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It was with a heavy heart that I drove back to my comfortable home in Papeete." For a long time none of us spoke. "But Ata did not send for me," the doctor went on, at last, "and it chanced that I did not go to that part of the island for a long time. I had no news of Strickland. Once or twice I heard that Ata had been to Papeete to buy painting materials, but I did not happen to see her.
The bush was encroaching, and it looked as though very soon the primeval forest would regain possession of that strip of land which had been snatched from it at the cost of so much labour. He had the sensation that here was the abode of pain. As he approached the house he was struck by the unearthly silence, and at first he thought it was deserted. Then he saw Ata.
I pressed her, angrily perhaps, but she looked down on the ground and began to cry. Then I shrugged my shoulders; after all, perhaps it was my duty to go, and in a very bad temper I bade her lead the way." His temper was certainly no better when he arrived, perspiring freely and thirsty. Ata was on the look-out for him, and came a little way along the path to meet him.
Tiare sighed. "Ah, I wish I were fifteen again." Then she caught sight of a cat trying to get at a dish of prawns on the kitchen table, and with a dexterous gesture and a lively volley of abuse flung a book at its scampering tail. "I asked him if he was happy with Ata. "'She leaves me alone, he said. 'She cooks my food and looks after her babies. She does what I tell her.
"You enter without ceremony," said Strickland. "What can I do for you?" The doctor recovered himself, but it required quite an effort for him to find his voice. All his irritation was gone, and he felt <i eh bien, oui, je ne le nie pas> he felt an overwhelming pity. "I am Dr. Coutras. I was down at Taravao to see the chiefess, and Ata sent for me to see you." "She's a damned fool.
Of course war's terrible, and all that sort of thing; but it does bring out the best qualities in a man, there's no denying that." Then I told them what I had learned about Charles Strickland in Tahiti. I thought it unnecessary to say anything of Ata and her boy, but for the rest I was as accurate as I could be. When I had narrated his lamentable death I ceased.
Bagobo customs and blood predominate, although intermarriage with the Negrito was evident in nearly every individual of this division seen by the writer. Immediately wrest of Daliao are three villages whose people are known as Eto or Ata. Aside from a slightly greater percentage of individuals showing negroid features, these people do not differ in any respect from the Bagobo.
Then two years more went by, or perhaps three, for time passes imperceptibly in Tahiti, and it is hard to keep count of it; but at last a message was brought to Dr. Coutras that Strickland was dying. Ata had waylaid the cart that took the mail into Papeete, and besought the man who drove it to go at once to the doctor.
They speak of ata and cor sva jo, meaning reproduction and from the beginning, and point toward the south; but no one has a mother. After considerable difficulty we gained what we thought was our cave, only to find that it was not, and then we realized that we were lost in the labyrinthine mazes of the great cavern.
On the northwest they come in contact with the Ata. They have intermarried with both of these tribes, have adopted many of their customs, and in some cases their manner of dress. However, they consider themselves, and are considered by the Bagobo, as a part of that tribe, and recognize Tongkaling as their chief.
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