On the main islet of Abemama stands a modest marker commemorating Robert Louis Stevenson's three-month stay in 1889. The author of Treasure Island and Kidnapped came here aboard the schooner Equator during his Pacific voyages, and what he found exceeded his expectations. He was the guest of Tem Binoka, the powerful chief who controlled trade on the atoll, and wrote about the experience in In the South Seas — one of the finest travel books ever written about the Pacific.
The site itself is quiet — a clearing near the lagoon edge with a stone marker. There is little to see beyond the setting, but the setting is remarkable: the same lagoon, the same palms, the same low horizon that Stevenson described. Bringing a copy of In the South Seas transforms the visit completely.