diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:42:47 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:42:47 -0700 |
| commit | d3a4f978d188c0659fa9bc05427e25a02f73514b (patch) | |
| tree | 2fe5c5d358fb2fb7ffe29b98b8b1fce42c01bddf /13720-h | |
Diffstat (limited to '13720-h')
| -rw-r--r-- | 13720-h/13720-h.htm | 14572 |
1 files changed, 14572 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/13720-h/13720-h.htm b/13720-h/13720-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4704e55 --- /dev/null +++ b/13720-h/13720-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,14572 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=UTF-8" /> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" /> +<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Mardi: and a Voyage Thither, by Herman Melville</title> + +<style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + +body { margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; + text-align: justify; } + +h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 {text-align: center; font-style: normal; font-weight: +normal; line-height: 1.5; margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: .5em;} + +h1 {font-size: 300%; + margin-top: 0.6em; + margin-bottom: 0.6em; + letter-spacing: 0.12em; + word-spacing: 0.2em; + text-indent: 0em;} +h2 {font-size: 150%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 1em;} +h3 {font-size: 130%; margin-top: 1em;} +h4 {font-size: 120%;} +h5 {font-size: 110%;} + +.no-break {page-break-before: avoid;} /* for epubs */ + +div.chapter {page-break-before: always; margin-top: 4em;} + +hr {width: 80%; margin-top: 2em; margin-bottom: 2em;} + +p {text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: 0.25em; + margin-bottom: 0.25em; } + +p.poem {text-indent: 0%; + margin-left: 10%; + font-size: 90%; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; } + +a:link {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:visited {color:blue; text-decoration:none} +a:hover {color:red} + +</style> +</head> +<body> +<div>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13720 ***</div> + +<h1>MARDI:<br /> +AND A VOYAGE THITHER</h1> + +<h2 class="no-break">By Herman Melville</h2> + +<h4>In Two Volumes</h4> + +<h3>Vol. I</h3> + +<h4>1864</h4> + +<hr /> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h4>DEDICATED<br /> +TO<br /> +My Brother,<br /> +ALLAN MELVILLE.</h4> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<table summary="" style=""> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2H_PREF">PREFACE</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0003">MARDI</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0001">CHAPTER I — Foot in Stirrup</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0002">CHAPTER II — A Calm</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0003">CHAPTER III — A King for a Comrade</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0004">CHAPTER IV — A Chat in the Clouds</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0005">CHAPTER V — Seats secured and Portmanteaus packed</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0006">CHAPTER VI — Eight Bells</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0007">CHAPTER VII — A Pause</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0008">CHAPTER VIII — They push off, Velis et Remis</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0009">CHAPTER IX — The Watery World is all before Them</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0010">CHAPTER X — They arrange their Canopies And Lounges, and try to Make Things comfortable</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0011">CHAPTER XI — Jarl afflicted with the Lockjaw</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0012">CHAPTER XII — More about being in an open Boat</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0013">CHAPTER XIII — Of the Chondropterygii, and other uncouth Hordes infesting the South Seas</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0014">CHAPTER XIV — Jarl’s Misgivings</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0015">CHAPTER XV — A Stitch in time saves Nine</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0016">CHAPTER XVI — They are Becalmed</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0017">CHAPTER XVII — In high Spirits, they push on for the Terra Incognita</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0018">CHAPTER XVIII — My Lord Shark and his Pages</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0019">CHAPTER XIX — Who goes there?</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0020">CHAPTER XX — Noises and Portents</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0021">CHAPTER XXI — Man ho!</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0022">CHAPTER XXII — What befel the Brigantine at the Pearl Shell Islands</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0023">CHAPTER XXIII — Sailing from the Island they pillage the Cabin</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0024">CHAPTER XXIV — Dedicated to the College of Physicians and Surgeons</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0025">CHAPTER XXV — Peril A Peace-Maker</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0026">CHAPTER XXVI — Containing a Pennyweight Of Philosophy</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0027">CHAPTER XXVII — In which the past History of the Parki is concluded</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0028">CHAPTER XXVIII — Suspicions laid, and something about the Calmuc</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0029">CHAPTER XXIX — What they lighted upon in further searching the Craft, and the Resolution they came to</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0030">CHAPTER XXX — Hints for a full length of Samoa</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0031">CHAPTER XXXI — Rovings Alow and Aloft</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0032">CHAPTER XXXII — Xiphius Platypterus</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0033">CHAPTER XXXIII — Otard</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0034">CHAPTER XXXIV — How they steered on their Way</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0035">CHAPTER XXXV — Ah, Annatoo!</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0036">CHAPTER XXXVI — The Parki gives up the Ghost</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0037">CHAPTER XXXVII — Once more they take to the Chamois</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0038">CHAPTER XXXVIII — The Sea on Fire</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0039">CHAPTER XXXIX — They fall in with Strangers</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0040">CHAPTER XL — Sire and Sons</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0041">CHAPTER XLI — A Fray</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0042">CHAPTER XLII — Remorse</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0043">CHAPTER XLIII — The Tent entered</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0044">CHAPTER XLIV — Away!</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0045">CHAPTER XLV — Reminiscences</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0046">CHAPTER XLVI — The Chamois with a roving Commission</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0047">CHAPTER XLVII — Yillah, Jarl, and Samoa</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0048">CHAPTER XLVIII — Something under the Surface</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0049">CHAPTER XLIX — Yillah</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0050">CHAPTER L — Yillah in Ardair</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0051">CHAPTER LI — The Dream begins to fade</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0052">CHAPTER LII — World ho!</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0053">CHAPTER LIII — The Chamois Ashore</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0054">CHAPTER LIV — A Gentleman from the Sun</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0055">CHAPTER LV — Tiffin in a Temple</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0056">CHAPTER LVI — King Media a Host</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0057">CHAPTER LVII — Taji takes Counsel with himself</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0058">CHAPTER LVIII — Mardi by Night and Yillah by Day</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0059">CHAPTER LIX — Their Morning Meal</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0060">CHAPTER LX — Belshazzar on the Bench</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0061">CHAPTER LXI — An Incognito</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0062">CHAPTER LXII — Taji retires from the World</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0063">CHAPTER LXIII — Odo and its Lord</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0064">CHAPTER LXIV — Yillah a Phantom</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0065">CHAPTER LXV — Taji makes three Acquaintances</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0066">CHAPTER LXVI — With a fair Wind, at Sunrise they sail</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0067">CHAPTER LXVII — Little King Peepi</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0068">CHAPTER LXVIII — How Teeth were regarded in Valapee</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0069">CHAPTER LXIX — The Company discourse, and Braid-Beard rehearses a Legend</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0070">CHAPTER LXX — The Minstrel leads off with a Paddle-Song; and a Message is received from Abroad</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0071">CHAPTER LXXI — They land upon the Island of Juam</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0072">CHAPTER LXXII — A Book from the Chronicles of Mohi</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0073">CHAPTER LXXIII — Something more of the Prince</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0074">CHAPTER LXXIV — Advancing deeper into the Vale, they encounter Donjalolo</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0075">CHAPTER LXXV — Time and Temples</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0076">CHAPTER LXXVI — A pleasant Place for a Lounge</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0077">CHAPTER LXXVII — The House of the Afternoon</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0078">CHAPTER LXXVIII — Babbalanja solus</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0079">CHAPTER LXXIX — The Center of many Circumferences</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0080">CHAPTER LXXX — Donjalolo in the Bosom of his Family</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0081">CHAPTER LXXXI — Wherein Babbalanja relates the Adventure of one Karkeke in the Land of Shades</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0082">CHAPTER LXXXII — How Donjalolo, sent Agents to the Surrounding Isles; with the Result</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0083">CHAPTER LXXXIII — They visit the Tributary Islets</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0084">CHAPTER LXXXIV — Taji sits down to Dinner with five-And-Twenty Kings, and a royal Time they have</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0085">CHAPTER LXXXV — After Dinner</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0086">CHAPTER LXXXVI — Of those Scamps the Plujii</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0087">CHAPTER LXXXVII — Nora-Bamma</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0088">CHAPTER LXXXVIII — In a Calm, Hautia’s Heralds approach</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0089">CHAPTER LXXXIX — Braid-Beard rehearses the Origin of the Isle of Rogues</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0090">CHAPTER XC — Rare Sport at Ohonoo</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0091">CHAPTER XCI — Of King Uhia and his Subjects</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0092">CHAPTER XCII — The God Keevi and the Precipice of Mondo</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0093">CHAPTER XCIII — Babbalanja steps in between Mohi and Yoomy; and Yoomy relates a Legend</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0094">CHAPTER XCIV — Of that jolly old Lord, Borabolla; and that jolly Island of his, Mondoldo; and of the Fish-Ponds, and the Hereafters of Fish</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0095">CHAPTER XCV — That jolly old Lord Borabolla laughs on both Sides of his Face</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0096">CHAPTER XCVI — Samoa a Surgeon</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0097">CHAPTER XCVII — Faith and Knowledge</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0098">CHAPTER XCVIII — The Tale of a Traveler</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0099">CHAPTER XCIX — “Marnee Ora, Ora Marnee”</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0100">CHAPTER C — The Pursuer himself is pursued</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0101">CHAPTER CI — The Iris</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0102">CHAPTER CII — They depart from Mondoldo</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0103">CHAPTER CIII — As they sail</a></td> +</tr> + +<tr> +<td> <a href="#link2HCH0104">CHAPTER CIV — Wherein Babbalanja broaches a diabolical Theory, and in his Own Person proves it</a></td> +</tr> + +</table> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2H_PREF"></a> +PREFACE</h2> + +<p> +Not long ago, having published two narratives of voyages in the Pacific, which, +in many quarters, were received with incredulity, the thought occurred to me, +of indeed writing a romance of Polynesian adventure, and publishing it as such; +to see whether, the fiction might not, possibly, be received for a verity: in +some degree the reverse of my previous experience. +</p> + +<p> +This thought was the germ of others, which have resulted in Mardi. New York, +January, 1849. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2H_4_0003"></a> +MARDI </h2> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0001"></a> +CHAPTER I.<br/> +Foot In Stirrup</h2> + +<p> +We are off! The courses and topsails are set: the coral-hung anchor swings from +the bow: and together, the three royals are given to the breeze, that follows +us out to sea like the baying of a hound. Out spreads the canvas—alow, +aloft-boom-stretched, on both sides, with many a stun’ sail; till like a +hawk, with pinions poised, we shadow the sea with our sails, and reelingly +cleave the brine. +</p> + +<p> +But whence, and whither wend ye, mariners? +</p> + +<p> +We sail from Ravavai, an isle in the sea, not very far northward from the +tropic of Capricorn, nor very far westward from Pitcairn’s island, where +the mutineers of the Bounty settled. At Ravavai I had stepped ashore some few +months previous; and now was embarked on a cruise for the whale, whose brain +enlightens the world. +</p> + +<p> +And from Ravavai we sail for the Gallipagos, otherwise called the Enchanted +Islands, by reason of the many wild currents and eddies there met. +</p> + +<p> +Now, round about those isles, which Dampier once trod, where the Spanish +bucaniers once hived their gold moidores, the Cachalot, or sperm whale, at +certain seasons abounds. +</p> + +<p> +But thither, from Ravavai, your craft may not fly, as flies the sea-gull, +straight to her nest. For, owing to the prevalence of the trade winds, ships +bound to the northeast from the vicinity of Ravavai are fain to take something +of a circuit; a few thousand miles or so. First, in pursuit of the variable +winds, they make all haste to the south; and there, at length picking up a +stray breeze, they stand for the main: then, making their easting, up helm, and +away down the coast, toward the Line. +</p> + +<p> +This round-about way did the Arcturion take; and in all conscience a weary one +it was. Never before had the ocean appeared so monotonous; thank fate, never +since. +</p> + +<p> +But bravo! in two weeks’ time, an event. Out of the gray of the morning, +and right ahead, as we sailed along, a dark object rose out of the sea; +standing dimly before us, mists wreathing and curling aloft, and creamy +breakers frothing round its base.—We turned aside, and, at length, when +day dawned, passed Massafuero. With a glass, we spied two or three hermit goats +winding down to the sea, in a ravine; and presently, a signal: a tattered flag +upon a summit beyond. Well knowing, however, that there was nobody on the +island but two or three noose-fulls of runaway convicts from Chili, our captain +had no mind to comply with their invitation to land. Though, haply, he may have +erred in not sending a boat off with his card. +</p> + +<p> +A few days more and we “took the trades.” Like favors snappishly +conferred, they came to us, as is often the case, in a very sharp squall; the +shock of which carried away one of our spars; also our fat old cook off his +legs; depositing him plump in the scuppers to leeward. +</p> + +<p> +In good time making the desired longitude upon the equator, a few leagues west +of the Gallipagos, we spent several weeks chassezing across the Line, to and +fro, in unavailing search for our prey. For some of their hunters believe, that +whales, like the silver ore in Peru, run in veins through the ocean. So, day +after day, daily; and week after week, weekly, we traversed the self-same +longitudinal intersection of the self-same Line; till we were almost ready to +swear that we felt the ship strike every time her keel crossed that imaginary +locality. +</p> + +<p> +At length, dead before the equatorial breeze, we threaded our way straight +along the very Line itself. Westward sailing; peering right, and peering left, +but seeing naught. +</p> + +<p> +It was during this weary time, that I experienced the first symptoms of that +bitter impatience of our monotonous craft, which ultimately led to the +adventures herein recounted. +</p> + +<p> +But hold you! Not a word against that rare old ship, nor its crew. The sailors +were good fellows all, the half, score of pagans we had shipped at the islands +included. Nevertheless, they were not precisely to my mind. There was no soul a +magnet to mine; none with whom to mingle sympathies; save in deploring the +calms with which we were now and then overtaken; or in hailing the breeze when +it came. Under other and livelier auspices the tarry knaves might have +developed qualities more attractive. Had we sprung a leak, been +“stove” by a whale, or been blessed with some despot of a captain +against whom to stir up some spirited revolt, these shipmates of mine might +have proved limber lads, and men of mettle. But as it was, there was naught to +strike fire from their steel. +</p> + +<p> +There were other things, also, tending to make my lot on ship-board very hard +to be borne. True, the skipper himself was a trump; stood upon no quarter-deck +dignity; and had a tongue for a sailor. Let me do him justice, furthermore: he +took a sort of fancy for me in particular; was sociable, nay, loquacious, when +I happened to stand at the helm. But what of that? Could he talk sentiment or +philosophy? Not a bit. His library was eight inches by four: Bowditch, and +Hamilton Moore. +</p> + +<p> +And what to me, thus pining for some one who could page me a quotation from +Burton on Blue Devils; what to me, indeed, were flat repetitions of long-drawn +yarns, and the everlasting stanzas of Black-eyed Susan sung by our full +forecastle choir? Staler than stale ale. +</p> + +<p> +Ay, ay, Arcturion! I say it in no malice, but thou wast exceedingly dull. Not +only at sailing: hard though it was, that I could have borne; but in every +other respect. The days went slowly round and round, endless and uneventful as +cycles in space. Time, and time- pieces; How many centuries did my hammock +tell, as pendulum-like it swung to the ship’s dull roll, and ticked the +hours and ages. Sacred forever be the Arcturion’s fore-hatch—alas! +sea-moss is over it now—and rusty forever the bolts that held together +that old sea hearth-stone, about which we so often lounged. Nevertheless, ye +lost and leaden hours, I will rail at ye while life lasts. +</p> + +<p> +Well: weeks, chronologically speaking, went by. Bill Marvel’s stories +were told over and over again, till the beginning and end dovetailed into each +other, and were united for aye. Ned Ballad’s songs were sung till the +echoes lurked in the very tops, and nested in the bunts of the sails. My poor +patience was clean gone. +</p> + +<p> +But, at last after some time sailing due westward we quitted the Line in high +disgust; having seen there, no sign of a whale. +</p> + +<p> +But whither now? To the broiling coast of Papua? That region of sun-strokes, +typhoons, and bitter pulls after whales unattainable. Far worse. We were going, +it seemed, to illustrate the Whistonian theory concerning the damned and the +comets;—hurried from equinoctial heats to arctic frosts. To be short, +with the true fickleness of his tribe, our skipper had abandoned all thought of +the Cachalot. In desperation, he was bent upon bobbing for the Right whale on +the Nor’-West Coast and in the Bay of Kamschatska. +</p> + +<p> +To the uninitiated in the business of whaling, my feelings at this juncture may +perhaps be hard to understand. But this much let me say: that Right whaling on +the Nor’-West Coast, in chill and dismal fogs, the sullen inert monsters +rafting the sea all round like Hartz forest logs on the Rhine, and submitting +to the harpoon like half-stunned bullocks to the knife; this horrid and +indecent Right whaling, I say, compared to a spirited hunt for the gentlemanly +Cachalot in southern and more genial seas, is as the butchery of white bears +upon blank Greenland icebergs to zebra hunting in Caffraria, where the lively +quarry bounds before you through leafy glades. +</p> + +<p> +Now, this most unforeseen determination on the part of my captain to measure +the arctic circle was nothing more nor less than a tacit contravention of the +agreement between us. That agreement needs not to be detailed. And having +shipped but for a single cruise, I had embarked aboard his craft as one might +put foot in stirrup for a day’s following of the hounds. And here, Heaven +help me, he was going to carry me off to the Pole! And on such a vile errand +too! For there was something degrading in it. Your true whaleman glories in +keeping his harpoon unspotted by blood of aught but Cachalot. By my halidome, +it touched the knighthood of a tar. Sperm and spermaceti! It was unendurable. +</p> + +<p> +“Captain,” said I, touching my sombrero to him as I stood at the +wheel one day, “It’s very hard to carry me off this way to +purgatory. I shipped to go elsewhere.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yes, and so did I,” was his reply. “But it can’t be +helped. Sperm whales are not to be had. We’ve been out now three years, +and something or other must be got; for the ship is hungry for oil, and her +hold a gulf to look into. But cheer up my boy; once in the Bay of Kamschatka, +and we’ll be all afloat with what we want, though it be none of the +best.” +</p> + +<p> +Worse and worse! The oleaginous prospect extended into an immensity of +Macassar. “Sir,” said I, “I did not ship for it; put me +ashore somewhere, I beseech.” He stared, but no answer vouchsafed; and +for a moment I thought I had roused the domineering spirit of the sea-captain, +to the prejudice of the more kindly nature of the man. +</p> + +<p> +But not so. Taking three turns on the deck, he placed his hand on the wheel, +and said, “Right or wrong, my lad, go with us you must. Putting you +ashore is now out of the question. I make no port till this ship is full to the +combings of her hatchways. However, you may leave her if you can.” And so +saying he entered his cabin, like Julius Caesar into his tent. +</p> + +<p> +He may have meant little by it, but that last sentence rung in my ear like a +bravado. It savored of the turnkey’s compliments to the prisoner in +Newgate, when he shoots to the bolt on him. +</p> + +<p> +“Leave the ship if I can!” Leave the ship when neither sail nor +shore was in sight! Ay, my fine captain, stranger things have been done. For on +board that very craft, the old Arcturion, were four tall fellows, whom two +years previous our skipper himself had picked up in an open boat, far from the +farthest shoal. To be sure, they spun a long yarn about being the only +survivors of an Indiaman burnt down to the water’s edge. But who credited +their tale? Like many others, they were keepers of a secret: had doubtless +contracted a disgust for some ugly craft still afloat and hearty, and stolen +away from her, off soundings. Among seamen in the Pacific such adventures not +seldom occur. Nor are they accounted great wonders. They are but incidents, not +events, in the career of the brethren of the order of South Sea rovers. For +what matters it, though hundreds of miles from land, if a good whale-boat be +under foot, the Trades behind, and mild, warm seas before? And herein lies the +difference between the Atlantic and Pacific:—that once within the +Tropics, the bold sailor who has a mind to quit his ship round Cape Horn, waits +not for port. He regards that ocean as one mighty harbor. +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless, the enterprise hinted at was no light one; and I resolved to +weigh well the chances. It’s worth noticing, this way we all have of +pondering for ourselves the enterprise, which, for others, we hold a bagatelle. +</p> + +<p> +My first thoughts were of the boat to be obtained, and the right or wrong of +abstracting it, under the circumstances. But to split no hairs on this point, +let me say, that were I placed in the same situation again, I would repeat the +thing I did then. The captain well knew that he was going to detain me +unlawfully: against our agreement; and it was he himself who threw out the very +hint, which I merely adopted, with many thanks to him. +</p> + +<p> +In some such willful mood as this, I went aloft one day, to stand my allotted +two hours at the mast-head. It was toward the close of a day, serene and +beautiful. There I stood, high upon the mast, and away, away, illimitably +rolled the ocean beneath. Where we then were was perhaps the most unfrequented +and least known portion of these seas. Westward, however, lay numerous groups +of islands, loosely laid down upon the charts, and invested with all the charms +of dream-land. But soon these regions would be past; the mild equatorial breeze +exchanged for cold, fierce squalls, and all the horrors of northern voyaging. +</p> + +<p> +I cast my eyes downward to the brown planks of the dull, plodding ship, silent +from stem to stern; then abroad. +</p> + +<p> +In the distance what visions were spread! The entire western horizon high piled +with gold and crimson clouds; airy arches, domes, and minarets; as if the +yellow, Moorish sun were setting behind some vast Alhambra. Vistas seemed +leading to worlds beyond. To and fro, and all over the towers of this Nineveh +in the sky, flew troops of birds. Watching them long, one crossed my sight, +flew through a low arch, and was lost to view. My spirit must have sailed in +with it; for directly, as in a trance, came upon me the cadence of mild billows +laving a beach of shells, the waving of boughs, and the voices of maidens, and +the lulled beatings of my own dissolved heart, all blended together. +</p> + +<p> +Now, all this, to be plain, was but one of the many visions one has up aloft. +But coming upon me at this time, it wrought upon me so, that thenceforth my +desire to quit the Arcturion became little short of a frenzy. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0002"></a> +CHAPTER II.<br/> +A Calm</h2> + +<p> +Next day there was a calm, which added not a little to my impatience of the +ship. And, furthermore, by certain nameless associations revived in me my old +impressions upon first witnessing as a landsman this phenomenon of the sea. +Those impressions may merit a page. +</p> + +<p> +To a landsman a calm is no joke. It not only revolutionizes his abdomen, but +unsettles his mind; tempts him to recant his belief in the eternal fitness of +things; in short, almost makes an infidel of him. +</p> + +<p> +At first he is taken by surprise, never having dreamt of a state of existence +where existence itself seems suspended. He shakes himself in his coat, to see +whether it be empty or no. He closes his eyes, to test the reality of the +glassy expanse. He fetches a deep breath, by way of experiment, and for the +sake of witnessing the effect. If a reader of books, Priestley on Necessity +occurs to him; and he believes in that old Sir Anthony Absolute to the very +last chapter. His faith in Malte Brun, however, begins to fail; for the +geography, which from boyhood he had implicitly confided in, always assured +him, that though expatiating all over the globe, the sea was at least margined +by land. That over against America, for example, was Asia. But it is a calm, +and he grows madly skeptical. +</p> + +<p> +To his alarmed fancy, parallels and meridians become emphatically what they are +merely designated as being: imaginary lines drawn round the earth’s +surface. +</p> + +<p> +The log assures him that he is in such a place; but the log is a liar; for no +place, nor any thing possessed of a local angularity, is to be lighted upon in +the watery waste. +</p> + +<p> +At length horrible doubts overtake him as to the captain’s competency to +navigate his ship. The ignoramus must have lost his way, and drifted into the +outer confines of creation, the region of the everlasting lull, introductory to +a positive vacuity. +</p> + +<p> +Thoughts of eternity thicken. He begins to feel anxious concerning his soul. +</p> + +<p> +The stillness of the calm is awful. His voice begins to grow strange and +portentous. He feels it in him like something swallowed too big for the +esophagus. It keeps up a sort of involuntary interior humming in him, like a +live beetle. His cranium is a dome full of reverberations. The hollows of his +very bones are as whispering galleries. He is afraid to speak loud, lest he be +stunned; like the man in the bass drum. +</p> + +<p> +But more than all else is the consciousness of his utter helplessness. Succor +or sympathy there is none. Penitence for embarking avails not. The final +satisfaction of despairing may not be his with a relish. Vain the idea of +idling out the calm. He may sleep if he can, or purposely delude himself into a +crazy fancy, that he is merely at leisure. All this he may compass; but he may +not lounge; for to lounge is to be idle; to be idle implies an absence of any +thing to do; whereas there is a calm to be endured: enough to attend to, Heaven +knows. +</p> + +<p> +His physical organization, obviously intended for locomotion, becomes a +fixture; for where the calm leaves him, there he remains. Even his undoubted +vested rights, comprised in his glorious liberty of volition, become as naught. +For of what use? He wills to go: to get away from the calm: as ashore he would +avoid the plague. But he can not; and how foolish to revolve expedients. It is +more hopeless than a bad marriage in a land where there is no Doctors’ +Commons. He has taken the ship to wife, for better or for worse, for calm or +for gale; and she is not to be shuffled off. With yards akimbo, she says unto +him scornfully, as the old beldam said to the little dwarf:—“Help +yourself” +</p> + +<p> +And all this, and more than this, is a calm. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0003"></a> +CHAPTER III.<br/> +A King For A Comrade</h2> + +<p> +At the time I now write of, we must have been something more than sixty degrees +to the west of the Gallipagos. And having attained a desirable longitude, we +were standing northward for our arctic destination: around us one wide sea. +</p> + +<p> +But due west, though distant a thousand miles, stretched north and south an +almost endless Archipelago, here and there inhabited, but little known; and +mostly unfrequented, even by whalemen, who go almost every where. Beginning at +the southerly termination of this great chain, it comprises the islands loosely +known as Ellice’s group; then, the Kingsmill isles; then, the Radack and +Mulgrave clusters. These islands had been represented to me as mostly of coral +formation, low and fertile, and abounding in a variety of fruits. The language +of the people was said to be very similar to that or the Navigator’s +islands, from which, their ancestors are supposed to have emigrated. +</p> + +<p> +And thus much being said, all has been related that I then knew of the islands +in question. Enough, however, that they existed at all; and that our path +thereto lay over a pleasant sea, and before a reliable Trade-wind. The +distance, though great, was merely an extension of water; so much blankness to +be sailed over; and in a craft, too, that properly managed has been known to +outlive great ships in a gale. For this much is true of a whale-boat, the +cunningest thing in its way ever fabricated by man. +</p> + +<p> +Upon one of the Kingsmill islands, then, I determined to plant my foot, come +what come would. And I was equally determined that one of the ship’s +boats should float me thither. But I had no idea of being without a companion. +It would be a weary watch to keep all by myself, with naught but the horizon in +sight. +</p> + +<p> +Now, among the crew was a fine old seaman, one Jarl; how old, no one could +tell, not even himself. Forecastle chronology is ever vague and defective. +“Man and boy,” said honest Jarl, “I have lived ever since I +can remember.” And truly, who may call to mind when he was not? To +ourselves, we all seem coeval with creation. Whence it comes, that it is so +hard to die, ere the world itself is departed. +</p> + +<p> +Jarl hailed from the isle of Skye, one of the constellated Hebrides. Hence, +they often called him the Skyeman. And though he was far from being piratical +of soul, he was yet an old Norseman to behold. His hands were brawny as the +paws of a bear; his voice hoarse as a storm roaring round the old peak of Mull; +and his long yellow hair waved round his head like a sunset. My life for it, +Jarl, thy ancestors were Vikings, who many a time sailed over the salt German +sea and the Baltic; who wedded their Brynhildas in Jutland; and are now +quaffing mead in the halls of Valhalla, and beating time with their cans to the +hymns of the Scalds. Ah! how the old Sagas run through me! +</p> + +<p> +Yet Jarl, the descendant of heroes and kings, was a lone, friendless mariner on +the main, only true to his origin in the sea-life that he led. But so it has +been, and forever will be. What yeoman shall swear that he is not descended +from Alfred? what dunce, that he is not sprung of old Homer? King Noah, God +bless him! fathered us all. Then hold up your heads, oh ye Helots, blood +potential flows through your veins. All of us have monarchs and sages for +kinsmen; nay, angels and archangels for cousins; since in antediluvian days, +the sons of God did verily wed with our mothers, the irresistible daughters of +Eve. Thus all generations are blended: and heaven and earth of one kin: the +hierarchies of seraphs in the uttermost skies; the thrones and principalities +in the zodiac; the shades that roam throughout space; the nations and families, +flocks and folds of the earth; one and all, brothers in essence—oh, be we +then brothers indeed! All things form but one whole; the universe a Judea, and +God Jehovah its head. Then no more let us start with affright. In a theocracy, +what is to fear? Let us compose ourselves to death as fagged horsemen sleep in +the saddle. Let us welcome even ghosts when they rise. Away with our stares and +grimaces. The New Zealander’s tattooing is not a prodigy; nor the +Chinaman’s ways an enigma. No custom is strange; no creed is absurd; no +foe, but who will in the end prove a friend. In heaven, at last, our good, old, +white-haired father Adam will greet all alike, and sociality forever prevail. +Christian shall join hands between Gentile and Jew; grim Dante forget his +Infernos, and shake sides with fat Rabelais; and monk Luther, over a flagon of +old nectar, talk over old times with Pope Leo. Then, shall we sit by the sages, +who of yore gave laws to the Medes and Persians in the sun; by the cavalry +captains in Perseus, who cried, “To horse!” when waked by their +Last Trump sounding to the charge; by the old hunters, who eternities ago, +hunted the moose in Orion; by the minstrels, who sang in the Milky Way when +Jesus our Saviour was born. Then shall we list to no shallow gossip of +Magellans and Drakes; but give ear to the voyagers who have circumnavigated the +Ecliptic; who rounded the Polar Star as Cape Horn. Then shall the Stagirite and +Kant be forgotten, and another folio than theirs be turned over for wisdom; +even the folio now spread with horoscopes as yet undeciphered, the heaven of +heavens on high. +</p> + +<p> +Now, in old Jarl’s lingo there was never an idiom. Your aboriginal tar is +too much of a cosmopolitan for that. Long companionship with seamen of all +tribes: Manilla-men, Anglo-Saxons, Cholos, Lascars, and Danes, wear away in +good time all mother-tongue stammerings. You sink your clan; down goes your +nation; you speak a world’s language, jovially jabbering in the +Lingua-Franca of the forecastle. +</p> + +<p> +True to his calling, the Skyeman was very illiterate; witless of Salamanca, +Heidelberg, or Brazen-Nose; in Delhi, had never turned over the books of the +Brahmins. For geography, in which sailors should be adepts, since they are +forever turning over and over the great globe of globes, poor Jarl was +deplorably lacking. According to his view of the matter, this terraqueous world +had been formed in the manner of a tart; the land being a mere marginal crust, +within which rolled the watery world proper. Such seemed my good Viking’s +theory of cosmography. As for other worlds, he weened not of them; yet full as +much as Chrysostom. +</p> + +<p> +Ah, Jarl! an honest, earnest Wight; so true and simple, that the secret +operations of thy soul were more inscrutable than the subtle workings of +Spinoza’s. +</p> + +<p> +Thus much be said of the Skyeman; for he was exceedingly taciturn, and but +seldom will speak for himself. +</p> + +<p> +Now, higher sympathies apart, for Jarl I had a wonderful liking; for he loved +me; from the first had cleaved to me. +</p> + +<p> +It is sometimes the case, that an old mariner like him will conceive a very +strong attachment for some young sailor, his shipmate; an attachment so +devoted, as to be wholly inexplicable, unless originating in that +heart-loneliness which overtakes most seamen as they grow aged; impelling them +to fasten upon some chance object of regard. But however it was, my Viking, thy +unbidden affection was the noblest homage ever paid me. And frankly, I am more +inclined to think well of myself, as in some way deserving thy devotion, than +from the rounded compliments of more cultivated minds. +</p> + +<p> +Now, at sea, and in the fellowship of sailors, all men appear as they are. No +school like a ship for studying human nature. The contact of one man with +another is too near and constant to favor deceit. You wear your character as +loosely as your flowing trowsers. Vain all endeavors to assume qualities not +yours; or to conceal those you possess. Incognitos, however desirable, are out +of the question. And thus aboard of all ships in which I have sailed, I have +invariably been known by a sort of thawing-room title. Not,—let me hurry +to say,—that I put hand in tar bucket with a squeamish air, or ascended +the rigging with a Chesterfieldian mince. No, no, I was never better than my +vocation; and mine have been many. I showed as brown a chest, and as hard a +hand, as the tarriest tar of them all. And never did shipmate of mine upbraid +me with a genteel disinclination to duty, though it carried me to truck of +main-mast, or jib-boom-end, in the most wolfish blast that ever howled. +</p> + +<p> +Whence then, this annoying appellation? for annoying it most assuredly was. It +was because of something in me that could not be hidden; stealing out in an +occasional polysyllable; an otherwise incomprehensible deliberation in dining; +remote, unguarded allusions to Belles-Lettres affairs; and other trifles +superfluous to mention. +</p> + +<p> +But suffice it to say, that it had gone abroad among the Arcturion’s +crew, that at some indefinite period of my career, I had been a +“nob.” But Jarl seemed to go further. He must have taken me for one +of the House of Hanover in disguise; or, haply, for bonneted Charles Edward the +Pretender, who, like the Wandering Jew, may yet be a vagrant. At any rate, his +loyalty was extreme. Unsolicited, he was my laundress and tailor; a most expert +one, too; and when at meal-times my turn came round to look out at the +mast-head, or stand at the wheel, he catered for me among the +“kids” in the forecastle with unwearied assiduity. Many’s the +good lump of “duff” for which I was indebted to my good +Viking’s good care of me. And like Sesostris I was served by a monarch. +Yet in some degree the obligation was mutual. For be it known that, in +sea-parlance, we were <i>chummies.</i> +</p> + +<p> +Now this <i>chummying</i> among sailors is like the brotherhood subsisting +between a brace of collegians (chums) rooming together. It is a +Fidus-Achates-ship, a league of offense and defense, a copartnership of chests +and toilets, a bond of love and good feeling, and a mutual championship of the +absent one. True, my nautical reminiscenses remind me of sundry lazy, +ne’er-do-well, unprofitable, and abominable chummies; chummies, who at +meal times were last at the “kids,” when their unfortunate partners +were high upon the spars; chummies, who affected awkwardness at the needle, and +conscientious scruples about dabbling in the suds; so that chummy the simple +was made to do all the work of the firm, while chummy the cunning played the +sleeping partner in his hammock. Out upon such chummies! +</p> + +<p> +But I appeal to thee, honest Jarl, if I was ever chummy the cunning. Never mind +if thou didst fabricate my tarpaulins; and with Samaritan charity bind up the +rents, and pour needle and thread into the frightful gashes that agonized my +hapless nether integuments, which thou calledst +“ducks;”—Didst thou not expressly declare, that all these +things, and more, thou wouldst do for me, despite my own quaint thimble, +fashioned from the ivory tusk of a whale? Nay; could I even wrest from thy +willful hands my very shirt, when once thou hadst it steaming in an unsavory +pickle in thy capacious vat, a decapitated cask? Full well thou knowest, Jarl, +that these things are true; and I am bound to say it, to disclaim any lurking +desire to reap advantage from thy great good nature. +</p> + +<p> +Now my Viking for me, thought I, when I cast about for a comrade; and my Viking +alone. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0004"></a> +CHAPTER IV.<br/> +A Chat In The Clouds</h2> + +<p> +The Skyeman seemed so earnest and upright a seaman, that to tell the plain +truth, in spite of his love for me, I had many misgivings as to his readiness +to unite in an undertaking which apparently savored of a moral dereliction. But +all things considered, I deemed my own resolution quite venial; and as for +inducing another to join me, it seemed a precaution so indispensable, as to +outweigh all other considerations. +</p> + +<p> +Therefore I resolved freely to open my heart to him; for that special purpose +paying him a visit, when, like some old albatross in the air, he happened to be +perched at the foremast-head, all by himself, on the lookout for whales never +seen. +</p> + +<p> +Now this standing upon a bit of stick 100 feet aloft for hours at a time, +swiftly sailing over the sea, is very much like crossing the Channel in a +balloon. Manfred-like, you talk to the clouds: you have a fellow feeling for +the sun. And when Jarl and I got conversing up there, smoking our dwarfish +“dudeens,” any sea-gull passing by might have taken us for Messrs. +Blanchard and Jeffries, socially puffing their after-dinner Bagdads, bound to +Calais, via Heaven, from Dover. Honest Jarl, I acquainted with all: my +conversation with the captain, the hint implied in his last words, my firm +resolve to quit the ship in one of her boats, and the facility with which I +thought the thing could be done. Then I threw out many inducements, in the +shape of pleasant anticipations of bearing right down before the wind upon the +sunny isles under our lee. +</p> + +<p> +He listened attentively; but so long remained silent that I almost fancied +there was something in Jarl which would prove too much for me and my eloquence. +</p> + +<p> +At last he very bluntly declared that the scheme was a crazy one; he had never +known of such a thing but thrice before; and in every case the runaways had +never afterwards been heard of. He entreated me to renounce my determination, +not be a boy, pause and reflect, stick to the ship, and go home in her like a +man. Verily, my Viking talked to me like my uncle. +</p> + +<p> +But to all this I turned a deaf ear; affirming that my mind was made up; and +that as he refused to accompany me, and I fancied no one else for a comrade, I +would go stark alone rather than not at all. Upon this, seeing my resolution +immovable, he bluntly swore that he would follow me through thick and thin. +</p> + +<p> +Thanks, Jarl! thou wert one of those devoted fellows who will wrestle hard to +convince one loved of error; but failing, forthwith change their wrestling to a +sympathetic hug. +</p> + +<p> +But now his elderly prudence came into play. Casting his eye over the boundless +expanse below, he inquired how far off were the islands in question. +</p> + +<p> +“A thousand miles and no less.” +</p> + +<p> +“With a fair trade breeze, then, and a boat sail, that is a good twelve +days’ passage, but calms and currents may make it a month, perhaps +more.” So saying, he shook his old head, and his yellow hair streamed. +</p> + +<p> +But trying my best to chase away these misgivings, he at last gave them over. +He assured me I might count upon him to his uttermost keel. +</p> + +<p> +My Viking secured, I felt more at ease; and thoughtfully considered how the +enterprise might best be accomplished. +</p> + +<p> +There was no time to be lost. Every hour was carrying us farther and farther +from the parallel most desirable for us to follow in our route to the westward. +So, with all possible dispatch, I matured my plans, and communicated them to +Jarl, who gave several old hints—having ulterior probabilities in +view—which were not neglected. +</p> + +<p> +Strange to relate, it was not till my Viking, with a rueful face, reminded me +of the fact, that I bethought me of a circumstance somewhat alarming at the +first blush. We must push off without chart or quadrant; though, as will +shortly be seen, a compass was by no means out of the question. The chart, to +be sure, I did not so much lay to heart; but a quadrant was more than +desirable. Still, it was by no means indispensable. For this reason. When we +started, our latitude would be exactly known; and whether, on our voyage +westward, we drifted north or south therefrom, we could not, by any +possibility, get so far out of our reckoning, as to fail in striking some one +of a long chain of islands, which, for many degrees, on both sides of the +equator, stretched right across our track. +</p> + +<p> +For much the same reason, it mattered little, whether on our passage we daily +knew our longitude; for no known land lay between us and the place we desired +to reach. So what could be plainer than this: that if westward we patiently +held on our way, we must eventually achieve our destination? +</p> + +<p> +As for intervening shoals or reefs, if any there were, they intimidated us not. +In a boat that drew but a few inches of water, but an indifferent look-out +would preclude all danger on that score. At all events, the thing seemed +feasible enough, notwithstanding old Jarl’s superstitious reverence for +nautical instruments, and the philosophical objections which might have been +urged by a pedantic disciple of Mercator. +</p> + +<p> +Very often, as the old maxim goes, the simplest things are the most startling, +and that, too, from their very simplicity. So cherish no alarms, if thus we +addressed the setting sun—“Be thou, old pilot, our guide!” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0005"></a> +CHAPTER V.<br/> +Seats Secured And Portmanteaus Packed</h2> + +<p> +But thoughts of sextants and quadrants were the least of our cares. +</p> + +<p> +Right from under the very arches of the eyebrows of thirty men—captain, +mates, and crew—a boat was to be abstracted; they knowing nothing of the +event, until all knowledge would prove unavailing. +</p> + +<p> +Hark ye: +</p> + +<p> +At sea, the boats of a South Sea-man (generally four in number, spare ones +omitted,) are suspended by tackles, hooked above, to curved timbers called +“davits,” vertically fixed to the ship’s sides. +</p> + +<p> +Now, no fair one with golden locks is more assiduously waited upon, or more +delicately handled by her tire-women, than the slender whale- boat by her crew. +And out of its element, it seems fragile enough to justify the utmost +solicitude. For truly, like a fine lady, the fine whale-boat is most delicate +when idle, though little coy at a pinch. +</p> + +<p> +Besides the “davits,” the following supports are provided Two small +cranes are swung under the keel, on which the latter rests, preventing the +settling of the boat’s middle, while hanging suspended by the bow and +stern. A broad, braided, hempen band, usually worked in a tasteful pattern, is +also passed round both gunwales; and secured to the ship’s bulwarks, +firmly lashes the craft to its place. Being elevated above the ship’s +rail, the boats are in plain sight from all parts of the deck. +</p> + +<p> +Now, one of these boats was to be made way with. No facile matter, truly. +Harder than for any dashing young Janizary to run off with a sultana from the +Grand Turk’s seraglio. Still, the thing could be done, for, by Jove, it +had been. +</p> + +<p> +What say you to slyly loosing every thing by day; and when night comes, cast +off the band and swing in the cranes? But how lower the tackles, even in the +darkest night, without a creaking more fearful than the death rattle? Easily +avoided. Anoint the ropes, and they will travel deftly through the subtle +windings of the blocks. +</p> + +<p> +But though I had heard of this plan being pursued, there was a degree of risk +in it, after all, which I was far from fancying. Another plan was hit upon; +still bolder; and hence more safe. What it was, in the right place will be +seen. +</p> + +<p> +In selecting my craft for this good voyage, I would fain have traversed the +deck, and eyed the boats like a cornet choosing his steed from out a goodly +stud. But this was denied me. And the “bow boat” was, perforce, +singled out, as the most remote from the quarter-deck, that region of sharp +eyes and relentless purposes. +</p> + +<p> +Then, our larder was to be thought of; also, an abundant supply of water; +concerning which last I determined to take good heed. There were but two to be +taken care of; but I resolved to lay in sufficient store of both meat and drink +for four; at the same time that the supplemental twain thus provided for were +but imaginary. And if it came to the last dead pinch, of which we had no fear, +however, I was food for no man but Jarl. +</p> + +<p> +Little time was lost in catering for our mess. Biscuit and salt beef were our +sole resource; and, thanks to the generosity of the Arcturion’s owners, +our ship’s company had a plentiful supply. Casks of both, with heads +knocked out, were at the service of all. In bags which we made for the purpose, +a sufficiency of the biscuit was readily stored away, and secreted in a corner +of easy access. The salt beef was more difficult to obtain; but, little by +little, we managed to smuggle out of the cask enough to answer our purpose. +</p> + +<p> +As for water, most luckily a day or two previous several “breakers” +of it had been hoisted from below for the present use of the ship’s +company. +</p> + +<p> +These “breakers” are casks, long and slender, but very strong. Of +various diameters, they are made on purpose to stow into spaces intervening +between the immense butts in a ship’s hold. +</p> + +<p> +The largest we could find was selected, first carefully examining it to detect +any leak. On some pretense or other, we then rolled them all over to that side +of the vessel where our boat was suspended, the selected breaker being placed +in their middle. +</p> + +<p> +Our compendious wardrobes were snugly packed into bundles and laid aside for +the present. And at last, by due caution, we had every thing arranged +preliminary to the final start. Let me say, though, perhaps to the credit of +Jarl, that whenever the most strategy was necessary, he seemed ill at ease, and +for the most part left the matter to me. It was well that he did; for as it +was, by his untimely straight-forwardness, he once or twice came near spoiling +every thing. Indeed, on one occasion he was so unseasonably blunt, that +curiously enough, I had almost suspected him of taking that odd sort of +interest in one’s welfare, which leads a philanthropist, all other +methods failing, to frustrate a project deemed bad; by pretending clumsily to +favor it. But no inuendoes; Jarl was a Viking, frank as his fathers; though not +so much of a bucanier. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0006"></a> +CHAPTER VI.<br/> +Eight Bells</h2> + +<p> +The moon must be monstrous coy, or some things fall out opportunely, or else +almanacs are consulted by nocturnal adventurers; but so it is, that when +Cynthia shows a round and chubby disk, few daring deeds are done. Though true +it may be, that of moonlight nights, jewelers’ caskets and maidens’ +hearts have been burglariously broken into—and rifled, for aught +Copernicus can tell. +</p> + +<p> +The gentle planet was in her final quarter, and upon her slender horn I hung my +hopes of withdrawing from the ship undetected. +</p> + +<p> +Now, making a tranquil passage across the ocean, we kept at this time what are +called among whalemen “boatscrew-watches.” That is, instead of the +sailors being divided at night into two bands, alternately on deck every four +hours, there were four watches, each composed of a boat’s crew, the +“headsman” (always one of the mates) excepted. To the officers, +this plan gives uninterrupted repose—“all-night-in,” as they +call it, and of course greatly lightens the duties of the crew. +</p> + +<p> +The harpooneers head the boats’ crews, and are responsible for the ship +during the continuance of their watches. +</p> + +<p> +Now, my Viking being a stalwart seaman, pulled the midship oar of the boat of +which I was bowsman. Hence, we were in the same watch; to which, also, three +others belonged, including Mark, the harpooner. One of these seamen, however, +being an invalid, there were only two left for us to manage. +</p> + +<p> +Voyaging in these seas, you may glide along for weeks without starting tack or +sheet, hardly moving the helm a spoke, so mild and constant are the Trades. At +night, the watch seldom trouble themselves with keeping much of a look-out; +especially, as a strange sail is almost a prodigy in these lonely waters. In +some ships, for weeks in and weeks out, you are puzzled to tell when your +nightly turn on deck really comes round; so little heed is given to the +standing of watches, where in the license of presumed safety, nearly every one +nods without fear. +</p> + +<p> +But remiss as you may be in the boats-crew-watch of a heedless whaleman, the +man who heads it is bound to maintain his post on the quarter-deck until +regularly relieved. Yet drowsiness being incidental to all natures, even to +Napoleon, beside his own sentry napping in the snowy bivouac; so, often, in +snowy moonlight, or ebon eclipse, dozed Mark, our harpooneer. Lethe be his +portion this blessed night, thought I, as during the morning which preceded our +enterprise, I eyed the man who might possibly cross my plans. +</p> + +<p> +But let me come closer to this part of my story. During what are called at sea +the “dog-watches” (between four o’clock and eight in the +evening), sailors are quite lively and frolicsome; their spirits even flow far +into the first of the long “night-watches;” but upon its expiration +at “eight bells” (midnight), silence begins to reign; if you hear a +voice it is no cherub’s: all exclamations are oaths. +</p> + +<p> +At eight bells, the mariners on deck, now relieved from their cares, crawl out +from their sleepy retreats in old monkey jackets, or coils of rigging, and hie +to their hammocks, almost without interrupting their dreams: while the +sluggards below lazily drag themselves up the ladder to resume their slumbers +in the open air. +</p> + +<p> +For these reasons then, the moonless sea midnight was just the time to escape. +Hence, we suffered a whole day to pass unemployed; waiting for the night, when +the star board-quarter-boats’-watch, to which we belonged, would be +summoned on deck at the eventful eight of the bell. +</p> + +<p> +But twenty-four hours soon glide away; and “Starboleens ahoy; eight bells +there below;” at last started me from a troubled doze. +</p> + +<p> +I sprang from my hammock, and would have lighted my pipe. But the forecastle +lamp had gone out. An old sea-dog was talking about sharks in his sleep. Jarl +and our solitary watch-mate were groping their way into their trowsers. And +little was heard but the humming of the still sails aloft; the dash of the +waves against the bow; and the deep breathing of the dreaming sailors around. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0007"></a> +CHAPTER VII.<br/> +A Pause</h2> + +<p> +Good old Arcturion! Maternal craft; that rocked me so often in thy heart of +oak, I grieve to tell how I deserted thee on the broad deep. So far from home, +with such a motley crew, so many islanders, whose heathen babble echoing +through thy Christian hull, must have grated harshly on every carline. +</p> + +<p> +Old ship! where sails thy lone ghost now? For of the stout Arcturion no word +was ever heard, from the dark hour we pushed from her fated planks. In what +time of tempest, to what seagull’s scream, the drowning eddies did their +work, knows no mortal man. Sunk she silently, helplessly, into the calm depths +of that summer sea, assassinated by the ruthless blade of the swordfish? Such +things have been. Or was hers a better fate? Stricken down while gallantly +battling with the blast; her storm-sails set; helm manned; and every sailor at +his post; as sunk the Hornet, her men at quarters, in some distant gale. +</p> + +<p> +But surmises are idle. A very old craft, she may have foundered; or laid her +bones upon some treacherous reef; but as with many a far rover, her fate is a +mystery. +</p> + +<p> +Pray Heaven, the spirit of that lost vessel roaming abroad through the troubled +mists of midnight gales—as old mariners believe of missing +ships—may never haunt my future path upon the waves. Peacefully may she +rest at the bottom of the sea; and sweetly sleep my shipmates in the lowest +watery zone, where prowling sharks come not, nor billows roll. +</p> + +<p> +By quitting the Arcturion when we did, Jarl and I unconsciously eluded a +sailor’s grave. We hear of providential deliverances. Was this one? But +life is sweet to all, death comes as hard. And for myself I am almost tempted +to hang my head, that I escaped the fate of my shipmates; something like him +who blushed to have escaped the fell carnage at Thermopylae. +</p> + +<p> +Though I can not repress a shudder when I think of that old ship’s end, +it is impossible for me so much as to imagine, that our deserting her could +have been in any way instrumental in her loss. Nevertheless, I would to heaven +the Arcturion still floated; that it was given me once more to tread her +familiar decks. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0008"></a> +CHAPTER VIII.<br/> +They Push Off, Velis Et Remis</h2> + +<p> +And now to tell how, tempted by devil or good angel, and a thousand miles from +land, we embarked upon this western voyage. +</p> + +<p> +It was midnight, mark you, when our watch began; and my turn at the helm now +coming on was of course to be avoided. On some plausible pretense, I induced +our solitary watchmate to assume it; thus leaving myself untrammeled, and at +the same time satisfactorily disposing of him. For being a rather fat fellow, +an enormous consumer of “duff,” and with good reason supposed to be +the son of a farmer, I made no doubt, he would pursue his old course and fall +to nodding over the wheel. As for the leader of the watch—our +harpooner—he fell heir to the nest of old jackets, under the lee of the +mizzen-mast, left nice and warm by his predecessor. +</p> + +<p> +The night was even blacker than we had anticipated; there was no trace of a +moon; and the dark purple haze, sometimes encountered at night near the Line, +half shrouded the stars from view. +</p> + +<p> +Waiting about twenty minutes after the last man of the previous watch had gone +below, I motioned to Jarl, and we slipped our shoes from our feet. He then +descended into the forecastle, and I sauntered aft toward the quarter-deck. All +was still. Thrice did I pass my hand full before the face of the slumbering +lubber at the helm, and right between him and the light of the binnacle. +</p> + +<p> +Mark, the harpooneer, was not so easily sounded. I feared to approach him. He +lay quietly, though; but asleep or awake, no more delay. Risks must be run, +when time presses. And our ears were a pointer’s to catch a sound. +</p> + +<p> +To work we went, without hurry, but swiftly and silently. Our various stores +were dragged from their lurking-places, and placed in the boat, which hung from +the ship’s lee side, the side depressed in the water, an indispensable +requisite to an attempt at escape. And though at sundown the boat was to +windward, yet, as we had foreseen, the vessel having been tacked during the +first watch, brought it to leeward. +</p> + +<p> +Endeavoring to manhandle our clumsy breaker, and lift it into the boat, we +found, that by reason of the intervention of the shrouds, it could not be done +without, risking a jar; besides straining the craft in lowering. An expedient, +however, though at the eleventh hour, was hit upon. Fastening a long rope to +the breaker, which was perfectly tight, we cautiously dropped it overboard; +paying out enough line, to insure its towing astern of the ship, so as not to +strike against the copper. The other end of the line we then secured to the +boat’s stern. +</p> + +<p> +Fortunately, this was the last thing to be done; for the breaker, acting as a +clog to the vessel’s way in the water, so affected her steering as to +fling her perceptibly into the wind. And by causing the helm to work, this must +soon rouse the lubber there stationed, if not already awake. But our dropping +overboard the breaker greatly aided us in this respect: it diminished the +ship’s headway; which owing to the light breeze had not been very great +at any time during the night. Had it been so, all hope of escaping without +first arresting the vessel’s progress, would have been little short of +madness. As it was, the sole daring of the deed that night achieved, consisted +in our lowering away while the ship yet clove the brine, though but moderately. +</p> + +<p> +All was now ready: the cranes swung in, the lashings adrift, and the boat +fairly suspended; when, seizing the ends of the tackle ropes, we silently +stepped into it, one at each end. The dead weight of the breaker astern now +dragged the craft horizontally through the air, so that her tackle ropes +strained hard. She quivered like a dolphin. Nevertheless, had we not feared her +loud splash upon striking the wave, we might have quitted the ship almost as +silently as the breath the body. But this was out of the question, and our +plans were laid accordingly. +</p> + +<p> +“All ready, Jarl?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ready.” +</p> + +<p> +“A man overboard!” I shouted at the top of my compass; and like +lightning the cords slid through our blistering hands, and with a tremendous +shock the boat bounded on the sea’s back. One mad sheer and plunge, one +terrible strain on the tackles as we sunk in the trough of the waves, tugged +upon by the towing breaker, and our knives severed the tackle ropes—we +hazarded not unhooking the blocks—our oars were out, and the good boat +headed round, with prow to leeward. +</p> + +<p> +“Man overboard!” was now shouted from stem to stern. And directly +we heard the confused tramping and shouting of the sailors, as they rushed from +their dreams into the almost inscrutable darkness. +</p> + +<p> +“Man overboard! Man overboard!” My heart smote me as the human cry +of horror came out of the black vaulted night. +</p> + +<p> +“Down helm!” was soon heard from the chief mate. “Back the +main-yard! Quick to the boats! How’s this? One down already? Well done! +Hold on, then, those other boats!” +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile several seamen were shouting as they strained at the braces. +</p> + +<p> +“Cut! cut all! Lower away! lower away!” impatiently cried the +sailors, who already had leaped into the boats. +</p> + +<p> +“Heave the ship to, and hold fast every thing,” cried the captain, +apparently just springing to the deck. “One boat’s enough. Steward; +show a light there from the mizzen-top. Boat ahoy!—Have you got that +man?” +</p> + +<p> +No reply. The voice came out of a cloud; the ship dimly showing like a ghost. +We had desisted from rowing, and hand over hand were now hauling in upon the +rope attached to the breaker, which we soon lifted into the boat, instantly +resuming our oars. +</p> + +<p> +“Pull! pull, men! and save him!” again shouted the captain. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, ay, sir,” answered Jarl instinctively, “pulling as hard +as ever we can, sir.” +</p> + +<p> +And pull we did, till nothing could be heard from the ship but a confused +tumult; and, ever and anon, the hoarse shout of the captain, too distant to be +understood. +</p> + +<p> +We now set our sail to a light air; and right into the darkness, and dead to +leeward, we rowed and sailed till morning dawned. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0009"></a> +CHAPTER IX.<br/> +The Watery World Is All Before Them</h2> + +<p> +At sea in an open boat, and a thousand miles from land! +</p> + +<p> +Shortly after the break of day, in the gray transparent light, a speck to +windward broke the even line of the horizon. It was the ship wending her way +north-eastward. +</p> + +<p> +Had I not known the final indifference of sailors to such disasters as that +which the Arcturion’s crew must have imputed to the night past (did not +the skipper suspect the truth) I would have regarded that little speck with +many compunctions of conscience. Nor, as it was, did I feel in any very serene +humor. For the consciousness of being deemed dead, is next to the presumable +unpleasantness of being so in reality. One feels like his own ghost unlawfully +tenanting a defunct carcass. Even Jarl’s glance seemed so queer, that I +begged him to look another way. +</p> + +<p> +Secure now from all efforts of the captain to recover those whom he most +probably supposed lost; and equally cut off from all hope of returning to the +ship even had we felt so inclined; the resolution that had thus far nerved me, +began to succumb in a measure to the awful loneliness of the scene. Ere this, I +had regarded the ocean as a slave, the steed that bore me whither I listed, and +whose vicious propensities, mighty though they were, often proved harmless, +when opposed to the genius of man. But now, how changed! In our frail boat, I +would fain have built an altar to Neptune. +</p> + +<p> +What a mere toy we were to the billows, that jeeringly shouldered us from crest +to crest, as from hand to hand lost souls may be tossed along by the chain of +shades which enfilade the route to Tartarus. +</p> + +<p> +But drown or swim, here’s overboard with care! Cheer up, Jarl! Ha! Ha! +how merrily, yet terribly, we sail! Up, up—slowly up—toiling up the +long, calm wave; then balanced on its summit a while, like a plank on a rail; +and down, we plunge headlong into the seething abyss, till arrested, we glide +upward again. And thus did we go. Now buried in watery hollows—our sail +idly flapping; then lifted aloft—canvas bellying; and beholding the +furthest horizon. +</p> + +<p> +Had not our familiarity with the business of whaling divested our craft’s +wild motions of its first novel horrors, we had been but a rueful pair. But +day-long pulls after whales, the ship left miles astern; and entire dark nights +passed moored to the monsters, killed too late to be towed to the ship far to +leeward:—all this, and much more, accustoms one to strange things. Death, +to be sure, has a mouth as black as a wolf’s, and to be thrust into his +jaws is a serious thing. But true it most certainly is—and I speak from +no hearsay—that to sailors, as a class, the grisly king seems not half +so hideous as he appears to those who have only regarded him on shore, and at a +deferential distance. Like many ugly mortals, his features grow less frightful +upon acquaintance; and met over often and sociably, the old adage holds true, +about familiarity breeding contempt. Thus too with soldiers. Of the quaking +recruit, three pitched battles make a grim grenadier; and he who shrank from +the muzzle of a cannon, is now ready to yield his mustache for a sponge. +</p> + +<p> +And truly, since death is the last enemy of all, valiant souls will taunt him +while they may. Yet rather, should the wise regard him as the inflexible +friend, who, even against our own wills, from life’s evils triumphantly +relieves us. +</p> + +<p> +And there is but little difference in the manner of dying. To die, is all. And +death has been gallantly encountered by those who never beheld blood that was +red, only its light azure seen through the veins. And to yield the ghost +proudly, and march out of your fortress with all the honors of war, is not a +thing of sinew and bone. Though in prison, Geoffry Hudson, the dwarf, died more +bravely than Goliah, the giant; and the last end of a butterfly shames us all. +Some women have lived nobler lives, and died nobler deaths, than men. +Threatened with the stake, mitred Cranmer recanted; but through her fortitude, +the lorn widow of Edessa stayed the tide of Valens’ persecutions. +’Tis no great valor to perish sword in hand, and bravado on lip; cased +all in panoply complete. For even the alligator dies in his mail, and the +swordfish never surrenders. To expire, mild-eyed, in one’s bed, +transcends the death of Epaminondas. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0010"></a> +CHAPTER X.<br/> +They Arrange Their Canopies And Lounges, And Try To Make Things Comfortable</h2> + +<p> +Our little craft was soon in good order. From the spare rigging brought along, +we made shrouds to the mast, and converted the boat- hook into a handy boom for +the jib. Going large before the wind, we set this sail wing-and-wing with the +main-sail. The latter, in accordance with the customary rig of whale-boats, was +worked with a sprit and sheet. It could be furled or set in an instant. The +bags of bread we stowed away in the covered space about the loggerhead, a +useless appurtenance now, and therefore removed. At night, Jarl used it for a +pillow; saying, that when the boat rolled it gave easy play to his head. The +precious breaker we lashed firmly amidships; thereby much improving our +sailing. +</p> + +<p> +Now, previous to leaving the ship, we had seen to it well, that our craft was +supplied with all those equipments, with which, by the regulations of the +fishery, a whale-boat is constantly provided: night and day, afloat or +suspended. Hanging along our gunwales inside, were six harpoons, three lances, +and a blubber-spade; all keen as razors, and sheathed with leather. Besides +these, we had three waifs, a couple of two-gallon water-kegs, several bailers, +the boat-hatchet for cutting the whale-line, two auxiliary knives for the like +purpose, and several minor articles, also employed in hunting the leviathan. +The line and line-tub, however, were on ship-board. +</p> + +<p> +And here it may be mentioned, that to prevent the strain upon the boat when +suspended to the ship’s side, the heavy whale-line, over two hundred +fathoms in length, and something more than an inch in diameter, when not in use +is kept on ship-board, coiled away like an endless snake in its tub. But this +tub is always in readiness to be launched into the boat. Now, having no use for +the line belonging to our craft, we had purposely left it behind. +</p> + +<p> +But well had we marked that by far the most important item of a +whale-boat’s furniture was snugly secured in its place. This was the +water-tight keg, at both ends firmly headed, containing a small compass, +tinder-box and flint, candles, and a score or two of biscuit. This keg is an +invariable precaution against what so frequently occurs in pursuing the sperm +whale—prolonged absence from the ship, losing sight of her, or never +seeing her more, till years after you reach home again. In this same keg of +ours seemed coopered up life and death, at least so seemed it to honest Jarl. +No sooner had we got clear from the Arcturion, than dropping his oar for an +instant, he clutched at it in the dark. +</p> + +<p> +And when day at last came, we knocked out the head of the keg with the little +hammer and chisel, always attached to it for that purpose, and removed the +compass, that glistened to us like a human eye. Then filling up the vacancy +with biscuit, we again made all tight, driving down the hoops till they would +budge no more. +</p> + +<p> +At first we were puzzled to fix our compass. But at last the Skyeman out knife, +and cutting a round hole in the after-most thwart, or seat of the boat, there +inserted the little brass case containing the needle. +</p> + +<p> +Over the stern of the boat, with some old canvas which my Viking’s +forethought had provided, we spread a rude sort of awning, or rather +counterpane. This, however, proved but little or no protection from the glare +of the sun; for the management of the main-sail forbade any considerable +elevation of the shelter. And when the breeze was fresh, we were fain to strike +it altogether; for the wind being from aft, and getting underneath the canvas, +almost lifted the light boat’s stem into the air, vexing the counterpane +as if it were a petticoat turning a gusty corner. But when a mere breath +rippled the sea, and the sun was fiery hot, it was most pleasant to lounge in +this shady asylum. It was like being transferred from the roast to cool in the +cupboard. And Jarl, much the toughest fowl of the two, out of an abundant +kindness for his comrade, during the day voluntarily remained exposed at the +helm, almost two hours to my one. No lady-like scruples had he, the old Viking, +about marring his complexion, which already was more than bronzed. Over the +ordinary tanning of the sailor, he seemed masked by a visor of japanning, +dotted all over with freckles, so intensely yellow, and symmetrically circular, +that they seemed scorched there by a burning glass. +</p> + +<p> +In the tragico-comico moods which at times overtook me, I used to look upon the +brown Skyeman with humorous complacency. If we fall in with cannibals, thought +I, then, ready-roasted Norseman that thou art, shall I survive to mourn thee; +at least, during the period I revolve upon the spit. +</p> + +<p> +But of such a fate, it needs hardly be said, we had no apprehension. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0011"></a> +CHAPTER XI.<br/> +Jarl Afflicted With The Lockjaw</h2> + +<p> +If ever again I launch whale-boat from sheer-plank of ship at sea, I shall take +good heed, that my comrade be a sprightly fellow, with a rattle-box head. Be he +never so silly, his very silliness, so long as he be lively at it, shall be its +own excuse. +</p> + +<p> +Upon occasion, who likes not a lively loon, one of your giggling, gamesome +oafs, whose mouth is a grin? Are not such, well-ordered dispensations of +Providence? filling up vacuums, in intervals of social stagnation relieving the +tedium of existing? besides keeping up, here and there, in very many quarters +indeed, sundry people’s good opinion of themselves? What, if at times +their speech is insipid as water after wine? What, if to ungenial and irascible +souls, their very “mug” is an exasperation to behold, their clack +an inducement to suicide? Let us not be hard upon them for this; but let them +live on for the good they may do. +</p> + +<p> +But Jarl, dear, dumb Jarl, thou wert none of these. Thou didst carry a phiz +like an excommunicated deacon’s. And no matter what happened, it was ever +the same. Quietly, in thyself, thou didst revolve upon thine own sober axis, +like a wheel in a machine which forever goes round, whether you look at it or +no. Ay, Jarl! wast thou not forever intent upon minding that which so many +neglect—thine own especial business? Wast thou not forever at it, too, +with no likelihood of ever winding up thy moody affairs, and striking a balance +sheet? +</p> + +<p> +But at times how wearisome to me these everlasting reveries in my one solitary +companion. I longed for something enlivening; a burst of words; human vivacity +of one kind or other. After in vain essaying to get something of this sort out +of Jarl, I tried it all by myself; playing upon my body as upon an instrument; +singing, halloing, and making empty gestures, till my Viking stared hard; and I +myself paused to consider whether I had run crazy or no. +</p> + +<p> +But how account for the Skyeman’s gravity? Surely, it was based upon no +philosophic taciturnity; he was nothing of an idealist; an aerial architect; a +constructor of flying buttresses. It was inconceivable, that his reveries were +Manfred-like and exalted, reminiscent of unutterable deeds, too mysterious even +to be indicated by the remotest of hints. Suppositions all out of the question. +</p> + +<p> +His ruminations were a riddle. I asked him anxiously, whether, in any part of +the world, Savannah, Surat, or Archangel, he had ever a wife to think of; or +children, that he carried so lengthy a phiz. Nowhere neither. Therefore, as by +his own confession he had nothing to think of but himself, and there was little +but honesty in him (having which, by the way, he may be thought full to the +brim), what could I fall back upon but my original theory: namely, that in +repose, his intellects stepped out, and left his body to itself. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0012"></a> +CHAPTER XII.<br/> +More About Being In An Open Boat</h2> + +<p> +On the third morning, at break of day, I sat at the steering oar, an hour or +two previous having relieved Jarl, now fast asleep. Somehow, and suddenly, a +sense of peril so intense, came over me, that it could hardly have been +aggravated by the completest solitude. +</p> + +<p> +On a ship’s deck, the mere feeling of elevation above the water, and the +reach of prospect you command, impart a degree of confidence which disposes you +to exult in your fancied security. But in an open boat, brought down to the +very plane of the sea, this feeling almost wholly deserts you. Unless the +waves, in their gambols, toss you and your chip upon one of their lordly +crests, your sphere of vision is little larger than it would be at the bottom +of a well. At best, your most extended view in any one direction, at least, is +in a high, slow-rolling sea; when you descend into the dark, misty spaces, +between long and uniform swells. Then, for the moment, it is like looking up +and down in a twilight glade, interminable; where two dawns, one on each hand, +seem struggling through the semi-transparent tops of the fluid mountains. +</p> + +<p> +But, lingering not long in those silent vales, from watery cliff to cliff, a +sea-chamois, sprang our solitary craft,—a goat among the Alps! +</p> + +<p> +How undulated the horizon; like a vast serpent with ten thousand folds coiled +all round the globe; yet so nigh, apparently, that it seemed as if one’s +hand might touch it. +</p> + +<p> +What loneliness; when the sun rose, and spurred up the heavens, we hailed him +as a wayfarer in Sahara the sight of a distant horseman. Save ourselves, the +sun and the Chamois seemed all that was left of life in the universe. We +yearned toward its jocund disk, as in strange lands the traveler joyfully +greets a face from home, which there had passed unheeded. And was not the sun a +fellow-voyager? were we not both wending westward? But how soon he daily +overtook and passed us; hurrying to his journey’s end. +</p> + +<p> +When a week had gone by, sailing steadily on, by day and by night, and nothing +in sight but this self-same sea, what wonder if disquieting thoughts at last +entered our hearts? If unknowingly we should pass the spot where, according to +our reckoning, our islands lay, upon what shoreless sea would we launch? At +times, these forebodings bewildered my idea of the positions of the groups +beyond. All became vague and confused; so that westward of the Kingsmil isles +and the Radack chain, I fancied there could be naught but an endless sea. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0013"></a> +CHAPTER XIII.<br/> +Of The Chondropterygii, And Other Uncouth Hordes Infesting The South Seas</h2> + +<p> +At intervals in our lonely voyage, there were sights which diversified the +scene; especially when the constellation Pisces was in the ascendant. +</p> + +<p> +It’s famous botanizing, they say, in Arkansas’ boundless prairies; +I commend the student of Ichthyology to an open boat, and the ocean moors of +the Pacific. As your craft glides along, what strange monsters float by. +Elsewhere, was never seen their like. And nowhere are they found in the books +of the naturalists. +</p> + +<p> +Though America be discovered, the Cathays of the deep are unknown. And whoso +crosses the Pacific might have read lessons to Buffon. The sea-serpent is not a +fable; and in the sea, that snake is but a garden worm. There are more wonders +than the wonders rejected, and more sights unrevealed than you or I ever ever +dreamt of. Moles and bats alone should be skeptics; and the only true +infidelity is for a live man to vote himself dead. Be Sir Thomas Brown our +ensample; who, while exploding “Vulgar Errors,” heartily hugged all +the mysteries in the Pentateuch. +</p> + +<p> +But look! fathoms down in the sea; where ever saw you a phantom like that? An +enormous crescent with antlers like a reindeer, and a Delta of mouths. Slowly +it sinks, and is seen no more. +</p> + +<p> +Doctor Faust saw the devil; but you have seen the “Devil Fish.” +</p> + +<p> +Look again! Here comes another. Jarl calls it a Bone Shark. Full as large as a +whale, it is spotted like a leopard; and tusk-like teeth overlap its jaws like +those of the walrus. To seamen, nothing strikes more terror than the near +vicinity of a creature like this. Great ships steer out of its path. And well +they may; since the good craft Essex, and others, have been sunk by +sea-monsters, as the alligator thrusts his horny snout through a Carribean +canoe. +</p> + +<p> +Ever present to us, was the apprehension of some sudden disaster from the +extraordinary zoological specimens we almost hourly passed. +</p> + +<p> +For the sharks, we saw them, not by units, nor by tens, nor by hundreds; but by +thousands and by myriads. Trust me, there are more sharks in the sea than +mortals on land. +</p> + +<p> +And of these prolific fish there are full as many species as of dogs. But by +the German naturalists Muller and Henle, who, in christening the sharks, have +bestowed upon them the most heathenish names, they are classed under one +family; which family, according to Muller, king-at-arms, is an undoubted branch +of the ancient and famous tribe of the Chondropterygii. +</p> + +<p> +To begin. There is the ordinary Brown Shark, or sea attorney, so called by +sailors; a grasping, rapacious varlet, that in spite of the hard knocks +received from it, often snapped viciously at our steering oar. At times, these +gentry swim in herds; especially about the remains of a slaughtered whale. They +are the vultures of the deep. +</p> + +<p> +Then we often encountered the dandy Blue Shark, a long, taper and mighty +genteel looking fellow, with a slender waist, like a Bond- street beau, and the +whitest tiers of teeth imaginable. This dainty spark invariably lounged by with +a careless fin and an indolent tail. But he looked infernally heartless. +</p> + +<p> +How his cold-blooded, gentlemanly air, contrasted with the rude, savage swagger +of the Tiger Shark; a round, portly gourmand; with distended mouth and +collapsed conscience, swimming about seeking whom he might devour. These +gluttons are the scavengers of navies, following ships in the South Seas, +picking up odds and ends of garbage, and sometimes a tit-bit, a stray sailor. +No wonder, then, that sailors denounce them. In substance, Jarl once assured +me, that under any temporary misfortune, it was one of his sweetest +consolations to remember, that in his day, he had murdered, not killed, shoals +of Tiger Sharks. +</p> + +<p> +Yet this is all wrong. As well hate a seraph, as a shark. Both were made by the +same hand. And that sharks are lovable, witness their domestic endearments. No +Fury so ferocious, as not to have some amiable side. In the wild wilderness, a +leopard-mother caresses her cub, as Hagar did Ishmael; or a queen of France the +dauphin. We know not what we do when we hate. And I have the word of my +gentlemanly friend Stanhope, for it; that he who declared he loved a good hater +was but a respectable sort of Hottentot, at best. No very genteel epithet this, +though coming from the genteelest of men. But when the digger of dictionaries +said that saying of his, he was assuredly not much of a Christian. However, it +is hard for one given up to constitutional hypos like him; to be filled with +the milk and meekness of the gospels. Yet, with deference, I deny that my old +uncle Johnson really believed in the sentiment ascribed to him. Love a hater, +indeed! Who smacks his lips over gall? Now hate is a thankless thing. So, let +us only hate hatred; and once give love play, we will fall in love with a +unicorn. Ah! the easiest way is the best; and to hate, a man must work hard. +Love is a delight; but hate a torment. And haters are thumbscrews, Scotch +boots, and Spanish inquisitions to themselves. In five words—would they +were a Siamese diphthong—he who hates is a fool. +</p> + +<p> +For several days our Chamois was followed by two of these aforesaid Tiger +Sharks. A brace of confidential inseparables, jogging along in our wake, side +by side, like a couple of highwaymen, biding their time till you come to the +cross-roads. But giving it up at last, for a bootless errand, they dropped +farther and farther astern, until completely out of sight. Much to the +Skyeman’s chagrin; who long stood in the stern, lance poised for a dart. +</p> + +<p> +But of all sharks, save me from the ghastly White Shark. For though we should +hate naught, yet some dislikes are spontaneous; and disliking is not hating. +And never yet could I bring myself to be loving, or even sociable, with a White +Shark. He is not the sort of creature to enlist young affections. +</p> + +<p> +This ghost of a fish is not often encountered, and shows plainer by night than +by day. Timon-like, he always swims by himself; gliding along just under the +surface, revealing a long, vague shape, of a milky hue; with glimpses now and +then of his bottomless white pit of teeth. No need of a dentist hath he. Seen +at night, stealing along like a spirit in the water, with horrific serenity of +aspect, the White Shark sent many a thrill to us twain in the Chamois. +</p> + +<p> +By day, and in the profoundest calms, oft were we startled by the ponderous +sigh of the grampus, as lazily rising to the surface, he fetched a long breath +after napping below. +</p> + +<p> +And time and again we watched the darting albicore, the fish with the +chain-plate armor and golden scales; the Nimrod of the seas, to whom so many +flying fish fall a prey. Flying from their pursuers, many of them flew into our +boat. But invariably they died from the shock. No nursing could restore them. +One of their wings I removed, spreading it out to dry under a weight. In two +days’ time the thin membrane, all over tracings like those of a leaf, was +transparent as isinglass, and tinted with brilliant hues, like those of a +changing silk. +</p> + +<p> +Almost every day, we spied Black Fish; coal-black and glossy. They seemed to +swim by revolving round and round in the water, like a wheel; their dorsal +fins, every now and then shooting into view, like spokes. +</p> + +<p> +Of a somewhat similar species, but smaller, and clipper-built about the nose, +were the Algerines; so called, probably, from their corsair propensities; +waylaying peaceful fish on the high seas, and plundering them of body and soul +at a gulp. Atrocious Turks! a crusade should be preached against them. +</p> + +<p> +Besides all these, we encountered Killers and Thrashers, by far the most +spirited and “spunky” of the finny tribes. Though little larger +than a porpoise, a band of them think nothing of assailing leviathan himself. +They bait the monster, as dogs a bull. The Killers seizing the Right whale by +his immense, sulky lower lip, and the Thrashers fastening on to his back, and +beating him with their sinewy tails. Often they come off conquerors, worrying +the enemy to death. Though, sooth to say, if leviathan gets but one sweep al +them with his terrible tail, they go flying into the air, as if tossed from +Taurus’ horn. +</p> + +<p> +This sight we beheld. Had old Wouvermans, who once painted a bull bait, been +along with us, a rare chance, that, for his pencil. And Gudin or Isabey might +have thrown the blue rolling sea into the picture. Lastly, one of +Claude’s setting summer suns would have glorified the whole. Oh, believe +me, God’s creatures fighting, fin for fin, a thousand miles from land, +and with the round horizon for an arena; is no ignoble subject for a +masterpiece. +</p> + +<p> +Such are a few of the sights of the great South Sea. But there is no telling +all. The Pacific is populous as China. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0014"></a> +CHAPTER XIV.<br/> +Jarl’s Misgivings</h2> + +<p> +About this time an event took place. My good Viking opened his mouth, and +spoke. The prodigy occurred, as, jacknife in hand, he was bending over the +midship oar; on the loom, or handle, of which he kept our almanac; making a +notch for every set sun. For some forty-eight hours past, the wind had been +light and variable. It was more than suspected that a current was sweeping us +northward. +</p> + +<p> +Now, marking these things, Jarl threw out the thought, that the more wind, and +the less current, the better; and if a long calm came on, of which there was +some prospect, we had better take to our oars. +</p> + +<p> +Take to our oars! as if we were crossing a ferry, and no ocean leagues to +traverse. The idea indirectly suggested all possible horrors. To be rid of them +forthwith, I proceeded to dole out our morning meal. For to make away with such +things, there is nothing better than bolting something down on top of them; +albeit, oft repeated, the plan is very apt to beget dyspepsia; and the +dyspepsia the blues. +</p> + +<p> +But what of our store of provisions? So far as enough to eat was concerned, we +felt not the slightest apprehension; our supplies proving more abundant than we +had anticipated. But, curious to tell, we felt but little inclination for food. +It was water, bright water, cool, sparkling water, alone, that we craved. And +of this, also, our store at first seemed ample. But as our voyage lengthened, +and breezes blew faint, and calms fell fast, the idea of being deprived of the +precious fluid grew into something little short of a mono- mania; especially +with Jarl. +</p> + +<p> +Every hour or two with the hammer and chisel belonging to the tinder box keg, +he tinkered away at the invaluable breaker; driving down the hoops, till in his +over solicitude, I thought he would burst them outright. +</p> + +<p> +Now the breaker lay on its bilge, in the middle of the boat, where more or less +sea-water always collected. And ever and anon, dipping his finger therein, my +Viking was troubled with the thought, that this sea-water tasted less brackish +than that alongside. Of course the breaker must be leaking. So, he would turn +it over, till its wet side came uppermost; when it would quickly become dry as +a bone. But now, with his knife, he would gently probe the joints of the +staves; shake his head; look up; look down; taste of the water in the bottom of +the boat; then that of the sea; then lift one end of the breaker; going through +with every test of leakage he could dream of. Nor was he ever fully satisfied, +that the breaker was in all respects sound. But in reality it was tight as the +drum-heads that beat at Cerro- Gordo. Oh! Jarl, Jarl: to me in the boat’s +quiet stern, steering and philosophizing at one time and the same, thou and thy +breaker were a study. +</p> + +<p> +Besides the breaker, we had, full of water, the two boat-kegs, previously +alluded to. These were first used. We drank from them by their leaden spouts; +so many swallows three times in the day; having no other means of measuring an +allowance. But when we came to the breaker, which had only a bung-hole, though +a very large one, dog- like, it was so many laps apiece; jealously counted by +the observer. This plan, however, was only good for a single day; the water +then getting beyond the reach of the tongue. We therefore daily poured from the +breaker into one of the kegs; and drank from its spout. But to obviate the +absorption inseparable from decanting, we at last hit upon something +better,—my comrade’s shoe, which, deprived of its quarters, +narrowed at the heel, and diligently rinsed out in the sea, was converted into +a handy but rather limber ladle. This we kept suspended in the bung-hole of the +breaker, that it might never twice absorb the water. +</p> + +<p> +Now pewter imparts flavor to ale; a Meerschaum bowl, the same to the tobacco of +Smyrna; and goggle green glasses are deemed indispensable to the bibbing of +Hock. What then shall be said of a leathern goblet for water? Try it, ye +mariners who list. +</p> + +<p> +One morning, taking his wonted draught, Jarl fished up in his ladle a deceased +insect; something like a Daddy-long-legs, only more corpulent. Its fate? A +sea-toss? Believe it not; with all those precious drops clinging to its lengthy +legs. It was held over the ladle till the last globule dribbled; and even then, +being moist, honest Jarl was but loth to drop it overboard. +</p> + +<p> +For our larder, we could not endure the salt beef; it was raw as a live +Abyssinian steak, and salt as Cracow. Besides, the Feegee simile would not have +held good with respect to it. It was far from being “tender as a dead +man.” The biscuit only could we eat; not to be wondered at; for even on +shipboard, seamen in the tropics are but sparing feeders. +</p> + +<p> +And here let not, a suggestion be omitted, most valuable to any future castaway +or sailaway as the case may be. Eat not your biscuit dry; but dip it in the +sea: which makes it more bulky and palatable. During meal times it was soak and +sip with Jarl and me: one on each side of the Chamois dipping our biscuit in +the brine. This plan obviated finger-glasses at the conclusion of our repast. +Upon the whole, dwelling upon the water is not so bad after all. The Chinese +are no fools. In the operation of making your toilet, how handy to float in +your ewer! +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0015"></a> +CHAPTER XV.<br/> +A Stitch In Time Saves Nine</h2> + +<p> +Like most silent earnest sort of people, my good Viking was a pattern of +industry. When in the boats after whales, I have known him carry along a roll +of sinnate to stitch into a hat. And the boats lying motionless for half an +hour or so, waiting the rising of the chase, his fingers would be plying at +their task, like an old lady knitting. Like an experienced old-wife too, his +digits had become so expert and conscientious, that his eyes left them alone; +deeming optic supervision unnecessary. And on this trip of ours, when not +otherwise engaged, he was quite as busy with his fingers as ever: unraveling +old Cape Horn hose, for yarn wherewith to darn our woolen frocks; with great +patches from the skirts of a condemned reefing jacket, panneling the seats of +our “ducks;” in short, veneering our broken garments with all +manner of choice old broadcloths. +</p> + +<p> +With the true forethought of an old tar, he had brought along with him nearly +the whole contents of his chest. His precious “Ditty Bag,” +containing his sewing utensils, had been carefully packed away in the bottom of +one of his bundles; of which he had as many as an old maid on her travels. In +truth, an old salt is very much of an old maid, though, strictly speaking, far +from deserving that misdeemed appellative. Better be an old maid, a woman with +herself for a husband, than the wife of a fool; and Solomon more than hints +that all men are fools; and every wise man knows himself to be one. When +playing the sempstress, Jarl’s favorite perch was the triangular little +platform in the bow; which being the driest and most elevated part of the boat, +was best adapted to his purpose. Here for hours and hours together the honest +old tailor would sit darning and sewing away, heedless of the wide ocean +around; while forever, his slouched Guayaquil hat kept bobbing up and down +against the horizon before us. +</p> + +<p> +It was a most solemn avocation with him. Silently he nodded like the still +statue in the opera of Don Juan. Indeed he never spoke, unless to give pithy +utterance to the wisdom of keeping one’s wardrobe in repair. But herein +my Viking at times waxed oracular. And many’s the hour we glided along, +myself deeply pondering in the stem, hand upon helm; while crosslegged at the +other end of the boat Jarl laid down patch upon patch, and at long intervals +precept upon precept; here several saws, and there innumerable stitches. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0016"></a> +CHAPTER XVI.<br/> +They Are Becalmed</h2> + +<p> +On the eighth day there was a calm. +</p> + +<p> +It came on by night: so that waking at daybreak, and folding my arms over the +gunwale, I looked out upon a scene very hard to describe. The sun was still +beneath the horizon; perhaps not yet out of sight from the plains of Paraguay. +But the dawn was too strong for the stars; which, one by one, had gone out, +like waning lamps after a ball. +</p> + +<p> +Now, as the face of a mirror is a blank, only borrowing character from what it +reflects; so in a calm in the Tropics, a colorless sky overhead, the ocean, +upon its surface, hardly presents a sign of existence. The deep blue is gone; +and the glassy element lies tranced; almost viewless as the air. +</p> + +<p> +But that morning, the two gray firmaments of sky and water seemed collapsed +into a vague ellipsis. And alike, the Chamois seemed drifting in the atmosphere +as in the sea. Every thing was fused into the calm: sky, air, water, and all. +Not a fish was to be seen. The silence was that of a vacuum. No vitality lurked +in the air. And this inert blending and brooding of all things seemed gray +chaos in conception. +</p> + +<p> +This calm lasted four days and four nights; during which, but a few +cat’s-paws of wind varied the scene. They were faint as the breath of one +dying. +</p> + +<p> +At times the heat was intense. The heavens, at midday, glowing like an ignited +coal mine. Our skin curled up like lint; our vision became dim; the brain +dizzy. +</p> + +<p> +To our consternation, the water in the breaker became lukewarm, brackish, and +slightly putrescent; notwithstanding we kept our spare clothing piled upon the +breaker, to shield it from the sun. At last, Jarl enlarged the vent, carefully +keeping it exposed. To this precaution, doubtless, we owed more than we then +thought. It was now deemed wise to reduce our allowance of water to the +smallest modicum consistent with the present preservation of life; strangling +all desire for more. +</p> + +<p> +Nor was this all. The upper planking of the boat began to warp; here and there, +cracking and splintering. But though we kept it moistened with brine, one of +the plank-ends started from its place; and the sharp, sudden sound, breaking +the scorching silence, caused us both to spring to our feet. Instantly the sea +burst in; but we made shift to secure the rebellious plank with a cord, not +having a nail; we then bailed out the boat, nearly half full of water. +</p> + +<p> +On the second day of the calm, we unshipped the mast, to prevent its being +pitched out by the occasional rolling of the vast smooth swells now overtaking +us. Leagues and leagues away, after its fierce raging, some tempest must have +been sending to us its last dying waves. For as a pebble dropped into a pond +ruffles it to its marge; so, on all sides, a sea-gale operates as if an +asteroid had fallen into the brine; making ringed mountain billows, +interminably expanding, instead of ripples. +</p> + +<p> +The great September waves breaking at the base of the Neversink Highlands, far +in advance of the swiftest pilot-boat, carry tidings. And full often, they know +the last secret of many a stout ship, never heard of from the day she left +port. Every wave in my eyes seems a soul. +</p> + +<p> +As there was no steering to be done, Jarl and I sheltered ourselves as well as +we could under the awning. And for the first two days, one at a time, and every +three or four hours, we dropped overboard for a bath, clinging to the gun-wale; +a sharp look-out being kept for prowling sharks. A foot or two below the +surface, the water felt cool and refreshing. +</p> + +<p> +On the third day a change came over us. We relinquished bathing, the exertion +taxing us too much. Sullenly we laid ourselves down; turned our backs to each +other; and were impatient of the slightest casual touch of our persons. What +sort of expression my own countenance wore, I know not; but I hated to look at +Jarl’s. When I did it was a glare, not a glance. I became more taciturn +than he. I can not tell what it was that came over me, but I wished I was +alone. I felt that so long as the calm lasted, we were without help; that +neither could assist the other; and above all, that for one, the water would +hold out longer than for two. I felt no remorse, not the slightest, for these +thoughts. It was instinct. Like a desperado giving up the ghost, I desired to +gasp by myself. +</p> + +<p> +From being cast away with a brother, good God deliver me! +</p> + +<p> +The four days passed. And on the morning of the fifth, thanks be to Heaven, +there came a breeze. Dancingly, mincingly it came, just rippling the sea, until +it struck our sails, previously set at the very first token of its advance. At +length it slightly freshened; and our poor Chamois seemed raised from the dead. +</p> + +<p> +Beyond expression delightful! Once more we heard the low humming of the sea +under our bow, as our boat, like a bird, went singing on its way. +</p> + +<p> +How changed the scene! Overhead, a sweet blue haze, distilling sunlight in +drops. And flung abroad over the visible creation was the sun-spangled, azure, +rustling robe of the ocean, ermined with wave crests; all else, infinitely +blue. Such a cadence of musical sounds! Waves chasing each other, and sporting +and frothing in frolicsome foam: painted fish rippling past; and anon the noise +of wings as sea- fowls flew by. +</p> + +<p> +Oh, Ocean, when thou choosest to smile, more beautiful thou art than flowery +mead or plain! +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0017"></a> +CHAPTER XVII.<br/> +In High Spirits, They Push On For The Terra Incognita</h2> + +<p> +There were now fourteen notches on the loom of the Skyeman’s +oar:—So many days since we had pushed from the fore-chains of the +Arcturion. But as yet, no floating bough, no tern, noddy, nor reef-bird, to +denote our proximity to land. In that long calm, whither might not the currents +have swept us? +</p> + +<p> +Where we were precisely, we knew not; but according to our reckoning, the loose +estimation of the knots run every hour, we must have sailed due west but little +more than one hundred and fifty leagues; for the most part having encountered +but light winds, and frequent intermitting calms, besides that prolonged one +described. But spite of past calms and currents, land there must be to the +westward. Sun, compass, stout hearts, and steady breezes, pointed our prow +thereto. So courage! my Viking, and never say drown! +</p> + +<p> +At this time, our hearts were much lightened by discovering that our water was +improving in taste. It seemed to have been undergoing anew that sort of +fermentation, or working, occasionally incident to ship water shortly after +being taken on board. Sometimes, for a period, it is more or less offensive to +taste and smell; again, however, becoming comparatively limpid. +</p> + +<p> +But as our water improved, we grew more and more miserly of so priceless a +treasure. +</p> + +<p> +And here it may be well to make mention of another little circumstance, however +unsentimental. Thorough-paced tar that he was, my Viking was an inordinate +consumer of the Indian weed. From the Arcturion, he had brought along with him +a small half-keg, at bottom impacted with a solitary layer of sable Negrohead, +fossil- marked, like the primary stratum of the geologists. It was the last +tier of his abundant supply for the long whaling voyage upon which he had +embarked upwards of three years previous. Now during the calm, and for some +days after, poor Jarl’s accustomed quid was no longer agreeable company. +To pun: he eschewed his chew. I asked him wherefore. He replied that it +puckered up his mouth, above all provoked thirst, and had somehow grown every +way distasteful. I was sorry; for the absence of his before ever present wad +impaired what little fullness there was left in his cheek; though, sooth to +say, I no longer called upon him as of yore to shift over the enormous morsel +to starboard or larboard, and so trim our craft. +</p> + +<p> +The calm gone by, once again my sea-tailor plied needle and thread; or turning +laundress, hung our raiment to dry on oars peaked obliquely in the thole-pins. +All of which tattered pennons, the wind being astern, helped us gayly on our +way; as jolly poor devils, with rags flying in the breeze, sail blithely +through life; and are merry although they are poor! +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0018"></a> +CHAPTER XVIII.<br/> +My Lord Shark And His Pages</h2> + +<p> +There is a fish in the sea that evermore, like a surly lord, only goes abroad +attended by his suite. It is the Shovel-nosed Shark. A clumsy lethargic +monster, unshapely as his name, and the last species of his kind, one would +think, to be so bravely waited upon, as he is. His suite is composed of those +dainty little creatures called Pilot fish by sailors. But by night his retinue +is frequently increased by the presence of several small luminous fish, running +in advance, and flourishing their flambeaux like link-boys lighting the +monster’s way. Pity there were no ray-fish in rear, page-like, to carry +his caudal train. +</p> + +<p> +Now the relation subsisting between the Pilot fish above mentioned and their +huge ungainly lord, seems one of the most inscrutable things in nature. At any +rate, it poses poor me to comprehend. That a monster so ferocious, should +suffer five or six little sparks, hardly fourteen inches long, to gambol about +his grim hull with the utmost impunity, is of itself something strange. But +when it is considered, that by a reciprocal understanding, the Pilot fish seem +to act as scouts to the shark, warning him of danger, and apprising him of the +vicinity of prey; and moreover, in case of his being killed, evincing their +anguish by certain agitations, otherwise inexplicable; the whole thing becomes +a mystery unfathomable. Truly marvels abound. It needs no dead man to be +raised, to convince us of some things. Even my Viking marveled full as much at +those Pilot fish as he would have marveled at the Pentecost. +</p> + +<p> +But perhaps a little incident, occurring about this period, will best +illustrate the matter in hand. +</p> + +<p> +We were gliding along, hardly three knots an hour, when my comrade, who had +been dozing over the gunwale, suddenly started to his feet, and pointed out an +immense Shovel-nosed Shark, less than a boat’s length distant, and about +half a fathom beneath the surface. A lance was at once snatched from its place; +and true to his calling, Jarl was about to dart it at the fish, when, +interested by the sight of its radiant little scouts, I begged him to desist. +</p> + +<p> +One of them was right under the shark, nibbling at his ventral fin; another +above, hovering about his dorsal appurtenance; one on each flank; and a +frisking fifth pranking about his nose, seemingly having something to say of a +confidential nature. They were of a bright, steel-blue color, alternated with +jet black stripes; with glistening bellies of a silver-white. Clinging to the +back of the shark, were four or five Remoras, or sucking-fish; snaky parasites, +impossible to remove from whatever they adhere to, without destroying their +lives. The Remora has little power in swimming; hence its sole locomotion is on +the backs of larger fish. Leech-like, it sticketh closer than a false brother +in prosperity; closer than a beggar to the benevolent; closer than Webster to +the Constitution. But it feeds upon what it clings to; its feelers having a +direct communication with the esophagus. +</p> + +<p> +The shark swam sluggishly; creating no sign of a ripple, but ever and, anon +shaking his Medusa locks, writhing and curling with horrible life. Now and +then, the nimble Pilot fish darted from his side—this way and +that—mostly toward our boat; but previous to taking a fresh start ever +returning to their liege lord to report progress. +</p> + +<p> +A thought struck me. Baiting a rope’s end with a morsel of our almost +useless salt beef, I suffered it to trail in the sea. Instantly the foremost +scout swam toward it; hesitated; paused; but at last advancing, briskly snuffed +at the line, and taking one finical little nibble, retreated toward the shark. +Another moment, and the great Tamerlane himself turned heavily about; pointing +his black, cannon-like nose directly toward our broadside. Meanwhile, the +little Pilot fish darted hither and thither; keeping up a mighty fidgeting, +like men of small minds in a state of nervous agitation. +</p> + +<p> +Presently, Tamerlane swam nearer and nearer, all the while lazily eyeing the +Chamois, as a wild boar a kid. Suddenly making a rush for it, in the foam he +made away with the bait. But the next instant, the uplifted lance sped at his +skull; and thrashing his requiem with his sinewy tail, he sunk slowly, through +his own blood, out of sight. Down with him swam the terrified Pilot fish; but +soon after, three of them were observed close to the boat, gliding along at a +uniform pace; one an each side, and one in advance; even as they had attended +their lord. Doubtless, one was under our keel. +</p> + +<p> +“A good omen,” said Jarl; “no harm will befall us so long as +they stay.” +</p> + +<p> +But however that might be, follow us they did, for many days after: until an +event occurred, which necessitated their withdrawal. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0019"></a> +CHAPTER XIX.<br/> +Who Goes There?</h2> + +<p> +Jarl’s oar showed sixteen notches on the loom, when one evening, as the +expanded sun touched the horizon’s rim, a ship’s uppermost spars +were observed, traced like a spider’s web against its crimson disk. It +looked like a far-off craft on fire. +</p> + +<p> +In bright weather at sea, a sail, invisible in the full flood of noon, becomes +perceptible toward sunset. It is the reverse in the morning. In sight at gray +dawn, the distant vessel, though in reality approaching, recedes from view, as +the sun rises higher and higher. This holds true, till its vicinity makes it +readily fall within the ordinary scope of vision. And thus, too, here and +there, with other distant things: the more light you throw on them, the more +you obscure. Some revelations show best in a twilight. +</p> + +<p> +The sight of the stranger not a little surprised us. But brightening up, as if +the encounter were welcome, Jarl looked happy and expectant. He quickly changed +his demeanor, however, upon perceiving that I was bent upon shunning a meeting. +</p> + +<p> +Instantly our sails were struck; and calling upon Jarl, who was somewhat +backward to obey, I shipped the oars; and, both rowing, we stood away obliquely +from our former course. +</p> + +<p> +I divined that the vessel was a whaler; and hence, that by help of the glass, +with which her look-outs must be momentarily sweeping the horizon, they might +possibly have descried us; especially, as we were due east from the ship; a +direction, which at sunset is the one most favorable for perceiving a far-off +object at sea. Furthermore, our canvas was snow-white and conspicuous. To be +sure, we could not be certain what kind of a vessel it was; but whatever it +might be, I, for one, had no mind to risk an encounter; for it was quite plain, +that if the stranger came within hailing distance, there would be no resource +but to link our fortunes with hers; whereas I desired to pursue none but the +Chamois’. As for the Skyeman, he kept looking wistfully over his +shoulder; doubtless, praying Heaven, that we might not escape what I sought to +avoid. +</p> + +<p> +Now, upon a closer scrutiny, being pretty well convinced that the stranger, +after all, was steering a nearly westerly course—right away from +us—we reset our sail; and as night fell, my Viking’s entreaties, +seconded by my own curiosity, induced me to resume our original course; and so +follow after the vessel, with a view of obtaining a nearer glimpse, without +danger of detection. So, boldly we steered for the sail. +</p> + +<p> +But not gaining much upon her, spite of the lightness of the breeze (a +circumstance in our favor: the chase being a ship, and we but a boat), at my +comrade’s instigation, we added oars to sails, readily guiding our way by +the former, though the helm was left to itself. +</p> + +<p> +As we came nearer, it was plain that the vessel was no whaler; but a small, +two-masted craft; in short, a brigantine. Her sails were in a state of +unaccountable disarray, only the foresail, mainsail, and jib being set. The +first was much tattered; and the jib was hoisted but half way up the stay, +where it idly flapped, the breeze coming from over the taffrail. She +continually yawed in her course; now almost presenting her broadside, then +showing her stern. +</p> + +<p> +Striking our sails once more, we lay on our oars, and watched her in the +starlight. Still she swung from side to side, and still sailed on. +</p> + +<p> +Not a little terrified at the sight, superstitious Jarl more than insinuated +that the craft must be a gold-huntress, haunted. But I told him, that if such +were the case, we must board her, come gold or goblins. In reality, however, I +began to think that she must have been abandoned by her crew; or else, that +from sickness, those on board were incapable of managing her. +</p> + +<p> +After a long and anxious reconnoiter, we came still nearer, using our oars, but +very reluctantly on Jarl’s part; who, while rowing, kept his eyes over +his shoulder, as if about to beach the little Chamois on the back of a whale as +of yore. Indeed, he seemed full as impatient to quit the vicinity of the +vessel, as before he had been anxiously courting it. +</p> + +<p> +Now, as the silent brigantine again swung round her broadside, I hailed her +loudly. No return. Again. But all was silent. With a few vigorous strokes, we +closed with her, giving yet another unanswered hail; when, laying the Chamois +right alongside, I clutched at the main-chains. Instantly we felt her dragging +us along. Securing our craft by its painter, I sprang over the rail, followed +by Jarl, who had snatched his harpoon, his favorite arms. Long used with that +weapon to overcome the monsters of the deep, he doubted not it would prove +equally serviceable in any other encounter. +</p> + +<p> +The deck was a complete litter. Tossed about were pearl oyster shells, husks of +cocoa-nuts, empty casks, and cases. The deserted tiller was lashed; which +accounted for the vessel’s yawing. But we could not conceive, how going +large before the wind; the craft could, for any considerable time, at least, +have guided herself without the help of a hand. Still, the breeze was light and +steady. +</p> + +<p> +Now, seeing the helm thus lashed, I could not but distrust the silence that +prevailed. It conjured up the idea of miscreants concealed below, and +meditating treachery; unscrupulous mutineers—Lascars, or Manilla-men; +who, having murdered the Europeans of the crew, might not be willing to let +strangers depart unmolested. Or yet worse, the entire ship’s company +might have been swept away by a fever, its infection still lurking in the +poisoned hull. And though the first conceit, as the last, was a mere surmise, +it was nevertheless deemed prudent to secure the hatches, which for the present +we accordingly barred down with the oars of our boat. This done, we went about +the deck in search of water. And finding some in a clumsy cask, drank long and +freely, and to our thirsty souls’ content. +</p> + +<p> +The wind now freshening, and the rent sails like to blow from the yards, we +brought the brigantine to the wind, and brailed up the canvas. This left us at +liberty to examine the craft, though, unfortunately, the night was growing +hazy. +</p> + +<p> +All this while our boat was still towing alongside; and I was about to drop it +astern, when Jarl, ever cautious, declared it safer where it was; since, if +there were people on board, they would most likely be down in the cabin, from +the dead-lights of which, mischief might be done to the Chamois. +</p> + +<p> +It was then, that my comrade observed, that the brigantine had no boats, a +circumstance most unusual in any sort of a vessel at sea. But marking this, I +was exceedingly gratified. It seemed to indicate, as I had opined, that from +some cause or other, she must have been abandoned of her crew. And in a good +measure this dispelled my fears of foul play, and the apprehension of +contagion. Encouraged by these reflections, I now resolved to descend, and +explore the cabin, though sorely against Jarl’s counsel. To be sure, as +he earnestly said, this step might have been deferred till daylight; but it +seemed too wearisome to wait. So bethinking me of our tinder-box and candles, I +sent him into the boat for them. Presently, two candles were lit; one of which +the Skyeman tied up and down the barbed end of his harpoon; so that upon going +below, the keen steel might not be far off, should the light be blown out by a +dastard. +</p> + +<p> +Unfastening the cabin scuttle, we stepped downward into the smallest and +murkiest den in the world. The altar-like transom, surmounted by the closed +dead-lights in the stem, together with the dim little sky- light overhead, and +the somber aspect of every thing around, gave the place the air of some +subterranean oratory, say a Prayer Room of Peter the Hermit. But coils of +rigging, bolts of canvas, articles of clothing, and disorderly heaps of +rubbish, harmonized not with this impression. Two doors, one on each side, led +into wee little state- rooms, the berths of which also were littered. Among +other things, was a large box, sheathed with iron and stoutly clamped, +containing a keg partly filled with powder, the half of an old cutlass, a pouch +of bullets, and a case for a sextant—a brass plate on the lid, with the +maker’s name. London. The broken blade of the cutlass was very rusty and +stained; and the iron hilt bent in. It looked so tragical that I thrust it out +of sight. +</p> + +<p> +Removing a small trap-door, opening into the space beneath, called the +“run,” we lighted upon sundry cutlasses and muskets, lying together +at sixes and sevens, as if pitched down in a hurry. +</p> + +<p> +Casting round a hasty glance, and satisfying ourselves, that through the +bulkhead of the cabin, there was no passage to the forward part of the hold, we +caught up the muskets and cutlasses, the powder keg and the pouch of bullets, +and bundling them on deck, prepared to visit the other end of the vessel. +Previous to so doing, however, I loaded a musket, and belted a cutlass to my +side. But my Viking preferred his harpoon. +</p> + +<p> +In the forecastle reigned similar confusion. But there was a snug little lair, +cleared away in one corner, and furnished with a grass mat and bolster, like +those used among the Islanders of these seas. This little lair looked to us as +if some leopard had crouched there. And as it turned out, we were not far from +right. Forming one side of this retreat, was a sailor’s chest, stoutly +secured by a lock, and monstrous heavy withal. Regardless of Jarl’s +entreaties, I managed to burst the lid; thereby revealing a motley assemblage +of millinery, and outlandish knick-knacks of all sorts; together with sundry +rude Calico contrivances, which though of unaccountable cut, nevertheless +possessed a certain petticoatish air, and latitude of skirt, betokening them +the habiliments of some feminine creature; most probably of the human species. +</p> + +<p> +In this strong box, also, was a canvas bag, jingling with rusty old +bell-buttons, gangrened copper bolts, and sheathing nails; damp, greenish +Carolus dollars (true coin all), besides divers iron screws, and battered, +chisels, and belaying-pins. Sounded on the chest lid, the dollars rang clear as +convent bells. These were put aside by Jarl the sight of substantial dollars +doing away, for the nonce, with his superstitious Misgivings. True to his +kingship, he loved true coin; though abroad on the sea, and no land but +dollarless dominions ground, all this silver was worthless as charcoal or +diamonds. Nearly one and the same thing, say the chemists; but tell that to the +marines, say the illiterate Jews and the jewelers. Go, buy a house, or a ship, +if you can, with your charcoal! Yea, all the woods in Canada charred down to +cinders would not be worth the one famed Brazilian diamond, though no bigger +than the egg of a carrier pigeon. Ah! but these chemists are liars, and Sir +Humphrey Davy a cheat. Many’s the poor devil they’ve deluded into +the charcoal business, who otherwise might have made his fortune with a +mattock. +</p> + +<p> +Groping again into the chest, we brought to light a queer little hair trunk, +very bald and rickety. At every corner was a mighty clamp, the weight of which +had no doubt debilitated the box. It was jealously secured with a padlock, +almost as big as itself; so that it was almost a question, which was meant to +be security to the other. Prying at it hard, we at length effected an entrance; +but saw no golden moidores, no ruddy doubloons; nothing under heaven but three +pewter mugs, such as are used in a ship’s cabin, several brass screws, +and brass plates, which must have belonged to a quadrant; together with a +famous lot of glass beads, and brass rings; while, pasted on the inside of the +cover, was a little colored print, representing the harlots, the shameless +hussies, having a fine time with the Prodigal Son. +</p> + +<p> +It should have been mentioned ere now, that while we were busy in the +forecastle, we were several times startled by strange sounds aloft. And just +after, crashing into the little hair trunk, down came a great top-block, right +through the scuttle, narrowly missing my Viking’s crown; a much stronger +article, by the way, than your goldsmiths turn out in these days. This startled +us much; particularly Jarl, as one might suppose; but accustomed to the strange +creakings and wheezings of the masts and yards of old vessels at sea, and +having many a time dodged stray blocks accidentally falling from aloft, I +thought little more of the matter; though my comrade seemed to think the noises +somewhat different from any thing of that kind he had even heard before. +</p> + +<p> +After a little more turning over of the rubbish in the forecastle, and much +marveling thereat, we ascended to the deck; where we found every thing so +silent, that, as we moved toward the taffrail, the Skyeman unconsciously +addressed me in a whisper. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0020"></a> +CHAPTER XX.<br/> +Noises And Portents</h2> + +<p> +I longed for day. For however now inclined to believe that the brigantine was +untenanted, I desired the light of the sun to place that fact beyond a +misgiving. +</p> + +<p> +Now, having observed, previous to boarding the vessel, that she lay rather low +in the water, I thought proper to sound the well. But there being no +line-and-sinker at hand, I sent Jarl to hunt them up in the arm-chest on the +quarter-deck, where doubtless they must be kept. Meanwhile I searched for the +“breaks,” or pump-handles, which, as it turned out, could not have +been very recently used; for they were found lashed up and down to the +main-mast. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly Jarl came running toward me, whispering that all doubt was +dispelled;—there were spirits on board, to a dead certainty. He had +overheard a supernatural sneeze. But by this time I was all but convinced, that +we were alone in the brigantine. Since, if otherwise, I could assign no earthly +reason for the crew’s hiding away from a couple of sailors, whom, were +they so minded, they might easily have mastered. And furthermore, this alleged +disturbance of the atmosphere aloft by a sneeze, Jarl averred to have taken +place in the main-top; directly underneath which I was all this time standing, +and had heard nothing. So complimenting my good Viking upon the exceeding +delicacy of his auriculars, I bade him trouble himself no more with his +piratical ghosts and goblins, which existed nowhere but in his own imagination. +</p> + +<p> +Not finding the line-and-sinker, with the spare end of a bowline we rigged a +substitute; and sounding the well, found nothing to excite our alarm. Under +certain circumstances, however, this sounding a ship’s well is a nervous +sort of business enough. ’Tis like feeling your own pulse in the last +stage of a fever. +</p> + +<p> +At the Skyeman’s suggestion, we now proceeded to throw round the +brigantine’s head on the other tack. For until daylight we desired to +alter the vessel’s position as little as possible, fearful of coming +unawares upon reefs. +</p> + +<p> +And here be it said, that for all his superstitious misgivings about the +brigantine; his imputing to her something equivalent to a purely phantom-like +nature, honest Jarl was nevertheless exceedingly downright and practical in all +hints and proceedings concerning her. Wherein, he resembled my Right Reverend +friend, Bishop Berkeley—truly, one of your lords spiritual—who, +metaphysically speaking, holding all objects to be mere optical delusions, was, +notwith- standing, extremely matter-of-fact in all matters touching matter +itself. Besides being pervious to the points of pins, and possessing a palate +capable of appreciating plum-puddings:—which sentence reads off like a +pattering of hailstones. +</p> + +<p> +Now, while we were employed bracing round the yards, whispering Jarl must needs +pester me again with his confounded suspicions of goblins on board. He swore by +the main-mast, that when the fore-yard swung round, he had heard a half-stifled +groan from that quarter; as if one of his bugbears had been getting its aerial +legs jammed. I laughed:—hinting that goblins were incorporeal. Whereupon +he besought me to ascend the fore-rigging and test the matter for myself But +here my mature judgment got the better of my first crude opinion. I civilly +declined. For assuredly, there was still a possibility, that the fore-top might +be tenanted, and that too by living miscreants; and a pretty hap would be mine, +if, with hands full of rigging, and legs dangling in air, while surmounting the +oblique futtock- shrouds, some unseen arm should all at once tumble me +overboard. Therefore I held my peace; while Jarl went on to declare, that with +regard to the character of the brigantine, his mind was now pretty fully made +up;—she was an arrant impostor, a shade of a ship, full of sailors’ +ghosts, and before we knew where we were, would dissolve in a supernatural +squall, and leave us twain in the water. In short, Jarl, the descendant of the +superstitious old Norsemen, was full of old Norse conceits, and all manner of +Valhalla marvels concerning the land of goblins and goblets. No wonder then, +that with this catastrophe in prospect, he again entreated me to quit the +ill-starred craft, carrying off nothing from her ghostly hull. But I refused. +</p> + +<p> +One can not relate every thing at once. While in the cabin, we came across a +“barge” of biscuit, and finding its contents of a quality much +superior to our own, we had filled our pockets and occasionally regaled +ourselves in the intervals of rummaging. Now this sea cake- basket we had +brought on deck. And for the first time since bidding adieu to the Arcturion +having fully quenched our thirst, our appetite returned with a rush; and having +nothing better to do till day dawned, we planted the bread-barge in the middle +of the quarter-deck; and crossing our legs before it, laid close seige thereto, +like the Grand Turk and his Vizier Mustapha sitting down before Vienna. +</p> + +<p> +Our castle, the Bread-Barge was of the common sort; an oblong oaken box, much +battered and bruised, and like the Elgin Marbles, all over inscriptions and +carving:—foul anchors, skewered hearts, almanacs, Burton-blocks, love +verses, links of cable, Kings of Clubs; and divers mystic diagrams in chalk, +drawn by old Finnish mariners; in casting horoscopes and prophecies. Your old +tars are all Daniels. There was a round hole in one side, through which, in +getting at the bread, invited guests thrust their hands. +</p> + +<p> +And mighty was the thrusting of hands that night; also, many and earnest the +glances of Mustapha at every sudden creaking of the spars or rigging. Like +Belshazzar, my royal Viking ate with great fear and trembling; ever and anon +pausing to watch the wild shadows flitting along the bulwarks. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0021"></a> +CHAPTER XXI.<br/> +Man Ho!</h2> + +<p> +Slowly, fitfully, broke the morning in the East, showing the desolate brig +forging heavily through the water, which sluggishly thumped under her bows. +While leaping from sea to sea, our faithful Chamois, like a faithful dog, still +gamboled alongside, confined to the main- chains by its painter. At times, it +would long lag behind; then, pushed by a wave like lightning dash forward; till +bridled by its leash, it again fell in rear. +</p> + +<p> +As the gray light came on, anxiously we scrutinized the features of the craft, +as one by one they became more plainly revealed. Every thing seemed stranger +now, than when partially visible in the dingy night. The stanchions, or posts +of the bulwarks, were of rough stakes, still incased in the bark. The unpainted +sides were of a dark-colored, heathenish looking wood. The tiller was a +wry-necked, elbowed bough, thrusting itself through the deck, as if the tree +itself was fast rooted in the hold. The binnacle, containing the compass, was +defended at the sides by yellow matting. The rigging—shrouds, halyards +and all—was of “Kaiar,” or cocoa-nut fibres; and here and +there the sails were patched with plaited rushes. +</p> + +<p> +But this was not all. Whoso will pry, must needs light upon matters for +suspicion. Glancing over the side, in the wake of every scupper- hole, we +beheld a faded, crimson stain, which Jarl averred to be blood. Though now he +betrayed not the slightest trepidation; for what he saw pertained not to +ghosts; and all his fears hitherto had been of the super-natural. +</p> + +<p> +Indeed, plucking up a heart, with the dawn of the day my Viking looked bold as +a lion; and soon, with the instinct of an old seaman cast his eyes up aloft. +</p> + +<p> +Directly, he touched my arm,—“Look: what stirs in the +main-top?” +</p> + +<p> +Sure enough, something alive was there. +</p> + +<p> +Fingering our arms, we watched it; till as the day came on, a crouching +stranger was beheld. +</p> + +<p> +Presenting my piece, I hailed him to descend or be shot. There was silence for +a space, when the black barrel of a musket was thrust forth, leveled at my +head. Instantly, Jarl’s harpoon was presented at a dart;—two to +one;—and my hail was repeated. But no reply. +</p> + +<p> +“Who are you?” +</p> + +<p> +“Samoa,” at length said a clear, firm voice. +</p> + +<p> +“Come down from the rigging. We are friends.” +</p> + +<p> +Another pause; when, rising to his feet, the stranger slowly descended, holding +on by one hand to the rigging, for but one did he have; his musket partly slung +from his back, and partly griped under the stump of his mutilated arm. +</p> + +<p> +He alighted about six paces from where we stood; and balancing his weapon, eyed +us bravely as the Cid. +</p> + +<p> +He was a tall, dark Islander, a very devil to behold, theatrically arrayed in +kilt and turban; the kilt of a gay calico print, the turban of a red China +silk. His neck was jingling with strings of beads. +</p> + +<p> +“Who else is on board?” I asked; while Jarl, thus far covering the +stranger with his weapon, now dropped it to the deck. +</p> + +<p> +“Look there:—Annatoo!” was his reply in broken English, +pointing aloft to the fore-top. And lo! a woman, also an Islander; and barring +her skirts, dressed very much like Samoa, was beheld descending. +</p> + +<p> +“Any more?” +</p> + +<p> +“No more.” +</p> + +<p> +“Who are <i>you</i> then; and what craft is this?” +</p> + +<p> +“Ah, ah—you are no ghost;—but are you my friend?” he +cried, advancing nearer as he spoke; while the woman having gained the deck, +also approached, eagerly glancing. +</p> + +<p> +We said we were friends; that we meant no harm; but desired to know what craft +this was; and what disaster had befallen her; for that something untoward had +occurred, we were certain. +</p> + +<p> +Whereto, Samoa made answer, that it was true that something dreadful had +happened; and that he would gladly tell us all, and tell us the truth. And +about it he went. +</p> + +<p> +Now, this story of his was related in the mixed phraseology of a Polynesian +sailor. With a few random reflections, in substance, it will be found in the +six following chapters. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0022"></a> +CHAPTER XXII.<br/> +What Befel The Brigantine At The Pearl Shell Islands</h2> + +<p> +The vessel was the Parki, of Lahina, a village and harbor on the coast of +Mowee, one of the Hawaian isles, where she had been miserably cobbled together +with planks of native wood, and fragments of a wreck, there drifted ashore. +</p> + +<p> +Her appellative had been bestowed in honor of a high chief, the tallest and +goodliest looking gentleman in all the Sandwich Islands. With a mixed European +and native crew, about thirty in number (but only four whites in all, captain +included), the Parki, some four months previous, had sailed from her port on a +voyage southward, in quest of pearls, and pearl oyster shells, sea-slugs, and +other matters of that sort. +</p> + +<p> +Samoa, a native of the Navigator Islands, had long followed the sea, and was +well versed in the business of oyster diving and its submarine mysteries. The +native Lahineese on board were immediately subordinate to him; the captain +having bargained with Samoa for their services as divers. +</p> + +<p> +The woman, Annatoo, was a native of a far-off, anonymous island to the +westward: whence, when quite young, she had been carried by the commander of a +ship, touching there on a passage from Macao to Valparaiso. At Valparaiso her +protector put her ashore; most probably, as I afterward had reason to think, +for a nuisance. +</p> + +<p> +By chance it came to pass that when Annatoo’s first virgin bloom had +departed, leaving nothing but a lusty frame and a lustier soul, Samoa, the +Navigator, had fallen desperately in love with her. And thinking the lady to +his mind, being brave like himself, and doubtless well adapted to the +vicissitudes of matrimony at sea, he meditated suicide—I would have said, +wedlock—and the twain became one. And some time after, in capacity of +wife, Annatoo the dame, accompanied in the brigantine, Samoa her lord. Now, as +Antony flew to the refuse embraces of Caesar, so Samoa solaced himself in the +arms of this discarded fair one. And the sequel was the same. For not harder +the life Cleopatra led my fine frank friend, poor Mark, than Queen Annatoo did +lead this captive of her bow and her spear. But all in good time. +</p> + +<p> +They left their port; and crossing the Tropic and the Line, fell in with a +cluster of islands, where the shells they sought were found in round numbers. +And here—not at all strange to tell besides the natives, they encountered +a couple of Cholos, or half-breed Spaniards, from the Main; one half Spanish, +the other half quartered between the wild Indian and the devil; a race, that +from Baldivia to Panama are notorious for their unscrupulous villainy. +</p> + +<p> +Now, the half-breeds having long since deserted a ship at these islands, had +risen to high authority among the natives. This hearing, the Parki’s +captain was much gratified; he, poor ignorant, never before having fallen in +with any of their treacherous race. And, no doubt, he imagined that their +influence over the Islanders would tend to his advantage. At all events, he +made presents to the Cholos; who, in turn, provided him with additional divers +from among the natives. Very kindly, also, they pointed out the best places for +seeking the oysters. In a word, they were exceedingly friendly; often coming +off to the brigantine, and sociably dining with the captain in the cabin; +placing the salt between them and him. +</p> + +<p> +All things went on very pleasantly until, one morning, the half- breeds +prevailed upon the captain to go with them, in his whale-boat, to a shoal on +the thither side of the island, some distance from the spot where lay the +brigantine. They so managed it, moreover, that none but the Lahineese under +Samoa, in whom the captain much confided, were left in custody of the Parki; +the three white men going along to row; for there happened to be little or no +wind for a sail. +</p> + +<p> +Now, the fated brig lay anchored within a deep, smooth, circular lagoon, +margined on all sides but one by the most beautiful groves. On that side, was +the outlet to the sea; perhaps a cable’s length or more from where the +brigantine had been moored. An hour or two after the party were gone, and when +the boat was completely out of sight, the natives in shoals were perceived +coming off from the shore; some in canoes, and some swimming. The former +brought bread fruit and bananas, ostentatiously piled up in their proas; the +latter dragged after them long strings of cocoanuts; for all of which, on +nearing the vessel, they clamorously demanded knives and hatchets in barter. +</p> + +<p> +From their actions, suspecting some treachery, Samoa stood in the gangway, and +warned them off; saying that no barter could take place until the +captain’s return. But presently one of the savages stealthily climbed up +from the water, and nimbly springing from the bob-stays to the bow-sprit, +darted a javelin full at the foremast, where it vibrated. The signal of blood! +With terrible outcries, the rest, pulling forth their weapons, hitherto +concealed in the canoes, or under the floating cocoanuts, leaped into the low +chains of the brigantine; sprang over the bulwarks; and, with clubs and spears, +attacked the aghast crew with the utmost ferocity. +</p> + +<p> +After one faint rally, the Lahineese scrambled for the rigging; but to a man +were overtaken and slain. +</p> + +<p> +At the first alarm, Annatoo, however, had escaped to the fore-top-gallant-yard, +higher than which she could not climb, and whither the savages durst not +venture. For though after their nuts these Polynesians will climb palm trees +like squirrels; yet, at the first blush, they decline a ship’s mast like +Kennebec farmers. +</p> + +<p> +Upon the first token of an onslaught, Samoa, having rushed toward the cabin +scuttle for arms, was there fallen upon by two young savages. But after a +desperate momentary fray, in which his arm was mangled, he made shift to spring +below, instantly securing overhead the slide of the scuttle. In the cabin, +while yet the uproar of butchery prevailed, he quietly bound up his arm; then +laying on the transom the captain’s three loaded muskets, undauntedly +awaited an assault. +</p> + +<p> +The object of the natives, it seems, was to wreck the brigantine upon the sharp +coral beach of the lagoon. And with this intent, one of their number had +plunged into the water, and cut the cable, which was of hemp. But the tide +ebbing, cast the Parki’s head seaward—toward the outlet; and the +savages, perceiving this, clumsily boarded the fore-tack, and hauled aft the +sheet; thus setting, after a fashion, the fore-sail, previously loosed to dry. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, a gray-headed old chief stood calmly at the tiller, endeavoring to +steer the vessel shoreward. But not managing the helm aright, the brigantine, +now gliding apace through the water, only made more way toward the outlet. +Seeing which, the ringleaders, six or eight in number, ran to help the old +graybeard at the helm. But it was a black hour for them. Of a sudden, while +they were handling the tiller, three muskets were rapidly discharged upon them +from the cabin skylight. Two of the savages dropped dead. The old steersman, +clutching wildly at the helm, fell over it, mortally wounded; and in a wild +panic at seeing their leaders thus unaccountably slain, the rest of the natives +leaped overboard and made for the shore. +</p> + +<p> +Hearing the slashing, Samoa flew on deck; and beholding the foresail set, and +the brigantine heading right out to sea, he cried out to Annatoo, still aloft, +to descend to the topsail-yard, and loose the canvas there. His command was +obeyed. Annatoo deserved a gold medal for what she did that day. Hastening down +the rigging, after loosing the topsail, she strained away at the sheets; in +which operation she was assisted by Samoa, who snatched an instant from the +helm. +</p> + +<p> +The foresail and fore-topsail were now tolerably well set; and as the craft +drew seaward, the breeze freshened. And well that it did; for, recovered from +their alarm, the savages were now in hot pursuit; some in canoes, and some +swimming as before. But soon the main-topsail was given to the breeze, which +still freshening, came from over the quarter. And with this brave show of +canvas, the Parki made gallantly for the outlet; and loud shouted Samoa as she +shot by the reef, and parted the long swells without. Against these, the +savages could not swim. And at that turn of the tide, paddling a canoe therein +was almost equally difficult. But the fugitives were not yet safe. In full +chase now came in sight the whale-boat manned by the Cholos, and four or five +Islanders. Whereat, making no doubt, that all the whites who left the vessel +that morning had been massacred through the treachery of the half-breeds; and +that the capture of the brigantine had been premeditated; Samoa now saw no +other resource than to point his craft dead away from the land. +</p> + +<p> +Now on came the devils buckling to their oars. Meantime Annatoo was still busy +aloft, loosing the smaller sails—t’gallants and royals, which she +managed partially to set. +</p> + +<p> +The strong breeze from astern now filling the ill-set sails, they bellied, and +rocked in the air, like balloons, while, from the novel strain upon it, every +spar quivered and sprung. And thus, like a frightened gull fleeing from +sea-hawks, the little Parki swooped along, and bravely breasted the brine. +</p> + +<p> +His shattered arm in a hempen sling, Samoa stood at the helm, the muskets +reloaded, and planted full before him on the binnacle. For a time, so badly did +the brigantine steer, by reason of her ill- adjusted sails, made still more +unmanageable by the strength of the breeze,—that it was doubtful, after +all, notwithstanding her start, whether the fugitives would not yet fall a prey +to their hunters. The craft wildly yawed, and the boat drew nearer and nearer. +Maddened by the sight, and perhaps thinking more of revenge for the past, than +of security for the future, Samoa, yielding the helm to Annatoo, rested his +muskets on the bulwarks, and taking long, sure aim, discharged them, one by one +at the advancing foe. +</p> + +<p> +The three reports were answered by loud jeers from the savages, who brandished +their spears, and made gestures of derision; while with might and main the +Cholos tugged at their oars. +</p> + +<p> +The boat still gaining on the brigantine, the muskets were again reloaded. And +as the next shot sped, there was a pause; when, like lightning, the headmost +Cholo bounded upwards from his seat, and oar in hand, fell into the sea. A +fierce yell; and one of the natives springing into the water, caught the +sinking body by its long hair; and the dead and the living were dragged into +the boat. Taking heart from this fatal shot, Samoa fired yet again; but not +with the like sure result; merely grazing the remaining half-breed, who, +crouching behind his comrades, besought them to turn the boat round, and make +for the shore. Alarmed at the fate of his brother, and seemingly distrustful of +the impartiality of Samoa’s fire, the pusillanimous villain refused to +expose a limb above the gunwale. +</p> + +<p> +Fain now would the pursuers have made good their escape; but an accident +forbade. In the careening of the boat, when the stricken Cholo sprung +overboard, two of their oars had slid into the water; and together with that +death-griped by the half-breed, were now floating off; occasionally lost to +view, as they sunk in the trough of the sea. Two of the Islanders swam to +recover them; but frightened by the whirring of a shot over their heads, as +they unavoidably struck out towards the Parki, they turned quickly about; just +in time to see one of their comrades smite his body with his hand, as he +received a bullet from Samoa. +</p> + +<p> +Enough: darting past the ill-fated boat, they swam rapidly for land, followed +by the rest; who plunged overboard, leaving in the boat the surviving +Cholo—who it seems could not swim—the wounded savage, and the dead +man. +</p> + +<p> +“Load away now, and take thy revenge, my fine fellow,” said Samoa +to himself. But not yet. Seeing all at his mercy, and having none, he quickly +laid his fore-topsail to the mast; “hove to” the brigantine; and +opened fire anew upon the boat; every swell of the sea heaving it nearer and +nearer. Vain all efforts to escape. The wounded man paddled wildly with his +hands the dead one rolled from side to side; and the Cholo, seizing the +solitary oar, in his frenzied heedlessness, spun the boat round and round; +while all the while shot followed shot, Samoa firing as fast as Annatoo could +load. At length both Cholo and savage fell dead upon their comrades, canting +the boat over sideways, till well nigh awash; in which manner she drifted off. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0023"></a> +CHAPTER XXIII.<br/> +Sailing From The Island They Pillage The Cabin</h2> + +<p> +There was a small carronade on the forecastle, unshipped from its carriage, and +lashed down to ringbolts on the deck. This Samoa now loaded; and with an ax +knocking off the round knob upon the breech, rammed it home in the tube. When, +running the cannon out at one of the ports, and studying well his aim, he let +fly, sunk the boat, and buried his dead. +</p> + +<p> +It was now late in the afternoon; and for the present bent upon avoiding land, +and gaining the shoreless sea, never mind where, Samoa again forced round his +craft before the wind, leaving the island astern. The decks were still cumbered +with the bodies of the Lahineese, which heel to point and crosswise, had, +log-like, been piled up on the main-hatch. These, one by one, were committed to +the sea; after which, the decks were washed down. +</p> + +<p> +At sunrise next morning, finding themselves out of sight of land, with little +or no wind, they stopped their headway, and lashed the tiller alee, the better +to enable them to overhaul the brigantine; especially the recesses of the +cabin. For there, were stores of goods adapted for barter among the Islanders; +also several bags of dollars. +</p> + +<p> +Now, nothing can exceed the cupidity of the Polynesian, when, through partial +commerce with the whites, his eyes are opened to his nakedness, and he +perceives that in some things they are richer than himself. +</p> + +<p> +The poor skipper’s wardrobe was first explored; his chests of clothes +being capsized, and their contents strown about the cabin floor. +</p> + +<p> +Then took place the costuming. Samoa and Annatoo trying on coats and +pantaloons, shirts and drawers, and admiring themselves in the little mirror +panneled in the bulk-head. Then, were broken open boxes and bales; rolls of +printed cotton were inspected, and vastly admired; insomuch, that the trumpery +found in the captain’s chests was disdainfully doffed: and donned were +loose folds of calico, more congénial to their tastes. +</p> + +<p> +As case after case was opened and overturned, slippery grew the cabin deck with +torrents of glass beads; and heavy the necks of Samoa and Annatoo with goodly +bunches thereof. +</p> + +<p> +Among other things, came to light brass jewelry,—Rag Fair gewgaws and +baubles a plenty, more admired than all; Annatoo, bedecking herself like, a +tragedy queen: one blaze of brass. Much mourned the married dame, that thus +arrayed, there was none to admire but Samoa her husband; but he was all the +while admiring himself, and not her. +</p> + +<p> +And here must needs be related, what has hitherto remained unsaid. Very often +this husband and wife were no Darby and Joan. Their married life was one long +campaign, whereof the truces were only by night. They billed and they cooed on +their arms, rising fresh in the morning to battle, and often Samoa got more +than a hen-pecking. To be short, Annatoo was a Tartar, a regular Calmuc, and +Samoa—Heaven help him—her husband. +</p> + +<p> +Yet awhile, joined together by a sense of common danger, and long engrossed in +turning over their tinsel acquisitions without present thought of +proprietorship, the pair refrained from all squabbles. But soon burst the +storm. Having given every bale and every case a good shaking, Annatoo, making +an estimate of the whole, very coolly proceeded to set apart for herself +whatever she fancied. To this, Samoa objected; to which objection Annatoo +objected; and then they went at it. +</p> + +<p> +The lady vowed that the things were no more Samoa’s than hers; nay, not +so much; and that whatever she wanted, that same would she have. And +furthermore, by way of codicil, she declared that she was slave to nobody. +</p> + +<p> +Now, Samoa, sad to tell, stood in no little awe of his bellicose spouse. What, +though a hero in other respects; what, though he had slain his savages, and +gallantly carried his craft from their clutches:—Like the valiant +captains Marlborough and Belisarius, he was a poltroon to his wife. And Annatoo +was worse than either Sarah or Antonina. +</p> + +<p> +However, like every thing partaking of the nature of a scratch, most conjugal +squabbles are quickly healed; for if they healed not, they would never anew +break out: which is the beauty of the thing. So at length they made up but the +treaty stipulations of Annatoo told much against the interests of Samoa. +Nevertheless, ostensibly, it was agreed upon, that they should strictly go +halves; the lady, however, laying special claim to certain valuables, more +particularly fancied. But as a set-off to this, she generously renounced all +claims upon the spare rigging; all claims upon the fore-mast and mainmast; and +all claims upon the captain’s arms and ammunition. Of the latter, by the +way, Dame Antonina stood in no need. Her voice was a park of artillery; her +talons a charge of bayonets. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0024"></a> +CHAPTER XXIV.<br/> +Dedicated To The College Of Physicians And Surgeons</h2> + +<p> +By this time Samoa’s wounded arm was in such a state, that amputation +became necessary. Among savages, severe personal injuries are, for the most +part, accounted but trifles. When a European would be taking to his couch in +despair, the savage would disdain to recline. +</p> + +<p> +More yet. In Polynesia, every man is his own barber and surgeon, cutting off +his beard or arm, as occasion demands. No unusual thing, for the warriors of +Varvoo to saw off their own limbs, desperately wounded in battle. But owing to +the clumsiness of the instrument employed—a flinty, serrated +shell—the operation has been known to last several days. Nor will they +suffer any friend to help them; maintaining, that a matter so nearly concerning +a warrior is far better attended to by himself. Hence it may be said, that they +amputate themselves at their leisure, and hang up their tools when tired. But, +though thus beholden to no one for aught connected with the practice of +surgery, they never cut off their own heads, that ever I heard; a species of +amputation to which, metaphorically speaking, many would-be independent sort of +people in civilized lands are addicted. +</p> + +<p> +Samoa’s operation was very summary. A fire was kindled in the little +caboose, or cook-house, and so made as to produce much smoke. He then placed +his arm upon one of the windlass bitts (a short upright timber, breast-high), +and seizing the blunt cook’s ax would have struck the blow; but for some +reason distrusting the precision of his aim, Annatoo was assigned to the task. +Three strokes, and the limb, from just above the elbow, was no longer +Samoa’s; and he saw his own bones; which many a centenarian can not say. +The very clumsiness of the operation was safety to the subject. The weight and +bluntness of the instrument both deadened the pain and lessened the hemorrhage. +The wound was then scorched, and held over the smoke of the fire, till all +signs of blood vanished. From that day forward it healed, and troubled Samoa +but little. +</p> + +<p> +But shall the sequel be told? How that, superstitiously averse to burying in +the sea the dead limb of a body yet living; since in that case Samoa held, that +he must very soon drown and follow it; and how, that equally dreading to keep +the thing near him, he at last hung it aloft from the topmast-stay; where yet +it was suspended, bandaged over and over in cerements. The hand that must have +locked many others in friendly clasp, or smote a foe, was no food, thought +Samoa, for fowls of the air nor fishes of the sea. +</p> + +<p> +Now, which was Samoa? The dead arm swinging high as Haman? Or the living trunk +below? Was the arm severed from the body, or the body from the arm? The +residual part of Samoa was alive, and therefore we say it was he. But which of +the writhing sections of a ten times severed worm, is the worm proper? +</p> + +<p> +For myself, I ever regarded Samoa as but a large fragment of a man, not a man +complete. For was he not an entire limb out of pocket? And the action at +Teneriffe over, great Nelson himself—physiologically speaking—was +but three-quarters of a man. And the smoke of Waterloo blown by, what was +Anglesea but the like? After Saratoga, what Arnold? To say nothing of Mutius +Scaevola minus a hand, General Knox a thumb, and Hannibal an eye; and that old +Roman grenadier, Dentatus, nothing more than a bruised and battered trunk, a +knotty sort of hemlock of a warrior, hard to hack and hew into chips, though +much marred in symmetry by battle-ax blows. Ah! but these warriors, like +anvils, will stand a deal of hard hammering. Especially in the old +knight-errant times. For at the battle of Brevieux in Flanders, my glorious old +gossiping ancestor, Froissart, informs me, that ten good knights, being +suddenly unhorsed, fell stiff and powerless to the plain, fatally encumbered by +their armor. Whereupon, the rascally burglarious peasants, their foes, fell to +picking their visors; as burglars, locks; or oystermen, oysters; to get at +their lives. But all to no purpose. And at last they were fain to ask aid of a +blacksmith; and not till then, were the inmates of the armor dispatched. Now it +was deemed very hard, that the mysterious state- prisoner of France should be +riveted in an iron mask; but these knight-errants did voluntarily prison +themselves in their own iron Bastiles; and thus helpless were murdered +there-in. Days of chivalry these, when gallant chevaliers died chivalric +deaths! +</p> + +<p> +And this was the epic age, over whose departure my late eloquent and prophetic +friend and correspondent, Edmund Burke, so movingly mourned. Yes, they were +glorious times. But no sensible man, given to quiet domestic delights, would +exchange his warm fireside and muffins, for a heroic bivouac, in a wild beechen +wood, of a raw gusty morning in Normandy; every knight blowing his steel-gloved +fingers, and vainly striving to cook his cold coffee in his helmet. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0025"></a> +CHAPTER XXV.<br/> +Peril A Peace-Maker</h2> + +<p> +A few days passed: the brigantine drifting hither and thither, and nothing in +sight but the sea, when forth again on its stillness rung Annatoo’s +domestic alarum. The truce was up. Most egregiously had the lady infringed it; +appropriating to herself various objects previously disclaimed in favor of +Samoa. Besides, forever on the prowl, she was perpetually going up and down; +with untiring energy, exploring every nook and cranny; carrying off her spoils +and diligently secreting them. Having little idea of feminine adaptations, she +pilfered whatever came handy:—iron hooks, dollars, bolts, hatchets, and +stopping not at balls of marline and sheets of copper. All this, poor Samoa +would have borne with what patience he might, rather than again renew the war, +were it not, that the audacious dame charged him with peculations upon her own +private stores; though of any such thing he was innocent as the bowsprit. +</p> + +<p> +This insulting impeachment got the better of the poor islander’s +philosophy. He keenly resented it. And the consequence was, that seeing all +domineering useless, Annatoo flew off at a tangent; declaring that, for the +future, Samoa might stay by himself; she would have nothing more to do with +him. Save when unavoidable in managing the brigantine, she would not even speak +to him, that she wouldn’t, the monster! She then boldly demanded the +forecastle—in the brig’s case, by far the pleasantest end of the +ship—for her own independent suite of apartments. As for hapless +Belisarius, he might do what he pleased in his dark little den of a cabin. +</p> + +<p> +Concerning the division of the spoils, the termagant succeeded in carrying the +day; also, to her quarters, bale after bale of goods, together with numerous +odds and ends, sundry and divers. Moreover, she laid in a fine stock of +edibles, so as, in all respects possible, to live independent of her spouse. +</p> + +<p> +Unlovely Annatoo! Unfortunate Samoa! Thus did the pair make a divorce of it; +the lady going upon a separate maintenance,—and Belisarius resuming his +bachelor loneliness. In the captain’s state room, all cold and +comfortless, he slept; his lady whilome retiring to her forecastle boudoir; +beguiling the hours in saying her pater-nosters, and tossing over and assorting +her ill-gotten trinkets and finery; like Madame De Maintenon dedicating her +last days and nights to continence and calicoes. +</p> + +<p> +But think you this was the quiet end of their conjugal quarrels? Ah, no! No end +to those feuds, till one or t’other gives up the ghost. +</p> + +<p> +Now, exiled from the nuptial couch, Belisarius bore the hardship without a +murmur. And hero that he was, who knows that he felt not like a soldier on a +furlough? But as for Antonina, she could neither get along with Belisarius, nor +without him. She made advances. But of what sort? Why, breaking into the cabin +and purloining sundry goods therefrom; in artful hopes of breeding a final +reconciliation out of the temporary outburst that might ensue. +</p> + +<p> +Then followed a sad scene of altercation; interrupted at last by a sudden loud +roaring of the sea. Rushing to the deck, they beheld themselves sweeping +head-foremost toward a shoal making out from a cluster of low islands, +hitherto, by banks of clouds, shrouded from view. +</p> + +<p> +The helm was instantly shifted; and the yards braced about. But for several +hours, owing to the freshness of the breeze, the set of the currents, and the +irregularity and extent of the shoal, it seemed doubtful whether they would +escape a catastrophe. But Samoa’s seamanship, united to Annatoo’s +industry, at last prevailed; and the brigantine was saved. +</p> + +<p> +Of the land where they came so near being wrecked, they knew nothing; and for +that reason, they at once steered away. For after the fatal events which had +overtaken the Parki at the Pearl Shell islands, so fearful were they of +encountering any Islanders, that from the first they had resolved to keep open +sea, shunning every appearance of land; relying upon being eventually picked up +by some passing sail. +</p> + +<p> +Doubtless this resolution proved their salvation. For to the navigator in these +seas, no risk so great, as in approaching the isles; which mostly are so +guarded by outpost reefs, and far out from their margins environed by perils, +that the green flowery field within, lies like a rose among thorns; and hard to +be reached as the heart of proud maiden. Though once attained, all +three—red rose, bright shore, and soft heart—are full of love, +bloom, and all manner of delights. The Pearl Shell islands excepted. +</p> + +<p> +Besides, in those generally tranquil waters, Samoa’s little craft, though +hundreds of miles from land, was very readily managed by himself and Annatoo. +So small was the Parki, that one hand could brace the main-yard; and a very +easy thing it was, even to hoist the small top-sails; for after their first +clumsy attempt to perform that operation by hand, they invariably led the +halyards to the windlass, and so managed it, with the utmost facility. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0026"></a> +CHAPTER XXVI.<br/> +Containing A Pennyweight Of Philosophy</h2> + +<p> +Still many days passed and the Parki yet floated. The little flying- fish got +used to her familiar, loitering hull; and like swallows building their nests in +quiet old trees, they spawned in the great green barnacles that clung to her +sides. +</p> + +<p> +The calmer the sea, the more the barnacles grow. In the tropical Pacific, but a +few weeks suffice thus to encase your craft in shell armor. Vast bunches adhere +to the very cutwater, and if not stricken off, much impede the ship’s +sailing. And, at intervals, this clearing away of barnacles was one of +Annatoo’s occupations. For be it known, that, like most termagants, the +dame was tidy at times, though capriciously; loving cleanliness by fits and +starts. Wherefore, these barnacles oftentimes troubled her; and with a long +pole she would go about, brushing them aside. It beguiled the weary hours, if +nothing more; and then she would return to her beads and her trinkets; telling +them all over again; murmuring forth her devotions, and marking whether Samoa +had been pilfering from her store. +</p> + +<p> +Now, the escape from the shoal did much once again to heal the differences of +the good lady and her spouse. And keeping house, as they did, all alone by +themselves, in that lonely craft, a marvel it is, that they should ever have +quarreled. And then to divorce, and yet dwell in the same tenement, was only +aggravating the evil. So Belisarius and Antonina again came together. But now, +grown wise by experience, they neither loved over-keenly, nor hated; but took +things as they were; found themselves joined, without hope of a sundering, and +did what they could to make a match of the mate. Annatoo concluded that Samoa +was not wholly to be enslaved; and Samoa thought best to wink at +Annatoo’s foibles, and let her purloin when she pleased. +</p> + +<p> +But as in many cases, all this philosophy about wedlock is not proof against +the perpetual contact of the parties concerned; and as it is far better to +revive the old days of courtship, when men’s mouths are honey-combs: and, +to make them still sweeter, the ladies the bees which there store their sweets; +when fathomless raptures glimmer far down in the lover’s fond eye; and +best of all, when visits are alternated by absence: so, like my dignified lord +duke and his duchess, Samoa and Annatoo, man and wife, dwelling in the same +house, still kept up their separate quarters. Marlborough visiting Sarah; and +Sarah, Marlborough, whenever the humor suggested. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0027"></a> +CHAPTER XXVII.<br/> +In Which The Past History Of The Parki Is Concluded</h2> + +<p> +Still days, days, days sped by; and steering now this way, now that, to avoid +the green treacherous shores, which frequently rose into view, the Parki went +to and fro in the sea; till at last, it seemed hard to tell, in what watery +world she floated. Well knowing the risks they ran, Samoa desponded. But +blessed be ignorance. For in the day of his despondency, the lively old lass +his wife bade him be of stout heart, cheer up, and steer away manfully for the +setting sun; following which, they must inevitably arrive at her own dear +native island, where all their cares would be over. So squaring their yards, +away they glided; far sloping down the liquid sphere. +</p> + +<p> +Upon the afternoon of the day we caught sight of them in our boat, they had +sighted a cluster of low islands, which put them in no small panic, because of +their resemblance to those where the massacre had taken place. Whereas, they +must have been full five hundred leagues from that fearful vicinity. However, +they altered their course to avoid it; and a little before sunset, dropping the +islands astern, resumed their previous track. But very soon after, they espied +our little sea-goat, bounding over the billows from afar. +</p> + +<p> +This they took for a canoe giving chase to them. It renewed and augmented their +alarm. +</p> + +<p> +And when at last they perceived that the strange object was a boat, their +fears, instead of being allayed, only so much the more increased. For their +wild superstitions led them to conclude, that a white man’s craft coming +upon them so suddenly, upon the open sea, and by night, could be naught but a +phantom. Furthermore, marking two of us in the Chamois, they fancied us the +ghosts of the Cholos. A conceit which effectually damped Samoa’s courage, +like my Viking’s, only proof against things tangible. So seeing us bent +upon boarding the brigantine; after a hurried over-turning of their chattels, +with a view of carrying the most valuable aloft for safe keeping, they secreted +what they could; and together made for the fore-top; the man with a musket, the +woman with a bag of beads. Their endeavoring to secure these treasures against +ghostly appropriation originated in no real fear, that otherwise they would be +stolen: it was simply incidental to the vacant panic into which they were +thrown. No reproach this, to Belisarius’ heart of game; for the most +intrepid Feegee warrior, he who has slain his hecatombs, will not go ten yards +in the dark alone, for fear of ghosts. +</p> + +<p> +Their purpose was to remain in the top until daylight; by which time, they +counted upon the withdrawal of their visitants; who, sure enough, at last +sprang on board, thus verifying their worst apprehensions. +</p> + +<p> +They watched us long and earnestly. But curious to tell, in that very strait of +theirs, perched together in that airy top, their domestic differences again +broke forth; most probably, from their being suddenly forced into such very +close contact. +</p> + +<p> +However that might be, taking advantage of our descent into the cabin, Samoa, +in desperation fled from his wife, and one-armed as he was, sailor-like, +shifted himself over by the fore and aft-stays to the main-top, his musket +being slung to his back. And thus divided, though but a few yards intervened, +the pair were as much asunder as if at the opposite Poles. +</p> + +<p> +During the live-long night they were both in great perplexity as to the +extraordinary goblins on board. Such inquisitive, meddlesome spirits, had never +before been encountered. So cool and systematic; sagaciously stopping the +vessel’s headway the better to rummage;—the very plan they +themselves had adopted. But what most surprised them, was our striking a light, +a thing of which no true ghost would be guilty. Then, our eating and drinking +on the quarter- deck including the deliberate investment of Vienna; and many +other actions equally strange, almost led Samoa to fancy that we were no +shades, after all, but a couple of men from the moon. +</p> + +<p> +Yet they had dimly caught sight of the frocks and trowsers we wore, similar to +those which the captain of the Parki had bestowed upon the two Cholos, and in +which those villains had been killed. This, with the presence of the whale +boat, united to chase away the conceit of our lunar origin. But these +considerations renewed their first superstitious impressions of our being the +ghosts of the murderous half-breeds. +</p> + +<p> +Nevertheless, while during the latter part of the night we were reclining +beneath him, munching our biscuit, Samoa eyeing us intently, was half a mind to +open fire upon us by way of testing our corporeality. But most luckily, he +concluded to defer so doing till sunlight; if by that time we should not have +evaporated. +</p> + +<p> +For dame Annatoo, almost from our first boarding the brigantine, something in +our manner had bred in her a lurking doubt as to the genuineness of our +atmospheric organization; and abandoned to her speculations when Samoa fled +from her side, her incredulity waxed stronger and stronger. Whence we came she +knew not; enough, that we seemed bent upon pillaging her own precious +purloinings. Alas! thought she, my buttons, my nails, my tappa, my dollars, my +beads, and my boxes! +</p> + +<p> +Wrought up to desperation by these dismal forebodings, she at length shook the +ropes leading from her own perch to Samoa’s; adopting this method of +arousing his attention to the heinousness of what was in all probability going +on in the cabin, a prelude most probably to the invasion of her own end of the +vessel. Had she dared raise her voice, no doubt she would have suggested the +expediency of shooting us so soon as we emerged from the cabin. But failing to +shake Samoa into an understanding of her views on the subject, her malice +proved futile. +</p> + +<p> +When her worst fears were confirmed, however, and we actually descended into +the forecastle; there ensued such a reckless shaking of the ropes, that Samoa +was fain to hold on hard, for fear of being tossed out of the rigging. And it +was this violent rocking that caused the loud creaking of the yards, so often +heard by us while below in Annatoo’s apartment. +</p> + +<p> +And the fore-top being just over the open forecastle scuttle, the dame could +look right down upon us; hence our proceedings were plainly revealed by the +lights that we carried. Upon our breaking open her strong-box, her indignation +almost completely overmastered her fears. Unhooking a top-block, down it came +into the forecastle, charitably commissioned with the demolition of +Jarl’s cocoa-nut, then more exposed to the view of an aerial observer +than my own. But of it turned out, no harm was done to our porcelain. +</p> + +<p> +At last, morning dawned; when ensued Jarl’s discovery as the occupant of +the main-top; which event, with what followed, has been duly recounted. +</p> + +<p> +And such, in substance, was the first, second, third and fourth acts of the +Parki drama. The fifth and last, including several scenes, now follows. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0028"></a> +CHAPTER XXVIII.<br/> +Suspicions Laid, And Something About The Calmuc</h2> + +<p> +Though abounding in details full of the savor of reality, Samoa’s +narrative did not at first appear altogether satisfactory. Not that it was so +strange; for stranger recitals I had heard. +</p> + +<p> +But one reason, perhaps, was that I had anticipated a narrative quite +different; something agreeing with my previous surmises. +</p> + +<p> +Not a little puzzling, also, was his account of having seen islands the day +preceding; though, upon reflection, that might have been the case, and yet, +from his immediately altering the Parki’s course, the Chamois, +unknowingly might have sailed by their vicinity. Still, those islands could +form no part of the chain we were seeking. They must have been some region +hitherto undiscovered. +</p> + +<p> +But seems it likely, thought I, that one, who, according to his own account, +has conducted himself so heroically in rescuing the brigantine, should be the +victim of such childish terror at the mere glimpse of a couple of sailors in an +open boat, so well supplied, too, with arms, as he was, to resist their +capturing his craft, if such proved their intention? On the contrary, would it +not have been more natural, in his dreary situation, to have hailed our +approach with the utmost delight? But then again, we were taken for phantoms, +not flesh and blood. Upon the whole, I regarded the narrator of these things +somewhat distrustfully. But he met my gaze like a man. While Annatoo, standing +by, looked so expressively the Amazonian character imputed to her, that my +doubts began to waver. And recalling all the little incidents of their story, +so hard to be conjured up on the spur of a presumed necessity to lie; nay, so +hard to be conjured up at all; my suspicions at last gave way. And I could no +longer harbor any misgivings. +</p> + +<p> +For, to be downright, what object could Samoa have, in fabricating such a +narrative of horrors—those of the massacre, I mean—unless to +conceal some tragedy, still more atrocious, in which he himself had been +criminally concerned? A supposition, which, for obvious reasons, seemed out of +the question. True, instances were known to me of half- civilized beings, like +Samoa, forming part of the crews of ships in these seas, rising suddenly upon +their white ship-mates, and murdering them, for the sake of wrecking the ship +on the shore of some island near by, and plundering her hull, when stranded. +</p> + +<p> +But had this been purposed with regard to the Parki, where the rest of the +mutineers? There was no end to my conjectures; the more I indulged in them, the +more they multiplied. So, unwilling to torment myself, when nothing could be +learned, but what Samoa related, and stuck to like a hero; I gave over +conjecturing at all; striving hard to repose full faith in the Islander. +</p> + +<p> +Jarl, however, was skeptical to the last; and never could be brought completely +to credit the tale. He stoutly maintained that the hobgoblins must have had +something or other to do with the Parki. +</p> + +<p> +My own curiosity satisfied with respect to the brigantine, Samoa himself turned +inquisitor. He desired to know who we were; and whence we came in our marvelous +boat. But on these heads I thought best to withhold from him the truth; among +other things, fancying that if disclosed, it would lessen his deference for us, +as men superior to himself. I therefore spoke vaguely of our adventures, and +assumed the decided air of a master; which I perceived was not lost upon the +rude Islander. As for Jarl, and what he might reveal, I embraced the first +opportunity to impress upon him the importance of never divulging our flight +from the Arcturion; nor in any way to commit himself on that head: injunctions +which he faithfully promised to observe. +</p> + +<p> +If not wholly displeased with the fine form of Samoa, despite his savage +lineaments, and mutilated member, I was much less conciliated by the person of +Annatoo; who, being sinewy of limb, and neither young, comely, nor amiable, was +exceedingly distasteful in my eyes. Besides, she was a tigress. Yet how avoid +admiring those Penthesilian qualities which so signally had aided Samoa, in +wresting the Parki from its treacherous captors. Nevertheless, it was +indispensable that she should at once be brought under prudent subjection; and +made to know, once for all, that though conjugally a rebel, she must be +nautically submissive. For to keep the sea with a Calmuc on board, seemed next +to impossible. In most military marines, they are prohibited by law; no officer +may take his Pandora and her bandbox off soundings. +</p> + +<p> +By the way, this self-same appellative, Pandora, has been bestowed upon +vessels. There was a British ship by that name, dispatched in quest of the +mutineers of the Bounty. But any old tar might have prophesied her fate. Bound +home she was wrecked on a reef off New South Wales. Pandora, indeed! A pretty +name for a ship: fairly smiting Fate in the face. But in this matter of +christening ships of war, Christian nations are but too apt to be dare-devils. +Witness the following: British names all—The Conqueror, the Defiance, the +Revenge, the Spitfire, the Dreadnaught, the Thunderer, and the Tremendous; not +omitting the Etna, which, in the Roads of Corfu, was struck by lightning, +coming nigh being consumed by fire from above. But almost potent as +Moses’ rod, Franklin’s proved her salvation. +</p> + +<p> +With the above catalogue, compare we the Frenchman’s; quite +characteristic of the aspirations of Monsieur:—The Destiny, the Glorious, +the Magnanimous, the Magnificent, the Conqueror, the Triumphant, the +Indomitable, the Intrepid, the Mont-Blanc. Lastly, the Dons; who have ransacked +the theology of the religion of peace for fine names for their fighting ships; +stopping not at designating one of their three-deckers, The Most Holy Trinity. +But though, at Trafalgar, the Santissima Trinidada thundered like Sinai, her +thunders were silenced by the victorious cannonade of the Victory. +</p> + +<p> +And without being blown into splinters by artillery, how many of these +Redoubtables and Invincibles have succumbed to the waves, and like braggarts +gone down before hurricanes, with their bravadoes broad on their bows. +</p> + +<p> +Much better the American names (barring Scorpions, Hornets, and Wasps;) Ohio, +Virginia, Carolina, Vermont. And if ever these Yankees fight great sea +engagements—which Heaven forefend!—how glorious, poetically +speaking, to range up the whole federated fleet, and pour forth a broadside +from Florida to Maine. Ay, ay, very glorious indeed! yet in that proud crowing +of cannon, how shall the shade of peace-loving Penn be astounded, to see the +mightiest murderer of them all, the great Pennsylvania, a very namesake of his. +Truly, the Pennsylvania’s guns should be the wooden ones, called by +men-of- war’s-men, Quakers. +</p> + +<p> +But all this is an episode, made up of digressions. Time to tack ship, and +return. +</p> + +<p> +Now, in its proper place, I omitted to mention, that shortly after descending +from the rigging, and while Samoa was rehearsing his adventures, dame Annatoo +had stolen below into the forecastle, intent upon her chattels. And finding +them all in mighty disarray, she returned to the deck prodigiously, excited, +and glancing angrily toward Jarl and me, showered a whole torrent of +objurgations into both ears of Samoa. +</p> + +<p> +This contempt of my presence surprised me at first; but perhaps women are less +apt to be impressed by a pretentious demeanor, than men. +</p> + +<p> +Now, to use a fighting phrase, there is nothing like boarding an enemy in the +smoke. And therefore, upon this first token of Annatoo’s termagant +qualities, I gave her to understand—craving her pardon—that +neither the vessel nor aught therein was hers; but that every thing belonged to +the owners in Lahina. I added, that at all hazards, a stop must be put to her +pilferings. Rude language for feminine ears; but how to be avoided? Here was an +infatuated woman, who, according to Samoa’s account, had been repeatedly +detected in the act of essaying to draw out the screw-bolts which held together +the planks. Tell me; was she not worse than the Load-Stone Rock, sailing by +which a stout ship fell to pieces? +</p> + +<p> +During this scene, Samoa said little. Perhaps he was secretly pleased that his +matrimonial authority was reinforced by myself and my Viking, whose views of +the proper position of wives at sea, so fully corresponded with his own; +however difficult to practice, those purely theoretical ideas of his had +hitherto proved. +</p> + +<p> +Once more turning to Annatoo, now looking any thing but amiable, I observed, +that all her clamors would be useless; and that if it came to the worst, the +Parki had a hull that would hold her. +</p> + +<p> +In the end she went off in a fit of the sulks; sitting down on the windlass and +glaring; her arms akimbo, and swaying from side to side; while ever and anon +she gave utterance to a dismal chant. It sounded like an invocation to the +Cholos to rise and dispatch us. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0029"></a> +CHAPTER XXIX.<br/> +What They Lighted Upon In Further Searching The Craft, And The Resolution They +Came To</h2> + +<p> +Descending into the cabin with Samoa, I bade him hunt up the brigantine’s +log, the captain’s writing-desk, and nautical instruments; in a word, +aught that could throw light on the previous history of the craft, or aid in +navigating her homeward. +</p> + +<p> +But nearly every thing of the kind had disappeared: log, quadrant, and +ship’s papers. Nothing was left but the sextant-case, which Jarl and I +had lighted upon in the state-room. +</p> + +<p> +Upon this, vague though they were, my suspicions returned; and I closely +questioned the Islander concerning the disappearance of these important +articles. In reply, he gave me to understand, that the nautical instruments had +been clandestinely carried down into the forecastle by Annatoo; and by that +indefatigable and inquisitive dame they had been summarily taken apart for +scientific inspection. It was impossible to restore them; for many of the +fixtures were lost, including the colored glasses, sights, and little mirrors; +and many parts still recoverable, were so battered and broken as to be entirely +useless. For several days afterward, we now and then came across bits of the +quadrant or sextant; but it was only to mourn over their fate. +</p> + +<p> +However, though sextant and quadrant were both unattainable, I did not so +quickly renounce all hope of discovering a chronometer, which, if in good +order, though at present not ticking, might still be made in some degree +serviceable. But no such instrument was to be seen. No: nor to be heard of; +Samoa himself professing utter ignorance. +</p> + +<p> +Annatoo, I threatened and coaxed; describing the chronometer—a live, +round creature like a toad, that made a strange noise, which I imitated; but +she knew nothing about it. Whether she had lighted upon it unbeknown to Samoa, +and dissected it as usual, there was now no way to determine. Indeed, upon this +one point, she maintained an air of such inflexible stupidity, that if she were +really fibbing, her dead-wall countenance superseded the necessity for verbal +deceit. +</p> + +<p> +It may be, however, that in this particular she was wronged; for, as with many +small vessels, the Parki might never have possessed the instrument in question. +All thought, therefore, of feeling our way, as we should penetrate farther and +farther into the watery wilderness, was necessarily abandoned. +</p> + +<p> +The log book had also formed a portion of Annatoo’s pilferings. It seems +she had taken it into her studio to ponder over. But after amusing herself by +again and again counting over the leaves, and wondering how so many distinct +surfaces could be compacted together in so small a compass, she had very +suddenly conceived an aversion to literature, and dropped the book overboard as +worthless. Doubtless, it met the fate of many other ponderous tomes; sinking +quickly and profoundly. What Camden or Stowe hereafter will dive for it? +</p> + +<p> +One evening Samoa brought me a quarto half-sheet of yellowish, ribbed paper, +much soiled and tarry, which he had discovered in a dark hole of the +forecastle. It had plainly formed part of the lost log; but all the writing +thereon, at present decipherable, conveyed no information upon the subject then +nearest my heart. +</p> + +<p> +But one could not but be struck by a tragical occurrence, which the page very +briefly recounted; as well, as by a noteworthy pictorial illustration of the +event in the margin of the text. Save the cut, there was no further allusion to +the matter than the following:— “This day, being calm, Tooboi, one +of the Lahina men, went overboard for a bath, and was eaten up by a shark. +Immediately sent forward for his bag.” +</p> + +<p> +Now, this last sentence was susceptible of two meanings. It is truth, that +immediately upon the decease of a friendless sailor at sea, his shipmates +oftentimes seize upon his effects, and divide them; though the dead man’s +clothes are seldom worn till a subsequent voyage. This proceeding seems +heartless. But sailors reason thus: Better we, than the captain. For by law, +either scribbled or unscribbled, the effects of a mariner, dying on shipboard, +should be held in trust by that officer. But as sailors are mostly foundlings +and castaways, and carry all their kith and kin in their arms and their legs, +there hardly ever appears any heir-at-law to claim their estate; seldom worth +inheriting, like Esterhazy’s. Wherefore, the withdrawal of a dead +man’s “kit” from the forecastle to the cabin, is often held +tantamount to its virtual appropriation by the captain. At any rate, in small +ships on long voyages, such things have been done. +</p> + +<p> +Thus much being said, then, the sentence above quoted from the Parki’s +log, may be deemed somewhat ambiguous. At the time it struck me as singular; +for the poor diver’s grass bag could not have contained much of any thing +valuable unless, peradventure, he had concealed therein some Cleopatra pearls, +feloniously abstracted from the shells brought up from the sea. +</p> + +<p> +Aside of the paragraph, copied above, was a pen-and-ink sketch of the casualty, +most cruelly executed; the poor fellow’s legs being represented half way +in the process of deglutition; his arms firmly grasping the monster’s +teeth, as if heroically bent upon making as tough a morsel of himself as +possible. +</p> + +<p> +But no doubt the honest captain sketched this cenotaph to the departed in all +sincerity of heart; perhaps, during the melancholy leisure which followed the +catastrophe. Half obliterated were several stains upon the page; seemingly, +lingering traces of a salt tear or two. +</p> + +<p> +From this unwonted embellishment of the text, I was led to infer, that the +designer, at one time or other, must have been engaged in the vocation of +whaling. For, in India ink, the logs of certain whalemen are decorated by +somewhat similar illustrations. +</p> + +<p> +When whales are seen, but not captured, the fact is denoted by an outline +figure representing the creature’s flukes, the broad, curving lobes of +his tail. But in those cases where the monster is both chased and killed, this +outline is filled up jet black; one for every whale slain; presenting striking +objects in turning over the log; and so facilitating reference. Hence, it is +quite imposing to behold, all in a row, three or four, sometime five or six, of +these drawings; showing that so many monsters that day jetted their last spout. +And the chief mate, whose duty it is to keep the ship’s record, generally +prides himself upon the beauty, and flushy likeness to life, of his flukes; +though, sooth to say, many of these artists are no Landseers. +</p> + +<p> +After vainly searching the cabin for those articles we most needed, we +proceeded to explore the hold, into which as yet we had not penetrated. Here, +we found a considerable quantity of pearl shells; cocoanuts; an abundance of +fresh water in casks; spare sails and rigging; and some fifty barrels or more +of salt beef and biscuit. Unromantic as these last mentioned objects were, I +lingered over them long, and in a revery. Branded upon each barrel head was the +name of a place in America, with which I was very familiar. It is from America +chiefly, that ship’s stores are originally procured for the few vessels +sailing out of the Hawaiian Islands. +</p> + +<p> +Having now acquainted myself with all things respecting the Parki, which could +in any way be learned, I repaired to the quarter-deck, and summoning round me +Samoa, Annatoo, and Jarl, gravely addressed them. +</p> + +<p> +I said, that nothing would give me greater satisfaction than forthwith to +return to the scene of the massacre, and chastise its surviving authors. But as +there were only four of us in all; and the place of those islands was wholly +unknown to me; and even if known, would be altogether out of our reach, since +we possessed no instruments of navigation; it was quite plain that all thought +of returning thither was entirely useless. The last mentioned reason, also, +prevented our voyaging to the Hawaiian group, where the vessel belonged; though +that would have been the most advisable step, resulting, as it would, if +successful, in restoring the ill-fated craft to her owners. +</p> + +<p> +But all things considered, it seemed best, I added, cautiously to hold on our +way to the westward. It was our easiest course; for we would ever have the wind +from astern; and though we could not so much as hope to arrive at any one spot +previously designated, there was still a positive certainty, if we floated long +enough, of falling in with islands whereat to refresh ourselves; and whence, if +we thought fit, we might afterward embark for more agreeable climes. I then +reminded them of the fact, that so long as we kept the sea, there was always +some prospect of encountering a friendly sail; in which event, our solicitude +would be over. +</p> + +<p> +All this I said in the mild, firm tone of a superior; being anxious, at once to +assume the unquestioned supremacy. For, otherwise, Jarl and I might better quit +the vessel forthwith, than remain on board subject to the outlandish caprices +of Annatoo, who through Samoa would then have the sway. But I was sure of my +Viking; and if Samoa proved docile, had no fear of his dame. +</p> + +<p> +And therefore during my address, I steadfastly eyed him; thereby learning +enough to persuade me, that though he deferred to me at present, he was, +notwithstanding, a man who, without precisely meditating mischief, could upon +occasion act an ugly part. But of his courage, and savage honor, such as it +was, I had little doubt. Then, wild buffalo that he was, tamed down in the yoke +matrimonial, I could not but fancy, that if upon no other account, our society +must please him, as rendering less afflictive the tyranny of his spouse. +</p> + +<p> +For a hen-pecked husband, by the way, Samoa was a most terrible fellow to +behold. And though, after all, I liked him; it was as you fancy a fiery steed +with mane disheveled, as young Alexander fancied Bucephalus; which wild horse, +when he patted, he preferred holding by the bridle. But more of Samoa anon. +</p> + +<p> +Our course determined, and the command of the vessel tacitly yielded up to +myself, the next thing done was to put every thing in order. The tattered sails +were replaced by others, dragged up from the sail- room below; in several +places, new running-rigging was rove; blocks restrapped; and the slackened +stays and shrouds set taught. For all of which, we were mostly indebted to my +Viking’s unwearied and skillful marling-spike, which he swayed like a +scepter. +</p> + +<p> +The little Parki’s toilet being thus thoroughly made for the first time +since the massacre, we gave her new raiment to the breeze, and daintily +squaring her yards, she gracefully glided away; honest old Jarl at the helm, +watchfully guiding her path, like some devoted old foster-father. +</p> + +<p> +As I stood by his side like a captain, or walked up and down on the +quarter-deck, I felt no little importance upon thus assuming for the first time +in my life, the command of a vessel at sea. The novel circumstances of the case +only augmented this feeling; the wild and remote seas where we were; the +character of my crew, and the consideration, that to all purposes, I was owner, +as well as commander of the craft I sailed. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0030"></a> +CHAPTER XXX.<br/> +Hints For A Full Length Of Samoa</h2> + +<p> +My original intention to touch at the Kingsmill Chain, or the countries +adjacent, was greatly strengthened by thus encountering Samoa; and the more I +had to do with my Belisarius, the more I was pleased with him. Nor could I +avoid congratulating myself, upon having fallen in with a hero, who in various +ways, could not fail of proving exceedingly useful. +</p> + +<p> +Like any man of mark, Samoa best speaks for himself; but we may as well convey +some idea of his person. Though manly enough, nay, an obelisk in stature, the +savage was far from being sentimentally prepossessing. Be not alarmed; but he +wore his knife in the lobe of his dexter ear, which, by constant elongation +almost drooped upon his shoulder. A mode of sheathing it exceedingly handy, and +far less brigandish than the Highlander’s dagger concealed in his +leggins. +</p> + +<p> +But it was the mother of Samoa, who at a still earlier day had punctured him +through and through in still another direction. The middle cartilage of his +nose was slightly pendent, peaked, and Gothic, and perforated with a hole; in +which, like a Newfoundland dog carrying a cane, Samoa sported a trinket: a well +polished nail. +</p> + +<p> +In other respects he was equally a coxcomb. In his style of tattooing, for +instance, which seemed rather incomplete; his marks embracing but a vertical +half of his person, from crown to sole; the other side being free from the +slightest stain. Thus clapped together, as it were, he looked like a union of +the unmatched moieties of two distinct beings; and your fancy was lost in +conjecturing, where roamed the absent ones. When he turned round upon you +suddenly, you thought you saw some one else, not him whom you had been +regarding before. +</p> + +<p> +But there was one feature in Samoa beyond the reach of the innovations of +art:—his eye; which in civilized man or savage, ever shines in the head, +just as it shone at birth. Truly, our eyes are miraculous things. But alas, +that in so many instances, these divine organs should be mere lenses inserted +into the socket, as glasses in spectacle rims. +</p> + +<p> +But my Islander had a soul in his eye; looking out upon you there, like +somebody in him. What an eye, to be sure! At times, brilliantly changeful as +opal; in anger, glowing like steel at white heat. +</p> + +<p> +Belisarius, be it remembered, had but very recently lost an arm. But you would +have thought he had been born without it; so Lord Nelson- like and cavalierly +did he sport the honorable stump. +</p> + +<p> +But no more of Samoa; only this: that his name had been given him by a +sea-captain; to whom it had been suggested by the native designation of the +islands to which he belonged; the Saviian or Samoan group, otherwise known as +the Navigator Islands. The island of Upolua, one of that cluster, claiming the +special honor of his birth, as Corsica does Napoleon’s, we shall +occasionally hereafter speak of Samoa as the Upoluan; by which title he most +loved to be called. +</p> + +<p> +It is ever ungallant to pass over a lady. But what shall be said of Annatoo? As +I live, I can make no pleasing portrait of the dame; for as in most ugly +subjects, flattering would but make the matter worse. Furthermore, unalleviated +ugliness should ever go unpainted, as something unnecessary to duplicate. But +the only ugliness is that of the heart, seen through the face. And though +beauty be obvious, the only loveliness is invisible. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0031"></a> +CHAPTER XXXI.<br/> +Rovings Alow And Aloft</h2> + +<p> +Every one knows what a fascination there is in wandering up and down in a +deserted old tenement in some warm, dreamy country; where the vacant halls seem +echoing of silence, and the doors creak open like the footsteps of strangers; +and into every window the old garden trees thrust their dark boughs, like the +arms of night-burglars; and ever and anon the nails start from the wainscot; +while behind it the mice rattle like dice. Up and down in such old specter +houses one loves to wander; and so much the more, if the place be haunted by +some marvelous story. +</p> + +<p> +And during the drowsy stillness of the tropical sea-day, very much such a fancy +had I, for prying about our little brigantine, whose tragic hull was haunted by +the memory of the massacre, of which it still bore innumerable traces. +</p> + +<p> +And so far as the indulgence of quiet strolling and reverie was concerned, it +was well nigh the same as if I were all by myself. For Samoa, for a time, was +rather reserved, being occupied with thoughts of his own. And Annatoo seldom +troubled me with her presence. She was taken up with her calicoes and jewelry; +which I had permitted her to retain, to keep her in good humor if possible. And +as for My royal old Viking, he was one of those individuals who seldom speak, +unless personally addressed. +</p> + +<p> +Besides, all that by day was necessary to navigating the Parki was, +that—somebody should stand at the helm; the craft being so small, and the +grating, whereon the steersman stood, so elevated, that he commanded a view far +beyond the bowsprit; thus keeping Argus eyes on the sea, as he steered us +along. In all other respects we left the brigantine to the guardianship of the +gentle winds. +</p> + +<p> +My own turn at the helm—for though commander, I felt constrained to do +duty with the rest—came but once in the twenty-four hours. And not only +did Jarl and Samoa, officiate as helmsmen, but also Dame Annatoo, who had +become quite expert at the business. Though Jarl always maintained that there +was a slight drawback upon her usefulness in this vocation. Too much taken up +by her lovely image partially reflected in the glass of the binnacle before +her, Annatoo now and then neglected her duty, and led us some devious dances. +Nor was she, I ween, the first woman that ever led men into zigzags. +</p> + +<p> +For the reasons above stated, I had many spare hours to myself. At times, I +mounted aloft, and lounging in the slings of the topsail yard—one of the +many snug nooks in a ship’s rigging—I gazed broad off upon the blue +boundless sea, and wondered what they were doing in that unknown land, toward +which we were fated to be borne. Or feeling less meditative, I roved about +hither and thither; slipping over, by the stays, from one mast to the other; +climbing up to the truck; or lounging out to the ends of the yards; exploring +wherever there was a foothold. It was like climbing about in some mighty old +oak, and resting in the crotches. +</p> + +<p> +To a sailor, a ship’s ropes are a study. And to me, every rope-yarn of +the Parki’s was invested with interest. The outlandish fashion of her +shrouds, the collars of her stays, the stirrups, seizings, Flemish-horses, +gaskets,—all the wilderness of her rigging, bore unequivocal traces of +her origin. +</p> + +<p> +But, perhaps, my pleasantest hours were those which I spent, stretched out on a +pile of old sails, in the fore-top; lazily dozing to the craft’s light +roll. +</p> + +<p> +Frequently, I descended to the cabin: for the fiftieth time, exploring the +lockers and state-rooms for some new object of curiosity. And often, with a +glimmering light, I went into the midnight hold, as into old vaults and +catacombs; and creeping between damp ranges of casks, penetrated into its +farthest recesses. +</p> + +<p> +Sometimes, in these under-ground burrowings, I lighted upon sundry +out-of-the-way hiding places of Annatoo’s; where were snugly secreted +divers articles, with which she had been smitten. In truth, no small portion of +the hull seemed a mine of stolen goods, stolen out of its own bowels. I found a +jaunty shore-cap of the captain’s, hidden away in the hollow heart of a +coil of rigging; covered over in a manner most touchingly natural, with a heap +of old ropes; and near by, in a breaker, discovered several entire pieces of +calico, heroically tied together with cords almost strong enough to sustain the +mainmast. +</p> + +<p> +Near the stray light, which, when the hatch was removed, gleamed down into this +part of the hold, was a huge ground-tier butt, headless as Charles the First. +And herein was a mat nicely spread for repose; a discovery which accounted for +what had often proved an enigma. Not seldom Annatoo had been among the missing; +and though, from stem to stern, loudly invoked to come forth and relieve the +poignant distress of her anxious friends, the dame remained perdu; silent and +invisible as a spirit. But in her own good time, she would mysteriously emerge; +or be suddenly espied lounging quietly in the forecastle, as if she had been +there from all eternity. +</p> + +<p> +Useless to inquire, “Where hast thou been, sweet Annatoo?” For no +sweet rejoinder would she give. +</p> + +<p> +But now the problem was solved. Here, in this silent cask in the hold, Annatoo +was wont to coil herself away, like a garter-snake under a stone. +</p> + +<p> +Whether-she-thus stood sentry over her goods secreted round about: whether she +here performed penance like a nun in her cell; or was moved to this +unaccountable freak by the powers of the air; no one could tell. Can you? +</p> + +<p> +Verily, her ways were as the ways of the inscrutable penguins in building their +inscrutable nests, which baffle all science, and make a fool of a sage. +</p> + +<p> +Marvelous Annatoo! who shall expound thee? +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0032"></a> +CHAPTER XXXII.<br/> +Xiphius Platypterus</h2> + +<p> +About this time, the loneliness of our voyage was relieved by an event worth +relating. +</p> + +<p> +Ever since leaving the Pearl Shell Islands, the Parki had been followed by +shoals of small fish, pleasantly enlivening the sea, and socially swimming by +her side. But in vain did Jarl and I search among their ranks for the little, +steel-blue Pilot fish, so long outriders of the Chamois. But perhaps since the +Chamois was now high and dry on the Parki’s deck, our bright little +avant-couriers were lurking out of sight, far down in the brine; racing along +close to the keel. +</p> + +<p> +But it is not with the Pilot fish that we now have to do. +</p> + +<p> +One morning our attention was attracted to a mighty commotion in the water. The +shoals of fish were darting hither and thither, and leaping into the air in the +utmost affright. Samoa declared, that their deadly foe the Sword fish must be +after them. +</p> + +<p> +And here let me say, that, since of all the bullies, and braggarts, and +bravoes, and free-booters, and Hectors, and fish-at-arms, and knight-errants, +and moss-troopers, and assassins, and foot-pads, and gallant soldiers, and +immortal heroes that swim the seas, the Indian Sword fish is by far the most +remarkable, I propose to dedicate this chapter to a special description of the +warrior. In doing which, I but follow the example of all chroniclers and +historians, my Peloponnesian friend Thucydides and others, who are ever mindful +of devoting much space to accounts of eminent destroyers; for the purpose, no +doubt, of holding them up as ensamples to the world. +</p> + +<p> +Now, the fish here treated of is a very different creature from the Sword fish +frequenting the Northern Atlantic; being much larger every way, and a more +dashing varlet to boot. Furthermore, he is denominated the Indian Sword fish, +in contradistinction from his namesake above mentioned. But by seamen in the +Pacific, he is more commonly known as the Bill fish; while for those who love +science and hard names, be it known, that among the erudite naturalists he +goeth by the outlandish appellation of “<i>Xiphius +Platypterus</i>.” +</p> + +<p> +But I waive for my hero all these his cognomens, and substitute a much better +one of my own: namely, the Chevalier. And a Chevalier he is, by good right and +title. A true gentleman of Black Prince Edward’s bright day, when all +gentlemen were known by their swords; whereas, in times present, the Sword fish +excepted, they are mostly known by their high polished boots and rattans. +</p> + +<p> +A right valiant and jaunty Chevalier is our hero; going about with his long +Toledo perpetually drawn. Rely upon it, he will fight you to the hilt, for his +bony blade has never a scabbard. He himself sprang from it at birth; yea, at +the very moment he leaped into the Battle of Life; as we mortals ourselves +spring all naked and scabbardless into the world. Yet, rather, are we scabbards +to our souls. And the drawn soul of genius is more glittering than the drawn +cimeter of Saladin. But how many let their steel sleep, till it eat up the +scabbard itself, and both corrode to rust-chips. Saw you ever the hillocks of +old Spanish anchors, and anchor-stocks of ancient galleons, at the bottom of +Callao Bay? The world is full of old Tower armories, and dilapidated Venetian +arsenals, and rusty old rapiers. But true warriors polish their good blades by +the bright beams of the morning; and gird them on to their brave sirloins; and +watch for rust spots as for foes; and by many stout thrusts and stoccadoes keep +their metal lustrous and keen, as the spears of the Northern Lights charging +over Greenland. +</p> + +<p> +Fire from the flint is our Chevalier enraged. He takes umbrage at the cut of +some ship’s keel crossing his road; and straightway runs a tilt at it; +with one mad lounge thrusting his Andrea Ferrara clean through and through; not +seldom breaking it short off at the haft, like a bravo leaving his poignard in +the vitals of his foe. +</p> + +<p> +In the case of the English ship Foxhound, the blade penetrated through the most +solid part of her hull, the bow; going completely through the copper plates and +timbers, and showing for several inches in the hold. On the return of the ship +to London, it was carefully sawn out; and, imbedded in the original wood, like +a fossil, is still preserved. But this was a comparatively harmless onslaught +of the valiant Chevalier. With the Rousseau, of Nantucket, it fared worse. She +was almost mortally stabbed; her assailant withdrawing his blade. And it was +only by keeping the pumps clanging, that she managed to swim into a Tahitian +harbor, “heave down,” and have her wound dressed by a ship-surgeon +with tar and oakum. This ship I met with at sea, shortly after the disaster. +</p> + +<p> +At what armory our Chevalier equips himself after one of his spiteful +tilting-matches, it would not be easy to say. But very hard for him, if ever +after he goes about in the lists, swordless and disarmed, at the mercy of any +caitiff shark he may meet. +</p> + +<p> +Now, seeing that our fellow-voyagers, the little fish along-side, were sorely +tormented and thinned out by the incursions of a pertinacious Chevalier, bent +upon making a hearty breakfast out of them, I determined to interfere in their +behalf, and capture the enemy. +</p> + +<p> +With shark-hook and line I succeeded, and brought my brave gentleman to the +deck. He made an emphatic landing; lashing the planks with his sinewy tail; +while a yard and a half in advance of his eyes, reached forth his terrible +blade. +</p> + +<p> +As victor, I was entitled to the arms of the vanquished; so, quickly +dispatching him, and sawing off his Toledo, I bore it away for a trophy. It was +three-sided, slightly concave on each, like a bayonet; and some three inches +through at the base, it tapered from thence to a point. +</p> + +<p> +And though tempered not in Tagus or Guadalquiver, it yet revealed upon its +surface that wavy grain and watery fleckiness peculiar to tried blades of +Spain. It was an aromatic sword; like the ancient caliph’s, giving out a +peculiar musky odor by friction. But far different from steel of Tagus or +Damascus, it was inflexible as Crocket’s rifle tube; no doubt, as deadly. +</p> + +<p> +Long hung that rapier over the head of my hammock. Was it not storied as the +good trenchant blade of brave Bayard, that other chevalier? The knight’s +may have slain its scores, or fifties; but the weapon I preserved had, +doubtless, run through and riddled its thousands. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0033"></a> +CHAPTER XXXIII.<br/> +Otard</h2> + +<p> +And here is another little incident. +</p> + +<p> +One afternoon while all by myself curiously penetrating into the hold, I most +unexpectedly obtained proof, that the ill-fated captain of the Parki had been a +man of sound judgment and most excellent taste. In brief, I lighted upon an +aromatic cask of prime old Otard. +</p> + +<p> +Now, I mean not to speak lightly of any thing immediately connected with the +unfortunate captain. Nor, on the other hand, would I resemble the inconsolable +mourner, who among other tokens of affliction, bound in funereal crape his +deceased friend’s copy of Joe Miller. Is there not a fitness in things? +</p> + +<p> +But let that pass. I found the Otard, and drank there-of; finding it, moreover, +most pleasant to the palate, and right cheering to the soul. My next impulse +was to share my prize with my shipmates. But here a judicious reflection +obtruded. From the sea-monarchs, his ancestors, my Viking had inherited one of +their cardinal virtues, a detestation and abhorrence of all vinous and +spirituous beverages; insomuch, that he never could see any, but he instantly +quaffed it out of sight. To be short, like Alexander the Great and other +royalties, Jarl was prone to overmuch bibing. And though at sea more sober than +a Fifth Monarchy Elder, it was only because he was then removed from +temptation. But having thus divulged my Viking’s weak; side, I earnestly +entreat, that it may not disparage him in any charitable man’s +estimation. Only think, how many more there are like him to say nothing further +of Alexander the Great—especially among his own class; and consider, I +beseech, that the most capacious-souled fellows, for that very reason, are the +most apt to be too liberal in their libations; since, being so large-hearted, +they hold so much more good cheer than others. +</p> + +<p> +For Samoa, from his utter silence hitherto as to aught inebriating on board, I +concluded, that, along with his other secrets, the departed captain had very +wisely kept his Otard to himself. +</p> + +<p> +Nor did I doubt, but that the Upoluan, like all Polynesians, much loved getting +high of head; and in that state, would be more intractable than a Black Forest +boar. And concerning Annatoo, I shuddered to think, how that Otard might +inflame her into a Fury more fierce than the foremost of those that pursued +Orestes. +</p> + +<p> +In good time, then, bethinking me of the peril of publishing my +discovery;—bethinking me of the quiet, lazy, ever-present perils of the +voyage, of all circumstances, the very worst under which to introduce an +intoxicating beverage to my companions, I resolved to withhold it from them +altogether. +</p> + +<p> +So impressed was I with all this, that for a moment, I was almost tempted to +roll over the cask on its bilge, remove the stopper, and suffer its contents to +mix with the foul water at the bottom of the hold. +</p> + +<p> +But no, no: What: dilute the brine with the double distilled soul of the +precious grape? Haft himself would have haunted me! +</p> + +<p> +Then again, it might come into play medicinally; and Paracelsus himself stands +sponsor for every cup drunk for the good of the abdomen. So at last, I +determined to let it remain where it was: visiting it occasionally, by myself, +for inspection. +</p> + +<p> +But by way of advice to all ship-masters, let me say, that if your Otard +magazine be exposed to view—then, in the evil hour of wreck, stave in +your spirit-casks, ere rigging the life-boat. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0034"></a> +CHAPTER XXXIV.<br/> +How They Steered On Their Way</h2> + +<p> +When we quitted the Chamois for the brigantine, we must have been at least two +hundred leagues to the westward of the spot, where we had abandoned the +Arcturion. Though how far we might then have been, North or South of the +Equator, I could not with any certainty divine. +</p> + +<p> +But that we were not removed any considerable distance from the Line, seemed +obvious. For in the starriest night no sign of the extreme Polar constellations +was visible; though often we scanned the northern and southern horizon in +search of them. So far as regards the aspect of the skies near the +ocean’s rim, the difference of several degrees in one’s latitude at +sea, is readily perceived by a person long accustomed to surveying the heavens. +</p> + +<p> +If correct in my supposition, concerning our longitude at the time here alluded +to, and allowing for what little progress we had been making in the Parki, +there now remained some one hundred leagues to sail, ere the country we sought +would be found. But for obvious reasons, how long precisely we might continue +to float out of sight of land, it was impossible to say. Calms, light breezes, +and currents made every thing uncertain. Nor had we any method of estimating +our due westward progress, except by what is called Dead Reckoning,—the +computation of the knots run hourly; allowances’ being made for the +supposed deviations from our course, by reason of the ocean streams; which at +times in this quarter of the Pacific run with very great velocity. +</p> + +<p> +Now, in many respects we could not but feel safer aboard the Parki than in the +Chamois. The sense of danger is less vivid, the greater the number of lives +involved. He who is ready to despair in solitary peril, plucks up a heart in +the presence of another. In a plurality of comrades is much countenance and +consolation. +</p> + +<p> +Still, in the brigantine there were many sources of uneasiness and anxiety +unknown to me in the whale-boat. True, we had now between us and the deep, five +hundred good planks to one lath in our buoyant little chip. But the Parki +required more care and attention; especially by night, when a vigilant look-out +was indispensable. With impunity, in our whale-boat, we might have run close to +shoal or reef; whereas, similar carelessness or temerity now, might prove fatal +to all concerned. +</p> + +<p> +Though in the joyous sunlight, sailing through the sparkling sea, I was little +troubled with serious misgivings; in the hours of darkness it was quite another +thing. And the apprehensions, nay terrors I felt, were much augmented by the +remissness of both Jarl and Samoa, in keeping their night-watches. Several +times I was seized with a deadly panic, and earnestly scanned the murky +horizon, when rising from slumber I found the steersman, in whose hands for the +time being were life and death, sleeping upright against the tiller, as much of +a fixture there, as the open-mouthed dragon rudely carved on our prow. +</p> + +<p> +Were it not, that on board of other vessels, I myself had many a time dozed at +the helm, spite of all struggles, I would have been almost at a loss to account +for this heedlessness in my comrades. But it seemed as if the mere sense of our +situation, should have been sufficient to prevent the like conduct in all on +board our craft. +</p> + +<p> +Samoa’s aspect, sleeping at the tiller, was almost appalling. His large +opal eyes were half open; and turned toward the light of the binnacle, gleamed +between the lids like bars of flame. And added to all, was his giant stature +and savage lineaments. +</p> + +<p> +It was in vain, that I remonstrated, begged, or threatened: the occasional +drowsiness of my fellow-voyagers proved incurable. To no purpose, I reminded my +Viking that sleeping in the night-watch in a craft like ours, was far different +from similar heedlessness on board the Arcturion. For there, our place upon the +ocean was always known, and our distance from land; so that when by night the +seamen were permitted to be drowsy, it was mostly, because the captain well +knew that strict watchfulness could be dispensed with. +</p> + +<p> +Though in all else, the Skyeman proved a most faithful ally, in this one thing +he was either perversely obtuse, or infatuated. Or, perhaps, finding himself +once more in a double-decked craft, which rocked him as of yore, he was lulled +into a deceitful security. +</p> + +<p> +For Samoa, his drowsiness was the drowsiness of one beat on sleep, come dreams +or death. He seemed insensible to the peril we ran. Often I sent the sleepy +savage below, sad, steered myself till morning. At last I made a point of +slumbering much by day, the better to stand watch by night; though I made Samoa +and Jarl regularly go through with their allotted four hours each. +</p> + +<p> +It has been mentioned, that Annatoo took her turn at the helm; but it was only +by day. And in justice to the lady, I must affirm, that upon the whole she +acquitted herself well. For notwithstanding the syren face in the binnacle, +which dimly allured her glances, Annatoo after all was tolerably heedful of her +steering. Indeed she took much pride therein; always ready for her turn; with +marvelous exactitude calculating the approaching hour, as it came on in regular +rotation. Her time-piece was ours, the sun. By night it must have been her +guardian star; for frequently she gazed up at a particular section of the +heavens, like one regarding the dial in a tower. +</p> + +<p> +By some odd reasoning or other, she had cajoled herself into the notion, that +whoever steered the brigantine, for that period was captain. Wherefore, she +gave herself mighty airs at the tiller; with extravagant gestures issuing +unintelligible orders about trimming the sails, or pitching overboard something +to see how fast we were going. All this much diverted my Viking, who several +times was delivered of a laugh; a loud and healthy one to boot: a phenomenon +worthy the chronicling. +</p> + +<p> +And thus much for Annatoo, preliminary to what is further to be said. Seeing +the drowsiness of Jarl and Samoa, which so often kept me from my hammock at +night, forcing me to repose by day, when I far preferred being broad awake, I +decided to let Annatoo take her turn at the night watches; which several times +she had solicited me to do; railing at the sleepiness of her spouse; though +abstaining from all reflections upon Jarl, toward whom she had of late grown +exceedingly friendly. +</p> + +<p> +Now the Calmuc stood her first night watch to admiration; if any thing, was +altogether too wakeful. The mere steering of the craft employed not +sufficiently her active mind. Ever and anon she must needs rush from the tiller +to take a parenthetical pull at the fore- brace, the end of which led down to +the bulwarks near by; then refreshing herself with a draught or two of water +and a biscuit, she would continue to steer away, full of the importance of her +office. At any unusual flapping of the sails, a violent stamping on deck +announced the fact to the startled crew. Finding her thus indefatigable, I +readily induced her to stand two watches to Jarl’s and Samoa’s one; +and when she was at the helm, I permitted myself to doze on a pile of old +sails, spread every evening on the quarter-deck. +</p> + +<p> +It was the Skyeman, who often admonished me to “heave the ship to” +every night, thus stopping her headway till morning; a plan which, under other +circumstances, might have perhaps warranted the slumbers of all. But as it was, +such a course would have been highly imprudent. For while making no onward +progress through the water, the rapid currents we encountered would continually +be drifting us eastward; since, contrary to our previous experience, they +seemed latterly to have reversed their flow, a phenomenon by no means unusual +in the vicinity of the Line in the Pacific. And this it was that so prolonged +our passage to the westward. Even in a moderate breeze, I sometimes fancied, +that the impulse of the wind little more than counteracted the glide of the +currents; so that with much show of sailing, we were in reality almost a +fixture on the sea. +</p> + +<p> +The equatorial currents of the South Seas may be regarded as among the most +mysterious of the mysteries of the deep. Whence they come, whither go, who +knows? Tell us, what hidden law regulates their flow. Regardless of the theory +which ascribes to them a nearly uniform course from east to west, induced by +the eastwardly winds of the Line, and the collateral action of the Polar +streams; these currents are forever shifting. Nor can the period of their +revolutions be at all relied upon or predicted. +</p> + +<p> +But however difficult it may be to assign a specific cause for the ocean +streams, in any part of the world, one of the wholesome effects thereby +produced would seem obvious enough. And though the circumstance here alluded to +is perhaps known to every body, it may be questioned, whether it is generally +invested with the importance it deserves. Reference is here made to the +constant commingling and purification of the sea-water by reason of the +currents. +</p> + +<p> +For, that the ocean, according to the popular theory, possesses a special +purifying agent in its salts, is somewhat to be doubted. Nor can it be +explicitly denied, that those very salts might corrupt it, were it not for the +brisk circulation of its particles consequent upon the flow of the streams. It +is well known to seamen, that a bucket of sea-water, left standing in a +tropical climate, very soon becomes highly offensive; which is not the case +with rainwater. +</p> + +<p> +But I build no theories. And by way of obstructing the one, which might +possibly be evolved from the statement above, let me add, that the +offensiveness of sea-water left standing, may arise in no small degree from the +presence of decomposed animal matter. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0035"></a> +CHAPTER XXXV.<br/> +Ah, Annatoo!</h2> + +<p> +In order to a complete revelation, I must needs once again discourse of Annatoo +and her pilferings; and to what those pilferings led. In the simplicity of my +soul, I fancied that the dame, so much flattered as she needs must have been, +by the confidence I began to repose in her, would now mend her ways, and +abstain from her larcenies. But not so. She was possessed by some scores of +devils, perpetually her to mischief on their own separate behoof, and not less +for many of her pranks were of no earthly advantage to her, present or +prospective. +</p> + +<p> +One day the log-reel was missing. Summon Annatoo. She came; but knew nothing +about it. Jarl spent a whole morning in contriving a substitute; and a few days +after, pop, we came upon the lost: article hidden away in the main-top. +</p> + +<p> +Another time, discovering the little vessel to “gripe” hard in +steering, as if some one under water were jerking her backward, we instituted a +diligent examination, to see what was the matter. When lo; what should we find +but a rope, cunningly attached to one of the chain-plates under the starboard +main-channel. It towed heavily in the water. Upon dragging it up—much as +you would the cord of a ponderous bucket far down in a well—a stout +wooden box was discovered at the end; which opened, disclosed sundry knives, +hatchets, and ax-heads. +</p> + +<p> +Called to the stand, the Upoluan deposed, that thrice he had rescued that +identical box from Annatoo’s all-appropriating clutches. +</p> + +<p> +Now, here were four human beings shut up in this little oaken craft, and, for +the time being, their interests the same. What sane mortal, then, would forever +be committing thefts, without rhyme or reason. It was like stealing silver from +one pocket and decanting it into the other. And what might it not lead to in +the end? +</p> + +<p> +Why, ere long, in good sooth, it led to the abstraction of the compass from the +binnacle; so that we were fain to substitute for it, the one brought along in +the Chamois. +</p> + +<p> +It was Jarl that first published this last and alarming theft. Annatoo being at +the helm at dawn, he had gone to relieve her; and looking to see how we headed, +was horror-struck at the emptiness of the binnacle. +</p> + +<p> +I started to my feet; sought out the woman, and ferociously demanded the +compass. But her face was a blank; every word a denial. +</p> + +<p> +Further lenity was madness. I summoned Samoa, told him what had happened, and +affirmed that there was no safety for us except in the nightly incarceration of +his spouse. To this he privily assented; and that very evening, when Annatoo +descended into the forecastle, we barred over her the scuttle-slide. Long she +clamored, but unavailingly. And every night this was repeated; the dame saying +her vespers most energetically. +</p> + +<p> +It has somewhere been hinted, that Annatoo occasionally cast sheep’s eyes +at Jarl. So I was not a little surprised when her manner toward him decidedly +changed. Pulling at the ropes with us, she would give him sly pinches, and then +look another way, innocent as a lamb. Then again, she would refuse to handle +the same piece of rigging with him; with wry faces, rinsed out the wooden can +at the water cask, if it so chanced that my Viking had previously been drinking +therefrom. At other times, when the honest Skyeman came up from below, she +would set up a shout of derision, and loll out her tongue; accompanying all +this by certain indecorous and exceedingly unladylike gestures, significant of +the profound contempt in which she held him. +</p> + +<p> +Yet, never did Jarl heed her ill-breeding; but patiently overlooked and forgave +it. Inquiring the reason of the dame’s singular conduct, I learned, that +with eye averted, she had very lately crept close to my Viking, and met with no +tender reception. +</p> + +<p> +Doubtless, Jarl, who was much of a philosopher, innocently imagined that ere +long the lady would forgive and forget him. But what knows a philosopher about +women? +</p> + +<p> +Ere long, so outrageous became Annatoo’s detestation of him, that the +honest old tar could stand it no longer, and like most good-natured men when +once fairly roused, he was swept through and through with a terrible typhoon of +passion. He proposed, that forthwith the woman should be sacked and committed +to the deep; he could stand it no longer. +</p> + +<p> +Murder is catching. At first I almost jumped at the proposition; but as quickly +rejected it. Ah! Annatoo: Woman unendurable: deliver me, ye gods, from being +shut up in a ship with such a hornet again. +</p> + +<p> +But are we yet through with her? Not yet. Hitherto she had continued to perform +the duties of the office assigned her since the commencement of the voyage: +namely, those of the culinary department. From this she was now deposed. Her +skewer was broken. My Viking solemnly averring, that he would eat nothing more +of her concocting, for fear of being poisoned. For myself, I almost believed, +that there was malice enough in the minx to give us our henbane broth. +</p> + +<p> +But what said Samoa to all this? Passing over the matter of the cookery, will +it be credited, that living right among us as he did, he was yet blind to the +premeditated though unachieved peccadilloes of his spouse? Yet so it was. And +thus blind was Belisarius himself, concerning the intrigues of Antonina. +</p> + +<p> +Witness that noble dame’s affair with the youth Theodosius; when her +deluded lord charged upon the scandal-mongers with the very horns she had +bestowed upon him. +</p> + +<p> +Upon one occasion, seized with a sudden desire to palliate Annatoo’s +thievings, Samoa proudly intimated, that the lady was the most virtuous of her +sex. +</p> + +<p> +But alas, poor Annatoo, why say more? And bethinking me of the hard fate that +so soon overtook thee, I almost repent what has already and too faithfully been +portrayed. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0036"></a> +CHAPTER XXXVI.<br/> +The Parki Gives Up The Ghost</h2> + +<p> +A long calm in the boat, and now, God help us, another in the brigantine. It +was airless and profound. +</p> + +<p> +In that hot calm, we lay fixed and frozen in like Parry at the Pole. The sun +played upon the glassy sea like the sun upon the glaciers. +</p> + +<p> +At the end of two days we lifted up our eyes and beheld a low, creeping, hungry +cloud expanding like an army, wing and wing, along the eastern horizon. +Instantly Jarl bode me take heed. +</p> + +<p> +Here be it said, that though for weeks and weeks reign over the equatorial +latitudes of the Pacific, the mildest and sunniest of days; that nevertheless, +when storms do come, they come in their strength: spending in a few, brief +blasts their concentrated rage. They come like the Mamelukes: they charge, and +away. +</p> + +<p> +It wanted full an hour to sunset; but the sun was well nigh obscured. It seemed +toiling among bleak Scythian steeps in the hazy background. Above the +storm-cloud flitted ominous patches of scud, rapidly advancing and receding: +Attila’s skirmishers, thrown forward in the van of his Huns. Beneath, a +fitful shadow slid along the surface. As we gazed, the cloud came nearer; +accelerating its approach. +</p> + +<p> +With all haste we proceeded to furl the sails, which, owing to the calm, had +been hanging loose in the brails. And by help of a spare boom, used on the +forecastle-deck sit a sweep or great oar, we endeavored to cast the +brigantine’s head toward the foe. +</p> + +<p> +The storm seemed about to overtake us; but we felt no breeze. The noiseless +cloud stole on; its advancing shadow lowering over a distinct and prominent +milk-white crest upon the surface of the ocean. But now this line of surging +foam came rolling down upon us like a white charge of cavalry: mad Hotspur and +plumed Murat at its head; pouring right forward in a continuous frothy cascade, +which curled over, and fell upon the glassy sea before it. +</p> + +<p> +Still, no breath of air. But of a sudden, like a blow from a man’s hand, +and before our canvas could be secured, the stunned craft, giving one lurch to +port, was stricken down on her beam-ends; the roaring tide dashed high up +against her windward side, and drops of brine fell upon the deck, heavy as +drops of gore. +</p> + +<p> +It was all a din and a mist; a crashing of spars and of ropes; a horrible +blending of sights and of sounds; as for an instant we seemed in the hot heart +of the gale; our cordage, like harp-strings, shrieking above the fury of the +blast. The masts rose, and swayed, and dipped their trucks in the sea. And like +unto some stricken buffalo brought low to the plain, the brigantine’s +black hull, shaggy with sea-weed, lay panting on its flank in the foam. +</p> + +<p> +Frantically we clung to the uppermost bulwarks. And now, loud above the roar of +the sea, was suddenly heard a sharp, splintering sound, as of a Norway woodman +felling a pine in the forest. It was brave Jarl, who foremost of all had +snatched from its rack against the mainmast, the ax, always there kept. +</p> + +<p> +“Cut the lanyards to windward!” he cried; and again buried his ax +into the mast. He was quickly obeyed. And upon cutting the third lanyard of the +five, he shouted for us to pause. Dropping his ax, he climbed up to windward. +As he clutched the rail, the wounded mast snapped in twain with a report like a +cannon. A slight smoke was perceptible where it broke. The remaining lanyards +parted. From the violent strain upon them, the two shrouds flew madly into the +air, and one of the great blocks at their ends, striking Annatoo upon the +forehead, she let go her hold upon a stanchion, and sliding across the aslant +deck, was swallowed up in the whirlpool under our lea. Samoa shrieked. But +there was no time to mourn; no hand could reach to save. +</p> + +<p> +By the connecting stays, the mainmast carried over with it the foremast; when +we instantly righted, and for the time were saved; my own royal Viking our +saviour. +</p> + +<p> +The first fury of the gale was gone. But far to leeward was seen the even, +white line of its onset, pawing the ocean into foam. All round us, the sea +boiled like ten thousand caldrons; and through eddy, wave, and surge, our +almost water-logged craft waded heavily; every dead clash ringing hollow +against her hull, like blows upon a coffin. +</p> + +<p> +We floated a wreck. With every pitch we lifted our dangling jib-boom into the +air; and beating against the side, were the shattered fragments of the masts. +From these we made all haste to be free, by cutting the rigging that held them. +</p> + +<p> +Soon, the worst of the gale was blown over. But the sea ran high. Yet the rack +and scud of the tempest, its mad, tearing foam, was subdued into immense, +long-extended, and long-rolling billows; the white cream on their crests like +snow on the Andes. Ever and anon we hung poised on their brows; when the +furrowed ocean all round looked like a panorama from Chimborazo. +</p> + +<p> +A few hours more, and the surges went down. There was a moderate sea, a steady +breeze, and a clear, starry sky. Such was the storm that came after our calm. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0037"></a> +CHAPTER XXXVII.<br/> +Once More They Take To The Chamois</h2> + +<p> +Try the pumps. We dropped the sinker, and found the Parki bleeding at every +pore. Up from her well, the water, spring-like, came bubbling, pure and limpid +as the water of Saratoga. Her time had come. But by keeping two hands at the +pumps, we had no doubt she would float till daylight; previous to which we +liked not to abandon her. +</p> + +<p> +The interval was employed in clanging at the pump-breaks, and preparing the +Chamois for our reception. So soon as the sea permitted, we lowered it over the +side; and letting it float under the stern, stowed it with water and +provisions, together with various other things, including muskets and +cutlasses. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly after daylight, a violent jostling and thumping under foot showed that +the water, gaining rapidly in the, hold, spite of all pumping, had floated the +lighter casks up-ward to the deck, against which they were striking. +</p> + +<p> +Now, owing to the number of empty butts in the hold, there would have been, +perhaps, but small danger of the vessel’s sinking outright—all +awash as her decks would soon be—were it not, that many of her timbers +were of a native wood, which, like the Teak of India, is specifically heavier +than water. This, with the pearl shells on board, counteracted the buoyancy of +the casks. +</p> + +<p> +At last, the sun—long waited for—arose; the Parki meantime sinking +lower and lower. +</p> + +<p> +All things being in readiness, we proceeded to embark from the wreck, as from a +wharf. +</p> + +<p> +But not without some show of love for our poor brigantine. +</p> + +<p> +To a seaman, a ship is no piece of mechanism merely; but a creature of thoughts +and fancies, instinct with life. Standing at her vibrating helm, you feel her +beating pulse. I have loved ships, as I have loved men. +</p> + +<p> +To abandon the poor Parki was like leaving to its fate something that could +feel. It was meet that she should die decently and bravely. +</p> + +<p> +All this thought the Skyeman. Samoa and I were in the boat, calling upon him to +enter quickly, lest the vessel should sink, and carry us down in the eddies; +for already she had gone round twice. But cutting adrift the last fragments of +her broken shrouds, and putting her decks in order, Jarl buried his ax in the +splintered stump of the mainmast, and not till then did he join us. +</p> + +<p> +We slowly cheered, and sailed away. +</p> + +<p> +Not ten minutes after, the hull rolled convulsively in the sea; went round once +more; lifted its sharp prow as a man with arms pointed for a dive; gave a long +seething plunge; and went down. +</p> + +<p> +Many of her old planks were twice wrecked; once strown upon ocean’s +beach; now dropped into its lowermost vaults, with the bones of drowned ships +and drowned men. +</p> + +<p> +Once more afloat in our shell! But not with the intrepid spirit that shoved off +with us from the deck of the Arcturion. A bold deed done from impulse, for the +time carries few or no misgivings along with it. But forced upon you, its +terrors stare you in the face. So now. I had pushed from the Arcturion with a +stout heart; but quitting the sinking Parki, my heart sunk with her. +</p> + +<p> +With a fair wind, we held on our way westward, hoping to see land before many +days. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0038"></a> +CHAPTER XXXVIII.<br/> +The Sea On Fire</h2> + +<p> +The night following our abandonment of the Parki, was made memorable by a +remarkable spectacle. +</p> + +<p> +Slumbering in the bottom of the boat, Jarl and I were suddenly awakened by +Samoa. Starting, we beheld the ocean of a pallid white color, corruscating all +over with tiny golden sparkles. But the pervading hue of the water cast a +cadaverous gleam upon the boat, so that we looked to each other like ghosts. +For many rods astern our wake was revealed in a line of rushing illuminated +foam; while here and there beneath the surface, the tracks of sharks were +denoted by vivid, greenish trails, crossing and recrossing each other in every +direction. Farther away, and distributed in clusters, floated on the sea, like +constellations in the heavens, innumerable Medusae, a species of small, round, +refulgent fish, only to be met with in the South Seas and the Indian Ocean. +</p> + +<p> +Suddenly, as we gazed, there shot high into the air a bushy jet of flashes, +accompanied by the unmistakable deep breathing sound of a sperm whale. Soon, +the sea all round us spouted in fountains of fire; and vast forms, emitting a +glare from their flanks, and ever and anon raising their heads above water, and +shaking off the sparkles, showed where an immense shoal of Cachalots had risen +from below to sport in these phosphorescent billows. +</p> + +<p> +The vapor jetted forth was far more radiant than any portion of the sea; +ascribable perhaps to the originally luminous fluid contracting still more +brilliancy from its passage through the spouting canal of the whales. +</p> + +<p> +We were in great fear, lest without any vicious intention the Leviathans might +destroy us, by coming into close contact with our boat. We would have shunned +them; but they were all round and round us. Nevertheless we were safe; for as +we parted the pallid brine, the peculiar irradiation which shot from about our +keel seemed to deter them. Apparently discovering us of a sudden, many of them +plunged headlong down into the water, tossing their fiery tails high into the +air, and leaving the sea still more sparkling from the violent surging of their +descent. +</p> + +<p> +Their general course seemed the same as our own; to the westward. To remove +from them, we at last out oars, and pulled toward the north. So doing, we were +steadily pursued by a solitary whale, that must have taken our Chamois for a +kindred fish. Spite of all our efforts, he drew nearer and nearer; at length +rubbing his fiery flank against the Chamois’ gunwale, here and there +leaving long strips of the glossy transparent substance which thin as gossamer +invests the body of the Cachalot. +</p> + +<p> +In terror at a sight so new, Samoa shrank. But Jarl and I, more used to the +intimate companionship of the whales, pushed the boat away from it with our +oars: a thing often done in the fishery. +</p> + +<p> +The close vicinity of the whale revived in the so long astute Skyeman all the +enthusiasm of his daring vocation. However quiet by nature, a thorough-bred +whaleman betrays no little excitement in sight of his game. And it required +some persuasion to prevent Jarl from darting his harpoon: insanity under +present circumstances; and of course without object. But “Oh! for a +dart,” cried my Viking. And “Where’s now our old ship?” +he added reminiscently. +</p> + +<p> +But to my great joy the monster at last departed; rejoining the shoal, whose +lofty spoutings of flame were still visible upon the distant line of the +horizon; showing there, like the fitful starts of the Aurora Borealis. +</p> + +<p> +The sea retained its luminosity for about three hours; at the expiration of +half that period beginning to fade; and excepting occasional faint +illuminations consequent upon the rapid darting of fish under water, the +phenomenon at last wholly disappeared. +</p> + +<p> +Heretofore, I had beheld several exhibitions of marine phosphorescence, both in +the Atlantic and Pacific. But nothing in comparison with what was seen that +night. In the Atlantic, there is very seldom any portion of the ocean luminous, +except the crests of the waves; and these mostly appear so during wet, murky +weather. Whereas, in the Pacific, all instances of the sort, previously corning +under my notice, had been marked by patches of greenish light, unattended with +any pallidness of sea. Save twice on the coast of Peru, where I was summoned +from my hammock to the alarming midnight cry of “All hands ahoy! tack +ship!” And rushing on deck, beheld the sea white as a shroud; for which +reason it was feared we were on soundings. +</p> + +<p> +Now, sailors love marvels, and love to repeat them. And from many an old +shipmate I have heard various sage opinings, concerning the phenomenon in +question. Dismissing, as destitute of sound philosophic probability, the +extravagant notion of one of my nautical friends—no less a philosopher +than my Viking himself—namely: that the phosphoresence of the sea is +caused by a commotion among the mermaids, whose golden locks, all torn and +disheveled, do irradiate the waters at such times; I proceed to record more +reliable theories. +</p> + +<p> +Faraday might, perhaps, impute the phenomenon to a peculiarly electrical +condition of the atmosphere; and to that solely. But herein, my scientific +friend would be stoutly contradicted by many intelligent seamen, who, in part, +impute it to the presence of large quantities of putrescent animal matter; with +which the sea is well known to abound. +</p> + +<p> +And it would seem not unreasonable to suppose, that it is by this means that +the fluid itself becomes charged with the luminous principle. Draw a bucket of +water from the phosphorescent ocean, and it still retains traces of fire; but, +standing awhile, this soon subsides. Now pour it along the deck, and it is a +stream of flame; caused by its renewed agitation. Empty the bucket, and for a +space sparkles cling to it tenaciously; and every stave seems ignited. +</p> + +<p> +But after all, this seeming ignition of the sea can not be wholly produced by +dead matter therein. There are many living fish, phosphorescent; and, under +certain conditions, by a rapid throwing off of luminous particles must largely +contribute to the result. Not to particularize this circumstance as true of +divers species of sharks, cuttle-fish, and many others of the larger varieties +of the finny tribes; the myriads of microscopic mollusca, well known to swarm +off soundings, might alone be deemed almost sufficient to kindle a fire in the +brine. +</p> + +<p> +But these are only surmises; likely, but uncertain. +</p> + +<p> +After science comes sentiment. +</p> + +<p> +A French naturalist maintains, that the nocturnal radiance of the fire-fly is +purposely intended as an attraction to the opposite sex; that the artful insect +illuminates its body for a beacon to love. Thus: perched upon the edge of a +leaf, and waiting the approach of her Leander, who comes buffeting with his +wings the aroma of the flowers, some insect Hero may show a torch to her +gossamer gallant. +</p> + +<p> +But alas, thrice alas, for the poor little fire-fish of the sea, whose radiance +but reveals them to their foes, and lights the way to their destruction. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0039"></a> +CHAPTER XXXIX.<br/> +They Fall In With Strangers</h2> + +<p> +After quitting the Parki, we had much calm weather, varied by light breezes. +And sailing smoothly over a sea, so recently one sheet of foam, I could not +avoid bethinking me, how fortunate it was, that the gale had overtaken us in +the brigantine, and not in the Chamois. For deservedly high as the +whale-shallop ranks as a sea boat; still, in a severe storm, the larger your +craft the greater your sense of security. Wherefore, the thousand reckless +souls tenanting a line-of- battle ship scoff at the most awful hurricanes; +though, in reality, they may be less safe in their wooden-walled Troy, than +those who contend with the gale in a clipper. +</p> + +<p> +But not only did I congratulate myself upon salvation from the past, but upon +the prospect for the future. For storms happening so seldom in these seas, one +just blown over is almost a sure guarantee of very many weeks’ calm +weather to come. +</p> + +<p> +Now sun followed sun; and no land. And at length it almost seemed as if we must +have sailed past the remotest presumable westerly limit of the chain of islands +we sought; a lurking suspicion which I sedulously kept to myself However, I +could not but nourish a latent faith that all would yet be well. +</p> + +<p> +On the ninth day my forebodings were over. In the gray of the dawn, perched +upon the peak of our sail, a noddy was seen fast asleep. This freak was true to +the nature of that curious fowl, whose name is significant of its drowsiness. +Its plumage was snow-white, its bill and legs blood-red; the latter looking +like little pantalettes. In a sly attempt at catching the bird, Samoa captured +three tail- feathers; the alarmed creature flying away with a scream, and +leaving its quills in his hand. +</p> + +<p> +Sailing on, we gradually broke in upon immense low-sailing flights of other +aquatic fowls, mostly of those species which are seldom found far from land: +terns, frigate-birds, mollymeaux, reef-pigeons, boobies, gulls, and the like. +They darkened the air; their wings making overhead an incessant rustling like +the simultaneous turning over of ten thousand leaves. The smaller sort skimmed +the sea like pebbles sent skipping from the shore. Over these, flew myriads of +birds of broader wing. While high above all, soared in air the daring +“Diver,” or sea-kite, the power of whose vision is truly wonderful. +It perceives the little flying-fish in the water, at a height which can not be +less than four hundred feet. Spirally wheeling and screaming as it goes, the +sea-kite, bill foremost, darts downward, swoops into the water, and for a +moment altogether disappearing, emerges at last; its prey firmly trussed in its +claws. But bearing it aloft, the bold bandit is quickly assailed by other birds +of prey, that strive to wrest from him his booty. And snatched from his talons, +you see the fish falling through the air, till again caught up in the very act +of descent, by the fleetest of its pursuers. +</p> + +<p> +Leaving these sights astern, we presently picked up the slimy husk of a +cocoanut, all over green barnacles. And shortly after, passed two or three +limbs of trees, and the solitary trunk of a palm; which, upon sailing nearer, +seemed but very recently started on its endless voyage. As noon came on; the +dark purple land-haze, which had been dimly descried resting upon the western +horizon, was very nearly obscured. Nevertheless, behind that dim drapery we +doubted not bright boughs were waving. +</p> + +<p> +We were now in high spirits. Samoa between times humming to himself some +heathenish ditty, and Jarl ten times more intent on his silence than ever; yet +his eye full of expectation and gazing broad off from our bow. Of a sudden, +shading his face with his hand, he gazed fixedly for an instant, and then +springing to his feet, uttered the long-drawn sound—“Sail +ho!” +</p> + +<p> +Just tipping the furthest edge of the sky was a little speck, dancing into view +every time we rose upon the swells. It looked like one of many birds; for half +intercepting our view, fell showers of plumage: a flight of milk-white noddies +flying downward to the sea. +</p> + +<p> +But soon the birds are seen no more. Yet there remains the speck; plainly a +sail; but too small for a ship. Was it a boat after a whale? The vessel to +which it belonged far astern, and shrouded by the haze? So it seemed. +</p> + +<p> +Quietly, however, we waited the stranger’s nearer approach; confident, +that for some time he would not be able to perceive us, owing to our being in +what mariners denominate the “sun-glade,” or that part of the ocean +upon which the sun’s rays flash with peculiar intensity. +</p> + +<p> +As the sail drew nigh, its failing to glisten white led us to doubt whether it +was indeed a whale-boat. Presently, it showed yellow; and Samoa declared, that +it must be the sail of some island craft. True. The stranger proving a large +double-canoe, like those used by the Polynesians in making passages between +distant islands. +</p> + +<p> +The Upoluan was now clamorous for a meeting, to which Jarl was averse. +Deliberating a moment, I directed the muskets to be loaded; then setting the +sail the wind on our quarter—we headed away for the canoe, now sailing at +right angles with our previous course. +</p> + +<p> +Here it must be mentioned, that from the various gay cloths and other things +provided for barter by the captain of the Parki, I had very strikingly improved +my costume; making it free, flowing, and eastern. I looked like an Emir. Nor +had my Viking neglected to follow my example; though with some few +modifications of his own. With his long tangled hair and harpoon, he looked +like the sea-god, that boards ships, for the first time crossing the Equator. +For tatooed Samoa, he yet sported both kilt and turban, reminding one of a +tawny leopard, though his spots were all in one place. Besides this raiment of +ours, against emergencies we had provided our boat with divers nankeens and +silks. +</p> + +<p> +But now into full view comes a yoke of huge clumsy prows, shaggy with carving, +and driving through the water with considerable velocity; the immense sprawling +sail holding the wind like a bag. She seemed full of men; and from the +dissonant cries borne over to us, and the canoe’s widely yawing, it was +plain that we had occasioned no small sensation. They seemed undetermined what +course to pursue: whether to court a meeting, or avoid it; whether to regard us +as friends or foes. +</p> + +<p> +As we came still nearer, distinctly beholding their faces, we loudly hailed +them, inviting them to furl their sails, and allow us to board them. But no +answer was returned; their confusion increasing. And now, within less than two +ships’-lengths, they swept right across our bow, gazing at us with +blended curiosity and fear. +</p> + +<p> +Their craft was about thirty feet long, consisting of a pair of parallel +canoes, very narrow, and at the distance of a yard or so, lengthwise, united by +stout cross-timbers, lashed across the four gunwales. Upon these timbers was a +raised platform or dais, quite dry; and astern an arched cabin or tent; behind +which, were two broad-bladed paddles terminating in rude shark-tails, by which +the craft was steered. +</p> + +<p> +The yard, spreading a yellow sail, was a crooked bough, supported obliquely in +the crotch of a mast, to which the green bark was still clinging. Here and +there were little tufts of moss. The high, beaked prow of that canoe in which +the mast was placed, resembled a rude altar; and all round it was suspended a +great variety of fruits, including scores of cocoanuts, unhusked. This prow was +railed off, forming a sort of chancel within. +</p> + +<p> +The foremost beam, crossing the gunwales, extended some twelve feet beyond the +side of the dais; and at regular intervals hereupon, stout cords were fastened, +which, leading up to the head of the mast, answered the purpose of shrouds. The +breeze was now streaming fresh; and, as if to force down into the water the +windward side of the craft, five men stood upon this long beam, grasping five +shrouds. Yet they failed to counterbalance the pressure of the sail; and owing +to the opposite inclination of the twin canoes, these living statues were +elevated high above the water; their appearance rendered still more striking by +their eager attitudes, and the apparent peril of their position, as the mad +spray from the bow dashed over them. Suddenly, the Islanders threw their craft +into the wind; while, for ourselves, we lay on our oars, fearful of alarming +them by now coming nearer. But hailing them again, we said we were friends; and +had friendly gifts for them, if they would peaceably permit us to approach. +This understood, there ensued a mighty clamor; insomuch, that I bade Jarl and +Samoa out oars, and row very gently toward the strangers. Whereupon, amid a +storm of vociferations, some of them hurried to the furthest side of their +dais; standing with arms arched over their heads, as if for a dive; others +menacing us with clubs and spears; and one, an old man with a bamboo trellis on +his head forming a sort of arbor for his hair, planted himself full before the +tent, stretching behind him a wide plaited sling. +</p> + +<p> +Upon this hostile display, Samoa dropped his oar, and brought his piece to bear +upon the old man, who, by his attitude, seemed to menace us with the fate of +the great braggart of Gath. But I quickly knocked down the muzzle of his +musket, and forbade the slightest token of hostility; enjoining it upon my +companions, nevertheless, to keep well on their guard. +</p> + +<p> +We now ceased rowing, and after a few minutes’ uproar in the canoe, they +ran to the steering-paddles, and forcing round their craft before the wind, +rapidly ran away from us. With all haste we set our sail, and pulling also at +our oars, soon overtook them, determined upon coming into closer communion. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0040"></a> +CHAPTER XL.<br/> +Sire And Sons</h2> + +<p> +Seeing flight was useless, the Islanders again stopped their canoe, and once +more we cautiously drew nearer; myself crying out to them not to be fearful; +and Samoa, with the odd humor of his race, averring that he had known every +soul of them from his infancy. +</p> + +<p> +We approached within two or three yards; when we paused, which somewhat allayed +their alarm. Fastening a red China handkerchief to the blade of our long +mid-ship oar, I waved it in the air. A lively clapping of hands, and many wild +exclamations. +</p> + +<p> +While yet waving the flag, I whispered to Jarl to give the boat a sheer toward +the canoe, which being adroitly done, brought the bow, where I stood, still +nearer to the Islanders. I then dropped the silk among them; and the Islander, +who caught it, at once handed it to the warlike old man with the sling; who, on +seating himself, spread it before him; while the rest crowding round, glanced +rapidly from the wonderful gift, to the more wonderful donors. +</p> + +<p> +This old man was the superior of the party. And Samoa asserted, that he must be +a priest of the country to which the Islanders belonged; that the craft could +be no other than one of their sacred canoes, bound on some priestly voyage. All +this he inferred from the altar- like prow, and there being no women on board. +</p> + +<p> +Bent upon conciliating the old priest, I dropped into the canoe another silk +handkerchief; while Samoa loudly exclaimed, that we were only three men, and +were peaceably inclined. Meantime, old Aaron, fastening the two silks crosswise +over his shoulders, like a brace of Highland plaids, crosslegged sat, and eyed +us. +</p> + +<p> +It was a curious sight. The old priest, like a scroll of old parchment, covered +all over with hieroglyphical devices, harder to interpret, I’ll warrant, +than any old Sanscrit manuscript. And upon his broad brow, deep-graven in +wrinkles, were characters still more mysterious, which no Champollion nor gipsy +could have deciphered. He looked old as the elderly hills; eyes sunken, though +bright; and head white as the summit of Mont Blanc. +</p> + +<p> +The rest were a youthful and comely set: their complexion that of Gold Sherry, +and all tattooed after this pattern: two broad cross- stripes on the chest and +back; reaching down to the waist, like a foot-soldier’s harness. Their +faces were full of expression; and their mouths were full of fine teeth; so +that the parting of their lips, was as the opening of pearl oysters. Marked, +here and there, after the style of Tahiti, with little round figures in blue, +dotted in the middle with a spot of vermilion, their brawny brown thighs looked +not unlike the gallant hams of Westphalia, spotted with the red dust of +Cayenne. +</p> + +<p> +But what a marvelous resemblance in the features of all. Were they born at one +birth? This resemblance was heightened by their uniform marks. But it was +subsequently ascertained, that they were the children of one sire; and that +sire, old Aaron; who, no doubt, reposed upon his sons, as an old general upon +the trophies of his youth. +</p> + +<p> +They were the children of as many mothers; and he was training them up for the +priesthood. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0041"></a> +CHAPTER XLI.<br/> +A Fray</h2> + +<p> +So bent were the strangers upon concealing who they were, and the object of +their voyage, that it was some time ere we could obtain the information we +desired. +</p> + +<p> +They pointed toward the tent, as if it contained their Eleusinian mysteries. +And the old priest gave us to know, that it would be profanation to enter it. +</p> + +<p> +But all this only roused my curiosity to unravel the wonder. +</p> + +<p> +At last I succeeded. +</p> + +<p> +In that mysterious tent was concealed a beautiful maiden. And, in pursuance of +a barbarous custom, by Aleema, the priest, she was being borne an offering from +the island of Amma to the gods of Tedaidee. +</p> + +<p> +Now, hearing of the maiden, I waited for no more. Need I add, how stirred was +my soul toward this invisible victim; and how hotly I swore, that precious +blood of hers should never smoke upon an altar. If we drowned for it, I was +bent upon rescuing the captive. But as yet, no gentle signal of distress had +been waved to us from the tent. Thence, no sound could be heard, but an +occasional rustle of the matting. Was it possible, that one about to be +immolated could proceed thus tranquilly to her fate? +</p> + +<p> +But desperately as I resolved to accomplish the deliverance of the maiden, it +was best to set heedfully about it. I desired no shedding of blood; though the +odds were against us. +</p> + +<p> +The old priest seemed determined to prevent us from boarding his craft. But +being equally determined the other way, I cautiously laid the bow of the +Chamois against the canoe’s quarter, so as to present the smallest +possible chance for a hostile entrance into our boat. Then, Samoa, knife in +ear, and myself with a cutlass, stepped upon the dais, leaving Jarl in the +boat’s head, equipped with his harpoon; three loaded muskets lying by his +side. He was strictly enjoined to resist the slightest demonstration toward our +craft. +</p> + +<p> +As we boarded the canoe, the Islanders slowly retreated; meantime earnestly +conferring in whispers; all but the old priest, who, still seated, presented an +undaunted though troubled front. To our surprise, he motioned us to sit down by +him; which we did; taking care, however, not to cut off our communication with +Jarl. +</p> + +<p> +With the hope of inspiring good will, I now unfolded a roll of printed cotton, +and spreading it before the priest, directed his attention to the pictorial +embellishments thereon, representing some hundreds of sailor boys +simultaneously ascending some hundreds of uniform sections of a ship’s +rigging. Glancing at them a moment, by a significant sign, he gave me to know, +that long previous he himself had ascended the shrouds of a ship. Making this +allusion, his countenance was overcast with a ferocious expression, as if +something terrific was connected with the reminiscence. But it soon passed +away, and somewhat abruptly he assumed an air of much merriment. +</p> + +<p> +While we were thus sitting together, and my whole soul full of the thoughts of +the captive, and how best to accomplish my purpose, and often gazing toward the +tent; I all at once noticed a movement among the strangers. Almost in the same +instant, Samoa, right across the face of Aleema, and in his ordinary tones, +bade me take heed to myself, for mischief was brewing. Hardly was this warning +uttered, when, with carved clubs in their hands, the Islanders completely +surrounded us. Then up rose the old priest, and gave us to know, that we were +wholly in his power, and if we did not swear to depart in our boat forthwith, +and molest him no more, the peril be ours. +</p> + +<p> +“Depart and you live; stay and you die.” +</p> + +<p> +Fifteen to three. Madness to gainsay his mandate. Yet a beautiful maiden was at +stake. +</p> + +<p> +The knife before dangling in Samoa’s ear was now in his hand. Jarl cried +out for us to regain the boat, several of the Islanders making a rush for it. +No time to think. All passed quicker than it can be said. They closed in upon +us, to push us from the canoe: Rudely the old priest flung me from his side, +menacing me with his dagger, the sharp spine of a fish. A thrust and a threat! +Ere I knew it, my cutlass made a quick lunge. A curse from the priest’s +mouth; red blood from his side; he tottered, stared about him, and fell over +like a brown hemlock into the sea. A yell of maledictions rose on the air. A +wild cry was heard from the tent. Making a dead breach among the crowd, we now +dashed side by side for the boat. Springing into it, we found Jarl battling +with two Islanders; while the rest were still howling upon the dais. Rage and +grief had almost disabled them. +</p> + +<p> +With one stroke of my cutlass, I now parted the line that held us to the canoe, +and with Samoa falling upon the two Islanders, by Jarl’s help, we quickly +mastered them; forcing them down into the bottom of the boat. +</p> + +<p> +The Skyeman and Samoa holding passive the captives, I quickly set our sail, and +snatching the sheet at the cavil, we rapidly shot from the canoe. The strangers +defying us with their spears; several couching them as if to dart; while others +held back their hands, as if to prevent them from jeopardizing the lives of +their countrymen in the Chamois. +</p> + +<p> +Seemingly untoward events oftentimes lead to successful results: Far from +destroying all chance of rescuing the captive, our temporary flight, +indispensable for the safety of Jarl, only made the success of our enterprise +more probable. For having made prisoners two of the strangers, I determined to +retain them as hostages, through whom to effect my plans without further +bloodshed. +</p> + +<p> +And here it must needs be related, that some of the natives were wounded in the +fray: while all three of their assailants had received several bruises. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0042"></a> +CHAPTER XLII.<br/> +Remorse</h2> + +<p> +During the skirmish not a single musket had been discharged. The first snatched +by Jarl had missed fire, and ere he could seize another, it was close quarters +with him, and no gestures to spare. His harpoon was his all. And truly, there +is nothing like steel in a fray. It comes and it goes with a will, and is never +a-weary. Your sword is your life, and that of your foe; to keep or to take as +it happens. Closer home does it go than a rammer; and fighting with steel is a +play without ever an interlude. There are points more deadly than bullets; and +stocks packed full of subtle tubes, whence comes an impulse more reliable than +powder. +</p> + +<p> +Binding our prisoners lengthwise across the boat’s seats, we rowed for +the canoe, making signs of amity. +</p> + +<p> +Now, if there be any thing fitted to make a high tide ebb in the veins, it is +the sight of a vanquished foe, inferior to yourself in powers of destruction; +but whom some necessity has forced you to subdue. All victories are not +triumphs, nor all who conquer, heroes. +</p> + +<p> +As we drew near the canoe, it was plain, that the loss of their sire had again +for the instant overcome the survivors. Raising hands, they cursed us; and at +intervals sent forth a low, piercing wail, peculiar to their race. As before, +faint cries were heard from the tent. And all the while rose and fell on the +sea, the ill-fated canoe. +</p> + +<p> +As I gazed at this sight, what iron mace fell on my soul; what curse rang sharp +in my ear! It was I, who was the author of the deed that caused the shrill +wails that I heard. By this hand, the dead man had died. Remorse smote me hard; +and like lightning I asked myself, whether the death-deed I had done was sprung +of a virtuous motive, the rescuing a captive from thrall; or whether beneath +that pretense, I had engaged in this fatal affray for some other, and selfish +purpose; the companionship of a beautiful maid. But throttling the thought, I +swore to be gay. Am I not rescuing the maiden? Let them go down who withstand +me. +</p> + +<p> +At the dismal spectacle before him, Jarl, hitherto menacing our prisoners with +his weapon, in order to intimidate their countrymen, honest Jarl dropped his +harpoon. But shaking his knife in the air, Samoa yet defied the strangers; nor +could we prevent him. His heathenish blood was up. +</p> + +<p> +Standing foremost in the boat, I now assured the strangers, that all we sought +at their hands was the maiden in the tent. That captive surrendered, our own, +unharmed, should be restored. If not, they must die. With a cry, they started +to their feet, and brandished their clubs; but, seeing Jarl’s harpoon +quivering over the hearts of our prisoners, they quickly retreated; at last +signifying their acquiescence in my demand. Upon this, I sprang to the dais, +and across it indicating a line near the bow, signed the Islanders to retire +beyond it. Then, calling upon them one by one to deliver their weapons, they +were passed into the boat. +</p> + +<p> +The Chamois was now brought round to the canoe’s stern; and leaving Jarl +to defend it as before, the Upoluan rejoined me on the dais. By these +precautions—the hostages still remaining bound hand and foot in the +boat—we deemed ourselves entirely secure. +</p> + +<p> +Attended by Samoa, I stood before the tent, now still as the grave. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0043"></a> +CHAPTER XLIII.<br/> +The Tent Entered</h2> + +<p> +By means of thin spaces between the braids of matting, the place was open to +the air, but not to view. There was also a round opening on one side, only +large enough, however, to admit the arm; but this aperture was partially closed +from within. In front, a deep-dyed rug of osiers, covering the entrance way, +was intricately laced to the standing part of the tent. As I divided this +lacing with my cutlass, there arose an outburst of voices from the Islanders. +And they covered their faces, as the interior was revealed to my gaze. +</p> + +<p> +Before me crouched a beautiful girl. Her hands were drooping. And, like a saint +from a shrine, she looked sadly out from her long, fair hair. A low wail issued +from her lips, and she trembled like a sound. There were tears on her cheek, +and a rose-colored pearl on her bosom. +</p> + +<p> +Did I dream?—A snow-white skin: blue, firmament eyes: Golconda locks. For +an instant spell-bound I stood; while with a slow, apprehensive movement, and +still gazing fixedly, the captive gathered more closely about her a gauze-like +robe. Taking one step within, and partially dropping the curtain of the tent, I +so stood, as to have both sight and speech of Samoa, who tarried without; while +the maiden, crouching in the farther corner of the retreat, was wholly screened +from all eyes but mine. +</p> + +<p> +Crossing my hands before me, I now stood without speaking. For the soul of me, +I could not link this mysterious creature with the tawny strangers. She seemed +of another race. So powerful was this impression, that unconsciously, I +addressed her in my own tongue. She started, and bending over, listened +intently, as if to the first faint echo of something dimly remembered. Again I +spoke, when throwing back her hair, the maiden looked up with a piercing, +bewildered gaze. But her eyes soon fell, and bending over once more, she +resumed her former attitude. At length she slowly chanted to herself several +musical words, unlike those of the Islanders; but though I knew not what they +meant, they vaguely seemed familiar. +</p> + +<p> +Impatient to learn her story, I now questioned her in Polynesian. But with much +earnestness, she signed me to address her as before. Soon perceiving, however, +that without comprehending the meaning of the words I employed, she seemed +merely touched by something pleasing in their sound, I once more addressed her +in Polynesian; saying that I was all eagerness to hear her history. +</p> + +<p> +After much hesitation she complied; starting with alarm at every sound from +without; yet all the while deeply regarding me. +</p> + +<p> +Broken as these disclosures were at the time, they are here presented in the +form in which they were afterward more fully narrated. +</p> + +<p> +So unearthly was the story, that at first I little comprehended it; and was +almost persuaded that the luckless maiden was some beautiful maniac. +</p> + +<p> +She declared herself more than mortal, a maiden from Oroolia, the Island of +Delights, somewhere in the paradisiacal archipelago of the Polynesians. To this +isle, while yet an infant, by some mystical power, she had been spirited from +Amma, the place of her nativity. Her name was Yillah. And hardly had the waters +of Oroolia washed white her olive skin, and tinged her hair with gold, when one +day strolling in the woodlands, she was snared in the tendrils of a vine. +Drawing her into its bowers, it gently transformed her into one of its +blossoms, leaving her conscious soul folded up in the transparent petals. +</p> + +<p> +Here hung Yillah in a trance, the world without all tinged with the rosy hue of +her prison. At length when her spirit was about to burst forth in the opening +flower, the blossom was snapped from its stem; and borne by a soft wind to the +sea; where it fell into the opening valve of a shell; which in good time was +cast upon the beach of the Island of Amma. +</p> + +<p> +In a dream, these events were revealed to Aleema the priest; who by a spell +unlocking its pearly casket, took forth the bud, which now showed signs of +opening in the reviving air, and bore faint shadowy revealings, as of the dawn +behind crimson clouds. Suddenly expanding, the blossom exhaled away in +perfumes; floating a rosy mist in the air. Condensing at last, there emerged +from this mist the same radiant young Yillah as before; her locks all moist, +and a rose- colored pearl on her bosom. Enshrined as a goddess, the wonderful +child now tarried in the sacred temple of Apo, buried in a dell; never beheld +of mortal eyes save Aleema’s. +</p> + +<p> +Moon after moon passed away, and at last, only four days gone by, Aleema came +to her with a dream; that the spirits in Oroolia had recalled her home by the +way of Tedaidee, on whose coast gurgled up in the sea an enchanted spring; +which streaming over upon the brine, flowed on between blue watery banks; and, +plunging into a vortex, went round and round, descending into depths unknown. +Into this whirlpool Yillah was to descend in a canoe, at last to well up in an +inland fountain of Oroolia. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0044"></a> +CHAPTER XLIV.<br/> +Away!</h2> + +<p> +Though clothed in language of my own, the maiden’s story is in substance +the same as she related. Yet were not these things narrated as past events; she +merely recounted them as impressions of her childhood, and of her destiny yet +unaccomplished. And mystical as the tale most assuredly was, my knowledge of +the strange arts of the island priesthood, and the rapt fancies indulged in by +many of their victims, deprived it in good part of the effect it otherwise +would have produced. +</p> + +<p> +For ulterior purposes connected with their sacerdotal supremacy, the priests of +these climes oftentimes secrete mere infants in their temples; and jealously +secluding them from all intercourse with the world, craftily delude them, as +they grow up, into the wildest conceits. +</p> + +<p> +Thus wrought upon, their pupils almost lose their humanity in the constant +indulgence of seraphic imaginings. In many cases becoming inspired as oracles; +and as such, they are sometimes resorted to by devotees; always screened from +view, however, in the recesses of the temples. But in every instance, their end +is certain. Beguiled with some fairy tale about revisiting the islands of +Paradise, they are led to the secret sacrifice, and perish unknown to their +kindred. +</p> + +<p> +But, would that all this had been hidden from me at the time. For Yillah was +lovely enough to be really divine; and so I might have been tranced into a +belief of her mystical legends. +</p> + +<p> +But with what passionate exultation did I find myself the deliverer of this +beautiful maiden; who, thinking no harm, and rapt in a dream, was being borne +to her fate on the coast of Tedaidee. Nor now, for a moment, did the death of +Aleema her guardian seem to hang heavy upon my heart. I rejoiced that I had +sent him to his gods; that in place of the sea moss growing over sweet Yillah +drowned in the sea, the vile priest himself had sunk to the bottom. +</p> + +<p> +But though he had sunk in the deep, his ghost sunk not in the deep waters of my +soul. However in exultations its surface foamed up, at bottom guilt brooded. +Sifted out, my motives to this enterprise justified not the mad deed, which, in +a moment of rage, I had done: though, those motives had been covered with a +gracious pretense; concealing myself from myself. But I beat down the thought. +</p> + +<p> +In relating her story, the maiden frequently interrupted it with questions +concerning myself:—Whence I came: being white, from Oroolia? Whither I +was going: to Amma? And what had happened to Aleema? For she had been dismayed +at the fray, though knowing not what it could mean; and she had heard the +priest’s name called upon in lamentations. These questions for the time I +endeavored to evade; only inducing her to fancy me some gentle demigod, that +had come over the sea from her own fabulous Oroolia. And all this she must +verily have believed. For whom, like me, ere this could she have beheld? Still +fixed she her eyes upon me strangely, and hung upon the accents of my voice. +</p> + +<p> +While this scene was passing, the strangers began to show signs of impatience, +and a voice from the Chamois repeatedly hailed us to accelerate our movements. +</p> + +<p> +My course was quickly decided. The only obstacle to be encountered was the +possibility of Yillah’s alarm at being suddenly borne into my prow. For +this event I now sought to prepare her. I informed the damsel that Aleema had +been dispatched on a long errand to Oroolia; leaving to my care, for the +present, the guardianship of the lovely Yillah; and that therefore, it was +necessary to carry her tent into my own canoe, then waiting to receive it. +</p> + +<p> +This intelligence she received with the utmost concern; and not knowing to what +her perplexity might lead, I thought fit to transport her into the Chamois, +while yet overwhelmed by the announcement of my intention. +</p> + +<p> +Quitting her retreat, I apprised Jarl of my design; and then, no more delay! +</p> + +<p> +At bottom, the tent was attached to a light framework of bamboos; and from its +upper corners, four cords, like those of a marquee, confined it to the dais. +These, Samoa’s knife soon parted; when lifting the light tent, we +speedily transferred it to the Chamois; a wild yell going up from the +Islanders, which drowned the faint cries of the maiden. But we heeded not the +din. Toss in the fruit, hanging from the altar-prow! It was done; and then +running up our sail, we glided away;—Chamois, tent, hostages, and all. +Rushing to the now vacant stern of their canoe, the Islanders once more lifted +up their hands and their voices in curses. +</p> + +<p> +A suitable distance gained, we paused to fling overboard the arms we had taken; +and Jarl proceeded to liberate the hostages. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, I entered the tent, and by many tokens, sought to allay the +maiden’s alarm. Thus engaged, violent plunges were heard: our prisoners +taking to the sea to regain their canoe. All dripping, they were received by +their brethren with wild caresses. +</p> + +<p> +From something now said by the captives, the rest seemed suddenly inspirited +with hopes of revenge; again wildly shaking their spears, just before picked up +from the sea. With great clamor and confusion they soon set their mat-sail; and +instead of sailing southward for Tedaidee, or northward for Amma their home, +they steered straight after us, in our wake. +</p> + +<p> +Foremost in the prow stood three; javelins poised for a dart; at intervals, +raising a yell. +</p> + +<p> +Did they mean to pursue me? Full in my rear they came on, baying like hounds on +their game. Yillah trembled at their cries. My own heart beat hard with +undefinable dread. The corpse of Aleema seemed floating before: its avengers +were raging behind. +</p> + +<p> +But soon these phantoms departed. For very soon it appeared that in vain the +pagans pursued. Their craft, our fleet Chamois outleaped. And farther and +farther astern dropped the evil-boding canoe, till at last but a speck; when a +great swell of the sea surged up before it, and it was seen no more. Samoa +swore that it must have swamped, and gone down. But however it was, my heart +lightened apace. I saw none but ourselves on the sea: I remembered that our +keel left no track as it sailed. +</p> + +<p> +Let the Oregon Indian through brush, bramble, and brier, hunt his enemy’s +trail, far over the mountains and down in the vales; comes he to the water, he +snuffs idly in air. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0045"></a> +CHAPTER XLV.<br/> +Reminiscences</h2> + +<p> +In resecuing the gentle Yillah from the hands of the Islanders, a design seemed +accomplished. But what was now to be done? Here, in our adventurous Chamois, +was a damsel more lovely than the flushes of morning; and for companions, whom +had she but me and my comrades? Besides, her bosom still throbbed with alarms, +her fancies all roving through mazes. +</p> + +<p> +How subdue these dangerous imaginings? How gently dispel them? +</p> + +<p> +But one way there was: to lead her thoughts toward me, as her friend and +preserver; and a better and wiser than Aleema the priest. Yet could not this be +effected but by still maintaining my assumption of a divine origin in the +blessed isle of Oroolia; and thus fostering in her heart the mysterious +interest, with which from the first she had regarded me. But if punctilious +reserve on the part of her deliverer should teach her to regard him as some +frigid stranger from the Arctic Zone, what sympathy could she have for him? and +hence, what peace of mind, having no one else to cling to? +</p> + +<p> +Now re-entering the tent, she again inquired where tarried Aleema. +</p> + +<p> +“Think not of him, sweet Yillah,” I cried. “Look on me. Am I +not white like yourself? Behold, though since quitting Oroolia the sun has dyed +my cheek, am I not even as you? Am I brown like the dusky Aleema? They snatched +you away from your isle in the sea, too early for you to remember me there. But +you have not been forgotten by me, sweetest Yillah. Ha! ha! shook we not the +palm-trees together, and chased we not the rolling nuts down the glen? Did we +not dive into the grotto on the sea-shore, and come up together in the cool +cavern in the hill? In my home in Oroolia, dear Yillah, I have a lock of your +hair, ere yet it was golden: a little dark tress like a ring. How your cheeks +were then changing from olive to white. And when shall I forget the hour, that +I came upon you sleeping among the flowers, with roses and lilies for cheeks. +Still forgetful? Know you not my voice? Those little spirits in your eyes have +seen me before. They mimic me now as they sport in their lakes. All the past a +dim blank? Think of the time when we ran up and down in our arbor, where the +green vines grew over the great ribs of the stranded whale. Oh Yillah, little +Yillah, has it all come to this? am I forever forgotten? Yet over the wide +watery world have I sought thee: from isle to isle, from sea to sea. And now we +part not. Aleema is gone. My prow shall keep kissing the waves, till it kisses +the beach at Oroolia. Yillah, look up.” +</p> + +<p> +Sunk the ghost of Aleema: Sweet Yillah was mine! +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0046"></a> +CHAPTER XLVI.<br/> +The Chamois With A Roving Commission</h2> + +<p> +Through the assiduity of my Viking, ere nightfall our Chamois was again in good +order. And with many subtle and seamanlike splices the light tent was lashed in +its place; the sail taken up by a reef. +</p> + +<p> +My comrades now questioned me, as to my purposes; whether they had been +modified by the events of the day. I replied that our destination was still the +islands to the westward. +</p> + +<p> +But from these we had steadily been drifting all the morning long; so that now +no loom of the land was visible. But our prow was kept pointing as before. +</p> + +<p> +As evening came on, my comrades fell fast asleep, leaving me at the helm. +</p> + +<p> +How soft and how dreamy the light of the hour. The rays of the sun, setting +behind golden-barred clouds, came to me like the gleaming of a shaded light +behind a lattice. And the low breeze, pervaded with the peculiar balm of the +mid-Pacific near land, was fragrant as the breath of a bride. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the scene; so still and witching that the hand of Yillah in mine +seemed no hand, but a touch. Visions flitted before me and in me; something +hummed in my ear; all the air was a lay. +</p> + +<p> +And now entered a thought into my heart. I reflected how serenely we might thus +glide along, far removed from all care and anxiety. And then, what different +scenes might await us upon any of the shores roundabout. But there seemed no +danger in the balmy sea; the assured vicinity of land imparting a sense of +security. We had ample supplies for several days more, and thanks to the Pagan +canoe, an abundance of fruit. +</p> + +<p> +Besides, what cared I now for the green groves and bright shore? Was not Yillah +my shore and my grove? my meadow, my mead, my soft shady vine, and my arbor? Of +all things desirable and delightful, the full- plumed sheaf, and my own right +arm the band? Enough: no shore for me yet. One sweep of the helm, and our light +prow headed round toward the vague land of song, sun, and vine: the fabled +South. +</p> + +<p> +As we glided along, strange Yillah gazed down in the sea, and would fain have +had me plunge into it with her, to rove through its depths. But I started +dismayed; in fancy, I saw the stark body of the priest drifting by. Again that +phantom obtruded; again guilt laid his red hand on my soul. But I laughed. Was +not Yillah my own? by my arm rescued from ill? To do her a good, I had periled +myself. So down, down, Aleema. +</p> + +<p> +When next morning, starting from slumber, my comrades beheld the sun on our +beam, instead of astern as before at that hour, they eagerly inquired, +“Whither now?” But very briefly I gave them to know, that after +devoting the night to the due consideration of a matter so important, I had +determined upon voyaging for the island Tedaidee, in place of the land to the +westward. +</p> + +<p> +At this, they were not displeased. But to tell the plain truth, I harbored some +shadowy purpose of merely hovering about for a while, till I felt more +landwardly inclined. +</p> + +<p> +But had I not declared to Yillah, that our destination was the fairy isle she +spoke of, even Oroolia? Yet that shore was so exceedingly remote, and the folly +of endeavoring to reach it in a craft built with hands, so very apparent, that +what wonder I really nourished no thought of it? +</p> + +<p> +So away floated the Chamois, like a vagrant cloud in the heavens: bound, no one +knew whither. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0047"></a> +CHAPTER XLVII.<br/> +Yillah, Jarl, And Samoa</h2> + +<p> +But time to tell, how Samoa and Jarl regarded this mystical Yillah; and how +Yillah regarded them. +</p> + +<p> +As Beauty from the Beast, so at first shrank the damsel from my one- armed +companion. But seeing my confidence in the savage, a reaction soon followed. +And in accordance with that curious law, by which, under certain conditions, +the ugliest mortals become only amiably hideous, Yillah at length came to look +upon Samoa as a sort of harmless and good-natured goblin. Whence came he, she +cared not; or what was his history; or in what manner his fortunes were united +to mine. +</p> + +<p> +May be, she held him a being of spontaneous origin. +</p> + +<p> +Now, as every where women are the tamers of the menageries of men; so Yillah in +good time tamed down Samoa to the relinquishment of that horrible thing in his +ear, and persuaded him to substitute a vacancy for the bauble in his nose. On +his part, however, all this was conditional. He stipulated for the privilege of +restoring both trinkets upon suitable occasions. +</p> + +<p> +But if thus gayly the damsel sported with Samoa; how different his emotions +toward her? The fate to which she had been destined, and every nameless thing +about her, appealed to all his native superstitions, which ascribed to beings +of her complexion a more than terrestrial origin. When permitted to approach +her, he looked timid and awkwardly strange; suggesting the likeness of some +clumsy satyr, drawing in his horns; slowly wagging his tail; crouching abashed +before some radiant spirit. +</p> + +<p> +And this reverence of his was most pleasing to me, Bravo! thought I; be a pagan +forever. No more than myself; for, after a different fashion, Yillah was an +idol to both. +</p> + +<p> +But what of my Viking? Why, of good Jarl I grieve to say, that the +old-fashioned interest he took in my affairs led him to look upon Yillah as a +sort of intruder, an Ammonite syren, who might lead me astray. This would now +and then provoke a phillipic; but he would only turn toward my resentment his +devotion; and then I was silent. +</p> + +<p> +Unsophisticated as a wild flower in the germ, Yillah seemed incapable of +perceiving the contrasted lights in which she was regarded by our companions. +And like a true beauty seemed to cherish the presumption, that it was quite +impossible for such a person as hers to prove otherwise than irresistible to +all. +</p> + +<p> +She betrayed much surprise at my Vikings appearance. But most of all was she +struck by a characteristic device upon the arm of the wonderful +mariner—our Saviour on the cross, in blue; with the crown of thorns, and +three drops of blood in vermilion, falling one by one from each hand and foot. +</p> + +<p> +Now, honest Jarl did vastly pride himself upon this ornament. It was the only +piece of vanity about him. And like a lady keeping gloveless her hand to show +off a fine Turquoise ring, he invariably wore that sleeve of his frock rolled +up, the better to display the embellishment. +</p> + +<p> +And round and round would Yillah turn Jarl’s arm, till Jarl was fain to +stand firm, for fear of revolving all over. How such untutored homage would +have thrilled the heart of the ingenious artist! +</p> + +<p> +Eventually, through the Upoluan, she made overtures to the Skyeman, concerning +the possession of his picture in her own proper right. In her very simplicity, +little heeding, that like a landscape in fresco, it could not be removed. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0048"></a> +CHAPTER XLVIII.<br/> +Something Under The Surface</h2> + +<p> +Not to omit an occurrence of considerable interest, we must needs here present +some account of a curious retinue of fish which overtook our Chamois, a day or +two after parting with the canoe. +</p> + +<p> +A violent creaming and frothing in our rear announced their approach. Soon we +found ourselves the nucleus of an incredible multitude of finny creatures, +mostly anonymous. +</p> + +<p> +First, far in advance of our prow, swam the helmeted Silver-heads; side by +side, in uniform ranks, like an army. Then came the Boneetas, with their +flashing blue flanks. Then, like a third distinct regiment, wormed and twisted +through the water like Archimedean screws, the quivering Wriggle-tails; +followed in turn by the rank and file of the Trigger-fish—so called from +their quaint dorsal fins being set in their backs with a comical curve, as if +at half-cock. Far astern the rear was brought up by endless battalions of +Yellow- backs, right martially vested in buff. +</p> + +<p> +And slow sailing overhead were flights of birds; a wing in the air for every +fin in the sea. +</p> + +<p> +But let the sea-fowls fly on: turn we to the fish. +</p> + +<p> +Their numbers were amazing; countless as the tears shed for perfidious lovers. +Far abroad on both flanks, they swam in long lines, tier above tier; the water +alive with their hosts. Locusts of the sea, peradventure, going to fall with a +blight upon some green, mossy province of Neptune. And tame and fearless they +were, as the first fish that swam in Euphrates; hardly evading the hand; +insomuch that Samoa caught many without lure or line. +</p> + +<p> +They formed a decorous escort; paddling along by our barnacled sides, as if +they had been with us from the very beginning; neither scared by our +craft’s surging in the water; nor in the least sympathetic at losing a +comrade by the hand of Samoa. They closed in their ranks and swam on. +</p> + +<p> +How innocent, yet heartless they looked! Had a plank dropped out of our boat, +we had sunk to the bottom; and belike, our cheerful retinue would have paid the +last rites to our remains. +</p> + +<p> +But still we kept company; as sociably as you please; Samoa helping himself +when he listed, and Yillah clapping her hands as the radiant creatures, by a +simultaneous turning round on their silvery bellies, caused the whole sea to +glow like a burnished shield. +</p> + +<p> +But what has befallen this poor little Boneeta astern, that he swims so +toilingly on, with gills showing purple? What has he there, towing behind? It +is tangled sea-kelp clinging to its fins. But the clogged thing strains to keep +up with its fellows. Yet little they heed. Away they go; every fish for itself, +and any fish for Samoa. +</p> + +<p> +At last the poor Boneeta is seen no more. The myriad fins swim on; a lonely +waste, where the lost one drops behind. +</p> + +<p> +Strange fish! All the live-long day, they were there by our side; and at night +still tarried and shone; more crystal and scaly in the pale moonbeams, than in +the golden glare of the sun. +</p> + +<p> +How prettily they swim; all silver life; darting hither and thither between +their long ranks, and touching their noses, and scraping acquaintance. No +mourning they wear for the Boneeta left far astern; nor for those so cruelly +killed by Samoa. No, no; all is glee, fishy glee, and frolicking fun; light +hearts and light fins; gay backs and gay spirits.—Swim away, swim away! +my merry fins all. Let us roam the flood; let us follow this monster fish with +the barnacled sides; this strange-looking fish, so high out of water; that goes +without fins. What fish can it be? What rippling is that? Dost hear the great +monster breathe? Why, ’tis sharp at both ends; a tail either way; nor +eyes has it any, nor mouth. What a curious fish! what a comical fish! But more +comical far, those creatures above, on its hollow back, clinging thereto like +the snaky eels, that cling and slide on the back of the Sword fish, our +terrible foe. But what curious eels these are! Do they deem themselves pretty +as we? No, no; for sure, they behold our limber fins, our speckled and +beautiful scales. Poor, powerless things! How they must wish they were we, that +roam the flood, and scour the seas with a wish. Swim away; merry fins, swim +away! Let him drop, that fellow that halts; make a lane; close in, and fill up. +Let him drown, if he can not keep pace. No laggards for us:— +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +We fish, we fish, we merrily swim,<br/> +We care not for friend nor for foe:<br/> + Our fins are stout,<br/> + Our tails are out,<br/> +As through the seas we go.<br/> +<br/> +Fish, Fish, we are fish with red gills;<br/> + Naught disturbs us, our blood is at zero:<br/> +We are buoyant because of our bags,<br/> + Being many, each fish is a hero.<br/> +We care not what is it, this life<br/> + That we follow, this phantom unknown:<br/> +To swim, it’s exceedingly pleasant,—<br/> + So swim away, making a foam.<br/> +This strange looking thing by our side,<br/> + Not for safety, around it we flee:—<br/> +Its shadow’s so shady, that’s all,—<br/> + We only swim under its lee.<br/> +And as for the eels there above,<br/> + And as for the fowls in the air,<br/> +We care not for them nor their ways,<br/> + As we cheerily glide afar!<br/> +<br/> +We fish, we fish, we merrily swim,<br/> +We care not for friend nor for foe:<br/> + Our fins are stout,<br/> + Our tails are out,<br/> +As through the seas we go. +</p> + +<p> +But how now, my fine fish! what alarms your long ranks, and tosses them all +into a hubbub of scales and of foam? Never mind that long knave with the spear +there, astern. Pipe away, merry fish, and give us a stave or two more, keeping +time with your doggerel tails. But no, no! their singing was over. Grim death, +in the shape of a Chevalier, was after them. +</p> + +<p> +How they changed their boastful tune! How they hugged the vilified boat! How +they wished they were in it, the braggarts! And how they all tingled with fear! +</p> + +<p> +For, now here, now there, is heard a terrific rushing sound under water, +betokening the onslaught of the dread fish of prey, that with spear ever in +rest, charges in upon the out-skirts of the shoal, transfixing the fish on his +weapon. Re-treating and shaking them off, the Chevalier devours them; then +returns to the charge. +</p> + +<p> +Hugging the boat to desperation, the poor fish fairly crowded themselves up to +the surface, and floundered upon each other, as men are lifted off their feet +in a mob. They clung to us thus, out of a fancied security in our presence. +Knowing this, we felt no little alarm for ourselves, dreading lest the +Chevalier might despise our boat, full as much as his prey; and in pursuing the +fish, run through the poor Chamois with a lunge. A jacket, rolled up, was kept +in readiness to be thrust into the first opening made; while as the thousand +fins audibly patted against our slender planks, we felt nervously enough; as if +treading upon thin, crackling ice. +</p> + +<p> +At length, to our no small delight, the enemy swam away; and again by our side +merrily paddled our escort; ten times merrier than ever. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0049"></a> +CHAPTER XLIX.<br/> +Yillah</h2> + +<p> +While for a few days, now this way, now that, as our craft glides along, +surrounded by these locusts of the deep, let the story of Yillah flow on. +</p> + +<p> +Of her beauty say I nothing. It was that of a crystal lake in a fathomless +wood: all light and shade; full of fleeting revealings; now shadowed in depths; +now sunny in dimples; but all sparkling and shifting, and blending together. +</p> + +<p> +But her wild beauty was a vail to things still more strange. As often she gazed +so earnestly into my eyes, like some pure spirit looking far down into my soul, +and seeing therein some upturned faces, I started in amaze, and asked what +spell was on me, that thus she gazed. +</p> + +<p> +Often she entreated me to repeat over and over again certain syllables of my +language. These she would chant to herself, pausing now and then, as if +striving to discover wherein lay their charm. +</p> + +<p> +In her accent, there was something very different from that of the people of +the canoe. Wherein lay the difference. I knew not; but it enabled her to +pronounce with readiness all the words which I taught her; even as if recalling +sounds long forgotten. +</p> + +<p> +If all this filled me with wonder, how much was that wonder increased, and yet +baffled again, by considering her complexion, and the cast of her features. +</p> + +<p> +After endeavoring in various ways to account for these things, I was led to +imagine, that the damsel must be an Albino (Tulla) occasionally to be met with +among the people of the Pacific. These persons are of an exceedingly delicate +white skin, tinted with a faint rose hue, like the lips of a shell. Their hair +is golden. But, unlike the Albinos of other climes, their eyes are invariably +blue, and no way intolerant of light. +</p> + +<p> +As a race, the Tullas die early. And hence the belief, that they pertain to +some distant sphere, and only through irregularities in the providence of the +gods, come to make their appearance upon earth: whence, the oversight +discovered, they are hastily snatched. And it is chiefly on this account, that +in those islands where human sacrifices are offered, the Tullas are deemed the +most suitable oblations for the altar, to which from their birth many are +prospectively devoted. It was these considerations, united to others, which at +times induced me to fancy, that by the priest, Yillah was regarded as one of +these beings. So mystical, however, her revelations concerning her past +history, that often I knew not what to divine. But plainly they showed that she +had not the remotest conception of her real origin. +</p> + +<p> +But these conceits of a state of being anterior to an earthly existence may +have originated in one of those celestial visions seen transparently stealing +over the face of a slumbering child. And craftily drawn forth and re-echoed by +another, and at times repeated over to her with many additions, these +imaginings must at length have assumed in her mind a hue of reality, heightened +into conviction by the dreamy seclusion of her life. +</p> + +<p> +But now, let her subsequent and more credible history be related, as from time +to time she rehearsed it. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0050"></a> +CHAPTER L.<br/> +Yillah In Ardair</h2> + +<p> +In the verdant glen of Ardair, far in the silent interior of Amma, shut in by +hoar old cliffs, Yillah the maiden abode. +</p> + +<p> +So small and so deep was this glen, so surrounded on all sides by steep +acclivities, and so vividly green its verdure, and deceptive the shadows that +played there; that, from above, it seemed more like a lake of cool, balmy air, +than a glen: its woodlands and grasses gleaming shadowy all, like sea groves +and mosses beneath the calm sea. +</p> + +<p> +Here, none came but Aleema the priest, who at times was absent for days +together. But at certain seasons, an unseen multitude with loud chants stood +upon the verge of the neighboring precipices, and traversing those shaded +wilds, slowly retreated; their voices lessening and lessening, as they wended +their way through the more distant groves. +</p> + +<p> +At other times, Yillah being immured in the temple of Apo, a band of men +entering the vale, surrounded her retreat, dancing there till evening came. +Meanwhile, heaps of fruit, garlands of flowers, and baskets of fish, were laid +upon an altar without, where stood Aleema, arrayed in white tappa, and +muttering to himself, as the offerings were laid at his feet. +</p> + +<p> +When Aleema was gone, Yillah went forth into the glen, and wandered among the +trees, and reposed by the banks of the stream. And ever as she strolled, looked +down upon her the grim old cliffs, bearded with trailing moss. +</p> + +<p> +Toward the lower end of the vale, its lofty walls advancing and overhanging +their base, almost met in mid air. And a great rock, hurled from an adjacent +height, and falling into the space intercepted, there remained fixed. Aerial +trees shot up from its surface; birds nested in its clefts; and strange vines +roved abroad, overrunning the tops of the trees, lying thereon in coils and +undulations, like anacondas basking in the light. Beneath this rock, was a +lofty wall of ponderous stones. Between its crevices, peeps were had of a long +and leafy arcade, quivering far away to where the sea rolled in the sun. Lower +down, these crevices gave an outlet to the waters of the brook, which, in a +long cascade, poured over sloping green ledges near the foot of the wall, into +a deep shady pool; whose rocky sides, by the perpetual eddying of the water, +had been worn into a grotesque resemblance to a group of giants, with heads +submerged, indolently reclining about the basin. +</p> + +<p> +In this pool, Yillah would bathe. And once, emerging, she heard the echoes of a +voice, and called aloud. But the only reply, was the rustling of branches, as +some one, invisible, fled down the valley beyond. Soon after, a stone rolled +inward, and Aleema the priest stood before her; saying that the voice she had +heard was his. But it was not. +</p> + +<p> +At last the weary days grew, longer and longer, and the maiden pined for +companionship. When the breeze blew not, but slept in the caves of the +mountains, and all the leaves of the trees stood motionless as tears in the +eye, Yillah would sadden, and call upon the spirits in her soul to awaken. She +sang low airs, she thought she had heard in Oroolia; but started affrighted, as +from dingles and dells, came back to her strains more wild than hers. And ever, +when sad, Aleema would seek to cheer her soul, by calling to mind the bright +scenes of Oroolia the Blest, to which place, he averred, she was shortly to +return, never more to depart. +</p> + +<p> +Now, at the head of the vale of Ardair, rose a tall, dark peak, presenting at +the top the grim profile of a human face; whose shadow, every afternoon, crept +down the verdant side of the mountain: a silent phantom, stealing all over the +bosom of the glen. +</p> + +<p> +At times, when the phantom drew near, Aleema would take Yillah forth, and +waiting its approach, lay her down by the shadow, disposing her arms in a +caress; saying, “Oh, Apo! dost accept thy bride?” And at last, when +it crept beyond the place where he stood, and buried the whole valley in gloom; +Aleema would say, “Arise Yillah; Apo hath stretched himself to sleep in +Ardair. Go, slumber where thou wilt; for thou wilt slumber in his arms.” +</p> + +<p> +And so, every night, slept the maiden in the arms of grim Apo. +</p> + +<p> +One day when Yillah had come to love the wild shadow, as something that every +day moved before her eyes, where all was so deathfully still; she went forth +alone to watch it, as softly it slid down from the peak. Of a sudden, when its +face was just edging a chasm, that made it to look as if parting its lips, she +heard a loud voice, and thought it was Apo calling “Yillah! +Yillah!” But now it seemed like the voice she had heard while bathing in +the pool. Glancing upward, she beheld a beautiful open-armed youth, gazing down +upon her from an inaccessible crag. But presently, there was a rustling in the +groves behind, and swift as thought, something darted through the air. The +youth bounded forward. Yillah opened her arms to receive him; but he fell upon +the cliff, and was seen no more. As alarmed, and in tears, she fled from the +scene, some one out of sight ran before her through the wood. +</p> + +<p> +Upon recounting this adventure to Aleema, he said, that the being she had seen, +must have been a bad spirit come to molest her; and that Apo had slain him. +</p> + +<p> +The sight of this youth, filled Yillah with wild yearnings to escape from her +lonely retreat; for a glimpse of some one beside the priest and the phantom, +suggested vague thoughts of worlds of fair beings, in regions beyond Ardair. +But Aleema sought to put away these conceits; saying, that ere long she would +be journeying to Oroolia, there to rejoin the spirits she dimly remembered. +</p> + +<p> +Soon after, he came to her with a shell—one of those ever moaning of +ocean—and placing it to her ear, bade her list to the being within, which +in that little shell had voyaged from Oroolia to bear her company in Amma. +</p> + +<p> +Now, the maiden oft held it to her ear, and closing her eyes, listened and +listened to its soft inner breathings, till visions were born of the sound, and +her soul lay for hours in a trance of delight. +</p> + +<p> +And again the priest came, and brought her a milk-white bird, with a bill +jet-black, and eyes like stars. “In this, lurks the soul of a maiden; it +hath flown from Oroolia to greet you.” The soft stranger willingly +nestled in her bosom; turning its bright eyes upon hers, and softly warbling. +</p> + +<p> +Many days passed; and Yillah, the bird, and the shell were inseparable. The +bird grew familiar; pecked seeds from her mouth; perched upon her shoulder, and +sang in her ear; and at night, folded its wings in her bosom, and, like a +sea-fowl, went softly to sleep: rising and falling upon the maiden’s +heart. And every morning it flew from its nest, and fluttered and chirped; and +sailed to and fro; and blithely sang; and brushed Yillah’s cheek till she +woke. Then came to her hand: and Yillah, looking earnestly in its eyes, saw +strange faces there; and said to herself as she gazed—“These are +two souls, not one.” +</p> + +<p> +But at last, going forth into the groves with the bird, it suddenly flew from +her side, and perched in a bough; and throwing back its white downy throat, +there gushed from its bill a clear warbling jet, like a little fountain in air. +Now the song ceased; when up and away toward the head of the vale, flew the +bird. “Lil! Lil! come back, leave me not, blest souls of the +maidens.” But on flew the bird, far up a defile, winging its way till a +speck. +</p> + +<p> +It was shortly after this, and upon the evening of a day which had been +tumultuous with sounds of warfare beyond the lower wall of the glen; that +Aleema came to Yillah in alarm; saying—“Yillah, the time has come +to follow thy bird; come, return to thy home in Oroolia.” And he told her +the way she would voyage there: by the vortex on the coast of Tedaidee. That +night, being veiled and placed in the tent, the maiden was borne to the +sea-side, where the canoe was in waiting. And setting sail quickly, by next +morning the island of Amma was no longer in sight. +</p> + +<p> +And this was the voyage, whose sequel has already been recounted. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0051"></a> +CHAPTER LI.<br/> +The Dream Begins To Fade</h2> + +<p> +Stripped of the strange associations, with which a mind like Yillah’s +must have invested every incident of her life, the story of her abode in Ardair +seemed not incredible. +</p> + +<p> +But so etherealized had she become from the wild conceits she nourished, that +she verily believed herself a being of the lands of dreams. Her fabulous past +was her present. +</p> + +<p> +Yet as our intimacy grew closer and closer, these fancies seemed to be losing +their hold. And often she questioned me concerning my own reminiscences of her +shadowy isle. And cautiously I sought to produce the impression, that whatever +I had said of that clime, had been revealed to me in dreams; but that in these +dreams, her own lineaments had smiled upon me; and hence the impulse which had +sent me roving after the substance of this spiritual image. +</p> + +<p> +And true it was to say so; and right it was to swear it, upon her white arms +crossed. For oh, Yillah; were you not the earthly semblance of that sweet +vision, that haunted my earliest thoughts? +</p> + +<p> +At first she had wildly believed, that the nameless affinities between us, were +owing to our having in times gone by dwelt together in the same ethereal +region. But thoughts like these were fast dying out. Yet not without many +strange scrutinies. More intently than ever she gazed into my eyes; rested her +ear against my heart, and listened to its beatings. And love, which in the eye +of its object ever seeks to invest itself with some rare superiority, love, +sometimes induced me to prop my failing divinity; though it was I myself who +had undermined it. +</p> + +<p> +But if it was with many regrets, that in the sight of Yillah, I perceived +myself thus dwarfing down to a mortal; it was with quite contrary emotions, +that I contemplated the extinguishment in her heart of the notion of her own +spirituality. For as such thoughts were chased away, she clung the more closely +to me, as unto one without whom she would be desolate indeed. +</p> + +<p> +And now, at intervals, she was sad, and often gazed long and fixedly into the +sea. Nor would she say why it was, that she did so; until at length she +yielded; and replied, that whatever false things Aleema might have instilled +into her mind; of this much she was certain: that the whirlpool on the coast of +Tedaidee prefigured her fate; that in the waters she saw lustrous eyes, and +beckoning phantoms, and strange shapes smoothing her a couch among the mosses. +</p> + +<p> +Her dreams seemed mine. Many visions I had of the green corse of the priest, +outstretching its arms in the water, to receive pale Yillah, as she sunk in the +sea. +</p> + +<p> +But these forebodings departed, no happiness in the universe like ours. We +lived and we loved; life and love were united; in gladness glided our days. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0052"></a> +CHAPTER LII.<br/> +World Ho!</h2> + +<p> +Five suns rose and set. And Yillah pining for the shore, we turned our prow due +west, and next morning came in sight of land. +</p> + +<p> +It was innumerable islands; lifting themselves bluely through the azure air, +and looking upon the distant sea, like haycocks in a hazy field. Towering above +all, and mid-most, rose a mighty peak; one fleecy cloud sloping against its +summit; a column wreathed. Beyond, like purple steeps in heaven at set of sun, +stretched far away, what seemed lands on lands, in infinite perspective. +</p> + +<p> +Gliding on, the islands grew more distinct; rising up from the billows to greet +us; revealing hills, vales, and peaks, grouped within a milk-white zone of +reef, so vast, that in the distance all was dim. The jeweled vapors, ere-while +hovering over these violet shores, now seemed to be shedding their gems; and as +the almost level rays of the sun, shooting through the air like a variegated +prism, touched the verdant land, it trembled all over with dewy sparkles. +</p> + +<p> +Still nearer we came: our sail faintly distended as the breeze died away from +our vicinity to the isles. The billows rolled listlessly by, as if conscious +that their long task was nigh done; while gleamed the white reef, like the +trail of a great fish in a calm. But as yet, no sign of paddle or canoe; no +distant smoke; no shining thatch. Bravo! good comrades, we’ve discovered +some new constellation in the sea. +</p> + +<p> +Sweet Yillah, no more of Oroolia; see you not this flowery land? Nevermore +shall we desire to roam. +</p> + +<p> +Voyaging along the zone, we came to an opening; and quitting the firmament blue +of the open sea, we glided in upon the still, green waters of the wide lagoon. +Mapped out in the broad shadows of the isles, and tinted here and there with +the reflected hues of the sun clouds, the mild waters stretched all around us +like another sky. Near by the break in the reef, was a little island, with palm +trees harping in the breeze; an aviary of alluring sounds, that seemed calling +upon us to land. And here, Yillah, whom the sight of the verdure had made glad, +threw out a merry suggestion. Nothing less, than to plant our mast, sail-set, +upon the highest hill; and fly away, island and all; trees rocking, birds +caroling, flowers springing; away, away, across the wide waters, to Oroolia! +But alas! how weigh the isle’s coral anchor, leagues down in the +fathomless sea? +</p> + +<p> +We glanced around; but all the islands seemed slumbering in the flooding light. +</p> + +<p> +“A canoe! a canoe!” cried Samoa, as three proas showed themselves +rounding a neighboring shore. Instantly we sailed for them; but after shooting +to and fro for a time, and standing up and gazing at us, the Islanders +retreated behind the headland. Hardly were they out of sight, when from many a +shore roundabout, other proas pushed off. Soon the water all round us was +enlivened by fleets of canoes, darting hither and thither like frighted +water-fowls. Presently they all made for one island. +</p> + +<p> +From their actions we argued that these people could have had but little or no +intercourse with whites; and most probably knew not how to account for our +appearance among them. Desirous, therefore, of a friendly meeting, ere any +hostile suspicions might arise, we pointed our craft for the island, whither +all the canoes were now hastening. Whereupon, those which had not yet reached +their destination, turned and fled; while the occupants of the proas that had +landed, ran into the groves, and were lost to view. +</p> + +<p> +Crossing the distinct outer line of the isle’s shadow on the water, we +gained the shore; and gliding along its margin, passing canoe after canoe, +hauled up on the silent beach, which otherwise seemed entirely innocent of man. +</p> + +<p> +A dilemma. But I decided at last upon disembarking Jarl and Samoa, to seek out +and conciliate the natives. So, landing them upon a jutting buttress of coral, +whence they waded to the shore; I pushed off with Yillah into the water beyond, +to await the event. +</p> + +<p> +Full an hour must have elapsed; when, to our great joy, loud shouts were heard; +and there burst into view a tumultuous crowd, in the midst of which my Viking +was descried, mounted upon the shoulders of two brawny natives; while the +Upoluan, striding on in advance, seemed resisting a similar attempt to elevate +him in the world. +</p> + +<p> +Good omens both. +</p> + +<p> +“Come ashore!” cried Jarl. “Aramai!” cried Samoa; while +storms of interjections went up from the Islanders who with extravagant +gestures danced about the beach. +</p> + +<p> +Further caution seemed needless: I pointed our prow for the shore. No sooner +was this perceived, than, raising an applauding shout, the Islanders ran up to +their waists in the sea. And skimming like a gull over the smooth lagoon, the +light shallop darted in among them. Quick as thought, fifty hands were on the +gunwale: and, with all its contents, lifted bodily into the air, the little +Chamois, upon many a dripping shoulder, was borne deep into the groves. Yillah +shrieked at the rocking motion, and when the boughs of the trees brushed +against the tent. +</p> + +<p> +With his staff, an old man now pointed to a couple of twin-like trees, some +four paces apart; and a little way from the ground conveniently crotched. +</p> + +<p> +And here, eftsoons, they deposited their burden; lowering the Chamois gently +between the forks of the trees, whose willow-like foliage fringed the tent and +its inmate. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0053"></a> +CHAPTER LIII.<br/> +The Chamois Ashore</h2> + +<p> +Until now, enveloped in her robe, and crouching like a fawn, Yillah had been +well nigh hidden from view. But presently she withdrew her hood. +</p> + +<p> +What saw the Islanders, that they so gazed and adored in silence: some +retreating, some creeping nearer, and the women all in a flutter? Long they +gazed; and following Samoa’s example, stretched forth their arms in +reverence. +</p> + +<p> +The adoration of the maiden was extended to myself. Indeed, from the singular +gestures employed, I had all along suspected, that we were being received with +unwonted honors. +</p> + +<p> +I now sought to get speech of my comrades. But so obstreperous was the crowd, +that it was next to impossible. Jarl was still in his perch in the air; his +enthusiastic bearers not yet suffering him to alight. Samoa, however, who had +managed to keep out of the saddle, by-and-by contrived to draw nearer to the +Chamois. +</p> + +<p> +He advised me, by no means to descend for the present; since in any event we +were sure of remaining unmolested therein; the Islanders regarding it as +sacred. +</p> + +<p> +The Upoluan attracted a great deal of attention; chiefly from his style of +tattooing, which, together with other peculiarities, so interested the natives, +that they were perpetually hanging about him, putting eager questions, and all +the time keeping up a violent clamor. +</p> + +<p> +But despite the large demand upon his lungs, Samoa made out to inform me, that +notwithstanding the multitude assembled, there was no high chief, or person of +consequence present; the king of the place, also those of the islands adjacent, +being absent at a festival in another quarter of the Archipelago. But upon the +first distant glimpse of the Chamois, fleet canoes had been dispatched to +announce the surprising event that had happened. +</p> + +<p> +In good time, the crowd becoming less tumultuous, and abandoning the siege of +Samoa, I availed myself of this welcome lull, and called upon him and my Viking +to enter the Chamois; desirous of condensing our forces against all +emergencies. +</p> + +<p> +Samoa now gave me to understand, that from all he could learn, the Islanders +regarded me as a superior being. They had inquired of him, whether I was not +white Taji, a sort of half-and-half deity, now and then an Avatar among them, +and ranking among their inferior ex- officio demi-gods. To this, Samoa had said +ay; adding, moreover, all he could to encourage the idea. +</p> + +<p> +He now entreated me, at the first opportunity, to announce myself as Taji: +declaring that if once received under that title, the unbounded hospitality of +our final reception would be certain; and our persons fenced about from all +harm. +</p> + +<p> +Encouraging this. But it was best to be wary. For although among some +barbarians the first strangers landing upon their shores, are frequently hailed +as divine; and in more than one wild land have been actually styled gods, as a +familiar designation; yet this has not exempted the celestial visitants from +peril, when too much presuming upon the reception extended to them. In sudden +tumults they have been slain outright, and while full faith in their divinity +had in no wise abated. The sad fate of an eminent navigator is a well-known +illustration of this unaccountable waywardness. +</p> + +<p> +With no small anxiety, therefore, we awaited the approach of some of the +dignitaries of Mardi; for by this collective appellation, the people informed +us, their islands were known. +</p> + +<p> +We waited not long. Of a sudden, from the sea-side, a single shrill cry was +heard. A moment more, and the blast of numerous conch shells startled the air; +a confused clamor drew nearer and nearer; and flying our eyes in the direction +of these sounds, we impatiently awaited what was to follow. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0054"></a> +CHAPTER LIV.<br/> +A Gentleman From The Sun</h2> + +<p> +Never before had I seen the deep foliage of woodlands navigated by canoes. But +on they came sailing through the leaves; two abreast; borne on men’s +shoulders; in each a chief, carried along to the measured march of his bearers; +paddle blades reversed under arms. As they emerged, the multitude made gestures +of homage. At the distance of some eight or ten paces the procession halted; +when the kings alighted to the ground. +</p> + +<p> +They were fine-looking men, arrayed in various garbs. Rare the show of stained +feathers, and jewels, and other adornments. Brave the floating of dyed mantles. +</p> + +<p> +The regal bearing of these personages, the deference paid them, and their +entire self-possession, not a little surprised me. And it seemed preposterous, +to assume a divine dignity in the presence of these undoubted potentates of +<i>terra firma</i>. Taji seemed oozing from my fingers’ ends. But +courage! and erecting my crest, I strove to look every inch the character I had +determined to assume. +</p> + +<p> +For a time, it was almost impossible to tell with what emotions precisely the +chiefs were regarding me. They said not a word. +</p> + +<p> +But plucking up heart of grace, I crossed my cutlass on my chest, and reposing +my hand on the hilt, addressed their High Mightinesses thus. “Men of +Mardi, I come from the sun. When this morning it rose and touched the wave, I +pushed my shallop from its golden beach, and hither sailed before its level +rays. I am Taji.” +</p> + +<p> +More would have been added, but I paused for the effect of my exordium. +</p> + +<p> +Stepping back a pace or two, the chiefs eagerly conversed. +</p> + +<p> +Emboldened, I returned to the charge, and labored hard to impress them with +just such impressions of me and mine, as I deemed desirable. The gentle Yillah +was a seraph from the sun; Samoa I had picked off a reef in my route from that +orb; and as for the Skyeman, why, as his name imported, he came from above. In +a word, we were all strolling divinities. +</p> + +<p> +Advancing toward the Chamois, one of the kings, a calm old man, now addressed +me as follows:—“Is this indeed Taji? he, who according to a +tradition, was to return to us after five thousand moons? But that period is +yet unexpired. What bring’st thou hither then, Taji, before thy time? +Thou wast but a quarrelsome demi-god, say the legends, when thou dwelt among +our sires. But wherefore comest thou, Taji? Truly, thou wilt interfere with the +worship of thy images, and we have plenty of gods besides thee. But comest thou +to fight?—We have plenty of spears, and desire not thine. Comest thou to +dwell?—Small are the houses of Mardi. Or comest thou to fish in the sea? +Tell us, Taji.” +</p> + +<p> +Now, all this was a series of posers hard to be answered; furnishing a curious +example, moreover, of the reception given to strange demi- gods when they +travel without their portmanteaus; and also of the familiar manner in which +these kings address the immortals. Much I mourned that I had not previously +studied better my part, and learned the precise nature of my previous existence +in the land. +</p> + +<p> +But nothing like carrying it bravely. +</p> + +<p> +“Attend. Taji comes, old man, because it pleases him to come. And Taji +will depart when it suits him. Ask the shades of your sires whether Taji thus +scurvily greeted them, when they came stalking into his presence in the land of +spirits. No. Taji spread the banquet. He removed their mantles. He kindled a +fire to drive away the damp. He said not, ‘Come you to fight, you fogs +and vapors? come you to dwell? or come you to fish in the sea?’ Go to, +then, kings of Mardi!” +</p> + +<p> +Upon this, the old king fell back; and his place was supplied by a noble chief, +of a free, frank bearing. Advancing quickly toward the boat, he +exclaimed—“I am Media, the son of Media. Thrice welcome, Taji. On +my island of Odo hast thou an altar. I claim thee for my guest.” He then +reminded the rest, that the strangers had voyaged far, and needed repose. And, +furthermore, that he proposed escorting them forthwith to his own dominions; +where, next day, he would be happy to welcome all visitants. +</p> + +<p> +And good as his word, he commanded his followers to range themselves under the +Chamois. Springing out of our prow, the Upoluan was followed by Jarl; leaving +Yillah and Taji to be borne therein toward the sea. +</p> + +<p> +Soon, we were once more afloat; by our side, Media sociably seated; six of his +paddlers, perched upon the gunwale, swiftly urging us over the lagoon. +</p> + +<p> +The transition from the grove to the sea was instantaneous. All seemed a dream. +</p> + +<p> +The place to which we were hastening, being some distance away, as we rounded +isle after isle, the extent of the Archipelago grew upon us greatly. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0055"></a> +CHAPTER LV.<br/> +Tiffin In A Temple</h2> + +<p> +Upon at last drawing nigh to Odo, its appearance somewhat disappointed me. A +small island, of moderate elevation. +</p> + +<p> +But plumb not the height of the house that feasts you. The beach was lined with +expectant natives, who, lifting the Chamois, carried us up the beach. +</p> + +<p> +Alighting, as they were bearing us along, King Media, designating a canoe-house +hard by, ordered our craft to be deposited therein. This being done, we stepped +upon the soil. It was the first we had pressed in very many days. It sent a +sympathetic thrill through our frames. +</p> + +<p> +Turning his steps inland, Media signed us to follow. +</p> + +<p> +Soon we came to a rude sort of inclosure, fenced in by an imposing wall. Here a +halt was sounded, and in great haste the natives proceeded to throw down a +portion of the stones. This accomplished, we were signed to enter the fortress +thus carried by storm. Upon an artificial mound, opposite the breach, stood a +small structure of bamboo, open in front. Within, was a long pedestal, like a +settee, supporting three images, also of wood, and about the size of men; +bearing, likewise, a remote resemblance to that species of animated nature. +Before these idols was an altar, and at its base many fine mats. +</p> + +<p> +Entering the temple, as if he felt very much at home, Media disposed these mats +so as to form a very pleasant lounge; where he deferentially entreated Yillah +to recline. Then deliberately removing the first idol, he motioned me to seat +myself in its place. Setting aside the middle one, he quietly established +himself in its stead. The displaced ciphers, meanwhile, standing upright before +us, and their blank faces looking upon this occasion unusually expressive. As +yet, not a syllable as to the meaning of this cavalier treatment of their +wooden godships. +</p> + +<p> +We now tranquilly awaited what next might happen, and I earnestly prayed, that +if sacrilege was being committed, the vengeance of the gods might be averted +from an ignoramus like me; notwithstanding the petitioner himself hailed from +the other world. Perfect silence was preserved: Jarl and Samoa standing a +little without the temple; the first looking quite composed, but his comrade +casting wondering glances at my sociable apotheosis with Media. +</p> + +<p> +Now happening to glance upon the image last removed, I was not long in +detecting a certain resemblance between it and our host. Both were decorated in +the same manner; the carving on the idol exactly corresponding with the +tattooing of the king. +</p> + +<p> +Presently, the silence was relieved by a commotion without: and a butler +approached, staggering under an immense wooden trencher; which, with profound +genuflexions, he deposited upon the altar before us. The tray was loaded like +any harvest wain; heaped up with good things sundry and divers: Bread-fruit, +and cocoanuts, and plantains, and guavas; all pleasant to the eye, and +furnishing good earnest of something equally pleasant to the palate. +</p> + +<p> +Transported at the sight of these viands, after so long an estrangement from +full indulgence in things green, I was forthwith proceeding to help Yillah and +myself, when, like lightning, a most unwelcome query obtruded. Did deities +dine? Then also recurred what Media had declared about my shrine in Odo. Was +this it? Self- sacrilegious demigod that I was, was I going to gluttonize on +the very offerings, laid before me in my own sacred fane? Give heed to thy +ways, oh Taji, lest thou stumble and be lost. +</p> + +<p> +But hereupon, what saw we, but his cool majesty of Odo tranquilly proceeding to +lunch in the temple? +</p> + +<p> +How now? Was Media too a god? Egad, it must be so. Else, why his image here in +the fane, and the original so entirely at his ease, with legs full cosily +tucked away under the very altar itself. This put to flight all appalling +apprehensions of the necessity of starving to keep up the assumption of my +divinity. So without more ado I helped myself right and left; taking the best +care of Yillah; who over fed her flushed beauty with juicy fruits, thereby +transferring to her cheek the sweet glow of the guava. +</p> + +<p> +Our hunger appeased, and Media in token thereof celestially laying his hand +upon the appropriate region, we proceeded to quit the inclosure. But coming to +the wall where the breach had been made, lo, and behold, no breach was to be +seen. But down it came tumbling again, and forth we issued. +</p> + +<p> +This overthrowing of walls, be it known, is an incidental compliment paid +distinguished personages in this part of Mardi. It would seem to signify, that +such gentry can go nowhere without creating an impression; even upon the most +obdurate substances. +</p> + +<p> +But to return to our ambrosial lunch. +</p> + +<p> +Sublimate, as you will, the idea of our ethereality as intellectual beings; no +sensible man can harbor a doubt, but that there is a vast deal of satisfaction +in dining. More: there is a savor of life and immortality in substantial fare. +Like balloons, we are nothing till filled. +</p> + +<p> +And well knowing this, nature has provided this jolly round board, our globe, +which in an endless sequence of courses and crops, spreads a perpetual feast. +Though, as with most public banquets, there is no small crowding, and many go +away famished from plenty. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0056"></a> +CHAPTER LVI.<br/> +King Media A Host</h2> + +<p> +Striking into a grove, about sunset we emerged upon a fine, clear space, and +spied a city in the woods. +</p> + +<p> +In the middle of all, like a generalissimo’s marquee among tents, was a +structure more imposing than the rest. Here, abode King Media. +</p> + +<p> +Disposed round a space some fifty yards square, were many palm posts staked +firmly in the earth. A man’s height from the ground, these supported +numerous horizontal trunks, upon which lay a flooring of habiscus. High over +this dais, but resting upon independent supports beyond, a gable-ended roof +sloped away to within a short distance of the ground. +</p> + +<p> +Such was the palace. +</p> + +<p> +We entered it by an arched, arbored entrance, at one of its palmetto-thatched +ends. But not through this exclusive portal entered the Islanders. Humbly +stooping, they found ingress under the drooping eaves. A custom immemorial, and +well calculated to remind all contumacious subjects of the dignity of the +habitation thus entered. +</p> + +<p> +Three steps led to the summit of the dais, where piles of soft mats, and light +pillows of woven grass, stuffed with the golden down of a wild thistle, invited +all loiterers to lounge. +</p> + +<p> +How pleasant the twilight that welled up from under the low eaves, above which +we were seated. And how obvious now the design of the roof. No shade more +grateful and complete; the garish sun lingering without like some lackey in +waiting. +</p> + +<p> +But who is this in the corner, gaping at us like a butler in a quandary? +Media’s household deity, in the guise of a plethoric monster, his +enormous head lolling back, and wide, gaping mouth stuffed full of fresh fruits +and green leaves. Truly, had the idol possessed a soul under his knotty ribs, +how tantalizing to hold so glorious a mouthful without the power of +deglutition. Far worse than the inexorable lock-jaw, which will not admit of +the step preliminary to a swallow. +</p> + +<p> +This jolly Josh image was that of an inferior deity, the god of Good Cheer, and +often after, we met with his merry round mouth in many other abodes in Mardi. +Daily, his jaws are replenished, as a flower vase in summer. +</p> + +<p> +But did the demi-divine Media thus brook the perpetual presence of a subaltern +divinity? Still more; did he render it homage? But ere long the Mardian +mythology will be discussed, thereby making plain what may now seem anomalous. +</p> + +<p> +Politely escorting us into his palace, Media did the honors by inviting his +guests to recline. He then seemed very anxious to impress us with the fact, +that, by bringing us to his home, and thereby charging the royal larder with +our maintenance, he had taken no hasty or imprudent step. His merry butlers +kept piling round us viands, till we were well nigh walled in. At every fresh +deposit, Media directing our attention to the same, as yet additional evidence +of his ample resources as a host. The evidence was finally closed by dragging +under the eaves a felled plantain tree, the spike of red ripe fruit, sprouting +therefrom, blushing all over, at so rude an introduction to the notice of +strangers. +</p> + +<p> +During this scene, Jarl was privily nudging Samoa, in wonderment, to know what +upon earth it all meant. But Samoa, scarcely deigning to notice interrogatories +propounded through the elbow, only let drop a vague hint or two. +</p> + +<p> +It was quite amusing, what airs Samoa now gave himself, at least toward my +Viking. Among the Mardians he was at home. And who, when there, stretches not +out his legs, and says unto himself, “Who is greater than I?” +</p> + +<p> +To be plain: concerning himself and the Skyeman, the tables were turned. At +sea, Jarl had been the oracle: an old sea-sage, learned in hemp and helm. But +our craft high and dry, the Upoluan lifted his crest as the erudite pagan; +master of Gog and Magog, expounder of all things heathenish and obscure. +</p> + +<p> +An hour or two was now laughed away in very charming conversation with Media; +when I hinted, that a couch and solitude would be acceptable. Whereupon, +seizing a taper, our host escorted us without the palace. And ushering us into +a handsome unoccupied mansion, gave me to understand that the same was mine. +Mounting to the dais, he then instituted a vigorous investigation, to discern +whether every thing was in order. Not fancying something about the mats, he +rolled them up into bundles, and one by one sent them flying at the heads of +his servitors; who, upon that gentle hint made off with them, soon after +returning with fresh ones. These, with mathematical precision, Media in person +now spread on the dais; looking carefully to the fringes or ruffles with which +they were bordered, as if striving to impart to them a sentimental expression. +</p> + +<p> +This done, he withdrew. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0057"></a> +CHAPTER LVII.<br/> +Taji Takes Counsel With Himself</h2> + +<p> +My brief intercourse with our host, had by this time enabled me to form a +pretty good notion of the light, in which I was held by him and his more +intelligent subjects. +</p> + +<p> +His free and easy carriage evinced, that though acknowledging my assumptions, +he was no way overawed by them; treating me as familiarly, indeed, as if I were +a mere mortal, one of the abject generation of mushrooms. +</p> + +<p> +The scene in the temple, however, had done much toward explaining this demeanor +of his. A demi-god in his own proper person, my claims to a similar dignity +neither struck him with wonder, nor lessened his good opinion of himself. +</p> + +<p> +As for any thing foreign in my aspect, and my ignorance of Mardian +customs—-all this, instead of begetting a doubt unfavorable to my +pretensions, but strengthened the conviction of them as verities. Thus has it +been in similar instances; but to a much greater extent. The celebrated +navigator referred to in a preceding chapter, was hailed by the Hawaiians as +one of their demi-gods, returned to earth, after a wide tour of the universe. +And they worshiped him as such, though incessantly he was interrogating them, +as to who under the sun his worshipers were; how their ancestors came on the +island; and whether they would have the kindness to provide his followers with +plenty of pork during his stay. +</p> + +<p> +But a word or two concerning the idols in the shrine at Odo. Superadded to the +homage rendered him as a temporal prince, Media was there worshiped as a +spiritual being. In his corporeal absence, his effigy receiving all oblations +intended for him. And in the days of his boyhood, listening to the old legends +of the Mardian mythology, Media had conceived a strong liking for the fabulous +Taji; a deity whom he had often declared was worthy a niche in any temple +extant. Hence he had honored my image with a place in his own special shrine; +placing it side by side with his worshipful likeness. +</p> + +<p> +I appreciated the compliment. But of the close companionship of the other image +there, I was heartily ashamed. And with reason. The nuisance in question being +the image of a deified maker of plantain- pudding, lately deceased; who had +been famed far and wide as the most notable fellow of his profession in the +whole Archipelago. During his sublunary career, having been attached to the +household of Media, his grateful master had afterward seen fit to crown his +celebrity by this posthumous distinction: a circumstance sadly subtracting from +the dignity of an apotheosis. Nor must it here be omitted, that in this part of +Mardi culinary artists are accounted worthy of high consideration. For among +these people of Odo, the matter of eating and drinking is held a matter of life +and of death. “Drag away my queen from my arms,” said old Tyty when +overcome of Adommo, “but leave me my cook.” +</p> + +<p> +Now, among the Mardians there were plenty of incarnated deities to keep me in +countenance. Most of the kings of the Archipelago, besides Media, claiming +homage as demi-gods; and that, too, by virtue of hereditary descent, the divine +spark being transmissable from father to son. In illustration of this, was the +fact, that in several instances the people of the land addressed the supreme +god Oro, in the very same terms employed in the political adoration of their +sublunary rulers. +</p> + +<p> +Ay: there were deities in Mardi far greater and taller than I: right royal +monarchs to boot, living in jolly round tabernacles of jolly brown clay; and +feasting, and roystering, and lording it in yellow tabernacles of bamboo. These +demi-gods had wherewithal to sustain their lofty pretensions. If need were, +could crush out of him the infidelity of a non-conformist. And by this +immaculate union of church and state, god and king, in their own proper persons +reigned supreme Caesars over the souls and bodies of their subjects. +</p> + +<p> +Beside these mighty magnates, I and my divinity shrank into nothing. In their +woodland ante-chambers plebeian deities were kept lingering. For be it known, +that in due time we met with several decayed, broken down demi-gods: magnificos +of no mark in Mardi; having no temples wherein to feast personal admirers, or +spiritual devotees. They wandered about forlorn and friendless. And oftentimes +in their dinnerless despair hugely gluttonized, and would fain have grown fat, +by reflecting upon the magnificence of their genealogies. But poor fellows! +like shabby Scotch lords in London in King James’s time, the very +multitude of them confounded distinction. And since they could show no +rent-roll, they were permitted to fume unheeded. +</p> + +<p> +Upon the whole, so numerous were living and breathing gods in Mardi, that I +held my divinity but cheaply. And seeing such a host of immortals, and hearing +of multitudes more, purely spiritual in their nature, haunting woodlands and +streams; my views of theology grew strangely confused; I began to bethink me of +the Jew that rejected the Talmud, and his all-permeating principle, to which +Goethe and others have subscribed. +</p> + +<p> +Instead, then, of being struck with the audacity of endeavoring to palm myself +off as a god—the way in which the thing first impressed me—I now +perceived that I might be a god as much as I pleased, and yet not whisk a +lion’s tail after all at least on that special account. +</p> + +<p> +As for Media’s reception, its graciousness was not wholly owing to the +divine character imputed to me. His, he believed to be the same. But to a whim, +a freakishness in his soul, which led him to fancy me as one among many, not as +one with no peer. +</p> + +<p> +But the apparent unconcern of King Media with respect to my godship, by no +means so much surprised me, as his unaffected indifference to my amazing voyage +from the sun; his indifference to the sun itself; and all the wonderful +circumstances that must have attended my departure. Whether he had ever been +there himself, that he regarded a solar trip with so much unconcern, almost +became a question in my mind. Certain it is, that as a mere traveler he must +have deemed me no very great prodigy. +</p> + +<p> +My surprise at these things was enhanced by reflecting, that to the people of +the Archipelago the map of Mardi was the map of the world. With the exception +of certain islands out of sight and at an indefinite distance, they had no +certain knowledge of any isles but their own. +</p> + +<p> +And, no long time elapsed ere I had still additional reasons to cease wondering +at the easy faith accorded to the story which I had given of myself. For these +Mardians were familiar with still greater marvels than mine; verily believing +in prodigies of all sorts. Any one of them put my exploits to the blush. +</p> + +<p> +Look to thy ways then, Taji, thought I, and carry not thy crest too high. Of a +surety, thou hast more peers than inferiors. Thou art overtopped all round. +Bear thyself discreetly and not haughtily, Taji. It will not answer to give +thyself airs. Abstain from all consequential allusions to the other world, and +the genteel deities among whom thou hast circled. Sport not too jauntily thy +raiment, because it is novel in Mardi; nor boast of the fleetness of thy +Chamois, because it is unlike a canoe. Vaunt not of thy pedigree, Taji; for +Media himself will measure it with thee there by the furlong. Be not a +“snob,” Taji. +</p> + +<p> +So then, weighing all things well, and myself severely, I resolved to follow my +Mentor’s wise counsel; neither arrogating aught, nor abating of just +dues; but circulating freely, sociably, and frankly, among the gods, heroes, +high priests, kings, and gentlemen, that made up the principalities of Mardi. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0058"></a> +CHAPTER LVIII.<br/> +Mardi By Night And Yillah By Day</h2> + +<p> +During the night following our arrival, many dreams were no doubt dreamt in +Odo. But my thoughts were wakeful. And while all others slept, obeying a +restless impulse, I stole without into the magical starlight. There are those +who in a strange land ever love to view it by night. +</p> + +<p> +It has been said, that the opening in the groves where was situated +Media’s city, was elevated above the surrounding plains. Hence was +commanded a broad reach of prospect. +</p> + +<p> +Far and wide was deep low-sobbing repose of man and nature. The groves were +motionless; and in the meadows, like goblins, the shadows advanced and +retreated. Full before me, lay the Mardian fleet of isles, profoundly at anchor +within their coral harbor. Near by was one belted round by a frothy luminous +reef, wherein it lay, like Saturn in its ring. +</p> + +<p> +From all their summits, went up a milk-white smoke, as from Indian wigwams in +the hazy harvest-moon. And floating away, these vapors blended with the faint +mist, as of a cataract, hovering over the circumvallating reef. Far beyond all, +and far into the infinite night, surged the jet-black ocean. +</p> + +<p> +But how tranquil the wide lagoon, which mirrored the burning spots in heaven! +Deep down into its innermost heart penetrated the slanting rays of Hesperus +like a shaft of light, sunk far into mysterious Golcondas, where myriad gnomes +seemed toiling. Soon a light breeze rippled the water, and the shaft was seen +no more. But the moon’s bright wake was still revealed: a silver track, +tipping every wave-crest in its course, till each seemed a pearly, +scroll-prowed nautilus, buoyant with some elfin crew. +</p> + +<p> +From earth to heaven! High above me was Night’s shadowy bower, traversed, +vine-like, by the Milky Way, and heavy with golden clusterings. Oh stars! oh +eyes, that see me, wheresoe’er I roam: serene, intent, inscrutable for +aye, tell me Sybils, what I am.—Wondrous worlds on worlds! Lo, round and +round me, shining, awful spells: all glorious, vivid constellations, +God’s diadem ye are! To you, ye stars, man owes his subtlest raptures, +thoughts unspeakable, yet full of faith. +</p> + +<p> +But how your mild effulgence stings the boding heart. Am I a murderer, stars? +</p> + +<p> +Hours pass. The starry trance is departed. Long waited for, the dawn now comes. +</p> + +<p> +First, breaking along the waking face; peeping from out the languid lids; then +shining forth in longer glances; till, like the sun, up comes the soul, and +sheds its rays abroad. +</p> + +<p> +When thus my Yillah did daily dawn, how she lit up my world; tinging more +rosily the roseate clouds, that in her summer cheek played to and fro, like +clouds in Italian air. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0059"></a> +CHAPTER LIX.<br/> +Their Morning Meal</h2> + +<p> +Not wholly is our world made up of bright stars and bright eyes: so now to our +story. +</p> + +<p> +A conscientious host should ever be up betimes, to look after the welfare of +his guests, and see to it that their day begin auspiciously. King Media +announced the advent of the sun, by rustling at my bower’s eaves in +person. +</p> + +<p> +A repast was spread in an adjoining arbor, which Media’s pages had +smoothed for our reception, and where his subordinate chiefs were in +attendance. Here we reclined upon mats. Balmy and fresh blew the breath of the +morning; golden vapors were upon the mountains, silver sheen upon the grass; +and the birds were at matins in the groves; their bright plumage flashing into +view, here and there, as if some rainbow were crouching in the foliage. +</p> + +<p> +Spread before us were viands, served in quaint-shaped, curiously-dyed gourds, +not Sevres, but almost as tasteful; and like true porcelain, fire had tempered +them. Green and yielding, they are plucked from the tree; and emptied of their +pulp, are scratched over with minute marks, like those of a line engraving. The +ground prepared, the various figures are carefully etched. And the outlines +filled up with delicate punctures, certain vegetable oils are poured over them, +for coloring. Filled with a peculiar species of earth, the gourd is now placed +in an oven in the ground. And in due time exhumed, emptied of its contents, and +washed in the stream, it presents a deep-dyed exterior; every figure distinctly +traced and opaque, but the ground semi-transparent. In some cases, owing to the +variety of dyes employed, each figure is of a different hue. +</p> + +<p> +More glorious goblets than these for the drinking of wine, went never from hand +to mouth. Capacious as pitchers, they almost superseded decanters. +</p> + +<p> +Now, in a tropical climate, fruit, with light wines, forms the only fit meal of +a morning. And with orchards and vineyards forever in sight, who but the Hetman +of the Cossacs would desire more? We had plenty of the juice of the grape. But +of this hereafter; there are some fine old cellars, and plenty of good cheer in +store. +</p> + +<p> +During the repast, Media, for a time, was much taken up with our raiment. He +begged me to examine for a moment the texture of his right royal robe, and +observe how much superior it was to my own. It put my mantle to the blush; +being tastefully stained with rare devices in red and black; and bordered with +dyed fringes of feathers, and tassels of red birds’ claws. +</p> + +<p> +Next came under observation the Skyeman’s Guayaquil hat; at whose +preposterous shape, our host laughed in derision; clapping a great conical +calabash upon the head of an attendant, and saying that now he was Jarl. At +this, and all similar sallies, Samoa was sure to roar louder than any; though +mirth was no constitutional thing with him. But he seemed rejoiced at the +opportunity of turning upon us the ridicule, which as a barbarian among whites, +he himself had so often experienced. +</p> + +<p> +These pleasantries over, King Media very slightly drew himself up, as if to +make amends for his previous unbending. He discoursed imperially with his +chiefs; nodded his sovereign will to his pages; called for another gourd of +wine; in all respects carrying his royalty bravely. +</p> + +<p> +The repast concluded, we journeyed to the canoe-house, where we found the +little Chamois stabled like a steed. One solitary depredation had been +committed. Its sides and bottom had been completely denuded of the minute green +barnacles, and short sea-grass, which, like so many leeches, had fastened to +our planks during our long, lazy voyage. +</p> + +<p> +By the people they had been devoured as dainties. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0060"></a> +CHAPTER LX.<br/> +Belshazzar On The Bench</h2> + +<p> +Now, Media was king of Odo. And from the simplicity of his manners hitherto, +and his easy, frank demeanor toward ourselves, had we foolishly doubted that +fact, no skepticism could have survived an illustration of it, which this very +day we witnessed at noon. +</p> + +<p> +For at high noon, Media was wont to don his dignity with his symbols of state; +and sit on his judgment divan or throne, to hear and try all causes brought +before him, and fulminate his royal decrees. +</p> + +<p> +This divan was elevated at one end of a spacious arbor, formed by an avenue of +regal palms, which in brave state, held aloft their majestical canopy. +</p> + +<p> +The crown of the island prince was of the primitive old Eastern style; in +shape, similar, perhaps, to that jauntily sported as a foraging cap by his +sacred majesty King Nimrod, who so lustily followed the hounds. It was a +plaited turban of red tappa, radiated by the pointed and polished white bones +of the Ray-fish. These diverged from a bandeau or fillet of the most precious +pearls; brought up from the sea by the deepest diving mermen of Mardi. From the +middle of the crown rose a tri-foiled spear-head. And a spear- headed scepter +graced the right hand of the king. +</p> + +<p> +Now, for all the rant of your democrats, a fine king on a throne is a very fine +sight to behold. He looks very much like a god. No wonder that his more dutiful +subjects so swore, that their good lord and master King Media was demi-divine. +</p> + +<p> +A king on his throne! Ah, believe me, ye Gracchi, ye Acephali, ye Levelers, it +is something worth seeing, be sure; whether beheld at Babylon the Tremendous, +when Nebuchadnezzar was crowned; at old Scone in the days of Macbeth; at +Rheims, among Oriflammes, at the coronation of Louis le Grand; at Westminster +Abbey, when the gentlemanly George doffed his beaver for a diadem; or under the +soft shade of palm trees on an isle in the sea. +</p> + +<p> +Man lording it over man, man kneeling to man, is a spectacle that Gabriel might +well travel hitherward to behold; for never did he behold it in heaven. But +Darius giving laws to the Medes and the Persians, or the conqueror of Bactria +with king-cattle yoked to his car, was not a whit more sublime, than Beau +Brummel magnificently ringing for his valet. +</p> + +<p> +A king on his throne! It is Jupiter nodding in the councils of Olympus; Satan, +seen among the coronets in Hell. +</p> + +<p> +A king on his throne! It is the sun over a mountain; the sun over law-giving +Sinai; the sun in our system: planets, duke-like, dancing attendance, and +baronial satellites in waiting. +</p> + +<p> +A king on his throne! After all, but a gentleman seated. And thus sat the good +lord, King Media. +</p> + +<p> +Time passed. And after trying and dismissing several minor affairs, Media +called for certain witnesses to testify concerning one Jiromo, a foolhardy +wight, who had been silly enough to plot against the majesty now sitting judge +and jury upon him. +</p> + +<p> +His guilt was clear. And the witnesses being heard, from a bunch of palm plumes +Media taking a leaf, placed it in the hand of a runner or pursuivant, saying, +“This to Jiromo, where he is prisoned; with his king’s compliments; +say we here wait for his head.” +</p> + +<p> +It was doffed like a turban before a Dey, and brought back on the instant. +</p> + +<p> +Now came certain lean-visaged, poverty-stricken, and hence suspicious-looking +varlets, grumbling and growling, and amiable as Bruin. They came muttering some +wild jargon about “bulwarks,” “bulkheads,” +“cofferdams,” “safeguards,” “noble +charters,” “shields,” and “paladiums,” +“great and glorious birthrights,” and other unintelligible +gibberish. +</p> + +<p> +Of the pursuivants, these worthies asked audience of Media. +</p> + +<p> +“Go, kneel at the throne,” was the answer. +</p> + +<p> +“Our knee-pans are stiff with sciatics,” was the rheumatic reply. +</p> + +<p> +“An artifice to keep on your legs,” said the pursuivants. +</p> + +<p> +And advancing they salamed, and told Media the excuse of those sour-looking +varlets. Whereupon my lord commanded them to down on their marrow-bones +instanter, either before him or the headsman, whichsoever they pleased. +</p> + +<p> +They preferred the former. And as they there kneeled, in vain did men with +sharp ears (who abound in all courts) prick their auriculars, to list to that +strange crackling and firing off of bone balls and sockets, ever incident to +the genuflections of rheumatic courtiers. +</p> + +<p> +In a row, then, these selfsame knee-pans did kneel before the king; who eyed +them as eagles in air do goslings on dunghills; or hunters, hounds crouching +round their calves. +</p> + +<p> +“Your prayer?” said Media. +</p> + +<p> +It was a petition, that thereafter all differences between man and man in Ode, +together with all alleged offenses against the state, might be tried by twelve +good men and true. These twelve to be unobnoxious to the party or parties +concerned; their peers; and previously unbiased touching the matter at issue. +Furthermore, that unanimity in these twelve should be indispensable to a +verdict; and no dinner be vouchsafed till unanimity came. +</p> + +<p> +Loud and long laughed King Media in scorn. +</p> + +<p> +“This be your judge,” he cried, swaying his scepter. “What! +are twelve wise men more wise than one? or will twelve fools, put together, +make one sage? Are twelve honest men more honest than one? or twelve knaves +less knavish than one? And if, of twelve men, three be fools, and three wise, +three knaves, and three upright, how obtain real unanimity from such? +</p> + +<p> +“But if twelve judges be better than one, then are twelve hundred better +than twelve. But take the whole populace for a judge, and you will long wait +for a unanimous verdict. +</p> + +<p> +“If upon a thing dubious, there be little unanimity in the conflicting +opinions of one man’s mind, how expect it in the uproar of twelve puzzled +brains? though much unanimity be found in twelve hungry stomachs. +</p> + +<p> +“Judges unobnoxious to the accused! Apply it to a criminal case. Ha! ha! +if peradventure a Cacti be rejected, because he had seen the accused commit the +crime for which he is arraigned. Then, his mind would be biased: no +impartiality from him! Or your testy accused might object to another, because +of his tomahawk nose, or a cruel squint of the eye. +</p> + +<p> +“Of all follies the most foolish! Know ye from me, that true peers render +not true verdicts. Jiromo was a rebel. Had I tried him by his peers, I had +tried him by rebels; and the rebel had rebelled to some purpose. +</p> + +<p> +“Away! As unerring justice dwells in a unity, and as one judge will at +last judge the world beyond all appeal; so—though often here below +justice be hard to attain—does man come nearest the mark, when he +imitates that model divine. Hence, one judge is better than twelve.” +</p> + +<p> +“And as Justice, in ideal, is ever painted high lifted above the crowd; +so, from the exaltation of his rank, an honest king is the best of those unical +judges, which individually are better than twelve. And therefore am I, King +Media, the best judge in this land.” +</p> + +<p> +“Subjects! so long as I live, I will rule you and judge you alone. And +though you here kneeled before me till you grew into the ground, and there took +root, no yea to your petition will you get from this throne. I am king: ye are +slaves. Mine to command: yours to obey. And this hour I decree, that henceforth +no gibberish of bulwarks and bulkheads be heard in this land. For a dead +bulwark and a bulkhead, to dam off sedition, will I make of that man, who again +but breathes those bulky words. Ho! spears! see that these knee-pans here kneel +till set of sun.” +</p> + +<p> +High noon was now passed; and removing his crown, and placing it on the dais +for the kneelers to look at during their devotions, King Media departed from +that place, and once more played the agreeable host. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0061"></a> +CHAPTER LXI.<br/> +An Incognito</h2> + +<p> +For the rest of that day, and several that followed, we were continually +receiving visits from the neighboring islands; whose inhabitants in fleets and +flotillas flocked round Odo to behold the guests of its lord. Among them came +many messengers from the neighboring kings with soft speeches and gifts. +</p> + +<p> +But it were needless to detail our various interviews, or relate in what +manifold ways, the royal strangers gave token of their interest concerning us. +</p> + +<p> +Upon the third day, however, there was noticed a mysterious figure, like the +inscrutable incognitos sometimes encountered, crossing the tower-shadowed Plaza +of Assignations at Lima. It was enveloped in a dark robe of tappa, so drawn and +plaited about the limbs; and with one hand, so wimpled about the face, as only +to expose a solitary eye. But that eye was a world. Now it was fixed upon +Yillah with a sinister glance, and now upon me, but with a different +expression. However great the crowd, however tumultuous, that fathomless eye +gazed on; till at last it seemed no eye, but a spirit, forever prying into my +soul. Often I strove to approach it, but it would evade me, soon reappearing. +</p> + +<p> +Pointing out the apparition to Media, I intreated him to take means to fix it, +that my suspicions might be dispelled, as to its being incorporeal. He replied +that, by courtesy, incognitos were sacred. Insomuch that the close-plaited robe +and the wimple were secure as a castle. At last, to my relief, the phantom +disappeared, and was seen no more. +</p> + +<p> +Numerous and fervent the invitations received to return the calls wherewith we +were honored. But for the present we declined them; preferring to establish +ourselves firmly in the heart of Media, ere encountering the vicissitudes of +roaming. In a multitude of acquaintances is less security, than in one faithful +friend. +</p> + +<p> +Now, while these civilities were being received, and on the fourth morning +after our arrival, there landed on the beach three black-eyed damsels, deep +brunettes, habited in long variegated robes, and with gay blossoms on their +heads. +</p> + +<p> +With many salams, the strangers were ushered into my presence by an old +white-haired servitor of Media’s, who with a parting congé murmured, +“From Queen Hautia,” then departed. Surprised, I stood mute, and +welcomed them. +</p> + +<p> +The first, with many smiles and blandishments, waved before me a many-tinted +Iris: the flag-flower streaming with pennons. Advancing, the second then +presented three rose-hued purple-veined Circea flowers, the dew still clinging +to them. The third placed in my hand a moss-rose bud; then, a Venus-car. +</p> + +<p> +“Thanks for your favors! now your message.” +</p> + +<p> +Starting at this reception, graciously intended, they conferred a moment; when +the Iris-bearer said in winning phrase, “We come from Hautia, whose +moss-rose you hold.” +</p> + +<p> +“All thanks to Hautia then; the bud is very fragrant.” +</p> + +<p> +Then she pointed to the Venus-car. +</p> + +<p> +“This too is sweet; thanks to Hautia for her flowers. Pray, bring me +more.” +</p> + +<p> +“He mocks our mistress,” and gliding from me, they waved witch- +hazels, leaving me alone and wondering. +</p> + +<p> +Informing Media of this scene, he smiled; threw out queer hints of Hautia; but +knew not what her message meant. +</p> + +<p> +At first this affair occasioned me no little uneasiness, with much matter for +marveling; but in the novel pleasure of our sojourn in Odo, it soon slipped +from my mind; nor for some time, did I again hear aught of Queen Hautia. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0062"></a> +CHAPTER LXII.<br/> +Taji Retires From The World</h2> + +<p> +After a while, when the strangers came not in shoals as before, I proposed to +our host, a stroll over his dominions; desirous of beholding the same, and +secretly induced by the hope of selecting an abode, more agreeable to my +fastidious taste, than the one already assigned me. +</p> + +<p> +The ramble over—a pleasant one it was—it resulted in a +determination on my part to quit Odo. Yet not to go very far; only ten or +twelve yards, to a little green tuft of an islet; one of many, which here and +there, all round the island, nestled like birds’ nests in the branching +boughs of the coral grove, whose roots laid hold of the foundations of the +deep. Between these islets and the shore, extended shelving ledges, with +shallows above, just sufficient to float a canoe. One of these islets was +wooded and wined; an arbor in the sea. And here, Media permitting, I decided to +dwell. +</p> + +<p> +Not long was Media in complying; nor long, ere my retreat was in readiness. +Laced together, the twisting boughs were closely thatched. And thatched were +the sides also, with deep crimson pandannus leaves; whose long, forked spears, +lifted by the breeze, caused the whole place to blaze, as with flames. Canes, +laid on palm trunks, formed the floor. How elastic! In vogue all over Odo, +among the chiefs, it imparted such a buoyancy to the person, that to this +special cause may be imputed in good part the famous fine spirits of the +nobles. +</p> + +<p> +Hypochondriac! essay the elastic flooring! It shall so pleasantly and gently +jolt thee, as to shake up, and pack off the stagnant humors mantling thy +pool-like soul. +</p> + +<p> +Such was my dwelling. But I make no mention of sundry little appurtenances of +tropical housekeeping: calabashes, cocoanut shells, and rolls of fine tappa; +till with Yillah seated at last in my arbor, I looked round, and wanted for +naught. +</p> + +<p> +But what of Jarl and Samoa? Why Jarl must needs be fanciful, as well as myself. +Like a bachelor in chambers, he settled down right opposite to me, on the main +land, in a little wigwam in the grove. +</p> + +<p> +But Samoa, following not his comrade’s example, still tarried in the camp +of the Hittites and Jebusites of Odo. Beguiling men of their leisure by his +marvelous stories: and maidens of their hearts by his marvelous wiles. +</p> + +<p> +When I chose, I was completely undisturbed in my arbor; an ukase of +Media’s forbidding indiscriminate intrusion. But thrice in the day came a +garrulous old man with my viands. +</p> + +<p> +Thus sequestered, however, I could not entirely elude the pryings of the people +of the neighboring islands; who often passed by, slowly paddling, and earnestly +regarding my retreat. But gliding along at a distance, and never essaying a +landing, their occasional vicinity troubled me but little. But now and then of +an evening, when thick and fleet the shadows were falling, dim glimpses of a +canoe would be spied; hovering about the place like a ghost. And once, in the +stillness of the night, hearing the near ripple of a prow, I sallied forth, but +the phantom quickly departed. +</p> + +<p> +That night, Yillah shuddered as she slept. “The whirl-pool,” she +murmured, “sweet mosses.” Next day she was lost in reveries, +plucking pensive hyacinths, or gazing intently into the lagoon. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0063"></a> +CHAPTER LXIII.<br/> +Odo And Its Lord</h2> + +<p> +Time now to enter upon some further description of the island and its lord. +</p> + +<p> +And first for Media: a gallant gentleman and king. From a goodly stock he came. +In his endless pedigree, reckoning deities by decimals, innumerable kings, and +scores of great heroes, chiefs, and priests. Nor in person, did he belie his +origin. No far-descended dwarf was he, the least of a receding race. He stood +like a palm tree; about whose acanthus capital droops not more gracefully the +silken fringes, than Media’s locks upon his noble brow. Strong was his +arm to wield the club, or hurl the javelin; and potent, I ween, round a +maiden’s waist. +</p> + +<p> +Thus much here for Media. Now comes his isle. +</p> + +<p> +Our pleasant ramble found it a little round world by itself; full of beauties +as a garden; chequered by charming groves; watered by roving brooks; and +fringed all round by a border of palm trees, whose roots drew nourishment from +the water. But though abounding in other quarters of the Archipelago, not a +solitary bread-fruit grew in Odo. A noteworthy circumstance, observable in +these regions, where islands close adjoining, so differ in their soil, that +certain fruits growing genially in one, are foreign to another. But Odo was +famed for its guavas, whose flavor was likened to the flavor of new-blown lips; +and for its grapes, whose juices prompted many a laugh and many a groan. +</p> + +<p> +Beside the city where Media dwelt, there were few other clusters of habitations +in Odo. The higher classes living, here and there, in separate households; but +not as eremites. Some buried themselves in the cool, quivering bosoms of the +groves. Others, fancying a marine vicinity, dwelt hard by the beach in little +cages of bamboo; whence of mornings they sallied out with jocund cries, and +went plunging into the refreshing bath, whose frothy margin was the threshold +of their dwellings. Others still, like birds, built their nests among the +sylvan nooks of the elevated interior; whence all below, and hazy green, lay +steeped in languor the island’s throbbing heart. +</p> + +<p> +Thus dwelt the chiefs and merry men of mark. The common sort, including serfs, +and Helots, war-captives held in bondage, lived in secret places, hard to find. +Whence it came, that, to a stranger, the whole isle looked care-free and +beautiful. Deep among the ravines and the rocks, these beings lived in noisome +caves, lairs for beasts, not human homes; or built them coops of rotten +boughs—living trees were banned them—whose mouldy hearts hatched +vermin. Fearing infection of some plague, born of this filth, the chiefs of Odo +seldom passed that way and looking round within their green retreats, and +pouring out their wine, and plucking from orchards of the best, marveled how +these swine could grovel in the mire, and wear such sallow cheeks. But they +offered no sweet homes; from that mire they never sought to drag them out; they +open threw no orchard; and intermitted not the mandates that condemned their +drudges to a life of deaths. Sad sight! to see those round-shouldered Helots, +stooping in their trenches: artificial, three in number, and concentric: the +isle well nigh surrounding. And herein, fed by oozy loam, and kindly dew from +heaven, and bitter sweat from men, grew as in hot-beds the nutritious Taro. +</p> + +<p> +Toil is man’s allotment; toil of brain, or toil of hands, or a grief +that’s more than either, the grief and sin of idleness. But when man +toils and slays himself for masters who withhold the life he gives to +them—then, then, the soul screams out, and every sinew cracks. So with +these poor serfs. And few of them could choose but be the brutes they seemed. +</p> + +<p> +Now needs it to be said, that Odo was no land of pleasure unalloyed, and plenty +without a pause?—Odo, in whose lurking-places infants turned from +breasts, whence flowed no nourishment.—Odo, in whose inmost haunts, dark +groves were brooding, passing which you heard most dismal cries, and voices +cursing Media. There, men were scourged; their crime, a heresy; the heresy, +that Media was no demigod. For this they shrieked. Their fathers shrieked +before; their fathers, who, tormented, said, “Happy we to groan, that our +children’s children may be glad.” But their children’s +children howled. Yet these, too, echoed previous generations, and loudly swore, +“The pit that’s dug for us may prove another’s grave.” +</p> + +<p> +But let all pass. To look at, and to roam about of holidays, Odo seemed a happy +land. The palm-trees waved—though here and there you marked one sear and +palsy-smitten; the flowers bloomed—though dead ones moldered in decay; +the waves ran up the strand in glee—though, receding, they sometimes left +behind bones mixed with shells. +</p> + +<p> +But else than these, no sign of death was seen throughout the isle. Did men in +Odo live for aye? Was Ponce de Leon’s fountain there? For near and far, +you saw no ranks and files of graves, no generations harvested in winrows. In +Odo, no hard-hearted nabob slept beneath a gentle epitaph; no +requiescat-in-pace mocked a sinner damned; no memento-mori admonished men to +live while yet they might. Here Death hid his skull; and hid it in the sea, the +common sepulcher of Odo. Not dust to dust, but dust to brine; not hearses but +canoes. For all who died upon that isle were carried out beyond the outer reef, +and there were buried with their sires’ sires. Hence came the thought, +that of gusty nights, when round the isles, and high toward heaven, flew the +white reef’s rack and foam, that then and there, kept chattering watch +and ward, the myriads that were ocean-tombed. +</p> + +<p> +But why these watery obsequies? +</p> + +<p> +Odo was but a little isle, and must the living make way for the dead, and +Life’s small colony be dislodged by Death’s grim hosts; as the +gaunt tribes of Tamerlane o’erspread the tented pastures of the Khan? +</p> + +<p> +And now, what follows, said these Islanders: “Why sow corruption in the +soil which yields us life? We would not pluck our grapes from over graves. This +earth’s an urn for flowers, not for ashes.” +</p> + +<p> +They said that Oro, the supreme, had made a cemetery of the sea. +</p> + +<p> +And what more glorious grave? Was Mausolus more sublimely urned? Or do the +minster-lamps that burn before the tomb of Charlemagne, show more of pomp, than +all the stars, that blaze above the shipwrecked mariner? +</p> + +<p> +But no more of the dead; men shrug their shoulders, and love not their company; +though full soon we shall all have them for fellows. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0064"></a> +CHAPTER LXIV.<br/> +Yillah A Phantom</h2> + +<p> +For a time we were happy in Odo: Yillah and I in our islet. Nor did the pearl +on her bosom glow more rosily than the roses in her cheeks; though at intervals +they waned and departed; and deadly pale was her glance, when she murmured of +the whirlpool and mosses. As pale my soul, bethinking me of Aleema the priest. +</p> + +<p> +But day by day, did her spell weave round me its magic, and all the hidden +things of her being grew more lovely and strange. Did I commune with a spirit? +Often I thought that Paradise had overtaken me on earth, and that Yillah was +verily an angel, and hence the mysteries that hallowed her. +</p> + +<p> +But how fleeting our joys. Storms follow bright dawnings.—Long memories +of short-lived scenes, sad thoughts of joyous hours—how common are ye to +all mankind. When happy, do we pause and say—“Lo, thy felicity, my +soul?” No: happiness seldom seems happiness, except when looked back upon +from woes. A flowery landscape, you must come out of, to behold. +</p> + +<p> +Sped the hours, the days, the one brief moment of our joys. Fairy bower in the +fair lagoon, scene of sylvan ease and heart’s repose,—Oh, Yillah, +Yillah! All the woods repeat the sound, the wild, wild woods of my wild soul. +Yillah! Yillah! cry the small strange voices in me, and evermore, and far and +deep, they echo on. +</p> + +<p> +Days passed. When one morning I found the arbor vacant. Gone! A dream. I closed +my eyes, and would have dreamed her back. In vain. Starting, I called upon her +name; but none replied. Fleeing from the islet, I gained the neighboring shore, +and searched among the woods; and my comrades meeting, besought their aid. But +idle all. No glimpse of aught, save trees and flowers. Then Media was sought +out; the event made known; and quickly, bands were summoned to range the isle. +</p> + +<p> +Noon came; but no Yillah. When Media averred she was no longer in Odo. Whither +she was gone, or how, he knew not; nor could any imagine. +</p> + +<p> +At this juncture, there chanced to arrive certain messengers from abroad; who, +presuming that all was well with Taji, came with renewed invitations to visit +various pleasant places round about. Among these, came Queen Hautia’s +heralds, with their Iris flag, once more bringing flowers. But they came and +went unheeded. +</p> + +<p> +Setting out to return, these envoys were accompanied by numerous followers of +Media, dispatched to the neighboring islands, to seek out the missing Yillah. +But three days passed; and, one by one, they all returned; and stood before me +silently. +</p> + +<p> +For a time I raved. Then, falling into outer repose, lived for a space in moods +and reveries, with eyes that knew no closing, one glance forever fixed. +</p> + +<p> +They strove to rouse me. Girls danced and sang; and tales of fairy times were +told; of monstrous imps, and youths enchanted; of groves and gardens in the +sea. Yet still I moved not, hearing all, yet noting naught. Media cried, +“For shame, oh Taji; thou, a god?” and placed a spear in my +nerveless hand. And Jarl loud called upon me to awake. Samoa marveled. +</p> + +<p> +Still sped the days. And at length, my memory was restored. The thoughts of +things broke over me like returning billows on a beach long bared. A rush, a +foam of recollections!—Sweet Yillah gone, and I bereaved. +</p> + +<p> +Another interval, and that mood was past. Misery became a memory. The keen pang +a deep vibration. The remembrance seemed the thing remembered; though bowed +with sadness. There are thoughts that lie and glitter deep: tearful pearls +beneath life’s sea, that surges still, and rolls sunlit, whatever it may +hide. Common woes, like fluids, mix all round. Not so with that other grief. +Some mourners load the air with lamentations; but the loudest notes are struck +from hollows. Their tears flow fast: but the deep spring only wells. +</p> + +<p> +At last I turned to Media, saying I must hie from Odo, and rove throughout all +Mardi; for Yillah might yet be found. +</p> + +<p> +But hereafter, in words, little more of the maiden, till perchance her fate be +learned. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0065"></a> +CHAPTER LXV.<br/> +Taji Makes Three Acquaintances</h2> + +<p> +Down to this period, I had restrained Samoa from wandering to the neighboring +islands, though he had much desired it, in compliance with the invitations +continually received. But now I informed both him, and his comrade, of the tour +I purposed; desiring their company. +</p> + +<p> +Upon the announcement of my intention to depart, to my no small surprise Media +also proposed to accompany me: a proposition gladly embraced. It seems, that +for some reason, he had not as yet extended his travels to the more distant +islands. Hence the voyage in prospect was particularly agreeable to him. Nor +did he forbear any pains to insure its prosperity; assuring me, furthermore, +that its object must eventually be crowned with success. “I myself am +interested in this pursuit,” said he; “and trust me, Yillah will be +found.” +</p> + +<p> +For the tour of the lagoon, the docile Chamois was proposed; but Media +dissented; saying, that it befitted not the lord of Odo to voyage in the +equipage of his guest. Therefore, three canoes were selected from his own royal +fleet. +</p> + +<p> +One for ourselves, and a trio of companions whom he purposed introducing to my +notice; the rest were reserved for attendants. +</p> + +<p> +Thanks to Media’s taste and heedfulness, the strangers above mentioned +proved truly acceptable. +</p> + +<p> +The first was Mohi, or Braid-Beard, so called from the manner in which he wore +that appendage, exceedingly long and gray. He was a venerable teller of stories +and legends, one of the Keepers of the Chronicles of the Kings of Mardi. +</p> + +<p> +The second was Babbalanja, a man of a mystical aspect, habited in a voluminous +robe. He was learned in Mardian lore; much given to quotations from ancient and +obsolete authorities: the Ponderings of Old Bardianna: the Pandects of +Alla-Malolla. +</p> + +<p> +Third and last, was Yoomy, or the Warbler. A youthful, long-haired, blue-eyed +minstrel; all fits and starts; at times, absent of mind, and wan of cheek; but +always very neat and pretty in his apparel; wearing the most becoming of +turbans, a Bird of Paradise feather its plume, and sporting the gayest of +sashes. Most given was Yoomy to amorous melodies, and rondos, and roundelays, +very witching to hear. But at times disdaining the oaten reed, like a clarion +he burst forth with lusty lays of arms and battle; or, in mournful strains, +sounded elegies for departed bards and heroes. +</p> + +<p> +Thus much for Yoomy as a minstrel. In other respects, it would be hard to +depict him. He was so capricious a mortal; so swayed by contrary moods; so +lofty, so humble, so sad, so merry; so made up of a thousand contradictions, +that we must e’en let him depict himself as our story progresses. And +herein it is hoped he will succeed; since no one in Mardi comprehended him. +</p> + +<p> +Now the trio, thus destined for companions on our voyage, had for some time +been anxious to take the tour of the Archipelago. In particular, Babbalanja had +often expressed the most ardent desire to visit every one of the isles, in +quest of some object, mysteriously hinted. He murmured deep concern for my +loss, the sincerest sympathy; and pressing my hand more than once, said lowly, +“Your pursuit is mine, noble Taji. Where’er you search, I +follow.” +</p> + +<p> +So, too, Yoomy addressed me; but with still more feeling. And something like +this, also, Braid-Beard repeated. +</p> + +<p> +But to my sorrow, I marked that both Mohi and Babbalanja, especially the last, +seemed not so buoyant of hope, concerning lost Yillah, as the youthful Yoomy, +and his high-spirited lord, King Media. +</p> + +<p> +As our voyage would embrace no small period of time, it behoved King Media to +appoint some trustworthy regent, to rule during his absence. This regent was +found in Almanni, a stem-eyed, resolute warrior, a kinsman of the king. +</p> + +<p> +All things at last in readiness, and the ensuing morning appointed for a start, +Media, on the beach, at eventide, when both light and water waned, drew a rude +map of the lagoon, to compensate for the obstructions in the way of a +comprehensive glance at it from Odo. +</p> + +<p> +And thus was sketched the plan of our voyage; which islands first to visit; and +which to touch at, when we should be homeward bound. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0066"></a> +CHAPTER LXVI.<br/> +With A Fair Wind, At Sunrise They Sail</h2> + +<p> +True each to his word, up came the sun, and round to my isle came Media. +</p> + +<p> +How glorious a morning! The new-born clouds all dappled with gold, and streaked +with violet; the sun in high spirits; and the pleasant air cooled overnight by +the blending circumambient fountains, forever playing all round the reef; the +lagoon within, the coral-rimmed basin, into which they poured, subsiding, +hereabouts, into green tranquillity. +</p> + +<p> +But what monsters of canoes! Would they devour an innocent voyager? their great +black prows curling aloft, and thrown back like trunks of elephants; a dark, +snaky length behind, like the sea-serpent’s train. +</p> + +<p> +The prow of the foremost terminated in a large, open, shark’s mouth, +garnished with ten rows of pearly human teeth, curiously inserted into the +sculptured wood. The gunwale was ornamented with rows of rich spotted Leopard +and Tiger-shells; here and there, varied by others, flat and round, and +spirally traced; gay serpents petrified in coils. These were imbedded in a +grooved margin, by means of a resinous compound, exhaling such spices, that the +canoes were odoriferous as the Indian chests of the Maldives. +</p> + +<p> +The likeness of the foremost canoe to an elephant, was helped by a sort of +canopied Howdah in its stern, of heavy, russet-dyed tappa, tasselled at the +corners with long bunches of cocoanut fibres, stained red. These swayed to and +fro, like the fox-tails on a Tuscarora robe. +</p> + +<p> +But what is this, in the head of the canoe, just under the shark’s mouth? +A grinning little imp of an image; a ring in its nose; cowrie shells jingling +at its ears; with an abominable leer, like that of Silenus reeling on his ass. +It was taking its ease; cosily smoking a pipe; its bowl, a duodecimo edition of +the face of the smoker. This image looked sternward; everlastingly mocking us. +</p> + +<p> +Of these canoes, it may be well to state, that although during our stay in Odo, +so many barges and shallops had touched there, nothing similar to Media’s +had been seen. But inquiring whence his sea- equipage came, we were thereupon +taught to reverence the same as antiquities and heir-looms; claw-keeled, +dragon-prowed crafts of a bygone generation; at present, superseded in general +use by the more swan-like canoes, significant of the advanced stage of marine +architecture in Mardi. No sooner was this known, than what had seemed almost +hideous in my eyes, became merely grotesque. Nor could I help being greatly +delighted with the good old family pride of our host. +</p> + +<p> +The upper corners of our sails displayed the family crest of Media; three +upright boars’ tusks, in an heraldic field argent. A fierce device: Whom +rends he? +</p> + +<p> +All things in readiness, we glided away: the multitude waving adieu; and our +flotilla disposed in the following order. +</p> + +<p> +First went the royal Elephant, carrying Media, myself, Jarl, and Samoa; Mohi +the Teller of Legends, Babbalanja, and Yoomy, and six vivacious paddlers; their +broad paddle-blades carved with the royal boars’ tusks, the same tattooed +on their chests for a livery. +</p> + +<p> +And thus, as Media had promised, we voyaged in state. To crown all, seated +sideways in the high, open shark’s-mouth of our prow was a little dwarf +of a boy, one of Media’s pages, a red conch-shell, bugle-wise suspended +at his side. Among various other offices, it was the duty of little Vee-Vee to +announce the advent of his master, upon drawing near to the islands in our +route. Two short bars, projecting from one side of the prow, furnished him the +means of ascent to his perch. +</p> + +<p> +As we gained the open lagoon with bellied sails, and paddles playing, a sheaf +of foam borne upright at our prow; Yoomy, standing where the spicy spray flew +over him, stretched forth his hand and cried—“The dawn of day is +passed, and Mardi lies all before us: all her isles, and all her lakes; all her +stores of good and evil. Storms may come, our barks may drown. But blow before +us, all ye winds; give us a lively blast, good clarion; rally round us all our +wits; and be this voyage full gayly sailed, for Yillah will yet be +found.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0067"></a> +CHAPTER LXVII.<br/> +Little King Peepi</h2> + +<p> +Valapee, or the Isle of Yams, being within plain sight of Media’s +dominions, we were not very long in drawing nigh to its shores. +</p> + +<p> +Two long parallel elevations, rising some three arrow-flights into the air, +double-ridge the island’s entire length, lapping between, a widening +vale, so level withal, that at either extremity, the green of its groves blends +with the green of the lagoon; and the isle seems divided by a strait. +</p> + +<p> +Within several paces of the beach, our canoes keeled the bottom, and camel-like +mutely hinted that we voyagers must dismount. +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon, the assembled islanders ran into the water, and with bent shoulders +obsequiously desired the honor of transporting us to land. The beach gained, +all present wearing robes instantly stripped them to the waist; a naked chest +being their salute to kings. Very convenient for the common people, this; their +half-clad forms presenting a perpetual and profound salutation. +</p> + +<p> +Presently, Peepi, the ruler of Valapee drew near: a boy, hardly ten years old, +striding the neck of a burly mute, bearing a long spear erect before him, to +which was attached a canopy of five broad banana leaves, new plucked. Thus +shaded, little Peepi advanced, steadying himself by the forelock of his bearer. +</p> + +<p> +Besides his bright red robe, the young prince wore nothing but the symbol of +Valapeean royalty; a string of small, close-fitting, concave shells, coiled and +ambushed in his profuse, curly hair; one end falling over his ear, revealing a +serpent’s head, curiously carved from a nutmeg. +</p> + +<p> +Quite proverbial, the unembarrassed air of young slips of royalty. But there +was something so surprisingly precocious in this young Peepi, that at first one +hardly knew what to conclude. +</p> + +<p> +The first compliments over, the company were invited inland to a shady retreat. +</p> + +<p> +As we pursued the path, walking between old Mohi the keeper of chronicles and +Samoa the Upoluan, Babbalanja besought the former to enlighten a stranger +concerning the history of this curious Peepi. Whereupon the chronicler gave us +the following account; for all of which he alone is responsible. +</p> + +<p> +Peepi, it seems, had been proclaimed king before he was born; his sire dying +some few weeks previous to that event; and vacating his divan, declared that he +left a monarch behind. +</p> + +<p> +Marvels were told of Peepi. Along with the royal dignity, and superadded to the +soul possessed in his own proper person, the infant monarch was supposed to +have inherited the valiant spirits of some twenty heroes, sages, simpletons, +and demi-gods, previously lodged in his sire. +</p> + +<p> +Most opulent in spiritual gifts was this lord of Valapee; the legatee, +moreover, of numerous anonymous souls, bequeathed to him by their late loyal +proprietors. By a slavish act of his convocation of chiefs, he also possessed +the reversion of all and singular the immortal spirits, whose first grantees +might die intestate in Valapee. Servile, yet audacious senators! thus +prospectively to administrate away the inalienable rights of posterity. But +while yet unborn, the people of Valapee had been deprived of more than they now +sought to wrest from their descendants. And former Peepies, infant and adult, +had received homage more profound, than Peepi the Present. Witness the demeanor +of the chieftains of old, upon every new investiture of the royal serpent. In a +fever of loyalty, they were wont to present themselves before the heir to the +isle, to go through with the court ceremony of the Pupera; a curious +proceeding, so called: inverted endeavors to assume an erect posture: the nasal +organ the base. +</p> + +<p> +It was to the frequent practice of this ceremony, that most intelligent +observers imputed the flattened noses of the elderly chiefs of the island; who, +nevertheless, much gloried therein. +</p> + +<p> +It was these chiefs, also, who still observed the old-fashioned custom of +retiring from the presence of royalty with their heads between their thighs; so +that while advancing in the contrary direction, their faces might be still +deferentially turned toward their lord and master. A fine view of him did they +obtain. All objects look well through an arch. +</p> + +<p> +But to return to Peepi, the inheritor of souls and subjects. It was an article +of faith with the people of Valapee, that Peepi not only actually possessed the +souls bequeathed to him; but that his own was enriched by their peculiar +qualities: The headlong valor of the late Tongatona; the pusillanimous +discretion of Blandoo; the cunning of Voyo; the simplicity of Raymonda; the +prodigality of Zonoree; the thrift of Titonti. +</p> + +<p> +But had all these, and similar opposite qualities, simultaneously acted as +motives upon Peepi, certes, he would have been a most pitiable mortal, in a +ceaseless eddy of resolves, incapable of a solitary act. +</p> + +<p> +But blessed be the gods, it was otherwise. Though it fared little better for +his subjects as it was. His assorted souls were uppermost and active in him, +one by one. Today, valiant Tongatona ruled the isle, meditating wars and +invasions; tomorrow, thrice discreet Blandoo, who, disbanding the levies, +turned his attention to the terraces of yams. And so on in rotation to the end. +</p> + +<p> +Whence, though capable of action, Peepi, by reason of these revolving souls in +him, was one of the most unreliable of beings. What the open-handed Zonoree +promised freely to-day, the parsimonious Titonti withheld to-morrow; and +forever Raymonda was annulling the doings of Voyo; and Voyo the doings of +Raymonda. +</p> + +<p> +What marvel then, that in Valapee all was legislative uproar and confusion; +advance and retreat; abrogations and revivals; foundations without +superstructures; nothing permanent but the island itself. +</p> + +<p> +Nor were there those in the neighboring countries, who failed to reap profit +from this everlasting transition state of the affairs of the kingdom. All boons +from Peepi were entreated when the prodigal Zonoree was lord of the ascendant. +And audacious claims were urged upon the state when the pusillanimous Blandoo +shrank from the thought of resisting them. +</p> + +<p> +Thus subject to contrary impulses, over which he had not the faintest control, +Peepi was plainly denuded of all moral obligation to virtue. He was no more a +free agent, than the heart which beat in his bosom. Wherefore, his complaisant +parliament had passed a law, recognizing that curious, but alarming fact; +solemnly proclaiming, that King Peepi was minus a conscience. Agreeable to +truth. But when they went further, and vowed by statute, that Peepi could do no +wrong, they assuredly did violence to the truth; besides, making a sad blunder +in their logic. For far from possessing an absolute aversion to evil, by his +very nature it was the hardest thing in the world for Peepi to do right. +</p> + +<p> +Taking all these things into consideration, then, no wonder that this wholly +irresponsible young prince should be a lad of considerable assurance, and the +easiest manners imaginable. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0068"></a> +CHAPTER LXVIII.<br/> +How Teeth Were Regarded In Valapee</h2> + +<p> +Coiling through the thickets, like the track of a serpent, wound along the path +we pursued. And ere long we came to a spacious grove, embowering an oval arbor. +Here, we reclined at our ease, and refreshments were served. +</p> + +<p> +Little worthy of mention occurred, save this. Happening to catch a glimpse of +the white even teeth of Hohora one of our attendants, King Peepi coolly begged +of Media the favor, to have those same dentals drawn on the spot, and presented +to him. +</p> + +<p> +Now human teeth, extracted, are reckoned among the most valuable ornaments in +Mardi. So open wide thy strong box, Hohora, and show thy treasures. What a +gallant array! standing shoulder to shoulder, without a hiatus between. A +complete set of jewelry, indeed, thought Peepi. But, it seems, not destined for +him; Media leaving it to the present proprietor, whether his dentals should +change owners or not. +</p> + +<p> +And here, to prepare the way for certain things hereafter to be narrated, +something farther needs be said concerning the light in which men’s +molars are regarded in Mardi. +</p> + +<p> +Strung together, they are sported for necklaces, or hung in drops from the ear; +they are wrought into dice; in lieu of silken locks, are exchanged for love +tokens. +</p> + +<p> +As in all lands, men smite their breasts, and tear their hair, when transported +with grief; so, in some countries, teeth are stricken out under the sway of +similar emotions. To a very great extent, this was once practiced in the +Hawaiian Islands, ere idol and altar went down. Still living in Oahu, are many +old chiefs, who were present at the famous obsequies of their royal old +generalissimo, Tammahammaha, when there is no telling how many pounds of ivory +were cast upon his grave. +</p> + +<p> +Ah! had the regal white elephants of Siam been there, doubtless they had +offered up their long, hooked tusks, whereon they impale the leopards, their +foes; and the unicorn had surrendered that fixed bayonet in his forehead; and +the imperial Cachalot-whale, the long chain of white towers in his jaw; yea, +over that grim warrior’s grave, the mooses, and elks, and stags, and +fallow-deer had stacked their antlers, as soldiers their arms on the field. +</p> + +<p> +Terrific shade of tattooed Tammahammaha! if, from a vile dragon’s molars, +rose mailed men, what heroes shall spring from the cannibal canines once +pertaining to warriors themselves!—Am I the witch of Endor, that I +conjure up this ghost? Or, King Saul, that I so quake at the sight? For, lo! +roundabout me Tammahammaha’s tattooing expands, till all the sky seems a +tiger’s skin. But now, the spotted phantom sweeps by; as a +man-of-war’s main-sail, cloud-like, blown far to leeward in a gale. +</p> + +<p> +Banquo down, we return. +</p> + +<p> +In Valapee, prevails not the barbarous Hindoo custom of offering up widows to +the shades of their lords; for, bereaved, the widows there marry again. Nor yet +prevails the savage Hawaiian custom of offering up teeth to the manes of the +dead; for, at the decease of a friend, the people rob not their own mouths to +testify their woe. On the contrary, they extract the teeth from the departed, +distributing them among the mourners for memorial legacies; as elsewhere, +silver spoons are bestowed. +</p> + +<p> +From the high value ascribed to dentals throughout the archipelago of Mardi, +and also from their convenient size, they are circulated as money; strings of +teeth being regarded by these people very much as belts of wampum among the +Winnebagoes of the North; or cowries, among the Bengalese. So, that in Valapee +the very beggars are born with a snug investment in their mouths; too soon, +however, to be appropriated by their lords; leaving them toothless for the rest +of their days, and forcing them to diet on poee-pudding and banana blanc-mange. +</p> + +<p> +As a currency, teeth are far less clumsy than cocoanuts; which, among certain +remote barbarians, circulate for coin; one nut being equivalent, perhaps, to a +penny. The voyager who records the fact, chuckles over it hugely; as evincing +the simplicity of those heathens; not knowing that he himself was the +simpleton; since that currency of theirs was purposely devised by the men, to +check the extravagance of their women; cocoanuts, for spending money, being +such a burden to carry. +</p> + +<p> +It only remains to be added, that the most solemn oath of a native of Valapee +is that sworn by his tooth. “By this tooth,” said Bondo to +Noojoomo, “by this tooth I swear to be avenged upon thee, oh +Noojoomo!” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0069"></a> +CHAPTER LXIX.<br/> +The Company Discourse, And Braid-Beard Rehearses A Legend</h2> + +<p> +Finding in Valapee no trace of her whom we sought, and but little pleased with +the cringing demeanor of the people, and the wayward follies of Peepi their +lord, we early withdrew from the isle. +</p> + +<p> +As we glided away, King Media issued a sociable decree. He declared it his +royal pleasure, that throughout the voyage, all stiffness and state etiquette +should be suspended: nothing must occur to mar the freedom of the party. To +further this charming plan, he doffed his symbols of royalty, put off his +crown, laid aside his scepter, and assured us that he would not wear them +again, except when we landed; and not invariably, then. +</p> + +<p> +“Are we not all now friends and companions?” he said. “So +companions and friends let us be. I unbend my bow; do ye likewise.” +</p> + +<p> +“But are we not to be dignified?” asked Babbalanja. +</p> + +<p> +“If dignity be free and natural, be as dignified as you please; but away +with rigidities.” +</p> + +<p> +“Away they go,” said Babbalanja; “and, my lord, now that you +mind me of it, I have often thought, that it is all folly and vanity for any +man to attempt a dignified carriage. Why, my lord,”—frankly +crossing his legs where he lay—“the king, who receives his +ambassadors with a majestic toss of the head, may have just recovered from the +tooth- ache. That thought should cant over the spine he bears so +bravely.” +</p> + +<p> +“Have a care, sir! there is a king within hearing.” +</p> + +<p> +“Pardon, my lord; I was merely availing myself of the immunity bestowed +upon the company. Hereafter, permit a subject to rebel against your sociable +decrees. I will not be so frank any more.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well put, Babbalanja; come nearer; here, cross your legs by mine; you +have risen a cubit in my regard. Vee-Vee, bring us that gourd of wine; so, pass +it round with the cups. Now, Yoomy, a song!” +</p> + +<p> +And a song was sung. +</p> + +<p> +And thus did we sail; pleasantly reclining on the mats stretched out beneath +the canopied howdah. +</p> + +<p> +At length, we drew nigh to a rock, called Pella, or The Theft. A high, green +crag, toppling over its base, and flinging a cavernous shadow upon the lagoon +beneath, bubbling with the moisture that dropped. +</p> + +<p> +Passing under this cliff was like finding yourself, as some sea- hunters +unexpectedly have, beneath the open, upper jaw of a whale; which, descending, +infallibly entombs you. But familiar with the rock, our paddlers only threw +back their heads, to catch the cool, pleasant tricklings from the mosses above. +</p> + +<p> +Wiping away several glittering beads from his beard, old Mohi turning round +where he sat, just outside the canopy, solemnly affirmed, that the drinking of +that water had cured many a man of ambition. +</p> + +<p> +“How so, old man?” demanded Media. +</p> + +<p> +“Because of its passing through the ashes of ten kings, of yore buried in +a sepulcher, hewn in the heart of the rock.” +</p> + +<p> +“Mighty kings, and famous, doubtless,” said Babbalanja, +“whose bones were thought worthy of so noble and enduring as urn. Pray, +Mohi, their names and terrible deeds.” +</p> + +<p> +“Alas! their sepulcher only remains.” +</p> + +<p> +“And, no doubt, like many others, they made that sepul for themselves. +They sleep sound, my word for it, old man. But I very much question, if, were +the rock rent, any ashes would be found. Mohi, I deny that those kings ever had +any bones to bury.” +</p> + +<p> +“Why, Babbalanja,” said Media, “since you intimate that they +never had ghosts to give up, you ignore them in toto; denying the very fact of +their being even defunct.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ten thousand pardons, my lord, no such discourtesy would I do the +anonymous memory of the illustrious dead. But whether they ever lived or not, +it is all the same with them now. Yet, grant that they lived; then, if death be +a deaf-and-dumb death, a triumphal procession over their graves would concern +them not. If a birth into brightness, then Mardi must seem to them the most +trivial of reminiscences. Or, perhaps, theirs may be an utter lapse of memory +concerning sublunary things; and they themselves be not themselves, as the +butterfly is not the larva.” +</p> + +<p> +Said Yoomy, “Then, Babbalanja, you account that a fit illustration of the +miraculous change to be wrought in man after death?” +</p> + +<p> +“No; for the analogy has an unsatisfactory end. From its chrysalis state, +the silkworm but becomes a moth, that very quickly expires. Its longest +existence is as a worm. All vanity, vanity, Yoomy, to seek in nature for +positive warranty to these aspirations of ours. Through all her provinces, +nature seems to promise immortality to life, but destruction to beings. Or, as +old Bardianna has it, if not against us, nature is not for us.” +</p> + +<p> +Said Media, rising, “Babbalanja, you have indeed put aside the courtier; +talking of worms and caterpillars to me, a king and a demi- god! To renown, for +your theme: a more agreeable topic.” +</p> + +<p> +“Pardon, once again, my lord. And since you will, let us discourse of +that subject. First, I lay it down for an indubitable maxim, that in itself all +posthumous renown, which is the only renown, is valueless. Be not offended, my +lord. To the nobly ambitious, renown hereafter may be something to anticipate. +But analyzed, that feverish typhoid feeling of theirs may be nothing more than +a flickering fancy, that now, while living, they are recognized as those who +will be as famous in their shrouds, as in their girdles.” +</p> + +<p> +Said Yoomy, “But those great and good deeds, Babbalanja, of which the +philosophers so often discourse: must it not be sweet to believe that their +memory will long survive us; and we ourselves in them?” +</p> + +<p> +“I speak now,” said Babbalanja, “of the ravening for fame +which even appeased, like thirst slaked in the desert, yields no felicity, but +only relief; and which discriminates not in aught that will satisfy its +cravings. But let me resume. Not an hour ago, Braid-Beard was telling us that +story of prince Ottimo, who inodorous while living, expressed much delight at +the prospect of being perfumed and embalmed, when dead. But was not Ottimo the +most eccentric of mortals? For few men issue orders for their shrouds, to +inspect their quality beforehand. Far more anxious are they about the texture +of the sheets in which their living limbs lie. And, my lord, with some rare +exceptions, does not all Mardi, by its actions, declare, that it is far better +to be notorious now, than famous hereafter?” +</p> + +<p> +“A base sentiment, my lord,” said Yoomy. “Did not poor Bonja, +the unappreciated poet, console himself for the neglect of his contemporaries, +by inspiriting thoughts of the future?” +</p> + +<p> +“In plain words by bethinking him of the glorious harvest of bravos his +ghost would reap for him,” said Babbalanja; “but +Banjo,—Bonjo,—Binjo,—I never heard of him.” +</p> + +<p> +“Nor I,” said Mohi. +</p> + +<p> +“Nor I,” said Media. +</p> + +<p> +“Poor fellow!” cried Babbalanja; “I fear me his harvest is +not yet ripe.” +</p> + +<p> +“Alas!” cried Yoomy; “he died more than a century ago.” +</p> + +<p> +“But now that you speak of unappreciated poets, Yoomy,” said +Babbalanja, “Shall I give you a piece of my mind?” +“Do,” said Mohi, stroking his beard. +</p> + +<p> +“He, who on all hands passes for a cypher to-day, if at all remembered +hereafter, will be sure to pass for the same. For there is more likelihood of +being overrated while living, than of being underrated when dead. And to insure +your fame, you must die.” +</p> + +<p> +“A rather discouraging thought for your race. But answer: I assume that +King Media is but a mortal like you; now, how may I best perpetuate my +name?” +</p> + +<p> +Long pondered Babbalanja; then said, “Carve it, my lord, deep into a +ponderous stone, and sink it, face downward, into the sea; for the unseen +foundations of the deep are more enduring than the palpable tops of the +mountains.” +</p> + +<p> +Sailing past Pella, we gained a view of its farther side; and seated in a lofty +cleft, beheld a lonely fisherman; solitary as a seal on an iceberg; his +motionless line in the water. +</p> + +<p> +“What recks he of the ten kings,” said Babbalanja. +</p> + +<p> +“Mohi,” said Media, “methinks there is another tradition +concerning that rock: let us have it.” +</p> + +<p> +“In old times of genii and giants, there dwelt in barren lands, not very +remote from our outer reef, but since submerged, a band of evil- minded, +envious goblins, furlongs in stature, and with immeasurable arms; who from time +to time cast covetous glances upon our blooming isles. Long they lusted; till +at last, they waded through the sea, strode over the reef, and seizing the +nearest islet, rolled it over and over, toward an adjoining outlet. +</p> + +<p> +“But the task was hard; and day-break surprised them in the midst of +their audacious thieving; while in the very act of giving the devoted land +another doughty surge and Somerset. Leaving it bottom upward and midway poised, +gardens under water, its foundations in air, they precipitately fled; in their +great haste, deserting a comrade, vainly struggling to liberate his foot caught +beneath the overturned land.” +</p> + +<p> +“This poor fellow now raised such an outcry, as to awaken the god Upi, or +the Archer, stretched out on a long cloud in the East; who forthwith resolved +to make an example of the unwilling lingerer. Snatching his bow, he let fly an +arrow. But overshooting its mark, it pierced through and through, the lofty +promontory of a neighboring island; making an arch in it, which remaineth even +unto this day. A second arrow, however, accomplished its errand: the slain +giant sinking prone to the bottom.” +</p> + +<p> +“And now,” added Mohi, “glance over the gunwale, and you will +see his remains petrified into white ribs of coral.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, there they are,” said Yoomy, looking down into the water where +they gleamed. “A fanciful legend, Braid-beard.” +</p> + +<p> +“Very entertaining,” said Media. +</p> + +<p> +“Even so,” said Babbalanja. “But perhaps we lost time in +listening to it; for though we know it, we are none the wiser.” +</p> + +<p> +“Be not a cynic,” said Media. “No pastime is lost +time.” +</p> + +<p> +Musing a moment, Babbalanja replied, “My lord, that maxim may be good as +it stands; but had you made six words of it, instead of six syllables, you had +uttered a better and a deeper.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0070"></a> +CHAPTER LXX.<br/> +The Minstrel Leads Off With A Paddle-Song; And A Message Is Received From +Abroad</h2> + +<p> +From seaward now came a breeze so blithesome and fresh, that it made us +impatient of Babbalanja’s philosophy, and Mohi’s incredible +legends. One and all, we called upon the minstrel Yoomy to give us something in +unison with the spirited waves wide-foaming around us. +</p> + +<p> +“If my lord will permit, we will give Taji the Paddle-Chant of the +warriors of King Bello.” +</p> + +<p> +“By all means,” said Media. +</p> + +<p> +So the three canoes were brought side to side; their sails rolled up; and +paddles in hand, our paddlers seated themselves sideways on the gunwales; +Yoomy, as leader, occupying the place of the foremast, or Bow-Paddler of the +royal barge. +</p> + +<p> +Whereupon the six rows of paddle-blades being uplifted, and every eye on the +minstrel, this song was sung, with actions corresponding; the canoes at last +shooting through the water, with a violent roll. +</p> + +<p class="poem"> + (All.)<br/> + Thrice waved on high,<br/> + Our paddles fly:<br/> +Thrice round the head, thrice dropt to feet:<br/> + And then well timed,<br/> + Of one stout mind,<br/> +All fall, and back the waters heap!<br/> +<br/> + (Bow-Paddler.)<br/> + Who lifts this chant?<br/> + Who sounds this vaunt?<br/> +<br/> + (All.)<br/> +The wild sea song, to the billows’ throng,<br/> + Rising, falling,<br/> + Hoarsely calling,<br/> +Now high, now low, as fast we go,<br/> +Fast on our flying foe!<br/> +<br/> + (Bow-Paddler.)<br/> + Who lifts this chant?<br/> + Who sounds this vaunt?<br/> +<br/> + (All.)<br/> +Dip, dip, in the brine our paddles dip,<br/> +Dip, dip, the fins of our swimming ship!<br/> + How the waters part,<br/> + As on we dart;<br/> + Our sharp prows fly,<br/> + And curl on high,<br/> +As the upright fin of the rushing shark,<br/> +Rushing fast and far on his flying mark!<br/> + Like him we prey;<br/> + Like him we slay;<br/> + Swim on the fog,<br/> + Our prow a blow!<br/> +<br/> + (Bow-Paddler.)<br/> + Who lifts this chant?<br/> + Who sounds this vaunt?<br/> +<br/> + (All.)<br/> +Heap back; heap back; the waters back!<br/> +Pile them high astern, in billows black;<br/> + Till we leave our wake,<br/> + In the slope we make;<br/> + And rush and ride,<br/> + On the torrent’s tide! +</p> + +<p> +Here we were overtaken by a swift gliding canoe, which, bearing down upon us +before the wind, lowered its sail when close by: its occupants signing our +paddlers to desist. +</p> + +<p> +I started. +</p> + +<p> +The strangers were three hooded damsels the enigmatical Queen Hautia’s +heralds. +</p> + +<p> +Their pursuit surprised and perplexed me. Nor was there wanting a vague feeling +of alarm to heighten these emotions. But perhaps I was mistaken, and this time +they meant not me. +</p> + +<p> +Seated in the prow, the foremost waved her Iris flag. Cried Yoomy, “Some +message! Taji, that Iris points to you.” +</p> + +<p> +It was then, I first divined, that some meaning must have lurked in those +flowers they had twice brought me before. +</p> + +<p> +The second damsel now flung over to me Circe flowers; then, a faded jonquil, +buried in a tuft of wormwood leaves. +</p> + +<p> +The third sat in the shallop’s stern, and as it glided from us, thrice +waved oleanders. +</p> + +<p> +“What dumb show is this?” cried Media. “But it looks like +poetry: minstrel, you should know.” +</p> + +<p> +“Interpret then,” said I. +</p> + +<p> +“Shall I, then, be your Flora’s flute, and Hautia’s dragoman? +Held aloft, the Iris signified a message. These purple-woven Circe flowers mean +that some spell is weaving. That golden, pining jonquil, which you hold, buried +in those wormwood leaves, says plainly to you—Bitter love in +absence.” +</p> + +<p> +Said Media, “Well done, Taji, you have killed a queen.” “Yet +no Queen Hautia have these eyes beheld.” +</p> + +<p> +Said Babbalanja, “The thrice waved oleanders, Yoomy; what meant +they?” +</p> + +<p> +“Beware—beware—beware.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then that, at least, seems kindly meant,” said Babbalanja; +“Taji, beware of Hautia.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0071"></a> +CHAPTER LXXI.<br/> +They Land Upon The Island Of Juam</h2> + +<p> +Crossing the lagoon, our course now lay along the reef to Juam; a name bestowed +upon one of the largest islands hereabout; and also, collectively, upon several +wooded isles engulfing it, which together were known as the dominions of one +monarch. That monarch was Donjalolo. Just turned of twenty-five, he was +accounted not only the handsomest man in his dominions, but throughout the +lagoon. His comeliness, however, was so feminine, that he was sometimes called +“Fonoo,” or the Girl. +</p> + +<p> +Our first view of Juam was imposing. A dark green pile of cliffs, towering some +one hundred toises; at top, presenting a range of steep, gable-pointed +projections; as if some Titanic hammer and chisel had shaped the mass. +</p> + +<p> +Sailing nearer, we perceived an extraordinary rolling of the sea; which +bursting into the lagoon through an adjoining breach in the reef, surged toward +Juam in enormous billows. At last, dashing against the wall of the cliff; they +played there in unceasing fountains. But under the brow of a beetling crag, the +spray came and went unequally. There, the blue billows seemed swallowed up, and +lost. +</p> + +<p> +Right regally was Juam guarded. For, at this point, the rock was pierced by a +cave, into which the great waves chased each other like lions; after a hollow, +subterraneous roaring issuing forth with manes disheveled. +</p> + +<p> +Cautiously evading the dangerous currents here ruffling the lagoon, we rounded +the wall of cliff; and shot upon a smooth expanse; on one side, hemmed in by +the long, verdent, northern shore of Juam; and across the water, sentineled by +its tributary islets. +</p> + +<p> +With sonorous Vee-Vee in the shark’s mouth, we swept toward the beach, +tumultuous with a throng. +</p> + +<p> +Our canoes were secured. And surrounded by eager glances, we passed the lower +ends of several populous valleys; and crossing a wide, open meadow, gradually +ascending, came to a range of light-green bluffs. Here, we wended our way down +a narrow defile, almost cleaving this quarter of the island to its base. Black +crags frowned overhead: among them the shouts of the Islanders reverberated. +Yet steeper grew the defile, and more overhanging the crags till at last, the +keystone of the arch seemed dropped into its place. We found ourselves in a +subterranean tunnel, dimly lighted by a span of white day at the end. +</p> + +<p> +Emerging, what a scene was revealed! All round, embracing a circuit of some +three leagues, stood heights inaccessible, here and there, forming buttresses, +sheltering deep recesses between. The bosom of the place was vivid with +verdure. +</p> + +<p> +Shining aslant into this wild hollow, the afternoon sun lighted up its eastern +side with tints of gold. But opposite, brooded a somber shadow, double-shading +the secret places between the salient spurs of the mountains. Thus cut in twain +by masses of day and night, it seemed as if some Last Judgment had been enacted +in the glen. +</p> + +<p> +No sooner did we emerge from the defile, than we became sensible of a dull, +jarring sound; and Yoomy was almost tempted to turn and flee, when informed +that the sea-cavern, whose mouth we had passed, was believed to penetrate deep +into the opposite hills; and that the surface of the amphitheater was depressed +beneath that of the lagoon. But all over the lowermost hillsides, and sloping +into the glen, stood grand old groves; still and stately, as if no insolent +waves were throbbing in the mountain’s heart. +</p> + +<p> +Such was Willamilla, the hereditary abode of the young monarch of Juam. +</p> + +<p> +Was Yillah immured in this strange retreat? But from those around us naught +could we learn. +</p> + +<p> +Our attention was now directed to the habitations of the glen; comprised in two +handsome villages; one to the west, the other to the east; both stretching +along the base of the cliffs. +</p> + +<p> +Said Media, “Had we arrived at Willamilla in the morning, we had found +Donjalolo and his court in the eastern village; but being afternoon, we must +travel farther, and seek him in his western retreat; for that is now in the +shade.” +</p> + +<p> +Wending our way, Media added, that aside from his elevated station as a +monarch, Donjalolo was famed for many uncommon traits; but more especially for +certain peculiar deprivations, under which he labored. +</p> + +<p> +Whereupon Braid-Beard unrolled his old chronicles; and regaled us with the +history, which will be found in the following chapter. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0072"></a> +CHAPTER LXXII.<br/> +A Book From The Chronicles Of Mohi</h2> + +<p> +Many ages ago, there reigned in Juam a king called Teei. This Teei’s +succession to the sovereignty was long disputed by his brother Marjora; who at +last rallying round him an army, after many vicissitudes, defeated the +unfortunate monarch in a stout fight of clubs on the beach. +</p> + +<p> +In those days, Willamilla during a certain period of the year was a place set +apart for royal games and diversions; and was furnished with suitable +accommodations for king and court. From its peculiar position, moreover, it was +regarded as the last stronghold of the Juam monarchy: in remote times having +twice withstood the most desperate assaults from without. And when Roonoonoo, a +famous upstart, sought to subdue all the isles in this part of the Archipelago, +it was to Willamilla that the banded kings had repaired to take counsel +together; and while there conferring, were surprised at the sudden onslaught of +Roonoonoo in person. But in the end, the rebel was captured, he and all his +army, and impaled on the tops of the hills. +</p> + +<p> +Now, defeated and fleeing for his life, Teei with his surviving followers was +driven across the plain toward the mountains. But to cut him off from all +escape to inland Willamilla, Marjora dispatched a fleet band of warriors to +occupy the entrance of the defile. Nevertheless, Teei the pursued ran faster +than his pursuers; first gained the spot; and with his chiefs, fled swiftly +down the gorge, closely hunted by Marjora’s men. But arriving at the +further end, they in vain sought to defend it. And after much desperate +fighting, the main body of the foe corning up with great slaughter the +fugitives were driven into the glen. +</p> + +<p> +They ran to the opposite wall of cliff; where turning, they fought at bay, +blood for blood, and life for life, till at last, overwhelmed by numbers, they +were all put to the point of the spear. +</p> + +<p> +With fratricidal hate, singled out by the ferocious Marjora, Teei fell by that +brother’s hand. When stripping from the body the regal girdle, the victor +wound it round his own loins; thus proclaiming himself king over Juam. +</p> + +<p> +Long torn by this intestine war, the island acquiesced in the new sovereignty. +But at length a sacred oracle declared, that since the conqueror had slain his +brother in deep Willamilla, so that Teei never more issued from that refuge of +death; therefore, the same fate should be Marjora’s; for never, +thenceforth, from that glen, should he go forth; neither Marjora; nor any son +of his girdled loins; nor his son’s sons; nor the uttermost scion of his +race. +</p> + +<p> +But except this denunciation, naught was denounced against the usurper; who, +mindful of the tenure by which he reigned, ruled over the island for many +moons; at his death bequeathing the girdle to his son. +</p> + +<p> +In those days, the wildest superstitions concerning the interference of the +gods in things temporal, prevailed to a much greater extent than at present. +Hence Marjora himself, called sometimes in the traditions of the island, +The-Heart-of-Black-Coral, even unscrupulous Marjora had quailed before the +oracle. “He bowed his head,” say the legends. Nor was it then +questioned, by his most devoted adherents, that had he dared to act counter to +that edict, he had dropped dead, the very instant he went under the shadow of +the defile. This persuasion also guided the conduct of the son of Marjora, and +that of his grandson. +</p> + +<p> +But there at last came to pass a change in the popular fancies concerning this +ancient anathema. The penalty denounced against the posterity of the usurper +should they issue from the glen, came to be regarded as only applicable to an +invested monarch, not to his relatives, or heirs. +</p> + +<p> +A most favorable construction of the ban; for all those related to the king, +freely passed in and out of Willamilla. +</p> + +<p> +From the time of the usurpation, there had always been observed a certain +ceremony upon investing the heir to the sovereignty with the girdle of Teei. +Upon these occasions, the chief priests of the island were present, acting an +important part. For the space of as many days, as there had reigned kings of +Marjora’s dynasty, the inner mouth of the defile remained sealed; the new +monarch placing the last stone in the gap. This symbolized his relinquishment +forever of all purpose of passing out of the glen. And without this observance, +was no king girdled in Juam. +</p> + +<p> +It was likewise an invariable custom, for the heir to receive the regal +investiture immediately upon the decease of his sire. No delay was permitted. +And instantly upon being girdled, he proceeded to take part in the ceremony of +closing the cave; his predecessor yet remaining uninterred on the purple mat +where he died. +</p> + +<p> +In the history of the island, three instances were recorded; wherein, upon the +vacation of the sovereignty, the immediate heir had voluntarily renounced all +claim to the succession, rather than surrender the privilege of roving, to +which he had been entitled, as a prince of the blood. +</p> + +<p> +Said Rani, one of these young princes, in reply to the remonstrances of his +friends, “What! shall I be a king, only to be a slave? Teei’s +girdle would clasp my waist less tightly, than my soul would be banded by the +mountains of Willamilla. A subject, I am free. No slave in Juam but its king; +for all the tassels round his loins.” +</p> + +<p> +To guard against a similar resolution in the mind of his only son, the wise +sire of Donjalolo, ardently desirous of perpetuating his dignities in a child +so well beloved, had from his earliest infancy, restrained the boy from passing +out of the glen, to contract in the free air of the Archipelago, tastes and +predilections fatal to the inheritance of the girdle. +</p> + +<p> +But as he grew in years, so impatient became young Donjalolo of the king his +father’s watchfulness over him, though hitherto a most dutiful son, that +at last he was prevailed upon by his youthful companions to appoint a day, on +which to go abroad, and visit Mardi. Hearing this determination, the old king +sought to vanquish it. But in vain. And early on the morning of the day, that +Donjalolo was to set out, he swallowed poison, and died; in order to force his +son into the instant assumption of the honors thus suddenly inherited. +</p> + +<p> +The event, but not its dreadful circumstances, was communicated to the prince; +as with a gay party of young chiefs, he was about to enter the mouth of the +defile. +</p> + +<p> +“My sire dead!” cried Donjalolo. “So sudden, it seems a bolt +from Heaven.” And bursting into exclamations of grief, he wept upon the +bosom of Talara his friend. +</p> + +<p> +But starting from his side:—“My fate converges to a point. If I but +cross that shadow, my kingdom is lost. One lifting of my foot, and the girdle +goes to my proud uncle Darfi, who would so joy to be my master. Haughty Dwarf! +Oh Oro! would that I had ere this passed thee, fatal cavern; and seen for +myself, what outer Mardi is. Say ye true, comrades, that Willamilla is less +lovely than the valleys without? that there is bright light in the eyes of the +maidens of Mina? and wisdom in the hearts of the old priests of Maramma; that +it is pleasant to tread the green earth where you will; and breathe the free +ocean air? Would, oh would, that I were but the least of yonder sun-clouds, +that look down alike on Willamilla and all places besides, that I might +determine aright. Yet why do I pause? did not Rani, and Atama, and Mardonna, my +ancestors, each see for himself, free Mardi; and did they not fly the proffered +girdle; choosing rather to be free to come and go, than bury themselves forever +in this fatal glen? Oh Mardi! Mardi! art thou then so fair to see? Is liberty a +thing so glorious? Yet can I be no king, and behold thee! Too late, too late, +to view thy charms and then return. My sire! my sire! thou hast wrung my heart +with this agony of doubt. Tell me, comrades,—for ye have seen +it,—is Mardi sweeter to behold, than it is royal to reign over Juam? +Silent, are ye? Knowing what ye do, were ye me, would ye be kings? Tell me, +Talara.—No king: no king:—that were to obey, and not command. And +none hath Donjalolo ere obeyed but the king his father. A king, and my voice +may be heard in farthest Mardi, though I abide in narrow Willamilla. My sire! +my sire! Ye flying clouds, what look ye down upon? Tell me, what ye see abroad? +Methinks sweet spices breathe from out the cave.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hail, Donjalolo, King of Juam,” now sounded with acclamations from +the groves. +</p> + +<p> +Starting, the young prince beheld a multitude approaching: warriors with +spears, and maidens with flowers; and Kubla, a priest, lifting on high the +tasseled girdle of Teei, and waving it toward him. +</p> + +<p> +The young chiefs fell back. Kubla, advancing, came close to the prince, and +unclasping the badge of royalty, exclaimed, “Donjalolo, this instant it +is king or subject with thee: wilt thou be girdled monarch?” +</p> + +<p> +Gazing one moment up the dark defile, then staring vacantly, Donjalolo turned +and met the eager gaze of Darfi. Stripping off his mantle, the next instant he +was a king. +</p> + +<p> +Loud shouted the multitude, and exulted; but after mutely assisting at the +closing of the cavern, the new-girdled monarch retired sadly to his dwelling, +and was not seen again for many days. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0073"></a> +CHAPTER LXXIII.<br/> +Something More Of The Prince</h2> + +<p> +Previous to recording our stay in his dominions, it only remains to be related +of Donjalolo, that after assuming the girdle, a change came over him. +</p> + +<p> +During the lifetime of his father, he had been famed for his temperance and +discretion. But when Mardi was forever shut out; and he remembered the law of +his isle, interdicting abdication to its kings; he gradually fell into +desperate courses, to drown the emotions at times distracting him. +</p> + +<p> +His generous spirit thirsting after some energetic career, found itself +narrowed down within the little glen of Willamilla, where ardent impulses +seemed idle. But these are hard to die; and repulsed all round, recoil upon +themselves. +</p> + +<p> +So with Donjalolo; who, in many a riotous scene, wasted the powers which might +have compassed the noblest designs. +</p> + +<p> +Not many years had elapsed since the death of the king, his father. But the +still youthful prince was no longer the bright-eyed and elastic boy who at the +dawn of day had sallied out to behold the landscapes of the neighboring isles. +</p> + +<p> +Not more effeminate Sardanapalus, than he. And, at intervals, he was the victim +of unaccountable vagaries; haunted by specters, and beckoned to by the ghosts +of his sires. +</p> + +<p> +At times, loathing his vicious pursuits, which brought him no solid +satisfaction, but ever filled him with final disgust, he would resolve to amend +his ways; solacing himself for his bitter captivity, by the society of the wise +and discreet. +</p> + +<p> +But brief the interval of repentance. Anew, he burst into excesses, a hundred +fold more insane than ever. +</p> + +<p> +Thus vacillating between virtue and vice; to neither constant, and upbraided by +both; his mind, like his person in the glen, was continually passing and +repassing between opposite extremes. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0074"></a> +CHAPTER LXXIV.<br/> +Advancing Deeper Into The Vale, They Encounter Donjalolo</h2> + +<p> +From the mouth of the cavern, a broad shaded way over-arched by fraternal trees +embracing in mid-air, conducted us to a cross-path, on either hand leading to +the opposite cliffs, shading the twin villages before mentioned. +</p> + +<p> +Level as a meadow, was the bosom of the glen. Here, nodding with green orchards +of the Bread-fruit and the Palm; there, flashing with golden plantations of the +Banana. Emerging from these, we came out upon a grassy mead, skirting a +projection of the mountain. And soon we crossed a bridge of boughs, spanning a +trench, thickly planted with roots of the Tara, like alligators, or Hollanders, +reveling in the soft alluvial. Strolling on, the wild beauty of the mountains +excited our attention. The topmost crags poured over with vines; which, +undulating in the air, seemed leafy cascades; their sources the upland groves. +</p> + +<p> +Midway up the precipice, along a shelf of rock, sprouted the multitudinous +roots of an apparently trunkless tree. Shooting from under the shallow soil, +they spread all over the rocks below, covering them with an intricate net-work. +While far aloft, great boughs—each a copse—clambered to the very +summit of the mountain; then bending over, struck anew into the soil; forming +along the verge an interminable colonnade; all manner of antic architecture +standing against the sky. +</p> + +<p> +According to Mohi, this tree was truly wonderful; its seed having been dropped +from the moon; where were plenty more similar forests, causing the dark spots +on its surface. +</p> + +<p> +Here and there, the cool fluid in the veins of the mountains gushed forth in +living springs; their waters received in green mossy tanks, half buried in +grasses. +</p> + +<p> +In one place, a considerable stream, bounding far out from a wooded height, ere +reaching the ground was dispersed in a wide misty shower, falling so far from +the base of the cliff; that walking close underneath, you felt little moisture. +Passing this fall of vapors, we spied many Islanders taking a bath. +</p> + +<p> +But what is yonder swaying of the foliage? And what now issues forth, like a +habitation astir? Donjalolo drawing nigh to his guests. +</p> + +<p> +He came in a fair sedan; a bower, resting upon three long, parallel poles, +borne by thirty men, gayly attired; five at each pole-end. Decked with dyed +tappas, and looped with garlands of newly-plucked flowers, from which, at every +step, the fragrant petals were blown; with a sumptuous, elastic motion the gay +sedan came on; leaving behind it a long, rosy wake of fluttering leaves and +odors. +</p> + +<p> +Drawing near, it revealed a slender, enervate youth, of pallid beauty, +reclining upon a crimson mat, near the festooned arch of the bower. His +anointed head was resting against the bosom of a girl; another stirred the air, +with a fan of Pintado plumes. The pupils of his eyes were as floating isles in +the sea. In a soft low tone he murmured “Media!” +</p> + +<p> +The bearers paused; and Media advancing; the Island Kings bowed their foreheads +together. +</p> + +<p> +Through tubes ignited at the end, Donjaloln’s reclining attendants now +blew an aromatic incense around him. These were composed of the stimulating +leaves of the “Aina,” mixed with the long yellow blades of a +sweet-scented upland grass; forming a hollow stem. In general, the agreeable +fumes of the “Aina” were created by one’s own inhalations; +but Donjalolo deeming the solace too dearly purchased by any exertion of the +royal lungs, regaled himself through those of his attendants, whose lips were +as moss-rose buds after a shower. +</p> + +<p> +In silence the young prince now eyed us attentively; meanwhile gently waving +his hand, to obtain a better view through the wreaths of vapor. He was about to +address us, when chancing to catch a glimpse of Samoa, he suddenly started; +averted his glance; and wildly commanded the warrior out of sight. Upon this, +his attendants would have soothed him; and Media desired the Upoluan to +withdraw. +</p> + +<p> +While we were yet lost in wonder at this scene, Donjalolo, with eyes closed, +fell back into the arms of his damsels. Recovering, he fetched a deep sigh, and +gazed vacantly around. +</p> + +<p> +It seems, that he had fancied Samoa the noon-day specter of his ancestor +Marjora; the usurper having been deprived of an arm in the battle which gained +him the girdle. Poor prince: this was one of those crazy conceits, so puzzling +to his subjects. +</p> + +<p> +Media now hastened to assure Donjalolo, that Samoa, though no cherub to behold, +was good flesh and blood, nevertheless. And soon the king unconcernedly gazed; +his monomania having departed as a dream. +</p> + +<p> +But still suffering from the effects of an overnight feast, he presently +murmured forth a desire to be left to his women; adding that his people would +not fail to provide for the entertainment of his guests. +</p> + +<p> +The curtains of the sedan were now drawn; and soon it disappeared in the +groves. Journeying on, ere long we arrived at the western side of the glen; +where one of the many little arbors scattered among the trees, was assigned for +our abode. Here, we reclined to an agreeable repast. After which, we strolled +forth to view the valley at large; more especially the far-famed palaces of the +prince. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0075"></a> +CHAPTER LXXV.<br/> +Time And Temples</h2> + +<p> +In the oriental Pilgrimage of the pious old Purchas, and in the fine old folio +Voyages of Hakluyt, Thevenot, Ramusio, and De Bry, we read of many glorious old +Asiatic temples, very long in erecting. And veracious Gaudentia di Lucca hath a +wondrous narration of the time consumed in rearing that mighty +three-hundred-and-seventy-five- pillared Temple of the Year, somewhere beyond +Libya; whereof, the columns did signify days, and all round fronted upon +concentric zones of palaces, cross-cut by twelve grand avenues symbolizing the +signs of the zodiac, all radiating from the sun-dome in their midst. And in +that wild eastern tale of his, Marco Polo tells us, how the Great Mogul began +him a pleasure-palace on so imperial a scale, that his grandson had much ado to +complete it. +</p> + +<p> +But no matter for marveling all this: great towers take time to construct. +</p> + +<p> +And so of all else. +</p> + +<p> +And that which long endures full-fledged, must have long lain in the germ. And +duration is not of the future, but of the past; and eternity is eternal, +because it has been, and though a strong new monument be builded to-day, it +only is lasting because its blocks are old as the sun. It is not the Pyramids +that are ancient, but the eternal granite whereof they are made; which had been +equally ancient though yet in the quarry. For to make an eternity, we must +build with eternities; whence, the vanity of the cry for any thing alike +durable and new; and the folly of the reproach—Your granite hath come +from the old-fashioned hills. For we are not gods and creators; and the +controversialists have debated, whether indeed the All-Plastic Power itself can +do more than mold. In all the universe is but one original; and the very suns +must to their source for their fire; and we Prometheuses must to them for ours; +which, when had, only perpetual Vestal tending will keep alive. +</p> + +<p> +But let us back from fire to store. No fine firm fabric ever yet grew like a +gourd. Nero’s House of Gold was not raised in a day; nor the Mexican +House of the Sun; nor the Alhambra; nor the Escurial; nor Titus’s +Amphitheater; nor the Illinois Mounds; nor Diana’s great columns at +Ephesus; nor Pompey’s proud Pillar; nor the Parthenon; nor the Altar of +Belus; nor Stonehenge; nor Solomon’s Temple; nor Tadmor’s towers; +nor Susa’s bastions; nor Persepolis’ pediments. Round and round, +the Moorish turret at Seville was not wound heavenward in the revolution of a +day; and from its first founding, five hundred years did circle, ere +Strasbourg’s great spire lifted its five hundred feet into the air. No: +nor were the great grottos of Elephanta hewn out in an hour; nor did the +Troglodytes dig Kentucky’s Mammoth Cave in a sun; nor that of Trophonius, +nor Antiparos; nor the Giant’s Causeway. Nor were the subterranean arched +sewers of Etruria channeled in a trice; nor the airy arched aqueducts of Nerva +thrown over their values in the ides of a month. Nor was Virginia’s +Natural Bridge worn under in a year; nor, in geology, were the eternal +Grampians upheaved in an age. And who shall count the cycles that revolved ere +earth’s interior sedimentary strata were crystalized into stone. Nor Peak +of Piko, nor Teneriffe, were chiseled into obelisks in a decade; nor had Mount +Athos been turned into Alexander’s statue so soon. And the bower of +Artaxerxes took a whole Persian summer to grow; and the Czar’s Ice Palace +a long Muscovite winter to congéal. No, no: nor was the Pyramid of Cheops +masoned in a month; though, once built, the sands left by the deluge might not +have submerged such a pile. Nor were the broad boughs of Charles’ Oak +grown in a spring; though they outlived the royal dynasties of Tudor and +Stuart. Nor were the parts of the great Iliad put together in haste; though old +Homer’s temple shall lift up its dome, when St. Peter’s is a +legend. Even man himself lives months ere his Maker deems him fit to be born; +and ere his proud shaft gains its full stature, twenty-one long Julian years +must elapse. And his whole mortal life brings not his immortal soul to +maturity; nor will all eternity perfect him. Yea, with uttermost reverence, as +to human understanding, increase of dominion seems increase of power; and day +by day new planets are being added to elder-born Saturn, even as six thousand +years ago our own Earth made one more in this system; so, in incident, not in +essence, may the Infinite himself be not less than more infinite now, than when +old Aldebaran rolled forth from his hand. And if time was, when this round +Earth, which to innumerable mortals has seemed an empire never to be wholly +explored; which, in its seas, concealed all the Indies over four thousand five +hundred years; if time was, when this great quarry of Assyrias and Romes was +not extant; then, time may have been, when the whole material universe lived +its Dark Ages; yea, when the Ineffable Silence, proceeding from its +unimaginable remoteness, espied it as an isle in the sea. And herein is no +derogation. For the Immeasurable’s altitude is not heightened by the +arches of Mahomet’s heavens; and were all space a vacuum, yet would it be +a fullness; for to Himself His own universe is He. +</p> + +<p> +Thus deeper and deeper into Time’s endless tunnel, does the winged soul, +like a night-hawk, wend her wild way; and finds eternities before and behind; +and her last limit is her everlasting beginning. +</p> + +<p> +But sent over the broad flooded sphere, even Noah’s dove came back, and +perched on his hand. So comes back my spirit to me, and folds up her wings. +</p> + +<p> +Thus, then, though Time be the mightiest of Alarics, yet is he the mightiest +mason of all. And a tutor, and a counselor, and a physician, and a scribe, and +a poet, and a sage, and a king. +</p> + +<p> +Yea, and a gardener, as ere long will be shown. +</p> + +<p> +But first must we return to the glen. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0076"></a> +CHAPTER LXXVI.<br/> +A Pleasant Place For A Lounge</h2> + +<p> +Whether the hard condition of their kingly state, very naturally demanding some +luxurious requital, prevailed upon the monarchs of Juam to house themselves so +delightfully as they did; whether buried alive in their glen, they sought to +center therein a secret world of enjoyment; however it may have been, +throughout the Archipelago this saying was a proverb—“You are +lodged like the king in Willamilla.” Hereby was expressed the utmost +sumptuousness of a palace. +</p> + +<p> +A well warranted saying; for of all the bright places, where my soul loves to +linger, the haunts of Donjalolo are most delicious. +</p> + +<p> +In the eastern quarter of the glen was the House of the Morning. This fanciful +palace was raised upon a natural mound, many rods square, almost completely +filling up a deep recess between deep-green and projecting cliffs, overlooking +many abodes distributed in the shadows of the groves beyond. +</p> + +<p> +Now, if it indeed be, that from the time employed in its construction, any just +notion may be formed of the stateliness of an edifice, it must needs be +determined, that this retreat of Donjalolo could not be otherwise than +imposing. +</p> + +<p> +Full five hundred moons was the palace in completing; for by some architectural +arborist, its quadrangular foundations had been laid in seed-cocoanuts, +requiring that period to sprout up into pillars. In front, these were +horizontally connected, by elaborately carved beams, of a scarlet hue, inserted +into the vital wood; which, swelling out, and over lapping, firmly secured +them. The beams supported the rafters, inclining from the rear; while over the +aromatic grasses covering the roof, waved the tufted tops of the Palms, green +capitals to their dusky shafts. +</p> + +<p> +Through and through this vibrating verdure, bright birds flitted and sang; the +scented and variegated thatch seemed a hanging-garden; and between it and the +Palm tops, was leaf-hung an arbor in the air. +</p> + +<p> +Without these columns, stood a second and third colonnade, forming the most +beautiful bowers; advancing through which, you fancied that the palace beyond +must be chambered in a fountain, or frozen in a crystal. Three sparkling +rivulets flowing from the heights were led across its summit, through great +trunks half buried in the thatch; and emptying into a sculptured channel, +running along the eaves, poured over in one wide sheet, plaited and +transparent. Received into a basin beneath, they were thence conducted down the +vale. +</p> + +<p> +The sides of the palace were hedged by Diomi bushes bearing a flower, from its +perfume, called Lenora, or Sweet Breath; and within these odorous hedges, were +heavy piles of mats, richly dyed and embroidered. +</p> + +<p> +Here lounging of a glowing noon, the plaited cascade playing, the verdure +waving, and the birds melodious, it was hard to say, whether you were an inmate +of a garden in the glen, or a grotto in the sea. +</p> + +<p> +But enough for the nonce, of the House of the Morning. Cross we the hollow, to +the House of the Afternoon. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0077"></a> +CHAPTER LXXVII.<br/> +The House Of The Afternoon</h2> + +<p> +For the most part, the House of the Afternoon was but a wing built against a +mansion wrought by the hand of Nature herself; a grotto running into the side +of the mountain. From high over the mouth of this grotto, sloped a long arbor, +supported by great blocks of stone, rudely chiseled into the likeness of idols, +each bearing a carved lizard on its chest: a sergeant’s guard of the gods +condescendingly doing duty as posts. +</p> + +<p> +From the grotto thus vestibuled, issued hilariously forth the most considerable +stream of the glen; which, seemingly overjoyed to find daylight in Willamilla, +sprang into the arbor with a cheery, white bound. But its youthful enthusiasm +was soon repressed; its waters being caught in a large stone basin, scooped out +of the natural rock; whence, staid and decorous, they traversed sundry moats; +at last meandering away, to join floods with the streams trained to do service +at the other end of the vale. +</p> + +<p> +Truant streams: the livelong day wending their loitering path to the +subterraneous outlet, flowing into which, they disappeared. But no wonder they +loitered; passing such ravishing landscapes. Thus with life: man bounds out of +night; runs and babbles in the sun; then returns to his darkness again; though, +peradventure, once more to emerge. +</p> + +<p> +But the grotto was not a mere outlet to the stream. Flowing through a dark +flume in the rock, on both sides it left a dry, elevated shelf, to which you +ascend from the arbor by three artificially-wrought steps, sideways disposed, +to avoid the spray of the rejoicing cataract. Mounting these, and pursuing the +edge of the flume, the grotto gradually expands and heightens; your way lighted +by rays in the inner distance. At last you come to a lofty subterraneous dome, +lit from above by a cleft in the mountain; while full before you, in the +opposite wall, from a low, black arch, midway up, and inaccessible, the stream, +with a hollow ring and a dash, falls in a long, snowy column into a bottomless +pool, whence, after many an eddy and whirl, it entered the flume, and away with +a rush. Half hidden from view by an overhanging brow of the rock, the white +fall looked like the sheeted ghost of the grotto. +</p> + +<p> +Yet gallantly bedecked was the cave, as any old armorial hall hung round with +banners and arras. Streaming from the cleft, vines swung in the air; or crawled +along the rocks, wherever a tendril could be fixed. High up, their leaves were +green; but lower down, they were shriveled; and dyed of many colors; and +tattered and torn with much rustling; as old banners again; sore raveled with +much triumphing. +</p> + +<p> +In the middle of this hall in the hill was incarcerated the stone image of one +Demi, the tutelar deity of Willamina. All green and oozy like a stone under +water, poor Demi looked as if sore harassed with sciatics and lumbagos. +</p> + +<p> +But he was cheered from aloft, by the promise of receiving a garland all +blooming on his crown; the Dryads sporting in the woodlands above, forever +peeping down the cleft, and essaying to drop him a coronal. +</p> + +<p> +Now, the still, panting glen of Willamilla, nested so close by the mountains, +and a goodly green mark for the archer in the sun, would have been almost +untenable were it not for the grotto. Hereby, it breathed the blessed breezes +of Omi; a mountain promontory buttressing the island to the east, receiving the +cool stream of the upland Trades; much pleasanter than the currents beneath. +</p> + +<p> +At all times, even in the brooding noon-day, a gush of cool air came +hand-in-hand with the cool waters, that burst with a shout into the palace of +Donjalolo. And as, after first refreshing the king, as in loyalty bound, the +stream flowed at large through the glen, and bathed its verdure; so, the +blessed breezes of Omi, not only made pleasant the House of the Afternoon; but +finding ample outlet in its wide, open front, blew forth upon the bosom of all +Willamilla. +</p> + +<p> +“Come let us take the air of Omi,” was a very common saying in the +glen. And the speaker would hie with his comrade toward the grotto; and +flinging himself on the turf, pass his hand through his locks, and recline; +making a joy and a business of breathing; for truly the breezes of Omi were as +air-wine to the lungs. +</p> + +<p> +Yet was not this breeze over-cool; though at times the zephyrs grew boisterous. +Especially at the season of high sea, when the strong Trades drawn down the +cleft in the mountain, rushed forth from the grotto with wonderful force. +Crossing it then, you had much ado to keep your robe on your back. +</p> + +<p> +Thus much for the House of the Afternoon. Whither—after spending the +shady morning under the eastern cliffs of the glen—daily, at a certain +hour, Donjalolo in his palanquin was borne; there, finding new shades; and +there tarrying till evening; when again he was transported whence he came: +thereby anticipating the revolution of the sun. Thus dodging day’s +luminary through life, the prince hied to and fro in his dominions; on his +smooth, spotless brow Sol’s rays never shining. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0078"></a> +CHAPTER LXXVIII.<br/> +Babbalanja Solus</h2> + +<p> +Of the House of the Afternoon something yet remains to be said. +</p> + +<p> +It was chiefly distinguished by its pavement, where, according to the strange +customs of the isle, were inlaid the reputed skeletons of Donjalolo’s +sires; each surrounded by a mosaic of corals,—red, white, and black, +intermixed with vitreous stones fallen from the skies in a meteoric shower. +These delineated the tattooing of the departed. Near by, were imbedded their +arms: mace, bow, and spear, in similar marquetry; and over each skull was the +likeness of a scepter. +</p> + +<p> +First and conspicuous lay the half-decayed remains of Marjora, the father of +these Coral Kings; by his side, the storied, sickle-shaped weapon, wherewith he +slew his brother Teei. +</p> + +<p> +“Line of kings and row of scepters,” said Babbalanja as he gazed. +“Donjalolo, come forth and ponder on thy sires. Here they lie, from dread +Marjora down to him who fathered thee. Here are their bones, their spears, and +their javelins; their scepters, and the very fashion of their tattooing: all +that can be got together of what they were. Tell me, oh king, what are thy +thoughts? Dotest thou on these thy sires? Art thou more truly royal, that they +were kings? Or more a man, that they were men? Is it a fable, or a verity about +Marjora and the murdered Teei? But here is the mighty conqueror,—ask him. +Speak to him: son to sire: king to king. Prick him; beg; buffet; entreat; +spurn; split the globe, he will not budge. Walk over and over thy whole +ancestral line, and they will not start. They are not here. Ay, the dead are +not to be found, even in their graves. Nor have they simply departed; for they +willed not to go; they died not by choice; whithersoever they have gone, +thither have they been dragged; and if so be, they are extinct, their +nihilities went not more against their grain, than their forced quitting of +Mardi. Either way, something has become of them that they sought not. Truly, +had stout-hearted Marjora sworn to live here in Willamilla for ay, and kept the +vow, that would have been royalty indeed; but here he lies. Marjora! rise! Juam +revolteth! Lo, I stamp upon thy scepter; base menials tread upon thee where +thou hest! Up, king, up! What? no reply? Are not these bones thine? Oh, how the +living triumph over the dead! Marjora! answer. Art thou? or art thou not? I see +thee not; I hear thee not; I feel thee not; eyes, ears, hands, are worthless to +test thy being; and if thou art, thou art something beyond all human thought to +compass. We must have other faculties to know thee by. Why, thou art not even a +sightless sound; not the echo of an echo; here are thy bones. Donjalolo, +methinks I see thee fallen upon by assassins:—which of thy fathers riseth +to the rescue? I see thee dying:—which of them telleth thee what cheer +beyond the grave? But they have gone to the land unknown. Meet phrase. Where is +it? Not one of Oro’s priests telleth a straight story concerning it; +’twill be hard finding their paradises. Touching the life of Alma, in +Mohi’s chronicles, ’tis related, that a man was once raised from +the tomb. But rubbed he not his eyes, and stared he not most vacantly? Not one +revelation did he make. Ye gods! to have been a bystander there! +</p> + +<p> +“At best, ’tis but a hope. But will a longing bring the thing +desired? Doth dread avert its object? An instinct is no preservative. The fire +I shrink from, may consume me.—But dead, and yet alive; alive, yet +dead;—thus say the sages of Maramma. But die we then living? Yet if our +dead fathers somewhere and somehow live, why not our unborn sons? For backward +or forward, eternity is the same; already have we been the nothing we dread to +be. Icy thought! But bring it home,—it will not stay. What ho, hot heart +of mine: to beat thus lustily awhile, to feel in the red rushing blood, and +then be ashes,—can this be so? But peace, peace, thou liar in me, telling +me I am immortal—shall I not be as these bones? To come to this! But the +balsam-dropping palms, whose boles run milk, whose plumes wave boastful in the +air, they perish in their prime, and bow their blasted trunks. Nothing abideth; +the river of yesterday floweth not to-day; the sun’s rising is a setting; +living is dying; the very mountains melt; and all revolve:—systems and +asteroids; the sun wheels through the zodiac, and the zodiac is a revolution. +Ah gods! in all this universal stir, am I to prove one stable thing? +</p> + +<p> +“Grim chiefs in skeletons, avaunt! Ye are but dust; belike the dust of +beggars; for on this bed, paupers may lie down with kings, and filch their +skulls. This, great Marjora’s arm? No, some old paralytic’s. Ye, +kings? ye, men? Where are your vouchers? I do reject your brother-hood, ye +libelous remains. But no, no; despise them not, oh Babbalanja! Thy own +skeleton, thou thyself dost carry with thee, through this mortal life; and aye +would view it, but for kind nature’s screen; thou art death alive; and +e’en to what’s before thee wilt thou come. Ay, thy children’s +children will walk over thee: thou, voiceless as a calm.” +</p> + +<p> +And over the Coral Kings, Babbalanja paced in profound meditation. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0079"></a> +CHAPTER LXXIX.<br/> +The Center Of Many Circumferences</h2> + +<p> +Like Donjalolo himself, we hie to and fro; for back now must we pace to the +House of the Morning. +</p> + +<p> +In its rear, there diverged three separate arbors, leading to less public +apartments. +</p> + +<p> +Traversing the central arbor, and fancying it will soon lead you to open +ground, you suddenly come upon the most private retreat of the prince: a square +structure; plain as a pyramid; and without, as inscrutable. Down to the very +ground, its walls are thatched; but on the farther side a passage-way opens, +which you enter. But not yet are you within. Scarce a yard distant, stands an +inner thatched wall, blank as the first. Passing along the intervening +corridor, lighted by narrow apertures, you reach the opposite side, and a +second opening is revealed. This entering, another corridor; lighted as the +first, but more dim, and a third blank wall. And thus, three times three, you +worm round and round, the twilight lessening as you proceed; until at last, you +enter the citadel itself: the innermost arbor of a nest; whereof, each has its +roof, distinct from the rest. +</p> + +<p> +The heart of the place is but small; illuminated by a range of open sky-lights, +downward contracting. +</p> + +<p> +Innumerable as the leaves of an endless folio, multitudinous mats cover the +floor; whereon reclining by night, like Pharaoh on the top of his patrimonial +pile, the inmate looks heavenward, and heavenward only; gazing at the +torchlight processions in the skies, when, in state, the suns march to be +crowned. +</p> + +<p> +And here, in this impenetrable retreat, centrally slumbered the +universe-rounded, zodiac-belted, horizon-zoned, sea-girt, reef- sashed, +mountain-locked, arbor-nested, royalty-girdled, arm-clasped, self-hugged, +indivisible Donjalolo, absolute monarch of Juam:—the husk-inhusked meat +in a nut; the innermost spark in a ruby; the juice-nested seed in a +goldenrinded orange; the red royal stone in an effeminate peach; the insphered +sphere of spheres. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0080"></a> +CHAPTER LXXX.<br/> +Donjalolo In The Bosom Of His Family</h2> + +<p> +To pretend to relate the manner in which Juam’s ruler passed his captive +days, without making suitable mention of his harem, would be to paint +one’s full-length likeness and omit the face. For it was his harem that +did much to stamp the character of Donjalolo. +</p> + +<p> +And had he possessed but a single spouse, most discourteous, surely, to have +overlooked the princess; much more, then, as it is; and by how-much the more, a +plurality exceeds a unit. +</p> + +<p> +Exclusive of the female attendants, by day waiting upon the person of the king, +he had wives thirty in number, corresponding in name to the nights of the moon. +For, in Juam, time is not reckoned by days, but by nights; each night of the +lunar month having its own designation; which, relatively only, is extended to +the day. +</p> + +<p> +In uniform succession, the thirty wives ruled queen of the king’s heart. +An arrangement most wise and judicious; precluding much of that jealousy and +confusion prevalent in ill-regulated seraglios. For as thirty spouses must be +either more desirable, or less desirable than one; so is a harem thirty times +more difficult to manage than an establishment with one solitary mistress. But +Donjalolo’s wives were so nicely drilled, that for the most part, things +went on very smoothly. Nor were his brows much furrowed with wrinkles referable +to domestic cares and tribulations. Although, as in due time will be seen, from +these he was not altogether exempt. +</p> + +<p> +Now, according to Braid-Beard, who, among other abstruse political researches, +had accurately informed himself concerning the internal administration of +Donjalolo’s harem, the following was the method pursued therein. +</p> + +<p> +On the Aquella, or First Night of the month, the queen of that name assumes her +diadem, and reigns. So too with Azzolino the Second, and Velluvi the Third +Night of the Moon; and so on, even unto the utter eclipse thereof; through +Calends, Nones, and Ides. +</p> + +<p> +For convenience, the king is furnished with a card, whereon are copied the +various ciphers upon the arms of his queens; and parallel thereto, the +hieroglyphics significant of the corresponding Nights of the month. Glancing +over this, Donjalolo predicts the true time of the rising and setting of all +his stars. +</p> + +<p> +This Moon of wives was lodged in two spacious seraglios, which few mortals +beheld. For, so deeply were they buried in a grove; so overpowered with +verdure; so overrun with vines; and so hazy with the incense of flowers; that +they were almost invisible, unless closely approached. Certain it was, that it +demanded no small enterprise, diligence, and sagacity, to explore the +mysterious wood in search of them. Though a strange, sweet, humming sound, as +of the clustering and swarming of warm bees among roses, at last hinted the +royal honey at hand. High in air, toward the summit of the cliff, overlooking +this side of the glen, a narrow ledge of rocks might have been seen, from +which, rumor whispered, was to be caught an angular peep at the tip of the apex +of the roof of the nearest seraglio. But this wild report had never been +established. Nor, indeed, was it susceptible of a test. For was not that rock +inaccessible as the eyrie of young eagles? But to guard against the possibility +of any visual profanation, Donjalolo had authorized an edict, forever tabooing +that rock to foot of man or pinion of fowl. Birds and bipeds both trembled and +obeyed; taking a wide circuit to avoid the spot. +</p> + +<p> +Access to the seraglios was had by corresponding arbors leading from the +palace. The seraglio to the right was denominated “Ravi” (Before), +that to the left “Zono” (After). The meaning of which was, that +upon the termination of her reign the queen wended her way to the Zono; there +tarrying with her predecessors till the Ravi was emptied; when the entire Moon +of wives, swallow-like, migrated back whence they came; and the procession was +gone over again. +</p> + +<p> +In due order, the queens reposed upon mats inwoven with their respective +ciphers. In the Ravi, the mat of the queen-apparent, or next in succession, was +spread by the portal. In the Zono, the newly- widowed queen reposed furthest +from it. +</p> + +<p> +But alas for all method where thirty wives are concerned. Notwithstanding these +excellent arrangements, the mature result of ages of progressive improvement in +the economy of the royal seraglios in Willamilla, it must needs be related, +that at times the order of precedence became confused, and was very hard to +restore. +</p> + +<p> +At intervals, some one of the wives was weeded out, to the no small delight of +the remainder; but to their equal vexation her place would soon after be +supplied by some beautiful stranger; who assuming the denomination of the +vacated Night of the Moon, thenceforth commenced her monthly revolutions in the +king’s infallible calendar. +</p> + +<p> +In constant attendance, was a band of old men; woe-begone, thin of leg, and +puny of frame; whose grateful task it was, to tarry in the garden of +Donjalolo’s delights, without ever touching the roses. Along with +innumerable other duties, they were perpetually kept coming and going upon ten +thousand errands; for they had it in strict charge to obey the slightest +behests of the damsels; and with all imaginable expedition to run, fly, swim, +or dissolve into impalpable air, at the shortest possible notice. +</p> + +<p> +So laborious their avocations, that none could discharge them for more than a +twelvemonth, at the end of that period giving up the ghost out of pure +exhaustion of the locomotive apparatus. It was this constant drain upon the +stock of masculine old age in the glen, that so bethinned its small population +of gray-beards and hoary-heads. And any old man hitherto exempted, who happened +to receive a summons to repair to the palace, and there wait the pleasure of +the king: this unfortunate, at once suspecting his doom, put his arbor in +order; oiled and suppled his joints; took a long farewell of his friends; +selected his burial-place; and going resigned to his fate, in due time expired +like the rest. +</p> + +<p> +Had any one of them cast about for some alleviating circumstance, he might +possibly have derived some little consolation from the thought, that though a +slave to the whims of thirty princesses, he was nevertheless one of their +guardians, and as such, he might ingeniously have concluded, their superior. +But small consolation this. For the damsels were as blithe as larks, more +playful than kittens; never looking sad and sentimental, projecting clandestine +escapes. But supplied with the thirtieth part of all that Aspasia could desire; +glorying in being the spouses of a king; nor in the remotest degree anxious +about eventual dowers; they were care-free, content, and rejoicing, as the rays +of the morning. +</p> + +<p> +Poor old men, then; it would be hard to distill out of your fate, one drop of +the balm of consolation. For, commissioned to watch over those who forever kept +you on the trot, affording you no time to hunt up peccadilloes; was not this +circumstance an aggravation of hard times? a sharpening and edge-giving to the +steel in your souls? +</p> + +<p> +But much yet remains unsaid. +</p> + +<p> +To dwell no more upon the eternal wear-and-tear incident to these attenuated +old warders, they were intensely hated by the damsels. Inasmuch, as it was +archly opined, for what ulterior purposes they were retained. +</p> + +<p> +Nightly couching, on guard, round the seraglio, like fangless old bronze +dragons round a fountain enchanted, the old men ever and anon cried out +mightily, by reason of sore pinches and scratches received in the dark: And +tri-trebly-tri-triply girt about as he was, Donjalolo himself started from his +slumbers, raced round and round through his ten thousand corridors; at last +bursting all dizzy among his twenty-nine queens, to see what under the +seventh-heavens was the matter. When, lo and behold! there lay the innocents +all sound asleep; the dragons moaning over their mysterious bruises. +</p> + +<p> +Ah me! his harem, like all large families, was the delight and the torment of +the days and nights of Donjalolo. +</p> + +<p> +And in one special matter was he either eminently miserable, or otherwise: for +all his multiplicity of wives, he had never an heir. Not his, the proud +paternal glance of the Grand Turk Solyman, looking round upon a hundred sons, +all bone of his bone, and squinting with his squint. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0081"></a> +CHAPTER LXXXI.<br/> +Wherein Babbalanja Relates The Adventure Of One Karkeke In The Land Of +Shades</h2> + +<p> +At our morning repast on the second day of our stay in the hollow, our party +indulged in much lively discourse. +</p> + +<p> +“Samoa,” said I, “those isles of yours, of whose beauty you +so often make vauntful mention, can those isles, good Samoa, furnish a valley +in all respects equal to Willamilla?” +</p> + +<p> +Disdainful answer was made, that Willamilla might be endurable enough for a +sojourn, but as a permanent abode, any glen of his own natal isle was +unspeakably superior. +</p> + +<p> +“In the great valley of Savaii,” cried Samoa, “for every leaf +grown here in Willamilla, grows a stately tree; and for every tree here waving, +in Savaii flourishes a goodly warrior.” +</p> + +<p> +Immeasurable was the disgust of the Upoluan for the enervated subjects of +Donjalolo; and for Donjalolo himself; though it was shrewdly divined, that his +annoying reception at the hands of the royalty of Juam, had something to do +with his disdain. +</p> + +<p> +To Jarl, no similar question was put; for he was sadly deficient in a taste for +the picturesque. But he cursorily observed, that in his blue-water opinion, +Willamilla was next to uninhabitable, all view of the sea being intercepted. +</p> + +<p> +And here it may be well to relate a comical blunder on the part of honest Jarl; +concerning which, Samoa, the savage, often afterward twitted him; as indicating +a rusticity, and want of polish in his breeding. It rather originated, however, +in his not heeding the conventionalities of the strange people among whom he +was thrown. +</p> + +<p> +The anecdote is not an epic; but here it is. +</p> + +<p> +Reclining in our arbor, we breakfasted upon a marble slab; so frost-white, and +flowingly traced with blue veins, that it seemed a little lake sheeted over +with ice: Diana’s virgin bosom congéaled. +</p> + +<p> +Before each guest was a richly carved bowl and gourd, fruit and wine freighted +also the empty hemisphere of a small nut, the purpose of which was a problem. +Now, King Jarl scorned to admit the slightest degree of under-breeding in the +matter of polite feeding. So nothing was a problem to him. At once reminded of +the morsel of Arvaroot in his mouth, a substitute for another sort of sedative +then unattainable, he was instantly illuminated concerning the purpose of the +nut; and very complacently introduced each to the other; in the innocence of +his ignorance making no doubt that he had acquitted himself with discretion; +the little hemisphere plainly being intended as a place of temporary deposit +for the Arva of the guests. +</p> + +<p> +The company were astounded: Samoa more than all. King Jarl, meanwhile, looking +at all present with the utmost serenity. At length, one of the horrified +attendants, using two sticks for a forceps, disappeared with the obnoxious nut, +Upon which, the meal proceeded. +</p> + +<p> +This attendant was not seen again for many days; which gave rise to the +supposition, that journeying to the sea-side, he had embarked for some distant +strand; there, to bury out of sight the abomination with which he was +freighted. +</p> + +<p> +Upon this, his egregious misadventure, calculated to do discredit to our party, +and bring Media himself into contempt, Babbalanja had no scruples in taking +Jarl roundly to task. He assured him, that it argued but little brains to +evince a desire to be thought familiar with all things; that however desirable +as incidental attainments, conventionalities, in themselves, were the very +least of arbitrary trifles; the knowledge of them, innate with no man. +“Moreover Jarl,” he added, “in essence, conventionalities are +but mimickings, at which monkeys succeed best. Hence, when you find yourself at +a loss in these matters, wait patiently, and mark what the other monkeys do: +and then follow suit. And by so doing, you will gain a vast reputation as an +accomplished ape. Above all things, follow not the silly example of the young +spark Karkeke, of whom Mohi was telling me. Dying, and entering the other world +with a mincing gait, and there finding certain customs quite strange and new; +such as friendly shades passing through each other by way of a +salutation;—Karkeke, nevertheless, resolved to show no sign of +embarrassment. Accosted by a phantom, with wings folded pensively, plumes +interlocked across its chest, he off head; and stood obsequiously before it. +Staring at him for an instant, the spirit cut him dead; murmuring to itself, +‘Ah, some terrestrial bumpkin, I fancy,’ and passed on with its +celestial nose in the highly rarified air. But silly Karkeke undertaking to +replace his head, found that it would no more stay on; but forever tumbled off; +even in the act of nodding a salute; which calamity kept putting him out of +countenance. And thus through all eternity is he punished for his folly, in +having pretended to be wise, wherein he was ignorant. Head under arm, he +wanders about, the scorn and ridicule of the other world.” +</p> + +<p> +Our repast concluded, messengers arrived from the prince, courteously inviting +our presence at the House of the Morning. Thither we went; journeying in +sedans, sent across the hollow, for that purpose, by Donjalolo. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0082"></a> +CHAPTER LXXXII.<br/> +How Donjalolo, Sent Agents To The Surrounding Isles; With The Result</h2> + +<p> +Ere recounting what was beheld on entering the House of the Morning, some +previous information is needful. Though so many of Donjalolo’s days were +consumed by sloth and luxury, there came to him certain intervals of +thoughtfulness, when all his curiosity concerning the things of outer Mardi +revived with augmented intensity. In these moods, he would send abroad +deputations, inviting to Willamilla the kings of the neighboring islands; +together with the most celebrated priests, bards, story-tellers, magicians, and +wise men; that he might hear them converse of those things, which he could not +behold for himself. +</p> + +<p> +But at last, he bethought him, that the various narrations he had heard, could +not have been otherwise than unavoidably faulty; by reason that they had been +principally obtained from the inhabitants of the countries described; who, very +naturally, must have been inclined to partiality or uncandidness in their +statements. Wherefore he had very lately dispatched to the isles special agents +of his own; honest of heart, keen of eye, and shrewd of understanding; to seek +out every thing that promised to illuminate him concerning the places they +visited, and also to collect various specimens of interesting objects; so that +at last he might avail himself of the researches of others, and see with their +eyes. +</p> + +<p> +But though two observers were sent to every one of the neighboring lands; yet +each was to act independently; make his own inquiries; form his own +conclusions; and return with his own specimens; wholly regardless of the +proceedings of the other. +</p> + +<p> +It so came to pass, that on the very day of our arrival in the glen, these +pilgrims returned from their travels. And Donjalolo had set apart the following +morning to giving them a grand public reception. And it was to this, that our +party had been invited, as related in the chapter preceding. +</p> + +<p> +In the great Palm-hall of the House of the Morning, we were assigned +distinguished mats, to the right of the prince; his chiefs, attendants, and +subjects assembled in the open colonnades without. +</p> + +<p> +When all was in readiness, in marched the company of savans and travelers; and +humbly standing in a semi-circle before the king, their numerous hampers were +deposited at their feet. +</p> + +<p> +Donjalolo was now in high spirits, thinking of the rich store of reliable +information about to be furnished. +</p> + +<p> +“Zuma,” said he, addressing the foremost of the company, “you +and Varnopi were directed to explore the island of Rafona. Proceed now, and +relate all you know of that place. Your narration heard, we will list to +Varnopi.” +</p> + +<p> +With a profound inclination the traveler obeyed. +</p> + +<p> +But soon Donjalolo interrupted him. “What say you, Zuma, about the secret +cavern, and the treasures therein? A very different account, this, from all I +have heard hitherto; but perhaps yours is the true version. Go on.” +</p> + +<p> +But very soon, poor Zuma was again interrupted by exclamations of surprise. +Nay, even to the very end of his mountings. +</p> + +<p> +But when he had done, Donjalolo observed, that if from any cause Zuma was in +error or obscure, Varnopi would not fail to set him right. +</p> + +<p> +So Varnopi was called upon. +</p> + +<p> +But not long had Varnopi proceeded, when Donjalolo changed color. +</p> + +<p> +“What!” he exclaimed, “will ye contradict each other before +our very face. Oh Oro! how hard is truth to be come at by proxy! Fifty accounts +have I had of Rafona; none of which wholly agreed; and here, these two varlets, +sent expressly to behold and report, these two lying knaves, speak crookedly +both. How is it? Are the lenses in their eyes diverse-hued, that objects seem +different to both; for undeniable is it, that the things they thus clashingly +speak of are to be known for the same; though represented with unlike colors +and qualities. But dumb things can not lie nor err. Unpack thy hampers, Zuma. +Here, bring them close: now: what is this?” +</p> + +<p> +“That,” tremblingly replied Zuma, “is a specimen of the +famous reef- bar on the west side of the island of Rafona; your highness +perceives its deep red dyes.” +</p> + +<p> +Said Donjalolo, “Varnopi, hast thou a piece of this coral, also?” +</p> + +<p> +“I have, your highness,” said Varnopi; “here it is.” +</p> + +<p> +Taking it from his hand, Donjalolo gazed at its bleached, white hue; then +dashing it to the pavement, “Oh mighty Oro! Truth dwells in her +fountains; where every one must drink for himself. For me, vain all hope of +ever knowing Mardi! Away! Better know nothing, than be deceived. Break +up!” +</p> + +<p> +And Donjalolo rose, and retired. +</p> + +<p> +All present now broke out in a storm of vociferation; some siding with Zuma; +others with Varnopi; each of whom, in turn, was declared the man to be relied +upon. +</p> + +<p> +Marking all this, Babbalanja, who had been silently looking on, leaning against +one of the palm pillars, quietly observed to Media:— “My lord, I +have seen this same reef at Rafona. In various places, it is of various hues. +As for Zuma and Varnopi, both are wrong, and both are right.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0083"></a> +CHAPTER LXXXIII.<br/> +They Visit The Tributary Islets</h2> + +<p> +In Willamilla, no Yillah being found, on the third day we took leave of +Donjalolo; who lavished upon us many caresses and, somewhat reluctantly on +Media’s part, we quitted the vale. +</p> + +<p> +One by one, we now visited the outer villages of Juam; and crossing the waters, +wandered several days among its tributary isles. There we saw the viceroys of +him who reigned in the hollow: chieftains of whom Donjalolo was proud; so +honest, humble, and faithful; so bent upon ameliorating the condition of those +under their rule. For, be it said, Donjalolo was a charitable prince; in his +serious intervals, ever seeking the welfare of his subjects, though after an +imperial view of his own. But alas, in that sunny donjon among the mountains, +where he dwelt, how could Donjalolo be sure, that the things he decreed were +executed in regions forever remote from his view. Ah! very bland, very +innocent, very pious, the faces his viceroys presented during their monthly +visits to Willamilla. But as cruel their visage, when, returned to their +islets, they abandoned themselves to all the license of tyrants; like Verres +reveling down the rights of the Sicilians. +</p> + +<p> +Like Carmelites, they came to Donjalolo, barefooted; but in their homes, their +proud latchets were tied by their slaves. Before their king-belted prince, they +stood rope-girdled like self-abased monks of St. Francis; but with those ropes, +before their palaces, they hung Innocence and Truth. +</p> + +<p> +As still seeking Yillah, and still disappointed, we roved through the lands +which these chieftains ruled, Babbalanja exclaimed—“Let us depart; +idle our search, in isles that have viceroys for kings.” +</p> + +<p> +At early dawn, about embarking for a distant land, there came to us certain +messengers of Donjalolo, saying that their lord the king, repenting of so soon +parting company with Media and Taji, besought them to return with all haste; +for that very morning, in Willamilla, a regal banquet was preparing; to which +many neighboring kings had been invited, most of whom had already arrived. +</p> + +<p> +Declaring that there was no alternative but compliance, Media acceded; and with +the king’s messengers we returned to the glen. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0084"></a> +CHAPTER LXXXIV.<br/> +Taji Sits Down To Dinner With Five-And-Twenty Kings, And A Royal Time They +Have</h2> + +<p> +It was afternoon when we emerged from the defile. And informed that our host +was receiving his guests in the House of the Afternoon, thither we directed our +steps. +</p> + +<p> +Soft in our face, blew the blessed breezes of Omi, stirring the leaves +overhead; while, here and there, through the trees, showed the idol-bearers of +the royal retreat, hand in hand, linked with festoons of flowers. Still beyond, +on a level, sparkled the nodding crowns of the kings, like the constellation +Corona-Borealis, the horizon just gained. +</p> + +<p> +Close by his noon-tide friend, the cascade at the mouth of the grotto, reposed +on his crimson mat, Donjalolo:—arrayed in a vestment of the finest white +tappa of Mardi, figured all over with bright yellow lizards, so curiously +stained in the gauze, that he seemed overrun, as with golden mice. +</p> + +<p> +Marjora’s girdle girdled his loins, tasseled with the congregated teeth +of his sires. A jeweled turban-tiara, milk-white, surmounted his brow, over +which waved a copse of Pintado plumes. +</p> + +<p> +But what sways in his hand? A scepter, similar to those likenesses of scepters, +imbedded among the corals at his feet. A polished thigh- bone; by Braid-Beard +declared once Teei’s the Murdered. For to emphasize his intention utterly +to rule, Marjora himself had selected this emblem of dominion over mankind. +</p> + +<p> +But even this last despite done to dead Teei had once been transcended. In the +usurper’s time, prevailed the belief, that the saliva of kings must never +touch ground; and Mohi’s Chronicles made mention, that during the life +time of Marjora, Teei’s skull had been devoted to the basest of purposes: +Marjora’s, the hate no turf could bury. +</p> + +<p> +Yet, traditions like these ever seem dubious. There be many who deny the hump, +moral and physical, of Gloster Richard. +</p> + +<p> +Still advancing unperceived, in social hilarity we descried their Highnesses, +chatting together like the most plebeian of mortals; full as merry as the monks +of old. But marking our approach, all changed. A pair of potentates, who had +been playfully trifling, hurriedly adjusted their diadems, threw themselves +into attitudes, looking stately as statues. Phidias turned not out his Jupiter +so soon. +</p> + +<p> +In various-dyed robes the five-and-twenty kings were arrayed; and various their +features, as the rows of lips, eyes and ears in John Caspar Lavater’s +physiognomical charts. Nevertheless, to a king, all their noses were aquiline. +</p> + +<p> +There were long fox-tail beards of silver gray, and enameled chins, like those +of girls; bald pates and Merovingian locks; smooth brows and wrinkles: forms +erect and stooping; an eye that squinted; one king was deaf; by his side, +another that was halt; and not far off, a dotard. They were old and young, tall +and short, handsome and ugly, fat and lean, cunning and simple. +</p> + +<p> +With animated courtesy our host received us; assigning a neighboring bower for +Babbalanja and the rest; and among so many right-royal, demi-divine guests, how +could the demi-gods Media and Taji be otherwise than at home? +</p> + +<p> +The unwonted sprightliness of Donjalolo surprised us. But he was in one of +those relapses of desperate gayety in-variably following his failures in +efforts to amend his life. And the bootless issue of his late mission to outer +Mardi had thrown him into a mood for revelry. Nor had he lately shunned a wild +wine, called Morando. +</p> + +<p> +A slave now appearing with a bowl of this beverage, it circulated freely. +</p> + +<p> +Not to gainsay the truth, we fancied the Morando much. A nutty, pungent flavor +it had; like some kinds of arrack distilled in the Philippine isles. And a +marvelous effect did it have, in dissolving the crystalization of the brain; +leaving nothing but precious little drops of good humor, beading round the bowl +of the cranium. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, garlanded boys, climbing the limbs of the idol-pillars, and +stirruping their feet in their most holy mouths, suspended hangings of crimson +tappa all round the hall; so that sweeping the pavement they rustled in the +breeze from the grot. +</p> + +<p> +Presently, stalwart slaves advanced; bearing a mighty basin of a porphyry hue, +deep-hollowed out of a tree. Outside, were innumerable grotesque conceits; +conspicuous among which, for a border, was an endless string of the royal +lizards circumnavigating the basin in inverted chase of their tails. +</p> + +<p> +Peculiar to the groves of Willamilla, the yellow lizard formed part of the arms +of Juam. And when Donjalolo’s messenger went abroad, they carried its +effigy, as the emblem of their royal master; themselves being known, as the +Gentlemen of the Golden Lizard. +</p> + +<p> +The porphyry-hued basin planted full in our midst, the attendants forthwith +filled the same with the living waters from the cascade; a proceeding, for +which some of the company were at a loss to account, unless his highness, our +host, with all the coolness of royalty, purposed cooling himself still further, +by taking a bath in presence of his guests. A conjecture, most premature; for +directly, the basin being filled to within a few inches of the lizards, the +attendants fell to launching therein divers goodly sized trenchers, all laden +with choice viands:—wild boar meat; humps of grampuses; embrowned +bread-fruit, roasted in odoriferous fires of sandal wood, but suffered to cool; +gold fish, dressed with the fragrant juices of berries; citron sauce; rolls of +the baked paste of yams; juicy bananas, steeped in a saccharine oil; marmalade +of plantains; jellies of guava; confections of the treacle of palm sap; and +many other dainties; besides numerous stained calabashes of Morando, and other +beverages, fixed in carved floats to make them buoyant. +</p> + +<p> +The guests assigned seats, by the woven handles attached to his purple mat, the +prince, our host, was now gently moved by his servitors to the head of the +porphyry-hued basin. Where, flanked by lofty crowned-heads, white-tiaraed, and +radiant with royalty, he sat; like snow-turbaned Mont Blanc, at sunrise +presiding over the head waters of the Rhone; to right and left, looming the +gilded summits of the Simplon, the Gothard, the Jungfrau, the Great St. +Bernard, and the Grand Glockner. +</p> + +<p> +Yet turbid from the launching of its freight, Lake Como tossed to and fro its +navies of good cheer, the shadows of the king-peaks wildly flitting thereupon. +</p> + +<p> +But no frigid wine and fruit cooler, Lake Como; as at first it did seem; but a +tropical dining table, its surface a slab of light blue St. Pons marble in a +state of fluidity. +</p> + +<p> +Now, many a crown was doffed; scepters laid aside; girdles slackened; and among +those verdant viands the bearded kings like goats did browse; or tusking their +wild boar’s meat, like mastiffs ate. +</p> + +<p> +And like unto some well-fought fight, beginning calmly, but pressing forward to +a fiery rush, this well-fought feast did now wax warm. +</p> + +<p> +A few royal epicures, however, there were: epicures intent upon concoctions, +admixtures, and masterly compoundings; who comported themselves with all due +deliberation and dignity; hurrying themselves into no reckless deglutition of +the dainties. Ah! admirable conceit, Lake Como: superseding attendants. For, +from hand to hand the trenchers sailed; no sooner gaining one port, than +dispatched over sea to another. +</p> + +<p> +Well suited they were for the occasion; sailing high out of water, to resist +the convivial swell at times ruffling the sociable sea; and sharp at both ends, +still better adapting them to easy navigation. +</p> + +<p> +But soon, the Morando, in triumphant decanters, went round, reeling like barks +before a breeze. But their voyages were brief; and ere long, in certain havens, +the accumulation of empty vessels threatened to bridge the lake with pontoons. +In those directions, Trade winds were setting. But full soon, cut out were all +unladen and unprofitable gourds; and replaced by jolly-bellied calabashes, for +a time sailing deep, yawing heavily to the push. +</p> + +<p> +At last, the whole flotilla of trenchers—wrecks and all—were sent +swimming to the further end of Lake Como; and thence removed, gave place to +ruddy hillocks of fruit, and floating islands of flowers. Chief among the +former, a quince-like, golden sphere, that filled the air with such fragrance, +you thought you were tasting its flavor. +</p> + +<p> +Nor did the wine cease flowing. That day the Juam grape did bleed; that day the +tendril ringlets of the vines, did all uncurl and grape by grape, in sheer +dismay, the sun ripe clusters dropped. Grape-glad were five-and-twenty kings: +five-and-twenty kings were merry. +</p> + +<p> +Morando’s vintage had no end; nor other liquids, in the royal cellar +stored, somewhere secret in the grot. Oh! where’s the endless +Niger’s source? Search ye here, or search ye there; on, on, through +ravine, vega, vale—no head waters will ye find. But why need gain the +hidden spring, when its lavish stream flows by? At three-fold mouths that +Delta-grot discharged; rivers golden, white, and red. +</p> + +<p> +But who may sing for aye? Down I come, and light upon the old and prosy plain. +</p> + +<p> +Among other decanters set afloat, was a pompous, lordly-looking demijohn, but +old and reverend withal, that sailed about, consequential as an autocrat going +to be crowned, or a treasure- freighted argosie bound home before the wind. It +looked solemn, however, though it reeled; peradventure, far gone with its own +potent contents. +</p> + +<p> +Oh! russet shores of Rhine and Rhone! oh, mellow memories of ripe old vintages! +oh, cobwebs in the Pyramids! oh, dust on Pharaoh’s tomb!—all, all +recur, as I bethink me of that glorious gourd, its contents cogent as Tokay, +itself as old as Mohi’s legends; more venerable to look at than his +beard. Whence came it? Buried in vases, so saith the label, with the heart of +old Marjora, now dead one hundred thousand moons. Exhumed at last, it looked no +wine, but was shrunk into a subtile syrup. +</p> + +<p> +This special calabash was distinguished by numerous trappings, caparisoned like +the sacred bay steed led before the Great Khan of Tartary. A most curious and +betasseled network encased it; and the royal lizard was jealously twisted about +its neck, like a hand on a throat containing some invaluable secret. +</p> + +<p> +All Hail, Marzilla! King’s Own Royal Particular! A vinous Percy! Dating +back to the Conquest! Distilled of yore from purple berries growing in the +purple valley of Ardair! Thrice hail. +</p> + +<p> +But the imperial Marzilla was not for all; gods only could partake; the Kings +and demigods of the isles; excluding left-handed descendants of sad rakes of +immortals, in old times breaking heads and hearts in Mardi, bequeathing +bars-sinister to many mortals, who now in vain might urge a claim to a cup-full +of right regal Marzilla. +</p> + +<p> +The Royal Particular was pressed upon me, by the now jovial Donjalolo. With his +own sceptered hand charging my flagon to the brim, he declared his despotic +pleasure, that I should quaff it off to the last lingering globule. No hard +calamity, truly; for the drinking of this wine was as the singing of a mighty +ode, or frenzied lyric to the soul. +</p> + +<p> +“Drink, Taji,” cried Donjalolo, “drink deep. In this wine a +king’s heart is dissolved. Drink long; in this wine lurk the seeds of the +life everlasting. Drink deep; drink long: thou drinkest wisdom and valor at +every draught. Drink forever, oh Taji, for thou drinkest that which will enable +thee to stand up and speak out before mighty Oro himself.” +</p> + +<p> +“Borabolla,” he added, turning round upon a domed old king at his +left, “Was it not the god Xipho, who begged of my great-great- grandsire +a draught of this same wine, saying he was about to beget a hero?” +</p> + +<p> +“Even so. And thy glorious Marzilla produced thrice valiant Ononna, who +slew the giants of the reef.” +</p> + +<p> +“Ha, ha, hear’st that, oh Taji?” And Donjalolo drained +another cup. +</p> + +<p> +Amazing! the flexibility of the royal elbow, and the rigidity of the royal +spine! More especially as we had been impressed with a notion of their +debility. But, sometimes these seemingly enervated young blades approve +themselves steadier of limb, than veteran revelers of very long standing. +</p> + +<p> +“Discharge the basin, and refill it with wine,” cried Donjalolo. +“Break all empty gourds! Drink, kings, and dash your cups at every +draught.” +</p> + +<p> +So saying, he started from his purple mat; and with one foot planted +unknowingly upon the skull of Marjora; while all the skeletons grinned at him +from the pavement; Donjalolo, holding on high his blood-red goblet, burst forth +with the following invocation:— +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +Ha, ha, gods and kings; fill high, one and all;<br/> +Drink, drink! shout and drink! mad respond to the call!<br/> +Fill fast, and fill frill; ’gainst the goblet ne’er sin;<br/> +Quaff there, at high tide, to the uttermost rim:—<br/> + Flood-tide, and soul-tide to the brim!<br/> +<br/> +Who with wine in him fears? who thinks of his cares?<br/> +Who sighs to be wise, when wine in him flares?<br/> +Water sinks down below, in currents full slow;<br/> +But wine mounts on high with its genial glow:—<br/> + Welling up, till the brain overflow!<br/> +<br/> +As the spheres, with a roll, some fiery of soul,<br/> +Others golden, with music, revolve round the pole;<br/> +<br/> +So let our cups, radiant with many hued wines,<br/> +Round and round in groups circle, our Zodiac’s Signs:—<br/> + Round reeling, and ringing their chimes!<br/> +<br/> +Then drink, gods and kings; wine merriment brings;<br/> +It bounds through the veins; there, jubilant sings.<br/> +Let it ebb, then, and flow; wine never grows dim;<br/> +Drain down that bright tide at the foam beaded rim:—<br/> + Fill up, every cup, to the brim! +</p> + +<p> +Caught by all present, the chorus resounded again and again. The beaded wine +danced on many a beard; the cataract lifted higher its voice; the grotto sent +back a shout; the ghosts of the Coral Monarchs seemed starting from their +insulted bones. But ha, ha, ha, roared forth the five-and-twenty +kings—alive, not dead—holding both hands to their girdles, and +baying out their laughter from abysses; like Nimrod’s hounds over some +fallen elk. +</p> + +<p> +Mad and crazy revelers, how ye drank and roared! but kings no more: vestures +loosed; and scepters rolling on the ground. +</p> + +<p> +Glorious agrarian, thou wine! bringing all hearts on a level, and at last all +legs to the earth; even those of kings, who, to do them justice, have been much +maligned for imputed qualities not theirs. For whoso has touched flagons with +monarchs, bear they their back bones never so stiffly on the throne, well know +the rascals, to be at bottom royal good fellows; capable of a vinous frankness +exceeding that of base-born men. Was not Alexander a boon companion? And daft +Cambyses? and what of old Rowley, as good a judge of wine and other matters, as +ever sipped claret or kisses. +</p> + +<p> +If ever Taji joins a club, be it a Beef-Steak Club of Kings! +</p> + +<p> +Donjalolo emptied yet another cup. +</p> + +<p> +The mirth now blew a gale; like a ship’s shrouds in a Typhoon, every +tendon vibrated; the breezes of Omi came forth with a rush; the hangings shook; +the goblets danced fandangos; and Donjalolo, clapping his hands, called before +him his dancing women. +</p> + +<p> +Forth came from the grotto a reed-like burst of song, making all start, and +look that way to behold such enchanting strains. Sounds heralding sights! +Swimming in the air, emerged the nymphs, lustrous arms interlocked like Indian +jugglers’ glittering snakes. Round the cascade they thronged; then paused +in its spray. Of a sudden, seemed to spring from its midst, a young form of +foam, that danced into the soul like a thought. At last, sideways floating off, +it subsided into the grotto, a wave. Evening drawing on apace, the crimson +draperies were lifted, and festooned to the arms of the idol-pillars, admitting +the rosy light of the even. +</p> + +<p> +Yielding to the re-action of the banquet, the kings now reclined; and two mute +damsels entered: one with a gourd of scented waters; the other with napkins. +Bending over Donjalolo’s steaming head, the first let fall a shower of +aromatic drops, slowly aborbed by her companion. Thus, in turn, all were +served; nothing heard but deep breathing. +</p> + +<p> +In a marble vase they now kindled some incense: a handful of spices. +</p> + +<p> +Shortly after, came three of the king’s beautiful smokers; who, lighting +their tubes at this odorous fire, blew over the company the sedative fumes of +the Aina. +</p> + +<p> +Steeped in languor, I strove against it long; essayed to struggle out of the +enchanted mist. But a syren hand seemed ever upon me, pressing me back. +</p> + +<p> +Half-revealed, as in a dream, and the last sight that I saw, was +Donjalolo:—eyes closed, face pale, locks moist, borne slowly to his +sedan, to cross the hollow, and wake in the seclusion of his harem. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0085"></a> +CHAPTER LXXXV.<br/> +After Dinner</h2> + +<p> +As in dreams I behold thee again, Willamila! as in dreams, once again I stroll +through thy cool shady groves, oh fairest of the vallies of Mardi! the thought +of that mad merry feasting steals over my soul till I faint. +</p> + +<p> +Prostrate here and there over the bones of Donjalolo’s sires, the royal +bacchanals lay slumbering till noon. +</p> + +<p> +“Which are the deadest?” said Babbalanja, peeping in, “the +live kings, or the dead ones?” +</p> + +<p> +But the former were drooping flowers sought to be revived by watering. At +intervals the sedulous attendants went to and fro, besprinkling their heads +with the scented contents of their vases. +</p> + +<p> +At length, one by one, the five-and-twenty kings lifted their ambrosial curls; +and shaking the dew therefrom, like eagles opened their right royal eyes, and +dilated their aquiline nostrils, full upon the golden rays of the sun. +</p> + +<p> +But why absented himself, Donjalolo? Had he cavalierly left them to survive the +banquet by themselves? But this apparent incivility was soon explained by +heralds, announcing to their prone majesties, that through the over solicitude +of his slaves, their lord the king had been borne to his harem, without being a +party to the act. But to make amends, in his sedan, Donjalolo was even now +drawing nigh. Not, however, again to make merry; but socially to sleep in +company with his guests; for, together they had all got high, and together they +must all lie low. +</p> + +<p> +So at it they went: each king to his bones, and slumbered like heroes till +evening; when, availing themselves of the cool moonlight approaching, the royal +guests bade adieu to their host; and summoning their followers, quitted the +glen. +</p> + +<p> +Early next day, having determined to depart for our canoes, we proceeded to the +House of the Morning, to take leave of Donjalolo. +</p> + +<p> +An amazing change, one night of solitude had wrought! Pale and languid, we +found him reclining: one hand on his throbbing temples. +</p> + +<p> +Near an overturned vessel of wine, the royal girdle lay tossed at his feet. He +had waved off his frightened attendants, who crouched out of sight. +</p> + +<p> +We advanced. +</p> + +<p> +“Do ye too leave me? Ready enough are ye to partake of my banquetings, +which, to such as ye, are but mad incidents in one round of more tranquil +diversions. But heed me not, Media;—I am mad. Oh, ye gods! am I forever a +captive?—Ay, free king of Odo, when you list, condescend to visit the +poor slave in Willamilla. I account them but charity, your visits; would fain +allure ye by sumptuous fare. Go, leave me; go, and be rovers again throughout +blooming Mardi. For, me, I am here for aye.—Bring me wine, slaves! quick! +that I may pledge my guests fitly. Alas, Media, at the bottom of this cup are +no sparkles as at top. Oh, treacherous, treacherous friend! full of smiles and +daggers. Yet for such as me, oh wine, thou art e’en a prop, though it +pierce the side; for man must lean. Thou wine art the friend of the friendless, +though a foe to all. King Media, let us drink. More cups!—And now, +farewell.” +</p> + +<p> +Falling back, he averted his face; and silently we quitted the palace. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0086"></a> +CHAPTER LXXXVI.<br/> +Of Those Scamps The Plujii</h2> + +<p> +The beach gained, we embarked. +</p> + +<p> +In good time our party recovered from the seriousness into which we had been +thrown; and a rather long passage being now before us, we whiled away the hours +as best we might. +</p> + +<p> +Among many entertaining, narrations, old Braid-Beard, crossing his calves, and +peaking his beard, regaled us with some account of certain invisible spirits, +ycleped the Plujii, arrant little knaves as ever gulped moonshine. +</p> + +<p> +They were spoken of as inhabiting the island of Quelquo, in a remote corner of +the lagoon; the innocent people of which island were sadly fretted and put out +by their diabolical proceedings. Not to be wondered at; since, dwelling as they +did in the air, and completely inaccessible, these spirits were peculiarly +provocative of ire. +</p> + +<p> +Detestable Plujii! With malice aforethought, they brought about high winds that +destroyed the banana plantations, and tumbled over the heads of its occupants +many a bamboo dwelling. They cracked the calabashes; soured the +“poee;” induced the colic; begat the spleen; and almost rent people +in twain with stitches in the side. In short, from whatever evil, the cause of +which the Islanders could not directly impute to their gods, or in their own +opinion was not referable to themselves,—of that very thing must the +invisible Plujii be guilty. With horrible dreams, and blood-thirsty gnats, they +invaded the most innocent slumbers. +</p> + +<p> +All things they bedeviled. A man with a wry neck ascribed it to the Plujii; he +with a bad memory railed against the Plujii; and the boy, bruising his finger, +also cursed those abominable spirits. +</p> + +<p> +Nor, to some minds, at least, was there wanting strong presumptive evidence, +that at times, with invisible fingers, the above mentioned Plujii did leave +direct and tangible traces of their presence; pinching and pounding the +unfortunate Islanders; pulling their hair; plucking their ears, and tweaking +their beards and their noses. And thus perpetually vexing, incensing, +tormenting, and exasperating their helpless victims, the atrocious Plujii +reveled in their malicious dominion over the souls and bodies of the people of +Quelquo. +</p> + +<p> +What it was, that induced them to enact such a part, Oro only knew; and never +but once, it seems, did old Mohi endeavor to find out. +</p> + +<p> +Once upon a time, visiting Quelquo, he chanced to encounter an old woman almost +doubled together, both hands upon her abdomen; in that manner running about +distracted. +</p> + +<p> +“My good woman,” said he, “what under the firmament is the +matter?” +</p> + +<p> +“The Plujii! the Plujii!” affectionately caressing the field of +their operations. +</p> + +<p> +“But why do they torment you?” he soothingly inquired. “How +should I know? and what good would it do me if I did?” +</p> + +<p> +And on she ran. +</p> + +<p> +At this part of his narration, Mohi was interrupted by Media; who, much to the +surprise of all present, observed, that, unbeknown to him (Braid-Beard), he +happened to have been on that very island, at that very time, and saw that +identical old lady in the very midst of those abdominal tribulations. +</p> + +<p> +“That she was really in great distress,” he went on to say, +“was plainly to be seen; but that in that particular instance, your +Plujii had any hand in tormenting her, I had some boisterous doubts. For, +hearing that an hour or two previous she had been partaking of some twenty +unripe bananas, I rather fancied that that circumstance might have had +something to do with her sufferings. But however it was, all the herb-leeches +on the island would not have altered her own opinions on the subject.” +</p> + +<p> +“No,” said Braid-Beard; “a post-mortem examination would not +have satisfied her ghost.” +</p> + +<p> +“Curious to relate,” he continued, “the people of that island +never abuse the Plujii, notwithstanding all they suffer at their hands, unless +under direct provocation; and a settled matter of faith is it, that at such +times all bitter words and hasty objurgations are entirely overlooked, nay, +pardoned on the spot, by the unseen genii against whom they are +directed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Magnanimous Plujii!” cried Media. “But, Babbalanja, do you, +who run a tilt at all things, suffer this silly conceit to be uttered with +impunity in your presence? Why so silent?” +</p> + +<p> +“I have been thinking, my lord,” said Babbalanja, “that +though the people of that island may at times err, in imputing their calamities +to the Plujii, that, nevertheless, upon the whole, they indulge in a reasonable +belief. For, Plujii or no Plujii, it is undeniable, that in ten thousand ways, +as if by a malicious agency, we mortals are woefully put out and tormented; and +that, too, by things in themselves so exceedingly trivial, that it would seem +almost impiety to ascribe them to the august gods. No; there must exist some +greatly inferior spirits; so insignificant, comparatively, as to be overlooked +by the supernal powers; and through them it must be, that we are thus +grievously annoyed. At any rate; such a theory would supply a hiatus in my +system of meta-physics.” +</p> + +<p> +“Well, peace to the Plujii,” said Media; “they trouble not +me.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0087"></a> +CHAPTER LXXXVII.<br/> +Nora-Bamma</h2> + +<p> +Still onward gliding, the lagoon a calm. +</p> + +<p> +Hours pass; and full before us, round and green, a Moslem turban by us +floats—Nora-Bamma, Isle of Nods. +</p> + +<p> +Noon-tide rolls its flood. Vibrates the air, and trembles. And by illusion +optical, thin-draped in azure haze, drift here and there the brilliant lands: +swans, peacock-plumaged, sailing through the sky. Down to earth hath heaven +come; hard telling sun-clouds from the isles. +</p> + +<p> +And high in air nods Nora-Bamma. Nid-nods its tufted summit like three ostrich +plumes; its beetling crags, bent poppies, shadows, willowy shores, all nod; its +streams are murmuring down the hills; its wavelets hush the shore. +</p> + +<p> +Who dwells in Nora-Bamma? Dreamers, hypochondriacs, somnambulists; who, from +the cark and care of outer Mardi fleeing, in the poppy’s jaded odors, +seek oblivion for the past, and ecstasies to come. +</p> + +<p> +Open-eyed, they sleep and dream; on their roof-trees, grapes unheeded drop. In +Nora-Bamma, whispers are as shouts; and at a zephyr’s breath, from the +woodlands shake the leaves, as of humming-birds, a flight. +</p> + +<p> +All this spake Braid-Beard, of the isle. How that none ere touched its strand, +without rendering instant tribute of a nap; how that those who thither voyaged, +in golden quest of golden gourds, fast dropped asleep, ere one was plucked; +waking not till night; how that you must needs rub hard your eyes, would you +wander through the isle; and how that silent specters would be met, haunting +twilight groves, and dreamy meads; hither gliding, thither fading, end or +purpose none. +</p> + +<p> +True or false, so much for Mohi’s Nora Bamma. +</p> + +<p> +But as we floated on, it looked the place described. We yawned, and yawned, as +crews of vessels may; as in warm Indian seas, their winnowing sails all swoon, +when by them glides some opium argosie. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0088"></a> +CHAPTER LXXXVIII.<br/> +In A Calm, Hautia’s Heralds Approach</h2> + +<p> +“How still!” cried Babbalanja. “This calm is like unto +Oro’s everlasting serenity, and like unto man’s last +despair.” +</p> + +<p> +But now the silence was broken by a strange, distant, intermitted melody in the +water. +</p> + +<p> +Gazing over the side, we saw naught but a far-darting ray in its depths. +</p> + +<p> +Then Yoomy, before buried in a reverie, burst forth with a verse, sudden as a +jet from a Geyser. +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +Like the fish of the bright and twittering fin,<br/> + Bright fish! diving deep as high soars the lark,<br/> +So, far, far, far, doth the maiden swim,<br/> + Wild song, wild light, in still ocean’s dark. +</p> + +<p> +“What maiden, minstrel?” cried Media. +</p> + +<p> +“None of these,” answered Yoomy, pointing out a shallop gliding +near. +</p> + +<p> +“The damsels three:—Taji, they pursue you yet.” That still +canoe drew nigh, the Iris in its prow. +</p> + +<p> +Gliding slowly by, one damsel flung a Venus-car, the leaves yet fresh. +</p> + +<p> +Said Yoomy—“Fly to love.” +</p> + +<p> +The second maiden flung a pallid blossom, buried in hemlock leaves. +</p> + +<p> +Said Yoomy, starting—“I have wrought a death.” +</p> + +<p> +Then came showering Venus-cars, and glorious moss-roses numberless, and odorous +handfuls of Verbena. +</p> + +<p> +Said Yoomy—“Yet fly, oh fly to me: all rosy joys and sweets are +mine.” +</p> + +<p> +Then the damsels floated on. +</p> + +<p> +“Was ever queen more enigmatical?” cried +Media—“Love,—death,—joy,—fly to me? But what +says Taji?” +</p> + +<p> +“That I turn not back for Hautia; whoe’er she be, that wild witch I +contemn.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then spread our pinions wide! a breeze! up sails! ply paddles all! Come, +Flora’s flute, float forth a song.” +</p> + +<p> +To pieces picking the thorny roses culled from Hautia’s gifts, and +holding up their blighted cores, thus plumed and turbaned Yoomy sang, leaning +against the mast:— +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +Oh! royal is the rose,<br/> + But barbed with many a dart;<br/> +Beware, beware the rose,<br/> + ’Tis cankered at the heart.<br/> +<br/> + Sweet, sweet the sunny down,<br/> +Oh! lily, lily, lily down!<br/> + Sweet, sweet, Verbena’s bloom!<br/> +Oh! pleasant, gentle, musky bloom!<br/> +<br/> +Dread, dread the sunny down;<br/> + Lo! lily-hooded asp;<br/> +Blooms, blooms no more Verbena;<br/> + White-withered in your clasp. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0089"></a> +CHAPTER LXXXIX.<br/> +Braid-Beard Rehearses The Origin Of The Isle Of Rogues</h2> + +<p> +Judge not things by their names. This, the maxim illustrated respecting the +isle toward which we were sailing. +</p> + +<p> +Ohonoo was its designation, in other words the Land of Rogues. So what but a +nest of villains and pirates could one fancy it to be: a downright Tortuga, +swarming with “Brethren of the coast,”—such as Montbars, +L’Ollonais, Bartolomeo, Peter of Dieppe, and desperadoes of that kidney. +But not so. The men of Ohonoo were as honest as any in Mardi. They had a +suspicious appellative for their island, true; but not thus seemed it to them. +For, upon nothing did they so much plume themselves as upon this very name. +Why? Its origin went back to old times; and being venerable they gloried +therein; though they disclaimed its present applicability to any of their race; +showing, that words are but algebraic signs, conveying no meaning except what +you please. And to be called one thing, is oftentimes to be another. +</p> + +<p> +But how came the Ohonoose by their name? +</p> + +<p> +Listen, and Braid-Beard, our Herodotus, will tell. +</p> + +<p> +Long and long ago, there were banished to Ohonoo all the bucaniers, +flibustiers, thieves, and malefactors of the neighboring islands; who, becoming +at last quite a numerous community, resolved to make a stand for their dignity, +and number one among the nations of Mardi. And even as before they had been +weeded out of the surrounding countries; so now, they went to weeding out +themselves; banishing all objectionable persons to still another island. +</p> + +<p> +These events happened at a period so remote, that at present it was uncertain +whether those twice banished, were thrust into their second exile by reason of +their superlative knavery, or because of their comparative honesty. If the +latter, then must the residue have been a precious enough set of scoundrels. +</p> + +<p> +However it was, the commonwealth of knaves now mustered together their +gray-beards, and wise-pates, and knowing-ones, of which last there was a +plenty, chose a king to rule over them, and went to political housekeeping for +themselves. +</p> + +<p> +And in the fullness of time, this people became numerous and mighty. And the +more numerous and mighty they waxed, by so much the more did they take pride +and glory in their origin, frequently reverting to it with manifold boastings. +The proud device of their monarch was a hand with the forefinger crooked, +emblematic of the peculatory propensities of his ancestors. +</p> + +<p> +And all this, at greater length, said Mohi. +</p> + +<p> +“It would seem, then, my lord,” said Babbalanja, reclining, +“as if these men of Ohonoo had canonized the derelictions of their +progenitors, though the same traits are deemed scandalous among themselves. But +it is time that makes the difference. The knave of a thousand years ago seems a +fine old fellow full of spirit and fun, little malice in his soul; whereas, the +knave of to-day seems a sour- visaged wight, with nothing to redeem him. Many +great scoundrels of our Chronicler’s chronicles are heroes to +us:—witness, Marjora the usurper. Ay, time truly works wonders. It +sublimates wine; it sublimates fame; nay, is the creator thereof; it enriches +and darkens our spears of the Palm; enriches and enlightens the mind; it ripens +cherries and young lips; festoons old ruins, and ivies old heads; imparts a +relish to old yams, and a pungency to the Ponderings of old Bardianna; of +fables distills truths; and finally, smooths, levels, glosses, softens, melts, +and meliorates all things. Why, my lord, round Mardi itself is all the better +for its antiquity, and the more to be revered; to the cozy-minded, more +comfortable to dwell in. Ah! if ever it lay in embryo like a green seed in the +pod, what a damp, shapeless thing it must have been, and how unpleasant from +the traces of its recent creation. The first man, quoth old Bardianna, must +have felt like one going into a new habitation, where the bamboos are green. Is +there not a legend in Maramma, that his family were long troubled with +influenzas and catarrhs?” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh Time, Time, Time!” cried Yoomy—“it is Time, old +midsummer Time, that has made the old world what it is. Time hoared the old +mountains, and balded their old summits, and spread the old prairies, and built +the old forests, and molded the old vales. It is Time that has worn glorious +old channels for the glorious old rivers, and rounded the old lakes, and +deepened the old sea! It is Time—” +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, full time to cease,” cried Media. “What have you to do +with cogitations not in verse, minstrel? Leave prose to Babbalanja, who is +prosy enough.” +</p> + +<p> +“Even so,” said Babbalanja, “Yoomy, you have overstepped your +province. My lord Media well knows, that your business is to make the metal in +you jingle in tags, not ring in the ingot.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0090"></a> +CHAPTER XC.<br/> +Rare Sport At Ohonoo</h2> + +<p> +Approached from the northward, Ohonoo, midway cloven down to the sea, one half +a level plain; the other, three mountain terraces—Ohonoo looks like the +first steps of a gigantic way to the sun. And such, if Braid-Beard spoke truth, +it had formerly been. +</p> + +<p> +“Ere Mardi was made,” said that true old chronicler, “Vivo, +one of the genii, built a ladder of mountains whereby to go up and go down. And +of this ladder, the island of Ohonoo was the base. But wandering here and +there, incognito in a vapor, so much wickedness did Vivo spy out, that in high +dudgeon he hurried up his ladder, knocking the mountains from under him as he +went. These here and there fell into the lagoon, forming many isles, now green +and luxuriant; which, with those sprouting from seeds dropped by a bird from +the moon, comprise all the groups in the reef.” +</p> + +<p> +Surely, oh, surely, if I live till Mardi be forgotten by Mardi, I shall not +forget the sight that greeted us, as we drew nigh the shores of this same +island of Ohonoo; for was not all Ohonoo bathing in the surf of the sea? +</p> + +<p> +But let the picture be painted. +</p> + +<p> +Where eastward the ocean rolls surging against the outer reef of Mardi, there, +facing a flood-gate in the barrier, stands cloven Ohonoo; her plains sloping +outward to the sea, her mountains a bulwark behind. As at Juam, where the wild +billows from seaward roll in upon its cliffs; much more at Ohonoo, in billowy +battalions charge they hotly into the lagoon, and fall on the isle like an army +from the deep. But charge they never so boldly, and charge they forever, old +Ohonoo gallantly throws them back till all before her is one scud and rack. So +charged the bright billows of cuirassiers at Waterloo: so hurled them off the +long line of living walls, whose base was as the sea-beach, wreck-strown, in a +gale. +</p> + +<p> +Without the break in the reef wide banks of coral shelve off, creating the bar, +where the waves muster for the onset, thundering in water-bolts, that shake the +whole reef, till its very spray trembles. And then is it, that the swimmers of +Ohonoo most delight to gambol in the surf. +</p> + +<p> +For this sport, a surf-board is indispensable: some five feet in length; the +width of a man’s body; convex on both sides; highly polished; and rounded +at the ends. It is held in high estimation; invariably oiled after use; and +hung up conspicuously in the dwelling of the owner. +</p> + +<p> +Ranged on the beach, the bathers, by hundreds dash in; and diving under the +swells, make straight for the outer sea, pausing not till the comparatively +smooth expanse beyond has been gained. Here, throwing themselves upon their +boards, tranquilly they wait for a billow that suits. Snatching them up, it +hurries them landward, volume and speed both increasing, till it races along a +watery wall, like the smooth, awful verge of Niagara. Hanging over this scroll, +looking down from it as from a precipice, the bathers halloo; every limb in +motion to preserve their place on the very crest of the wave. Should they fall +behind, the squadrons that follow would whelm them; dismounted, and thrown +forward, as certainly would they be run over by the steed they ride. ’Tis +like charging at the head of cavalry: you must on. +</p> + +<p> +An expert swimmer shifts his position on his plank; now half striding it; and +anon, like a rider in the ring, poising himself upright in the scud, coming on +like a man in the air. +</p> + +<p> +At last all is lost in scud and vapor, as the overgrown billow bursts like a +bomb. Adroitly emerging, the swimmers thread their way out; and like seals at +the Orkneys, stand dripping upon the shore. +</p> + +<p> +Landing in smooth water, some distance from the scene, we strolled forward; and +meeting a group resting, inquired for Uhia, their king. He was pointed out in +the foam. But presently drawing nigh, he embraced Media, bidding all welcome. +</p> + +<p> +The bathing over, and evening at hand, Uhia and his subjects repaired to their +canoes; and we to ours. +</p> + +<p> +Landing at another quarter of the island, we journeyed up a valley called +Monlova, and were soon housed in a very pleasant retreat of our host. +</p> + +<p> +Soon supper was spread. But though the viands were rare, and the red wine went +round and round like a foaming bay horse in the ring; yet we marked, that +despite the stimulus of his day’s good sport, and the stimulus of his +brave good cheer, Uhia our host was moody and still. +</p> + +<p> +Said Babbalanja “My lord, he fills wine cups for others to quaff.” +</p> + +<p> +But whispered King Media, “Though Uhia be sad, be we merry, merry +men.” +</p> + +<p> +And merry some were, and merrily went to their mats. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0091"></a> +CHAPTER XCI.<br/> +Of King Uhia And His Subjects</h2> + +<p> +As beseemed him, Uhia was royally lodged. Ample his roof. Beneath it a hundred +attendants nightly laying their heads. But long since, he had disbanded his +damsels. +</p> + +<p> +Springing from syren embrace—“They shall sap and mine me no +more” he cried “my destiny commands me. I will don my manhood. By +Keevi! no more will I clasp a waist.” +</p> + +<p> +“From that time forth,” said Braid-Beard, “young Uhia spread +like the tufted top of the Palm; his thigh grew brawny as the limb of the +Banian; his arm waxed strong as the back bone of the shark; yea, his voice grew +sonorous as a conch.” +</p> + +<p> +“And now he bent his whole soul to the accomplishment of the destiny +believed to be his. Nothing less than bodily to remove Ohonoo to the center of +the lagoon, in fulfillment of an old prophecy running thus—When a +certain island shall stir from its foundations and stand in the middle of the +still water, then shall the ruler of that island be ruler of all Mardi.” +</p> + +<p> +The task was hard, but how glorious the reward! So at it he went, and all +Ohonoo helped him. Not by hands, but by calling in the magicians. Thus far, +nevertheless, in vain. But Uhia had hopes. +</p> + +<p> +Now, informed of all this, said Babbalanja to Media, “My lord, if the +continual looking-forward to something greater, be better than an acquiescence +in things present; then, wild as it is, this belief of Uhia’s he should +hug to his heart, as erewhile his wives. But my lord, this faith it is, that +robs his days of peace; his nights of sweet unconsciousness. For holding +himself foreordained to the dominion of the entire Archipelago, he upbraids the +gods for laggards, and curses himself as deprived of his rights; nay, as having +had wrested from him, what he never possessed. Discontent dwarfs his horizon +till he spans it with his hand. ‘Most miserable of demi-gods,’ he +cries, ‘here am I cooped up in this insignificant islet, only one hundred +leagues by fifty, when scores of broad empires own me not for their +lord.’ Yet Uhia himself is envied. ‘Ah!’ cries Karrolono, one +of his chieftains, master of a snug little glen, ‘Here am I cabined in +this paltry cell among the mountains, when that great King Uhia is lord of the +whole island, and every cubic mile of matter therein.’ But this same +Karrolono is envied. ‘Hard, oh beggarly lot is mine,’ cries Donno, +one of his retainers. ‘Here am I fixed and screwed down to this paltry +plantation, when my lord Karrolono owns the whole glen, ten long parasangs from +cliff to sea.’ But Donno too is envied. ‘Alas, cursed fate!’ +cries his servitor Flavona. ‘Here am I made to trudge, sweat, and labor +all day, when Donno my master does nothing but command.’ But others envy +Flavona; and those who envy him are envied in turn; even down to poor bed- +ridden Manta, who dying of want, groans forth, ‘Abandoned wretch that I +am! here I miserably perish, while so many beggars gad about and live!’ +But surely; none envy Manta! Yes; great Uhia himself. ‘Ah!’ cries +the king. ‘Here am I vexed and tormented by ambition; no peace night nor +day; my temples chafed sore by this cursed crown that I wear; while that +ignoble wight Manta, gives up the ghost with none to molest him.’” +</p> + +<p> +In vain we wandered up and down in this isle, and peered into its innermost +recesses: no Yillah was there. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0092"></a> +CHAPTER XCII.<br/> +The God Keevi And The Precipice Of Mondo</h2> + +<p> +One object of interest in Ohonoo was the original image of Keevi the god of +Thieves; hence, from time immemorial, the tutelar deity of the isle. +</p> + +<p> +His shrine was a natural niche in a cliff, walling in the valley of Monlova And +here stood Keevi, with his five eyes, ten hands, and three pair of legs, +equipped at all points for the vocation over which he presided. Of mighty +girth, his arms terminated in hands, every finger a limb, spreading in +multiplied digits: palms twice five, and fifty fingers. +</p> + +<p> +According to the legend, Keevi fell from a golden cloud, burying himself to the +thighs in the earth, tearing up the soil all round. Three meditative mortals, +strolling by at the time, had a narrow escape. +</p> + +<p> +A wonderful recital; but none of us voyagers durst flout it. Did they not show +us the identical spot where the idol fell? We descended into the hollow, now +verdant. Questionless, Keevi himself would have vouched for the truth of the +miracle, had he not been unfortunately dumb. But by far the most cogent, and +pointed argument advanced in support of this story, is a spear which the +priests of Keevi brought forth, for Babbalanja to view. +</p> + +<p> +“Let me look at it closer,” said Babbalanja. +</p> + +<p> +And turning it over and over and curiously inspecting it, “Wonderful +spear,” he cried. “Doubtless, my reverends, this self-same spear +must have persuaded many recusants!” +</p> + +<p> +“Nay, the most stubborn,” they answered. +</p> + +<p> +“And all afterward quoted as additional authority for the truth of the +legend?” +</p> + +<p> +“Assuredly.” +</p> + +<p> +From the sea to the shrine of this god, the fine valley of Monlova ascends with +a gentle gradation, hardly perceptible; but upon turning round toward the +water, one is surprised to find himself high elevated above its surface. Pass +on, and the same silent ascent deceives you; and the valley contracts; and on +both sides the cliffs advance; till at last you come to a narrow space, +shouldered by buttresses of rock. Beyond, through this cleft, all is blue sky. +If the Trades blow high, and you came unawares upon the spot, you would think +Keevi himself pushing you forward with all his hands; so powerful is the +current of air rushing through this elevated defile. But expostulate not with +the tornado that blows you along; sail on; but soft; look down; the land breaks +off in one sheer descent of a thousand feet, right down to the wide plain +below. So sudden and profound this precipice, that you seem to look off from +one world to another. In a dreamy, sunny day, the spangled plain beneath +assumes an uncertain fleeting aspect. Had you a deep-sea-lead you would almost +be tempted to sound the ocean-haze at your feet. +</p> + +<p> +This, mortal! is the precipice of Mondo. +</p> + +<p> +From this brink, spear in hand, sprang fifty rebel warriors, driven back into +the vale by a superior force. Finding no spot to stand at bay, with a fierce +shout they took the fatal leap. +</p> + +<p> +Said Mohi, “Their souls ascended, ere their bodies touched.” +</p> + +<p> +This tragical event took place many generations gone by, and now a dizzy, +devious way conducts one, firm of foot, from the verge to the plain. But none +ever ascended. So perilous, indeed, is the descent itself, that the islanders +venture not the feat, without invoking supernatural aid. Flanking the precipice +beneath beetling rocks, stand the guardian deities of Mondo; and on altars +before them, are placed the propitiatory offerings of the traveler. +</p> + +<p> +To the right of the brink of the precipice, and far over it, projects a narrow +ledge. The test of legitimacy in the Ohonoo monarchs is to stand hereon, arms +folded, and javelins darting by. +</p> + +<p> +And there in his youth Uhia stood. +</p> + +<p> +“How felt you, cousin?” asked Media. +</p> + +<p> +“Like the King of Ohonoo,” he replied. “As I shall again +feel; when King of all Mardi.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0093"></a> +CHAPTER XCIII.<br/> +Babbalanja Steps In Between Mohi And Yoomy; And Yoomy Relates A Legend</h2> + +<p> +Embarking from Ohonoo, we at length found ourselves gliding by the pleasant +shores of Tupia, an islet which according to Braid-Beard had for ages remained +uninhabited by man. Much curiosity being expressed to know more of the isle, +Mohi was about to turn over his chronicles, when, with modesty, the minstrel +Yoomy interposed; saying, that if my Lord Media permitted, he himself would +relate the legend. From its nature, deeming the same pertaining to his province +as poet; though, as yet, it had not been versified. But he added, that true +pearl shells rang musically, though not strung upon a cord. +</p> + +<p> +Upon this presumptuous interference, Mohi looked highly offended; and nervously +twitching his beard, uttered something invidious about frippery young +poetasters being too full of silly imaginings to tell a plain tale. +</p> + +<p> +Said Yoomy, in reply, adjusting his turban, “Old Mohi, let us not clash. +I honor your calling; but, with submission, your chronicles are more wild than +my cantos. I deal in pure conceits of my own; which have a shapeliness and a +unity, however unsubstantial; but you, Braid-Beard, deal in mangled realities. +In all your chapters, you yourself grope in the dark. Much truth is not in +thee, historian. Besides, Mohi: my songs perpetuate many things which you sage +scribes entirely overlook. Have you not oftentimes come to me, and my ever dewy +ballads for information, in which you and your musty old chronicles were +deficient?” +</p> + +<p> +“In much that is precious, Mohi, we poets are the true historians; we +embalm; you corrode.” +</p> + +<p> +To this Mohi, with some ire, was about to make answer, when, flinging over his +shoulder a new fold of his mantle, Babbalanja spoke thus: “Peace, rivals. +As Bardianna has it, like all who dispute upon pretensions of their own, you +are each nearest the right, when you speak of the other; and furthest +therefrom, when you speak of yourselves.” +</p> + +<p> +Said Mohi and Yoomy in a breath, “Who sought your opinion, philosopher? +you filcher from old Bardianna, and monger of maxims!” +</p> + +<p> +“You, who have so long marked the vices of Mardi, that you flatter +yourself you have none of your own,” added Braid-Beard. +</p> + +<p> +“You, who only seem wise, because of the contrasting follies of others, +and not of any great wisdom in yourself,” continued the minstrel, with +unwonted asperity.” +</p> + +<p> +“Now here,” said Babballanja, “am I charged upon by a bearded +old ram, and a lamb. One butting with his carious and brittle old frontlet; the +other pushing with its silly head before its horns are sprouted. But this comes +of being impartial. Had I espoused the cause of Yoomy versus Mohi, or that of +Mohi versus Yoomy, I had been sure to have had at least one voice in my favor. +The impartialist insulteth all sides, saith old Bardianna; but smite with but +one hand, and the other shall be kissed.—Oh incomparable +Bardianna!” +</p> + +<p> +“Will no one lay that troubled old ghost,” exclaimed Media, +devoutly. “Proceed with thy legend, Yoomy; and see to it, that it be +brief; for I mistrust me, these legends do but test the patience of the +hearers. But draw a long breath, and begin.” +</p> + +<p> +“A long bow,” muttered Mohi. +</p> + +<p> +And Yoomy began. +</p> + +<p> +“It is now about ten hundred thousand moons—” +</p> + +<p> +“Great Oro! How long since, say you?” cried Mohi, making Gothic +arches of his brows. +</p> + +<p> +Looking at him disdainfully, but vouchsafing no reply, Yoomy began over again. +</p> + +<p> +“It is now above ten hundred thousand moons, since there died the last of +a marvelous race, once inhabiting the very shores by which we are sailing. They +were a very diminutive people, only a few inches high—” +</p> + +<p> +“Stop, minstrel,” cried Mohi; “how many pennyweights did they +weigh?” +</p> + +<p> +Continued Yoomy, unheedingly, “They were covered all over with a soft, +silky down, like that on the rind of the Avee; and there grew upon their heads +a green, lance-leaved vine, of a most delicate texture. For convenience, the +manikins reduced their tendrils, sporting, nothing but coronals. Whereas, +priding themselves upon the redundancy of their tresses, the little maidens +assiduously watered them with the early dew of the morning; so that all +wreathed and festooned with verdure, they moved about in arbors, trailing after +them trains.” +</p> + +<p> +“I can hear no more,” exclaimed Mohi, stopping his ears. +</p> + +<p> +Continued Yoomy, “The damsels lured to their bowers, certain red- +plumaged insect-birds, and taught them to nestle therein, and warble; which, +with the pleasant vibrating of the leaves, when the little maidens moved, +produced a strange blending of sweet, singing sounds. The little maidens +embraced not with their arms, but with their viny locks; whose tendrils +instinctively twined about their lovers, till both were lost in the +bower.” +</p> + +<p> +“And what then?” asked Mohi, who, notwithstanding the fingers in +his ears, somehow contrived to listen; “What then?” +</p> + +<p> +Vouchsafing no reply, Yoomy went on. +</p> + +<p> +“At a certain age, but while yet the maidens were very young, their vines +bore blossoms. Ah! fatal symptoms. For soon as they burst, the maidens died in +their arbors; and were buried in the valleys; and their vines spread forth; and +the flowers bloomed; but the maidens themselves were no more. And now +disdaining the earth, the vines shot upward: climbing to the topmost boughs of +the trees; and flowering in the sunshine forever and aye.” +</p> + +<p> +Yoomy here paused for a space; but presently continued: +</p> + +<p> +“The little eyes of the people of Tupia were very strange to behold: full +of stars, that shone from within, like the Pleiades, deep- bosomed in blue. And +like the stars, they were intolerant of sunlight; and slumbering through the +day, the people of Tupia only went abroad by night. But it was chiefly when the +moon was at full, that they were mostly in spirits. +</p> + +<p> +“Then the little manikins would dive down into the sea, and rove about in +the coral groves, making love to the mermaids. Or, racing round, make a mad +merry night of it with the sea-urchins:—plucking the reverend mullets by +the beard; serenading the turtles in their cells; worrying the sea-nettles; or +tormenting with their antics the touchy torpedos. Sometimes they went prying +about with the starfish, that have an eye at the end of each ray; and often +with coral files in their hands stole upon slumbering swordfish, slyly blunting +their weapons. In short, these stout little manikins were passionately fond of +the sea, and swore by wave and billow, that sooner or later they would embark +thereon in nautilus shells, and spend the rest of their roving days thousands +of inches from Tupia. Too true, they were shameless little rakes. Oft would +they return to their sweethearts, sporting musky girdles of sea-kelp, tasseled +with green little pouches of grass, brimful of seed-pearls; and jingling their +coin in the ears of the damsels, throw out inuendoes about the beautiful and +bountiful mermaids: how wealthy and amorous they were, and how they delighted +in the company of the brave gallants of Tupia. Ah! at such heartless bravadoes, +how mourned the poor little nymphs. Deep into their arbors they went; and their +little hearts burst like rose-buds, and filled the whole air with an odorous +grief. But when their lovers were gentle and true, no happier maidens haunted +the lilies than they. By some mystical process they wrought minute balls of +light: touchy, mercurial globules, very hard to handle; and with these, at +pitch and toss, they played in the groves. Or mischievously inclined, they +toiled all night long at braiding the moon-beams together, and entangling the +plaited end to a bough; so that at night, the poor planet had much ado to +set.” +</p> + +<p> +Here Yoomy once more was mute. +</p> + +<p> +“Pause you to invent as you go on?” said old Mohi, elevating his +chin, till his beard was horizontal. +</p> + +<p> +Yoomy resumed. +</p> + +<p> +“Little or nothing more, my masters, is extant of the legend; only it +must be mentioned, that these little people were very tasteful in their +personal adornings; the manikins wearing girdles of fragrant leaves, and +necklaces of aromatic seeds; and the little damsels, not content with their +vines, and their verdure, sporting pearls in their ears; bracelets of wee +little porpoise teeth; and oftentimes dancing with their mates in the moonlit +glades, coquettishly fanned themselves with the transparent wings of the flying +fish.” +</p> + +<p> +“Now, I appeal to you, royal Media; to you, noble Taji; to you, +Babbalanja;” said the chronicler, with an impressive gesture, +“whether this seems a credible history: Yoomy has invented.” +</p> + +<p> +“But perhaps he has entertained, old Mohi,” said Babbalanja. +</p> + +<p> +“He has not spoken the truth,” persisted the chronicler. +</p> + +<p> +“Mohi,” said Babbalanja, “truth is in things, and not in +words: truth is voiceless; so at least saith old Bardianna. And I, Babbalanja, +assert, that what are vulgarly called fictions are as much realities as the +gross mattock of Dididi, the digger of trenches; for things visible are but +conceits of the eye: things imaginative, conceits of the fancy. If duped by +one, we are equally duped by the other.” +</p> + +<p> +“Clear as this water,” said Yoomy. +</p> + +<p> +“Opaque as this paddle,” said Mohi, “But, come now, thou +oracle, if all things are deceptive, tell us what is truth?” +</p> + +<p> +“The old interrogatory; did they not ask it when the world began? But ask +it no more. As old Bardianna hath it, that question is more final than any +answer.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0094"></a> +CHAPTER XCIV.<br/> +Of That Jolly Old Lord, Borabolla; And That Jolly Island Of His, Mondoldo; And +Of The Fish-Ponds, And The Hereafters Of Fish </h2> + +<p> +Drawing near Mondoldo, our next place of destination, we were greeted by six +fine canoes, gayly tricked out with streamers, and all alive with the gestures +of their occupants. King Borabolla and court were hastening to welcome our +approach; Media, unbeknown to all, having notified him at the Banquet of the +Five-and-Twenty Kings, of our intention to visit his dominions. +</p> + +<p> +Soon, side by side, these canoes floated with ours; each barge of Odo +courteously flanked by those of Mondoldo. +</p> + +<p> +Not long were we in identifying Borabolla: the portly, pleasant old monarch, +seated cross-legged upon a dais, projecting over the bow of the largest canoe +of the six, close-grappling to the side of the Sea Elephant. +</p> + +<p> +Was he not a goodly round sight to behold? Round all over; round of eye and of +head; and like the jolly round Earth, roundest and biggest about the Equator. A +girdle of red was his Equinoctial Line, giving a compactness to his plumpness. +</p> + +<p> +This old Borabolla permitted naught to come between his head and the sun; not +even gray hairs. Bald as a gourd, right down on his brazen skull, the rays of +the luminary converged. +</p> + +<p> +He was all hilarity; full of allusions to the feast at Willamilla, where he had +done royal execution. Rare old Borabolla! thou wert made for dining out; thy +ample mouth an inlet for good cheer, and a sally-port for good humor. +</p> + +<p> +Bustling about on his dais, he now gave orders for the occupants of our canoes +to be summarily emptied into his own; saying, that in that manner only did he +allow guests to touch the beach of Mondoldo. +</p> + +<p> +So, with no little trouble—for the waves were grown somewhat +riotous—we proceeded to comply; bethinking ourselves all the while, how +annoying is sometimes an over-strained act of hospitality. +</p> + +<p> +We were now but little less than a mile from the shore. But what of that? There +was plenty of time, thought Borabolla, for a hasty lunch, and the getting of a +subsequent appetite ere we effected a landing. So viands were produced; to +which the guests were invited to pay heedful attention; or take the +consequences, and famish till the long voyage in prospect was ended. +</p> + +<p> +Soon the water shoaled (approaching land is like nearing truth in metaphysics), +and ere we yet touched the beach, Borabolla declared, that we were already +landed. Which paradoxical assertion implied, that the hospitality of Mondoldo +was such, that in all directions it radiated far out upon the lagoon, embracing +a great circle; so that no canoe could sail by the island, without its +occupants being so long its guests. +</p> + +<p> +In most hospitable vicinity to the water, was a fine large structure, inclosed +by a stockade; both rather dilapidated; as if the cost of entertaining its +guests, prevented outlays for repairing the place. But it was one of +Borabolla’s maxims, that generally your tumble-down old homesteads yield +the most entertainment; their very dilapidation betokening their having seen +good service in hospitality; whereas, spruce-looking, finical portals, have a +phiz full of meaning; for niggards are oftentimes neat. +</p> + +<p> +Now, after what has been said, who so silly as to fancy, that because +Borabolla’s mansion was inclosed by a stockade, that the same was +intended as a defense against guests? By no means. In the palisade was a mighty +breach, not an entrance-way, wide enough to admit six Daniel Lamberts abreast. +</p> + +<p> +“Look,” cried Borabolla, as landing we stepped toward the place. +“Look Media! look all. These gates, you here see, lashed back with +osiers, have been so lashed during my life-time; and just where they stand, +shall they rot; ay, they shall perish wide open.” +</p> + +<p> +“But why have them at all?” inquired Media. +</p> + +<p> +“Ah! there you have old Borabolla,” cried the other. +</p> + +<p> +“No,” said Babbalanja, “a fence whose gate is ever kept open, +seems unnecessary, I grant; nevertheless, it gives a notable hint, otherwise +not so aptly conveyed; for is not the open gate the sign of the open +heart?” +</p> + +<p> +“Right, right,” cried Borabolla; “so enter both, cousin +Media;” and with one hand smiting his chest, with the other he waved us +on. +</p> + +<p> +But if the stockade seemed all open gate, the structure within seemed only a +roof; for nothing but a slender pillar here and there, supported it. +</p> + +<p> +“This is my mode of building,” said Borabolla; “I will have +no outside to my palaces. Walls are superfluous. And to a high-minded guest, +the entering a narrow doorway is like passing under a yoke; every time he goes +in, or comes out, it reminds him, that he is being entertained at the cost of +another. So storm in all round.” +</p> + +<p> +Within, was one wide field-bed; where reclining, we looked up to endless rows +of brown calabashes, and trenchers suspended along the rafters; promissory of +ample cheer as regiments of old hams in a baronial refectory. +</p> + +<p> +They were replenished with both meat and drink; the trenchers readily +accessible by means of cords; but the gourds containing arrack, suspended neck +downward, were within easy reach where they swung. +</p> + +<p> +Seeing all these indications of hard roystering; like a cautious young +bridegroom at his own marriage merry-making, Taji stood on his guard. And when +Borabolla urged him to empty a gourd or two, by way of making room in him for +the incidental repast about to be served, Taji civilly declined; not wishing to +cumber the floor, before the cloth was laid. +</p> + +<p> +Jarl, however, yielding to importunity, and unmindful of the unities of time +and place, went freely about, from gourd to gourd, concocting in him a punch. +At which, Samoa expressed much surprise, that he should be so unobservant as +not to know, that in Mardi, guests might be pressed to demean themselves, +without its being expected that so they would do. A true toss-pot himself, he +bode his time. +</p> + +<p> +The second lunch over, Borabolla placed both hands to the ground, and giving +the sigh of the fat man, after three vigorous efforts, succeeded in gaining his +pins; which pins of his, were but small for his body; insomuch that they hugely +staggered about, under the fine old load they carried. +</p> + +<p> +The specific object of his thus striving after an erect posture, was to put +himself in motion, and conduct us to his fish-ponds, famous throughout the +Archipelago as the hobby of the king of Mondoldo. Furthermore, as the great +repast of the day, yet to take place, was to be a grand piscatory one, our host +was all anxiety, that we should have a glimpse of our fish, while yet alive and +hearty. +</p> + +<p> +We were alarmed at perceiving, that certain servitors were preparing to +accompany us with trenchers of edibles. It begat the notion, that our trip to +the fish-ponds was to prove a long journey. But they were not three hundred +yards distant; though Borabolla being a veteran traveler, never stirred from +his abode without his battalion of butlers. +</p> + +<p> +The ponds were four in number, close bordering the water, embracing about an +acre each, and situated in a low fen, draining several valleys. The excavated +soil was thrown up in dykes, made tight by being beaten all over, while in a +soft state, with the heavy, flat ends of Palm stalks. Lying side by side, by +three connecting trenches, these ponds could be made to communicate at +pleasure; while two additional canals afforded means of letting in upon them +the salt waters of the lagoon on one hand, or those of an inland stream on the +other. And by a third canal with four branches, together or separately, they +could be partially drained. Thus, the waters could be mixed to suit any gills; +and the young fish taken from the sea, passed through a stated process of +freshening; so that by the time they graduated, the salt was well out of them, +like the brains out of some diplomaed collegians. +</p> + +<p> +Fresh-water fish are only to be obtained in Mondoldo by the artificial process +above mentioned; as the streams and brooks abound not in trout or other +Waltonian prey. +</p> + +<p> +Taken all floundering from the sea, Borabolla’s fish, passing through +their regular training for the table, and daily tended by their keepers, in +course of time became quite tame and communicative. To prove which, calling his +Head Ranger, the king bade him administer the customary supply of edibles. +</p> + +<p> +Accordingly, mouthfuls were thrown into the ponds. Whereupon, the fish darted +in a shoal toward the margin; some leaping out of the water in their eagerness. +Crouching on the bank, the Ranger now called several by name, patted their +scales, carrying on some heathenish nursery-talk, like St. Anthony, in ancient +Coptic, instilling virtuous principles into his finny flock on the sea shore. +</p> + +<p> +But alas, for the hair-shirted old dominie’s backsliding disciples. For, +of all nature’s animated kingdoms, fish are the most unchristian, +inhospitable, heartless, and cold-blooded of creatures. At least, so seem they +to strangers; though at bottom, somehow, they must be all right. And truly it +is not to be wondered at, that the very reverend Anthony strove after the +conversion of fish. For, whoso shall Christianize, and by so doing, humanize +the sharks, will do a greater good, by the saving of human life in all time to +come, than though he made catechumens of the head-hunting Dyaks of Borneo, or +the blood-bibbing Battas of Sumatra. And are these Dyaks and Battas one whit +better than tiger-sharks? Nay, are they so good? Were a Batta your intimate +friend, you would often mistake an orang-outang for him; and have orang-outangs +immortal souls? True, the Battas believe in a hereafter; but of what sort? Full +of Blue-Beards and bloody bones. So, also, the sharks; who hold that Paradise +is one vast Pacific, ploughed by navies of mortals, whom an endless gale +forever drops into their maws. +</p> + +<p> +Not wholly a surmise. For, does it not appear a little unreasonable to imagine, +that there is any creature, fish, flesh, or fowl, so little in love with life, +as not to cherish hopes of a future state? Why does man believe in it? One +reason, reckoned cogent, is, that he desires it. Who shall say, then, that the +leviathan this day harpooned on the coast of Japan, goes not straight to his +ancestor, who rolled all Jonah, as a sweet morsel, under his tongue? +</p> + +<p> +Though herein, some sailors are slow believers, or at best hold themselves in a +state of philosophical suspense. Say they—“That catastrophe took +place in the Mediterranean; and the only whales frequenting the Mediterranean, +are of a sort having not a swallow large enough to pass a man entire; for those +Mediterranean whales feed upon small things, as horses upon oats.” But +hence, the sailors draw a rash inference. Are not the Straits of Gibralter wide +enough to admit a sperm-whale, even though none have sailed through, since +Nineveh and the gourd in its suburbs dried up? +</p> + +<p> +As for the possible hereafter of the whales; a creature eighty feet long +without stockings, and thirty feet round the waist before dinner, is not +inconsiderately to be consigned to annihilation. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0095"></a> +CHAPTER XCV.<br/> +That Jolly Old Lord Borabolla Laughs On Both Sides Of His Face</h2> + +<p> +“A very good palace, this, coz, for you and me,” said waddling old +Borabolla to Media, as, returned from our excursion, he slowly lowered himself +down to his mat, sighing like a grampus. +</p> + +<p> +By this, he again made known the vastness of his hospitality, which led him for +the nonce to parcel out his kingdom with his guests. +</p> + +<p> +But apart from these extravagant expressions of good feeling, Borabolla was the +prince of good fellows. His great tun of a person was indispensable to the +housing of his bullock-heart; under which, any lean wight would have sunk. But +alas! unlike Media and Taji, Borabolla, though a crowned king, was accounted no +demi-god; his obesity excluding him from that honor. Indeed, in some quarters +of Mardi, certain pagans maintain, that no fat man can be even immortal. A +dogma! truly, which should be thrown to the dogs. For fat men are the salt and +savor of the earth; full of good humor, high spirits, fun, and all manner of +jollity. Their breath clears the atmosphere: their exhalations air the world. +Of men, they are the good measures; brimmed, heaped, pressed down, piled up, +and running over. They are as ships from Teneriffe; swimming deep, full of old +wine, and twenty steps down into their holds. Soft and susceptible, all round +they are easy of entreaty. Wherefore, for all their rotundity, they are too +often circumnavigated by hatchet-faced knaves. Ah! a fat uncle, with a fat +paunch, and a fat purse, is a joy and a delight to all nephews; to +philosophers, a subject of endless speculation, as to how many droves of oxen +and Lake Eries of wine might have run through his great mill during the full +term of his mortal career. Fat men not immortal! This very instant, old Lambert +is rubbing his jolly abdomen in Paradise. +</p> + +<p> +Now, to the fact of his not being rated a demi-god, was perhaps ascribable the +circumstance, that Borabolla comported himself with less dignity, than was the +wont of their Mardian majesties. And truth to say, to have seen him regaling +himself with one of his favorite cuttle-fish, its long snaky arms and feelers +instinctively twining round his head as he ate; few intelligent observers would +have opined that the individual before them was the sovereign lord of Mondoldo. +</p> + +<p> +But what of the banquet of fish? Shall we tell how the old king ungirdled +himself thereto; how as the feast waxed toward its close, with one sad +exception, he still remained sunny-sided all round; his disc of a face joyous +as the South Side of Madeira in the hilarious season of grapes? Shall we tell +how we all grew glad and frank; and how the din of the dinner was heard far +into night? +</p> + +<p> +We will. +</p> + +<p> +When Media ate slowly, Borabolla took him to task, bidding him dispatch his +viands more speedily. +</p> + +<p> +Whereupon said Media “But Borabolla, my round fellow, that would abridge +the pleasure.” +</p> + +<p> +“Not at all, my dear demi-god; do like me: eat fast and eat long.” +</p> + +<p> +In the middle of the feast, a huge skin of wine was brought in. The portly +peltry of a goat; its horns embattling its effigy head; its mouth the nozzle; +and its long beard flowed to its jet-black hoofs. With many ceremonial salams, +the attendants bore it along, placing it at one end of the convivial mats, full +in front of Borabolla; where seated upon its haunches it made one of the party. +</p> + +<p> +Brimming a ram’s horn, the mellowest of bugles, Borabolla bowed to his +silent guest, and thus spoke—“In this wine, which yet smells of the +grape, I pledge you my reverend old toper, my lord Capricornus; you alone have +enough; and here’s full skins to the rest!” +</p> + +<p> +“How jolly he is,” whispered Media to Babbalanja. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay, his lungs laugh loud; but is laughing, rejoicing?” +</p> + +<p> +“Help! help!” cried Borabolla “lay me down! lay me down! good +gods, what a twinge!” +</p> + +<p> +The goblet fell from his hand; the purple flew from his wine to his face; and +Borabolla fell back into the arms of his servitors. “That gout! that +gout!” he groaned. “Lord! lord! no more cursed wine will I +drink!” +</p> + +<p> +Then at ten paces distant, a clumsy attendant let fall a +trencher—“Take it off my foot, you knave!” +</p> + +<p> +Afar off another entered gallanting a calabash—“Look out for my +toe, you hound!” +</p> + +<p> +During all this, the attendants tenderly nursed him. And in good time, with its +thousand fangs, the gout-fiend departed for a while. +</p> + +<p> +Reprieved, the old king brightened up; by degrees becoming jolly as ever. +</p> + +<p> +“Come! let us be merry again,” he cried, “what shall we eat? +and what shall we drink? that infernal gout is gone; come, what will your +worships have?” +</p> + +<p> +So at it once more we went. +</p> + +<p> +But of our feast, little more remains to be related than this;—that out +of it, grew a wondrous kindness between Borabolla and Jarl. Strange to tell, +from the first our fat host had regarded my Viking with a most friendly eye. +Still stranger to add, this feeling was returned. But though they thus fancied +each other, they were very unlike; Borabolla and Jarl. Nevertheless, thus is it +ever. And as the convex fits not into the convex, but into the concave; so do +men fit into their opposites; and so fitted Borabolla’s arched paunch +into Jarl’s, hollowed out to receive it. +</p> + +<p> +But how now? Borabolla was jolly and loud: Jarl demure and silent; Borabolla a +king: Jarl only a Viking;—how came they together? Very plain, to +repeat:—because they were heterogeneous; and hence the affinity. But as +the affinity between those chemical opposites chlorine and hydrogen, is +promoted by caloric; so the affinity between Borabolla and Jarl was promoted by +the warmth of the wine that they drank at this feast. For of all blessed +fluids, the juice of the grape is the greatest foe to cohesion. True, it +tightens the girdle; but then it loosens the tongue, and opens the heart. +</p> + +<p> +In sum, Borabolla loved Jarl; and Jarl, pleased with this sociable monarch, for +all his garrulity, esteemed him the most sensible old gentleman and king he had +as yet seen in Mardi. For this reason, perhaps; that his talkativeness favored +that silence in listeners, which was my Viking’s delight in himself. +</p> + +<p> +Repeatedly during the banquet, our host besought Taji to allow his henchman to +remain on the island, after the rest of our party should depart; and he +faithfully promised to surrender Jarl, whenever we should return to claim him. +</p> + +<p> +But though I harbored no distrust of Borabolla’s friendly intentions, I +could not so readily consent to his request; for with Jarl for my one only +companion, had I not both famished and feasted? was he not my only link to +things past? +</p> + +<p> +Things past!—Ah Yillah! for all its mirth, and though we hunted wide, we +found thee not in Mondoldo. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0096"></a> +CHAPTER XCVI.<br/> +Samoa A Surgeon</h2> + +<p> +The second day of our stay in Mondoldo was signalized by a noteworthy +exhibition of the surgical skill of Samoa; who had often boasted, that though +well versed in the science of breaking men’s heads, he was equally an +adept in mending their crockery. +</p> + +<p> +Overnight, Borabolla had directed his corps of sea-divers to repair early on +the morrow, to a noted section of the great Mardian reef, for the purpose of +procuring for our regalement some of the fine Hawk’s-bill turtle, whose +secret retreats were among the cells and galleries of that submerged wall of +coral, from whose foamy coping no plummet dropped ever yet touched bottom. +</p> + +<p> +These turtles were only to be obtained by diving far down under the surface; +and then swimming along horizontally, and peering into the coral honeycomb; +snatching at a flipper when seen, as at a pinion in a range of billing +dove-cotes. +</p> + +<p> +As the king’s divers were thus employed, one of them, Karhownoo by name, +perceived a Devil-shark, so called, swimming wistfully toward him from out his +summer grotto in the reef. No way petrified by the sight, and pursuing the +usual method adopted by these divers in such emergencies, Karhownoo, splashing +the water, instantly swam toward the stranger. But the shark, undaunted, +advanced: a thing so unusual, and fearful, that, in an agony of fright, the +diver shot up for the surface. Heedless, he looked not up as he went; and when +within a few inches of the open air, dashed his head against a projection of +the reef. He would have sank into the live tomb beneath, were it not that three +of his companions, standing on the brink, perceived his peril, and dragged him +into safety. +</p> + +<p> +Seeing the poor fellow was insensible, they endeavored, ineffectually, to +revive him; and at last, placing him in their canoe, made all haste for the +shore. Here a crowd soon gathered, and the diver was borne to a habitation, +close adjoining Borabolla’s; whence, hearing of the disaster, we sallied +out to render assistance. +</p> + +<p> +Upon entering the hut, the benevolent old king commanded it to be cleared; and +then proceeded to examine the sufferer. +</p> + +<p> +The skull proved to be very badly fractured; in one place, splintered. +</p> + +<p> +“Let me mend it,” said Samoa, with ardor. +</p> + +<p> +And being told of his experience in such matters, Borabolla surrendered the +patient. +</p> + +<p> +With a gourd of water, and a tappa cloth, the one-armed Upoluan carefully +washed the wound; and then calling for a sharp splinter of bamboo, and a thin, +semi-transparent cup of cocoa-nut shell, he went about the operation: nothing +less than the “Tomoti” (head-mending), in other words the trepan. +</p> + +<p> +The patient still continuing insensible, the fragments were disengaged by help +of a bamboo scalpel; when a piece of the drinking cup—previously dipped +in the milk of a cocoanut—was nicely fitted into the vacancy, the skin as +nicely adjusted over it, and the operation was complete. +</p> + +<p> +And now, while all present were crying out in admiration of Samoa’s +artistic skill, and Samoa himself stood complacently regarding his workmanship, +Babbalanja suggested, that it might be well to ascertain whether the patient +survived. When, upon sounding his heart, the diver was found to be dead. +</p> + +<p> +The bystanders loudly lamented; but declared the surgeon a man of marvelous +science. +</p> + +<p> +Returning to Borabolla’s, much conversation ensued, concerning the sad +scene we had witnessed, which presently branched into a learned discussion upon +matters of surgery at large. +</p> + +<p> +At length, Samoa regaled the company with a story; for the truth of which no +one but him can vouch, for no one but him was by, at the time; though there is +testimony to show that it involves nothing at variance with the customs of +certain barbarous tribes. +</p> + +<p> +Read on. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0097"></a> +CHAPTER XCVII.<br/> +Faith And Knowledge</h2> + +<p> +A thing incredible is about to be related; but a thing may be incredible and +still be true; sometimes it is incredible because it is true. And many infidels +but disbelieve the least incredible things; and many bigots reject the most +obvious. But let us hold fast to all we have; and stop all leaks in our faith; +lest an opening, but of a hand’s breadth, should sink our seventy-fours. +The wide Atlantic can rush in at one port-hole; and if we surrender a plank, we +surrender the fleet. Panoplied in all the armor of St. Paul, morion, hauberk, +and greaves, let us fight the Turks inch by inch, and yield them naught but our +corpse. +</p> + +<p> +But let us not turn round upon friends, confounding them with foes. For +dissenters only assent to more than we. Though Milton was a heretic to the +creed of Athanasius, his faith exceeded that of Athanasius himself; and the +faith of Athanasius that of Thomas, the disciple, who with his own eyes beheld +the mark of the nails. Whence it comes that though we be all Christians now, +the best of us had perhaps been otherwise in the days of Thomas. +</p> + +<p> +The higher the intelligence, the more faith, and the less credulity: Gabriel +rejects more than we, but out-believes us all. The greatest marvels are first +truths; and first truths the last unto which we attain. Things nearest are +furthest off. Though your ear be next-door to your brain, it is forever removed +from your sight. Man has a more comprehensive view of the moon, than the man in +the moon himself. We know the moon is round; he only infers it. It is because +we ourselves are in ourselves, that we know ourselves not. And it is only of +our easy faith, that we are not infidels throughout; and only of our lack of +faith, that we believe what we do. +</p> + +<p> +In some universe-old truths, all mankind are disbelievers. Do you believe that +you lived three thousand years ago? That you were at the taking of Tyre, were +overwhelmed in Gomorrah? No. But for me, I was at the subsiding of the Deluge, +and helped swab the ground, and build the first house. With the Israelites, I +fainted in the wilderness; was in court, when Solomon outdid all the judges +before him. I, it was, who suppressed the lost work of Manetho, on the Egyptian +theology, as containing mysteries not to be revealed to posterity, and things +at war with the canonical scriptures; I, who originated the conspiracy against +that purple murderer, Domitian; I, who in the senate moved, that great and good +Aurelian be emperor. I instigated the abdication of Diocletian, and Charles the +Fifth; I touched Isabella’s heart, that she hearkened to Columbus. I am +he, that from the king’s minions hid the Charter in the old oak at +Hartford; I harbored Goffe and Whalley: I am the leader of the Mohawk masks, +who in the Old Commonwealth’s harbor, overboard threw the East India +Company’s Souchong; I am the Vailed Persian Prophet; I, the man in the +iron mask; I, Junius. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0098"></a> +CHAPTER XCVIII.<br/> +The Tale Of A Traveler</h2> + +<p> +It was Samoa, who told the incredible tale; and he told it as a traveler. But +stay-at-homes say travelers lie. Yet a voyage to Ethiopia would cure them of +that; for few skeptics are travelers; fewer travelers liars, though the proverb +respecting them lies. It is false, as some say, that Bruce was cousin-german to +Baron Munchausen; but true, as Bruce said, that the Abysinnians cut live steaks +from their cattle. It was, in good part, his villainous transcribers, who made +monstrosities of Mandeville’s travels. And though all liars go to +Gehenna; yet, assuming that Mandeville died before Dante; still, though Dante +took the census of Hell, we find not Sir John, under the likeness of a roasted +neat’s tongue, in that infernalest of infernos, The Inferno. +</p> + +<p> +But let not the truth be postponed. To the stand, Samoa, and through your +interpreter, speak. +</p> + +<p> +Once upon a time, during his endless sea-rovings, the Upoluan was called upon +to cobble the head of a friend, grievously hurt in a desperate fight of slings. +</p> + +<p> +Upon examination, that part of the brain proving as much injured as the cranium +itself, a young pig was obtained; and preliminaries being over, part of its +live brain was placed in the cavity, the trepan accomplished with cocoanut +shell, and the scalp drawn over and secured. +</p> + +<p> +This man died not, but lived. But from being a warrior of great sense and +spirit, he became a perverse-minded and piggish fellow, showing many of the +characteristics of his swinish grafting. He survived the operation more than a +year; at the end of that period, however, going mad, and dying in his delirium. +</p> + +<p> +Stoutly backed by the narrator, this anecdote was credited by some present. But +Babbalanja held out to the last. +</p> + +<p> +“Yet, if this story be true,” said he, “and since it is well +settled, that our brains are somehow the organs of sense; then, I see not why +human reason could not be put into a pig, by letting into its cranium the +contents of a man’s. I have long thought, that men, pigs, and plants, are +but curious physiological experiments; and that science would at last enable +philosophers to produce new species of beings, by somehow mixing, and +concocting the essential ingredients of various creatures; and so forming new +combinations. My friend Atahalpa, the astrologer and alchymist, has long had a +jar, in which he has been endeavoring to hatch a fairy, the ingredients being +compounded according to a receipt of his own.” +</p> + +<p> +But little they heeded Babbalanja. It was the traveler’s tale that most +arrested attention. +</p> + +<p> +Tough the thews, and tough the tales of Samoa. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0099"></a> +CHAPTER XCIX.<br/> +“Marnee Ora, Ora Marnee”</h2> + +<p> +During the afternoon of the day of the diver’s decease, preparations were +making for paying the last rites to his remains, and carrying them by +torch-light to their sepulcher, the sea; for, as in Odo, so was the custom +here. +</p> + +<p> +Meanwhile, all over the isle, to and fro went heralds, dismally arrayed, +beating shark-skin drums; and, at intervals, crying—“A man is dead; +let no fires be kindled; have mercy, oh Oro!—Let no canoes put to sea +till the burial. This night, oh Oro!—Let no food be cooked.” +</p> + +<p> +And ever and anon, passed and repassed these, others in brave attire; with +castanets of pearl shells, making gay music; and these sang— +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +Be merry, oh men of Mondoldo,<br/> + A maiden this night is to wed:<br/> +Be merry, oh damsels of Mardi,—<br/> + Flowers, flowers for the bridal bed. +</p> + +<p> +Informed that the preliminary rites were about being rendered, we repaired to +the arbor, whither the body had been removed. +</p> + +<p> +Arrayed in white, it was laid out on a mat; its arms mutely crossed, between +its lips an asphodel; at the feet, a withered hawthorn bough. +</p> + +<p> +The relatives were wailing, and cutting themselves with shells, so that blood +flowed, and spotted their vesture. +</p> + +<p> +Upon remonstrating with the most abandoned of these mourners, the wife of the +diver, she exclaimed, “Yes; great is the pain, but greater my +affliction.” +</p> + +<p> +Another, the deaf sire of the dead, went staggering about, and groping; saying, +that he was now quite blind; for some months previous he had lost one eye in +the death of his eldest son and now the other was gone. +</p> + +<p> +“I am childless,” he cried; “henceforth call me Roi +Mori,” that is, Twice-Blind. +</p> + +<p> +While the relatives were thus violently lamenting, the rest of the company +occasionally scratched themselves with their shells; but very slightly, and +mostly on the soles of their feet; from long exposure, quite callous. This was +interrupted, however, when the real mourners averted their eyes; though at no +time was there any deviation in the length of their faces. +</p> + +<p> +But on all sides, lamentations afresh broke forth, upon the appearance of a +person who had been called in to assist in solemnizing the obsequies, and also +to console the afflicted. +</p> + +<p> +In rotundity, he was another Borabolla. He puffed and panted. +</p> + +<p> +As he approached the corpse, a sobbing silence ensued; when holding the hand of +the dead, between his, the stranger thus spoke:— +</p> + +<p> +“Mourn not, oh friends of Karhownoo, that this your brother lives not. +His wounded head pains him no more; he would not feel it, did a javelin pierce +him. Yea; Karhownoo is exempt from all the ills and evils of this miserable +Mardi!” +</p> + +<p> +Hereupon, the Twice-Blind, who being deaf, heard not what was said, tore his +gray hair, and cried, “Alas! alas! my boy; thou wert the merriest man in +Mardi, and now thy pranks are over!” +</p> + +<p> +But the other proceeded—“Mourn not, I say, oh friends of Karhownoo; +the dead whom ye deplore is happier than the living; is not his spirit in the +aerial isles?” +</p> + +<p> +“True! true!” responded the raving wife, mingling her blood with +her tears, “my own poor hapless Karhownoo is thrice happy in +Paradise!” And anew she wailed, and lacerated her cheeks. +</p> + +<p> +“Rave not, I say.” +</p> + +<p> +But she only raved the more. +</p> + +<p> +And now the good stranger departed; saying, he must hie to a wedding, waiting +his presence in an arbor adjoining. +</p> + +<p> +Understanding that the removal of the body would not take place till midnight, +we thought to behold the mode of marrying in Mondoldo. +</p> + +<p> +Drawing near the place, we were greeted by merry voices, and much singing, +which greatly increased when the good stranger was perceived. +</p> + +<p> +Gayly arrayed in fine robes, with plumes on their heads, the bride and groom +stood in the middle of a joyous throng, in readiness for the nuptial bond to be +tied. +</p> + +<p> +Standing before them, the stranger was given a cord, so bedecked with flowers, +as to disguise its stout fibers; and taking: the bride’s hands, he bound +them together to a ritual chant; about her neck, in festoons, disposing the +flowery ends of the cord. Then turning to the groom, he was given another, also +beflowered; but attached thereto was a great stone, very much carved, and +stained; indeed, so every way disguised, that a person not knowing what it was, +and lifting it, would be greatly amazed at its weight. This cord being attached +to the waist of the groom, he leaned over toward the bride, by reason of the +burden of the drop. +</p> + +<p> +All present now united in a chant, and danced about the happy pair, who +meanwhile looked ill at ease; the one being so bound by the hands, and the +other solely weighed down by his stone. +</p> + +<p> +A pause ensuing, the good stranger, turning them back to back, thus +spoke:— +</p> + +<p> +“By thy flowery gyves, oh bride, I make thee a wife; and by thy +burdensome stone, oh groom, I make thee a husband. Live and be happy, both; for +the wise and good Oro hath placed us in Mardi to be glad. Doth not all nature +rejoice in her green groves and her flowers? and woo and wed not the fowls of +the air, trilling their bliss in their bowers? Live then, and be happy, oh +bride and groom; for Oro is offended with the unhappy, since he meant them to +be gay.” +</p> + +<p> +And the ceremony ended with a joyful feast. +</p> + +<p> +But not all nuptials in Mardi were like these. Others were wedded with +different rites; without the stone and flowery gyves. These were they who +plighted their troth with tears not smiles, and made responses in the heart. +</p> + +<p> +Returning from the house of the merry to the house of the mournful, we lingered +till midnight to witness the issuing forth of the body. +</p> + +<p> +By torch light, numerous canoes, with paddlers standing by, were drawn up on +the beach, to accommodate those who purposed following the poor diver to his +home. +</p> + +<p> +The remains embarked, some confusion ensued concerning the occupancy of the +rest of the shallops. At last the procession glided off, our party included. +Two by two, forming a long line of torches trailing round the isle, the canoes +all headed toward the opening in the reef. +</p> + +<p> +For a time, a decorous silence was preserved; but presently, some whispering +was heard; perhaps melancholy discoursing touching the close of the +diver’s career. But we were shocked to discover, that poor Karhownoo was +not much in their thoughts; they were conversing about the next bread-fruit +harvest, and the recent arrival of King Media and party at Mondoldo. From far +in advance, however, were heard the lamentations of the true mourners, the +relatives of the diver. +</p> + +<p> +Passing the reef, and sailing a little distance therefrom, the canoes were +disposed in a circle; the one bearing the corpse in the center. Certain +ceremonies over, the body was committed to the waves; the white foam lighting +up the last, long plunge of the diver, to see sights more strange than ever he +saw in the brooding cells of the Turtle Reef. +</p> + +<p> +And now, while in the still midnight, all present were gazing down into the +ocean, watching the white wake of the corpse, ever and anon illuminated by +sparkles, an unknown voice was heard, and all started and vacantly stared, as +this wild song was sung:— +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +We drop our dead in the sea,<br/> + The bottomless, bottomless sea;<br/> +Each bubble a hollow sigh,<br/> + As it sinks forever and aye.<br/> +<br/> +We drop our dead in the sea,—<br/> + The dead reek not of aught;<br/> +We drop our dead in the sea,—<br/> + The sea ne’er gives it a thought.<br/> +<br/> +Sink, sink, oh corpse, still sink,<br/> + Far down in the bottomless sea,<br/> +Where the unknown forms do prowl,<br/> + Down, down in the bottomless sea.<br/> +<br/> +’Tis night above, and night all round,<br/> + And night will it be with thee;<br/> +As thou sinkest, and sinkest for aye,<br/> + Deeper down in the bottomless sea. +</p> + +<p> +The mysterious voice died away; no sign of the corpse was now seen; and mute +with amaze, the company long listed to the low moan of the billows and the sad +sough of the breeze. +</p> + +<p> +At last, without speaking, the obsequies were concluded by sliding into the +ocean a carved tablet of Palmetto, to mark the place of the burial. But a +wave-crest received it, and fast it floated away. +</p> + +<p> +Returning to the isle, long silence prevailed. But at length, as if the scene +in which they had just taken part, afresh reminded them of the mournful event +which had called them together, the company again recurred to it; some present, +sadly and incidentally alluding to Borabolla’s banquet of turtle, thereby +postponed. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0100"></a> +CHAPTER C.<br/> +The Pursuer Himself Is Pursued</h2> + +<p> +Next morning, when much to the chagrin of Borabolla we were preparing to quit +his isle, came tidings to the palace, of a wonderful event, occurring in one of +the “Motoos,” or little islets of the great reef; which +“Motoo” was included in the dominions of the king. +</p> + +<p> +The men who brought these tidings were highly excited; and no sooner did they +make known what they knew, than all Mondoldo was in a tumult of marveling. +</p> + +<p> +Their story was this. +</p> + +<p> +Going at day break to the Motoo to fish, they perceived a strange proa beached +on its seaward shore; and presently were hailed by voices; and saw among the +palm trees, three specter-like men, who were not of Mardi. +</p> + +<p> +The first amazement of the fishermen over, in reply to their eager questions, +the strangers related, that they were the survivors of a company of men, +natives of some unknown island to the northeast; whence they had embarked for +another country, distant three days’ sail to the southward of theirs. But +falling in with a terrible adventure, in which their sire had been slain, they +altered their course to pursue the fugitive who murdered him; one and all +vowing, never more to see home, until their father’s fate was avenged. +The murderer’s proa outsailing theirs, soon ran out of sight; yet after +him they blindly steered by day and by night: steering by the blood- red star +in Bootes. Soon, a violent gale overtook them; driving them to and fro; leaving +them they knew not where. But still struggling against strange currents, at +times counteracting their sailing, they drifted on their way; nigh to famishing +for water; and no shore in sight. In long calms, in vain they held up their dry +gourds to heaven, and cried “send us a breeze, sweet gods!” The +calm still brooded; and ere it was gone, all but three gasped; and dead from +thirst, were plunged into the sea. The breeze which followed the calm, soon +brought them in sight of a low, uninhabited isle; where tarrying many days, +they laid in good store of cocoanuts and water, and again embarked. +</p> + +<p> +The next land they saw was Mardi; and they landed on the Motoo, still intent on +revenge. +</p> + +<p> +This recital filled Taji with horror. +</p> + +<p> +Who could these avengers be, but the sons of him I had slain. I had thought +them far hence, and myself forgotten; and now, like adders, they started up in +my path, as I hunted for Yillah. +</p> + +<p> +But I dissembled my thoughts. +</p> + +<p> +Without waiting to hear more, Borabolla, all curiosity to behold the strangers, +instantly dispatched to the Motoo one of his fleetest canoes, with orders to +return with the voyagers. +</p> + +<p> +Ere long they came in sight; and perceiving that strange pros in tow of the +king’s, Samoa cried out: “Lo! Taji, the canoe that was going to +Tedaidee!” +</p> + +<p> +Too true; the same double-keeled craft, now sorely broken, the fatal dais in +wild disarray: the canoe, the canoe of Aleema! And with it came the spearmen +three, who, when the Chamois was fleeing from their bow, had poised their +javelins. But so wan their aspect now, their faces looked like skulls. +</p> + +<p> +Then came over me the wild dream of Yillah; and, for a space, like a madman, I +raved. It seemed as if the mysterious damsel must still be there; the rescue +yet to be achieved. In my delirium I rushed upon the skeletons, as they +landed—“Hide not the maiden!” But interposing, Media led me +aside; when my transports abated. +</p> + +<p> +Now, instantly, the strangers knew who I was; and, brandishing their javelins, +they rushed upon me, as I had on them, with a yell. But deeming us all mad, the +crowd held us apart; when, writhing in the arms that restrained them, the pale +specters foamed out their curses again and again: “Oh murderer! white +curses upon thee! Bleached be thy soul with our hate! Living, our brethren +cursed thee; and dying, dry-lipped, they cursed thee again. They died not +through famishing for water, but for revenge upon thee! Thy blood, their thirst +would have slaked!” +</p> + +<p> +I lay fainting against the hard-throbbing heart of Samoa, while they showered +their yells through the air. Once more, in my thoughts, the green corpse of the +priest drifted by. +</p> + +<p> +Among the people of Mondoldo, a violent commotion now raged. They were amazed +at Taji’s recognition by the strangers, and at the deadly ferocity they +betrayed. +</p> + +<p> +Rallying upon this, and perceiving that by divulging all they knew, these sons +of Aleema might stir up the Islanders against me, I resolved to anticipate +their story; and, turning to Borabolla, said— “In these strangers, +oh, king! you behold the survivors of a band we encountered on our voyage. From +them I rescued a maiden, called Yillah, whom they were carrying captive. Little +more of their history do I know.” +</p> + +<p> +“Their maledictions?” exclaimed Borabolla. +</p> + +<p> +“Are they not delirious with suffering?” I cried. “They know +not what they say.” +</p> + +<p> +So, moved by all this, he commanded them to be guarded, and conducted within +his palisade; and having supplied them with cheer, entered into earnest +discourse. Yet all the while, the pale strangers on me fixed their eyes; deep, +dry, crater-like hollows, lurid with flames, reflected from the fear-frozen +glacier, my soul. +</p> + +<p> +But though their hatred appalled, spite of that spell, again the sweet dream of +Yillah stole over me, with all the mysterious things by her narrated, but left +unexplained. And now, before me were those who might reveal the lost +maiden’s whole history, previous to the fatal affray. +</p> + +<p> +Thus impelled, I besought them to disclose what they knew. +</p> + +<p> +But, “Where now is your Yillah?” they cried. “Is the murderer +wedded and merry? Bring forth the maiden!” +</p> + +<p> +Yet, though they tore out my heart’s core, I told them not of my loss. +</p> + +<p> +Then, anxious, to learn the history of Yillah, all present commanded them to +divulge it; and breathlessly I heard what follows. +</p> + +<p> +“Of Yillah, we know only this:—that many moons ago, a mighty canoe, +full of beings, white, like this murderer Taji, touched at our island of Amma. +Received with wonder, they were worshiped as gods; were feasted all over the +land. Their chief was a tower to behold; and with him, was a being, whose +cheeks were of the color of the red coral; her eye, tender as the blue of the +sky. Every day our people brought her offerings of fruit and flowers; which +last she would not retain for herself; but hung them round the neck of her +child, Yillah; then only an infant in her mother’s arms; a bud, nestling +close to a flower, full-blown. All went well between our people and the gods, +till at last they slew three of our countrymen, charged with stealing from +their great canoe. Our warriors retired to the hills, brooding over revenge. +Three days went by; when by night, descending to the plain, in silence they +embarked; gained the great vessel, and slaughtered every soul but Yillah. The +bud was torn from the flower; and, by our father Aleema, was carried to the +Valley of Ardair; there set apart as a sacred offering for Apo, our deity. Many +moons passed; and there arose a tumult, hostile to our sire’s longer +holding custody of Yillah; when, foreseeing that the holy glen would ere long +be burst open, he embarked the maiden in yonder canoe, to accelerate her +sacrifice at the great shrine of Apo, in Tedaidee.—The rest thou knowest, +murderer!” +</p> + +<p> +“Yillah! Yillah!” now hunted again that sound through my soul. +“Oh, Yillah! too late, too late have I learned what thou art!” +</p> + +<p> +Apprised of the disappearance of their former captive, the meager strangers +exulted; declaring that Apo had taken her to himself. For me, ere long, my +blood they would quaff from my skull. +</p> + +<p> +But though I shrunk from their horrible threats, I dissembled anew; and +turning, again swore that they raved. +</p> + +<p> +“Ay!” they retorted, “we rave and raven for you; and your +white heart will we have!” +</p> + +<p> +Perceiving the violence of their rage, and persuaded from what I said, that +much suffering at sea must have maddened them; Borabolla thought fit to confine +them for the present; so that they could not molest me. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0101"></a> +CHAPTER CI.<br/> +The Iris</h2> + +<p> +That evening, in the groves, came to me three gliding +forms:—Hautia’s heralds: the Iris mixed with nettles. Said Yoomy, +“A cruel message!” +</p> + +<p> +With the right hand, the second syren presented glossy, green wax- myrtle +berries, those that burn like tapers; the third, a lily of the valley, crushed +in its own broad leaf. +</p> + +<p> +This done, they earnestly eyed Yoomy; who, after much pondering, +said—“I speak for Hautia; who by these berries says, I will +enlighten you.” +</p> + +<p> +“Oh, give me then that light! say, where is Yillah?” and I rushed +upon the heralds. +</p> + +<p> +But eluding me, they looked reproachfully at Yoomy; and seemed offended. +</p> + +<p> +“Then, I am wrong,” said Yoomy. “It is thus:—Taji, you +have been enlightened, but the lily you seek is crushed.” +</p> + +<p> +Then fell my heart, and the phantoms nodded; flinging upon me bilberries, like +rose pearls, which bruised against my skin, left stains. +</p> + +<p> +Waving oleanders, they retreated. +</p> + +<p> +“Harm! treachery! beware!” cried Yoomy. +</p> + +<p> +Then they glided through the wood: one showering dead leaves along the path I +trod, the others gayly waving bunches of spring-crocuses, yellow, white, and +purple; and thus they vanished. +</p> + +<p> +Said Yoomy, “Sad your path, but merry Hautia’s.” +</p> + +<p> +“Then merry may she be, whoe’er she is; and though woe be mine, I +turn not from that to Hautia; nor ever will I woo her, though she woo me till I +die;—though Yillah never bless my eyes.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0102"></a> +CHAPTER CII.<br/> +They Depart From Mondoldo</h2> + +<p> +Night passed; and next morning we made preparations for leaving Mondoldo that +day. +</p> + +<p> +But fearing anew, lest after our departure, the men of Amma might stir up +against me the people of the isle, I determined to yield to the earnest +solicitations of Borabolla, and leave Jarl behind, for a remembrance of Taji; +if necessary, to vindicate his name. Apprised hereof, my follower was loth to +acquiesce. His guiltless spirit feared not the strangers: less selfish +considerations prevailed. He was willing to remain on the island for a time, +but not without me. Yet, setting forth my reasons; and assuring him, that our +tour would not be long in completing, when we would not fail to return, +previous to sailing for Odo, he at last, but reluctantly, assented. +</p> + +<p> +At Mondoldo, we also parted with Samoa. Whether it was, that he feared the +avengers, whom he may have thought would follow on my track; or whether the +islands of Mardi answered not in attractiveness to the picture his fancy had +painted; or whether the restraint put upon him by the domineering presence of +King Media, was too irksome withal; or whether, indeed, he relished not those +disquisitions with which Babbalanja regaled us: however it may have been, +certain it was, that Samoa was impatient of the voyage. He besought permission +to return to Odo, there to await my return; and a canoe of Mondoldo being about +to proceed in that direction, permission was granted; and departing for the +other side of the island, from thence he embarked. +</p> + +<p> +Long after, dark tidings came, that at early dawn he had been found dead in the +canoe: three arrows in his side. +</p> + +<p> +Yoomy was at a loss to account for the departure of Samoa; who, while ashore, +had expressed much desire to roam. +</p> + +<p> +Media, however, declared that he must be returning to some inamorata. +</p> + +<p> +But Babbalanja averred, that the Upoluan was not the first man, who had turned +back, after beginning a voyage like our own. +</p> + +<p> +To this, after musing, Yoomy assented. Indeed, I had noticed, that already the +Warbler had abated those sanguine assurances of success, with which he had +departed from Odo. The futility of our search thus far, seemed ominous to him, +of the end. +</p> + +<p> +On the eve of embarking, we were accompanied to the beach by Borabolla; who, +with his own hand, suspended from the shark’s mouth of Media’s +canoe, three red-ripe bunches of plantains, a farewell gift to his guests. +</p> + +<p> +Though he spoke not a word, Jarl was long in taking leave. His eyes seemed to +say, I will see you no more. +</p> + +<p> +At length we pushed from the strand; Borabolla waving his adieus with a green +leaf of banana; our comrade ruefully eyeing the receding canoes; and the +multitude loudly invoking for us a prosperous voyage. +</p> + +<p> +But to my horror, there suddenly dashed through the crowd, the three specter +sons of Aleema, escaped from their prison. With clenched hands, they stood in +the water, and cursed me anew. And with that curse in our sails, we swept off. +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0103"></a> +CHAPTER CIII.<br/> +As They Sail</h2> + +<p> +As the canoes now glided across the lagoon, I gave myself up to reverie; and +revolving over all that the men of Amma had rehearsed of the history of Yillah, +I one by one unriddled the mysteries, before so baffling. Now, all was made +plain: no secret remaining, but the subsequent event of her disappearance. Yes, +Hautia! enlightened I had been but where was Yillah? +</p> + +<p> +Then I recalled that last interview with Hautia’s messengers, so full of +enigmas; and wondered, whether Yoomy had interpreted aright. Unseen, and +unsolicited; still pursuing me with omens, with taunts, and with wooings, +mysterious Hautia appalled me. Vaguely I began to fear her. And the thought, +that perhaps again and again, her heralds would haunt me, filled me with a +nameless dread, which I almost shrank from acknowledging. Inwardly I prayed, +that never more they might appear. +</p> + +<p> +While full of these thoughts, Media interrupted them by saying, that the +minstrel was about to begin one of his chants, a thing of his own composing; +and therefore, as he himself said, all critics must be lenient; for Yoomy, at +times, not always, was a timid youth, distrustful of his own sweet genius for +poesy. +</p> + +<p> +The words were about a curious hereafter, believed in by some people in Mardi: +a sort of nocturnal Paradise, where the sun and its heat are excluded: one +long, lunar day, with twinkling stars to keep company. +</p> + +<p class="poem"> +THE SONG<br/> +Far off in the sea is Marlena,<br/> +A land of shades and streams,<br/> +A land of many delights.<br/> +Dark and bold, thy shores,<br/> +Marlena; But green, and timorous, thy soft knolls,<br/> +Crouching behind the woodlands.<br/> +All shady thy hills; all gleaming thy springs,<br/> +Like eyes in the earth looking at you.<br/> +How charming thy haunts Marlena!—<br/> +Oh, the waters that flow through Onimoo:<br/> +Oh, the leaves that rustle through Ponoo:<br/> +Oh, the roses that blossom in Tarma:<br/> +Come, and see the valley of Vina:<br/> +How sweet, how sweet, the Isles from Hind:<br/> +’Tis aye afternoon of the full, full moon,<br/> +And ever the season of fruit,<br/> +And ever the hour of flowers,<br/> +And never the time of rains and gales,<br/> +All in and about Marlena.<br/> +Soft sigh the boughs in the stilly air,<br/> +Soft lap the beach the billows there;<br/> +And in the woods or by the streams,<br/> +You needs must nod in the Land of Dreams. +</p> + +<p> +“Yoomy,” said old Mohi with a yawn, “you composed that song, +then, did you?” +</p> + +<p> +“I did,” said Yoomy, placing his turban a little to one side. +</p> + +<p> +“Then, minstrel, you shall sing me to sleep every night, especially with +that song of Marlena; it is soporific as the airs of Nora-Bamma.” +</p> + +<p> +“Mean you, old man, that my lines, setting forth the luxurious repose to +be enjoyed hereafter, are composed with such skill, that the description begets +the reality; or would you ironically suggest, that the song is a sleepy thing +itself?” +</p> + +<p> +“An important discrimination,” said Media; “which mean you, +Mohi?” +</p> + +<p> +“Now, are you not a silly boy,” said Babbalanja, “when from +the ambiguity of his speech, you could so easily have derived something +flattering, thus to seek to extract unpleasantness from it? Be wise, Yoomy; and +hereafter, whenever a remark like that seems equivocal, be sure to wrest +commendation from it, though you torture it to the quick.” +</p> + +<p> +“And most sure am I, that I would ever do so; but often I so incline to a +distrust of my powers, that I am far more keenly alive to censure, than to +praise; and always deem it the more sincere of the two; and no praise so much +elates me, as censure depresses.” +</p> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div class="chapter"> + +<h2><a name="link2HCH0104"></a> +CHAPTER CIV.<br/> +Wherein Babbalanja Broaches A Diabolical Theory, And In His Own Person Proves It</h2> + +<p> +“A truce!” cried Media, “here comes a gallant before the +wind.—Look, Taji!” +</p> + +<p> +Turning, we descried a sharp-prowed canoe, dashing on, under the pressure of an +immense triangular sail, whose outer edges were streaming with long, crimson +pennons. Flying before it, were several small craft, belonging to the poorer +sort of Islanders. +</p> + +<p> +“Out of his way there, ye laggards,” cried Media, “or that +mad prince, Tribonnora, will ride over ye with a rush!” +</p> + +<p> +“And who is Tribonnora,” said Babbalanja, “that he thus +bravely diverts himself, running down innocent paddlers?” +</p> + +<p> +“A harum-scarum young chief,” replied Media, “heir to three +islands; he likes nothing better than the sport you now see see him at.” +</p> + +<p> +“He must be possessed by a devil,” said Mohi. +</p> + +<p> +Said Babbalanja, “Then he is only like all of us.” “What say +you?” cried Media. +</p> + +<p> +“I say, as old Bardianna in the Nine hundred and ninety ninth book of his +immortal Ponderings saith, that all men—” +</p> + +<p> +“As I live, my lord, he has swamped three canoes,” cried Mohi, +pointing off the beam. +</p> + +<p> +But just then a fiery fin-back whale, having broken into the paddock of the +lagoon, threw up a high fountain of foam, almost under Tribonnora’s nose; +who, quickly turning about his canoe, cur-like slunk off; his steering-paddle +between his legs. +</p> + +<p> +Comments over; “Babbalanja, you were going to quote,” said Media. +“Proceed.” +</p> + +<p> +“Thank you, my lord. Says old Bardianna, ‘All men are possessed by +devils; but as these devils are sent into men, and kept in them, for an +additional punishment; not garrisoning a fortress, but limboed in a bridewell; +so, it may be more just to say, that the devils themselves are possessed by +men, not men by them.’” +</p> + +<p> +“Faith!” cried Media, “though sometimes a bore, your old +Bardianna is a trump.” +</p> + +<p> +“I have long been of that mind, my lord. But let me go on. Says +Bardianna, ‘Devils are divers;—strong devils, and weak devils; +knowing devils, and silly devils; mad devils, and mild devils; devils, merely +devils; devils, themselves bedeviled; devils, doubly bedeviled.” +</p> + +<p> +“And in the devil’s name, what sort of a devil is yours?” +cried Mohi. +</p> + +<p> +“Of him anon; interrupt me not, old man. Thus, then, my lord, as devils +are divers, divers are the devils in men. Whence, the wide difference we see. +But after all, the main difference is this:—that one man’s devil is +only more of a devil than another’s; and be bedeviled as much as you +will; yet, may you perform the most bedeviled of actions with impunity, so long +as you only bedevil yourself. For it is only when your deviltry injures +another, that the other devils conspire to confine yours for a mad one. That is +to say, if you be easily handled. For there are many bedeviled Bedlamites in +Mardi, doing an infinity of mischief, who are too brawny in the arms to be +tied.” +</p> + +<p> +“A very devilish doctrine that,” cried Mohi. “I don’t +believe it.” +</p> + +<p> +“My lord,” said Babbalanja, “here’s collateral +proof;—the sage lawgiver Yamjamma, who flourished long before Bardianna, +roundly asserts, that all men who knowingly do evil are bedeviled; for good is +happiness; happiness the object of living; and evil is not good.” +</p> + +<p> +“If the sage Yamjamma said that,” said old Mohi, “the sage +Yamjamma might have bettered the saying; it’s not quite so plain as it +might be.” +</p> + +<p> +“Yamjamma disdained to be plain; he scorned to be fully comprehended by +mortals. Like all oracles, he dealt in dark sayings. But old Bardianna was of +another sort; he spoke right out, going straight to the point like a javelin; +especially when he laid it down for a universal maxim, that minus exceptions, +all men are bedeviled.” +</p> + +<p> +“Of course, then,” said Media, “you include yourself among +the number.” +</p> + +<p> +“Most assuredly; and so did old Bardianna; who somewhere says, that being +thoroughly bedeviled himself, he was so much the better qualified to discourse +upon the deviltries of his neighbors. But in another place he seems to +contradict himself, by asserting, that he is not so sensible of his own +deviltry as of other people’s.” +</p> + +<p> +“Hold!” cried Media, “who have we here?” and he pointed +ahead of our prow to three men in the water, urging themselves along, each with +a paddle. +</p> + +<p> +We made haste to overtake them. +</p> + +<p> +“Who are you?” said Media, “where from, and where +bound?” +</p> + +<p> +“From Variora,” they answered, “and bound to Mondoldo.” +“And did that devil Tribonnora swamp your canoe?” asked Media, +offering to help them into ours. +</p> + +<p> +“We had no such useless incumbrance to lose,” they replied, resting +on their backs, and panting with their exertions. “If we had had a canoe, +we would have had to paddle it along with us; whereas we have only our bodies +to paddle.” +</p> + +<p> +“You are a parcel of loons,” exclaimed Media. “But go your +ways, if you are satisfied with your locomotion, well and good.” +</p> + +<p> +“Now, it is an extreme case, I grant,” said Babbalanja, “but +those poor devils there, help to establish old Bardianna’s position. They +belong to that species of our bedeviled race, called simpletons; but their +devils harming none but themselves, are permitted to be at large with the fish. +Whereas, Tribonnora’s devil, who daily runs down canoes, drowning their +occupants, belongs to the species of out and out devils; but being high in +station, and strongly backed by kith and kin, Tribonnora can not be mastered, +and put in a strait jacket. For myself, I think my devil is some where between +these two extremes; at any rate, he belongs to that class of devils who harm +not other devils.” +</p> + +<p> +“I am not so sure of that,” retorted Media. “Methinks this +doctrine of yours, about all mankind being bedeviled, will work a deal of +mischief; seeing that by implication it absolves you mortals from moral +accountability. Further-more; as your doctrine is exceedingly evil, by +Yamjamma’s theory it follows, that you must be proportionably bedeviled; +and since it harms others, your devil is of the number of those whom it is best +to limbo; and since he is one of those that can be limboed, limboed he shall be +in you.” +</p> + +<p> +And so saying, he humorously commanded his attendants to lay hands upon the +bedeviled philosopher, and place a bandage upon his mouth, that he might no +more disseminate his devilish doctrine. +</p> + +<p> +Against this, Babbalanja demurred, protesting that he was no orang-outang, to +be so rudely handled. +</p> + +<p> +“Better and better,” said Media, “you but illustrate +Bardianna’s theory; that men are not sensible of their being +bedeviled.” +</p> + +<p> +Thus tantalized, Babbalanja displayed few signs of philosophy. +</p> + +<p> +Whereupon, said Media, “Assuredly his devil is foaming; behold his +mouth!” And he commanded him to be bound hand and foot. +</p> + +<p> +At length, seeing all resistance ineffectual, Babbalanja submitted; but not +without many objurgations. +</p> + +<p> +Presently, however, they released him; when Media inquired, how he relished the +application of his theory; and whether he was still’ of old +Bardianna’s mind? +</p> + +<p> +To which, haughtily adjusting his robe, Babbalanja replied, “The strong +arm, my lord, is no argument, though it overcomes all logic.” +</p> + +<h3> END OF VOL. I. </h3> + +</div><!--end chapter--> + +<div>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 13720 ***</div> +</body> +</html> |