THE road from Taahauku to Atuona skirted the north-westerly side of the anchorage,somewhat high up,edged,and sometimes shaded,by the splendid flowers of the FLAMBOYANT -its English name I do not know.At the turn of the hand,Atuona came in view:a long beach,a heavy and loud breach of surf,a shore-side village scattered among trees,and the guttered mountains drawing near on both sides above a narrow and rich ravine.Its infamous repute perhaps affected me;but I thought it the loveliest,and by far the most ominous and gloomy,spot on earth.Beautiful it surely was;and even more salubrious.The healthfulness of the whole group is amazing;that of Atuona almost in the nature of a miracle.In Atuona,a village planted in a shore-side marsh,the houses standing everywhere intermingled with the pools of a taro-garden,we find every condition of tropical danger and discomfort;and yet there are not even mosquitoes -not even the hateful day-fly of Nuka-hiva -and fever,and its concomitant,the island fe'efe'e,are unknown.
This is the chief station of the French on the man-eating isle of Hiva-oa.The sergeant of gendarmerie enjoys the style of the vice-resident,and hoists the French colours over a quite extensive compound.A Chinaman,a waif from the plantation,keeps a restaurant in the rear quarters of the village;and the mission is well represented by the sister's school and Brother Michel's church.Father Orens,a wonderful octogenarian,his frame scarce bowed,the fire of his eye undimmed,has lived,and trembled,and suffered in this place since 1843.Again and again,when Moipu had made coco-brandy,he has been driven from his house into the woods.
'A mouse that dwelt in a cat's ear'had a more easy resting-place;and yet I have never seen a man that bore less mark of years.He must show us the church,still decorated with the bishop's artless ornaments of paper -the last work of industrious old hands,and the last earthly amusement of a man that was much of a hero.In the sacristy we must see his sacred vessels,and,in particular,a vestment which was a 'VRAIE CURIOSITE,'because it had been given by a gendarme.To the Protestant there is always something embarrassing in the eagerness with which grown and holy men regard these trifles;but it was touching and pretty to see Orens,his aged eyes shining in his head,display his sacred treasures.