The Life of Robert Louis Stevenson for Boys and Girls

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them, called them British tattooing, and insisted on her putting them on
and off a great many times.

The entire family fell quickly into the island mode of living; dressed
as the white inhabitants did; ate all the strange kinds of native food;
and when ashore lived in the native houses, which resembled bird-cages
on stilts. The climate suited them to perfection, and Stevenson
particularly benefited by it, bathing daily in the warm surf and taking
long walks along the beach in search of strange shells.

"Here we are," his mother wrote to Cummie, "in a little bay surrounded
by green mountains, on which sheep are grazing, and there are birds very
like our own 'blackies' singing in the trees. If it were not for the
groves of cocoanut palms, we might almost fancy ourselves in our own
dear land. But the climate here is simply perfect. Of course it is hot,
but there are always fresh breezes.... We have our principal meal at
twelve o'clock, and spend the after part of the day on shore ...