Excerpt from Tahiti the Golden In Tahiti every mountain crag and dimpled valley has its tradition to enhance the natural loveliness of the scene by association with gods and heroes. Every promontory of the rock-bound coast, every coral cove, where the wavelets murmur on the sandy shore, is hallowed by tales of genii and spirits, or by the chivalrous deeds of heroes. Here battles have been fought, temples have been builded, lovers have sung their songs to heedless ears. The spirit of romance hangs over the land. There is not merely beauty in contemplation, but also in reminiscence. It is a dream land, a poet land, a South Sea Parnassus. To know it one must go there and dream its dream. It is not enough to see its sensuous splendor of verdant crags and shimmering plains. The people of today are forgetting their old traditions and tales of history, but it is not too late to rescue them from oblivion. Fortunately, much has been permanently recorded and should be learned by all who would truly appreciate this fascinating isle and the remarkable people who inhabit it. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.