"The first experience can never be repeated. The first love, the first sunrise, the first South Seas island, are memories apart, and touched by a virginity of sense." -Robert Louis Stevenson, In the South Seas This jacketed hardcover edition of In the South Seas (1896) by Robert Louis Stevenson offers observations the author made during a voyage to the Marquesas, the Paumotus, and the Gilbert Islands in 1888-89. Originally written as a journal, the book that evolved from these notes went beyond an amusing traveler-centered description of his experiences to provide a more theme-based narrative, adding discussions of the South Seas culture, language, traditions, and society: anthropology, history, and sociology, together with personal impressions and anecdotes.
Excerpt from In the South Seas: Being an Account of Experiences and Observations in the Marquesas, Paumotus and Gilbert Islands; In the Course of Two Cruises, on the Yacht 'Casco' (1888) And the Schooner 'Equator' (1889) The following chapters are selected from a series which was first published partially in 'Black and White' (February to December 1891), and fully in the New York 'Sun' during the same period. The voyages which supplied the occasion and the material for the work were three in number, viz. one of seven months (June 1888 to January 1889) in the yacht 'Casco' from San Francisco to the Marquesas, the Paumotus, Tahiti, and thence northward to Hawaii; a second (June to December 1889) in the trading schooner 'Equator, ' from Honolulu, the Hawaiian capital, where the author had stayed in the intervening five months, to the Gilberts and thence to Samoa; and a third (April to September 1890) in the trading steamer 'Janet Nicoll, ' which set out from Sydney and followed a very devious course, extending as far as Penrhyn in the Eastern to the Marshall Islands in the Western Pacific. Before setting out on the first of these voyages, the author had contracted to write an account of his adventures in the form of letters for serial publication. The plan by and by changed in his mind into that of a book partly of travel and partly of research, which should combine the results of much careful observation and enquiry upon matters of island history, custom, belief, and tradition, with some account of his own experiences and those of his travelling companions. Under the nominal title of 'Letters' he began to compose the chapters of such a book on board the 'Janet Nicoll, ' and continued the task during the first ten months of his residence in Samoa (October 1890 to July 1891). About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Excerpt from In the South Seas, Vol. 1 of 2: Being an Account of Experiences and Observations in the in Marquesas, Paumotus and Gilbert Islands, in the Course of Two Cruises on the Yacht "Casco" (1888) And the Schooner "Equator" (1889) The marquesas. An Island Landfall Making Friends The Maroon Death Depopulation Chiefs and Tapus Hatiben The Port of Entry The House of Temoana A Portrait and a Story Long Pig - a Cannibal High Place The Story of a Plantation Characters. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
