United States or Panama ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
"You think that, do you, Bickley?" answered Bastin. "Well, I hold that it is better to heal souls than bodies, because, as even you will have learned out there in Orofena, they last so much longer." "I am not certain that I learned anything of the sort," said Bickley, "or even that Oro was more than an ordinary old man.
They had heard it all before from their fathers, and that once the Deluge had taken place round Orofena, swallowing up great countries, but sparing them because they were so good. Bastin, surprised, asked them who had caused the deluge. They replied, Oro which was the name of their god, Oro who dwelt yonder on the mountain in the lake, and whose representation they worshipped in idols.
With these words still ringing in my ears I woke up upon the Island of Orofena, filled with terror at the horrible possibilities of nightmare. What else could it be? There was the brown and ancient cone of the extinct volcano. There were the tall palms of the main island and the lake glittering in the sunlight between.
"Jugglery never appealed to me, whether in London or in Orofena," replied Bickley in a sour voice as he extracted from his pocket an end of candle to which he set light. "What is jugglery?" asked Bastin, and they departed arguing, leaving me alone with Yva in the sepulchre. "What have I seen?" I asked her. "I do not know, Humphrey.
Then suddenly Bastin took up his parable in the Polynesian tongue which to a certain extent he had acquired with so much pains. "What is this place called?" he asked slowly and distinctly, pausing between each word. His audience shook their heads and he tried again, putting the accents on different syllables. Behold! some bright spirit understood him and answered: "Orofena."
No other land was known to be near the shores of Orofena, which had never been visited by anyone except the strangers a hundred years ago or so, who were sacrificed and eaten. Most of the island was covered with forest which the inhabitants lacked the energy, and indeed had no tools, to fell.
They, who played a worthy part in the great struggle, had much to tell me, and naturally their more recent experiences had overlaid to some extent those which we shared in the mysterious island of Orofena.
So our first interview with the inhabitants of Orofena came to an end, on which we congratulated ourselves. On reaching the remains of the Star of the South we set to work to take stock of what was left to us. Fortunately it proved to be a very great deal.
When I reached the rock I was pleased to find Marama and about twenty of his people engaged in erecting the house that we had ordered them to build for our accommodation. Indeed, it was nearly finished, since house-building in Orofena is a simple business.
All about it was a belt of fertile land, as I suppose deposited there by the waters of the great lake and resulting from the decay of vegetation. Much of this belt was covered with ancient forest ending in mud flats that appeared to have been thrown up recently, perhaps at the time of the tidal wave which bore us to Orofena.
Word Of The Day