{"product_id":"2940012798961","title":"STEVENSON'S SHRINE","description":"CHAPTER I.    The Voyage--Auckland to Tonga            5\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  CHAPTER II.    \"     \"    Vavau to Samoa              15\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  CHAPTER III.   \"    \"    Vailima and the SHRINE       26\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  CHAPTER IV.   The Aftermath--Fiji to Sydney           53\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eList of Plates\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  THE GRAVE                                 _Frontispiece_\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  A CORAL GARDEN                         _To face page_  6\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  TONGA VILLAGE                                \"         8\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  TRILITHON IN TONGA                           \"        13\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  HARBOUR OF VAVAU                             \"        15\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  KAVA-MAKING                                  \"        18\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  TOWN OF APIA                                 \"        23\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \"ROAD OF THE LOVING HEART\"                   \"        27\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  KAVA FEAST                                   \"        29\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  THE HOUSE AT VAILIMA (FRONT VIEW)            \"        31\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  THE HALL AT VAILIMA                          \"        32\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  VIEW OF VAILIMA FROM THE GRAVE               \"        39\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  THE STAIRCASE AT VAILIMA                     \"        41\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  THE HOUSE AT VAILIMA (END VIEW)              \"        42\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  NATIVE FEAST AT VAILIMA                      \"        44\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  ONE OF THE FIVE RIVERS AT VAILIMA            \"        46\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  ANOTHER OF THE FIVE RIVERS                   \"        48\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  DANCE OF SAMOAN NATIVES                      \"        50\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  VIEW IN FIJI                                 \"        53\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  FIJIAN BOAT                                  \"        56\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e[Illustration: MAP OF A PORTION OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC SHOWING SAMOA AND\u003cbr\u003eSOCIETY ISLANDS]\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCHAPTER I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"The first love, the first sunrise, the first South Sea Island, are\u003cbr\u003e    memories apart and touch a virginity of sense.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    \"My soul went down with these moorings whence no windlass may extract\u003cbr\u003e    nor any diver fish it up.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e    _Robert Louis Stevenson._\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI, a lover of the man, personally unknown to me, save through the potency\u003cbr\u003eof his pen, journeyed across the world in order to visit his grave, and to\u003cbr\u003eget into direct touch with his surroundings.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe voyage to the Antipodes does not come within the compass of this\u003cbr\u003elittle book; enough that in September, 1892, I left Auckland (New Zealand)\u003cbr\u003ein the Union Company's Steamship Manipouri, for a cruise among the South\u003cbr\u003eSea Islands, and that our first port of call was Nukualofa, one of the\u003cbr\u003eTongan group.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHere I stood on a little grass-covered wharf, and, looking down through\u003cbr\u003ethe translucent water, made my first acquaintance with a coral garden. Oh!\u003cbr\u003ethat wonderful water world with its wealth of sprays, flowers, and\u003cbr\u003emadrepores, amongst which the tiny rainbow-coloured fishes darted in and\u003cbr\u003eout like submarine humming-birds--wingless, but brilliant--living flecks\u003cbr\u003eof colour, flashing through a fairy region. The unreality of the scene\u003cbr\u003etook hold of me. If this were real I must be enchanted, looking downwards\u003cbr\u003ewith enchanted eyes.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAs one who dreams I walked inland, following a most fascinating green turf\u003cbr\u003epath soft as velvet to the tread. There are no roads in Nukualofa, green\u003cbr\u003eturf paths serve instead; indeed the whole of the little island, with its\u003cbr\u003elong stately avenues of coconut palms, its sheltering bowers of banyan\u003cbr\u003etrees, its groups of bananas, and groves of orange and other tropical\u003cbr\u003etrees too numerous and too varied to describe, seems one beautiful and\u003cbr\u003euniversal park. Every few minutes I came across a vivid patch of scarlet,\u003cbr\u003eyellow, or white hibiscus; great trailing lengths of blue convolvulus,\u003cbr\u003emany tendrilled and giant blossomed, garlanded the trees, and not\u003cbr\u003eunfrequently flung an almost impenetrable barrier across the path. These\u003cbr\u003epaths are separated from the universal park by--a fencing of barbed\u003cbr\u003ewire! But the little tram line, which terminates at the wharf, was\u003cbr\u003ebordered with turf of a moss-like softness, and even between its rails the\u003cbr\u003egrass grew thickly.[1]","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47145520333040,"sku":"2940012798961","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012798961_p0.jpg?v=1763572588","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012798961","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}