Page:The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Vailima Edition, Volume 8, 1922.djvu/106

PREFATORY NOTE work so restful and pleasant that he was encouraged to attempt another South Sea ballad, the scene to be laid in the Marquesas. This ballad, begun in Tautira, was finished on board the yacht Casco, between Tahiti and Hawaii, amid every possible discomfort. Our provisions (all we could get in Tahiti) were scant and bad; we carried a hurricane barometer all the way, and were constantly beset by squalls and baffling winds. For two days we lay becalmed off Oahu, the tantalising sight of land before our eyes. During the time we spent in Tautira we lived almost entirely on native food; this, followed by thirty days of decayed beef and stale biscuits, reduced us to a state of semi-starvation. I shall never forget our first dinner on shore at Honolulu, with its roasts and potatoes and celery, and that

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