Summer Cruising In the South Seas

Summer Cruising in the South Seas by Charles Warren Stoddard, first published in 1905. The experiences recorded in this volume are the result of four summer cruises among the islands of the Pacific. The simple and natural life of the islander beguiles me; I am at home with him; all the rites of savagedom find a responsive echo in my heart; it is as though I recollected something long forgotten; it is like a dream dimly remembered, and at last realized; it must be that the untamed spirit of some aboriginal ancestor quickens my blood. With them "love is enough," and it is not necessarily one with the sexual passion: their life is sensuous and picturesque, and is incapable of a true interpretation unless viewed from their own standpoint.