Ebook: 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)

“In the South Seas, being an account of experiences and observations in the Marquesas, Paumotos [Tuamotus] and Gilbert Islands in the course of two cruises, on the yacht ‘Casco’ (1888) and the schooner ‘Equator’ (1889),” is the full title of Robert Louis Stevenson’s record of his visit to the South Seas. Ill for many years, Stevenson journeyed to the Pacific in the hope that the tropical climate would benefit his health. He fell in love with the islands and resided for a time in Hawaii and later in Samoa. When he died he was buried, according to his wish, on Mt. Vaea in Samoa.

Here are stories of ghosts and cannibals, of kings and peasants, of traders and natives. With an eye for detail and a novelist’s style, Stevenson evokes the tropical ambience of the islands and delineates the character and way of life of their people, illustrating his observations with pertinent, often amusing, vignettes of native life.

This, then, is not just another narrative of wanderings in exotic places. Stevenson had no vested interest, being neither missionary nor trader. He wanted merely to observe and understand Polynesian culture. His own poor health made him acutely aware of the fragility of human life, but it also made him admire an endurance of spirit. Knowing that the old ways of Polynesia were passing, he recorded what he saw with perception and compassion.