bull. What, you are going to create a democratic sore -right in my neighborhood? That will never do. It might be catching. And -Japan is not interested in contracting democracy as yet,--that is, -official Japan. Even liberal Japanese are doubtful. When in Japan, I -interviewed the democratic M.P., Yukio Ozaki. He turned, without -question from me, to the subject of the fortification of the -Philippines. He pleaded that the forts be dismantled. In the event of -that plea failing, what could Japan do, he asked, other than proceed to -fortify the Marshall Islands? Yet at that time Japan had not even been -granted a mandate over these islands. The logic of his appeal is -irrefutable. But this is a sort of vicious circle. Who is to begin, and -whom shall we trust? - -One thing is certain,--that in that whole problem of the control of the -islands of the Pacific, whether by annexation, protection, or mandate, -lies the seed of the future peace of the Pacific. And unless in each and -every case the natives are given the best opportunities of -self-development, that nation responsible for their arrested condition -is going to be the nation upon whose conscience will rest the sorrows of -the world. - -In regard to the Philippines, this must be remembered,--that we are -dealing with human beings, not problems and principles. The stuff one -generally reads about foreign places might be just as descriptive of the -inhabitants of Mars. Little wonder that those for or against -independence or protection fail to win their case! We must remember that -for twenty years we have been building up the hopes of children whom we -taught in our schools, with our money and our ideals. They are now, many -of them, active men attending to the work of the Filipino world. They -are our foster-children and would be fools not to want to live their own -lives in their own way. Our policy in regard to them must be a negative -one; from now on it cannot be positive. All we can say to them is what -we cannot and will not permit them to do; we have no right henceforth to -say what they must do. We can say that we will not permit them to invite -any other nation whose governmental ideals are likely to threaten ours. -The world must continue on its road toward the greater and greater -liberation of peoples, hence we cannot permit them to step back toward -any form of imperialism. We cannot permit them to invite unlimited -numbers of Orientals who might swamp them. They must maintain the -Philippines for the Filipinos, with as much generosity thrown in as will -not endanger that. We must remember that our effort in the Philippines -is the first in which any government has attempted to treat its subject -natives with any degree of equality,--legally, if not socially. If the -world is to move on toward greater freedom--which is needed, Heaven -knows!--we must not let the Philippines be an example of the failure of -democratic management of natives. - - -3 - -In all this some may discover implications that our hold on the -Philippines should be maintained purely for strategic reasons. That may -be the purpose of the imperialistically minded. There may be some who -will read into this fear of Japan or a bellicose attitude irritable to -her. Neither interpretation would be accurate, for behind all this are -certain historical factors which prove that whatever use statesmen may -make of world situations, evil designs will be frustrated so long as the -circumstances which created the primary conditions were not evil. -Specifically, because the earlier relations between Japan and America -were brought about through essentially good motives, these later -developments can be kept to a sane path. And severe as may be our -present criticisms of Japan, so long as the purposes behind them are -good, they can have only a desirable result. - -When Commodore Perry went to Japan in 1853, his only desire was to open -that country to trade. It may seem now that for the sake of peace in the -Pacific it would have been better had he been guided by the spirit of -conquest. Had Japan been conquered in the early days, she would never -have come to the fore as a possible menace. But she was not. It does not -follow, however, that that was unfortunate, for the earliest relations -between Japan and America were amicable and basically altruistic. The -relations between us have continued to be amicable, but altruism has -slowly given way to envy and jealousy. But the point that is missed in -all this reference to these cordial relations of the past is that -inasmuch as America was a great moral influence upon Japan in the early -days, she might continue to be that to-day. Cock-sure as Japanese -statesmen have become, and pugnacious as some Americans seem toward -Japan, a strong moral attitude will still do more to check hostility -than all the shaking of sabers and manoeuvering of dreadnaughts. We -need the Philippines more as a base for democratic experiment than as a -fortified zone. We need them as one needs a medical laboratory for the -manufacture of serums in the time of plague,--for the manufacture of the -serum of political freedom, of the rights of people to develop and to -learn to be free. And this experimental station should stand right there -at the door of Japan--and of British and French concessionists, if you -please, in China--and of China itself, for none of them has any faith in -this educating of natives and making them your equals. Only down below -the line, in New Zealand and Australia, far from where it can really -affect Japan, is that experiment being carried on. And more than all -else, when Japanese imperialism is spreading its wings, when Japanese -bureaucracy is throwing out its chest in pride and telling its poor, -impoverished people, "See what I am doing for YOU," we need that serum -station in the Philippines where a solution of democracy and freedom -may continue to be made,--be it ever so weak. - -And it needs to be injected into Japan. Some of it is already working in -that empire. Japan needs more, it needs to be reinforced. Democracy in -Japan is struggling for a foothold. Let the germs of democracy persist -in the Philippines and be rushed to the island empire. And let America -stand as a great moral force, impressing upon Japan that the rights of -the people shall not be suppressed. But that will never be unless the -people in America who stand for liberalism, for true democracy, for all -that America has hitherto meant wake up to the seriousness of the -situation in the Far East and cease to turn from it with sentimental -notions about Lafcadio Hearn's Japan. There are two Japans. - -Both of these Japans are watching America closely. They are watching the -actions of America in the Philippines, they are following in the -footsteps of America in China. That need not be taken too literally, for -there are two meanings to it. One example points in one direction, -another in another. But one or two by way of illustration will do. - -When America returned the Boxer Indemnity Funds to China for educational -purposes a new precedent was established in international affairs. No -other nation had the moral courage to follow suit. But just at the close -of the war, Japan, having replenished her exchequer considerably, -unloosened her purse-strings and returned the balance of the indemnity -funds to China. It was a case of thrifty self-denial, a tardy giving -back of gold that none of the powers were really entitled to. As -misguided and foolish as the Boxer Uprising was, still had it been a -little better organized, none of the evils from which China is suffering -to-day would obtain. China should have been as wise in her method as she -was in impulse. However, it is good to see Japan doing so much. She -should be encouraged. - -Again, seeing that American missionaries--and others--are influencing -China in the direction of Occidental culture, Japan is following suit. -Here it is likewise a tardy giving back to China what Japan took from -her centuries ago, for Japanese Buddhism is only the sifting of the -Buddhism that made its way from India by way of China and Korea. Still, -it is worth noting that intellectual and moral precedents are often as -forceful as more materialistic weapons. - -Observing the influence that doctors and hospitals wield in China,--the -Rockefeller Foundation, for instance,--the Japanese are following suit -and establishing hospitals in the interior. Educational and industrial -work likewise will lead the way for educational and industrial work by -Japanese in China. Witnessing the force of friendship in America's -relations with China, the public in Japan is protesting against the -antagonizing of this gigantic neighbor to whom the Japanese bureaucratic -wolf has been making such grandmotherly pretentions. And indeed there is -much good reason for the protest, for the Japanese merchant who expected -so much juice in that Chinese plum found that because of antagonism, -because of the rape of Shantung, the plum momentarily became a lemon, to -use a vulgar expression. Japan, after the "peace" Conference -contemptuously handed over what didn't belong to it but a duped -assistant in the prosecution of the war against Germany learned that -there are more ways than one of killing a cat. And China proceeded to -gnaw at the vitals of the Japanese bureaucratic wolf in a most telling -fashion. China declared a boycott of Japanese goods that was so -effective that it brought about a financial slump in Japan from which -she is not yet fully recovered. China was of course forced to yield. One -cannot live on sentiment, and when Japanese goods are the nearest and -cheapest at hand, what could China do? - -If only Japan could see the real significance of this she would at once -withdraw all her nefarious demands on China, proceed sincerely and -honestly to win the friendship of China, and then undermine the very -ground of every foreign trader because of her propinquity. But -bureaucrats are blind. They are moles that move underground. The ground -of China is all broken up on that account. One of these days the Chinese -giant will clumsily step, not in the wake of the mole, but on the mole -itself. Inadvertently, of course; giants are such clumsy things! - - -4 - -These, then, are some of the ways in which Japan has and has not -followed in the footsteps of America. - -Let us follow the Chinese giant a bit, and see what blundering paths he -has pursued. Unfortunately, he has had his mind too much on the American -colossus to observe the mole. And so he blundered into accepting a -republican form of government. A vain _Malvolio_, he thought he was -being honored with blue and yellow ribbons on his enormous legs, but to -stretch the metaphor a little farther, it turns out that these alien -Lilliputians are strapping him securely down to earth. The ribbons and -the Lilliputian bands are the foreign-built and foreign-controlled and -operated railroads which have been talked of with sanctimonious -metaphors to make them palatable. And now China parades herself before -the world as a republic. That is some of the influence of America. The -Republic of China is our own handiwork. Is it anything to be proud of? -Poor China is a battered republic, with hands outstretched, appealing to -us for help. As I write the newspapers tell of the appeal of Dr. Sun -Yat-sen, recently elected President of the South China Republic. After -surveying what he regards as the situation, exposing the Peking -government, declaring that but for its intriguing with Japan there would -have been unity between North and South, and that the Northern -militarists were profiteering in food during the recent famine, and -charging them with a string of other crimes, he adds: - - Such is the state of affairs in China that unless America, her - traditional friend and supporter, comes forward to lend a helping - hand in this critical period, we would be compelled against our - will to submit to the twenty-one demands of Japan. I make this - special appeal, therefore, through Your Excellency, to the - Government of the United States to save China once more, for it is - through America's genuine friendship, as exemplified by the John - Hay doctrine, that China owes her existence as a nation. - -Now let us listen to the word from Japan on American diplomacy in China. -The "Asahi Shimbun" said: - - Of all the foreign representatives in Peking the American was the - least known previous to the revolution. A lawyer by profession, he - was not credited with any diplomatic ability or resource. Yet he - will reap more credit than any of the others on account of the - ability and energy which he has displayed. But what have our - Government and our diplomacy done to counteract the American - influence? Our interests in China far exceed those of any other - country, and yet our officials have allowed themselves to be - outplayed by a diplomatically untrained lawyer. China, which ought - to look to Japan for help and guidance, does not do so, but looks - to America. The inertia of the Kasumigaseki has given Mr. Calhoun - an opportunity to restore American prestige in the neighbouring - country. - -Japan has done nothing to gain the good-will of China, and America is -constantly veering her ship with its treasury of Chinese good-will more -and more in the direction of Japan. We had in Japan a man of unusual -gifts and sagacity. Mr. Roland S. Morris, American Ambassador under the -Wilson administration, though avowedly a friend of Japan, certainly had -a most unenviable position to maintain. He seemed peculiarly fitted for -his post, for during his years in Japan, notwithstanding the innumerable -missions that moved like settings on a circular stage, and the infinite -number of dinners that fall to the lot of distinguished foreigners in -Japan, he never seems to have got political indigestion. And doubtless -he is to-day a friend of China. - -With an eye to the "special interests" of Japan, Dr. Paul S. Reinsch was -permitted to throw up his hands in despair. We were not doing much to -save China from being Shantung-ed. Because Mr. Crane once -undiplomatically expressed himself in ways unwelcome to Japan, he was -recalled before he got beyond Chicago. Several years later, Mr. Crane -succeeded in smuggling himself through to China as American Minister, -and as far as may be seen, he did noble work in connection with the -Famine Relief last winter. Now we have dispatched a Japanophile to -China. Dr. Jacob Gould Shurman was so strongly impressed with the -schools of Japan that he gave up Cornell University to go to China and -help Japanize the Celestial. At least, that is the mood in which he left -America. A man who knows him well and is close to the inner circle of -American financial affairs in China assured me the other day that -Shurman would not be in China six months before he would completely -reverse his sentiments, and regard Japan's work in China as it is -regarded by every one there who is not a Japanese official. - -Poor deluded, short-sighted Japan! She could have China as a plaything -if she only went about it properly. Propinquity could put special -interests in last year's list of bad debts if Japan sincerely, honestly, -firmly made a friend of China, threw the doors wide open,--and then -laughed a hearty, healthy laugh at the efforts of white men to outwit -her in Asia. Propinquity has made Japan Oriental, it has given Japan a -script that opens the doors for her more than for any other alien: -Oriental methods, Oriental concepts, Oriental customs and requirements -give Japan a better chance in China than all her millions of soldiers -and dreadnaughts ever will. Yet the little mole loves it underground. - - -5 - -Thus we are blindly following the Japanese mole. We are catering to -Japanese "sensitiveness" by sending diplomats with a list in the -direction of Japan now. Presently, I presume, we shall withdraw our -diplomats from China as we did from Korea, and forget about it. But, -then, of course, we sha'n't. Things in the Far East are not going to pan -out so easily, not in the matter of China and Japan. Ever since the -first American clipper flirted with Chinese trade, American interests -have been involved in the interests of China, and they will continue to -be so involved. Without ordinary, decent, honest trade among nations, -the relationship of peoples ceases to have its reason for existence. -Just imagine a world of nothing but tourists! But decent trade is not -the forcing of opium on a country against its will, as Britain forced it -on China in the early days and as Japan forces it to-day. Decent trade -is not the impoverishing of native industries by the introduction of -cheap products from Japanese, European, and American factories. Neither -is decent trade altruism. The spirit of really decent trade may be -found, though not yet fully defined, in the motives behind the -consortium; but, then, that scheme has not yet been proved workable. Its -future remains to be seen, and I shall later describe it as far as it -has gone. - -It has been admitted, even by the most prejudiced--and by Japanese--that -America's practices in the Far East, and China in particular, have been -essentially well-principled. The Philippines are restively seeking -independence, but they cannot claim that America's protectorate has been -discreditable. One could go on all the way through to the return of the -Boxer Indemnity, and the only serious charge that can be made with truth -is that altruism has often been accompanied by indecision and -inefficiency. - -The question that now faces the world is whether the effect of Western -democratic governmental methods, which seem to have made a sudden, yet -vital, impression on the minds of the Chinese, shall become effective -with time, or shall be uprooted by another Oriental country for whom we -have expressed constantly the most affectionate regard. We do not love -a child less because it needs correction; correction, we realize, is the -necessary accompaniment of growth. Japan needs to be shown the error of -her ways; not in high-flown moral terms, but in just plain, everyday -examples of the impracticability of her doings in China. Thus, having -been instrumental in the opening of Japan to the world; having acquired -possessions in the Pacific which must remain the outposts of democratic -management of native peoples; having set an example of disinterested, -generous treatment of unwieldy China; having stood by as her friend, as -her preceptor, her sponsor; having, in a word, made that inexplicable -journey from the Atlantic to the farthest reaches of the Pacific, let -the robin say of Johnny Appleseed: - - To the farthest West he has followed the sun, - His life and his empire just begun.... - - - - -CHAPTER XXI - -WHERE THE PROBLEM DOVETAILS - - -1 - -I have come now to the most delicate and most difficult task in the -whole problem, that of the dovetailing of nations. Twice has this phase -of the subject come before us: once when we met it in that welter of -racial experiments, Hawaii and the South Seas in general; and again in -that great outpost of the white race, Australasia. But in the one it is -too localized, and the other too much in anticipation. In Hawaii it is -hard to say which race has justly a prior right to possession; in -Australia the problem is only imminent. - -But in California and the entire West the impact of the two races of the -Pacific has taken place. Nothing but a just solution can possibly be any -solution at all. Let me therefore define the problem at the very outset, -lest that which is really irrelevant be expected, or insinuate itself -into the discussion. - -Primarily, the problem of Japan in America is not a racial one. -Primarily it is political, and hinges upon the rights of nations. -Secondarily, it is economic, and only in so far as the political and -economic factors are unsolvable can the problem become a racial one, and -terminate in conflict. All attempts at handling the situation which do -not take into consideration these two factors would be like crossing the -stream to get a bucket of water. For nothing can be done without -reciprocity, and reciprocity is the last thing that Japan would ever -consent to, as it involves a transformation in her political philosophy -and the relinquishment of her own position from the very outset. Hence, -before we can even approach the consideration of facts in California, we -must get clearly in mind exactly what Japan is doing within her own -territories. Japan is the appellant. Japan demands that her people be -given free entry the world over. We are not asking her to let our people -enter Japan and her possessions as laborers and agriculturists. Hence, -before she can make her plea at all rational, she must show that she -herself is not discriminating in the identical manner as the one she -objects to. - -Now, in only one or two instances have I seen that question emphasized. -In all the literature I have read emanating from Japanese sources, in -the lectures of its propagandists here, I have never seen it faced -fairly and squarely. The actions of Japan are ignored or glossed over. -The protagonists of Japan in California--Americans, mind you--make of it -purely an American issue, as though discrimination were a fault peculiar -to ourselves. Two blacks don't make a white, but neither do two blacks -quarrel with each other for being black. - -The questions in the order of their importance then are: - -Does Japan permit the free entrance of alien labor? - -Does Japan permit the ready purchase by aliens of agricultural land? - -Does Japan make the naturalization of aliens easy? - -Does Japan permit the denaturalization of its people abroad? - -Now, these are all political problems, for the simple reason that the -very economic conditions of Japan make them unnecessary. That is, -Japanese labor is essentially cheap labor, and owing to the great -crowding there would be little likelihood of any great influx of Korean -or Chinese labor were the bars not raised fairly high. And the bars are -high. The number of Koreans admitted is greater largely because Koreans -are now subjects of the mikado, but even they are kept in check by -Japanese objections to their entrance, and conflicts between Japanese -and Koreans are not unknown. Chinese are permitted to enter Japan only -by special permission from the local authorities, as provided for in a -regulation in force since 1899. Forgetting the two hundred and fifty -years during which the doors of Japan were sealed; forgetting that even -after the opening of Japan a foreigner had to obtain a special passport -to travel from Kobe to Kyoto, a distance of forty miles inland; -forgetting all the psychological factors that have by no means broken -down the crust that still closes most of Japan to alien possession or -acquisition, one is still amazed at this discrimination against -fellow-subjects and Chinese, to whom the Japanese are in some essential -way, at least, related. - -But let us see what happens to these people when they do get in. Let me -quote a statement in the bulletin of the East and West News Bureau, a -Japanese propaganda agency located in New York. - - In Japan proper the Korean laborers are estimated to number about - 20,000. Compared with Japanese laborers they are perhaps superior - in point of physical strength, but in practical efficiency they are - no rivals of the latter. They feel that they are handicapped by - strange environments and different customs, which partly account - for their low efficiency. But experienced employers assert that the - Koreans are markedly lazy, and that their work requires overseers, - which naturally results of curtailment of their wages. - - According to inquiries by the Osaka police on conditions among - Korean laborers in the city, many of them have been thrown out of - employment on account of the economic depression; that they are - mostly engaged in rough work, such as carrying goods around or - digging holes, etc., as unskilled laborers. It states that they are - indolent and have no interest in work which requires skill and - attention; they are simply contented as cheap laborers. - -This quotation is illuminating in many ways. First, it strikes me as -being anything but fair play on the part of Japanese in America to send -out such discriminating and unkind accounts of a people whom they have -now taken in as fellows in an empire, and whom they are "trying to -assimilate." Secondly, it is not quite true, for Japanese manufacturers -are going to Korea with their factories. If Korean laborers are -efficient in Korea, why not in Japan? But the fact of the matter is that -the Japanese, quite naturally, are not going to give the best jobs to -Koreans with their own men round about. - -Now let us see what the British Vice-Consul at Osaka has to say of -Japanese labor, in a report to Parliament. Admitting that external -conditions have much to do with the poor quality of the Japanese -workman, and that in time and under better conditions he will improve, -the vice-consul says: "The standard [of intelligence] shown by the -average workman is admittedly low," while some of his sub-captions are: -"Docility," "Apathy," "Cheerfulness," "Lack of Concentration," "Scarcity -of Skilled Labor," and under the caption "Why Wages are Low" he says: -"Labor is plentiful and inefficient." - -It is seen, therefore, that the opinion of the vice-consul in the matter -of the Japanese is similar to that of the Japanese in regard to the -Korean; and so it goes. The point in the whole question, to my mind is, -that Japanese discriminate as much against other races as they are -discriminated against. Not until Japan lays low the chauvinistic notions -about the superiority of the most inferior Japanese to the best -foreigner can we expect that other nations will set to work to remove -the obstacles toward a clear understanding. - -In America the very reverse is true. No one ever asserts that the -Japanese is inferior to a white man. What is said is that the white man -is essentially an individualist who at maturity starts off in life by -himself, whereas the Japanese is bound by all sorts of notions of -ancestor-worship which submerge him completely in the group. -Furthermore, as a group the Japanese are able to overcome the greatest -odds that any individual can raise against them. The nature of that -group-consciousness will be analyzed in the answer to some of the other -questions. - - -2 - -But to return to Japan: That Japan has no occasion for fear of a serious -invasion of aliens is evident from recent figures that show that there -are only 19,500 foreigners there, of whom 12,139 are Chinese, 2,404 -Britons, 1,837 Americans, 687 Russians, 641 Germans, and 445 French. -These figures are, however, unreliable, and antedate the Russian -Revolution. However, the question here pertinent is whether any of these -would be permitted to engage in such industries as the Japanese engage -in here; for instance, agriculture. That can be answered in the -negative. The Japanese land law, however generous it may seem from mere -reading of the statutes, does not extend that privilege to foreigners. -The first proviso of the law is that the person desiring to own land in -Japan shall be from a country wherein Japanese are permitted to own -land. In other words, if America does not allow a Japanese to acquire -land, no American can do so in Japan. As it stands, therefore, no -Japanese can complain if American laws make a similar ruling. The second -provision excludes from any and all ownership, in any and all -circumstances, the Hokkaido, Formosa, Karafuto (Sakhalin), or districts -necessary for national defense. Considering that every other inch of -ground is held in plots of two and a half acres per farmer, to whom they -are the beginning and end of subsistence, the privileges innocently -extended are mighty short. The law virtually excludes all right to any -agricultural lands that any foreigner might be able to avail himself of. - -There is one kind of real property foreigners do wish to own, and that -is property for business purposes. But they cannot own that, even; they -may only lease it on long leases under conditions that are frequently a -hardship and often enough insecure. They may lease land under the -so-called superficies lease, but that means virtually evading the law, -and is always expensive. Even ordinary leases are frequently encroached -upon, as foreigners in the ports are only too well aware. While I was in -Kobe, Japanese were forcing foreign business firms out of the former -foreign settlement, which fully fifty years of white men's toil had -converted from a worthless bit of beach land into one of the most -up-to-date "suburbs" in the Orient, and which is now the best part of -Kobe. This was done by calling in leases, by making the rents -prohibitive, and by "buying out" foreign lease-holders at almost -exorbitant rates, just as the Japanese buy out white men in California. -One British druggist, Dr. Richardson, sold for $225,000 a corner plot -for which he had paid $12,500. He made a great profit in the deal, but -the process by which he, and others, were bought out is indicative of -the methods of the Japanese. For behind many of the real-estate dealers -was the Government, making loans at most favorable rates of interest -with the sole object of getting back into Japanese control as much of -the port plots as possible,--cost what it might. Even men of lifelong -residence in Japan must form themselves into corporations with their -wives and some Japanese as members, in order to own the land upon which -their residences are built. Some of these cases I investigated for the -"Japan Chronicle" and learned from the priest of the Catholic Church -that pressure was constantly being exerted upon him to make him -relinquish his hold upon the ground on which the church stands, because -it is in the heart of the business section. He said he did not know how -long he would be able to hold out against them. - -How corrupt landlords may overstep the bounds is illustrated by a case -reported in the "Chronicle" of February 10, 1921. The editor says: - - The notorious Clarke lease suit is a case in point. This was a - lease for twenty-five years, renewable for a further term of - similar duration. A syndicate of Japanese was organized which - purchased the land, knowing of the burdens upon it, with the hope - of worrying the lease-holder either into paying more rent or into - selling the lease for an inadequate sum. Suit after suit was - brought in various names, until at last a court was found to give - judgment raising the rent on the ground that taxes had increased - and the value of surrounding properties had expanded since the - lease was made. In justification of a judgment upholding this - decision, the Osaka Appeal Court declared that there was a local - custom in Kobe which permitted a landlord to raise the rent in - certain circumstances. No evidence was produced in support of this - contention, which was clearly against all contract law and rendered - lease agreements meaningless. The result was that the gang of - speculators who had banded themselves together to despoil a - foreigner were successful. The holder of the lease was forced to - sell and the syndicate profited greatly. - -If the argument is raised that you will find bad people everywhere, and -that one cannot take the poorest type of person and set him up as the -example, let us recall the case of the Doshisha University. There, -because of these selfsame land and property laws, The American Board of -Commissioners for Foreign Missions placed the million dollars' worth of -property in the hands of Christian Japanese directors. Presently the -Government brought pressure to bear upon these directors, and they -yielded to their Government. In February, 1898, they virtually ousted -the foreign owners, turned the institution into a secular college, and -saw nothing dishonest nor immoral in the action. Japanese have of course -come to a better understanding of the rights in such cases, nor am I -trying to impugn the integrity of the "better-class" of Japanese. I am -merely bringing evidence to prove that not only are Japanese laws with -regard to the ownership of land by foreigners as discriminatory as those -of California, but their interpretation is a serious handicap to aliens -in Japan. - -In America the fight is not to prevent Japanese from taking hold of land -for business purposes, but to prevent them from monopolizing -farming-lands, which, as Mr. Walter Pitkin has shown so clearly in his -book, "Must We Fight Japan?" are rapidly passing out of American hands -because of our vicious shallowness in agrarian matters. I am not as yet -bringing up the question of fairness, justice, generosity, or the rights -of over-crowded Japan. I am merely making parallels which seem to me -telling. - - -3 - -Does Japan make the naturalization of aliens easy? As far as the letter -of the law goes, there appears nothing in the eyes of a layman that -might stand in the way of a man, already married and with children, from -becoming a Japanese subject. There is no legal discrimination against -any race or color. But notwithstanding that there now are 20,000 -foreigners in Japan, and that the number throughout the years must have -been much greater, there are on record only nine cases of foreigners -having been naturalized between 1904 and 1913; two English, two -American, five French; and ten cases of adoptions by marriage into -Japanese families. These, to my knowledge, do not include men previously -married. They are all cases of men who have married Japanese women, or -of women who have married Japanese men. There have been 158 Chinese who -became naturalized. This does not indicate that naturalization is -easy--except by marriage--and the general consensus of opinion is that -it would take a man fully fifteen years to become naturalized in the due -process of law. - -Furthermore, the restrictions attached to the acquisition of Japanese -nationality take all the sweetness out of the plum, for even after you -have gone through the regular processes and have been permitted to sit -"amongst these gods on sainted seats," there are still exalted pedestals -beyond your reach. You may not become a Minister of State, President, or -Vice-President, or a member of the Privy Council; an official of -_chokunin_ (imperial-appointment) rank in the Imperial Household -Department; an Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary; a -general officer in the army and navy; president of the Supreme Court, of -the Board of Audit, or of the Court of Administrative Litigation; or -member of the Imperial Diet. Nor are the professions in all cases open -to you. - -However, this is a minor matter compared with that of the inability on -the part of any Japanese to accept another nationality without official -consent. If he resides abroad after his seventeenth birthday he cannot -in any circumstances become a citizen of that other country unless he -has completed his military service. Women may freely relinquish their -nationality through marriage; not so men. If men are born abroad, they -must make a voluntary request for denaturalization between the ages of -fifteen and seventeen, but such other factors are involved that only a -negligible number of American-born Japanese have ever attempted to rid -themselves of their ancestral connections; and there is one case on -record in which the Government refused on a technicality, for the child -had applied for denationalization according to Western reckoning, -whereas Japanese count the child's age as from the day of conception, -not birth. - -In view of this, then, there seems no point whatever in the fuss made -about Japanese being barred from citizenship. Again, I am not discussing -the advisability of this restriction, but merely trying to brush aside -many of the webs that have been spun for the netting of sympathy. The -relations between Japan and America are thus involved in an infinite -number of petty political regulations on each side, and nothing but a -complete sweeping away of all restrictions on both sides would ever -assume even the semblance of justice. But how far is Japan ready and -willing to go in this denationalization of herself? The most casual -study of her nationalistic aims and aspirations answers that question. - -That the problem is essentially a problem for Japan to solve is -self-evident. That it is political and not racial, and that this -political problem is rooted in Japan's economic condition, is likewise -clear. For no nation loses its nationals except when the conditions at -home are worse than those abroad, worse than those of the country to -which her people wish to emigrate. Australia and New Zealand find it -almost impossible to lure out British laborers, while Germany's desire -for room was largely for the utilization of her mechanics and scientists -and others whom she had trained in such large numbers that she hadn't -enough work for them at home. Two changes in the structure of world -economics have accentuated a condition of racial conflict which have -hitherto been virtually non-existent. Religious and political conflicts -have always obtained, but the color line has been drawn only in very -recent times. As long as black and yellow people have been of a lower -order and have been willing to serve the white, there was never any -serious disorder between them. The color line is not marked even in -Europe to-day, for the same reason that it is not marked in Japan. -Europe is herself too crowded to be a desirable immigration station. -Whatever the causes of conflict may have been, to-day it is clear that -they lie in the endeavor on the part of white labor to maintain a better -standard of living than Oriental labor has yet attained. And in exactly -the degree to which certain Oriental labor groups have risen above -others, the conflict becomes manifest,--to wit, the objection on the -part of Japanese labor to Korean and Chinese coolies. No serious -conflicts take place between Fijian laborers and Indian coolies, because -the Fijian maintains his standard under competition, that being lower -than the Indian's. - -We have therefore to study the problem of Japanese in America, the -so-called race conflict, not so much as it develops here but at its -source, Japan. And there, if I read Japanese conditions aright, the -problem is political and psychological in the main. Japan has come very -far along material modernization; she has virtually stepped up to the -front rank of nations. But the most casual observation reveals that that -is only so in part, that the advance is made as a government, not as a -people. That government is rooted in antiquated notions, is vicious in -many of its aspects, and is opposed to even the most conservative -developments of Western countries. That government refuses to recognize -the social forces that are at work within Japan for the leveling upward -of classes. And there is the rub. - - -4 - -Glancing over the history of the nineteenth century, we realize that all -nations have passed through a continuous struggle of the masses for -betterment of their conditions, political and social as well as -economic. During the greater part of that century Japan lay dormant, its -masses mentally mesmerized. The sudden impact of the West has stunned -the people more than awakened them. Only part of the social body is -coming to life,--a limb, an essential organ. To be generous, I might say -the brain is working, though from many of the actions of Nippon that -would seem doubtful. But certain it is that whether it is the brain or -merely the spinal column, instead of limbering up the rest of the body -as rapidly as possible, it is trying to retard it. Hence, the feverish -condition of the country. - -This is not mere speculation. As I have said, only such countries as -have an inferior economic condition suffer from the exodus of their -laboring people. That exodus takes place for several reasons. From -Europe it has come because of the hunger for religious freedom, to -escape political oppression, or merely to get a new start in life. And -though we have few political or religious exiles in America from the -Land of the Rising Sun, they come because of an unconscious desire for -relief from Japanese social domination. I am convinced that that which -most Japanese so prefer in America is that sense of individual -freshness, that desire for individual expression, for freedom from the -clutch of family and oligarchy. It is unconscious, and without doubt few -Japanese when brought face to face with the issues would admit it, so -deeply ingrained is the education and training at the hands of the -political administrators. Only here and there is some such statement -made, with an eye to the press and the galleries. - -Were Japan to extend to the masses greater freedom, there would be -plenty of work for them at home. There is scientific advancement to be -made. Japanese are frightfully behind in the scientific habit. I have -been told by a friend at one of our greatest institutions of medical -experimentation that with but one exception the Japanese who come there -have to be constantly dismissed for their incompetence. There was no -anti-Japanese sentiment in the mind of the person who made this -statement. Japanese still need generations of training to acquire the -scientific spirit. Their historians prove this. In the business of life -Japanese have plenty of work at home which could easily absorb all the -man-power, both masculine and feminine, at their command, without the -necessity of shipping any of it abroad. But the vulgar acquisition of -wealth, the vulgar acquisition of political prestige in the world, the -vulgar appeal for equality which no man or nation with true dignity and -self-respect would mouth to the extent that Japanese officialdom has -mouthed it, the vulgar wearing of its sensitiveness on its sleeve,--it -is these with which bureaucratic Japan is preoccupied. While, at home, -every effort on the part of Japanese to secure manhood suffrage, to -arise to the dignity of true men, of which the masses are as capable as -any race on earth, is discouraged. On the one hand pleading, in -mendicant fashion, for racial equality abroad; on the other, refusal to -give the people at home racial equality. On one hand it is asserted -loudly that "The Japanese do not like to be regarded as inferior to any -other people. In no country will they be content with discriminatory -treatment";[1] on the other, Prime Minister Hara answers the demand for -the franchise with the maudlin fear that it would break down -"distinction." - - [1] From the _Kokumin_, a leading newspaper. - -So that the problem of Japan and the world is largely a political -problem which she must face at home. Raising the standard of living; -increasing the economic welfare of the masses; extending the rights of -the people who are clamoring for it in sections, not only to the -intelligent elements but down to the very _eta_; cleansing the social -pores of the empire,--these will in themselves automatically solve the -problem for the world. The people don't want conquest. They are not -aggressive. But the misguided leaders,--there's the rub. - - -5 - -As to Japan in America--or, more specifically, the Japanese in -California--the problem is for us to solve. I once heard an American -sentimentalist who practises law, and hence assured an audience he ought -to know what he was talking about, say that the trouble in California -was that the Japanese will work and the American is an idler and won't -work. Why he wasn't howled out of the auditorium I don't know. That -America has reared this vast continent and made it one of the most -productive countries in the world did not seem to enter the head of this -lawyer. Yet the Japanese problem will not be solved by exclusion alone. - -We hear constantly that the reason for the conflict is that Japanese as -groups and as tireless workers are able to outwork Americans; and, in -certain special types of industry, that is proved. But were the -conditions made more acceptable to Americans in those industries, and -were we to devise mechanical means of production suited to them, it -would not be long before Japanese labor would find it extremely -unprofitable to come here, just as it finds it unprofitable to go to -Manchuria and Korea, where it has to compete with the cheaper Chinese -and Korean labor. Laws and restrictions can always be evaded, and the -price of vigilance is more costly than the gain. But those laws that are -basic in the condition of life no man can evade. - -The Gentlemen's Agreement has not worked because gentlemen themselves -seldom work. It has not worked because it has denied America the right, -as all nations claim it, to determine who shall or shall not come in. -Gentlemen never exact such agreements from their friends. They realize -that a man's home is his domain, to be entered only on invitation. -Furthermore, the agreement is not mutually retroactive. It says that -Japan has a right to decide the issue, and promises not to permit coolie -labor to enter America. I shall not enter the statistical controversy as -to whether flocks of Japanese have or have not evaded the agreement. An -agreement such as that should be evaded, and was loose enough to make -evasion simple. That is enough of an argument. - -Japan pleads for room on account of the tremendous increase in her -population every year. When a great appeal is made, the number is stated -as 700,000 or 800,000, according to the emotional condition of the -appellant. Professor Dewey contends that the Japanese Government, in its -own records, admits to only some 300,000 or 400,000 a year. Whether the -increase in California is or is not as stated, on one side or the other, -matters little. Japan's grounds for appealing for room are sufficient. -If the increase is so disgustingly large in Japan, it stands to reason -that it would be as large, if not larger here, where economic -opportunity makes increase possible and desirable. Every child born in -America is a handle worth getting hold of. But on the other hand, it is -also true that wherever Japanese better their standard of living their -birth-rate falls, as with every race. In which case there is only one -answer to Japan's appeal for more room: Better your standard of living -and you will not need to invade our house. That disgusting process of -breeding which aggressive nations indulge in should be decried from the -house-tops. It is no great mark of civilization to breed like mosquitos. -Mosquitos need to reproduce by the millions because their eggs are -consumed by the millions by preying creatures. Civilization makes it -possible for those born to survive. (See Appendix D.) - -Some students of Far Eastern affairs, like J. O. P. Bland, urge that -Japan has a right to the occupation of Siberia; and none will gainsay -that. But the fact is that though free to go both to Korea and -Manchuria, Japanese have not gone to these regions even to the extent of -one year's increase in population during the last ten years. Where, -then, is the argument? As has been shown, they do not go as settlers -because cheap continental labor makes it unprofitable. They go as -business-men, as the advance-guard of the empire, as the rear-guard of -the army. No one has ever raised a voice against the migration of -Japanese to these unpopulated regions--with the exception, perhaps, of -the natives. But ever and always one feels the hand of imperial Japan -behind each little man from the empire, and that hold on her nationals -is the thing that vigorous nations resent, because it threatens to -impair their status. - -That is what California and the sixteen other states who share her views -feel. They are conscious of some subsidy behind every extensive purchase -of land. From somewhere Japanese get enough money to buy anything they -want. It is always the paternalistic arm of the Government round every -little son of Nippon, or the embrace of his family. That is where the -problem begins and that is where it ends. If only some chemical -substance could be discovered that, when poured over the Oriental, would -separate him from the mass, he would be as good a fellow as can be found -anywhere in the world. But that was what always irritated me in my -relations with Japanese in Japan. I never met a man I liked but that in -order to enjoy association with him I had to tolerate his group. If I -started off anywhere with one, I soon had a retinue. That racial -clannishness is to be found everywhere, but nowhere is it more sticky -than in ancestor-worshiping Japan. - -Consequently, in whatever manner the problem is finally solved -here in America, one thing is agreed upon by both Japanese and -anti-Japanese,--that those here will have to be redistributed over the -country, their clannishness broken up. That is a problem which affects -not only the Japanese. However, nothing that is now done should in any -way be retroactive so as to deprive any single Japanese of the fruits of -his labor. Whatever solution is found for the Japanese problem in -America, one thing is certain,--that no war will ever be fought because -of Japanese immigration to America. Japan, as has been shown, would have -to readjust her own political thinking to such an extent as virtually to -revolutionize conditions in Japan in order to make an issue of the -citizenship problem and the matter of alien landownership here. Such a -revolution would considerably reduce the scope of the issues, they would -fall apart and virtually cease to exist. - -If we are looking for the causes of a possible conflict in the Pacific, -they must be sought not in California but in China. The dovetailing of -the angle of our triangle in America is contingent upon the dovetailing -of the angle of the triangle in Asia. The one in America can be -dislodged only by a wrenching apart of the angle in Asia. - -Japan's hegemony in Asia is a serious matter. Japan is an industrial -nation now. She is entitled to access to unused resources in China. -Propinquity accedes this, but propinquity precludes the necessity of -submerging China in the process. The Open Door in China means peace in -the Pacific. We leave it to time to determine what the walling up of -that door would mean. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII - -AUSTRALIA AND THE ANGLO-JAPANESE ALLIANCE - - -1 - -The tempest in the European teapot has become a tornado in the Pacific. -Small as the Balkans are, they were the stumbling-block in the way of -the downward expansion of the European powers. - -The tragedy in Europe has left Europe in the background. Civilization is -rapidly veering round in the direction of the Pacific. There are little -nations to-day whose possession is as fraught with unhappy consequences -as anything in southern Europe ever was. Yet we hear innocent dispensers -of information assure us that Yap is only a little speck in the Pacific -over which no one would think of going to war. They forget that America -nearly went to war with Germany in 1889 over the Samoan Islands, which -then meant much less to her. And the settlement in Europe at the Peace -Conference has greatly enhanced the position of the present powers in -the Pacific. - -Until very recently two developments in Pacific affairs had not been -given as much prominence in the press as they deserved. One, the -Anglo-Japanese Alliance, and the other the British Imperial Conferences, -held every other year since 1907. Just in proportion as the Imperial -Conferences have become, as it were, a super-Parliament to Great -Britain, so has the Anglo-Japanese Alliance waned. And just as the -so-called mandates over the various island groups in the mid-Pacific -congeal from lofty aspirations to concrete management there are emerging -in the Pacific the identical antagonisms that made of the little group -of states in Southern Europe the cause of the conflict. - -The Anglo-Japanese Alliance was formed in 1902. Its aim was to oust -Russia, and to guarantee British interests in China. Later on it was -revised to include Japanese protection over India. But consonant with -that agreement there blossomed in the British Empire a new thing to be -reckoned with,--an independent Australian navy. That navy has by no -means matured, it is not and cannot for years to come be a great -consideration in the Pacific, but it has been from the start prophetic -and explanatory of much that is taking place to-day. It is at the bottom -of the problem, because it is the beginning of Australian independence, -of her rise to nationhood. Let me rehearse the historical incidents in -connection with this development. - -Now, until the advent of that navy all the colonies had been paying -certain sums yearly toward the maintenance of the British Navy,--Canada, -Australia, New Zealand alike. But with the federation of the -Commonwealth, Australia began to agitate in no mistaken terms for a navy -of her own, to be built and manned by Australians, and kept in -Australian waters, rushing only in an emergency to the support of the -empire. Canada decided otherwise,--i.e., to build her own ships, but to -merge them with the home fleet; New Zealand continued the old scheme. -Being twelve hundred miles away from Australia, her isolation and her -inadequate resources and population made her more timorous. With -Australia the construction of a separate little fleet was the beginning -of a straining at the leash. Then came the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, -which, while it allayed the fears of the Australians somewhat, -intensified certain other phases of the problem, such as the -White-Australia policy. The Russo-Japanese War did nothing to allay -apprehension on the part of the Australasians. - -For years both the Dominion and the Commonwealth were absolutely -obsessed by the naval question. Sir Joseph Ward, the Prime Minister of -New Zealand, championed a single, undivided imperial navy; the late Mr. -Alfred Deakin of Australia stood out strongly in favor of an independent -navy. Seeing little hope of a very strong concession from England, -Deakin extended and urged an invitation, in 1908, to the American fleet -to visit Australia. He admitted that his object was to arouse Britain to -fear an Australian-American "alliance." The thrust went home. The -English "felt that it was using strong measures for an Australian -statesman to use a foreign fleet as a means of forwarding a project -which was not approved by the Admiralty." But even Sir Joseph Ward let -himself go to the extent of declaring that they welcomed America as -"natural allies in the coming struggle against Japanese domination." - -And when at last the American fleet came to Australia, it received an -ovation such as still rings in the conversation of any Australian with -an American. For an entire week Sydney celebrated. Melbourne followed -suit; New Zealand could not but take up the cue. Every one pointed with -pride to the similarity between the Australian and the American. -Australian girls virtually threw themselves into the arms of American -sailors. It is even said that many a sailor remained behind with an -Australian wife. Not even the Prince of Wales (now King George) was -given such an ovation. - -After that visit, so cordial was the attitude of Australians that -everywhere they talked of floating the Stars and Stripes in the event -of--what? In the event of pressure from Downing Street or from Tokyo. -The Australian temperament is not one which buries its grievances or -harbors ill-feeling. The Australian speaks right out that which is on -his mind. And though much must be discounted because of this bubbling -personality, almost primitive in its extremes, nothing that affects -Australia can long be ignored by us. - -Frankly, the situation is this: Australia is set on her so-called -White-Australia policy. Australia made it clear to England that, -alliance or no alliance, she would never swerve from her policy of -excluding Japanese and Chinese. When the American fleet appeared, -knowing the exclusion of Orientals practised in America, Australia felt -that bond of fellowship which comes from common danger. And everything -was done to develop friendship; America became the pattern for -everything Australian. Never particularly fond of the Englishman, at -times discriminating against him as much as against the Oriental, -advertising that "No Englishman Need Apply" when looking for labor, -afraid of the little yellow man up there,--Australia naturally looked to -America as a possible defender. - -But along came the European war. Great Britain was in danger. America -held aloof. Then everything changed. The wave of anti-American sentiment -in Australia was much more pronounced than in New Zealand. This was a -strange anomaly, for inherently New Zealand is much more imperialistic. -But it was characteristic of the Australian. There was almost a boycott -against American goods. One firm published a scurrilous advertisement -which the American Consul-General at Melbourne showed me and said he had -sent to Washington. For a time it looked rather serious, but in view of -the Australian character, its importance was not very great. It was the -impetuosity of a little boy, disgruntled because his opinion was not -feared. Many said openly: "We were so fond of America and thought you -were our friend. From now on we don't want anything from you. We don't -want your protection." - -Yet, as late as December 8, 1916, the Sydney "Morning Herald" said -editorially: "And _those of us who think of a possible run under -America's wings_ forget that her strength at present is proportionately -no greater than our own [Australia's]. She is not ready for either -offence or defence and she knows it. This being so, can we ask Great -Britain," etc. The feeling toward America at that time was only -commensurate with the petty jealousies that now rankle somewhat because -of fear that America has taken to herself too much credit for the -accomplishment of victory. But then it gave that stimulus to navalism in -the South that the Australians wanted; further, it gave birth to the -movement for greater independence in imperial affairs, which for -twenty-five years had determined the policies of the several states. - -Just recently a New Zealand navalist, writing in the "Auckland Weekly -News" (New Zealand), brought up the dread specter "balance of power" -again, calling attention to the fact that inasmuch as Japan is a great -naval power and America is increasing her naval strength, it is for -democratic Australasia to see to it that Great Britain does not lag -behind with its fleet in the Pacific,--to maintain the balance of power. -And the further sad fact was revealed that Australasia (seen in the -expression of this one individual at least) did not care particularly -whether, in the event of conflict, they were on the side of America or -Japan. - -Feeling did not take the same turn in New Zealand. That little country -continued in its more imperialistic tendencies, was content to be a -finger in the great hand of empire. In 1909, at the Imperial Conference, -Mr. Joseph Ward sprung a surprise by offering a battle-cruiser to the -Government without consulting his constituents at home. For this he was -knighted. But the New Zealanders were in a mood to make him pay for it -himself when he returned. Mr. (now Sir Joseph) Ward was severely -criticized for what he did. He was ridiculed even by the university lads -during their "Capping Carnival." They took him off in effigy and carried -a little boat with a sign saying: "This is the toy he bought his crown -with." Upon his return from the conference he lost his Prime -Ministership and a "conservative" government came into power. Later -developments so justified him that he became a sort of political idol -for a while. When the cruiser visited New Zealand, in 1913, the -excitement knew no bounds. - -Germany was always regarded as a potential enemy. The colonies had -always arched their backs at the proximity of German possessions in the -South Seas. When in 1889 Samoa was the bone of contention, the colonies -were rather eager to have America take it, in preference to the Germans. -Then, as Japan came to the fore, America as a potential protection -became more and more obvious to Australasians. The Panama Canal -intensified their conviction. They looked forward to a combination of -British and American power for the furtherance of peace as they -conceived it should be maintained, and consciousness of their own -destiny in the Pacific was stimulated. Suddenly they were brought close -to the United States. The anti-Japanese riots in California, the -annexation of Hawaii, the protectorate over the Philippines all pointed -to the Australasians lessons for their own guidance. They could not -expect from England the same keen interest in racial questions which -manifested itself in America. America demonstrated the dangers of having -two unmixable races like the white and the black together; Hawaii showed -them that Asiatic immigration is a breeder of trouble. They do not seem -to see that circumstances are not the same, that the pressure of -population has become much more keen, that industrial conditions in the -world to-day are altogether different from what they were when Great -Britain refused to have her American colonies put down the kidnapping of -Africans; that America to-day has 110,000,000 people and has encouraged -them to come from every country in Europe, as Australia does not. - -Australia looks only at the most obvious phase of the problem,--that -certain people are not happy together. Whether or not she -over-estimates her own strength against the pressure of changed -conditions, remains to be seen, but she is pursuing her own course with -a certain steadfastness that is at once a pathetic blindness and a -courageous self-assertion. In a country whose political outlook is -essentially generous, whose labor experiments have been extremely costly -to her, it strikes one as a great contradiction of principle. How can a -labor government be so utterly opposed to the extension of ideal -opportunities to laborers from other lands seeking to enjoy them? How -can she be so utterly capitalistic on a national scale when nearly -everything within her own ken is laboristic? The explanation of this -enigma lies in a certain measure in the manner in which Australia has -set about making herself independent of her mother country and, while -working indirectly for the break-up of the empire, is becoming imperial -in her own small way. All these counter currents must be seen clearly -before understanding can follow. They whirl about the pillar of -imperialism--England--and have come out clearly since the war. They -hinge upon the mandates over the South Sea Islands. - - -2 - -While, as has been shown, Australia has for twenty years pursued a -course that threatens to lead toward separation from England, New -Zealand has bound herself closer and closer. Australia, however, has -been extremely shy of any semblance of rupture. She does not want to -break away. She feels her isolation too much. But what she wants is in a -sense the rights that American states have within the Union. She wants -to be independent, to be able to develop in her own way, to expand, if -necessary, without danger of attack. This spirit is inherent in the -Australian temperament. When I told any Australian that I was traveling -and tramping on "me own," he could not understand it. He could not go -without a mate. He wanted to be sure that if he got into any scrape and -was with his back to the wall, his mate was there to help him. Still, he -wanted to fight alone. It did not seem to occur to any of these people -that a civilized man might go the wild world over and not have occasion -to fight. And this trait comes out in Australian international -relations. She wants to pursue the White-Australia policy contrary to -sentiment in England, to develop her own navy, to hold the whole -continent against the time when full nationhood will have become a -reality. But for the time at least she will not declare her independence -of Great Britain. She will not even give Britain the imperial preference -in trade which would compensate her for her trouble. But she did show in -the last war that she realized her responsibilities. In the Boer War it -was said that her assistance was merely for the sake of giving her men -adventure and practice for possible later use in her own defense. And in -this war conscription was defeated because, as it was openly declared, -it was not certain what the turn of affairs in Europe might be. It was -felt imperative that the men be not all gone and the continent left -undefended. And that contingency was voiced by the Premier of Queensland -as involving--Japan. To the outsider, Australia's attitude seems -extremely selfish, but to enthusiastic young Australia, with the wide -world before her, with a future that looks as promising as that of -America, it seems the only logical one. And as long as her potential -enemies do not take the trouble to show by deeds that they are not -enemies, her reasoning is not unjustifiable. - -But a strange thing has happened to Australia. She has got what she was -after, and now she hardly wants it. She fought for the imperial -conference method of settling imperial affairs. Australians have time -and again declared that though an empire, they are a nation first and -foremost. That the empire represented too heterogeneous a list of -peoples for them to forget that an Indian, though part of the empire, is -still an inferior as far as they are concerned. And Australia realized -that the mother country could not see eye to eye with her on that score. -Yet she insists on the Anglo-Japanese Alliance remaining in some form -acceptable to her and to America. How is that to be? What has happened -since peace was declared? - -Australia and New Zealand were loudest in the protest against the return -of the South Sea Islands to the Germans. New Zealand soldiers had taken -Samoa; the Australian navy--what there was of it--had cleared the -neighboring seas of German raiders. But though they asked that Germany -be deprived of the possessions, and though the leaders thundered for a -New Zealand mandate over Samoa and an Australian mandate over New -Guinea, the people realized that they did not particularly care for the -burden of looking after these lands. Mr. Hughes of Australia urged -annexation. The people as a whole preferred that Great Britain should -annex them and guarantee the dominions against possible dangers from -enemy control. They felt they could not stand the cost of governing -them. They were even not averse to their being turned over to America. -They have come to realize that they were much better off before the war, -when they merely contributed their small quota to the support of the -navy; now Great Britain has intimated that she can no longer maintain -that navy without their full share in its costs. Besides, the mandate -over the islands is not going to be simple. - - -3 - -Before giving consideration to the developments which not even the -Australasians had anticipated, let us look upon the gains they have -made. They have acquired some new possessions which make of them an -empire within the empire, as it were. The islands of the south Pacific -are to be ruled as though they were an integral part of New Zealand and -Australia, yet they have their own facets just as the Dominions had -their own problems within the empire. They afford them certain -commercial advantages: copra and cocoa from Samoa, phosphate from Nauru, -which alone has an estimated deposit amounting to forty-two million -tons. Nauru is of utmost importance to them because they are extensive -agricultural countries. It has been agreed that Great Britain take 42%, -Australia 42%, and New Zealand 16% of the export. The South Seas as a -whole supply 14.7% of the world's copra supply, and this may yet be -greatly increased. But this is nothing compared with the advantages they -afford as ports of call. Further, if the plan of linking the islands -together by wireless is effected, they will become an outer frontier for -the Antipodes of inestimable value. There is even a faint suggestion of -binding them together into one separate governmental entity,--a buffer -state, as it were, between the big powers in the Pacific. - -But what are these few assets compared with the greatly extended line of -defense now left to the Dominion to keep up? What is that to the great -problem of how to develop the native races? Australia is interested in -developing Queensland, a tropical region, not the distant island beyond. -The question of labor is bad enough for themselves, without having added -regions to worry about. Throughout the Pacific the problem of where to -secure man-power is pressing. Hawaii cries for labor; Samoa is in a -similar state; Fiji is troubled with the indentured Indians now there. -Go where one will, the islands would yield readily enough if cheap labor -were available. But Australia and New Zealand are not willing to exploit -these islands at the expense of cheap Asiatic labor which evolves into a -racial problem as soon as its returns become adequate. As for the -mandates both labor and capital in the South Seas are not keen about -these war orphans. A further problem is, what will happen when the -policy applied to island possessions conflicts with the course permitted -by the law of the mandate? What is worse yet, the mandate over the South -Seas has brought Japan closer by hundreds of miles to both New Zealand -and Australia, and has thrown open the question of admission of Asiatic -people to these islands. The Australasians feel that they are obliged to -protect not only themselves from Asiatic competition, but the native -races as well. If they are to carry out the provisions of the mandate to -rule the islands for the good of the natives, they feel that they cannot -introduce Asiatic labor, which undermines the natives economically and -morally every time it is attempted. These are some of the problems -Australasia inherited from the Peace Conference. - -How have they affected the relations of New Zealand and the Commonwealth -of Australia with Great Britain? They have put a new strain upon the -empire as such; they have put an added strain upon the relations between -Japan and Great Britain; they have driven a wedge into the -Anglo-Japanese Alliance. - -Further, the whole question of mandates as it pertains to the Pacific -has completely opened new sores. The island of Yap, which has been in -the press so much of late, is an example. A blow at so vital a factor in -world relations as cables would be like a blow on the medulla oblongata. -Yet under that new and misleading term, "mandate," Yap became Japanese, -and the near future is not likely to know just what was done when -Germany's colonies were apportioned under its ruling. Yet what is fair -for Great Britain and the Dominions should be fair for Japan, and if -mandate means possession for one it ought to mean it for the other. But -where do we come in and where the peace of the Pacific? Already, as -stated elsewhere, Japan has had in mind the fortification of the -Marshall Islands. She is proceeding to fortify the Bonin Islands and the -Pescadores. She is, according to a very recent rumor,--and rumors are -really the only things one can secure in such matters,--establishing an -airship station on the southeast coast of Formosa,--not on the west, -which would shorten her distance to China, but on the east, cutting down -mileage to the Philippines. And we? Well, we know what we are about, -too. Hence, the sooner such matters as mandates are defined, the better -for the world. - - -4 - -How would these things work out with the new British arrangement as to -the control of the Dominions? We have seen that behind the whole -struggle for the development of an Australian navy was the desire for -greater independence. As long as the war lasted, no troublesome topics -were broached. Now that the war is over, one may expect the feathers to -begin to fly. The Dominions are not stifling their desire for greater -and greater freedom. They were involved in a colossal war without ever -having been consulted. They feel that now they have earned their right -to express judgment on international affairs. They realize that nothing -could be done effectively if Downing Street were hampered by several -wills at work at the same time. Yet it is obvious that the people of the -Dominions are concerned first with their own affairs, as nations, and -are devoted to Britain only in a secondary manner. They are now -conscious of their power, and are determined to wield it. They have made -and are doing everything to continue to make friends on their own, by -whom they mean to stand through thick and thin. At the Peace Conference -they were not inferior to any of the deliberators, and signed the Peace -Treaty as virtual members of the League of Nations. - -"But," asks the Wellington "Evening Post," "are the Dominions ever to -cast an international vote against the Mother Country on a question -relating, say, to the future of the Pacific regarding which their -interests and wishes might rather harmonize with those of the United -States?" - -Mr. Massey, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, on the other hand, held -"that the Dominions had signed the Treaty not as independent nations in -the ordinary sense, but as nations within the Empire or partners in the -Empire." - -But to show how complicated the whole position was, a Mr. W. Downie -Stewart, M.P., pointed out that - - When New Zealand signed the Peace Treaty ... she took upon herself - the status of a power involving herself in all the rights and - obligations of one of the signatories.... That means that she may - have created for herself a new status altogether in the world of - foreign affairs, and instead of being an act to bring together more - closely the component parts of the Empire, it may be that it was - the first and most serious step toward obtaining our independence - and treating ourselves as a sovereign power. - -And in connection with Samoa he says the time may come when, having been -recognized as an independent power, they will be told "we look to you in -future, whenever a question of internal affairs arises, to act as an -independent power, making peace or war on your own initiative." - -Prime Minister Hughes, of Australia, however, has been steering a middle -course. He points to the dangers lying ahead, and to the absolute -necessity of keeping close to Britain. He urges that the alliance with -Japan be renewed, but in such a way as to leave no danger of losing -America's friendship. But he shows that the spirit of independence is -still uppermost in Australia. Declaring that "The June Conference has -not been called to even consider Constitutional changes," he adds: "It -it is painfully evident from articles which have appeared in the press -and in magazines ... that to a certain type of mind, the Constitution of -the British Empire is far from what it should be." - -But though Hughes is to-day the leader of Australia, it is not because -he has the country back of him. It is rather because there is -unfortunately no better man on hand. He has never cared much for -consistency, and even in the matter of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance there -is a suggestion of yielding that makes one feel uncertain. He has -declared that at the present conference the question of a reorganization -of the Government so as to give the Dominions a direct share in the -control of imperial affairs is not even being thought of, but it is -evident in his speech that that question is going to be delayed only -because more pressing matters, such as the Anglo-Japanese Alliance and -Imperial Naval Defense, must be dealt with first. In other words, as -spokesman he realizes that "little" Australia, with its five million -people and its vast continent has asked too much of its parent to be -allowed to stand alone. So he is pouring oil on the troubled waters by -trying to devise an Anglo-Japanese Treaty "in such form, modified, if -that should be deemed proper, as will be acceptable to Britain, to -America, to Japan, and to ourselves." - -But there is a third consideration in this whole question, and that is -Japan. What is Japan going to say about it all? For some time Japanese -have been rather cool in their enthusiasm over the alliance, because it -seems to them to have outlived its usefulness and because Article 4 -absolves Great Britain from assisting Japan in the event of war with -America. The "Osaka Asahi," one of the most influential of Japanese -journals, has boldly advocated its abrogation. The reason for both -British and Japanese indifference is obvious. Russia and Germany are out -of the way. British mercantile interests are not at all satisfied with -Japanese methods in China. The alliance has been disregarded -twice,--when the Sino-Japanese Military Agreement was signed, and when -the Twenty-one Demands were made. Furthermore, the alliance never -protected Japanese interests when they came in conflict with the -interests of the colonies, nor has it prevented British interests from -suffering in the Far East. As a protective alliance it has little more -to do except to guarantee Great Britain against Japan and Japan against -Great Britain. China is extremely antagonistic, because she deems -herself to be the worst sufferer. She is the main point under -consideration, yet she has not been consulted. Hence she has done -everything in her power to arouse public opinion against its renewal. - -Nevertheless, Japan has been concerned enough for the renewal of the -alliance to make a departure from her age-long attitude toward the -imperial family that is extremely interesting if not illuminating. The -recent visit to England of Prince Hirohito, heir to the throne, while -meant to widen his grasp of world affairs, was certainly intended also -to arouse public feeling there in favor of Japan and the alliance. This -was the first time that any Japanese prince of the blood had left Japan. -He hobnobbed with the common people, a thing unheard of in Japan. But if -he succeeded in winning popular approval for the alliance, it was -doubtless worth while from the Japanese point of view. Otherwise the -risk would not have been justified, for such visits are not without -their dangers. It is interesting to recall that when Nicholas, -Czarevitch of Russia, made a tour of the world upon the completion of -the Siberian Railway, in 1891, he passed through Japan. An attack upon -his person by a Japanese policeman nearly brought down the wrath of the -czar upon Japan, and there was much explanation. - -While Japan was anxious to have the alliance renewed, she argued that -England was more in need of it than she. America, she said, had somewhat -eclipsed England. Japanese feel that England must now lean on Japan as -never before. They felt this when the alliance was formed. Count -Hayashi, in his "Secret Memoirs," quotes a statement attributed to -Marquis Ito, as follows: - - It is difficult to understand why England has broken her record in - foreign politics and has decided to enter into an alliance with us; - the mere fact that England has adopted this attitude shows that she - is in dire need, and she therefore wants to use us in order to make - us bear some of her burdens. - -Ito was then playing Russia against England. To-day England is being -played against America, and the colonies are eager to utilize the -feelings of Japan and America for a greater Pacific fleet and for their -own augmented freedom within the empire. There is much talk of a secret -agreement existing between Japan and Great Britain. Even if there were, -Great Britain would be able to live up to it, in the event of war -between Japan and America, only at the risk of losing her colonies. - -However, that need not be taken as a serious check, for though Great -Britain wants her colonies, she does not want them enough to forego all -other considerations. On the other hand, a good deal of the pro-American -feeling in the colonies cannot be accepted too easily, for, as we have -seen, when America remained neutral they forgot blood relationship in -their criticism. To-day there are interpretations of the alliance which -would put Great Britain in exactly the same position toward her younger -"daughters" for which Australasia condemned America in 1914-17. But both -the psychological and material elements in the situation point to an -absolutely united front in Australasia for America in event of all the -talk about war with Japan coming to a head. That is best illustrated by -a statement in the "Japan Chronicle." The editor says: "As we have -repeatedly pointed out, it is unthinkable that Britain should join Japan -in actual warfare with America. No Ministry in England which -deliberately adopted such a policy would live for a single day." And the -colonies, from Canada to Australia, will echo that sentiment, as they -did boldly at the Conference. - -But it seems that with so much of the world vitally interested in -maintaining peace in the Pacific there should be no difficulty at all in -so doing. The colonies are sincere in their desire for amity with -America; nor is it merely a matter of common language. No one who has -taken the trouble to inquire into Far Eastern affairs finds the handicap -of language even the remotest cause of misunderstanding. Actions speak -louder than words, and none but the ignorant can now misread what is -going on in Asia. Let but those actions coincide with the promises made, -with the spirit of the alliance and with the constant expression of -amity and good-will, and we shall see the mist of war in the Pacific -clear as before the glories of the morning sun. - -There seems, therefore, no justification for the renewal of the -Anglo-Japanese Alliance. It is to all intents and purposes virtually -dead. Alliances on the whole have proved themselves treacherous -safeguards. Is there not something which can be substituted for them? -Cannot coöperation among nations replace intriguing misalliances, with -their vicious secret diplomacy? One way has been launched, and in the -succeeding chapter its character will be analyzed. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII - -THE CONSORTIUM FOR FINANCING CHINA - - -1 - -If all goes well, the open shop in international finance is a thing of -the past; at least so far as China goes. On May 11, 1920, exactly -eighteen months after the signing of the armistice, Japan formally -declared her willingness to enter the new consortium for lending money -to China, and on October 15, following, representatives of the British, -French, Japanese, and American banking-groups met in New York and there -signed the provisions by which they are for the next five years going to -finance China under what is known as the Consortium Agreement. - -For a full year after the signing of the armistice, Great Britain, -France, and America had been ready to act in consort in the matter of -future loans to China, but Japan insisted on excluding from the terms of -the agreement international activity in Manchuria and Eastern Inner -Mongolia. These two provinces have virtually become Japanese territory. -Into these she has extended her railroads or added to those built by -Russia, and over these she watched as a hen over ducklings. And because -she strenuously sought to manoeuver the Allies into admitting her -prior rights to these regions, the consummation of the Consortium -Agreement was delayed and delayed. Japan finally yielded, at the same -time claiming that the powers conceded her special interests; while -they, through their chief representative, Mr. Thomas W. Lamont, claimed -that Japan waived these interests. We shall presently see what happened, -but in the meantime it is obvious that both yielded and both won -out,--and that no nation is to-day sufficiently powerful and -self-contained to be able to stand apart from the rest of the world. The -closed shop in international finance has been ushered in, and the union -of world bankers is now known as the Consortium. - -In a chapter it is hardly possible to make more than a hasty survey of -so intricate a stretch of history. China before the war with Japan was -free from debt, but in order to meet the indemnity demanded by Japan she -was compelled to raise money abroad. The scramble among the foreign -powers to advance this money gave China certain advantages. Her own -capitalists had money enough to pay off this indemnity immediately, but -they did not trust their government and hoarded their funds. They knew -that with the Oriental system of "squeeze" only a fraction of it would -succeed in freeing their country. - -Another factor conspired to introduce alien domination over China,--her -lack of railroads and modern industries. She had wealth, man-power, -everything that an isolated nation could possibly desire, but she was no -longer an isolated nation, and she had nothing that an active nation -among nations needed for its very existence. Instantly, along with the -loans, came concessions for railroad-building, and the development of -China began. So deeply was China getting embroiled in alien machinations -that five years later, seeing that the young emperor himself, Huang-Hsu, -was head-over-heels in love with Western ways, the reactionaries -precipitated the Boxer Uprising in 1900. This only resulted in another -overwhelming indemnity, which China has not yet succeeded in paying off. -Consequently, more loans had to be made, and more urgent still became -the necessity for means of transportation and for the modernization of -industry. - -The Russo-Japanese War, which ordinarily might have meant a modicum of -relief to China, only succeeded in entrenching her enemy much more -securely at her very door, and another period of alien scrambling over -Chinese loans set in. Coöperation among various groups of foreign -bankers regardless of nationality was not unknown, for absolute -competition would most likely have been fatal. But thoroughly -thought-out getting together was, in view of the existing jealousy among -nations, inconceivable. Still, to such a pass had this suicidal -competition come that by 1909 a consortium was proposed which aimed to -include Russia, Japan, Germany, France, England, and America. It began -to work, but Secretary of State Knox made a proposal for the -neutralization and internationalization of the Manchurian railway system -which met with a cold no from Japan. Shortly afterward Japan made an -agreement with Russia which completely frustrated Knox's proposals, and -the thing virtually fell through. - -In 1913, President Wilson took the matter in hand. He refused to become -a party to a scheme which, in his estimation, instead of working for the -rehabilitation of China and the Open Door bound her helplessly. And ever -since China has been getting "the crumby side" of every deal. For the -plan as it then existed had no provisions against the pernicious -practice of marrying China to one power after another with concessions, -without giving any guaranty of the preservation of her dower -rights,--freedom in her industrial and political affairs. - -Russia then was Japan's "natural" enemy. Russia was threatening the -"very existence" of Japan. Yet when Knox's proposal came up, Japan was -ready to unite with Russia in order to keep the others out of Manchuria. -She had to use that argument to save her face. Bear this in mind, for we -shall presently see that a second time Japan used this argument in order -to keep the consummation of the consortium in abeyance. It was more than -a plea for special interests because of propinquity; it was a plea that -the peace and safety of the empire demanded it. - -Propinquity! The pin in that word has pricked nearly every one who has -shown any interest in China, no matter where. Japan used propinquity as -a justification of her annexation of Korea, breaking her word to that -kingdom in so doing. Yet Japan contends that she never has broken her -word. Japan is a nation true to her word, but, like many another nation, -is loose in her wording. She has guaranteed the Open Door in Manchuria -and Mongolia,--and Korea. In Korea the door is shut, and Japan has made -entrance to the other spheres of little advantage. Ill-content with -penetration of these regions, she has, by means of her railroads there, -sought to divert the course of Chinese trade from Shanghai through -Manchuria and Korea and Japan. In this there is nothing intrinsically -wrong. But she goes farther and tries to exclude consortium activity in -other fields in these two provinces. But that these are not the only -slices of China she is after,--that they are, in fact, only -stepping-stones for the final domination of the great republic,--is -attested to by certain well-known facts in Far Eastern affairs. - -Japan and her friends assert she never has broken her word; her enemies -declare she is sinister and not to be trusted. Neither statement is -correct. Her methods may sometimes be sinister, but no one who follows -events in the Far East is unaware of them, and Japan has taken no pains -to conceal them. Actions speak louder than words. But has Japan actually -never broken her word? We have already referred to Korea, whose -independence Japan has guaranteed by published treaty. During the war -Japan carried out the requirements of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, but -Article V reads: - - The High Contracting Parties agree that neither of them will, - without consulting the other, enter into separate arrangements with - another Power to the prejudice of the objects described in the - Preamble of this Agreement. - -Notwithstanding this clear stipulation, Japan immediately after -capturing Kiao-chau from Germany, without consulting Great Britain as -herein provided, issued the Twenty-one Demands on China. Of these Group -V alone would have made a vassal state of China had she accepted them. -Knowledge of these were kept from Britain completely, but when they -finally leaked out, Japan vociferously denied them. Downing Street was -not pleased, but there was much to be done in Europe just then. In 1918, -Japan a second time made an arrangement with China without consulting -her ally, Great Britain. This time it was the Sino-Japanese Military -Agreement. At the moment Russia withdrew from the war and released the -German prisoners, and that was the excuse for imposing combined military -action under Japanese officers. - -As though this were not enough, when the success of Germany on the -western front was at its height, Count Terauchi, Prime Minister and -arch-plotter in China, came out with a statement published by Mr. -Gregory Mason of the "Outlook" to the effect that it was not unlikely -that some understanding, if not alliance, might be effected between -Japan, Russia and Germany. And the rumors of such an understanding -having been actually arrived at, have since been shown to have had just -foundation. - -Furthermore, since 1917, according to "Millard's Review" for April, -1920, Japan has lent China about 281,543,762 yen or thereabouts, -privately, for political and industrial purposes, for reorganization, -railway construction, munitions, canal improvements, flood relief, -wireless, forestry, war participation, and other undertakings. - -These things must be recalled in considering the new consortium, as they -show what led up to its final consummation. These actions of Japan -indicate encroachment upon China to the extent of virtually closing the -Open Door. In this regard, the alliance has had a dual effect: while it -makes possible for Japan to go as far as Britain would dare go, and even -farther, on the other hand it tends to keep Japan in check. Hence, the -state of mind of the Japanese on the subject of the treaty has been -contradictory. They have regarded its renewal and its abrogation with -about equal anxiety. From a moral point of view, they dare not stand -alone in the world, being the only great autocracy remaining. Conscious -of their power and twitching under the restraint which the alliance -imposes, yet needing its support, they are trying to make it appear that -Great Britain needs it fully as much. - -As far as Great Britain goes, the alliance was formed chiefly to -guarantee the interests of the empire, but also the Open Door and -China's integrity. That is, that Japanese Yen and British Sovereigns -should have full freedom to go to China to earn a living. Let us see -what the various treaties and understandings purport to accomplish. - -The Anglo-Japanese Alliance assures "The preservation of the common -interests of all Powers in China by insuring the independence and -integrity of the Chinese Empire and the principle of equal opportunities -for the commerce and industry of all nations in China." - -The Root-Takahira Understanding declares: "The Policy of both -Governments [Japanese and American], uninfluenced by any aggressive -tendencies, is directed to the maintenance of the existing _status quo_ -in the region above mentioned and to the defense of the principle of -equal opportunity for commerce and industry in China." In other words, -without an alliance, America has secured from Japan an understanding -guaranteeing the integrity of China and the Open Door for her pet, the -Dollar. Hence, except for the fact that it made no promises to the -effect, "My Ally, right or wrong, but still my ally," this agreement -says that the American Dollar has as much right to earn a living in -China as the Yen has. - -But in the meantime the Yen has been having it all his own way, for the -Sovereign and the Franc and the Dollar were very busy doing things in -Europe. And in good Oriental fashion the Yen has been breeding, and -breeding rapidly. He was going to China, as we have seen, by the million -and keeping China's interests and integrity, which all had guaranteed, -in a very feverish state, notwithstanding alliances and agreements born -and in embryo. - -This, at bottom, is what the whole Far Eastern problem is,--all of the -governments seeking opportunities in China and mutually binding and -barring one another from aggression and concessions. They have all -guaranteed China's "integrity," but none, except America, has actually -lived up to the agreement, and China's integrity is rapidly ceasing to -be an integer. - -Now, if that were all there was to it, debate would be childish, but -integers, like the atom, are not easily divided without creating -something new. The atom becomes an electron; and the integer, when a -nation, becomes a source of international conflict. Hence, it is of the -utmost importance that China remain an integer. The Anglo-Japanese -Alliance has failed to maintain China's integrity. The Root-Takahira -Agreement seemed to cover the ground well enough, but that it was not -sufficient is proved by the later necessity on the part of Mr. Lansing -to supplement it by his so-called "understanding" with Viscount Ishii. -However, that the Ishii-Lansing Agreement is loose and inadequate was -obvious on the face of it and it was shown to be absurd when the -Consortium Agreement was being negotiated. It seems that -Secretary-of-State Lansing, realizing that his "agreement" with Ishii -was being translated into a Monroe Doctrine of Asia, as it was never -intended to be, fostered the new Consortium Agreement in order to throw -a ring round the Ishii-Lansing Agreement and define its limitations. -With the very first approach the promoters of the consortium made to -Japan, Japan, as we have seen, began eliminating from its scope -everything that propinquity permitted, threatening not only the -consortium but the various previous agreements. I state these facts not -to condemn Japan, but to delve into the psychology of the powers who, at -the Peace Conference at Versailles, came to the conclusion that the only -solution for the situation in the Far East was a coöperative scheme. -They must be borne in mind in order to understand why Japan withheld -from concurring, and finally yielded. - - -2 - -America was viewing all this with no little apprehension. Matters in the -Far East were extremely precarious at the time she entered the war. It -was in order to reassure Japan and merely as a restatement of issues -that the Ishii-Lansing Agreement was made. Japan's propinquity was -recognized. But it was also recognized that the Open Door was being -walled up. Hence, the American Government, which had withdrawn from the -Sextuple Consortium, suggested that a new consortium agreement be made -in which the four leading powers take equal part. These powers had been -drawn closer together during the war, and that concord was to be taken -advantage of before it had a chance to dissipate. - -At the time that I wrote the article on "Lending Money to China" for the -"World's Work," August, 1920, the whole consortium scheme was shrouded -in mystery. Since then the correspondence that took place between the -powers has in part been published. The way it developed is worthy of -being outlined. - -The American bankers had been asked by the Government to enter the -proposed consortium. They were not over-enthusiastic about it, for at -the time they felt they had enough demand at home and in Europe for -such funds as they could command. They realized that at that time (July, -1918) they would be expected to carry, with Japan, both England and -France, but they agreed that "such carrying should not diminish the -vitality of the membership in the four-Power group." But they did -stipulate that "One of the conditions of membership in such a four-Power -group should be that there should be a relinquishment by the members of -the group either to China or to the group of any options to make loans -which they now hold, and all loans to China by any of them should be -considered as a four-Power group business." - -Lansing replied to the bankers, accepting their stipulations, obviously -his main intention in working for the consortium being, as I have said, -to encircle the problem with a view to defining its limitations so as to -make it impossible for Japan to interpret his agreement with Ishii too -broadly. - -These communications were transmitted to the British Foreign Office, -prompting a reply from Mr. Balfour on August 14, 1918, wherein he -inquired whether it was the intention of the American Government to -enter the $100,000,000 loan to China for currency reform which was then -under consideration and toward which Japan had already made two separate -advancements; and whether it was the intention of the United States to -confine activities to administrative loans or to include industrial and -railway enterprises as well. Lord Reading made inquiry of the State -Department and determined that both types of loans had been considered. - -It is obvious from these communications that both Japan and Great -Britain wished to retain their special interests in regard to the -existing railway and industrial loans, and balked at their being pooled -with those of the consortium. But England was ready enough from the -beginning to forego these. The United States held "that industrial as -well as administrative loans should be included in the new arrangement, -for the reason that, in practice, the line of demarcation between those -various classes of loans often is not easy to draw." - -Everything went along smoothly until Japan was consulted, and then it -was found that while she was willing enough to enter into a consortium -for the whole of China, she was emphatically unwilling to have Manchuria -and Mongolia included. From the very beginning, the American, British, -and French banking-groups and governments most decidedly refused to -accede to Japan's demands in this matter, declaring that such a -rendering would simply open up the sores of spheres-of-interests and -concession-hunting, and completely nullify the purposes and intentions -of the consortium. The Japanese argument is amusing. When Japan first -encroached upon Manchuria and Mongolia, it was because of danger to her -safety from Czarist Russia. Now she was face to face with Bolshevist -Russia, and she trembled for her safety in these terms: - - Furthermore, the recent development of the Russian situation, - exercising as it does an unwholesome influence upon the Far East, - is a matter of grave concern to Japan; in fact, the conditions in - Siberia, which have been developing with such alarming precipitancy - of late, are by no means far from giving rise to a most serious - situation, which may at any time take a turn threatening the safety - of Japan and the peace of the Far East, and ultimately place the - entire Eastern Asia at the mercy of the dangerous activities of - extremist forces. Having regard to these signals of the imminent - character of the situation, the Japanese Government all the more - keenly feel the need of adopting measures calculated to avert any - such danger in the interest of the Far East as well as of Japan. - Now, South Manchuria and Mongolia are the gate by which this - direful influence may effect its penetration into Japan and the Far - East to the instant menace of their security. The Japanese - Government are convinced that, having regard to the vital interests - which Japan, as distinct from the other Powers, has in the regions - of South Manchuria and Mongolia, the British Government will - appreciate the circumstances which compelled the Japanese - Government to make a special and legitimate reservation - indispensable to the existence of the state and its people.... - -The utter fallacy of this is obvious. The consortium was not a -miracle-worker. Its efforts would necessarily extend over a series of -years; its principals were as opposed to Bolshevism as Japan was. But -there was Japan,--bureaucratic, imperialistic Japan,--shedding tears -over the prospect of what might happen to her people from Bolshevism if -the consortium were permitted to take a share in the development of -Manchuria and Mongolia,--to which she has no right other than that of -her might. - -No pressure such as could be said to be in the nature of an ultimatum to -join the consortium was exerted, of course, but it was obvious that -unless Japan withdrew her objections the consortium would not -materialize. Japan made an effort to get the other powers to make some -written statement or accept her formula securing to her these special -rights; but the others were adamant. Japan specified just what she -feared,--the construction of other railroads. - -The United States replied: - - The American Government cannot but acknowledge, however, its grave - disappointment that the formula proffered by the Japanese - Government is in terms so exceedingly ambiguous and in character so - irrevocable that it might be held to indicate a continued desire on - the part of the Japanese Government to exclude the American, - British, and French banking groups from participation in the - development, for the benefit of China, of important parts of that - republic, a construction which could not be reconciled with the - principle of the independence and territorial integrity of China. - -It is interesting to note that in all these communications, the Japanese -Government is constantly referring to its own special interests and -dangers, whereas the others repeat and repeat their concern for the -integrity of China. It may be, after all, that the Japanese Government -is the more honest, though America's stand is unchallengeable. - -I have dwelt sufficiently, I believe, with the emanations from behind -departmental doors. The human elements are much more interesting. -Suffice it to say that Japan held out for a long, long time, and things -seemed hopeless. At last, after an understanding with all those -concerned outside Japan, Mr. Thomas W. Lamont went to the Far East as -spokesman for the other powers, to carry on negotiations with Japan. - -Unfortunately--whether by design or not I have no way of telling--an -American business mission also went to Japan at that time, upon the -invitation of Baron Shibusawa, popularly known as the "Schwab of Japan." -Everybody got these two parties mixed, but I have since been very -earnestly assured that Mr. Frank A. Vanderlip, who headed the business -mission, had nothing whatever to do with Mr. Lamont's mission. Be that -as it may, it was certain even from the twin-reports that while the -business mission was being lavishly entertained, Mr. Lamont was seeing -all that he wanted to see, and saying all that he wanted to say. The -mission was discussing with Junnosuke Inouye, Governor of the Bank of -Japan, and Baron Shibusawa, and others such questions as Japanese -immigration, the Shantung situation, the invasion of Siberia, and the -submarine cables. All that the world at large got as to the decisions -arrived at was the fact that views were exchanged in a friendly manner, -and some delightfully amusing articles from the pen of Julian Street who -was the scribe of the occasion. - -In the meantime, Lamont, who seems to be a man for whom a dinner has -little attraction, left the impression on the Japanese Government that -Japan and Japan alone would lose by holding back. When he left Japan, to -go to China, the Japanese Government was still determined on securing -from the powers exemption for Manchuria and Mongolia. - -But a series of subsequent events helped Japan to make up her mind. -First and foremost among these was the financial slump in Japan, which -was seriously embarrassing. This was followed by financial stringency in -Manchuria and the eagerness of the directors of the South Manchurian -Railway,--who are at present involved in a far-reaching scandal for a -loan which could not be floated in Japan and which was sought in -America. Third, as either cause or effect, was the situation in China. -China, on account of Japan's courtship of the Peking militarists and the -rape of Shantung, had instituted a boycott of Japanese goods the -bitterness and force of which Japan had learned to respect. These -circumstances alone might have been enough to drive a nation to -desperation; but a sensitive nation like Japan would suffer these things -a thousand times over in silence. One thing Japan cannot stand, and that -is the distrust of the world. - -And the Lamont party found from the moment it left Nagasaki for China -until the moment it set foot again in Shimonoseki on its return that -there was not a white man nor a yellow man who had a good word to say -for Japan. Japan was an isolated country socially,--isolated a thousand -times more definitely than she is geographically. And the good sense of -the Japanese has brought them to a realization that that does not pay. -Japan wants the good-will of the world, and she wants it sorely. - -When Mr. Lamont arrived in China he did not find the same atmosphere he -had found in Japan. The fact that he had been in Japan first added to -the suspicions of the Chinese. They had many things to ponder over and -be suspicious about. China remembered the processes of westernization -which she had had to answer with the Boxer Uprising in 1900. But China -has never forgotten the return of the Boxer indemnity by the United -States. - -In Peking some students threatened to stone the hotel at which Mr. -Lamont stopped. A few came as special representatives of the student -body, according to one report, and quizzed Mr. Lamont for two hours. -They left apparently satisfied. Their strong plea was that no loans be -made to the Government until peace between North and South was -established. - -The press of China and the people of China were divided. Some of the -Japanese, who owned papers in China, sought to alienate the sympathy of -the Chinese for America; some tried other tactics. The Chinese -militarists in Peking who had tasted of the flesh-pots of Nippon were -not over-anxious to put themselves on a diet. Chinese patriots saw in -the new consortium a rope of a different fiber. The consortium party -found itself double-crossed by obvious agencies. - -In a measure this was justified all the way round, for the undertaking -was shrouded in secrecy on many points which could not but discredit it -in the eyes of many. Perhaps this was unavoidable, but it was none the -less natural that China should be wary. In her own sort of way, China -was taking inventory. The last loan of $125,000,000 only arrived in -China as $104,851,840 after deductions for underwriting had been paid. -And before the sum can be paid off, it will have cost China $235,768,105 -by way of interest and commissions. And China knows that only a small -part of this tremendous sum had gone into actual constructive work. - -Yet China needs assistance. Railroads are the world's salvation and -China's crying need. But for lack of railroads, China would to-day be -the most powerful nation on earth, financially and politically. And the -fact that her railroads are short while those of other countries are -long makes of her a prey to those tentacles of trade against which she -is helpless. China has to-day only about 6,500 miles of railroad: she -needs 100,000. She who built the rambling wall has still only -foot-paths. She needs 100,000 miles of highway. Her canals, which a -thousand years ago kept the country open to trade and partially free -from famine, have fallen into disrepair. She needs telegraphs, -telephones, wireless. If only the money she borrowed went into such -enterprises China would repay the world a thousandfold. - -It was therefore natural that China should be suspicious, and likewise -natural that she should be willing to be convinced. What young China -wanted most was definite and outspoken assurance that her integrity as a -nation would not be jeopardized. - -The leading Chinese newspapers expressed their gratitude at repeated, -assurances of due respect being given to Chinese public opinion and -promises to refrain from interfering in her internal affairs. But -others, like the China "Times," said: - - The British plan to control our railroads jointly, and the American - plan is to monopolize our industries jointly, while the Japanese - plan to monopolize all our railroads, mines, forestry, and - industries. Any one of these plans will put our destiny in their - hands. - -It also declared: "Although it has been reported that Japan will make -certain compromises, it is hard to say to what extent these will go." - -To this Mr. Lamont said: "It now remains for the Japanese Government -formally to confirm this desire [of the bankers to join]. If they fail -to do so and if Japan remains outside the consortium, I should think -that Japan might prove to be the chief loser." He next made it clear to -China that she would first have to establish peace if she is to be -helped. Aside from the reorganization of the currency, the consortium is -going to see to it that a sufficiently safe audit system is established, -so that it will be sure that all loan expenditures go as far as they -should into the properties themselves. Further, the Chinese Government, -in order to save some cash, refused to pay on certain bearer bonds which -had come back rather curiously. These were formerly German property -bonds on the Hukuan Railway loan which Germany had evidently sold off -before the war. They had now come back by way of England and America. -The Chinese Government wanted proof of transference on bearer bonds. Mr. -Lamont pointed out to them that this action would totally discredit them -and that the ability to secure further investments would be very slim -unless these were redeemed. Mr. Lamont then returned to Japan. - -Then it became known that the Japanese Government had finally given its -consent. In Japan, opinion ranged from imperialistic chauvinism to -liberal recognition of the consortium as a way out of the mess. On May -11 things came to a head. Mr. Lamont stated on his return to America -that: - - The fact that Japan has come into the Consortium for China without - reservations should be made clear. The agreement that the Japanese - banking group with the approval of its government, signed at Tokio, - leaves nothing to be desired on this point; but in Japan, while - there was perfect readiness by all authorities to announce that an - understanding had been reached, there seems to be some reluctance - to make public any statement that the Japanese Government had - withdrawn its reservations as to Manchuria and Mongolia. It is only - fair, therefore, that every member of the American banking group - and American investors generally should clearly understand the - facts. - -Still Viscount Uchida, the Foreign Minister, insisted: - - While other powers can afford to regard the new Consortium solely - as a business matter Japan is otherwise situated, since her vital - national interests, such as national defense and economic - existence, are apt to be involved in enterprises near her border. - When the three other governments expressly declared to Japan that - they not only did not contemplate acts inimical to her vital - interests but were ready to give assurance sufficiently - safeguarding them, the Japanese Government decided to confirm the - Paris agreement. - -What Japan expected the powers to say other than just that is a matter -for diplomats to play with. To the common person this statement is -absolutely meaningless. It is a generalization which leaves the door -open for Japan to object to loans for any work which she feels will -jeopardize her national life or vitally affect her "sovereignty." Any -railroad scheme which might become a competitor by diverting freight -from Manchurian lines owned by Japan would be a menace to Japan's -sovereignty. - -For instance, it seems understood that among these vital interests are -certain loans to Chinese capitalists and corporations. And doubtless -Japan would right now much rather have the millions which she has sunk -in China in her own hands. But if these loans are recognized, what -guarantee is there that even under the nose of the consortium further -"loans" will not be made? - -Is it likely that Japan will relinquish her hold on the South Manchurian -Railroad, which in her opinion is of strategic importance? If the -consortium is to have no say in such vested interests, obtained before -its conclusion, how is it going to secure itself against these very -interests being used as a means of breaking up the unity of the -cooperative enterprises? How is so sweeping a clause going to be kept -within bonds? If Japan is left in full control of the Manchurian -railways, if the consortium has not really dissolved the Sino-Japanese -Military Agreement, if Japan is to control the German-built railways in -Shantung, how is the consortium going to better things in the Far East? -There is altogether too much silence on many points in the consortium -project for the world to have any real assurance. Secret diplomacy -having been discredited, it seems that bankers have themselves broken -into diplomacy. Of course, individuals have a perfect right in this -modern world to discuss whatever matters they like,--and governments, -too, for that matter,--but it should seem that the people as a whole -whose money, whose happiness, and whose lives are involved have a right -to know to the last detail what has been traded off in the making of the -consortium. China evidently was placated by Lamont with full -explanations of what the consortium intended. In brief it was this: - -The agreement calls for the pooling of all such interests of the several -powers in China as had not been already developed separately, in a "full -and free partnership." In this way it is hoped that future spheres of -influence will be eliminated, jealousies between the powers be done away -with, and Chinese grafters be prevented from pitting one power against -the other for their own selfish ends. Chinese complain that now they -will not be able to secure loans on a competitive basis and that -therefore they are being more surely strangled. That is partially true. -But it is also true that corrupt Chinese officials have been keeping -China and the world in turmoil for their own greedy ends. Both of these -things must be stopped if peace is to obtain in the Pacific. - -The guarantees given to China were to the effect that in no -circumstances would the consortium undertake such private enterprises as -banking, manufacturing, or commerce, but would devote itself entirely to -the construction of railroads, the laying of highways, and the -reorganization of China's currency. The consortium was to make loans to -the central or provincial government only, but as a condition of their -advancement, peace between the North and South was urged. The consortium -was not to interfere in the domestic affairs of China. Loans were to be -made only with the approval of the governments behind the bankers. Nor, -of course, can you compel any one to borrow money from you, wherein -China has the whip hand. Herein lies a very important possibility. - -China has plenty of money. Its bankers hoard enough to clean up the -country's debts in no time. But they cannot trust their governmental -officials; they never have trusted them. But just lately these bankers -have been awakening to the wisdom of foreign financial methods, and are -adopting them. This may be the first good result of the consortium. - -On the other hand, should the terms of the Anglo-Japanese Alliance -displease China, she may refuse to recognize the consortium. What then? -China has set out to strangle the alliance, which was formed without -consulting her. But we speculated enough in the last chapter to show -that should the consortium really work, the Anglo-Japanese Alliance -would cease to have any functional value. - -But there are dangers in the consortium,--and even in the coöperative -development of China. If Japan joins whole-heartedly in the consortium, -she may be the greatest gainer. For here are all the powers mutually -developing China, laying railways, and opening up the resources of the -country. Who, more than Japan, is going to tap China's unlimited raw -supplies,--the coal in Shansi, for instance, which is enough to supply -the world's needs for a thousand years? And should Japan in the end -still seek the hegemony of the East, she could utilize these railroads -and resources for her own aggrandizement. Who could stop her? Have not -the separate governments given Japan their assurance that she "need have -no reason to apprehend that the consortium would direct any activities -affecting the security of the economic life and national defense of -Japan?" - -There is, it is said, only little left to be told, but that little may -be more than enough. But if China is really helped to strength and -independence, then the greatest menace that has ever faced mankind will -have been averted, and China, a country with the oldest culture in the -world, will have been won back to civilization. Not in emasculated -alliances but in a healthy cooperation will the peace of the Pacific be -preserved. And the consortium, as things are in the world, is the first -example of international good sense known to modern history. - -Now, the Consortium Agreement is not an idealistic scheme. The powers -recognize that the future peace of the world depends on how they manage -their affairs in China. If the consortium throws all secrecy to the -winds and comes out openly and at all times for the principles on which -it was formed and for which the several governments have guaranteed -their protection to these banking-groups, what use is there going to be -for the alliance? Perhaps, to paraphrase President Wilson's statement -when he went across the Atlantic with his challenge for the freedom of -the seas, Great Britain and Japan may now have to say to the world: -"Gentlemen, the joke's on us. Why, if the consortium works in China -there is going to be no need of an alliance!" - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV - -UNCHARTED SEAS - - -We have taken a long journey together. The main routes along the Pacific -which are the highways of our past and future intercourse have been -inspected. But the great Pacific basin is not yet everywhere safe for -navigation. There is, I understand, a scientific expedition now at work -thoroughly charting every inch of that wonderful watery waste. There is, -I know, a scientific body under the directorship of Professor Gregory of -Yale for the thorough research of ethnological materials among the races -of the Pacific. But aside from the efforts of individuals, politically -and socially and hygienically, there is nothing going on to bind the -peoples together. I had nearly forgotten that a year ago we did send out -a political expedition to the Far East, a Congressional expedition which -spent four days in Japan and, I daresay, a week in China. Otherwise, we -are still at the mercy of individual scribes, who, like myself, have -their own points of view, their own motives, and their own reactions. - -For years I have read religiously every interview reported in the press, -with spokesmen for one country or the other on the Pacific. The mass of -clippings I have accumulated I have time and again sifted carefully for -some word or sign that might indicate the real problem. But I have -failed to find any. I cannot lay the responsibility on the press. It -rests with the individuals who have been asked to give their opinions. -But as far as substance goes, they may all best be illustrated by a -sentence from the speech of Viscount Uchida, the Minister for Foreign -Affairs, delivered before the Imperial Diet. I have the speech as it -came to me from the East and West News Bureau. The sentence I have -selected, for the translation of which the Viscount is of course not -responsible, is this: "It is true that this friendly relationship is not -without an occasional mingling of incidents; that is almost inevitable -in any international relations." All speeches such as these are -remarkably free from definition. Speech after speech is reported, all -plead for understanding, but in none of these is any basis for -understanding given. Sentiment will not dissolve international -suspicion. - -Right here I should like to make it clear that Japan is not the only -nation that is being maligned, as some would have us believe. Exclusion -is practised not against Japan alone, though in other cases it is -practised in a different manner. The Honolulu Chamber of Commerce -excludes white men from entering its sacred sanctums nearly as much. -Unless you are approved by the chamber, you will find it very difficult -to take up a profession. As I look back over my years of wandering in -the farthermost reaches of the Pacific I recall incident after incident -that is indicative of what is toward. - -Wherever competition is rife, the competitors lay themselves out to be -courteous and friendly, but in the long runs that dissect the waters of -that ocean, so secure have many of the steamship companies felt that -decency has frequently been forgotten. The carelessness of the rights of -the unhappy voyager who merely pays for a privilege on the Union -Steamship Company is not conducive to international good feeling. The -lack of common courtesy on the part of many of the employees of this -company is proverbial even among the Britons in Australasia. Peoples in -the goings and comings gain their impressions of countries very often -from such samples as are forced upon their attention en route. And over -the bars in the distant lands compatriots give vent to recriminations of -the compatriots of other nations in a manner not flattering to either. - -One of the most unfortunate features of the whole problem of the Pacific -is that only too often the men who are accountable for the most serious -sources of dislike are men who at home would be kept in check by a -healthy fear of social ostracism. But once a white man enters trade in -an Oriental port as a clerk or salesman, he seems to consider it his -bounden duty as a representative of his country to run down the natives -as viciously as he dare. I have seen white men who at home would hold -their tongues lest they offend some decent woman's ears with their vile -language assume an air of superiority toward the men amongst whom they -are living that is certainly not conducive to international amity. I -have heard them express a longing for a chance some day to come back and -"lick" these natives that, considering the human sufferings involved, is -at the very depths of unrighteousness. - -Nor is this feeling directed against Orientals only. I have heard -serious statements from Americans against the British that are not only -unjustifiable but astounding. And the British themselves maintain a -lordly superiority to all others. The boast that "the sun never sets on -English soil" is illustrative of a certain provincialism among Britons -that is not healthful from an international outlook. Britons generally -take such routes hither and thither as leave them always within the -British Empire, and the result is a dull point of view with regard to -foreign lands. To be regarded as a foreigner is a source of great -irritation to a Briton; he cannot stand this "slur" when passing through -America. Even within the British dominions themselves there are childish -prides that make understanding impossible,--the New Zealander being -against the Australian and both against everybody else. - -These antagonisms more than all else are at the bottom of the confusion -obtaining to-day in the Pacific. Their utter folly and futility are -simply suicidal. Were it not better that we study carefully the social -and political ideals of every race on the Pacific and see in what -manner such changes may be effected as will preclude conflict? Is not -America's preëminence in the Pacific to-day due to her return of the -Boxer indemnity, to her attempt at winning the sympathy of the Filipino, -to her friendship for China? Cannot the sympathy and the emulation of -races supplant their enmity and jealousy? In the manner in which the -various peoples of the Pacific turn to their problems lies permanent -peace. There is already a considerable veering round of national -conceptions toward the recognition of our common welfare being dependent -on mutual development, as in the case of the consortium. - -One gets tired of the perennial expressions of felicitation of the -"leaders" of states, of the sentimental balderdash which emanates from -international "functions" of the world's "best" people, who don one -another's garments and pledge one another eternal affection, of those -who assure us that the fact that one nation has placed with "us" an -order for the latest type of electrically driven super-dreadnaught -indicates the love and fellowship obtaining between us. Only four years -ago, Viscount Bryce admitted that "Most of us, however, know so little -about the island groups of the Pacific, except from missionary -narratives and from romances, like those of Robert Louis Stevenson, that -the recent action of the white peoples in the islands is practically a -new subject, and one which well deserves to be dealt with." And despite -all those speeches, despite all the international societies--that exist, -it seems, only to entertain celebrities, not to uncover -misunderstandings that they may truly be corrected--real irritation -comes from the average man's notions, and to him should attention be -directed. - -Those vast spaces to which Viscount Bryce referred, once regarded with -such awe, are now criss-crossed with a veritable network of steamers. -They have made short shrift of the distances between the East and the -West. We may invite one another across for week-ends, but not -necessarily for life, and the impressions each brings away with him will -go toward making up the sum total of what is going to be the thought of -the Pacific. Are we to navalize the Pacific or to civilize it? Are we to -convert every projecting rock into a menace, or are we to be honest -navigators exposing every treacherous island for the safety of all -races? Are we to scramble for interests in the Pacific, or are we to -help races there to rise to strength and independence, so that each will -be a healthy buffer against aggression? The "Valor of Ignorance" is not -to be met with the blindness of force. - -I sought to obtain a bit of information once from a dispenser of -"understanding" located in New York, but he tried to lead me off the -scent. It was not, he feared, to his country's credit that such and such -facts be known. He was very sensitive, and gave me no assistance. This -covering up of our weaknesses before the eyes of our neighbors is -certain to lead to disaster. This putting our best foot forward, only to -have the other ready for a nasty kick, is not going to bring about -amity. If there is an ideal worthy of emulation in any race in the -Pacific, we ought to know and honor it. If there is a sore which needs -scientific political treatment, let us attend to it. Our problems are -well defined, if we will but look for them; our obligations are clear, -if we will but undertake them courageously. - -We are not going to solve our problems as we did with the coming of -Japan into the range of the world,--by adulation. To-day we are -suffering from the effects of having made the Japanese feel that they -are perfect and to be adored. The problem is one of unadulterated -education, of education in the simple arts of self-support among the -primitive people, and self-government among the more advanced. - -But if our efforts are to be fruitful we must avoid abstract education -which leads to hair-splitting. It is to be education in the -fundamentals,--education in the use of hands and brain for self-support -and mutual happiness founded on justice. It is to be education of -ourselves as well as of those we wish to elevate. - -But the problem is even deeper than that. Merely elevating other races -will not preclude conflict. Germany was well educated and on a level -with, if not in many ways superior to the nations roundabout her. Her -very development created friction. And the talk of Japan as a menace is -largely due to the fact that Japan has grown out of the lowly state in -which her exclusionists had placed her for two hundred and fifty years. -As yet China is no "menace," for China has still her teeming hordes who -curtail one another's usefulness. - -Nor, as I have said in the chapter on Australasia, will the problem of -our relationship with the people of the Pacific be solved by the effort -of labor to keep up its own high standards by the exclusion of those of -lower standard. - -Nor will the problem be solved by our assuming more and more -protectorates over simple nations unused to the tricks of diplomacy. - -Our problem will be solved only by working assiduously for international -coöperation. Our problem will clear away when all nations establish -departments open to civil-service appointments of people who will enter -the field of education and uplift work without other compensation -possible than that of an honest salary. There should be a Department of -Education for the Pacific in which the people of the United States do -out of their own funds what we did in China out of the moneys paid in -the Boxer indemnity. This department would study the races of the -Pacific with a view to finding what are the special requirements of each -particular people and how they can be supplied. There should be a Bureau -of Social Hygiene and Sanitary Engineering recruited from the American -student body with luring pay, drawing thousands of young physicians and -engineers out into the various Pacific islands to study the questions of -the eradication of disease and the care of body and mind. There should -be a Bureau of Civics and International Law carrying to the peoples of -the Pacific whose simplicity lays them open to the chicanery of -political parasites the simple truths of human relationships as we -understand them. So the entire fabric of civilization might be spread -over the waters of the Pacific. But to guard against the possibility of -some sword piercing it and rending it must come the voice of -civilization calling shame upon the present practices of any nation now -operating in the Pacific in other than pacific ways. - -All this must be done not by America alone, but by all the people now in -a position to coöperate. Just as Japan codified her laws and changed -them in conformity with those of the West, so as to regain full rights -over foreigners in her own territory, so must all the nations reorganize -their laws in conformity with the best interests of all. There must be -judges in all lands who know the laws of other lands as well as their -own and an attempt be made to bring them all in greater conformity to a -universal standard of justice, of right and wrong. There must be -educators set to work studying the educational systems of nations on the -Pacific so as to bring the methods more and more in line with one -another. There must be departments of health advising one another how so -to remedy conditions as to eliminate the danger of spread of plague. It -is not enough that we have an excellent department of health vigilant in -the exclusion of plague; our department of health should co-operate with -that of Japan and of Australasia, and of every island in the Pacific. In -other words, we must realize that the problems of every group anywhere -in the world affect for good or ill our own welfare. - -Our problem in the Pacific is therefore ten times more complicated than -that which faced the powers in Morocco, Africa and Persia. While the -diversity of nations was great in Europe, in the Pacific it is greater. -But while the relationship in the Balkans was in some cases close, not -only in sheer propinquity, but in development, in the Pacific not only -is the blood running in the veins of the races in many cases extremely -alien, one to the other, but the distances separating them in space and -in development make coöperation and getting together difficult. This -makes it easier for selfish nations to place themselves as wedges -between them. The scramble after mandates in the Pacific indicates the -recognition of their importance. - -But in inverse ratio,--in so far as the races of the Pacific have none -of the irritating intimacy which obtained in Europe, the problem is -clearer. The repetition of the intrigues which Germany, through her -daughter on the Russian throne, could carry out, is here impossible. -Only once in my knowledge has royal intermarriage been attempted and it -proved a failure. The Japanese changed their law against the marriage of -their royalty with royalty of another race in favor of Korea--and to -forestall a Japanese-Korean union we are told, the Ex-Emperor of Korea -committed suicide. Insurrection followed. The marriage has since taken -place, but Korea is no longer an independent empire. - -The more pronounced differences of race should perhaps be recognized, -but recognized with sympathy. Each race then presents its own problems. -But over all must come recognition of the commonalty of man. This does -not mean international fawning and flattering of one another. Racial -equality must be admitted, but not as Japan sponsored it,--with the -existence of her own castes and classes, and the oppression of -Korea,--but in full recognition of the latent possibilities in all -peoples. Japan regards herself as infinitely superior to all mankind. -So do we. But that must be replaced by realization of the historical -worthiness of Orientals as well as Caucasians. - -We have in the Pacific, as has been seen, a great number of races in -varying degrees of development. Most of them know little of one another -and hate one another less. They have never been close enough for serious -conflict, and they need never be. We can instil into them through -educational channels a regard for one another which all the love-potions -in the world could not pour into the races of Europe, inured to war and -slaughter and religious bigotry. - -There is still one great obstacle in the way of a peaceful solution of -the problems of the Pacific, an obstacle that can be overcome only by a -rapid evolution or revolution. Even as the forces for the greater -liberation of the people are at work in China, now bound no more by her -own swaddling-clothes of imperialism, so must they be encouraged in -Japan, whose bureaucracy is to-day entangling not only her own liberal -elements, but a greater number of nations in the Pacific. Jingoists -speak of the yellow peril as though it were a single thing, elemental -and simply conquerable. But it is not very different from the peril of -imperialism everywhere. - -In the working out of the problems of the Pacific, Japan is the farthest -from our ken. Our relations with Australia and New Zealand and with -Canada--apart from Great Britain--are already more or less intimate. -Just as Japan is beginning to realize that she must make China her -friend, so must we four Western nations on the Pacific realize the -fullness of the possibilities in coöperation. There should be an -exchange of opinion, a greater supply of news from one to the -other,--news of personal, educational and geographical value, in the -nature of local news. With these four countries as a nucleus and the -same thing going on between China and Japan, the problem of the East -understanding the West will be simplified. - -But we must show that we appreciate the fine points in the Oriental -civilizations, while the Orient will have to remove from its conscience -the hatred of the foreigner. The millennium? Not in the least. Just the -beginning of our groping toward human commonalty. - - - - -APPENDIX - - -A - - Mr. Sydney Greenbie, - New York, U.S.A. - -DEAR SIR: - -Your letter of 26th March has been forwarded to me from Samoa. I -relinquished the Administration when Civil Government was established -there. - -The Chief whose funeral you saw was TAMASESE, a son of the late King -Tamasese.... MATAAFA, the son of King Mataafa, died in the influenza -epidemic in 1918 and I dug his grave with my own hands, everyone working -hard to avoid a pestilence. - -The Chief TAMASESE was made much of by the Germans when they were in -Samoa, was taken a trip to Berlin but was not allowed to visit England. -He remained pro-German to the end; one of the few Samoans who did so. - -On his death-bed Tamasese remembered a promise made to his deceased -father (he said the spirit of his father appeared to him and reproached -him) that he would bring the late King's bones to the family burying -place and he could not die in peace until this was done. I was -approached in the matter and at once sent a Government launch with the -family party to get the bones, and they were put in a coffin and buried -in the family ground. This done, Tamasese passed away in peace in a very -short time. - -You are probably aware that when Tamasese's body was lying in state the -hair was sprinkled with gold dust and a German crown made of white -flowers was placed on the coffin. The widow had a Samoan house built -alongside the tomb on the Mulinuu peninsula and lived in it for some -months in spite of the stench which came from the tomb. She died in the -influenza epidemic in 1918, having in the meantime named one of the -native Samoan judges. - -I am sorry the information I can give you is so meagre, but I have not -my records here as yet. - - Yours faithfully, - ROBERT LOGAN, - Colonel. - Weycroft, - Axminster, - Devon, England, - 13th July, 1921. - - -B - -DEAR MR. GREENBIE: - -Your letter of Feb. 20th was forwarded on to me here, and reached me -yesterday. - -I regret that I cannot tell you definitely as to the celebration held in -Samoa in 1915, in honor of the late "King"; I returned to Samoa in 1917 -after an absence of some years, and heard nothing of it. I think, -however, that the celebration must have been for Mataafa, as the natives -told you that the deceased Chief had been the favorite of Mataafa. - -Stevenson rather despised Laupepa who although an amiable man and the -rightful King, was of feeble character, and when broken up by the -suffering and indignity of his deportation by the Germans, weakly ceded -the throne to Mataafa out of gratitude for the stand taken by the latter -on his behalf during the years of his exile. - -My own conviction is that, had R. L. S. lived a few years longer, he -would have realized that his championship of Mataafa was a mistake, and -precipitated the very event he wished to avoid--the German rule in -Samoa. - - Very sincerely yours, - ---------- - - -C - - Apia, Samoa, - October 5th, 1904. - A. M. Sutherland, Esq., - San Francisco, U.S.A. - -DEAR SIR: - -The kind invitation extended to me by the members of the "Stevenson -Fellowship" through your welcome letter or the 17th August, 1904, has -been received by me with great delight. I thank you and the Committee -from the bottom of my heart for remembering me, and for including my -name in the long list of friends whom Tusitala has left behind to mourn -his irreparable loss. I would have very much liked to be present and -meet you all on this fitting occasion, but the fact is, my health and -old age will not permit me to cross the vast waters over to America. So -I send you many greetings wishing the "Stevenson Fellowship" every -success on the 13th November next. And whilst you are celebrating this -memorable day in America, we shall even celebrate it in Samoa. It is -true that I, like yourselves, revere the memory of Tusitala. Though the -strong hand of Death has removed him from our midst, yet the remembrance -of his many humane acts, let alone his literary career, will never be -forgotten. That household name, Tusitala, is as euphonious to our Samoan -ears as much as the name Stevenson is pleasing to all other European -friends and admirers. Tusitala was born a hero, and he died a hero among -men. He was a man of his word, but a man of deeds not words. When first -I saw Tusitala he addressed me and said: "Samoa is a beautiful country. -I like its people and clime, and shall write in my books accordingly. -The Samoan Chiefs may be compared to our Scotch Chiefs at home in regard -to their clans." "Then stay here with me," I said, "and make Samoa your -home altogether." "That I will, and even if the Lord calls me," was the -reply. Tusitala--story-writer--spoke the truth, for even now he is still -with me in Samoa. Truth is great and must endure. Tusitala's religion -and motto was: "Do ye to others as ye would have them do unto you." -Hence this noble, illustrious man has won my love and admiration, as -well as the esteem and respect of all who knew him. My God is the same -God who called away Tusitala, and when it has pleased Him for my -appointed time to come, then I will gladly join T. in that eternal home -where we meet to part no more. - -With perfect assurance of my best wishes for your progress and -prosperity,--I remain, dear sir, cordially yours, - - M. I. - C. C. MATAAFA - High Chief of Samoa. - - -D - - April 24, 1921 - -DEAR MADAM: - -Thank you very much for the letter which came some four months ago. I -read it over, over and over again to memorise every word of the letter, -and it was a glad toil. I thought of you and Mr. ... I thought of -Messrs. F.... D.... and R.... and Miss G...., every body to-gether and -every body separate that gave me untold happiness, and I heard the -throbs of my heart. I told to my wife who is very glad to hear from me. -As you know I got married in the year of 1913. And we have five children -now. Please don't be scared! Two boys and three daughters. Takako oldest -daughter six year, seven months old. Takashige, William (boy) four -years; Fuziko Elsie two years and nearly four months; Chiyeko, Lucie -eight months old. And this made me perfect papa, which is my joy and my -pride! Beside this I have thirty acres of orange orchard (four years -old) all is my own, and my wife's now which brought me four -(boxes-horses) (?) poor fruit year before last, and seventy two boxes -better fruit last year. I am expecting greater crop this fall. I read -Mr. ---- article about June drop in California Cultivator, and irrigated -my orchards last December and this year I started to wet from February -which no body does this in this visinity (orchardists of here keep -orchards with weeds and wild oats as high as my shoulder all winter and -they wait irrigation until orchards perfectly dry and cracke.) I am -taking care our orchards after Mr. ---- idea mostly with some of my own, -as I feel as it mine but all of them are a collection of idea of other -people's experiences. - -I have debt of five thousand five hundreds dollars which need not to pay -interest except one thousand five hundred dollars. This is my joy and my -pride too, is it not? - -Five children and five thousand five hundreds dollars debt are not big -job to carry on, for me, but they make me very busy indeed. For this -reason, I do not write to my friends, as often as I wish, of course I -can, if I do, like this one, but it is great strain for me now. - -Therefore please will kindly excuse, I shall not write you again until -next Christmas probably. - -Please remember me to Mr. ---- and All your family. - -When you will come to Terra Bella to see Mr. ----. - -When you have spare time, and when you thought of old servant, please -stop a moment at my humble dwelling place and give me chance to hear -your voice directly. That will be my honor, that which will encourage -me, if it is possible with Mr. F. P. It will be a greater honor for us. -Befor I ask you to come to see us, we should go to see you first, but -just excuse for the reasons as above written. - -I shall leave the pen with prare of your sound health, and happiness. -God be with you. - - From your old servant - -------- - - - - -INDEX - - - Adelaide, 132, 146 - - Adler, 90 - - Africa, 391 - - Alaska, 5, 317 - - Albatross, 129 _et seq._ - - America: 10, 22, 100; - pioneer, problems of, 312, 314; - insular possessions of, 316 _et seq._; - adventures of, in Pacific, 317 _et seq._; - diplomacy of, in China, 326; - Japan in, 342 _et seq._; - Japanese immigration to, 345; - attitude of, toward Eastern affairs, 371 _et seq._ - - Ameridians, 6, 23, 25, 119 - - Andrews, C. F., cited on self-determination, 228 - - Andrews, Roy Chapman, quoted, 22 - - Anglo-Japanese Alliance, 355, 357, 359-360, 363, 367, 381 - - Antarctic, 10 - - Anthropologists, 24 - - Antipodes: 9, 26, 76; - legislation in, 285 _et seq._ - - Apia: 87, 88, 100, 101, 105, 207; - a party in, 240 _et seq._ - - Arafua Sea, 139, 157 - - Aryans, 20 - - "Asahi Shimbun," quoted on American diplomacy, 326 - - Asia: relation of, to human existence, 6 _et seq._, 14, 18, 22; - culture of, 23; - Britain's rock in, 168-178 - - Atlantic, 141 - - _Atua_, 76 - - Auckland: 13, 110, 114; - market, 272; - Art Gallery, 118 - - "Auckland Daily News," 351 - - _Aurora_, Shackleton's ship, 128 - - Australasia: political problems affecting, 281-296; - intermarriage in, 355 _et seq._ - - Australasians: games of, 355 _et seq._ - - Australia: 5, 6, 9, 14, 22, 53; - population of, 150, 158; - and the labor problem, 289 _et seq._; - and immigration, 292; - and labor legislation, 293, 294; - attitude of, toward independence, 353; - and the Anglo-Japanese Alliance, 347-363 - - Australian Immigration Law, 295 - - Australoids, 21 - - Ava: 93, 94; - making of, 69, 70 - - - Balboa: discovery of the Pacific by, 3 _et seq._; - quoted, 3, 10 - - Balkans, 391 - - Bancroft, quoted, 212 - - Banda Sea, 139 - - Bagg, Mr., 145 - - Ban, 230 - - Bass Straits, 131 - - Beach-combers, 89 - - Belgium, 317 - - Best, Mr. Elsdon, 235 - - Birds of New Zealand, 124, 125 - - Bishop, Mrs. Bernice, 235 - - Black-birding, 68 - - Bland, J. O. P., 344 - - Bluff, 129 - - Boas, Franz, quoted, 24 - - Boer War, 354 - - Bondy, 132 - - Bonin Islands, 357 - - Botany Bay, 6, 132 - - Boxer Indemnity Fund, 323, 328, 389 - - Boxer Uprising, 308, 365 - - Brisbane, 136, 152 - - Britain, outpost of, in Asia, 168-178. - _See also_ England, Great Britain - - British Club, 96 - - Brown, Dr. McMillan, 25 - - Bryce, Viscount, quoted on Pacific Islands group, 387 - - Buddha, 8 - - "Bulletin," Honolulu, 38 - - Bushido, 305, 309 - - - Calhoun, 326 - - California, 40, 103, 104, 343, 345 - - Cannibalism, 27, 28, 216 - - Canoes, 25 - - Canton, 4 - - Cape Horn, 5 - - Cape Liptrap, 131 - - Caroline Islands, 125 - - Caucasia, 17, 28 - - Celebes Sea, 139 - - Chamberlain, Professor Basil Hall, quoted on Shintoism, 304, 305 - - Chaplin, Charlie, 43 - - Chapman, John, 312 - - Chatham Islands, 26 - - Chidley, 149 - - Chicago, 184 - - China: Great Wall of, 4; - effect of famine in, 27, 39, 129; - licentiousness in, 176, 177; - coolieism in, 177; - waking of, 189; - standards of, 189, 190; - and the Twenty-one Demands, 306; - American trade with, 308; - bureaucracy and, 324 _et seq._; - development of, 365; - consortium for financing, 364 _et seq._, 373; - need of constructive work in, 377; - latest loan to, 377 - - China Sea, 139, 141 - - Chinese: 30, 132, 133; - gambling, 141; - music, 176; - superstition of, 186 - - Chosen People, 21 - - Christchurch, New Zealand, 109, 143 - - Civil War, 120 - - Coan, Dr. Titus Munson, cited, 215, 216 - - Cocoa plantations, 105 - - Compasses, 25 - - Confucius, 6 - - Consortium: Agreement, 370; - function of the, 381, 382, 383 - - Consumption, 120 - - Cook, Captain James, 5, 7, 18, 28, 216, 261 - - Coolieism, 177, 212, 343 - - Copra, 53, 56, 57 - - Coral reefs, 37 - - Cradle of Mankind, 21 - - Culture, 27 - - Customs, 23 - - - Dante, 89 - - Darwin: quoted on South Pacific, 22, 24, 28 - - Davuilevu, 61, 62 - - Deakin, Mr. Alfred, 349 - - Dengue fever, 110 - - Desolation Gully, 112 - - Dewey, Professor: cited on Japanese birth rate, 343 - - Divorce, 254 _et seq._ - - Draft Act: in relation to the Maories, 123 - - Drake, Sir Francis, 4, 7, 9 - - Dunedin, New Zealand, 109, 112, 113, 127 - - Dutch, 4, 10 - - - East and West News Bureau: - statement of on alien labor in Japan, 332, 385 - - Easter Islands, 25 - - _Eastern_, the, 132, 133, 136 - - Eden, 17, 23 - - Elephantiasis, 94, 95 - - Ellis, Havelock, quoted, 283 - - Emerson, 108 - - England, 19, 20, 22, 24. - _See also_ Great Britain - - English, 19, 20 - - English Corporal Correction League, 135 - - Episcopal See of Australia, 138 - - Equator: astride the, 128-142 - - Europe, 17, 20, 22 - - Europeans: 18; - effect of famine on, 27, 52 - - "Evening Post," Wellington, New Zealand, quoted, 358, 359 - - Extinction: danger of, of primitive races, 205 _et seq._ - - - Famine: effect of upon civilized nations, 27 - - Fan-tan, 141 - - Fiji: 11, 12, 13, 18, 21, 32; - relation of, to the Pacific, 52 _et seq._, 81, 105, 356 - - "Fiji Times," Manager of, quoted, 58 - - Fijians: 14; - characteristics of, 19, 20, 21; - study of, 52-78; - personal appearance of, 59, 60; - characteristics of, 64 _et seq._; - dances of, 67; - women, 70 _et seq._; - tastes of, 71 _et seq._; - music and dances of, 71, 72; - schools for, 76, 84, 85, 86; - jail of the, 73; - submersion of, 223 _et seq._ - - Filipinos: habits and customs of, 162 _et seq._ - - Fire-walkers of Mbenga, 13 - - Food, 27 - - Formosa, 298 - - Four-River Group, 372 - - France, 100 - - Frenchmen, 20 - - Fujiyama, 35, 193 - - - German New Guinea, 156 - - German Plantation Company, 89 - - Germans: in Samoa, 88, 89, 90 - - Germany, 24, 100, 389, 391 - - Golden Gate, 7 - - Governor of Samoa, 101 - - Great Barrier Island, 13 - - Great Barrier Reef, 136, 137 - - Great Britain: - attitude of, toward Pacific possessions, 283 _et seq._, 360, 361; - attitude of toward her colonies, 362 - - Great Wall of China, 4 - - Gregory, Professor, 384 - - - Haleakala, 48 - - Halemaumau, 51 - - Hauraki Gulf, 13 - - Hawaii: music of, 8, 9, 16, 17, 23, 32; - aspirations of, 42; - birth-rate, 43; - assimilation in, 43; - foot-binding in, 44; - kinship, 44; - racial evanescence, 44; - dances of, 72, 105; - divorce in, 255 _et seq._; - census of, 261, 317, 356 - - Hawaiians: 14, 20, 30; - racial purity percentage of the, 213 _et seq._ - - "Hawaiki," by Percy Smith, cited, 26 - - Hearn, Lafcadio: cited on fruit of intermarriage, 263 - - Heasley, Inspector, 97 - - Heinie's, 39 - - Heliolithic man, 18 - - "Hibbert Journal," quoted on Fijian mind, 232-234 - - Hilo, 48 - - Hindus, 78 - - Himalaya Mountains, 22 - - Hong-Kong: 109, 141, 167, 169 _et seq._; - slums of, 171; - poverty in, 172; - surgery in, 176; - birth-rate in, 176; - music in, 176 - - Honolulu: 7, 9; - our frontier in the Pacific, 30-51; - the spirit, 37 _et seq._, 235. - _See also_ Hawaii - - Huang-Hsu, 365 - - Hughes, Premier William Morris: - attitude of, toward conscription, 288, 355, 359, 360 - - Hukuan Railway, 378 - - - Imperial Conferences, 347 _et seq._ - - Imperial Diet, 384 - - India, 17, 18, 21, 63, 117 - - Indians, 77 - - Infanticide, 216 - - Inouye, Count: quoted on Japanese merchants in Korea, 309 - - "Invention of a New Religion," by Basil Hall Chamberlain, - quoted, 304, 305 - - Ishii-Lansing Agreement, 370, 371 - - Izanagi, 21 - - Izanami, 21 - - - Japan: 4, 5, 7, 9; - awakening of, 28, 29, 132, 135, 282; - in relation to the Pacific problem, 297 _et seq._; - foreign policies of, 299 _et seq._; - race-pride of, 302; - government of, 303; - Democracy in, 305; - attitude of, toward commercialization, 306; - American trade with, 308; - in Siberia, 308; - Buddhism in, 324; - relations of, 326 _et seq._; - and alien labor, 331; - foreign population statistics of, 334; - naturalization in, 337 _et seq._; - science in, 341 _et seq._; - in America, 342 _et seq._; - birth-rate, 343; - attitude of, toward financiering China, 373, 374; - attitude of the Orient toward, 376; - and the Pacific problem, 379; - and Manchurian railways, 380 - - "Japan Chronicle," - quoted in British educational work in Hong-Kong, 177; - quoted on English policy, 362 - - "Japan: Real and Imaginary," by Sydney Greenbie, 297 - - Japanese: 21, 25, 30, 31; - races, 72, 94. - _See also_ Japan - - Java, 4, 22 - - Joan of Arc, 51 - - Junnosuke Inouye, 375 - - - Kaiser, the, 104 - - Kamehamea, 36, 50, 215 - - Kaneohe, 35, 36, 51 - - Kapiolani, 51 - - _Katori-maru_, 192 - - Keats, quoted, 3 - - Kellerman, Annette, 148 - - Kiao-chau, 368 - - Kilauea, 8, 50 - - Kinglake, 24 - - Kinship of Pacific peoples, 20 _et seq._ - - Kipling, 116 - - Knox, Secretary, 366 - - Kobe: business situation in, 335 - - Korea: 4, 298; - Japan's actions in, 309; - the case of, 317, 324, 391 - - Kyoto, 7 - - - Labor: conditions in New Zealand, 6; - in Fiji, 13 _et seq._; - legislation in New Zealand, 116; - indentured, 222 - - Lake Rotorua, 122 - - Lali, 71, 73, 78 - - Lamont, Mr. Thomas W.: 364; - negotiations with Japan by, 375; - mission of, to China, 376, 377; - statement of, 379, 380 - - Language, 22, 23 - - Lansing, Mr.: 370; - attitude of, toward loans to China, 372 - - Lao-Tsze, 269 - - Laupepa, 395 - - League of Nations, 358 - - Legend: and the Pacific, 24 _et seq._ - - "Lending Money to China," by Sydney Greenbie, 371 - - Leper Island, Molokai, 8 - - Levuka, 75, 85 - - Lindsay, Vachell, 312 - - Little Barrier Island, 13 - - Logan, Colonel Robert: 101, 104; - letter of, 395 - - London, Charmian, 38 - - London, Jack, 10 - - Longford, Professor, "The Story of Korea," quoted, 309 - - Los Angeles, 30 - - Lost Tribes of Israel, 23 - - _Lurline_, 7, 9 - - Luzon, 158 - - - Mackaye, Arthur, 36 _et seq._ - - Magellan, 4, 9, 18 - - Magneta Island, 137 - - "Main Street," 313 - - Malays, 308 - - Manchuria, 344, 373 - - Mangoes, 105 - - Manila: 32, 141, 158 _et seq._; - description of, 163 _et seq._, 271 - - Manoa Valley, 33, 34, 37 - - Manono, 87 - - Maories: 20, 23, 26; - dances of the, 72, 110, 118 _et seq._; - vital statistics of, 123; - racial discrimination against, 250 - - Maoriland, 17 - - Marital contracts, 240-253 - - Markets, 265-278 - - Marquesas, 5, 26, 52 - - Marshall Islands, 319, 357 - - Martin, Alonso, 4 - - Mason, Mr. Gregory, 368 - - Mataafa, 396; - letter, 395, 396 - - Mbenga: mystic fire-walkers of, 13 - - McDuffie, Mr., 217, 218 - - Melanesia, 18, 19, 23, 26, 27 - - Melanesian-Fijians, 20, 21 - - Melba, Madame, 145 - - Melbourne, 129, 143, 144, 349 - - Melville, 10, 24 - - Message, Mr., quoted, 61 - - Micronesia, 23, 26, 27 - - Migrations, 20 - - "Millard's Review," 368 - - Mindanao, 140, 158 - - Mindoro, 158 - - Missionaries: 19; - Fijian, 65 _et seq._, 68, 69, 73, 121, 231, 236 - - Moa, 28 - - Moji, 191 - - Molokai, the leper island, 8 - - Molucca Sea, 139 - - Mongolia, 373 - - Monroe Doctrine, 316 - - Monroe Doctrine of Asia, 297 _et seq._, 320 - - Monterey, 103 - - Montessori Method: in Fiji, 67 - - Mormon missionaries, 23 - - "Morning Herald," Sydney, quoted on America's War policy, 350, 351 - - Morocco, 390 - - Mt. Eden, 110 - - Mount Vaea, 103 - - Mua Peak, 87 - - Mulinuu, 91 - - Mummy-apples, 20, 59 - - - Nagasaki, 376 - - Napier, New Zealand, 276 - - Napoleon: 20; - in relation to Fijian legend, 21 - - Negros, 158 - - New South Wales, 146 - - New York, 111, 113, 184, 270, 364 - - "New York Times," on Japanese, 311 - - New Zealand: - labor conditions in, 6, 13, 14, 17, 20, 23, 26, 72, 84, 105; - study of, 108-127; - home life in, 111; - the bush of, 111; - farmers, 112 _et seq._; - newspapers, 113; - population, 113; - characteristics, 114, 115; - girls, 115; - progressiveness, 116; - development, 117 _et seq._; - Parliament, in relation to the Draft Act, 123, 133, 145; - and the class system, 286 _et seq._; - policy toward England, 353 - - _Niagara_, the, 9, 10, 11, 16, 53, 62, 79, 86, 111 - - Nichi Nichi Shummun, 309, note - - Nicholas of Russia, 361 - - Night-blooming cereus, 33 - - Niuafoou, 12, 13 - - North Island, 112 - - - Oahu: 40; - College, 63 - - O'Brien, Frederick, 10, 24 - - One hundred and eightieth meridian, 11, 13, 195 - - Open Door, 367, 369, 371 - - Origins of races, 22 - - "Osaka Asahi," 360 - - "Outlines of History," Wells, 29 - - - Pacific: discovery of, 3 _et seq._; - significance of, 7; - effect of the mid-, on time, 11; - kinship of Pacific peoples, 20 _et seq._; - Darwin quoted on South, 22; - origin of, cultures, 23; - Griffith Taylor quoted on size of, 24; - counter-invasion of, 28 _et seq._; - our frontier in the, 30 _et seq._; - relation of Fiji to the, 52; - outposts of the white man in the far, 143 _et seq._; - our peg in the far, 158-167; - ideals that dwell around the, 199-201; - Hindu problems and the, 225; - political problems of the, 281 _et seq._; - adventures of America in the, 317 _et seq._; - causes of confusion obtaining in the, 386, 387 - - Pago Pago, 10, 82, 317 - - Paleolithic life, 16 - - Pali, the, 35, 37, 50 - - Panama Canal, 315 - - Panama-Pacific Exposition, 79 - - Panay, 158 - - Pan-Pacific Union, 236 - - Papuans, 53 - - Pasig River, 161 - - "_Paul and Virginia_," 137 - - Pavlova, 46 - - Peace Conference, 357, 358, 371 - - Peace Treaty, 358 - - Persia, 390 - - Pescadores, 357 - - Pharaohs, 25 - - Philippines: 6, 32, 140, 317; - problem of the, 318 _et seq._; - and independence, 328 - - Pilgrims, 17 - - Pleistonic period, 20 - - Polyandry, 220 - - Polynesia: 17, 18, 23, 27; - present status of, 29 - - Polynesians: 19; - origin of the, 20, 23, 24, 25, 28, 52; - dances of the, 72, 88, 206; - character of the ancient, 215; - and the problem of intermarriage, 237 _et seq._ - - Population: limitation of, 27, 28; - decline of, 30 _et seq._ - - Port Chalmers, 129 - - Port Williamson, 132 - - Portuguese, 4, 30 - - Poverty Bay, 28 - - Prisoners: Fiji, 73, 74 - - Promotion Committee: of Honolulu, 34; - "Primer" of the, 41 - - - Queensland, 138, 146 - - - Race-blending, 28 _et seq._ - - Rangatora, 120, 121 - - Rarotanga, 93 - - Ratu Joni, 230 - - Reading, Lord: on loans, 372 - - Reinsch, Dr. Paul S., 326, 327 - - Rewa River, Fiji, 18, 19, 60, 62, 67 - - Rickshaws, 171, 178 - - Rockefeller Foundation, 173, 174, 324 - - Rolland, 108 - - Roosevelt, Colonel, and Korea, 318 - - Root-Takahira Agreement, quoted, 369, 370 - - Rua, Maori priest, 127 - - Russia, 308, 391 - - Russo-Japanese War, 317, 348, 365 - - Ryecroft, Reverend Mr., 65 _et seq._, 68 - - - Salvation Army, 44, 45, 179 - - Samoa: 10, 11, 13, 19; - cosmogony, 21, 23, 26, 52, 84, 238, 317, 356 - - Samoans: 14; - dances of the, 72; - study of the, 79 _et seq._; - songs of the, 80; - dances of the, 83; - hospitality of the, 93 _et seq._, 208 - - Samurai, 305 - - San Francisco, 7, 10, 184 - - Santa Anna Valley, 137 - - Savii, 26, 87 - - Scientific, 236 - - Scientists, 231 - - Seattle, 193 - - Sedan chairs, 171 - - Shackleton, Sir E., 128 - - Shanghai: China's European capital, 179-191; - description of, 192 _et seq._; - slums of, 185; - the Chinese city, 185 _et seq._; - market, 274 - - Shantung: 297; - rape of, 324 - - Shaw, 108 - - Shibusawa, 375 - - Shimonoseki, 376 - - Shintoism: 299; - defined, 304, 305 - - Shurman, Dr. Jacob Gould, 327 - - Siberia, 344 - - Siberian Railway, 361 - - Sikhs, 231 - - Sino-Japanese Military Agreement, 380 - - Sino-Japanese War, 365 - - Slums; - tropical, 165; - Hong-Kong, 171 - - Smith, Percy, cited, 26 - - Smythe, Miss: 179; - work of, 180-182 - - Solomon Islands, 65 - - "Son of the Middle Border," 313 - - South Manchurian Railway, 375, 380 - - South Pole, 128 - - South Seas: 5 _et seq._, 10, 12 _et seq._, 14, 30 _et seq._; - style, 32, 57, 74, 80, 82 - - Spanish, 10 - - Sponges, 37 - - St. Helena, 20 - - Stevenson, R. L.: 10, 88, 100; - pilgrimage to tomb of, 100-105; - home of, 103, 387, 395 - - Stevenson Fellowship, 395 - - Stewart, Mr. W. Downie: quoted on status of New Zealand, 359 - - Stone Age, 89 - - Street, Julian, 375 - - Sulu Sea, 139 - - Sulus, 65 - - Sun Yat-sen, Dr., 325; - quoted, 326 - - Superstition, 25 - - Suva, Fiji, 11, 13, 20, 55, 56, 57, 58, 61, 73, 75, 76, 84, 105 - - Sydney, 9, 12, 132, 139, 146 _et seq._ - - - Tagalog, 165 - - Tagore: 116; - experiences of in Japan, 311 - - Tahiti, 17, 26, 28, 52 - - Talume, 12 - - Tamasese, 395 - - Tamba Maru, 179 - - Tasman, 9, 10 - - Tasman Sea, 128 - - Tasmania, 132 - - Tattooings of Time, 17 - - Taylor, Griffith: quoted on size of Pacific, 24 - - Te Noroto, 124 - - Terauchi, Count, 368 - - Thomson, Basil, cited, 13 - - Thursday Island, 155 - - "Times," China: quoted on foreign control of industries, 378 - - Thoreau, 95 - - Tokyo, 349 - - Tolstoy, 269 - - Tongans, 19, 77 - - Torres Straits, 139 - - Townsville, 137 - - Traders: in the Far East, 55, 89, 236, 306 - - Tradition, 22 - - Tulane, 13 - - Turks, 20 - - Tusitala, the tale teller (Stevenson), 103, 395 - - Typee, 5 - - Typhoons, 141 - - - Uchida, Viscount: quoted on Consortium, 379, 384 - - Union Steamship Company, 129 - - Upolu, 87 - - - Vailima, Stevenson's home, 88, 100, 101, 103 - - Vancouver, George, 5, 7, 18 - - Venice of the Pacific, 25 - - Vice: among the primitive races, 217 - - Victoria, 146 - - Vikings, 25 - - Virginia, 151 - - Vladivostok, 308 - - - Waikato, 124 - - Waikiki, 39 - - Waitemata Harbor, 13 - - Ward, Sir Joseph, 349, 351 - - Waterhouse, Mr., 69 - - Waterspouts, 140 - - Webb, Mr., 245 - - Wellington: 97, 109, 113; - Museum, 235 - - Wellington, Duke of: cited on Britain's colonies, 283 - - Wells, H. G., 29 - - "When the Sleeper Wakes," Wells, 29 - - White Australia policy, 291, 292, 294, 348, 350 - - Whitney, Judge William L., 256-258 - - Wilson Administration, 318 - - Wilson, President, 382, 383 - - _Wimmera_, 131 - - World War, 234, 350 - - "World's Work," 371 - - Wright, Mr., of the "Bulletin," 38 _et seq._ - - Wurm ice age, 26 - - - Yamada Ise, 192 - - Yokohama, 192 - - Y. M. C. A., 38 - - - Zamboanga, 140, 158 - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pacific Triangle, by Sydney Greenbie - -*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PACIFIC TRIANGLE *** - -***** This file should be named 41716-8.txt or 41716-8.zip ***** -This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: - http://www.gutenberg.org/4/1/7/1/41716/ - -Produced by Greg Bergquist and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was -produced from images generously made available by The -Internet Archive/American Libraries.) - - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions -will be renamed. - -Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no -one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation -(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without -permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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