The Hawaiian gazette., 1890-03-25
ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.
His Two Years Travels in the South
Seas---An Interesting Interview.

Brand me with ticket, mark me
up in search of health and you have
the chief reason why I'm here" said
Mr.. Robert Louis Stevenson in the
Hotel Metropole last night, as he sat
talking to a Daily Telegraph re-
porter.
And look at Mr.. Stevenson and it
is impossible to question the truth of
what he says. A slight slim man,
perhaps under the middle height, he
doesn't look the picture of robust
health which one sometimes gets in
to the habit of associating with men
who have made themselves eminent
in the higher walks of life. There
is no special reason why we should
do this, but the nearer that a man
approaches to whatever may be ones
ideal artist or ideal author, the more
likely he is to think he must neces-
ssrily possess all the graces of liter
airy or artistic culture slowed away
in the frame of a Hercules. The
author of " DIR. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde"
is not one of these. He seems to be
the kind of man who takes exist
ence in a quiet, unconventional sort
of way, who loves his craft as a jock
ey loves his favorite horse, and who
is quite content to live life of splen-
did seclusion if searchers after auto
graphs and enthusiastic worshippers
of literary popularity will only let
him. After pretty active literary
life in England and America, with
short occasional residence in the
south of Europe, as a change Mr..
Stevenson couple of years ago left
San Francisco on a trip through the
South seas. With no definite plan
in view beyond a desire to see every
thing that there was to see, to find
out everything that there was to know
and to study thoroughly the varied
races of these different islands, he
started for the Marquesas as a be-
ginning.
d" / wanted to see the islands right
through" he said. ''The subject had
so many things IL it of special inter
est to me that I was determined not
to close that VOYAGE until l had got
a pretty good grasp of everything
that [ could readily get hold of.
Thence l went Oh to the Lower Arch
ipelago, Tahiti, the Sandwich Islands
generally and Samoa. [ was six
weeks in the Marquesas, four months
in Tahiti, six in the Gilberts and
four in the Sandwich Islands. The
greater part of the rest of the
time / was in Samoa. | was charmed
with what l saw, and the trip has
been of immense advantage to me as
far as my health is concerned. Some
of the natives are really the incest
people in the world, but you would
be surprised at the immense differ
ences to be noted in them as you
travel from group to group. [ should
prefer living among the people of
Tahiti to any other people have
come across. Generally speaking,
taking the islands right through
they are as good class of people of
their kind there as any l have heard
Of"
what is the commercial value of
any of the islands to Australian"
mot much. The trade is very small
even from Samoa, and there doesn't
seem to be much prospect of its i'm
proving in the present unsettled
state of the islands. We are all
anxious to know what the new treaty
is and how it is to be administered.
The North German Company's
steamer, the Lubecks, make regular
trips to Sydney, but l don't see how
the speculation can be commercial
success. No doubt there are other
than strictly commercial reasons for
running her. Now, take our trip
across. There were myself and my
wife on board with one or two others
for the passengers, and there were
few bananas as the cargo. But the
cargo is never considerable and the
rush of passengers never taxes the
steamers accommodation. We, how
ever, had a splendid trip across, L
mean to say we were treated splen-
didly. Everybody on board was
generosity itself, and if we did not
enjoy the run from Apia-though
we certainly did--it was not for
want of attention on the part of the
ships officers. When you get the
opportunity you ought to make the
round trip. From what l know of
the place it is surprising to me that
many of you Sydney people don't
take it as a holiday excursion. A
more charming holiday, if you
should be gifted with reasonably
fine weather, l can't imagine, and
you have the chance of adding a
most interesting set of experiences
to your life. For you go to totally
strange country and see a most in
teresting people"