Chapter 45 forty five

As I said before, if I hadn't been in Tahiti by chance, I would definitely not have written this book.It was Tahiti, where Charles Strickland ended up after many years of wandering; and it was here that he created the canvases that have immortalized him in painting history.I don't think any artist can realize all the dreams that linger in his mind day and night. Strickland struggled hard and suffered pain day and night to master the skills of painting, but compared with other painters, he The ability to express the pictures in his fantasy may be even worse. Only after arriving in Tahiti did Strickland find a smooth environment.Here and there he sees all around him what was indispensable to the flowering and fruiting of his inspiration, and the pictures of his later years at least tell us what he sought all his life, to let our fantasies into a fresh and strange realm.It was as if Strickland's spirit had been detached from his body, wandering about, looking for lodging, and at last, in this distant land, finally entered a body.To use a clichéd phrase, he was "in his place" here.

It seemed natural that my interest in Strickland should be revived as soon as I set foot on this remote island; There was no time for irrelevant matters; I did not think of the place's relation to Strickland until after a few days in Tahiti.After all, it had been fifteen years since I had parted with him, and nine years since his death.Looking back on the situation now, after I arrived in Tahiti, no matter how important the matter at hand was, I should have put it out of my mind at once; Get out.I still remember the first morning, I woke up very early.When I got out onto the terrace of the hotel, nothing happened.I walked around the kitchen, the kitchen door was still locked, and on a bench outside the door, a local, a waiter from the hotel, was fast asleep, and it seemed that I would not have breakfast for a while.So I wandered down the street by the sea.The Chinese living here are already busy in their shops.The sky still had the paleness of dawn, and a dead silence hung over the lagoon.Ten miles away, the island of Moore rose above the sea like a fortress in the shape of a Holy Grail, locked away all its secrets.

I can't quite believe my eyes.The days that had passed since I left Wellington seemed very odd.Wellington is neat and orderly, full of British flavor, reminiscent of a coastal city on the south coast of England.After this I sailed three days at sea, the waves were violent, and the clouds were chasing each other in the air.After three days the wind stopped and the sea became very still and blue.The Pacific Ocean seems more inhospitable and vast than other seas, and even the most ordinary travel in these waters has an air of adventure.The air you breathe into your chest is like a balm for your body, lifting your spirits and preparing you for things you never expected.But it will never reveal its secrets to you except that you know that you have sailed into Tahiti, and that you have a vague feeling that you are approaching a piece of golden land.Moria Island, which is a sister island with Tahiti, comes into your field of vision, with towering cliffs, gorgeous and magnificent, suddenly leaping out of the vast sea mysteriously, like an ethereal colorful brocade summoned by a magic stick .Moria is craggy, like Montserrat transplanted into the Pacific Ocean.Faced with this scene, you can imagine that Polynesian warriors are performing strange religious rituals there to prevent ordinary people from knowing certain secrets.As the distance shrinks and the shape of the beautiful peaks becomes more real, the beauty of Moore Island is fully revealed, but when your boat passes by it, you will find that it is still locked and closed itself as a whole. A monstrous boulder inaccessible to man, no one can penetrate its dark mystery.No one will be surprised: as long as the ship sails close, looking for an entrance in the coral reef, it will suddenly disappear from people's sight, and what you see is still the vast blue waves of the Pacific Ocean.

Tahiti is a different story. It is a lush green island high above the sea, and the deep dark green folds make you guess that it is a series of silent canyons.There is something mysterious about these deep ravines, and in the depths of which the bleak streams gurgle and splash, and you feel that in these shady places life has continued from time immemorial, according to ancient customs, to the Now.There is something bleak and scary about Tahiti, too.But this impression does not remain in your mind for long, and it only sharpens your sense of the joys of present life.It is as if a company of merry people, when they hear a clown groaning and laughing, will see the look of desolation in the clown's eyes; When people laughed, he felt even more unbearably lonely.Because Tahiti is smiling, and it shows infinite friendship to you while smiling, it is like a beautiful woman, showing you all her beauty and charm with elegance and romance, especially when the ship has just entered Papi When mentioning the port, you feel absolutely ecstatic.Each of the two-masted sailboats moored by the pier is so neat and clean. The small town surrounded by the bay is white and elegant, while the French flame-style buildings are dazzling red under the blue sky, like a passionate cry. Do your best to show off your bright colors.They're sensual, so brazenly audacious that it leaves you dumbfounded.The crowd that flocked to the shore as the ship approached the pier was cheerful and courteous.They were laughing and talking loudly, and everyone was waving their arms.From the steamship it was a sea of ​​brown faces.You'll feel the colors swirl and move in a blinding way under the hot blue sky.Whether it's unloading luggage from the ship or customs inspection, everything is accompanied by loud noises, and everyone seems to be smiling at you.It was very hot.The brilliant colors dazzle your eyes.