as a passing bird; and ever as onward it bore, Like the cry of the passing bird, bequeathed its song to the shore— Desirable laughter of maids and the cry of delight of the child. And the gazer, left behind, stared at the wake and smiled. p. 30By all the towns of the Tevas they went, and Pápara last, The home of the chief, the place of muster in war; and passed The march of the lands of the clan, to the lands of an alien folk. And there, from the dusk of the shoreside palms, a column of smoke Mounted and wavered and died in the gold of the setting sun, “Paea!” they cried. “It is Paea.” And so was the voyage done.

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p. 30

In the early fall of the night, Hiopa came to the shore, And beheld and counted the comers, and lo, they were forty score: The pelting feet of the babes that ran already and played, The clean-lipped smile of the boy, the slender breasts of the maid, And mighty limbs of women, stalwart mothers of men. p. 31The sires stood forth unabashed; but a little back from his ken Clustered the scarcely nubile, the lads and maids, in a ring, Fain of each other, afraid of themselves, aware of the king And aping behaviour, but clinging together with hands and eyes, With looks that were kind like kisses, and laughter tender as sighs. There, too, the grandsire stood, raising his silver crest, And the impotent hands of a suckling groped in his barren breast. The childhood of love, the pair well married, the innocent brood, The tale of the generations repeated and ever renewed— Hiopa beheld them together, all the ages of man, And a moment shook in his purpose.

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But these were the foes of his clan, And he trod upon pity, and came, and civilly greeted the king, p. 32And gravely entreated Rahéro; and for all that could fight or sing, And claimed a name in the land, had fitting phrases of praise; But with all who were well-descended he spoke of the ancient days. And “’Tis true,” said he, “that in Paea the victual rots on the ground; But, friends, your number is many; and pigs must be hunted and found, And the lads troop to the mountains to bring the féis down, And around the bowls of the kava cluster the maids of the town. So, for to-night, sleep here; but king, common, and priest To-morrow, in order due, shall sit with me in the feast.” Sleepless the live-long night, Hiopa’s followers toiled. The pigs screamed and were slaughtered; the spars of the guest-house oiled, The leaves spread on the floor. In many a mountain glen p. 33The moon drew shadows of trees on the naked bodies of men Plucking and bearing fruits; and in all the 

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