Gutenberg Literary Edition #6586

LUPOBA-TILAANA (MIST ON THE MOUNTAIN)

BABAI-ALOVA-BABAI (ESSENCE OF ALOVA)

Of late the lure of the South Seas has laid its gentle spell rather overwhelmingly upon American readers. To be unread in Polynesiana is to be intellectually _declasse_.... In the face of this avid appetite for tropic-scented literature, one may well imagine the satisfaction of a publisher when offered opportunity of association with such an expedition as that of the Kawa, an association involving the exclusive privilege of publishing the manuscript of Walter E. Traprock himself.

The public, we feel, is entitled to a frank word regarding the inception of this volume. Now at last it is possible to withdraw the veil of secrecy which has shrouded the undertaking almost until the date of publication. _Almost_, we say, because some inklings of information found their way into the newspapers early this summer. The leak, we have reason to be believe, is traceable to a Marquesan valet who was shipped at Papeete to fill the place left vacant by William Henry Thomas, the strange facts surrounding whose desertion are recorded in the pages which follow.