THE HOUSE OF BRANDER.

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husband. Though she has many assistants, she is emphatically its head, and not the smallest detail can be carried out without her sanction. Every business transaction, whether with the French Government, or foreign vessels requiring supplies, or her own trading ships, passes through her hands. Everything is done by her special order, and every business paper has to receive her signature. But she never seems to forget anything or any one; and, moreover, has time to prove herself a most devoted mother to her nine children-of whom one is married in Valparaiso, another here, some of the sons are at school in Scotland, and the baby daughters are the pets and darlings of this house.

Mrs Brander owns a fleet of about twenty smart trading schooners, which run backwards and forwards between Tahiti and such points as San Francisco, Valparaiso, and New Zealand, carrying the cargoes of all sorts collected by other vessels (of the same fleet) in the surrounding isles and the neighbouring groups.

These cargoes consist chiefly of coppra—that is, dried cocoa-nut kernel, broken into little bits for convenience of stowage on the far journey to England or other lands, where it is subjected to such heavy pressure as extracts the oil, leaving a residue of oil-cake for the fattening of British beeves. For the gourmet of China, quantities of edible fungus

and dried bêche-de-mer are sent to San Francisco, whence they are passed on to Hong-Kong. Tons of large pearl-shells, measuring about eight inches across, with beautifully iridescent lining, go to make buttons and such articles, in all parts of the world; true pearls of considerable value are occasionally found in these, and a large number of average size. Of the fruits of the isles, oranges form the largest export, but vanilla, coffee, and various other products swell the list. At one time cotton was a good article of export, but it appears to have fallen into disfavour.

The vessels return from their several destinations laden with every conceivable variety of goods. There is nothing that luxury can desire which does not find its way to these remote isles, from the newest scent to the finest dress materials — not

even excepting silks and velvets, though for whose benefit these are imported, passes my comprehension.

Truly wonderful is that compendium of all things needful, known as "a store," and that of La Maison Brandère is the largest in Papeete. Like "the merchant" of a Scotch village, magnified a thousandfold, the owner of a South Sea store must be ready to supply all the most incongruous demands which his customers can possibly invent, from white satin shoes, to ship anchors. For he has not only to

A SOUTH SEA STORE.

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provide for the island population, but must be ready to supply any ships that happen to come into harbour with whatever they require. Fresh meats and preserved meats, New Zealand beef, Australian mutton, condensed milk and tinned butter, Californian "canned" vegetables and fruits, candles and lamps, oils of various kinds, firearms and gunpowder, hairoil and brushes, wines and spirits, letter-paper and ledgers, books and framed pictures, cutlery of all sorts-from a penknife to a cutlass, or from a hairpin to a harpoon-wine-glasses and tumblers, necklaces and brooches, crockery and physic: these, and a thousand other items, are all on hand, and appear at a moment's notice.

And as the store is the centre of all business, it is a general rendezvous; in fact, a sort of club, where pleasant cooling drinks are not unknown, and where much amusing gossip may be heard, for that is an article not unknown even in Tahiti !

Provisioning large vessels for long voyages is no easy matter here, where all animals have to be imported, as these beautiful hills and valleys afford very poor pasture-land, being all overrun with guava scrub. So shiploads of cattle are despatched from the Sandwich Isles, at very irregular intervals, by sailing ships, which sometimes are detained so long by contrary winds and calms, that the poor beasts are almost starved. The sheep are equally

lean; and in fact, pork and fowls are about the only satisfactory meat-supply.

Thursday, 22d Nov.

It is hard to think of you all, enduring the miseries of chill November, while we are revelling day after day, and night after night, in an atmosphere of balmy delight and clear blue heavens. Last night we all went to the admiral's big reception, au Gouvernement, and a very gay scene it was, so many pretty women in very fresh, simple muslin sacques-only a few French ladies adhering to Parisian fashions. The ball-room has an excellent inlaid floor; and as the music is most enlivening, and the French naval officers enjoy dancing quite as much as any of the girls, they kept it up with great spirit. Of course the gardens are a very great attraction, and to the non-dancers are the favourite lounge. Good music, pleasant company, warm delicious nights, redolent of fragrant flowers —what more could you desire? Sometimes, when the band stops playing, we go for a moonlight row in the harbour, as far as the entrance through the barrier-reef, just for the pleasure of watching the breakers, and hearing their deafening roar.

This morning, soon after sunrise, M. Viennot called for me in his carriage, and drove me to Papawa, where he has built himself a tiny house, near

A GROUP OF NAIADS.

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a lovely bathing-place. We found all the mission families already assembled, with a few other friends, including M. Puèch, commanding Le Limier, a French man-of-war. He at once set his sailors to catch fish for our picnic; and after a preliminary luncheon, we all scattered, to bathe, or stroll, as the case might be.

I went off with a party of half-a-dozen handsome girls, of English and Tahitian birth, descendants of the early missionaries, whose children settled in the group, and married half-whites. They led the way to a delicious stream, narrow, and deep, and clear, and very still, edged with tall bulrushes. They supplied me with a bathing-dress like their own—namely, a pareo of crimson, or scarlet-andwhite calico, which they wore very gracefully draped from the neck. They wove great wreaths of green fern to protect their heads from the sun, and, of course, did not neglect me in the distribution. I thought they formed a most picturesque group.

The stream was so inviting that we determined to follow it up for some distance. But the water, which at first only came to my shoulders, grew deeper and deeper, till I could not feel the ground, and I had to confess my inability to swim. So then these charming naiads clustered round me, and floated me smoothly along, as they swam a good half-mile to the upper stream. It was quite charm