Melville Herman
Omoo
Herman Melville
Omoo
Preface
Nowhere perhaps are the proverbial characteristics of sailors shown under
wilder aspects than in the South Seas For the most part the vessels navigating
those remote waters are engaged in the Sperm Whale Fishery a business which is
not only peculiarly fitted to attract the most reckless seamen of all nations
but m various ways is calculated to foster in them a spirit of the utmost
licence These voyages also are unusually long and perilous the only harbours
accessible are among the barbarous or semicivilised islands of Polynesia or
along the lawless western coast of South America Hence scenes the most novel
and not directly connected with the business of whaling frequently occur among
the crews of ships in the Pacific
Without pretending to give any account of the whalefishery for the scope
of the narrative does not embrace the subject it is partly the object of this
work to convey some idea of the kind of life to which allusion is made by means
of a circumstantial history of adventures befalling the author
Another object proposed is to give a familiar account of the present
condition of the converted Polynesians as affected by their promiscuous
intercourse with foreigners and the teachings of the missionaries combined
As a roving sailor the author spent about three months in various parts of
the islands of Tahiti and Imeeo and under circumstances most favourable for
correct observations on the social condition of the natives
In every statement connected with missionary operations a strict adherence
to facts has of course been scrupulously observed and in some instances it
has even been deemed advisable to quote previous voyagers in corroboration of
what is offered as the fruit of the authors own observations Nothing but an
earnest desire for truth and good has led him to touch upon this subject at all
And if he refrains from offering hints as to the best mode of remedying the
evils which are pointed out it is only because he thinks that after being made
acquainted with the facts others are better qualified to do so
Should a little jocoseness be shown upon some curious traits of the
Tahitians it proceeds from no intention to ridicule things are merely
described as from their entire novelty they first struck an unbiased observer
The present narrative necessarily begins where Typee concludes but has no
further connection with the latter work All therefore necessary for the
reader to understand who has not read Typee is given in a brief introduction
No journal was kept by the author during his wanderings in the South Seas
so that in preparing the ensuing chapters for the press precision with respect
to dates would have been impossible and every occurrence has been put down from
simple recollection The frequency however with which these incidents have
been verbally related has tended to stamp them upon the memory
Although it is believed that one or two imperfect Polynesian vocabularies
have been published none of the Tahitian dialect has as yet appeared At any
rate the author has had access to none whatever In the use of the native
words therefore he has been mostly governed by the bare recollection of
sounds
Upon several points connected with the history and ancient customs of
Tahiti collateral information has been obtained from the oldest books of South
Sea voyages and also from the Polynesian Researches of Ellis
The title of the work Omoo is borrowed from the dialect of the Marquesas
Islands where among other uses the word signifies a rover or rather a
person wandering from one island to another like some of the natives known
among their countrymen as Taboo kannakers
In no respect does the author make pretensions to philosophic research In a
familiar way he has merely described what he has seen and if reflections are
occasionally indulged in they are spontaneous and such as would very probably
suggest themselves to the most casual observer
NEW YORK
January 28 1847
Adventures in the South Seas
Introduction
In the summer of 1842 the author of this narrative as a sailor before the
mast visited the Marquesas Islands in an American South Seaman At the island
of Nukuheva he left his vessel which afterward sailed without him Wandering in
the interior he came upon the valley of Typee inhabited by a primitive tribe
of savages from which valley a fellowsailor who accompanied him soon afterward
effected his escape The author however was detained in an indulgent captivity
for about the space of four months at the end of which period he escaped in a
boat which visited the bay
This boat belonged to a vessel in need of men which had recently touched at
a neighbouring harbour of the same island where the captain had been informed
of the authors detention in Typee Desirous of adding to his crew he sailed
round thither and hove to off the mouth of the bay As the Typees were
considered hostile the boat manned by Taboo natives from the other harbour
was then sent in with an interpreter at their head to procure the authors
release This was finally accomplished though not without peril to all
concerned At the time of his escape the author was suffering severely from
lameness
The boat having gained the open sea the ship appeared in the distance Here
the present narrative opens
Part I
Chapter I
My Reception Aboard
It was in the middle of a bright tropical afternoon that we made good our escape
from the bay The vessel we sought lay with her maintopsail aback about a
league from the land and was the only object that broke the broad expanse of
the ocean
On approaching she turned out to be a small slatternlylooking craft her
hull and spars a dingy black rigging all slack and bleached nearly white and
everything denoting an ill state of affairs aboard The four boats hanging from
her sides proclaimed her a whaler Leaning carelessly over the bulwarks were the
sailors wild haggardlooking fellows in Scotch caps and faded blue frocks
some of them with cheeks of a mottled bronze to which sickness soon changes the
rich berrybrown of a seamans complexion in the tropics
On the quarterdeck was one whom I took for the chief mate He wore a
broadbrimmed Panama hat and his spyglass was levelled as we advanced
When we came alongside a low cry ran fore and aft the deck and everybody
gazed at us with inquiring eyes And well they might To say nothing of the
savage boats crew panting with excitement all gesture and vociferation my
own appearance was calculated to excite curiosity A robe of the native cloth
was thrown over my shoulders my hair and beard were uncut and I betrayed other
evidences of my recent adventure Immediately on gaining the deck they beset me
on all sides with questions the half of which I could not answer so
incessantly were they put
As an instance of the curious coincidences which often befall the sailor I
must here mention that two countenances before me were familiar One was that of
an old manofwarsman whose acquaintance I had made in Rio de Janeiro at
which place touched the ship in which I sailed from home The other was a young
man whom four years previous I had frequently met in a sailor boardinghouse
in Liverpool I remembered parting with him at Princes Dock Gates in the midst
of a swarm of policeofficers truckmen stevedores beggars and the like And
here we were again years had rolled by many a league of ocean had been
traversed and we were thrown together under circumstances which almost made me
doubt my own existence
But a few moments passed ere I was sent for into the cabin by the captain
He was quite a young man pale and slender more like a sickly
countinghouse clerk than a bluff seacaptain Bidding me be seated he ordered
the steward to hand me a glass of Pisco1 In the state I was this stimulus
almost made me delirious so that of all I then went on to relate concerning my
residence on the island I can scarcely remember a word After this I was asked
whether I desired to ship of course I said yes that is if he would allow me
to enter for one cruise engaging to discharge me if I so desired at the next
port In this way men are frequently shipped on board whalemen in the South
Seas My stipulation was acceded to and the ships articles handed me to sign
The mate was now called below and charged to make a well man of me not
let it be borne in mind that the captain felt any great compassion for me he
only desired to have the benefit of my services as soon as possible
Helping me on deck the mate stretched me out on the windlass and commenced
examining my limb and then doctoring it after a fashion with something from the
medicine chest rolled it up in a piece of an old sail making so big a bundle
that with my feet resting on the windlass I might have been taken for a sailor
with the gout While this was going on someone removing my tappa cloak slipped
on a blue frock in its place and another actuated by the same desire to make a
civilised mortal of me flourished about my head a great pair of sheepshears
to the imminent jeopardy of both ears and the certain destruction of hair and
beard
The day was now drawing to a close and as the land faded from my sight I
was all alive to the change in my condition But how far short of our
expectations is oftentimes the fulfilment of the most ardent hopes Safe aboard
of a ship so long my earnest prayer with home and friends once more in
prospect I nevertheless felt weighed down by a melancholy that could not be
shaken off It was the thought of never more seeing those who notwithstanding
their desire to retain me a captive had upon the whole treated me so kindly
I was leaving them forever
So unforeseen and sudden had been my escape so excited had I been through
it all and so great the contrast between the luxurious repose of the valley
and the wild noise and motion of a ship at sea that at times my recent
adventures had all the strangeness of a dream and I could scarcely believe that
the same sun now setting over a waste of waters had that very morning risen
above the mountains and peered in upon me as I lay on my mat in Typee
Going below into the forecastle just after dark I was inducted into a
wretched bunk or sleepingbox built over another The rickety bottoms of both
were spread with several pieces of a blanket A battered tin can was then handed
me containing about half a pint of tea so called by courtesy though whether
the juice of such stalks as one finds floating therein deserves that title is a
matter all shipowners must settle with their consciences A cube of salt beef
on a hard round biscuit by way of platter was also handed up and without more
ado I made a meal the salt flavour of which after the Nebuchadnezzar fare of
the valley was positively delicious
While thus engaged an old sailor on a chest just under me was puffing out
volumes of tobacco smoke My supper finished he brushed the stem of his sooty
pipe against the sleeve of his frock and politely waved it toward me The
attention was sailorlike as for the nicety of the thing no man who has lived
in forecastles is at all fastidious and so after a few vigorous whiffs to
induce repose I turned over and tried my best to forget myself But in vain My
crib instead of extending fore and aft as it should have done was placed
athwartships that is at right angles to the keel and the vessel going
before the wind rolled to such a degree that every time my heels went up and
my head went down I thought I was on the point of turning a somerset Besides
this there were still more annoying causes of inquietude and every once in a
while a splash of water came down the open scuttle and flung the spray in my
face
At last after a sleepless night broken twice by the merciless call of the
watch a peep of daylight struggled into view from above and someone came
below It was my old friend with the pipe
»Here shipmate« said I »help me out of this place and let me go on
deck«
»Halloa who s that croaking« was the rejoinder as he peered into the
obscurity where I lay »Ay Typee my king of the cannibals is it you But I
say my lad how s that spar of yourn the mate says it s in a devil of a
way and last night set the steward to sharpening the handsaw hope he wont
have the carving of ye«
Long before daylight we arrived off the bay of Nukuheva and making short
tacks until morning we then ran in and sent a boat ashore with the natives who
had brought me to the ship Upon its return we made sail again and stood off
from the land There was a fine breeze and notwithstanding my bad nights rest
the cool fresh air of a morning at sea was so bracing that as soon as I
breathed it my spirits rose at once
Seated upon the windlass the greater portion of the day and chatting freely
with the men I learned the history of the voyage thus far and everything
respecting the ship and its present condition
These matters I will now throw together in the next chapter
Chapter II
Some Account of the Ship
First and foremost I must give some account of the Julia herself or Little
Jule as the sailors familiarly styled her
She was a small barque of a beautiful model something more than two hundred
tons Yankeebuilt and very old Fitted for a privateer out of a New England
port during the war of 1812 she had been captured at sea by a British cruiser
and after seeing all sorts of service was at last employed as a government
packet in the Australian seas Being condemned however about two years
previous she was purchased at auction by a house in Sydney who after some
slight repairs dispatched her on the present voyage
Notwithstanding the repairs she was still in a miserable plight The lower
masts were said to be unsound the standing rigging was much worn and in some
places even the bulwarks were quite rotten Still she was tolerably tight and
but little more than the ordinary pumping of a morning served to keep her free
But all this had nothing to do with her sailing at that brave Little Jule
plump Little Jule was a witch Blow high or blow low she was always ready for
the breeze and when she dashed the waves from her prow and pranced and pawed
the sea you never thought of her patched sails and blistered hull How the
fleet creature would fly before the wind rolling now and then to be sure but
in very playfulness Sailing to windward no gale could bow her over with spars
erect she looked right up into the winds eye and so she went
But after all Little Jule was not to be confided in Lively enough and
playful she was but on that very account the more to be distrusted Who knew
but that like some vivacious old mortal all at once sinking into a decline she
might some dark night spring a leak and carry us all to the bottom However
she played us no such ugly trick and therefore I wrong Little Jule in supposing
it
She had a free roving commission According to her papers she might go
whither she pleased whaling sealing or anything else Sperm whaling
however was what she relied upon though as yet only two fish had been
brought alongside
The day they sailed out of Sydney Heads the ships company all told
numbered some thirtytwo souls now they mustered about twenty the rest had
deserted Even the three junior mates who had headed the whaleboats were gone
and of the four harpooneers only one was left a wild New Zealander or Mowree
as his countrymen are more commonly called in the Pacific But this was not all
More than half the seamen remaining were more or less unwell from a long sojourn
in a dissipated port some of them wholly unfit for duty one or two dangerously
ill and the rest managing to stand their watch though they could do but
little
The captain was a young Cockney who a few years before had emigrated to
Australia and by some favouritism or other had procured the command of the
vessel though in no wise competent He was essentially a landsman and though a
man of education no more meant for the sea than a hairdresser Hence everybody
made fun of him They called him The Cabin Boy Paper Jack and half a dozen
other undignified names In truth the men made no secret of the derision in
which they held him and as for the slender gentleman himself he knew it all
very well and bore himself with becoming meekness Holding as little
intercourse with them as possible he left everything to the chief mate who as
the story went had been given his captain in charge Yet despite his apparent
unobtrusiveness the silent captain had more to do with the men than they
thought In short although one of your sheepish fellows he had a sort of
still timid cunning which no one would have suspected and which for that
very reason was all the more active So the bluff mate who always thought he
did what he pleased was occasionally made a tool of and some obnoxious
measures which he carried out in spite of all growlings were little thought to
originate with the dapper little fellow in nankeen jacket and white canvas
pumps But to all appearance at least the mate had everything his own way
indeed in most things this was actually the case and it was quite plain that
the captain stood in awe of him
So far as courage seamanship and a natural aptitude for keeping riotous
spirits in subjection were concerned no man was better qualified for his
vocation than John Jermin He was the very beauideal of the efficient race of
short thickset men His hair curled in little rings of iron gray all over his
round bullet head As for his countenance it was strongly marked deeply
pitted with the smallpox For the rest there was a fierce little squint out of
one eye the nose had a rakish twist to one side while his large mouth and
great white teeth looked absolutely sharkish when he laughed In a word no
one after getting a fair look at him would ever think of improving the shape
of his nose wanting in symmetry if it was Notwithstanding his pugnacious
looks however Jermin had a heart as big as a bullocks that you saw at a
glance
Such was our mate but he had one failing he abhorred all weak infusions
and cleaved manfully to strong drink At all times he was more or less under the
influence of it Taken in moderate quantities I believe in my soul it did a
man like him good brightened his eyes swept the cobwebs out of his brain and
regulated his pulse But the worst of it was that sometimes he drank too much
and a more obstreperous fellow than Jermin in his cups you seldom came across
He was always for having a fight but the very men he flogged loved him as a
brother for he had such an irresistibly goodnatured way of knocking them down
that no one could find it in his heart to bear malice against him So much for
stout little Jermin
All English whalemen are bound by law to carry a physician who of course
is rated a gentleman and lives in the cabin with nothing but his professional
duties to attend to but incidentally he drinks flip and plays cards with the
captain There was such a worthy aboard of the Julia but curious to tell he
lived in the forecastle with the men And this was the way it happened
In the early part of the voyage the doctor and the captain lived together as
pleasantly as could be To say nothing of many a can they drank over the cabin
transom both of them had read books and one of them had travelled so their
stories never flagged But once on a time they got into a dispute about
politics and the doctor moreover getting into a rage drove home an argument
with his fist and left the captain on the floor literally silenced This was
carrying it with a high hand so he was shut up in his stateroom for ten days
and left to meditate on bread and water and the impropriety of flying into a
passion Smarting under his disgrace he undertook a short time after his
liberation to leave the vessel clandestinely at one of the islands but was
brought back ignominiously and again shut up Being set at large for the second
time he vowed he would not live any longer with the captain and went forward
with his chests among the sailors where he was received with open arms as a
good fellow and an injured man
I must give some further account of him for he figures largely in the
narrative His early history like that of many other heroes was enveloped in
the profoundest obscurity though he threw out hints of a patrimonial estate a
nabob uncle and an unfortunate affair which sent him aroving All that was
known however was this He had gone out to Sydney as assistantsurgeon of an
emigrant ship On his arrival there he went back into the country and after a
few months wanderings returned to Sydney penniless and entered as doctor
aboard of the Julia
His personal appearance was remarkable He was over six feet high a tower
of bones with a complexion absolutely colourless fair hair and a light
unscrupulous gray eye twinkling occasionally with the very devil of mischief
Among the crew he went by the name of the Long Doctor or more frequently
still Doctor Long Ghost And from whatever high estate Doctor Long Ghost might
have fallen he had certainly at some time or other spent money drunk Burgundy
and associated with gentlemen
As for his learning he quoted Virgil and talked of Hobbes of Malmsbury
besides repeating poetry by the canto especially Hudibras He was moreover a
man who had seen the world In the easiest way imaginable he could refer to an
amour he had in Palermo his lionhunting before breakfast among the Caffres
and the quality of the coffee to be drunk in Muscat and about these places and
a hundred others he had more anecdotes than I can tell of Then such mellow old
songs as he sang in a voice so round and racy the real juice of sound How
such notes came forth from his lank body was a constant marvel
Upon the whole Long Ghost was as entertaining a companion as one could
wish and to me in the Julia an absolute godsend
Chapter III
Further Account of the Julia
Owing to the absence of anything like regular discipline the vessel was in a
state of the greatest uproar The captain having for some time past been more
or less confined to the cabin from sickness was seldom seen The mate however
was as hearty as a young lion and ran about the decks making himself heard at
all hours Bembo the New Zealand harpooneer held little intercourse with
anybody but the mate who could talk to him freely in his own lingo Part of his
time he spent out on the bowsprit fishing for albicores with a bone hook and
occasionally he waked all hands up of a dark night dancing some cannibal
fandango all by himself on the forecastle But upon the whole he was
remarkably quiet though something in his eye showed he was far from being
harmless
Doctor Long Ghost having sent in a written resignation as the ships
doctor gave himself out as a passenger for Sydney and took the world quite
easy As for the crew those who were sick seemed marvellously contented for men
in their condition and the rest not displeased with the general licence gave
themselves little thought of the morrow
The Julias provisions were very poor When opened the barrels of pork
looked as if preserved in iron rust and diffused an odour like a stale ragout
The beef was worse yet a mahoganycoloured fibrous substance so tough and
tasteless that I almost believed the cooks story of a horses hoof with the
shoe on having been fished up out of the pickle of one of the casks Nor was the
biscuit much better nearly all of it was broken into hard little gunflints
honeycombed through and through as if the worms usually infesting this article
in long tropical voyages had in boring after nutriment come out at the
antipodes without finding anything
Of what sailors call small stores we had but little Tea however we had
in abundance though I dare say the Hong merchants never had the shipping of
it Besides this every other day we had what English seamen call shot soup
great round peas polishing themselves like pebbles by rolling about in tepid
water
It was afterward told me that all our provisions had been purchased by the
owners at an auction sale of condemned navy stores in Sydney
But notwithstanding the wateriness of the first course of soup and the
saline flavour of the beef and pork a sailor might have made a satisfactory
meal aboard of the Julia had there been any side dishes a potato or two a
yam or a plantain But there was nothing of the kind Still there was
something else which in the estimation of the men made up for all
deficiencies and that was the regular allowance of Pisco
It may seem strange that in such a state of affairs the captain should be
willing to keep the sea with his ship But the truth was that by lying in
harbour he ran the risk of losing the remainder of his men by desertion and as
it was he still feared that in some outlandish bay or other he might one day
find his anchor down and no crew to weigh it
With judicious officers the most unruly seamen can at sea be kept in some
sort of subjection but once get them within a cables length of the land and
it is hard restraining them It is for this reason that many South Sea whalemen
do not come to an anchor for eighteen or twenty months on a stretch When fresh
provisions are needed they run for the nearest land heave to eight or ten
miles off and send a boat ashore to trade The crews manning vessels like these
are for the most part villains of all nations and dyes picked up in the lawless
ports of the Spanish Main and among the savages of the islands Like
galleyslaves they are only to be governed by scourges and chains Their
officers go among them with dirk and pistol concealed but ready at a grasp
Not a few of our own crew were men of this stamp but riotous at times as
they were the bluff drunken energies of Jermin were just the thing to hold them
in some sort of noisy subjection Upon an emergency he flew in among them
showering his kicks and cuffs right and left and creating a sensation in every
direction And as hinted before they bore this knockdown authority with great
goodhumour A sober discreet dignified officer could have done nothing with
them such a set would have thrown him and his dignity overboard
Matters being thus there was nothing for the ship but to keep the sea Nor
was the captain without hope that the invalid portion of his crew as well as
himself would soon recover and then there was no telling what luck in the
fishery might yet be in store for us At any rate at the time of my coming
aboard the report was that Captain Guy was resolved upon retrieving the past
and filling the vessel with oil in the shortest space possible
With this intention we were now shaping our course for Hytyhoo a village
on the island of St Christina one of the Marquesas and so named by Mendanna
for the purpose of obtaining eight seamen who some weeks before had stepped
ashore there from the Julia It was supposed that by this time they must have
recreated themselves sufficiently and would be glad to return to their duty
So to Hytyhoo with all our canvas spread and coquetting with the warm
breezy Trades we bowled along gliding up and down the long slow swells the
bonettas and albicores frolicking round us
Chapter IV
A Scene in the Forecastle
I had scarcely been aboard of the ship twentyfour hours when a circumstance
occurred which although no ways picturesque is so significant of the state of
affairs that I cannot forbear relating it
In the first place however it must be known that among the crew was a man
so excessively ugly that he went by the ironical appellation of Beauty He was
the ships carpenter and for that reason was sometimes known by his nautical
cognomen of Chips There was no absolute deformity about the man he was
symmetrically ugly But ill favoured as he was in person Beauty was none the
less ugly in temper but no one could blame him his countenance had soured his
heart Now Jermin and Beauty were always at swords points The truth was the
latter was the only man in the ship whom the mate had never decidedly got the
better of and hence the grudge he bore him As for Beauty he prided himself
upon talking up to the mate as we shall soon see
Toward evening there was something to be done on deck and the carpenter
who belonged to the watch was missing »Where s that skulk Chips« shouted
Jermin down the forecastle scuttle
»Taking his ease d ye see down here on a chest if you want to know«
replied that worthy himself quietly withdrawing his pipe from his mouth This
insolence flung the fiery little mate into a mighty rage but Beauty said
nothing puffing away with all the tranquillity imaginable Here it must be
remembered that never mind what may be the provocation no prudent officer ever
dreams of entering a ships forecastle on a hostile visit If he wants to see
anybody who happens to be there and refuses to come up why he must wait
patiently until the sailor is willing The reason is this The place is very
dark and nothing is easier than to knock one descending on the head before he
knows where he is and a very long while before he ever finds out who did it
Nobody knew this better than Jermin and so he contented himself with
looking down the scuttle and storming At last Beauty made some cool observation
which set him half wild
»Tumble on deck« he then bellowed »come up with you or I ll jump down
and make you« The carpenter begged him to go about it at once
No sooner said than done prudence forgotten Jermin was there and by a
sort of instinct had his man by the throat before he could well see him One of
the men now made a rush at him but the rest dragged him off protesting that
they should have fair play
»Now come on deck« shouted the mate struggling like a good fellow to hold
the carpenter fast
»Take me there« was the dogged answer and Beauty wriggled about in the
nervous grasp of the other like a couple of yards of boaconstrictor
His assailant now undertook to make him up into a compact bundle the more
easily to transport him While thus occupied Beauty got his arms loose and
threw him over backward But Jermin quickly recovered himself when for a time
they had it every way dragging each other about bumping their heads against
the projecting beams and returning each others blows the first favourable
opportunity that offered Unfortunately Jermin at last slipped and fell his
foe seating himself on his chest and keeping him down Now this was one of
those situations in which the voice of counsel or reproof comes with peculiar
unction Nor did Beauty let the opportunity slip But the mate said nothing in
reply only foaming at the mouth and struggling to rise
Just then a thin tremor of a voice was heard from above It was the captain
who happening to ascend to the quarterdeck at the commencement of the scuffle
would gladly have returned to the cabin but was prevented by the fear of
ridicule As the din increased and it became evident that his officer was in
serious trouble he thought it would never do to stand leaning over the
bulwarks so he made his appearance on the forecastle resolved as his best
policy to treat the matter lightly
»Why why« he began speaking pettishly and very fast »what s all this
about Mr Jermin Mr Jermin carpenter carpenter what are you doing down
there Come on deck come on deck«
Whereupon Doctor Long Ghost cries out in a squeak »Ah Miss Guy is that
you Now my dear go right home or you ll get hurt«
»Pooh pooh you sir whoever you are I was not speaking to you none of
your nonsense Mr Jermin I was talking to you have the kindness to come on
deck sir I want to see you«
»And how in the devils name am I to get there« cried the mate
furiously »Jump down here Captain Guy and show yourself a man Let me up you
Chips unhand me I say Oh I ll pay you for this some day Come on Captain
Guy«
At this appeal the poor man was seized with a perfect spasm of fidgets
»Pooh pooh carpenter have done with your nonsense Let him up sir let him
up Do you hear Let Mr Jermin come on deck«
»Go along with you Paper Jack« replied Beauty »this quarrel s between
the mate and me so go aft where you belong«
As the captain once more dipped his head down the scuttle to make answer
from an unseen hand he received full in the face the contents of a tin can of
soaked biscuit and tealeaves The doctor was not far off just then Without
waiting for anything more the discomfited gentleman with both hands to his
streaming face retreated to the quarterdeck
A few moments more and Jermin forced to a compromise followed after in
his torn frock and scarred face looking for all the world as if he had just
disentangled himself from some intricate piece of machinery For about half an
hour both remained in the cabin where the mates rough tones were heard high
above the low smooth voice of the captain
Of all his conflicts with the men this was the first in which Jermin had
been worsted and he was proportionably enraged Upon going below as the
steward afterward told us he bluntly informed Guy that for the future he
might look out for his ship himself for his part he was done with her if that
was the way he allowed his officers to be treated After many high words the
captain finally assured him that the first fitting opportunity the carpenter
should be cordially flogged though as matters stood the experiment would be a
hazardous one Upon this Jermin reluctantly consented to drop the matter for the
present and he soon drowned all thought of it in a can of flip which Guy had
previously instructed the steward to prepare as a sop to allay his wrath
Nothing more ever came of this
Chapter V
What Happened at Hytyhoo
Less than fortyeight hours after leaving Nukuheva the blue looming island of
St Christina greeted us from afar Drawing near the shore the grim black
spars and waspish hull of a small manofwar craft crept into view the masts
and yards lined distinctly against the sky She was riding to her anchor in the
bay and proved to be a French corvette
This pleased our captain exceedingly and coming on deck he examined her
from the mizen rigging with his glass His original intention was not to let go
an anchor but counting upon the assistance of the corvette in case of any
difficulty he now changed his mind and anchored alongside of her As soon as a
boat could be lowered he then went off to pay his respects to the commander
and moreover as we supposed to concert measures for the apprehension of the
runaways
Returning in the course of twenty minutes he brought along with him two
officers in undress and whiskers and three or four drunken obstreperous old
chiefs one with his legs thrust into the armholes of a scarlet vest another
with a pair of spurs on his heels and a third in a cocked hat and feather In
addition to these articles they merely wore the ordinary costume of their race
a slip of native cloth about the loins Indecorous as their behaviour was
these worthies turned out to be a deputation from the reverend the clergy of the
island and the object of their visit was to put our ship under a rigorous
Taboo to prevent the disorderly scenes and facilities for desertion which would
ensue were the natives men and women allowed to come off to us freely
There was little ceremony about the matter The chiefs went aside for a
moment laid their shaven old crowns together and went over a little mummery
Whereupon their leader tore a long strip from his girdle of white tappa and
handed it to one of the French officers who after explaining what was to be
done gave it to Jermin The mate at once went out to the end of the
flyingjibboom and fastened there the mystic symbol of the ban This put to
flight a party of girls who had been observed swimming toward us Tossing their
arms about and splashing the water like porpoises with loud cries of »taboo
taboo« they turned about and made for the shore
The night of our arrival the mate and the Mowree were to stand watch and
watch relieving each other every four hours the crew as is sometimes
customary when lying at an anchor being allowed to remain all night below A
distrust of the men however was in the present instance the principal reason
for this proceeding Indeed it was all but certain that some kind of attempt
would be made at desertion and therefore when Jermins first watch came on at
eight bells midnight by which time all was quiet he mounted to the deck
with a flask of spirits in one hand and the other in readiness to assail the
first countenance that showed itself above the forecastle scuttle
Thus prepared he doubtless meant to stay awake but for all that before
long he fell asleep and slept with such hearty goodwill too that the men who
left us that night might have been waked up by his snoring Certain it was the
mate snored most strangely and no wonder with that crooked bugle of his When
he came to himself it was just dawn but quite light enough to show two boats
gone from the side In an instant he knew what had happened
Dragging the Mowree out of an old sail where he was napping he ordered him
to clear away another boat and then darted into the cabin to tell the captain
the news Springing on deck again he dived down into the forecastle for a
couple of oarsmen but hardly got there before there was a cry and a loud
splash heard over the side It was the Mowree and the boat into which he had
just leaped to get ready for lowering rolling over and over in the water
The boat having at nightfall been hoisted up to its place over the starboard
quarter someone had so cut the tackles which held it there that a moderate
strain would at once part them Bembos weight had answered the purpose showing
that the deserters must have ascertained his specific gravity to a fibre of
hemp There was another boat remaining but it was as well to examine it before
attempting to lower And it was well they did for there was a hole in the
bottom large enough to drop a barrel through she had been scuttled most
ruthlessly
Jermin was frantic Dashing his hat upon deck he was about to plunge
overboard and swim to the corvette for a cutter when Captain Guy made his
appearance and begged him to stay where he was By this time the officer of the
deck aboard the Frenchman had noticed our movements and hailed to know what had
happened Guy informed him through his trumpet and men to go in pursuit were
instantly promised There was a whistling of a boatswains pipe an order or
two and then a large cutter pulled out from the manofwars stern and in half
a dozen strokes was alongside The mate leaped into her and they pulled rapidly
ashore
Another cutter carrying an armed crew soon followed
In an hours time the first returned towing the two whaleboats which had
been found turned up like tortoises on the beach
Noon came and nothing more was heard from the deserters Meanwhile Doctor
Long Ghost and myself lounged about cultivating an acquaintance and gazing
upon the shore scenery The bay was as calm as death the sun high and hot and
occasionally a still gliding canoe stole out from behind the headlands and shot
across the water
And all the morning long our sick men limped about the deck casting wistful
glances inland where the palmtrees waved and beckoned them into their reviving
shades Poor invalid rascals How conducive to the restoration of their
shattered health would have been those delicious groves But hardhearted Jermin
assured them with an oath that foot of theirs should never touch the beach
Toward sunset a crowd was seen coming down to the water In advance of all
were the fugitives bareheaded their frocks and trowsers hanging in tatters
every face covered with blood and dust and their arms pinioned behind them with
green thongs Following them up was a shouting rabble of islanders pricking
them with the points of their long spears the party from the corvette menacing
them in the flank with their naked cutlasses
The bonus of a musket to the king of the Bay and the promise of a tumbler
full of powder for every man caught had set the whole population on their
track and so successful was the hunt that not only were that mornings
deserters brought back but five of those left behind on a former visit The
natives however were the mere hounds of the chase raising the game in their
coverts but leaving the securing of it to the Frenchmen Here as elsewhere
the islanders have no idea of taking part in such a scuffle as ensues upon the
capture of a party of desperate seamen
The runaways were at once brought aboard and though they looked rather
sulky soon came round and treated the whole affair as a frolicsome adventure
Chapter VI
We Touch at La Dominica
Fearful of spending another night at Hytyhoo Captain Guy caused the ship to be
got under way shortly after dark
The next morning when all supposed that we were fairly embarked for a long
cruise our course was suddenly altered for La Dominica or Hivarhoo an island
just north of the one we had quitted The object of this as we learned was to
procure if possible several English sailors who according to the commander
of the corvette had recently gone ashore there from an American whaler and
were desirous of shipping aboard of one of their own country vessels
We made the land in the afternoon coming abreast of a shady glen opening
from a deep bay and winding by green defiles far out of sight »Hands by the
weathermainbrace« roared the mate jumping up on the bulwarks and in a
moment the prancing Julia suddenly arrested in her course bridled her head
like a steed reined in while the foam flaked under her bows
This was the place where we expected to obtain the men so a boat was at
once got in readiness to go ashore Now it was necessary to provide a picked
crew men the least likely to abscond After considerable deliberation on the
part of the captain and mate four of the seamen were pitched upon as the most
trustworthy or rather they were selected from a choice assortment of suspicious
characters as being of an inferior order of rascality
Armed with cutlasses all round the natives were said to be an ugly set
they were followed over the side by the invalid captain who on this occasion
it seems was determined to signalise himself Accordingly in addition to his
cutlass he wore an old boarding belt in which was thrust a brace of pistols
They at once shoved off
My friend Long Ghost had among other things which looked somewhat strange
in a ships forecastle a capital spyglass and on the present occasion we had
it in use
When the boat neared the head of the inlet though invisible to the naked
eye it was plainly revealed by the glass looking no bigger than an eggshell
and the men diminished to pigmies
At last borne on what seemed a long flake of foam the tiny craft shot up
the beach amid a shower of sparkles Not a soul was there Leaving one of their
number by the water the rest of the pigmies stepped ashore looking about them
very circumspectly pausing now and then hand to ear and peering under a dense
grove which swept down within a few paces of the sea No one came and to all
appearances everything was as still as the grave Presently he with the
pistols followed by the rest flourishing their bodkins entered the wood and
were soon lost to view They did not stay long probably anticipating some
inhospitable ambush were they to stray any distance up the glen
In a few moments they embarked again and were soon riding pertly over the
waves of the bay All of a sudden the captain started to his feet the boat
spun round and again made for the shore Some twenty or thirty natives armed
with spears which through the glass looked like reeds had just come out of the
grove and were apparently shouting to the strangers not to be in such a hurry
but return and be sociable But they were somewhat distrusted for the boat
paused about its length from the beach when the captain standing up in its head
delivered an address in pantomime the object of which seemed to be that the
islanders should draw near One of them stepped forward and made answer
seemingly again urging the strangers not to be diffident but beach their boat
The captain declined tossing his arms about in another pantomime In the end he
said something which made them shake their spears whereupon he fired a pistol
among them which set the whole party running while one poor little fellow
dropping his spear and clapping his hand behind him limped away in a manner
which almost made me itch to get a shot at his assailant
Wanton acts of cruelty like this are not unusual on the part of seacaptains
landing at islands comparatively unknown Even at the Pomotu Group but a days
sail from Tahiti the islanders coming down to the shore have several times been
fired at by trading schooners passing through their narrow channels and this
too as a mere amusement on the part of the ruffians
Indeed it is almost incredible the light in which many sailors regard
these naked heathens They hardly consider them human But it is a curious fact
that the more ignorant and degraded men are the more contemptuously they look
upon those whom they deem their inferiors
All powers of persuasion being thus lost upon these foolish savages and no
hope left of holding further intercourse the boat returned to the ship
Chapter VII
What Happened at Hannamanoo
On the other side of the island was the large and populous bay of Hannamanoo
where the men sought might yet be found But as the sun was setting by the time
the boat came alongside we got our offshore tacks aboard and stood away for an
offing About daybreak we wore and ran in and by the time the sun was well up
entered the long narrow channel dividing the islands of La Dominica and St
Christina
On one hand was a range of steep green bluffs hundreds of feet high the
white huts of the natives here and there nestling like birds nests in deep
clefts gushing with verdure Across the water the land rolled away in bright
hillsides so warm and undulating that they seemed almost to palpitate in the
sun On we swept past bluff and grove wooded glen and valley and dark ravines
lighted up far inland with wild falls of water A fresh landbreeze filled our
sails the embayed waters were gentle as a lake and every blue wave broke with
a tinkle against our coppered prow
On gaining the end of the channel we rounded a point and came full upon the
bay of Hannamanoo This is the only harbour of any note about the island though
as far as a safe anchorage is concerned it hardly deserves the title
Before we held any communication with the shore an incident occurred which
may convey some further idea of the character of our crew
Having approached as near the land as we could prudently our headway was
stopped and we awaited the arrival of a canoe which was coming out of the bay
All at once we got into a strong current which swept us rapidly toward a rocky
promontory forming one side of the harbour The wind had died away so two boats
were at once lowered for the purpose of pulling the ships head round Before
this could be done the eddies were whirling upon all sides and the rock so
near that it seemed as if one might leap upon it from the masthead
Notwithstanding the speechless fright of the captain and the hoarse shouts of
the unappalled Jermin the men handled the ropes as deliberately as possible
some of them chuckling at the prospect of going ashore and others so eager for
the vessel to strike that they could hardly contain themselves Unexpectedly a
countercurrent befriended us and assisted by the boats we were soon out of
danger
What a disappointment for our crew All their little plans for swimming
ashore from the wreck and having a fine time of it for the rest of their days
thus cruelly nipt in the bud
Soon after the canoe came alongside In it were eight or ten natives
comely vivaciouslooking youths all gesture and exclamation the red feathers
in their headbands perpetually nodding With them also came a stranger a
renegado from Christendom and humanity a white man in the South Sea girdle
and tattooed in the face A broad blue band stretched across his face from ear
to ear and on his forehead was the taper figure of a blue shark nothing but
fins from head to tail
Some of us gazed upon this man with a feeling akin to horror no ways abated
when informed that he had voluntarily submitted to this embellishment of his
countenance What an impress Far worse than Cains his was perhaps a
wrinkle or a freckle which some of our modern cosmetics might have effaced
but the blue shark was a mark indelible which all the waters of Abana and
Pharpar rivers of Damascus could never wash out He was an Englishman Lem
Hardy he called himself who had deserted from a trading brig touching at the
island for wood and water some ten years previous He had gone ashore as a
sovereign power armed with a musket and a bag of ammunition and ready if need
were to prosecute war on his own account The country was divided by the
hostile kings of several large valleys With one of them from whom he first
received overtures he formed an alliance and became what he now was the
military leader of the tribe and wargod of the entire island
His campaigns beat Napoleons In one nightattack his invincible musket
backed by the light infantry of spears and javelins vanquished two clans and
the next morning brought all the others at the feet of his royal ally
Nor was the rise of his domestic fortunes at all behind the Corsicans
three days after landing the exquisitely tattooed hand of a princess was his
receiving along with the damsel as her portion one thousand fathoms of fine
tappa fifty doublebraided mats of split grass four hundred hogs ten houses
in different parts of her native valley and the sacred protection of an express
edict of the Taboo declaring his person inviolable forever
Now this man was settled for life perfectly satisfied with his
circumstances and feeling no desire to return to his friends Friends indeed
he had none He told me his history Thrown upon the world a foundling his
paternal origin was as much a mystery to him as the genealogy of Odin and
scorned by everybody he fled the parish workhouse when a boy and launched upon
the sea He had followed it for several years a dog before the mast and now he
had thrown it up forever
And for the most part it is just this sort of men so many of whom are
found among sailors uncared for by a single soul without ties reckless and
impatient of the restraints of civilisation who are occasionally found quite at
home upon the savage islands of the Pacific And glancing at their hard lot in
their own country what marvel at their choice
According to the renegado there was no other white man on the island and
as the captain could have no reason to suppose that Hardy intended to deceive
us he concluded that the Frenchmen were in some way or other mistaken in what
they had told us However when our errand was made known to the rest of our
visitors one of them a fine stalwart fellow his face all eyes and
expression volunteered for a cruise All the wages he asked was a red shirt a
pair of trowsers and a hat which were to be put on there and then besides a
plug of tobacco and a pipe The bargain was struck directly but Wymontoo
afterwards came in with a codicil to the effect that a friend of his who had
come along with him should be given ten whole seabiscuits without crack or
flaw twenty perfectly new and symmetrically straight nails and one jackknife
This being agreed to the articles were at once handed over the native
receiving them with great avidity and in the absence of clothing using his
mouth as a pocket to put the nails in Two of them however were first made to
take the place of a pair of earornaments curiously fashioned out of bits of
whitened wood
It now began breezing strongly from seaward and no time was to be lost in
getting away from the land so after an affecting rubbing of noses between our
new shipmate and his countrymen we sailed away with him
To our surprise the farewell shouts from the canoe as we dashed along
under bellied royals were heard unmoved by our islander but it was not long
thus That very evening when the dark blue of his native hills sunk in the
horizon the poor savage leaned over the bulwarks dropped his head upon his
chest and gave way to irrepressible emotions The ship was plunging hard and
Wymontoo sad to tell in addition to his other pangs was terribly seasick
Chapter VIII
The Tattooers of La Dominica
For a while leaving Little Jule to sail away by herself I will here put down
some curious information obtained from Hardy
The renegado had lived so long on the island that its customs were quite
familiar and I much lamented that from the shortness of our stay he could not
tell us more than he did
From the little intelligence gathered however I learned to my surprise
that in some things the people of Hivarhoo though of the same group of
islands differed considerably from my tropical friends in the valley of Typee
As his tattooing attracted so much remark Hardy had a good deal to say
concerning the manner in which that art was practised upon the island
Throughout the entire cluster the tattooers of Hivarhoo enjoyed no small
reputation They had carried their art to the highest perfection and the
profession was esteemed most honourable No wonder then that like genteel
tailors they rated their services very high so much so that none but those
belonging to the higher classes could afford to employ them So true was this
that the elegance of ones tattooing was in most cases a sure indication of
birth and riches
Professors in large practice lived in spacious houses divided by screens of
tappa into numerous little apartments where subjects were waited upon in
private The arrangement chiefly grew out of a singular ordinance of the Taboo
which enjoined the strictest privacy upon all men high and low while under the
hands of a tattooer For the time the slightest intercourse with others is
prohibited and the small portion of food allowed is pushed under the curtain by
an unseen hand The restriction with regard to food is intended to reduce the
blood so as to diminish the inflammation consequent upon puncturing the skin
As it is this comes on very soon and takes some time to heal so that the
period of seclusion generally embraces many days sometimes several weeks
All traces of soreness vanished the subject goes abroad but only again to
return for on account of the pain only a small surface can be operated upon
at once and as the whole body is to be more or less embellished by a process so
slow the studios alluded to are constantly filled Indeed with a vanity
elsewhere unheard of many spend no small portion of their days thus sitting to
an artist
To begin the work the period of adolescence is esteemed the most suitable
After casting about for some eminent tattooer the friends of the youth take him
to his house to have the outlines of the general plan laid out It behoves the
professor to have a nice eye for a suit to be worn for life should be well cut
Some tattooers yearning after perfection employ at large wages one or
two men of the commonest order vile fellows utterly regardless of
appearances upon whom they first try their patterns and practice generally
Their backs remorselessly scrawled over and no more canvas remaining they are
dismissed and ever after go about the scorn of their countrymen
Hapless wights thus martyred in the cause of the Fine Arts
Besides the regular practitioners there are a parcel of shabby itinerant
tattooers who by virtue of their calling stroll unmolested from one hostile
bay to another doing their work dogcheap for the multitude They always repair
to the various religious festivals which gather great crowds When these are
concluded and the places where they are held vacated even by the tattooers
scores of little tents of coarse tappa are left standing each with a solitary
inmate who forbidden to talk to his unseen neighbours is obliged to stay
there till completely healed The itinerants are a reproach to their profession
mere cobblers dealing in nothing but jagged lines and clumsy patches and
utterly incapable of soaring to those heights of fancy attained by gentlemen of
the faculty.
All professors of the arts love to fraternise and so in Hannamanoo the
tattooers came together in the chapters of their worshipful order In this
society duly organised and conferring degrees Hardy from his influence as a
white was a sort of honorary Grand Master The blue shark and a sort of Urim
and Thummim engraven upon his chest were the seal of his initiation All over
Hivarhoo are established these orders of tattooers The way in which the
renegados came to be founded is this A year or two after his landing there
happened to be a season of scarcity owing to the partial failure of the
breadfruit harvest for several consecutive seasons This brought about such a
falling off in the number of subjects for tattooing that the profession became
quite needy The royal ally of Hardy however hit upon a benevolent expedient
to provide for their wants at the same time conferring a boon upon many of his
subjects
By sound of conchshell it was proclaimed before the palace on the beach
and at the head of the valley that Noomai King of Hannamanoo and friend of
HardeeHardee the white kept open heart and table for all tattooers
whatsoever but to entitle themselves to his hospitality they were commanded
to practise without fee upon the meanest native soliciting their services
Numbers at once flocked to the royal abode both artists and sitters It was
a famous time and the buildings of the palace being taboo to all but the
tattooers and chiefs the sitters bivouacked on the common and formed an
extensive encampment
The Lora Tattoo or the Time of Tattooing will be long remembered An
enthusiastic sitter celebrated the event in verse Several lines were repeated
to us by Hardy some of which in a sort of colloquial chant he translated
nearly thus
»Where is that sound
In Hannamanoo
And wherefore that sound
The sound of a hundred hammers
Tapping tapping tapping
The shark teeth2
Where is that light
Round about the kings house
And the small laughter
The small merry laughter it is
Of the sons and daughters of the tattooed«
Chapter IX
We Steer to the Westward State of Affairs
The night we left Hannamanoo was bright and starry and so warm that when the
watches were relieved most of the men instead of going below flung themselves
around the foremast
Toward morning finding the heat of the forecastle unpleasant I ascended to
the deck where everything was noiseless The Trades were blowing with a mild
steady strain upon the canvas and the ship heading right out into the immense
blank of the Western Pacific The watch were asleep With one foot resting on
the rudder even the man at the helm nodded and the mate himself with arms
folded was leaning against the capstan
On such a night and all alone revery was inevitable I leaned over the
side and could not help thinking of the strange objects we might be sailing
over
But my meditations were soon interrupted by a gray spectral shadow cast
over the heaving billows It was the dawn soon followed by the first rays of
the morning They flashed into view at one end of the arched night like to
compare great things with small the gleamings of Guy Fawkess lantern in the
vaults of the Parliament House Before long what seemed a live ember rested for
a moment on the rim of the ocean and at last the bloodred sun stood full and
round in the level East and the long seaday began
Breakfast over the first thing attended to was the formal baptism of
Wymontoo who after thinking over his affairs during the night looked dismal
enough
There were various opinions as to a suitable appellation Some maintained
that we ought to call him Sunday that being the day we caught him others
Eighteen Fortytwo the then year of our Lord while Doctor Long Ghost remarked
that he ought by all means to retain his original name WymontooHee meaning
as he maintained in the figurative language of the island something
analogous to one who had got himself into a scrape The mate put an end to the
discussion by sousing the poor fellow with a bucket of salt water and bestowing
upon him the nautical appellation of Luff
Though a certain mirthfulness succeeded his first pangs at leaving home
Wymontoo we will call him thus gradually relapsed into his former mood and
became very melancholy Often I noticed him crouching apart in the forecastle
his strange eyes gleaming restlessly and watching the slightest movement of the
men Many a time he must have been thinking of his bamboo hut when they were
talking of Sydney and its dancehouses
We were now fairly at sea though to what particular cruisingground we were
going no one knew and to all appearances few cared The men after a fashion
of their own began to settle down into the routine of sealife as if
everything was going on prosperously Blown along over a smooth sea there was
nothing to do but steer the ship and relieve the lookouts at the mastheads
As for the sick they had two or three more added to their number the air of
the island having disagreed with the constitutions of several of the runaways
To crown all the captain again relapsed and became quite ill
The men fit for duty were divided into two small watches headed
respectively by the mate and the Mowree the latter by virtue of his being a
harpooneer succeeding to the place of the second mate who had absconded
In this state of things whaling was out of the question but in the face of
everything Jermin maintained that the invalids would soon be well However that
might be with the same pale blue sky overhead we kept running steadily to the
westward For ever advancing we seemed always in the same place and every day
was the former lived over again We saw no ships expected to see none No sign
of life was perceptible but the porpoises and other fish sporting under the bows
like pups ashore But at intervals the gray albatross peculiar to these seas
came flapping his immense wings over us and then skimmed away silently as if
from a plagueship or flights of the tropic bird known among seamen as the
boatswain wheeled round and round us whistling shrilly as they flew
The uncertainty hanging over our destination at this time and the fact that
we were abroad upon waters comparatively little traversed lent an interest to
this portion of the cruise which I shall never forget
From obvious prudential considerations the Pacific has been principally
sailed over in known tracts and this is the reason why new islands are still
occasionally discovered by exploring ships and adventurous whalers
notwithstanding the great number of vessels of all kinds of late navigating this
vast ocean Indeed considerable portions still remain wholly unexplored and
there is no doubt as to the actual existence of certain shoals and reefs and
small clusters of islands vaguely laid down in the charts The mere
circumstance therefore of a ship like ours penetrating into these regions was
sufficient to cause any reflecting mind to feel at least a little uneasy For my
own part the many stories I had heard of ships striking at midnight upon
unknown rocks with all sail set and a slumbering crew often recurred to me
especially as from the absence of discipline and our being so shorthanded
the watches at night were careless in the extreme
But no thoughts like these were entertained by my reckless shipmates and
along we went the sun every evening setting right ahead of our jibboom
For what reason the mate was so reserved with regard to our precise
destination was never made known The stories he told us I for one did not
believe deeming them all a mere device to lull the crew
He said we were bound to a fine cruisingground scarcely known to other
whalemen which he had himself discovered when commanding a small brig upon a
former voyage Here the sea was alive with large whales so tame that all you
had to do was to go up and kill them they were too frightened to resist A
little to leeward of this was a small cluster of islands where we were going to
refit abounding with delicious fruits and peopled by a race almost wholly
unsophisticated by intercourse with strangers
In order perhaps to guard against the possibility of any one finding out
the precise latitude and longitude of the spot we were going to Jermin never
revealed to us the ships place at noon though such is the custom aboard of
most vessels
Meanwhile he was very assiduous in his attention to the invalids Doctor
Long Ghost having given up the keys of the medicinechest they were handed over
to him and as physician he discharged his duties to the satisfaction of all
Pills and powders in most cases were thrown to the fish and in place thereof
the contents of a mysterious little quartercask were produced diluted with
water from the butt His draughts were mixed on the capstan in cocoanut shells
marked with the patients names Like shore doctors he did not eschew his own
medicines for his professional calls in the forecastle were sometimes made when
he was comfortably tipsy nor did he omit keeping his invalids in goodhumour
spinning his yarns to them by the hour whenever he went to see them
Owing to my lameness from which I soon began to recover I did no active
duty except standing an occasional trick at the helm It was in the forecastle
chiefly that I spent my time in company with the Long Doctor who was at great
pains to make himself agreeable His books though sadly torn and battered were
an invaluable resource I read them through again and again including a learned
treatise on the yellow fever In addition to these he had an old file of Sydney
papers and I soon became intimately acquainted with the localities of all the
advertising tradesmen there In particular the rhetorical flourishes of Stubbs
the realestate auctioneer diverted me exceedingly and I set him down as no
other than a pupil of Robins the Londoner
Aside from the pleasure of his society my intimacy with Long Ghost was of
great service to me in other respects His disgrace in the cabin only confirmed
the goodwill of the democracy in the forecastle and they not only treated him
in the most friendly manner but looked up to him with the utmost deference
besides laughing heartily at all his jokes As his chosen associate this
feeling for him extended to me and gradually we came to be regarded in the
light of distinguished guests At mealtimes we were always first served and
otherwise were treated with much respect
Among other devices to kill time during the frequent calms Long Ghost hit
upon the game of chess With a jackknife we carved the pieces quite tastefully
out of bits of wood and our board was the middle of a chestlid chalked into
squares which in playing we straddled at either end Having no other suitable
way of distinguishing the sets I marked mine by tying round them little scarfs
of black silk torn from an old neckhandkerchief Putting them in mourning this
way the doctor said was quite appropriate seeing that they had reason to feel
sad three games out of four Of chess the men never could make head nor tail
indeed their wonder rose to such a pitch that they at last regarded the
mysterious movements of the game with something more than perplexity and after
puzzling over them through several long engagements they came to the conclusion
that we must be a couple of necromancers
Chapter X
A SeaParlour Described with Some of Its Tenants
I may as well give some idea of the place in which the doctor and I lived
together so sociably
Most persons know that a ships forecastle embraces the forward part of the
deck about the bowsprit the same term however, is generally bestowed upon the
sailors sleepingquarters which occupy a space immediately beneath and are
partitioned off by a bulkhead
Planted right in the bows or as sailors say in the very eyes of the ship
this delightful apartment is of a triangular shape and is generally fitted with
two tiers of rude bunks Those of the Julia were in a most deplorable condition
mere wrecks some having been torn down altogether to patch up others and on
one side there were but two standing But with most of the men it made little
difference whether they had a bunk or not since having no bedding they had
nothing to put in it but themselves
Upon the boards of my own crib I spread all the old canvas and old clothes I
could pick up For a pillow I wrapped an old jacket round a log This helped a
little the wear and tear of ones bones when the ship rolled
Rude hammocks made out of old sails were in many cases used as substitutes
for the demolished bunks but the space they swung in was so confined that they
were far from being agreeable
The general aspect of the forecastle was dungeonlike and dingy in the
extreme In the first place it was not five feet from deck to deck and even
this space was encroached upon by two outlandish crosstimbers bracing the
vessel and by the sailors chests over which you must needs crawl in getting
about At mealtimes and especially when we indulged in afterdinner chat we
sat about the chests like a parcel of tailors
In the middle of all were two square wooden columns denominated in marine
architecture Bowsprit Bitts They were about a foot apart and between them by
a rusty chain swung the forecastle lamp burning day and night and forever
casting two long black shadows Lower down between the bitts was a locker or
sailors pantry kept in abominable disorder and sometimes requiring a vigorous
cleaning and fumigation
All over the ship was in a most dilapidated condition but in the
forecastle it looked like the hollow of an old tree going to decay In every
direction the wood was damp and discoloured and here and there soft and porous
Moreover it was hacked and hewed without mercy the cook frequently helping
himself to splinters for kindlingwood from the bitts and beams Overhead every
carline was sooty and here and there deep holes were burned in them a freak of
some drunken sailors on a voyage long previous
From above you entered by a plank with two cleets slanting down from the
scuttle which was a mere hole in the deck There being no slide to draw over in
case of emergency the tarpaulin temporarily placed there was little protection
from the spray heaved over the bows so that in anything of a breeze the place
was miserably wet In a squall the water fairly poured down in sheets like a
cascade swashing about and afterward spirting up between the chests like the
jets of a fountain
Such were our accommodations aboard of the Julia but bad as they were we
had not the undisputed possession of them Myriads of cockroaches and regiments
of rats disputed the place with us A greater calamity than this can scarcely
befall a vessel in the South Seas
So warm is the climate that it is almost impossible to get rid of them You
may seal up every hatchway and fumigate the hull till the smoke forces itself
out at the seams and enough will survive to repeople the ship in an incredibly
short period In some vessels the crews of which after a hard fight have given
themselves up as it were for lost the vermin seem to take actual possession
the sailors being mere tenants by sufferance With sperm whalemen hanging about
the Line as many of them do for a couple of years on a stretch it is
infinitely worse than with other vessels
As for the Julia these creatures never had such free and easy times as they
did in her crazy old hull every chink and cranny swarmed with them they did
not live among you but you among them So true was this that the business of
eating and drinking was better done in the dark than in the light of day
Concerning the cockroaches there was an extraordinary phenomenon for which
none of us could ever account
Every night they had a jubilee The first symptom was an unusual clustering
and humming among the swarms lining the beams overhead and the inside of the
sleepingplaces This was succeeded by a prodigious coming and going on the part
of those living out of sight Presently they all came forth the larger sort
racing over the chests and planks winged monsters darting to and fro in the
air and the small fry buzzing in heaps almost in a state of fusion
On the first alarm all who were able darted on deck while some of the sick
who were too feeble lay perfectly quiet the distracted vermin running over
them at pleasure The performance lasted some ten minutes during which no hive
ever hummed louder Often it was lamented by us that the time of the visitation
could never be predicted it was liable to come upon us at any hour of the
night and what a relief it was when it happened to fall in the early part of
the evening
Nor must I forget the rats they did not forget me Tame as Trencks mouse
they stood in their holes peering at you like old grandfathers in a doorway
Often they darted in upon us at mealtimes and nibbled our food The first time
they approached Wymontoo he was actually frightened but becoming accustomed to
it he soon got along with them much better than the rest With curious
dexterity he seized the animals by their legs and flung them up the scuttle to
find a watery grave
But I have a story of my own to tell about these rats One day the cabin
steward made me a present of some molasses which I was so choice of that I
kept it hid away in a tin can in the farthest corner of my bunk Faring as we
did this molasses dropped upon a biscuit was a positive luxury which I shared
with none but the doctor and then only in private And sweet as the treacle
was how could bread thus prepared and eaten in secret be otherwise than
pleasant
One night our precious can ran low and in canting it over in the dark
something besides the molasses slipped out How long it had been there kind
Providence never revealed nor were we over anxious to know for we hushed up
the bare thought as quickly as possible The creature certainly died a luscious
death quite equal to Clarences in the butt of Malmsey
Chapter XI
Doctor Long Ghost a Wag One of His Capers
Grave though he was at times Doctor Long Ghost was a decided wag
Everyone knows what lovers of fun sailors are ashore afloat they are
absolutely mad after it So his pranks were duly appreciated
The poor old black cook Unlashing his hammock for the night and finding a
wet log fast asleep in it and then waking in the morning with his woolly head
tarred Opening his coppers and finding an old boot boiling away as saucy as
could be and sometimes cakes of pitch candying in his oven
Baltimores3 tribulations were indeed sore there was no peace for him day
nor night Poor fellow he was altogether too goodnatured Say what they will
about easytempered people it is far better on some accounts to have the
temper of a wolf Whoever thought of taking liberties with gruff Black Dan
The most curious of the doctors jokes was hoisting the men aloft by the
foot or shoulder when they fell asleep on deck during the nightwatches
Ascending from the forecastle on one occasion he found every soul napping
and forthwith went about his capers Fastening a ropes end to each sleeper he
rove the lines through a number of blocks and conducted them all to the
windlass then by heaving round cheerily in spite of cries and struggles he
soon had them dangling aloft in all directions by arms and legs Waked by the
uproar we rushed up from below and found the poor fellows swinging in the
moonlight from the tops and lower yardarms like a parcel of pirates gibbeted
at sea by a cruiser
Connected with this sort of diversion was another prank of his During the
night some of those on deck would come below to light a pipe or take a mouthful
of beef and biscuit Sometimes they fell asleep and being missed directly that
anything was to be done their shipmates often amused themselves by running them
aloft with a pulley dropped down the scuttle from the foretop
One night when all was perfectly still I lay awake in the forecastle the
lamp was burning low and thick and swinging from its blackened beam and with
the uniform motion of the ship the men in the bunks rolled slowly from side to
side the hammocks swaying in unison
Presently I heard a foot upon the ladder and looking up saw a wide
trowsers leg Immediately Navy Bob a stout old Triton stealthily descended
and at once went to groping in the locker after something to eat
Supper ended he proceeded to load his pipe Now for a good comfortable
smoke at sea there never was a better place than the Julias forecastle at
midnight To enjoy the luxury one wants to fall into a kind of dreamy revery
only known to the children of the weed And the very atmosphere of the place
laden as it was with the snores of the sleepers was inducive of this No
wonder then that after a while Bobs head sunk upon his breast presently his
hat fell off the extinguished pipe dropped from his mouth and the next moment
he lay out on the chest as tranquil as an infant
Suddenly an order was heard on deck followed by the trampling of feet and
the hauling of rigging The yards were being braced and soon after the sleeper
was missed for there was a whispered conference over the scuttle
Directly a shadow glided across the forecastle and noiselessly approached
the unsuspecting Bob It was one of the watch with the end of a rope leading out
of sight up the scuttle Pausing an instant the sailor pressed softly the chest
of his victim sounding his slumbers and then hitching the cord to his ankle
returned to the deck
Hardly was his back turned when a long limb was thrust from a hammock
opposite and Doctor Long Ghost leaping forth warily whipped the rope from
Bobs ankle and fastened it like lightning to a great lumbering chest the
property of the man who had just disappeared
Scarcely was the thing done when lo with a thundering bound the clumsy
box was torn from its fastenings and banging from side to side flew toward the
scuttle Here it jammed and thinking that Bob who was as strong as a windlass
was grappling a beam and trying to cut the line the jokers on deck strained
away furiously On a sudden the chest went aloft and striking against the
mast flew open raining down on the heads of the party a merciless shower of
things too numerous to mention
Of course the uproar roused all hands and when we hurried on deck there
was the owner of the box looking aghast at its scattered contents and with one
wandering hand taking the altitude of a bump on his head
Chapter XII
Death and Burial of Two of the Crew
The mirthfulness which at times reigned among us was in strange and shocking
contrast with the situation of some of the invalids Thus at least did it seem
to me though not to others
But an event occurred about this period which in removing by far the most
pitiable cases of suffering tended to make less grating to my feelings the
subsequent conduct of the crew
We had been at sea about twenty days when two of the sick who had rapidly
grown worse died one night within an hour of each other
One occupied a bunk right next to mine and for several days had not risen
from it During this period he was often delirious starting up and glaring
around him and sometimes wildly tossing his arms
On the night of his decease I retired shortly after the middle watch began
and waking from a vague dream of horrors felt something clammy resting on me
It was the sick mans hand Two or three times during the evening previous he
had thrust it into my bunk and I had quietly removed it but now I started and
flung it from me The arm fell stark and stiff and I knew that he was dead
Waking the men the corpse was immediately rolled up in the strips of
blanketing upon which it lay and carried on deck The mate was then called and
preparations made for an instantaneous burial Laying the body out on the
forehatch it was stitched up in one of the hammocks some kentlege being
placed at the feet instead of shot This done it was borne to the gangway and
placed on a plank laid across the bulwarks Two men supported the inside end By
way of solemnity the ships headway was then stopped by hauling aback the
maintopsail
The mate who was far from being sober then staggered up and holding on to
a shroud gave the word As the plank tipped the body slid off slowly and fell
with a splash into the sea A bubble or two and nothing more was seen
»Brace forward« The mainyard swung round to its place and the ship glided
on whilst the corpse perhaps was still sinking
We had tossed a shipmate to the sharks but no one would have thought it to
have gone among the crew immediately after The dead man had been a churlish
unsocial fellow while alive and no favourite and now that he was no more
little thought was bestowed upon him All that was said was concerning the
disposal of his chest which having been always kept locked was supposed to
contain money Someone volunteered to break it open and distribute its
contents clothing and all before the captain should demand it
While myself and others were endeavouring to dissuade them from this all
started at a cry from the forecastle There could be no one there but two of the
sick unable to crawl on deck We went below and found one of them dying on a
chest He had fallen out of his hammock in a fit and was insensible The eyes
were open and fixed and his breath coming and going convulsively The men
shrunk from him but the doctor taking his hand held it a few moments in his
and suddenly letting it fall exclaimed »He s gone« The body was instantly
borne up the ladder
Another hammock was soon prepared and the dead sailor stitched up as
before Some additional ceremony however was now insisted upon and a Bible
was called for But none was to be had not even a Prayer Book When this was
made known Antone a Portuguese from the CapedeVerd Islands stepped up
muttered something over the corpse of his countryman and with his finger
described upon the back of the hammock the figure of a large cross whereupon it
received the deadlaunch
These two men both perished from the proverbial indiscretions of seamen
heightened by circumstances apparent but had either of them been ashore under
proper treatment he would in all human probability have recovered
Behold here the fate of a sailor They give him the last toss and no one
asks whose child he was
For the rest of that night there was no more sleep Many stayed on deck
until broad morning relating to each other those marvellous tales of the sea
which the occasion was calculated to call forth Little as I believed in such
things I could not listen to some of these stories unaffected Above all was I
struck by one of the carpenters
On a voyage to India they had a fever aboard which carried off nearly half
the crew in the space of a few days After this the men never went aloft in the
nighttime except in couples When topsails were to be reefed phantoms were
seen at the yardarm ends and in tacking ship voices called aloud from the
tops The carpenter himself going with another man to furl the
maintopgallantsail in a squall was nearly pushed from the rigging by an
unseen hand and his shipmate swore that a wet hammock was flirted in his face
Stories like these were related as gospel truths by those who declared
themselves eyewitnesses
It is a circumstance not generally known perhaps that among ignorant
seamen Finlanders or Finns as they are more commonly called are regarded
with peculiar superstition For some reason or other which I never could get
at they are supposed to possess the gift of second sight and the power to
wreak supernatural vengeance upon those who offend them On this account they
have great influence among sailors and two or three with whom I have sailed at
different times were persons well calculated to produce this sort of impression
at least upon minds disposed to believe in such things
Now we had one of these seaprophets aboard an old yellowhaired fellow
who always wore a rude sealskin cap of his own make and carried his tobacco in
a large pouch made of the same stuff Van as we called him was a quiet
inoffensive man to look at and among such a set his occasional peculiarities
had hitherto passed for nothing At this time however he came out with a
prediction which was none the less remarkable from its absolute fulfilment
though not exactly in the spirit in which it was given out
The night of the burial he laid his hand on the old horseshoe nailed as a
charm to the foremast and solemnly told us that in less than three weeks not
one quarter of our number would remain aboard the ship by that time they would
have left her for ever
Some laughed Flash Jack called him an old fool but among the men generally
it produced a marked effect For several days a degree of quiet reigned among
us and allusions of such a kind were made to recent events as could be
attributed to no other cause than the Finns omen
For my own part what had lately come to pass was not without its influence
It forcibly brought to mind our really critical condition Doctor Long Ghost
too frequently revealed his apprehensions and once assured me that he would
give much to be safely landed upon any island around us
Where we were exactly no one but the mate seemed to know nor whither we
were going The captain a mere cipher was an invalid in his cabin to say
nothing more of so many of his men languishing in the forecastle
Our keeping the sea under these circumstances a matter strange enough at
first now seemed wholly unwarranted and added to all was the thought that our
fate was absolutely in the hand of the reckless Jermin Were anything to happen
to him we would be left without a navigator for according to Jermin himself
he had from the commencement of the voyage always kept the ships reckoning
the captains nautical knowledge being insufficient
But considerations like these strange as it may seem seldom or never
occurred to the crew They were alive only to superstitious fears and when in
apparent contradiction to the Finns prophecy the sick men rallied a little
they began to recover their former spirits and the recollection of what had
occurred insensibly faded from their minds In a weeks time the unworthiness
of Little Jule as a sea vessel always a subject of jest now became more so
than ever In the forecastle Flash Jack with his knife often dug into the
dank rotten planks ribbed between us and death and flung away the splinters
with some sea joke
As to the remaining invalids they were hardly ill enough to occasion any
serious apprehension at least for the present in the breasts of such
thoughtless beings as themselves And even those who suffered the most
studiously refrained from any expression of pain
The truth is that among sailors as a class sickness at sea is so heartily
detested and the sick so little cared for that the greatest invalid generally
strives to mask his sufferings He has given no sympathy to others and he
expects none in return Their conduct in this respect so opposed to their
generoushearted behaviour ashore painfully affects the landsman on his first
intercourse with them as a sailor
Sometimes but seldom our invalids inveighed against their being kept at
sea where they could be of no service when they ought to be ashore and in the
way of recovery But »Oh cheer up cheer up my hearties« the mate would
say And after this fashion he put a stop to their murmurings
But there was one circumstance to which heretofore I have but barely
alluded that tended more than anything else to reconcile many to their
situation This was the receiving regularly twice every day a certain portion
of Pisco which was served out at the capstan by the steward in little tin
measures called tots
The lively affection seamen have for strong drink is well known but in the
South Seas where it is so seldom to be had a thoroughbred sailor deems
scarcely any price too dear which will purchase his darling tot Nowadays
American whalemen in the Pacific never think of carrying spirits as a ration
and aboard of most of them it is never served out even in times of the greatest
hardships All Sydney whalemen however still cling to the old custom and
carry it as a part of the regular supplies for the voyage
In port the allowance of Pisco was suspended with a view undoubtedly of
heightening the attractions of being out of sight of land
Now owing to the absence of proper discipline our sick in addition to
what they took medicinally often came in for their respective tots convivially
and added to all this the evening of the last day of the week was always
celebrated by what is styled on board of English vessels The Saturdaynight
bottles Two of these were sent down into the forecastle just after dark one
for the starboard watch and the other for the larboard
By prescription the oldest seaman in each claims the treat as his and
accordingly pours out the good cheer and passes it round like a lord doing the
honours of his table But the Saturdaynight bottles were not all The carpenter
and cooper in sea parlance Chips and Bungs who were the Cods or leaders of
the forecastle in some way or other managed to obtain an extra supply which
perpetually kept them in fine afterdinner spirits and moreover disposed them
to look favourably upon a state of affairs like the present
But where were the sperm whales all this time In good sooth it made little
matter where they were since we were in no condition to capture them About
this time indeed the men came down from the mastheads where until now they
had kept up the form of relieving each other every two hours They swore they
would go there no more Upon this the mate carelessly observed that they would
soon be where lookouts were entirely unnecessary the whales he had in his eye
though Flash Jack said they were all in his being so tame that they made a
practice of coming round ships and scratching their backs against them
Thus went the world of waters with us some four weeks or more after leaving
Hannamanoo
Chapter XIII
Our Destination Changed
It was not long after the death of the two men that Captain Guy was reported as
fast declining and in a day or two more as dying The doctor who previously
had refused to enter the cabin upon any consideration now relented and paid
his old enemy a professional visit
He prescribed a warm bath which was thus prepared The skylight being
removed a cask was lowered down into the cabin and then filled with buckets of
water from the ships coppers The cries of the patient when dipped into his
rude bath were most painful to hear They at last laid him on the transom more
dead than alive
That evening the mate was perfectly sober and coming forward to the
windlass where we were lounging summoned aft the doctor myself and two or
three others of his favourites when in the presence of Bembo the Mowree he
spoke to us thus
»I have something to say to ye men There s none but Bembo here as belongs
aft so I ve picked ye out as the best men forard to take counsel with d ye
see consarning the ship The captains anchor is pretty nigh atrip I shouldnt
wonder if he croaked afore morning So whats to be done If we have to sew him
up some of those pirates there forard may take it into their heads to run off
with the ship because there s no one at the tiller Now I ve detarmined
whats best to be done but I dont want to do it unless I ve good men to back
me and make things all fair and square if ever we get home again«
We all asked what his plan was
»I ll tell ye what it is men If the skipper dies all agree to obey my
orders and in less than three weeks I ll engage to have five hundred barrels
of sperm oil under hatches enough to give every mothers son of ye a handful of
dollars when we get to Sydney If ye dont agree to this ye wont have a
farthing coming to ye«4
Doctor Long Ghost at once broke in He said that such a thing was not to be
dreamt of that if the captain died the mate was in duty bound to navigate the
ship to the nearest civilised port and deliver her up into an English consuls
hands when in all probability after a run ashore the crew would be sent
home Everything forbade the mates plan »Still« said he assuming an air of
indifference »if the men say stick it out stick it out say I but in that
case the sooner we get to those islands of yours the better«
Something more he went on to say and from the manner in which the rest
regarded him it was plain that our fate was in his hands It was finally
resolved upon that if Captain Guy was no better in twentyfour hours the
ships head should be pointed for the island of Tahiti
This announcement produced a strong sensation the sick rallied and the
rest speculated as to what was next to befall us while the doctor without
alluding to Guy congratulated me upon the prospect of soon beholding a place so
famous as the island in question
The night after the holding of the council I happened to go on deck in the
middle watch and found the yards braced sharp up on the larboard tack with the
SouthEast Trades strong on our bow The captain was no better and we were off
for Tahiti
Chapter XIV
Rope Yarn
While gliding along on our way I cannot well omit some account of a poor devil
we had among us who went by the name of Rope Yarn or Ropey
He was a nondescript who had joined the ship as a landsman Being so
excessively timid and awkward it was thought useless to try and make a sailor
of him so he was translated into the cabin as steward the man previously
filling that post a good seaman going among the crew and taking his place But
poor Ropey proved quite as clumsy among the crockery as in the rigging and one
day when the ship was pitching having stumbled into the cabin with a wooden
tureen of soup he scalded the officers so that they didnt get over it in a
week Upon which he was dismissed and returned to the forecastle
Now nobody is so heartily despised as a pusillanimous lazy
goodfornothing landlubber a sailor has no bowels of compassion for him Yet
useless as such a character may be in many respects a ships company is by no
means disposed to let him reap any benefit from his deficiencies Regarded in
the light of a mechanical power whenever there is any plain hard work to be
done he is put to it like a lever everyone giving him a pry
Then again he is set about all the vilest work Is there a heavy job at
tarring to be done he is pitched neck and shoulders into a tarbarrel and set
to work at it Moreover he is made to fetch and carry like a dog Like as not
if the mate sends him after his quadrant on the way he is met by the captain
who orders him to pick some oakum and while he is hunting up a bit of rope a
sailor comes along and wants to know what the deuce he s after and bids him be
off to the forecastle
Obey the last order is a precept inviolable at sea So the landlubber
afraid to refuse to do anything rushes about distracted and does nothing in
the end receiving a shower of kicks and cuffs from all quarters
Added to his other hardships he is seldom permitted to open his mouth
unless spoken to and then he might better keep silent Alas for him if he
should happen to be anything of a droll for in an evil hour should he
perpetrate a joke he would never know the last of it
The witticisms of others however upon himself must be received in the
greatest goodhumour
Woe be unto him if at mealtimes he so much as look sideways at the
beefkid before the rest are helped
Then he is obliged to plead guilty to every piece of mischief which the real
perpetrator refuses to acknowledge thus taking the place of that sneaking
rascal nobody ashore In short there is no end to his tribulations
The landlubbers spirits often sink and the first result of his being
moody and miserable is naturally enough an utter neglect of his toilet
The sailors perhaps ought to make allowances but heartless as they are
they do not No sooner is his cleanliness questioned than they rise upon him
like a mob of the Middle Ages upon a Jew drag him into the leescuppers and
strip him to the buff In vain he bawls for mercy in vain calls upon the
captain to save him
Alas I say again for the landlubber at sea He is the veriest wretch the
watery world over And such was Rope Yarn of all landlubbers the most
lubberly and most miserable A forlorn stunted hookvisaged mortal he was too
one of those whom you know at a glance to have been tried hard and long in the
furnace of affliction His face was an absolute puzzle though sharp and sallow
it had neither the wrinkles of age nor the smoothness of youth so that for the
soul of me I could hardly tell whether he was twentyfive or fifty
But to his history In his better days it seems he had been a journeyman
baker in London somewhere about Holborn and on Sundays wore a blue coat and
metal buttons and spent his afternoons in a tavern smoking his pipe and
drinking his ale like a free and easy journeyman baker that he was But this did
not last long for an intermeddling old fool was the ruin of him He was told
that London might do very well for elderly gentlemen and invalids but for a lad
of spirit Australia was the Land of Promise In a dark day Ropey wound up his
affairs and embarked
Arriving in Sydney with a small capital and after a while waxing snug and
comfortable by dint of hard kneading he took unto himself a wife and so far as
she was concerned might then have gone into the country and retired for she
effectually did his business In short the lady worked him woe in heart and
pocket and in the end ran off with his till and his foreman Ropey went to the
sign of the Pipe and Tankard got fuddled and over his fifth pot meditated
suicide an intention carried out for the next day he shipped as landsman
aboard the Julia South Seaman
The exbaker would have fared far better had it not been for his heart
which was soft and underdone A kind word made a fool of him and hence most of
the scrapes he got into Two or three wags aware of his infirmity used to draw
him out in conversation whenever the most crabbed and choleric old seamen were
present
To give an instance The watch below just waked from their sleep are all
at breakfast and Ropey in one corner is disconsolately partaking of its
delicacies Now sailors newly waked are no cherubs and therefore not a word is
spoken everybody munching his biscuit grim and unshaven At this juncture an
affablelooking scamp Flash Jack crosses the forecastle tin can in hand
and seats himself beside the landlubber
»Hard fare this Ropey« he begins »hard enough too for them that s
known better and lived in Lunnun I say now Ropey sposing you were back to
Holborn this morning what would you have for breakfast eh«
»Have for breakfast« cried Ropey in a rapture »Dont speak of it«
»What ails that fellow« here growled an old seabear turning round
savagely
»Oh nothing nothing« said Jack and then leaning over to Rope Yarn he
bade him go on but speak lower
»Well then« said he in a smugged tone his eyes lighting up like two
lanterns »well then I d go to Mother Molls that makes the great muffins I
d go there you know and cock my foot on the ob and call for a noggin o
somethink to begin with«
»And what then Ropey«
»Why then Flashy« continued the poor victim unconsciously warming with
his theme »why then I d draw my chair up and call for Betty the gal wot
tends to customers Betty my dear says I you looks charmin this mornin
give me a nice rasher of bacon and heggs Betty my love and I wants a pint of
hale and three nice ot muffins and butter and a slice of Cheshire and
Betty I wants «
»A sharksteak and be hanged to you« roared Black Dan with an oath
Whereupon dragged over the chests the illstarred fellow is pummelled on deck
I always made a point of befriending poor Ropey when I could and for this
reason was a great favourite of his
Chapter XV
Chips and Bungs
Bound into port Chips and Bungs increased their devotion to the bottle and to
the unspeakable envy of the rest these jolly companions or the Partners as
the men called them rolled about deck day after day in the merriest mood
imaginable
But jolly as they were in the main two more discreet tipplers it would be
hard to find No one ever saw them take anything except when the regular
allowance was served out by the steward and to make them quite sober and
sensible you had only to ask them how they contrived to keep otherwise Some
time after however their secret leaked out
The casks of Pisco were kept down the afterhatchway which for this
reason was secured with bar and padlock The cooper nevertheless from time to
time effected a burglarious entry by descending into the forehold and then
at the risk of being jammed to death crawling along over a thousand
obstructions to where the casks were stowed
On the first expedition the only one to be got at lay among others upon
its bilge with the bunghole well over With a bit of iron hoop suitably bent
and a good deal of prying and punching the bung was forced in and then the
coopers neckhandkerchief attached to the end of the hoop was drawn in and
out the absorbed liquor being deliberately squeezed into a small bucket
Bungs was a man after a barkeepers own heart Drinking steadily until
just manageably tipsy he contrived to continue so getting neither more nor
less inebriated but to use his own phrase remaining just about right When in
this interesting state he had a free lurch in his gait a queer way of hitching
up his waistbands looked unnecessarily steady at you when speaking and for the
rest was in very tolerable spirits At these times moreover he was
exceedingly patriotic and in a most amusing way frequently showed his
patriotism whenever he happened to encounter Dunk a goodnatured squarefaced
Dane aboard
It must be known here by the by that the cooper had a true sailor
admiration for Lord Nelson But he entertained a very erroneous idea of the
personal appearance of the hero Not content with depriving him of an eye and an
arm he stoutly maintained that he had also lost a leg in one of his battles
Under this impression he sometimes hopped up to Dunk with one leg curiously
locked behind him into his right arm at the same time closing an eye
In this attitude he would call upon him to look up and behold the man who
gave his countrymen such a thrashing at Copenhagen »Look you Dunk« says he
staggering about and winking hard with one eye to keep the other shut »look
you one man hang me half a man with one leg one arm one eye hang me
with only a piece of a carcass flogged your whole shabby nation Do you deny
it you lubber«
The Dane was a mule of a man and understanding but little English seldom
made anything of a reply so the cooper generally dropped his leg and marched
off with the air of a man who despised saying anything further
Chapter XVI
We Encounter a Gale
The mild blue weather we enjoyed after leaving the Marquesas gradually changed
as we ran farther south and approached Tahiti In these generally tranquil seas
the wind sometimes blows with great violence though as every sailor knows a
spicy gale in the tropic latitudes of the Pacific is far different from a
tempest in the howling North Atlantic We soon found ourselves battling with the
waves while the before mild Trades like a woman roused blew fiercely but
still warmly in our face
For all this the mate carried sail without stint and as for the brave
Little Jule she stood up to it well and though once in a while floored in the
trough of a sea sprang to her keel again and showed play Every old timber
groaned every spar buckled every chafed cord strained and yet spite of
all she plunged on her way like a racer Jermin seajockey that he was
sometimes stood in the forechains with the spray every now and then dashing
over him and shouting out »Well done Jule drive into it sweetheart
Hurrah«
One afternoon there was a mighty queer noise aloft which set the men
running in every direction It was the maintgallantmast Crash it broke off
just above the cap and held there by the rigging dashed with every roll from
side to side with all the hamper that belonged to it The yard hung by a hair
and at every pitch thumped against the crosstrees while the sail streamed in
ribbons and the loose ropes coiled and thrashed the air like whiplashes
»Stand from under« and down came the rattling blocks like so many shot The
yard with a snap and a plunge went hissing into the sea disappeared and shot
its full length out again The crest of a great wave then broke over it the
ship rushed by and we saw the stick no more
While this lively breeze continued Baltimore our old black cook was in
great tribulation
Like most South Seamen the Julias caboose or cookhouse was planted on
the larboard side of the forecastle Under such a press of canvas and with the
heavy sea running the barque diving her bows under now and then shipped green
glassy waves which breaking over the headrails fairly deluged that part of
the ship and washed clean aft The caboosehouse thought to be fairly lashed
down to its place served as a sort of breakwater to the inundation
About these times Baltimore always wore what he called his gale suit among
other things comprising a souwester and a huge pair of wellanointed
seaboots reaching almost to his knees Thus equipped for a ducking or a
drowning as the case might be our culinary highpriest drew to the slides of
his temple and performed his sooty rites in secret
So afraid was the old man of being washed overboard that he actually
fastened one end of a small line to his waistbands and coiling the rest about
him made use of it as occasion required When engaged outside he unwound the
cord and secured one end to a ringbolt in the deck so that if a chance sea
washed him off his feet it could do nothing more
One evening just as he was getting supper the Julia reared up on her stern
like a vicious colt and when she settled again forward fairly dished a
tremendous sea Nothing could withstand it One side of the rotten headbulwarks
came in with a crash it smote the caboose tore it from its moorings and after
boxing it about dashed it against the windlass where it stranded The water
then poured along the deck like a flood rolling over and over pots pans and
kettles and even old Baltimore himself who went breaching along like a
porpoise
Striking the taffrail the wave subsided and washing from side to side
left the drowning cook high and dry on the afterhatch his extinguished pipe
still between his teeth and almost bitten in two
The few men on deck having sprung into the mainrigging sailorlike did
nothing but roar at his calamity
The same night our flyingjibboom snapped off like a pipestem and our
spankergaff came down by the run
By the following morning the wind in a great measure had gone down the sea
with it and by noon we had repaired our damages as well as we could and were
sailing along as pleasantly as ever
But there was no help for the demolished bulwarks we had nothing to replace
them and so whenever it breezed again our dauntless craft went along with her
splintered prow dripping but kicking up her fleet heels just as high as before
Chapter XVII
The Coral Islands
How far we sailed to the westward after leaving the Marquesas or what might
have been our latitude and longitude at any particular time or how many leagues
we voyaged on our passage to Tahiti are matters about which I am sorry to say
I cannot with any accuracy enlighten the reader Jermin as navigator kept our
reckoning and as hinted before kept it all to himself At noon he brought out
his quadrant a rusty old thing so oddlooking that it might have belonged to
an astrologer
Sometimes when rather flustered from his potations he went staggering
about deck instrument to eye looking all over for the sun a phenomenon which
any sober observer might have seen right overhead How upon earth he contrived
on some occasions to settle his latitude is more than I can tell The
longitude he must either have obtained by the Rule of Three or else by special
revelation Not that the chronometer in the cabin was seldom to be relied on or
was any ways fidgety quite the contrary it stood stockstill and by that
means no doubt the true Greenwich time at the period of its stopping at
least was preserved to a second
The mate however in addition to his Dead Reckoning pretended to ascertain
his meridian distance from Bow Bells by an occasional lunar observation This I
believe consists in obtaining with the proper instruments the angular
distance between the moon and some of the stars The operation generally
requires two observers to take sights at one and the same time
Now though the mate alone might have been thought well calculated for this
inasmuch as he generally saw things double the doctor was usually called upon
to play a sort of second quadrant to Jermins first and what with the capers of
both they used to furnish a good deal of diversion The mates tremulous
attempts to level his instrument at the star he was after were comical enough
For my own part when he did catch sight of it I hardly knew how he managed to
separate it from the astral host revolving in his own brain
However by hook or by crook he piloted us along and before many days a
fellow sent aloft to darn a rent in the foretopsail threw his hat into the
air and bawled out »Land ho«
Land it was but in what part of the South Seas Jermin alone knew and some
doubted whether even he did But no sooner was the announcement made than he
came running on deck spyglass in hand and clapping it to his eye turned
round with the air of a man receiving indubitable assurance of something he was
quite certain of before The land was precisely that for which he had been
steering and with a wind in less than twentyfour hours we would sight
Tahiti What he said was verified
The island turned out to be one of the Pomotu or Low Group sometimes
called the Coral Islands perhaps the most remarkable and interesting in the
Pacific Lying to the east of Tahiti the nearest are within a days sail of
that place
They are very numerous mostly small low and level sometimes wooded but
always covered with verdure Many are crescentshaped others resemble a
horseshoe in figure These last are nothing more than narrow circles of land
surrounding a smooth lagoon connected by a single opening with the sea Some of
the lagoons said to have subterranean outlets have no visible ones the
enclosing island in such cases being a complete zone of emerald Other lagoons
still are girdled by numbers of small green islets very near to each other
The origin of the entire group is generally ascribed to the coral insect
According to some naturalists this wonderful little creature commencing
its erections at the bottom of the sea after the lapse of centuries carries
them up to the surface where its labours cease Here the inequalities of the
coral collect all floating bodies forming after a time a soil in which the
seeds carried thither by birds germinate and cover the whole with vegetation
Here and there all over this archipelago numberless naked detached coral
formations are seen just emerging as it were from the ocean These would
appear to be islands in the very process of creation at any rate one
involuntarily concludes so on beholding them5
As far as I know there are but few breadfruit trees in any part of the
Pomotu Group In many places the cocoanut even does not grow though in
others it largely flourishes Consequently some of the islands are altogether
uninhabited others support but a single family and in no place is the
population very large In some respects the natives resemble the Tahitians
their language too is very similar The people of the southeasterly clusters
concerning whom however but little is known have a bad name as cannibals
and for that reason their hospitality is seldom taxed by the mariner
Within a few years past missionaries from the Society Group have settled
among the Leeward Islands where the natives have treated them kindly Indeed
nominally many of these people are now Christians and through the political
influence of their instructors no doubt a short time since came under the
allegiance of Pomaree the Queen of Tahiti with which island they always
carried on considerable intercourse
The Coral Islands are principally visited by the pearlshell fishermen who
arrive in small schooners carrying not more than five or six men
For a long while the business was engrossed by Merenhout the French consul
at Tahiti but a Dutchman by birth who in one year is said to have sent to
France fifty thousand dollars worth of shells The oysters are found in the
lagoons and about the reefs and for half a dozen nails a day or a
compensation still less the natives are hired to dive after them
A great deal of cocoanut oil is also obtained in various places Some of
the uninhabited islands are covered with dense groves and the ungathered nuts
which have fallen year after year lie upon the ground in incredible quantities
Two or three men provided with the necessary apparatus for trying out the oil
will in the course of a week or two obtain enough to load one of the large
seacanoes
Cocoanut oil is now manufactured in different parts of the South Seas and
forms no small part of the traffic carried on with trading vessels A
considerable quantity is annually exported from the Society Islands to Sydney
It is used in lamps and for machinery being much cheaper than the sperm and
for both purposes better than the rightwhale oil They bottle it up in large
bamboos six or eight feet long and these form part of the circulating medium
of Tahiti
To return to the ship The wind dying away evening came on before we drew
near the island But we had it in view during the whole afternoon
It was small and round presenting one enamelled level free from trees and
did not seem four feet above the water Beyond it was another and larger island
about which a tropical sunset was throwing its glories flushing all that part
of the heavens and making it flame like a vast dyed oriel illuminated
The Trades scarce filled our swooning sails the air was languid with the
aroma of a thousand strange flowering shrubs Upon inhaling it one of the
sick who had recently shown symptoms of scurvy cried out in pain and was
carried below This is no unusual effect in such cases
On we glided within less than a cables length of the shore which was
margined with foam that sparkled all round Within nestled the still blue
lagoon No living thing was seen and for aught we knew we might have been the
first mortals who had ever beheld the spot The thought was quickening to the
fancy nor could I help dreaming of the endless grottoes and galleries far
below the reach of the mariners lead
And what strange shapes were lurking there Think of those arch creatures
the mermaids chasing each other in and out of the coral cells and catching
their long hair in the coral twigs
Chapter XVIII
Tahiti
At early dawn of the following morning we saw the Peaks of Tahiti In clear
weather they may be seen at the distance of ninety miles
»Hivarhoo« shouted Wymontoo overjoyed and running out upon the bowsprit
when the land was first faintly descried in the distance But when the clouds
floated away and showed the three peaks standing like obelisks against the sky
and the bold shore undulating along the horizon the tears gushed from his eyes
Poor fellow It was not Hivarhoo Green Hivarhoo was many a long league off
Tahiti is by far the most famous island in the South Seas indeed a variety
of causes has made it almost classic Its natural features alone distinguish it
from the surrounding groups Two round and lofty promontories whose mountains
rise nine thousand feet above the level of the ocean are connected by a low
narrow isthmus the whole being some one hundred miles in circuit From the
great central peaks of the larger peninsula Orohena Aorai and Pirohitee
the land radiates on all sides to the sea in sloping green ridges Between these
are broad and shadowy valleys in aspect each a Tempe watered with fine
streams and thickly wooded Unlike many of the other islands there extends
nearly all round Tahiti a belt of low alluvial soil teeming with the richest
vegetation Here chiefly the natives dwell
Seen from the sea the prospect is magnificent It is one mass of shaded
tints of green from beach to mountain top endlessly diversified with valleys
ridges glens and cascades Over the ridges here and there the loftier peaks
fling their shadows and far down the valleys At the head of these the
waterfalls flash out into the sunlight as if pouring through vertical bowers of
verdure Such enchantment too breathes over the whole that it seems a fairy
world all fresh and blooming from the hand of the Creator
Upon a near approach the picture loses not its attractions It is no
exaggeration to say that to a European of any sensibility who for the first
time wanders back into these valleys away from the haunts of the natives the
ineffable repose and beauty of the landscape is such that every object strikes
him like something seen in a dream and for a time he almost refuses to believe
that scenes like these should have a commonplace existence No wonder that the
French bestowed upon the island the appellation of the New Cytherea »Often«
says De Bougainville »I thought I was walking in the Garden of Eden«
Nor when first discovered did the inhabitants of this charming country at
all diminish the wonder and admiration of the voyager Their physical beauty and
amiable dispositions harmonised completely with the softness of their clime In
truth everything about them was calculated to awaken the liveliest interest
Glance at their civil and religious institutions To their king divine rights
were paid while for poetry their mythology rivalled that of ancient Greece
Of Tahiti earlier and more full accounts were given than of any other
island in Polynesia and this is the reason why it still retains so strong a
hold on the sympathies of all readers of South Sea voyages The journals of its
first visitors containing as they did such romantic descriptions of a country
and people before unheard of produced a marked sensation throughout Europe and
when the first Tahitians were carried thither Omai in London and Aotooroo in
Paris were caressed by nobles scholars and ladies
In addition to all this several eventful occurrences more or less
connected with Tahiti have tended to increase its celebrity Over two centuries
ago Quiros the Spaniard is supposed to have touched at the island and at
intervals Wallis Byron Cook De Bougainville Vancouver Le Pérouse and
other illustrious navigators refitted their vessels in its harbours Here the
famous Transit of Venus was observed in 1769 Here the memorable mutiny of the
Bounty afterwards had its origin It was to the pagans of Tahiti that the first
regularly constituted Protestant missionaries were sent and from their shores
also have sailed successive missions to the neighbouring islands
These with other events which might be mentioned have united in keeping up
the first interest which the place awakened and the recent proceedings of the
French have more than ever called forth the sympathies of the public
Chapter XIX
A Surprise More about Bembo
The sight of the island was right welcome Going into harbour after a cruise is
always joyous enough and the sailor is apt to indulge in all sorts of pleasant
anticipations But to us the occasion was heightened by many things peculiar to
our situation
Since steering for the land our prospects had been much talked over By
many it was supposed that should the captain leave the ship the crew were no
longer bound by her articles This was the opinion of our forecastle Cokes
though probably it would not have been sanctioned by the Marine Courts of Law
At any rate such was the state of both vessel and crew that whatever might be
the event a long stay and many holydays in Tahiti were confidently predicted
Everybody was in high spirits The sick who had been improving day by day
since the change in our destination were on deck and leaning over the
bulwarks some all animation and others silently admiring an object unrivalled
for its stately beauty Tahiti from the sea
The quarterdeck however furnished a marked contrast to what was going on
at the other end of the ship The Mowree was there as usual scowling by
himself and Jermin walked to and fro in deep thought every now and then
looking to windward or darting into the cabin and quickly returning
With all our light sails wooingly spread we held on our way until with
the doctors glass Papeetee the village metropolis of Tahiti came into view
Several ships were descried lying in the harbour and among them one which
loomed up black and large her two rows of teeth proclaiming a frigate This was
the Reine Blanche last from the Marquesas and carrying at the fore the flag of
RearAdmiral Du Petit Thouars Hardly had we made her out when the booming of
her guns came over the water She was firing a salute which afterward turned
out to be in honour of a treaty or rather as far as the natives were
concerned a forced cession of Tahiti to the French that morning concluded
The cannonading had hardly died away when Jermins voice was heard giving
an order so unexpected that everyone started »Stand by to haul back the
mainyard«
»What s that mean« shouted the men »are we not going into port«
»Tumble after here and no words« cried the mate and in a moment the
mainyard swung round when with her jibboom pointing out to sea the Julia
lay as quiet as a duck We all looked blank what was to come next
Presently the steward made his appearance carrying a mattress which he
spread out in the sternsheets of the captains boat two or three chests and
other things belonging to his master were similarly disposed of
This was enough A slight hint suffices for a sailor
Still adhering to his resolution to keep the ship at sea in spite of
everything the captain doubtless intended to set himself ashore leaving the
vessel under the mate to resume her voyage at once but after a certain period
agreed upon to touch at the island and take him off All this of course could
easily be done without approaching any nearer the land with the Julia than we
now were Invalid whaling captains often adopt a plan like this but in the
present instance it was wholly unwarranted and everything considered at war
with the commonest principles of prudence and humanity And although on Guys
part this resolution showed more hardihood than he had ever been given credit
for it at the same time argued an unaccountable simplicity in supposing that
such a crew would in any way submit to the outrage
It was soon made plain that we were right in our suspicions and the men
became furious The cooper and carpenter volunteered to head a mutiny forthwith
and while Jermin was below four or five rushed aft to fasten down the cabin
scuttle others throwing down the mainbraces called out to the rest to lend a
hand and fill away for the land All this was done in an instant and things
were looking critical when Doctor Long Ghost and myself prevailed upon them to
wait awhile and do nothing hastily there was plenty of time and the ship was
completely in our power
While the preparations were still going on in the cabin we mustered the men
together and went into council upon the forecastle
It was with much difficulty that we could bring these rash spirits to a calm
consideration of the case But the doctors influence at last began to tell
and with a few exceptions they agreed to be guided by him assured that if
they did so the ship would eventually be brought to her anchors without anyone
getting into trouble Still they told us up and down that if peaceable means
failed they would seize Little Jule and carry her into Papeetee if they all
swung for it but for the present the captain should have his own way
By this time everything was ready the boat was lowered and brought to the
gangway and the captain was helped on deck by the mate and steward It was the
first time we had seen him in more than two weeks and he was greatly altered
As if anxious to elude every eye a broadbrimmed Payta hat was pulled down over
his brow so that his face was only visible when the brim flapped aside By a
sling rigged from the mainyard the cook and Bembo now assisted in lowering
him into the boat As he went moaning over the side he must have heard the
whispered maledictions of his crew
While the steward was busy adjusting matters in the boat the mate after a
private interview with the Mowree turned round abruptly and told us that he
was going ashore with the captain to return as soon as possible In his
absence Bembo as next in rank would command there being nothing to do but
keep the ship at a safe distance from the land He then sprang into the boat
and with only the cook and steward as oarsmen steered for the shore
Guys thus leaving the ship in the mens hands contrary to the mates
advice was another evidence of his simplicity for at this particular
juncture had neither the doctor nor myself been aboard there is no telling
what they might have done
For the nonce Bembo was captain and so far as mere seamanship was
concerned he was as competent to command as any one In truth a better seaman
never swore This accomplishment by the by together with a surprising
familiarity with most nautical names and phrases comprised about all the
English he knew
Being a harpooneer and as such having access to the cabin this man
though not yet civilised was according to sea usages which know no
exceptions held superior to the sailors and therefore nothing was said against
his being left in charge of the ship nor did it occasion any surprise
Some additional account must be given of Bembo In the first place he was
far from being liked A dark moody savage everybody but the mate more or less
distrusted or feared him Nor were these feelings unreciprocated Unless duty
called he seldom went among the crew Hard stories too were told about him
something in particular concerning an hereditary propensity to kill men and
eat them True he came from a race of cannibals but that was all that was
known to a certainty
Whatever unpleasant ideas were connected with the Mowree his personal
appearance no way lessened them Unlike most of his countrymen he was if
anything below the ordinary height but then he was all compact and under his
swart tattooed skin the muscles worked like steel rods Hair crisp and
coalblack curled over shaggy brows and ambushed small intense eyes always
on the glare In short he was none of your effeminate barbarians
Previous to this he had been two or three voyages in Sydney whalemen
always however as in the present instance shipping at the Bay of Islands and
receiving his discharge there on the homewardbound passage In this way his
countrymen frequently entered on board the colonial whaling vessels
There was a man among us who had sailed with the Mowree on his first voyage
and he told me that he had not changed a particle since then
Some queer things this fellow told me The following is one of his stories
I give it for what it is worth premising however that from what I know of
Bembo and the foolhardy daredevil feats sometimes performed in the
spermwhale fishery I believe in its substantial truth
As may be believed Bembo was a wild one after a fish indeed all New
Zealanders engaged in this business are it seems to harmonise sweetly with
their bloodthirsty propensities At sea the best English they speak is the
South Seamans slogan in lowering away »A dead whale or a stove boat« Game to
the marrow these fellows are generally selected for harpooneers a post in
which a nervous timid man would be rather out of his element
In darting the harpooneer of course stands erect in the head of the boat
one knee braced against a support But Bembo disdained this and was always
pulled up to his fish balancing himself right on the gunwale
But to my story One morning at daybreak they brought him up to a large
lone whale He darted his harpoon and missed and the fish sounded After a
while the monster rose again about a mile off and they made after him But he
was frightened or gallied as they call it and noon came and the boat was
still chasing him In whaling as long as the fish is in sight and no matter
what may have been previously undergone there is no giving up except when
night comes and nowadays when whales are so hard to be got frequently not
even then At last Bembos whale was alongside for the second time He darted
both harpoons but as sometimes happens to the best men by some unaccountable
chance once more missed Though it is well known that such failures will happen
at times they nevertheless occasion the bitterest disappointment to a boats
crew generally expressed in curses both loud and deep And no wonder Let any
man pull with might and main for hours and hours together under a burning sun
and if it do not make him a little peevish he is no sailor
The taunts of the seamen may have maddened the Mowree however it was no
sooner was he brought up again than harpoon in hand he bounded upon the
whales back and for one dizzy second was seen there The next all was foam
and fury and both were out of sight The men sheered off flinging overboard
the line as fast as they could while ahead nothing was seen but a red
whirlpool of blood and brine
Presently a dark object swam out the line began to straighten then smoked
round the loggerhead and quick as thought the boat sped like an arrow through
the water They were fast and the whale was running
Where was the Mowree His brown hand was on the boats gunwale and he was
hauled aboard in the very midst of the mad bubbles that burst under the bows
Such a man or devil if you will was Bembo
Chapter XX
The Round Robin Visitors from Shore
After the captain left the landbreeze died away and as is usual about these
islands toward noon it fell a dead calm There was nothing to do but haul up
the courses run down the jib and lie and roll up the swells The repose of the
elements seemed to communicate itself to the men and for a time there was a
lull
Early in the afternoon the mate having left the captain at Papeetee
returned to the ship According to the steward they were to go ashore again
right after dinner with the remainder of Guys effects
On gaining the deck Jermin purposely avoided us and went below without
saying a word Meanwhile Long Ghost and I laboured hard to diffuse the right
spirit among the crew impressing upon them that a little patience and
management would in the end accomplish all that their violence could and
that too without making a serious matter of it
For my own part I felt that I was under a foreign flag that an English
consul was close at hand and that sailors seldom obtain justice It was best to
be prudent Still so much did I sympathise with the men so far at least as
their real grievances were concerned and so convinced was I of the cruelty and
injustice of what Captain Guy seemed bent upon that if need were I stood
ready to raise a hand
In spite of all we could do some of them again became most refractory
breathing nothing but downright mutiny When we went below to dinner these
fellows stirred up such a prodigious tumult that the old hull fairly echoed
Many and fierce too were the speeches delivered and uproarious the comments
of the sailors Among others Long Jim or as the doctor afterward called him
Lacedæmonian Jim rose in his place and addressed the forecastle parliament
in the following strain
»Look ye Britons if after whats happened this here craft goes to sea
with us we are no men and thats the way to say it Speak the word my
livelies and I ll pilot her in I ve been to Tahiti before and I can do it«
Whereupon he sat down amid a universal pounding of chestlids and cymballing of
tin pans the few invalids who as yet had not been actively engaged with the
rest now taking part in the applause creaking their bunkboards and swinging
their hammocks Cries were also heard of »Handspikes and a shindy« »Out
stunsails« »Hurrah«
Several now ran on deck and for a moment I thought it was all over with
us but we finally succeeded in restoring some degree of quiet
At last by way of diverting their thoughts I proposed that a Round Robin
should be prepared and sent ashore to the consul by Baltimore the cook The
idea took mightily and I was told to set about it at once On turning to the
doctor for the requisite materials he told me he had none there was not a
flyleaf even in any of his books So after great search a damp musty
volume entitled A History of the most Atrocious and Bloody Piracies was
produced and its two remaining blank leaves being torn out were by help of a
little pitch lengthened into one sheet For ink some of the soot over the lamp
was then mixed with water by a fellow of a literary turn and an immense quill
plucked from a distended albatrosss wing which nailed against the bowsprit
bitts had long formed an ornament of the forecastle supplied a pen
Making use of the stationery thus provided I indited upon a chestlid a
concise statement of our grievances concluding with the earnest hope that the
consul would at once come off and see how matters stood for himself Right
beneath the note was described the circle about which the names were to be
written the great object of a Round Robin being to arrange the signatures in
such a way that although they are all found in a ring no man can be picked
out as the leader of it
Few among them had any regular names many answering to some familiar title
expressive of a personal trait or oftener still to the name of the place from
which they hailed and in one or two cases were known by a handy syllable or
two significant of nothing in particular but the men who bore them Some to be
sure had for the sake of formality shipped under a feigned cognomen or
Pursers name these however were almost forgotten by themselves and so to
give the document an air of genuineness it was decided that every mans name
should be put down as it went among the crew The annexed therefore as nearly
as I can recall it is something like a correct representation of the
signatures It is due to the doctor to say that the circumscribed device was
his Folded and sealed with a drop of tar the Round Robin was directed to The
English Consul Tahiti and handed to the cook was by him delivered into that
gentlemans hands as soon as the mate went ashore
On the return of the boat some time after dark we learned a good deal from
old Baltimore who having been allowed to run about as much as he pleased had
spent his time gossiping
Owing to the proceedings of the French everything in Tahiti was in an
uproar Pritchard the missionary consul was absent in England but his place
was temporarily filled by one Wilson an educated white man born on the island
and the son of an old missionary of that name still living
With natives and foreigners alike Wilson the younger was exceedingly
unpopular being held an unprincipled and dissipated man a character verified
by his subsequent conduct Pritchards selecting a man like this to attend to
the duties of his office had occasioned general dissatisfaction ashore
Though never in Europe or America the acting consul had been several
voyages to Sydney in a schooner belonging to the mission and therefore our
surprise was lessened when Baltimore told us that he and Captain Guy were as
sociable as could be old acquaintances in fact and that the latter had taken
up his quarters at Wilsons house For us this boded ill
The mate was now assailed by a hundred questions as to what was going to be
done with us His only reply was that in the morning the consul would pay us a
visit and settle everything
After holding our ground off the harbour during the night in the morning a
shore boat manned by natives was seen coming off In it were Wilson and
another white man who proved to be a Doctor Johnson an Englishman and a
resident physician of Papeetee
Stopping our headway as they approached Jermin advanced to the gangway to
receive them No sooner did the consul touch the deck than he gave us a
specimen of what he was
»Mr Jermin« he cried loftily and not deigning to notice the respectful
salutation of the person addressed »Mr Jermin tack ship and stand off from
the land«
Upon this the men looked hard at him anxious to see what sort of a looking
cove he was Upon inspection he turned out to be an exceedingly minute cove
with a viciously pugged nose and a decidedly thin pair of legs There was
nothing else noticeable about him Jermin with illassumed suavity at once
obeyed the order and the ships head soon pointed out to sea
Now contempt is as frequently produced at first sight as love and thus was
it with respect to Wilson No one could look at him without conceiving a strong
dislike or a cordial desire to entertain such a feeling the first favourable
opportunity There was such an intolerable air of conceit about this man that
it was almost as much as one could do to refrain from running up and affronting
him
»So the counsellor is come« exclaimed Navy Bob who like all the rest
invariably styled him thus much to mine and the doctors diversion »Ay« said
another »and for no good I ll be bound«
Such were some of the observations made as Wilson and the mate went below
conversing
But no one exceeded the cooper in the violence with which he inveighed
against the ship and everything connected with her Swearing like a trooper he
called the mainmast to witness that if he Bungs ever again went out of sight
of land in the Julia he prayed Heaven that a fate might be his altogether too
remarkable to be here related
Much had he to say also concerning the vileness of what we had to eat not
fit for a dog besides enlarging upon the imprudence of entrusting the vessel
longer to a man of the mates intemperate habits With so many sick too what
could we expect to do in the fishery It was no use talking come what come
might the ship must let go her anchor
Now as Bungs besides being an able seaman a Cod in the forecastle and
about the oldest man in it was moreover thus deeply imbued with feelings so
warmly responded to by the rest he was all at once selected to officiate as
spokesman so soon as the consul should see fit to address us The selection was
made contrary to mine and the doctors advice however all assured us they
would keep quiet and hear everything Wilson had to say before doing anything
decisive
We were not kept long in suspense for very soon he was seen standing in the
cabin gangway with the tarnished tin case containing the ships papers and
Jermin at once sung out for the ships company to muster on the quarterdeck
The Round Robin
Chapter XXI
Proceedings of the Consul
The order was instantly obeyed and the sailors ranged themselves facing the
consul
They were a wild company men of many climes not at all precise in their
toilet arrangements but picturesque in their very tatters My friend the Long
Doctor was there too and with a view perhaps of enlisting the sympathies of
the consul for a gentleman in distress had taken more than ordinary pains with
his appearance But among the sailors he looked like a landcrane blown off to
sea and consorting with petrels
The forlorn Rope Yarn however was by far the most remarkable figure
Landlubber that he was his outfit of seaclothing had long since been
confiscated and he was now fain to go about in whatever he could pick up His
upper garment an unsailorlike article of dress which he persisted in wearing
though torn from his back twenty times in the day was an old clawhammer
jacket or swallowtail coat formerly belonging to Captain Guy and which had
formed one of his perquisites when steward
By the side of Wilson was the mate bareheaded his gray locks lying in
rings upon his bronzed brow and his keen eye scanning the crowd as if he knew
their every thought His frock hung loosely exposing his round throat mossy
chest and short and nervous arm embossed with pugilistic bruises and quaint
with many a device in India ink
In the midst of a portentous silence the consul unrolled his papers
evidently intending to produce an effect by the exceeding bigness of his looks
»Mr Jermin call off their names« and he handed him a list of the ships
company
All answered but the deserters and the two mariners at the bottom of the
sea
It was now supposed that the Round Robin would be produced and something
said about it But not so Among the consuls papers that unique document was
thought to be perceived but if there it was too much despised to be made a
subject of comment Some present very justly regarding it as an uncommon
literary production had been anticipating all sorts of miracles therefrom and
were therefore much touched at this neglect
»Well men« began Wilson again after a short pause »although you all look
hearty enough I m told there are some sick among you Now then Mr Jermin
call off the names on that sicklist of yours and let them go over to the other
side of the deck I should like to see who they are«
»So then« said he after we had all passed over »you are the sick
fellows are you Very good I shall have you seen to You will go down into the
cabin one by one to Doctor Johnson who will report your respective cases to
me Such as he pronounces in a dying state I shall have sent ashore the rest
will be provided with everything needful and remain aboard«
At this announcement we gazed strangely at each other anxious to see who it
was that looked like dying and pretty nearly deciding to stay aboard and get
well rather than go ashore and be buried There were some nevertheless who
saw very plainly what Wilson was at and they acted accordingly For my own
part I resolved to assume as dying an expression as possible hoping that on
the strength of it I might be sent ashore and so get rid of the ship without
any further trouble
With this intention I determined to take no part in anything that might
happen until my case was decided upon As for the doctor he had all along
pretended to be more or less unwell and by a significant look now given me it
was plain that he was becoming decidedly worse
The invalids disposed of for the present and one of them having gone below
to be examined the consul turned round to the rest and addressed them as
follows
»Men I m going to ask you two or three questions let one of you answer
yes or no and the rest keep silent Now then Have you anything to say against
your mate Mr Jermin« And he looked sharply among the sailors and at last
right into the eye of the cooper whom everybody was eyeing
»Well sir« faltered Bungs »we cant say anything against Mr Jermins
seamanship but «
»I want no buts« cried the consul breaking in »answer me yes or no have
you anything to say against Mr Jermin«
»I was going on to say sir Mr Jermin s a very good man but then « Here
the mate looked marlingspikes at Bungs and Bungs after stammering out
something looked straight down to a seam in the deck and stopped short
A rather assuming fellow heretofore the cooper had sported many feathers in
his cap he was now showing the white one
»So much then for that part of the business« exclaimed Wilson smartly
»you have nothing to say against him I see«
Upon this several seemed to be on the point of saying a good deal but
disconcerted by the coopers conduct checked themselves and the consul
proceeded
»Have you enough to eat aboard answer me you man who spoke before«
»Well I dont know as to that« said the cooper looking excessively
uneasy and trying to edge back but pushed forward again »Some of that salt
horse aint as sweet as it might be«
»Thats not what I asked you« shouted the consul growing brave quite fast
»answer my questions as I put them or I ll find a way to make you«
This was going a little too far The ferment into which the coopers
poltroonery had thrown the sailors now brooked no restraint and one of them a
young American who went by the name of Salem6 dashed out from among the rest
and fetching the cooper a blow that sent him humming over toward the consul
flourished a naked sheathknife in the air and burst forth with »I m the
little fellow that can answer your questions just put them to me once
counsellor«
But the counsellor had no more questions to ask just then for at the
alarming apparition of Salems knife and the extraordinary effect produced upon
Bungs he had popped his head down the companionway and was holding it there
Upon the mates assuring him however that it was all over he looked up
quite flustered if not frightened but evidently determined to put as fierce a
face on the matter as practicable Speaking sharply he warned all present to
look out and then repeated the question whether there was enough to eat
aboard Everyone now turned spokesman and he was assailed by a perfect
hurricane of yells in which the oaths fell like hailstones
»How s this what d ye mean« he cried upon the first lull »who told you
all to speak at once Here you man with the knife you ll be putting someones
eyes out yet d ye hear you sir You seem to have a good deal to say who are
you pray where did you ship«
»I m nothing more nor a bloody beachcomber«7 retorted Salem stepping
forward piratically and eyeing him »and if you want to know I shipped at the
Islands about four months ago«
»Only four months ago And here you have more to say than men who have been
aboard the whole voyage« and the consul made a dash at looking furious but
failed »Let me hear no more from you sir Where s that respectable
grayheaded man the cooper he s the one to answer my questions«
»There s no spectable grayheaded men aboard« returned Salem »we re
all a parcel of mutineers and pirates«
All this time the mate was holding his peace and Wilson now completely
abashed and at a loss what to do took him by the arm and walked across the
deck Returning to the cabin scuttle after a close conversation he abruptly
addressed the sailors without taking any further notice of what had just
happened
»For reasons you all know men this ship has been placed in my hands As
Captain Guy will remain ashore for the present your mate Mr Jermin will
command until his recovery According to my judgment there is no reason why the
voyage should not be at once resumed especially as I shall see that you have
two more harpooneers and enough good men to man three boats As for the sick
neither you nor I have anything to do with them they will be attended to by
Doctor Johnson but I ve explained that matter before As soon as things can be
arranged in a day or two at farthest you will go to sea for a three months
cruise touching here at the end of it for your captain Let me hear a good
report of you now when you come back At present you will continue lying off
and on the harbour I will send you fresh provisions as soon as I can get them
There Ive nothing more to say go forward to your stations«
And without another word he wheeled round to descend into the cabin But
hardly had he concluded before the incensed men were dancing about him on every
side and calling upon him to lend an ear Each one for himself denied the
legality of what he proposed to do insisted upon the necessity for taking the
ship in and finally gave him to understand roughly and roundly that go to sea
in her they would not
In the midst of this mutinous uproar the alarmed consul stood fast by the
scuttle His tactics had been decided upon beforehand indeed they must have
been concerted ashore between him and the captain for all he said as he now
hurried below was »Go forward men I m through with you you should have
mentioned these matters before my arrangements are concluded go forward I
say I ve nothing more to say to you« And drawing over the slide of the
scuttle he disappeared
Upon the very point of following him down the attention of the exasperated
seamen was called off to a party who had just then taken the recreant Bungs in
hand Amid a shower of kicks and cuffs the traitor was borne along to the
forecastle where I forbear to relate what followed
Chapter XXII
The Consuls Departure
During the scenes just described Doctor Johnson was engaged in examining the
sick of whom as it turned out all but two were to remain in the ship He had
evidently received his cue from Wilson
One of the last called below into the cabin just as the quarterdeck
gathering dispersed I came on deck quite incensed My lameness which to tell
the truth was now much better was put down as in a great measure affected
and my name was on the list of those who would be fit for any duty in a day or
two This was enough As for Doctor Long Ghost the shore physician instead of
extending to him any professional sympathy had treated him very cavalierly To
a certain extent therefore we were now both bent on making common cause with
the sailors
I must explain myself here All we wanted was to have the ship snugly
anchored in Papeetee Bay entertaining no doubt that could this be done it
would in some way or other peaceably lead to our emancipation Without a
downright mutiny there was but one way to accomplish this to induce the men to
refuse all further duty unless it were to work the vessel in The only
difficulty lay in restraining them within proper bounds Nor was it without
certain misgivings that I found myself so situated that I must necessarily
link myself however guardedly with such a desperate company and in an
enterprise too of which it was hard to conjecture what might be the result
But anything like neutrality was out of the question and unconditional
submission was equally so
On going forward we found them ten times more tumultuous than ever After
again restoring some degree of tranquillity we once more urged our plan of
quietly refusing duty and awaiting the result At first few would hear of it
but in the end a good number were convinced by our representations Others held
out Nor were those who thought with us in all things to be controlled
Upon Wilsons coming on deck to enter his boat he was beset on all sides
and for a moment I thought the ship would be seized before his very eyes
»Nothing more to say to you men my arrangements are made Go forward
where you belong I ll take no insolence« and in a tremor Wilson hurried
over the side in the midst of a volley of execrations
Shortly after his departure the mate ordered the cook and steward into his
boat and saying that he was going to see how the captain did left us as
before under the charge of Bembo
At this time we were lying becalmed pretty close in with the land having
gone about again our maintopsail flapping against the mast with every roll
The departure of the consul and Jermin was followed by a scene absolutely
indescribable The sailors ran about deck like madmen Bembo all the while
leaning against the taffrail by himself smoking his heathenish stone pipe and
never interfering
The cooper who that morning had got himself into a fluid of an exceedingly
high temperature now did his best to regain the favour of the crew »Without
distinction of party« he called upon all hands to step up and partake of the
contents of his bucket
But it was quite plain that before offering to intoxicate others he had
taken the wise precaution of getting well tipsy himself He was now once more
happy in the affection of his shipmates who one and all pronounced him sound
to the kelson
The Pisco soon told and with great difficulty we restrained a party in
the very act of breaking into the afterhold in pursuit of more
All manner of pranks were now played
»Masthead there what d ye see« bawled Beauty hailing the maintruck
through an enormous copper funnel »Stand by the stays« roared Flash Jack
hauling off with the cooks axe at the fastenings of the mainstay »Looky out
for squalls« shrieked the Portuguese Antone darting a handspike through the
cabin skylight And »Heave round cheerly men« sung out Navy Bob dancing a
hornpipe on the forecastle
Chapter XXIII
The Second Night off Papeetee
Toward sunset the mate came off singing merrily in the stern of his boat and
in attempting to climb up the side succeeded in going plump into the water He
was rescued by the steward and carried across the deck with many moving
expressions of love for his bearer Tumbled into the quarterboat he soon fell
asleep and waking about midnight somewhat sobered went forward among the men
Here to prepare for what follows we must leave him for a moment
It was now plain enough that Jermin was by no means unwilling to take the
Julia to sea indeed there was nothing he so much desired though what his
reasons were seeing our situation we could only conjecture Nevertheless so
it was and having counted much upon his rough popularity with the men to
reconcile them to a short cruise under him he had consequently been
disappointed in their behaviour Still thinking that they would take a
different view of the matter when they came to know what fine times he had in
store for them he resolved upon trying a little persuasion
So on going forward he put his head down the forecastle scuttle and hailed
us all quite cordially inviting us down into the cabin where he said he had
something to make merry withal Nothing loth we went and throwing ourselves
along the transom waited for the steward to serve us
As the can circulated Jermin leaning on the table and occupying the
captains armchair secured to the deck opened his mind as bluntly and freely
as ever He was by no means yet sober
He told us we were acting very foolishly that if we only stuck to the ship
he would lead us all a jovial life of it enumerating the casks still remaining
untapped in the Julias wooden cellar It was even hinted vaguely that such a
thing might happen as our not coming back for the captain whom he spoke of but
lightly asserting what he had often said before that he was no sailor
Moreover and perhaps with special reference to Doctor Long Ghost and
myself he assured us generally that if there were any among us studiously
inclined he would take great pleasure in teaching such the whole art and
mystery of navigation including the gratuitous use of his quadrant
I should have mentioned that previous to this he had taken the doctor
aside and said something about reinstating him in the cabin with augmented
dignity besides throwing out a hint that I myself was in some way or other to
be promoted But it was all to no purpose bent the men were upon going ashore
and there was no moving them
At last he flew into a rage much increased by the frequency of his
potations and with many imprecations concluded by driving everybody out of
the cabin We tumbled up the gangway in high goodhumour
Upon deck everything looked so quiet that some of the most pugnacious
spirits actually lamented that there was so little prospect of an exhilarating
disturbance before morning It was not five minutes however ere these fellows
were gratified
Sydney Ben said to be a runaway TicketofLeaveMan8 and for reasons of
his own one of the few who still remained on duty had for the sake of the
fun gone down with the rest into the cabin where Bembo who meanwhile was left
in charge of the deck had frequently called out for him At first Ben
pretended not to hear but on being sung out for again and again bluntly
refused at the same time casting some illiberal reflections on the Mowrees
maternal origin which the latter had been long enough among sailors to
understand as in the highest degree offensive So just after the men came up
from below Bembo singled him out and gave him such a cursing in his broken
lingo that it was enough to frighten one The convict was the worse for liquor
indeed the Mowree had been tippling also and before we knew it a blow was
struck by Ben and the two men came together like magnets
The TicketofLeaveMan was a practised bruiser but the savage knew nothing
of the art pugilistic and so they were even It was clear hugging and wrenching
till both came to the deck Here they rolled over and over in the middle of a
ring which seemed to form of itself. At last the white mans head fell back and
his face grew purple Bembos teeth were at his throat Rushing in all round
they hauled the savage off but not until repeatedly struck on the head would he
let go
His rage was now absolutely demoniac he lay glaring and writhing on the
deck without attempting to rise Cowed as they supposed he was from his
attitude the men rejoiced at seeing him thus humbled left him after rating
him in sailor style for a cannibal and a coward
Ben was attended to and led below
Soon after this the rest also with but few exceptions retired into the
forecastle and having been up nearly all the previous night they quickly
dropped about the chests and rolled into the hammocks In an hours time not a
sound could be heard in that part of the ship
Before Bembo was dragged away the mate had in vain endeavoured to separate
the combatants repeatedly striking the Mowree but the seamen interposing at
last kept him off
And intoxicated as he was when they dispersed he knew enough to charge the
steward a steady seaman be it remembered with the present safety of the
ship and then went below where he fell directly into another drunken sleep
Having remained upon deck with the doctor some time after the rest had gone
below I was just on the point of following him down when I saw the Mowree
rise draw a bucket of water and holding it high above his head pour its
contents right over him This he repeated several times There was nothing very
peculiar in the act but something else about him struck me However I thought
no more of it but descended the scuttle
After a restless nap I found the atmosphere of the forecastle so close
from nearly all the men being down at the same time that I hunted up an old
peajacket and went on deck intending to sleep it out there till morning Here
I found the cook and steward Wymontoo Rope Yarn and the Dane who being all
quiet manageable fellows and holding aloof from the rest since the captains
departure had been ordered by the mate not to go below until sunrise They were
lying under the lee of the bulwarks two or three fast asleep and the others
smoking their pipes and conversing
To my surprise Bembo was at the helm but there being so few to stand there
now they told me he had offered to take his turn with the rest at the same
time heading the watch and to this of course they made no objection
It was a fine bright night all moon and stars and white crests of waves
The breeze was light but freshening and close hauled poor Little Jule as if
nothing had happened was heading in for the land which rose high and hazy in
the distance
After the days uproar the tranquillity of the scene was soothing and I
leaned over the side to enjoy it
More than ever did I now lament my situation but it was useless to repine
and I could not upbraid myself So at last becoming drowsy I made a bed with
my jacket under the windlass and tried to forget myself
How long I lay there I cannot tell but as I rose the first object that
met my eye was Bembo at the helm his dark figure slowly rising and falling
with the ships motion against the spangled heavens behind He seemed all
impatience and expectation standing at arms length from the spokes with one
foot advanced and his bare head thrust forward Where I was the watch were out
of sight and no one else was stirring the deserted decks and broad white sails
were gleaming in the moonlight
Presently a swelling dashing sound came upon my ear and I had a sort of
vague consciousness that I had been hearing it before The next instant I was
broad awake and on my feet Right ahead and so near that my heart stood still
was a long line of breakers heaving and frothing It was the coral reef
girdling the island Behind it and almost casting their shadows upon the deck
were the sleeping mountains about whose hazy peaks the gray dawn was just
breaking The breeze had freshened and with a steady gliding motion we were
running straight for the reef
All was taken in at a glance the fell purpose of Bembo was obvious and
with a frenzied shout to wake the watch I rushed aft They sprang to their feet
bewildered and after a short but desperate scuffle we tore him from the helm
In wrestling with him the wheel left for a moment unguarded flew to
leeward thus fortunately bringing the ships head to the wind and so
retarding her progress Previous to this she had been kept three or four points
free so as to close with the breakers Her headway now shortened I steadied
the helm keeping the sails just lifting while we glided obliquely toward the
land To have run off before the wind an easy thing would have been almost
instant destruction owing to a curve of the reef in that direction At this
time the Dane and the steward were still struggling with the furious Mowree
and the others were running about irresolute and shouting
But darting forward the instant I had the helm the old cook thundered on
the forecastle with a handspike »Breakers breakers close aboard bout ship
bout ship«
Up came the sailors staring about them in stupid horror
»Haul back the headyards« »Let go the lee forebrace« »Ready about
about« were now shouted on all sides while distracted by a thousand orders
they ran hither and thither fairly panicstricken
It seemed all over with us and I was just upon the point of throwing the
ship full into the wind a step which saving us for the instant would have
sealed our fate in the end when a sharp cry shot by my ear like the flight of
an arrow
It was Salem »All ready forard hard down«
Round and round went the spokes the Julia with her short keel spinning to
windward like a top Soon the jibsheets lashed the stays and the men more
selfpossessed flew to the braces
»Mainsail haul« was now heard as the fresh breeze streamed fore and aft
the deck and directly the afteryards were whirled round
In half a minute more we were sailing away from the land on the other tack
with every sail distended
Turning on our heel within little more than a biscuits toss of the reef no
earthly power could have saved us were it not that up to the very brink of the
coral rampart there are no soundings
Chapter XXIV
Outbreak of the Crew
The purpose of Bembo had been made known to the men generally by the watch and
now that our salvation was certain by an instinctive impulse they raised a cry
and rushed toward him
Just before liberated by Dunk and the steward he was standing doggedly by
the mizenmast and as the infuriated sailors came on his bloodshot eye
rolled and his sheathknife glittered over his head
»Down with him« »Strike him down« »Hang him at the mainyard« such were
the shouts now raised But he stood unmoved and for a single instant they
absolutely faltered
»Cowards« cried Salem and he flung himself upon him The steel descended
like a ray of light but did no harm for the sailors heart was beating against
the Mowrees before he was aware
They both fell to the deck when the knife was instantly seized and Bembo
secured
»Forard forard with him« was again the cry »Give him a seatoss«
»Overboard with him« and he was dragged along the deck struggling and fighting
with tooth and nail
All this uproar immediately over the mates head at last roused him from his
drunken nap and he came staggering on deck
»What s this« he shouted running right in among them
»It s the Mowree zur they are going to murder him zur« here sobbed poor
Rope Yarn crawling close up to him
»Avast avast« roared Jermin making a spring toward Bembo and dashing two
or three of the sailors aside At this moment the wretch was partly flung over
the bulwarks which shook with his frantic struggles In vain the doctor and
others tried to save him the men listened to nothing
»Murder and mutiny by the salt sea« shouted the mate and dashing his arms
right and left he planted his iron hand upon the Mowrees shoulder
»There are two of us now and as you serve him you serve me« he cried
turning fiercely round
»Over with them together then« exclaimed the carpenter springing forward
but the rest fell back before the courageous front of Jermin and with the
speed of thought Bembo unharmed stood upon deck
»Aft with ye« cried his deliverer and he pushed him right among the men
taking care to follow him up close Giving the sailors no time to recover he
pushed the Mowree before him till they came to the cabin scuttle when he drew
the slide over him and stood still Throughout Bembo never spoke one word
»Now forard where ye belong« cried the mate addressing the seamen who
by this time rallying again had no idea of losing their victim
»The Mowree the Mowree« they shouted
Here the doctor in answer to the mates repeated questions stepped
forward and related what Bembo had been doing a matter which the mate but
dimly understood from the violent threatenings he had been hearing
For a moment he seemed to waver but at last turning the key in the padlock
of the slide he breathed through his set teeth »Ye cant have him I ll hand
him over to the consul so forard with ye I say when there s any drowning to
be done I ll pass the word so away with ye ye bloodthirsty pirates«
It was to no purpose that they begged or threatened Jermin although by no
means sober stood his ground manfully and before long they dispersed soon to
forget everything that had happened
Though we had no opportunity to hear him confess it Bembos intention to
destroy us was beyond all question His only motive could have been a desire to
revenge the contumely heaped upon him the night previous operating upon a heart
irreclaimably savage and at no time fraternally disposed toward the crew
During the whole of this scene the doctor did his best to save him But well
knowing that all I could do would have been equally useless I maintained my
place at the wheel Indeed no one but Jermin could have prevented this murder
Chapter XXV
Jermin Encounters an Old Shipmate
During the morning of the day which dawned upon the events just recounted we
remained a little to leeward of the harbour waiting the appearance of the
consul who had promised the mate to come off in a shore boat for the purpose of
seeing him
By this time the men had forced his secret from the cooper and the
consequence was that they kept him continually coming and going from the
afterhold The mate must have known this but he said nothing notwithstanding
all the dancing and singing and occasional fighting which announced the flow
of the Pisco
The peaceable influence which the doctor and myself had heretofore been
exerting was now very nearly at an end
Confident from the aspect of matters that the ship after all would be
obliged to go in and learning moreover that the mate had said so the
sailors for the present seemed in no hurry about it especially as the bucket
of Bungs gave such generous cheer
As for Bembo we were told that after putting him in double irons the mate
had locked him up in the captains stateroom taking the additional precaution
of keeping the cabin scuttle secured From this time forward we never saw the
Mowree again a circumstance which will explain itself as the narrative
proceeds
Noon came and no consul and as the afternoon advanced without any word
even from the shore the mate was justly incensed more especially as he had
taken great pains to keep perfectly sober against Wilsons arrival
Two or three hours before sundown a small schooner came out of the harbour
and headed over for the adjoining island of Imeeo or Moreea in plain sight
about fifteen miles distant The wind failing the current swept her down under
our bows where we had a fair glimpse of the natives on her decks
There were a score of them perhaps lounging upon spread mats and smoking
their pipes On floating so near and hearing the maudlin cries of our crew and
beholding their antics they must have taken us for a pirate at any rate they
got out their sweeps and pulled away as fast as they could the sight of our
two sixpounders which by way of a joke were now run out of the sideports
giving a fresh impetus to their efforts But they had not gone far when a white
man with a red sash about his waist made his appearance on deck the natives
immediately desisting
Hailing us loudly he said he was coming aboard and after some confusion on
the schooners decks a small canoe was launched overboard and in a minute or
two he was with us He turned out to be an old shipmate of Jermins one Viner
long supposed dead but now resident on the island
The meeting of these men under the circumstances is one of a thousand
occurrences appearing exaggerated in fiction but nevertheless frequently
realised in actual lives of adventure
Some fifteen years previous they had sailed together as officers of the
bark Jane of London a South Seaman Somewhere near the New Hebrides they
struck one night upon an unknown reef and in a few hours the Jane went to
pieces The boats however were saved some provisions also a quadrant and a
few other articles But several of the men were lost before they got clear of
the wreck
The three boats commanded respectively by the captain Jermin and the
third mate then set sail for a small English settlement at the Bay of Islands
in New Zealand Of course they kept together as much as possible After being at
sea about a week a Lascar in the captains boat went crazy and it being
dangerous to keep him they tried to throw him overboard In the confusion that
ensued the boat capsized from the sails jibing and a considerable sea running
at the time and the other boats being separated more than usual only one man
was picked up The very next night it blew a heavy gale and the remaining boats
taking in all sail made bundles of their oars flung them overboard and rode
to them with plenty of line When morning broke Jermin and his men were alone
upon the ocean the third mates boat in all probability having gone down
After great hardships the survivors caught sight of a brig which took them
on board and eventually landed them at Sydney
Ever since then our mate had sailed from that port never once hearing of
his lost shipmates whom by this time of course he had long given up Judge
then his feelings when Viner the lost third mate the instant he touched the
deck rushed up and wrung him by the hand
During the gale his line had parted so that the boat drifting fast to
leeward was out of sight by morning Reduced after this to great extremities
the boat touched for fruit at an island of which they knew nothing The
natives at first received them kindly but one of the men getting into a
quarrel on account of a woman and the rest taking his part they were all
massacred but Viner who at the time was in an adjoining village After
staying on the island more than two years he finally escaped in the boat of an
American whaler which landed him at Valparaiso From this period he had
continued to follow the seas as a man before the mast until about eighteen
months previous when he went ashore at Tahiti where he now owned the schooner
we saw in which he traded among the neighbouring islands
The breeze springing up again just after nightfall Viner left us promising
his old shipmate to see him again three days hence in Papeetee harbour
Chapter XXVI
We Enter the Harbour Jim the Pilot
Exhausted by the days wassail most of the men went below at an early hour
leaving the deck to the steward and two of the men remaining on duty the mate
with Baltimore and the Dane engaging to relieve them at midnight At that hour
the ship now standing off shore under short sail was to be tacked
It was not long after midnight when we were wakened in the forecastle by
the lion roar of Jermins voice ordering a pull at the jibhalyards and soon
afterward a handspike struck the scuttle and all hands were called to take the
ship into port
This was wholly unexpected but we learned directly that the mate no longer
relying upon the consul and renouncing all thought of inducing the men to
change their minds had suddenly made up his own He was going to beat up to the
entrance of the harbour so as to show a signal for a pilot before sunrise
Notwithstanding this the sailors absolutely refused to assist in working
the ship under any circumstances whatever to all mine and the doctors
entreaties lending a deaf ear Sink or strike they swore they would have
nothing more to do with her This perverseness was to be attributed in a great
measure to the effects of their late debauch
With a strong breeze all sail set and the ship in the hands of four or
five men exhausted by two nights watching our situation was bad enough
especially as the mate seemed more reckless than ever and we were now to tack
ship several times closer under the land
Well knowing that if anything untoward happened to the vessel before
morning it would be imputed to the conduct of the crew and so lead to serious
results should they ever be brought to trial I called together those on deck
to witness my declaration that now that the Julia was destined for the
harbour the only object for which I at least had been struggling I was
willing to do what I could toward carrying her in safely In this step I was
followed by the doctor
The hours passed anxiously until morning when being well to windward of
the mouth of the harbour we bore up for it with the Union Jack at the fore No
sign however of boat or pilot was seen and after running close in several
times the ensign was set at the mizenpeak Union down in distress But it was
of no avail
Attributing to Wilson this unaccountable remissness on the part of those
ashore Jermin quite enraged now determined to stand boldly in upon his own
responsibility trusting solely to what he remembered of the harbour on a visit
there many years previous
This resolution was characteristic Even with a competent pilot Papeetee
Bay is considered a ticklish one to enter Formed by a bold sweep of the shore
it is protected seaward by the coral reef upon which the rollers break with
great violence After stretching across the bay the barrier extends on toward
Point Venus9 in the district of Matavai eight or nine miles distant Here
there is an opening by which ships enter and glide down the smooth deep canal
between the reef and the shore to the harbour But by seamen generally the
leeward entrance is preferred as the wind is extremely variable inside the
reef This latter entrance is a break in the barrier directly facing the bay and
village of Papeetee It is very narrow and from the baffling winds currents
and sunken rocks ships now and then grate their keels against the coral
But the mate was not to be daunted so stationing what men he had at the
braces he sprang upon the bulwarks and bidding everybody keep wide awake
ordered the helm up In a few moments we were running in Being toward noon
the wind was fast leaving us and by the time the breakers were roaring on
either hand little more than steerageway was left But on we glided smoothly
and deftly avoiding the green darkling objects here and there strewn in our
path Jermin occasionally looking down in the water and then about him with
the utmost calmness and not a word spoken Just fanned along thus it was not
many minutes ere we were past all danger and floated into the placid basin
within This was the cleverest specimen of his seamanship that he ever gave us
As we held on toward the frigate and shipping a canoe coming out from
among them approached In it were a boy and an old man both islanders the
former nearly naked and the latter dressed in an old naval frockcoat Both
were paddling with might and main the old man once in a while tearing his
paddle out of the water and after rapping his companion over the head both
fell to with fresh vigour As they came within hail the old fellow springing
to his feet and flourishing his paddle cut some of the queerest of capers all
the while jabbering something which at first we could not understand
Presently we made out the following »Ah you pemi ah you come What
for you come You be fine for come no pilot I say you hear I say you
ita maitai no good You hear You no pilot Yes you d me you no
pilot t all I d you you hear«
This tirade which showed plainly that whatever the profane old rascal was
at he was in right good earnest produced peals of laughter from the ship Upon
which he seemed to get beside himself and the boy who with suspended paddle
was staring about him received a sound box over the head which set him to work
in a twinkling and brought the canoe quite near The orator now opening afresh
it turned out that his vehement rhetoric was all addressed to the mate still
standing conspicuously on the bulwarks
But Jermin was in no humour for nonsense so with a sailors blessing he
ordered him off The old fellow then flew into a regular frenzy cursing and
swearing worse than any civilised being I ever heard
»You sabbee10 me« he shouted »You know me ah Well me Jim me pilot
been pilot now long time«
»Ay« cried Jermin quite surprised as indeed we all were »you are the
pilot then you old pagan Why didnt you come off before this«
»Ah me sabbee me know you piratee pirate see you long time but no
me come I sabbee you you ita maitai nuee superlatively bad«
»Paddle away with ye« roared Jermin in a rage »be off or I ll dart a
harpoon at ye«
But instead of obeying the order Jim seizing his paddle darted the canoe
right up to the gangway and in two bounds stood on deck Pulling a greasy
silk handkerchief still lower over his brow and improving the sit of his
frockcoat with a vigorous jerk he then strode up to the mate and in a more
flowery style than ever gave him to understand that the redoubtable Jim himself
was before him that the ship was his until the anchor was down and he should
like to hear what anyone had to say to it
As there now seemed little doubt that he was all he claimed to be the Julia
was at last surrendered
Our gentleman now proceeded to bring us to an anchor jumping up between the
knightheads and bawling out »Luff luff keepy off keepy off« and insisting
upon each time being respectfully responded to by the man at the helm At this
time our steerageway was almost gone and yet in giving his orders the
passionate old man made as much fuss as a white squall aboard the Flying
Dutchman
Jim turned out to be the regular pilot of the harbour a post be it known
of no small profit and in his eyes at least invested with immense
importance11 Our unceremonious entrance therefore was regarded as highly
insulting and tending to depreciate both the dignity and lucrativeness of his
office
The old man is something of a wizard Having an understanding with the
elements certain phenomena of theirs are exhibited for his particular benefit
Unusually clear weather with a fine steady breeze is a certain sign that a
merchantman is at hand whalespouts seen from the harbour are tokens of a
whaling vessels approach and thunder and lightning happening so seldom as
they do are proof positive that a manofwar is drawing near
In short Jim the pilot is quite a character in his way and no one visits
Tahiti without hearing some curious story about him
Chapter XXVII
A Glance at Papeetee We Are Sent Aboard the Frigate
The village of Papeetee struck us all very pleasantly Lying in a semicircle
round the bay the tasteful mansions of the chiefs and foreign residents impart
an air of tropical elegance heightened by the palmtrees waving here and there
and the deepgreen groves of the breadfruit in the background The squalid huts
of the common people are out of sight and there is nothing to mar the prospect
All round the water extends a wide smooth beach of mixed pebbles and
fragments of coral This forms the thoroughfare of the village the handsomest
houses all facing it the fluctuation of the tides12 being so inconsiderable
that they cause no inconvenience
The Pritchard residence a fine large building occupies a site on one
side of the bay a green lawn slopes off to the sea and in front waves the
English flag Across the water the Tricolour also and the Stars and Stripes
distinguish the residences of the other consuls
What greatly added to the picturesqueness of the bay at this time was the
condemned hull of a large ship which at the farther end of the harbour lay
bilged upon the beach its stern settled low in the water and the other end
high and dry From where we lay the trees behind seemed to lock their leafy
boughs over its bowsprit which from its position looked nearly upright
She was an American whaler a very old craft Having sprung a leak at sea
she had made all sail for the island to heave down for repairs Found utterly
unseaworthy however her oil was taken out and sent home in another vessel the
hull was then stripped and sold for a trifle
Before leaving Tahiti I had the curiosity to go over this poor old ship
thus stranded on a strange shore What were my emotions when I saw upon her
stern the name of a small town on the river Hudson She was from the noble
stream on whose banks I was born in whose waters I had a hundred times bathed
In an instant palmtrees and elms canoes and skiffs church spires and
bamboos all mingled in one vision of the present and the past
But we must not leave Little Jule
At last the wishes of many were gratified and like an aeronauts grapnel
her rusty little anchor was caught in the coral groves at the bottom of Papeetee
Bay This must have been more than forty days after leaving the Marquesas
The sails were yet unfurled when a boat came alongside with our esteemed
friend Wilson the consul
»How s this how s this Mr Jermin« he began looking very savage as he
touched the deck »What brings you in without orders«
»You did not come off to us as you promised sir and there was no hanging
on longer with nobody to work the ship« was the blunt reply
»So the infernal scoundrels held out did they Very good I ll make them
sweat for it« and he eyed the scowling men with unwonted intrepidity The truth
was he felt safer now than when outside the reef
»Muster the mutineers on the quarterdeck« he continued »Drive them aft
sir sick and well I have a word to say to them«
»Now men« said he »you think it s all well with you I suppose You
wished the ship in and here she is Captain Guy s ashore and you think you
must go too but we ll see about that I ll miserably disappoint you« These
last were his very words »Mr Jermin call off the names of those who did not
refuse duty and let them go over to the starboard side«
This done a list was made out of the mutineers as he was pleased to call
the rest Among these the doctor and myself were included though the former
stepped forward and boldly pleaded the office held by him when the vessel left
Sydney The mate also who had always been friendly stated the service
rendered by myself two nights previous as well as my conduct when he announced
his intention to enter the harbour For myself I stoutly maintained that
according to the tenor of the agreement made with Captain Guy my time aboard
the ship had expired the cruise being virtually at an end however it had been
brought about and I claimed my discharge
But Wilson would hear nothing Marking something in my manner nevertheless
he asked my name and country and then observed with a sneer »Ah you are the
lad I see that wrote the Round Robin I ll take good care of you my fine
fellow step back sir«
As for poor Long Ghost he denounced him as a Sydney FlashGorger though
what under heaven he meant by that euphonious title is more than I can tell
Upon this the doctor gave him such a piece of his mind that the consul
furiously commanded him to hold his peace or he would instantly have him seized
into the rigging and flogged There was no help for either of us we were
judged by the company we kept
All were now sent forward not a word being said as to what he intended
doing with us
After a talk with the mate the consul withdrew going aboard the French
frigate which lay within a cables length We now suspected his object and
since matters had come to this pass were rejoiced at it In a day or two the
Frenchman was to sail for Valparaiso the usual place of rendezvous for the
English squadron in the Pacific and doubtless Wilson meant to put us on board
and send us thither to be delivered up Should our conjecture prove correct all
we had to expect according to our most experienced shipmates was the fag end
of a cruise in one of Her Majestys ships and a discharge before long at
Portsmouth
We now proceeded to put on all the clothes we could frock over frock and
trowsers over trowsers so as to be in readiness for removal at a moments
warning Armed ships allow nothing superfluous to litter up the deck and
therefore should we go aboard the frigate our chests and their contents would
have to be left behind
In an hours time the first cutter of the Reine Blanche came alongside
manned by eighteen or twenty sailors armed with cutlasses and boardingpistols
the officers of course wearing their sidearms and the consul in an
official cocked hat borrowed for the occasion The boat was painted a pirate
black its crew were a dark grimlooking set and the officers uncommonly
fiercelooking little Frenchmen On the whole they were calculated to intimidate
the consuls object doubtless in bringing them
Summoned aft again every ones name was called separately and being
solemnly reminded that it was his last chance to escape punishment was asked if
he still refused duty The response was instantaneous »Ay sir I do« In some
cases followed up by divers explanatory observations cut short by Wilsons
ordering the delinquent into the cutter As a general thing the order was
promptly obeyed some taking a sequence of hops skips and jumps by way of
showing not only their unimpaired activity of body but their alacrity in
complying with all reasonable requests
Having avowed their resolution not to pull another rope of the Julias
even if at once restored to perfect health all the invalids with the
exception of the two to be set ashore accompanied us into the cutter They were
in high spirits so much so that something was insinuated about their not having
been quite as ill as pretended
The coopers name was the last called we did not hear what he answered but
he stayed behind Nothing was done about the Mowree
Shoving clear from the ship three loud cheers were raised Flash Jack and
others receiving a sharp reprimand for it from the consul
»Goodbye Little Jule« cried Navy Bob as we swept under the bows »Dont
fall overboard Ropey« said another to the poor landlubber who with
Wymontoo the Dane and others left behind was looking over at us from the
forecastle
»Give her three more« cried Salem springing to his feet and whirling his
hat round »You sacre dam raskeel« shouted the lieutenant of the party
bringing the flat of his sabre across his shoulders »you now keepy steel«
The doctor and myself more discreet sat quietly in the bow of the cutter
and for my own part though I did not repent what I had done my reflections
were far from being enviable
Chapter XXVIII
Reception from the Frenchman
In a few moments we were paraded in the frigates gangway the first lieutenant
an elderly yellowfaced officer in an illcut coat and tarnished gold lace
coming up and frowning upon us
This gentlemans head was a mere bald spot his legs sticks in short his
whole physical vigour seemed exhausted in the production of one enormous
moustache Old Gamboge as he was forthwith christened now received a paper
from the consul and opening it proceeded to compare the goods delivered with
the invoice
After being thoroughly counted a meek little midshipman was called and we
were soon after given in custody to half a dozen sailorsoldiers fellows with
tarpaulins and muskets Preceded by a pompous functionary whom we took for one
of the ships corporals from his ratan and the gold lace on his sleeve we
were now escorted down the ladders to the berthdeck
Here we were politely handcuffed all round the man with the bamboo
evincing the utmost solicitude in giving us a good fit from a large basket of
the articles of assorted sizes
Taken by surprise at such an uncivil reception a few of the party demurred
but all coyness was at last overcome and finally our feet were inserted into
heavy anklets of iron running along a great bar bolted down to the deck After
this we considered ourselves permanently established in our new quarters
»The deuce take their old iron« exclaimed the doctor »if I d known this
I d stayed behind«
»Ha ha« cried Flash Jack »you re in for it Doctor Long Ghost«
»My hands and feet are anyway« was the reply
They placed a sentry over us a great lubber of a fellow who marched up and
down with a dilapidated old cutlass of most extraordinary dimensions From its
length we had some idea that it was expressly intended to keep a crowd in order
reaching over the heads of half a dozen say so as to get a cut at somebody
behind
»Mercy« ejaculated the doctor with a shudder »what a sensation it must be
to be killed by such a tool«
We fasted till night when one of the boys came along with a couple of kids
containing a thin saffroncoloured fluid with oily particles floating on top
The young wag told us this was soup it turned out to be nothing more than
oleaginous warm water Such as it was nevertheless we were fain to make a meal
of it our sentry being attentive enough to undo our bracelets The kids passed
from mouth to mouth and were soon emptied
The next morning when the sentrys back was turned someone whom we took
for an English sailor tossed over a few oranges the rinds of which we
afterward used for cups
On the second day nothing happened worthy of record On the third we were
amused by the following scene
A man whom we supposed a boatswains mate from the silver whistle hanging
from his neck came below driving before him a couple of blubbering boys and
followed by a whole troop of youngsters in tears The pair it seemed were sent
down to be punished by command of an officer the rest had accompanied them out
of sympathy
The boatswains mate went to work without delay seizing the poor little
culprits by their loose frocks and using a ratan without mercy The other boys
wept clasped their hands and fell on their knees but in vain the boatswains
mate only hit out at them once in a while making them yell ten times louder
than ever
In the midst of the tumult down comes a midshipman who with a great air
orders the man on deck and running in among the boys sets them to scampering
in all directions
The whole of this proceeding was regarded with infinite scorn by Navy Bob
who years before had been captain of the foretop on board a lineofbattle
ship In his estimation it was a lubberly piece of business throughout they
did things differently in the English navy
Chapter XXIX
The Reine Blanche
I cannot forbear a brief reflection upon the scene ending the last chapter
The ratanning of the young culprits although significant of the imperfect
discipline of a French manofwar may also be considered as in some measure
characteristic of the nation
In an American or English ship a boy when flogged is either lashed to the
breech of a gun or brought right up to the gratings the same way the men are
But as a general rule he is never punished beyond his strength You seldom or
never draw a cry from the young rogue He bites his tongue and stands up to it
like a hero If practicable which is not always the case he makes a point of
smiling under the operation And so far from his companions taking any
compassion on him they always make merry over his misfortunes Should he turn
baby and cry they are pretty sure to give him afterward a sly pounding in some
dark corner
This tough training produces its legitimate results13 The boy becomes in
time a thoroughbred tar equally ready to strip and take a dozen on board his
own ship or cutlass in hand dash pellmell on board the enemys Whereas the
young Frenchman as all the world knows makes but an indifferent seaman and
though for the most part he fights well enough somehow or other he seldom
fights well enough to beat
How few seabattles have the French ever won But more how few ships have
they ever carried by the board that true criterion of naval courage But not a
word against French bravery there is plenty of it but not of the right sort
A Yankees or an Englishmans is the downright Waterloo game The French fight
better on land and not being essentially a maritime people they ought to stay
there The best of shipwrights they are no sailors
And this carries me back to the Reine Blanche as noble a specimen of what
wood and iron can make as ever floated
She was a new ship the present her maiden cruise The greatest pains having
been taken in her construction she was accounted the crack craft in the French
navy She is one of the heavy sixtygun frigates now in vogue all over the
world and which we Yankees were the first to introduce In action these are the
most murderous vessels ever launched
The model of the Reine Blanche has all that warlike comeliness only to be
seen in a fine fighting Still there is a good deal of French flummery about
her brass plates and other gewgaws stuck on all over like baubles on a
handsome woman
Among other things she carries a stern gallery resting on the uplifted
hands of two Caryatides larger than life You step out upon this from the
commodores cabin To behold the rich hangings and mirrors and mahogany
within one is almost prepared to see a bevy of ladies trip forth on the balcony
for an airing
But come to tread the gundeck and all thoughts like these are put to
flight Such batteries of thunderbolt hurlers with a sixtyeightpounder or two
thrown in as makeweights On the spardeck also are carronades of enormous
calibre
Recently built this vessel of course had the benefit of the latest
improvements I was quite amazed to see on what high principles of art some
exceedingly simple things were done But your Gaul is scientific about
everything what other people accomplish by a few hard knocks he delights in
achieving by a complex arrangement of the pulley lever and screw
What demisemiquavers in a French air In exchanging naval courtesies I
have known a French band play »Yankee Doodle« with such a string of variations
that no one but a pretty cute Yankee could tell what they were at
In the French navy they have no marines their men taking turns at carrying
the musket are sailors one moment and soldiers the next a fellow running
aloft in his linefrock today tomorrow stands sentry at the admirals cabin
door This is fatal to anything like proper sailor pride To make a man a
seaman he should be put to no other duty Indeed a thorough tar is unfit for
anything else and what is more this fact is the best evidence of his being a
true sailor
On board the Reine Blanche they did not have enough to eat and what they
did have was not of the right sort Instead of letting the sailors file their
teeth against the rim of a hard seabiscuit they baked their bread daily in
pitiful little rolls Then they had no grog as a substitute they drugged the
poor fellows with a thin sour wine the juice of a few grapes perhaps to a
pint of the juice of waterfacets Moreover the sailors asked for meat and
they gave them soup a rascally substitute as they well knew
Ever since leaving home they had been on short allowance At the present
time those belonging to the boats and thus getting an occasional opportunity
to run ashore frequently sold their rations of bread to some less fortunate
shipmate for sixfold its real value
Another thing tending to promote dissatisfaction among the crew was their
having such a devil of a fellow for a captain He was one of those horrid naval
bores a great disciplinarian In port he kept them constantly exercising
yards and sails and manoeuvring with the boats and at sea they were for ever
at quarters running in and out the enormous guns as if their arms were made
for nothing else Then there was the admiral aboard also and no doubt he too
had a paternal eye over them
In the ordinary routine of duty we could not but be struck with the
listless slovenly behaviour of these men there was nothing of the national
vivacity in their movements nothing of the quick precision perceptible on the
deck of a thoroughly disciplined armed vessel
All this however when we came to know the reason was no matter of
surprise threefourths of them were pressed men Some old merchant sailors had
been seized the very day they landed from distant voyages while the landsmen
of whom there were many had been driven down from the country in herds and so
sent to sea
At the time I was quite amazed to hear of pressgangs in a day of
comparative peace but the anomaly is accounted for by the fact that of late
the French have been building up a great military marine to take the place of
that which Nelson gave to the waves of the sea at Trafalgar But it is to be
hoped that they are not building their ships for the people across the Channel
to take In case of a war what a fluttering of French ensigns there would be
Though I say the French are no sailors I am far from seeking to underrate
them as a people They are an ingenious and right gallant nation And as an
American I take pride in asserting it
Chapter XXX
They Take Us Ashore What Happened There
Five days and nights if I remember right we were aboard the frigate On the
afternoon of the fifth we were told that the next morning she sailed for
Valparaiso Rejoiced at this we prayed for a speedy passage But as it turned
out the consul had no idea of letting us off so easily To our no small
surprise an officer came along toward night and ordered us out of irons Being
then mustered in the gangway we were escorted into a cutter alongside and
pulled ashore
Accosted by Wilson as we struck the beach he delivered us up to a numerous
guard of natives who at once conducted us to a house near by Here we were made
to sit down under a shade without and the consul and two elderly European
residents passed by us and entered
After some delay during which we were much diverted by the hilarious
goodnature of our guard one of our number was called out for followed by an
order for him to enter the house alone
On returning a moment after he told us we had little to encounter It had
simply been asked whether he still continued of the same mind on replying yes
something was put down upon a piece of paper and he was waved outside All
being summoned in rotation my own turn came at last
Within Wilson and his two friends were seated magisterially at a table an
inkstand a pen and a sheet of paper lending quite a businesslike air to the
apartment These three gentlemen being arrayed in coats and pantaloons looked
respectable at least in a country where complete suits of garments are so
seldom met with One present essayed a solemn aspect but having a short neck
and a full face only made out to look stupid
It was this individual who condescended to take a paternal interest in
myself After declaring my resolution with respect to the ship unalterable I
was proceeding to withdraw in compliance with a sign from the consul when the
stranger turned round to him saying »Wait a minute if you please Mr Wilson
let me talk to that youth Come here my young friend I m extremely sorry to
see you associated with these bad men do you know what it will end in«
»Oh that s the lad that wrote the Round Robin« interposed the consul »He
and that rascally doctor are at the bottom of the whole affair go outside
sir«
I retired as from the presence of royalty backing out with many bows
The evident prejudice of Wilson against both the doctor and myself was by no
means inexplicable A man of any education before the mast is always looked upon
with dislike by his captain and never mind how peaceable he may be should any
disturbance arise from his intellectual superiority he is deemed to exert an
underhand influence against the officers
Little as I had seen of Captain Guy the few glances cast upon me after
being on board a week or so were sufficient to reveal his enmity a feeling
quickened by my undisguised companionship with Long Ghost whom he both feared
and cordially hated Guys relations with the consul readily explains the
latters hostility
The examination over Wilson and his friends advanced to the doorway when
the former, assuming a severe expression pronounced our perverseness
infatuation in the extreme Nor was there any hope left our last chance for
pardon was gone Even were we to become contrite and crave permission to return
to duty it would not now be permitted
»Oh get along with your gammon counsellor« exclaimed Black Dan
absolutely indignant that his understanding should be thus insulted
Quite enraged Wilson bade him hold his peace and then summoning a fat old
native to his side addressed him in Tahitian giving directions for leading us
away to a place of safekeeping
Hereupon being marshalled in order with the old man at our head we were
put in motion with loud shouts along a fine pathway running far on through
wide groves of the cocoanut and breadfruit
The rest of our escort trotted on beside us in high goodhumour jabbering
broken English and in a hundred ways giving us to understand that Wilson was no
favourite of theirs and that we were prime good fellows for holding out as we
did They seemed to know our whole history
The scenery around was delightful The tropical day was fast drawing to a
close and from where we were the sun looked like a vast red fire burning in
the woodlands its rays falling aslant through the endless ranks of trees and
every leaf fringed with flame Escaped from the confined decks of the frigate
the air breathed spices to us streams were heard flowing green boughs were
rocking and far inland all sunset flushed rose the still steep peaks of the
island
As we proceeded I was more and more struck by the picturesqueness of the
wide shaded road In several places durable bridges of wood were thrown over
large watercourses others were spanned by a single arch of stone In any part
of the road three horsemen might have ridden abreast
This beautiful avenue by far the best thing which civilisation has done
for the island is called by foreigners the Broom Road though for what reason
I do not know Originally planned for the convenience of the missionaries
journeying from one station to another it almost completely encompasses the
larger peninsula skirting for a distance of at least sixty miles along the low
fertile lands bordering the sea But on the side next Taiarboo or the lesser
peninsula it sweeps through a narrow secluded valley and thus crosses the
island in that direction
The uninhabited interior being almost impenetrable from the densely wooded
glens frightful precipices and sharp mountain ridges absolutely inaccessible
is but little known even to the natives themselves and so instead of striking
directly across from one village to another they follow the Broom Road round
and round14
It is by no means however altogether travelled on foot horses being now
quite plentiful They were introduced from Chili and possessing all the
gaiety fleetness and docility of the Spanish breed are admirably adapted to
the tastes of the higher classes who as equestrians have become very expert
The missionaries and chiefs never think of journeying except in the saddle and
at all hours of the day you see the latter galloping along at full speed Like
the Sandwich Islanders they ride like PawneeLoups
For miles and miles I have travelled the Broom Road and never wearied of the
continual change of scenery But wherever it leads you whether through level
woods across grassy glens or over hills waving with palms the bright blue
sea on one side and the green mountain pinnacles on the other are always in
sight
Chapter XXXI
The Calabooza Beretanee
About a mile from the village we came to a halt
It was a beautiful spot A mountain stream here flowed at the foot of a
verdant slope on one hand it murmured along until the waters spreading
themselves upon a beach of small sparkling shells trickled into the sea on
the other was a long defile where the eye pursued a gleaming sinuous thread
lost in shade and verdure
The ground next the road was walled in by a low rude parapet of stones
and upon the summit of the slope beyond was a large native house the thatch
dazzling white and in shape an oval
»Calabooza Calabooza Beretanee« the English Jail cried our conductor
pointing to the building
For a few months past having been used by the consul as a house of
confinement for his refractory sailors it was thus styled to distinguish it
from similar places in and about Papeetee
Though extremely romantic in appearance on a near approach it proved but
ill adapted to domestic comfort In short it was a mere shell recently built
and still unfinished It was open all round and tufts of grass were growing
here and there under the very roof The only piece of furniture was the stocks
a clumsy machine for keeping people in one place which I believe is pretty
much out of date in most countries It is still in use however among the
Spaniards in South America from whom it seems the Tahitians have borrowed the
contrivance as well as the name by which all places of confinement are known
among them
The stocks were nothing more than two stout timbers about twenty feet in
length and precisely alike One was placed edgeways on the ground and the
other resting on top left at regular intervals along the seam several round
holes the object of which was evident at a glance
By this time our guide had informed us that he went by the name of Capin Bob
Captain Bob and a hearty old Bob he proved It was just the name for him
From the first so pleased were we with the old man that we cheerfully
acquiesced in his authority
Entering the building he set us about fetching heaps of dry leaves to
spread behind the stocks for a couch A trunk of a small cocoanut tree was then
placed for a bolster rather a hard one but the natives are used to it For a
pillow they use a little billet of wood scooped out and standing on four
short legs a sort of headstool
These arrangements completed Captain Bob proceeded to hannapar or secure
us for the night The upper timber of the machine being lifted at one end and
our ankles placed in the semicircular spaces of the lower one the other beam
was then dropped both being finally secured together by an old iron hoop at
either extremity This initiation was performed to the boisterous mirth of the
natives and diverted ourselves not a little
Captain Bob now bustled about like an old woman seeing the children to bed
A basket of baked taro or Indian turnip was brought in and we were given a
piece all round Then a great counterpane of coarse brown tappa was stretched
over the whole party and after sundry injunctions to moeemoee and be maitai
in other words, to go to sleep and be good boys we were left to ourselves
fairly put to bed and tucked in
Much talk was now had concerning our prospects in life but the doctor and
I who lay side by side thinking the occasion better adapted to meditation
kept pretty silent and before long the rest ceased conversing and wearied
with loss of rest on board the frigate were soon sound asleep
After sliding from one revery into another I started and gave the doctor a
pinch He was dreaming however and resolved to follow his example I troubled
him no more
How the rest managed I know not but for my own part I found it very hard
to get asleep The consciousness of having ones foot pinned and the
impossibility of getting it anywhere else than just where it was was most
distressing
But this was not all there was no way of lying but straight on your back
unless to be sure ones limb went round and round in the ankle like a swivel
Upon getting into a sort of doze it was no wonder this uneasy posture gave me
the nightmare Under the delusion that I was about some gymnastics or other I
gave my unfortunate member such a twitch that I started up with the idea that
someone was dragging the stocks away
Captain Bob and his friends lived in a little hamlet hard by and when
morning showed in the east the old gentleman came forth from that direction
likewise emerging from a grove and saluting us loudly as he approached
Finding everybody awake he set us at liberty and leading us down to the
stream ordered every man to strip and bathe
»All hans my boy hannahanna wash« he cried Bob was a linguist and
had been to sea in his day as he many a time afterward told us
At this moment we were all alone with him and it would have been the
easiest thing in the world to have given him the slip but he seemed to have no
idea of such a thing treating us so frankly and cordially indeed that even
had we thought of running we would have been ashamed of attempting it He very
well knew nevertheless as we ourselves were not slow in finding out that
for various reasons any attempt of the kind without some previously arranged
plan for leaving the island would be certain to fail
As Bob was a rare one every way I must give some account of him There was
a good deal of personal appearance about him in short he was a corpulent
giant over six feet in height and literally as big round as a hogshead The
enormous bulk of some of the Tahitians has been frequently spoken of by
voyagers
Besides being the English consuls jailor as it were he carried on a
little Tahitian farming that is to say he owned several groves of the
breadfruit and palm and never hindered their growing Close by was a taro
patch of his which he occasionally visited
Bob seldom disposed of the produce of his lands it was all needed for
domestic consumption Indeed for gormandising I would have matched him against
any three commoncouncilmen at a civic feast
A friend of Bobs told me that owing to his voraciousness his visits to
other parts of the island were much dreaded for according to Tahitian customs
hospitality without charge is enjoined upon every one and though it is
reciprocal in most cases, in Bobs it was almost out of the question The damage
done to a native larder in one of his morning calls was more than could be made
good by his entertainers spending the holydays with him
The old man as I have hinted had once upon a time been a cruise or two
in a whalingvessel and therefore he prided himself upon his English Having
acquired what he knew of it in the forecastle he talked little else than sailor
phrases which sounded whimsically enough
I asked him one day how old he was Olee he exclaimed looking very
profound in consequence of thoroughly understanding so subtile a question »Oh
very olee tousand ear more big man when Capin Tootee Captain Cook
heavey in sight« in sea parlance came into view
This was a thing impossible but adapting my discourse to the man I
rejoined »Ah you see Capin Tootee well how you like him«
»Oh he maitai good friend of me and know my wife«
On my assuring him strongly that he could not have been born at the time he
explained himself by saying that he was speaking of his father all the while
This indeed might very well have been
It is a curious fact that all these people young and old will tell you
that they have enjoyed the honour of a personal acquaintance with the great
navigator and if you listen to them they will go on and tell anecdotes without
end This springs from nothing but their great desire to please well knowing
that a more agreeable topic for a white man could not be selected As for the
anachronism of the thing they seem to have no idea of it days and years are
all the same to them
After our sunrise bath Bob once more placed us in the stocks almost moved
to tears at subjecting us to so great a hardship but he could not treat us
otherwise he said on pain of the consuls displeasure How long we were to be
confined he did not know nor what was to be done with us in the end
As noon advanced and no signs of a meal were visible someone inquired
whether we were to be boarded as well as lodged at the Hotel de Calabooza
»Vast heavey« avast heaving or wait a bit said Bob »kowkow food come
ship by by«
And sure enough along comes Rope Yam with a wooden bucket of the Julias
villainous biscuit With a grin he said it was a present from Wilson it was
all we were to get that day A great cry was now raised and well was it for the
landlubber that he had a pair of legs and the men could not use theirs One
and all we resolved not to touch the bread come what come might and so we
told the natives
Being extravagantly fond of shipbiscuit the harder the better they were
quite overjoyed and offered to give us every day a small quantity of baked
breadfruit and Indian turnip in exchange for the bread This we agreed to and
every morning afterward when the bucket came its contents were at once handed
over to Bob and his friends who never ceased munching until nightfall
Our exceedingly frugal meal of breadfruit over Captain Bob waddled up to
us with a couple of long poles hooked at one end and several large baskets of
woven cocoanut branches
Not far off was an extensive grove of orangetrees in full bearing and
myself and another were selected to go with him and gather a supply for the
party When we went in among the trees the sumptuousness of the orchard was
unlike anything I had ever seen while the fragrance shaken from the gently
waving boughs regaled our senses most delightfully
In many places the trees formed a dense shade spreading overhead a dark
rustling vault groined with boughs and studded here and there with the ripened
spheres like gilded balls In several places the overladen branches were borne
to the earth hiding the trunk in a tent of foliage Once fairly in the grove
we could see nothing else it was oranges all round
To preserve the fruit from bruising Bob hooking the twigs with his pole
let them fall into his basket But this would not do for us seizing hold of a
bough we brought such a shower to the ground that our old friend was fain to
run from under Heedless of remonstrance we then reclined in the shade and
feasted to our hearts content Heaping up the baskets afterward we returned to
our comrades by whom our arrival was hailed with loud plaudits and in a
marvellously short time nothing was left of the oranges we brought but the
rinds
While inmates of the Calabooza we had as much of the fruit as we wanted
and to this cause and others that might be mentioned may be ascribed the
speedy restoration of our sick to comparative health
The orange of Tahiti is delicious small and sweet with a thin dry rind
Though now abounding it was unknown before Cooks time to whom the natives are
indebted for so great a blessing He likewise introduced several other kinds of
fruit among these were the fig pineapple and lemon now seldom met with The
lime still grows and some of the poorer natives express the juice to sell to
the shipping It is highly valued as an antiscorbutic Nor was the variety of
foreign fruits and vegetables which were introduced the only benefit conferred
by the first visitors to the Society Group Cattle and sheep were left at
various places More of them anon
Thus after all that has of late years been done for these islanders Cook
and Vancouver may in one sense at least be considered their greatest
benefactors
Chapter XXXII
Proceedings of the French at Tahiti
As I happened to arrive at the island at a very interesting period in its
political affairs it may be well to give some little account here of the
proceedings of the French by way of episode to the narrative My information
was obtained at the time from the general reports then rife among the natives
as well as from what I learned upon a subsequent visit and reliable accounts
which I have seen since reaching home
It seems that for some time back the French had been making repeated
ineffectual attempts to plant a Roman Catholic mission here But invariably
treated with contumely they sometimes met with open violence and in every
case those directly concerned in the enterprise were ultimately forced to
depart In one instance two priests Laval and Caset after enduring a series
of persecutions were set upon by the natives maltreated and finally carried
aboard a small trading schooner which eventually put them ashore at Wallis
Island a savage place some two thousand miles to the westward
Now that the resident English missionaries authorised the banishment of
these priests is a fact undenied by themselves I was also repeatedly informed
that by their inflammatory harangues they instigated the riots which preceded
the sailing of the schooner At all events it is certain that their unbounded
influence with the natives would easily have enabled them to prevent everything
that took place on this occasion had they felt so inclined
Melancholy as such an example of intolerance on the part of Protestant
missionaries must appear it is not the only one and by no means the most
flagrant which might be presented But I forbear to mention any others since
they have been more than hinted at by recent voyagers and their repetition here
would perhaps be attended with no good effect Besides the conduct of the
Sandwich Island missionaries in particular has latterly much amended in this
respect
The treatment of the two priests formed the principal ground and the only
justifiable one upon which Du Petit Thouars demanded satisfaction and which
subsequently led to his seizure of the island In addition to other things he
also charged that the flag of Merenhout the consul had been repeatedly
insulted and the property of a certain French resident violently appropriated
by the government In the latter instance the natives were perfectly in the
right At that time the law against the traffic in ardent spirits every now
and then suspended and revived happened to be in force and finding a large
quantity on the premises of Victor a low knavish adventurer from Marseilles
the Tahitians pronounced it forfeit
For these and similar alleged outrages a large pecuniary restitution was
demanded 10000 dollars which there being no exchequer to supply the island
was forthwith seized under cover of a mock treaty dictated to the chiefs on
the gundeck of Du Petit Thouars frigate But notwithstanding this formality
there now seems little doubt that the downfall of the Pomarees was decided upon
at the Tuileries
After establishing the Protectorate so called the rearadmiral sailed
leaving M Bruat governor assisted by Reine and Carpegne civilians named
members of the council of government and Merenhout the consul now made
commissionerroyal No soldiers however were landed until several months
afterward As men Reine and Carpegne were not disliked by the natives but
Bruat and Merenhout they bitterly detested In several interviews with the poor
queen the unfeeling governor sought to terrify her into compliance with his
demands clapping his hand upon his sword shaking his fist in her face and
swearing violently »Oh king of a great nation« said Pomaree in her letter to
Louis Philippe »fetch away this man I and my people cannot endure his evil
doings He is a shameless man«
Although the excitement among the natives did not wholly subside upon the
rearadmirals departure no overt act of violence immediately followed The
queen had fled to Imeeo and the dissensions among the chiefs together with the
illadvised conduct of the missionaries prevented a union upon some common plan
of resistance But the great body of the people as well as their queen
confidently relied upon the speedy interposition of England a nation bound to
them by many ties and which more than once had solemnly guaranteed their
independence
As for the missionaries they openly defied the French governor childishly
predicting fleets and armies from Britain But what is the welfare of a spot
like Tahiti to the mighty interests of France and England There was a
remonstrance on one side and a reply on the other and there the matter rested
For once in their brawling lives St George and St Denis were hand and glove
and they were not going to cross sabres about Tahiti
During my stay upon the island so far as I could see there was little to
denote that any change had taken place in the government Such laws as they had
were administered the same as ever the missionaries went about unmolested and
comparative tranquillity everywhere prevailed Nevertheless I sometimes heard
the natives inveighing against the French no favourites by the by throughout
Polynesia and bitterly regretting that the queen had not at the outset made
a stand
In the house of the chief Adea frequent discussions took place concerning
the ability of the island to cope with the French the number of fighting men
and muskets among the natives were talked of as well as the propriety of
fortifying several heights overlooking Papeetee Imputing these symptoms to the
mere resentment of a recent outrage and not to any determined spirit of
resistance I little anticipated the gallant though useless warfare so soon to
follow my departure
At a period subsequent to my first visit the island which before was
divided into nineteen districts with a native chief over each in capacity of
governor and judge was by Bruat divided into four Over these he set as many
recreant chiefs Kitoti Tati Utamai and Paraita to whom he paid 1000 dollars
each to secure their assistance in carrying out his evil designs
The first blood shed in any regular conflict was at Mahanar upon the
peninsula of Taiarboo The fight originated in the seizure of a number of women
from the shore by men belonging to one of the French vessels of war In this
affair the islanders fought desperately killing about fifty of the enemy and
losing ninety of their own number The French sailors and marines who at the
time were reported to be infuriated with liquor gave no quarter and the
survivors only saved themselves by fleeing to the mountains Subsequently the
battles of Hararparpi and Fararar were fought in which the invaders met with
indifferent success
Shortly after the engagement at Hararparpi three Frenchmen were waylaid in
a pass of the valleys and murdered by the incensed natives One was Lefevre a
notorious scoundrel and a spy whom Bruat had sent to conduct a certain Major
Fergus said to be a Pole to the hidingplace of four chiefs whom the governor
wished to seize and execute This circumstance violently inflamed the hostility
of both parties
About this time Kitoti a depraved chief and the pliant tool of Bruat was
induced by him to give a great feast in the Vale of Paree to which all his
countrymen were invited The governors object was to gain over all he could to
his interests he supplied an abundance of wine and brandy and a scene of
bestial intoxication was the natural consequence Before it came to this
however several speeches were made by the islanders One of these delivered by
an aged warrior who had formerly been at the head of the celebrated Aeorai
Society was characteristic »This is a very good feast« said the reeling old
man »and the wine also is very good but you evilminded WeeWees French and
you falsehearted men of Tahiti are all very bad«
By the latest accounts most of the islanders still refuse to submit to the
French and what turn events may hereafter take it is hard to predict At any
rate these disorders must accelerate the final extinction of their race
Along with the few officers left by Du Petit Thouars were several French
priests for whose unobstructed exertions in the dissemination of their faith
the strongest guarantees were provided by an article of the treaty But no one
was bound to offer them facilities much less a luncheon the first day they
went ashore True they had plenty of gold but to the natives it was anathema
taboo and for several hours and some odd minutes they would not touch it
Emissaries of the Pope and the devil as the strangers were considered the
smell of sulphur hardly yet shaken out of their canonicals what islander would
venture to jeopardise his soul and call down a blight upon his breadfruit by
holding any intercourse with them That morning the priests actually picnicked
in a grove of cocoanut trees but before night Christian hospitality in
exchange for a commercial equivalent of hard dollars was given them in an
adjoining house
Wanting in civility as the conduct of the English missionaries may be
thought in withholding a decent reception to these persons the latter were
certainly to blame in needlessly placing themselves in so unpleasant a
predicament Under far better auspices they might have settled upon some one of
the thousand unconverted isles of the Pacific rather than have forced
themselves thus upon a people already professedly Christians
Chapter XXXIII
We Receive Calls at the Hotel de Calabooza
Our place of confinement being open all round and so near the Broom Road of
course we were in plain sight of everybody passing and therefore we had no
lack of visitors among such an idle inquisitive set as the Tahitians For a few
days they were coming and going continually while thus ignobly fast by the
foot we were fain to give passive audience
During this period we were the lions of the neighbourhood and no doubt
strangers from the distant villages were taken to see the Karhowrees white
men in the same way that countrymen in a city are gallanted to the
Zoological Gardens
All this gave us a fine opportunity of making observations I was painfully
struck by the considerable number of sickly or deformed persons undoubtedly
made so by a virulent complaint which under native treatment almost
invariably affects in the end the muscles and bones of the body In
particular there is a distortion of the back most unsightly to behold
originating in a horrible form of the malady
Although this and other bodily afflictions were unknown before the
discovery of the islands by the whites there are several cases found of the
FaFa or Elephantiasis a native disease which seems to have prevailed among
them from the earliest antiquity Affecting the legs and feet alone it swells
them in some instances to the girth of a mans body covering the skin with
scales It might be supposed that one thus afflicted would be incapable of
walking but to all appearance they seem to be nearly as active as anybody
apparently suffering no pain and bearing the calamity with a degree of
cheerfulness truly marvellous
The FaFa is very gradual in its approaches and years elapse before the
limb is full swollen Its origin is ascribed by the natives to various causes
but the general impression seems to be that it arises in most cases from the
eating of unripe breadfruit and Indian turnip So far as I could find out it
is not hereditary In no stage do they attempt a cure the complaint being held
incurable
Speaking of the FaFa reminds me of a poor fellow a sailor whom I
afterward saw at Roorootoo a lone island some two days sail from Tahiti
The island is very small and its inhabitants nearly extinct We sent a boat
off to see whether any yams were to be had as formerly the yams of Roorootoo
were as famous among the islands round about as Sicily oranges in the
Mediterranean Going ashore to my surprise I was accosted near a little
shanty of a church by a white man who limped forth from a wretched hut His
hair and beard were unshorn his face deadly pale and haggard and one limb
swelled with the FaFa to an incredible bigness This was the first instance of
a foreigner suffering from it that I had ever seen or heard of and the
spectacle shocked me accordingly
He had been there for years From the first symptoms he could not believe
his complaint to be what it really was and trusted it would soon disappear But
when it became plain that his only chance for recovery was a speedy change of
climate no ship would receive him as a sailor to think of being taken as a
passenger was idle This speaks little for the humanity of seacaptains but
the truth is that those in the Pacific have little enough of the virtue and
nowadays when so many charitable appeals are made to them they have become
callous
I pitied the poor fellow from the bottom of my heart but nothing could I
do as our captain was inexorable »Why« said he »here we are started on a
six months cruise I cant put back and he is better off on the island than
at sea So on Roorootoo he must die« And probably he did
I afterward heard of this melancholy object from two seamen His attempts
to leave were still unavailing and his hard fate was fast closing in
Notwithstanding the physical degeneracy of the Tahitians as a people among
the chiefs individuals of personable figures are still frequently met with
and occasionally majesticlooking men and diminutive women as lovely as the
nymphs who nearly a century ago swam round the ships of Wallis In these
instances Tahitian beauty is quite as seducing as it proved to the crew of the
Bounty the young girls being just such creatures as a poet would picture in the
tropics soft plump and dreamyeyed
The natural complexion of both sexes is quite light but the males appear
much darker from their exposure to the sun A dark complexion however in a
man is highly esteemed as indicating strength of both body and soul Hence
there is a saying of great antiquity among them
»If dark the cheek of the mother
The son will sound the warconch
If strong her frame he will give laws«
With this idea of manliness no wonder the Tahitians regard all pale and
tepidlooking Europeans as weak and feminine whereas a sailor with a cheek
like the breast of a roast turkey is held a lad of brawn to use their own
phrase a taata tona or man of bones
Speaking of bones recalls an ugly custom of theirs now obsolete that of
making fishhooks and gimlets out of those of their enemies This beats the
Scandinavians turning peoples skulls into cups and saucers
But to return to the Calabooza Beretanee Immense was the interest we
excited among the throngs that called there they would stand talking about us
by the hour growing most unnecessarily excited too and dancing up and down
with all the vivacity of their race They invariably sided with us flying out
against the consul and denouncing him as »Ita maitai nuee« or very bad
exceedingly They must have borne him some grudge or other
Nor were the women sweet souls at all backward in visiting Indeed they
manifested even more interest than the men gazing at us with eyes full of a
thousand meanings and conversing with marvellous rapidity But alas
inquisitive though they were and doubtless taking some passing compassion on
us there was little real feeling in them after all and still less sentimental
sympathy Many of them laughed outright at us noting only what was ridiculous
in our plight
I think it was the second day of our confinement that a wild beautiful girl
burst into the Calabooza and throwing herself into an arch attitude stood
afar off and gazed at us She was a heartless one tickled to death with Black
Dans nursing his chafed ankle and indulging in certain moral reflections on
the consul and Captain Guy After laughing her fill at him she condescended to
notice the rest glancing from one to another in the most methodical and
provoking manner imaginable Whenever anything struck her comically you saw it
like a flash her finger levelled instantaneously and flinging herself back
she gave loose to strange hollow little notes of laughter that sounded like
the bass of a musicbox playing a lively air with the lid down
Now I knew not that there was anything in my own appearance calculated to
disarm ridicule and indeed to have looked at all heroic under the
circumstances would have been rather difficult Still I could not but feel
exceedingly annoyed at the prospect of being screamed at in turn by this
mischievous young witch even though she were but an islander And to tell a
secret her beauty had something to do with this sort of feeling and pinioned
as I was to a log and clad most unbecomingly I began to grow sentimental
Ere her glance fell upon me I had unconsciously thrown myself into the
most graceful attitude I could assume leaned my head upon my hand and summoned
up as abstracted an expression as possible Though my face was averted I soon
felt it flush and knew that the glance was on me deeper and deeper grew the
flush and not a sound of laughter
Delicious thought she was moved at the sight of me I could stand it no
longer but started up Lo there she was her great hazel eyes rounding and
rounding in her head like two stars her whole frame in a merry quiver and an
expression about the mouth that was sudden and violent death to anything like
sentiment
The next moment she spun round and bursting from peal to peal of laughter
went racing out of the Calabooza and in mercy to me never returned
Chapter XXXIV
Life at the Calabooza
A few days passed and at last our docility was rewarded by some indulgence on
the part of Captain Bob
He allowed the entire party to be at large during the day only enjoining
upon us always to keep within hail This to be sure was in positive
disobedience to Wilsons orders and so care had to be taken that he should not
hear of it There was little fear of the natives telling him but strangers
travelling the Broom Road might By way of precaution boys were stationed as
scouts along the road At sight of a white man they sounded the alarm when we
all made for our respective holes the stocks being purposely left open the
beam then descended and we were prisoners As soon as the traveller was out of
sight of course we were liberated
Notwithstanding the regular supply of food which we obtained from Captain
Bob and his friends it was so small that we often felt most intolerably
hungry We could not blame them for not bringing us more for we soon became
aware that they had to pinch themselves in order to give us what they did
besides they received nothing for their kindness but the daily bucket of bread
Among a people like the Tahitians what we call hard times can only be
experienced in a scarcity of edibles yet so destitute are many of the common
people that this most distressing consequence of civilisation may be said with
them to be ever present To be sure the natives about the Calabooza had
abundance of limes and oranges but what were these good for except to impart a
still keener edge to appetites which there was so little else to gratify During
the height of the breadfruit season they fare better but at other times the
demands of the shipping exhaust the uncultivated resources of the island and
the lands being mostly owned by the chiefs the inferior orders have to suffer
for their cupidity Deprived of their nets many of them would starve
As Captain Bob insensibly remitted his watchfulness and we began to stroll
farther and farther from the Calabooza we managed by a systematic foraging upon
the country round about to make up for some of our deficiencies And fortunate
it was that the houses of the wealthier natives were just as open to us as those
of the most destitute we were treated as kindly in one as the other
Once in a while we came in at the death of a chiefs pig the noise of
whose slaughtering was generally to be heard at a great distance An occasion
like this gathers the neighbours together and they have a bit of a feast where
a stranger is always welcome A good loud squeal therefore was music in our
ears It showed something going on in that direction
Breaking in upon the party tumultuously as we did we always created a
sensation Sometimes we found the animal still alive and struggling in which
case it was generally dropped at our approach To provide for these
emergencies Flash Jack generally repaired to the scene of operations with a
sheathknife between his teeth and a club in his hand Others were exceedingly
officious in singeing off the bristles and disembowelling Doctor Long Ghost
and myself however never meddled with these preliminaries but came to the
feast itself with unimpaired energies
Like all lank men my long friend had an appetite of his own Others
occasionally went about seeking what they might devour but he was always on the
alert
He had an ingenious way of obviating an inconvenience which we all
experienced at times The islanders seldom use salt with their food so he
begged Rope Yarn to bring him some from the ship also a little pepper if he
could which accordingly was done This he placed in a small leather wallet
a monkey bag so called by sailors usually worn as a purse about the neck
»In my poor opinion« said Long Ghost as he tucked the wallet out of sight
»it behooves a stranger in Tahiti to have his knife in readiness and his castor
slung«
Chapter XXXV
Visit from an Old Acquaintance
We had not been many days ashore when Doctor Johnson was espied coming along
the Broom Road
We had heard that he meditated a visit and suspected what he was after
Being upon the consuls hands all our expenses were of course payable by him in
his official capacity and therefore as a friend of Wilson and sure of good
pay the shore doctor had some idea of allowing us to run up a bill with him
True it was rather awkward to ask us to take medicines which on board the
ship he told us were not needed However he resolved to put a bold face on the
matter and give us a call
His approach was announced by one of the scouts upon which someone
suggested that we should let him enter and then put him in the stocks But Long
Ghost proposed better sport What it was we shall presently see
Very bland and amiable Doctor Johnson advanced and resting his cane on
the stocks glanced to right and left as we lay before him »Well my lads« he
began »how do you find yourselves today«
Looking very demure the men made some rejoinder and he went on
»Those poor fellows I saw the other day the sick I mean how are they«
and he scrutinised the company At last he singled out one who was assuming a
most unearthly appearance and remarked that he looked as if he were extremely
ill »Yes« said the sailor dolefully »I m afeard doctor I ll soon be
losing the number of my mess« a sea phrase for departing this life and he
closed his eyes and moaned
»What does he say« said Johnson turning round eagerly
»Why« exclaimed Flash Jack who volunteered as interpreter »he means he s
going to croak« die
»Croak and what does that mean applied to a patient«
»Oh I understand« said he when the word was explained and he stepped
over the stocks and felt the mans pulse
»Whats his name« he asked turning this time to old Navy Bob
»We calls him Jingling Joe« replied that worthy
»Well then men you must take good care of poor Joseph and I will send him
a powder which must be taken according to the directions Some of you know how
to read I presume«
»That ere young cove does« replied Bob pointing toward the place where I
lay as if he were directing attention to a sail at sea
After examining the rest some of whom were really invalids but
convalescent and others only pretending to be labouring under divers maladies
Johnson turned round and addressed the party
»Men« said he »if any more of you are ailing speak up and let me know
By order of the consul I m to call every day so if any of you are at all
sick its my duty to prescribe for you This sudden change from ship fare to
shore living plays the deuce with you sailors so be cautious about eating
fruit Good day I ll send you the medicines the first thing in the morning«
Now I am inclined to suspect that with all his want of understanding
Johnson must have had some idea that we were quizzing him Still that was
nothing so long as it answered his purpose and therefore if he did see
through us he never showed it
Sure enough at the time appointed along came a native lad with a small
basket of cocoanut stalks filled with powders pillboxes and vials each
with names and directions written in a large round hand The sailors one and
all made a snatch at the collection under the strange impression that some of
the vials were seasoned with spirits But asserting his privilege as physician
to the first reading of the labels Doctor Long Ghost was at last permitted to
take possession of the basket
The first thing lighted upon was a large vial labelled For William rub
well in
This vial certainly had a spirituous smell and upon handing it to the
patient he made a summary internal application of its contents The doctor
looked aghast
There was now a mighty commotion Powders and pills were voted mere drugs in
the market and the holders of vials were pronounced lucky dogs Johnson must
have known enough of sailors to make some of his medicines palatable this at
least Long Ghost suspected Certain it was everyone took to the vials if at
all spicy directions were unheeded their contents all going one road
The largest one of all quite a bottle indeed and having a sort of burnt
brandy odour was labelled For Daniel drink freely and until relieved This
Black Dan proceeded to do and would have made an end of it at once had not the
bottle after a hard struggle been snatched from his hands and passed round
like a jovial decanter The old tar had complained of the effects of an
immoderate eating of fruit
Upon calling the following morning our physician found his precious row of
patients reclining behind the stocks and doing as well as could be expected
But the pills and powders were found to have been perfectly inactive
probably because none had been taken To make them efficacious it was suggested
that for the future a bottle of Pisco should be sent along with them
According to Flash Jacks notions unmitigated medical compounds were but dry
stuff at the best and needed something good to wash them down
Thus far our own MD Doctor Long Ghost after starting the frolic had
taken no further part in it but on the physicians third visit he took him to
one side and had a private confabulation What it was exactly we could not
tell but from certain illustrative signs and gestures I fancied that he was
describing the symptoms of some mysterious disorganisation of the vitals which
must have come on within the hour Assisted by his familiarity with medical
terms he seemed to produce a marked impression At last Johnson went his way
promising aloud that he would send Long Ghost what he desired
When the medicine boy came along the following morning the doctor was the
first to accost him walking off with a small purple vial This time there was
little else in the basket but a casebottle of the burnt brandy cordial which
after much debate was finally disposed of by someone pouring the contents
little by little into the half of a cocoanut shell and so giving all who
desired a glass No further medicinal cheer remaining the men dispersed
An hour or two passed when Flash Jack directed attention to my long friend
who since the medicine boy left had not been noticed till now With eyes
closed he was lying behind the stocks and Jack was lifting his arm and letting
it fall as if life were extinct On running up with the rest I at once
connected the phenomenon with the mysterious vial Searching his pocket I found
it and holding it up it proved to be laudanum Flash Jack snatching it from
my hand in a rapture quickly informed all present what it was and with much
glee proposed a nap for the company Some of them not comprehending him
exactly the apparently defunct Long Ghost who lay so still that I a little
suspected the genuineness of his sleep was rolled about as an illustration of
the virtues of the vials contents The idea tickled everybody mightily and
throwing themselves down the magic draught was passed from hand to hand
Thinking that as a matter of course they must at once become insensible each
man upon taking his sip fell back and closed his eyes
There was little fear of the result since the narcotic was equally
distributed But curious to see how it would operate I raised myself gently
after a while and looked around It was about noon and perfectly still and as
we all daily took the siesta I was not much surprised to find everyone quiet
Still in one or two instances I thought I detected a little peeping
Presently I heard a footstep and saw Doctor Johnson approaching
And perplexed enough did he look at the sight of his prostrate file of
patients plunged apparently in such unaccountable slumbers
»Daniel« he cried at last punching in the side with his cane the
individual thus designated »Daniel my good fellow get up do you hear«
But Black Dan was immovable and he poked the next sleeper
»Joseph Joseph come wake up its me Doctor Johnson«
But Jingling Joe with mouth open and eyes shut was not to be started
»Bless my soul« he exclaimed with uplifted hands and cane »whats got
into em I say men« he shouted running up and down »come to life men
what under the sun s the matter with you« and he struck the stocks and bawled
with increased vigour
At last he paused folded his hands over the head of his cane and
steadfastly gazed upon us The notes of the nasal orchestra were rising and
falling upon his ear and a new idea suggested itself
»Yes yes the rascals must have been getting boozy Well its none of my
business I ll be off« and off he went
No sooner was he out of sight than nearly all started to their feet and a
hearty laugh ensued
Like myself most of them had been watching the event from under a sly
eyelid By this time too Doctor Long Ghost was as wide awake as anybody What
were his reasons for taking laudanum if indeed he took any whatever is
best known to himself and as it is neither mine nor the readers business we
will say no more about it
Chapter XXXVI
We Are Carried before the Consul and Captain
We had been inmates of the Calabooza Beretanee about two weeks when one
morning Captain Bob coming from the bath in a state of utter nudity brought
into the building an armful of old tappa and began to dress to go out
The operation was quite simple The tappa of the coarsest kind was in
one long heavy piece and fastening one end to a column of habiscus wood
supporting the Calabooza he went off a few paces and putting the other about
his waist wound himself right up to the post This unique costume in rotundity
something like a farthingale added immensely to his large bulk so much so that
he fairly waddled in his gait But he was only adhering to the fashion of his
fathers for in the olden time the Kihee or big girdle was quite the mode
for both sexes Bob despising recent innovations still clung to it He was a
gentleman of the old school one of the last of the Kihees
He now told us that he had orders to take us before the consul Nothing
loth we formed in procession and with the old man at our head sighing and
labouring like an engine and flanked by a guard of some twenty natives we
started for the village
Arrived at the consular office we found Wilson there and four or five
Europeans seated in a row facing us probably with the view of presenting as
judicial an appearance as possible
On one side was a couch where Captain Guy reclined He looked convalescent
and as we found out intended soon to go aboard his ship He said nothing but
left everything to the consul
The latter now rose and drawing forth a paper from a large roll tied with
red tape commenced reading aloud
It purported to be The affidavit of John Jermin first officer of the
British Colonial Barque Julia Guy Master and proved to be a long statement
of matters from the time of leaving Sydney down to our arrival in the harbour
Though artfully drawn up so as to bear hard against every one of us it was
pretty correct in the details excepting that it was wholly silent as to the
manifold derelictions of the mate himself a fact which imparted unusual
significance to the concluding sentence »And furthermore this deponent sayeth
not«
No comments were made although we all looked round for the mate to see
whether it was possible that he would have authorised this use of his name But
he was not present
The next document produced was the deposition of the captain himself As on
all other occasions however he had very little to say for himself and it was
soon set aside
The third affidavit was that of the seamen remaining aboard the vessel
including the traitor Bungs who it seemed had turned ships evidence It was
an atrocious piece of exaggeration from beginning to end and those who signed
it could not have known what they were about Certainly Wymontoo did not though
his mark was there In vain the consul commanded silence during the reading of
this paper comments were shouted out upon every paragraph
The affidavits read Wilson who all the while looked as stiff as a poker
solemnly drew forth the ships articles from their tin case This document was a
discoloured musty biliouslooking affair and hard to read When finished the
consul held it up and pointing to the marks of the ships company at the
bottom asked us one by one whether we acknowledged the same for our own
»What s the use of asking that« said Black Dan »Captain Guy there knows
as well as we they are«
»Silence sir« said Wilson who intending to produce a suitable impression
by this ridiculous parade was not a little mortified by the old sailors
bluntness
A pause of a few moments now ensued during which the bench of judges
communed with Captain Guy in a low tone and the sailors canvassed the motives
of the consul in having the affidavits taken
The general idea seemed to be that it was done with a view of bouncing or
frightening us into submission Such proved to be the case for Wilson rising
to his feet again addressed us as follows
»You see men that every preparation has been made to send you to Sydney
for trial The Rosa a small Australian schooner lying in the harbour will
sail for that place in the course of ten days at farthest The Julia sails on a
cruise this day week Do you still refuse duty«
We did
Hereupon the consul and captain exchanged glances and the latter looked
bitterly disappointed
Presently I noticed Guys eye upon me and for the first time he spoke
and told me to come near I stepped forward
»Was it not you that was taken off the island«
»It was«
»It is you then who owe your life to my humanity Yet this is the
gratitude of a sailor Mr Wilson«
»Not so sir« And I at once gave him to understand that I was perfectly
acquainted with his motives in sending a boat into the bay his crew was
reduced and he merely wished to procure the sailor whom he expected to find
there The ship was the means of my deliverance and no thanks to the
benevolence of its captain
Doctor Long Ghost also had a word to say In two masterly sentences he
summed up Captain Guys character to the complete satisfaction of every seaman
present
Matters were now growing serious especially as the sailors became riotous
and talked about taking the consul and the captain back to the Calabooza with
them
The other judges fidgeted and loudly commanded silence It was at length
restored when Wilson for the last time addressing us said something more
about the Rosa and Sydney and concluded by reminding us that a week would
elapse ere the Julia sailed
Leaving these hints to operate for themselves he dismissed the party
ordering Captain Bob and his friends to escort us back whence we came
Chapter XXXVII
The French Priests Pay Their Respects
A day or two after the events just related we were lounging in the Calabooza
Beretanee when we were honoured by a visit from three of the French priests
and as about the only notice ever taken of us by the English missionaries was
their leaving their cards for us in the shape of a package of tracts we could
not help thinking that the Frenchmen in making a personal call were at least
much better bred
By this time they had settled themselves down quite near our habitation A
pleasant little stroll down the Broom Road and a rustic cross peeped through
the trees and soon you came to as charming a place as one would wish to see a
soft knoll planted with old breadfruit trees in front a savannah sloping to
a grove of palms and between these glimpses of blue sunny waves
On the summit of the knoll was a rude chapel of bamboos quite small and
surmounted by the cross Between the canes at nightfall the natives stole
peeps at a small portable altar a crucifix to correspond and gilded
candlesticks and censers Their curiosity carried them no farther nothing could
induce them to worship there Such queer ideas as they entertained of the hated
strangers Masses and chants were nothing more than evil spells As for the
priests themselves they were no better than diabolical sorcerers like those
who in old times terrified their fathers
Close by the chapel was a range of native houses rented from a chief and
handsomely furnished Here lived the priests and very comfortably too They
looked sanctimonious enough abroad but that went for nothing since at home in
their retreat they were a club of Friar Tucks holding priestly wassail over
many a good cup of red brandy and rising late in the morning
Pity it was they couldnt marry pity for the ladies of the island I mean
and the cause of morality for what business had the ecclesiastical old
bachelors with such a set of trim little native handmaidens These damsels were
their first converts and devoted ones they were
The priests as I said before were accounted necromancers the appearance
of two of our three visitors might have justified the conceit
They were little driedup Frenchmen in long straight gowns of black
cloth and unsightly threecornered hats so preposterously big that in putting
them on the reverend fathers seemed extinguishing themselves
Their companion was dressed differently He wore a sort of yellow flannel
morninggown and a broadbrimmed Manilla hat Large and portly he was also
hale and fifty with a complexion like an autumnal leaf handsome blue eyes
fine teeth and a racy Milesian brogue In short he was an Irishman Father
Murphy by name and as such pretty well known and very thoroughly disliked
throughout all the Protestant missionary settlements in Polynesia In early
youth he had been sent to a religious seminary in France and taking orders
there had but once or twice afterward revisited his native land
Father Murphy marched up to us briskly and the first words he uttered were
to ask whether there were any of his countrymen among us There were two of
them one a lad of sixteen a bright curlyheaded rascal and being a young
Irishman of course his name was Pat The other was an ugly and rather
melancholylooking scamp one MGee whose prospects in life had been blasted by
a premature transportation to Sydney This was the report at least though it
might have been scandal
In most of my shipmates were some redeeming qualities but about MGee there
was nothing of the kind and forced to consort with him I could not help
regretting a thousand times that the gallows had been so tardy As if
impelled against her will to send him into the world Nature had done all she
could to ensure his being taken for what he was About the eyes there was no
mistaking him with a villainous cast in one they seemed suspicious of each
other
Glancing away from him at once the bluff priest rested his gaze on the
goodhumoured face of Pat who with a pleasant roguishness was twigging the
enormous hats or Hytee Belteezers as land beavers are called by sailors from
under which like a couple of snails peeped the two little Frenchmen
Pat and the priest were both from the same town in Meath and when this was
found out there was no end to the questions of the latter To him Pat seemed a
letter from home and said a hundred times as much
After a long talk between these two and a little broken English from the
Frenchmen our visitors took leave but Father Murphy had hardly gone a dozen
rods when back he came inquiring whether we were in want of anything
»Yes« cried one »something to eat« Upon this he promised to send us some
fresh wheat bread of his own baking a great luxury in Tahiti
We all felicitated Pat upon picking up such a friend and told him his
fortune was made
The next morning a French servant of the priests made his appearance with
a small bundle of clothing for our young Hibernian and the promised bread for
the party Pat being out at the knees and elbows and like the rest of us not
full inside the present was acceptable all round
In the afternoon Father Murphy himself came along and in addition to his
previous gifts gave Pat a good deal of advice said he was sorry to see him in
limbo and that he would have a talk with the consul about having him set free
We saw nothing more of him for two or three days at the end of which time
he paid us another call telling Pat that Wilson was inexorable having refused
to set him at liberty unless to go aboard the ship This the priest now
besought him to do forthwith and to escape the punishment which it seems
Wilson had been hinting at to his intercessor Pat however was staunch against
entreaties and with all the ardour of a sophomorean sailor protested his
intention to hold out to the last With none of the meekness of a good little
boy about him the blunt youngster stormed away at such a rate that it was hard
to pacify him and the priest said no more
How it came to pass whether from Murphys speaking to the consul or
otherwise we could not tell but the next day Pat was sent for by Wilson and
being escorted to the village by our good old keeper three days elapsed before
he returned
Bent upon reclaiming him they had taken him on board the ship feasted him
in the cabin and finding that of no avail down they thrust him into the hold
in double irons and on bread and water All would not do and so he was sent
back to the Calabooza Boy that he was they must have counted upon his being
more susceptible to discipline than the rest
The interest felt in Pats welfare by his benevolent countryman was very
serviceable to the rest of us especially as we all turned Catholics and went
to mass every morning much to Captain Bobs consternation Upon finding it out
he threatened to keep us in the stocks if we did not desist He went no farther
than this though and so every few days we strolled down to the priests
residence and had a mouthful to eat and something generous to drink In
particular Doctor Long Ghost and myself became huge favourites with Pats
friend and many a time he regaled us from a quaintlooking travellingcase for
spirits stowed away in one corner of his dwelling It held four square flasks
which somehow or other always contained just enough to need emptying In
truth the fine old Irishman was a rosy fellow in canonicals His countenance
and his soul were always in a glow It may be ungenerous to reveal his failings
but he often talked thick and sometimes was perceptibly eccentric in his gait
I never drink French brandy but I pledge Father Murphy His health again
And many jolly proselytes may he make in Polynesia
Chapter XXXVIII
Little Jule Sails without Us
To make good the hint thrown out by the consul upon the conclusion of the Farce
of the Affidavits we were again brought before him within the time specified
It was the same thing over again he got nothing out of us and we were
remanded our resolute behaviour annoying him prodigiously
What we observed led us to form the idea that on first learning the state
of affairs on board the Julia Wilson must have addressed his invalid friend
the captain something in the following style
»Guy my poor fellow dont worry yourself now about those rascally sailors
of yours I ll dress them out for you just leave it all to me and set your
mind at rest«
But handcuffs and stocks big looks threats dark hints and depositions
had all gone for nought
Conscious that as matters now stood nothing serious could grow out of what
had happened and never dreaming that our being sent home for trial had ever
been really thought of we thoroughly understood Wilson and laughed at him
accordingly
Since leaving the Julia we had caught no glimpse of the mate but we often
heard of him
It seemed that he remained on board keeping house in the cabin for himself
and Viner who going to see him according to promise was induced to remain a
guest These two cronies now had fine times tapping the captains
quartercasks playing cards on the transom and giving balls of an evening to
the ladies ashore In short they cut up so many queer capers that the
missionaries complained of them to the consul and Jermin received a sharp
reprimand
This so affected him that he drank still more freely than before and one
afternoon when mellow as a grape he took umbrage at a canoe full of natives
who on being hailed from the deck to come aboard and show their papers got
frightened and paddled for the shore Lowering a boat instantly he equipped
Wymontoo and the Dane with a cutlass apiece and seizing another himself off
they started in pursuit the ships ensign flying in the boats stern The
alarmed islanders beaching their canoe with loud cries fled through the
village the mate after them slashing his naked weapon to right and left A
crowd soon collected and the Karhowree toonee or crazy stranger was quickly
taken before Wilson
Now it so chanced that in a native house hard by the consul and Captain
Guy were having a quiet game at cribbage by themselves a decanter on the table
standing sentry The obstreperous Jermin was brought in and finding the two
thus pleasantly occupied it had a soothing effect upon him and he insisted
upon taking a hand at the cards and a drink of the brandy As the consul was
nearly as tipsy as himself and the captain dared not object for fear of giving
offence at it they went all three of them and made a night of it the
mates delinquencies being summarily passed over and his captors sent away
An incident worth relating grew out of this freak
There wandered about Papeetee at this time a shrivelled little fright of
an Englishwoman known among sailors as Old Mother Tot From New Zealand to the
Sandwich Islands she had been all over the South Seas keeping a rude hut of
entertainment for mariners and supplying them with rum and dice Upon the
missionary islands of course such conduct was severely punishable and at
various places Mother Tots establishment had been shut up and its proprietor
made to quit in the first vessel that could be hired to land her elsewhere But
with a perseverance invincible wherever she went she always started afresh and
so became notorious everywhere
By some wicked spell of hers a patient oneeyed little cobbler followed
her about mending shoes for white men doing the old womans cooking and
bearing all her abuse without grumbling Strange to relate a battered Bible was
seldom out of his sight and whenever he had leisure and his mistresss back
was turned he was forever poring over it This pious propensity used to enrage
the old crone past belief and oftentimes she boxed his ears with the book and
tried to burn it Mother Tot and her man Josy were indeed a curious pair
But to my story
A week or so after our arrival in the harbour the old lady had once again
been hunted down and forced for the time to abandon her nefarious calling This
was brought about chiefly by Wilson who for some reason unknown had
contracted the most violent hatred for her which on her part was more than
reciprocated
Well passing in the evening where the consul and his party were making
merry she peeped through the bamboos of the house and straightway resolved to
gratify her spite
The night was very dark and providing herself with a huge ships lantern
which usually swung in her hut she waited till they came forth This happened
about midnight Wilson making his appearance supported by two natives holding
him up by the arms These three went first and just as they got under a deep
shade a bright light was thrust within an inch of Wilsons nose The old hag
was kneeling before him holding the lantern with uplifted hands
»Ha ha my fine counsellor« she shrieked »ye persecute a lone old body
like me for selling rum do ye And here ye are carried home drunk Hoot ye
villain I scorn ye« And she spat upon him
Terrified at the apparition the poor natives arrant believers in ghosts
dropped the trembling consul and fled in all directions After giving full vent
to her rage Mother Tot hobbled away and left the three revellers to stagger
home the best way they could
The day following our last interview with Wilson we learned that Captain
Guy had gone on board his vessel for the purpose of shipping a new crew There
was a round bounty offered and a heavy bag of Spanish dollars with the Julias
articles ready for signing were laid on the capstanhead
Now there was no lack of idle sailors ashore mostly beachcombers who had
formed themselves into an organised gang headed by one Mack a Scotchman whom
they styled the Commodore By the laws of the fraternity no member was allowed
to ship on board a vessel unless granted permission by the rest In this way
the gang controlled the port all discharged seamen being forced to join them
To Mack and his men our story was well known indeed they had several times
called to see us and of course as sailors and congenial spirits they were
hard against Captain Guy
Deeming the matter important they came in a body to the Calabooza and
wished to know whether all things considered we thought it best for any of
them to join the Julia
Anxious to pack the ship off as soon as possible we answered by all means
Some went so far as to laud the Julia to the skies as the best and fastest of
ships Jermin too as a good fellow and a sailor every inch came in for his
share of praise and as for the captain quiet man he would never trouble
anyone In short every inducement we could think of was presented and Flash
Jack ended by assuring the beachcombers solemnly that now we were all well and
hearty nothing but a regard to principle prevented us from returning on board
ourselves
The result was that a new crew was finally obtained together with a steady
New Englander for second mate and three good whalemen for harpooneers In part
what was wanting for the ships larder was also supplied and as far as could be
done in a place like Tahiti the damages the vessel had sustained were repaired
As for the Mowree the authorities refusing to let him be put ashore he was
carried to sea in irons down in the hold What eventually became of him we
never heard
Ropey poor poor Ropey who a few days previous had fallen sick was left
ashore at the sailor hospital at Townor a small place upon the beach between
Papeetee and Matavai Here some time after he breathed his last No one knew
his complaint he must have died of hard times Several of us saw him interred
in the sand and I planted a rude post to mark his restingplace
The cooper and the rest who had remained aboard from the first of course
composed part of the Julias new crew
To account for the conduct all along of the consul and captain in trying
so hard to alter our purpose with respect to the ship the following statement
is all that is requisite Besides an advance of from fifteen to twentyfive
dollars demanded by every sailor shipping at Tahiti an additional sum for each
man so shipped has to be paid into the hands of the government as a charge of
the port Besides this the men with here and there an exception will only
ship for one cruise thus becoming entitled to a discharge before the vessel
reaches home which in time creates the necessity of obtaining other men at a
similar cost Now the Julias exchequer was at lowwater mark or rather it
was quite empty and to meet these expenses a good part of what little oil
there was aboard had to be sold for a song to a merchant of Papeetee
It was Sunday in Tahiti and a glorious morning when Captain Bob waddling
into the Calabooza startled us by announcing »Ah my boy shippy you harree
maky sail« In other words, the Julia was off
The beach was quite near and in this quarter altogether uninhabited so
down we ran and at a cables length saw Little Jule gliding past
topgallantsails hoisting and a boy aloft with one leg thrown over the yard
loosing the foreroyal The decks were all life and commotion the sailors on
the forecastle singing »Ho cheerly men« as they catted the anchor and the
gallant Jermin bareheaded as his wont standing up on the bowsprit and issuing
his orders By the man at the helm stood Captain Guy very quiet and
gentlemanly and smoking a cigar Soon the ship drew near the reef and altering
her course glided out through the break and went on her way
Thus disappeared Little Jule about three weeks after entering the harbour
and nothing more have I ever heard of her
Chapter XXXIX
Jermin Serves Us a Good Turn Friendships in Polynesia
The ship out of the way we were quite anxious to know what was going to be done
with us On this head Captain Bob could tell us nothing no further at least
than that he still considered himself responsible for our safekeeping However
he never put us to bed any more and we had everything our own way
The day after the Julia left the old man came up to us in great
tribulation saying that the bucket of bread was no longer forthcoming and that
Wilson had refused to send anything in its place One and all we took this for
a hint to disperse quietly and go about our business Nevertheless we were not
to be shaken off so easily and taking a malicious pleasure in annoying our old
enemy we resolved for the present to stay where we were For the part he had
been acting we learned that the consul was the laughingstock of all the
foreigners ashore who frequently twitted him upon his hopeful protégés of the
Calabooza Beretanee
As we were wholly without resources so long as we remained on the island no
better place than Captain Bobs could be selected for an abidingplace Besides
we heartily loved the old gentleman and could not think of leaving him so
telling him to be quite at ease on the score of our clothing and food we
resolved by extending and systematising our foraging operations to provide for
ourselves
We were greatly assisted by a parting legacy of Jermins To him we were
indebted for having all our chests sent ashore and everything left therein
They were placed in the custody of a petty chief living near by who was
instructed by the consul not to allow them to be taken away but we might call
and make our toilets whenever we pleased
We went to see Mahinee the old chief Captain Bob going along and stoutly
insisting upon having the chattels delivered up At last this was done and in
solemn procession the chests were borne by the natives to the Calabooza Here
we disposed them about quite tastefully and made such a figure that in the
eyes of old Bob and his friends the Calabooza Beretanee was by far the most
sumptuously furnished saloon in Tahiti
Indeed so long as it remained thus furnished the native courts of the
district were held there the judge Mahinee and his associates sitting upon
one of the chests and the culprits and spectators thrown at full length upon
the ground both inside of the building and under the shade of the trees
without while leaning over the stocks as from a gallery the worshipful crew of
the Julia looked on and canvassed the proceedings
I should have mentioned before that previous to the vessels departure the
men had bartered away all the clothing they could possibly spare but now it
was resolved to be more provident
The contents of the chests were of the most miscellaneous description
sewing utensils marlingspikes strips of calico bits of rope jackknives
nearly everything in short that a seaman could think of But of wearing
apparel there was little but old frocks remnants of jackets and legs of
trowsers with now and then the foot of a stocking These however were far
from being valueless for among the poorer Tahitians everything European is
highly esteemed They come from Beretanee Fenooa Pararee Britain Land of
Wonders and that is enough
The chests themselves were deemed exceedingly precious especially those
with unfractured locks which would absolutely click and enable the owner to
walk off with the key Scars however and bruises were considered great
blemishes One old fellow smitten with the doctors large mahogany chest a
wellfilled one by the by and finding infinite satisfaction in merely sitting
thereon was detected in the act of applying a healing ointment to a shocking
scratch which impaired the beauty of the lid
There is no telling the love of a Tahitian for a sailors trunk So
ornamental is it held as an article of furniture in his hut that the women are
incessantly tormenting their husbands to bestir themselves and make them a
present of one When obtained no pier table just placed in a drawingroom is
regarded with half the delight For these reasons then our coming into
possession of our estate at this time was an important event
The islanders are much like the rest of the world and the news of our good
fortune brought us troops of tayos or friends eager to form an alliance after
the national custom and do our slightest bidding
The really curious way in which all the Polynesians are in the habit of
making bosom friends at the shortest possible notice is deserving of remark
Although among a people like the Tahitians vitiated as they are by
sophisticating influences this custom has in most cases degenerated into a mere
mercenary relation it nevertheless had its origin in a fine and in some
instances heroic sentiment formerly entertained by their fathers
In the annals of the island are examples of extravagant friendships
unsurpassed by the story of Damon and Pythias in truth much more wonderful
for notwithstanding the devotion even of life in some cases to which they
led they were frequently entertained at first sight for some stranger from
another island
Filled with love and admiration for the first whites who came among them
the Polynesians could not testify the warmth of their emotions more strongly
than by instantaneously making their abrupt proffer of friendship Hence in old
voyages we read of chiefs coming off from the shore in their canoes and going
through with strange antics expressive of this desire In the same way their
inferiors accosted the seamen and thus the practice has continued in some
islands down to the present day
There is a small place not many days sail from Tahiti and seldom visited
by shipping where the vessel touched to which I then happened to belong
Of course among the simplehearted natives we had a friend all round Mine
was Poky a handsome youth who never could do enough for me Every morning at
sunrise his canoe came alongside loaded with fruits of all kinds upon being
emptied it was secured by a line to the bowsprit under which it lay all day
long ready at any time to carry its owner ashore on an errand
Seeing him so indefatigable I told Poky one day that I was a virtuoso in
shells and curiosities of all kinds That was enough away he paddled for the
head of the bay and I never saw him again for twentyfour hours The next
morning his canoe came gliding slowly along the shore with the fullleaved
bough of a tree for a sail For the purpose of keeping the things dry he had
also built a sort of platform just behind the prow railed in with green
wickerwork and here was a heap of yellow bananas and cowree shells young
cocoanuts and antlers of red coral two or three pieces of carved wood a
little pocketidol black as jet and rolls of printed tappa
We were given a holyday and upon going ashore Poky of course was my
companion and guide For this no mortal could be better qualified his native
country was not large and he knew every inch of it Gallanting me about
everyone was stopped and ceremoniously introduced to Pokys tayo karhowree nuee
or his particular white friend
He showed me all the lions but more than all he took me to see a charming
lioness a young damsel the daughter of a chief the reputation of whose
charms had spread to the neighbouring islands and even brought suitors
therefrom Among these was Tooboi the heir of Tamatoy King of Raiatair one of
the Society Isles The girl was certainly fair to look upon Many heavens were
in her sunny eyes and the outline of that arm of hers peeping forth from a
capricious tappa robe was the very curve of beauty
Though there was no end to Pokys attentions not a syllable did he ever
breathe of reward but sometimes he looked very knowing At last the day came
for sailing and with it also his canoe loaded down to the gunwale with a sea
stock of fruits Giving him all I could spare from my chest I went on deck to
take my place at the windlass for the anchor was weighing Poky followed and
heaved with me at the same handspike
The anchor was soon up and away we went out of the bay with more than
twenty shallops towing astern At last they left us but long as I could see him
at all there was Poky standing alone and motionless in the bow of his canoe
End of Part I
Part II
Chapter XL
We Take unto Ourselves Friends
The arrival of the chests made my friend the doctor by far the wealthiest man
of the party So much the better for me seeing that I had little or nothing
myself though from our intimacy the natives courted my favour almost as much
as his
Among others Kooloo was a candidate for my friendship and being a comely
youth quite a buck in his way I accepted his overtures By this I escaped the
importunities of the rest for be it known that though little inclined to
jealousy in love matters the Tahitian will hear of no rivals in his friendship
Kooloo running over his qualifications as a friend first of all informed
me that he was a mickonaree thus declaring his communion with the Church
The way this tayo of mine expressed his regard was by assuring me over and
over again that the love he bore me was nuee nuee nuee or infinitesimally
extensive All over these seas the word nuee is significant of quantity. Its
repetition is like placing ciphers at the right hand of a numeral the more
places you carry it out to the greater the sum Judge then of Kooloos
esteem Nor is the allusion to the ciphers at all inappropriate seeing that in
themselves, Kooloos professions turned out to be worthless He was alas as
sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal one of those who make no music unless the
clapper be silver
In the course of a few days the sailors like the doctor and myself were
cajoled out of everything and our tayos all round began to cool off quite
sensibly So remiss did they become in their attentions that we could no longer
rely upon their bringing us the daily supply of food which all of them had
faithfully promised
As for Kooloo after sponging me well he one morning played the part of a
retrograde lover informing me that his affections had undergone a change he
had fallen in love at first sight with a smart sailor who had just stepped
ashore quite flush from a lucky whalingcruise
It was a touching interview and with it our connection dissolved But the
sadness which ensued would soon have been dissipated had not my sensibilities
been wounded by his indelicately sporting some of my gifts very soon after this
transfer of his affections Hardly a day passed that I did not meet him on the
Broom Road airing himself in a Regatta shirt which I had given him in happier
hours
He went by with such an easy saunter too looking me pleasantly in the eye
and merely exchanging the cold salute of the road »Yar onor boyoee« a mere
sidewalk how dye do After several experiences like this I began to entertain
a sort of respect for Kooloo as quite a man of the world In good sooth he
turned out to be one in one weeks time giving me the cut direct and lounging
by without even nodding He must have taken me for part of the landscape
Before the chests were quite empty we had a grand washing in the stream of
our best raiment for the purpose of looking tidy and visiting the European
chapel in the village Every Sunday morning it is open for divine service some
member of the mission officiating This was the first time we ever entered
Papeetee unattended by an escort
In the chapel there were about forty people present including the officers
of several ships in harbour It was an energetic discourse and the
pulpitcushion was well pounded Occupying a high seat in the synagogue and
stiff as a flagstaff was our beloved guardian Wilson I shall never forget
his look of wonder when his interesting wards filed in at the doorway and took
up a seat directly facing him
Service over we waited outside in hopes of seeing more of him but sorely
annoyed at the sight of us he reconnoitred from the window and never came
forth until we had started for home
Chapter XLI
We Levy Contributions on the Shipping
Scarcely a week went by after the Julias sailing when with the proverbial
restlessness of sailors some of the men began to grow weary of the Calabooza
Beretanee and resolved to go boldly among the vessels in the bay and offer to
ship
The thing was tried but though strongly recommended by the commodore of the
beachcombers in the end they were invariably told by the captains to whom they
applied that they bore an equivocal character ashore and would not answer So
often were they repulsed that we pretty nearly gave up all thoughts of leaving
the island in this way and growing domestic again settled down quietly at
Captain Bobs
It was about this time that the whalingships which have their regular
seasons for cruising began to arrive at Papeetee and of course their crews
frequently visited us This is customary all over the Pacific No sailor steps
ashore but he straightway goes to the Calabooza where he is almost sure to
find some poor fellow or other in confinement for desertion or alleged mutiny
or something of that sort Sympathy is proffered and if need be tobacco The
latter however, is most in request as a solace to the captive it is
invaluable
Having fairly carried the day against both consul and captain we were
objects of even more than ordinary interest to these philanthropists and they
always cordially applauded our conduct Besides they invariably brought along
something in the way of refreshments occasionally smuggling in a little Pisco
Upon one occasion when there was quite a number present a calabash was passed
round and a pecuniary collection taken up for our benefit
One day a newcomer proposed that two or three of us should pay him a sly
nocturnal visit aboard his ship engaging to send us away well freighted with
provisions This was not a bad idea nor were we at all backward in acting upon
it Night after night every vessel in the harbour was visited in rotation the
foragers borrowing Captain Bobs canoe for the purpose As we all took turns at
this two by two in due course it came to Long Ghost and myself for the
sailors invariably linked us together In such an enterprise I somewhat
distrusted the doctor for he was no sailor and very tall and a canoe is the
most ticklish of navigable things However it could not be helped and so we
went
But a word about the canoes before we go any further Among the Society
Islands the art of building them like all native accomplishments has greatly
deteriorated and they are now the most inelegant as well as the most insecure
of any in the South Seas In Cooks time according to his account there was at
Tahiti a royal fleet of seventeen hundred and twenty large warcanoes
handsomely carved and otherwise adorned At present those used are quite
small nothing more than logs hollowed out sharpened at one end and then
launched into the water
To obviate a certain rolling propensity the Tahitians like all
Polynesians attach to them what sailors call an outrigger It consists of a
pole floating alongside parallel to the canoe and connected with it by a
couple of crosssticks a yard or more in length Thus equipped the canoe
cannot be overturned unless you overcome the buoyancy of the pole or lift it
entirely out of the water
Now Captain Bobs gig was exceedingly small so small and of such a
grotesque shape that the sailors christened it the Pill Box and by this
appellation it always went In fact it was a sort of sulky meant for a
solitary paddler but on an emergency capable of floating two or three The
outrigger was a mere switch alternately rising in air and then depressed in
the water
Assuming the command of the expedition upon the strength of my being a
sailor I packed the Long Doctor with a paddle in the bow and then shoving off
leaped into the stern thus leaving him to do all the work and reserving to
myself the dignified sinecure of steering All would have gone well were it not
that my paddler made such clumsy work that the water spattered and showered
down upon us without ceasing Continuing to ply his tool however quite
energetically I thought he would improve after a while and so let him alone
But by and by getting wet through with this little storm we were raising and
seeing no signs of its clearing off I conjured him in Mercys name to stop
short and let me wring myself out Upon this he suddenly turned round when
the canoe gave a roll the outrigger flew overhead and the next moment came rap
on the doctors skull and we were both in the water
Fortunately we were just over a ledge of coral not half a fathom under the
surface Depressing one end of the filled canoe and letting go of it quickly
it bounced up and discharged great part of its contents so that we easily
baled out the remainder and again embarked This time my comrade coiled
himself away in a very small space; and enjoining upon him not to draw a single
unnecessary breath I proceeded to urge the canoe along by myself I was
astonished at his docility never speaking a word and stirring neither hand nor
foot but the secret was he was unable to swim and in case we met with a
second mishap there were no more ledges beneath to stand upon »Drowning s but
a shabby way of going out of the world« he exclaimed upon my rallying him
»and I m not going to be guilty of it«
At last the ship was at hand and we approached with much caution wishing
to avoid being hailed by anyone from the quarterdeck Dropping silently under
her bows we heard a low whistle the signal agreed upon and presently a
goodly sized bag was lowered over to us
We cut the line and then paddled away as fast as we could and made the
best of our way home Here we found the rest waiting impatiently
The bag turned out to be well filled with sweet potatoes boiled cubes of
salt beef and pork and a famous sailors pudding what they call duff made of
flour and water and of about the consistence of an underdone brick With these
delicacies and keen appetites we went out into the moonlight and had a
nocturnal picnic
Chapter XLII
MotooOtoo a Tahitian Casuist
The Pill Box was sometimes employed for other purposes than that described in
the last chapter We sometimes went apleasuring in it
Right in the middle of Papeetee harbour is a bright green island one
circular grove of waving palms and scarcely a hundred yards across It is of
coral formation and all round for many rods out the bay is so shallow that
you might wade anywhere Down in these waters as transparent as air you see
coral plants of every hue and shape imaginable antlers tufts of azure waving
reeds like stalks of grain and pale green buds and mosses In some places you
look through prickly branches down to a snowwhite floor of sand sprouting with
flinty bulbs and crawling among these are strange shapes some bristling with
spikes others clad in shining coats of mail and here and there round forms
all spangled with eyes
The island is called MotooOtoo and around MotooOtoo have I often paddled
of a white moonlight night pausing now and then to admire the marine gardens
beneath
The place is the private property of the queen who has a residence there
a melancholylooking range of bamboo houses neglected and falling to decay
among the trees
Commanding the harbour as it does her majesty has done all she could to
make a fortress of the island The margin has been raised and levelled and
built up with a low parapet of hewn blocks of coral Behind the parapet are
ranged at wide intervals a number of rusty old cannon of all fashions and
calibres They are mounted upon lame decrepitlooking carriages ready to sink
under the useless burden of bearing them up Indeed two or three have given up
the ghost altogether and the pieces they sustained lie half buried among their
bleaching bones Several of the cannon are spiked probably with a view of
making them more formidable as they certainly must be to anyone undertaking to
fire them off
Presented to Pomaree at various times by captains of British armed ships
these poor old dogs of war thus toothless and turned out to die formerly bayed
in full pack as the battlehounds of Old England
There was something about MotooOtoo that struck my fancy and I registered
a vow to plant my foot upon its soil notwithstanding an old bareheaded sentry
menaced me in the moonlight with an unsightly musket As my canoe drew scarcely
three inches of water I could paddle close up to the parapet without grounding
but every time I came near the old man ran toward me pushing his piece
forward but never clapping it to his shoulder Thinking he only meant to
frighten me I at last dashed the canoe right up to the wall purposing a leap
It was the rashest act of my life for never did cocoanut come nearer getting
demolished than mine did then With the stock of his gun the old warder fetched
a tremendous blow which I managed to dodge and then falling back succeeded in
paddling out of harms reach
He must have been dumb for never a word did he utter but grinning from
ear to ear and with his white cotton robe streaming in the moonlight he looked
more like the spook of the island than anything mortal
I tried to effect my object by attacking him in the rear but he was all
front running about the place as I paddled and presenting his confounded
musket wherever I went At last I was obliged to retreat and to this day my vow
remains unfulfilled
It was a few days after my repulse from before the walls of MotooOtoo that
I heard a curious case of casuistry argued between one of the most clever and
intelligent natives I ever saw in Tahiti a man by the name of Arheetoo and our
learned Theban of a doctor
It was this whether it was right and lawful for any one being a native to
keep the European Sabbath in preference to the day set apart as such by the
missionaries and so considered by the islanders in general
It must be known that the missionaries of the good ship Duff who more than
half a century ago established the Tahitian reckoning came hither by the way of
the Cape of Good Hope and by thus sailing to the eastward lost one precious
day of their lives all round getting about that much in advance of Greenwich
time For this reason vessels coming round Cape Horn as they most all do
nowadays find it Sunday in Tahiti when according to their own view of the
matter it ought to be Saturday But as it wont do to alter the log the
sailors keep their Sabbath and the islanders theirs
This confusion perplexes the poor natives mightily and it is to no purpose
that you endeavour to explain so incomprehensible a phenomenon. I once saw a
worthy old missionary essay to shed some light on the subject and though I
understood but few of the words employed I could easily get at the meaning of
his illustrations They were something like the following
»Here« says he »you see this circle« describing a large one on the ground
with a stick »very good now you see this spot here« marking a point in the
perimeter »well this is Beretanee England and I m going to sail round to
Tahiti Here I go then« following the circle round »and there goes the sun«
snatching up another stick and commissioning a bandylegged native to travel
round with it in a contrary direction »Now then we are both off and both
going away from each other and here you see I have arrived at Tahiti« making a
sudden stop »and look now where Bandy Legs is«
But the crowd strenuously maintained that Bandy Legs ought to be somewhere
above them in the atmosphere for it was a traditionary fact that the people
from the Duff came ashore when the sun was high overhead And here the old
gentleman being a very good sort of man doubtless but no astronomer was
obliged to give up
Arheetoo the casuist alluded to though a member of the church and
extremely conscientious about what Sabbath he kept was more liberal in other
matters Learning that I was something of a mickonaree in this sense a man
able to read and cunning in the use of the pen he desired the slight favour
of my forging for him a set of papers for which he said he would be much
obliged and give me a good dinner of roast pig and Indian turnip in the
bargain
Now Arheetoo was one of those who board the shipping for their washing and
the competition being very great the proudest chiefs not disdaining to solicit
custom in person though the work is done by their dependents he had decided
upon a course suggested by a knowing sailor a friend of his He wished to have
manufactured a set of certificates purporting to come from certain manofwar
and merchant captains known to have visited the island recommending him as one
of the best gettersup of fine linen in all Polynesia
At this time Arheetoo had known me but two hours and as he made the
proposition very coolly I thought it rather presumptuous and told him so But
as it was quite impossible to convey a hint that there was a slight impropriety
in the thing I did not resent the insult but simply declined
Chapter XLIII
One Is Judged by the Company He Keeps
Although from its novelty life at Captain Bobs was pleasant enough for the
time there were some few annoyances connected with it anything but agreeable to
a soul of sensibility
Prejudiced against us by the malevolent representations of the consul and
others many worthy foreigners ashore regarded us as a set of lawless vagabonds
though truth to speak better behaved sailors never stepped on the island nor
any who gave less trouble to the natives But for all this whenever we met a
respectably dressed European ten to one he shunned us by going over to the
other side of the road This was very unpleasant at least to myself though
certes it did not prey upon the minds of the others
To give an instance
Of a fine evening in Tahiti but they are all fine evenings there you may
see a bevy of silk bonnets and parasols passing along the Broom Road perhaps a
band of pale little white urchins sickly exotics and oftener still
sedate elderly gentlemen with canes at whose appearance the natives here and
there slink into their huts These are the missionaries their wives and
children taking a family airing Sometimes by the by they take horse and
ride down to Point Venus and back a distance of several miles At this place is
settled the only survivor of the first missionaries that landed an old
whiteheaded saintlike man by the name of Wilson the father of our friend
the consul
The little parties on foot were frequently encountered and recalling as
they did so many pleasant recollections of home and the ladies I really longed
for a dresscoat and beaver that I might step up and pay my respects But
situated as I was this was out of the question On one occasion however I
received a kind inquisitive glance from a matron in gingham Sweet lady I have
not forgotten her her gown was a plaid
But a glance like hers was not always bestowed
One evening passing the verandah of a missionarys dwelling the dame his
wife and a pretty blonde young girl with ringlets were sitting there
enjoying the seabreeze then coming in all cool and refreshing from the spray
of the reef As I approached the old lady peered hard at me and her very cap
seemed to convey a prim rebuke The blue English eyes by her side were also
bent on me But oh Heavens what a glance to receive from such a beautiful
creature As for the mob cap not a fig did I care for it but to be taken for
anything but a cavalier by the ringletted one was absolutely unendurable
I resolved on a courteous salute to show my good breeding if nothing more
But happening to wear a sort of turban hereafter to be particularly alluded
to there was no taking it off and putting it on again with anything like
dignity At any rate then here goes a bow But another difficulty presented
itself my loose frock was so voluminous that I doubted whether any spinal
curvature would be perceptible
»Good evening ladies« exclaimed I at last advancing winningly »a
delightful air from the sea ladies«
Hysterics and hartshorn who would havethought it The young lady screamed
and the old one came near fainting As for myself I retreated in doublequick
time and scarcely drew breath until safely housed in the Calabooza
Chapter XLIV
Cathedral of Papoar the Church of the CocoaNuts
On Sundays I always attended the principal native church on the outskirts of the
village of Papeetee and not far from the Calabooza Beretanee It was esteemed
the best specimen of architecture in Tahiti
Of late they have built their places of worship with more reference to
durability than formerly At one time there were no less than thirtysix on the
island mere barns tied together with thongs which went to destruction in a
very few years
One built many years ago in this style was a most remarkable structure It
was erected by Pomaree II who on this occasion showed all the zeal of a
royal proselyte The building was over seven hundred feet in length and of a
proportionate width the vast ridgepole was at intervals supported by a row of
thirtysix cylindrical trunks of the breadfruit tree and all round the
wallplates rested on shafts of the palm The roof steeply inclining to within
a mans height of the ground was thatched with leaves and the sides of the
edifice were open Thus spacious was the Royal Mission Chapel of Papoar
At its dedication three distinct sermons were from different pulpits
preached to an immense concourse gathered from all parts of the island
As the chapel was built by the kings command nearly as great a multitude
was employed in its construction as swarmed over the scaffolding of the great
temple of the Jews Much less time however was expended In less than three
weeks from planting the first post the last tier of palmetto leaves drooped
from the eaves and the work was done
Apportioned to the several chiefs and their dependents the labour though
immense was greatly facilitated by everyones bringing his post or his rafter
or his pole strung with thatching ready for instant use The materials thus
prepared being afterward secured together by thongs there was literally neither
hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was building
But the most singular circumstance connected with this South Sea cathedral
remains to be related As well for the beauty as the advantages of such a site
the islanders love to dwell near the mountain streams and so a considerable
brook after descending from the hills and watering the valley was bridged over
in three places and swept clean through the chapel
Flowing waters what an accompaniment to the songs of the sanctuary
mingling with them the praises and thanksgivings of the green solitudes inland
But the chapel of the Polynesian Solomon has long since been deserted Its
thousand rafters of habiscus have decayed and fallen to the ground and now the
stream murmurs over them in its bed
The present metropolitan church of Tahiti is very unlike the one just
described It is of moderate dimensions boarded over and painted white It is
furnished also with blinds but no sashes indeed were it not for the rustic
thatch it would remind one of a plain chapel at home
The woodwork was all done by foreign carpenters of whom there are always
several about Papeetee
Within its aspect is unique and cannot fail to interest a stranger The
rafters overhead are bound round with fine matting of variegated dyes and all
along the ridgepole these trappings hang pendent in alternate bunches of
tassels and deep fringes of stained grass The floor is composed of rude planks
Regular aisles run between ranges of native settees bottomed with crossed
braids of the cocoanut fibre and furnished with backs
But the pulpit made of a dark lustrous wood and standing at one end is
by far the most striking object It is preposterously lofty indeed a capital
birdseye view of the congregation ought to be had from its summit
Nor does the church lack a gallery which runs round on three sides and is
supported by columns of the cocoanut tree
Its facings are here and there daubed over with a tawdry blue and in other
places without the slightest regard to uniformity patches of the same colour
may be seen In their ardour to decorate the sanctuary the converts must have
borrowed each a brush full of paint and zealously daubed away at the first
surface that offered
As hinted the general impression is extremely curious Little light being
admitted and everything being of a dark colour there is an indefinable Indian
aspect of duskiness throughout A strange woody smell also more or less
pervading every considerable edifice in Polynesia is at once perceptible It
suggests the idea of wormeaten idols packed away in some old lumberroom at
hand
For the most part the congregation attending this church is composed of the
better and wealthier orders the chiefs and their retainers in short the rank
and fashion of the island This class is infinitely superior in personal beauty
and general healthfulness to the marenhoar or common people the latter having
been more exposed to the worst and most debasing evils of foreign intercourse
On Sundays the former are invariably arrayed in their finery and thus appear
to the best advantage Nor are they driven to the chapel as some of their
inferiors are to other places of worship on the contrary capable of
maintaining a handsome exterior and possessing greater intelligence they go
voluntarily
In respect of the woodland colonnade supporting its galleries I called this
chapel the Church of the Cocoanuts
It was the first place for Christian worship in Polynesia that I had seen
and the impression upon entering during service was all the stronger
Majesticlooking chiefs whose fathers had hurled the battleclub and old men
who had seen sacrifices smoking upon the altars of Oro were there And hark
hanging from the bough of a breadfruit tree without a bell is being struck
with a bar of iron by a native lad In the same spot the blast of the warconch
had often resounded But to the proceedings within
The place is well filled Everywhere meet the eye the gay calico draperies
worn on great occasions by the higher classes and forming a strange contrast of
patterns and colours In some instances these are so fashioned as to resemble
as much as possible European garments This is in excessively bad taste Coats
and pantaloons too are here and there seen but they look awkwardly enough
and take away from the general effect
But it is the array of countenances that most strikes you Each is suffused
with the peculiar animation of the Polynesians when thus collected in large
numbers Every robe is rustling every limb in motion and an incessant buzzing
going on throughout the assembly The tumult is so great that the voice of the
placid old missionary who now rises is almost inaudible Some degree of
silence is at length obtained through the exertions of half a dozen strapping
fellows in white shirts and no pantaloons Running in among the settees they
are at great pains to inculcate the impropriety of making a noise by creating a
most unnecessary racket themselves This part of the service was quite comical
There is a most interesting Sabbath school connected with the church and
the scholars a vivacious mischievous set were in one part of the gallery I
was amused by a party in a corner The teacher sat at one end of the bench with
a meek little fellow by his side When the others were disorderly this young
martyr received a rap intended probably as a sample of what the rest might
expect if they didnt amend
Standing in the body of the church and leaning against a pillar was an old
man in appearance very different from others of his countrymen He wore nothing
but a coarse scant mantle of faded tappa and from his staring bewildered
manner I set him down as an aged bumpkin from the interior unaccustomed to the
strange sights and sounds of the metropolis This old worthy was sharply
reprimanded for standing up and thus intercepting the view of those behind but
not comprehending exactly what was said to him one of the whiteliveried gentry
made no ceremony of grasping him by the shoulders and fairly crushing him down
into a seat
During all this the old missionary in the pulpit as well as his
associates beneath never ventured to interfere leaving everything to native
management With South Sea islanders assembled in any numbers there is no
other way of getting along
Chapter XLV
A Missionarys Sermon with Some Reflections
Some degree of order at length restored the service was continued by singing
The choir was composed of twelve or fifteen ladies of the mission occupying a
long bench to the left of the pulpit Almost the entire congregation joined in
The first air fairly startled me it was the brave tune of Old Hundred
adapted to a Tahitian psalm After the graceless scenes I had recently passed
through this circumstance with all its accessories moved me forcibly
Many voices around were of great sweetness and compass The singers also
seemed to enjoy themselves mightily some of them pausing now and then and
looking round as if to realise the scene more fully In truth they sang right
joyously despite the solemnity of the tune
The Tahitians have much natural talent for singing and on all occasions
are exceedingly fond of it I have often heard a stave or two of psalmody
hummed over by rakish young fellows like a snatch from an opera
With respect to singing as in most other matters the Tahitians widely
differ from the people of the Sandwich Islands where the parochial flocks may
be said rather to bleat than sing
The psalm concluded a prayer followed Very considerately the good old
missionary made it short for the congregation became fidgety and inattentive as
soon as it commenced
A chapter of the Tahitian Bible was now read a text selected and the
sermon began It was listened to with more attention than I had anticipated
Having been informed from various sources that the discourses of the
missionaries being calculated to engage the attention of their simple auditors
were naturally enough of a rather amusing description to strangers in short
that they had much to say about steamboats lord mayors coaches and the way
fires are put out in London I had taken care to provide myself with a good
interpreter in the person of an intelligent Hawaiian sailor whose acquaintance
I had made
»Now Jack« said I before entering »hear every word and tell me what you
can as the missionary goes on«
Jacks was not perhaps a critical version of the discourse and at the
time I took no notes of what he said Nevertheless I will here venture to give
what I remember of it and as far as possible in Jacks phraseology so as to
lose nothing by a double translation
»Good friends I glad to see you and I very well like to have some talk
with you today Good friends very bad times in Tahiti it make me weep
Pomaree is gone the island no more yours but the Weewees French Wicked
priests here too and wicked idols in womans clothes and brass chains15
Good friends no you speak or look at them but I know you wont they
belong to a set of robbers the wicked Weewees Soon these bad men be made to
go very quick Beretanee ships of thunder come and away they go But no more
bout this now I speak more by by
Good friends many whaleships here now and many bad men come in em No
good sailors living that you know very well They come here cause so bad
they no keep em home
My good little girls no run after sailors no go where they go they harm
you Where they come from no good people talk to em just like dogs Here
they talk to Pomaree and drink arva with great Poofai16
Good friends this very small island but very wicked and very poor these
two go together Why Beretanee so great Because that island good island and
send mickonaree17 to poor kannaka18 In Beretanee every man rich plenty things
to buy and ple nty things to sell Houses bigger than Pomarees and more
grand Everybody too ride about in coaches bigger than hers19 and wear fine
tappa every day Several luxurious appliances of civilisation were here
enumerated and described
Good friends little to eat left at my house Schooner from Sydney no bring
bag of flour and kannaka no bring pig and fruit enough Mickonaree do great
deal for kannaka kannaka do little for mickonaree So good friends weave
plenty of cocoanut baskets fill em and bring em tomorrow«
Such was the substance of great part of this discourse and whatever may be
thought of it it was specially adapted to the minds of the islanders who are
susceptible to no impressions except from things palpable or novel and
striking To them a dry sermon would be dry indeed
The Tahitians can hardly ever be said to reflect they are all impulse and
so instead of expounding dogmas the missionaries give them the large type
pleasing cuts and short and easy lessons of the primer Hence anything like a
permanent religious impression is seldom or never produced
In fact there is perhaps no race upon earth less disposed by nature to
the monitions of Christianity than the people of the South Sea And this
assertion is made with full knowledge of what is called the Great Revival at the
Sandwich Islands about the year 1836 when several thousands were in the
course of a few weeks admitted into the bosom of the Church But this result
was brought about by no sober moral convictions as an almost instantaneous
relapse into every kind of licentiousness soon afterward testified It was the
legitimate effect of a morbid feeling engendered by the sense of severe
physical wants preying upon minds excessively prone to superstition and by
fanatical preaching inflamed into the belief that the gods of the missionaries
were taking vengeance upon the wickedness of the land20
It is a noteworthy fact that those very traits in the Tahitians which
induced the London Missionary Society to regard them as the most promising
subjects for conversion and which led moreover to the selection of their
island as the very first field for missionary labour eventually proved the most
serious obstruction An air of softness in their manners great apparent
ingenuousness and docility at first misled but these were the mere
accompaniments of an indolence bodily and mental a constitutional
voluptuousness and an aversion to the least restraint which however fitted
for the luxurious state of nature, in the tropics are the greatest possible
hindrances to the strict moralities of Christianity
Added to all this is a quality inherent in Polynesians and more akin to
hypocrisy than anything else It leads them to assume the most passionate
interest in matters for which they really feel little or none whatever but in
which those whose power they dread or whose favour they court they believe to
be at all affected Thus in their heathen state the Sandwich Islanders
actually knocked out their teeth tore their hair and mangled their bodies with
shells to testify their inconsolable grief at the demise of a high chief or
member of the royal family And yet Vancouver relates that on such an
occasion upon which he happened to be present those apparently the most
abandoned to their feelings immediately assumed the utmost lightheartedness on
receiving the present of a penny whistle or a Dutch lookingglass Similar
instances also have come under my own observation
The following is an illustration of the trait alluded to as occasionally
manifested among the converted Polynesians
At one of the Society Islands Raiatair I believe the natives for
special reasons desired to commend themselves particularly to the favour of the
missionaries Accordingly during divine service many of them behaved in a
manner otherwise unaccountable and precisely similar to their behaviour as
heathens They pretended to be wrought up to madness by the preaching which they
heard They rolled their eyes foamed at the mouth fell down in fits and so
were carried home Yet strange to relate all this was deemed the evidence of
the power of the Most High and as such was heralded abroad
But to return to the Church of the Cocoanuts The blessing pronounced the
congregation disperse enlivening the Broom Road with their waving mantles On
either hand they disappear down the shaded pathways which lead off from the
main route conducting to hamlets in the groves or to the little marine villas
upon the beach There is considerable hilarity and you would suppose them just
from an oldfashioned hevar or jolly heathen dance Those who carry Bibles
swing them carelessly from their arms by cords of sinnate
The Sabbath is no ordinary day with the Tahitians So far as doing any work
is concerned it is scrupulously observed The canoes are hauled up on the
beach the nets are spread to dry Passing by the hencoop huts on the
roadside you find their occupants idle as usual but less disposed to gossip
After service repose broods over the whole island the valleys reaching inland
look stiller than ever
In short it is Sunday their Taboo Day the very word formerly expressing
the sacredness of their pagan observances now proclaiming the sanctity of the
Christian Sabbath
Chapter XLVI
Something about the Kannakippers
A worthy young man formerly a friend of mine I speak of Kooloo with all
possible courtesy since after our intimacy there would be an impropriety in
doing otherwise this worthy youth having some genteel notions of retirement
dwelt in a maroo boro or breadfruit shade a pretty nook in a wood midway
between the Calabooza Beretanee and the Church of Cocoanuts Hence at the
latter place he was one of the most regular worshippers
Kooloo was a blade Standing up in the congregation in all the bravery of a
striped calico shirt with the skirts rakishly adjusted over a pair of white
sailor trowsers and hair well anointed with cocoanut oil he ogled the ladies
with an air of supreme satisfaction Nor were his glances unreturned
But such looks as the Tahitian belles cast at each other frequently turning
up their noses at the advent of a new cotton mantle recently imported in the
chest of some amorous sailor Upon one occasion I observed a group of young
girls in tunica of coarse soiled sheeting disdainfully pointing at a damsel
in a flaming red one »Oee tootai owree« said they with ineffable scorn »itai
maitai« you are a goodfornothing huzzy no better than you should be
Now Kooloo communed with the church so did all these censorious young
ladies Yet after eating breadfruit at the Eucharist I knew several of them
the same night to be guilty of some sad derelictions
Puzzled by these things I resolved to find out if possible what ideas if
any they entertained of religion but as ones spiritual concerns are rather
delicate for a stranger to meddle with I went to work as adroitly as I could
Farnow an old native who had recently retired from active pursuits having
thrown up the business of being a sort of running footman to the queen had
settled down in a snug little retreat not fifty rods from Captain Bobs His
selecting our vicinity for his residence may have been with some view to the
advantages it afforded for introducing his three daughters into polite circles
At any rate not averse to receiving the attentions of so devoted a gallant as
the doctor the sisters communicants be it remembered kindly extended to him
free permission to visit them sociably whenever he pleased
We dropped in one evening and found the ladies at home My long friend
engaged his favourites the two younger girls at the game of Now or hunting a
stone under three piles of tappa For myself I lounged on a mat with Ideea the
eldest dallying with her grass fan and improving my knowledge of Tahitian
The occasion was well adapted to my purpose and I began
»Ah Ideea mickonaree oee« the same as drawling out »By the by Miss
Ideea do you belong to the church«
»Yes me mickonaree« was the reply
But the assertion was at once qualified by certain reservations so curious
that I cannot forbear their relation
»Mickonaree ena« church member here exclaimed she laying her hand upon
her mouth and a strong emphasis on the adverb In the same way and with
similar exclamations she touched her eyes and hands This done her whole air
changed in an instant and she gave me to understand by unmistakable gestures
that in certain other respects she was not exactly a mickonaree In short Ideea
was
»A sad good Christian at the heart
A very heathen in the carnal part«21
The explanation terminated in a burst of laughter in which all three sisters
joined and for fear of looking silly the doctor and myself As soon as
goodbreeding would permit we took leave
The hypocrisy in matters of religion so apparent in all Polynesian
converts is most injudiciously nourished in Tahiti by a zealous and in many
cases a coercive superintendence over their spiritual wellbeing But it is
only manifested with respect to the common people their superiors being
exempted
On Sunday mornings when the prospect is rather small for a full house in
the minor churches a parcel of fellows are actually sent out with ratans into
the highways and byways as whippersin of the congregation This is a sober
fact22
These worthies constitute a religious police and you always know them by
the great white diapers they wear On week days they are quite as busy as on
Sundays to the great terror of the inhabitants going all over the island and
spying out the wickedness thereof
Moreover they are the collectors of fines levied generally in grass mats
for obstinate nonattendance upon divine worship and other offences amenable
to the ecclesiastical judicature of the missionaries
Old Bob called these fellows kannakippers a corruption I fancy of our
word constable
He bore them a bitter grudge and one day drawing near home and learning
that two of them were just then making a domiciliary visit at his house he ran
behind a bush and as they came forth two green breadfruit from a hand unseen
took them each between the shoulders The sailors in the Calabooza were
witnesses to this as well as several natives who when the intruders were out
of sight applauded Captain Bobs spirit in no measured terms the ladies
present vehemently joining in Indeed the kannakippers have no greater enemies
than the latter And no wonder the impertinent varlets popping into their
houses at all hours are forever prying into their peccadilloes
Kooloo who at times was patriotic and pensive and mourned the evils under
which his country was groaning frequently inveighed against the statute which
thus authorised an utter stranger to interfere with domestic arrangements He
himself quite a ladies man had often been annoyed thereby He considered
the kannakippers a bore
Besides their confounded inquisitiveness they add insult to injury by
making a point of dining out every day at some hut within the limits of their
jurisdiction As for the gentleman of the house his meek endurance of these
things is amazing But good easy man there is nothing for him but to be as
hospitable as possible
These gentry are indefatigable At the dead of night prowling round the
houses and in the daytime hunting amorous couples in the groves Yet in one
instance the chase completely baffled them
It was thus
Several weeks previous to our arrival at the island someones husband and
another persons wife having taken a mutual fancy for each other went out for
a walk The alarm was raised and with hue and cry they were pursued but
nothing was seen of them again until the lapse of some ninety days when we were
called out from the Calabooza to behold a great mob enclosing the lovers and
escorting them for trial to the village
Their appearance was most singular The girdle excepted they were quite
naked their hair was long burned yellow at the ends and entangled with burrs
and their bodies scratched and scarred in all directions It seems that acting
upon the love in a cottage principle they had gone right into the interior and
throwing up a hut in an uninhabited valley had lived there until in an unlucky
stroll they were observed and captured
They were subsequently condemned to make one hundred fathoms of Broom Road
a six months work if not more
Often when seated in a house conversing quietly with its inmates I have
known them betray the greatest confusion at the sudden announcement of a
kannakippers being in sight To be reported by one of these officials as a
Tootai Owree in general signifying a bad person or disbeliever in
Christianity is as much dreaded as the forefinger of Titus Oates was levelled
at an alleged papist
But the islanders take a sly revenge upon them Upon entering a dwelling
the kannakippers oftentimes volunteer a pharisaical prayermeeting hence they
go in secret by the name of BooraArtuas literally PraytoGods
Chapter XLVII
How They Dress in Tahiti
Except where the employment of making tappa is inflicted as a punishment the
echoes of the clothmallet have long since died away in the listless valleys of
Tahiti Formerly the girls spent their mornings like ladies at their tambour
frames now they are lounged away in almost utter indolence True most of them
make their own garments but this comprises but a stitch or two the ladies of
the mission by the by being entitled to the credit of teaching them to sew
The kihee whihenee or petticoat is a mere breadth of white cotton or
calico loosely enveloping the person from the waist to the feet Fastened
simply by a single tuck or by twisting the upper corners together this
garment frequently becomes disordered thus affording an opportunity of being
coquettishly adjusted Over the kihee they wear a sort of gown open in front
very loose and as negligent as you please The ladies here never dress for
dinner
But what shall be said of those horrid hats Fancy a bunch of straw plaited
into the shape of a coal and stuck bolt upright on the crown with a yard or
two of red ribbon flying about like kitestrings Milliners of Paris what
would ye say to them Though made by the natives they are said to have been
first contrived and recommended by the missionaries wives a report which I
really trust is nothing but scandal
Curious to relate these things for the head are esteemed exceedingly
becoming The braiding of the straw is one of the few employments of the higher
classes all of which but minister to the silliest vanity The young girls
however wholly eschew the hats leaving those dowdy old souls their mothers
to make frights of themselves
As for the men those who aspire to European garments seem to have no
perception of the relation subsisting between the various parts of a gentlemans
costume To the wearer of a coat for instance pantaloons are by no means
indispensable and a bellcrowned hat and a girdle are full dress The young
sailor for whom Kooloo deserted me presented him with a shaggy old peajacket
and with this buttoned up to his chin under a tropical sun he promenaded the
Broom Road quite elated Doctor Long Ghost who saw him thus ran away with the
idea that he was under medical treatment at the time in the act of taking
what the quacks call a sweat
A bachelor friend of Captain Bob rejoiced in the possession of a full
European suit in which he often stormed the ladies hearts Having a military
leaning he ornamented the coat with a great scarlet patch on the breast and
mounted it also here and there with several regimental buttons slyly cut from
the uniform of a parcel of drunken marines sent ashore on a holyday from a
manofwar But in spite of the ornaments the dress was not exactly the thing
From the tightness of the cloth across the shoulders his elbows projected from
his sides like an ungainly riders and his ponderous legs were jammed so hard
into his slim nether garments that the threads of every seam showed and at
every step you looked for a catastrophe
In general there seems to be no settled style of dressing among the males
they wear anything they can get in some cases awkwardly modifying the fashions
of their fathers so as to accord with their own altered views of what is
becoming
But ridiculous as many of them now appear in foreign habiliments the
Tahitians presented a far different appearance in the original national costume
which was graceful in the extreme modest to all but the prudish and peculiarly
adapted to the climate But the short kilts of dyed tappa the tasselled maroes
and other articles formerly worn are at the present day prohibited by law as
indecorous For what reason necklaces and garlands of flowers among the women
are also forbidden I never could learn but it is said that they were
associated in some way with a forgotten heathen observance
Many pleasant and seemingly innocent sports and pastimes are likewise
interdicted In old times there were several athletic games practised such as
wrestling footracing throwing the javelin and archery In all these they
greatly excelled and for some splendid festivals were instituted Among their
everyday amusements were dancing tossing the football kiteflying
fluteplaying and singing traditional ballads now all punishable offences
though most of them have been so long in disuse that they are nearly forgotten
In the same way the Opio or festive harvesthome of the breadfruit has
been suppressed though as described to me by Captain Bob it seemed wholly
free from any immoral tendency Against tattooing of any kind there is a
severe law
That this abolition of their national amusements and customs was not
willingly acquiesced in is shown in the frequent violation of many of the
statutes inhibiting them and especially in the frequency with which their
hevars or dances are practised in secret
Doubtless in thus denationalising the Tahitians as it were the
missionaries were prompted by a sincere desire for good but the effect has been
lamentable Supplied with no amusements in place of those forbidden the
Tahitians who require more recreation than other people have sunk into a
listlessness or indulge in sensualities a hundred times more pernicious than
all the games ever celebrated in the Temple of Tanee
Chapter XLVIII
Tahiti as It Is
As in the last few chapters several matters connected with the general
condition of the natives have been incidentally touched upon it may be well not
to leave so important a subject in a state calculated to convey erroneous
impressions Let us bestow upon it therefore something more than a mere
cursory glance
But in the first place let it be distinctly understood that in all I have
to say upon this subject both here and elsewhere I mean no harm to the
missionaries nor their cause I merely desire to set forth things as they
actually exist
Of the results which have flowed from the intercourse of foreigners with the
Polynesians including the attempts to civilise and Christianise them by the
missionaries Tahiti on many accounts is obviously the fairest practical
example Indeed it may now be asserted that the experiment of Christianising
the Tahitians and improving their social condition by the introduction of
foreign customs has been fully tried The present generation have grown up
under the auspices of their religious instructors And although it may be urged
that the labours of the latter have at times been more or less obstructed by
unprincipled foreigners still this in no wise renders Tahiti any the less a
fair illustration for with obstacles like these the missionaries in Polynesia
must always and everywhere struggle
Nearly sixty years have elapsed since the Tahitian mission was started and
during this period it has received the unceasing prayers and contributions of
its friends abroad Nor has any enterprise of the kind called forth more
devotion on the part of those directly employed in it
It matters not that the earlier labourers in the work although strictly
conscientious were as a class ignorant and in many cases deplorably
bigoted such traits have in some degree characterised the pioneers of all
faiths And although in zeal and disinterestedness the missionaries now on the
island are perhaps inferior to their predecessors they have nevertheless in
their own way at least laboured hard to make a Christian people of their
charge
Let us now glance at the most obvious changes wrought in their condition
The entire system of idolatry has been done away together with several
barbarous practices engrafted thereon But this result is not so much to be
ascribed to the missionaries as to the civilising effects of a long and constant
intercourse with whites of all nations to whom for many years Tahiti has been
one of the principal places of resort in the South Seas At the Sandwich
Islands the potent institution of the Taboo together with the entire paganism
of the land was utterly abolished by a voluntary act of the natives some time
previous to the arrival of the first missionaries among them
The next most striking change in the Tahitians is this From the permanent
residence among them of influential and respectable foreigners as well as from
the frequent visits of ships of war recognising the nationality of the island
its inhabitants are no longer deemed fit subjects for the atrocities practised
upon mere savages and hence, secure from retaliation vessels of all kinds now
enter their harbours with perfect safety
But let us consider what results are directly ascribable to the missionaries
alone
In all cases, they have striven hard to mitigate the evils resulting from
the commerce with the whites in general Such attempts however have been
rather injudicious and often ineffectual in truth a barrier almost
insurmountable is presented in the dispositions of the people themselves Still
in this respect the morality of the islanders is upon the whole improved by
the presence of the missionaries
But the greatest achievement of the latter and one which in itself is most
hopeful and gratifying is that they have translated the entire Bible into the
language of the island and I have myself known several who were able to read it
with facility They have also established churches and schools for both
children and adults the latter I regret to say are now much neglected which
must be ascribed in a great measure to the disorders growing out of the
proceedings of the French
It were unnecessary here to enter diffusely into matters connected with the
internal government of the Tahitian churches and schools Nor upon this head
is my information copious enough to warrant me in presenting details But we do
not need them We are merely considering general results as made apparent in
the moral and religious condition of the island at large
Upon a subject like this however it would be altogether too assuming for a
single individual to decide and so in place of my own random observations
which may be found elsewhere I will here present those of several known
authors made under various circumstances at different periods and down to a
comparatively late date A few very brief extracts will enable the reader to
mark for himself what progressive improvement if any has taken place
Nor must it be overlooked that of these authorities the two first in order
are largely quoted by the Right Reverend M Russell in a work composed for the
express purpose of imparting information on the subject of Christian missions in
Polynesia And he frankly acknowledges moreover that they are such as cannot
fail to have great weight with the public23
After alluding to the manifold evils entailed upon the natives by
foreigners and their singularly inert condition and after somewhat too
severely denouncing the undeniable errors of the mission Kotzebue the Russian
navigator says »A religion like this which forbids every innocent pleasure
and cramps or annihilates every mental power is a libel on the divine founder
of Christianity It is true that the religion of the missionaries has with a
great deal of evil effected some good It has restrained the vices of theft and
incontinence but it has given birth to ignorance hypocrisy and a hatred of
all other modes of faith which was once foreign to the open and benevolent
character of the Tahitian«24
Captain Beechey says that while at Tahiti he saw scenes »which must have
convinced the greatest sceptic of the thoroughly immoral condition of the
people and which would force him to conclude as Turnbull25 did many years
previous that their intercourse with the Europeans had tended to debase rather
than exalt their condition«26
About the year 1834 Daniel Wheeler an honesthearted Quaker prompted by
motives of the purest philanthropy visited in a vessel of his own most of the
missionary settlements in the South Seas He remained some time at Tahiti
receiving the hospitalities of the missionaries there and from time to time
exhorting the natives
After bewailing their social condition he frankly says of their religious
state »Certainly appearances are unpromising and however unwilling to adopt
such a conclusion there is reason to apprehend that Christian principle is a
great rarity«27
Such then is the testimony of good and unbiased men who have been upon
the spot but how comes it to differ so widely from impressions of others at
home Simply thus instead of estimating the result of missionary labours by the
number of heathens who have actually been made to understand and practise in
some measure at least the precepts of Christianity this result has been
unwarrantably inferred from the number of those who without any understanding
of these things have in any way been induced to abandon idolatry and conform to
certain outward observances
By authority of some kind or other exerted upon the natives through their
chiefs and prompted by the hope of some worldly benefit to the latter and not
by appeals to reason have conversions in Polynesia been in most cases brought
about
Even in one or two instances so often held up as wonderful examples of
divine power where the natives have impulsively burned their idols and rushed
to the waters of baptism the very suddenness of the change has but indicated
its unsoundness Williams the martyr of Erromanga relates an instance where
the inhabitants of an island professing Christianity voluntarily assembled and
solemnly revived all their heathen customs
All the world over facts are more eloquent than words and the following
will show in what estimation the missionaries themselves hold the present state
of Christianity and morals among the converted Polynesians
On the island of Imeeo attached to the Tahitian mission is a seminary
under the charge of the Rev Mr Simpson and wife for the education of the
children of the missionaries exclusively Sent home in many cases at a very
early age to finish their education the pupils here are taught nothing but
the rudiments of knowledge; nothing more than may be learned in the native
schools Notwithstanding this the two races are kept as far as possible from
associating the avowed reason being to preserve the young whites from moral
contamination The better to ensure this end every effort is made to prevent
them from acquiring the native language
They went even further at the Sandwich Islands where a few years ago a
playground for the children of the missionaries was enclosed with a fence many
feet high the more effectually to exclude the wicked little Hawaiians
And yet strange as it may seem the depravity among the Polynesians which
renders precautions like these necessary was in a measure unknown before their
intercourse with the whites The excellent Captain Wilson who took the first
missionaries out to Tahiti affirms that the people of that island had in many
things »more refined ideas of decency than ourselves«28 Vancouver also has
some noteworthy ideas on this subject respecting the Sandwich Islanders29
That the immorality alluded to is continually increasing is plainly shown in
the numerous severe and perpetually violated laws against licentiousness of
all kinds in both groups of islands
It is hardly to be expected that the missionaries would send home accounts
of this state of things Hence Captain Beechey in alluding to the Polynesian
Researches of Ellis says that the author has impressed his readers with a far
more elevated idea of the moral condition of the Tahitians and the degree of
civilisation to which they have attained than they deserve or at least than
the facts which came under his observation authorised He then goes on to say
that in his intercourse with the islanders »they had no fear of him and
consequently acted from the impulse of their natural feelings so that he was
the better enabled to obtain a correct knowledge of their real disposition and
habits«30
From my own familiar intercourse with the natives this last reflection
still more forcibly applies to myself
Chapter XLIX
Same Subject Continued
We have glanced at their moral and religious condition let us see how it is
with them socially and in other respects
It has been said that the only way to civilise a people is to form in them
habits of industry Judged by this principle, the Tahitians are less civilised
now than formerly True their constitutional indolence is excessive but
surely if the spirit of Christianity is among them so unchristian a vice ought
to be at least partially remedied But the reverse is the fact Instead of
acquiring new occupations old ones have been discontinued
As previously remarked the manufacture of tappa is nearly obsolete in many
parts of the island So too with that of the native tools and domestic
utensils very few of which are now fabricated since the superiority of
European wares has been made so evident
This however would be all very well were the natives to apply themselves
to such occupations as would enable them to supply the few articles they need
But they are far from doing so and the majority being unable to obtain European
substitutes for many things before made by themselves the inevitable
consequence is seen in the present wretched and destitute mode of life among the
common people To me so recently from a primitive valley of the Marquesas the
aspect of most of the dwellings of the poorer Tahitians and their general
habits seemed anything but tidy nor could I avoid a comparison immeasurably
to the disadvantage of these partially civilised islanders
In Tahiti the people have nothing to do and idleness everywhere is the
parent of vice »There is scarcely anything« says the good old Quaker Wheeler
»so striking or pitiable as their aimless nerveless mode of spending life«
Attempts have repeatedly been made to rouse them from their sluggishness
but in vain Several years ago the cultivation of cotton was introduced and
with their usual love of novelty they went to work with great alacrity but the
interest excited quickly subsided and now not a pound of the article is raised
About the same time machinery for weaving was sent out from London and a
factory was started at Afrehitoo in Imeeo The whiz of the wheels and spindles
brought in volunteers from all quarters who deemed it a privilege to be
admitted to work yet in six months not a boy could be hired and the
machinery was knocked down and packed off to Sydney
It was the same way with the cultivation of the sugarcane a plant
indigenous to the island peculiarly fitted to the soil and climate and of so
excellent a quality that Bligh took slips of it to the West Indies All the
plantations went on famously for a while the natives swarming in the fields
like ants and making a prodigious stir What few plantations now remain are
owned and worked by whites who would rather pay a drunken sailor eighteen or
twenty Spanish dollars a month than hire a sober native for his fish and taro
It is well worthy remark here that every evidence of civilisation among the
South Sea Islands directly pertains to foreigners though the fact of such
evidence existing at all is usually urged as a proof of the elevated condition
of the natives Thus at Honolulu the capital of the Sandwich Islands there
are fine dwellinghouses several hotels and barbershops ay even
billiardrooms but all these are owned and used be it observed by whites
There are tailors and blacksmiths and carpenters also but not one of them is
a native
The fact is that the mechanical and agricultural employments of civilised
life require a kind of exertion altogether too steady and sustained to agree
with an indolent people like the Polynesians Calculated for a state of nature,
in a climate providentially adapted to it they are unfit for any other Nay as
a race they cannot otherwise long exist
The following statement speaks for itself.
About the year 1777 Captain Cook estimated the population of Tahiti at
about two hundred thousand31 By a regular census taken some four or five years
ago it was found to be only nine thousand32 This amazing decrease not only
shows the malignancy of the evils necessary to produce it but from the fact the
inference unavoidably follows that all the wars child murders and other
depopulating causes alleged to have existed in former times were nothing in
comparison to them
These evils of course are solely of foreign origin To say nothing of the
effects of drunkenness the occasional inroads of the smallpox and other
things which might be mentioned it is sufficient to allude to a virulent
disease which now taints the blood of at least twothirds of the common people
of the island and in some form or other is transmitted from father to son
Their first horror and consternation at the earlier ravages of this scourge
were pitiable in the extreme The very name bestowed upon it is a combination of
all that is horrid and unmentionable to a civilised being
Distracted with their sufferings they brought forth their sick before the
missionaries when they were preaching and cried out »Lies lies you tell us
of salvation and behold we are dying We want no other salvation than to live
in this world Where are there any saved through your speech Pomaree is dead
and we are all dying with your cursed diseases When will you give over«
At present the virulence of the disorder in individual cases has somewhat
abated but the poison is only the more widely diffused
»How dreadful and appalling« breaks forth old Wheeler »the consideration
that the intercourse of distant nations should have entailed upon these poor
untutored islanders a curse unprecedented and unheard of in the annals of
history«
In view of these things who can remain blind to the fact that so far as
mere temporal felicity is concerned the Tahitians are far worse off now than
formerly and although their circumstances upon the whole are bettered by the
presence of the missionaries the benefits conferred by the latter become
utterly insignificant when confronted with the vast preponderance of evil
brought about by other means
Their prospects are hopeless Nor can the most devoted efforts now exempt
them from furnishing a marked illustration of a principle which history has
always exemplified Years ago brought to a stand where all that is corrupt in
barbarism and civilisation unite to the exclusion of the virtues of either
state like other uncivilised beings brought into contact with Europeans they
must here remain stationary until utterly extinct
The islanders themselves are mournfully watching their doom Several years
since Pomaree II said to Tyreman and Bennet the deputies of the London
Missionary Society »You have come to see me at a very bad time Your ancestors
came in the time of men when Tahiti was inhabited you are come to behold just
the remnant of my people«
Of like import was the prediction of Teearmoar the highpriest of Paree
who lived over a hundred years ago I have frequently heard it chanted in a
low sad tone by aged Tahitians
»A harree ta fow
A toro ta farraro
A now ta tararta«
The palmtree shall grow
The coral shall spread
But man shall cease
Chapter L
Something Happens to Long Ghost
We will now return to the narrative
The day before the Julia sailed Doctor Johnson paid his last call He was
not quite so bland as usual All he wanted was the mens names to a paper
certifying to their having received from him sundry medicaments therein
mentioned This voucher endorsed by Captain Guy secured his pay But he would
not have obtained for it the sailors signs manual had either the doctor or
myself been present at the time
Now my long friend wasted no love upon Johnson but for reasons of his
own hated him heartily all the same thing in one sense for either passion
argues an object deserving thereof And so to be hated cordially is only a
lefthanded compliment which shows how foolish it is to be bitter against
anyone
For my own part I merely felt a cool purely incidental and passive
contempt for Johnson as a selfish mercenary apothecary and hence I often
remonstrated with Long Ghost when he flew out against him and heaped upon him
all manner of scurrilous epithets In his professional brothers presence
however he never acted thus maintaining an amiable exterior to help along the
jokes which were played
I am now going to tell another story in which my long friend figures with
the physician I do not wish to bring one or the other of them too often upon
the stage but as the thing actually happened I must relate it
A few days after Johnson presented his bill as above mentioned the doctor
expressed to me his regret that although he Johnson had apparently been
played off for our entertainment yet nevertheless he had made money out of
the transaction And I wonder added the doctor if that now he cannot expect
to receive any further pay he could be induced to call again
By a curious coincidence not five minutes after making this observation
Doctor Long Ghost himself fell down in an unaccountable fit and without asking
anybodys leave Captain Bob who was by at once dispatched a boy hotfoot
for Johnson
Meanwhile we carried him into the Calabooza and the natives who assembled
in numbers suggested various modes of treatment One rather energetic
practitioner was for holding the patient by the shoulders while somebody tugged
at his feet This resuscitatory operation was called the Potata but thinking
our long comrade sufficiently lengthy without additional stretching we declined
potataing him
Presently the physician was spied coming along the Broom Road at a great
rate and so absorbed in the business of locomotion that he heeded not the
imprudence of being in a hurry in a tropical climate He was in a profuse
perspiration which must have been owing to the warmth of his feelings
notwithstanding we had supposed him a man of no heart But his benevolent haste
upon this occasion was subsequently accounted for it merely arose from
professional curiosity to behold a case most unusual in his Polynesian
practice Now under certain circumstances sailors generally so frolicsome
are exceedingly particular in having everything conducted with the strictest
propriety Accordingly they deputed me as his intimate friend to sit at Long
Ghosts head so as to be ready to officiate as spokesman and answer all
questions propounded the rest to keep silent
»Whats the matter« exclaimed Johnson out of breath and bursting into the
Calabooza »how did it happen speak quick« and he looked at Long Ghost
I told him how the fit came on
»Singular« he observed »very good enough pulse« and he let go of it
and placed his hand upon the heart
»But whats all that frothing at the mouth« he continued »and bless me
look at the abdomen«
The region thus denominated exhibited the most unaccountable symptoms A
low rumbling sound was heard and a sort of undulation was discernible beneath
the thin cotton frock
»Colic sir« suggested a bystander
»Colic be hanged« shouted the physician »who ever heard of anybody in a
trance of the colic«
During this the patient lay upon his back stark and straight giving no
signs of life except those above mentioned
»I ll bleed him« cried Johnson at last »run for a calabash one of you«
»Life ho« here sung out Navy Bob as if he had just spied a sail
»What under the sun s the matter with him« cried the physician starting
at the appearance of the mouth which had jerked to one side and there remained
fixed
»Praps its St Wituss hornpipe« suggested Bob
»Hold the calabash« and the lancet was out in a moment
But before the deed could be done the face became natural a sigh was
heaved the eyelids quivered opened closed and Long Ghost twitching all
over rolled on his side and breathed audibly By degrees he became
sufficiently recovered to speak
After trying to get something coherent out of him Johnson withdrew
evidently disappointed in the scientific interest of the case Soon after his
departure the doctor sat up and upon being asked what upon earth ailed him
shook his head mysteriously He then deplored the hardship of being an invalid
in such a place where there was not the slightest provision for his comfort
This awakened the compassion of our good old keeper who offered to send him to
a place where he would be better cared for Long Ghost acquiesced and being at
once mounted upon the shoulders of four of Captain Bobs men was marched off in
state like the Grand Lama of Thibet
Now I do not pretend to account for his remarkable swoon but his reason
for suffering himself to be thus removed from the Calabooza was strongly
suspected to be nothing more than a desire to ensure more regularity in his
dinnerhour hoping that the benevolent native to whom he was going would set a
good table
The next morning we were all envying his fortune when of a sudden he
bolted in upon us looking decidedly out of humour
»Hang it« he cried »I m worse off than ever let me have some breakfast«
We lowered our slender bag of shipstores from a rafter and handed him a
biscuit While this was being munched he went on and told us his story
»After leaving here they trotted me back into a valley and left me in a
hut where an old woman lived by herself This must be the nurse thought I and
so I asked her to kill a pig and bake it for I felt my appetite returning
Ita ita oee mattee mattee nuee no no you too sick The devil mattee
ye said I give me something to eat But nothing could be had Night coming on
I had to stay Creeping into a corner I tried to sleep but it was to no
purpose the old crone must have had the quinsy or something else and she kept
up such a wheezing and choking that at last I sprang up and groped after her
but she hobbled away like a goblin and that was the last of her As soon as the
sun rose I made the best of my way back and here I am«
He never left us more nor ever had a second fit
Chapter LI
Wilson Gives Us the Cut Departure for Imeeo
About three weeks after the Julias sailing our condition began to be a little
precarious We were without any regular supply of food the arrival of ships was
growing less frequent and what was worse yet all the natives but good old
Captain Bob began to tire of us Nor was this to be wondered at we were obliged
to live upon their benevolence when they had little enough for themselves
Besides we were sometimes driven to acts of marauding such as kidnapping pigs
and cooking them in the groves at which their proprietors were by no means
pleased
In this state of affairs we determined to march off to the consul in a
body and as he had brought us to these straits demand an adequate
maintenance
On the point of starting Captain Bobs men raised the most outrageous
cries and tried to prevent us Though hitherto we had strolled about wherever
we pleased this grand conjunction of our whole force upon one particular
expedition seemed to alarm them But we assured them that we were not going to
assault the village and so after a good deal of gibberish they permitted us
to leave
We went straight to the Pritchard residence where the consul dwelt This
house to which I have before referred is quite commodious It has a wide
verandah glazed windows and other appurtenances of a civilised mansion Upon
the lawn in front are palmtrees standing erect here and there like sentinels
The Consular Office a small building by itself, is enclosed by the same picket
which fences in the lawn
We found the office closed but in the verandah of the dwellinghouse was a
lady performing a tonsorial operation on the head of a primlooking elderly
European in a low white cravat the most domestic little scene I had
witnessed since leaving home Bent upon an interview with Wilson the sailors
now deputed the doctor to step forward as a polite inquirer after his health
The pair stared very hard as he advanced but no ways disconcerted he
saluted them gravely and inquired for the consul
Upon being informed that he had gone down to the beach we proceeded in that
direction and soon met a native who told us that apprised of our vicinity
Wilson was keeping out of the way We resolved to meet him and passing through
the village he suddenly came walking toward us having apparently made up his
mind that any attempt to elude us would be useless
»What do you want of me you rascals« he cried a greeting which provoked
a retort in no measured terms At this juncture the natives began to crowd
round and several foreigners strolled along Caught in the very act of speaking
to such disreputable acquaintances Wilson now fidgeted and moved rapidly
toward his office the men following Turning upon them incensed he bade them
be off he would have nothing more to say to us and then hurriedly addressing
Captain Bob in Tahitian he hastened on and never stopped till the postern of
Pritchards wicket was closed behind him
Our good old keeper was now highly excited bustling about in his huge
petticoats and conjuring us to return to the Calabooza After a little debate
we acquiesced
This interview was decisive Sensible that none of the charges brought
against us would stand yet unwilling formally to withdraw them the consul now
wished to get rid of us altogether but without being suspected of encouraging
our escape Thus only could we account for his conduct
Some of the party however with a devotion to principle truly heroic swore
they would never leave him happen what might For my own part I began to long
for a change and as there seemed to be no getting away in a ship I resolved to
hit upon some other expedient But first I cast about for a comrade and of
course the long doctor was chosen We at once laid our heads together and for
the present resolved to disclose nothing to the rest
A few days previous I had fallen in with a couple of Yankee lads twins
who originally deserting their ship at Fannings Island an uninhabited spot
but exceedingly prolific in fruit of all kinds had after a long residence
there roved about among the Society Group They were last from Imeeo the
island immediately adjoining where they had been in the employ of two
foreigners who had recently started a plantation there These persons they
said had charged them to send over from Papeetee if they could two white men
for fieldlabourers
Now all but the prospect of digging and delving suited us exactly but the
opportunity for leaving the island was not to be slighted and so we held
ourselves in readiness to return with the planters who in a day or two were
expected to visit Papeetee in their boat
At the interview which ensued we were introduced to them as Peter and Paul
and they agreed to give Peter and Paul fifteen silver dollars a month promising
something more should we remain with them permanently What they wanted was men
who would stay To elude the natives many of whom not exactly understanding
our relations with the consul might arrest us were they to see us departing
the coming midnight was appointed for that purpose
When the hour drew nigh we disclosed our intention to the rest Some
upbraided us for deserting them others applauded and said that on the first
opportunity they would follow our example At last we bade them farewell And
there would now be a serene sadness in thinking over the scene since we never
saw them again had not all been dashed by MGees picking the doctors pocket
of a jackknife in the very act of embracing him
We stole down to the beach where under the shadow of a grove the boat was
waiting After some delay we shipped the oars and pulling outside of the reef
set the sail and with a fair wind glided away for Imeeo
It was a pleasant trip The moon was up the air warm the waves musical
and all above was the tropical night one purple vault hung round with soft
trembling stars
The channel is some five leagues wide On one hand you have the three great
peaks of Tahiti lording it over ranges of mountains and valleys and on the
other the equally romantic elevations of Imeeo high above which a lone peak
called by our companions the Marlingspike shot up its verdant spire
The planters were quite sociable They had been seafaring men and this of
course was a bond between us To strengthen it a flask of wine was produced
one of several which had been procured in person from the French admirals
steward for whom the planters when on a former visit to Papeetee had done a
good turn by introducing the amorous Frenchman to the ladies ashore Besides
this they had a calabash filled with wild boars meat baked yams breadfruit
and Tombez potatoes Pipes and tobacco also were produced and while regaling
ourselves plenty of stories were told about the neighbouring islands
At last we heard the roar of the Imeeo reef and gliding through a break
floated over the expanse within which was smooth as a young girls brow and
beached the boat
Chapter LII
The Valley of Martair
We went up through groves to an open space where we heard voices and a light
was seen glimmering from out a bamboo dwelling It was the planters retreat
and in their absence several girls were keeping house assisted by an old
native who wrapped up in tappa lay in the corner smoking
A hasty meal was prepared and after it we essayed a nap but alas a
plague little anticipated prevented Unknown in Tahiti the mosquitoes here
fairly eddied round us But more of them anon
We were up betimes and strolled out to view the country We were in the
valley of Martair shut in on both sides by lofty hills Here and there were
steep cliffs gay with flowering shrubs or hung with pendulous vines swinging
blossoms in the air Of considerable width at the sea the vale contracts as it
runs inland terminating at the distance of several miles in a range of the
most grotesque elevations which seem embattled with turrets and towers grown
over with verdure and waving with trees The valley itself is a wilderness of
woodland with links of streams flashing through and narrow pathways fairly
tunnelled through masses of foliage
All alone in this wild place was the abode of the planters the only one
back from the beach their sole neighbours the few fishermen and their
families dwelling in a small grove of cocoanut trees whose roots were washed
by the sea
The cleared tract which they occupied comprised some thirty acres level as
a prairie part of which was under cultivation the whole being fenced in by a
stout palisade of trunks and boughs of trees staked firmly in the ground This
was necessary as a defence against the wild cattle and hogs overrunning the
island
Thus far Tombez potatoes33 were the principal crop raised a ready sale for
them being obtained among the shipping touching at Papeetee There was a small
patch of the taro or Indian turnip also another of yams and in one corner
a thrifty growth of the sugarcane just ripening
On the side of the enclosure next the sea was the house newly built of
bamboos in the native style The furniture consisted of a couple of seachests
an old box a few cooking utensils and agricultural tools together with three
fowlingpieces hanging from a rafter and two enormous hammocks swinging in
opposite corners and composed of dried bullocks hides stretched out with
poles
The whole plantation was shut in by a dense forest and close by the house
a dwarfed Aoa or species of baniantree had purposely been left twisting over
the palisade in the most grotesque manner and thus made a pleasant shade The
branches of this curious tree afforded low perches upon which the natives
frequently squatted after the fashion of their race and smoked and gossiped by
the hour
We had a good breakfast of fish speared by the natives before sunrise on
the reef pudding of Indian turnip fried bananas and roasted breadfruit
During the repast our new friends were quite sociable and communicative It
seems that like nearly all uneducated foreigners residing in Polynesia they
had some time previous deserted from a ship and having heard a good deal
about the money to be made by raising supplies for whalingvessels they
determined upon embarking in the business Strolling about with this intention
they at last came to Martair and thinking the soil would suit set
themselves to work They began by finding out the owner of the particular spot
coveted and then making a tayo of him
He turned out to be Tonoi the chief of the fishermen who one day when
exhilarated with brandy tore his meagre tappa from his loins and gave me to
know that he was allied by blood with Pomaree herself and that his mother came
from the illustrious race of pontiffs who in old times swayed their bamboo
crosier over all the pagans of Imeeo A regal and right reverend lineage But at
the time I speak of the dusky noble was in decayed circumstances and therefore
by no means unwilling to alienate a few useless acres As an equivalent he
received from the strangers two or three rheumatic old muskets several red
woollen shirts and a promise to be provided for in his old age he was always
to find a home with the planters
Desirous of living on the cosy footing of a fatherinlaw he frankly
offered his two daughters for wives but as such they were politely declined
the adventurers though not averse to courting being unwilling to entangle
themselves in a matrimonial alliance however splendid in point of family
Tonois men the fishermen of the grove were a sad set Secluded in a
great measure from the ministrations of the missionaries they gave themselves
up to all manner of lazy wickedness Strolling among the trees of a morning you
came upon them napping on the shady side of a canoe hauled up among the bushes
lying under a tree smoking or more frequently still gambling with pebbles
though a little tobacco excepted what they gambled for at their outlandish
games it would be hard to tell Other idle diversions they had also in which
they seemed to take great delight As for fishing it employed but a small part
of their time Upon the whole they were a merry indigent godless race
Tonoi the old sinner leaning against the fallen trunk of a cocoanut tree
invariably squandered his mornings at pebbles a grayheaded rook of a native
regularly plucking him of every other stick of tobacco obtained from his
friends the planters Toward afternoon he strolled back to their abode where
he tarried till the next morning smoking and snoozing and at times prating
about the hapless fortunes of the House of Tonoi But like any other easygoing
old dotard he seemed for the most part perfectly content with cheerful board
and lodging
On the whole the valley of Martair was the quietest place imaginable Could
the mosquitoes be induced to emigrate one might spend the month of August there
quite pleasantly But this was not the case with the luckless Long Ghost and
myself as will presently be seen
Chapter LIII
Farming in Polynesia
The planters were both wholesouled fellows but in other respects as unlike
as possible
One was a tall robust Yankee born in the backwoods of Maine sallow and
with a long face the other was a short little Cockney who had first clapped
his eyes on the Monument
The voice of Zeke the Yankee had a twang like a cracked viol and Shorty
as his comrade called him clipped the aspirate from every word beginning with
one The latter though not the tallest man in the world was a goodlooking
young fellow of twentyfive His cheeks were dyed with the fine Saxon red
burned deeper from his roving life his blue eye opened well and a profusion of
fair hair curled over a wellshaped head
But Zeke was no beauty A strong ugly man he was well adapted for manual
labour and that was all His eyes were made to see with and not for ogling
Compared with the Cockney he was grave and rather taciturn but there was a
deal of good old humour bottled up in him after all For the rest he was
frank goodhearted shrewd and resolute and like Shorty quite illiterate
Though a curious conjunction the pair got along together famously But as
no two men were ever united in any enterprise without one getting the upper
hand of the other so in most matters Zeke had his own way Shorty too had
imbibed from him a spirit of invincible industry and Heaven only knows what
ideas of making a fortune on their plantation
We were much concerned at this for the prospect of their setting us in
their own persons an example of downright hard labour was anything but
agreeable But it was now too late to repent what we had done
The first day thank fortune we did nothing Having treated us as guests
thus far they no doubt thought it would be wanting in delicacy to set us to
work before the compliments of the occasion were well over The next morning
however they both looked businesslike and we were put to
»Wall bys« boys said Zeke knocking the ashes out of his pipe after
breakfast »we must get at it Shorty give Peter there the doctor the big
hoe and Paul the other and lets be off« Going to a corner Shorty brought
forth three of the implements and distributing them impartially trudged on
after his partner who took the lead with something in the shape of an axe
For a moment left alone in the house we looked at each other quaking We
were each equipped with a great clumsy piece of a tree armed at one end with a
heavy flat mass of iron
The cutlery part especially adapted to a primitive soil was an
importation from Sydney the handles must have been of domestic manufacture
Hoes so called we had heard of and seen but they were harmless in
comparison with the tools in our hands
»Whats to be done with them« inquired I of Peter
»Lift them up and down« he replied »or put them in motion some way or
other Paul we are in a scrape but hark they are calling« and shouldering
the hoes off we marched
Our destination was the farther side of the plantation where the ground
cleared in part had not yet been broken up but they were now setting about it
Upon halting I asked why a plough was not used some of the young wild steers
might be caught and trained for draught
Zeke replied that for such a purpose no cattle to his knowledge had ever
been used in any part of Polynesia As for the soil of Martair so obstructed
was it with roots crossing and recrossing each other at all points that no
kind of a plough could be used to advantage The heavy Sydney hoes were the only
thing for such land
Our work was now before us but previous to commencing operations I
endeavoured to engage the Yankee in a little further friendly chat concerning
the nature of virgin soils in general and that of the valley of Martair in
particular So masterly a stratagem made Long Ghost brighten up and he stood by
ready to join in But what our friend had to say about agriculture all referred
to the particular part of his plantation upon which we stood and having
communicated enough on this head to enable us to set to work to the best
advantage he fell to himself and Shorty who had been looking on followed
suit
The surface here and there presented closely amputated branches of what
had once been a dense thicket They seemed purposely left projecting as if to
furnish a handle whereby to drag out the roots beneath After loosening the hard
soil by dint of much thumping and pounding the Yankee jerked one of the roots
this way and that twisting it round and round and then tugging at it
horizontally
»Come lend us a hand« he cried at last and running up we all four
strained away in concert The tough obstacle convulsed the surface with throes
and spasms but stuck fast notwithstanding
»Dumn it« cried Zeke »well have to get a rope run to the house Shorty
and fetch one«
The end of this being attached we took plenty of room and strained away
once more
»Give us a song Shorty« said the doctor who was rather sociable on a
short acquaintance Where the work to be accomplished is any way difficult this
mode of enlivening toil is quite efficacious among sailors So willing to make
everything as cheerful as possible Shorty struck up »Were you ever in
Dumbarton« a marvellously inspiring but somewhat indecorous windlass chorus
At last the Yankee cast a damper on his enthusiasm by exclaiming in a pet
»Oh dumn your singing keep quiet and pull away« This we now did in the most
uninteresting silence until with a jerk that made every elbow hum the root
dragged out and most inelegantly we all landed upon the ground The doctor
quite exhausted stayed there and deluded into believing that after so
doughty a performance we would be allowed a cessation of toil took off his
hat and fanned himself
»Rayther a hard customer that Peter« observed the Yankee going up to him
»but its no use for any on em to hang back for I m dumned if they haint got
to come out whether or no Hurrah lets get at it agin«
»Mercy« ejaculated the doctor rising slowly and turning round »Hell be
the death of us«
Falling to with our hoes again we worked singly or together as occasion
required until Nooning Time came
The period so called by the planters embraced about three hours in the
middle of the day during which it was so excessively hot in this still
brooding valley shut out from the Trades and only open toward the leeward side
of the island that labour in the sun was out of the question To use a
hyperbolical phrase of Shortys »It was hot enough to melt the nose hoff a
brass monkey«
Returning to the house Shorty assisted by old Tonoi cooked the dinner
and after we had all partaken thereof both the Cockney and Zeke threw
themselves into one of the hammocks inviting us to occupy the other Thinking
it no bad idea, we did so and after skirmishing with the mosquitoes managed
to fall into a doze As for the planters more accustomed to Nooning they at
once presented a nuptial back to each other and were soon snoring away at a
great rate Tonoi snoozed on a mat in one corner
At last we were roused by Zekes crying out »Up bys up rise and
shine time to get at it agin«
Looking at the doctor I perceived very plainly that he had decided upon
something
In a languid voice he told Zeke that he was not very well indeed that he
had not been himself for some time past though a little rest no doubt would
recruit him The Yankee thinking from this that our valuable services might be
lost to him altogether were he too hard upon us at the outset at once begged
us both to consult our own feelings and not exert ourselves for the present
unless we felt like it Then without recognising the fact that my comrade
claimed to be actually unwell he simply suggested that since he was so
tired he had better perhaps swing in his hammock for the rest of the day If
agreeable however I myself might accompany him upon a little bullock hunting
excursion in the neighbouring hills In this proposition I gladly acquiesced
though Peter who was a great sportsman put on a long face The muskets and
ammunition were forthwith got down from overhead and everything being then
ready Zeke cried out »Tonoi come aramai get up we want you for pilot
Shorty my lad look arter things you know and if you likes why theres them
roots in the field yonder«
Having thus arranged his domestic affairs to please himself though little
to Shortys satisfaction I thought he slung his powderhorn over his shoulder
and we started Tonoi was at once sent on in advance and leaving the
plantation he struck into a path which led toward the mountains
After hurrying through the thickets for some time we came out into the
sunlight in an open glade just under the shadow of the hills Here Zeke
pointed aloft to a beetling crag far distant where a bullock with horns thrown
back stood like a statue
Chapter LIV
Some Account of the Wild Cattle in Polynesia
Before we proceed further a word or two concerning these wild cattle and the
way they came on the island
Some fifty years ago Vancouver left several bullocks sheep and goats at
various places in the Society Group He instructed the natives to look after the
animals carefully and by no means to slaughter any until a considerable stock
had accumulated
The sheep must have died off for I never saw a solitary fleece in any part
of Polynesia The pair left were an illassorted couple perhaps separated in
disgust and died without issue
As for the goats occasionally you come across a black misanthropic ram
nibbling the scant herbage of some height inaccessible to man in preference to
the sweet grasses of the valley below The goats are not very numerous
The bullocks coming of a prolific ancestry are a hearty set racing over
the island of Imeeo in considerable numbers though in Tahiti but few of them
are seen At the former place the original pair must have scampered off to the
interior since it is now so thickly populated by their wild progeny The herds
are the private property of Queen Pomaree from whom the planters had obtained
permission to shoot for their own use as many as they pleased
The natives stand in great awe of these cattle and for this reason are
excessively timid in crossing the island preferring rather to sail round to an
opposite village in their canoes
Tonoi abounded in bullock stories most of which by the by had a spice of
the marvellous The following is one of these
Once upon a time he was going over the hills with a brother now no more
when a great bull came bellowing out of a wood and both took to their heels
The old chief sprang into a tree his companion flying in an opposite
direction was pursued and in the very act of reaching up to a bough trampled
underfoot The unhappy man was then gored tossed in the air and finally run
away with on the bulls horns More dead than alive Tonoi waited till all was
over and then made the best of his way home The neighbours armed with two or
three muskets at once started to recover if possible his unfortunate
brothers remains At nightfall they returned without discovering any trace of
him but the next morning Tonoi himself caught a glimpse of a bullock marching
across the mountains brow with a long dark object borne aloft on his horns
Having referred to Vancouvers attempts to colonise the islands with useful
quadrupeds we may as well say something concerning his success upon Hawaii one
of the largest islands in the whole Polynesian Archipelago and which gives the
native name to the wellknown cluster named by Cook in honour of Lord Sandwich
Hawaii is some one hundred leagues in circuit and covers an area of over
four thousand square miles Until within a few years past its interior was
almost unknown even to the inhabitants themselves who for ages had been
prevented from wandering thither by certain strange superstitions Pelee the
terrific goddess of the volcanoes Mouna Roa and Mouna Kea34 was supposed to
guard all the passes to the extensive valleys lying round their base There are
legends of her having chased with streams of fire several impious adventurers
Near Hilo a jetblack cliff is shown with the vitreous torrent apparently
pouring over into the sea just as it cooled after one of these supernatural
eruptions
To these inland valleys and the adjoining hillsides which are clothed in
the most luxuriant vegetation Vancouvers bullocks soon wandered and
unmolested for a long period multiplied in vast herds
Some twelve or fifteen years ago the natives losing sight of their
superstitions and learning the value of the hides in commerce began hunting
the creatures that wore them but being very fearful and awkward in a business
so novel their success was small and it was not until the arrival of a party
of Spanish hunters men regularly trained to their calling upon the plains of
California that the work of slaughter was fairly begun
The Spaniards were showy fellows tricked out in gay blankets leggings
worked with porcupine quills and jingling spurs Mounted upon trained Indian
mares these heroes pursued their prey up to the very base of the burning
mountains making the profoundest solitudes ring with their shouts and flinging
the lasso under the very nose of the vixen goddess Pelee Hilo a village upon
the coast was their place of resort and thither flocked roving whites from all
the islands of the group As pupils of the dashing Spaniards many of these
dissipated fellows quaffing too freely of the stirrupcup and riding headlong
after the herds when they reeled in the saddle were unhorsed and killed
This was about the year 1835 when the present king Tammahammaha III was
a lad With royal impudence laying claim to the sole property of the cattle he
was delighted with the idea of receiving one of every two silver dollars paid
down for their hides so with no thought for the future the work of
extermination went madly on In three years time eighteen thousand bullocks
were slain almost entirely upon the single island of Hawaii
The herds being thus nearly destroyed the sagacious young prince imposed a
rigorous taboo upon the few surviving cattle which was to remain in force for
ten years During this period not yet expired all hunting is forbidden
unless directly authorised by the king
The massacre of the cattle extended to the hapless goats In one year three
thousand of their skins were sold to the merchants of Honolulu fetching a
quartilia or a shilling sterling apiece
After this digression it is time to run on after Tonoi and the Yankee
Chapter LV
A Hunting Ramble with Zeke
At the foot of the mountain a steep path went up among rocks and clefts mantled
with verdure Here and there were green gulfs down which it made one giddy to
peep At last we gained an overhanging wooded shelf of land which crowned the
heights and along this the path well shaded ran like a gallery
In every direction the scenery was enchanting There was a low rustling
breeze and below in the vale the leaves were quivering the sea lay blue and
serene in the distance and inland the surface swelled up ridge after ridge
and peak upon peak all bathed in the Indian haze of the tropics and dreamy to
look upon Still valleys leagues away reposed in the deep shadows of the
mountains and here and there waterfalls lifted up their voices in the
solitude High above all and central the Marlingspike lifted its finger Upon
the hillsides small groups of bullocks were seen some quietly browsing others
slowly winding into the valleys
We went on directing our course for a slope of the hills a mile or two
farther where the nearest bullocks were seen
We were cautious in keeping to the windward of them their sense of smell
and hearing being like those of all wild creatures exceedingly acute
As there was no knowing that we might not surprise some other kind of game
in the coverts through which we were passing we crept along warily
The wild hogs of the island are uncommonly fierce and as they often attack
the natives I could not help following Tonois example of once in a while
peeping in under the foliage Frequent retrospective glances also served to
assure me that our retreat was not cut off
As we rounded a clump of bushes a noise behind them like the crackling of
dry branches broke the stillness In an instant Tonois hand was on a bough
ready for a spring and Zekes finger touched the trigger of his piece Again
the stillness was broken and thinking it high time to get ready I brought my
musket to my shoulder
»Look sharp« cried the Yankee and dropping on one knee he brushed the
twigs aside Presently off went his piece and with a wild snort a black
bristling boar his cherry red lip curled up by two glittering tusks dashed
unharmed across the path and crashed through the opposite thicket I saluted
him with a charge as he disappeared but not the slightest notice was taken of
the civility
By this time Tonoi the illustrious descendant of the Bishops of Imeeo was
twenty feet from the ground »Aramai come down you old fool« cried the
Yankee »the pesky critter s on tother side of the island afore this«
»I rayther guess« he continued as we began reloading »that we ve spoiled
sport by firing at that ere tarnal hog Them bullocks heard the racket and is
flinging their tails about now on the keen jump Quick Paul and lets climb
that rock yonder and see if so be there s any in sight«
But none were to be seen except at such a distance that they looked like
ants
As evening was now at hand my companion proposed our returning home
forthwith and then after a sound nights rest starting in the morning upon a
good days hunt with the whole force of the plantation
Following another path in descending into the valley we passed through
some nobly wooded land on the face of the mountain
One variety of tree particularly attracted my attention The dark mossy
stem over seventy feet high was perfectly branchless for many feet above the
ground when it shot out in broad boughs laden with lustrous leaves of the
deepest green And all round the lower part of the trunk thin slablike
buttresses of bark perfectly smooth and radiating from a common centre
projected along the ground for at least two yards From below these natural
props tapered upward until gradually blended with the trunk itself There were
signs of the wild cattle having sheltered themselves behind them Zeke called
this the canoetree as in old times it supplied the navies of the kings of
Tahiti For canoebuilding the wood is still used Being extremely dense and
impervious to worms it is very durable
Emerging from the forest when halfway down the hillside we came upon an
open space covered with ferns and grass over which a few lonely trees were
casting long shadows in the setting sun Here a piece of ground some hundred
feet square covered with weeds and brambles and sounding hollow to the tread
was enclosed by a ruinous wall of stones Tonoi said it was an almost forgotten
burialplace of great antiquity where no one had been interred since the
islanders had been Christians Sealed up in dry deep vaults many a dead
heathen was lying here
Curious to prove the old mans statement I was anxious to get a peep at the
catacombs but hermetically overgrown with vegetation as they were no aperture
was visible
Before gaining the level of the valley we passed by the site of a village
near a watercourse long since deserted There was nothing but stone walls and
rude dismantled foundations of houses constructed of the same material Large
trees and brushwood were growing rankly among them
I asked Tonoi how long it was since anyone had lived here »Me tammaree
boy plenty kannaker men Martair« he replied »Now only poor pehe kannaka
fishermen left me born here«
Going down the valley vegetation of every kind presented a different aspect
from that of the high land
Chief among the trees of the plain on this island is the Ati large and
lofty with a massive trunk and broad laurelshaped leaves The wood is
splendid In Tahiti I was shown a narrow polished plank fit to make a cabinet
for a king Taken from the heart of the tree it was of a deep rich scarlet
traced with yellow veins and in some places clouded with hazel
In the same grove with the regal Ati you may see the beautiful flowering
Hotoo its pyramid of shining leaves diversified with numberless small white
blossoms
Planted with trees as the valley is almost throughout its entire length I
was astonished to observe so very few which were useful to the natives not one
in a hundred was a cocoanut or breadfruit tree
But here Tonoi again enlightened me In the sanguinary religious hostilities
which ensued upon the conversion to Christianity of the first Pomaree a
warparty from Tahiti destroyed by girdling the bark entire groves of these
invaluable trees For some time afterward they stood stark and leafless in the
sun sad monuments of the fate which befell the inhabitants of the valley
Chapter LVI
Mosquitoes
The night following the hunting trip Long Ghost and myself after a valiant
defence had to fly the house on account of the mosquitoes
And here I cannot avoid relating a story rife among the natives concerning
the manner in which these insects were introduced upon the island
Some years previous a whaling captain touching at an adjoining bay got
into difficulty with its inhabitants and at last carried his complaint before
one of the native tribunals but receiving no satisfaction and deeming himself
aggrieved he resolved upon taking signal revenge One night he towed a rotten
old watercask ashore and left it in a neglected taro patch where the ground
was warm and moist Hence the mosquitoes
I tried my best to learn the name of this man and hereby do what I can to
hand it down to posterity It was Coleman Nathan Coleman The ship belonged to
Nantucket
When tormented by the mosquitoes I found much relief in coupling the word
Coleman with another of one syllable and pronouncing them together
energetically
The doctor suggested a walk to the beach where there was a long low shed
tumbling to pieces but open lengthwise to a current of air which he thought
might keep off the mosquitoes So thither we went
The ruin partially sheltered a relic of times gone by which a few days
after we examined with much curiosity It was an old warcanoe crumbling to
dust Being supported by the same rude blocks upon which apparently it had
years before been hollowed out in all probability it had never been afloat
Outside it seemed originally stained of a green colour which here and
there was now changed into a dingy purple The prow terminated in a high blunt
beak both sides were covered with carving and upon the stern was something
which Long Ghost maintained to be the arms of the royal House of Pomaree The
device had an heraldic look certainly being two sharks with the talons of
hawks clawing a knot left projecting from the wood
The canoe was at least forty feet long about two wide and four deep The
upper part consisting of narrow planks laced together with cords of sinnate
had in many places fallen off and lay decaying upon the ground Still there
were ample accommodations left for sleeping and in we sprang the doctor into
the bow and I into the stern I soon fell asleep but waking suddenly cramped
in every joint from my constrained posture I thought for an instant that I
must have been prematurely screwed down in my coffin
Presenting my compliments to Long Ghost I asked how it fared with him
»Bad enough« he replied as he tossed about in the outlandish rubbish lying
in the bottom of our couch »Pah how these old mats smell«
As he continued talking in this exciting strain for some time I at last
made no reply having resumed certain mathematical reveries to induce repose
But finding the multiplication table of no avail I summoned up a grayish image
of chaos in a sort of sliding fluidity and was just falling into a nap on the
strength of it when I heard a solitary and distinct buzz The hour of my
calamity was at hand One blended hum the creature darted into the canoe like a
small swordfish and I out of it
Upon getting into the open air to my surprise there was Long Ghost
fanning himself wildly with an old paddle He had just made a noiseless escape
from a swarm which had attacked his own end of the canoe
It was now proposed to try the water so a small fishing canoe hauled up
near by was quickly launched and paddling a good distance off we dropped
overboard the native contrivance for an anchor a heavy stone attached to a
cable of braided bark At this part of the island the encircling reef was close
to the shore leaving the water within smooth and extremely shallow
It was a blessed thought We knew nothing till sunrise when the motion of
our aquatic cot awakened us I looked up and beheld Zeke wading toward the
shore and towing us after him by the bark cable Pointing to the reef he told
us we had had a narrow escape
It was true enough the watersprites had rolled our stone out of its noose
and we had floated away
Chapter LVII
The Second Hunt in the Mountains
Fair dawned over the hills of Martair the jocund morning of our hunt
Everything had been prepared for it overnight and when we arrived at the
house a good breakfast was spread by Shorty and old Tonoi was bustling about
like an innkeeper Several of his men also were in attendance to accompany us
with calabashes of food and in case we met with any success to officiate as
bearers of burdens on our return
Apprised the evening previous of the meditated sport the doctor had
announced his willingness to take part therein
Now subsequent events made us regard this expedition as a shrewd device of
the Yankees Once get us off on a pleasure trip and with what face could we
afterward refuse to work Besides he enjoyed all the credit of giving us a
holyday Nor did he omit assuring us that work or play our wages were all the
while running on
A dilapidated old musket of Tonois was borrowed for the doctor It was
exceedingly short and heavy with a clumsy lock which required a strong finger
to pull the trigger On trying the piece by firing at a mark Long Ghost was
satisfied that it could not fail of doing execution the charge went one way
and he the other
Upon this he endeavoured to negotiate an exchange of muskets with Shorty
but the Cockney was proof against his blandishments at last he entrusted his
weapon to one of the natives to carry for him
Marshalling our forces we started for the head of the valley near which a
path ascended to a range of high land said to be a favourite resort of the
cattle
Shortly after gaining the heights a small herd some way off was perceived
entering a wood We hurried on and dividing our party went in after them at
four different points each white man followed by several natives
I soon found myself in a dense covert and after looking round was just
emerging into a clear space when I heard a report and a bullet knocked the
bark from a tree near by The same instant there was a trampling and crashing
and five bullocks nearly abreast broke into view across the opening and
plunged right toward the spot where myself and three of the islanders were
standing
They were small black viciouslooking creatures with short sharp horns
red nostrils and eyes like coals of fire On they came their dark woolly
heads hanging down
By this time my island backers were roosting among the trees Glancing
round for an instant to discover a retreat in case of emergency I raised my
piece when a voice cried out from the wood »Right between the orns Paul
right between the orns« Down went my barrel in range with a small white tuft
on the forehead of the headmost one and letting him have it I darted to one
side As I turned again the five bullocks shot by like a blast making the air
eddy in their wake
The Yankee now burst into view and saluted them in flank Whereupon the
fierce little bull with the tufted forehead flirted his long tail over his
buttocks kicked out with his hind feet and shot forward a full length It was
nothing but a graze and in an instant they were out of sight the thicket
into which they broke rocking overhead and marking their progress
The action over the heavy artillery came up in the person of the Long
Doctor with his blunderbuss
»Where are they« he cried out of breath
»A mile or two hoff by this time« replied the Cockney »Lord Paul you
ought to ve sent an ailstone into that little black un«
While excusing my want of skill as well as I could Zeke rushing forward
suddenly exclaimed »Creation what are you bout there Peter«
Peter incensed at our ill luck and ignorantly imputing it to the cowardice
of our native auxiliaries was bringing his piece to bear upon his trembling
squire the musket carrier now descending a tree
Pulling trigger the bullet went high over his head and hopping to the
ground bellowing like a calf the fellow ran away as fast as his heels could
carry him The rest followed us after this with fear and trembling
After forming our line of march anew we went on for several hours without
catching a glimpse of the game the reports of the muskets having been heard at
a great distance At last we mounted a craggy height to obtain a wide view of
the country From this place we beheld three cattle quietly browsing in a
green opening of a wood below the trees shutting them in all round
A general reexamination of the muskets now took place followed by a hasty
lunch from the calabashes we then started As we descended the mountainside
the cattle were in plain sight until we entered the forest when we lost sight
of them for a moment but only to see them again as we crept close up to the
spot where they grazed
They were a bull a cow and a calf The cow was lying down in the shade by
the edge of the wood the calf sprawling out before her in the grass licking
her lips while old Taurus himself stood close by casting a paternal glance at
this domestic little scene and conjugally elevating his nose in the air
»Now then« said Zeke in a whisper »let s take the poor creeturs while
they are huddled together Crawl along bys crawl along Fire together mind
and not till I say the word«
We crept up to the very edge of the open ground and knelt behind a clump of
bushes resting our levelled barrels among the branches The slight rustling was
heard Taurus turned round dropped his head to the ground and sent forth a
low sullen bellow then snuffed the air The cow rose on her foreknees
pitched forward alarmedly and stood upon her legs while the calf with ears
pricked got right underneath her All three were now grouped and in an instant
would be off
»I take the bull« cried our leader »fire«
The calf fell like a clod its dam uttered a cry and thrust her head into
the thicket but she turned and came moaning up to the lifeless calf going
round and round it snuffing fiercely with her bleeding nostrils A crashing in
the wood and a loud roar announced the flying bull
Soon another shot was fired and the cow fell Leaving some of the natives
to look after the dead cattle the rest of us hurried on after the bull his
dreadful bellowings guiding us to the spot where he lay Wounded in the
shoulder in his fright and agony he had bounded into the wood but when we came
up to him he had sunk to the earth in a green hollow thrusting his black
muzzle into a pool of his own blood and tossing it over his hide in clots
The Yankee brought his piece to rest and the next instant the wild brute
sprang into the air and with his forelegs crouching under him fell dead
Our island friends were now in high spirits all courage and alacrity Old
Tonoi thought nothing of taking poor Taurus himself by the horns and peering
into his glazed eyes
Our ship knives were at once in request and skinning the cattle we hung
them high up by cords of bark from the boughs of a tree Withdrawing into a
covert we there waited for the wild hogs which according to Zeke would soon
make their appearance lured by the smell of blood Presently we heard them
coming in two or three different directions and in a moment they were
tearing the offal to pieces
As only one shot at these creatures could be relied on we intended firing
simultaneously but somehow or other the doctors piece went off by itself,
and one of the hogs dropped The others then breaking into the thicket the rest
of us sprang after them resolved to have another shot at all hazards
The Cockney darted among some bushes and a few moments after we heard the
report of his musket followed by a quick cry On running up we saw our comrade
doing battle with a young devil of a boar as black as night whose snout had
been partly torn away Firing when the game was in full career and coming
directly toward him Shorty had been assailed by the enraged brute it was now
crunching the breech of the musket with which he had tried to club it Shorty
holding fast to the barrel and fingering his waist for a knife Being in
advance of the others I clapped my gun to the boars head and so put an end to
the contest
Evening now coming on we set to work loading our carriers The cattle were
so small that a stout native could walk off with an entire quarter brushing
through thickets and descending rocks without an apparent effort though to
tell the truth no white man present could have done the thing with any ease As
for the wild hogs none of the islanders could be induced to carry Shortys
some invincible superstition being connected with its black colour We were
therefore obliged to leave it The other a spotted one being slung by green
thongs to a pole was marched off with by two young natives
With our bearers of burdens ahead we then commenced our return down the
valley Halfway home darkness overtook us in the woods and torches became
necessary We stopped and made them of dry palm branches and then sending two
lads on in advance for the purpose of gathering fuel to feed the flambeaux we
continued our journey
It was a wild sight The torches waved aloft flashed through the forest
and where the ground admitted the islanders went along on a brisk trot
notwithstanding they bent forward under their loads Their naked backs were
stained with blood and occasionally running by each other they raised wild
cries which startled the hillsides
Chapter LVIII
The HuntingFeast and a Visit to Afrehitoo
Two bullocks and a boar No bad trophies of our days sport So by torchlight we
marched into the plantation the wild hog rocking from its pole and the doctor
singing an old huntingsong Tallyho the chorus of which swelled high above
the yells of the natives
We resolved to make a night of it Kindling a great fire just outside the
dwelling and hanging one of the heifers quarters from a limb of the
baniantree everyone was at liberty to cut and broil for himself Baskets of
roasted breadfruit and plenty of taro pudding bunches of bananas and young
cocoanuts had also been provided by the natives against our return
The fire burned bravely keeping off the mosquitoes and making every mans
face glow like a beaker of port The meat had the true wildgame flavour not at
all impaired by our famous appetites and a couple of flasks of white brandy
which Zeke producing from his secret store circulated freely
There was no end to my long comrades spirits After telling his stories
and singing his songs he sprang to his feet clasped a young damsel of the
grove round the waist and waltzed over the grass with her But there s no
telling all the pranks he played that night The natives who delight in a wag
emphatically pronounced him matai
It was long after midnight ere we broke up but when the rest had retired
Zeke with the true thrift of a Yankee salted down what was left of the meat
The next day was Sunday and at my request Shorty accompanied me to
Afrehitoo a neighbouring bay and the seat of a mission almost directly
opposite Papeetee In Afrehitoo is a large church and schoolhouse both quite
dilapidated and planted amid shrubbery on a fine knoll stands a very tasteful
cottage commanding a view across the channel In passing I caught sight of a
graceful calico skirt disappearing from the piazza through a doorway The place
was the residence of the missionary
A trim little sailboat was dancing out at her moorings a few yards from
the beach
Straggling over the low lands in the vicinity were several native huts
untidy enough but much better every way than most of those in Tahiti
We attended service at the church where we found but a small congregation
and after what I had seen in Papeetee nothing very interesting took place But
the audience had a curious fidgety look which I knew not how to account for
until we ascertained that a sermon with the eighth commandment for a text was
being preached
It seemed that there lived an Englishman in the district who like our
friends the planters was cultivating Tombez potatoes for the Papeetee market
In spite of all his precautions the natives were in the habit of making
nocturnal forays into his enclosure and carrying off the potatoes One night he
fired a fowlingpiece charged with pepper and salt at several shadows which he
discovered stealing across his premises They fled But it was like seasoning
anything else the knaves stole again with a greater relish than ever and the
very next night he caught a party in the act of roasting a basketful of
potatoes under his own cookingshed At last he stated his grievances to the
missionary who for the benefit of his congregation preached the sermon we
heard
Now there were no thieves in Martair but then the people of the valley
were bribed to be honest It was a regular business transaction between them and
the planters In consideration of so many potatoes to them in hand duly paid
they were to abstain from all depredations upon the plantation Another security
against roguery was the permanent residence upon the premises of their chief
Tonoi
On our return to Martair in the afternoon we found the doctor and Zeke
making themselves comfortable The latter was reclining on the ground pipe in
mouth watching the doctor who sitting like a Turk before a large iron
kettle was slicing potatoes and Indian turnip and now and then shattering
splinters from a bone all of which by turns were thrown into the pot He was
making what he called bullock broth
In gastronomic affairs my friend was something of an artist and by way of
improving his knowledge did nothing the rest of the day but practise in what
might be called Experimental Cookery broiling and grilling and devilling
slices of meat and subjecting them to all sorts of igneous operations It was
the first fresh beef that either of us had tasted in more than a year
»Oh ye ll pick up arter a while Peter« observed Zeke toward night as
Long Ghost was turning a great rib over the coals »what d ye think Paul«
»He ll get along I dare say« replied I »he only wants to get those
cheeks of his tanned« To tell the truth I was not a little pleased to see the
doctors reputation as an invalid fading away so fast especially as on the
strength of his being one he had promised to have such easy times of it and
very likely too at my expense
Chapter LIX
The Murphies
Dozing in our canoe the next morning about daybreak we were awakened by Zekes
hailing us loudly from the beach
Upon paddling up he told us that a canoe had arrived overnight from
Papeetee with an order from a ship lying there for a supply of his potatoes
and as they must be on board the vessel by noon he wanted us to assist in
bringing them down to his sailboat
My long comrade was one of those who from always thrusting forth the wrong
foot foremost when they rise or committing some other indiscretion of the
limbs are more or less crabbed or sullen before breakfast It was in vain
therefore that the Yankee deplored the urgency of the case which obliged him
to call us up thus early the doctor only looked the more glum and said nothing
in reply
At last by way of getting up a little enthusiasm for the occasion the
Yankee exclaimed quite spiritedly »What d ye say then bys shall we git at
it«
»Yes in the devils name« replied the doctor like a snapping turtle and
we moved on to the house Notwithstanding his ungracious answer he probably
thought that after the gastronomic performance of the day previous it would
hardly do to hang back At the house we found Shorty ready with the hoes and
we at once repaired to the farther side of the enclosure where the potatoes had
yet to be taken out of the ground
The rich tawny soil seemed specially adapted to the crop the great yellow
murphies rolling out of the hills like eggs from a nest
My comrade really surprised me by the zeal with which he applied himself to
his hoe For my own part exhilarated by the cool breath of the morning I
worked away like a good fellow As for Zeke and the Cockney they seemed
mightily pleased at this evidence of our willingness to exert ourselves
It was not long ere all the potatoes were turned out and then came the
worst of it they were to be lugged down to the beach a distance of at least a
quarter of a mile And there being no such thing as a barrow or cart on the
island there was nothing for it but spinal marrows and broad shoulders Well
knowing that this part of the business would be anything but agreeable Zeke did
his best to put as encouraging a face upon it as possible and giving us no time
to indulge in desponding thoughts gleefully directed our attention to a pile of
rude baskets made of stout stalks which had been provided for the occasion
So without more ado we helped ourselves from the heap and soon we were all
four staggering along under our loads
The first trip down we arrived at the beach together Zekes enthusiastic
cries proving irresistible A trip or two more however and my shoulders began
to grate in their sockets while the doctors tall figure acquired an obvious
stoop Presently we both threw down our baskets protesting we could stand it
no longer But our employers bent as it were upon getting the work out of us
by a silent appeal to our moral sense toiled away without pretending to notice
us It was as much as to say »There men we ve been boarding and lodging ye
for the last three days and yesterday ye did nothing earthly but eat so stand
by now and look at us working if ye dare« Thus driven to it then we resumed
our employment Yet in spite of all we could do we lagged behind Zeke and
Shorty who breathing hard and perspiring at every pore toiled away without
pause or cessation I almost wickedly wished that they would load themselves
down with one potato too many
Gasping as I was with my own hamper I could not for the life of me help
laughing at Long Ghost There he went his long neck thrust forward his arms
twisted behind him to form a shelf for his basket to rest on and his stilts of
legs every once in a while giving way under him as if his kneejoints slipped
either way
»There I carry no more« he exclaimed all at once flinging his potatoes
into the boat where the Yankee was just then stowing them away
»Oh then« said Zeke quite briskly »I guess you and Paul had better try
the barrelmachine come along I ll fix ye out in no time« and so saying
he waded ashore and hurried back to the house bidding us follow
Wondering what upon earth the barrelmachine could be and rather suspicious
of it we limped after On arriving at the house we found him getting ready a
sort of sedanchair It was nothing more than an old barrel suspended by a rope
from the middle of a stout oar Quite an ingenious contrivance of the Yankees
and his proposed arrangement with regard to mine and the doctors shoulders was
equally so
»There now« said he when everything was ready »there s no backbreaking
about this you can stand right up under it you see jist try it once« and he
politely rested the blade of the oar on my comrades right shoulder and the
other end on mine leaving the barrel between us
»Jist the thing« he added standing off admiringly while we remained in
this interesting attitude
There was no help for us with broken hearts and backs we trudged back to
the field the doctor all the while saying masses
Upon starting with the loaded barrel for a few paces we got along pretty
well and were constrained to think the idea not a bad one But we did not long
think so In less than five minutes we came to a dead halt the springing and
buckling of the clumsy oar being almost unendurable
»Let s shift ends« cried the doctor who did not quite relish the blade of
the stick which was cutting into the blade of his shoulder
At last by stages short and frequent we managed to shamble down to the
beach where we again dumped our cargo in something of a pet
»Why not make the natives help« asked Long Ghost rubbing his shoulder
»Natives be dumned« said the Yankee »twenty on em aint worth one white
man They never was meant to work any them chaps and they knows it too for
dumned little work any on em ever does«
But notwithstanding this abuse Zeke was at last obliged to press a few of
the bipeds into service »Aramai« come here he shouted to several who
reclining on a bank had hitherto been critical observers of our proceedings
and among other things had been particularly amused by the performance with
the sedanchair
After making these fellows load their baskets together the Yankee filled
his own and then drove them before him down to the beach Probably he had seen
the herds of panniered mules driven in this way by mounted Indians along the
great road from Callao to Lima
The boat at last loaded the Yankee taking with him a couple of natives at
once hoisted sail and stood across the channel for Papeetee
The next morning at breakfast old Tonoi ran in and told us that the
voyagers were returning We hurried down to the beach and saw the boat gliding
toward us with a dozing islander at the helm and Zeke standing up in the bows
jingling a small bag of silver the proceeds of his cargo
Chapter LX
What They Thought of Us in Martair
Several quiet days now passed away during which we just worked sufficiently to
sharpen our appetites the planters leniently exempting us from any severe toil
Their desire to retain us became more and more evident which was not to be
wondered at for besides esteeming us from the beginning a couple of civil
goodnatured fellows who would soon become quite at home with them they were
not slow in perceiving that we were far different from the common run of rovers
and that our society was both entertaining and instructive to a couple of
solitary illiterate men like themselves
In a literary point of view indeed they soon regarded us with emotions of
envy and wonder and the doctor was considered nothing short of a prodigy The
Cockney found that he the doctor could read a book upside down without even
so much as spelling the big words beforehand and the Yankee in the twinkling
of an eye received from him the sum total of several arithmetical items stated
aloud with the view of testing the extent of his mathematical lore
Then frequently in discoursing upon men and things my long comrade
employed such imposing phrases that upon one occasion they actually remained
uncovered while he talked
In short their favourable opinion of Long Ghost in particular rose higher
and higher every day and they began to indulge in all manner of dreams
concerning the advantages to be derived from employing so learned a labourer
Among other projects revealed was that of building a small craft of some forty
tons for the purpose of trading among the neighbouring islands With a native
crew we would then take turns cruising over the tranquil Pacific touching here
and there as caprice suggested and collecting romantic articles of commerce
bêchedemer the pearloyster arrowroot ambergris sandalwood cocoanut
oil and edible birds nests
This South Sea yachting was delightful to think of and straightway the
doctor announced his willingness to navigate the future schooner clear of all
shoals and reefs whatsoever His impudence was audacious He enlarged upon the
science of navigation treated us to a dissertation on Mercators Sailing and
the Azimuth compass and went into an inexplicable explanation of the Lord only
knows what plan of his for infallibly settling the longitude
Whenever my comrade thus gave the reins to his fine fancy it was a treat to
listen and therefore I never interfered but with the planters sat in mute
admiration before him This apparent selfabasement on my part must have been
considered as truly indicative of our respective merits for to my no small
concern I quickly perceived that in the estimate formed of us Long Ghost
began to be rated far above myself For aught I knew indeed he might have
privately thrown out a hint concerning the difference in our respective stations
aboard the Julia or else the planters must have considered him some illustrious
individual for certain inscrutable reasons going incog With this idea of him
his undisguised disinclination for work became venial and entertaining such
views of extending their business they counted more upon his ultimate value to
them as a man of science than as a mere ditcher
Nor did the humorous doctor forbear to foster an opinion every way so
advantageous to himself at times for the sake of a joke assuming airs of
superiority over myself which though laughable enough were sometimes
annoying
To tell the plain truth things at last came to such a pass that I told him
up and down that I had no notion to put up with his pretensions if he were
going to play the gentleman I was going to follow suit and then there would
quickly be an explosion
At this he laughed heartily and after some mirthful chat we resolved upon
leaving the valley as soon as we could do so with a proper regard to politeness
At supper therefore the same evening the doctor hinted at our intention
Though much surprised and vexed Zeke moved not a muscle »Peter« said he
at last very gravely and after mature deliberation »would you like to do
the cooking Its easy work and you neednt do anything else Paul s heartier
he can work in the field when it suits him and before long we ll have ye at
something more agreeable wont we Shorty«
Shorty assented
Doubtless the proposed arrangement was a snug one especially the sinecure
for the doctor but I by no means relished the functions allotted to myself
they were too indefinite Nothing final however was agreed upon our intention
to leave was revealed and that was enough for the present But as we said
nothing further about going the Yankee must have concluded that we might yet be
induced to remain He redoubled his endeavours to make us contented
It was during this state of affairs that one morning before breakfast we
were set to weeding in a potatopatch and the planters being engaged at the
house we were left to ourselves
Now though the pulling of weeds was considered by our employers an easy
occupation for which reason they had assigned it to us and although as a
garden recreation it may be pleasant enough for those who like it still long
persisted in the business becomes excessively irksome
Nevertheless we toiled away for some time until the doctor who from his
height was obliged to stoop at a very acute angle suddenly sprang upright
and with one hand propping his spinal column exclaimed »Oh that ones joints
were but provided with holes to drop a little oil through«
Vain as the aspiration was for this proposed improvement upon our species I
cordially responded thereto for every vertebra in my spine was articulating in
sympathy
Presently the sun rose over the mountains inducing that deadly morning
languor so fatal to early exertion in a warm climate We could stand it no
longer but shouldering our hoes moved on to the house resolved to impose no
more upon the goodnature of the planters by continuing one moment longer in an
occupation so extremely uncongenial
We freely told them so Zeke was exceedingly hurt and said everything he
could think of to alter our determination but finding all unavailing he very
hospitably urged us not to be in any hurry about leaving for we might stay with
him as guests until we had time to decide upon our future movements
We thanked him sincerely but replied that the following morning we must
turn our backs upon the hills of Martair
Chapter LXI
Preparing for the Journey
During the remainder of the day we loitered about talking over our plans
The doctor was all eagerness to visit Tamai a solitary inland village
standing upon the banks of a considerable lake of the same name and embosomed
among groves From Afrehitoo you went to this place by a lonely pathway leading
through the wildest scenery in the world Much too we had heard concerning the
lake itself which abounded in such delicious fish that in former times
angling parties occasionally came over to it from Papeetee
Upon its banks moreover grew the finest fruit of the islands and in their
greatest perfection The Ve or Brazilian plum here attained the size of an
orange and the gorgeous Arheea or red apple of Tahiti blushed with deeper
dyes than in any of the seaward valleys
Besides all this in Tamai dwelt the most beautiful and unsophisticated
women in the entire Society Group In short the village was so remote from the
coast and had been so much less affected by recent changes than other places
that in most things Tahitian life was here seen as formerly existing in the
days of young Otoo the boyking in Cooks time
After obtaining from the planters all the information which was needed we
decided upon penetrating to the village and after a temporary sojourn there to
strike the beach again and journey round to Taloo a harbour on the opposite
side of the island
We at once put ourselves in travelling trim Just previous to leaving
Tahiti having found my wardrobe reduced to two suits frock and trowsers both
much the worse for wear I had quilted them together for mutual preservation
after a fashion peculiar to sailors engrafting a red frock upon a blue one
and producing thereby a choice variety in the way of clothing This was the
extent of my wardrobe Nor was the doctor by any means better off His
improvidence had at last driven him to don the nautical garb but by this time
his frock a light cotton one had almost given out and he had nothing to
replace it Shorty very generously offered him one which was a little less
ragged but the alms was proudly refused Long Ghost preferring to assume the
ancient costume of Tahiti the Roora
This garment once worn as a festival dress is now seldom met with but
Captain Bob had often shown us one which he kept as an heirloom It was a cloak
or mantle of yellow tappa precisely similar to the poncho worn by the
SouthAmerican Spaniards The head being slipped through a slit in the middle
the robe hangs about the person in ample drapery Tonoi obtained sufficient
coarse brown tappa to make a short mantle of this description and in five
minutes the doctor was equipped Zeke eyeing his toga critically reminded its
proprietor that there were many streams to ford and precipices to scale
between Martair and Tamai and if he travelled in petticoats he had better hold
them up
Besides other deficiencies we were utterly shoeless In the free and easy
Pacific sailors seldom wear shoes mine had been tossed overboard the day we
met the Trades and except in one or two tramps ashore I had never worn any
since In Martair they would have been desirable but none were to be had For
the expedition we meditated however they were indispensable Zeke being the
owner of a pair of huge dilapidated boots hanging from a rafter like
saddlebags the doctor succeeded in exchanging for them a caseknife the last
valuable article in his possession For myself I made sandals from a bullocks
hide such as are worn by the Indians in California They are made in a minute
the sole rudely fashioned to the foot being confined across the instep by
three straps of leather
Our headgear deserves a passing word My comrades was a brave old Panama
hat made of grass almost as fine as threads of silk and so elastic that upon
rolling it up it sprang into perfect shape again Set off by the jaunty slouch
of this Spanish sombrero Doctor Long Ghost in this and his Roora looked like
a mendicant grandee
Nor was my own appearance in an Eastern turban less distinguished The way I
came to wear it was this My hat having been knocked overboard a few days before
reaching Papeetee I was obliged to mount an abominable wad of particoloured
worsted what sailors call a Scotch cap Everyone knows the elasticity of knit
wool and this Caledonian headdress crowned my temples so effectually that the
confined atmosphere engendered was prejudicial to my curls In vain I tried to
ventilate the cap every gash made seemed to heal whole in no time Then such a
continual chafing as it kept up in a hot sun
Seeing my dislike to the thing Kooloo my worthy friend prevailed upon me
to bestow it upon him I did so hinting that a good boiling might restore the
original brilliancy of the colours
It was then that I mounted the turban Taking a new Regatta frock of the
doctors which was of a gay calico and winding it round my head in folds I
allowed the sleeves to droop behind thus forming a good defence against the
sun though in a shower it was best off The pendent sleeves adding much to the
effect the doctor always called me the Bashaw with Two Tails
Thus arrayed we were ready for Tamai in whose green saloons we counted
upon creating no small sensation
Chapter LXII
Tamai
Long before sunrise the next morning my sandals were laced on and the doctor
had vaulted into Zekes boots
Expecting to see us again before we went to Taloo the planters wished us a
pleasant journey and on parting very generously presented us with a pound or
two of what sailors call plug tobacco telling us to cut it up into small
change the Virginian weed being the principal circulating medium on the island
Tamai we were told was not more than three or four leagues distant so
making allowances for a wild road a few hours to rest at noon and our
determination to take the journey leisurely we counted upon reaching the shores
of the lake some time in the flush of the evening
For several hours we went on slowly through wood and ravine and over hill
and precipice seeing nothing but occasional herds of wild cattle and often
resting until we found ourselves about noon in the very heart of the island
It was a green cool hollow among the mountains into which we at last
descended with a bound The place was gushing with a hundred springs and shaded
over with great solemn trees on whose mossy boles the moisture stood in beads
Strange to say no traces of the bullocks ever having been here were revealed
Nor was there a sound to be heard nor a bird to be seen nor any breath of wind
stirring the leaves The utter solitude and silence were oppressive and after
peering about under the shades and seeing nothing but ranks of dark motionless
trunks we hurried across the hollow and ascended a steep mountain opposite
Midway up we rested where the earth had gathered about the roots of three
palms and thus formed a pleasant lounge from which we looked down upon the
hollow now one dark green tuft of woodland at our feet Here we brought forth a
small calabash of poee a parting present from Tonoi After eating heartily we
obtained fire by two sticks and throwing ourselves back puffed forth our
fatigue in wreaths of smoke At last we fell asleep nor did we waken till the
sun had sunk so low that its rays darted in upon us under the foliage
Starting up we then continued our journey and as we gained the mountain
top there to our surprise lay the lake and village of Tamai We had thought
it a good league off Where we stood the yellow sunset was still lingering but
over the valley below long shadows were stealing the rippling green lake
reflecting the houses and trees just as they stood along its banks Several
small canoes moored here and there to posts in the water were dancing upon the
waves and one solitary fisherman was paddling over to a grassy point In front
of the houses groups of natives were seen some thrown at full length upon the
ground and others indolently leaning against the bamboos
With whoop and halloo we ran down the hills the villagers soon hurrying
forth to see who were coming As we drew near they gathered round all
curiosity to know what brought the karhowrees into their quiet country The
doctor contriving to make them understand the purely social object of our visit
they gave us a true Tahitian welcome pointing into their dwellings and saying
they were ours as long as we chose to remain
We were struck by the appearance of these people both men and women so
much more healthful than the inhabitants of the bays As for the young girls
they were more retiring and modest more tidy in their dress and far fresher
and more beautiful than the damsels of the coast A thousand pities thought I
that they should bury their charms in this nook of a valley
That night we abode in the house of Rartoo a hospitable old chief It was
right on the shore of the lake and at supper we looked out through a rustling
screen of foliage upon the surface of the starlit water
The next day we rambled about and found a happy little community
comparatively free from many deplorable evils to which the rest of their
countrymen are subject Their time too was more occupied To my surprise the
manufacture of tappa was going on in several buildings European calicoes were
seldom seen and not many articles of foreign origin of any description
The people of Tamai were nominally Christians but being so remote from
ecclesiastical jurisdiction their religion sat lightly upon them We had been
told even that many heathenish games and dances still secretly lingered in
their valley
Now the prospect of seeing an oldfashioned hevar or Tahitian reel was one
of the inducements which brought us here and so finding Rartoo rather liberal
in his religious ideas, we disclosed our desire At first he demurred and
shrugging his shoulders like a Frenchman declared it could not be brought about
was a dangerous matter to attempt and might bring all concerned into trouble
But we overcame all this convinced him that the thing could be done and a
hevar a genuine pagan fandango was arranged for that very night
Chapter LXIII
A Dance in the Valley
There were some illnatured people telltales it seemed in Tamai and hence
there was a deal of mystery about getting up the dance
An hour or two before midnight Rartoo entered the house and throwing
robes of tappa over us bade us follow at a distance behind him and until out
of the village hood our faces Keenly alive to the adventure we obeyed At
last after taking a wide circuit we came out upon the farthest shore of the
lake It was a wide dewy space lighted up by a full moon and carpeted with a
minute species of fern growing closely together It swept right down to the
water showing the village opposite glistening among the groves
Near the trees on one side of the clear space was a ruinous pile of stones
many rods in extent upon which had formerly stood a temple of Oro At present
there was nothing but a rude hut planted on the lowermost terrace It seemed to
have been used as a tappa herree or house for making the native cloth
Here we saw lights gleaming from between the bamboos and casting long
rodlike shadows upon the ground without Voices also were heard We went up
and had a peep at the dancers who were getting ready for the ballet They were
some twenty in number waited upon by hideous old crones who might have been
duennas Long Ghost proposed to send the latter packing but Rartoo said it
would never do and so they were permitted to remain
We tried to effect an entrance at the door which was fastened but after a
noisy discussion with one of the old witches within our guide became fidgety
and at last told us to desist or we would spoil all He then led us off to a
distance to await the performance as the girls he said did not wish to be
recognised He furthermore made us promise to remain where we were until all
was over and the dancers had retired
We waited impatiently and at last they came forth They were arrayed in
short tunics of white tappa with garlands of flowers on their heads Following
them were the duennas who remained clustering about the house while the girls
advanced a few paces and in an instant two of them taller than their
companions were standing side by side in the middle of a ring formed by the
clasped hands of the rest This movement was made in perfect silence
Presently the two girls join hands overhead and crying out »Ahloo
ahloo« wave them to and fro Upon which the ring begins to circle slowly the
dancers moving sideways with their arms a little drooping Soon they quicken
their pace and at last fly round and round bosoms heaving hair streaming
flowers dropping and every sparkling eye circling in what seemed a line of
light
Meanwhile the pair within are passing and repassing each other incessantly
Inclining sideways so that their long hair falls far over they glide this way
and that one foot continually in the air and their fingers thrown forth and
twirling in the moonbeams
»Ahloo ahloo« again cry the dance queens and coming together in the
middle of the ring they once more lift up the arch and stand motionless
»Ahloo ahloo« Every link of the circle is broken and the girls deeply
breathing stand perfectly still They pant hard and fast a moment or two and
then just as the deep flush is dying away from their faces slowly recede all
round thus enlarging the ring
Again the two leaders wave their hands when the rest pause and now far
apart stand in the still moonlight like a circle of fairies Presently
raising a strange chant they softly sway themselves gradually quickening the
movement until at length for a few passionate moments with throbbing bosoms
and glowing cheeks they abandon themselves to all the spirit of the dance
apparently lost to everything around But soon subsiding again into the same
languid measure as before they become motionless and then reeling forward on
all sides their eyes swimming in their heads join in one wild chorus and sink
into each others arms
Such is the LoryLory I think they call it the dance of the backsliding
girls of Tamai
While it was going on we had as much as we could do to keep the doctor from
rushing forward and seizing a partner
They would give us no more hevars that night and Rartoo fairly dragged us
away to a canoe hauled up on the lake shore when we reluctantly embarked and
paddling over to the village arrived there in time for a good nap before
sunrise
The next day the doctor went about trying to hunt up the overnight dancers
He thought to detect them by their late rising but never was man more mistaken
for on first sallying out the whole village was asleep waking up in concert
about an hour after But in the course of the day he came across several whom
he at once charged with taking part in the hevar There were some primlooking
fellows standing by visiting elders from Afrehitoo perhaps and the girls
looked embarrassed but parried the charge most skilfully
Though soft as doves in general the ladies of Tamai are nevertheless
flavoured with a slight tincture of what we queerly enough call the devil and
they showed it on the present occasion For when the doctor pressed one rather
hard she all at once turned round upon him and giving him a box on the ear
told him to »hanree perrar« be off with himself
Chapter LXIV
Mysterious
There was a little old man of a most hideous aspect living in Tamai who in a
coarse mantle of tappa went about the village dancing and singing and making
faces He followed us about wherever we went and when unobserved by others
plucked at our garments making frightful signs for us to go along with him
somewhere and see something
It was in vain that we tried to get rid of him Kicks and cuffs even were
at last resorted to but though he howled like one possessed he would not go
away but still haunted us At last we conjured the natives to rid us of him
but they only laughed so we were forced to endure the dispensation as well as
we could
On the fourth night of our visit returning home late from paying a few
calls through the village we turned a dark corner of trees and came full upon
our goblin friend as usual chattering and motioning with his hands The
doctor venting a curse hurried forward but from some impulse or other I
stood my ground resolved to find out what this unaccountable object wanted of
us Seeing me pause he crept close up to me peered into my face and then
retreated beckoning me to follow which I did
In a few moments the village was behind us and with my guide in advance I
found myself in the shadow of the heights overlooking the farther side of the
valley Here my guide paused until I came up with him when side by side and
without speaking we ascended the hill
Presently we came to a wretched hut barely distinguishable in the shade
cast by the neighbouring trees Pushing aside a rude sliding door held
together with thongs the goblin signed me to enter Within it looked dark as
pitch so I gave him to understand that he must strike a light and go in before
me Without replying he disappeared in the darkness and after groping about
I heard two sticks rubbing together and directly saw a spark A native taper
was then lighted and I stooped and entered
It was a mere kennel Foul old mats and broken cocoanut shells and
calabashes were strewn about the floor of earth and overhead I caught glimpses
of the stars through chinks in the roof Here and there the thatch had fallen
through and hung down in wisps
I now told him to set about what he was going to do or produce whatever he
had to show without delay Looking round fearfully as if dreading a surprise
he commenced turning over and over the rubbish in one corner At last he
clutched a calabash stained black and with the neck broken off on one side of
it was a large hole Something seemed to be stuffed away in the vessel and
after a deal of poking at the aperture a musty old pair of sailor trowsers was
drawn forth and holding them up eagerly he inquired how many pieces of
tobacco I would give for them
Without replying I hurried away the old man chasing me and shouting as I
ran until I gained the village Here I dodged him and made my way home
resolved never to disclose so inglorious an adventure
To no purpose the next morning my comrade besought me to enlighten him I
preserved a mysterious silence
The occurrence served me a good turn however so long as we abode in Tamai
for the old clothesman never afterward troubled me but forever haunted the
doctor who in vain supplicated Heaven to be delivered from him
Chapter LXV
The Hegira or Flight
»I say doctor« cried I a few days after my adventure with the goblin as in
the absence of our host we were one morning lounging upon the matting in his
dwelling smoking our reed pipes »Tamai s a thriving place why not settle
down«
»Faith« said he »not a bad idea Paul But do you fancy they ll let us
stay though«
»Why certainly they would be overjoyed to have a couple of karhowrees for
townsmen«
»Gad you re right my pleasant fellow Ha ha I ll put up a bananaleaf
as a physician from London deliver lectures on Polynesian antiquities teach
English in five lessons of one hour each establish powerlooms for the
manufacture of tappa lay out a public park in the middle of the village and
found a festival in honour of Captain Cook«
»But surely not without stopping to take breath« observed I
The doctors projects to be sure were of a rather visionary cast but we
seriously thought nevertheless of prolonging our stay in the valley for an
indefinite period and with this understanding we were turning over various
plans for spending our time pleasantly when several women came running into the
house and hurriedly besought us to heree heree make our escape crying out
something about the mickonarees
Thinking that we were about to be taken up under the act for the suppression
of vagrancy we flew out of the house sprang into a canoe before the door and
paddled with might and main over to the opposite side of the lake
Approaching Rartoos dwelling was a great crowd among which we perceived
several natives who from their partly European dress we were certain did not
reside in Tamai
Plunging into the groves we thanked our stars that we had thus narrowly
escaped being apprehended as runaway seamen and marched off to the beach This
at least was what we thought we had escaped
Having fled the village we could not think of prowling about its vicinity
and then returning in doing so we might be risking our liberty again We
therefore determined upon journeying back to Martair and setting our faces
thitherward we reached the planters house about nightfall They gave us a
cordial reception and a hearty supper and we sat up talking until a late hour
We now prepared to go round to Taloo a place from which we were not far off
when at Tamai but wishing to see as much of the island as we could we
preferred returning to Martair and then going round by way of the beach
Taloo the only frequented harbour of Imeeo lies on the western side of the
island almost directly over against Martair Upon one shore of the bay stands
the village of Partoowye a missionary station In its vicinity is an extensive
sugar plantation the best in the South Seas perhaps worked by a person from
Sydney
The patrimonial property of the husband of Pomaree and every way a
delightful retreat Partoowye was one of the occasional residences of the court
But at the time I write of it was permanently fixed there the queen having
fled thither from Tahiti
Partoowye they told us was by no means the place Papeetee was Ships
seldom touched and very few foreigners were living ashore A solitary whaler
however was reported to be lying in the harbour wooding and watering and said
to be in want of men
All things considered I could not help looking upon Taloo as offering a
splendid opening for us adventurers To say nothing of the facilities presented
for going to sea in the whaler or hiring ourselves out as day labourers in the
sugar plantation there were hopes to be entertained of being promoted to some
office of high trust and emolument about the person of her majesty the queen
Nor was this expectation altogether Quixotic In the train of many
Polynesian princes roving whites are frequently found gentlemen pensioners of
state basking in the tropical sunshine of the court and leading the
pleasantest lives in the world Upon islands little visited by foreigners the
first seaman that settles down is generally domesticated in the family of the
head chief or king where he frequently discharges the functions of various
offices elsewhere filled by as many different individuals As historiographer
for instance he gives the natives some account of distant countries as
commissioner of the arts and sciences he instructs them in the use of the
jackknife and the best way of shaping bits of iron hoop into spearheads and
as interpreter to his majesty he facilitates intercourse with strangers
besides instructing the people generally in the uses of the most common English
phrases civil and profane but oftener the latter
These men generally marry well often like Hardy of Hannamanoo into the
blood royal
Sometimes they officiate as personal attendant or first lord in waiting to
the king At Amboi one of the Tonga Islands a vagabond Welshman bends his knee
as cupbearer to his cannibal majesty He mixes his morning cup of arva and
with profound genuflections presents it in a cocoanut bowl richly carved
Upon another island of the same group where it is customary to bestow no small
pains in dressing the hair frizzing it out by a curious process into an
enormous Popeshead an old manofwarsman fills the post of barber to the
king And as his majesty is not very neat his mop is exceedingly populous so
that when Jack is not engaged in dressing the head entrusted to his charge he
busies himself in gently titillating it a sort of skewer being actually worn
about in the patients hair for that special purpose
Even upon the Sandwich Islands a low rabble of foreigners is kept about the
person of Tammahammaha for the purpose of ministering to his ease or enjoyment
Billy Loon a jolly little negro tricked out in a soiled blue jacket
studded all over with rusty bellbuttons and garnished with shabby gold lace
is the royal drummer and pounder of the tambourine Joe a woodenlegged
Portuguese who lost his leg by a whale is violinist and Mordecai as he is
called a villainouslooking scamp going about with his cups and balls in a
side pocket diverts the court with his jugglery These idle rascals receive no
fixed salary being altogether dependent upon the casual bounty of their master
Now and then they run up a score at the dance houses in Honolulu where the
illustrious Tammahammaha III afterward calls and settles the bill
A few years since an auctioneer to his majesty came near being added to the
retinue of state It seems that he was the first man who had practised his
vocation on the Sandwich Islands and delighted with the sport of bidding upon
his wares the king was one of his best customers At last he besought the man
to leave his profession and he should be handsomely provided for at court But
the auctioneer refused and so the ivory hammer lost the chance of being borne
before him on a velvet cushion when the next king went to be crowned
But it was not as strolling players nor as footmen out of employ that the
doctor and myself looked forward to our approaching introduction to the court of
the Queen of Tahiti On the contrary as before hinted we expected to swell the
appropriations of breadfruit and cocoanuts on the civil list by filling some
honourable office in her gift
We were told that to resist the usurpation of the French the queen was
rallying about her person all the foreigners she could Her partiality for the
English and Americans was well known and this was an additional ground for our
anticipating a favourable reception Zeke had informed us moreover that by the
queens counsellors at Partoowye a war of aggression against the invaders at
Papeetee had been seriously thought of Should this prove true a surgeons
commission for the doctor and a lieutenancy for myself were certainly counted
upon in our sanguine expectations
Such then were our views and such our hopes in projecting a trip to
Taloo But in our most lofty aspirations we by no means lost sight of any minor
matters which might help us to promotion The doctor had informed me that he
excelled in playing the fiddle I now suggested that as soon as we arrived at
Partoowye we should endeavour to borrow a violin for him or if this could not
be done that he should manufacture some kind of a substitute and thus
equipped apply for an audience of the queen Her wellknown passion for music
would at once secure his admittance and so under the most favourable auspices
bring about our introduction to her notice
»And who knows« said my waggish comrade throwing his head back and
performing an imaginary air by briskly drawing one arm across the other »who
knows that I may not fiddle myself into her majestys good graces so as to
become a sort of Rizzio to the Tahitian princess«
Chapter LXVI
How We Were to Get to Taloo
The inglorious circumstances of our somewhat premature departure from Tamai
filled the sagacious doctor and myself with sundry misgivings for the future
Under Zekes protection we were secure from all impertinent interference in
our concerns on the part of the natives But as friendless wanderers over the
island we ran the risk of being apprehended as runaways and as such sent
back to Tahiti The truth is that the rewards constantly offered for the
apprehension of deserters from ships induce some of the natives to eye all
strangers suspiciously
A passport was therefore desirable but such a thing had never been heard of
in Imeeo At last Long Ghost suggested that as the Yankee was well known and
much respected all over the island we should endeavour to obtain from him some
sort of paper not only certifying to our having been in his employ but also to
our not being highwaymen kidnappers nor yet runaway seamen Even written in
English a paper like this would answer every purpose for the unlettered
natives standing in great awe of the document would not dare to molest us
until acquainted with its purport Then if it came to the worst we might
repair to the nearest missionary and have the passport explained
Upon informing Zeke of these matters he seemed highly flattered with the
opinion we entertained of his reputation abroad and he agreed to oblige us The
doctor at once offered to furnish him with a draft of the paper but he refused
saying he would write it himself With a roosters quill therefore a bit of
soiled paper and a stout heart he set to work Evidently he was not
accustomed to composition for his literary throes were so violent that the
doctor suggested that some sort of a Caesarean operation might be necessary
The precious paper was at last finished and a great curiosity it was We
were much diverted with his reasons for not dating it
»In this here dumned climate« he observed »a feller cant keep the run of
the months nohow cause there s no seasons no summer and winter to go by
One s etarnally thinkin it s always July it s so pesky hot«
A passport provided we cast about for some means of getting to Taloo
The island of Imeeo is very nearly surrounded by a regular breakwater of
coral extending within a mile or less of the shore The smooth canal within
furnishes the best means of communication with the different settlements all of
which with the exception of Tamai are right upon the water And so indolent
are the Imeeose that they think nothing of going twenty or thirty miles round
the island in a canoe in order to reach a place not a quarter of that distance
by land But as hinted before the fear of the bullocks has something to do with
this
The idea of journeying in a canoe struck our fancy quite pleasantly and we
at once set about chartering one if possible But none could we obtain For not
only did we have nothing to pay for hiring one but we could not expect to have
it loaned inasmuch as the goodnatured owner would in all probability have to
walk along the beach as we paddled in order to bring back his property when we
had no further use for it
At last it was decided to commence our journey on foot trusting that we
would soon fall in with a canoe going our way in which we might take passage
The planters said we would find no beaten path all we had to do was to
follow the beach and however inviting it might look inland on no account must
we stray from it In short the longest way round was the nearest way to Taloo
At intervals there were little hamlets along the shore besides lonely
fishermens huts here and there where we could get plenty to eat without pay
so there was no necessity to lay in any store
Intending to be off before sunrise the next morning so as to have the
benefit of the coolest part of the day we bade our kind hosts farewell
overnight and then repairing to the beach we launched our floating pallet
and slept away merrily till dawn
Chapter LXVII
The Journey Round the Beach
It was on the fourth day of the first month of the Hegira or flight from Tamai
we now reckoned our time thus that rising bright and early we were up and
away out of the valley of Martair before the fishermen even were stirring
It was the earliest dawn The morning only showed itself along the lower
edge of a bank of purple clouds pierced by the misty peaks of Tahiti The
tropical day seemed too languid to rise Sometimes starting fitfully it decked
the clouds with faint edgings of pink and gray which fading away left all dim
again Anon it threw out thin pale rays growing lighter and lighter until at
last the golden morning sprang out of the East with a bound darting its
bright beams hither and thither higher and higher and sending them broadcast
over the face of the heavens
All balmy from the groves of Tahiti came an indolent air cooled by its
transit over the waters and grateful under foot was the damp and slightly
yielding beach from which the waves seemed just retired
The doctor was in famous spirits removing his Roora he went splashing into
the sea and after swimming a few yards waded ashore hopping skipping and
jumping along the beach but very careful to cut all his capers in the direction
of our journey
Say what they will of the glowing independence one feels in the saddle give
me the first morning flush of your cheery pedestrian
Thus exhilarated we went on as lighthearted and carefree as we could
wish
And here I cannot refrain from lauding the very superior inducements which
most intertropical countries afford not only to mere rovers like ourselves but
to penniless people generally In these genial regions ones wants are naturally
diminished and those which remain are easily gratified fuel houseshelter
and if you please clothing may be entirely dispensed with
How different our hard northern latitudes Alas the lot of a poor devil
twenty degrees north of the tropic of Cancer is indeed pitiable
At last the beach contracted to hardly a yards width and the dense
thicket almost dipped into the sea In place of the smooth sand too we had
sharp fragments of broken coral which made travelling exceedingly unpleasant
»Lord my foot« roared the doctor fetching it up for inspection with a
galvanic fling of the limb A sharp splinter had thrust itself into the flesh
through a hole in his boot My sandals were worse yet their soles taking a sort
of fossil impression of everything trod upon
Turning round a bold sweep of the beach we came upon a piece of fine open
ground with a fishermans dwelling in the distance crowning a knoll which
rolled off into the water
The hut proved to be a low rude erection very recently thrown up for the
bamboos were still green as grass and the thatching fresh and fragrant as
meadow hay It was open upon three sides so that upon drawing near the
domestic arrangements within were in plain sight No one was stirring and
nothing was to be seen but a clumsy old chest of native workmanship a few
calabashes and bundles of tappa hanging against a post and a heap of
something we knew not what in a dark corner Upon close inspection the doctor
discovered it to be a loving old couple locked in each others arms and rolled
together in a tappa mantle
»Halloa Darby« he cried shaking the one with a beard But Darby heeded
him not though Joan a wrinkled old body started up in affright and yelled
aloud Neither of us attempting to gag her she presently became quiet and
after staring hard and asking some unintelligible questions she proceeded to
rouse her still slumbering mate
What ailed him we could not tell but there was no waking him Equally in
vain were all his dear spouses cuffs pinches and other endearments he lay
like a log face up and snoring away like a cavalry trumpeter
»Here my good woman« said Long Ghost »just let me try« and taking the
patient right by his nose he so lifted him bodily into a sitting position and
held him there until his eyes opened When this event came to pass Darby looked
round like one stupefied and then springing to his feet backed away into a
corner from which place we became the objects of his earnest and respectful
attention
»Permit me my dear Darby to introduce to you my esteemed friend and
comrade Paul« said the doctor gallanting me up with all the grimace and
flourish imaginable Upon this Darby began to recover his faculties and
surprised us not a little by talking a few words of English So far as could be
understood they were expressive of his having been aware that there were two
karhowrees in the neighbourhood that he was glad to see us and would have
something for us to eat in no time
How he came by his English was explained to us before we left Some time
previous he had been a denizen of Papeetee where the native language is
broidered over with the most classic sailor phrases He seemed to be quite proud
of his residence there and alluded to it in the same significant way in which a
provincial informs you that in his time he has resided in the capital The old
fellow was disposed to be garrulous but being sharpset we told him to get
breakfast after which we would hear his anecdotes While employed among the
calabashes the strange antiquated fondness between these old semisavages was
really amusing I made no doubt that they were saying to each other »Yes my
love« »No my life« just in the same way that some young couples do at home
They gave us a hearty meal and while we were discussing its merits they
assured us over and over again that they expected nothing in return for their
attentions more we were at liberty to stay as long as we pleased and as long
as we did stay their house and everything they had was no longer theirs but
ours still more they themselves were our slaves the old lady to a degree
that was altogether superfluous This now is Tahitian hospitality
Selfimmolation upon ones own hearthstone for the benefit of the guest
The Polynesians carry their hospitality to an amazing extent Let a native
of Waiurar the westernmost part of Tahiti make his appearance as a traveller
at Partoowye the most easterly village of Imeeo though a perfect stranger the
inhabitants on all sides accost him at their doorways inviting him to enter
and make himself at home But the traveller passes on examining every house
attentively until at last he pauses before one which suits him and then
exclaiming »Ah ena maitai« this one will do I think he steps in and makes
himself perfectly at ease flinging himself upon the mats and very probably
calling for a nice young cocoanut and a piece of toasted breadfruit sliced
thin and done brown
Curious to relate however should a stranger carrying it thus bravely be
afterward discovered to be without a house of his own why he may thenceforth
go abegging for his lodgings The karhowrees or white men are exceptions to
this rule Thus is it precisely as in civilised countries where those who have
houses and lands are incessantly bored to death with invitations to come and
live in other peoples houses while many a poor gentleman who inks the seams of
his coat and to whom the like invitation would be really acceptable may go and
sue for it But to the credit of the ancient Tahitians it should here be
observed that this blemish upon their hospitality is only of recent origin and
was wholly unknown in old times So told me Captain Bob
In Polynesia it is esteemed a great hit if a man succeed in marrying into a
family to which the best part of the community is related Heaven knows it is
otherwise with us The reason is, that when he goes atravelling the greater
number of houses are the more completely at his service
Receiving a paternal benediction from old Darby and Joan we continued our
journey resolved to stop at the very next place of attraction which offered
Nor did we long stroll for it A fine walk along a beach of shells and we
came to a spot where with trees here and there the land was all meadow
sloping away to the water which stirred a sedgy growth of reeds bordering its
margin Close by was a little cove walled in with coral where a fleet of
canoes was dancing up and down A few paces distant on a natural terrace
overlooking the sea were several native dwellings newly thatched and peeping
into view out of the foliage like summerhouses
As we drew near forth came a burst of voices and presently three gay
girls overflowing with life health and youth and full of spirits and
mischief One was arrayed in a flaunting robe of calico and her long black hair
was braided behind in two immense tresses joined together at the ends and
wreathed with the green tendrils of a vine From her selfpossessed and forward
air I fancied she might be some young lady from Papeetee on a visit to her
country relations Her companions wore mere slips of cotton cloth their hair
was dishevelled and though very pretty they betrayed the reserve and
embarrassment characteristic of the provinces
The little gypsy first mentioned ran up to me with great cordiality and
giving the Tahitian salutation opened upon me such a fire of questions that
there was no understanding much less answering them But our hearty welcome to
Loohooloo as she called the hamlet was made plain enough Meanwhile Doctor
Long Ghost gallantly presented an arm to each of the other young ladies which
at first they knew not what to make of but at last taking it for some kind of
joke accepted the civility
The names of these three damsels were at once made known by themselves and
being so exceedingly romantic I cannot forbear particularising them Upon my
comrades arms then were hanging Night and Morning in the persons of
Farnowar or the DayBorn and Farnoopoo or the NightBorn She with the
tresses was very appropriately styled MarharRarrar the Wakeful or
Brighteyed
By this time the houses were emptied of the rest of their inmates a few
old men and women and several strapping young fellows rubbing their eyes and
yawning All crowded round putting questions as to whence we came Upon being
informed of our acquaintance with Zeke they were delighted and one of them
recognised the boots worn by the doctor »Keekee Zeke maitai« they cried
»nuee nuee hanna hanna portarto« makes plenty of potatoes
There was now a little friendly altercation as to who should have the honour
of entertaining the strangers At last a tall old gentleman by name Marharvai
with a bald head and white beard took us each by the hand and led us into his
dwelling Once inside Marharvai pointing about with his staff was so
obsequious in assuring us that his house was ours that Long Ghost suggested he
might as well hand over the deed
It was drawing near noon so after a light lunch of roasted breadfruit a
few whiffs of a pipe and some lively chatting our host admonished the company
to lie down and take the everlasting siesta We complied and had a social nap
all round
Chapter LXVIII
A DinnerParty in Imeeo
It was just in the middle of the merry mellow afternoon that they ushered us
to dinner underneath a green shelter of palm boughs open all round and so low
at the eaves that we stooped to enter
Within the ground was strewn over with aromatic ferns called nahee
freshly gathered which stirred under foot diffused the sweetest odour On one
side was a row of yellow mats inwrought with fibres of bark stained a bright
red Here seated after the fashion of the Turk we looked out over a verdant
bank upon the mild blue endless Pacific So far round had we skirted the
island that the view of Tahiti was now intercepted
Upon the ferns before us were laid several layers of broad thick pooroo
leaves lapping over one upon the other And upon these were placed side by
side newly plucked banana leaves at least two yards in length and very wide
the stalks were withdrawn so as to make them lie flat This green cloth was set
out and garnished in the manner following
First a number of pooroo leaves by way of plates were ranged along on one
side and by each was a rustic nutbowl halffilled with seawater and a
Tahitian roll or small breadfruit roasted brown An immense flat calabash
placed in the centre was heaped up with numberless small packages of moist
steaming leaves in each was a small fish baked in the earth and done to a
turn This pyramid of a dish was flanked on either side by an ornamental
calabash One was brimming with the goldenhued poee or pudding made from the
red plantain of the mountains the other was stacked up with cakes of the Indian
turnip previously macerated in a mortar kneaded with the milk of the
cocoanut and then baked In the spaces between the three dishes were piled
young cocoanuts stripped of their husks Their eyes had been opened and
enlarged so that each was a readycharged goblet
There was a sort of sidecloth in one corner upon which in bright buff
jackets lay the fattest of bananas avees redripe guavas with the shadows
of their crimson pulp flushing through a transparent skin and almost coming and
going there like blushes oranges tinged here and there berrybrown and great
jolly melons which rolled about in very portliness Such a heap All ruddy
ripe and round bursting with the good cheer of the tropical soil from which
they sprang
»A land of orchards« cried the doctor in a rapture and he snatched a
morsel from a sort of fruit of which gentlemen of the sanguine temperament are
remarkably fond namely the ripe cherry lips of Miss DayBorn who stood
looking on
Marharvai allotted seats to his guests and the meal began Thinking that
his hospitality needed some acknowledgment I rose and pledged him in the
vegetable wine of the cocoanut merely repeating the ordinary salutation »Yar
onor boyoee« Sensible that some compliment after the fashion of white men was
paid him with a smile and a courteous flourish of the hand he bade me be
seated No people however refined are more easy and graceful in their manners
than the Imeeose
The doctor sitting next our host now came under his special protection
Laying before his guest one of the packages of fish Marharvai opened it and
commended its contents to his particular regards But my comrade was one of
those who on convivial occasions can always take care of themselves He ate
an indefinite number of Peehee Lee Lees small fish his own and next
neighbours breadfruit and helped himself to right and left with all the
ease of an accomplished dinerout
»Paul« said he at last »you dont seem to be getting along why dont you
try the pepper sauce« and by way of example he steeped a morsel of food into
his nutful of seawater On following suit I found it quite piquant though
rather bitter but on the whole a capital substitute for salt The Imeeose
invariably use seawater in this way deeming it quite a treat and considering
that their country is surrounded by an ocean of catsup the luxury cannot be
deemed an expensive one
The fish were delicious the manner of cooking them in the ground
preserving all the juices and rendering them exceedingly sweet and tender The
plaintain pudding was almost cloying the cakes of Indian turnip quite
palatable and the roasted breadfruit crisp as toast
During the meal a native lad walked round and round the party carrying a
long staff of bamboo This he occasionally tapped upon the cloth before each
guest when a white clotted substance dropped forth with a savour not unlike
that of a curd This proved to be Lownee an excellent relish prepared from the
grated meat of ripe cocoanuts moistened with cocoanut milk and salt water
and kept perfectly tight until a little past the saccharine stage of
fermentation
Throughout the repast there was much lively chatting among the islanders in
which their conversational powers quite exceeded ours The young ladies too
showed themselves very expert in the use of their tongues and contributed much
to the gaiety which prevailed
Nor did these lively nymphs suffer the meal to languish for upon the
doctors throwing himself back with an air of much satisfaction they sprang to
their feet and pelted him with oranges and guavas This at last put an end to
the entertainment
By a hundred whimsical oddities my long friend became a great favourite
with these people and they bestowed upon him a long comical title expressive
of his lank figure and Roora combined The latter by the by never failed to
excite the remark of everybody we encountered
The giving of nicknames is quite a passion with the people of Tahiti and
Imeeo No one with any peculiarity whether of person or temper is exempt not
even strangers
A pompous captain of a manofwar visiting Tahiti for the second time
discovered that among the natives he went by the dignified title of Atee Poee
literally Poee Head or Pudding Head Nor is the highest rank among
themselves any protection The first husband of the present queen was commonly
known in the court circles as Pot Belly He carried the greater part of his
person before him to be sure and so did the gentlemanly George IV but what
a title for a king consort
Even Pomaree itself, the royal patronymic was originally a mere nickname
and literally signifies one talking through his nose The first monarch of that
name being on a war party and sleeping overnight among the mountains awoke
one morning with a cold in his head and some wag of a courtier had no more
manners than to vulgarise him thus
How different from the volatile Polynesian in this as in all other
respects is our grave and decorous North American Indian While the former
bestows a name in accordance with some humorous or ignoble trait the latter
seizes upon what is deemed the most exalted or warlike and hence, among the red
tribes we have the truly patrician appellations of White Eagles Young Oaks
Fiery Eyes and Bended Bows
Chapter LXIX
The CocoaPalm
While the doctor and the natives were taking a digestive nap after dinner I
strolled forth to have a peep at the country which could produce so generous a
meal
To my surprise a fine strip of land in the vicinity of the hamlet and
protected seaward by a grove of cocoanut and breadfruit trees was under high
cultivation Sweet potatoes Indian turnips and yams were growing also melons
a few pineapples and other fruits Still more pleasing was the sight of young
breadfruit and cocoanut trees set out with great care as if for once the
improvident Polynesian had thought of his posterity But this was the only
instance of native thrift which ever came under my observation For in all my
rambles over Tahiti and Imeeo nothing so much struck me as the comparative
scarcity of these trees in many places where they ought to abound Entire
valleys like Martair of inexhaustible fertility are abandoned to all the
rankness of untamed vegetation Alluvial flats bordering the sea and watered by
streams from the mountains are overgrown with a wild scrub guavabush
introduced by foreigners and which spreads with such fatal rapidity that the
natives standing still while it grows anticipate its covering the entire
island Even tracts of clear land which with so little pains might be made to
wave with orchards lie wholly neglected
When I considered their unequalled soil and climate thus unaccountably
slighted I often turned in amazement upon the natives about Papeetee some of
whom all but starve in their gardens run to waste Upon other islands which I
have visited of similar fertility and wholly unreclaimed from their
firstdiscovered condition no spectacle of this sort was presented
The high estimation in which many of their fruittrees are held by the
Tahitians and Imeeose their beauty in the landscape their manifold uses and
the facility with which they are propagated are considerations which render the
remissness alluded to still more unaccountable The cocoapalm is an example a
tree by far the most important production of Nature in the Tropics To the
Polynesian it is emphatically the Tree of Life transcending even the
breadfruit in the multifarious uses to which it is applied
Its very aspect is imposing Asserting its supremacy by an erect and lofty
bearing it may be said to compare with other trees as man with inferior
creatures
The blessings it confers are incalculable Year after year the islander
reposes beneath its shade both eating and drinking of its fruit he thatches
his hut with its boughs and weaves them into baskets to carry his food he
cools himself with a fan plaited from the young leaflets and shields his head
from the sun by a bonnet of the leaves sometimes he clothes himself with the
clothlike substance which wraps round the base of the stalks whose elastic
rods strung with filberts are used as a taper the larger nuts thinned and
polished furnish him with a beautiful goblet the smaller ones with bowls for
his pipes the dry husks kindle his fires their fibres are twisted into
fishinglines and cords for his canoes he heals his wounds with a balsam
compounded from the juice of the nut and with the oil extracted from its meat
embalms the bodies of the dead
The noble trunk itself is far from being valueless Sawn into posts it
upholds the islanders dwelling converted into charcoal it cooks his food and
supported on blocks of stones rails in his lands He impels his canoe through
the water with a paddle of the wood and goes to battle with clubs and spears of
the same hard material
In pagan Tahiti a cocoanut branch was the symbol of regal authority Laid
upon the sacrifice in the temple it made the offering sacred and with it the
priests chastised and put to flight the evil spirits which assailed them The
supreme majesty of Oro the great god of their mythology was declared in the
cocoanut log from which his image was rudely carved Upon one of the Tonga
Islands there stands a living tree revered itself as a deity Even upon the
Sandwich Islands the cocoapalm retains all its ancient reputation the people
there having thought of adopting it as the national emblem
The cocoanut is planted as follows Selecting a suitable place you drop
into the ground a fully ripe nut and leave it In a few days a thin
lancelike shoot forces itself through a minute hole in the shell pierces the
husk and soon unfolds three palegreen leaves in the air while originating in
the same soft white sponge which now completely fills the nut a pair of fibrous
roots pushing away the stoppers which close two holes in an opposite direction
penetrate the shell and strike vertically into the ground A day or two more
and the shell and husk which in the last and germinating stage of the nut are
so hard that a knife will scarcely make any impression spontaneously burst by
some force within and henceforth the hardy young plant thrives apace and
needing no culture pruning or attention of any sort rapidly arrives at
maturity In four or five years it bears in twice as many more it begins to
lift its head among the groves where waxing strong it flourishes for near a
century
Thus as some voyager has said the man who but drops one of these nuts into
the ground may be said to confer a greater and more certain benefit upon
himself and posterity than many a lifes toil in less genial climes
The fruitfulness of the tree is remarkable As long as it lives it bears
and without intermission Two hundred nuts besides innumerable white blossoms
of others may be seen upon it at one time and though a whole year is required
to bring any one of them to the germinating point no two perhaps are at one
time in precisely the same stage of growth
The tree delights in a maritime situation In its greatest perfection it is
perhaps found right on the seashore where its roots are actually washed But
such instances are only met with upon islands where the swell of the sea is
prevented from breaking on the beach by an encircling reef No saline flavour is
perceptible in the nut produced in such a place Although it bears in any soil
whether upland or bottom it does not flourish vigorously inland and I have
frequently observed that when met with far up the valleys its tall stem
inclines seaward as if pining after a more genial region
It is a curious fact that if you deprive the cocoa tree of the verdant
tuft at its head it dies at once and if allowed to stand thus the trunk
which when alive is encased in so hard a bark as to be almost impervious to a
bullet moulders away and in an incredibly short period becomes dust This
is perhaps partly owing to the peculiar constitution of the trunk a mere
cylinder of minute hollow reeds closely packed and very hard but when
exposed at top peculiarly fitted to convey moisture and decay through the
entire stem
The finest orchard of cocoapalms I know and the only plantation of them I
ever saw at the islands is one that stands right upon the southern shore of
Papeetee Bay They were set out by the first Pomaree almost half a century ago
and the soil being especially adapted to their growth the noble trees now form
a magnificent grove nearly a mile in extent No other plant scarcely a bush
is to be seen within its precincts The Broom Road passes through its entire
length
At noonday this grove is one of the most beautiful serene witching places
that ever was seen High overhead are ranges of green rustling arches through
which the suns rays come down to you in sparkles You seem to be wandering
through illimitable halls of pillars everywhere you catch glimpses of stately
aisles intersecting each other at all points A strange silence too reigns
far and near the air flushed with the mellow stillness of a sunset
But after the long morning calms the seabreeze comes in and creeping over
the tops of these thousand trees they nod their plumes Soon the breeze
freshens and you hear the branches brushing against each other and the
flexible trunks begin to sway Toward evening the whole grove is rocking to and
fro and the traveller on the Broom Road is startled by the frequent falling of
the nuts snapped from their brittle stems They come flying through the air
ringing like jugglers balls and often bound along the ground for many rods
Chapter LXX
Life at Loohooloo
Finding the society at Loohooloo very pleasant the young ladies in particular
being extremely sociable and moreover in love with the famous good cheer of
old Marharvai we acquiesced in an invitation of his to tarry a few days longer
We might then he said join a small canoe party which was going to a place a
league or two distant So averse to all exertion are these people that they
really thought the prospect of thus getting rid of a few miles walking would
prevail with us even if there were no other inducement
The people of the hamlet as we soon discovered formed a snug little
community of cousins of which our host seemed the head Marharvai in truth
was a petty chief who owned the neighbouring lands And as the wealthy in most
cases rejoice in a numerous kindred the family footing upon which everybody
visited him was perhaps ascribable to the fact of his being the lord of the
manor Like Captain Bob he was in some things a gentleman of the old school
a stickler for the customs of a past and pagan age
Nowhere else except in Tamai did we find the manners of the natives less
vitiated by recent changes The oldfashioned Tahitian dinner they gave us on
the day of our arrival was a fair example of their general mode of living
Our time passed delightfully The doctor went his way and I mine With a
pleasant companion he was forever strolling inland ostensibly to collect
botanical specimens while I for the most part kept near the sea sometimes
taking the girls an aquatic excursion in a canoe
Often we went fishing not dozing over stupid hooks and lines but leaping
right into the water and chasing our prey over the coral rocks spear in hand
Spearing fish is glorious sport The Imeeose all round the island catch
them in no other way the smooth shallows between the reef and the shore and
at low water the reef itself being admirably adapted to this mode of capturing
them At almost any time of the day save ever the sacred hour of noon you
may see the fishhunters pursuing their sport with loud halloos brandishing
their spears and splashing through the water in all directions Sometimes a
solitary native is seen far out upon a lonely shallow wading slowly along
with eye intent and poised spear
But the best sport of all is going out upon the great reef itself by
torchlight The natives follow this recreation with as much spirit as a
gentleman of England does the chase and take full as much delight in it
The torch is nothing more than a bunch of dry reeds bound firmly together
the spear a long light pole with an iron head on one side barbed
I shall never forget the night that old Marharvai and the rest of us
paddling off to the reef leaped at midnight upon the coral ledges with waving
torches and spears We were more than a mile from the land the sullen ocean
thundering upon the outside of the rocks dashed the spray in our faces almost
extinguishing the flambeaux and far as the eye could reach the darkness of
sky and water was streaked with a long misty line of foam marking the course
of the coral barrier The wild fishermen flourishing their weapons and yelling
like so many demons to scare their prey sprang from ledge to ledge and
sometimes darted their spears in the very midst of the breakers
But fishspearing was not the only sport we had at Loohooloo Right on the
beach was a mighty old cocoanut tree the roots of which had been underwashed
by the waves so that the trunk inclined far over its base From the tuft of the
tree a stout cord of bark depended the end of which swept the water several
yards from the shore This was a Tahitian swing A native lad seizes hold of the
cord and after swinging to and fro quite leisurely all at once sends himself
fifty or sixty feet from the water rushing through the air like a rocket I
doubt whether any of our ropedancers would attempt the feat For my own part I
had neither head nor heart for it so after sending a lad aloft with an
additional cord by way of security I constructed a large basket of green
boughs in which I and some particular friends of mine used to swing over sea
and land by the hour
Chapter LXXI
We Start for Taloo
Bright was the morning and brighter still the smiles of the young ladies who
accompanied us when we sprang into a sort of family canoe wide and roomy
and bade adieu to the hospitable Marharvai and his tenantry As we paddled away
they stood upon the beach waving their hands and crying out »Aroha aroha«
farewell farewell as long as we were within hearing
Very sad at parting with them we endeavoured nevertheless to console
ourselves in the society of our fellowpassengers Among these were two old
ladies but as they said nothing to us we will say nothing about them nor
anything about the old men who managed the canoe But of the three mischievous
darkeyed young witches who lounged in the stern of that comfortable old island
gondola I have a great deal to say
In the first place one of them was MarharRarrar the Brighteyed and in
the second place neither she nor the romps her companions ever dreamed of
taking the voyage until the doctor and myself announced our intention their
going along was nothing more than a madcap frolic in short they were a parcel
of wicked hoydens bent on mischief who laughed in your face when you looked
sentimental and only tolerated your company when making merry at your expense
Something or other about us was perpetually awaking their mirth Attributing
this to his own remarkable figure the doctor increased their enjoyment by
assuming the part of a Merry Andrew Yet his cap and bells never jingled but to
some tune and while playing the Tomfool I more than suspected that he was
trying to play the rake At home it is deemed auspicious to go awooing in
epaulets but among the Polynesians your best dress in courting is motley
A fresh breeze springing up we set our sail of matting and glided along as
tranquilly as if floating upon an inland stream the white reef on one hand and
the green shore on the other
Soon as we turned a headland we encountered another canoe paddling with
might and main in an opposite direction the strangers shouting to each other
and a tall fellow in the bow dancing up and down like a crazy man They shot by
us like an arrow though our fellowvoyagers shouted again and again for them to
cease paddling
According to the natives this was a kind of royal mailcanoe carrying a
message from the queen to her friends in a distant part of the island
Passing several shady bowers which looked quite inviting we proposed
touching and diversifying the monotony of a seavoyage by a stroll ashore So
forcing our canoe among the bushes behind a decayed palm lying partly in the
water we left the old folks to take a nap in the shade and gallanted the
others among the trees which were here trellised with vines and creeping
shrubs
In the early part of the afternoon we drew near the place to which the
party were going It was a solitary house inhabited by four or five old women
who when we entered were gathered in a circle about the mats eating poee from
a cracked calabash They seemed delighted at seeing our companions but rather
drew up when introduced to ourselves Eyeing us distrustfully they whispered to
know who we were The answers they received were not satisfactory for they
treated us with marked coolness and reserve and seemed desirous of breaking off
our acquaintance with the girls Unwilling therefore to stay where our company
was disagreeable we resolved to depart without even eating a meal
Informed of this MarharRarrar and her companions evinced the most lively
concern and equally unmindful of their former spirits and the remonstrances of
the old ladies broke forth into sobs and lamentations which were not to be
withstood We agreed therefore to tarry until they left for home which would
be at the Aheharar or Falling of the Sun in other words, at sunset
When the hour arrived after much leavetaking we saw them safely embarked
As the canoe turned a bluff they seized the paddles from the hands of the old
men and waved them silently in the air This was meant for a touching farewell
as the paddle is only waved thus when the parties separating never more expect
to meet
We now continued our journey and following the beach soon came to a level
and lofty overhanging bank which planted here and there with trees took a
broad sweep round a considerable part of the island A fine pathway skirted the
edge of the bank and often we paused to admire the scenery The evening was
still and fair even for so heavenly a climate and all round far as the eye
could reach was the blending blue sky and ocean
As we went on the reefbelt still accompanied us turning as we turned and
thundering its distant bass upon the ear like the unbroken roar of a cataract
Dashing forever against their coral rampart the breakers looked in the
distance like a line of rearing white chargers reined in tossing their white
manes and bridling with foam
These great natural breakwaters are admirably designed for the protection of
this land Nearly all the Society Islands are defended by them Were the vast
swells of the Pacific to break against the soft alluvial bottoms which in many
places border the sea the soil would soon be washed away and the natives be
thus deprived of their most productive lands As it is the banks of no rivulet
are firmer
But the coral barriers answer another purpose They form all the harbours of
this group including the twentyfour round about the shores of Tahiti
Curiously enough the openings in the reefs by which alone vessels enter to
their anchorage are invariably opposite the mouths of running streams an
advantage fully appreciated by the mariner who touches for the purpose of
watering his ship
It is said that the fresh water of the land mixing with the salts held in
solution by the sea so acts upon the latter as to resist the formation of the
coral and hence the breaks Here and there these openings are sentinelled as
it were by little fairy islets green as emerald and waving with palms
Strangely and beautifully diversifying the long line of breakers no objects can
strike the fancy more vividly Pomaree II with a taste in wateringplaces
truly Tahitian selected one of them as a royal retreat We passed it on our
journey
Omitting several further adventures which befell us after leaving the party
from Loohooloo we must now hurry on to relate what happened just before
reaching the place of our destination
Chapter LXXII
A Dealer in the Contraband
It must have been at least the tenth day reckoning from the Hegira that we
found ourselves the guests of Varvy an old hermit of an islander who kept
house by himself perhaps a couple of leagues from Taloo
A stones cast from the beach there was a fantastic rock mossgrown and
deep in a dell It was insulated by a shallow brook which dividing its waters
flowed on both sides until united below Twisting its roots round the rock a
gnarled Aoa spread itself overhead in a wilderness of foliage the elastic
branchroots depending from the larger boughs insinuating themselves into every
cleft thus forming supports to the parent stem In some places these pendulous
branches halfgrown had not yet reached the rock swinging their loose fibrous
ends in the air like whiplashes
Varvys hut a mere coop of bamboos was perched upon a level part of the
rock the ridgepole resting at one end in a crotch of the Aoa and the other
propped by a forked bough planted in a fissure
Notwithstanding our cries as we drew near the first hint the old hermit
received of our approach was the doctors stepping up and touching his shoulder
as he was kneeling over on a stone cleaning fish in the brook He leaped up and
stared at us But with a variety of uncouth gestures he soon made us welcome
informing us by the same means that he was both deaf and dumb he then
motioned us into his dwelling
Going in we threw ourselves upon an old mat and peered round The soiled
bamboos and calabashes looked so uninviting that the doctor was for pushing on
to Taloo that night notwithstanding it was near sunset But at length we
concluded to stay where we were
After a good deal of bustling outside under a decrepit shed the old man
made his appearance with our supper In one hand he held a flickering taper and
in the other a huge flat calabash scantily filled with viands His eyes were
dancing in his head and he looked from the calabash to us and from us to the
calabash as much as to say »Ah my lads what do ye think of this eh Pretty
good cheer eh« But the fish and Indian turnip being none of the best we made
but a sorry meal While discussing it the old man tried hard to make himself
understood by signs most of which were so excessively ludicrous that we made no
doubt he was perpetrating a series of pantomimic jokes
The remnants of the feast removed our host left us for a moment returning
with a calabash of portly dimensions and furnished with a long hooked neck the
mouth of which was stopped with a wooden plug It was covered with particles of
earth and looked as if just taken from some place underground
With sundry winks and horrible giggles peculiar to the dumb the vegetable
demijohn was now tapped the old fellow looking round cautiously and pointing
at it as much as to intimate that it contained something which was taboo or
forbidden
Aware that intoxicating liquors were strictly prohibited to the natives we
now watched our entertainer with much interest Charging a cocoanut shell he
tossed it off and then filling it up again presented the goblet to me
Disliking the smell I made faces at it upon which he became highly excited so
much so that a miracle was wrought upon the spot Snatching the cup from my
hands he shouted out »Ah karhowree sabbee leelee ena arva tee maitai« in
other words, What a blockhead of a white man this is the real stuff
We could not have been more startled had a frog leaped from his mouth For
an instant he looked confused enough himself and then placing a finger
mysteriously upon his mouth he contrived to make us understand that at times
he was subject to a suspension of the powers of speech
Deeming the phenomenon a remarkable one every way the doctor desired him
to open his mouth so that he might have a look down But he refused
This occurrence made us rather suspicious of our host nor could we
afterward account for his conduct except by supposing that his feigning
deafness might in some way or other assist him in the nefarious pursuits in
which it afterward turned out that he was engaged This conclusion however was
not altogether satisfactory
To oblige him we at last took a sip of his arva tee and found it very
crude and strong as Lucifer Curious to know whence it was obtained we
questioned him when lighting up with pleasure he seized the taper and led us
outside the hut bidding us follow
After going some distance through the woods we came to a dismantled old
shed of boughs apparently abandoned to decay Underneath nothing was to be
seen but heaps of decaying leaves and an immense clumsy jar widemouthed and
by some means rudely hollowed out from a ponderous stone
Here for a while we were left to ourselves the old man placing the light
in the jar and then disappearing He returned carrying a long large bamboo
and a crotched stick Throwing these down he poked under a pile of rubbish and
brought out a rough block of wood pierced through and through with a hole
which was immediately clapped on top of the jar Then planting the crotched
stick upright about two yards distant and making it sustain one end of the
bamboo he inserted the other end of the latter into the hole in the block
concluding these arrangements by placing an old calabash under the farther end
of the bamboo
Coming up to us now with a sly significant look and pointing admiringly at
his apparatus he exclaimed »Ah karhowree ena hannahanna arva tee« as much
as to say »This you see is the way it s done«
His contrivance was nothing less than a native still where he manufactured
his island poteen The disarray in which we found it was probably intentional
as a security against detection Before we left the shed the old fellow toppled
the whole concern over and dragged it away piecemeal
His disclosing his secret to us thus was characteristic of the Tootai
Owrees or contemners of the missionaries among the natives who presuming that
all foreigners are opposed to the ascendency of the missionaries take pleasure
in making them confidants whenever the enactments of their rulers are secretly
set at nought
The substance from which the liquor is produced is called Tee which is a
large fibrous root something like a yam but smaller In its green state it
is exceedingly acrid but boiled or baked has the sweetness of the sugarcane
After being subjected to the fire macerated and reduced to a certain stage of
fermentation the Tee is stirred up with water and is then ready for
distillation
On returning to the hut pipes were introduced and after a while Long
Ghost who at first had relished the arva tee as little as myself to my
surprise began to wax sociable over it with Varvy and before long absolutely
got mellow the old toper keeping him company
It was a curious sight Everyone knows that so long as the occasion lasts
there is no stronger bond of sympathy and good feeling among men than getting
tipsy together And how earnestly nay movingly a brace of worthies thus
employed will endeavour to shed light upon and elucidate their mystical ideas
Fancy Varvy and the doctor then lovingly tippling and brimming over with
a desire to become better acquainted the doctor politely bent upon carrying on
the conversation in the language of his host and the old hermit persisting in
trying to talk English The result was that between the two they made such a
fricassee of vowels and consonants that it was enough to turn ones brain
The next morning on waking I heard a voice from the tombs It was the
doctor solemnly pronouncing himself a dead man He was sitting up with both
hands clasped over his forehead and his pale face a thousand times paler than
ever
»That infernal stuff has murdered me« he cried »Heavens my head s all
wheels and springs like the automaton chessplayer What s to be done Paul I
m poisoned«
But after drinking an herbal draught concocted by our host and eating a
light meal at noon he felt much better so much so that he declared himself
ready to continue our journey
When we came to start the Yankees boots were missing and after a
diligent search were not to be found Enraged beyond measure their proprietor
said that Varvy must have stolen them but considering his hospitality I
thought this extremely improbable though to whom else to impute the theft I
knew not The doctor maintained however that one who was capable of drugging
an innocent traveller with arva tee was capable of anything
But it was in vain that he stormed and Varvy and I searched the boots were
gone
Were it not for this mysterious occurrence and Varvys detestable liquors
I would here recommend all travellers going round by the beach to Partoowye to
stop at the Rock and patronise the old gentleman the more especially as he
entertains gratis
Chapter LXXIII
Our Reception in Partoowye
Upon starting at last I flung away my sandals by this time quite worn out
with the view of keeping company with the doctor now forced to go barefooted
Recovering his spirits in good time he protested that boots were a bore after
all and going without them decidedly manly
This was said be it observed while strolling along over a soft carpet of
grass a little moist even at midday from the shade of the wood through which
we were passing
Emerging from this we entered upon a blank sandy tract upon which the
suns rays fairly flashed making the loose gravel under foot wellnigh as hot
as the floor of an oven Such yelling and leaping as there was in getting over
this ground would be hard to surpass We could not have crossed at all until
toward sunset had it not been for a few small wiry bushes growing here and
there into which we every now and then thrust our feet to cool There was no
little judgment necessary in selecting your bush for if not chosen judiciously
the chances were that on springing forward again and finding the next bush so
far off that an intermediate cooling was indispensable you would have to run
back to your old place again
Safely passing the Sahara or Fiery Desert we soothed our halfblistered
feet by a pleasant walk through a meadow of long grass which soon brought us in
sight of a few straggling houses sheltered by a grove on the outskirts of the
village of Partoowye
My comrade was for entering the first one we came to but on drawing near
they had so much of an air of pretension at least for native dwellings that I
hesitated thinking they might be the residences of the higher chiefs from whom
no very extravagant welcome was to be anticipated
While standing irresolute a voice from the nearest house hailed us
»Aramai aramai karhowree« Come in come in strangers
We at once entered and were warmly greeted The master of the house was an
aristocraticlooking islander dressed in loose linen drawers a fine white
shirt and a sash of red silk tied about the waist after the fashion of the
Spaniards in Chili He came up to us with a free frank air and striking his
chest with his hand introduced himself as Ereemear PoPo or to render the
Christian name back again into English Jeremiah PoPo
These curious combinations of names among the people of the Society
Islands originate in the following way When a native is baptized his
patronymic often gives offence to the missionaries and they insist upon
changing to something else whatever is objectionable therein So when Jeremiah
came to the font and gave his name as NarmoNana PoPo something equivalent to
TheDarerofDevilsbyNight the reverend gentleman officiating told him that
such a heathenish appellation would never do and a substitute must be had at
least for the devil part of it Some highly respectable Christian appellations
were then submitted from which the candidate for admission into the church was
at liberty to choose There was Adamo Adam Nooar Noah Daveedar David
Earcobar James Eorna John Patoora Peter Ereemear Jeremiah etc And
thus did he come to be named Jeremiah PoPo or JeremiahintheDark which he
certainly was I fancy as to the ridiculousness of his new cognomen
We gave our names in return upon which he bade us be seated and sitting
down himself asked us a great many questions in mixed English and Tahitian
After giving some directions to an old man to prepare food our hosts wife a
large benevolentlooking woman upwards of forty also sat down by us In our
soiled and travelstained appearance the good lady seemed to find abundant
matter for commiseration and all the while kept looking at us piteously and
making mournful exclamations
But Jeremiah and his spouse were not the only inmates of the mansion
In one corner upon a large native couch elevated upon posts reclined a
nymph who halfveiled in her own long hair had yet to make her toilet for the
day She was the daughter of PoPo and a very beautiful little daughter she
was not more than fourteen with the most delightful shape like a bud just
blown and large hazel eyes They called her Loo a name rather pretty and
genteel and therefore quite appropriate for a more genteel and ladylike
little damsel there was not in all Imeeo
She was a cold and haughty young beauty though this same little Loo and
never deigned to notice us further than now and then to let her eyes float over
our persons with an expression of indolent indifference With the tears of the
Loohooloo girls hardly dry from their sobbing upon our shoulders this
contemptuous treatment stung us not a little
When we first entered PoPo was raking smooth the carpet of dried ferns
which had that morning been newly laid and now that our meal was ready it was
spread on a banana leaf right upon this fragrant floor Here we lounged at our
ease eating baked pig and breadfruit off earthen plates and using for the
first time in many a long month real knives and forks
These as well as other symptoms of refinement somewhat abated our surprise
at the reserve of the little Loo her parents doubtless were magnates in
Partoowye and she herself was an heiress
After being informed of our stay in the vale of Martair they were very
curious to know on what errand we came to Taloo We merely hinted that the ship
lying in the harbour was the reason of our coming
Arfretee PoPos wife was a right motherly body The meal over she
recommended a nap and upon our waking much refreshed she led us to the
doorway and pointed down among the trees through which we saw the gleam of
water Taking the hint we repaired thither and finding a deep shaded pool
bathed and returned to the house Our hostess now sat down by us and after
looking with great interest at the doctors cloak felt of my own soiled and
tattered garments for the hundredth time and exclaimed plaintively »Ah nuee
nuee olee manee olee manee« Alas they are very very old very old
When Arfretee good soul thus addressed us she thought she was talking
very respectable English The word nuee is so familiar to foreigners throughout
Polynesia and is so often used by them in their intercourse with the natives
that the latter suppose it to be common to all mankind Olee manee is the native
pronunciation of old man which by Society Islanders talking Saxon is applied
indiscriminately to all aged things and persons whatsoever
Going to a chest filled with various European articles she took out two
suits of new sailor frocks and trowsers and presenting them with a gracious
smile pushed us behind a calico screen and left us Without any fastidious
scruples we donned the garments and what with the meal the nap and the bath
we now came forth like a couple of bridegrooms
Evening drawing on lamps were lighted They were very simple the half of a
green melon about onethird full of cocoanut oil and a wick of twisted tappa
floating on the surface As a night lamp this contrivance cannot be excelled a
soft dreamy light being shed through the transparent rind
As the evening advanced other members of the household whom as yet we had
not seen began to drop in There was a slender young dandy in a gay striped
shirt and whole fathoms of bright figured calico tucked about his waist and
falling to the ground He wore a new straw hat also with three distinct
ribbons tied about the crown one black one green and one pink Shoes or
stockings however he had none
There were a couple of delicate olivecheeked little girls twins with
mild eyes and beautiful hair who ran about the house halfnaked like a couple
of gazelles They had a brother somewhat younger a fine dark boy with an eye
like a womans All these were the children of PoPo begotten in lawful
wedlock
Then there were two or three queerlooking old ladies who wore shabby
mantles of soiled sheeting which fitted so badly and withal had such a
secondhand look that I at once put their wearers down as domestic paupers
poor relations supported by the bounty of My Lady Arfretee They were sad meek
old bodies said little and ate less and either kept their eyes on the ground
or lifted them up deferentially The semicivilisation of the island must have
had something to do with making them what they were
I had almost forgotten Monee the grinning old man who prepared our meal
His head was a shining bald globe He had a round little paunch and legs like
a cat He was PoPos factotum cook butler and climber of the breadfruit
and cocoanut trees and added to all else a mighty favourite with his
mistress with whom he would sit smoking and gossiping by the hour
Often you saw the indefatigable Monee working away at a great rate then
dropping his employment all at once never mind what run off to a little
distance and after rolling himself away in a corner and taking a nap jump up
again and fall to with fresh vigour
From a certain something in the behaviour of PoPo and his household I was
led to believe that he was a pillar of the church though from what I had seen
in Tahiti I could hardly reconcile such a supposition with his frank cordial
unembarrassed air But I was not wrong in my conjecture PoPo turned out to be
a sort of elder or deacon he was also accounted a man of wealth and was
nearly related to a high chief
Before retiring the entire household gathered upon the floor and in their
midst he read aloud a chapter from a Tahitian Bible Then kneeling with the
rest of us he offered up a prayer Upon its conclusion all separated without
speaking These devotions took place regularly every night and morning Grace
too was invariably said by this family both before and after eating
After becoming familiarised with the almost utter destitution of anything
like practical piety upon these islands what I observed in our hosts house
astonished me much But whatever others might have been PoPo was in truth a
Christian the only one Arfretee excepted whom I personally knew to be such
among all the natives of Polynesia
Chapter LXXIV
Retiring for the Night the Doctor Grows Devout
They put us to bed very pleasantly
Lying across the foot of PoPos nuptial couch was a smaller one made of
Koarwood a thin strong cord twisted from the fibres of the husk of the
cocoanut and woven into an exceedingly light sort of network forming its
elastic body Spread upon this was a single fine mat with a roll of dried
ferns for a pillow and a strip of white tappa for a sheet This couch was mine
The doctor was provided for in another corner
Loo reposed alone on a little settee with a taper burning by her side the
dandy her brother swinging overhead in a sailors hammock The two gazelles
frisked upon a mat near by and the indigent relations borrowed a scant corner
of the old butlers pallet who snored away by the open door After all had
retired PoPo placed the illuminated melon in the middle of the apartment and
so we all slumbered till morning
Upon awaking the sun was streaming brightly through the open bamboos but
no one was stirring After surveying the fine attitudes into which
forgetfulness had thrown at least one of the sleepers my attention was called
off to the general aspect of the dwelling which was quite significant of the
superior circumstances of our host
The house itself was built in the simple but tasteful native style It was
a long regular oval some fifty feet in length with low sides of canework
and a roof thatched with palmettoleaves The ridgepole was perhaps twenty
feet from the ground There was no foundation whatever the bare earth being
merely covered with ferns a kind of carpeting which serves very well if
frequently renewed otherwise it becomes dusty and the haunt of vermin as in
the huts of the poorer natives
Besides the couches the furniture consisted of three or four sailor chests
in which were stored the fine wearingapparel of the household the ruffled
linen shirts of PoPo the calico dresses of his wife and children and divers
odds and ends of European articles strings of beads ribbons Dutch
lookingglasses knives coarse prints bunches of keys bits of crockery and
metal buttons One of these chests used as a bandbox by Arfretee contained
several of the native hats coalscuttles all of the same pattern but trimmed
with variously coloured ribbons Of nothing was our good hostess more proud than
of these hats and her dresses On Sundays she went abroad a dozen times and
every time like Queen Elizabeth in a different robe
PoPo for some reason or other always gave us our meals before the rest of
the family were served and the doctor who was very discerning in such matters
declared that we fared much better than they Certain it was that had
Ereemears guests travelled with purses portmanteaux and letters of
introduction to the queen they could not have been better cared for
The day after our arrival Monee the old butler brought us in for dinner a
small pig baked in the ground All savoury it lay in a wooden trencher
surrounded by roasted hemispheres of the breadfruit A large calabash filled
with taro pudding or poee followed and the young dandy overcoming his
customary languor threw down our cocoanuts from an adjoining tree
When all was ready and the household looking on Long Ghost devoutly
clasping his hands over the fated pig implored a blessing Hereupon everybody
present looked exceedingly pleased PoPo coming up and addressing the doctor
with much warmth and Arfretee regarding him with almost maternal affection
exclaimed delightedly »Ah mickonaree tata matai« in other words, »What a
pious young man«
It was just after this meal that she brought me a roll of grass sinnate of
the kind which sailors sew into the frame of their tarpaulins and then
handing me a needle and thread bade me begin at once and make myself the hat
which I so much needed An accomplished hand at the business I finished it that
day merely stitching the braid together and Arfretee by way of rewarding my
industry with her own olive hands ornamented the crown with a band of
flamecoloured ribbon the two long ends of which streaming behind
sailorfashion still preserved for me the Eastern title bestowed by Long Ghost
Chapter LXXV
A Ramble Through the Settlement
The following morning making our toilets carefully we donned our sombreros
and sallied out on a tour Without meaning to reveal our designs upon the court
our principal object was to learn what chances there were for white men to
obtain employment under the queen On this head it is true we had questioned
PoPo but his answers had been very discouraging so we determined to obtain
further information elsewhere
But first to give some little description of the village
The settlement of Partoowye is nothing more than some eighty houses
scattered here and there in the midst of an immense grove where the trees have
been thinned out and the underbrush cleared away Through the grove flows a
stream and the principal avenue crosses it over an elastic bridge of cocoanut
trunks laid together side by side The avenue is broad and serpentine well
shaded from one end to the other and as pretty a place for a morning promenade
as any lounger could wish The houses constructed without the slightest regard
to the road peep into view from among the trees on either side some looking
you right in the face as you pass and others without any manners turning
their backs Occasionally you observe a rural retreat enclosed by a picket of
bamboos or with a solitary pane of glass massively framed in the broadside of
the dwelling or with a rude strangelooking door swinging upon dislocated
wooden hinges Otherwise the dwellings are built in the original style of the
natives and never mind how mean and filthy some of them may appear within they
all look picturesque enough without
As we sauntered along the people we met saluted us pleasantly and invited
us into their houses and in this way we made a good many brief morning calls
But the hour could not have been the fashionable one in Partoowye since the
ladies were invariably in dishabille However they in all cases gave us a
cordial reception and were particularly polite to the doctor caressing him
and amorously hanging about his neck wonderfully taken up in short with a gay
handkerchief he wore there Arfretee had that morning bestowed it upon the pious
youth
With some exceptions the general appearance of the natives of Partoowye was
far better than that of the inhabitants of Papeetee a circumstance only to be
imputed to their restricted intercourse with foreigners
Strolling on we turned a sweep of the road when the doctor gave a start
and no wonder Right before us in the grove was a block of houses regular
square frames boarded over furnished with windows and doorways and two
stories high We ran up and found them fast going to decay very dingy and here
and there covered with moss no sashes nor doors and on one side the entire
block had settled down nearly a foot On going into the basement we looked
clean up through the unboarded timbers to the roof where rays of light
glimmering through many a chink illuminated the cobwebs which swung all round
The whole interior was dark and close Burrowing among some old mats in one
corner like a parcel of gypsies in a ruin were a few vagabond natives They
had their dwelling here
Curious to know who on earth could have been thus trying to improve the
value of real estate in Partoowye we made inquiries and learned that some
years previous the block had been thrown up by a veritable Yankee one might
have known that a housecarpenter by trade and a bold enterprising fellow by
nature
Put ashore from his ship sick he first went to work and got well then
sallied out with chisel and plane and made himself generally useful A sober
steady man it seems he at last obtained the confidence of several chiefs and
soon filled them with all sorts of ideas concerning the alarming want of public
spirit in the people of Imeeo More especially did he dwell upon the humiliating
fact of their living in paltry huts of bamboo when magnificent palaces of
boards might so easily be mortised together
In the end these representations so far prevailed with one old chief that
the carpenter was engaged to build a batch of these wonderful palaces Provided
with plenty of men he at once set to work built a sawmill among the
mountains felled trees and sent over to Papeetee for nails
Presto the castle rose but alas the roof was hardly on when the Yankees
patron having speculated beyond his means broke all to pieces and was
absolutely unable to pay one plug of tobacco in the pound His failure involved
the carpenter who sailed away from his creditors in the very next ship that
touched at the harbour
The natives despised the rickety palace of boards and often lounged by
wagging their heads and jeering
We were told that the queens residence was at the extreme end of the
village so without waiting for the doctor to procure a fiddle we suddenly
resolved upon going thither at once and learning whether any privy
councillorships were vacant
Now although there was a good deal of my waggish comrades nonsense about
what has been said concerning our expectations of court preferment we
nevertheless really thought that something to our advantage might turn up in
that quarter
On approaching the palace grounds we found them rather peculiar A broad
pier of hewn coral rocks was built right out into the water and upon this and
extending into a grove adjoining were some eight or ten very large native
houses constructed in the handsomest style and enclosed together by a low
picket of bamboos which embraced a considerable area
Throughout the Society Islands the residences of the chiefs are mostly
found in the immediate vicinity of the sea a site which gives them the full
benefit of a cooling breeze nor are they so liable to the annoyance of insects
besides enjoying when they please the fine shade afforded by the neighbouring
groves always most luxuriant near the water
Lounging about the grounds were some sixty or eighty handsomely dressed
natives men and women some reclining on the shady side of the houses others
under the trees and a small group conversing close by the railing facing us
We went up to the latter and giving the usual salutation were on the point
of vaulting over the bamboos when they turned upon us angrily and said we
could not enter We stated our earnest desire to see the queen hinting that we
were bearers of important dispatches But it was to no purpose and not a little
vexed we were obliged to return to PoPos without effecting anything
Chapter LXXVI
An Island Jilt We Visit the Ship
Upon arriving home we fully laid open to PoPo our motives in visiting Taloo
and begged his friendly advice In his broken English he cheerfully gave us all
the information we needed
It was true he said that the queen entertained some idea of making a stand
against the French and it was currently reported also that several chiefs from
Borabora Huwyenee Raiatair and Tahar the leeward islands of the group were
at that very time taking counsel with her as to the expediency of organising a
general movement throughout the entire cluster with a view of anticipating any
further encroachments on the part of the invaders Should warlike measures be
actually decided upon it was quite certain that Pomaree would be glad to enlist
all the foreigners she could but as to her making officers of either the doctor
or me that was out of the question because already a number of Europeans
well known to her had volunteered as such Concerning our getting immediate
access to the queen PoPo told us it was rather doubtful she living at that
time very retired in poor health and spirits and averse to receiving calls
Previous to her misfortunes however no one however humble was denied
admittance to her presence sailors even attended her levees
Not at all disheartened by these things we concluded to kill time in
Partoowye until some event turned up more favourable to our projects So that
very day we sallied out on an excursion to the ship which lying landlocked
far up the bay yet remained to be visited
Passing on our route a long low shed a voice hailed us »White men
ahoy« Turning round who should we see but a rosycheeked Englishman you could
tell his country at a glance up to his knees in shavings and planing away at
a bench He turned out to be a runaway ships carpenter recently from Tahiti
and now doing a profitable business in Imeeo by fitting up the dwellings of
opulent chiefs with cupboards and other conveniences and once in a while trying
his hand at a ladys workbox He had been in the settlement but a few months
and already possessed houses and lands
But though blessed with prosperity and high health there was one thing
wanting a wife And when he came to speak of the matter his countenance fell
and he leaned dejectedly upon his plane
»It s too bad« he sighed »to wait three long years and an the while
dear little Lullee living in the same house with that infernal chief from
Tahar«
Our curiosity was piqued the poor carpenter then had been falling in love
with some island coquette who was going to jilt him
But such was not the case There was a law prohibiting under a heavy
penalty the marriage of a native with a foreigner unless the latter after
being three years a resident on the island was willing to affirm his settled
intention of remaining for life
William was therefore in a sad way He told us that he might have married
the girl half a dozen times had it not been for this odious law but latterly
she had become less loving and more giddy particularly with the strangers from
Tahar Desperately smitten and desirous of securing her at all hazards he had
proposed to the damsels friends a nice little arrangement introductory to
marriage but they would not hear of it besides if the pair were discovered
living together upon such a footing they would be liable to a degrading
punishment sent to work making stone walls and opening roads for the queen
Doctor Long Ghost was all sympathy »Bill my good fellow« said he
tremulously »let me go and talk to her« But Bill declining the offer would
not even inform us where his charmer lived
Leaving the disconsolate Willie planing a plank of New Zealand pine an
importation from the Bay of Islands and thinking the while of Lullee we went
on our way How his suit prospered in the end we never learned
Going from PoPos house toward the anchorage of the harbour of Taloo you
catch no glimpse of the water until coming out from deep groves you all at
once find yourself upon the beach A bay considered by many voyagers the most
beautiful in the South Seas then lies before you You stand upon one side of
what seems a deep green river flowing through mountain passes to the sea Right
opposite a majestic promontory divides the inlet from another called after its
discoverer Captain Cook The face of this promontory toward Taloo is one
verdant wall and at its base the waters lie still and fathomless On the left
hand you just catch a peep of the widening mouth of the bay the break in the
reef by which ships enter and beyond the sea To the right the inlet
sweeping boldly round the promontory runs far away into the land where save
in one direction the hills close in on every side kneedeep in verdure and
shooting aloft in grotesque peaks The open space lies at the head of the bay
in the distance it extends into a broad hazy plain lying at the foot of an
amphitheatre of hills Here is the large sugar plantation previously alluded to
Beyond the first range of hills you descry the sharp pinnacles of the interior
and among these the same silent Marlingspike which we so often admired from
the other side of the island
All alone in the harbour lay the good ship Leviathan We jumped into the
canoe and paddled off to her Though early in the afternoon everything was
quiet but upon mounting the side we found four or five sailors lounging about
the forecastle under an awning They gave us no very cordial reception and
though otherwise quite hearty in appearance seemed to assume a look of
illhumour on purpose to honour our arrival There was much eagerness to learn
whether we wanted to ship and by the unpleasant accounts they gave of the
vessel they seemed desirous to prevent such a thing if possible
We asked where the rest of the ships company were a gruff old fellow made
answer »One boats crew of em is gone to Davy Joness locker went off after
a whale last cruise and never came back again All the starboard watch ran
away last night and the skipper s ashore kitching em«
»And it s shipping ye re after my jewels is it« cried a curlypated
little Belfast sailor coming up to us »thin arrah my livelies jist be after
sailing ashore in a jiffy the divil of a skipper will carry yees both to sea
whether or no Be off wid ye thin darlints and steer clear of the likes of
this ballyhoo of blazes as long as ye live They murther us here every day and
starve us into the bargain Here Dick lad harl the poor divils canow
alongside and paddle away wid yees for dear life«
But we loitered awhile listening to more inducements to ship and at last
concluded to stay to supper My sheathknife never cut into better seabeef than
that which we found lying in the kid in the forecastle The bread too was
hard dry and brittle as glass and there was plenty of both
While we were below the mate of the vessel called out for someone to come on
deck I liked his voice Hearing it was as good as a look at his face It
betokened a true sailor and no taskmaster
The appearance of the Leviathan herself was quite pleasing Like all large
comfortable old whalemen she had a sort of motherly look broad in the beam
flush decks and four chubby boats hanging at the breast Her sails were furled
loosely upon the yards as if they had been worn long and fitted easy her
shrouds swung negligently slack and as for the running rigging it never worked
hard as it does in some of your dandy ships jamming in the sheaves of blocks
like Chinese slippers too small to be useful on the contrary the ropes ran
glibly through as if they had many a time travelled the same road and were
used to it
When evening came we dropped into our canoe and paddled ashore fully
convinced that the good ship never deserved the name which they gave her
Chapter LXXVII
A Party of Rovers Little Loo and the Doctor
While in Partoowye we fell in with a band of six veteran rovers prowling about
the village and harbour who had just come overland from another part of the
island
A few weeks previous they had been paid off at Papeetee from a whaling
vessel on board of which they had six months before shipped for a single
cruise that is to say to be discharged at the next port Their cruise was a
famous one and each man stepped upon the beach at Tahiti jingling his dollars
in a sock
Weary at last of the shore and having some money left they clubbed and
purchased a sailboat proposing a visit to a certain uninhabited island
concerning which they had heard strange and golden stories Of course they
never could think of going to sea without a medicinechest filled with flasks of
spirits and a small cask of the same in the hold in case the chest should give
out
Away they sailed hoisted a flag of their own and gave three times three
as they staggered out of the bay of Papeetee with a strong breeze and under all
the muslin they could carry
Evening coming on and feeling in high spirits and no ways disposed to
sleep they concluded to make a night of it which they did all hands getting
tipsy and the two masts going over the side about midnight to the tune of
»Sailing down sailing down
On the coast of Barbaree«
Fortunately one worthy could stand by holding on to the tiller and the rest
managed to crawl about and hack away the lanyards of the rigging so as to
break clear from the fallen spars While thus employed two sailors got
tranquilly over the side and went plumb to the bottom under the erroneous
impression that they were stepping upon an imaginary wharf to get at their
work better
After this it blew quite a gale and the commodore at the helm
instinctively kept the boat before the wind and by so doing ran over for the
opposite island of Imeeo Crossing the channel by almost a miracle they went
straight through an opening in the reef and shot upon a ledge of coral where
the waters were tolerably smooth Here they lay until morning when the natives
came off to them in their canoes By the help of the islanders the schooner was
hove over on her beamends when finding the bottom knocked to pieces the
adventurers sold the boat for a trifle to the chief of the district and went
ashore rolling before them their precious cask of spirits Its contents soon
evaporated and they came to Partoowye
The day after encountering these fellows we were strolling among the groves
in the neighbourhood when we came across several parties of natives armed with
clumsy muskets rusty cutlasses and outlandish clubs They were beating the
bushes shouting aloud and apparently trying to scare somebody They were in
pursuit of the strangers who having in a single night set at naught all the
laws of the place had thought best to decamp
In the daytime PoPos house was as pleasant a lounge as one could wish
So after strolling about and seeing all there was to be seen we spent the
greater part of our mornings there breakfasting late and dining about two
hours after noon Sometimes we lounged on the floor of ferns smoking and
telling stories of which the doctor had as many as a halfpay captain in the
army Sometimes we chatted as well as we could with the natives and one day
joy to us PoPo brought in three volumes of Smolletts novels which had
been found in the chest of a sailor who some time previous had died on the
island
Amelia Peregrine you hero of rogues Count Fathom what a debt do we
owe you
I know not whether it was the reading of these romances or the want of some
sentimental pastime which led the doctor about this period to lay siege to
the heart of the little Loo
Now as I have said before the daughter of PoPo was most cruelly reserved
and never deigned to notice us Frequently I addressed her with a long face and
an air of the profoundest and most distant respect but in vain she wouldnt
even turn up her pretty olive nose Ah it s quite plain thought I she knows
very well what graceless dogs sailors are and wont have anything to do with
us
But thus thought not my comrade Bent he was upon firing the cold glitter of
Loos passionless eyes
He opened the campaign with admirable tact making cautious approaches and
content for three days with ogling the nymph for about five minutes after
every meal On the fourth day he asked her a question on the fifth she
dropped a nut of ointment and he picked it up and gave it to her on the sixth
he went over and sat down within three yards of the couch where she lay and on
the memorable morn of the seventh he proceeded to open his batteries in form
The damsel was reclining on the ferns one hand supporting her cheek and
the other listlessly turning over the leaves of a Tahitian Bible The doctor
approached
Now the chief disadvantage under which he laboured was his almost complete
ignorance of the love vocabulary of the island But French counts they say
make love delightfully in broken English and what hindered the doctor from
doing the same in dulcet Tahitian So at it he went
»Ah« said he smiling bewitchingly »oee mickonaree oee ready Biblee«
No answer not even a look
»Ah maitai very goody ready Biblee mickonaree«
Loo without stirring began reading in a low tone to herself
»Mickonaree Biblee ready goody maitai« once more observed the doctor
ingeniously transposing his words for the third time
But all to no purpose Loo gave no sign
He paused despairingly but it would never do to give up so he threw
himself at full length beside her and audaciously commenced turning over the
leaves
Loo gave a start just one little start barely perceptible and then
fumbling something in her hand lay perfectly motionless the doctor rather
frightened at his own temerity and knowing not what to do next At last he
placed one arm cautiously about her waist almost in the same instant he bounded
to his feet with a cry the little witch had pierced him with a thorn But
there she lay just as quietly as ever turning over the leaves and reading to
herself
My long friend raised the siege incontinently and made a disorderly retreat
to the place where I reclined looking on
I am pretty sure that Loo must have related this occurrence to her father
who came in shortly afterward for he looked queerly at the doctor But he said
nothing and in ten minutes was quite as affable as ever As for Loo there
was not the slightest change in her and the doctor of course for ever
afterward held his peace
Chapter LXXVIII
Mrs Bell
One day taking a pensive afternoon stroll along one of the many bridlepaths
which wind among the shady groves in the neighbourhood of Taloo I was startled
by a sunny apparition It was that of a beautiful young Englishwoman charmingly
dressed and mounted upon a spirited little white pony Switching a green
branch she came cantering toward me
I looked round to see whether I could possibly be in Polynesia There were
the palmtrees but how to account for the lady
Stepping to one side as the apparition drew near I made a polite
obeisance It gave me a bold rosy look and then with a gay air patted its
palfrey crying out »Fly away Willie« and galloped among the trees
I would have followed but Willies heels were making such a pattering among
the dry leaves that pursuit would have been useless
So I went straight home to PoPos and related my adventure to the doctor
The next day our inquiries resulted in finding out that the stranger had
been in the island about two years that she came from Sydney and was the wife
of Mr Bell happy dog the proprietor of the sugar plantation to which I have
previously referred
To the sugar plantation we went the same day
The country round about was very beautiful a level basin of verdure
surrounded by sloping hillsides The sugarcane of which there was about one
hundred acres in various stages of cultivation looked thrifty A considerable
tract of land however which seemed to have been formerly tilled was now
abandoned
The place where they extracted the saccharine matter was under an immense
shed of bamboos Here we saw several clumsy pieces of machinery for breaking the
cane also great kettles for boiling the sugar But at present nothing was
going on Two or three natives were lounging in one of the kettles smoking the
other was occupied by three sailors from the Leviathan playing cards
While we were conversing with these worthies a stranger approached He was
a sunburnt romanticlooking European dressed in a loose suit of nankeen his
fine throat and chest were exposed and he sported a Guayaquil hat with a brim
like a Chinese umbrella This was Mr Bell He was very civil showed us the
grounds and taking us into a sort of arbour to our surprise offered to treat
us to some wine People often do the like but Mr Bell did more he produced
the bottle It was spicy sherry and we drank out of the halves of fresh citron
melons Delectable goblets
The wine was a purchase from the French in Tahiti
Now all this was extremely polite in Mr Bell still we came to see Mrs
Bell But she proved to be a phantom indeed having left the same morning for
Papeetee on a visit to one of the missionaries wives there
I went home much chagrined
To be frank my curiosity had been wonderfully piqued concerning the lady
In the first place she was the most beautiful white woman I ever saw in
Polynesia But this is saying nothing She had such eyes such mossroses in her
cheeks such a divine air in the saddle that to my dying day I shall never
forget Mrs Bell
The sugarplanter himself was young robust and handsome So merrily may
the little Bells increase and multiply and make music in the land of Imeeo
Chapter LXXIX
Taloo Chapel Holding Court in Polynesia
In Partoowye is to be seen one of the best constructed and handsomest chapels in
the South Seas Like the buildings of the palace it stands upon an artificial
pier presenting a semicircular sweep to the bay The chapel is built of hewn
blocks of coral a substance which, although extremely friable is said to
harden by exposure to the atmosphere To a stranger these blocks look extremely
curious Their surface is covered with strange fossillike impressions the seal
of which must have been set before the Flood Very nearly white when hewn from
the reefs the coral darkens with age so that several churches in Polynesia now
look almost as sooty and venerable as famed St Pauls
In shape the chapel is an octagon with galleries all round It will seat
perhaps four hundred people Everything within is stained a tawny red and
there being but few windows or rather embrasures the dusky benches and
galleries and the tall spectre of a pulpit look anything but cheerful
On Sundays we always went to worship here Going in the family suite of
PoPo we of course maintained a most decorous exterior and hence, by all the
elderly people of the village were doubtless regarded as pattern young men
PoPos seat was in a snug corner and it being particularly snug in the
immediate vicinity of one of the Palm pillars supporting the gallery I
invariably leaned against it PoPo and his lady on one side the doctor and the
dandy on the other and the children and poor relations seated behind
As for Loo instead of sitting as she ought to have done by her good
father and mother she must needs run up into the gallery and sit with a parcel
of giddy creatures of her own age who all through the sermon did nothing but
look down on the congregation pointing out and giggling at the queerlooking
old ladies in dowdy bonnets and scant tunics But Loo herself was never guilty
of these improprieties
Occasionally during the week they have afternoon service in the chapel when
the natives themselves have something to say although their auditors are but
few An introductory prayer being offered by the missionary and a hymn sung
communicants rise in their places and exhort in pure Tahitian and with
wonderful tone and gesture And among them all Deacon PoPo though he talked
most was the one whom you would have liked best to hear Much would I have
given to have understood some of his impassioned bursts when he tossed his arms
overhead stamped scowled and glared till he looked like the very Angel of
Vengeance
»Deluded man« sighed the doctor on one of these occasions »I fear he
takes the fanatical view of the subject« One thing was certain when PoPo
spoke all listened a great deal more than could be said for the rest for
under the discipline of two or three I could mention some of the audience
napped others fidgeted a few yawned and one irritable old gentleman in a
nightcap of cocoanut leaves used to clutch his long staff in a state of
excessive nervousness and stride out of the church making all the noise he
could to emphasise his disgust
Right adjoining the chapel is an immense rickety building with windows and
shutters and a halfdecayed board flooring laid upon trunks of palmtrees They
called it a schoolhouse but as such we never saw it occupied It was often
used as a courtroom however and here we attended several trials among
others that of a decayed naval officer and a young girl of fourteen the
latter charged with having been very naughty on a particular occasion set forth
in the pleadings and the former with having aided and abetted her in her
naughtiness and with other misdemeanours
The foreigner was a tall militarylooking fellow with a dark cheek and
black whiskers According to his own account he had lost a colonial armed brig
on the coast of New Zealand and since then had been leading the life of a man
about town among the islands of the Pacific
The doctor wanted to know why he did not go home and report the loss of his
brig but Captain Crash as they called him had some incomprehensible reasons
for not doing so about which he could talk by the hour and no one be any the
wiser Probably he was a discreet man and thought it best to waive an interview
with the lords of the admiralty
For some time past this extremely suspicious character had been carrying on
an illicit trade in French wines and brandies smuggled over from the menofwar
lately touching at Tahiti In a grove near the anchorage he had a rustic shanty
and arbour where in quiet times when no ships were in Taloo a stray native
once in a while got boozy and staggered home catching at the cocoanut trees
as he went The captain himself lounged under a tree during the warm afternoons
pipe in mouth thinking perhaps over old times and occasionally feeling his
shoulders for his lost epaulets
But sail ho a ship is descried coming into the bay Soon she drops her
anchor in its waters and the next day Captain Crash entertains the sailors in
his grove And rare times they have of it drinking and quarrelling together as
sociably as you please
Upon one of these occasions the crew of the Leviathan made so prodigious a
tumult that the natives indignant at the insult offered their laws plucked up
a heart and made a dash at the rioters one hundred strong The sailors fought
like tigers but were at last overcome and carried before a native tribunal
which after a mighty clamour dismissed everybody but Captain Crash who was
asserted to be the author of the disorders
Upon this charge then he had been placed in confinement against the coming
on of the assizes the judge being expected to lounge along in the course of the
afternoon While waiting his Honours arrival numerous additional offences were
preferred against the culprit mostly by the old women among others was the
bit of a slip in which he stood implicated along with the young lady Thus in
Polynesia as elsewhere charge a man with one misdemeanour and all his
peccadilloes are raked up and assorted before him
Going to the schoolhouse for the purpose of witnessing the trial the din
of it assailed our ears a long way off and upon entering the building we were
almost stunned About five hundred natives were present each apparently
having something to say and determined to say it His Honour a handsome
benevolentlooking old man sat crosslegged on a little platform seemingly
resigned with all Christian submission to the uproar He was an hereditary
chief in this quarter of the island and judge for life in the district of
Partoowye
There were several cases coming on but the captain and girl were first
tried together They were mixing freely with the crowd and as it afterward
turned out that everyone no matter who had a right to address the court for
aught we knew they might have been arguing their own case At what precise
moment the trial began it would be hard to say There was no swearing of
witnesses and no regular jury35 Now and then somebody leaped up and shouted
out something which might have been evidence the rest meanwhile keeping up an
incessant jabbering Presently the old judge himself began to get excited and
springing to his feet ran in among the crowd wagging his tongue as hard as
anybody
The tumult lasted about twenty minutes and toward the end of it Captain
Crash might have been seen tranquilly regarding from his Honours platform
the judicial uproar in which his fate was about being decided
The result of all this was that both he and the girl were found guilty The
latter was adjudged to make six mats for the queen and the former, in
consideration of his manifold offences being deemed incorrigible was sentenced
to eternal banishment from the island Both these decrees seemed to originate in
the general hubbub His Honour however appeared to have considerable
authority and it was quite plain that the decision received his approval
The above penalties were by no means indiscriminately inflicted The
missionaries have prepared a sort of penal tariff to facilitate judicial
proceedings It costs so many days labour on the Broom Road to indulge in the
pleasures of the calabash so many fathoms of stone wall to steal a musket and
so on to the end of the catalogue The judge being provided with a book in
which all these matters are cunningly arranged the thing is vastly convenient
For instance a crime is proved say bigamy turn to letter B and there you
have it Bigamy forty days on the Broom Road and twenty mats for the queen
Read the passage aloud and sentence is pronounced
After taking part in the first trial the other delinquents present were put
upon their own in which also the convicted culprits seemed to have quite as
much to say as the rest A rather strange proceeding but strictly in accordance
with the glorious English principle that every man should be tried by his
peers
They were all found guilty
Chapter LXXX
Queen Pomaree
It is well to learn something about people before being introduced to them and
so we will here give some account of Pomaree and her family
Every reader of Cooks Voyages must remember Otoo who in that navigators
time was king of the larger peninsula of Tahiti Subsequently assisted by the
muskets of the Bountys men he extended his rule over the entire island This
Otoo before his death had his name changed into Pomaree which has ever since
been the royal patronymic
He was succeeded by his son Pomaree II the most famous prince in the
annals of Tahiti Though a sad debauchee and drunkard and even charged with
unnatural crimes he was a great friend of the missionaries and one of their
very first proselytes During the religious wars into which he was hurried by
his zeal for the new faith he was defeated and expelled from the island After
a short exile he returned from Imeeo with an army of eight hundred warriors
and in the battle of Narii routed the rebellious pagans with great slaughter
and reestablished himself upon the throne Thus by force of arms was
Christianity finally triumphant in Tahiti
Pomaree II dying in 1821 was succeeded by his infant son under the title
of Pomaree III This young prince survived his father but six years and the
government then descended to his elder sister Aimata the present queen who is
commonly called Pomaree Vahinee I or the first female Pomaree Her majesty
must be now upward of thirty years of age She has been twice married Her first
husband was a son of the old King of Tahar an island about one hundred miles
from Tahiti This proving an unhappy alliance the pair were soon after
divorced The present husband of the queen is a chief of Imeeo
The reputation of Pomaree is not what it ought to be She and also her
mother were for a long time excommunicated members of the Church and the
former, I believe still is Among other things her conjugal fidelity is far
from being unquestioned Indeed it was upon this ground chiefly that she was
excluded from the communion of the Church
Previous to her misfortunes she spent the greater portion of her time
sailing about from one island to another attended by a licentious court and
wherever she went all manner of games and festivities celebrated her arrival
She was always given to display For several years the maintenance of a
regiment of household troops drew largely upon the royal exchequer They were
trowserless fellows in a uniform of calico shirts and pasteboard hats armed
with muskets of all shapes and calibres and commanded by a great noisy chief
strutting it in a coat of fiery red These heroes escorted their mistress
whenever she went abroad
Some time ago the queen received from her English sister Victoria a very
showy though uneasy headdress a crown probably made to order at some
tinmans in London Having no idea of reserving so pretty a bauble for
coronation days which come so seldom her majesty sported it whenever she
appeared in public and to show her familiarity with European customs politely
touched it to all foreigners of distinction whaling captains and the like
whom she happened to meet in her evening walk on the Broom Road
The arrival and departure of royalty were always announced at the palace by
the court artilleryman a fat old gentleman who in a prodigious hurry and
perspiration discharged minute fowlingpieces as fast as he could load and fire
the same
The Tahitian princess leads her husband a hard life Poor fellow he not
only caught a queen but a Tartar when he married her The style by which he is
addressed is rather significant PomareeTanee Pomarees man All things
considered, as appropriate a title for a kingconsort as could be hit upon
If ever there was a henpecked husband that man is the prince One day his
carasposa giving audience to a deputation from the captains of the vessels
lying in Papeetee he ventured to make a suggestion which was very displeasing
to her She turned round and boxing his ears told him to go over to his
beggarly island of Imeeo if he wanted to give himself airs
Cuffed and contemned poor Tanee flies to the bottle or rather to the
calabash for solace Like his wife and mistress he drinks more than he ought
Six or seven years ago when an American manofwar was lying at Papeetee
the town was thrown into the greatest commotion by a conjugal assault and
battery made upon the sacred person of Pomaree by her intoxicated Tanee
Captain Bob once told me the story And by way of throwing more spirit into
the description as well as to make up for his oral deficiencies the old man
went through the accompanying action myself being proxy for the Queen of
Tahiti
It seems that on a Sunday morning being dismissed contemptuously from the
royal presence Tanee was accosted by certain good fellows friends and boon
companions who condoled with him on his misfortunes railed against the queen
and finally dragged him away to an illicit vender of spirits in whose house the
party got gloriously mellow In this state Pomaree Vahinee I was the topic
upon which all dilated »A vixen of a queen« probably suggested one »It s
infamous« said another »and I d have satisfaction« cried a third »And so I
will« Tanee must have hiccoughed for off he went and ascertaining that his
royal half was out riding he mounted his horse and galloped after her
Near the outskirts of the town a cavalcade of women came cantering toward
him in the centre of which was the object of his fury Smiting his beast right
and left he dashed in among them completely overturning one of the party
leaving her on the field and dispersing everybody else except Pomaree Backing
her horse dexterously the incensed queen heaped upon him every scandalous
epithet she could think of until at last the enraged Tanee leaped out of his
saddle caught Pomaree by her dress and dragging her to the earth struck her
repeatedly in the face holding on meanwhile by the hair of her head He was
proceeding to strangle her on the spot when the cries of the frightened
attendants brought a crowd of natives to the rescue who bore the nearly
insensible queen away
But his frantic rage was not yet sated He ran to the palace and before it
could be prevented demolished a valuable supply of crockery a recent present
from abroad In the act of perpetrating some other atrocity he was seized from
behind and carried off with rolling eyes and foaming at the mouth
This is a fair example of a Tahitian in a passion Though the mildest of
mortals in general and hard to be roused when once fairly up he is possessed
with a thousand devils
The day following Tanee was privately paddled over to Imeeo in a canoe
where after remaining in banishment for a couple of weeks he was allowed to
return and once more give in his domestic adhesion
Though Pomaree Vahinee I be something of a Jezebel in private life in her
public rule she is said to have been quite lenient and forbearing This was her
true policy for an hereditary hostility to her family had always lurked in the
hearts of many powerful chiefs the descendants of the old Kings of Taiarboo
dethroned by her grandfather Otoo Chief among these and in fact the leader of
his party was Poofai a bold able man who made no secret of his enmity to the
missionaries and the government which they controlled But while events were
occurring calculated to favour the hopes of the disaffected and turbulent the
arrival of the French gave a most unexpected turn to affairs
During my sojourn in Tahiti a report was rife which I knew to originate
with what is generally called the missionary party that Poofai and some other
chiefs of note had actually agreed for a stipulated bribe to acquiesce in the
appropriation of their country But subsequent events have rebutted the calumny
Several of these very men have recently died in battle against the French
Under the sovereignty of the Pomarees the great chiefs of Tahiti were
something like the barons of King John Holding feudal sway over their
patrimonial valleys and on account of their descent warmly beloved by the
people they frequently cut off the royal revenues by refusing to pay the
customary tribute due from them as vassals
The truth is that with the ascendency of the missionaries the regal office
in Tahiti lost much of its dignity and influence In the days of Paganism it
was supported by all the power of a numerous priesthood and was solemnly
connected with the entire superstitious idolatry of the land The monarch
claimed to be a sort of byblow of Tararroa the Saturn of the Polynesian
mythology and cousingerman to inferior deities His person was thrice holy if
he entered an ordinary dwelling never mind for how short a time it was
demolished when he left no common mortal being thought worthy to inhabit it
afterward
»I m a greater man than King George« said the incorrigible young Otoo to
the first missionaries »he rides on a horse and I on a man« Such was the
case He travelled post through his dominions on the shoulders of his subjects
and relays of immortal beings were provided in all the valleys
But alas how times have changed how transient human greatness Some years
since Pomaree Vahinee I the granddaughter of the proud Otoo went into the
laundry business publicly soliciting by her agents the washing of the linen
belonging to the officers of ships touching in her harbours
It is a significant fact and one worthy of record that while the influence
of the English missionaries at Tahiti has tended to so great a diminution of the
regal dignity there that of the American missionaries at the Sandwich Islands
has been purposely exerted to bring about a contrary result
Chapter LXXXI
We Visit the Court
It was about the middle of the second month of the Hegira and therefore some
five weeks after our arrival in Partoowye that we at last obtained admittance
to the residence of the queen
It happened thus There was a Marquesan in the train of Pomaree who
officiated as nurse to her children According to the Tahitian custom the royal
youngsters are carried about until it requires no small degree of strength to
stand up under them But Marbonna was just the man for this large and
muscular well made as a statue and with an arm like a degenerate Tahitians
thigh
Embarking at his native island as a sailor on board of a French whaler he
afterward ran away from the ship at Tahiti where being seen and admired by
Pomaree he had been prevailed upon to enlist in her service
Often when visiting the grounds we saw him walking about in the shade
carrying two handsome boys who encircled his neck with their arms Marbonnas
face tattooed as it was in the ornate style of his tribe was as good as a
picturebook to these young Pomarees They delighted to trace with their fingers
the outlines of the strange shapes there delineated
The first time my eyes lighted upon the Marquesan I knew his country in a
moment and hailing him in his own language he turned round surprised that a
person so speaking should be a stranger He proved to be a native of Tior a
glen of Nukuheva I had visited the place more than once and so on the island
of Imeeo we met like old friends
In my frequent conversations with him over the bamboo picket I found this
islander a philosopher of nature a wild heathen moralising upon the vices and
follies of the Christian court of Tahiti a savage scorning the degeneracy of
the people among whom fortune had thrown him
I was amazed at the national feelings of the man No European when abroad
could speak of his country with more pride than Marbonna He assured me again
and again that so soon as he had obtained sufficient money to purchase twenty
muskets and as many bags of powder he was going to return to a place with
which Imeeo was not worthy to be compared
It was Marbonna who after one or two unsuccessful attempts at last
brought about our admission into the queens grounds Through a considerable
crowd he conducted us along the pier to where an old man was sitting to whom
he introduced us as a couple of karhowrees of his acquaintance anxious to see
the sights of the palace The venerable chamberlain stared at us and shook his
head the doctor thinking he wanted a fee placed a plug of tobacco in his
hand This was ingratiating and we were permitted to pass on Upon the point of
entering one of the houses Marbonnas name was shouted in half a dozen
different directions and he was obliged to withdraw
Thus left at the very threshold to shift for ourselves my companions
assurance stood us in good stead He stalked right in and I followed The place
was full of women who instead of exhibiting the surprise we expected accosted
us as cordially as if we had called to take our souchong with them by express
invitation In the first place nothing would do but we must each devour a
calabash of poee and several roasted bananas Pipes were then lighted and a
brisk conversation ensued
These ladies of the court if not very polished were surprisingly free and
easy in their manners quite as much so as King Charless beauties There was
one of them an arch little miss who could converse with us pretty fluently
to whom we strove to make ourselves particularly agreeable with the view of
engaging her services as cicerone
As such she turned out to be everything we could desire No one disputing
her will every place was entered without ceremony curtains brushed aside mats
lifted and each nook and corner explored Whether the little damsel carried her
mistresss signet that everything opened to her thus I know not but Marbonna
himself the bearer of infants could not have been half so serviceable
Among other houses which we visited was one of large size and fine
exterior the special residence of a European formerly the mate of a merchant
vessel who had done himself the honour of marrying into the Pomaree family
The lady he wedded being a near kinswoman of the queen he became a permanent
member of her majestys household This adventurer rose late dressed
theatrically in calico and trinkets assumed a dictatorial tone in conversation
and was evidently upon excellent terms with himself
We found him reclining on a mat smoking a reedpipe of tobacco in the
midst of an admiring circle of chiefs and ladies He must have noticed our
approach but instead of rising and offering civilities he went on talking and
smoking without even condescending to look at us
»His Highness feels his poee« carelessly observed the doctor The rest of
the company gave us the ordinary salutation our guide announcing us beforehand
In answer to our earnest requests to see the queen we were now conducted to
an edifice by far the most spacious in the enclosure It was at least one
hundred and fifty feet in length very wide with low eaves and an exceedingly
steep roof of pandannas leaves There were neither doors nor windows nothing
along the sides but the slight posts supporting the rafters Between these
posts curtains of fine matting and tappa were rustling all round some of them
were festooned or partly withdrawn so as to admit light and air and afford a
glimpse now and then of what was going on within
Pushing aside one of the screens we entered The apartment was one immense
hall the long and lofty ridgepole fluttering with fringed matting and tassels
full forty feet from the ground Lounges of mats piled one upon another
extended on either side while here and there were slight screens forming as
many recesses where groups of natives all females were reclining at their
evening meal
As we advanced these various parties ceased their buzzing and in
explanation of our appearance among them listened to a few cabalistic words
from our guide
The whole scene was a strange one but what most excited our surprise was
the incongruous assemblage of the most costly objects from all quarters of the
globe Cheek by jowl they lay beside the rudest native articles without the
slightest attempt at order Superb writingdesks of rosewood inlaid with silver
and motherofpearl decanters and goblets of cutglass embossed volumes of
plates gilded candelabras sets of globes and mathematical instruments the
finest porcelain richly mounted sabres and fowlingpieces laced hats and
sumptuous garments of all sorts with numerous other matters of European
manufacture were strewn about among greasy calabashes halffilled with poee
rolls of old tappa and matting paddles and fishspears and the ordinary
furniture of a Tahitian dwelling
All the articles first mentioned were doubtless presents from foreign
powers They were more or less injured the fowlingpieces and swords were
rusted the finest woods were scratched and a folio volume of Hogarth lay open
with a cocoanut shell of some musty preparation capsized among the
miscellaneous furniture of the Rakes apartment where that inconsiderate young
gentleman is being measured for a coat
While we were amusing ourselves in this museum of curiosities our conductor
plucked us by the sleeve and whispered »Pomaree Pomaree aramai kow kow«
»She is coming to sup then« said the doctor staring in the direction
indicated »What say you Paul suppose we step up« Just then a curtain near by
lifted and from a private building a few yards distant the queen entered
unattended
She wore a loose gown of blue silk with two rich shawls one red and the
other yellow tied about her neck Her royal majesty was barefooted
She was about the ordinary size rather matronly her features not very
handsome her mouth voluptuous but there was a careworn expression in her
face probably attributable to her late misfortunes From her appearance one
would judge her about forty but she is not so old
As the queen approached one of the recesses her attendants hurried up
escorted her in and smoothed the mats on which she at last reclined Two girls
soon appeared carrying their mistresss repast and then surrounded by
cutglass and porcelain and jars of sweetmeats and confections Pomaree Vahinee
I the titular Queen of Tahiti ate fish and poee out of her native calabashes
disdaining either knife or spoon
»Come on« whispered Long Ghost »let s have an audience at once« and he
was on the point of introducing himself when our guide quite alarmed held him
back and implored silence The other natives also interfered and as he was
pressing forward raised such an outcry that Pomaree lifted her eyes and saw us
for the first time
She seemed surprised and offended and issuing an order in a commanding tone
to several of her women waved us out of the house Summary as the dismissal
was court etiquette no doubt required our compliance We withdrew making a
profound inclination as we disappeared behind the tappa arras
We departed the grounds without seeing Marbonna and previous to vaulting
over the picket feed our pretty guide after a fashion of our own Looking
round a few moments after we saw the damsel escorted back by two men who
seemed to have been sent after her I trust she received nothing more than a
reprimand
The next day PoPo informed us that strict orders had been issued to admit
no strangers within the palace precincts
Chapter LXXXII
Which Ends the Book
Disappointed in going to court we determined upon going to sea It would never
do longer to trespass on PoPos hospitality and then weary somewhat of life
in Imeeo like all sailors ashore I at last pined for the billows
Now if her crew were to be credited the Leviathan was not the craft to our
mind. But I had seen the captain and liked him He was an uncommonly tall
robust finelooking man in the prime of life There was a deep crimson spot in
the middle of each sunburnt cheek doubtless the effect of his seapotations He
was a Vineyarder or native of the island of Marthas Vineyard adjoining
Nantucket and I would have sworn it a sailor and no tyrant
Previous to this we had rather avoided the Leviathans men when they came
ashore but now we purposely threw ourselves in their way in order to learn
more of the vessel
We became acquainted with the third mate a Prussian and an old
merchantseaman a right jolly fellow with a face like a ruby We took him to
PoPos and gave him a dinner of baked pig and bread with pipes and tobacco
for dessert The account he gave us of the ship agreed with my own surmises A
cosier old craft never floated and the captain was the finest man in the world
There was plenty to eat too and at sea nothing to do but sit on the windlass
and sail The only bad trait about the vessel was this she had been launched
under some baleful star and so was a luckless ship in the fishery She dropped
her boats into the brine often enough and they frequently got fast to the
whales but lance and harpoon almost invariably drew when darted by the men of
the Leviathan But what of that We would have all the sport of chasing the
monsters with none of the detestable work which follows their capture So
hurrah for the coast of Japan Thither the ship was bound
A word now about the hard stories we heard the first time we visited the
ship They were nothing but idle fictions got up by the sailors for the purpose
of frightening us away so as to oblige the captain who was in want of more
hands to lie the longer in a pleasant harbour
The next time the Vineyarder came ashore we flung ourselves in his path
When informed of our desire to sail with him he wanted to know our history
and above all what countrymen we were We said that we had left a whaler in
Tahiti some time previous and since then had been in the most praiseworthy
manner employed upon a plantation As for our country sailors belong to no
nation in particular we were on this occasion both Yankees Upon this he
looked decidedly incredulous and freely told us that he verily believed we
were both from Sydney
Be it known here that American seacaptains in the Pacific are mortally
afraid of these Sydney gentry who to tell the truth wherever known are in
excessively bad odour Is there a mutiny on board a ship in the South Seas ten
to one a Sydney man is the ringleader Ashore these fellows are equally
riotous
It was on this account that we were anxious to conceal the fact of our
having belonged to the Julia though it annoyed me much thus to deny the
dashing little craft For the same reason also the doctor fibbed about his
birthplace
Unfortunately one part of our raiment Arfretees blue frocks was deemed
a sort of collateral evidence against us For curiously enough an American
sailor is generally distinguished by his red frock and an English tar by his
blue one thus reversing the national colours The circumstance was pointed out
by the captain and we quickly explained the anomaly But in vain he seemed
inveterately prejudiced against us and in particular eyed the doctor most
distrustfully
By way of propping the latters pretensions I was throwing out a hint
concerning Kentucky as a land of tall men when our Vineyarder turned away
abruptly and desired to hear nothing more It was evident that he took Long
Ghost for an exceedingly problematical character
Perceiving this I resolved to see what a private interview would do So
one afternoon I found the captain smoking a pipe in the dwelling of a portly
old native one MaiMai who for a reasonable compensation did the honours of
Partoowye to illustrious strangers
His guest had just risen from a sumptuous meal of baked pig and taro
pudding and the remnants of the repast were still visible Two reeking bottles
also with their necks wrenched off lay upon the mat All this was encouraging
for after a good dinner one feels affluent and amiable and peculiarly open to
conviction So at all events I found the noble Vineyarder
I began by saying that I called for the purpose of setting him right
touching certain opinions of his concerning the place of my nativity I was an
American thank Heaven and wanted to convince him of the fact
After looking me in the eye for some time and by so doing revealing an
obvious unsteadiness in his own visual organs he begged me to reach forth my
arm I did so wondering what upon earth that useful member had to do with the
matter in hand
He placed his fingers upon my wrist and holding them there for a moment
sprang to his feet and with much enthusiasm pronounced me a Yankee every
beat of my pulse
»Here MaiMai« he cried »another bottle« And when it came with one
stroke of a knife he summarily beheaded it and commanded me to drain it to the
bottom He then told me that if I would come on board his vessel the following
morning I would find the ships articles on the cabin transom
This was getting along famously But what was to become of the doctor
I forthwith made an adroit allusion to my long friend But it was worse than
useless The Vineyarder swore he would have nothing to do with him he my long
friend was a bird from Sydney and nothing would make him the man of little
faith believe otherwise
I could not help loving the freehearted captain but indignant at this most
unaccountable prejudice against my comrade I abruptly took leave
Upon informing the doctor of the result of the interview he was greatly
amused and laughingly declared that the Vineyarder must be a penetrating
fellow He then insisted upon my going to sea in the ship since he well knew
how anxious I was to leave As for himself on second thoughts he was no
sailor and although landsmen very often compose part of a whalers crew he did
not quite relish the idea of occupying a position so humble In short he had
made up his mind to tarry a while in Imeeo
I turned the matter over and at last decided upon quitting the island The
impulse urging me to sea once more and the prospect of eventually reaching
home were too much to be resisted especially as the Leviathan so comfortable
a craft was now bound on her last whaling cruise and in little more than a
years time would be going round Cape Horn
I did not however covenant to remain in the vessel for the residue of the
voyage which would have been needlessly binding myself I merely stipulated for
the coming cruise leaving my subsequent movements unrestrained for there was
no knowing that I might not change my mind and prefer journeying home by short
and easy stages
The next day I paddled off to the ship signed and sealed and stepped
ashore with my advance fifteen Spanish dollars tasselling the ends of my
neckhandkerchief
I forced half of the silver on Long Ghost and having little use for the
remainder would have given it to PoPo as some small return for his kindness
but although he well knew the value of the coin not a dollar would he accept
In three days time the Prussian came to PoPos and told us that the
captain having made good the number of his crew by shipping several islanders
had determined upon sailing with the land breeze at dawn the following morning
These tidings were received in the afternoon The doctor immediately
disappeared returning soon after with a couple of flasks of wine concealed in
the folds of his frock Through the agency of the Marquesan he had purchased
them from an understrapper of the court
I prevailed upon PoPo to drink a parting shell and even little Loo
actually looking conscious that one of her hopeless admirers was about leaving
Partoowye for ever sipped a few drops from a folded leaf As for the
warmhearted Arfretee her grief was unbounded She even besought me to spend my
last night under her own palmthatch and then in the morning she would
herself paddle me off to the ship
But this I would not consent to and so as something to remember her by
she presented me with a roll of fine matting and another of tappa These gifts
placed in my hammock I afterward found very agreeable in the warm latitudes to
which we were bound nor did they fail to awaken most grateful remembrances
About nightfall we broke away from this generoushearted household and
hurried down to the water
It was a mad merry night among the sailors they had on tap a small cask of
wine procured in the same way as the doctors flasks
An hour or two after midnight everything was noiseless but when the first
streak of the dawn showed itself over the mountains a sharp voice hailed the
forecastle and ordered the ship unmoored The anchors came up cheerily the
sails were soon set and with the early breath of the tropical morning fresh
and fragrant from the hillsides we slowly glided down the bay and were swept
through the opening in the reef Presently we hove to and the canoes came
alongside to take off the islanders who had accompanied us thus far As he
stepped over the side I shook the doctor long and heartily by the hand I have
never seen or heard of him since
Crowding all sail we braced the yards square and the breeze freshening
bowled straight away from the land Once more the sailors cradle rocked under
me and I found myself rolling in my gait
By noon the island had gone down in the horizon and all before us was the
wide Pacific
The End
Notes
1 This spirituous liquor derives its name from a considerable town in Peru
where it is manufactured in large quantities It is well known along the whole
western coast of South America whence some of it has been exported to
Australia It is very cheap
2 The colouring matter is inserted by means of a sharks tooth attached to the
end of a abort stick which is struck upon the other end with a small mallet of
wood
3 He was so called from the place of his birth being a runaway Maryland slave
4 The men were shipped by the lay in other words, they received no wages but
by the articles were entitled to a certain portion of the profits of the
voyage
5 The above is the popular idea on the subject But of late a theory directly
the reverse has been started Instead of regarding the phenomena last described
as indicating anything like an active creative power now in operation it is
maintained that together with the entire group they are merely the remains of
a continent long ago worn away and broken up by the action of the sea
6 So called from the place he hailed from a wellknown seaport on the coast of
Massachusetts
7 This is a term much in vogue among sailors in the Pacific It is applied to
certain roving characters who without attaching themselves permanently to any
vessel ship now and then for a short cruise in a whaler but upon the condition
only of being honourably discharged the very next time the anchor takes hold of
the bottom no matter where They are mostly a reckless rollicking set
wedded to the Pacific and never dreaming of ever doubling Cape Horn again on a
homewardbound passage Hence their reputation is a bad one
8 Some of the most promising convicts in New South Wales are hired out to the
citizens as servants thus being in some degree permitted to go at large
government however still claiming them as wards They are provided with
tickets which they are obliged to show to any one who pleases to suspect their
being abroad without warrant Hence the above appellation This was the doctors
explanation of the term.
9 The most northerly point of the island and so called from Cooks observatory
being placed there during his first visit
10 A corruption of the French word savoir much in use among sailors of all
nations and hence made familiar to many of the natives of Polynesia
11 For a few years past more than one hundred and fifty sail have annually
touched at Tahiti They are principally whalemen whose cruisinggrounds lie in
the vicinity The harbour dues going to the queen are so high that they have
often been protested against Jim I believe gets five silver dollars for every
ship brought in
12 The Newtonian theory concerning the tides does not hold good at Tahiti
where throughout the year the waters uniformly commence ebbing at noon and
midnight and flow about sunset and daybreak Hence the term TooerarPo is used
alike to express highwater and midnight
13 I do not wish to be understood as applauding the flogging system practised in
menofwar As long however as navies are needed there is no substitute for
it War being the greatest of evils all its accessories necessarily partake of
the same character and this is about all that can be said in defence of
flogging
14 Concerning the singular ignorance of the natives respecting their own
country it may be here observed that a considerable inland lake Whaiherea by
name is known to exist, although their accounts of it strangely vary Some
told me it had no bottom no outlet and no inlet others that it fed all the
streams on the island A sailor of my acquaintance said that he once visited
this marvellous lake as one of an exploring party from an English sloopofwar
It was found to be a great curiosity very small deep and green a choice well
of water bottled up among the mountains and abounding with delicious fish
15 Meaning the showy image of the Virgin in the little Catholic chapel
16 The word arva as here employed means brandy Poofai was one of the highest
chiefs on the island and a jolly companion
17 This word evidently a corruption of missionary is used under various
significations by the natives Sometimes it is applied to a communicant of the
Church But above it has its original meaning
18 A word generally used by foreigners to designate the natives of Polynesia
19 Pomaree some time previous had received a present of a chariot from Queen
Victoria It was afterward sent to Oahu Sandwich Islands and there sold to
pay her debts
20 At this period many of the population were upon the verge of starvation
21 Pope Epistle to a Lady
22 With abhorrence and disgust the custom is alluded to by a late benevolent
visitor at the island See page 763 of the Memoirs of the Life and Gospel
Labours of the late Daniel Wheeler A work hereafter to be more particularly
alluded to
23 Polynesia or an Historical Account of the Principal Islands of the South
Sea By the Right Rev M Russell LLD Harpers Family Library Edition p
96
24 A New Voyage round the World in the Years 1823242526 By Otto Von
Kotzebue Post Captain in the Russian Imperial Service London 1830 2 vols
8vo vol i p 168
25 The author of a Voyage round the World in the Years 18001804 3 vols 8vo
London 1805
26 Narrative of a Voyage to the Pacific and Beerings Strait under the command
of Captain FW Beechey RN London 1831 vol i p 287
27 Memoirs of the Life and Gospel Labours of the late Daniel Wheeler a minister
of the Society of Friends London 1842 8vo p 757
28 A Missionary Voyage to the South Pacific Ocean Appendix pp 336 342
29 See Vancouvers Voyages 4to edition vol i p 172
30 Beecheys Narrative p 269
31 »I was convinced« he adds »that from the vast swarms that everywhere
appeared this estimate was not at all too great«
32
For an allusion to this census see one of the chapters on Tahiti in the volumes
of the US Exploring Expedition And for the almost incredible depopulation of
the Sandwich Islands in recent years see the same work The progressive
decrease in certain districts for a considerable period is there marked
Ruschenberger an intelligent surgeon in the United States Navy takes the
following instance from the records kept on the islands This district of
Rohalo in Hawaii at one time numbered 8679 souls four years after the
population was 6175 decrease in that time 2504 No extraordinary cause is
assigned for this depopulation Vide A Voyage round the World in the Years
18353637 By WS Ruschenberger MD Philadelphia 1838 8vo The chapter
on the Sandwich Islands
33 Perhaps the finest sweet potato in the world It derives its name from a
district of Peru near Cape Blanco very favourable to its growth where also
it is extensively cultivated the root is very large sometimes as big as a
goodsized melon
34 Perhaps the most remarkable volcanoes in the world For very interesting
accounts of three adventurous expeditions to their summits seventeen thousand
feet above the level of the sea see Lord Byrons Voyage of HBM Ship Blonde
Elliss Journal of a Visit to the Sandwich Islands and Wilkies Narrative of
the US Exploring Expedition
35 This anomaly exists notwithstanding that in other respects the
missionaries have endeavoured to organise the native courts upon the English
model