VOYAGE OF THE RENOWN.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19558, 10 February 1927, Page 9

VOYAGE OF THE RENOWN.

SHIP BEACHES MARQUESAS. FRENCH ISLANDS EN FETE. WELCOME TO DUKE OF YORK. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. (Received Feb. 9, 5.5 p.m.) A. and N.Z. MELBOURNE. Feb. 9. A wireless message from the battlecruiser Renown says the ship was a day ahead of schedule time, but punctual as to the hour, when sho swung in to the harbour at Nukuhiva, in the French Marquesas Islands.

She steamed to her anchorage without slackening speed until the last few miiiutes.

The French Administrator paid an official call, and was received with all due formality. Later' in the afternoon Their Royal Highnesses, the Duke and Duchess of York, returned his call. They found a colourful gathering waiting for them on the beach.

The Marquesans are among the most handsome of the Polynesian peoples, and they fully bore out their reputation for good looks. The men were mostly dressed in snowy white shirts and trousers, and the women wore brightly hued gowns and had chaplets of flowers on their heads.

They stood respectfully as the Royal party passed on their way and walked down the village street, to the famous Mission, where the late Robert Louis Stevenson was once well known.

The Duchess, on her return to the ship, was presented with a bouquet of flowers by a diminutive brown child.