The Five of Hearts by Patricia O'Toole

Author:Patricia O'Toole
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Published: 2008-12-28T05:00:00+00:00

John La Farge struggled valiantly to do the impossible: Capture the grace of Samoan dancers on paper.ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM, BOSTON

For La Farge, the graceful dancers furnished as many frustrations as delights. Over and over he tried to sketch the siva, but the lines changed as fast as he could see them. Nor could he capture the shimmering glow of the coconut-palm fire, which bathed the dancers in a “perpetual ripple of light.” Looking at his sketches he decided that the effort to freeze exquisite motion on paper was nothing short of “stupid.”

Adams and La Farge passed most of their days in the village guesthouse, an oval chamber forty feet long with a high thatched roof. Coral gravel covered the earthen floor, and finely woven straw mats covered the coral. The straw panels that served as walls could be raised and lowered as the weather required. Food was as close as the roof posts, which were hung with oranges and bananas. Eggs were plentiful but elusive: Samoan hens ran free and laid their eggs where they pleased, exhibiting a decided preference for the thick underbrush of the forest at the edge of the village.

The visitors were soon known to everyone in Apia. Young girls came calling, enchanted by such Western appurtenances as the handkerchief and the teaball. As soon as the young women understood that La Farge was not a misonari, they eagerly bared their chests to pose for him, though they seemed constitutionally incapable of sitting still for more than a minute before curiosity compelled them to jump up and admire themselves on the sketch pad. When Adams and La Farge donned the native loincloth, the lava-lava, and headed for the beach, children trailed behind in the hope of glimpsing the exotic Caucasian body parts concealed beneath. Their curiosity amused Adams, but the impeccable La Farge was much troubled by his lava-lava, which kept slipping its knot and floating away.

Thanks to the natives’ familiarity with the John Adams, an American frigate that had once called regularly at Apia, John Adams’s great-grandson and his friend were accorded all the courtesies shown to visiting potentates. The king brought them a large sea turtle, a gift reserved for royalty. But since custom dictated that each present be returned with a more expensive item, the generosity of Samoan chieftains was a mixed blessing. “If I increase my presents, they double theirs,” Henry sighed. “They are ruinously extravagant in such matters and of course expect the same style from me.”

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.