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diff --git a/24732-8.txt b/24732-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..40052ae --- /dev/null +++ b/24732-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8808 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Myths & Legends of our New Possessions & +Protectorate, by Charles M. Skinner + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Myths & Legends of our New Possessions & Protectorate + +Author: Charles M. Skinner + +Release Date: March 2, 2008 [EBook #24732] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK MYTHS & LEGENDS OF NEW POSSESSIONS *** + + + + +Produced by Jeroen Hellingman and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + + Myths & Legends + Of Our + New Possessions + & Protectorate + + By + Charles M. Skinner + + Philadelphia & London + J. B. Lippincott Company + 1900 + + + + + + + + THIS BOOK IS + AFFECTIONATELY + DEDICATED TO + CORNELIA OTIS + SKINNER, OUR + NEW POSSESSION + + + + + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + + In the Caribbean PAGE + + The Mysterious Islands 23 + The Buccaneers 33 + The Boat of Phantom Children 46 + Early Porto Rico 48 + The Deluge 55 + How Spaniards were Found to be Mortal 56 + Ponce 58 + Water Caves 61 + How a Dutchman Helped the Spaniards 65 + The Ghost of San Geronimo 67 + Police Activity in Humacao 71 + The Church in Porto Rico 74 + The Mermaids 78 + The Aborigines 83 + The Caribs 88 + Secret Enemies in the Hills 92 + Sacred Shrines 98 + Tobacco 103 + The Two Skeletons of Columbus 106 + Obeah Witches 108 + The Matanzas Obeah Woman 113 + How Havana Got its Market 121 + The Justice of Tacon 127 + The Cited 133 + The Virgin's Diamond 141 + A Spanish Holofernes 144 + The Courteous Battle 150 + Why King Congo was Late 153 + The Chase of Taito Perico 156 + The Voice in the Inn 163 + + + In the Pacific + + Finding of the Islands 177 + Ancient Faiths of Hawaii 178 + The Giant Gods 188 + The First Fire 189 + The Little People 190 + The Hawaiian Iliad 194 + The Hawaiian Orpheus and Eurydice 201 + The Rebellion of Kamiole 206 + The Japanese Sword 212 + Lo-Lale's Lament 217 + The Resurrections of Kaha 220 + Hawaiian Ghosts 224 + The Three Wives of Laa 225 + The Misdoing of Kamapua 226 + Pele's Hair 233 + The Prayer to Pele 234 + Lohiau and the Volcano Princess 237 + A Visit of Pele 239 + The Great Famine 243 + Kiha's Trumpet 248 + How Moikeha Gained a Wife 252 + The Sailing of Paao 254 + The Wronged Wife 256 + The Magic Spear 259 + Hawaiian Witches 262 + The Cannibals 267 + The Various Graves of Kaulii 270 + The Kingship of Umi 273 + Keaulumoku's Prophecy 276 + The Tragedy of Spouting Cave 277 + The Grave of Pupehe 283 + The Lady of the Twilight 285 + The Ladrones 286 + Old Beliefs of the Filipinos 290 + Animal Myths 300 + Later Religious Myths and Miracles 304 + Bankiva, the Philippine Pied Piper 315 + The Crab Tried to Eat the Moon 317 + The Conversion of Amambar 319 + The Bedevilled Galleon 322 + Two Runaways from Manila 329 + The Christianizing of Wong 333 + The Devil's Bridge 335 + The Great Earthquake 339 + Suppressing Magic in Manila 345 + Faith that Killed 348 + The Widow Velarde's Husband 351 + The Grateful Bandits 352 + + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + Gate of the Walled City of Manila _Frontispiece_ + A Cuban Residence Page 146 + Down the Valley came Pouring a Flood of Lava Page 232 + Avenue of Palms, Hawaii Page 262 + + + + + + +IN THE CARIBBEAN + + +The Mysterious Islands + + +Somewhere--anywhere--in the Atlantic, islands drifted like those +tissues of root and sedge that break from the edges of northern +lakes and are sent to and fro by the gales: floating islands. The +little rafts bearing that name are thick enough to nourish trees, +and a man or a deer may walk on them without breaking through. Far +different were those wandering Edens of the sea, for they had +mountains, volcanoes, cities, and gardens; men of might and women +lovelier than the dawn lived there in brotherly and sisterly esteem; +birds as bright as flowers, and with throats like flutes, peopled +the groves, where luscious fruit hung ready for the gathering, and +the very skies above these places of enchantment were more serene +and deep than those of the storm-swept continents. Where the surges +creamed against the coral beaches and cliffs of jasper and marble, +the mer-people arose to view and called to the land men in song, +while the fish in the shallows were like wisps of rainbow. + +It was the habit of these lands never to be where the seeker could +readily find them. Some legends pertaining to them appear to do +with places no farther from the homes of the simple, if imaginative, +tellers than the Azores, Canaries, and Cape Verdes; but others indicate +a former knowledge of our own America, and a few may relate to that +score or so of rocks lying between New England and the Latin shores; +bare, dangerous domes and ledges where sea fowl nest, and where a +crumbling skeleton tells of a sailor who outlived a wreck to endure +a more dreadful death from cold and thirst and hunger. Some of these +tales reach back to the Greek myths: survivals of the oldest histories, +or possibly connected America with the old world through voyages +made by men whose very nations are dead and long forgotten; for the +savages and ogres that inhabited these elusive islands may be European +concepts of our Indians. But in the earlier Christian era all was +mystery on those plains of water that stretched beyond the sunset. It +was believed that as one sailed toward our continent the day faded, +and that if the mariner kept on he would be lost in hopeless gloom. + +Perhaps the most ancient story in the world tells of the sinking of +Atlantis. When the Egyptian priest told it to Solon it was already +venerable beyond estimate; yet he recounted the work and pleasures +of the Atlantans, who were a multitude, who drank from hot and cold +springs, who had mines of silver and gold, pastures for elephants, +and plants that yielded a sweet savor; who prayed in temples of white, +red and black stone, sheathed in shining metals; whose sculptors made +vast statues, one, representing Poseidon driving winged horses, being +so large that the head of the god nearly touched the temple roof; +who had gardens, canals, sea walls, and pleasant walks; who had ten +thousand chariots in their capital alone; the port of twelve hundred +ships. They were a folk of peace and kindness, but as they increased +in wealth and comfort they forgot the laws of heaven; so in a day +and a night this continent went down, burying its millions and its +treasures beneath the waters. A few of the inhabitants escaped to +Europe in their ships; a few, also, to America. It has been claimed +that Atlantis may still be traced in an elevation of the ocean floor +about seven hundred miles wide and a thousand miles long, its greatest +length from northeast to southwest, and the Azores at its eastern +edge--mountain tops not quite submerged. As some believe, it was from +this cataclysm that has sprung the world-wide legend of a deluge. + +From some of the enchanted lands, perhaps near the American shore, +Merlin went to England, piled the monoliths of Stonehenge on Salisbury +moor, and after gaining respect and fear as a magician and prophet, +sailed back across the waste. The Joyous Island of Lancelot; the island +where King Arthur wrestled and bested the Half Man; Avalon, the Isle +of the Blest, where Arthur lived in the castle of the sea-born fairy, +Morgan le Fee, were probably near the British or Irish coasts. + +Many days' sail from Europe was the Island of Youth. A daring Irish +lad reached it, borne by a horse as white as the foam, that never +sank. He paused on the way to slay a giant who held a princess in his +enchantment, and reached, at length, a land where birds were so many +that the trees shook with the burden of them, and the air rang with +their song. There, with his wife and a merry band of youths and maids, +he spent a hundred years--one long joy of killing; for from dawn till +dark the deer met death at his hand, bleeding from the stroke of dart +and knife. A floating spear was found near the shore one day, rusted +and scarred with battle, and as he grasped it memories of old wars +returned to him, so that he was sick with longing to go home and hurl +the cutting metal through the ribs of his enemies and see the good +red flood burst from their hearts. He remounted his white steed and +reached Ireland, careless of the happiness he had left: for those who +deserted the island might never return. He reached his home to find +men grown too small and mean to fight him, which probably means that +he had waxed so great as to make them seem like dwarfs. Appalled at +this change, dismayed at the loss of all chance for battle, he sank +to the earth. His age came suddenly upon him, and he died. + +In one of the great Irish monasteries lived St. Brandan, of the holy +brotherhood that tilled the soil, taught the permitted sciences, +copied and illumined the works of the early Christians, fed four +hundred beggars daily, though living on bread, roots, and nuts +themselves, lodging and studying in unwarmed cells of stone. Once in +seven years the people saw from shore the island of Hy-Brasail. The +monks tried to stop its wanderings by prayer and by fiery arrows, +yet without avail. Kirwan claimed to have landed on it, and he +brought back strange money that he said was used by its people. So +late as 1850 Brasail Rock remained on the British Admiralty chart, +to show how hard tradition dies. The appearance of this phantom land +made Brandan long to explore the realm of mystery wherefrom it had +emerged. He hoped to find even the Promised Island of the Saints, +when at last he was able to leave the convent where he had endured so +many hardships and embarked on Mernoc's ship; blessed region where +fruit was borne on every tree, flowers on every bush; region strewn +with precious stones and full of perfume that clung to one's garments +for weeks, like an odor of sanctity. + +Seventeen priests set sail in the coracle, or boat of basket work +covered with leather. They had no fear, for they were holy men, and +in those days Christians were immune from peril. Not long before a +company of nuns had been blown across the sea and back again, seated +on a cloak that rode the waves like a ship. After forty days Brandan's +company found a group of islands peopled by courteous natives. Next +they disembarked on what they thought to be a rock to cook a dinner, +but it was no rock; it was a whale, that, feeling the sting of flame +through his thick hide, rushed off for two miles, carrying their fire +on his back. They hastily re-entered their boat before the monster +had gained much headway and ere long reached the Paradise of Birds, +where they enjoyed the music made by thousands of little creatures +with their wings--a music like fiddling. After this came visits to a +den of griffins; to a land of grapes such as the Norsemen told about; +to a mountain country aflame with the forges of one-eyed people, or +cyclops. Twice, on Easter Sunday, they put lambs to death, and so, +being blessed for the sacrifice, were allowed to reach the Island of +Saints, where an angel bade them take all the precious stones they +wished, as they had been created for holy people, but to attempt no +exploration beyond that point. No men appeared; still, in order to +leave the impress of their calling, St. Malo, one of the company, +dug up a giant who had died several years before, preached to him and +baptized him. These reformatory services revived the giant a little, +though he was pretty far gone, and he died again as soon as the priest +stopped preaching. St. Brandan went back to Clonfert, where three +thousand monks joined him in good works, and mendicants swarmed from +all over the land to benefit by their labor. He often told the people +and the brethren of the wonders he had seen in lands Columbus was to +rediscover nine hundred years later, and he dwelt with marvelling on +the mercy of God as shown to Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Christ, +who was encountered in the northern seas, lying naked on an iceberg in +silent delight. St. Brandan recognized him by portraits he had seen and +hailed him. Judas then told his story; he was roasting in hell when +the Lord remembered that once in Joppa this disciple had thrown his +cloak over the shoulders of a leper who was agonized by a wind that +blew sharp sand into his sores. An angel was sent to tell the doomed +one that for this mercy he would be allowed, for one hour in every +year, to breathe the wholesome air of the upper world, and stretch his +scorched body on the ice. Moved by this tenderness toward the most +despised of men, St. Brandan bowed and prayed, just as Judas, with +despair in his upturned face, slipped down again to the deeps of fire. + +Some men of Ross, Ireland, had killed their king, despite his +successful wars against his rival monarchs, some of whose kingdoms were +as large as a township. For this offense the heir to the throne, or his +advisers, decreed that sixty couples should be set adrift on the ocean, +to meet what fate they might. A guard was put along the shore to keep +them from landing again, and an easterly gale blew them quickly out of +sight of their relatives and friends. For years none dared to seek for +them. Conall Ua Corra, of Connaught, had prayed in vain to the Lord for +children, so in anger he prayed to the devil, and three boys were born +to his wife. The neighbors jeered at them as the fiend's offspring, +and harassed them and made them bitter. They said, one to the other, +"If we are really sons of Satan we will justify these taunts," and +collecting all the vicious boys of their village they robbed farmers, +ruined churches, killed men who resisted plunder, and were about to +murder their father when they were warned in a vision of the eternal +punishment they would endure in blazing sulphur pits if they did not +repent. Their father had long regretted his hasty prayer to the evil +one, and had tried to regain the good-will of heaven by industry, +and by giving freely of his substance to the sick and pauperized. By +advice of St. Finnen, to whom they confessed, the boys repaired the +churches they had injured and mourned the victims of their brutality; +yet, as the people doubted their conversion, they resolved to leave +the country and go to some land where they would not be constantly +exposed to the danger of breaking their good resolves by reproaches +and attacks. Where to go? It was suggested by some designing neighbor +that if they were to search for the one hundred and twenty exiles they +would be doing a service to heaven and the world. This suggestion was +promptly acted on. In a frail coracle they swept the sea, discovering +strange lands, in one of which the half-forgotten people of Ross were +found, living so contentedly that few of them cared to go back. The +most exciting incidents of the voyage were the three meetings with +the Island of Satan's Hand, a lone rock in icy waters, where fogs +always brooded. At the will of a malignant demon it changed its place +from time to time, and it was the hand of this monster, a vast, rude +shape looming out of the mist, which endangered all the ships that +passed, for it struck at them,--as it did at the coracle of these +three voyagers,--injuring hulls, tearing sails, or knocking the crews +overboard, when it did not send them to the bottom. If the blow fell +short it made the sea boil and sent billows rolling for a mile. Some +of the shore folk said it was icebergs that the shipmen saw; but +icebergs never sailed so far from the pole, they answered. Despite +its wandering habit, the map-makers eventually agreed on a site for +this rock of the smiting hand, calling it Satanaxio. It can be seen +on charts of the eighteenth century. + +A thousand years before Columbus it was reported that tropic islands +had been discovered and ruled by Archbishop Oppas, of Spain, who +was fain to leave his country because he had betrayed his king to +the Moors. He found a race friendly and gentle, sharing with one +another whatever was given to them, as not knowing selfishness. This +prelate burned his ships, that his people might not return, laid off +the largest island into seven bishoprics, and, impressing the natives +into his service, built churches and convents, for there were women in +his company whom he placed in nunneries. This island, which figures +on early maps as Antillia and as Behaim, was known also as the Land +of the Seven Cities, from its seven bishoprics. When Coronado heard +of the pueblos of Arizona and New Mexico, he may have confounded +them with the towns of Oppas, and to this day the seven cities of +Cibola are a legend of our desert. Harold's Norsemen were told by +the wild Skraelings of Maine of a pale-faced people farther south, +who walked in processions, carrying white banners and chanting. + +Near Florida was the island of Bimini, with its fountain of youth. Juan +and Luis Ponce de Leon sought it vainly among the Bahamas, then +crossed to Florida and kept up the search among the pine barrens, +the moss-bearded cypresses, the snaky swamps, and alligator infested +rivers. The Indians, strong, active, healthy with their simple, +outdoor life, their ignorance of wine and European diseases, seemed +so favored that the Spaniards believed they must have bathed in the +magic fountain and drank its waters. Green Cove Spring, near Magnolia, +is the one where Luis bathed, hoping that he had found at last the +restorative fountain; but an angry Indian shot a poisoned arrow through +his body, and neither prayers nor water stayed long the little life +that was in him. So the spring is in the unfound Bimini, after all. + + + + + +The Buccaneers + + +How the free traders in the West Indies became smugglers, how by easy +stages they passed from the profession of illicit dealing to piracy, +are matters that concern history rather than legend. Their name of +buccaneers comes from buccan, an Indian word signifying a smoke-house, +in which beef and other meats were dried; as one of the earliest +enterprises of the rovers was the stealing of Spanish cattle in San +Domingo, and the drying of their flesh in the native buccans for use +at sea. + +A general hatred or jealousy of Spain, that was shared by the English, +Dutch, and French, led to the first privateering expeditions. Indeed, +throughout the seventeenth century the pirates operated principally +against Spain, and were tolerated because of the injury they did to +her ships, her people, her property, and her trade. Having finally +ruined her commerce, they sacked her colonies, and, the lust for blood +and treasure having been roused to a sort of madness, they cast off +patriotic allegiances and became mere robbers and outlaws. The history +of the successes of L'Ollonois, Morgan, Davis, and the rest, is an +exciting though painful one, inasmuch as all sense of right and mercy +seems to have been crushed in the breasts of these men by their brutal +business. For a handful of dollars they were ready to wreck a city, +reduce even its ruins to ashes, slaughter women and babes, and cut +the throats of the aged. They were as harsh and treacherous toward one +another as they were toward peaceable men, and for acts of rebellion +against a leader they were killed off-hand, while it was customary, +also, to butcher a sailor whenever a chest of treasure was buried, +and place his body on or in the chest, that his ghost might guard it +and terrify intruders. Yet the ultimate influence of the buccaneers +was for good, inasmuch as they wrested a part of the rich Antilles from +the cruel and ignorant Spaniard and gave it to more enlightened powers. + +When the freebooting days were at their height there was no harbor +of safety between Rio and Halifax; but there was, in every town the +rascals visited, an element that profited by their robberies: the +keepers of inns, brothels, and gaming-houses, and, lastly, the royal +governors. These bloody-fingered varlets would sack a church, get +tipsy on the communion wine, and demand the blessing of the priests on +the next enterprise of the same kind they had in contemplation. With +the chalices, candlesticks, and altar furnishings, they would go +to the nearest city, where they were sure of finding this friendly +element, and riot away the last piece of metal in their pockets; or, +if pipes of wine were among the prizes, any island would serve for +a long debauch. Devil's Island, the place of Dreyfus's captivity, +was a popular rendezvous, though it is so named not because of these +gatherings, but because of a particularly unmanageable prisoner who +was once confined there. + +The governors of some of the West Indies were as keen on the scent +of the sea-robbers as the latter were in the chase of merchant-men, +and they were unable to see a good many sad goings-on when a few +pieces-of-eight were held before their eyes. Gaming was no disgrace +in those times, nor was hard drinking, nor coarse speech, and even +piracy had a sort of sanction when the victims were people of a nation +with whom the buccaneers were at war. Many tales of gamesters' luck +are told, but a couple will suffice. Vent-en-Panne, a Frenchman, +had received five hundred crowns as his share of a robbery, and on +the first night ashore, at Kingston, Jamaica, he staked and lost +it all, with three hundred more that a reckless comrade had lent to +him. Though penniless, he was not discouraged. He became a wine-drawer +and pipe-lighter in the tavern, and with a few pennies received for +tips he bet on the cards again. This time he won, and his fortune +mounted to twelve thousand crowns. With this amount in hand he felt +he could be virtuous, so he took ship for home, intending to settle +in Paris and fulfil the ambition of every honest Frenchman,--to own +a furnished room, fish in the Seine, and hear the bands play. He got +only as far as Barbadoes, for at that island a rich Jew came aboard, +persuaded him to play for a small amount, and lost everything to +Vent-en-Panne,--money, houses, sugar, and slaves. The fever was on +them both, however, and so soon as the Jew could borrow a little his +luck also turned, and Vent-en-Panne was stripped of every sou,--even +the clothes he wore. Paris became an iridescent dream, and the gambler +found his way to the Tortugas, where he doubtless shipped with Morgan, +Teach, or some other of the scourges of the Spanish main. + +Two rovers are credited with beating the governor of Jamaica at another +game, after they had lost to him a matter of ten thousand crowns,--the +earnings of several weeks faithfully devoted to privateering. In +order to continue the game (to their complete beggary), the fellows +had borrowed from acquaintances in Kingston, who, seeing no way to get +their money back, decided to have them imprisoned for debt. Hearing of +this plan, the elder of the precious pair reported to the governor that +he had a negro whom he would like to sell, cheap, in order to pay his +debts and start in a mechanic trade, such as he had followed in years +gone by. The governor bade him have the fellow brought in, and finding +him to be a sturdy, intelligent man, with a skin as black as the ten +of clubs, he bought him and set him at work. Next day the negro had +disappeared. Notice and offers of reward were sent to all parts of the +island, but nothing came of it. The two ex-pirates followed a peaceful +and thriving trade of making keys, possibly for burglars, and in a few +years had saved enough to enable them to return to England. Before +sailing they called on the ex governor, who had drank and gambled +himself into poverty, and emptied a fistful of gold before him. + +"That's for the nigger, with interest," said one. + +"The nigger? What, the one that ran away?" asked the governor. + +"Oh, he didn't run far. Here he is." And the speaker clapped his +companion on the shoulder. "He had only to curl his hair with a hot +iron and rub charcoal on his chops to deceive a governor." + +The tickled old fellow drank their health and wished them a safe +journey, out of Jamaica. + +While luck seemed to bide with the rovers, it was not always smooth +sailing on the Spanish seas. Now and then the buccaneers attacked +an innocent looking ship that waited until they had come within +musket-reach, when it ran up the Spanish standard, opened a dozen +ports, and let fly at them with hot-shot and a hail of bullets. Now +and again a mutiny would occur, and the victorious either forced the +defeated to walk the plank or marooned them on some desolate sand +key to perish of thirst and sunstroke. + +Blackbeard's men once found a fishing-vessel drifting off the Burmudas +and eagerly boarded her to look for treasure. In a minute they tumbled +out of the cabin and scrambled into the sea like the swine possessed +of devils. The vessel had but one living man on board, and he had not +many hours of life before him, while corpses strewn about the floor +were spotted with small-pox. Half of the pirate crew were slain by +the pestilence. + +When Roberts was cruising off Surinam a supposed war-ship bore down on +him in a fog. He pelted her with all his guns, but she kept her way +unheeding. The fog then breaking showed that it was not a frigate, +but a sloop, which had been magnified by the mist, and he quickly +grappled her and sent his men to see what manner of ship she was. Ten +or twelve Spaniards lying about the deck with their throats cut proved +that some other buccaneer had been before him. As the men were about +to leave their floating charnel-house to hold her way whither the +gales might send her, a furious swearing in Spanish caused them to +shiver and look back. Were the dead speaking? Had some crazed sailor +escaped, and was he gibbering from the roundtop? No: it was a parrot +in the rigging, and he was saying all he knew. + +Montbar, having discovered a company of Spanish on one of the Windward +Islands, went ashore with guns, knives, and axes, and destroyed them +all, except one. This man told how he and his fellows had been put +ashore. They were the crew of a slaver, and were on their way from +Africa to Cuba with a cargo of slaves, when the ship began to leak +badly. The carpenter, accompanied by several of the more intelligent +of the blacks, made a careful inspection of the hold, yet could find +no leak; so the constant inflow, that kept all hands at the pumps, +was at length declared to be the devil's work. The slaves wailed and +wrung their hands, the captain swore and prayed, the crew toiled to +exhaustion. When it seemed as if the ship could not float for another +day the island appeared ahead, and quickly loading arms, provisions, +and water into the boats, the Spaniards abandoned ship and left the +negroes to their fate. Great was their surprise and dismay when the +slaves ran, cheering, over the deck, hoisted all sail, and squared away +for the eastward, the vessel rising higher in the water as her former +crew sat watching her. These blacks, who were confined in the hold, +had got possession of knives with which they cut through the outer +planking, causing the ship to leak alarmingly. They had also fitted +plugs to these leaks, and packed them with oakum, so that when the +carpenter made his rounds no water came in. As soon as he returned +to the deck the holes were opened again, for it was known that the +Antilles were near, and the scheme to frighten their captors to land +was successful. These facts the crew learned from the negro cook, +who had accompanied them to shore. + +The devil, who was supposed in this case to have been the enemy instead +of the ally of the slavers, often mixed in the affairs of a class +that must have filled him with admiration. Some of the pirates are +reported to have placed themselves entirely in the hands of the foe of +the human race, swearing on strange objects to give their souls to him, +and formally burying a Bible on shore as a token that they were through +forever with religion and mercy. Yet they were a superstitious lot, +fearful of signs and portents, and do not, therefore, appear to have +been trusting subjects of His Satanic Majesty. They always had an ear +and a coin for a fortune-teller, and early in the eighteenth century +there were negroes and Indians in the West Indies and the tropic +Americas who openly practised that trade and art of witchcraft for +which their white brethren in Salem had been hanged. Their principal +customers were pirates and buccaneers, who went to them for a forecast +of fortune, and also bought charms that would create fair winds for +themselves and typhoons for their enemies. These witches kept open +ears in their heads, and information carelessly dropped by the outlaws +they sold for an aftermath of gain to the Spaniards, who found truth +in so many of the prophesies that they respected the soothsayers and +fully believed that the English were the chosen of the fiend. + +Among the most trusted of the witches was a withered Indian woman +of Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. She was close upon her fifth +score of years before she departed this life, but the rumor that she +had lived in New Providence since the flood was not denied, for it +made her the more regarded. Her best commodity was strings. For a +large price she would sell a string in which she had tied several +knots, each one of which represented the particular wind that the +captain might wish to prosper him on his way. Captain Condent was a +blaspheming corsair from the wicked town of New York, who had left +that port as quartermaster on a merchant-man and next morning had +appeared with a battery of pistols and had calmly taken the ship out +of the hands of her officers. This fellow had bought a string from +the witch that carried him to the Cape Verdes and back to America, +but when he had cut off all the knots, except two or three, he feared +that he might run out of winds altogether; so he put upon certain +servants of the Lord the task for which he had paid the servant of the +devil. He had with him two or three Spanish monks whom he had stolen +in the Cape Verdes, though what he wanted of them neither he nor they +could have guessed. They were having a most unhappy time of it. Now +and then the scallawag sailors would force them upon all fours, and +sitting astride their backs would compel them to creep about the deck, +pretending to be horses, while Condent whipped them smartly with the +rope's end. Thinking to save his precious twine, he ordered these +monks to pray for favoring winds, and he kept them on their marrow +bones petitioning from daylight until sunset. Often they would fall +exhausted and voiceless. At last, believing that the wind peddler +of Nassau had more power over the elements than a shipload of monks, +he threw the wretched friars overboard, and, as luck would have it, +the wind he wanted came whistling along a few minutes after. + +He came to the end of his string at Zanzibar, where he was caught +in a tremendous storm, and was in hourly peril of destruction. His +masts had cracked, his sails had split, his water barrels had gone +by the board. It was time to hold the witch to her bargain. He swung +the cord about his head three times, called the woman's name, and +although eight thousand miles of sea and continent lay between them, +she heard the call. The string was pulled through his fingers so +smartly that it made them burn, and was whisked out of sight in the +wind and the spray. Within an hour the gale abated. Next day Condent +attempted to make his way by dead reckoning, but whenever he went +wrong a bird flew in his face, and a ship crowded with skeletons +approached him in the mist. He presently gained the Isle of Bourbon, +or Reunion, where his stealings enabled him to cut such a figure in +society that he married into the family of the governor and died in +an odor of--well, maybe it was sanctity. At all events, he died. + +It was a witch also that had foretold the march of the buccaneers +across Panama isthmus, and her warning was considered of such +importance that the Spanish troops and merchants were notified, though +they made but a feeble resistance when the foray actually occurred. + +One of the Spanish slavers bound for our coasts was overhauled by the +English pirate Lewis. She was a fast sailer and had nearly escaped +when Lewis ripped a handful of hair from his head, flung it to the +wind, and shouted, "Ho, Satan, keep that till I come." Instantly +the wind rose to a gale. In a few minutes the Spaniard was in the +hands of the pirates, and the slaves, being only an encumbrance, +were tossed overboard to the sharks, as one might fling away a damaged +cargo. One of the black men was a dwarf, gnarly, wrinkled, misshapen, +with eyes that blazed like a cat's in the dark. No sooner had this +man been pushed over the side than he uttered an ear-splitting yell, +and seemed to bound back to the deck. It was a cat, however, not a +human being, that was seen to rush into the cabin, and it looked into +Lewis's face with the same shining, menacing eyes that he had seen +in the dwarf. A negro boy who had been spared to act as a servant for +the captain having unconsciously roused his anger, Lewis rushed upon +him with his sword, cut him through the heart and beat his corpse, +the cat sitting by and squealing with glee at the sight. When a mate +struck at the animal in a tort of disgust and fear, the creature leaped +at him and almost blinded him with its claws. From that time the cat +became Lewis's familiar; was before him at the table, on his pillow +when he slept, on his shoulder when he gave orders. The crew agreed +that it could be none other than the devil himself. On Lewis's last +night alive, while he was quite drunk, the cat seemed to be whispering +into his ear. He arose and staggered away, saying, "The devil says +I shall be killed to-night." An hour later his ship was boarded by +French pirates, and Lewis was despatched. After scratching the faces +of nearly all the enemy, the cat ran up the mainmast, throwing off +sparks and screeching, scrambled to the end of the topsail-yard, +and leaped off into the night. + +Morgan, the English sea robber, had captured a number of Spanish +prisoners in Panama, among them a woman of beauty and distinction, who +had been left without other protection than that of a faithless servant +during her husband's absence in Peru. The dignity and refinement of +his prisoner made a certain impression on Morgan. After he had put to +sea a cabin was reserved for her, she was treated with respect by the +crew, but a guard kept her in sight always. The gross nature of the +pirate disclosed itself in a few days, when, fresh from a debauch and +reeking with the odors of rum, he forced her cabin door and attempted +to embrace her. She sprang back with a cry of loathing, and grasping a +dagger swore that if he ever intruded himself in her presence again she +would drive the weapon into her own heart, since she could never hope +to reach his by any means, violent or gentle. In a fit of anger, the +pirate ordered his sailors to cast her into the hold among the slaves +and hostages, there to endure fever, crowding, hunger, and thirst. + +A week or two later these lean, half-dead wretches were kicked out of +their dark and stifling dungeon to be sold to some planters. A woman +among them asked for a few words with Morgan. Haggard, tear-stained, +ragged, neglected as she was, the captain did not at first recognize +her as the one whom he had insulted by his show of love. When he did +recall her name and state he asked indifferently what she wanted. She +told him that an injustice had been done; that she had at first told +him it was in her power to buy her liberty, believing it to be so; but +her hope was destroyed, and she was so ill and wasted that she would +be useless as a slave. As she was going on board of the ship she had +whispered to a couple of Spanish priests telling them where her money +was concealed, and asking them to pay her ransom with it. They also +were under guard, but they persuaded one of the buccaneer officers to +go with them, recovered the money, bought their own freedom with it, +and ran away. Hearing this, Morgan sent the woman back to Panama, +succeeded in capturing the priests, and sold them into slavery. + +It is said of Morgan that he had a fire ship, which he would tow +as close as possible to the fleets of his enemies, both to draw +their fire and kindle a more disastrous one. What appeared to be +its crew were logs of wood, placed upright between the bulwarks, +each log surmounted by a hat. As to fire, it is recorded that Teach, +or Blackbeard, now and then shut himself into his cabin and burned +sulphur to prove to his crew that he was a devil. He used to tie his +whiskers with red ribbons into pigtails that he tucked over his ears, +and he looked the part. Yet he was less of a monster than L'Olonnais, +who so hated Spaniards that he would not only slaughter his prisoners, +but would bite their hearts like a savage beast after he had cut them +out. Beside Blackbeard there was a Redbeard and a Bluebeard. All three +of these gentlemen had castles in St. Thomas, and that of Bluebeard +had a room in which it is alleged that he killed his wives after the +fashion of his Eastern relative. + + + + + +The Boat of Phantom Children + + +Sir Francis Drake, destroyer of many of the "invincible" ships of +Spain, came to America with Sir John Hawkins, to subdue the Spanish +colonies with the heaviest fleet he ever commanded. Though wrangles +between the commanders made this expedition a comparative failure, +still wherever the head of a don was seen, a cracking blow was struck +at it. War was a crueller business then than it is to-day, in spite +of our high explosives, our armored ships, our mighty guns, and our +nimble tactics, and things were done that no captain would dare in +these times; at least, no captain with a fear of the world's rebuke, +or that of his own conscience. Just before Christmas, 1594, Drake +was scourging the coast of Colombia, burning houses, and shipping +and despoiling the towns. The people of one village near Rio de la +Hache, having been warned of his coming, buried their little property, +closed their houses, put fifty of their children on a fishing smack, +while they hurriedly provisioned some boats to carry all the people to +a distant cape, where they would remain in hiding until after Drake +had destroyed their homes and passed on. The fisherman who owned the +smack set sail too soon; he was separated from the others in a gale, +and Drake, who then appeared, ran between him and the shore, and with +a couple of shots drove him farther into the wild sea. The smack never +returned. After the English had passed, the people watched for it, +and, truly, on the next day, a boat was seen beating against the gale +and trying to make the pier. As it came nearer, the parents saw their +children holding out their arms and laughing. Then the outlines of the +hull and sail grew dim, the children's forms drooped as if weary; and +in another moment the vision had passed. Long was the grief and loud +were the curses on the English. When Drake learned that he had fired +on a harmless fishing vessel and driven a company of little ones away +from land to be sunk in a tempest, he was filled with compunction and +misgiving. The same vision that the parents had seen crossed the path +of his own ships. Before every storm the boat of phantoms appeared, +and when he sailed for Escudo and Porto Bello it followed him. Wearied +with many wars, ill with tropical fever, repentant for this useless +killing, he sank into a depression from which nothing could rouse him, +and in January he died on his ship, at Nombre de Dios. His remains were +consigned to a sailor's grave--the wide ocean--and as the ship moved +on her way, the crew, looking back to the place where the body had gone +down, saw the phantom smack rise from the deep, rush like a wind-blown +wrack across the spot, and melt into the air as it neared the shore. + + + + + +Early Porto Rico + + +Though Columbus made his first landing in Porto Rico at Naguabo, +where the Caribs afterward destroyed a Spanish settlement, he gave its +present name to the island when he put in Aguada for water. Charmed +with the beauty of the bay, the opulence of vegetation, the hope +of wealth in the river sands, he christened it "the rich port," +and extending this, applied to the whole island the name of San Juan +Bautista de Puerto Rico--St. John the Baptist of the Rich Port. The +natives knew their island as Boriquen. Later came Ponce de Leon, +who founded Caparra, now Pueblo Viejo, across the bay from San Juan, +to which spot he shifted a little later and built the white house +that may still be seen. San Juan is the oldest city of white origin +in the Western world, except Santo Domingo, albeit Santiago de Cuba +and Baracoa claim to be contemporary. The body of Ponce is buried in +San Juan, in the church of Santo Domingo. + +When this fair island was claimed by Spain, it had a population of +over half a million, but Ponce at once set about the extinction of +the native element. The populace was simple, affectionate, confiding, +and in showing friendship for the invaders it invited and obtained +slavery. It has been ingeniously advanced that the Spaniards disliked +the natives because of the cleanliness of the latter. On account +of the heat they wore no clothing, to absorb dirt and perspiration, +and bathed at least once every day. In those times white people were +frugal in the use of water, Spain being more pronounced against it than +almost any other nation. Listen to one of the Spanish writers, though +he is talking, not of our Indians, but of the Moors: "Water seems more +needed by these infidels than bread, for they wash every day, as their +damnable religion directs them to, and they use it in baths, and in a +thousand other idle fashions, of which Spaniards and other Christians +can make little account." We know that a Spanish queen refrained, +not only from washing, but from changing her clothes for a whole +year. The Porto Ricans were naked, but unaware of their nakedness, +therefore they were moderately virtuous; at least, more virtuous than +their conquerors. Had they been treated with justice and mercy they +would have remained friendly to the white men, and would have been +of great service to them in the development of the island. As early +as 1512, Africans were shipped to the island to take the places, at +enforced labor, of the Indians who had been destroyed. A religion was +forced down the throats of the natives that they did not understand, +especially as the friars preached it; and being unable at once to grasp +the meaning or appreciate the value of discourses on the spiritual +nature, the trinity, vicarious atonement, transubstantiation, and the +intercession of saints, the soldiers, always within call, followed +their custom when the congregations proved intractable: killed them. + +It is said that the Spaniards acquired such ease in the slaying of +Indians that they would crack a man's head merely to see if it would +split easily or if their swords were keeping their edge, and that they +varied their more direct and merciful slaughters by roasting one of +the despised infidels occasionally. Slavery in damp mines, fevers in +swamps, unaccustomed work, strain, anxiety, grief, insufficient food, +lack of liberty, separation from friends and families, killed more +than the sword. It was the same in all the conquered lands. In Hayti +a million people were oppressed out of existence or slain outright +in fifteen years, and but sixty-five thousand were left. In less +than a century that island had not a single native. So in Porto +Rico: not a man is to be found there to-day who is a pure-blooded +aborigine. Even their relics and monuments, their traditions and +history, were obliterated by their conquerors--the race that destroyed +the libraries of the Moors and the picture records of the Aztecs. Few +even of their burial places are known, although the Cave of the Dead, +near Caguana, was so named because of the Indian skeletons found in it. + +Some of the tools and implements of stone found on the island are +so strange that one cannot even guess their purpose. Of the heavy +stone collars that have been preserved, a priest holds that they +were placed about the necks of the dead, that the devil might not +lift them out of their graves, but this sounds like an invention of +the church, for there is no proof that a belief in the devil existed +among these people. They had a god, as well as minor spirits, and sang +hymns to them; they had some crafts and arts, for they made canoes, +huts, chairs, nets, hammocks, pottery, weapons, and implements, +and, although the fierce Caribs vexed them now and again, they were +accounted as the gentlest and most advanced of the native people in the +Antilles. Speaking of the hammock, that is one of their devices that +the world has generally adopted, and the name is one of the few Indian +words that have survived the Spanish oppressions, though there are many +geographic titles. Other familiar survivals are the words hurricane, +canoe, tobacco, potato, banana, and a few other botanical names. + +It is probable that these Boriqueņos were allied in speech and custom, +as well as in blood, to their neighbors the Haytiens, of whom saith +Peter Martyr, "The land among these people is common as sun and +water. 'Mine' and 'thine,' the seeds of all mischief, have no place +among them. They are content with so little that in this large country +they have more than plenty. They live in a golden world without toil, +in open gardens, not intrenched, defended, or divided. They deal truly +with one another, without laws, judges, or books. He that will hurt +another is an evil man, and while they take no pleasure in superfluity, +they take means to increase the roots that are their food--diet so +simple that their health is assured." Still, it is known that in their +defence against the marauding Caribs the Porto Ricans were courageous, +and had become adept with arrow and club, and it was believed by some +of the first explorers that they ate their captives. + +The aborigines of Porto Rico probably differed little, if at all, from +the Haytiens in their faith in an all-powerful, deathless god, who +had a mother but no father, who lived in the sky and was represented +on earth by zemes or messengers. Every chief had his zemi, carved +in stone or wood, as a tutelary genius, to whom he addressed his +prayers and who had a temple of his own. Zemes directed the wind, +waves, rains, rivers, floods, and crops, gave success or failure in +the hunt, and gave visions to or spoke with priests who had worked +themselves into a rhapsodic state by the use of a drug (it may have +been tobacco), in order to receive the message, which often concerned +the health of a person or of a whole village. The Spaniards regarded +these manitous as images of the devil, and in order to keep them the +natives hid the little effigies from the friars and the troops. In +the festivals of these gods there were dances, music, and an offering +of flower-decorated cakes. + +Hayti was the first created, the sun and moon came from the cave near +Cape Haytien known as _la voute a Minguet_, through a round hole in +the roof. Men came from another cave, the big ones through a large +door, the little men from a smaller one. They were without women for +a long time, because the latter lived in trees and were slippery; +but some men with rough hands finally pulled four of them down from +the branches, and the world was peopled. At first, the men dared to +leave their cave only at night, for the sun was so strong it turned +them to stone, though one man who was caught at his fishing by the +sun became a bird that still sings at night, lamenting his fate. When +a chief was dying in pain he was mercifully strangled,--though the +common people were allowed to linger to their end,--and his deeds were +rehearsed in ballads sung to the drum. There was a belief in ghosts, +albeit they could not be seen in the light, unless in a lonely place, +nor by many persons. When they did mingle with the people it was +easy to distinguish them from the living, as they had no navel. What +became of the wicked after death we do not know, but the good went +to a happy place where they met those whom they loved, and lived +among women, flowers, and fruits. During the day the departed souls +hid among the mountains, but peopled the fairest valleys at night, +and in order that they should not suffer from hunger the living were +careful to leave fruit on the trees. + +From these quaint and simple faiths the people were roused by the +professors of a more enlightened one, who made their teaching useless, +however, if not odious, to the brown people by their practises. It was +an old belief, at least among the Haytiens, that a race of strangers, +with bodies clad, would cross the sea and would reduce the people +to servitude. This prophecy may have made them the more unwilling +to yield to the Spaniards, in respect of religious faith, despite +the signs and wonders that were shown to them. When chief Guarionex +raided a Spanish chapel and destroyed the sacred images within, +the shattered statues were buried in a garden, and the turnips and +radishes planted there came up in the form of the cross. But even +this did not convince the savages, whom it became necessary to burn, +in order to smooth the way to reform. + + + + + +The Deluge + + +Like many unschooled peoples, the Antillean tribes had their legend of +a time when the earth was covered by a flood. The island of St. Thomas +was one of the first to rise out of the sea. The Haytiens said that +the deluge did not subside and that the present islands are the +summits of mountains that formerly towered to a great height above +the plains. Far back in the days when people lived more simply, and +white men, with their abominable contrivings for work, had not even +been invented, a _cacique_ or chief of their island killed his son, +who had tried to harm him, albeit when the lad was dead a natural +affection prompted the father to clean his bones and conceal them +in a gourd. Some time afterwards the _cacique_ and his wife opened +this vegetable tomb, to look on the mortal relics of their child, +when a number of fish jumped out. Believing that he now had in the +gourd a magic receptacle, from which he could take food at any time, +the chief placed it on his roof, where mischief-makers might not reach +it. While absent on a hunting-trip his four surviving sons took down +the gourd to see what peculiar properties it had, and why it had been +thus set apart. In passing it from one to the other it fell and was +broken into little pieces. Instantly a vast quantity of water gushed +from it, increasing in volume every instant. The water arose so that it +reached their knees, and they had to climb the hills. Whales, sharks, +porpoises, dolphins, and smaller creatures came swimming forth, and +the flow of the water never ceased until the whole world was flooded, +as we see it now, for the ocean came from that gourd. + + + + + +How Spaniards were Found to be Mortal + + +The first Spaniards to reach the American islands were everywhere +greeted as heavenly visitors, and the natives would not have been +astonished had the caravels spread their sails--their wings, as they +first were called--and flown into the clouds, carrying Columbus and his +wrangling, jealous, sensual, gold-greedy company with him. Afterward +they would have been more astonished than sorry. When the white men +discovered this simple faith among the savages they encouraged it, +for it induced the Indians to give up their wives, daughters, houses, +weapons, and, above all else, their gold, to the strangers. The little +bells and beads they gave in return were treasured because of their +celestial origin and adored as fervently as the bones of saints are +adored in some of the European churches. Everywhere and always the +demand was for gold, and in the belief that the supply was going to +last forever, Spain began to ruin herself with more industry than +she had ever shown in peaceful callings. Her wars, her splendors, +her vanities, her neglect of education and morality, bore their fruit +when she pulled her flag down from the staff on Havana's Moro, and +gave up her claims to the last foot of land in the Western world. + +Ponce de Leon permitted the fiction that the Spaniards were +angels--save the mark!--for it smoothed his progress in stripping +the Porto Ricans of their poor little possessions, taking their lands +for settlement, foraging over the island, forcing his religion upon +them, and compelling them to serve him as miners, carriers, farmers, +fishermen, and laborers. Many died because it was thought to be cheaper +to work them to death and get fresh ones than to feed them. After a +time the Indians began to have doubts, and when the friars enlarged +on the glories of heaven, and described it as the abode of Spaniards, +more of them than Hatuey were anxious to be allowed to go to the +other place. They did not at first dare to attack the intruders, +for what could men avail against gods, and of what use were spears +and clubs against their thunderous arms and smashing missiles? + +As the aggressions increased and became less and less endurable, +Chief Agueynaba resolved, out of the soreness of his heart, to test +this reputed immortality of his guests. A messenger, one Salzedo, was +to be sent away from San Juan on some official errand, with a little +company of natives as freighters and servants. This was Agueynaba's +chance. He ordered his men to slip Salzedo into a river and hold him +under water for a time. If he was an immortal this would not hurt +him, and if he died, why--they would try very hard to bear up under +the loss. While crossing the river--the spot is still shown--the +men who bore Salzedo on their shoulders pitched him off and detained +him beneath the surface for a couple of hours; then, fearing that he +might be still alive and vicious, they put him on a bank and howled +apologies to his remains for three days. By that time there was no +longer a doubt about his deadness. Reports of this discovery traversed +the island with the speed of a South American mail service, so that +within a week people even forty miles away had heard about it. Thus +encouraged to resistance by the discovery that white men were mortal, +the populace fell upon their persecutors and troubled them, although +after one defeat the Spaniards rallied and drove the Indians back to +the mines. + + + + + +Ponce + + +When Ponce de Leon visited and conquered Porto Rico he heard of the +elixir of life. It may not have been among the springs of that island, +but the natives had a faith in it and some of them referred it to the +Bahamas. Their possible reason for this was to persuade the white men +to go there and look for it, for they were not popular in Porto Rico, +and this was the more to be regretted in Ponce's case, because he was +far from popular at home. At the court of Ferdinand and Isabella was +a page who was handsome, spirited, and saucy. One of the daughters of +the royal pair, wearied with the forms and ceremonies of her state, +which, in the most punctilious court in Europe, were especially +trying, found means to converse with this well-appearing, quick-witted +scamp. A tattling courtier, recalling a _faux pas_ of the last queen, +and desiring no more scandals, reported that the princess had been +seen to smile on the youngster. No guilt was proven upon him, but +handsome pages were ill-chosen company for young women of blue blood. + +Ponce de Leon was the page, and he was sent to the New World +to discover something to the advantage of his own modesty, and +incidentally to accumulate for shipment anything that might be useful +to the Spanish treasury. He landed in Boriquen, as Porto Rico was +then called, and began a general subjugation and slaughter of the +natives. Some were slain in battle, but thousands were carried away +and made to work in mines and on distant plantations, as slaves, until +their health was destroyed, and they, too, were no longer an obstacle +to Spanish control, though the lack of their hands was a hindrance to +Spanish enterprise. Ponce took his share of the gold and treasure he +had forced these unfortunates to supply, and went back to Spain with +it. Sea air had spoiled his complexion, fighting had roughened his +manners, slave-driving had made his voice coarse. Possibly, also, +his princess had recovered from her disappointment. Maybe she had +been married off to some nobody of Portugal, or France, or Austria, +for state reasons, and had entered on the usual loveless life of +royalty. Or she may have beguiled her maidenly solitude by drinking +much wine of Oporto, Madeira, and Xeres with her dinner, thereby +acquiring that amplitude of girth, that ruddiness of countenance, and +that polish of nose, which add so little to romance. At all events, +we hear nothing more of the affair. + +In the course of years Ponce took to himself the gout, rheumatism, +dyspepsia, and a few such matters, and he scolded his dresser more than +usual because his clothes did not fit at the waist as they had done, +once. He parted his hair with a towel, and it was grizzled where +it curled about his neck and temples. Then he recalled the tales +the Boriqueņos had told of the bright waters that gushed from the +earth amid banks of flowers,--waters so sweet that who drank would +drink again, and with every draught would throw off years and pain +until at last he was a youth once more,--a youth with hot blood, +sparkling eyes, lithe muscles; a youth who saw the world full of +beauty and adventure. Ah, to be once more as he was when the princess +beamed on him; to throw away his cares, his ails, his conscience, +his regrets; to sing and dance, to ruffle it with other cavaliers, +to dice, to drink, to feast, to win the smiles of ladies! It was a +joy worth trying to attain. + +He sailed once more, an older, sober man. He discovered Florida, +bathed in its springs, drank from its flower-edged streams, but to no +avail. Bimini, the place of the living waters, evaded him. Boriquen, +renamed Porto Rico, could offer no more. But, though his living +presence passed, the first building on the island--the White House, +near San Juan--remains, and he left his name in the town that was +first among the Antillean cities to raise the flag of a republic +that should wave over the continent he had helped to discover and +colonize:--the city of Ponce. + + + + + +Water Caves + + +As in most of the Spanish American countries, so in Porto Rico, ghosts +are common,--so common that in some towns the people hardly turn to +look at them; and if on a wild night in the hurricane season they hear +them gibbering at their doors, they patter an _ave_ or throw a piece of +harness at the disturbance, and sleep again. Ponce, for instance, has +a number of these spooks, such as the man who searches for his hidden +money, and the child with a snowy face that knocks on the panes, then +stares fixedly in, with corpse eyes, at the windows. Best known among +these supernatural citizens are two lovers who "spoon" on dark nights, +and are faintly outlined on the landscape as figures of quivering, +smoky blue. Their favorite haunt is their death-place, eight miles +from Ponce, in a hollow among limestone hills, now environed by a +coffee plantation. Here are found three basins--results of erosion, +most likely--that are described as natural bath-tubs. The middle and +largest of these pools is partly filled with silt, probably occluding +the entrance to a cavern which formerly opened into it, a fathom or +so below the water-surface. This cave was the hiding-place of a native +woman whose father had discovered her love for one of Ponce de Leon's +soldiers. He forbade her to have anything to do with the enemies of +his country, enlarged on their rapacity, cruelty, and treachery, +and tried to create in her a sense of shame that she should have +chosen a Spaniard, instead of a Boriqueno chief, for a lover. There +were no locksmiths in the Antilles for love to laugh at, but there +were spears and knives to fear, and the young couple, who seemed to +be inspired by genuine affection, met at this lonely spot to do their +courting. On the least suspicion of a hostile approach, the maid could +slip into the water, enter the cave, and wait for an hour or a day, +until the intruder had retired. However it happened nobody could +tell,--or would,--but the Spaniard was found drowned one morning in +that pool. He may have been found waiting there, by the angry parent, +thrown in, on general principles, and held to the bottom by his steel +arms and armor; or he may have been trying to find the cave in which +his charmer had secreted herself, and while so engaged may have bumped +his head against the rocky wall and stunned himself, or he may have +been a poor swimmer and lost his wits and his wind. At all events, +drowned he was, and the dusky virgin who loved him, seeing his form +at the bottom of the water, sang her sorrow chant, dived in, and, +holding to his body, perished wilfully at his side. Their love endures, +and that is why their luminous shadows sit at the brink of the pool, +with locked arms and meeting lips, to the disgust of voting women +and confirmed bachelors. + +This legend, with variants, is found in many parts of the world. There +are two or three instances of it in the Hawaiian islands, and a +tradition pertaining to Hayti is worth quoting here, as it refers to +the same period and illustrates the same enmity between the white and +native races. Near the city of San Domingo is, or was, a "water cave," +so named because the entrance to it was several feet below the lake +whose shore it undermines. When the young half-breed, Diaz, returned +from Spain to his native island of Hispaniola in 1520, his mother, +Zameaca, queen of the Ozamas, had disappeared, possibly killed outright +by the Spaniards, or more slowly killed by enslavement at the mines in +vainly trying to satisfy the rapacity of the white race for gold. Diaz, +though partly of Spanish blood, was allied in his sympathies to the +Indians. Hence, they planned to make him ruler. Their conspiracy was +quelled for the time being, with such brutality that those natives +who escaped death hated their tyrants with a deeper hatred than +ever, and fixed them the more strongly in their resolution to be +avenged. The leading chiefs and warriors of the Ozamas took refuge +in the water cave, spying on their enemies and going about to make +converts among the islanders at night. It was not long before the +watchful Spaniards discovered that mischief was afoot, and there +were reasons for believing that the chiefs had their hiding place not +many miles from town. By following various suspects into the country, +and noticing the time and way of their return, they became convinced +that the leaders of the rebellion were somewhere near the lake. + +A young woman, a slave in the family of the Spanish governor, was +so often absent on mysterious errands that the authorities at last +fixed on her as the one most likely to betray her countrymen. She was +won to their purpose through her vanity. Her mistress had a comb of +elaborate and curious workmanship, and to have one like it was the +principal object in her existence. The governor told her that she +should have this priceless treasure itself if she would tell him +where the chiefs were meeting. To this act of treachery she finally +agreed on condition that her lover, who was one of the chiefs, should +be pardoned. That evening she carried bread and fruit to the lake, +and sitting on the bank sang loudly for some minutes. The Spanish +soldiers, who were watching from the shrubbery, were astonished to +see a man rise like a seal from the water, swim to the shore, take +the parcel from the girl's hands, exchange a few words with her, +and disappear again beneath the surface. The song was a signal for +one of the men to come out and receive the food, and it was heard +through a crevice in the cave roof. Next day the girl sang again, +and the whole company left the cave. They had no sooner gained the +shore than the Spaniards sprang from the shrubbery and surrounded +them. As they were led away to death, one of the chiefs levelled +his finger at the girl and said, "I am going to a land of peace. You +will never find the way to it." Her lover cast her off with bitter +reproaches. Then, as the murderous volley pealed across the fields, +and the rebellion was ended, her heart broke. She still sits at the +lakeside in the evening, weeping over her comb. + + + + + +How a Dutchman Helped the Spaniards + + +Had any Dutchman been charged with intending a kindness to the dons +when his country was smarting under the Spanish scourge he would +have offered the life of some distant relative to disprove the +accusation. Without a guess that he could be injuring his own land +and enriching that of his enemy, an innocent magistrate of Amsterdam +did that for which he would afterward have submitted to the abuse of +his friends, and if sackcloth and ashes had been in vogue he would +have worn them. It all came about through his wish to be pleasant +to a Frenchman, the same being Louis XIV. He sent to this monarch a +curiosity in the form of a young coffee-tree, thinking, no doubt, that +a warm corner could be found for it in the Jardin des Plantes among +the orchids and cacti, and little recking that Louis had a Spanish +father-in-law. At that time Holland enjoyed, in her colonies, almost +a monopoly of the coffee trade of the world, but that one little tree +broke her monopoly, just as one little leak in her dikes led to the +eating away of miles of earthen wall and an in-rush and devastation +of the sea. + +For Louis was more clever than some other kings, almost clever enough +to have been in trade, or else he had smart advisers. He had slips +cut from the coffee tree, and ere many moons had passed a promising +dozen of young plants were ready for shipment to Martinique, the +new French colony in the Antilles. A botanist was sent in charge of +them, it being the purpose of Louis to turn the island into a coffee +plantation and be free of obligation to Holland. The voyage was long, +because of head winds and storms, and the precious plants were in +peril. Long before the American shores were reached the water supply +had run low, and there was much suffering; yet the loyal botanist gave +up half of his daily allowance in order that his coffee-trees should +live. Salt water would have killed them, and in those days ships had +no distilling apparatus. Martinique was reached in safety, however, +the little trees struck their roots into congenial soil, and thus the +seeds, such as first yielded their aroma to a surprised and gratified +Abyssinian chief more than a thousand years before, now spring from +the strong earth of the Western world. Whether Spaniards stole some +of these trees, or bought them, or whether they got away by accident, +certes, they reached Porto Rico, and so became a source of pleasure +and profit to people whom the Dutchman did not have in mind when he +made his little gift to King Louis. It is believed that all the coffee +raised in Batavia for the Dutch also grew from a handful of seeds +that had been sent from Arabia to Java. And, oh, that ever the time +should have come when France had to buy coffee from her own plant in +Porto Rico, and send to that same island for logwood to make claret +with,--the kind she sells to New York for bohemian tables d'hote! + + + + + +The Ghost of San Geronimo + + +The castle of San Geronimo, San Juan de Porto Rico, was founded +a century ago. It occupies a rocky point at the east end of San +Juan Island, and year by year had been strengthened until, when the +American ships appeared in the offing, it was thought important enough +to garrison. Six guns were emplaced, two other gun mounts were found by +our troops when they entered, and a hole was discovered extending from +a dungeon fifteen feet toward the breastworks. This had been freshly +dug, and, it is believed, was devised for the storage of explosives, +that the citadel might be blown up when the boys in blue entered to +take possession. That the fort was abandoned without resorting to +this revengeful and unmilitary act may be due to the ghost. He would +naturally be in evidence at such a time, and would do what he could +to thwart the schemes of his enemies. For he gave his body to the +worms fifty years or more ago. In the flesh he was a revolutionist, +and had been dreaming vain things about liberty for his beloved +island. It is not recorded that he ever harmed any one, or that +his little insurrection attained the dignity of anything more than +a rumor and an official chill, but the Spaniards caught him, threw +him into the dark prison of this castle, and after he had undergone +hunger, thirst, and illness, they went through their usual forms +of trial and condemned him to death. This among the civilized would +have meant that he would be sent to the gallows or the garrote; but +this victim was alleged to have accomplices, and quite likely he was +suspected of having a small fund; for the first thing to do when you +overthrow a government, or want to, is to pass the hat. To secure the +names of his fellow-conspirators, but more especially their money, +the revolutionist was therefore consigned to the torture chamber, +where the rack, the thumb-screw, the hot irons, the whip, and other +survivals of the Inquisition were applied. When the officers had +extorted what they wanted, or had made sure there was nothing to +extort, the poor, white wreck of a human being was delivered by the +judges to an executioner, and a merciful death was inflicted. + +Shortly after this occurrence the officers of the San Geronimo garrison +began to request transfers, and the social set that had been formed in +and near the castle was broken up. Gradually the troops thinned away, +and although the works were kept in moderate repair and occasionally +enlarged, the regular force was finally withdrawn, and even the +solitary keepers who were left in charge died unaccountably. This +was because the ghost of the tortured one pervaded its damp rooms +and breathed blights and curses on the occupants. Its appearance was +always heralded by a clatter of hoofs on the stone bridge leading +into the court. The on-rush of spectre horses is variously explained, +some believing that the dead man is leading an assault on the fort, +others wondering if it may not be a conscience-smitten governor +hurrying to rescue or reprieve his victim, and arriving too late,--a +theory quite generally rejected on the ground that there never was +that kind of a Spanish governor. + +An American officer, who took up his home in San Geronimo after the +occupation, was disturbed for three successive nights by the ghost, +and on learning the tradition of the place he investigated the palace +and brought to light the torture chamber with its rows of hooks and +rings and chains about the walls. The piercing of its roof, so that +the sun came in and the ghosts and malaria went out, the removal of +the grim relics of mediævalism, the cleaning and whitewashing of the +apartments, have probably induced the spectre to take up his quarters +elsewhere, for his old haunts are hardly recognizable, and he can have +no grudge against the soldiers of a republic who carried out his plans +with a perfection and promptness of which he could not have dreamed. + +The climate of the West Indies has ever been favorable to the +preservation of spirits, and this haunted castle of San Juan has +counterparts in the island, and in other islands, and the ghosts are +not always victims of the Spaniards, either. The appearance of spectres +in the New World was almost contemporary with Columbus. Indeed, +one of the most startling of supernatural appearances occurred in +the town he founded,--the town of Isabella, Hayti, the first white +man's city in America. It was created by the great navigator on his +second voyage, but it remained for only a few years on the map. The +dons whom he brought with him refused to work, even when the colony +was starving, and reported him in Spain as a tyrant for asking them +to put up their own shelters, cook their own food, and grind their +own flour. They would not even work in the mines where gold could +be seen in the river sands, because they had expected to pick up +the metal in lumps, or force it from the natives in such quantities +that each adventurer might return with a bushel. Hardship, illness, +short commons, the need of occasional labor, the heart-breaks over the +gold failure, the retaliations of the natives for the cruelties and +injustices of the invaders, led to the rapid decline of the city of +Isabella. Its foundations may still be visible; at least they were a +few years ago; but it is peopled only by ghosts. Some years after it +had been deserted, two Spaniards, who had been hunting in that part +of the island, entered its ruined streets. They had heard from the +Indians of strange, booming voices that echoed among its dead houses, +but had dismissed this tale as invention or fancy. The sun was low +and mists were gathering. As the hunters turned a corner they were +astonished to see a company of cavaliers drawn up in double rank, as +if for parade, sword on hip, plumed hats aslant, big booted, leather +jacketed, grim, and silent. The two men asked whence they had come. The +cavaliers spoke no word, but all together lifting their hats in salute, +lifted their heads off with them, then melted into air. They were +the dead of the fated town. The two spectators fainted with horror, +and did not recover their peace of mind in many days. + + + + + +Police Activity in Humacao + + +For three centuries a Spanish convict station was kept in Porto +Rico. The unpleasant and undesirable found, not a welcome here, +but a more congenial company than in the home land. Life was easier +because one needed less food and clothes, and they were furnished +by the authorities, anyway. What with the convicts and discontented +slaves, it is a wonder that any sort of comfort or safety existed on +the island, and especially that so much of pleasant social life was +to be found in the cities. Those who knew Porto Rico in those days, +however, say that class distinctions were not sharply marked; that +the master was kind to the slave, and the slave felt as if he were a +member of his master's family, rather than a dependent; that the two +were often seen at the cockpit sitting elbow to elbow, kneeling side +by side in the same church, greeting the same friends or cracking +the heads of the same enemies before the church doors at Epiphany, +and in the humbler homes sitting at the same table. + +In those simple times the robber gangs were a great vexation. Killing +was something to grow used to, and a disagreement over cards was +liable to result in having one's head snipped off by a machete; but to +be robbed of one's machete, or of one's jug of rum, or of one's only +trousers, was a sad affliction, and soldiers and police were as active +as Spanish functionaries could persuade themselves to be, in running +down--or walking down--these outlaws. It is said that the detectives +were especially amusing. They would go about in such obvious disguises, +with misfit wigs, window-glass spectacles, and the costumes of priests +or notaries, that a robber could barely keep his countenance when he +met them in the street. The thief always escaped, either through the +incompetence of the officers, or by sharing his profits with them. + +But there was one fellow who made such trouble that the police +began to chafe beneath the public criticism. To impugn their honor +did not hurt them much, though they ruffled a good deal under it, +but to threaten them with reduction of pay or removal was a serious +matter; so the chief of the San Juan constabulary bestirred himself, +after a particularly daring robbery had occurred in his bailiwick, +the rogue making off with six thousand dollars' worth of jewelry. He +got safely away from town and was traced to Humacao, where his +footprints were found leading to the door of a small, tumble-down, +deserted house, and none of these prints could be seen with toes +pointing away from it. The chief dismissed his men and prepared to +conduct a siege. He had a dagger, a machete, two pistols, and a gun, +with a box of ammunition. Thus equipped he went to the front door, +gave it a sounding whack with the flat of his machete, and bawled, +"Open, in the name of the law!" + +There was no response, so he struck his weapon impatiently against +the panels two or three times and called on the bandit to emerge +and give himself up. Again there was no reply. A bolder move was +necessary. He pushed open the window, crouching down outside, that he +might not become a target for the fellow, who was probably lurking +in the dark interior, and after calling on him for a third time to +appear and go to jail, he thrust his firearms in and began to blaze +in all directions over the floor. + +After emptying the pistols and gun he shouted, "If you don't come +out I'll blow you to the bad place, for I have one hundred and fifty +cartridges here, and I can surely shoot you." + +All this time the robber had been lying on the floor, just below +the window, very flat and very still. As the chief did not show +himself to take aim, but reached up from his kneeling position and +fired at random, the bold, bad man in-doors began to feel a return +of confidence. He waited until a second fusillade was over, when +he slipped softly through the back door, went around to the front, +waited until a third volley had been fired, when he pounced on the +chief from behind, and in a trice had a stout rope around him. In +a few seconds more he had the astonished and indignant functionary +tied securely to one of the posts of the veranda. Then, calmly taking +possession of the weapons, he lifted his hat, wished the officer a +very good day and a pleasant siesta, and sauntered off to some other +town where the police were still less active. + + + + + +The Church in Porto Rico + + +If the Spanish colonies have been immoral, it must be granted that they +have been religious. This fact has made them easier to govern, for the +words of the priests and friars have been accepted as divinely inspired +at times when, as a matter of fact, they have been inspired only by the +governor or the garrison colonel. The church in the colonies is nothing +like the modern and American institution that we know. It is a survival +from the Middle Ages. Yet it has shown shrewdness in Porto Rico, +Cuba, and the Philippines, its prosperity proving that the Spaniard +can be a thrifty mortal whether he wears a monkish cowl or a military +uniform. Much money has been demanded by the church, but much of it has +been honestly spent in the beautifying of altars and the dressing of +the statues. Our Lady of the Remedies, in the Church of La Providencia, +San Juan, for example, wears a cloak worth fifteen hundred dollars, +and is emblazoned with twenty thousand dollars' worth of jewels; but +then, she is the patron of the island. The priests have been quick to +see an advantage in benefits or disasters and have often impressed +the natives by lessons drawn from natural phenomena. Thus, in 1867, +a conspiracy for the overthrow of Spanish rule had been organized, +and violence was hourly expected: but on the eve of an uprising the +island was shaken by an earthquake. The priests made the most of +this, assuring the natives that it was a warning from heaven never +to interfere with Spaniards; so the insurrectos stealthily laid down +their arms and stole away to their various substitutes for employment, +leaving their Lexington unfought. + +In one way this willingness to keep out of fights has been a +bad thing for the island, because insurrection became a matter +of business with some of the natives. They used it as a mode of +blackmail. These insurrectos would throw a wealthy planter into a +state of alarm by pretending to hold meetings on his premises. He knew +that if the authorities got wind of this it might go hard with him, +for if he were suspected of being a member of a lodge of the White +Saber or the Red Hand, it could mean imprisonment, perhaps death; +so he paid the revolution something to move on and occur on some +other man's land. By levying thus on fear and policy a few members +of an alleged junta managed to live quite comfortably without work, +and it is whispered that the padres of certain villages received +their share of the reluctant tributes. + +Porto Rico has been the place of abode of some noted fathers of +the church, including two martyrs who were canonized by Pius IX. as +saints: Charles Spinola and Jerome de Angelis. They left Portugal +for Goa in 1596, but having been blown far out of their course, +they put in at this island to repair their ship, and there for two +months they preached with success. On their return to Lisbon they +were captured by English pirates, who treated them kindly, however, +and set them safely down in London. They reached Portugal eventually, +and ended their work in Japan, where the people killed them. These and +other saints receive the prayers of the people on stated occasions, +for in Porto Rico the saints have not only their special days, but +their special crops, and guard them from special injuries. Thus, the +farmer prays to St. James, it is said, when he asks for deliverance +from tobacco-worms, while he must address St. Martial if he wants to +free his field from ants. + +Of the holy hermits who have resided on the island, several have +dwelt in the caves where Caribs or Arawaks buried their dead, but +the best-known shrine is that of Hormigueros. The Church of Our Lady +of Monserrate, which crowns a hill and is a conspicuous landmark, +is said to have been copied from the chapel of a Benedictine +monastery in Barcelona, which is famous in Spain for its statue of +the Virgin, carved by St. Luke and carried to Barcelona in the year +50 by St. Peter. The Monserrate church was founded in 1640 by a poor +farmer. He had been ploughing over the hill-top, though weak with +fever, and before he could finish his work he fell to the ground +exhausted. After he had partly recovered, and had gone back to the +plough, he turned a tile up from the earth, on which was engraved a +portrait of the Virgin, and no sooner had he taken this object into his +hands than his pain, his fever, his lassitude disappeared. Convinced +that the relic was sacred, he carried it to his priest, and on that +very day he gave the land he had ploughed for a votive church. It +has become the best known sanctuary in Porto Rico, for the large +painting of the Virgin, copied from the smaller portrait on the tile, +is just as potent as the original in curing diseases. In the last +half-century a hundred miracles have been performed, and the silver +and golden arms, legs, ears, eyes, fingers, feet, livers, and hearts +that have been given to the church, in thanks and testimony, amount +in value to sixty thousand dollars; for a patient who has been cured +or helped is expected to send a little model, in precious metal, of +the part of him that needed mending. At intervals these offerings are +melted up for the altar service and decorations, and few churches in +America have such resplendent candlesticks, chalices, draperies and +vestments. The altar is of silver plates, and the gold cross upon +it weighs thirteen pounds. Pilgrims to Hormigueros go from all parts +of the West Indies. They are lodged, free of charge, in an old house +behind the church, each cripple or invalid receiving a bed and chair, +but no food. The pilgrims must supply their own sustenance. On entering +the church, in procession, they are sprinkled with water from the +Jordan, and then kneel before the cross, where the cures are worked. + + + + + +The Mermaids + + +In dime museums and county fairs one may still find among the +"attractions" a mermaid, dried and stuffed, consisting of the upper +half of a monkey artlessly joined to the lower half or two-thirds of +a codfish, the monkey's head usually adorned with a handful of oakum +or horse-hair. When this kind of thing was first exhibited by the +lamented P. T. Barnum, it is just possible that some bumpkin really +believed it to be a mermaid, but the invention has become so common +of late that it is found in the curio-shops of every town, and as +an eye-catching device is often put into show-cases by some merchant +who deals in anything rather than mermaids. Trite and ridiculous as +this patchwork appears, it symbolizes a belief of full three thousand +years. Men have always been prone to fill with imaginations what they +have never sounded with their senses, and it is to this tendency we +owe poetry and the arts. The sea was a mystery, and is so still. It +was easy to people its twilight depths with forms of grace and beauty +and power, for surely the denizens taken from it were strange enough +to warrant strange beliefs. + +And so the old faith in men and women who lived beneath the water +was passed down from generation to generation, and from race to race, +changing but little from age to age. Ulysses stopped the ears of his +crew with wax that they should not hear the sirens luring them toward +the rocks as his ship sailed by, and knowing the magic of their song +had himself bound to the mast, so, hearing the ravishing music, he +might not escape if he would. In a later day we hear of the Lorelei +singing on her rock, striking chords on her golden harp, and, as the +raptured fisherman steered close, with eyes filled by her beauty and +ears by her music, he had a moment's consciousness of a skull leering +at him and harsh laughter clattering in echoes along the shore; then +his boat struck and filled, and the dark flood curtained off the +sky. Wagner has made familiar the legend of the Rhine daughters, +singing impossibly under the river as they swim about the reef +of gold,--the treasure stolen by the gnome, Alberich, who in that +act brought envy, strife, greed, and injustice into the world, and +accomplished the destruction of the gods themselves. The wild tales +of Britain and Brittany, of thefts and revenges by the sea-creatures, +are among the oldest of their myths, and when we cross to our side +of the sea, the ocean people are close in our wake and they follow +us through the fresh waters and far out in the Pacific. + +Among the Antilles, as in the South Seas, the tritons blow their +conchs and shake their shaggy heads, while the daughters of the deep +gather, at certain seasons, on the water, or about some favorite +rock, and sing. Always, in Eastern versions of the myth, there is +music, save in the case of Melusina, who became a half fish only +on Saturdays, when her husband was supposed not to be watching, +and this music follows the myth around the world. Among the vague +traditions of certain Alaskan Indians is one of an immigration from +Asia, under lead of "a creature resembling a man, with long, green +hair and beard, whose lower part was a fish; or, rather, each leg a +fish." He charmed them so with his singing that they followed him, +unconsciously, and reached America. We find in Canada the tale of a +dusky Undine, a soulless water sprite, who, through love of a mortal, +became human. Some of the beings of the sea were of more than human +power and authority,--gods, in fact; barbarian Neptunes. Such was +the Pacific god, Rau Raku, who, being entangled in a fishing-net, was +lugged to the surface, sputtering tremendously. Yet he had no grudge +against the fisherman. That trembling unfortunate was too small for +his revenge. He would devastate the whole earth to which he had been +thus unceremoniously dragged, and, bidding his captor take himself +away while he made trouble, he deluged the globe until all upon it +had perished, except the fish, the fisherman, and a few land animals +that the sole human survivor had taken to a lofty island with him. + +The mermaid of story was a damsel fair to view, until she had risen +from the waves so as to show her fish-like ending. It was her habit +to sit on sunny beaches, comb her golden hair with a golden comb, and +sing delightfully, though her wilder sisters would perch on juts of +rock on lonely islands and scream in frightening ways when a gale was +coming. When the sea-maidens went ashore they sometimes met sailors +and fishermen, and if they liked these strangers a frank avowal of +love was made; for it is always leap year in the ocean. It was a most +uncomfortable position for a mortal to be placed in, especially one +who had a wife waiting for him at home, because if their addresses +were rejected the mermaids were liable to throw stones, and always +with fatal results; or they would brew mists, and set loose awful +storms; yet, if the man who inspired this affection was not coy, and +yielded to one of these slippery denizens, she dragged him under the +sea forthwith, unless he could persuade her to compromise on a cave or +a lonely rock as a home, for it is reputed that mortals have formally +wedded them and raised amphibious families. On the Isle of Man they +tell of one caught in a net, who was woman to the waist and fish as +to the rest of her. As she sulked in captivity, refusing to eat or +speak,--perhaps they forgot to offer raw fish for her supper,--it +was decided to let her escape; and as she wriggled over the beach she +was heard to tell her people (in Manx?), as they arose to greet her, +that the earth-men did nothing wonderful except to throw away water +in which they had boiled eggs! + +The home of the mermaids was at the bottom of the deep. A diver, who +said he had reached it, reported a region of clear water, lighted +from below by great, white stones and pyramids of crystal. These +haunts contained bowers of coral, gardens of bright sea weeds and +mosses, tables and chairs of amber, floors of iridescent shell and +pearls, gems strewn about the jasper grottoes,--diamonds, rubies, +topazes,--and the sea people had combs and ornaments of gold. Columbus +was disappointed in the mermaids that he saw in the Caribbean. They +were not, to his eyes, so handsome as the romancers had alleged, +nor were their voices sweet. The doubters claim that he was asleep +when the mermaids appeared, and that he saw nothing but the sea cow, +or manatee, which is neither tuneful nor pretty. + + + + + +The Aborigines + + +In following the southern coast of Cuba, Columbus supposed he +was working toward India. He died ignorant of the fact that he had +discovered a new world, and he gave up the exploration of this island +when almost in sight of open water at its western end. Of the first +inhabitants of Cuba (called by some Macaca, and by others Caboi, +"land of the dead," for the people killed their prisoners), little is +known, for they were exterminated as a distinct race, and their few +relics were disregarded as worthless or destroyed as idolatrous. It +is believed, however, that they had some knowledge of the arts; +they worked gold into ornaments, and copper and stone into tools +and weapons, and they wore helmets of feathers, like those of the +Hawaiian chiefs. Near Bayamo have been found farming tools, painted +pottery, and little statuettes supposed to represent gods. Their +houses were hardly more than shelters, frames of bamboo or light +boughs, though they were prettily environed by walks and flowers, +and their clothing--sometimes of fur, oftener of leaves and coarse +cloth--was of the scantiest. Heavy dresses in a tropic country, +or in a temperate country in tropic weather, are manifestly absurd. + +As on the other Antilles, the people of Cuba were brown, broad, +straight-haired, flat-faced, and decorated with slashes and +tattooing. They were singularly mild, honest, and trusting. They were +frightened by the Spanish ships, believing them to be great birds +that had come down from the sky, bringing the white adventurers in +their brave array; but when Columbus had sent a few beads and hawks' +bells to them, they expressed their confidence and delight in a hundred +ways, swam and rowed about his caravel offering fish and fruit, not in +trade, but as gifts, and when a crowd of hungry sailors ashore invited +themselves to a feast that had been prepared for a religious ceremony +the Indians made no objection, because they could prepare one like it +by another night's work. Food, indeed, was free to whoso needed it, +like air and water, and no stranger needed to go hungry. While the +Spaniards did little to invite their confidence, were insolent to +most other people and even to one another, the Indians set an example +of charity in conduct and in faith. The dons were intolerant of all +religions except their own, whereas the Cubans were quick to realize +that the performance of the mass was of some sacred significance, +and they preserved a reverent attitude throughout a ceremony whose +details they did not understand. When missionary work had fairly +begun it is said that some Spaniards drove Indians into the water, +forcibly baptized them, then cut their throats that they might not +repent their acceptance of the true faith. In their own belief there +appeared to be a purgatory and a paradise, but no hell or devil; +and, as beliefs reveal the character of the people who hold them, it +speaks well for the Cubans that the grewsome images invoked by certain +mediæval theologians had never been created in their more generous +imaginations. When a soul left the body it had two journeys before it: +one to a dismal place, where the cruel and unjust awaited; the other +to a fair land, like the best of earth, where all was pleasant and +peaceful; for, in spite of the warlike undertakings made necessary +by irruptions of the fierce Caribs, these people held to peace as +the highest good. + +Of these Indians hardly a dozen are remembered by their names, but the +chief Hatuey was revered among them for his courage and his military +skill. He had fled from Hayti to Cuba in a vain hope of escaping his +white enemy, and counselled the natives to throw all their gold into +the sea, that the Spanish might not linger on their coasts. He might +have been the one who ordered gold to be melted and poured down the +throats of his prisoners, that for one and the last time they might +have enough. The Spaniards caught him and burned him to death at +Baracoa. As he stood on the logs in chains, just before the flames +were applied, the friars pressed about him and earnestly advised him +to become a Christian, that he might not be required to roast in hell, +which would be worse than the torture he was about to endure, and which +would last forever. If only he would be baptized he could go direct +to heaven. "The white man's heaven?" he asked. "Yes." "Are there any +Spaniards in that heaven?" "Oh, yes, many." "Then light the fire." + +Columbus was the more convinced that he had reached Asia because +the name of one Cuban province, Mangon, he assumed to be Mangi, a +rich district of China. That its people had tails, like monkeys, was +nothing against this theory; that footprints of alligators should be +the tracks of griffins, which had the bodies of lions and the wings +and heads of eagles, was quite in order; but most convincing of all +was the discovery by an archer, who had entered a wood in search of +game, of thirty men with pale faces, armed with clubs and lances, +and habited in white gowns, like friars. The man fled in fear. When +his comrades returned with him to find this white company, not a +human being appeared to them, and, except for the chatter of birds +and the clicking of land-crabs as they scuttled over the stones, +the place was still. The coast Indians were understood to say +that among the mountains dwelt a chief whom they called a saint, +who wore a flowing robe of white and never spoke aloud, ordering +his subjects by signs. This was surely Prester John, the shadowy +king of a shadowy kingdom, of whom much was said and written a few +centuries ago. He was declared by one author to rule a part of India +and was reputed to be a Nestorian priest who had made himself king +of the Naymans. Other travellers placed him in China, Persia, and +Timbuctoo. In a battle with the infidel Tartars Prester John mounted +a number of bronze men on horseback, each figure belching clouds of +smoke from a fire of punk within, and lashed the horses against the +enemy, filling them with such terror, and so veiling in smoke the +dash of his flesh and blood cavalry, that his victory was easy. So, +it was a great satisfaction to Columbus to think that he had reached +the confines of a Christian kingdom. + +While working through the thousand little islands off the southern +coast of Cuba, that he called the Queen's Gardens, Columbus found +added reason for believing that this was the Asiatic shore, and he +hoped shortly to reach Cipango, or Japan, where pearls and precious +stones abounded, and where the king abode in a palace covered with +plates of gold more than an inch thick. The attempts of the Mongols to +overrun the Asian islands were defeated, because the Cipangalese were +invulnerable, having placed between the skin and the flesh of their +right arms a little stone that made them safe against swords, arrows, +clubs, and slings. The people of Cuba fell too easy a prey to Spanish +blades--of both sorts--to allow a belief like this to last long. + +That Columbus thought he was approaching the earthly paradise, the +mountain-guarded Eden where our first parents lived, when he neared +these lovely shores, inhaled the fragrance of fruits and flowers, +heard the cries of birds and saw the flash of bright waters, is +probable. That paradise he sought. The serpent of oppression and wrong +has left it, and as America comes into her own, that paradise shall be. + + + + + +The Caribs + + +Had it not been for the Caribs the Antilleans would have led a placid +existence. Those warlike and predacious Indians would not keep the +peace, nor would they allow other people to do so. Though they had +their capital in Guadaloupe, they extended their military enterprises +in every direction, and Cuba, Porto Rico, Hayti, Jamaica, and the +lesser islands suffered from their assaults. They were trained to +fight from childhood, and attained to great proficiency in arms. Being +active voyagers, they had some knowledge of astronomy. When operating +in the waters of a hostile country it was their custom to mask their +boats with palm leaves, for in this guise they stole upon the enemy the +easier. Like the red men of our plains, they painted their faces, and, +indeed, they retained many of the practices common to our tribes. In +their traditions they came from the North, like other strong races, +their old home being among the Alleghanies, and they conquered their +way from Florida to Brazil. Their tribe, they say, grew up from stones +that their remote ancestors had sowed in the soil. They buried their +dead in a sitting posture that they might be ready to leap up when +the spirit came for them, and they faced the sunrise that they might +see the day of resurrection the quicker. + +In their mythology the first men came down from heaven on clouds to +purify the world and make it as clean as the moon; but, while they were +looking about at this untidy planet, the clouds floated back and they +were left in a sorry plight, for they had brought no provisions with +them. Their hunger having sharpened so as to become unbearable, they +scraped up clay and baked it to make it less tough and more eatable, +and were grieved when it came out of the fire as hard as stone. Then +the birds and beasts had pity on them, and led them to the groves and +fields where they could find fruit, nuts, maize, and yams. One tree +was of such size that they chopped it with stone axes for ten months +before it fell, and they ate all of it. Beneath its roots, in a cave, +lived the Water Mother, who, possibly because she was angered by the +destruction of the tree, released a flood that would have covered the +earth had not a rock fallen into the throat of the cavern and stopped +the flow. This rock had life and speech. It warned the new race that +when its founders should grow old they were to expect a deluge. Until +that appeared they should find in the atone their best adviser and +protector, and if they would pray to it, giving a deaf ear to the +wood-devils, it would cure them of illness, gray hair, and age. After a +time came the monkey out of the woods, beguiling and wheedling, while +at every chance, with a monkey's love of mischief, he worked at the +stone, trying to dislodge it from the mouth of the cave. At last he +succeeded, and out poured the flood. An old woman ran to a palm that +touched the sky with its vast leaves, and climbed with feverish haste, +but fright and fatigue brought her to a stop when half-way up, and +she hardened to stone, thus blocking the way to all behind her, who, +when they touched her, became stone likewise. Some scrambled down, +splashed through the rising waters, and reached another palm tree, +which they climbed to its top, and so saved their lives. + +As the waters were subsiding, Amalwaka came sailing across the ocean +from the east, ascended the Orinoco, carved the figures found near +the head of that river, without leaving his canoe, smoothed the rugged +hills and invented the tides, so that men might go from place to place +on the current, but, being unable to make the Orinoco flow up stream, +he sailed away again into the arch of the rising sun, guided at night +by the constant star and by the tapir and Serikoai,--which is another +story, told by the Arawaks, to this effect: The bride of Serikoai +was seduced by the tapir god, who had first aroused her curiosity and +interest by his attentions, and had finally won her love by promising +to put off his swinish shape and reveal himself as a finer being than +her husband. If only she would follow him to the edge of the earth, +where the sky comes down, she would see that he was a god. The poor +husband was crippled by the wife, that he might not follow, for she +chopped off his leg as he descended an avocado pear-tree, in which +he had been gathering fruit for her. He nearly bled to death, but a +wandering spirit revived him and called his mother, who healed the +wound with gums and helped to make a wooden leg, on which he stumped +over the earth in search of his runaway wife. It is known that the +aborigines performed trepanning with skill, but this is probably the +earliest appearance in an American legend of a wooden leg. Though +he found no foot-prints, it was easy to trace the couple, because +avocados were springing up from seeds that the woman spat out as she +journeyed on. At the edge of the earth he caught the tapir and killed +him; yet the creature's shadow arose from the body and kept on its +flight with the wife. Straightforth she leaped into the blue vast, +and there she hangs, only we call her the Pleiades. The brute is the +Hyades. He glares and winks with his red eye: Aldebaran. The husband +is Orion, who follows the others through the sky. + +The Caribs were a handsome people, and one tradition narrates the +madness that afflicted a governor of Antigua, because of his jealousy +of a native chief. In 1640 this dusky Paris stole the English woman and +her child, and carried them to Dominica. The governor pursued. Arrived +where Roseau now stands, he learned that a captive woman and her child +had been landed there, and had been taken to some stronghold in the +forest. Drops of blood, pricked out by cactus thorns on the march, +formed a trail which he was able to follow, and believing that they +betokened murder, he killed all the Caribs he encountered. His wife +and boy were safe, however, except for their bleeding feet, and he +found them in the otherwise deserted cabin of the chief and took +them back to Antigua. The affair preyed on his mind. He began to +doubt his wife, thinking she had accompanied the savage willingly, +and his jealousy so increased that his friends had to secrete her, +to save her from his wrath. He probably recovered his senses in time. + +The Spaniards chased the Caribs out of several of the islands. That +of Grenada terminates on the north in a tall cliff called Le Morne +des Sauteurs, over which the white men compelled the flying Indians +to leap to their death. Not one Carib was left alive on this island. + + + + + +Secret Enemies in the Hills + + +The brutalities of the Spaniards who first occupied the West Indies +would seem incredible if so many of them had not continued to our +own day. It is estimated that half of the natives of Porto Rico were +killed, and within sixty or seventy years after the seizure of Cuba +its populace of three hundred thousand had been destroyed or removed +by war, murder, slavery, hunting with blood-hounds, imported vices +and diseases, flight and forced emigration. These natives are said to +have been a peaceful and happy race, practised in the simpler arts, +observing the moralities better than their oppressors, holding a faith +in one god--a god of goodness, not of hate--and in the immortality of +the soul, and abstaining from useless forms and ceremonies. They held +that when the soul had left the body it went into the woods and hills +or abode in caves, and took its food and drink as in the flesh. When a +man calls out in a solitary place among the mountains and an answering +voice comes back, it is not an echo, but a wandering soul that speaks. + +Even the relics of these folk--the Cubans or Siboneyes--have +vanished, save in the instance of the temple remains near Cobre, and +an occasional caney or mound of the dead, a truncated cone of earth +and broken stones. Some fossil skeletons found in caves, and of an +alleged age of fifty thousand years, denote an ancient race of large, +strong people. There are other skeletons of Siboneyes, Chinese, and +negroes in the caves,--victims of herding, slavery, fever, cruelty, +and suicide. There is little doubt that of the aboriginal stock not +a man remains. Yet there are stories of strange people who were +seen by hunters and explorers among the mountains, or who peered +out of the jungle at the villagers and planters and were gone again, +without track or sound,--people with swarthy faces, sinewy forms, long +black hair, decorations of coral shells and feathers, and bracelets, +armlets, and anklets of gold. Almost from the first, the conduct of +the Spaniard toward his enemies and dependents was such as to earn +for him a permanent hate; so, when his cruelty had been practised, and +the futility of opposing arms against his heavy weapons and his coat +of steel had been proved, it was natural that those who escaped him +should keep as far from reach as possible, and it is idle to suppose +that he traversed the seven hundred and thirty miles of Cuba's length, +whipping every forest and climbing every mountain, for no more than +the pleasure of killing. Negro slavery was introduced into the New +World before its existence had been known in Spain for a century, and +although the black men have usually been tractable, the severities of +their masters led to many revolts and to the organization of bands for +retaliation. These bands often degenerated, and during this century +the Spanish Antilles have been troubled by companies of beggars and +outlaws, mostly blacks and half-breeds, who have robbed and murdered +in the dark, run off stock from the farms, burned houses and shops, +and because of their secret and cowardly methods have been feared as +much as the Spaniards were hated. + +The Naņigos originally formed a secret order of negroes, banded for +protection against unkind slave-owners and overseers, but feeling +their power, and being swayed by passion and superstition, they +constituted, after a time, a body correspondent to the voodoos, +or wizards, of our Gulf States. With hideous incantations, with mad +dances, with obscene songs, with the slaughter of animals, with oaths +on an altar and crucifix, they invoked illness, ruin, and death on +their enemies. In time they gained accessions to their fraternity +from Spanish residents,--thieves, vagrants, deserters from the army, +the half-witted and wrong-hearted outcasts from the towns,--and the +fantastic ceremonies of the jungle came to mean something more to the +purpose of mischief, for the newer Naņigos had more skill and courage +than the slaves, and were familiar with more sins. To enter this +order it was required of the candidate that he steal a cock, kill it, +and drink the warm blood. A darker tale is that they were required to +drink human blood. In Havana this part of the initiation was performed +on the Campo Marti. The man's right nostril was pierced, and a skull +and crossbones branded on his chest. It was then expected of him +that within fifteen days he would kill an official or a policeman, +a white, black, or yellow marble, drawn by chance from a globe, +deciding whether he was to slay a white man, negro, or mulatto. When +he had, by this crime, attained to full membership, a little shield +was given to him which he might wear beneath his coat, and which was +decorated with the device of a skull and bones. For every murder he +committed a red stitch was put in at the edge of the skull. Once +a month, in the dark of the moon, the Naņigos paraded the streets +of the towns, their naked forms painted fantastically, their faces +ghastly with flour, tramping and leaping to the thud of drums and +clash of cymbals, yelling defiance to the military, brandishing knives +and firing pistols. It was a kind of thing that in an American city +could have happened for one consecutive time, but no more. In Havana +the Spaniards were terrorized. The police refused to make arrests, +lest they should fall victims to the outlaws. One judge who refused +to liberate an assassin was slain in his own house by his servant. + +As a partial revenge on the Cubans for wishing liberty the Spanish +captains-general have at times pardoned some hundreds of these rascals +and set them free to prey on the people; while, in retaliation, the +insurgents adopted some of the methods of the Naņigos and carried on +a guerilla warfare that neither troops nor trochas could abate. Many +are these more or less bold spirits of the hills who are celebrated in +inland stories: aborigines, Frenchmen, Creoles, mulattoes, who have +gathered bands of reckless fellows about them from time to time and +raided the Spaniard, flouting him in his strongholds, pillaging from +his farms, striking him, hip and thigh, and making off to the woods +before he knew how or by whom he had been struck. Sometimes even the +name of the guerilla has been forgotten, but the tradition remains of a +predecessor of Lopez, Gomez, and Garcia, who aided the English before +Havana in 1762. In that year Lord Albemarle took the town with two +hundred ships and fourteen thousand soldiers, beating a Spanish army +of almost double that size, though it was covered by heavy walls and +well provided with artillery. It took two months to reduce the city. + +During one of the land operations the red-coats lost themselves in a +dense wood, and were in considerable peril from bodies of Spaniards +who were almost within speaking distance. To advance or to retreat +was an equal risk. As the column was halted, pending a debate and a +reconnoissance, there was a rustle in a clump of bushes beside which +the colonel was standing; then, as every sword was drawn and a row +of muskets held ready, a tall man bounded into the space, laid his +finger on his lip to enforce silence, and, beckoning all to follow, +crept on stealthily through the chaparral. He was a man advanced in +years, a long white beard flowed over his chest, yet he was lithe and +quick, and his look and manner were those of one who lives in the +open and in frequent danger. He spoke not a word, but after a time +drew himself erect and pointed before him. He had led the English +to the rear of one of the Spanish batteries. The colonel, who had at +first regarded him with doubt, as a lunatic or a false guide, ordered +his men to attack, and after a short fight he returned to his lines +with prisoners and trophies of victory. He sought in all directions +for the old man, to thank him, but the jungle had swallowed him, +and he was never seen again. + + + + + +Sacred Shrines + + +Cuba has many shrines containing evidences of divine blessing, +and some of these are of wide renown. When the image of our Lady +of Charity was found in Nipe Bay it was delivered to the priests of +Cobre, the centre of the copper-mining industry, and they erected a +church above it. The statue is fifteen inches high, and is seemingly +carved from gold. A splendid shrine has been made as a setting, and +for years it has been the object of pilgrimages during the Lady's +festival in September. Those who ask for special favors, such as +the cure of lameness and blindness, ascend the long flight of steps +before the statue on their knees. The figure was found in 1627 by +two Indians and a Creole boy who were crossing the bay at dawn in +a search for salt. It appeared to them as a white body rising from +the water, but as they approached it revealed itself as the image +of the Virgin, the holy child on her left arm, a golden cross in +her right hand. The board on which it stood was inscribed, "I am the +Virgin of Charity." After it had been shown in the fold at Verajagua +and venerated by the multitude it was placed in a chapel, a number +of priests leading the march with a pomp and joy of banners, while +bells and guns signalized its progress. The Virgin was dissatisfied, +however, with the lack of splendor in her shrine and with the site +on which the chapel had been placed. She told her displeasure to a +girl named Apolonia, while she burned pale lights on a hill above +the mines, to mark the place on which she wished her church to be +erected. Her request was heeded so soon as the needed funds could be +collected. It was generally believed that the statue was given by +Ojeda to a native chief who, afraid of the enmity of his people as +a result of accepting a gift from a treacherous and hated race, or, +more reasonably, afraid that the Spaniards would kill him for the +sake of the gold that adorned it, set it afloat in the bay. A thief +despoiled it of thirty thousand dollars' worth of jewels after the +American occupation. + +This ambulatory practice of sacred images is not uncommon, and a +similar instance is recorded in Costa Rica, where in 1643 the state +had been thrown into a panic by the devil, who lives in the volcano +of Turrialba, when he is at home, and who generally was at home in +those days, for he seized upon every wayfarer who ventured on the +peak. General joy was therefore felt at the discovery of a Madonna +by a peasant woman at Cartago. She carried it to her hut, but it was +dissatisfied and ran away--twice--three times. The village priest +then took it and put it under lock and key in his house. Again it +ran away. It was carried to church in procession, and it ran away +again. Then the priest laid a heavy assessment on his flock for silk +and gold and emeralds with which to deck the image, and this concession +having been made to a feminine fondness for appearance, the statue has +remained patiently on its pedestal ever since. One of the treasures +of the Church of Mercy, Havana, is a painting of the cross, with a +woman seated on one arm of it, holding a child. Spanish soldiers and +proud-looking Indians are gathered about the emblem. The origin of the +picture is involved in doubt, but it was installed in recognition of an +appearance vouchsafed by the Virgin to Columbus at Cerro de la Vega, +in presence of the Indians. The natives, alarmed at this vision in +the air, and associating it--justly, as it fell out--with calamity, +discharged their arrows at it, and were still more frightened when +their darts passed through the apparition without causing a flow of +blood. This onslaught put the Spaniards into an instant rage, and, +encouraged by the Virgin's smiles, they fell upon the heathen with +sword and musketoon and stamped them out of existence. + +Some of these supernatural appearances had so occult a purpose that it +has never been fathomed. At Daiquiri, for example, where the American +troops landed in the late war, a native reported to the wondering +community that while walking through the wood he met a tall, shaggy +stranger, who looked as though he might have been one of the fisherman +disciples, and who pointed to the earth with an imperious gesture. So +soon as the Cuban had looked down the tall man melted into air. On +the ground was the print of the face of Christ. A stone was placed +on the spot to mark the miracle. + +When the fiery Ojeda set out on his several voyages of discovery and +adventure,--and no man ever had more excitement and tribulation,--he +carried in his knapsack a small painting of the Virgin, the work +of a Fleming of some artistic consequence. During his halts in +the jungle it was his custom to affix this picture to a tree, say +his prayers before it, receive spiritual assurance of protection, +then, grasping sword and buckler, to undertake the slaughter of the +natives with fresh alacrity and cheer. So confident was he in his +heavenly guard that he exposed himself recklessly in fight, and the +Indians were fain to believe him deathless, until one of their arrows +pierced his leg. If this injured his confidence it did not stint +his courage. He ordered his surgeon to burn the leg with hot irons, +threatening to hang him if he refused, for he fancied that the arrow +was poisoned. When wrecked on the south coast of Cuba with seventy +varlets, who had no concern for exploration and much for booty, +he struck out bravely for the east end of the island, floundering +through marshes and breaking his way through tangles of vegetation, +the company living for several days on a few pounds of raw roots, +moldy cassava, and cheese, and at last breaking down in despair. In +thirty days they had crossed ninety miles of morass, and were too +feeble to go farther. Ojeda set up his picture for the last time and +besought the thirty-five cut-throats who survived to pray to it also, +assuring the Virgin that if she would only guide them through their +peril this time he would make a chapel for her in the first village +he might reach. + +In answer to this prayer a path was disclosed that led them to dry +ground, and they soon arrived at the hamlet of Cuebas, where the +natives received them with every kindness, and went to the marsh +to rescue such of the party as had been abandoned but were still +alive. These rascals afterward reached Jamaica, where some were hanged +for their various murders and sea-robberies, while others re-enlisted +in various freebooting enterprises. Ojeda kept his promise. He +explained to the chief at Cuebas the principal points in the Christian +faith, built a little oratory in the village, and placed the picture +above the altar, with orders that the Indians should always treat it +with reverence. Though they did not comprehend the relation of the +painting to the white man's religion, they saw from the demeanor of +Ojeda and his friends that it was a thing of value and might avert +hoodos. Therefore it was attired and cared for with as much assiduity +as if it had been consigned to a Spanish cathedral, and although +the Indians had not been Christianized, they decorated the oratory, +overhung its walls with sacrifices, while at stated intervals they sang +and danced before it. When Father Las Casas tried to get this picture +away from them, afterward, it was hidden in the forest until he had +passed on. Ojeda reformed, killed several of his associates who had +attempted his life, turned monk, and was buried under the door-stone +of his monastery, that the populace might trample on his pride. + + + + + +Tobacco + + +Tobacco suggests Cuba, or Cuba more than suggests tobacco. Havana +cigars are the synonym for excellence, and it was on this island that +the native American was first seen with a cigar in his mouth. It +was not much like the cigars of our day, for it consisted of loose +leaves folded in a corn-husk, as a cigarette is wrapped in paper. It +amazed the Spaniards as much to see these dusky citizens eating fire +and breathing smoke as it astonished the Filipinos when the Spaniards, +having learned the trick, and having landed on their islands, proceeded +to swallow flame and utter smoke in the same fashion,--a proceeding +which convinced the people of the Philippines that the strangers were +gods. The white adventurers never found the palace of Cubanacan, whose +gates were gold and whose robes were stiff with gems, but they found +the soothing and mischievous plant that was eventually to create more +wealth for them than the spoil of half a dozen such palaces. The Cuban +word for this plant was cohiba. The word tobago, which we have turned +into tobacco, was applied to a curious pipe used by the Antilleans, +which had a double or Y-shaped stem for inserting into the nostrils, +the single stem being held over a heap of burning leaf. The island +of Tobago was so named because its explorers thought its outline to +resemble that of the pipe. + +In one form or another the use of the weed was prevalent throughout +the Americas. Montezuma had his pipe after dinner, and rinsed his +mouth with perfume. For medicinal purposes snuff was taken through +a tube of bamboo, and tobacco leaves were chewed. The practice of +chewing also obtained to a slight extent among the natives as a +stay against hunger, and they are said to have indulged it in long +and exhaustive marches against an enemy. They would chew in battle, +because in a fight at close range they tried to squirt the juice +into the eyes of their foemen and blind them. The herb was taken +internally as a tea for medicinal reasons, was used as a plaster, +and was valued as a charm. Francisco Fernandez took it to Europe; +Drake and Raleigh introduced it in England, and though its use was +regarded as a sin, to be checked not merely by royal "counterblasts" +and by edicts like that of William the Testy, but by laws prescribing +torture, exile, whipping, and even death, it was not long in reaching +the uttermost parts of the earth. + +Men of all races and conditions incline to the tradition of the +Susquehannas, that the plant was the gift of a benevolent spirit. In +their account this manitou had descended to eat meat, which they had +offered to her in a time of famine. As she was about to go back to +the skies she thanked them for their kindness, and bade them return +to the spot in thirteen months. They did so, and found maize growing +where her right hand had rested, beans at her left, and tobacco where +she had been seated. + +The Indians of Guiana say that tobacco was given by a sea-goddess to a +man who was begging the gods to do something for him,--he didn't know +exactly what; he would merely like to have somebody do something for +him on general principles. As a divine gift, therefore, it was used +in certain of the rites of the Indians, and the man who wished to go +into a trance and see visions would starve for a couple of days, then +drink tobacco water. He generally saw the visions,--if he lived. In +some islands the priests inhaled the smoke of a burning powder and +thereupon fell into a stupor or a frenzy in which they talked with +the dead. Was this the smoke of tobacco, plus a little abandon, a +little falsehood, a little enthusiasm? Its enemies in King James's +time would have said that the smokers deserved not merely to talk +with the dead, but to join them. + + + + + +The Two Skeletons of Columbus + + +Following the return of the vanquished army of Spain to its home +country was another solemn voyage, undertaken for the transfer of the +bones of Christopher Columbus from the world he had discovered to the +land that grudgingly, cautiously permitted him to discover it. Spain +claimed all the benefits that arose from his knowledge, his bravery, +his skill, his energy, and his enthusiasm, and rewarded his years +of service with dismissal from office and confinement in chains as +a prisoner, but now it repented, and wished to house his unwitting +relics in state. Once before these bones had crossed the sea. After +the death of the great navigator, in Valladolid, Spain, in 1506, +his body remained in that city for seven years. Then it was taken +to Seville and placed in Las Cuevas monastery with that of his son, +Diego. In 1536 both bodies were exhumed and sent to Santo Domingo, +or Hispaniola, an island that Columbus appeared to hold in a warmer +liking than either of the equally picturesque, fertile, and friendly +islands of Cuba, Porto Rico, or Jamaica. In the quaint old cathedral +of Santo Domingo, built in 1514, the bodies of the great admiral, +his son, and also his grandson, Louis, first Duke of Veragua, rested +for more than a century without disturbance. + +On the appearance of the English fleet, however, in 1655, the +archbishop was so fearful of a raid on the church and the theft of +the bodies that he ordered them to be hidden in the earth. During +the years in which they remained so covered the exact burial-place of +the admiral may have been forgotten, or, it may be, as several people +allege, that the San Dominicans tricked the Spaniards when, in 1795, +the latter gave their island to France and carried with them to Havana +the supposed skeleton of Columbus. Bones of somebody they certainly +did take, but it is no uncommon belief in the Antilles that the monks +of Santo Domingo had hidden the precious ones and sent to the monks +of Havana the bones of the son, Diego, albeit a monument was erected +to the memory and virtues of the great Columbus in Havana cathedral. + +In 1878 the old church in Santo Domingo was undergoing repair when +the workmen came upon a leaden box containing the undoubted remains +of the first Duke of Veragua. Breaking through the wall of the vault +they found themselves in a larger one, and here was a box two feet +long, enclosing a skull, bones, dust, jewelry, and a silver plate +bearing the words "C. Colon," and on the end of the box, according to +some witnesses, the letters "C. C. A.," meaning Christopher Columbus, +Admiral (the English initials being the same as for the name and title +in Spanish). A more circumstantial account places the time of this +rediscovery in 1867, and says that a musket-ball was the only object +found in the little coffin, while the silver plate on the lid was thus +inscribed, "Una pt. de los restos del Primar Alm. to Du Christobal +Colon." The Santo Dominicans claim their right to the relics on the +ground that in his life the Spanish misused the discoverer, though +his grief was not deep enough to justify the ancient rumor of his +electing to be buried with the chains in which he was carried back to +Spain. Meantime Seville is to build a monument, and Santo Domingo is +putting up another, each city claiming to have his only real skeleton. + + + + + +Obeah Witches + + +From the earliest days of Spanish occupancy the Antilles have been the +haunt of strange creatures. Mermen have sung in their waters, witches +and wizards have perplexed their villages, spirits and fiends have +dwelt among their woods. Everybody fears the jumbie, or evil spirit +that walks the night; and the duppy, the rolling calf, the ghost of +the murdered one; all pray that they may never meet the diablesse, +the beautiful negress with glittering eyes, who passes silently through +fields where people are at work, and smiling on any one of them compels +him to follow her,--where? He never returns. Anansi (grotesquely +disguised sometimes as Aunt Nancy) is a hairy old man with claws, +who outwits the lesser creatures, as Br'er Rabbit does. To him and +his familiars are attributed all manner of queer tales, one of which, +from Jamaica, may be quoted as an illustration: + +Sarah Winyan, an orphan of ten, lived with her aunt, while her two +brothers kept house by themselves a mile or two away. This aunt was +an Obeah witch, the duppy, or devil ghost, that was her familiar, +appearing as a great black dog that she called Tiger. Sarah stood +between this old woman and a little property, and after finding that +the child endured her abuse with more or less equanimity and was +not likely to die, she told her that she was too poor to support +her any longer, and she must go. Sarah sat on a stone before the +house, wondering how she could make a living, and all the time sang +mournfully. A racket as of some heavy creature plunging about in the +bushes aroused her with a start and she scrambled into a tree. It was +Tiger who had been making the disturbance. He told her to descend at +once. If she would go with him peacefully, and would be his servant, +all would be well, but if she refused he would gnaw the tree down and +tear her into a thousand pieces. He showed his double row of teeth, +like daggers, whereupon Sarah immediately descended. As she walked +beside him to his lair she sang low, in the hope of being heard +and rescued. It was well that she did so, for her brothers, who were +hunting in the wood, recognized her voice and softly followed. Peering +in at the cave where Tiger made his home, they saw him sleeping +soundly with his head in Sarah's lap. Cautiously, slowly, she drew +away, leaving a block of wood for his head to rest upon, and crept +out of the cavern. Then the boys entered, and with their guns blew +the head of the beast into bits, cut his body into four parts, buried +them at the north, south, east and west edges of the wood; then killed +the wicked aunt. And since that day dogs have been subject to men. + +The evil eye is not uncommon in the Antilles. It blights the lives of +children, and it is one of the worst of fates to be "overlooked" by an +Obeah man possessing it. Higes, or witches, too, are seen, who take off +their skins, and in that state of extra-nudity go about looking for +children, whose blood they suck, like vampires. Lockjaw is caused by +this loss of blood. There is a three-footed horse, also, that gallops +about the country roads when it has come freshly out of hell and is +looking for victims it can eat. If it halts before a house, that stop +means death to somebody within, and the peculiar sound made by its +three hoofs tells what has passed. It is not well to look, because +the creature has an eye in the centre of its forehead that flashes +fire. One who meets it is so fascinated by this blazing eye that he +cannot look away. He stares and stares; presently paralysis creeps over +him, and in a little while he falls dead. Sometimes a creature is seen +riding on this horse,--a man with a blue face, like that of a corpse, +and with that face turned toward the tail. Related, in tradition, +to the horse was the king-snake of Carib myth, a frightful creature +that wore a brilliant stone in its head, which it usually concealed +with a lid, like that of the eye, but which it would uncover when it +went to a river to drink, or played about the hills. Whoever looked +on this dazzling stone would lose his sight on the instant. + +The Obeah man has an hereditary power that comes to him in advanced +age, and that, when at its strongest, enables him to send an evil +spirit into any object he pleases. Not only do the people believe in +him, but he has the fullest faith in himself. When he boils a witch +broth of scorpions' blood, toads' heads, snake bellies, spider poison, +and certain herbs picked by moonlight (an actual mixture used by +Obeah witches),--boils it over a fire of dead men's bones, between +midnight and dawn,--he has no more doubt of its power to harm than +the physician doubts the power of his quinine and antipyrin for good. + +A Cuban planter who suspected one of his older slaves of being an Obeah +man determined to punish him if he were found guilty, and to suppress +the diabolism attending the midnight meetings. Watching his chance, +he followed his slaves into the wood, peeped through the crevices of +the deserted hut which they had entered to perform their fantastic +rites, saw their mad dance, when, stripped and decorated with beads, +shells, and feathers, they leaped about with torches in their hands; +then saw his suspected slave enter through a back door, his black skin +painted to represent a skeleton. The old man held up a fat toad, which, +he said, was his familiar, and the company began to worship it with +grotesque and obscene ceremonies. Though he felt a thrill of disgust +and even a dim sense of fear at the spectacle, the planter broke in at +the door and confronted the Obeah man. Had he ordered the old fellow +to do any given task about his house or grounds in the daytime, that +order would have been obeyed. What was the planter's astonishment, +therefore, when the slave calmly disregarded his command to return +to quarters, and bade his master leave the place at once and cease +to disturb the meeting, or prepare for a great misfortune. Enraged, +and fearing lest this defiance might encourage the other slaves +to mutiny, the master shot the old man dead. A few days later the +planter's wife died while seated at the table. A week after his +daughter died, a seeming victim of poison. All the latent superstition +in his nature having been aroused, he sought out another Obeah man, +to beg that he would intercede with the powers of darkness, but the +wizard was stern. He told him that the slave he had killed was the +most powerful master of spirits in the country, and that nothing +could stay the revenges of fate. When the planter reached his home +he found a letter there announcing the death of his only son in Paris. + + + + + +The Matanzas Obeah Woman + + +On a hillock near Matanzas, with a ragged wood behind it, stood for +many years an unkempt cottage. In our land we should hardly dignify it +by such a name. We would call it, rather, a hovel. Some rotting timbers +of it may still be left, for the black people who live thereabout +keep away, especially at night, believing that the hillock is a resort +of spirits. Yet not many of them remember the incident that put this +unpleasant fame upon it, for--that was back in the slavery days. The +brutal O'Donnell was governor-general then. He found Cuba in its usual +state of sullen tranquillity, and no chance seemed to offer by which he +could make a name for himself, so he magnified every village wrangle +into an insurrection. It looked well in his reports when he set forth +the skill and ease with which he had suppressed the uprisings, and, +as he did not scruple to take life in punishment for slight offences, +nor to retaliate on a community for the misconduct of a single member +of it, he almost created the revolution that he described to his home +government. The merest murmur, the merest shadow was enough to take +him to the scene of an alleged outbreak, and he would cause slaves +to be whipped until they were ready to confess anything. + +A black boy in Matanzas, arrested on suspicion of inciting +to rebellion, was condemned to seven hundred blows with the +lash. At the end of the flogging, being still alive, he was shot, at +O'Donnell's order. He would confess nothing, because he had nothing to +confess. This boy had been brought up in a well-to-do Spanish family, +and was the play-mate, the friend, of the son of that family, rather +than his slave. The white boy begged for the life of his associate, +the family implored mercy, and asked for at least a trial, but the +governor-general would not listen to them, and after the shooting +the white boy became insane with shock and grief. Thus much of the +legend is declared to be fact. + +It was the mother of the black boy who lived in this cabin outside of +the town. She had also been a slave until the Spanish family, giving +up its plantation, moved into the city, sold the younger and stronger +of their human properties, and set free the elderly and rheumatic, +taking with them only a couple of servants and the boy, who went with +his mother's consent, for she knew he would be cared for, and she +could see him often, the relation between slave and owner, being more +commonly affectionate than otherwise. At its best, slavery is morally +benumbing to the enslaved, destructive of the finer feelings, and +when the old woman learned of her son's death,--and such a death--she +did not go mad, as his playfellow had done. She lamented loudly, she +said many prayers, she accepted condolences with seeming gratitude, +but the tears had ceased to flow ere many weeks, and she was seen to +smile when her old mistress, whose affliction was indeed the heavier, +had called on her in her cabin, no doubt feeling as much in need of +her servant's sympathy as the servant felt of the creature comforts +she took to her. + +Yet deep in Maumee Niņa's nature a change had taken place. She did not +know it herself for many months. Her loss had not affected her conduct +or appearance greatly, yet her heart had hardened under it and she +began to look upon the world with a different eye. She cared less for +her friends, and went to church less often,--a suspicious circumstance, +for when a negro failed to go to mass, and kept away from confession, +it was surely because he had something mischievous to confess. The +rumor got about that Maumee Niņa had become an Obeah woman,--a voodoo +worker, a witch. It is not unlikely that the accusation inspired her +to live down to it. Not only were witches held in respect and fear, +but she might be able, through evil arts, to plague the race that +had worked her husband to death in the mines, and now had killed her +only son. She kept still more at home, brooding, planning, yielding +farther and farther to the evil suggestions that her repute as a +voodoo priestess offered to her, yet keeping one place in her heart +even warmer than before,--the place filled by her daughter, Juanita. + +This girl of fifteen or sixteen was not black, like her mother. She +was a handsome mulatto. In a country where relations are so easily +established without marriage, and where marriage is so difficult and +has so little force, the fatherhood of many children is in doubt. If +Juanita knew her father's name she was not known to him. It mattered +little. The old woman intended to bring her up as a lady,--that is, +to qualify her for a place as waiting-maid in the house of some +good family; so she made many sacrifices on her account, clothing +her vividly, requiring less work of her than she should have done, +and even, it was said, paying money to have reading taught to her, +and that was an accomplishment, indeed. + +Considering the pains and self-denials that the rearing of this child +incurred, it was a trifle inconsistent that Maumee Niņa should have +opposed the friendly advances of gallants from the town. She was not +of a class that is wont to consider the etiquette of such attentions, +nor would she have refused to give her daughter in marriage to any +Cuban. It was that her feeling toward the Spaniards was deepening +into hate, and it rejoiced her to learn that a revolution was really +intended. By her native shrewdness she was able to do something for her +people's cause. Whenever a young negro went to her to have his fortune +told,--and from this art she began to realize a steady income,--she +managed to hint at his future greatness as a military leader, his +gains in the loot of Spanish camps, his prowess in bush-fighting when +hostilities should really have begun. + +In this way she really incited a number of the ambitious, the +quarrelsome, and the greedy to enlist in the schemes for Cuba's +liberation. Naņigo meetings were held in and near her house; there +were wild dances and uncanny ceremonies, sacrificing of animals in +the moonlight, baptisms of blood, weird chants and responses, and +crime increased in the town. All this being reported to the military +the guard lines were extended and a squadron was posted at a house +not over a mile from Maumee Niņa's, with Lieutenant Fernandez in +command. Fernandez was a dashing fellow, with swarthy countenance, +moustachios that bristled upward, close-trimmed hair and beard, a +laughing, pleasure-loving eye, and he wore a trig uniform that set +off his compact shape to advantage. Old Niņa heard, though it was not +true, probably, that he had carried out the order of O'Donnell for the +shooting of her boy. Naturally he was the last man she could wish to +see, and she made no secret of her dislike when, on returning to her +home from a visit to Matanzas, she found this young officer seated +on a chair before her door, twirling his moustache and gayly chatting +with her daughter. She instantly ordered the girl to go indoors, and +bade the lieutenant pack off about his business. Being an easy-going +fellow, with no dislike for the people among whom the fortunes of his +calling had cast him, and with a strong fondness for pretty maids, +the young man deprecated the anger of the woman, but finding, after +some persiflage, that it was of small use to try to make friends with +her, he marched away toward his quarters, trolling a lively air and +drumming with his fingers on his sword-hilt. On the next evening he +was at Maumee Niņa's again, and before the very nose of that indignant +dame chaffed her daughter, whom he also chucked under the chin; and he +gazed long and searchingly at a couple of low-browed, shifty-looking +blacks who were talking with the old woman when he entered. + +"Who are these fellows?" he demanded. + +"What right have you, seņor lieutenant, to question me about my guests, +in my own house?" replied Niņa. "It is enough that they were invited, +and you were not." + +The lieutenant glanced sharply at Juanita. She looked at the shabby +fellows for an instant, smiled contemptuously, and gave her head a +saucy fling. The officer's good-nature was restored in a moment. "Give +me a calabash of water from that spring of yours, your grace, and +I'll take myself off," said he. "But, mind, there are to be no more +dances here,--no more voodoo practice." + +Old Niņa left the room grumbling to herself, while Fernandez talked +with Juanita, quite disregarding the sour and silent pair of black +men. As he glanced through a crack in the timbers of the house he saw +the old woman raise a gourd of water, wave her hand above it three +times, mutter, and shake her head. Then she drew from her pocket a tiny +object and dropped it in the water, stirring it around and around, +as if to dissolve it. There was a quiet smile on the lieutenant's +face as he received the calabash from the old woman's hand. + +"In the old days, seņora," he said, "it was the way to sweeten the +drink of a cavalier by getting the fairest lady of the house to sip +from it before he drank. Seņora Juanita, you will take a little from +this shell, and I will then drink to your eyes." + +Juanita had taken the calabash and had lifted it to her mouth, when +Niņa sprang forward and struck it to the floor. The lieutenant looked +steadily into the face of the old woman. Her eyes, at first expressing +fear, then anger, dropped under his gaze. "I thought so," he said, +calmly, and left the house without a backward look or another word. + +Late that night a subaltern, who had called on Fernandez to carry +a report to headquarters, set off alone in the direction of the +city. When half a mile on his way a man suddenly confronted him +and asked him for a light. He promptly offered his cigar. Puffing +fiercely the stranger created a glow, and in the shadow behind it he +eagerly scanned the face of the soldier. He then returned the stump, +saying, "Pass on, sir. You are not he I seek. Your cigar has saved +your life." There was a click, as of a knife thrust into its sheath, +and the stranger was gone. + +Fernandez heard of this and drew an inference, but it did not deter +him from another visit to the Obeah woman's house next evening. The +old woman was away. Juanita was there alone. Truly, the girl was fair, +her eye was merry, she had white teeth and a tempting lip; moreover, +she appeared by no means indifferent to the young officer. In ten +minutes they were talking pleasantly, confidently, and Fernandez held +the maiden's hand. + +The hours went by without any one there to take account of them. It +was a fair and quiet night, except for the queer and persistent +call of some insects that seemed always to be drawing nearer to the +house. Faint now came the sound of the clock in Matanzas striking +twelve. As if it were a signal to the dead, shadows appeared about +the house of the Obeah woman, creeping, nodding, motioning, moving +toward the door. One stood close beside it and struck it twice, loudly, +with a metal implement that rang sharply; then it waited. Steps were +heard inside,--the steps of a man in military boots: Fernandez. There +was a swish of steel, too, like a sword whipped out of its scabbard, +but almost at the instant when this was heard the door was opened. A +blow, a faint cry, a fall, a hurry of steps in the grass; then a +light. Fernandez held it. A long, agonized scream quavered through +the darkness, and Maumee Niņa, with blood on her hands, fell prone +on the body of her daughter, her Juanita, lying there on the earth +with a knife in her heart. + + + + + +How Havana Got its Market + + +Among the Spanish governors of Cuba, some of whom managed by strict +economy to save a million dollars out of a salary of forty thousand +dollars,--men of Weyler's stamp,--it is pleasant to know of one or +two who really had the good of the island at heart. Such was the +honest Blanco, and such was Tacon, to whom Havana owes much of its +beauty and architectural character. He did what he could to abolish +brigandage, which under preceding administrations had become common. He +organized a force of night watchmen; he dealt with offenders according +to their deserts, and if at times he was too severe it was because he +believed that a lesson in the impartiality of justice was needed by +certain favored classes. He had a Latin's love of the sensational +and spectacular, though in conduct, rather than in appearance, +and in these days some of his acts would be set down to a love of +self-advertising. As they had their effect, those who profited by +increased safety could afford to be incurious of reasons. He startled +the populace on the very day he landed. Cuba had been overrun with +bandits, some masquerading as insurgents, while others prowled through +the towns cutting throats in the shadow of the church. Cries of "Stop +thief!" and "Murder!" were common at midday. More than one hundred +people had been stabbed to death before the Chapel of Our Lord of the +Good Death. Police and soldiery were terrorized, and no man cheerfully +went through the side streets after dark. Startling depravity was +instanced. Jose Ibarra, a mulatto, had killed seventeen people before +he was hanged at the age of seventeen. It was supposed that Tacon +would arrive with a flourish of trumpets and would try to impress +the public. The Spanish army was represented at the landing-place by +generals and colonels bedizened with bullion and buttons; there were +troops with silken flags and glittering sabres and bayonets; there was +a copious exhibit of bunting; society was there in carriages, with +liveried footmen and outriders; foreign diplomats were in uniform, +as if to meet royalty, and the clergy had a place of honor. The boat +touched the pier. A small man in civilian dress walked smartly to the +land. He had a riding-whip in his hand,--symbol of his rule: for this +was Tacon, and within a month he was to whip crime into its dens and +make the capital of Cuba safe. His first order carried consternation +to the advocates of fuss and feathers. It was to dismiss the parade, +remove the decorations, send the police to their posts, and declare +Havana in a state of siege. This was startling, but it gratified +and assured those who had long begged for an honest and watchful +government, and had continued not to get it. Crime recognized and +feared this master. "In a little while," says a Cuban, "you could +have gone about the streets at any hour of the night with diamonds +in your open hands and nobody would have touched you, not even the +Spanish Robert Macaire or Robin Hood, who is remembered bitterly in +Andalusia,--Diego Corrientes." Merchants going to and from the bank +with money had formerly been compelled to hire soldiers as guards, +and when they complained of violence the magistrates had said, "Go to +bed at seven, as we do, and you'll have no trouble." Thieves bought +their liberty from jailers. Tacon arrested the jailers in that case. + +It does not take long to erect a reputation when it has a basis of +desert. An odd modern instance is told in the case of an American +newspaper reporter, John C. Klein, who, after ten years of absence, +was canonized by the Samoans, among whom he had lived for some years, +as a hero in battle, a slayer of Germans, and a wizard who closed +his own wounds by magic. The gods approved him, and the people in +their trouble prayed for the return of Talaini o le Meleke (Klein, +the American) to rescue them. And with Tacon it took hardly longer to +become a sort of national hero. The qualities he showed in reforming, +building, extending, and protecting Havana were so unusual that the +people willingly credited others to him he may not have possessed. He +has become legendary already. + +Tacon, after gathering in two thousand of the riff-raff and putting +them at work on roads, piers, and prisons, applied himself with +special energy to the suppression of Marti, the most daring, yet the +slyest and most cautious of all the robbers in the country. He and +his band thought no more of splitting the weasand of a soldier than +tossing off a glass of brandy, and the people were more than half +his friends, because he joined smuggling to his other industries, +and was therefore able to provide them with many necessities, such +as wine and bandanas, at a price much lower than they commanded in +the shops. Yet the secret agents, the constabulary, and the troops +began to make it perilous for these law-breakers, and General Tacon +was hopeful of their speedy capture. On a certain morning he looked +up abstractedly from some letters he was writing on the case of +Marti and was astonished to see a burly but well-dressed stranger +standing before his desk. "How in the devil did you get in here, sir, +unannounced?" he asked, in some irritation. + +"I come on secret business," replied the other, in a lower tone. + +"Ha! About ----" + +"Exactly. About Marti." + +"Speak, then. You will not be overheard. What do you know?" + +"First, your Excellency, let us understand the situation. There is +a large reward for this man, is there not?" + +"There is. Capture him and the money is yours. Ah, I see! You wish +to turn state's evidence. So much the better. You shall be protected." + +"But suppose I had been associated with the worst of these men? Suppose +I had committed crimes? Suppose I had been a leader?" + +"Even in that case you shall be protected." + +"Give me your word, as an officer and a gentleman, that, no matter +what my offences have been, I shall have an official pardon when I +put you on the track of the outlaws." + +"You must earn the pardon. If you know the haunts of the smugglers +we shall expect you to pilot us to every one of them." + +"I will do it. I am tired of an evil life, tired of hiding, tired of +fear, tired of hate. I wish to come back and live among men." + +"Well spoken. And Marti?" + +"I shall be pardoned, absolutely, when I bring him here?" + +"Absolutely. When may we expect him?" + +"Now." + +"Where?" + +"Here." + +"What! To-day? This Marti ----" + +"You are looking at him." + +Tacon started, and his glance fell on a couple of pistols that +lay on the desk before him. He always kept them there, primed and +loaded. Marti smiled, drew from beneath his coat two larger ones, +handsomely mounted with silver, and placed them on the desk. "I am +through with them," said he. + +Tacon looked at him almost with admiration. "You begin well," +he admitted, "and you shall have your pardon. But until you have +fulfilled your promise and helped us to break up these bands of +smugglers and--ah----" + +"Oh, speak out: Thieves! That is right." + +"Well, thieves,--we must keep you under guard." + +"I am satisfied; only, let us get to work as soon as possible, and +have the business over." + +"We will start to-morrow." + +Marti was placed in a large room in a hotel under watch of the +constabulary, but free to order any comfort or luxury he could pay +for. On the very next morning he set out with a posse of soldiers and +visited all the resorts of his former associates in the vicinity. The +fellows had evidently suspected something, for they had made off. Their +haunts being thus disclosed, however, much of their plunder was +afterward recovered, and Marti's surrender having left them without +a leader, they retreated to distant provinces, and safety and peace +were restored to the island. + +If Marti had any misgivings as to the certainty of his pardon after +this exploit, he did not show them. He returned to General Tacon's +office as cool and self-possessed as if he were running a boat-load +of spirits under the noses of the customs officers. + +"You have been true to your part of the agreement," said the general, +"and I will be to mine. Here is your pardon, signed and sealed, and +this is my order on the treasury for the reward for your arrest. Sly +dog!" + +"I accept the pardon with gratitude, your Excellency, but I do not need +the money. My country is poor. Let her keep it. I am rich. Never mind +how I became so. Yet, if I may claim a reward, give me a monopoly of +the fisheries on this coast. Havana will not suffer if your generosity +takes this form." + +And it did not. He got the fisheries, but he spent his profits freely, +and one of the first of his benefactions was the construction of +a market that had no superior in beauty and fitness elsewhere in +the world. + + + + + +The Justice of Tacon + + +When the parades were over, or church was out, or it was near time for +the play, one always found a dozen officers and gallants sauntering +down the Calle de Comercio, bound for the same place: the tobacco shop +of Miralda Estalez. In 1835 Miralda was known all over the town as +"the pretty cigar girl," and it was quite the thing for young sprigs +of family to lounge against her counter, tell her how charming she +was, make her light their cigarettes and sometimes take the first +puff from their cigars. All this she took with jesting good-nature, +chaffing all of her customers, commiserating with them in mocking tones +on their fractured hearts, and lamenting the poverty that confined +their purchases to the cheaper brands of her wares. She knew how far +to allow a compliment to go. If it became too free the smile faded +from her lip, her black eyes flashed, and an angry rose mounted into +the clear olive of her cheek. + +If there was one young man who, more than any other, caused these +angry symptoms to appear it was the Count Almonte. His attentions had +become annoying. She had told him that his flattery was distasteful; +that her betrothed was Pedro Mantanez, the boatman, and that they were +waiting to be married only until their savings had reached a certain +figure. After one of these dismissals of more than usual frankness, +the count went to his apartments in town, arrayed himself in his +uniform of honorary lieutenant of the guards, asked the commandant to +let him have an escort of half a dozen men, as he expected trouble +at his country-place at Cerito, and within an hour or two appeared +before Miralda's little shop. He entered this time with an easy, +confident air and an evil smile. "You must come with me, my beauty," +he said, trying to chuck her under the chin. + +"Leave my place at once, seņor. I have nothing more to say to you." + +"Oh, but I have much to say to you; and to begin with, I have a +warrant for your arrest." + +"Arrest!" + +"For theft,--the theft of a heart,--my heart." + +"Your jokes are always in such wretched taste. Your heart! You never +had one." + +"Then my duty becomes all the easier. You see this paper? It is an +order for your arrest. Will you go quietly, or do you prefer to go +under guard of a whole company." + +Astonished, confused, afraid, yet hoping that one of those wretched +pleasantries known as practical jokes would be the upshot of this +seeming outrage, the girl locked her door, allowed the count to assist +her into the carriage that was in waiting, and was rapidly driven, +not to the jail, not to the forts, not to the police office, but out +of town--to Cerito. He assisted her to alight, urged her hastily in at +the door of a handsome residence, where she was received by a couple +of servants, and escorted to a large, comfortably furnished apartment, +with windows barred after the fashion usual in Spanish houses. + +"This, my pretty one, is your home for the future," explained the +count, dropping easily upon a divan and lighting a cigar. + +"What place is this?" + +"It is my house. Ah, but it shall be yours, if only you are kind. It +is for you to say how long you will be a prisoner." + +"But the arrest--the order----" + +"Ha! ha! Mere sham. I was bound to have you in one way, if I could +not get you in another. All's fair in love and war. You made war. I +made love." + +There was an explosion of wrath, of scorn, of hate; there were tears, +cries, prayers, threats, promises. Count Almonte merely laughed, +and left the young woman to weep herself into a state of resignation +or exhaustion. + +Mantanez, the boatman, learned before long that the shop was closed, +and naturally fearing that Miralda had been taken ill, he hurried +around to make inquiry. What he heard was disquieting enough, but he +could not, would not believe it, until he had gone to Cerito to see +for himself. In the gown of a monk he gained access to the grounds, +and walked slowly by, singing the verse of a song that Miralda liked, +meanwhile scanning the windows closely. His heart gave a leap, and then +sank miserably low, for his love appeared behind the bars of an upper +window. She stretched her hands to him appealingly, told him in a few +half-whispered words the story of her abduction, implored him to hurry +back to town, put the case before General Tacon and demand justice. + +Mantanez did so. The tale was so unusual that the general made him +swear to the truth of it on his knees before the crucifix. Then he +sent for the count and ordered him to bring the girl with him. In +two hours they were at the palace. The general looked searchingly at +Almonte. "It is a strange charge that has been brought against you, +count," said he, "that of stealing a woman in open day, taking her +to your house and keeping her under lock and key." + +"The young woman has been well treated, general." + +"You arrested her?" + +"Yes." + +"In our uniform?" + +"It was the only way. I loved her." + +"You still love her?" + +"To distraction." + +"Humph! We shall see. Orderly, send a priest to me, and tell him to +come prepared to perform a marriage ceremony." + +Tacon was sphinx-like, and busied himself with his papers. The count +was puzzled, yet smiling, and disposed to be incredulous. The girl +and her lover wore looks of doubt and fear. The priest arrived. + +"Father," said Tacon, "you will make the Count Almonte and Miralda +Estalez man and wife." + +"Impossible!" exclaimed the count. + +"You have just said that you loved her." + +"But, your Excellency, you seem to forget that she is but a girl of +the people. I have to remind you that I am of the Spanish nobility; +that my ancestors--" + +"Tush, tush! What have your ancestors to do here? You have ruined +the girl, and you shall make amends, here and now." + +Miralda clasped her hands in a passion of entreaty, and her betrothed, +the boatman, sank upon a bench, overcome with despair. + +"I am sorry for you," continued Tacon, "but there is no other +way. Proceed with the ceremony." + +Knowing Tacon to be inflexible, and with a wholesome dread of +punishment in case of refusal, the young rake finally expressed his +willingness to yield to the command, and with a freckled trooper +for bridesmaid, and another for groomsman, the marriage rites were +said. While the priest was speaking Tacon had written a note which he +gave to an orderly, instructing him to deliver it to the captain of +the guard. After the nobleman, flushed and trembling with anger, and +the half-fainting girl had been pronounced man and wife, the boatman +meanwhile abandoning himself to a frenzy of tears, Tacon said to the +count, "Your wife will remain here for the present. It is my order +that you return to your country-house alone. You will depart at once." + +With blazing eye, widened nostril, and hard-set jaw, Count Almonte +left the room without any recognition of his bride, without the +usual acknowledgment of the governor-general's presence. Tacon bade +the young woman be seated, and told Mantanez also to remain, as he +wished to speak with them after a time. Ten minutes passed. Some +guns were heard at a distance. In ten minutes more an officer hastily +entered the room. Tacon looked up from his writing. "Report, captain," +he commanded. + +"I have to inform your Excellency that your orders have been +obeyed. The Count Almonte lies dead with nine bullets in his body." + +The general arose, took the hand of the young woman and placed it in +that of the boatman. "Countess," he said, "you are the widow of a rich +man. You are sole heir to the estate of the late Count Almonte. As +to you, sir, I presume you have no objection to wedding a lady so +well provided with this world's goods. Adieu, Madame Countess, and +may your second marriage be happier than your first." + + + + + +The Cited + + +Did Alonzo Morelos begrudge liberty or happiness to Felipe +Guayos? Surely the life of a Havanese artisan could have mattered +little to a prosperous lawyer. Politics may have set the big man's +enmity against the little one, or it may possibly have been that more +advanced form of politics that is called patriotism. It was a good +time for a man to refrain from airing his opinions, unless they were +orthodox, for the revolution of 1829 had just been declared. If Guayos +was a party to this rising he was an indifferent and inactive one, +or else he kept his counsel wondrous well. His acquaintances testified +that he was industrious,--that is, he practised what in Havana passed +for industry,--was fond of his wife, cared little for cock-fighting +or the bull-ring, was of placid demeanor, and was altogether the sort +of man who could be relied on _not_ to attend secret meetings or lose +valued sleep by drilling in hot barns or chigger-infested clearings +in the woods. Yet it was on Morelos's oath that this obscure citizen +was arrested. + +The tongues clacked up and down the by-ways: What was the rich +man's interest in the poor one? the professional man's in the +mechanic? the man of society in the man unknown? Then it was true, +eh? that the mulatto (for Guayos was a "yellow man") had spoken +to the lawyer familiarly in the street in presence of ladies and +officers? Maybe. The laundress at the second house down the street had +said so, but, fie! it was only on a matter of business. Tut! Business +was no excuse, considering that Don Alonzo was of Spanish parentage, +while the other had been nothing but a Cuban for two centuries. To +forget this breach or try to bridge it, to presume on the tolerance of +an occasional employer, unless one were a slave or a servant and used +to indulgence--that was not to be forgiven. A rumor that travelled +more quietly was that Morelos himself was a revolutionary and had +caused this arrest as a blind, or in order to silence a tongue that +might speak damage. A third rumor, that went in a whisper, and so went +farther than the others, said that the yellow man had a pretty wife, +and that the lawyer had been seen to call at the little house in the +master's absence. This tale seemed to be doubted, for the wife of the +butcher gave it as her opinion that the Seņora Guayos was too rusty +of complexion to be pleasing, and the Seņor Morelos was so faultless +in his appearance and his taste; the club steward's unmarried sister +declared the seņora's manners to be rustic and her voice loud; the +woman in the carpenter's family would lend no ear to such a scandal +because the subject of it was dumpy, shapeless, and dressed absurdly, +even for the wife of a stonemason. Howbeit, the little woman was now in +grief, for her husband lay in jail awaiting trial on the gravest charge +that could be brought against a Cuban,--the charge of treason. In +that day, as on many sad days that were to follow, to be charged with +disaffection toward the crown was virtually to be sentenced to death. + +Cuban law was at least as tardy and involved as any, but on the day +when they tried Guayos it was strangely brisk. The stifling, unclean +court-room was crowded, but of all the company none seemed to feel so +little concern in the proceedings as the accused man himself. Through +an open window he saw a couple of palms swinging softly against the sky +in the warm wind. The trees appeared to pacify, to fascinate him. They +were his realities, and the goggling throng, the judge, the officers, +were visions. Often when his name was spoken by a witness or examiner +he would look around with a start, then fall into his dreams again. His +case was traversed without waste of words. Evidence was adduced to +prove that he had once owned a gun, had attended a certain meeting, +had carried letters to such and such persons, had spoken equivocal +phrases, had been seen to lift his nose in passing certain men, had +admitted a suspect to his house at night. He was declared guilty. The +celerity in reaching this verdict led his friends to believe that it +had been agreed upon in advance. + +During the last hour of the trial Guayos had aroused from his revery, +had turned from the window, and had fixed his eyes steadily on Morelos, +who was seated among the lawyers in the centre of the room. Morelos +returned the gaze calmly for a time; then he frowned and turned the +pages of a law-book. After a little he moistened his lips with his +tongue, took a studied attitude of listlessness, and showed signs of +weariness and boredom. He did not look at the prisoner again until +the verdict had been given. + +When the chief judge put the usual question as to whether the convicted +man had anything to say why death-sentence should not be passed upon +him, Guayos arose, his face pale but fixed in a stony calm. Looking +at neither judge nor audience, but straight at his accuser, with eyes +that were no longer the eyes that had dreamed upon the palms, so great +and black they were and searching, he said, in a clear, tense voice, +"I go to my death. It is useless to speak, for you have condemned +me. But I cite you, Don Alonzo Morelos, to appear beside me at the bar +of God, one year from my death-day, and testify how I came to my end." + +There was a moment of silence; then moans and murmurs in the crowd. The +lawyer was white, as with wrath. The judges gestured to the officers +and left the bench. The court was cleared. As he was led away, +Guayos looked once more at the palms, and half smiled as a breath of +freshened air came in at the window. Palms! Where had he been told of +them? What did they mean? Had they not somewhere, in some far land, +been waved in victory when One innocent was about to suffer? Were +not palms awarded in another world to the meek and the honest who +had been despitefully used in this? + +Last to leave the room was Morelos. He had remained, seated at a +table, biting a pen, fingering some papers, gazing abstractedly at +the vacant bench. The whoop of a barefooted, black-faced urchin in +the corridor roused him. With a scowl and a shrug he slowly resumed +his hat and went to his home by a roundabout way. + +Priests called daily at the prison. Guayos made no appeal, asked for +no delay. The loyalists were clamoring for an example that should +stay the revolution. In a week the condemned man was hanged. An +odd thing happened at the execution: the rope had slipped a little, +and the knot, working toward the front, had left an impress there +after the body was cut down, as of two crossed fingers. The friends +of Guayos held this to be a sign of grace. + +Now, if there were any in the world to pray for the peace of a human +soul, it was not the soul of Guayos that asked it. He had affirmed his +innocence to the end, had been shrived, had gone to the gallows with +a dauntless tread, and there were palm branches on his coffin. But +the lawyer? In a month after the trial white hairs appeared among +his locks, hitherto as black as coal. He grew gray and dry in his +complexion, his shoulders began to stoop, his eyes lost their clearness +and boldness, his mouth was no longer firm. Often he wore a harried, +hunted look. Yet they said he was growing softer in his humor, that +he oftener went to church, that he gave more for charity than other +men of his means, and that if the widow Guayos did not know from whom +the five hundred pesetas came that a messenger left at her home one +night the neighbors pretended to. Don Morelos became an object of a +wider interest than he knew. Even the boys in the street would point +as he passed, with head bent and hands clasped behind his back, and +whisper, "There goes El Citado" (the cited), and among the commoners +he was known as well by that name as by the one his parents had given +to him. But he appeared less and less in public. He began to neglect +his practice; he resigned from his club; he avoided the company of +his former associates, taking his walks at night alone, even though +the sky was moonless, storms were threatening, and the cut-throat crew +were abroad that made life at some hours and in some quarters of the +city not of a pin's fee in value. His housekeeper told a neighbor +that on some nights he paced the floor till dawn, and that now and +again he would mutter to himself and appear to strike something. Was +he smiting his own heart? + +Before long it was rumored, likewise, that the grave of Guayos was +haunted, or worse, for a black figure had been seen, on some of the +darkest nights, squatted or kneeling before his tomb. It was remarkable +that this revolutionist should have had a burial-place of his own, +when all his relatives and a majority of the people in his station +were interred in rented graves, and their bones thrown into the common +ditch if the rent were not paid at the end of the second year. Certain +old women affirmed that this watching, waiting figure in the dark had +horns and green eyes, like a cat's, while other people said that it +was merely the form of a man, taller, thinner, more bent than Guayos; +therefore not his ghost. But what man? + +The anniversary of the hanging had come. The small hours of the +morning were tolling, heavily, slowly, over the roofs of the sleeping +city. Sleeping? There was one who had no rest that night. An upper +window of the house of Morelos looked out upon a court in which two +palm trees grew. They had been tall and flourishing. One might see +them from the court-room. But for a year they had been shedding their +leaflets and turning sere. Tonight their yellow stems had clashed and +whispered until the wind was down, leaving the night sullen, brooding, +thick, starless, with dashes of rain and a raw chill on the ground that +brought out all the malefic odors of the pavement. The window on the +side toward the court was closed and curtained. The one overlooking +the street was slightly open, and if the night-bird prowling toward +the den he called his home had looked up, or had listened, he would +have seen the glimmer of a candle and heard the eager scratching of +a pen and rustling of papers. For an hour in the first half of the +night Morelos had been walking about his chamber. At about three in +the morning the housekeeper, whose room was at the opposite end of a +corridor from her master's, found herself sitting upright in bed. She +did not know why. Nobody had called to her. Listening intently, as if +she knew that somebody was about to speak, she distinguished a faint +sound of crumpling paper. A chair was moved hastily, and there was a +cry in a strained voice, "No, no! My God!" Then the house shook. She +bolted her door and prayed. In the morning twilight Don Alonzo Morelos +lay very still on the floor of his chamber, with a mark on his throat +like that made by the pressure of two crossed fingers. + +The citation had been obeyed! + + + + + +The Virgin's Diamond + + +Miguel Jose was a loving and dutiful son, but he could help the old +folks only a little. He had a heartache every time a letter came +from Leon, for he knew it held a request for money, and a private's +pay, which at best is small, is frequently nothing in a Spanish +regiment. Young Miguel had been on service in Havana for a couple of +years, and his parents had been growing steadily poorer. He could +hardly buy cigarettes. First it was a pig that was wanted at home; +then a better roof on the cottage; then a contribution for a new +altar in the village church; finally it was illness, and his mother +needed medicines and delicacies. How could he get money? The paymaster +had received none in months, he said, and even the officers were in +debt. His fellow-soldiers? No; they were as poorly off as he,--so he +could not borrow. He could not steal in the streets, for his uniform +would betray him. He was not allowed to accept work from civilians, +for that was against the army regulations. After dress-parade one +evening he went to a lonely place behind the barracks and cried. Then, +having leave of absence, he went to one of the churches and knelt for +a long time before the Virgin's shrine, imploring her, with moans and +tears, to give him some means of relieving his mother's distress. She +was a mother. She would understand. She would pity the sufferings +of others. There was no answer. He left the dark and empty building +tired and disheartened. + +Next evening he returned, and for an hour and more he begged the +Virgin to bestow some material mercy on his mother. Looking up he was +startled, though delighted, to see that the statue of Mary was rolling +its glass eyes upon him, and tears stood in them. He bent to the floor, +overcome by his emotions. Then a light step sounded over the stones, +and, behold! the Virgin had left her pedestal and was regarding him +with kindness and pity in her face. Slowly she extended her hand. He +gazed with new astonishment, for this was the right hand, bearing +the famous diamond which had been placed upon it some years before +by a pious resident of Havana. It could not be that she intended +this treasure for him! Yes, she smiled and nodded assuringly. With +trembling fingers he withdrew the jewel, kissed the outreached hand, +stammered his thanks, and, hardly waiting till she had remounted her +pedestal, ran from the church. + +There was in the city at that time one Seņor Hyman Izaaks, whose +business--which a cruel law required him to follow in secret--was the +relief of pecuniary embarrassments, on security, and our soldier went +straightway to the office of that philanthropist, arriving breathless +but happy. Seņor Izaaks advanced a larger sum on the diamond than +Jose had dared to hope for. He wrote a hasty letter, enclosing the +banknotes, and mailed it to his parents on that very night. + +Next morning the sacristan of the church, who was making his +rounds and placing fresh candles on the altar, received a shock. The +Virgin's diamond was gone! The priests, the bishop, the governor, the +general, the police were notified, and there was a mighty coil. What +sacrilegious wretch had done this thing? Miguel had been seen to enter +the church on the previous night; therefore suspicion attached to +him. He was arrested and charged with the crime. To the astonishment +of all, he made no secret of it, though he protested against the word +"theft." He was proud to have been the recipient of kindness from +heaven, and he related, frankly and circumstantially, how he had +appealed to the Virgin, for what good purpose, how she had answered, +how Seņor Izaaks had taken the stone and given him money for it. A +military court was ordered to try him, but it was puzzled to know +what to do with him. If the fellow were a common thief he deserved +more than prison: he merited the gallows and a quicklime burial, +for he had added sacrilege to robbery. But if he were a thief, why +did he confess so freely, and even glory in his sin? Then, too, if +it were the wish of the Virgin that he should receive this gift, by +what right did any civic or military body interfere, for would it not +be blasphemy to doubt or deny the designs of Providence? Was not the +accused soldier under the acknowledged protection of the Virgin? Would +she not visit with indignation, if she did not vigorously punish, +the attempt to set aside her benefits? + +Truly, here was a pickle! The confession of the accused man had +enabled the police to secure the diamond,--which they did without any +formalities of payment to Seņor Izaaks, to his unbounded grief,--and +the ring being restored to the finger of the statue, and the money +being on its way across the sea, and the soldier being entitled to +some part of it as back-pay, the court-martial at length resolved to +release Miguel Jose from arrest. It did so with the historic finding of +"Not guilty, but don't do it again." + + + + + +A Spanish Holofernes + + +While it has been the fate of women in the Spanish islands to suffer +even more than their husbands and brothers from severity and injustice, +instances are not lacking in which they have shown an equal spirit +with the men. In the insurrections a few of them openly took the +field, and the Maid of Las Tunas is remembered,--a Cuban Joan of Arc, +who rode at the head of the rebel troops, battled as stoutly as the +veterans, and was of special service as scout and spy. Three times +she fell into the hands of the Spaniards. Twice she coaxed her way +to freedom. The third time the governor gave her to a crowd of brutal +soldiers, who afterward burned her alive. + +Quite another sort of woman was Niņa Diaz, whom Weyler intended to +compliment when he said she was the only loyal Cuban, and who is hated +by all other Cubans as a fiend. Her love for a Spanish captain was +cleverly played upon by Weyler, who induced her to become his spy. She +begged contributions for the insurgents. Of course, those who gave +were in sympathy with the insurrection, so that all she had to do was +to place her list of subscribers in the hands of Weyler, who promptly +shot or imprisoned them, or herded them among the reconcentrados to +die of starvation. When the Cubans caught her she said that she had +a father and a brother in their ranks,--which was true,--and was on +her way to them. Where could they be found? They told her and set +her free, and in the morning the Spanish troops were on the march to +their hiding-place. + +It is pleasanter to read of Spanish women serving their own cause +than of Cuban women who betrayed their country, and the Spanish dames +have often shown as much grit and pride as the dons. Pauline Macias +is alleged to have led the soldiers back to their guns in San Juan +de Puerto Rico after they had run from Sampson's shells. She seized +a sword from an officer, beat the runaways with it, roused them by +pleas and commands, and kept them at their work until their pieces +were disabled or the ammunition had given out. + +In the tradition of an earlier and slighter war the heroine is a +woman of still different type. Isabella, wife of the Doctor Diaz, was +often called "the queen" in Bayamo, not merely because of her name, +but because of her piety, her charities, her beauty, and her dignified +bearing. She was young, well reared, distinguished, and her home was a +centre for the best society of the town. Among those who felt free to +call without invitation were several of the officers of the garrison, +most of them models in deportment and dress, and of sufficient breeding +to refrain from allusion to politics; for the Diazes, though Spanish +by only one remove, were avowedly Cuban in their sympathies, and the +revolution was fast coming to a focus. It was understood, however, +that Doctor Diaz would remain a non-combatant, for the duty he owed +to suffering humanity was higher than the duty his friends tried to +persuade him he owed to his country. Hence, the physician and his +wife would be under the white flag, it was supposed, and if remarks +were made as to their share in the approaching hostilities, it was +always with a frank and laughing admission on their part and a jest +on that of the accusers. + +Among all the men in the garrison but one was actually disliked by +the young practitioner and his wife. Captain Ramon Gonzales had been +quartered upon them once for a week in an emergency, and his removal +to another household had been asked for. It was not that he lacked +manners or was obviously disrespectful, but his compliments to the +lady of the house were something too frequent, his regard of her too +admiring, his air toward the doctor that of the soldier and superior, +rather than the friend. Seņora Diaz never saw him alone, never invited +him to call. He disappeared one afternoon, and it was understood that +he had received a summons to return to Havana. + +The rising came at last. Fires glimmered on the hills, bodies of men +assembled in the woods, the drumming and brawling of troops were heard +in hitherto quiet villages, and prayers for the success of the Cuban +arms were offered in a hundred churches. But not all the women were +content to pray. They were helping to arm their husbands, brothers, +sweethearts, sons; they worked together in assembling supplies, +hospital stores, clothing, and even in casting bullets. + +One or two nights after the first blow had been struck there came +a loud summons at the door of Doctor Diaz. Thinking it a call for +his services, he stepped into the dark street, when he was seized, +handcuffed, placed between two lines of soldiers, and marched away +to prison. The despairing cry of his wife, as she peered from the +open door and saw this arrest, was the only farewell. He never heard +her voice again. He was shot a few days later as an enemy to Spain, +the specific charge against him being that of "aiding and sheltering" +a rebel, the said rebel being a feeble-minded youth, a "moon-struck," +to whom, as a matter of charity, he had given occasional work in +weeding his garden. On the night after Doctor Diaz's arrest his +wife was requested by a messenger to go quickly to a small house +on the edge of the town to meet one who might secure his release, +but wished to consult with her as to the means. Hastily wrapping a +mantilla about her, she followed the messenger to the street; then, +as acting under sudden impulse, left him waiting for a moment, while +she returned to bolt a door. In that moment, unseen by the messenger, +she slipped a sheathed stiletto into the bosom of her dress. + +The house was a ramshackle cottage, with a damp and moldy air pervading +it within and without. The negro messenger opened the door without +knocking, held it open while she passed in, then abruptly closed it +and turned a key on the outside. The woman was trapped. In a minute +voices were heard in the street; that of the messenger, and one that +she knew better,--and worse,--the voice of Captain Gonzales. + +The situation flashed upon her. Her husband had been falsely +charged. She had been lured to this place, and would leave it dead or +dishonored. The walls of the cabin swam before her, and she had nearly +fallen when the sound of the key in the lock aroused her. A fierce +chill shook her frame. She held to a table for support. A tumult of +thought possessed her, but as the door swung open it quieted to a +single idea: hardly a thought: a purpose. + +In the light of the single candle that stood on the table she saw +Captain Gonzales enter. He had been at the wine. His eyes were heavy, +his cheeks a dusky red, his mouth was more sensual, his jaw more +cruel than ever. He stepped inside and locked the door. "Your pardon, +seņora, for these strong measures," he said, in a thick tone. "I +am a victim of love and hate. Your hus--another--has hated me. Your +husband is--is--likely to be absent for some time. You will require +a protector. I have the honor to offer myself. I throw myself at the +feet of the loveliest lady in Cuba. I tell her of the love that for +the past year has turned my life to torture. I will be her companion, +her adorer, only--ha! You smile! It is not possible you care for +me? It is joy too great. Seņora! Isabella! Can it be?" + +"And you never suspected it before?" + +The face was white, the lips twitched, but the smile remained. The +woman cast down her eyes--what star-bright eyes they were!--then +slowly opened her arms. With a roaring laugh Gonzales strode across +the room. The laugh changed to a gurgling cry as he placed his hands +upon her waist. His hand went to his sword, but fumbled; his knees +shook; then he fell backward at full length, with his heart's blood +pulsating from a dagger-wound. The wife of Doctor Diaz picked up the +key that had fallen from his fingers, unlocked the door, and returned +to her home alone. + + + + + +The Courteous Battle + + +In the bay where more than three and a half centuries later the Spanish +fleet was to be destroyed the don once fought the enemy with different +result. It was in 1538, in the harbor of Santiago de Cuba, that the +battle occurred,--Santiago of sad memory, with its shambles, where +insurgents were shot by platoons; with its landings, where slaves were +unloaded at night and marched thence to the plantations, like mules and +cattle; with its Morro, connected by wells and traps with caves in the +rock beneath, where bodies of men mysteriously done to death slipped +away on the tide. A French privateer had appeared before the town, +demanding ransom or surrender. Luckily for Santiago, a Spanish caravel +had arrived a few days before, under command of Captain Diego Perez, +and this gallant sailor offered to go out and defend the town. His +ship was attacked as soon as it came within range of the enemy's guns, +and, turning so as to deliver an effective fire, he gave as good as +he got. All that day the people of the town heard the pounding of +the brass pieces and saw the smudge of powder against the blue to +the south, yet at the fall of evening little damage had been done: +the ships lay too far apart, and the aim on both sides was ridiculous. + +Each commander had seen enough of his adversary to respect him, +however, and moved by a common impulse they raised white flags, +declared for a cessation of hostilities through the night, and every +night, so long as they should continue to oppose one another. Then +followed an exchange of fruit and wine, of which both crews were in +need, and, confident in the honor of their enemies, all hands slept +as tired men usually sleep. Said the Spanish captain to the French +commander in the morning, "Artillery is a cowardly and abominable +invention. It is desired to hurt a foe while those who serve it run +no risk. How say you if we put the tompions back into our cannon and +fight, as chivalric men should ever fight, with sword and pike?" + +To this the Frenchman gave willing consent, and, the ships ranging +near, the battle reopened, after prayers and breakfast, to some +purpose. With cries of "Santo Iago!" the Spanish tried to board the +pirate ship, but could not secure a footing. Blows were exchanged +throughout the day, save when one ship or the other drew off, that +the wounded might have attention, and the dying prayers, for much +blood was shed and several lost their lives. At the end of the day +both commanders declared their admiration for the skill and courage +of their opponents, and again gave presents of fruit and wine as they +stopped work until the morrow. Perez sent ashore that night to tell +the people of Santiago that fighting was an exhausting business, +and to some extent a risky one, and would they kindly send a few +able-bodied fellows to replace the dead and disabled on his ship? + +The response to this call was so meagre that he began to mistrust +his countrymen, and he asked if, in case he lost his ship, the town +would reimburse him, considering that he was risking his all in +their defence. After much debate the townsmen replied, through their +officials, that they were not in a position to make good his loss, +but they trusted that such a calamity would not be possible; that he +would maintain a stout heart and fight on to prove the superiority +of Spanish valor to French craft; that the blessed Santo Iago would +watch over him and his gallant crew; that their best wishes were +with him, and that his kindness would never, never be forgotten. A +trifle disheartened, Captain Perez nevertheless resumed the fight +on the next day, and again on the fourth day, and after the usual +exchange of courtesies at evening, he told the privateer on the fifth +day that he would encounter with him as usual. The persistence of the +Spaniard in thus holding out against seeming odds--for the Frenchman +had the larger crew--set the privateer to thinking, and a sudden +fear arose within him that Spanish reinforcements were on their +way, and that Perez was merely fighting for time until they should +arrive. This fear grew until it became belief, though a baseless one, +and, hoisting sail as quietly as possible, he stole out of Santiago +Bay on the fourth night after hostilities had opened. As thanks are +cheap, Perez received a good many of them. + + + + + +Why King Congo was Late + + +As in all the Spanish Americas, there were churchly feasts and +celebrations in Cuba whose origin has been forgot. Why did the +slaves serenade their masters on New Year morning, jingling huge +tambourines, and in the villages how came it to be thought that the +cause of righteousness was advanced by parades and music on saints' +days? Hatred of the Jews was an inheritance rather than an experience, +and for lack of Jews to prove it upon there was an annual display +of wrath at Judas, who was represented by a grotesque effigy made +up of straw, old clothes, and a mask. In the cities this figure was +merely called The Jew, and after being carried through the streets +with revilings, on the day after Good Friday, it was hanged in some +conspicuous place and there stoned and shot by the crowd. + +In Santiago there used to be a queer celebration on the 6th of +January, "the day of the kings," or "All Kings' day," meaning the +kings who journeyed to Bethlehem to worship the new-born Christ. In +time this function lost its dignity and became a sport, a gasconade, +in which the slaves attired themselves extravagantly and paraded about, +begging, blowing horns, beating drums, and bandying jokes with the +spectators. In the days of King Congo the procession had some claim +to show and importance, if only because he was at the head of it, +for he had, in ways known only to himself, come into possession of +the chapeau of a captain-general, a lieutenant's coat, one epaulette, +a pair of blue breeches, and a belt; hence, attired in all these +grandeurs at once, and mounted on a mule, he looked every inch the king +he said he was. For, albeit, he had been a slave, he claimed an African +king as his father, and as that parent was dead, for aught he could +certify to the contrary, the title, if not the crown and emoluments, +descended to him; leastwise, nobody on this side of the sea could +dispute it; and he bore it with conscious dignity. His family name, +if he had one, has been lost, and it is as King Congo that he was +known. That his royalty was genuine the other negroes never doubted, +and to parade on the day of the kings without a real king of their +own color to marshal the procession was not to be thought of. + +El Rey Congo was aware of his power and of the impression he made on +the humbler residents of Santiago. Every now and then he heightened his +superiority to common clay by appearing in public in a starched collar, +looking over the top of it with an assumption of pride and ease, as +of one born to such luxury, but in reality chafing his neck against +its ragged edges and longing to be in the fields, where he would not +need to be spectacular. One year the day of the kings dawned without a +cloud, and Santiago was in a holiday humor. Everybody who had work to +do postponed it till to-morrow, as if All Kings' Day were like every +other day; for the procession that year was to be extra large and +fine. King Congo was to ride with spurs, though barefooted, and was +to have a military guard of four men. The band had been increased, +especially in the drum department, and the ladies, who would have +figured in the king's court if he had had a court, were turbaned +in new bandanas of red and yellow. The clergy and officers of the +garrison had promised to review the parade, and the cooper, down by +the custom-house, suggested that he'd better put a few hoops around +King Congo to keep his swelling heart from cracking his ribs. + +A long trumpet-call from the square announced the hour for assembly, +and all eyes turned toward the street through which the king had been +used to make his entry. He did not come. Tardiness is a privilege +of kings. It proves them superior to the obligations laid upon the +vulgar herd. Beside, what is an hour in a maņana country? But as +the hour went by and the king kept refraining from his arrival, some +presuming subjects went to look him up, and after much inquiry and +pedestrian exercise they found the sovereign in jail. His Majesty +explained that he had been arrested for debt a few days before, +and that because of a shortage in the paltry coin of a white man's +state--a wretched matter of $4.15--he was doomed to remain behind +the bars, perhaps forever. The messengers ran back to the square, +made an excited appeal to the populace, scratched the required sum +together in penny subscriptions, paid the innkeeper every centavo +that the king owed him, woke up the sheriff and the magistrate, +and before noon King Congo was a free man, in the same old uniform, +riding the same old mule, and stiffly bowing to the admiring populace +as he passed. The parade was a great success. So was the scheme +conceived that morning by el Rey Congo; for, every year thereafter, +three or four days before the festival of the adoration, he laid in +supplies of rum and cigars, with even a new hat or a second-hand +medal, and after getting the goods safely bestowed in his cabin, +defied his creditors to collect their pay. The shopkeepers winked at +this device, and regularly sent him to jail, for they knew that on the +6th of January their royal customer would pay, though by proxy. And +that is more than you can say of some kings. Isn't it? + + + + + +The Chase of Taito Perico + + +In 1779 the Bishop of Havana took into his household as servants, +and into the cathedral as altar-boys, three harum-scarum Indians, then +said to have come from Florida, now believed to have been of Mexican +origin, though there were not wanting citizens who solemnly declared +that the trio had come from a warmer place than any on the surface of +this planet. The object in the bishop's mind was to Christianize the +scapegraces and turn them loose among their own people, that they, too, +might be made to see the light. The poor old clergyman little knew with +whom he had to deal. When the astonishment of the youngsters at the +glories of Havana had subsided, and even a regiment with a band could +parade without their company, the Indian in them asserted itself once +more, and they grieved the bishop by playing hookey, shirking mass, +running off to the mountains on hunting trips, and once, when he went +out in his night-cap to inquire the cause of a rumpus in his yard, +they tripped him up and circled around and around, whooping like +demons while he was trying to regain his feet and apply his cane. + +At last they upset, not the clergy but the laws. Their offence was +not grave, being rather a result of high spirits than of malice, but +it brought the constabulary upon them and they were carried to the +arsenal to work out the term of their imprisonment at loading ships +and other heavy, uncongenial labor. Not many days had passed here +before a chance offered for their escape, and they seized upon it, +vanishing under the noses of the guard--at least, that was the way +the guard reported it--like shadows before the sun. In fact, from +that hour they were looked upon as a bit uncanny. The three lads +found a hiding-place in the Falaco vegas, among a vagrom populace +of brigands, runaway slaves, and wreckers, and there for several +weeks they supported themselves by hunting, fishing, gambling, even +working a little when sore pressed. Better if they had been left +alone to live out their lives there. If useless, they at least were +harmless. But, no; the majesty of the law again asserted itself. They +were caught by a company of soldiers and marched back to Havana. Their +protector and friend, the bishop, was dead. Again they were laden with +chains and returned to the arsenal to work out some months of penal +servitude. Their natures seemed to change in a day. To them Spaniards +and Cubans now stood for tyranny and injustice. They did not understand +their imprisonment as a correction: it was an act of oppression, and +how were they to know that it would not last for the remainder of their +lives? Every waking moment from the time of their second arrest they +gave to plots for liberty and vengeance. The escape came presently. It +seemed as if walls and bars were not made that could restrain them. + +Two days after this last escape the country-side was stirred with +horror, for just before dawn a hamlet near Guanes was burned, and +when the neighbors, attracted by the flame and smoke seen above the +tree-tops, arrived on the ground they found the gashed bodies of the +inhabitants lying about on the gore-sodden earth. The quickness, the +secrecy of the act were terrifying. All sorts of fantastic reports +were spread about the province, especially after the massacre and +the burning had been repeated in a second village--and a third--and +a fourth. The vega was in a panic. The people went from place to +place only in armed bands. The Vuelta Abajo was completely cowed, and +sentries patrolled every settlement. It was reported that the murders +had been committed by three giants who cut down men, horses, and cattle +as they stalked across the country, and whose weapons were charmed, +so that they always struck a vital spot, no matter how carelessly +they were aimed. The three monsters were of vast strength and horrible +countenance; they climbed tall cliffs as cats climb fences, and leaped +chasms fifty feet across as other men skip over gutters. + +A cave near Cape San Antonio that the aborigines had chambered for +tombs was their reputed hiding-place, where they also worshipped +their master, Satan, with fantastic ceremonies, and sacrificed in his +honor the best of the cattle, sheep, and horses they captured on their +raids. And the utter helplessness of the Spanish authorities gave a +certain color to these rumors, for the giants snapped their fingers +at their pursuers and went on killing, looting, burning, running off +stock, always appearing in unexpected places and disappearing like +mists at sunrise. Thus, two and a half years went by, and the offer of +five thousand dollars each for the heads of the devil-brigands had come +to nothing. Finally the Havana authorities were prayed and pestered +into a spell of activity. They organized a troop of one hundred and +fifty men and sixty dogs, put twenty officers at the head, and sent +along four chaplains to pray the evil charms away. The three savages +were cornered on a mountain, where two of them were killed after they +had inflicted many hurts on their pursuers. The heads of these two +were lopped, forwarded to the capital, and every one supposed that +the reign of terror was at an end. + +But, as if the strength of the slain ones had passed into his arm, +the third man, Taito Perico, who had escaped during the fight, became +a greater scourge than ever. He was fury incarnate, and so sudden +were his visitations, so quick and deadly his work, so complete +his disappearances, that more than ever it was believed he was a +fiend. He resumed the work of slaughter in the Vuelta Arriba. He +had a horse now, carried a huge lance, and killed or wounded almost +every one he met,--but not all. There was in this black heart a core +of sympathy. Once he stole a little child and kept her with him for +some time, lavishing on her the affection of a barbarian big brother, +and so endearing him to her that when she was rescued from his jungle +haunt, while he was absent hunting, she wept for the kind Taito Perico, +even in her parents' arms. Then he stole a boy of eight years and +kept him for some months, allowing him at the end of that time to +return unharmed to his parents. + +It was in one of these abductions that he worked his own undoing. Near +St. John of the Remedies lived the pretty Anita de Pareira, daughter +of a frugal and worthy couple and fiancée of a prosperous planter of +the district. The time for the wedding having been set, the father +and mother were in their little garden discussing ways and means, +and Anita was indoors trimming the gown in which she was to walk to +the altar. Her head was full of pretty fancies, and she hummed softly +to herself as she plied her needle or gazed into the distance, smiling +at the pictures created by her own fancy. She was rudely awakened from +these pleasing reveries. The door was burst in by a tremendous blow +with a fist and there stood glaring upon her a Caliban with mighty +neck and shoulders, great goggling eyes, a hooked nose, a bush of +coarse hair erect upon his head, and a stout lance in his hand. As +this creature advanced into the room with extended arms she swooned +and did not regain her senses until she had been carried for a mile +or more from her home. She found herself lying across the back of a +horse that was galloping furiously toward the hills with the savage +in the saddle behind her. + +The father and mother ran into the road tossing their hands in despair; +a dozen belated rescuers hurried to them, each arrival adding his +screams to the hubbub; then each advising the rest what should be done, +and nobody doing anything. The young planter, Anita's betrothed, was +quickly on the ground, and he alone was resolute and cool. He gathered +the bolder men about him, saw that they were supplied with proper arms +and mounts, and with encouraging words to those who were left behind, +he rode away on the outlaw's trail. Over pastures, through ravines, +across rivers, under forest arches dim as twilight, they hurried on, +a pack of hounds yapping in advance, a broken branch, a trampled bush, +a hoof-print in the margin of a stream also giving proof that they were +on the right path; a herder, who had seen the ruffian pass, likewise +testifying to the fact, and giving his service to the company; and +so they came to a clearing, where they found the marauder's abandoned +and exhausted horse. + +Putting their own horses under guard of negroes, twenty of the men +pressed on afoot through tangled vines and thorny bushes, still led +by the dogs, until they brought up at the bottom of a tall cliff, +and here the hounds seemed to be at fault, for they ran around and +around a tree, looking up into it and whining. The herder swung himself +into the branches and scrambled almost to the top. "Nobody here," he +called. Then, when he had partly descended, they heard him utter an +exclamation of surprise. He crept to the end of a long branch and swung +lightly to a shelf on the face of the crag. "Footsteps!" he exclaimed, +in a low, strained voice, and pointed to a thin turf that covered the +jut of rock. The dogs were right. Taito Perico had climbed the tree and +scaled the cliff. The dogs were hoisted by means of a lariat, the men +gained the shelf, and clambering along in single file they presently +reached the summit. A furious barking led them on; then those in the +rear heard a shout. The savage was seen, half a mile away, crossing +an opening at a run and striking at the dogs that leaped and yelped +around him. Leaving his companions to follow the Indian, the lover +devoted himself to the search for Anita, and presently found her at +the foot of a tree, bound, gagged, but safe and thankful. + +For several days and nights the chase went on and on with +reinforcements, and the Indian was at last overtaken on the mountain +that, in memory of the event, bears the name of Loma del Indio, +where he was slain, to the great relief of the whole island. Even +in death his aspect was so terrific that the people along the way +were set a-shaking and a-praying as his body was carried on to Puerto +Principe. Though he could do harm no longer, the post-mortem punishment +inflicted on him gave general satisfaction; for the corpse was first +hanged, then dragged at a horse's heels, then chopped apart and buried +in several places, and the head, in a cage, was exposed on a pole in +Tanima. And if three men like Taito Perico could terrorize all Cuba, +a hundred of such would have freed it. + + + + + +The Voice in the Inn + + +"No trifling, seņor. Speak up plainly and say what you heard." The +prosecuting attorney gave a nervous twitch at his pointed beard, +a habit peculiar to him, and leaned a little toward the witness. The +elder judge blinked drowsily, straightened in his chair, then turned +and looked at the crucifix on the wall, for when the sun touched the +bloody figure on the cross it was time for lunch. It was still in +shadow. He sighed. His associates of the tribunal were duly attent. + +"I'm afraid you will not believe me," objected the witness. + +"Never mind your fears. Come, now: You were passing the deserted inn +on the Minas road, you say, when you heard a voice. The voice of one +of the brigands?" + +"I hardly think so, seņor." + +"How? You charge this defendant here ----" + +"With attempted robbery. Yes, seņor attorney. But it was not his +voice that spoke. I think worse mischief has been done near the inn." + +"Worse mischief?" + +"Truly. For when this thief heard the words he let his pistol fall +and dropped the bridle of my mule. By the moon I could see his face +glisten with sweat, and it looked white." + +"He was afraid, eh? He was a coward? This poor cheat of a creature +could not even be a brigand?" + +"Afraid! Any one would be. As for myself, I gave my mule a cut and he +was off at a lope, with this fellow coming after as fast as his legs +could carry him, until he ran plump into the arms of the civil guard." + +"Yes, yes. You have told all that. But this voice. You heard it +plainly?" + +"Why, yes, although it sounded as if it came from a distance, or from +under a building, or--or--out of a tomb. I couldn't--I couldn't help +thinking it sounded like a man beneath a floor." + +The attorney twisted his beard again impatiently, coughed, then tightly +folded his arms. He was silent for a little. Then, as if surprising +himself out of a revery, he commanded, "Well, well. Go on." + +"This voice, seņor," resumed the witness, leaning forward and speaking +mysteriously, "it was so hollow and low, and spoke the words so long, +like a creature dying and in pain, and it gave me a chill." + +"Are you never to tell us what it said?" + +"It moaned, 'For the sake of the Virgin, of Her Blessed Son, of the +Holy Saint Peter, of the Good God, pray for me. Pray for a sinner. Beg +the good fathers at Nuevitas to say a mass for the soul of Enrique +Carillo.' Then there was a sort of groan----" + +"My God!" It was the prosecutor who had gasped the words. + +"Yes, just like that. Ah! Pardon, seņor. I did not see. You are ill." + +For the lawyer's face had become of a deathly pallor, his head had +sunk forward, his lips trembled, his hands shook as they clutched +the edge of the table behind him. The idlers in the back of the room +were awake in a moment. The sun touched the figure of Christ, splashed +with blood in the fashion of the official crucifix, and it seemed to +look down on the scene below as in torture. The prisoner's counsel +sprang forward, placed a chair for his opponent and helped him to be +seated. An officer brought a glass of water, which the lawyer drank +eagerly, then sat as in a daze for an instant, shuddered, passed his +hands over his face, and said, "I ask the indulgence of the court. I +have lost my sleep for the last few nights. I--I----" + +The senior judge had half-risen, his wig awry, his hands gripping +the arms of the chair. "Clear the court! It is the fever!" he cried. + +There was a stampede of the unoccupied in the back of the room. The +others in the court reached for their hats and drew away, leaving the +prosecutor alone. He smiled faintly. "No, your Honor," he said. "It +is over now. It was a touch of faintness; nothing more." + +"With the consent of counsel I will adjourn the case." + +The face of the prosecutor hardened; he set his jaw doggedly, he +regained his feet with a sort of spring. The judges slipped back +deeper into their seats; the elder wiped his brow and puffed. + +"We will go on," said the attorney, in a calmer voice. "The testimony +is practically exhausted. I have to confess that I have been somewhat +disappointed in the witnesses, but I submit the case on the evidence +without argument." + +It was plain that the people's representative was not at his best +that morning. The trial was hurried on, the lawyer for the defence +insisting principally that, as the complainant had fled from the +scene of the attempted robbery without looking back, he could not +possibly swear that the man in the prisoner's dock was the one who +had held his bridle. Was it not at least probable that the accused +had told the truth when he said he had been roused by the outcry of +the man on mule-back and had run down the road to see what the matter +was? Moreover, as no loss had been suffered, was it not a slender +ground for prosecution? The old judge looked back at the crucifix. The +illumination was passing. The knees were already in shadow. He was +an hour late for his lunch. He whispered with the other judges for +a moment, then smote the desk before him. "No evidence. The prisoner +is discharged. Adjourn the court," he exclaimed. And for once in the +history of Puerto Principe the law had been prompt. The accused, who +had been stolid and dull throughout the trial, now smiled cunningly to +himself, and saying no word to any one, but with a sidelong look at the +lawyers, left the building without loss of time, and after investing +a few coppers in bad brandy at the least inviting groggery in town, +disappeared down the road leading toward Minas. There were several +anxious inquiries at the house of Prosecutor Ramirez that evening, +but he was in his usual health. There was no occasion for alarm as +to the fever. + +Two nights after this a couple of planters were stopped near the old +inn by a man of rough appearance, whose face was masked, and were +forced at the pistol's point to give up their watches and money. A +few nights later a man left town with money to discharge a bill. He +never reached his destination. In each case the criminals left no +trace. The environs of Puerto Principe were growing in ill-repute. + +The prosecutor was leaving home on an evening when rain seemed +threatening. This was probably his reason for wearing a cloak,--a +protection seldom needed, except at night and in bad weather. It +was against his usual habit that he had drawn his cloak high about +his shoulders, so that his face was half-concealed, and this made it +the more difficult for one who was following to know if he were, or +were not, the man he sought. Convinced, after a little, that he was, +he hurried forward and placed his hand on his arm. The lawyer started +and uttered an exclamation. "Are you not Don Pablo Ramirez?" asked +the unknown. + +The prosecutor looked long and searchingly at the frank-faced stranger, +then answered, shortly, "I am he." + +"I thought so. Allow me: I am Captain Alfonso Garcia Estufa, of +the Engineer Corps. I come from Havana with authority from the +governor-general to confer with you about the brigands in this +province." + +"Ah, indeed! You are welcome, seņor captain. I was about to make a +business call on a tenant in this street. May I ask if you will make my +house your own till I return? I shall be absent but a few moments. I +will go back with you and open the door. Enter, if you please. The +sherry is on the sideboard. Cigars you will find on the table. Call my +servant, if you require anything." Then, hurrying out once more, the +lawyer almost ran upon his errand. In a quarter of an hour he returned +and the two began their discussion over a decanter of choice Madeira. + +"It still seems to me," said the young officer, after the talk had +been going on for some minutes, "that the bold policy is the better, +though we may need secrecy in certain cases, for these devils of +brigands smell powder a mile away. On my life, they do. I've dealt +with them in Pinar del Rio, and they tell me they are more slippery +and far-seeing, or far-smelling, in this province. They must have +confederates here in town." + +"Confederates? Preposterous, seņor! Why do you think that?" + +"Oh, I've been investigating a little. Either the brigands here +are clever, or some man who is more clever has them in hand, and +knows enough not to mix with them,--some man who can persuade them, +or terrorize them, or shield them. Have you no conceit as to who in +this city is fitted for a chieftainship like that?" + +"I? None." + +"I had hoped you knew your fellow-citizens well enough to advise me +whom to watch. No? Then, at least, tell me where it would be best to +place my men." + +"The trails toward Sibanicu." + +"Trails? Sibanicu? Why, there's no travel in that quarter. The +robberies have happened between here and Minas." + +"Exactly. So many have happened that the brigands must abandon it +henceforth. They know they are watched, and I'll warrant your coming +here, and the object of it, are already common talk among them." + +"Humph!" + +"People who are bound for the coast are beginning to go around already, +so as to avoid the Minas road. If our scamps are as clever as you +think, they will not be long in following." + +"There is something in that, and I thank you for the hint. We will +meet again shortly. Meanwhile, pray study the situation." + +"You are not going?" + +"I cannot stop with you, seņor, greatly as I should be pleased to do +so, for I have agreed to meet my lieutenants at the other end of the +town. Good-night." + +"Good-night, then, if you will not stay. Tell me early what success +you have in the chase of our good citizens of Puerto Principe." + +The captain left the house with a light and jaunty step, yet he looked +about him thoughtfully. He had not gone far when the night stillness +was broken by the crack of a fire-arm not ten paces away. A bullet cut +his hat. He turned quickly. Nobody was in sight. The air was thick +with mist, and nobody was stirring. "Scoundrel!" cried the officer, +shaking his fist at the darkness. "You shall pay dear for that--you +and your people. Do you hear?" + +There was no answer. He walked on at a faster pace. + +Before the sun was up next morning the captain and his men had +withdrawn from Puerto Principe. Few in the town knew that he had been +there. None knew whither he had gone. + +It was nine o'clock on the night following the interview. A fitful +wind stirred the trees that densely shadowed the Minas road. From +a chink in the walls of a dilapidated house that stood back from +the highway a light shone faintly, but except for the sough of the +leaves and the whirring and lisping that betoken the wakefulness of +insect life there was no sound. None? What was that? Down the road, +from Nuevitas way, came a blowing and stamping of horses laboring +through mud. The crack of light still shone, and nothing moved along +the wayside. As the horses came nearer a lantern could be seen hanging +from the sheep-neck of the older one, and two voices could be heard in +talk,--such village gossip as farmers might exchange when the way was +tiresome. The horses plodded on till they were abreast of the house, +when there was a whistle; the crack of light widened, suddenly there +was a rush of feet, a torch was brandished, and brown hands fell upon +the bridles. + +One of the riders cried out, flung up his arms, and begged for +mercy. They might take his master's money, if they would, but for +the sake of St. Isaac, St. Matthew, and St. John, let them spare +his life. The other horseman, tall, spare, wrapped in a cloak, +swung down from his saddle in a business-like way, addressed a +remark in a low tone to the brigands, took the lantern from the +neck of his neighbor's nag,--it was a fine, mettled black he rode +himself,--turned up the flap of his hat a little, only a little, +not enough to reveal his face, and proceeded to rifle the pockets +and saddle-bags of his amazed companion. The lantern and the torch +shone on six or eight as hang-dog faces as would be met in a day's +journey, and among them was one closely resembling the prisoner who +had been discharged on a trial two or three weeks before for lack of +evidence. The victim of this robbery having given up all he seemed +to possess was told to ride straight into town without word or halt, +else he would be shot, and a fierce stroke being given with the whip, +his horse was off at such a gallop that he had much ado to keep his +seat. The thieves heaped the saddle-bags and parcels into the middle +of the road and bent near, while the man in the cloak opened them and +examined their contents in the flickering light. A gust of wind made +the torch flare and put the lantern out. The cloaked man muttered an +oath, and had partly risen to his feet, when there came a sound that +caused him to stagger and hold his hands to his head as if in mortal +terror. It was a wailing voice, and it pleaded, "For the sake of the +Virgin, of Her Blessed Son, of the Holy Saint Peter, of the Good God, +pray for me. Pray for a sinner. Beg the good fathers at Nuevitas to +say a mass for the soul of Enrique Carillo." + +The cloaked man groaned. The others crouched, shuddering, and their +eyes in the red torch-flame were the eyes of goblins. In another +moment a shock ran through the group, for another voice, clear and +stern, commanded, "As you value your lives, don't stir. Men, do not +fire unless I tell you." + +A light flashed up, then another, and the bandits discovered themselves +in the centre of a ring formed by twenty men, with the young captain +in command. Resistance would have been foolish, flight impossible; yet, +as the captain stepped toward the brigand leader, the man in the cloak +attempted the foolish and impossible; he fired his pistol full at the +captain's head, flung the weapon after the bullet, missing his aim each +time, then started to run, upsetting one of the soldiers as he did so. + +"Fire!" cried the captain. + +Two musket-shots came upon the word. The tall man tumbled headlong. "It +is one the less to hang," exclaimed the officer, as he snatched a torch +from the hand of one of his men. He bent over the prostrate form: +the robber had been killed instantly. He withdrew the cloak from +the face and looked long without speaking. Finally he said, "I was +a better ghost than I supposed. These brigands will have to elect a +new leader, and Puerto Principe must have a new prosecuting attorney." + +In the deserted inn, under the kitchen floor, were found the remains +of Enrique Carillo and several other victims of the robbers. And +it is said that on All Souls' eve their ghosts block the road and +beg all who pass to pray for them and to pay for a few masses. Most +importunate of all is the ghost of Pablo Ramirez. + + + + + + +IN THE PACIFIC + + +Finding of the Islands + + +One of the oldest legends of the Hawaiians relates to the finding +of their islands by Hawaiiloa, a great chief and great-grandson +of Kinilauamano, whose twelve sons became the founders of twelve +tribes. Guided by the Pleiades he sailed westward from America, or +northward from some other group,--doubtless the latter,--and so came +to these pleasant lands, to the largest of which he gave his own name, +while the lesser ones commemorate his children. In another tradition +the islands of Oahu and Molokai were the illegitimate children of two +of his descendants, who were wedded, but jealous of one another and +faithless. Still another folk-tale runs to the effect that an enormous +bird, at least as large as the American thunder-bird or the roc of +Arabia, paused in its flight across the sea and laid an egg which +floated on the water. The warmth of the ocean and the ardor of the sun +hatched the egg, and from it came the islands, which grew, in time, +to their present size, and ever increased in beauty. Some years after +they were found by a man and a woman who had voyaged from Kahiki in +a canoe, and liking the scenery and climate, they went ashore on the +eastern side of Hawaii, and remained there to become the progenitors +of the present race. It suggests the ark legend that this pair had in +their canoe two dogs, two swine, and two fowls, from which animals had +come all that were found running wild there a hundred years ago. The +people can never be thankful enough that these visitors differed from +Nuu in their lack of regard for the snakes, scorpions, centipedes, +tarantulas, and mosquitoes that are so common to tropic lands, for, +having neglected to import these afflictions, the islands got on +without them until recently. Mosquitoes were taken to Hawaii on an +American ship. The hogs and dogs are descendants of animals that +escaped from the wreck of the Spanish galleon Santo Iago in 1527. + + + + + +Ancient Faiths of Hawaii + + +Hawaiians claim descent from the Cushites of Arabia, and in their +folk-lore they have the same agreement with the Jewish myths which +we find so strangely in other tribes that seem to have no relation +to one another. Like the Israelites, they believed in a first pair +that forfeited paradise by sinning, and were put out of it. Like +the Israelites, they built temples and places of worship. Like the +Israelites, they practised circumcision. Their priests and chiefs +were kin of the gods, and well may they have seemed so if it is true +that the kings of the islands were men whose height was nine feet, +and who flourished spears ten yards long. Even Kamehameha, who died +in 1819, and who was politically the greatest of these rulers, as he +established one government over all of the islands, is said to have +been a giant in strength. + +Without compasses, guided only by sun and stars, the people made long +voyages in their canoes--vessels of a length of a hundred feet--and did +battle with other races, fighting with spears, slings, clubs, axes, +and knives, but not with bows or armor. Doubtless they exaggerate +their numbers and their heroism, and in the last great battle, by +which Kamehameha became ruler of the group, it may be that there +were not quite the sixteen thousand men he claimed to have when he +forced the troops of Oahu over the cliff of Nuuanu. The language of +Hawaii resembles the tongues spoken in the southern archipelagoes, +thereby bearing out the legend of early migrations. As, in the East, +we hear tales that seem to hark back to the lost Atlantis, so among +the Pacific tribes are faint beliefs in a continent in the greater +ocean that sank thousands of years ago, and of coral islands built on +its ruins that crumbled or were shaken down in their turn, albeit they +served their purpose as stepping-stones between the surviving groups. + +The Columbus of Hawaii was Nanaula, a Polynesian chief, who reached +them in the sixth century, either blown upon them by gales or actuated +in a long search by love of adventure. He carried dogs, swine, +fowls, and seeds of food-plants, and for several centuries the people +increased, lived in comfort, and enjoyed the blessings of peace. Four +hundred years later a large emigration occurred from Samoa and the +Society group to these islands, and the new-comers proved to be the +stronger. Each island had its chief or chiefs until this century, +but their families had intermarried until a veritable aristocracy had +been set up, with a college of heraldry, if you please, that recorded +the ancestry brags of the Four Hundred. Captain Cook chanced on evil +days when his turn came to discover the islands again, for although +the people at first thought him to be the god Lono, they were so busy +hating each other that they had not time to extend as many courtesies +to him as they might have granted at some other period. When they +killed him he had incurred their wrath by his overbearing manner, his +contempt for their customs, and by trying to make prisoner of a chief +who was innocently pulling one of the ship's boats apart to get the +nails out. Juan Gaetano, a Spanish captain, sailing from Mexico to the +Spice Islands in 1555, is said to have discovered Hawaii, but he said +little about it. There are traditions of other white visitors likewise. + +While Christian missionaries claimed to have worked the moral +regeneration of the islands, the Martin Luther of the group anticipated +them by half a year. Liholiho--that was his name--publicly kicked +the idols, burned the temples, ate from the dishes of women, and +defied the taboo. So soon as the natives discovered that the sea +did not rise nor the sky fall, they rejoiced exceeding, and when one +of the priests gathered an army and mutinied against the new order, +they vehemently suppressed him. Yet the gods whom this soldier-priest +defended are said to lament his fall in battle, and the south wind, +stirring the shrubbery about his grave, is often heard to sob. The +first missionaries were Yankees. They made some converts, acquired +real estate, their example and teaching in political and industrial +matters were profitably heeded, and peace and prosperity returned to +the islands. Catholic missionaries were forbidden by the government +to land until 1839, when they were put ashore under the guns of a +French man-of-war, and have remained in safety ever since. + +The religious faith that white men drove from Hawaii, or think they +did, is based on the customary moral precepts, while the theogeny +comprehends a trinity, composed of Kane, who plans and who lives in +the east; Ku, who builds, and Lono, who directs. These three gods in +one, who had existed from the beginning, created light; next they +built the three heavens; they then made the earth, sun, moon, and +stars. The angels were spat from their mouths, and after the fruitless +or experimental creation of Welahilana and Owe, the chief god, Kane, +with his saliva, mixed with red earth, made the first man, Kumuhonua, +and from his rib took the first woman, Keolakuhonua. These parents of +the race were put into a beautiful garden, divided by three rivers that +had their source in a lake of living water, which would bring the dead +to life when sprinkled over them, and which was filled with fish that +fire could not destroy. This living water was found again, ages after, +by Kamapikai, who led some of the Hawaiians back to it that they might +bathe, and they emerged young, strong, and handsome; but from their +third voyage to the lake they never returned. In the garden stood +a bread-fruit tree and an apple tree, both taboo. Whether Kanaloa, +the rebellious angel, persuaded the first pair to pluck the forbidden +fruit, or whether he wrought their downfall in some other fashion, +we do not know; but he was angry because they refused to worship him, +and because the man whom he had created could neither rise nor speak; +so, in the form of a lizard, he went into the garden and beguiled the +pair. Kane sent a large white bird and drove them out. Of the three +sons of the parents of the race the elder slew the second, and in +the thirteenth generation came the deluge, from which Nuu was saved, +for at the command of Kane he built an ark, took refuge in it with his +family, and, with pairs of every species of bird, beast, and reptile, +was released by the gods after the water had gone down, and found +that his ark was resting on the top of Mauna Loa. The rainbow was the +stair by which Kane descended to him, and it was left in the sky as a +token of forgiveness. As the history proceeds we recognize the story +of Abraham, and of Joseph and his brethren, and the likeness to the +Bible narrative ceases after an account of the long wanderings and +troubles of the people in their search for the land set apart for +them by Kane,--a search in which they were led by two brothers. + +It was only in the eleventh century that the priesthood became a power, +exalted itself above the kings, prescribed senseless ceremonials and +forms of worship, invented so many gods that they often forgot the +names of them, and devised the prohibition, or taboo, the meaning +of that word being "Obey or die." Among these gods none are more +curious than the stones of Kaloa beach, Ninole, Hawaii. The natives, +who believed that they had sex, and propagated, chose male specimens +for their household deities. In order to make sure whether or not they +were really gods, the stones were blessed in a temple, wrapped in a +dress, and taken to see a game of skill or strength. If the owner of +the god won he gave to the piece of stone the credit for his victory +and established it in his house; but if he lost, the stone was thrown +aside. If the believer wanted to make sure of finding a god he would +take a beach pebble of each sex, wrap the two in cloth, and put them +away for a time. When they were brought back to the light a smaller +pebble, the result of their union, was found with them. This grew, +like an animal, until it was of a size to be blessed by the priests and +formally declared to be a god. The original pebbles are of black trap, +compact lava, and white coral. Beside the gods there were spirits that +could be called from the grave by wizards, although this power rested +only with the strongest and most righteous of the class. The soul of a +living creature might also leave his body and exhibit itself to one at +a distance, as Margrave projected his luminous apparition in Bulwer's +"Strange Story." + +It was the gods of the second rank, however, that seemed most busy +for good or mischief in human affairs: such gods as Pele, the spirit +of the volcanoes, with her five brothers and eight sisters who lived +in the flaming caverns of Kilauea; or as Kalaipahoa, poison-goddess +of Molokai, and her two sisters, who put a bane on the trees so deadly +that they rivalled the fabled Upas of Java, and birds fell lifeless as +they attempted to fly above them (a volcanic sulphur vent was probably +the origin of this tale); or, as Kuahana, who slew men for sport; +or, as Pohakaa, who rolled rocks down the mountains to scare and hurt +travellers; or, as the shark and lizard gods that lashed the sea into +storms and wrecked canoes. War gods of wood were carried in battle, +among them the fierce-looking image of Kalaipahoa, born in the van of +the army of Kamehameha, and made at a cost of many lives from one of +the trees poisoned by that goddess. Its fragments were divided among +his people after the king's death. Apropos of this figure, a gamester +had lost everything except a pig, which he did not dare to stake, +as it had been claimed for a sacrifice by a priest with a porkly +appetite. At the command of a deity, however, who appeared in his +dreams, he disregarded the taboo and wagered the pig next day. Being +successful in his play, he in thankfulness offered half of his gains +to the deity. This god appeared on a second night and told him that if +the king would make an idol of a certain wood growing near she would +breathe power into it, and would make the gambler her priest. So the +king ordered a tree to be cut. As the chips flew into the faces of +the choppers they fell dead. Others, covering their bodies with cloth +and their faces with leaves, managed to hew off a piece as large as +a child's body, and from this the statue was carved with daggers, +held at arm's-length; and Kalaipahoa means Dagger-cut. Another god +of the great king was Kaili, which was of wood with a head-dress of +yellow feathers. This image uttered yells of encouragement that could +be heard above the din of conflict. + +Statues of the gods were kept in walled enclosures, sometimes four +or five acres in extent, within which stood the temples and altars of +sacrifice, and there the people read the fates, as did the Greek and +Roman soothsayers, in the shapes of clouds and the forms and colors of +entrails of birds or of pigs killed on the altars. Human sacrifices +were offered on important occasions, but always of men,--never of +women or children. If no criminals or prisoners were available, +the first gardener or fisherman was captured, knocked on the head, +and his body left to decay on the altar. Oil and holy water were +used to anoint the altar and sacred objects, and when a temple was +newly finished its altar was piled with the dead. There is a striking +universality among people in the brutal stage of development in this +practice of pacifying their deities by murder. When a king or high +priest offered a sacrifice of a foeman the butcher gouged the left eye +from the body and gave it to his superior, who pretended to eat it. If +a victim succeeded in escaping to a temple of refuge he was safe, +even though he had killed a king or slapped the chops of a wooden god. + +All over the islands are natural monuments associated with instances +that prove the faith of the people in gods, fiends, spirits, and +heroes. At Mana Beach the "barking" or whistling of the sands under +the tread is held to be the wailing of buried Hawaiians, complaining +that they are disturbed. Here, too, dwells the ghost of the giant +Kamalimaloa, rising through the earth with spear and helmet at certain +seasons and seeking two beautiful girls who scorned him in life, and +whom he is doomed never to meet in death. Holes and caves that abound +in the lava--old craters, bubbles, and steam-vents--also have their +stories. On Kauai they show a series called Pele's Jumps, because when +the fire-goddess was driven from that island by the water-gods she +made three long steps in the soft crust before undertaking the final +leap that landed her on the slope of Kilauea. Each of these pits would +hold a hotel. Another chasm was made by pulling a monster turtle out +of his lair, while he slept, with the intent of eating him. This pit +is thousands of cubic yards in extent, and the turtle may be seen on +a neighboring mountain, turned to stone by the curses of the chief +from whom he tried to sneak away when he noticed that preparations +for cooking were forward. Near the famous Hanapepe Falls is the cave +of Makaopihi, variously regarded as a chief, a devil, and a god, who +took refuge here from his enemies, but every now and then showed his +contempt for them by going down the long slope that is still called +his slide,--a recreation that to an ordinary mortal would mean death. + +It is curious, if not significant, that in the language of Tahiti, +which is related to that of these islands, Maui appears, not as a +place, but as a sun god who destroyed his enemies with a jaw-bone, +while the word hawaii means hell. Strange, indeed, that one of the +most heavenly corners of the earth should have taken on a name like +that. The volcanoes may have terrified the early comers to such a +degree that it seemed the only fitting one if they chanced to arrive +in the time of an eruption. + + + + + +The Giant Gods + + +Gods and demi-gods as vast as their mountains are celebrated in the +traditionary chants of the Hawaiians. While the largest island in the +group seems to have been their favorite residence, it was the easiest +thing imaginable to move, since they had only to step on board of +their enchanted canoes and make a wish and they were at once wafted +to any port they desired. A few of them did not need any canoes: +they were of such height they could step from island to island, +and could wade through the deepest oceans without submerging their +heads. Kana would often straddle from Kauai to Oahu, like a colossus +of Rhodes, and when a king of Kahiki, who was keeper of the sun, +undertook to deprive the people of it, because of some slight, Kana +waded across the sea and forced that king to behave himself instanter; +then, having seen the light properly placed in the sky, he spread +his breech-clout over a few acres of volcano to dry, and took a nap +on a mile or so of lava bed. This deity had the power of compressing +himself into a small space, and likewise of pulling himself out to +any desired length, like an accordion, so that there was not water +in the eight seas deep enough to drown him. + +And Maui, the demi-god, was even more tremendous in his bulk. Whales +were his playthings, and sharks were minnows beside him. He had to +swim in water that reached only to his waist, because there was no +deeper, and even then his head was circled by clouds. He had a wife +of an immensity comparable to his own. Once, while busily beating +out a piece of bark-cloth, the sun sank low before she had finished +her task. Like the excellent housewife that she was, she did not wish +the day to end on work unfinished, so, at her request, Maui reached +out into the west, seized the sun, without burning his fingers much, +pulled it back to noon and held it there for two or three hours while +the making of the cloth proceeded. Then it resumed its journey through +the heavens, and has kept excellent time ever since. + + + + + +The First Fire + + +The demi-god Maui lived near Mauna Kea, and in roaming over that +mountain he often felt the chill that is in high places. It set him +wondering why the volcano gods had never given to men the secret +of fire, that so warmed and comforted one at night. To take it from +the craters was dangerous. One was liable to be stifled by sulphur, +blinded by dust, scalded by steam, and destroyed by lava, for the crust +was continually breaking and falling. The mud-hens, or bald coots, +had the secret, however, and when he came upon their little fires +in the woods, Maui hid among the trees and watched. Despite his vast +bulk, he was not observed, or was more probably mistaken for a hill, +for presently the mud-hens assembled in a glade, before his eyes, and +made a fire by rubbing dry sticks together. They cooked fish and roots +over the fire, and the savor of the banquet was so appetizing that +Maui could not resist the temptation: he reached out and confiscated +the dinner, and the mud-hens flew off crying. + +His attempt to catch the hens and learn from them how to make fire +did not succeed until he had rolled himself in bark-cloth; for, so +disguised, and after patient waiting, he captured the mother hen. She +tried to deceive him, for she did not want the secret to leave her +family. She told him to rub taro stalks on the line of their spirals, +the twist being put there for that purpose. He tried it without effect, +and gave the old hen's neck a twist to make her tell the truth. She +finally showed him how to make sparks with old, dry chips, and he +let her go, but not until he had rubbed her head until it was raw, +to punish her delay and falsehoods. And to this day the head of this +bird is bare of feathers. + + + + + +The Little People + + +Hawaiians believe in "little people" that live in deep woods and peep +and snicker at travellers who pass. This belief is thought to go back +to the earliest times, and to hint at the smallness of the original +Hawaiians, for one may take with a grain of salt these tales of the +giant size of their kings and fighters. The first "little people" were +grandchildren of Nuu, or Noah, and the big people who came after were +Samoans. While anybody may hear these fairies running and laughing, +only a native can see them. They are usually kind and helpful, and +it is their law that any work they undertake must be finished before +sunrise; for they dislike to be watched, and scuttle off to the woods +at dawn. + +Pi, a Kauai farmer, wanted a ditch to carry water from the Waimea River +for the refreshment of his land near Kikiloa, and, having marked the +route, he ordered the menehune, as they call the little people, to do +the work. It would have been polite to ask rather than to command; +still, they did what was required of them, each oaf lugging a stone +to the river for the dam, which may be seen to this day. The hum and +bustle of the work were heard all night, and so pleased was the farmer, +when morning came and the ditch was built, that he set a feast for the +menehune on the next night, and it was gone at daybreak. There were +no tramps in Hawaii, so the menehune must have eaten it. Conceiving +that he had acquired what our ward statesmen call a "pull" with +these helpers, he planned an elaborate fish-pond and put them at +work again. He had staked off such an immense area that the little +people could not possibly finish it by morning. As light streaked +the east and the cocks crew they scampered away to the mountains, +dripping with sweat and angered at the man who had so abused their +willingness. And they could never be induced to work for him again. + +Although of supernatural power themselves, the little people are +religious, and have built several houses to the gods. On the face of +the mountain wall, two thousand feet high, back of the leper settlement +at Molokai, is a ledge that can be reached neither from above nor +below, and on it stands a temple of their construction. In Pepeeko, +Hilo, the natives labored for a month in quarrying and dressing stone, +but when it was ready the elves built their temple in a night. So at +Kohala they formed a chain twelve miles long between the quarry and +the site, and, passing the blocks from hand to hand, finished the +great enclosure before sunrise. + +Yet these fairies had a taste for mischief, and could be as active +in it as so many boys. When a child on Maui, Laka was so loved by +his father that he would travel many miles to buy a toy for him, and +hearing of a strange new plaything in Hawaii, the father sailed to +that island to get it. He never returned, for the natives killed him +and hid his skeleton in a cave. When Laka had come to man's estate he +began preparations for a voyage to that island, that he might either +find his father or know his fate, for of his death he did not learn +until long after. In these preparations he was oddly thwarted. Every +time he hewed down a tree for a canoe it was gone in the morning. Out +of patience, he resolved to catch the thieves. In order to make their +task especially hard, he dug a hole into which the tree fell, when he +had chopped it, so that his enemies would have to lift it out before +they could carry it away. Then, in the shadow, he waited. At midnight +a small humming and giggling were heard in the bushes and a company +of menehune stole out into the shine of the moon. They began to tug +at the fallen tree. Laka sprang upon them and captured two, the others +running away with shrill screams. Laka threatened to kill his prisoners +for the trouble they had made, but he did not really intend to hurt +them. Their tears and cries and the rapid beating of their hearts, +that he could feel as he held them under his arms, stirred his pity, +and he agreed to let them go if they would promise to assemble their +tribe, drag the tree to his canoe shed on the shore and fashion it +into a boat. This they promised so eagerly that he put them back on +the earth and laughed as they scampered into the thicket. True to +their promise, they dragged the tree to the ocean that very night, +and carved and hollowed it into the finest vessel to be seen on the +island; so, friendly relations being thus established, Laka set a +feast for them, which they ate in thankfulness and never troubled +him more. Whether he succeeded in the search for the parental bones, +or left his own to whiten on the same soil, is not recorded, but you +can see for yourself the hollow he dug for the tree, and his canoe +shed was standing after white men reached the group. + + + + + +The Hawaiian Iliad + + +Kaupepee, who might have governed Molokai in the twelfth century, had +he not chosen war as his vocation, was a believer in home rule. He +did not like the immigrants who were swarming northward from Tahiti +and Samoa. Though they resembled his own race, to be sure, and +spoke a language he could understand, he regarded them as greedy +and revolutionary, and they worshipped strange gods and sometimes +misused the people among whom they had cast their fortunes. So +Kaupepee resigned his kingship to his brother, and became a fighter, +a devastator. With some hundreds of hardy men at arms and the finest +ships of the time, hewn from Oregon pines and Canada spruces that +had drifted to the islands, he bitterly harassed the other kingdoms, +dashing ashore at the principal towns in buccaneer fashion, laying +violent hands on their stores, capturing their handsomest women, +breaking the taboo in their temples, killing a dozen of their men, +then flying to his canoes again, hoisting his red sails, and putting +off before the astonished people knew exactly what had happened. + +This prince had fortified himself in quite a modern fashion at Haupu, +in his native kingdom. From the land side the tract was reached +only by a narrow dike which he had walled across with lava blocks, +a tunnel beneath this obstruction affording the only exit toward the +mountains. On the ocean front he had also built his forts of stone, +although the sea boiled five hundred feet below and the plateau ended +in an almost sheer precipice. Deep ravines on either side of the +stronghold bent around it to the rocky neck, thus making the place +almost an island. In these ravines were narrow paths by which his +people descended to their boats, secreted on the dark and winding +waters or hoisted on the rocks. This was the Troy of the Pacific; +Kaupepee was the Paris, and here he brought his Helen, who was Hina, +the most beautiful woman of her day, and the wife of a chief in +Hawaii. Kaupepee, encouraged by his oracles, inflamed by reports of +the woman's charm, had been lurking along the coast for some time, +watching for his opportunity. It came when Hina ventured into the +sea to bathe on a moonlight evening. Kaupepee, dashing from his +concealment, intercepted her escape, shouted to his men who were +in waiting behind a wooded point, and while the woman's friends and +attendants fled shrieking to the shore, he lifted her into his canoe, +paddled away to his double barge a half mile out, placed his lovely +captive in a shelter on board, and began the return voyage. The drum +could be heard in the village rousing the people, and lights twinkled +among the trees, showing that a pursuit was intended. In vain. The +dusky Menelaus may have put to sea, but he never appeared in view of +the flying ships. During the two days occupied in the run to Molokai +the prisoner refused food, and begged to be put to death. She was +assured that no harm was intended to her. On arriving at the fort of +her captor she was surprised by the appearance of women who had been +stolen from her villages before, and who were now to be her maids; nor +could she restrain an exclamation of pleasure when she was ushered into +what for the next eighteen years was to be her home. It was hung and +carpeted with decorated mats; its wooden frame was brightly painted, +festooned with flowers, and friezed with shells; couches of sea-grass +were overspread with cloth beaten from palm fibre; heavy curtains hung +at the doors; ranged on shelves were ornaments and carved calabashes, +while there was a profuse array of feathered cloaks and other modish +millinery and raiment. + +All, from Kaupepee to the humblest soldier, had paid the respect to +her that was the due of a queen. She was told that she could enjoy +a certain amount of liberty, and if she suffered from her slight +captivity she was asked what might be thought of her new lord whose +heart she had absolutely in her keeping, and who was therefore less +free than she. This pretty speech and the really kind treatment she +had received, together with a hearty and needed meal of fruit, fish, +potatoes, and poi, caused her to look on her situation with less of +despair. She belonged to a simple race, whose moral code was different +from ours; she was more luxuriously surrounded than she had ever been +before; Kaupepee was bold and handsome; he was, moreover, strangely +gentle in her presence, thoughtful of her comfort, and--well, she +fell out of love with her old husband and in love with the new. + +Matters were not so very dull while the war lord was away on his +forays. A considerable populace had been drawn to Haupu, and there +were dances and feasts, games, excursions, trials at arms, races, and +swimming matches, in which Hina shared when it pleased her. Reservoirs +for water, storehouses for food, and parks of ammunition were also to +be established, for none could tell when the fort might be attacked. A +long time passed before it was besieged. That time might never have +come had not Hina left at home two sons with long memories. For +years, as they approached manhood, they devoted themselves to rousing +the people of all the islands and preparing a navy that should be +invincible. Kaupepee kept himself informed of these measures, and now +and again discouraged them by swooping on their shipyards, destroying +their craft, and running off with a priest or two for a sacrifice. This +kind of thing merely hastened his punishment, and in time ten thousand +soldiers in two thousand boats were sighted from the battlements +of Haupu. A land force was sent to attack the stronghold from the +hills. Kaupepee's brother could not prevent this. He was allowed to +remain neutral. He foresaw the inevitable. When he implored the chief +to give up Hina, save himself and his warriors, and agree to a future +peace, Kaupepee would not listen. He had a thousand men, well armed, +and his enemies had an almost life-long hate to gratify. "If my day +has come," he said, "let it be as the gods will. When the battle is +over, look for me on the walls. I shall be there among the dead." The +king went away with bowed head, for he knew he should never see the +defender of Molokai again. + +Early in the morning the fleet put out from its harborage, where +the gods had been invoked and the priests had declared the omens +kindly. The mother of Hina stood in the prow of one of the first +canoes, her white hair blowing about her head in snaky folds, +her black eyes glittering. A fire burned before her on an altar of +stone, and on this she threw oils and gums that yielded a fragrant +smoke. As the walls of Haupu came in sight, bristling with spears, +she began a battle-song, which her warriors took up, crew by crew, +until the mighty chant echoed from the crags and every heart thrilled +with the hope of conflict. As the boats advanced almost within reach +of the slings from the citadel, the land army was seen advancing +over the mountains far in the distance. Haupu would be beleaguered +shortly. Kaupepee gathered his people around him, told of the odds +against them, and confessed that the end might be defeat, adding that +if there was one whose heart failed him the gates were open and he +could leave, freely, with the good-will of all who stayed. + +Not a man moved. With one cry of "Close the gates!" they declared +for death, if so be that the gods were against them. The chief smiled +and prepared for the defence. Some cried that the shore was crowded +with enemies. Kaupepee replied, in Spartan phrase, "Our spears will +be the less likely to miss." A messenger arrived offering terms if +Hina were given up. The answer was, "She is here. Come and take her." + +The land force had been making a demonstration against the narrow +bridge of rock that led to the fortress, and had succeeded so well, +according to a prearranged plan, that almost the entire garrison had +crossed the plateau to that side, when shouts of triumph arose from +the ravines. The enemy had entered them and was smashing the boats +of Kaupepee to fragments. That cry of defiance was mis-timed. In a +few moments a thunderous roar was heard that echoed through the abyss +and paralyzed the hands of those who were attacking the gates. The men +who had run to the walls, on hearing the shouts below, had let loose, +into the depths, a deadly avalanche of earth, rocks, and timber. When +the dust of it had drifted out, scores, hundreds, of dead and dying +were seen half-buried in the fallen mass. Armed with spears, knives, +and axes, a little company sprang over the parapet, and, running down +the narrow trail to the bottom, despatched the survivors,--all save a +few who swam to the reserve boats, and six who were carried up to the +fort for sacrifice. One majestic chief, who had led this attack from +the sea, avoided knives and missiles and drew away in safety with the +other few who escaped. He was one of the sons of Hina. "He is brave; +I am glad he remains unharmed," said Kaupepee. + +For several days the siege went on, the men within the defences taking +heart from this first success, that had cost the enemy two thousand +men. The sea approach was abandoned, and now that Kaupepee's boats were +destroyed or injured, so that he could not get away, the assailants +concentrated their efforts on the landward side. They had devised a +movable wall of wood, heavily braced, like that used by the Romans and +Assyrians in their military operations. Foot by foot they gained the +isthmus and slowly crossed it, those immediately behind this defence +being protected from the slings and javelins of the garrison,--that +reached those at a greater distance, however. On a rainy night they +pushed this wall against the gates, found the entrance to the tunnel, +and at dawn were ready for the final assault. It began with a downpour +of spears and stones, before which it was impossible to stand. Then +the heavy slab that masked the inner door to the tunnel was lifted, +and in another minute five thousand men were pouring over the walls +and through the passage. Not one man attempted flight. Contesting +every inch of ground and fighting hand to hand, the men of Molokai +retired before the invaders. There was an incessant din of weapons +and voices. At last, the garrison--the fifty who were left of it--and +their chief were crowded to the temple in the centre of the plain. One +of the besieging party scrambled to the roof and set it afire with a +torch. The fated fifty rushed forth only to hurl themselves against the +hedge of weapons about them. Kaupepee was transfixed by a spear. With +his last strength he aimed his javelin at the breast of a tall young +chief who suddenly appeared before him,--aimed, but did not throw; +for he recognized in the face of the man before him the features +of the woman he loved,--Hina. The javelin fell at his side and he +tumbled upon the earth, never to rise again. Every man in Haupu was +killed, and its walls were levelled: Hina was found in her cottage, +and although she bewailed the death of her lover, she rejoiced in +her restoration to her mother and her sons. + + + + + +The Hawaiian Orpheus and Eurydice + + +Upon the slopes of Hualalai, just under the clouds and among the +fragrant sandal-woods, lived Hana and her son, Hiku. They made their +living by beating bark into cloth, which the woman took to the coast to +swap for implements, for sea food, for sharp shells for scraping the +bark, and she always went alone, leaving Hiku on the mountain to talk +to the animals, to paint pictures on the cloth, and to play on curious +instruments he had made from gourds, reeds, and fibre, for he could +play music that made the birds stop in their flight to listen. The +mother loved the son so much that she wished to keep him by her so +long as she lived, and that was why she never let him go with her to +the shore. She believed that if he visited the towns and tasted the +joys of surf-riding, shared in the games of the athletes, and drank +the beer they brewed down there, and especially if he saw the pretty +girls, he would never go back to his mountain home. And though Hiku +wondered what life was among the people on the shore, he was obedient +and not ill content until he had passed his eighteenth birthday. + +As he sat one evening with eyes fixed on the far-off sea, sparkling +under the moon, the wind brought the hoarse call of the surf and a +faint sound of hula drums, and a sudden impulse came upon him to see +the world for himself. He called to his mother that he was going down +the mountain. She tried with tears and prayers and warnings to stay +him, but his resolution was taken, and off he went, saying that he +would be back again some day. Though he was as green as grass and +untaught in the practices of the settlements, Hiku was a fellow of +parts. He was not long in making a place for himself in society, and +his first proceeding was to tumble head over heels in love. His flame +was Kawelu. She received him graciously, flung wreaths of flower petals +about his neck in the pretty fashion of her people when he called, +as he did every day from sunrise until dark; and when he could row a +canoe and had learned how to swim and to coast over the breakers in +her company, he had gained paradise. + +The day came, however, when these pleasures palled upon him, when he +wondered if his mother had kept on sorrowing, when he had a longing +to see his old home, to breathe the pure, cool air of the hills. He +was an impulsive fellow, so he kissed Kawelu and told her that he +must go away for a while; that she could not go with him, because his +mother would probably dislike her. He had not walked a mile before +he discovered that Kawelu was following secretly. He increased his +speed, yet still she followed, and presently this persistence on her +part began to anger him. The one thing he had taken from home was a +magic staff that would speak when questions were put to it, and the +youth now asked what could be done to turn the girl homeward. It told +him to order vines to spring so thickly behind him that she could not +break through, and they so sprang at his command. He could no longer +see Kawelu when he looked back, though he heard her voice calling +softly, reproachfully, and when he reached home, to the joy of his +mother, he knew that the girl must have given up the pursuit, as she +really had; for, discouraged by the steepness of the mountain and +the ever-increasing tangle of vegetation, she returned to her village. + +This seeming indifference on the part of the young mountaineer was +more than she could bear. She lost interest in sports and work, fell +into a lovesickness, and though her father, the chief, sacrificed +many black pigs on her behalf, it was of no use,--she died of a +broken heart. They wrapped her body in the finest cloth, beaten by +the widow and her son, and placed it, with many lamentations, in a +burial cave hard by. Such was the dismal news that Hana took to her +son after she had been to the settlement to sell a batch of fabric, +and it filled Hiku with consternation, for he had intended to go back +for the girl as soon as he could reconcile his mother to the idea of +a daughter-in-law. He realized what a fool and a brute he had been, +and it was of little use for him to tear out his hair and roll upon +the ground in the way he did. He left his work and wandered among the +lava fields, muttering to himself, gesturing wildly, and beating his +breast. Finally it occurred to him to ask his staff how he could +amend for his wrong-doing, and was told there was but one way: +to rescue the girl from the place of the dead, in the pit of Milu, +on the other side of the island. + +He lost no time in obeying this oracle, and on arriving at the wild and +lonely spot he made a swing of morning-glory vine, which here grows +very long, and let himself down, having first smeared himself with +rancid grease to make the shades believe he was dead. Thousands of +spirits were chasing butterflies and lizards in the twilight gloom of +the place or lying under trees. He despaired of being able to discover +the spirit of Kawelu. But she had seen him; she hurried to him; she +clasped him in a fond embrace; for she had forgiven his wrong conduct, +and now she was asking him, sympathetically, how he had died. He evaded +an answer, but bestowed on her a thousand endearments, the while he +was slowly working his way up the vine, in which he affected to be +merely swinging; then, just as she began to show alarm at having been +taken so far from her new home, he clapped a cocoanut shell over her +head and had her safe, a prisoner. + +With the soul enclosed in the shell, he tramped back to her home, +living on wild fruits and yams on the way, and on poi that was offered +to him by strangers whom he met. The chief received him and his news +joyfully, but he did not know how to restore a soul to a body until +his oldest priest took the case in hand. Kawelu's corpse was taken +from the tomb, its shiny wrappings were removed and incantations were +performed about it. Then the priest raised a toe-nail, took the soul +from the shell and pressed it under the nail, working it upward with +both hands. It passed the ankle and knee with difficulty, but was +finally pushed into place in the heart. Kawelu gasped, opened her +eyes, sat up, embraced Hiku, and the people cried that their princess +was alive again. There was a great pounding of drums, much singing, +dancing, and feasting; every one wore wreaths, and Hiku was praised +without stint for his love and daring. The lovers were married, never +to part again. Kawelu remembered nothing of what had happened to her +after she was turned back by the vines on the mountain, and did not +know that her soul had been among the dead. And though he might have +taken a dozen wives when he succeeded his father-in-law as chief, +Hiku loved Kawelu so well that he never thought of taking even a +second helpmate. He brought his mother from her solitary hut on the +mountain, and she and the bride became very fond of one another. So +all the days of Hiku and Kawelu thereafter were days of happiness. + + + + + +The Rebellion of Kamiole + + +In the year 1170, or thereabout, Kanipahu was king of Hawaii. He +was of Samoan origin, grandson of the builder of that temple whose +ruins are still to be seen at Puepa in walls over eight hundred feet +around, twenty-six feet high, and eight feet thick at the top. It is +recorded that the stone for this construction was passed from hand +to hand by a line of men reaching all the way to Niuli, a matter of +nine miles. Despite the improvements in building and other arts that +had come in with the Samoans, the Normans of this Pacific Britain; +despite the centralizing of power that enabled them to break down the +oppressions of petty lords; despite the satisfaction of the common +people, the aristocracy was restive, and sought constantly for excuses +to rouse their subjects against the new domination. Wikookoo, head +of King Kanipahu's army, having eloped with the sister of Kamiole, +a disaffected chief, the latter burst in upon the king's privacy soon +after with a demand for vengeance. He had met the woman near the king's +house and had struck her dead, as he supposed, that she might not be +"degraded" by bearing children to a plebeian immigrant. + +The king was a just and patient man, and kept his temper, in spite +of the visitor's harshness, not only to Wikookoo but to all his +people. Though he could have ordered him to be slain, he yielded +to his general's demand for permission to fight a duel. The pair +faced each other at fifty feet, hurled two spears without effect, +then closed with javelins. Wikookoo was hurt, and deeming that honor +was satisfied the king ordered the fight to cease. Kamiole gave no +heed to his words. He had a tiger's thirst for blood. Like a flash he +leaped upon the fallen man and pounded the weapon into his heart. This +rebellion against the king and the savagery of the killing caused an +outcry of rage and horror. The murderer's chance was desperate. "Face +down!" commanded the king. This was the command to put the offender +to death. A dozen sprang to execute the order. Kamiole tugged the +javelin out of his foeman's body and hurled it at the king. It wounded +a young man, who had flung himself in front of his liege, and in the +confusion of the moment Kamiole escaped, running like a deer through +a shower of stones and darts, gaining his boat and sailing away for +his native state of Kau. + +Blown with pride in his exploit, the rebel set about the raising of an +army to drive the new people from the island. It needed only a leader, +like him, to urge disaffection into revolt, and not many weeks after +nearly all Hawaii was on the march against the king. Deserted by +thousands of his followers, and being a man of peace, albeit having +no lack of courage, the king withdrew to the island of Molokai and +became a simple farmer among a strange people. He was nearly seven +feet in height,--a common stature among men of the first families +in that day,--and the neighbors marked him; but he stooped his +shoulders and worked hard; so, ere long, his appearance was not +accounted strange. Kamiole was now the first man in Hawaii. He was +not a reformer. Consumed with pride, arrogant, brutal, brooking no +opposition, he made enemies day by day. Only because the people had +had enough of war did they endure in silence, and hope for an illness +or an accident to remove the now hateful tyrant. + +Unknown to Kamiole, the sister he had struck down survived his +assault, and bore a daughter to the late Wikookoo, a pretty maid, +who, in good time, married the son of the exiled king, a quiet, +dreamy youth, who lived apart from his fellows in the interior of +Hawaii, finding his company and his employ in the woods and on the +vast mountain slopes. Eighteen years had passed when this prince was +rudely waked from his idyllic life. An old priest, who alone knew the +hiding-places of the king and his son, had tried to rouse the former +to reassert his rule. The king welcomed him and wished success to +the movement for the overthrow of Kamiole, but he refused command +of his old army,--refused to return to Hawaii. "I am old," said he, +"and so bent that I can no longer look over the heads of my people, +as becomes a king. I am no longer served with dainties; in the noon +heat no servant fans me or brings water; I live in a hut and fare +on coarse food; but, old friend, I eat with an appetite, I sleep +like a tired and honest man; I have forgotten ceremony and care, +and I am happy. Not to be king of all these islands, and the islands +of our fathers likewise, would I return. See how blue the sky is, +how fresh the trees and grass! What music in the roll of the ocean +and in the birds' songs! What sweetness in the flowers!" + +Wondering at this change in his former master, the priest dropped +his hands in a gesture of despair. "Then our cause is lost," said he. + +"Not so," answered the king. "Go to my son. Tell him his father wishes +him to reign. Untried as he is, he has my strength; he is resolute, +he is wise, he loves justice. He will head your men of war." + +The prince was found to be a willing leader. The arrogance of Kamiole, +the decreasing liberties of the people, the thought that the dictator +had attempted the lives of his father and his wife's parents, stirred +in him resolves of vengeance. The fickle masses that eighteen years +before had overturned his dynasty now gathered under his standard, and +battle was offered at Anehomaloo. Kamiole had the fewer men, but the +better position, being defended in front by a stone wall five feet high +that stretched across the plain, and at the back by a gorge too deep +and steep, as he imagined, for an enemy to cross. The fight was fierce +and long, and thousands fell on both sides. The prince was cautious, +however, for he was waiting the result of a secret move: an assault on +the rear of his foe by a large body of spearmen who were making a long +detour to prevent detection of this manoeuvre. Presently he saw the +stir and shimmer of arms on the hill beyond the chasm, and ordering +a general charge on Kamiole, kept him so occupied for a quarter of +an hour that the advance from the hill was not observed until the +detachment had descended the ravine, clambered up again, and was now +rushing upon the doomed army. Penned between two forces, Kamiole's +men were beaten to the earth, and the battle ended in a massacre. + +When the successful movement was made across the ravine the prince +was astonished to see at the head of his troops in the distance +a stranger,--a tall, weathered, sinewy man with a mass of white +beard and hair that flowed over his chest and shoulders,--who hewed +a passage through the battling legion with a club that few men could +have lifted. After the fight this stranger stood long before the fallen +Kamiole and looked into his fading eyes. As the prince hastened to +the dying tyrant, his princess followed with a calabash of water; +for in those times women accompanied their husbands and brothers to +the field, waiting at a little distance to dress their wounds and +supply food and drink. His stature had enabled her to keep him in +sight, and she was now about to offer the drink to him, when Kamiole, +though he had never before seen his niece, appeared to recognize her +voice, and faintly exclaimed, "Iola!" + +"My mother's name!" cried the princess, in surprise. "Then you must be +her brother." Dropping on her knees at his side, she gave the water +to Kamiole. The dying man extended his hands toward her and drew a +deep breath,--his last. + +The prince, who had been smiling at this unusual mercy to an enemy, +now looked up and caught the eye of the stranger fixed intently upon +him. "By whose arm did Kamiole fall?" he asked. + +"By mine," replied the white-haired man. + +"Are you a god?" asked the prince, a sense of awe creeping over him +as he noted the strength and dignity of this form. + +"I am Kanipahu,--your father." + +And among the heaped dead the two embraced. Having seen his son +enthroned and peace restored, the old king refused all offers and +persuasions, and went back to Molokai to end his days in peace as a +simple farmer. The prince, whose name was Kalapana, and who was the +ancestor of the great Kamehameha, reigned tranquilly and died lamented. + + + + + +The Japanese Sword + + +More than two centuries before Columbus reached America on its Atlantic +side a Japanese junk visited the western shore. The tradition is too +vague to specify whether the navigators attempted a landing or not, +but as their boat was small and could not have been provisioned for a +voyage of thousands of miles, it is probable that they took on fresh +supplies of food and water before they put about and started on the +homeward journey. They never saw Japan again, for their vessel went +to wreck on Maui, whose king personally rescued five of them,--three +men and two women. This was the second appearance in the Hawaiian +islands of "white people with shining eyes." When the captain of the +junk reached the shore he still carried the keen sword of steel he had +girded on in the expectation of an attack from savages. There was no +attack. He and his mates were received with kindness, and provided with +houses, although they shocked the multitude by their ignorance of the +taboo, the men and women eating from the same dishes. It was explained +that their gods were poor, half-enlightened creatures, and that it was +as well to let them alone until they should learn truth and manners. + +In time these castaways took Mauians to husband and wife, the +captain's sister marrying the king himself, but the captain was held in +superstitious reverence because of his sword. The natives had daggers, +knives, axes, adzes, hammers, and spears of stone, bone, shark teeth, +and fire-hardened wood, but metals were unknown to them, and this long, +glittering blade, that cut a javelin stem as the javelin would crack +a rib, was a daily wonder. It was the common belief on that island +that whoever wielded the weapon would win a victory, though his +enemies should be thousands in number. This belief was comforting, +but it did not last, for Kalaunui, king of Hawaii, undertook in the +year 1260 the subjugation of the whole group, and although his force +was defeated with great slaughter on Kauai, he had subdued Maui, +Oahu, and Molokai, for the time being, with his fleet of two thousand +well-manned, well-armed canoes. + +In the great fight on Maui the Japanese warrior fought to the last, +but was struck down by a Hawaiian captain, one Kaulu, who buried the +precious sword on the spot where he had taken it, and recovered it +by starlight. Knowing that the king would demand it if it were seen, +he gave it in charge of his mother Waahia, a seer of such renown and +verity that she accompanied the army at the request of its leaders. The +old woman concealed the blade in the hollow of a rock. Unhappily for +her cause, she had not foreseen the result of this campaign, for the +expedition met its Waterloo on the shores of Kauai, hundreds of the +men being drowned or slain by slings and javelins before a landing +could be made. King Kalaunui was made prisoner, the kings of Maui, +Oahu, and Molokai, whom he had taken with him as hostages for the +surrender of their islands when he should return, were released, and +a remnant of the invading force, under lead of Kaulu, returned. The +queen was filled with wrath at the failure of this expedition, and +rebuked Kaulu for treachery and cowardice,--Kaulu, who had stood by +his lord to the moment of his capture, and who had wrested the magic +sword from its owner. + +Burning under this charge, he sought his mother and asked what +he should do to disprove it. She replied that he should not only +be cleared by the king himself, but he should marry the king's +daughter. The queen began at once to negotiate for the release of her +husband. That monarch was confined in a hut, surrounded by a stone +wall and strongly guarded, but was, nevertheless, treated with the +respect and distinction worthy of the Napoleon that he was. A fleet +of canoes with many spears was offered in exchange; but, with the +spoils of battle still in their possession, the victors only smiled +at this. Next came an offer of twenty feather cloaks, with stone axes, +ivory, and whalebone; but this, too, was rejected. A third proposition +by the queen was that the ruler of Kauai should wed her daughter and +agree to a perpetual peace. This came to nothing. Several attempts +were made to renew the war, but they fell flat, for the experience had +been too bitter and the people refused. Three years thus passed,--a +time sufficient to convince the queen of her political weakness. She +had almost resigned hope when old Waahia sought an audience at court, +and said, when she had received permission to break the taboo and speak +before the councillors, that she, and she alone, could rescue the king, +but she would not undertake this unless the chiefs would promise to +grant her request, whatever it might be, on their lord's return. + +This pledge they gave with the understanding that it was not to affect +life or sovereignty or possessions, and the seer left for Kauai, with +but a single oarsman, in the morning. She arrived while the new-year +festivities were in progress, and everybody was in good-humor. There +were music, dancing, chanting of poems and traditions, feasting, and +much swigging of spirits, not to speak of indulgences that would have +shocked civilization. Unannounced, a weird-like, commanding figure, +Waahia sought the presence of the court. She had come, she said, to +make a final offer for the release of the royal prisoner: the offer +of a sword that flashed like fire, that was harder than stone, that +broke spears like reeds, that gave to its owner supreme fortune and +supreme command. The fame of the bright knife had gone abroad ere this, +and an offer had at last been made that carried persuasion with it. The +liberty of the king was promised when it should be brought. But first +she wished the prisoner's assurance that on his return he would give +his daughter in marriage to her son, since the young people loved +each other, and the marriage would also remove the disgrace that the +queen had angrily tried to fix upon Kaulu. + +This was agreed to, and a few days later the old woman reappeared at +the palace with the splendid weapon,--one that would still be splendid, +for such blades are not made nowadays,--and with general rejoicing +at the possession of this wonder, the chiefs liberated Kalaunui, and +he returned to Hawaii, cured of ambition for leadership and military +glory. His daughter was married to Kaulu, captain of the royal guard, +and kings were their descendants. For many years the glittering prize +remained with the ruling house of Kauai, but its virtue had fled when +the invincible Kamehameha undertook the conquest of the islands and +their union under a single king, for he succeeded in that enterprise, +as Kalaunui had not. + + + + + +Lo-Lale's Lament + + +Lo-Lale, a prince of Oahu in the fifteenth century, took no joy in +the sea after the girl had been drowned in it who was betrothed to +him. Retiring inland, he led a quiet, thoughtful life, to the regret +of those who had looked to see him show some fitness in leadership, +for as youth verged toward middle age he was repeatedly besought +to marry, that his princely line might be continued. Tired of these +importunities, and possibly not averse to the lightening of his spirit, +he consented that a wife should be sought for him, and appointed his +handsome, dashing cousin, Kalamakua, as his agent in the choice. The +cousin sailed at once for Maui, where rumor said a young woman of +rare beauty was living at the court, whose hand had been sought by +a dozen chiefs. On arriving near the shore of the king's domain +the messenger and his rowers were startled by the uprising from +the waves of a laughing, handsome face, and behold! the woman who +introduced herself in this unusual fashion was the one they sought: +Kelea, the king's sister. She had been surf-riding on her board, and +in the delight of swimming had ventured farther from shore than usual. + +The captain of the canoe helped this dusky Venus to rise completely +from the sea, and as she did not wish to return at once, he put his +boat at her service for the exhilarating and risky sport of coasting +the breakers; but putting far out to meet a wave of uncommon size, +they were struck by a squall and blown so far that they found it +easier to put in for shelter near the home of Lo-Lale than to return +to Maui. The storm, the spray, the chilling gusts, compelled Kelea +to sit close in the shelter of Kalamakua's sturdy form. He levied on +the scant draperies of his crew for cloth to keep her warm, and all +the men dined scantily that she might be fed. It is not strange that +a friendship was born on that voyage between the two people who had +been so oddly introduced. Lo-Lale had never heard of John Alden and +Myles Standish, principally, no doubt, because they had not been +born, but it must be allowed in his behalf, or in hers, that he +had never seen the damsel whom he was courting thus by proxy. When +he did behold her he was vastly pleased, and as he appeared in all +the paraphernalia of his rank and instituted in her honor a series +of feasts and entertainments unparalleled in Oahu, the consent of +Kelea to a speedy marriage was obtained, a courteous notice to that +effect being sent to her relatives, who had mourned for her as lost +in the storm. He built a temple and adorned it with a statue as a +thank-offering for having blown so fair a bride to his domain. No +prettier compliment could be paid to a wife, even by a white man. + +For a time Kelea was content. Lo-Lale was a kind husband, and he was +constantly studying to advance her happiness, but he was meditative and +silent; he loved the woody solitudes, while she was fond of company, +babble, sport, and especially of swimming and surf-riding. Presently +it was noticed that she laughed less. She did not welcome Lo-Lale +when he returned from his walks or his communings with Nature on +the hills. The voice of the sea was calling her,--and the voice +of Kalamakua. A separation had to come. It was without any spoken +bitterness. The husband wished her well, bestowed on her some parting +gifts, and sent her to the shore in a palanquin borne by four men and +attended by a guard of three hundred, as became her station. Kalamakua +was waiting on the beach,--Kalamakua, handsome, reckless, ardent. She +never returned to Maui. Though Lo-Lale resumed his old, still way +and kept his dignity and countenance before his people, his lament, +that has been preserved by the treasurers of island traditions for +more than four centuries, discovers a pang in his heart deeper than he +could or would have voiced when he parted from his wife. The English +version is by King Kalakaua: + + + "Farewell, my partner on the lowland plains, + On the waters of Pohakeo, above Kanehoa, + On the dark mountain spur of Mauna-una! + O, Lihue, she is gone! + Sniff the sweet scent of the grass, + The sweet scent of the wild vines + That are twisted by Waikoloa, + By the winds of Waiopua, + My flower! + As if a mote were in my eye. + The pupil of my eye is troubled. + Dimness covers my eyes. Woe is me!" + + + + + +The Resurrections of Kaha + + +Kaha was granddaughter of the Wind and the Rain, whose home is still +among the vapory darks that settle in the valley of Manoa, back of +Honolulu, her remote ancestors being the mountain Akaaka and the +Cape Nalehuaakaaka. She was of such beauty that light played about +her when she bathed, a rosy light such as the setting sun paints on +eastern clouds, and an amber glow hovered above the roof that sheltered +her. From infancy she had been betrothed to Kauhi, a young chief whom +every one supposed to be worthy of her, because his parentage was high, +and he could name more grandfathers than he had toes and fingers. He +did not deserve this esteem, for he was not only cruel and jealous, +but spoiled, petulant, and thick-headed. His qualities were exhibited +on his very first meeting with his promised bride, for neither had +seen the other until reaching marriageable age. Two braggarts, who +were so ill formed and ugly that their boasts of winning ladies' +favor would have been taken by any one else for lies, declared, +in Kauhi's hearing, that they were lovers of Kaha, and they wore +wreaths of flowers which they said she had hung over their shoulders. + +Setting his teeth with a vengeful scowl and wrenching a stout +branch from a tree, the prince strode over to the house of his +bride-to-be. She received him modestly and pleasantly, and her beauty +struck him into such an amazement that he could not at first find words +to express the charge he wished to make. At last, by turning his back, +he managed to speak his base and foolish thought. She, thinking this +a jest, at first made light of it, but when he faced her once more, +frowning this time, like a thunder-cloud, and brandishing the cudgel +above his head, she was filled with fear and could hardly keep her +feet. She denied the charge. She begged that he would tell the names +of her accusers that she might prove her innocence. + +"You are fair to see and to hear, but you are as fickle as your +parents. I will have no such woman for a wife," shouted the chief, +lashing himself into a rage. She extended her arms appealingly. He +struck her on the temple, and she fell dead. He had gone but a mile or +so when her voice was heard in song behind him, and the fall of her +steps on the path. To his astonishment, she now appeared bearing no +mark of injury, save that the rough way had cut her feet, and again +she besought him to say on whose charge he had so foully wronged +her in his thought, and why he wished to kill her. His answer was +another blow, more savage than the first, and this time there was no +doubt that he left her dead. Yet, before he had gone another mile, +her lamenting song was heard; she came to him, and he struck her down +again. Five times this monster laid the defenceless girl a corpse, +and the last time he scraped a hole under the tough roots of a tree, +crowded her body into it, covered it with earth, and went on to +Waikiki without further interruption. + +The owl-god had been Kaha's friend. After each stroke he had flown +to her, rubbed his head against the bruised and broken temple, and +restored her to life. To drag her from under the tangled roots was +beyond his strength, and he flapped away into the depths of the wood, +filled with sadness that such beauty had been lost to the world. But +it was not lost. The girl's spirit could not rest under the false +accusal that had caused her death. All bloody and disfigured, her +ghost presented itself before Mahana, a young warrior of the nearest +town, with whom she had in life exchanged a kind though casual word +or two, and understanding, through his own deep but unspoken love, +the reason for this visitation, he hurried after the phantom as it +drifted back to the tree. The disturbed earth and the splashes of +blood explained enough. He set to work vigorously, exhumed the body +while it was still warm, and holding it close to his breast, with +eyes fixed on the hurt but lovely face, he carried it to his home. + +Once more the gods befriended her and restored Kaha to life. For many +days she was ill and weak, and throughout those days it was Mahana's +delight to serve her, to talk with her, to sit at her side, and hold +her hand. This life of love and tenderness was a new and delightful +one; yet she sorrowfully declared that she must become the wife of +Kauhi, because her parents had so intended. The lover was not content +with this. He made a visit to Kauhi, and in the course of their talk +he mentioned, as the merest matter of fact, the visit of the famous +beauty to his home. Kauhi pooh-poohed this. He was sure of the girl's +death. Mahana adroitly kept the conversation on this theme until Kauhi +lost his temper, confessed that he had killed Kaha for faithlessness, +and swore that the woman whom Mahana sheltered was a spirit or an +impostor. He would wager his life that it was so. The lover took the +wager. It was agreed that the loser should be roasted alive. A number +of chiefs, priests, and elderly men were assembled, and the girl was +brought into their presence. It was no spirit that bent the grass and +fixed on the quailing ruffian that look of soft reproach. No impostor +could boast such beauty. Kauhi tried to exonerate his conduct by +repeating the falsehoods of the two men who claimed to have received +her favors. They were dragged before the assembly, confronted by the +innocent Kaha, made confession, and were ordered to the ovens, where +Kauhi also went to his death, vaunting to the last. The lands and +fish-ponds of this chief, who had no owl-god to resurrect his ashes, +were, with general acclaim, awarded to Mahana, and as chief he ruled +happily for many years with the fair Kaha for his wife. + + + + + +Hawaiian Ghosts + + +Hawaii has its "haunts" and "spooks," just as do some countries that +do not believe in such things. One of the spectres troubles a steep +slope near Lihue, Kauai. An obese and lazy chief ordered one of his +retainers to carry him to the top of the slope on his shoulders. It +was a toilsome climb, the day was hot, hence it is no wonder that +just before he gained the summit the man staggered, fell, and sent +his dignified and indignant lord sprawling on the rocks. This was a +fatal misstep, for the chief ran the poor fellow through with his +spear. And the ghost possibly laments because it did not drop its +burden sooner and with more emphasis. + +Another place that the natives avoid is the Sugar Loaf on Wailua +River, Kauai. Hungry robbers broke a taboo and ate some bananas that +had been consecrated to a local god, Kamalau. Missing the fruit, +the deity turned himself into the rock known as the Sugar Loaf, which +is sixty feet high, that he might watch his plantation without being +identified. The thieves noticed the rock, however, could not recall +that it had been there on the day before, and suspecting something kept +away. The sister of the god, believing him to be lost, leaped into +the river and became a stone herself. And so, having rid themselves +of the flesh, these two are free to wander in the spirit. + +Another deity that is occasionally seen is Kamehameha's large war god, +from his temple in Hawaii, that even in his lifetime would leave its +pedestal and thrash among the trees like a lost comet. + +At Honuapo, Hawaii, is the rock Kaverohea, jutting into the sea, where +at night a murdered wife calls to her jealous husband, assuring him +of her love and innocence. The voice is oftenest heard when a great +disaster is at hand: war, storm, earthquake, the death of a chief, +or a season of famine. + + + + + +The Three Wives of Laa + + +Laa, a young man of distinguished family, who had gone to Raiatea +in his boyhood, returned a number of years after to visit his +foster-father, Moikeha, then chief of Kauai. The boats that were sent +for him were painted yellow, the royal color, and Laa was invested in a +feather robe that had cost a hundred people a year of labor, and caused +the killing of at least ten thousand birds, since the mamo had but one +yellow feather under each wing. Hawaiian millinery was, therefore, as +cruel a business as it became in America several centuries later. When +this favorite scion landed his path was strewn with flowers, and the +feasts in his honor lasted for a month. He had agreed to go back to +Raiatea, for he had been accepted there as heir-apparent, yet it +was thought a pity that his line should cease in his native land; +and while he felt that for state reasons he must take a Raiatea +woman for his queen,--for the people there would never consent to +his carrying home a Hawaiian to help rule over them,--he cheerfully +consented to take a temporary wife during his stay in Kauai. His house +and grounds were, therefore, decorated, the nobility was assembled, +musicians and poets and dancers were engaged, and a great feast was +ordered, when a hitch arose over the choice of a bride. Each of the +three leading priests had a marriageable daughter of beauty and proud +descent. How were their claims to be settled? Easily enough, as it fell +out. Laa married all three on the same day, and before his departure +for Raiatea each wife on the same day presented a son to him. From +these three sons sprang the governing families of Oahu and Kauai. + + + + + +The Misdoing of Kamapua + + +When a child was born to Olopana, a lord of Oahu, in the twelfth +century, he conceived a dislike to it, and freely alleged that his +brother was its father. Such as dared to speak ill of dignitaries, and +there were gossips in those days, as in all other, chuckled, at safe +distance, that if Olopana's suspicions were correct, the boy should +have somewhat of his--er--uncle's good looks and pleasant manner, +whereas he was hairy, ill-favored, and, as his nature disclosed itself +with increasing years, violent, thievish, treacherous; in short, he was +Olopana at his worst. Every day added to the bad feeling between the +boy and his father, for when he had grown old enough to appreciate +the position to which he had been born, the youngster repaid the +hate of his parent, and strove to deserve it. Vain the attempt of +the mother to make peace between them and direct her offspring into +paths of rectitude. In contempt, the chief put the name of Kamapua, +or hog-child, on the boy, and in some of the older myths he actually +figures as a half-monster with a body like that of a man, but with +the head of a boar. + +Kamapua gathered the reckless and incorrigible boys of the neighborhood +about him, and the band became a terror by night, for in the dark they +broke the taboo and heads as well, stripped trees of their fruit, +stole swine and fowls, staved in the bottoms of canoes, cut trees, +and in order to look as bad as he felt, the leader cropped his hair +and his beard (when one came to him) to the shortness of an inch, +tattooed the upper half of his body in black, and wore a hog-skin +over his shoulders with bristles outward. On attaining his majority he +left his parents, taking with him some of his reprobates, and set up +in life as a brigand, making his home in lonely defiles of the hills, +and subsisting almost entirely by pillage. Several attempts were made +to catch him, and a local legend at Hauula has it that when close +pressed by an angry crowd he turned himself into a monstrous hog, +made a bridge of himself across a narrow chasm, so that his companions +could run over on his back, scrambled on after them, and so escaped. + +The neighbors endured these goings-on until Kamapua had added murder +to his other crimes, when they resolved that he was no longer a +subject for public patience. An army was sent against him, most of his +associates were killed, he was caught, and was taken before his father +for judgment. Olopana sternly ordered that he be given as a sacrifice +to the gods. His mother was in despair at this, for though he was a +most unworthy fellow, a nuisance, a danger, still, he was her son, and +she loved him better than her life. She bribed the priests, whose duty +it was to slay him, and they, having smeared him with chicken-blood, +laid him on the altar. The eye that was gouged from the body of +a victim, and offered to the chief who made the sacrifice, was in +this case the eye of a pig. Olopana did not even pretend to eat this +relic, as he should have done, to follow custom, but flung it aside +and gazed with satisfaction at the gory features of the man who was +shamming death. He had turned to leave the temple when Kamapua leaped +from the altar, picked up the bone dagger with which a feint had been +made of cutting out his eye and stabbed his father repeatedly in the +back. At the sight of a corpse butchering their chief the people fled +in panic, the priests, awe-struck at the result of their corruption, +hid themselves, and the murderer, so soon as he was sure that Olopana +was dead, hurried away, assembled the forty surviving members of his +band, leaped into his canoe, and left Oahu forever. + +He landed at Kauai, on the cliff of Kipukai, and remembering a well +of sweet water on its side, he sought for it, up and down, and back +and forth, for he had a raging thirst. Two spirits of the place, +knowing him to be evil, had concealed the spring under a mass of +shrubbery that he might not pollute it; but he found it, and as he +drank he saw their figures reflected in the surface, despite their +concealment in the shadow, and heard their laughter at his greed and +his uncouthness. That angered him. He sprang up, chased them through +the wood, caught them, and with a swing of his great arms hurled them +to the hill across the valley, where they became stone and art seen +to this day. So ill did he behave in Kauai, assailing innocent people +and destroying their taro patches, that they determined to despatch +him, and in order to have him under their advantage it was resolved +to fence him in near Hanalei. The wall of mountain now existing there +is the fence. Just before it was finished the prince in charge of the +work sat to rest in a gap which admits the present road. He heard a +harsh laugh, and looking up saw Kamapua sitting on the top of Hoary +Head. A running fight ensued, in which the outlaw escaped across the +mountain, and the prince, hurling his spear, but missing his mark, +sent the weapon through the crest of the peak, making the remarkable +window that is one of the sights of the island. And now, when a cloud +rests on this mountain, the people say that Kamapua is sitting there. + +Some years before this Pele and her brothers had migrated from the +far southern islands and had made their home in Hawaii, close to the +crater of Kilauea,--so close that they were believed to be under +the special protection of the gods; and from that belief no doubt +grew the later faith that Pele and her family were gods themselves; +that they lived in the cones thrust up from the floor of Kilauea by +gas and steam while it was in a viscid state; that the music of their +dances came up in thunder gusts, and that they swam the white surges +of lava in the hell-pit. + +Having heard of the beauty of this woman, Kamapua resolved to abduct +her, and after a visit, in which the usual courtesies and hospitalities +were observed, but which he paid in order to estimate the strength of +her following, he attacked the outlying huts of the village in the +night and killed their occupants, intending to follow this assault +by surrounding Pele's house and forcing the surrender of all within: +but hearing the outcry in the distance and divining its meaning, she +and her brothers hastily gathered weapons and provisions and fled to +a cave in the hills three miles away. There was a sufficient spring +in this place, and the entrance was defended by heavy blocks. The +fugitives could have endured a siege of a week with little likelihood +of loss. In the morning a dog, following their scent, led Kamapua +to this stronghold. An attack costing several lives on his side, and +making no effect on those entrenched within, convinced him that it was +useless to expect success from this method, so he piled fuel against +the entrance and set it afire, hoping to suffocate the defenders +to unconsciousness, when he would force his way to the interior and +rescue Pele. Here again he failed, for a strong draft blowing from +the cave carried the smoke into his own face. Then he ordered a hole +to be cut in the cavern roof, for this appeared to be not more than +fifteen or twenty feet thick, and being friable was easily worked by +the stone drills and axes of his men. The workers plied their tools +industriously, while Kamapua shouted threats and defiance through +the chinks in the wall before the cavern door. + +His taunts were vain. While the sinking of the shaft was in progress, +a strange new power was coming upon Pele. The gods of the earth and +air had seen this assault and had resolved to take her part. The sky +became overcast with brown, unwholesome-looking clouds, the ground +grew hot and parched, vegetation drooped and withered, birds flew +seaward with cries of distress, and a waiting stillness fell upon +the world. Kamapua had cut away ten feet of rock, when the voice of +Pele was heard in long, shrill laughter, dying in far recesses of the +mountain, as if she were flying through passages of immense length. The +hills began to shake; vast roarings were beard; a choking fume of +sulphur filled the air, dust rolled upward, making a darkness like +the night; then, with a crash like the bursting of a world, the top +of Kilauea was blown toward the heavens in an upward shower of rock; +a fierce glow colored the ash-clouds that volleyed from the crater, +and down the valley came pouring a flood of lava, a river of white +fire, crested with the flame of burning forests, as with foam. + +Kamapua and his bandits fled, but again he heard the laughter, this +time from the crater, which Pele had reached from within, and was now +mounting, free, vaulting through the clouds, revelling in the heat and +blaze and din, and hurling rocks and thunderbolts at the intruder. At +the ocean's edge the lava was still close at his heels. Its heat +blistered his skin. He had no time to reach his boats. With his spear +he struck a mighty blow on the ground and cracked the mountain to its +base, so that the ocean flowed in, and a fearful fight of fire and sea +began. Steam shot for miles into the air, with vast geysers leaping +through it, and the hiss and screech and bellow were appalling. The +crater filled with water, so that Pele and her brothers had to drink +it dry, lest the fires should be quenched. When they had done this +they resumed the attack on Kamapua, emptying the mountain of its +ash and molten rock, and hurling tons of stone after the wretch, +who was now straining every muscle to force his boat far enough to +sea to insure his safety. He did not retaliate this time, but was +glad to make his escape; for Pele had come to her godhood at last. + + + + + +Pele's Hair + + +Fiercest, though loveliest, of all the gods is Pele, she whose home +is in Kilauea, greatest of the world's volcanoes. When this mountain +lights the heavens, when lava pours from its miles of throat, when +stone bombs are hurled at the stars, when its ash-clouds darken the sun +and moon, when there are thunders beneath the earth, and the houses +shake, then does this spirit of the peak, in robes of fire, ride the +hot blast and shriek in the joy of destruction,--a valkyrie of the +war of nature. Kanakas try to keep on the good side of this torrid +divinity by secret gifts, either of white chickens or of red ohelo +berries, and an old man once put into a guide's hand the bones of a +child that he might throw them down the inner crater,--Halemaumau, +the House of Eternal Burning, whose ruddy lava cones are homes of +the goddess and her family. The dogs sacrificed to Pele, when human +victims were scant, were nursed at the breasts of slaves, and the +priests and virgins received as their portion, after the killing, +the heart and liver. Next to her eyes, of piercing brightness, +the most striking thing in the aspect of this deity is her wealth +of hair, silky, shining red in the glow, and shaken from her head +in a cloud-like spread as of flame. When the eruption is at an end +and a sullen peace follows the outbreak, tufts _of_ this hair are +found in hollows for miles around. Birds gather it for their nests, +and unfearing visitors collect it for cabinets and museums. + +Science tells us that Pele's hair is a molten glass; threads of +pumice: a stony froth. When a mighty blast occurs, or when steam +escapes through the boiling mass, particles of pumice shred off in +the upward flight, or are wire-drawn by winds that rage over the +earth. These viscid threads cool quickly in that chill altitude, +and float down again. They can be artificially made by passing +jets of steam through the slag of iron furnaces while it is in a +melted state, the product, which resembles raw cotton, being used, +in place of asbestos, for the packing of boilers, steam-pipes, and +the like. To such base uses might the goddess' shining locks be put, +if she tore them out in large enough handfuls during the carnival of +fire and earthquake; but they are not found in quantities to justify +this search by commercial-minded persons, and conservative Kanakas +might be alarmed by thought of revenges which Pele would visit on +them should they misuse her hair as the foreign heathen do. + + + + + +The Prayer to Pele + + +Although Pele is the most terrible of deities, she can be kind. If a +village makes sacrifices to her she is liable at any hour to continue +to keep the peace. Otherwise, she loses her temper and pours out floods +of lava or showers of ashes on the neglectful people, or dries their +springs and wastes their farms. Sacrifices of unhappy beings were made +to her whenever the volcano spirits began to growl, the victims being +bound and thrown into the crater of the threatening mountain. Princess +Kapiolani was probably the first native to protest against these +sacrifices, and in 1824, after her conversion to Christianity, +she gave an instructive exhibition by defying the taboo of Kilauea, +eating the berries growing on the sides of the peak, in defiance of +the priestly order, and throwing rocks contemptuously into the pit. + +Pele is the Venus of the islands, and is of wondrous beauty when she +takes a human form, as she does, now and again, when she falls in +love with some Mars or Adonis of the native race, or when she intends +to engage in coasting down the slippery mountain sides,--a sport of +which she is fond. As always with distinguished company, you must +let your competitor win, if you fancy that it is Pele in disguise who +is your rival in a toboggan contest; for a chief of Puna having once +suffered himself to distance her, she revengefully emptied a sea of +lava from the nearest crater and forced him to fly the region. Many +tales of her amours survive. Kamehameha the Great was among her most +favored lovers. It was to help him to a victory that she suffocated +a part of the army of his enemy with steam and sulphur fumes. + +It fared less happily with the debonnair Prince Kaululaau when he +attempted force in his wooing. He found Pele watching the surf-riders +at Keauhou, and was ravished by her loveliness. Her skirt glittered +with crystal, her mantle was colored like a rainbow, bracelets of +shell circled her wrists and ankles, her hair was held in a wreath of +flowers. His admiration was not returned. She was contemptuous toward +him,--one could almost say cold, but Pele was seldom that, for when +the young chief approached, the earth about her was blistering hot +and he was compelled to dance. With his magic spear he dissipated her +power for a little and lowered the temperature she had inflamed the +very earth withal. So soon, however, as she had regained her freedom, +and had passed beyond the influence of this spear, she undertook +to avenge herself by opening the gates of the mountain and letting +loose a deluge of lava. Again with his spear-point Kaululaau drew +lines on the ground, beyond which the deadly torrent could not pass, +and through the hot air, amid the rain of ashes and the belching of +sulphurous steam, he regained his canoe and escaped. + +Only so far back as 1882 this goddess was petitioned by one of the +faithful, and with effect. Mauna Loa was in eruption. A river of lava +twenty-five miles long was creeping down the slope and was threatening +the town of Hilo. The people raised walls and breaks of stone to +deflect this stream; they dug pits across its course to check it, +but without avail. The vast flow of melted rock kept on, lighting +the skies, charring vegetation at a distance, and filling the air +with an intolerable heat. Princess Ruth, a descendant of Kamehameha, +was appealed to. She hated the white race, and would have seen with +little emotion the destruction of all the European and American +intruders in Hilo; but it was her own people who were most in danger, +so she answered, "I will save the Hilo fish-ponds. Pele will hear a +Kamehameha." A steamer was obtained for her, and with many attendants +she sailed from Honolulu to the threatened point. Climbing the slope +behind the village, she built an altar close to the advancing lava, +cast offerings upon the glowing mass, and solemnly prayed for the +salvation of Hilo. That night the lava ceased to flow. It still forms +a shining bulwark about the menaced town. The princess sailed back +to Honolulu, and the faithful asked the Christians why the pagan +divinity alone had answered the many prayers. + + + + + +Lohiau and the Volcano Princess + + +With gods, as with men, who would speed his affairs must keep them in +his own hands. Pele, the volcano goddess, fell in love with Lohiau, +a Kauaian prince, and in human guise remained with him so long that +her sisters were afraid the Kilauea fires would go out. The prince +took an illness, and appeared to die, ere the honeymoon was over, +so, wrapped in cloth of bark, he was put under guard to lie in +state. When Pele had gone back alone to her mountain home a longing +came upon her to feel the young man's arms about her once more and +hear the words of love he had such a pretty talent for telling. But, +instead of going herself, she sent her sister Hiika to rescue his +soul and bring it to her. This was a mistake, for the sister was not +a serious creature. Stopping to brave the devils and giant lizards of +the woods, turning the boards of surf-riders to stone for a prank, +and scaring a fisherman by causing him to pull a human head out of +the sea, the sister next found a half-released spirit hovering near +a dying chief. She tied it in a corner of her skirt and slapped the +skirt against a rock, so the chief finished his dying promptly. In +Kauai, at last, her search was rewarded. She saw the ghost of Lohiau +beckoning from a cave, in which it had been imprisoned by demons, who +fled, hissing, on her approach. She broke the bars of moonbeam that +confined it, tied it in her skirt, carried it to its body, restored +the prince to life, then led him to Hawaii and with him scaled the +mountain where Pele was waiting in great dudgeon. For Hiika had been +gone so long on this journey that a wrong construction had been put on +her delay. Lohiau and Hiika had, indeed, learned to esteem each other, +but they had not violated the trust imposed in them by the goddess. + +Pele was madly jealous, however. She turned the prince to stone +on the crater brink,--the poor fellow was growing used to dying +now,--and, dismayed by this act of cruelty, Hiika descended through +the five spheres to the dark underworld where the spirits lived. She +hoped that the young man's ghost would follow her, for pity in his +sufferings had fast increased to love. As the spirit did not come, +she returned to the surface of the earth and went on a voyage of +search in a boat that a god had lent to her,--a boat of cowrie shell, +which in overland travel would shrink so that it could be carried in +the hand; then, at the word, would swell to a stately barge of pearl +with ivory masts and sails as white as the snow on the mountain. This +vessel moved with the speed of the wind in any direction the occupant +indicated by pointing the finger. The prince's wandering spirit was +found in Kauai, its old home; was taken by a messenger to the stone +image on the crater, and put back into the body, and the prince lived +again. Pele was by this time in a soft and repentant humor. She +asked forgiveness of Lohiau and bade him love and wed her sister, +who was good, and had earned his love. This Lohiau did, whereupon +Pele restored to life several of Hiika's friends whom, also, in her +first anger, she had turned to statues of lava. + + + + + +A Visit of Pele + + +While a great storm was raging over Hawaii a boy was born to a woman +chief in the camp of King Alapai. At once the soothsayers proclaimed +him as the man of prophecy who should conquer the eight islands and end +their strifes. It seemed as if for once--or oftener--the kahunas were +wrong, for the babe disappeared that very night. There were rumors of +foul play; rumors that Alapai had killed him, that he might not stand +in the way of his own progeny, for this barbarian Macbeth would have no +Banquo to intercept his line or wrest the crown from him. It was five +years before the fate of the child was known. He was not dead: Naole, +a chief, had kidnapped him that the prophecy might come to pass. When +the king heard of this he commanded that the boy be placed at court, +where he might learn manners and the laws, and be kept under the eyes +of the great; but, doubting his master's motive, Naole did not send +the child; he sent another of the same age, who was to cut no figure +in the history of the islands, not being the favored of the gods. + +The real prince was kept in so secluded a place and the secret of +his parentage so well preserved--it was prophecy that he should be +fathered of three kings--that he had reached the age of twenty before +Naole deemed it safe to let him mingle with the multitude. He then +made it known that the young man was Kamehameha. By this time King +Alapai was dead, or helpless with age; but the prince, albeit liberal +and just, was rough, strong, dictatorial, a natural military leader, +and he did not lack enemies. Worst among these was his uncle, Pepehi, +an elderly chief, who had read omens in the entrails of sacrifice +warning him to be discreet and guarded in his life or it would be +taken from him by one related to him, and of greater power. He could +not brook the thought of Kamehameha's ascendency, for he was a man +used to deference, a man of weight and dignity, while this new-found +prince was a boor. He therefore made himself unpleasant by criticisms +and carpings, by false interpretations of signs, by implications +against his nephew, and finding that the young man did not retaliate, +he resolved to have his life. + +Pretending anger with Kamehameha because he would not study for the +priesthood and succeed to his honors, the soothsayer dinned a tirade +into his ears in the temple ground, hoping to receive a blow, that +he might stab, in return, for he wished the killing to appear as if +done in self-defence. Stung by his insolence, Kamehameha did knock +him down: a good, stout blow, well won. So soon as he had recovered +his wits and got upon his feet the priest plucked out his long bone +knife and made a stroke, but the priestess of the temple, her eyes +blazing with anger at this trespass, caught his wrist and cried, "Down +to your knees! Ask pardon of your future king and mercy of the gods." + +At that instant came a rush of wings and a blaze of light filling +the temple space. All fell to the earth, for they had recognized the +tall form before them with the coronet of vari-colored sparks bound +on the golden hair that swept around it like a cloud of glory, and +the robe of tissue that was like flame of silver whiteness. It was +the volcano goddess. + +"Peace!" she commanded. "This boy is in the charge of Pele. Let +no hand be lifted against him. No knife, no art, no poison, and no +spell shall shorten his life. He will be your greatest king: your +best. He will put an end to these wretched wars between your families, +and prepare for the day when a pale race will come to these lands, +making them a step in their conquering march around the world. As for +you, Pepehi, speak another word against those I love, lift a hand +against them, and I turn you to a cinder. Aloha!" She had vanished +like flame. Kamehameha, on this revelation of his destiny, sprang to +his feet. His breath was quick and strong, a smile was on his lips, +and he looked into the distance with lifted face and flashing eye, as +if a glorious vision had arisen there. A touch on his foot brought him +to himself. Pepehi was grovelling before him, baring his breast and +offering to Kamehameha the poisoned dagger he had but a few moments +before aimed at the young king's heart. Lifting him from the ground, +Kamehameha comforted the priest with a few words and sent him homeward +with bowed head and dragging step. + + + + + +The Great Famine + + +Hua, the licentious king of Maui,--who kept a hundred hula dancers, +was drunk for days together on awa, and spared no wife or daughter +of a friend or subject if she took his fancy,--had been chafing +under the restraints imposed or attempted by his high priest, a +blameless man whose age and long service should have gained even a +king's consideration. It was approaching a new-year feast (the end +of December), toward the close of the twelfth century, and Hua had +made such levies on his people for useless wars and wasteful orgies +that the old man was moved to protest. Hua paid no attention to him, +but loudly ordered his hunters to go to the mountains and bring him +some water-birds for his table. + +"Those birds can be found only by the sea," ventured the priest. + +"You countermand my orders, do you?" roared the monarch. + +"I gave no order," protested the venerable man. + +"Hark you," insisted the king. "My men are going to the mountain. If +they find the birds there--and they will--you shall be slain as a +rebel and a false prophet." + +Seeing that his master desired his death, the priest bowed and made no +answer. He went to his sons, who were studying for the priesthood, +prevailed on them to fly to Mount Haleakala, and probably hoped +to follow them, but being slow and lame with years, the hunters had +returned before he could escape. They bore their prey, the water-birds, +and said they had found them inland. Knowing this to be a lie, told +by the king's command, the priest said, "These birds came from the +sea. You can smell it upon them. Look." And he cut open two or three +of their bodies. "Here are little fish and bits of seaweed they have +eaten within the hour." + +Enraged at the discovery of his paltry subterfuge, the king caught up +a spear and thrust it into the old man's heart. Though everything is +permitted to a king, the people could not repress a groan of horror, +and one by one they stole away from the spot, fearful of what might +follow this sacrilege. Well might they fear. The body of the priest +had barely reached the wooden cross that marked the temple-ground +as sacred when its bearers dropped it upon the earth and fled, for +a sudden fever smote the ground; hot, stifling winds began to blow; +the images of the gods wailed and moaned; the sky was red and dripped +blood, and the altar that was to have received the body sank through +the rock, leaving a hole from which gushed steam and dust. At that hour +every well, brook, and spring in the island went dry, save a rill in +a cave back of Hana that the gods devoted to the daughter-in-law of +the murdered priest and to the old woman who attended her, while a +nightly dew fell thereafter about the sons of the dead man, providing +drink to them and encouraging a growth of fruit and taro sufficient +for their needs. + +In a day or two the people were desperate. Their crops were withering, +the forests shedding their leaves. Some men killed their neighbors +and drank their blood; others drank from the ocean and their increased +thirst drove them mad; a few took poison; several offered themselves as +sacrifices and were forthwith killed on the altars; but in vain. Prayer +and offering were unheeded. The wickedness of the people in submitting +to a king like Hua had brought its punishment. Frightened, repentant, +maybe, Hua himself fled to Hawaii, and his retainers scattered +themselves in Molokai, Oahu, and Kauai. They could not escape the +curse. Like the Wandering Jew, they carried disaster with them. Blight, +drouth, thirst, and famine appeared wherever they set foot, and though +the wicked king kept himself alive for three and a half years, he +succumbed to hunger and thirst at last, and in Kohala his withered +frame ceased to be animate. To this day "the rattle of Hua's bones +in the sun" afford a simile in common speech. And the wrath of the +gods was heavy, so that the people died by thousands. + +Hua being dead, the survivors looked anxiously for a return of rain and +of life to the islands, and many turned to Naula, of Oahu, imploring +him to intercede with the gods in their behalf. This priest was of +great age, and was reverenced and feared. He could command the spirits +of the living, as well as the spirits of the dead, and talk with them, +far from the place where their bodies lay in trance. He had descended +into hell, had risen to paradise, and had brought back from the region +of the blessed a calabash of the water of life. The animals knew +and obeyed him so well that when he journeyed to Kauai and his canoe +capsized, a whale swallowed him and vomited him forth on the beach at +the very spot where he had intended to land, while at another time two +sharks towed his vessel against a head wind with such speed that the +sea fowl could hardly keep him in sight. Clearing his eye by a fast +and prayer, he climbed to the topmost height of the Waianae Mountains +and closely scanned the horizon. The earth was as brick, and the sky as +brass, and the sea as silver, save in one quarter: a tiny blur on the +universal glare could be seen, he fancied, over Maui. He would wait, +in order to be sure. Yes, in the morning the vapor was still there. + +"The sons of the murdered priest are in Maui. I will go to them," +he said, and descending to the shore he entered his canoe alone, with +neither oar nor sail, yet in the dawn he was at Maui, and the cloud +was now plainly seen waving about the great peak of Hanaula. From their +eyrie on the mountain the two young men had seen the approach of Naula, +for his boat shone in the dark with a moon-like radiance. They knew +that it bore some message for them, and when the old man arrived at +Makena landing they were there to meet him. His white beard swept +the earth as he bowed, and they bent low while waiting for him to +speak. "You are the sons of the most worthy priest who was slain by +Hua," he said. "That evil man has expiated his crime, and his bones +lie unburied in the light. The people suffer and die. The punishment +for Hua's crime has been severe and long. Let us join our prayers to +the gods that they may turn to mercy. I am Naula." + +The elder of the sons replied, "Great priest, we will gladly pray +with you for our people, but first tell me of my wife. Is she alive?" + +The old man wrapped his head in his cloak and put against his forehead +an amulet of stone. After some moments of silence he flung off the +covering and spoke, "She lives, and is well. The gods have cared for +her in the valley back of Hana." + +This announcement carried joy to the heart of the questioner, and he +began at once the erection of an altar, the aged priest sprinkling +it with blessed water and placing beside it the phallic symbol of the +trinity. The invocation was over, but no living creature appeared in +the desert to serve as a sacrifice. A rustling was heard among the +dead bushes and the snout of a black hog was thrust out. Before it +could escape they had seized the creature, with a cry of joy, lifted +it to the altar, stabbed it again and again, and its blood flowed +over the stones. Then all bent about it and prayed with fervor. As +they prayed their shadows grew fainter, and the hot wind lulled. A +low rumble was heard in the south. They looked up. The heavens were +darkening. The rain was coming. "Praise the gods, who are merciful +and who receive our sacrifice!" the priests cried. And with that +immolation the days of suffering were over. + + + + + +Kiha's Trumpet + + +Waipio, in Hawaii, is claimed by people who live thereabout to be +the loveliest valley on the island. It was a low and marshy stretch +until a great fish that lived there begged the god Kane to give him +sweeter water and more of it. Kane therefore tumbled rocks across the +stream, so as to dam it into wide pools, and also opened new springs +at the source. The marks of his great hands are still seen on the +stone. In this valley, now so peaceful and so rich in charm, lived +Kiha, king of Hawaii, in the earlier years of the fifteenth century, +a great and dreaded monarch. Of all his possessions he valued none more +highly than his war-trumpet, a large shell adorned with the teeth of +chiefs who had been killed in war. The roar of this instrument could +be heard for ten miles, for it was a magic shell, and when blown in +battle it reproduced the cries of victory and shrieks of the dying; +when blown to summon the people it was like the gale in the forest, +and when it called a sea-god to listen to a prayer it was like surges +thundering against the cliffs. + +That day was long remembered when the horn was stolen. It had been +taken from its wrapping and its box, and a hideous mask of stone had +been found in its place. Search availed nothing, and the only comfort +that the priests could offer was a promise of restoration by a being +without cloak or hands, when a cocoa palm, to be planted by the king +at the next full moon, should bear fruit. The tree was planted, but +seven years passed before the nuts appeared. These were eaten by the +king, and on that very night a strange man was arrested on a charge +of thieving and taken before the king for sentence. All through the +questioning a dog with one white eye and a green one kept close beside +the prisoner, appearing to understand every word that was spoken. The +intelligence of this animal was so remarkable as to divert all thought +of punishment for the time, and when the robber had given instances of +the creature's more than human cleverness, Kiha realized suddenly that +this was the agency whereby the magic horn was to be restored to him. + +If the dog could find and restore that shell the captive should not +merely be set free, but should be fed at the royal table for the rest +of his life. On hearing this promise, the dog, who had been watching +the king so fixedly out of his green eye as to make his Majesty +uncomfortable, sprang up with a joyous bark, and capered about with +every token of enthusiasm for the task that was to be put upon him. + +At the time when the trumpet disappeared from Kiha's house a band of +mountebanks and thieves disappeared from Hawaii. They had camped in +the woods above Waipio, and had been stealing pigs, fowls, fruit, and +taro from the farmers, and had occasionally visited the settlements +to show their skill in juggling and hanky-panky, hoping to earn as a +reward some drinks of the native beer, and perhaps a weapon or a strip +of cloth. It was the chief of this band who had stolen the trumpet. He +had learned its history,--how the god Lono had blown it on the top of +Mauna Kea until trees were uprooted in the blast that came from it, +until the fires kindled in the crater below and threw a red light +against the stars, until the earth shook and the sea heaved like a +monster sighing. It had the voice of a god from that hour, and other +gods obeyed it. The band fled to Oahu with the prize and there led a +graceless life until the populace drove them out, and they returned +to Hawaii. + +The arrival of these suspicious characters had been reported to +the king, and he suggested that the dog seek the shell in their +camp at the head of the valley. No sooner was the suggestion made +than the animal rushed away in that direction with the speed of the +wind. Some hours passed, and the night was wearing on wearily, when +a tremendous burst of sound issued from the hills, echoing far and +wide. The king leaped to his feet, the men of his village roused and +grasped their spears, for this was the call to arms,--the first time +they had heard it in seven years. But who was blowing it? Nearer and +nearer came the sky-shaking peal, and presently the dog, bearing the +magic shell in his mouth, ran in, sank at his master's feet, gasped, +shook, stiffened. He was dead from exhaustion. + +His master, overcome with grief for the loss of his little friend, +was liberated at once; then, confident that the returned thieves had +had the trumpet in their possession, the king led his forces against +them without waiting for the sun to rise, and slew nearly all. From +one or two survivors of the band he learned that their captain had +offended them by his arrogance and selfishness until they were forced +to reduce him to their own state by silencing the instrument whereby +he called to the gods and gained their help. During one of his drunken +sprees they carried the shell to a wizard, who put a secret taboo +mark on its lip, and when the pirate blew it, on regaining his wits, +it made only a low, dull moaning. Try as he would, he could never +restore it. It was chiefly to propitiate the gods and give its notes +back to the trumpet that he had returned to Hawaii. + +When the dog seized the shell, as it lay on the earth near the +sleeping chief, he bit off the edge that had been marked by the +wizard and instantly its voice came back. The wind blown into it +long before by the robber chief was now liberated in quantities in +those tremendous blasts that had roused the king and his people and +appalled the robbers. In this respect it resembled the post-horn of +Baron Munchausen's story, which, on being hung before a fire, allowed +the notes that had been played into it (but not heard) to thaw out +and entertain the company. And if the story of the shell is doubted, +one has only to look at it in the Honolulu Museum to be convinced. + + + + + +How Moikeha Gained a Wife + + +Puna, lord of Kauai, was a well-beloved and merciful man. Though he +would not brook insolence, he was always ready to pardon a fisherman +or servant who, in ignorance of his personality, broke the taboo +by stepping on his shadow. His love for Hooipo, his daughter, was +so strong that he delayed her marriage until the gallants began to +complain, and the girl herself became uneasy, lest her charms should +expand to a maturity that might hurt her matrimonial chances. As she +had no preference, however, she agreed that her father might name the +happy man. He, loth to incur the enmity of any at his court, resolved +to offer her as a prize, and the fairest contest seemed in his mind to +be a run to Kaula and back, each contestant to be allowed to use sail +and carry four oarsmen, and the winner of the race to marry Hooipo. + +A couple of days before the race was undertaken there arrived at Kauai +a sturdy mariner, one Moikeha, who had just returned from a voyage +to Raiatea, two thousand five hundred miles to the southward. Long +trips of this sort were not unusual among the adventurous islanders, +and there is a tradition that one of them brought to Hawaii two +white men who became priests, and on a later exploration secured +four "foreigners of large stature, bright, staring, roguish eyes, and +reddish faces," who may have been American Indians. Moikeha became the +guest of Puna. He had not been long in the daughter's company before +Hooipo regretted the arrangement for a race, for she had found a man +whom she could love. It was too late to argue with the candidates; +there could be no hope of peace if the princess were withdrawn as +an object of competition and thrown at the head of this stranger. By +general consent he was allowed to take part in the race, provided he +could cite an honorable parentage. This he did, for he was the son of +a former chief in Oahu, and he rattled off the names of his ancestors +for sixteen generations, ending the catalogue in this fashion, +"Maweke and Niolaukea, husband and wife; Mulilealii and Wehelani, +husband and wife; Moikeha and Hooipo, husband and wife." This little +joke, his assumption that the girl was already his, made everybody +laugh and put the company in good humor. + +At the word of command a score or more of lusty fellows pushed their +boats through the surf, hoisted sail, and pointed their prows for +Kaula, fifty miles away. Moikeha alone showed no haste. He bade a +cheerful farewell to his host and the pretty daughter, marked with +delight her serious look as he took his leave, then, with a single +attendant and the smallest boat in the fleet, he set off across the +blue water. Directly that her sail was up the little craft sprang +through the sea as if blown by a hurricane, while the other boats slid +over the glassy waves under the push of oars. "It is the fish-god, +Apukohai, who drags his canoe," declared the rowers, as he passed. In +twenty-four hours he was at the side of Kooipo with the whale-tooth, +proof of his voyage, that was delivered to him at Kaula by a servant +who had been sent there with it in advance. He was easily the victor, +the other contestants arriving from one to three days later. No +objection being offered, the couple were married with rejoicings, and +on the death of Puna the husband became chief, and married off eight +or ten youngsters of his own. Not for a long time was it known that in +the race for a wife his lone but potent companion was Laamaomao, the +wind-god, who, loosing favorable breezes from his magic calabash, that +blew whither he listed, carried him swiftly past all other competitors. + + + + + +The Sailing of Paao + + +Paao, who afterward became a high priest in Hawaii, migrated thither +in the eleventh century from Samoa, after a quarrel with his brother, +Lonopele. Both of these men were wizards, and were persons of riches +and influence. It came about that Lonopele had missed a quantity of +his choicest fruit, which was conveyed away at night, and although +he could see visions and tell fortunes for others, he could not +reveal for his own satisfaction so simple a matter as the source of +these disappearances. In a foolish rage he accused his nephew, the +son of Paao. Paao was indignant, but, with even greater foolishness, +he killed his son, in order to open the boy's stomach and prove that +there was no fruit in it. This act so rankled in his mind that he +decided to leave the country and forget it, and to that end he built +several strong canoes and stored them well with food and water. + +Before sailing, Paao revenged himself for his own folly by killing +a son of Lonopele. The latter discovered the murder too late to +retaliate with weapons, so he summoned the powers of magic to his +aid. He sent a hurricane in chase of the receding boats, but a great +fish pushed them on, despite the wind, which was against them, while +another friendly monster of the sea swam around and around the little +fleet, breaking the force of the waves. Lonopele then sent a colossal +bird to vomit over the canoes and sink them, but mats were put up in +tent-form as protections, and this project also failed. + +Paao landed in Hawaii with about forty followers, one of whom was a +powerful prophet. As the canoes were setting off, several would-be +wizards begged to be taken to the new land. Paao called to them to +leap into the sea, if they trusted their own powers, and he would take +them on board. All who jumped were killed by striking on rocks or +by drowning,--all but the real prophet, who did not leave the shore +till the boats were a mile or so away from land. Paao answered his +thunderous hail by an equally thunderous refusal to return, as to go +back after starting was bad luck, but added, "There is room for you, if +you will fly to us." Putting all his strength into his arms and legs, +the prophet swam through the air and reached the boats without injury. + +The real Paao is said to have been a Spanish priest who was cast away +on the islands by the wreck of the galleon Santo Iago in 1527. The +ship was bound from Acapulco to Manila with shrines and images. The +priest grafted Christian practices on the native religion, abolished +sacrifice, and begat a line of chiefs. + + + + + +The Wronged Wife + + +In 1530, or thereabout, a Spanish ship from Molucca was driven +across the Pacific and flung, in a dismantled condition, on the Keei +Reefs, Hawaii. Only the captain and his sister were rescued. Until +it was discovered that these strangers required food and sleep, like +themselves, the natives worshipped them as gods. They were hardly less +welcome when it was found that they were human, and they married among +the islanders. The woman's grandchild, Kaikilani, was reputed to be the +most beautiful woman ever born in Hawaii. Kaikilani became the wife +of the heir-apparent, who cared so little for government, however, +that the young woman was made chief. Her marriage to this easy-going, +ambitionless, though generous prince had been a failure. As it was a +state marriage, she cared little for him. His stalwart brother, Lono, +was the object of her love and admiration. When the people resolved +that Lono should be king, Kaikilani was divorced and given to him as +queen, for her first husband prized her happiness above his own. Lono +built a yacht worthy of this Cleopatra, a double canoe eighty feet +long and seven wide, floored and enclosed for twenty feet amidships, +so that the queen had an apartment which was luxuriously furnished +with couches, cloths, festoons of flowers, shells, and feathers, +and containing a sacred image and many charms against evil. The twin +vessels were striped with black and yellow, figures of big birds with +men's heads were at the prow, and on calm days, when the sails hung +idly, forty oarsmen pulled the royal barge at a gallant rate. + +During a long honeymoon tour the bridal party landed on Molokai, to +await the passing of heavy weather, and the young couple were playing +draughts to beguile the time, when a dark and sudden cloud fell upon +their happiness. One of the servants of the queen was a girl named +Kaikinani, who had a lover, and while the king was studying his next +move he heard a man's voice call, as he thought, "Come, Kaikilani, +your lover is waiting." The man was calling Kaikinani. He abruptly +asked his wife who had dared to address the queen in that easy fashion, +and taking her own surprise and confusion for a token of guilt, he +struck her with the checker-board, rushed away to the beach, ordered +his private canoe to be launched, and seizing one of the paddles, +he rowed with his twenty attendants until he was exhausted. That +night he gained the shores of Oahu. + +When Kaikilani had come out of a delirium of nine days, and understood +the nature of the mistake that had separated her from her husband, she +hastily equipped her barge and began a search for him,--a search that +lasted for months. Lono, ensconced at the court of Oahu, was trying +to stifle his regrets; he would not reveal his name; he refused all +companionship with women; he worked at play most earnestly, hunting, +rowing, swimming, surf-riding, racing, leaping, casting the spear, +halting at nothing that involved peril or that would tire him at +night to a forgetful sleep. His stay was drawing to an end. He was +to sail for Hawaii in a day or two, for rebellions were threatening +in his absence, and his departure was none too early, for certain +of the gallants were jealous of his success in sports and of the +unrewarded admiration that the fair sex gave to him. One of these men +taunted him with being a nameless chief. Lono, scowling down on him, +answered that he would tear the skin from his living body if he ever +caught him beyond his king's protection, and producing a big calabash +filled with rebels' bones, he chanted the names of those he had slain. + +He was interrupted by a soft voice, outside of the enclosure, +chanting his name-song. Who could have learned his name? The court +had risen. "Yes," he said, "the singer is true. I am Lono, and she +whom I hear is my wife. The gods be praised." + +Leaping the wall, he found, as he had hoped, Kaikilani, smiling through +her tears. He held her in a long embrace. Next day they returned to +their native island, where they reigned to an old and happy age. + + + + + +The Magic Spear + + +Kaululaau, prince of Maui, had misbehaved so grossly, painting the +sacred pigs, imitating the death-bird's call before the doors of +nervous people, opening the gates of fish-ponds, tippling awa, and +consorting with hula dancers, that his father, believing him to be +incorrigible, shipped him off to Lanai in disgust. Knowing that island +to be infested with gnomes, dragons, and monsters, the lad would fain +have turned the usual new leaf, but he had promised reform so many +times and failed that his father was deaf to his pleadings. Just +before he embarked the old high priest called him aside--he always +had a soft spot in his heart for this scape-grace--and entrusted to +him an ivory spear which had been dipped in the river of the dead and +left on an altar by Lono, the third person of the trinity. With that, +which was both weapon and talisman, the possessor need fear nothing. + +Kaululaau had been but a little while in his new home when he was +compelled to put his gift to use. There were malignant beings on +Lanai who hurt people, hogs, fowls; blighted cocoanuts, bananas, +and taro patches, and were a common sorrow to the inhabitants. Worst +among these tormentors was the gnome Mooaleo, who, in the guise of +a big mole, burrowed under houses and caused them to settle, with a +thump. The prince caught this fellow within a circle he had drawn on +the earth, for the witchery of the spear was so strong that the effect +of drawing that line was felt to the centre of the globe. Burrow as +he would,--and he did burrow until he reached fire,--Mooaleo could +not escape from it. The magic barrier confined him like iron. He +came to the air at last and begged to be released, promising to +leave the island forever, if he might gain his liberty. Kaululaau +rubbed out twenty or thirty yards of the enchanted line, whereupon +the creature rushed madly through the gap and dived into the sea, +never again emerging in the sight of men. + +For a year the prince kept up his war against the demons and slew +or banished every one of them. For this the men rewarded him with +praise and gifts and service, the women with love, the children with +trust. He was glad he had been exiled. Of course, so soon as his +father heard of his changed life and his courage in knight-errantry he +repented his hardness of spirit and sent messengers to bid Kaululaau +return. This was an unwelcome summons, and while he dared not refuse, +he took his own time in getting home again, his alleged reason for +delay being that he wished to see the world and further instruct +himself; his real reason being a love of praise and adventure. He +stirred up strife in Hawaii; visited, without harm, the wind-god's +home on Molokai and Kalipahoa's poison grove, and on Oahu found +another chance to win the people's favor. A bird so huge that its +head weighed near two hundred pounds had been depredating among the +villages, tearing children from their mothers and killing domestic +animals, yet always defended by the priests, who, having confused it +with a strange species of owl, considered it as sacred. The rover did +not ask permission to slay it. Nobody knew him, or guessed why he +was going among the hills. He came upon the bird in the mountains, +when its beak was dripping with human blood, and at a mile distance +hurled the spear, which flew through the air, as if self-directed, and +pierced the creature through and through. For this he was arrested and +consigned to the sacrificial altar; but when he abandoned his disguise, +appeared in the feather cloak and helmet of a chief, and made known +that he was Kaululaau, the trembling, stammering priest owned that +he was mistaken in supposing the bird to be taboo. Its huge head was +produced; its eyes rolled, its jaws clashed, and with a scream an +evil human spirit that had lived in its body flew into the air. The +ne'er-do-weel had a royal reception when he returned. Finding that +his old friend, the high priest, was dead, he fulfilled a promise by +secretly burying the magic spear-point in his grave. + + + + + +Hawaiian Witches + + +To the native Hawaiian, who shuns work, dresses only for decorative +purposes, and is willing to subsist on fruits that grow without +teasing, life is not so simple as we should suppose, to look at +him. Nature abhors a vacuum, even in a man's head, and when the man +cares to put nothing in his noddle that will increase his understanding +and resource, his ancestry will have planted something there which +is sure to swell and grow until it may dominate his conduct and his +fate. And if you open the head of an average barbarian you will find +a flourishing crop of superstition fungi inside. So surely as he is +a barbarian he will believe in witches. If he contents himself with +imagining wizards and spooks, he may find recreation enough in the +dark, but when he accuses other people of practising against him, +and gets them hanged or roasted, his imagination has become too +frisky to be at large. Death for the practice of witchcraft is no +longer possible, however, unless it results from private revenge. + +To this day fear and ignorance paint gnomes and elves in the palm +groves and among the wild Java uplands of the mid-Pacific, and Honolulu +itself is not free from the lingering and traditionary kahuna. This is +the wizard, or medicine man, or voodoo worker, who does by prayer and +spell what his employers would do with a club if it were not for the +awkward institution of the law. When a Kanaka has endured an injury +he hires a kahuna to pray his enemy to death. This imposes on the +victim the necessity of hiring a kahuna to pray down the other one, +or of running away, if he cannot afford the expense. The wizard calls +on his intended victim and tells him what is about to happen, and +you would naturally suppose that the visitee would take the visitor +by the collar and the "bosom of his pants" and persuade him away from +the premises, even if he did not go out and exercise upon him in the +yard. In fact, record has been made of explosive exits of these wizards +from Americans' houses when they made their usual courtesy call before +praying the resident out of existence, and 'tis said that they bore +marks of Lynn-made shoe-soles on their seats of honor for a week after. + +But your Kanaka fears his medicine man and receives the news of doom +politely. The kahuna tells him that his conduct has displeased some god +or goddess and that he must die. Every kahuna claims what statesmen +call a "pull" with his deities that enables him to have his prayers +answered, while opposition kahunas are snubbed. After a couple of +days the kahuna drops around to see how his victim is getting on, +and generally he finds him in low spirits, with a meagre appetite, +because this process is as reliable as its opposite, which is called +faith-cure. If a man can sufficiently persuade himself that nothing +ails him, he is almost sure to recover from an illness that he hasn't +got; and, by the same token, if he makes himself believe that he is +going to have indigestion, or a fall on the ice, or must die, he +unnerves himself and makes it easy for the expected to happen. If +he runs away and hides, the kahuna's prayers do not work as well, +and if he has been to school and reads the papers, they do not work +at all. Indeed, the islanders have given up white people as tough +subjects, so seasoned in whisky and a wrong religion that curses are +wasted on them as water is wasted on ducks and Kentucky colonels. The +goddess Pele has resigned the foreigner in discouragement. + +Well, on this second visit the victim remembers all his misfortunes of +the past two days, his stomach ache, his thirst, his stubbed toe, his +failure to collect eight cents that a neighbor owes him, his nightmare +after a supper of poi,--not mince-pie: just poi,--his discovery of a +bottle too late to know what was in it, and his wife's demand for a +new dress. All these miseries he ascribes to the left-handed prayers +of which he is the subject, and he offers to temporize. As in other +parts of the world, silver is a strong dissuader. If he has hired a +kahuna himself to neutralize his enemy's bad prayers with good ones, +the two voodoo workers will retire and consult as to a settlement, +each preserving a dignity and courtesy worthy of his high profession, +for, although the Roman soothsayers could not keep from snickering +when they met one another in the street, these kahunas really believe +in themselves, for they have prayed too many people out of the world +not to do so. + +If an apology and a couple of dollars fail to soften the enemy, +or if the kahunas believe they can raise the stake to three dollars +by toiling a while longer, a prayer duel follows and the best man +wins. Kahuna number one delivers a veritable anathema, bestowing on +his subject more aches and illnesses and deformities and difficulties +than Pius IX. conferred on Victor Emmanuel, while number two sweats +with the haste and force of his invocations for the continued or +increased health and fortune of his client. If he can afford them, +the victim may hire two kahunas and have them pray around the house +until the opposition is silenced or the malevolent employer's money +gives out. When one of the two prays for his patron, in such a case +the other may pray against the enemy who began the trouble, so that, +instead of doing a deadly injury, the instigator of the disturbance +may discover, to his alarm, that he is in more danger than his foe, +and some morning he may find himself dead. + +King David Kalakaua made a law against praying folks into their graves, +but the kahunas, to a man, cried, "Why, this will kill business! If +you don't abolish that law we will pray you to death in two days." And +King David took the law away, quick. In order to make a prayer for +death effectual the kahuna must possess himself of some object closely +associated with the person he intends to kill. Finger-nails, hair, +and teeth are especially desired, but if they cannot be had, a few +drops of saliva will do. The kings were always so careful of their +precious selves that nail-parings and hair-croppings were burned to +keep them from falling into the hands of ghoulish kahunas, and they +were always attended by a spittoon-bearer, who was a chief of high +rank, and whose duty it was to see that none of the royal spittle +was accessible to wizards or suspicious strangers. The spittoon was +emptied into the sea at a distance from land secretly and in the +middle of the night. What a lecture Charles Dickens would have read +to the Americans out of this circumstance! + +The last death attributed to the kahunas was that of Princess Kaiulani +in the spring of 1899. Though this young woman was enlightened, had +travelled and studied in Europe and America, and presumably disbelieved +in the superstitions of her ancestors, it is whispered that the rumor +of kahuna influence against her shortened her days by many. The people +believed so, at any rate, though they were perplexed by the failure of +the little red fish to run into the harbor just before she breathed +her last, as it was believed that they always made their appearance +prior to a death in the royal family. The rumbling and hissing and +the sounding of a heavy major chord in the depths of Kilauea that +followed the funeral of Kaiulani were directly attributed to her death. + + + + + +The Cannibals + + +Despite the denials of Hawaiians that their ancestors ever ate the +flesh of men, it is admitted that a large company of cannibals, strong, +dark, tattooed, and speaking a strange language, were storm-blown +to Kauai in the seventeenth century. It is guessed that they were +Papuans. The daughter of Kokoa, their chief, a beautiful girl of +eighteen or so, with braided hair that almost touched the ground, +and strings of pearls at her neck and ankles, found an admirer and a +husband in an island chief who tried to instruct her in the taboo, +for he had seen with horror and apprehension that the new-comers +allowed their women to eat bananas, cocoanuts, and certain fish, and +even to take them from the dishes used by the men. The bride promised +to reform and live on poi, but she had not been bred to this sort of +victual, and had never been reproved by the gods for eating other, +so it was almost inevitable that she should backslide in her virtuous +intention, and when she so far defied public opinion, and thunders, +and earthquakes as to eat a banana in view of the priests, the public +arose as one man and demanded punishment. The chief begged that he +might be allowed to send her back to her father, but the high priest +told him that the gods had been flouted beyond endurance, and would +be satisfied only with her death. The beautiful and hapless woman was +therefore torn from the arms of her afflicted husband, strangled, and +thrown into the sea,--a warning to all the sex against forbidden fruit. + +Then trouble began. Women's appetites might be restrained, but not +those of men,--especially the appetite for blood. Kokoa revenged +himself for his daughter's murder by killing a relative of her +husband and serving him hot to an eager, because long abstemious, +congregation. The taste of Hawaiian chops and shoulders revived a greed +for this sort of meat, and they preyed openly on the populace of Kauai +until those who remained arose as several men and drove them out of +the island. The cannibals fled in haste to Oahu, taking possession +of the plateau of Halemanu, which was high, reachable by only one +or two paths, and those of steepness, difficulty, and under constant +guard, and here they established themselves as a sort of Doone band, +literally living upon the people in the country below. They had their +temple,--oh, yes, indeed, they could pray as long and as loud as any +one,--and a creditable piece of masonry it was, with its walls two +hundred feet by sixty, and seven yards high. Near it was an oven +where five human bodies could be roasted at a time, and a carving +stone six feet long, lightly hollowed, where the hungry were served, +Kokoa claiming the hearts and livers as a chief's right. + +It did not take long for the Oahuans to become bashful about visiting +the neighborhood of Halemanu, and the man-eaters then took to eating +one another. One big, savage fellow, named Lotu, began to kill off +his wife's relatives. This roused one of her brothers to revenge. He +strengthened himself in exercises of all kinds until his muscles were +like steel, and encountered with Lotu on the edge of the precipice +near the principal path. They fought hand-to-hand until both were +covered with blood, then, finding that he was about to be forced +over the brink, Lotu clasped his brother-in-law and enemy about the +neck and both went to their death together. The wife and sister of +the two combatants either fainted at the verge and fell or wilfully +cast herself from the same cliff. It is not recorded whether these +victims of an unruly passion were interred in earth or conveniently +disposed of otherwise, but the affair created such a gloom in the +neighborhood that the cannibal colony moved away to parts unknown, +to the vast relief of the community in the more peaceful districts. + + + + + +The Various Graves of Kaulii + + +When the Hawaiians were discovered by Captain Cook, in 1779, they had +not been visited by white men, so far as any native then living could +remember. At all events, they had acquired only a fair assortment +of vices and not many diseases. Human sacrifice and the worship +of phallic emblems and effigies of their gods and dead kings were +common. The king expected everybody to fall prostrate before him +when he appeared and pretend to go to sleep,--to be of as little +account as possible. And the people were pliant and willing under +their restraints. They allowed that the king was absolute master. Yet +they were contented usually and not ill looking; lithe and graceful, +too, and gay, fond of sports and swimming, lovers of music, dancing, +flowers, and color, friendly in disposition, and good-natured. Except +in shedding a few of their beliefs with the taking on of more clothes, +they have not changed greatly. As to cannibalism, white men have +become too numerous and too tough for eating, anyway, and they feel +safe in any native company of Pacific Islanders in these times. + +Hawaiians claim that they never were cannibals, and that if they ate +such of Captain Cook as they did not return to his second in command it +was because they were absent-minded or mistook him for pork. They had +ceased to believe him a god, for he had displayed infirmities of temper +and consideration that led to his death. A tradition of theirs may +account for a once general belief in their man-eating propensities. It +dates back to the chieftaincy of Kaulii, in Oahu. The people were +careful in the sepulture of their chiefs, fearing that enemies might +find the remains and commit indignities on the senseless relics, +or that the bones might be used for spear-points and fish-hooks, +such implements having magic power when they were whittled from the +shins of kings. To prevent such a possibility, so soon as the spirit +tenant had gone the wise men took charge of the body and prepared it +for the grave. This they did by first cutting off the flesh, which, +being transitory and corruptible, they said was not worthy to be kept, +so was therefore burned; then cleaning the skeleton, soaking it in +oil, and painting it red with turmeric. This melancholy, if gaudy, +object was tied in a parcel and buried in some cave or cranny where +no foeman would be likely to find it. Sometimes the bodies were sunk +at sea, with rocks tied at the feet, and the hearts of Hawaiian kings +were often flung into the molten lava of Kilauea. + +Kaulii was chief in Oahu in the seventeenth century. Most of his +ninety years he had faithfully devoted to killing other chiefs and +the people of other islands, wherefore he knew that many would try to +find his bones and break them. Just before his death he enjoined his +councillors to place his skeleton in some receptacle whence it could +not easily be taken. After his death his head councillor took it into +the mountains and was gone for several days. When he returned he sent +an invitation to every one whom his messengers could reach to share +in a feast in memory of the dead chief. Free lunch was just as great +an incentive in that century as it will be in the next. They came, +those faithful people, afoot and in boats, and camped in thousands +near the kitchen. After the games had been dutifully performed--for +funerals were seasons of cheer in those times--the dinner was served +to the assembly. There were boiled dogs, roots, fruits, fish, sour +beer, and poi. + +When the last calabash had been emptied and the company had taken +a long breath, an elder in the party asked the councillor if he had +obeyed his master's command and buried the skeleton where it would +be safe from the vendetta that pursues an enemy to the grave. The +councillor made an embracing gesture above the multitude. "Here," +he cried, "are the graves of Kaulii. His bones can never be disturbed +again." + +The people looked about the grass and under their dishes, and, seeing +nothing, asked to be enlightened. Then the councillor explained that +he had not only cleaned the bones of his dead lord, but had dried and +pounded them to a fine meal, had stirred them into the mass of poi +which these warriors and statesmen had enveloped, so that every man +who had shared in that feast was a grave. And they agreed that he was +a faithful and sagacious servant, and passed a resolution to keep his +memory a bright green for several years after he was dead. They say +that was the only time they ate a man, and they did not know it then. + + + + + +The Kingship of Umi + + +When King Liloa died he left his younger son, Hakau, to rule Hawaii +in his place, but an older and natural son, Umi, whose mother had +been a farm-worker among the hills, he appointed as guardian of the +temples and their sacred statues. Umi had not learned of his royal +parentage until he had grown to be a fine stout fellow. He had lived +a lonely though adventurous life, and his kingly origin was shown in +the fact that he could never be induced to work or do anything useful, +unless it might be hunting and fishing. Impulses were his guides. He +was in nowise disturbed when he learned that Liloa was his father. On +the contrary, he took on a new dignity, donned the feather cloak and +helmet of a prince, walked, in a couple of days, to the king's house, +passed the guards without a word, carelessly striking down their +threatening spears with his own; then, gaining the king's presence +unannounced, he plumped himself into the old gentleman's lap. For +one of low descent to venture on a liberty like this was death, and +for a moment Liloa was mightily offended. He sprang up, spilling the +prince upon the earth; then, recognizing on the young man's breast an +ivory necklace clasp that had been his love-token to the girl on the +mountain farm years before, and admiring the courage of the youngster, +he kissed him and welcomed him to his family. + +The old king died soon after, his skeleton being duly hidden in +the sea, and Hakau, who from the first had been jealous of his +half-brother, now began a series of slights and rebukes which hardly +justified rebellion, yet were so irritating that after enduring them +for a little, Umi retired to the hills and resumed his old, lonely, +wandering life. Not for long, however. Hakau developed into a tyrant, +narrow-minded, selfish, suspicious, cruel. One by one his followers +left him; treasons were rumored in his own household; his very priests +connived against him. At last, reports came to him of a resort to +arms,--of a company advancing from the other side of Hawaii, led by +Umi and Maukaleoleo, the latter a giant eleven feet high, who wore +a thicket of hair that fell to his shoulders, bore a spear thirty +feet long, and inspired terror by his very aspect, albeit in times +of peace he was one of the gentlest of men. When this giant was a +child the god Kanaloa had given him a golden fish, bidding him eat +it and be strong. He had done so, and on that very night began his +wonderful growth, his strength so increasing that presently he could +hurl rocks no two other men could lift. + +Troubled by reports of the uprising, the king consulted the oracles in +a temple he had promised to endow, but never had,--his principal gift +(to be)--consisting of a figure of the war god Akuapaao. This had long +before been taken to Hawaii by a prophet whose canoe had been drawn +to its landing-place by the shark god and the god of the winds. In +darkness he entered the inner chamber of the temple. An unknown voice, +speaking from the holy of holies, bade him send his people to the woods +next day for plumage of birds, with which to decorate the statue, when +he should get it, and thereby atone for the neglect and contempt of the +gods that had done so much to bring him into disfavor with the people. + +Clever priests! They were already in league with Umi, and this was +but a ruse to dissipate the king's forces. The oracle was obeyed; +the people were sent out to collect the feathers of bright-hued +birds, grumbling that they should be made to labor because of the +laxity and impiety of their ruler; and while they hunted, Umi, almost +within hearing, was praying before the very statue Hakau had sent +his messengers to fetch. He had imposed a strict taboo on his two +thousand warriors for half a day, the taboo in this instance imposing +silence, fasting, and retirement, the forsaking of all industries, +the extinction of all fires and lights, the muzzling of pigs and +dogs, and quieting of fowls by putting them under calabashes. As +Umi advanced toward the statue to decorate it with wreaths a beam +of light fell through a rent in the temple roof and crowned him and +the god. It was a promise. Fires on the mountain tops that night +assembled all the insurgent forces, who were awaiting these signals, +and a few hours later Umi sat on the throne of his father, and the +hated tyrant Hakau was offered to his neglected gods: a sacrifice. + + + + + +Keaulumoku's Prophecy + + +Keaulumoku died in 1784. He was a poet, dreamer, prophet, and preserver +of the legends of his people. For more than three-score years he had +roamed about Hawaii, esteemed for his virtues and his wisdom by those +who knew him, tolerated as harmless by those who did not. He wandered +about the vast and desolate lava fields and talked with spirits +there. He learned rhythm and music from the swing of the waves. The +"little people" in the wood were his servants when he needed help. In +his closing years he occupied a cabin alone near Kauhola. Though not +churlish, he cared little for human society,--it seemed so small to +him after daily contemplation of the ocean and mountain majesties and +the nightly vision of the stars; but he was alive to its interests, +and when the future opened to him he was always willing to read it +for comfort or warning. + +It was reported in the villages at last that he would look on the faces +of his people but once more, and they were asked to assemble at his +hut on the next evening, when he would chant his last prophecy. Before +sunset they gathered about his cabin a thousand or more, waiting +quietly or talking in whispers, and presently the mat which hung +in the entrance was drawn aside, disclosing the shrunken form and +frosted hair of the venerable prophet. He began his chant in the +quavering voice of age, but as he sang he gained strength, and his +tones were plainly heard by all in the assemblage. He foretold the +union of the islands under Kamehameha, the death of monarchy, the ruin +of the temples, the oncoming of the white race, the disappearance of +the Hawaiian people from the earth. Then blessing the company with +uplifted hands, Keaulumoku sank back lifeless. He was buried with +solemn rites in a temple, and, under the inspiration of his prophecy, +Kamehameha began his work of conquest. In eleven years the islands +were one nation. The rest of the prophecy is coming true. + + + + + +The Tragedy of Spouting Cave + + +Many caves pierce the igneous rock of the Hawaiian group, some +with entrances below the ocean level, and discovered only by +accident. Famous among them is the spouting cave of Lanai. Old +myths make this a haunt of the lizard god, but the shark god, +thinking this venture below the water an intrusion on his territory, +threatened to block the entrance with rocks, so the lizard god swam +over to Molokai and made his home in the cave near Kaulapana, where +the people built temples to him. An attempt of a daring explorer to +light the cave of Lanai with fire hid in a closed calabash was also +resented, the vessel being dashed out of the hand of the adventurer +by some formless creature of the dark, who also plucked stones from +the cave roof and hurled at him until he retreated. + +To this island, at the end of the eighteenth century, came King +Kamehameha to rest after his war and enjoy the fish dinners for which +the island was famous. One of his captains was Kaili, a courageous +and susceptible Hawaiian, who celebrated the outing by falling +head-over-heels in love. Kaala, "the perfumed flower of Lanai," +returned his vows, and would have taken him for a husband, without +ceremony or delay, save for the stern parent, who is a frequent figure +in such romances. This parent, Oponui, had a reason for his hate of +Kaili, the two having encountered in the last great battle. Kaili +had probably forgotten his opponent, but Oponui bitterly remembered +him, for his best friend had been struck down by the spear of the +young captain. Another cause for opposing this marriage was that +Kaala had been bespoken by a great, hairy, tattooed savage known as +"the bone-breaker." It occurred to Oponui that a good way to be +rid of the cavalier would be to let him settle his claim with the +famous wrestler. He chuckled as he thought of the outcome, for the +bone-breaker had never been beaten. The challenge having been made +and accepted, the king and his staff agreed to watch the contest. It +was brief, brutal, and decisive. Though the big wrestler had the more +strength, Kaili had the more skill and quickness. He dodged every rush +of his burly opponent, tripped him, broke both his arms by jumping on +them when he was down, and when the disabled but vengeful fighter, +with dangling hands, made a bull-like charge with lowered head, the +captain sprang aside, caught him by the hair, strained him suddenly +backward across his knee, and flung him to the earth, dying with a +broken spine. Kaili had won his bride. + +The girl's father was not at the end of his resources, however. He +appeared in a day or two panting, as with a long run, and begged Kaala +to fly at once to her mother in the valley, as she was mortally ill +and wished to see her daughter before she died. The girl kissed her +lover, promising to return soon, and was hurried away by Oponui toward +the Spouting Cave. Arrived there, she looked up and down the shore, +but saw none other than her father, who was smiling into her face +with a look of craft and cruelty that turned her sick at heart. In a +broken voice she asked his purpose. Was her mother dead? Had he killed +her? Oponui seized her arms with the gripe of a giant. "The man you +love is my foe," he shouted. "I shall kill him, if I can. If not, he +shall never see you again. When he has left Lanai, either for Hawaii +or for the land of souls, I will bring you back to the sun. Come!" + +Now, the water pushing through the entrance to this cavern becomes +a whirlpool; then, as it belches forth in a refluent wave, it is +hurled into a white column. Watching until the water began to whirl +and suck, Oponui sprang from the rocks, dragging his daughter with +him. She struggled for a moment, believing that his intention was to +drown her. There was a rush and a roar; then, buffeted, breathless, +she arose on the tide, and in a few seconds felt a beach beneath +her feet. Oponui dragged her out of reach of the wave, and as soon +as her eyes grew accustomed to the dimness she found herself to be +in a large, chill cavern. Crabs were clattering over the stones, and +rays and eels could be seen writhing shadowy, in pools. The brawling +of the ocean came smothered, faint, but portentous, and in the green +light that mounted through the submerged door the grotto seemed a +place of dreams,--a dank nightmare. + +"Here you stay until I come," commanded Oponui. "Make no attempt to +escape, for so surely as you do, you will be cut to pieces on the +rocks, and the sharks await outside." Then, diving into the receding +water, he disappeared, and she was left alone. + +Kaili awaited with impatience the return of his betrothed. He chided +himself that he had allowed her father to persuade him against +following her to the cabin of her mother. Then doubt began to perplex +him; then suspicion. A bird croaked significantly as it flew above +his head. He could not longer endure inaction. Kaala's footprints were +still traceable in the sand. He would go as far as they might lead. He +set off at a round pace, stopping now and then to assure himself, +and presently stood perplexed near the Spouting Cave, for there they +ceased. As he was looking about for some clew that might set him right +once more, a faint movement behind him caused him to turn, and he saw +a figure slinking along from rock to rock, bending low, as if seeking +to be concealed: Oponui! Why should he be alone? Why should he hide +like that? Why was he trying to escape? The truth flashed upon him. He +remembered the man's face in battle, remembered their vain though +savage interchange of spears. Oponui had taken Kaala from him. Had +he killed her? He sprang toward the creeping figure with a shout, +"Where is my wife?" + +There was a short struggle; then Oponui, wriggling from his grasp, +set off at a surprising pace toward a temple of refuge, with Kaili +close at his heels. The chase was vain. Oponui reached the gate, +rushed through, and fell on the earth exhausted. Two priests ran +forward and offered their taboo staffs against the entrance of his +pursuer. The gods could not be braved by breaking the taboo. With +a taunt and a curse at his enemy, the captain returned to the shore +where the footprints had disappeared. His heart-beats stifled him. His +head was whirling. As he stood looking down into the boiling waters it +seemed to his wandering fancy as if the girl had risen toward him in +the spout from the cave. Hardly knowing what he did, he spoke her name +and leaped from the rock to clasp her pale form. He was drawn under, +and in a few seconds was flung violently upon the beach in the cave. + +Kaili's leap had been seen by his king, who, with a guide, had gone +to seek him, and on learning of this grotto the king and the guide +plunged after. They found the lover seated on the pebbles in the green +twilight, with Kaala's head upon his lap, his arms about her. She was +dying, but a smile of content was on her face. He tried to restore +her, to rouse her to an effort to live. It was of no avail. With a +whispered word of love she closed her eyes and ceased to breathe. + +King Kamehameha advanced, his rude face softened with pity. "Come, +Kaili," he said. "The poor child was happy in her last hour. This +cave is her proper burial-place." + +"I cannot leave her, O king, for without her I cannot live." Before his +purpose could be divined, Kaili had seized a rock and brought it down +on his own head with crushing force. He swayed for a moment and fell +dead beside the body of his bride. The king had the corpses wrapped +in cloth, but left them there, and the few who have ventured through +the whirlpool have seen in the cave the skeletons of the lovers. + +The lament of Ua has been preserved. She was a girl whose secret love +for the captain had impelled her to follow him, and who had seen his +plunge into the leaping water. It runs in this fashion: + + + "Dead is Kaili, the young chief of Hawaii, + The chief of few years and many battles. + His limbs were strong and his heart was gentle. + His face was like the sun. He was without fear. + Dead is the slayer of the Bone-Breaker; + Dead the chief who crushed the bones of Mailou; + Dead the lover of Kaala and the loved of Ua. + For his love he plunged into the deep water. + For his love he gave his life. Who is like Kaili? + Kaala is hid and I am lonely. + Kaili is dead, and the black cloth is over my heart. + Now let the gods take the life of Ua!" + + + + + +The Grave of Pupehe + + +Just off the southwest shore of Lanai is a block of lava eighty or +ninety feet high, vertical or overhanging on every side, absolutely +without foothold. Yet at its top one may see from the neighboring +shore a grave with a low wall built about it. This is the resting-place +of Pupehe, the wife of one to whom was given the name of Misty Eyes, +because the woman's eyes so dazzled his own. These two loved so well +that they were all in all to one another. They chose to live apart +from their people, roaming the woods, climbing the hills, surf-riding, +fishing, berrying as the whim took them. + +Lest some chief should look on her face and envy him, Misty Eyes hid +his companion in a little hut among the trees, as secret and secure as +a bird's nest, and sometimes they would go together to a cave, opening +from the sea, opposite Pupehe's Rock, to catch and cook a sea-turtle. + +The season of storms was at hand, but as the day had broken fair, +Pupehe went to the cave to prepare a meal, while her husband took +the calabashes to fill at a spring up the valley. A mist had come +up from nowhere when he turned to go back; the wind was rising to +a gale, the sea was whitening. His heart went into his throat, for +he recalled how the breakers thundered in at the cave and swept the +strip of beach inside. Flinging down the calabashes, he ran with +all his speed. Immense waves were sweeping the cavern from end to +end. Their thunder deafened him. Out of an acre of seething white +a brown arm lifted. He leaped in, seized Pupehe, and succeeded in +gaining the shore, but to no avail. She was dead. After the storm had +passed he paddled to the lonely rock; was raised, with his burden, +by a pitying god, and on the summit, where none might stand even +beside the grave of her whom in life he had guarded so jealously, +he buried the cold form. When the last stone had been placed on the +wall, Misty Eyes sang a dirge for his wife and leaped into the sea. + + + + + +The Lady of the Twilight + + +In Koolauloa, Oahu, is a natural well, of unknown depth and thirty +yards in diameter, that is believed to be connected with the +ocean. Bodies drowned in this crater are said to have been found +afterward floating in the sea. This pond, known as Waiapuka, hides +the entrance to a cave that can be reached only by diving, and in +that cave was concealed during her infancy Laieikawai, Lady of the +Twilight. Her father, enraged that his wife always presented female +children to him, swore he would kill all such offspring until a male +issue should appear, and Laieikawai was therefore kept out of his +sight and in retirement until she had grown to womanhood. Her beauty +attracted even the gods, and chiefs from many islands travelled far to +see her face when she had been taken from the cavern by her grandmother +and bestowed more fittingly in a house thatched with parrot feathers +and guarded by the lizard god. Her bed was bird-wings, the birds were +her companions, she wore a robe tinted like a rainbow, and wherever +she went a fragment of rainbow hung over her and might be seen afar. + +Laieikawai married a sun prince, and the same rainbow served as a +ladder to take her to his new home in the moon, his place in the sun +being too hot and glaring for endurance. This was a fickle prince, for +having seen another pretty face on earth, he descended, and it was a +year ere he appeared in the moon again. The young wife meanwhile had +gone to the bowl of knowledge, a wooden vessel enclosed in wicker, +decorated with feathers and with birds carved in wood along the +rim. Looking in and uttering the command, "Laukapalili!" a vision of +her recreant husband appeared. The father and mother of the prince were +joint witnesses with the wife of his faithlessness. As the picture +vanished the air grew dark; faint, grisly shapes arose, and wailing +voices sounded, "Heaven has fallen!" Standing on the rainbow bridge, +the father, mother, and wife cast off their love for the prince, and +condemned him to be a wandering ghost, living on butterflies. Then, +having tired of heaven, the Lady of the Twilight returned to earth. + + + + + +The Ladrones + + +The taking of Guam during the war with Spain was one of the comedies +of that disagreement. When its rickety fort was fired upon by one of +our ships, the Spanish governor hastened down to the shore to greet +the American officers, and apologized because he was out of powder +and could not reply to what he supposed was a salute. Off in that +corner of the world he had not heard of any war. + +With the cession of this largest of the Ladrone islands we fall heir to +some race problems as baffling as those presented by our Indians. The +natives of this group belong to the Tarapons, and the traditions +of these people say that they came in part from the east and partly +from the west. It has been thought that they have a slight mixture of +Mongolian blood, and this is not unlikely, for Chinese and Japanese +junks have at various times been blown over sea to farther shores than +these. History for this group begins with Magellan, who named it for +the ladrones or thieves, who annexed his belongings when he arrived +on the first voyage that had ever been made around the world. That +they had crafts and arts is proved by their weapons, canoes, cloth, +and armor, and they have left here some remarkable stone columns, +more than twice the height of a man, with hemispheres of rock on their +tops, flat sides uppermost, and six feet wide. In Tinian, Kusaie, +and also in Ponape, in the Carolines, there are ruins, including, +in the latter island, a court three hundred feet long with walls ten +yards high, some of the monoliths being twenty-five feet long and +eight feet thick. On Tongataboo are larger rocks, forty feet high, +which were quarried elsewhere and shipped to that coral island. On +Easter Island are platforms a hundred yards long, ten wide and ten +high, with great statues all cut from stone. None of these remains, +nor the picture-writing found near the statues, throw light on the +history, purpose, or personality of their builders. Every family has +its little circle of shells and stones which is a shrine where the +gods are worshipped, and most of the gods are spirits of the great +and wise who died long ago. Offerings to these took the form of food +and of anointing for their altars, but human sacrifices were no doubt +demanded at times, when the priests had been specially venturesome +in asking favors. When a man died his soul sprang out, went below +the earth, and found felicity in the west. This belief resembles +the Indian faith in the happy hunting-ground, and incidentally it +points the course of empire. The spirit could return once in a while, +and ghostly visitations were sorely dreaded. The institution of the +taboo was and is connected with the native religions of the Pacific +islands. We have adopted the word and use it in its true meaning +of forbidden. If an article were dedicated to a god, or used in his +worship, or had been touched by him, or claimed by a chief or a priest, +no commoner dared lay finger on it, for it was as sacred as the ark of +the covenant. Some canny planters kept boys out of their orchards and +palm groves by offering the fruit to certain gods until it was ripe, +for a sign of taboo kept out all marauders till the crop was ready for +gathering, when the owner changed his mind and claimed it himself. To +break a taboo was not only to incur the wrath of the priests, but of +the gods to whom the gift was offered, and who would surely reward +the blasphemer for his sin by illness, accident, loss, or death. + +As soon as the Spaniards had occupied the Ladrones--afterward named the +Marianas, in honor of Maria Anna, queen of Philip IV. of Spain--they +proceeded to slaughter the natives. In seventy years they had slain +with sword, rack, toil, grief, and new diseases about fifty thousand +people, reducing the populace to eighteen hundred. Of this aboriginal +race, the Chamorros, nearly all have perished. In their original +estate these were the most advanced of the Pacific islanders; they +had more arts, more refinement, more kindliness, and more morality +than the others. Under an age of oppression and abuse they naturally +deteriorated, and have cared little to advantage themselves by the +few schools and chapels that the Spaniards established in Guam and +thereabout. It may be that the Chamorros shared with the people +of the Carolines in the suffering caused by the great irruption of +savages from the south under Icho-Kalakal. These warriors, in their +wooden navies, destroyed the great tombs and temples because they +had been raised to other gods than their own, slew the defenders of +the temples, and broke up the old civilization, passing from island +to island, and continuing their waste and murder. It was a raid of +Goths and Vandals, and the effect of it was lasting. In Ponape it is +said that the great structures they overthrew are haunted, and people +thereabout will not eat a certain fresh-water fish of a blue color, +because the king, Chauteleur, flying before Icho-Kalakal, fell into +Chapalap River and was changed by the gods into one of these fish. + + + + + +Old Beliefs of the Filipinos + + +Respecting their myths the Filipinos differ in little from other human +families whose civilization is incomplete. They had in former times +the same tendency to create gods and spirits for particular hills, +woods, seas, and lakes, to endow the brutes with human qualities, +to symbolize in the deeds of men and animals the phenomena of the +heavens. Even now the Monteses tell of a tree that folds its limbs +around the trunk of another and hugs it to death, the tree thus +killed rotting and leaving a tube of tightly laced branches in which +are creatures that bleed through the bark at a sword-thrust or an +ax-cut. These creatures are mischievously alleged to be Spaniards. The +Tagalogs believe in Tic-Balan, an evil spirit who inhabits fig-trees, +but is kept off by wearing a certain herb, and in a female spirit +of the woods, Azuan, who is kept away from the house in times of +domestic anxiety by the husband, who mounts to the roof and keeps up +a disturbance for some hours. + +In their feasts and ceremonies the natives have hymns and prayers +to the rain-spirit, the sea, the star-god, the good birds, and the +winds. Little has been done toward the preservation of their myths, +for the Spaniards, during their centuries of control, suppressed +learning, except as it pertained to religious studies, and tolerated +but scant liberty of opinion. The friars, against whom the people +nursed so strong a hate, stood for all that was harsh, narrow, +tyrannical, and unprogressive. In order to gain money and maintain +their political ascendency they engaged in commerce, became owners +of real estate and buildings, including saloons and dance-houses, +debased their churchly functions, discouraged attempts at progress, +practically forbade the printing of secular books and papers, making +illiteracy, with its attendant vice, poverty, and superstition, +universal; and when Dr. Jose Rizal urged his reforms in the church and +civil service, he was shot, though not as a blasphemer, but because +his secret order, the Katipunan, with its Masonic ritual and blood +initiation, was thought to be dangerous to the public peace. + +The change from this mediæval condition to that of the nineteenth +century, with its impatience of title, caste, form, and ceremony, +its trust in equal right, its insistence on freedom of belief, +came suddenly. In shaking off their ancient political and religious +bonds the Filipinos may lose some of the quaint and poetic records of +their ancient faiths; for the first progress of a nation after a long +sleep is a material one, and art, literature, all the more delicate +expressions of national taste, history, and tendency, have to bide +their day until the fortunes of the nation are assured. In this period +of reconstruction let us hope that those fables and dreams will not +be forgotten which tell, more truly than dates and names and records, +the ancient state of the people, and afford us a means of estimating +the impetus and direction of their advance. + +The influence of Christian teaching is plain in some of the songs, +plays, and stories of the natives, especially in the plays, for in them +the hero is often a Christian prince who defeats a strong and wicked +Mohammedan ruler, and releases an injured maiden. Change the names and +the play becomes a modern English melodrama. In several of the islands, +however, the impress of Spanish occupancy is slight, and customs are +still in force that have existed for hundreds of years. On Mindanao +are still to be found the politic devil-worshippers, who, instead of +seeking to ingratiate themselves with benevolent deities, whose favor +is already assured, try to gain the goodwill of the fiends. Their +rites are practised in caves in which will be found ugly figures of +wood and an altar on which animals are sacrificed. The flesh of these +animals is eaten by the devils, according to the priests, and by the +priests, according to the white men. The evil spirits who appear in +the half-darkness of these caves, leaping and screaming, goading the +company to frenzy, are priests in disguise and in demoniac possession. + +Tagbanuas tear a house down when a death occurs in it, bury the +corpse in the woods, and mark the grave by dishes and pots used by +the deceased in life. These implements are broken. Among our American +Indians the outfits supplied to a dead man are in sound condition, +as it is supposed he will need them on his journey to the happy +hunting-grounds, while the Chinese put rice and chicken in sound +vessels on the graves of their brethren, believing they will need +refreshment when they start on the long journey to the land of the +shades. Tramps know where the Chinese are accustomed to bury their +dead in American cities. When food is placed before an Otaheite corpse +it is not for the dead, but for the gods, and is intended to secure +their good offices for the departed. While a Tagbanua corpse is above +ground it is liable to be eaten by a vampire called the balbal that +lives on Mindanao, has the form of a man with wings and great claws, +tears open the thatch of houses and consumes bodies by means of a +long tongue, which it thrusts through the opening in the roof. These +Tagbanuas do not believe in a heaven in the skies, because, they say, +you could not get up there. When a man dies he enters a cave that +leads into the depths of the earth, and after travelling for a long +time he arrives in the chamber where Taliakood sits,--a giant who +employs his leisure in stirring a fire that licks two tree trunks +without destroying them. The giant asks the new-comer if he has been +good or bad in the world overhead, but the dead man makes no reply. He +has a witness who has lived with him and knows his actions, and it is +the function and duty of this witness to state the case. This little +creature is a louse. On being asked what would happen if a native +were to die without one of these attendants, the people protest that +no such thing ever happens. So the louse, having neither to gain nor +lose, reports the conduct of his commissary and associate, and if +the man has been bad, Taliakood throws him into the fire, where he +is burned to ashes, and so an end of him. If he has been good, the +giant speeds him on his way to a happy hunting-ground, where he can +kill animals by thousands, and where the earth also yields fruits and +vegetables in plenty. Here he finds a house, without having the trouble +to build one, and a wife is also provided for him,--the deceased wife +of some neighbor usually, although he can have his own wife if she is +considerate enough to die when he does. Down here everybody is well +off, though the rich, having had much pleasure in the world, have +less of it than the poor. After a term of years the Tagbanua dies +again and goes at once to a heaven in a deeper cave without danger +from fire. Seven times he dies, each time going deeper and becoming +happier, and probably gains Nirvana in the end. Occasionally a good +spirit returns as a dove, and a bad one comes as a goat; indeed, +a few of the bad ones are doomed to wander over the earth forever. + +A common belief is that the soul is absent from the body in sleep, +and if death occurs then the soul is lost. "May you die sleeping" +is one of the most dreadful of curses. + +Among the Mangyan mountaineers it is customary to desert a person +who is about to die. They return after his death, carry the corpse to +the forest, build a fence about it, and roof it with a thatch. These +people seem to have no word for god, spirit, or future life; they do +not worship either visible or unseen things, and are the most moral +of the Filipinos. The lowlanders also desert their dying, and after +death close all paths to the house, leave the skeleton of the defunct +to be picked clean by ants, and change their names for luck. + +When an islander in the Calamianes province dies his friends ask +the corpse where it would like to be buried, naming several places, +and lifting the body after each question. When the body seems to +rise lightly the dead man has said, "Yes." It may then be buried, or +placed in a tree in the desired locality, with such of its belongings +as the family can spare, and the mourners watch around a fire that +night until all the logs are consumed. The dead man walks about in +the ashes, leaving his footprints, and sometimes shows himself to +his relatives. Singing and feasting follow for several nights, and +the house of the dead is then abandoned. + +The holes in the marble cliffs of San Francisco Strait formerly +contained the coffined dead of the tattooed Pintados, who sacrificed +slaves at the funeral that they might attend their relatives in the +next world. Fear of the spirits of these rocks was but partially +overcome when a Spanish priest smashed the coffins and tumbled the +bodies into the sea, for the strait is still haunted and the burial +rocks are good places to keep away from after dark. + +Among the Moslem Moros it is a sure passport to heaven to kill a +Christian, and when one remembers how the people have been robbed, +tortured, and oppressed by nominal Christians, this item of faith +is not surprising. The more Christians he kills the greater will +be his reward. He bathes in a sacred spring, shaves his eye-brows, +dresses in white, takes an oath before a pandita or native priest to +die killing infidels; then, with the ugly creese, or wave-edged knife, +he runs madly through the street, killing, right and left, until some +considerate person shoots him. In the rage for blood he has been known +to push himself farther against a sword or bayonet that had already +entered his vitals in order to stab the man who had stopped him. When +they hear of his death the relatives of the fanatic have a celebration, +and declare that in the fall of the night they see him ride by on +a white horse, bound for the home of the good, where no Christians +ever go to vex the angels. These people are often fatalists. They +will drink water known to be poisoned with typhoid germs, and when +epidemics come they declare them to be the will of God, and refuse +to take the slightest measure against infection. They believe that +when a strange black dog runs by cholera follows on his heels. + +Yet, like our Indians, the better Tagbanuas and Calamianes try to +heal the sick through the aid of drugs and charms and incantations, +and they have their medicine man or papalyan. There is in the forest a +strange little fellow, known as the man of the wood, who has the power +of giving to these doctors the art of healing. He rushes out upon one +who walks alone, seeking power, and brandishes a spear, finally aiming +it at the breast of the candidate, and advancing his foot as if to +throw it. If the candidate runs he is unworthy, but if he stands his +ground the little man of the wood drops his spear and gives a pearl to +him. This pearl is never shown to anybody. It is looked at secretly at +a patient's bedside, and if clear the physician will prescribe, but if +it is dark, or has taken on a stony aspect, he resigns the case. The +"drugs" are similar to those used by the Chinese, consisting in part +of powdered teeth and bones and other animal preparations. Charms are +in common use as a protection not only from disease but from murder +and misfortune, and in the fighting between the Americans and the +natives about Manila many poor, half-naked creatures, armed with bows +and arrows, had ventured fearlessly into the zone of fire, believing +themselves to be safe because they wore an anting-anting at the +neck. This object, like an Indian's "good medicine," is anything,--a +little book, a bright pebble, a church relic, a medal, an old bullet, +a coin, a piece of cloth, a pack of cards. It is the faith that goes +with it, not the object itself, that counts. Even Aguinaldo has +been invested by his followers with superhuman power. Just before +he resorted to arms against the Americans the natives knew that the +time for rebellion had come, for a woman in Biacnabato gave birth +to a child dressed in a general's uniform, and above Tondo a woman's +figure crowned with snakes was painted in fire upon the night-sky. + +In details of their faiths the tribes differ, but there is a prevalent +belief in a principle of good that the Moros call Tuhan. The sun, +moon, and stars are the light that shines from him,--he is everywhere, +all-seeing, all-powerful; he has given fleeting souls to brutes +and eternal souls to men. The soul enters a child's body at birth, +through the soft space in the top of the head, and leaves through the +skull at death. Their first men were giants, and Eve was fifty feet +high, but as men's minds grew their bodies became of less account, +and they will shrink and shrink until, at the world's end, they will +be only three feet high, but will consist mostly of brains. Comparing +a brawny savage with an anæmic scholar, one fancies there is reason +in this forecast. The Tagbanuas have no Adam and Eve. Those of them +who live beside the ocean say they are the children of Bulalacao, +a falling star that descended to the shore and became a beautiful +woman. The gods of these people are like men, but are stronger, +living in caves, eating an ambrosia-like boiled rice that has the +power of moving. Their gods sometimes steal their children. + +Old Testament traditions are commonly accepted by the Moros, who +believe in No (Noah), Adam, Mosa (Moses), Ibrahim (Abraham), Sulaiman +(Solomon), Daud (David), and Yakub (Jacob); but creation myths are +locally modified, and some tales of recent emergence of islands out +of the sea are probably true. In all volcanic districts mountains may +be shaken down and hills cast up in a day. Siquijor formerly bore the +name of the Isle of Fire, for the natives say that in the days of their +grandfathers a cloud brooded on the sea for a week, uttering thunders +and hisses and flashing forth bolts of fire. When the cloud lifted, +Siquijor stood there. The geology of the island supports the tradition. + +The future is differently conceived by different sects and families, +some panditas teaching that the soul, having come from God, will +return to him at death; others that it will sleep in the earth or +the air until the world has ended, when all will be swept on a wind +to a mount of judgment, where saints and angels will weigh them, +and souls heavy with sin will fall into hell; others that there is +no hell of fire, because there is not coal enough to keep it going, +but that every man is punished until his soul is purified, when it +rises to heaven, glowing with light and color; others that men are +punished according to their sins; liars and gossips with sore mouths +and tired jaws; gluttons with lame stomachs; jealous, cruel, tricky +people with aching hearts; abusive and thievish ones with pains in +their hands; others that one finds hell enough on earth in fear, +illness, disappointment, misunderstanding and Spaniards, to atone +for all the mischief he is liable to make. + + + + + +Animal Myths + + +In the fables of the Filipinos the animals often speak together +in a common language. The dove, however, is the only one that +comprehends human speech, and it is a creature of uncommon shrewdness +and intelligence, like the hare in the Indian myths and Br'er Rabbit +in the stories of our Southern negroes. Once the dove was a child. In +shame and anger that its mother should refuse to give it some rice she +was pounding for panapig (a sort of cake), it ran out of the cabin, +took two leaves of a nipa, shaped wings from them, which it fastened to +its shoulders, and fluttered into the boughs of a neighboring tree, +changing, in its flight, from a child to a dove. It still calls +for panapig. + +Darwin is read backward by the natives, for they say that the monkey +was a man, long, long ago, and might have been one still but for his +maņana habit, so general in the Spanish colonies. He had a partner +whom he greatly vexed by his idleness, and once, when this partner +was planting rice, he glanced up and saw the monkey squatted on the +earth, with his face between his hands, watching the labors of the +industrious member of the firm,--for nothing makes loafing sweeter +than to see somebody else work. Enraged, the busy one caught up a +cudgel and flung it at the monkey, who was thereupon seized with a +sudden but futile activity, and started to run away. The club struck +him in the rear so mightily that it entered his spinal column and +stayed there, becoming his tail. + +In the Moro tradition of the flood--a tradition almost world-wide--Noah +and his family got into a box when the forty days of rain began, +and one pair of each kind of bird and beast followed them. All of the +human race except Noah, his wife and children, were either drowned or +changed. Those men who ran to the mountains when they saw the flood +rising became monkeys; those who flung themselves into the sea became +fish; the Chinese turned into hornbills; a woman who was eating seaweed +and kept on eating after the waves broke over her became a dugong. + +In Mindanao, Basilan, and Sulu the pig is held in suspicion and its +flesh is not eaten. The reason for this aversion is that the first +pigs were grandchildren of the great Mahomet himself, and their +conversion to these lowly quadrupeds fell out in this way: When Jesus +(Isa) called on Mahomet, the latter, jealous of his reputed power, +bade him guess what was in the next room. Christ said that he did +not wish to do so. Mahomet then commanded him to prove his ability +to see through walls, and added that if he made a mistake he would +kill him. Thereupon Christ answered, "There are two animals in that +chamber that are like no other in the world." + +"Wrong!" cried the Prophet, plucking out his sword. "They are my +grandchildren. You have spoken false, and you must lose your head." + +"Look and see," insisted Christ, and Mahomet flung open the chamber +door, whereupon two hogs rushed out. It should be added that while +the divinity of Christ is denied in some of the Oriental religions, +he figures in many of them as a great and good man, gifted with +supernatural power. Moros charge as one reason for killing Christians +that followers of Christ disgrace and belie mankind in teaching that +men could kill their own god. + +On Mindoro the timarau, a small buffalo that lives in the jungle, +has given rise to rumors of a fierce and destructive creature that +carries a single horn on his head. It is a wild and hard fighter, but +it has two horns, and is not likely to injure any save those who are +seeking to injure it. A creature with an armed head has lingered down +from the day of Marco Polo, because in the stock of yarns assembled by +that redoubtable tourist the unicorn figured. This was the rhinoceros, +which is found so near the Philippines as Sumatra. The gnu of Africa +is another possible ancestor of this creature, a belief in which +goes back to the time of Aristotle; but the horse-like animal with +a narwhal's horn that frisks on the British arms never existed. + +And, speaking of horses, it is strange that centaurs should figure +in the mythology of a country like Luzon; but a mile from the church +at Mariveles is a hot spring beside which lived a creature that +was half-horse and half-man. As in ancient Greece, there is little +doubt that a belief in this being came from the wonder excited by +the first horsemen. + +Sea-eagles in the East are large and powerful, and are believed to +have long memories. According to report, a man living near Jala Jala +once stole a nest of their young and carried it to his house. It was +a year from that time before any retaliation was attempted. The birds +then appeared above his premises, swooped down on his wife, clawed +her face and beat her with their wings until she was half-dead; then +picked up her babe and carried it away before the eyes of the helpless +parents. Next year they came again, and another infant, a few months +old, was stolen. The man tracked them to their nest, which had been +built high on a cliff that no one had ever scaled before. Nerved by +grief and anger, he climbed it. In the nest were the skeletons of +his children. As he clung to the rock, hanging over a dizzy space +and looking on these sad relics, the father bird came swooping from +the sky and began to strike at him with claws and wings. In the face +of such an assault the man could not descend in safety. Death was +sure. He could only hope to kill his enemy, too. As the bird drew +near he leaped from the rock, caught the eagle about the neck, and +the two plunged down to death together. + +An animal god especially to be feared is Calapnitan, king of the +bats. He is so powerful and capable of mischief that in exploring a +cave where bats are likely to have congregated the natives will speak +in the most respectful terms of this deity, for he would be sure to +hear them if they spoke flippantly of him, and might swoop from the +cave roof and whip their eyes out with his leathern wings or tear them +with his claws. Hence they bow their heads and speak with reverence +of the Lord Calapnitan's cave, the Lord Calapnitan's stalactite, +even recognizing his temporary ownership of their clothing, arms, +lights, and so on, and alluding to their own jackets as the Lord +Calapnitan's. By carefully refraining in this manner from giving +offence the Filipinos have succeeded in keeping their skins entire +while guiding white travellers through the caverns in their islands. + + + + + +Later Religious Myths and Miracles + + +Among stories that date no farther back than the Spanish conquest we +find the usual tales of sacred springs, of visions, and of blessed +objects. The Church of the Holy Infant, in the city of Cebu, contains +an image of the Christ child, about fifteen inches in height, carved +in ebony, preserved in much state and loaded with a profusion of +ornament. The priests tell you that it was made in heaven, thrown +to the earth, and found in 1565 by a soldier who recovered from +an illness when he touched it. It was taken to the convent in Cebu, +where the clergy emplaced it with great ceremony, and where on the 20th +of January in every year it is dressed in a field marshal's regalia, +receives a field marshal's salute, and is worshipped by thousands of +pilgrims from all parts of the archipelago. So many women wrought +themselves into an insane frenzy during these January feasts that +their sacred dances, which were once a part of the ceremonies, had +to be stopped. When the town was burned this statue saved itself from +the flames, as did the bamboo cross near the church, which is said to +be the same that was erected by the monk, Martin de Rada, on the day +when the Spanish landed, more than three centuries ago. Matter-of-fact +historians allow that the figure of the child may have been left +there by Magellan. It worked miracles of a surprising character for +years after his death, and the first settlement in Cebu was called +The City of the Most Holy Name of Jesus in its honor. The customary +discrepancies between the piety and the practice of the conquerors +existed in the Philippines, as in the Antilles. They slew the natives +until the survivors threw up their hands and professed the right +religion; then they shot twenty-four thousand Chinese who had settled +in and about Cebu, thus reducing themselves to a wretched state, for +these Spaniards had depended on the Chinese as their servants, cooks, +farmers, laborers, shoemakers, and tailors. It is worthy of note that +other missionaries had shown activity, but with less result, for their +methods had been more conciliatory. The Mahometanism that had been +introduced by Moslem preachers from Arabia got no farther than Sulu, +and the Confucianism imported by Chinamen seems to have obtained no +permanent hold. Through all changes the Holy Child remained uninjured, +and he continues his good work to this day. + +When the Sulu pirates had fallen upon a year of such bad business that +they reaped a profit of barely fifty per cent, on their investment +in ships and weapons, there was great discontent among them. Prizes +were few and defeats occasional. Looking back on their highest hill, +as they sailed away, and fearing that when they returned it might be +with but half a cargo of gold and rum and Christians, so many of them +wept for the misery of this thought that to this day the height is +known as Buat Timantangis, or Mount of Tears. In one dull season, +when the pirates were almost mutinous because of their continued +ill-fortune, it occurred to one of the captains that an image to +which the Christians prayed so earnestly and with such good effect +might do as much for him as for some other natives. In his barbarian +mind there was no absurdity in trying to persuade a gentle Virgin or +a pure-minded Saint to deliver into his hands the goods and persons +of those who knelt before their effigies. A sacred image was "good +medicine" for Spaniards and Tagalogs, and should, therefore, be +good medicine for Mahometans. Thus, he bethought him of the statue +now known as the Virgin of Antipolo, that came from Spain by way +of Mexico in charge of early missionaries. To think was to act. He +raided the village where it had been enshrined and attempted to carry +it off; but the statue had warned the faithful of its peril, and the +marauders were met and driven off by a powerful force. The Virgin of +Antipolo became one of the most influential of all the guardians of +the islands, and to this day is especially besought by mothers who +ask for her intercession on behalf of their sickly children. Holy +water taken from her shrine will cure the sufferer, and the mother +then performs a public penance in thankfulness. Before the American +arrival, with its sudden imposition of new ideas on an old society, +it was no uncommon thing to see on Good Friday a company of the +richest women in Manila, poorly attired and with bare feet, dragging +through the streets a heavy cross thirty feet in length. This was in +fulfilment of vows they had made at the shrine of Antipolo. + +This Virgin of Antipolo is likewise known as Our Lady of Good Voyage +and Peace. She arrived from Mexico in a state galleon in 1626. On +the voyage she calmed a storm so quickly that the priests proclaimed +her special sanctity, and ordered her to be received in Manila with +salutes of bells and guns. While the Jesuits were building a church +for her she would often descend from her temporary altar and stand +in an antipolo tree (Astocarpus incisa). People cut pieces from this +tree for charms against disease and misfortune, until Father Salazar +ordered that the trunk should be its pedestal. In an early rebellion +the Chinese insurgents threw the statue into the fire. Flames were +all about it, yet not a hair, not a thread of lace was singed, and +the body of brass was unmarked by smoke. Angered at this defiance +of their power, a Chinaman stabbed it in the face, and, curiously, +the wound remains to this day in protest against the savagery that +incited it. When for a second time the Virgin passed unscathed through +a conflagration the Spanish infantry bore her on their shoulders about +the streets, shouting in the joy of her protection. A galleon having +been endangered by rocks and bars in Manila Bay, the captain borrowed +this statue, prayed that it would secure the safety of his ship, and, +to the wonder of all, his vessel rode proudly up to the city gates, for +the Virgin had ordered that the rocks should sink deeper beneath the +sea. Twice afterward she did a like service to captains who borrowed +the figure as a safeguard on the long voyage to Mexico and back, +for each time she suppressed great storms. At the time of the assault +on Manila by the Dutch she assisted in the defeat of the strangers, +though St. Mark was associated with her in the victory. He had told +the governor in a dream that success should attend the Spanish arms +if his people would carry the Virgin into the fight. This was done, +and the Dutch lost three ships with their cargoes. She was finally +domiciled in the town of Antipolo, which, beside being famous as a +shrine, has been one of the most noted resorts for brigands in the +Philippines. The village of four thousand people subsists largely on +the money spent by pilgrims to her church. + +Every family in the Christian communities has a little statue +of the Virgin or of a patron saint, to which prayers are +addressed. Occasionally as much as a thousand dollars will be paid +for one of these images, for some have more power than others. When +Tondo caught fire and was reduced to ashes, the houses of mat and +bamboo burning like paper, one thing alone survived the flames: +a wooden statue of Mary. This token of a special watch upon the +figure immediately raised its importance, and it was attired in the +dress and ornaments of gold in which it may now be seen. Not all the +domestic saints are brilliantly dressed or originally expensive. One +Filipino family worshipped a portrait of Garibaldi that adorned the +cover of a raisin box, while a native elsewhere was found on his +knees before a picture from an American comic paper that represented +President Cleveland attired as a monk and wearing a tin halo. Both +of these pictures had been placed on altars, and candles were burned +before them. + +Another statue of great power is in the church at Majajay. It was sent +there from Spain in charge of the friars, and is especially besought +by invalids, for it is a general belief that whosoever will reach the +church with breath enough remaining in him to recite certain prayers +before this image shall have fresh lease of life; yea, though he were +at his last gasp. + +Some of the attacks made on the friars in the Philippines have been +construed into attacks on the Church, but this is wrong. For the good +of the Church, no less than of the people, it is desired to purge the +islands of these ancient offenders. They have used religion as a cloak +for evil, have encouraged, in private, vices they preached against +in public, have availed themselves of famines and other distresses +to force money from the poor, and have fathered as many half-castes +as the Spanish soldiers have. As to their offspring, Filipino wives +have quieted jealous husbands by assuring them that the appearance of a +European complexion in a hitherto brown family was a special favor from +St. Peter,--a miracle ordered by the keeper of heaven as a reward for +piety and good works. Hence, one hears much of St. Peter's children +in the Philippines. Some of the white inhabitants have nevertheless +been conspicuous for virtue. Miguel Lopez de Legaspi, for example, +the first ruler of the islands, was so good that for years after his +death his body, now in the St. Augustine Monastery, Manila, underwent +no decay or change, but was like that of a man in sleep. + +Alitagtag, north of Bauan, became in 1595 a resort of ghosts and +devils that congregated about a spring near the village, so that +the people were afraid to go there for water. A native headman took +wood from a deserted house, made a cross of it, and set it up near +the spring to spell away the fiends. As the people still feared, +a woman of courage ventured near the place to find that a stream of +cold, pure water was flowing from one of the arms of the cross. To +further assure the people that the evil spirits had been mastered the +cross arose from the earth and stalked about the fields, surrounded by +bright lights. Thereupon the clergy ordered that it should be adored, +and from that time it became an object of worship, healing diseases, +dispelling plagues, and killing locusts. When the priests at Bauan +announced that they intended to move the cross to Lake Bombon, the +priest of Taal, being jealous of his brothers in the other town, +hired some natives to steal it and take it to his house. No sooner +had the men assembled for this purpose than sheets of green fire fell +about the cross, defending it from their approach, and in a frenzy of +contrition they ran back, solemnly vowing that they would never make +a similar attempt again. The cross was, therefore, taken to Bauan, +where it did service for the people by terrorizing a band of pirates +and by stopping an eruption of the Taal volcano in 1611. This peak +of Taal had been a resort of devils from time immemorial, and it had +been a frequent duty of the Church to pray them into silence. In the +year just named Father Albuquerque headed a procession that ascended +the mountain for this purpose. Near the summit he paused and lifted +the cup containing the blood of Christ. Dreadful noises were heard, +like the laughter of ten thousand fiends, in vaults below. Then, +with a groan and crash, the earth split and two craters appeared, +one filled with boiling sulphur, the other with green water. The +cross was sent for. It was brought by four hundred natives. When it +was put into the priest's hands he lifted it toward the sky and all +united in prayer. During this petition, while every head was bent and +all eyes were shut, the craters softly closed and Taal was as it had +been before. Yet the demons still linger about the mountain. Not many +years ago an Englishman tunnelled the peak for sulphur. The fiends +of the volcano shook the roof down on his head and he perished. In +May it has been a custom to hold a feast in honor of this cross, +if the natives furnish the necessary candles and raise ten dollars +for the officiating priest. + +Bangi, in Ilocos Norte, had a shrine in which was the image of a child +with a lamb. Herbs pressed against it would cure all diseases. For +years a dispute was carried on between clerical factions as to whether +it represented St. John the Baptist or Christ. Bishop Miguel Garcia, +having undressed it and examined it thoroughly, decided it to be a +Chinese idol. Thereupon it was broken and burned as a thing unholy. + +Our Lady of Casaysay, in Batangas, is so esteemed that ships salute her +in passing. She was found by a fisherman in his net. He took her to +a cave, not knowing what to make of his strange find, and intending +to keep her there probably as a treasure not to be shared by his +neighbors. She astonished and disappointed him by proclaiming herself +with flashing lights of beautiful color and with loud music. As these +demonstrations frightened the peaceable rustics, the Virgin left her +cave, visited a native woman, spoke kindly to her, and was thereupon +provided with a shrine, where she might be adored with proper ceremony. + +The statue of St. Joaquin at Gusi is remarkable because every year +it runs away and spends two weeks with its wooden wife, the figure +of St. Ann, at Molo. + +Manila once had a saint that wagged its head approvingly at certain +points in the sermon. This conduct drove so many women into hysterics, +and crowded the church so dangerously with people who went to see +the miracle, that the archbishop discountenanced its action, and +ordered that it should be quiet thereafter. Quiet was easily secured +by cutting the string attached to the saint's neck. The padre was +accustomed to pull this during his discourse whenever he wished his +congregation to believe that the saints approved his eloquence or +endorsed his doctrine. + +Holy water from the Conception district of Panay saves life, and San +Pascual Bailon cures barrenness. A Manila milkman who was punished +for selling watered milk expressed surprise at the complaints of his +customers, because no wrong had been committed, inasmuch as he had +used nothing but holy water, which was far superior to milk. Water +from the prison well at Iloilo was held at so high a value that the +prison-keeper made a fortune from it, as it was given out that Christ +and the Virgin had been seen bathing in the well. Our Lady of the Holy +Waters presides over the hot springs below Maquiling Mountain, an old +crater. Another popular place of pilgrimage is the shrine at Tagbauang, +near Iloilo, where illnesses are cured at a high mass in January. + +One of the last recorded appearances of the Virgin was in 1884, when +a band of robbers in Tayabas killed a plantation manager, wounded +several laborers, and ransacked the house of the owner. While in one +of the bedrooms tying clothes, jewelry, and other loot into parcels +for removal, the Virgin appeared, and standing in the door looked +with severity and distress on the bandits. They immediately left +their plunder and ran pell-mell from the building. Some of these +robbers were arrested, but the Virgin had compassion on them for +leaving the proceeds of their raid, so none was garroted or even +sentenced. Some go so far as to say that the Virgin had nothing to do +with their escape from punishment, alleging that the officers of the +law had conspired with them, and that the Spanish courts were even +worse than those of a land that shall be nameless in respect of their +slowness and the facilities they offered for adjournments, retrials, +and appeals on grounds that if presented in any other cause than that +of a breaker of the law would be laughed to scorn. Filipino bandits +often wear medals of the Virgin and saints to protect them from harm, +and some are made bold by confidence in their protection. It is a +belief of theirs that they will never be punished for any crime they +may commit in Easter week, for the rather obscure reason that Christ +pardoned the thief on the cross on Good Friday. + +A curious chapel on a bluff near Pasig, overlooking the river of that +name, has the form of a pagoda. It was built as a thank-offering by +a Chinaman who, having been endangered by a crocodile, and having +called on men and joss without receiving an answer, prayed volubly +to the Christians' God as he swam toward the shore, and promised to +erect a chapel in return for his life. His prayer was answered, for +the crocodile was turned to stone, and may now be seen in the bed of +the stream, while the grateful Mongol kept his word, and also joined +the church. + + + + + +Bankiva, the Philippine Pied Piper + + +Of nearly six hundred species of birds in the Philippines the +jungle fowl, or bankiva, is best known, and is both killed and +domesticated. Unlike the dove, it does not understand human speech, +but it has a power over our kind that is exercised by no other +animal. Once a year the spirits grant to it this power of charming, +in order that both spirits and birds may be revenged on men, their +constant enemies. When that day comes the Luzon mother tremblingly +gathers her little ones about her and warns them not to leave their +door, for young ears heed the strange, sweet music of the fowl's voice, +which grown people cannot hear. On that day the bird sings with a +new note, and the flock of bankivas choose the largest, handsomest +of their number to lead the march of children. On the edge of the +village he gives his song, and every toddler runs delightedly to see +what causes the music. Babes respond with soft, cooing notes, and will +go on hands and knees if they can. They find the bankivas gathered in +a little ring, spreading their tails and wings, dancing and singing +in harmony, the head bird setting the air. When the children have +gathered, they, too, begin to dance and sing, following the birds +as they go deeper and deeper into the wood. Night falls, and with a +harsh cry the bankivas fly away in all directions. The children are +as if awakened from a sleep. They do not know where they are, and +cannot tell which way to turn. Jungles and swamps are about them, +man-eating crocodiles are watching from the water, poisonous and +strangling snakes are gliding about the brush, the pythons that loop +themselves from overhanging limbs are sometimes thrice the length of +a man. Dread and danger are on every hand. And at home the mothers +sit crying. Sometimes, though rarely, a man or woman totters back +to a village bearing marks of great age, and is sure that he or she +left there only the night before. These wanderers do not know where +they have been. They remember only that the bankiva sang sweetly, and +they followed it, as the children of Hamelin followed the pied piper. + + + + + +The Crab Tried to Eat the Moon + + +Among the fantastic stories told of snakes, water-buffalo, birds, +and sharks are several that have obvious meaning. The crab figures in +certain of these tales as the cause of the tides. He was an enormous +creature and lived in a great hole in the bottom of a distant sea, +whence he crawled twice a day, the water pouring into the hollow then, +and leaving low water on the coast. When he settled back again the +water was forced out and the tide was high. The relation of tides to +the moon may have introduced this creature in another aspect as the +moon's enemy and cause of her eclipse, for it is related that one +evening a Filipino princess walking on a beach saw with astonishment +an island that had never been visible on the sea before. Her emotion +was that of alarm when she saw the island approach the shore, and +she hid in the shrubbery to watch. Presently she could make out, +despite the failing light, that it was no island, but a crab larger +than a hundred buffalo. Its goggling eyes were dreadful to see, its +mouth was opening fiercely, its claws working as if eager to clutch +its prey. The moon arose at the full, making a track of light across +the heaving waters, and the crab, facing east, prepared to spring and +drag it to its den beneath the ocean. Half a mile away the people +of the princess were holding a feast with songs and dances. Would +they hear a signal? She placed her conch-shell horn at her lips and +blew with all her strength. The monster still gnashed and grasped +in expectancy at the sea's edge, and a breeze brought through the +wood a faint sound of drums. Her people had not heard. Again she +blew. This time the woods were still. Her people were listening. A +third blast followed, and in a few minutes the warriors swarmed upon +the beach with knives, swords, and lances. While the princess was +explaining to them the moon's peril the crab made a leap into the air +and darkened its face, causing an eclipse, but failing to get a hold +it dropped back to the beach again, where the people fell upon it, +the princess leading the attack with the war-call of her tribe. As +the crab turned to see what had befallen, the princess slashed off +his great left claw. With the other it crushed a soldier, but again +her cresse fell and the right claw fell likewise. Then a hundred men +rushed upon the creature, prodding their spears into joints of his +legs and the dividing line between his back plate and belly. Others +fell under his great bulk or were gnashed by his iron teeth, but in +the end his shell was broken and the moon was safe. And often when +the gentle pirate of the Sulus scoured the sea he uttered a prayer +before an image of the princess for a bright night and an easy victim, +for had it not been for her the crab would have swallowed the moon, +and the sea would have been as dark as some kinds of a conscience. + + + + + +The Conversion of Amambar + + +While roving over the waters that covered the earth the sun god +saw the nymph Ursula sporting in the waves, and was smitten with a +quick and mighty fondness. He nearly consumed himself in the ardor +of his affection. She, however, was as cold and pure as the sea. As +she swung drowsily on the billows she was like a picture painted in +foam on their blue-green depth, and in breathing her bosom rose and +fell like the waves themselves. As she saw the god descending she +was filled with alarm, but as he took her into his strong embrace +and placed his cheek to hers a new life and warmth came to her, and +in their marriage the spirits of the air and water rejoiced. A son +was born to them,--so beautiful a boy that the sun god made a land +for him, stocked it with living creatures, adorned it with greenery +and flowers, and gave it to the human race as an inheritance of joy +forever. This land he called Cebu, and no land was more lovely. Lupa +was the child, and from him came all the kings of Cebu, among them +Amambar, the first chief of the island of whom we have definite +record. In the day of his rule the group had long been peopled, +and the use of tools and weapons had become known. One occasionally +finds to-day the stone arrows and axes they called "lightning teeth," +and with which they worked such harm to one another in their many wars. + +It was an evening of March, 1521, a calm and pleasant evening, +with the perfume of flowers mixed with the tonic tang of the ocean, +birds flying and monkeys chattering in the wood, and a gentle surf +whispering upon the beach. Amambar was walking on the shore alone. He +had gone there to watch the gambols of the mermaids, when a great +light whitened against the sunset. It came from a cross that had +been planted just out of reach of the sea. He put his hands before +his eyes that it might not dazzle him. Then, as the moon arose, he +peered beneath his hands, out over the restless water, and there, +against the golden globe that was lifting over the edge of the world, +could be seen a flock of monster birds with gray wings, and dark +men walking on their backs as they lightly rode the billows, the men +sparkling and glinting as they moved, for they were arrayed in metal +and bore long knives and lances that flashed like stars. Other of +the company wore black robes and sang in unknown words, their voices +mixing in a music never heard by Amambar before. A sparkling white +cloud drooped slowly from the sky. A diamond vapor played about the +cross. Out of the cloud came a melodious voice saying, "Look up, +O chief!" And looking at the cross again, he saw, extended there, +a bleeding figure with a compassionate face that gazed down upon him +and declared, "I am Jesus Christ, son of the only God. Those whom you +see in the ships are my people, who have come to these islands to rule +you for your good." Amambar fell prone on the sand and prayed for a +long time, not daring to open his eyes. When he regained courage and +arose the cloud was gone; the ships had sailed away. He was alone. + +The commander of the ships was Magellan. It was one of his monks who +had placed the cross on shore. Landing in Cebu later, he converted two +thousand of the natives in a day by destroying the statue of Vishnu and +putting that of the child Jesus in its place, though he still yielded +to savage opinion in so far as he consented to confirm his friendship +with the king by a heathen ceremony, each opening a vein in his arm +and drinking the blood of the other. As usual, the appearance and ways +of the Europeans smote the natives with wonder. They described the +strangers as enormous men with long noses, who dressed in fine robes, +ate stones (ship-bread), drank fire from sticks (pipes), and breathed +out the smoke, commanded thunder and lightning from metal tubes, +and were gods. Engaging in a wrangle between two tribes, Magellan was +lured into a marsh at Mactan, and there, while watching a battle to +see how great the Filipinos could be in war, he was slain with bamboo +lances sharpened and hardened in fire. Amambar's Christianity did +not endure, for he so wearied of the oppression and rapacity of the +strangers that when a successor to Magellan appeared he invited him +to a banquet and slew him at his meat. But the cross and the statue +of Christ worked miracles among the faithful for many generations. + + + + + +The Bedevilled Galleon + + + "Sing hey, sing ho! The wind doth blow, + And I'll meet my love in the morning," + +Sang the lookout, as he paced the forecastle of the galleon Rose of +May, and peered about for signs of land against the dawn. Not that +he expected to meet his love in the morning, nor for many mornings, +but he had been up in his off-watch and was getting drowsy, so that he +sang to keep himself awake. His was one of the first among the English +ships to follow in Magellan's track. The Philippines, or the Manillas, +as they were called, had been almost reached, and it was expected +that Mindanao would be sighted at break of day off the starboard bow. + +"Hello, forward!" bawled the man at the helm. + +"Ay, ay!" sang the lookout. + +"What d'ye make o' yonder light?" + +"Light? What d'ye mean, man?" And the lookout rubbed his eyes, scanned +the water close and far, and wondered if his sight was going out. + +"In the sky, o' course, ye bumble-brain." + +"Now, by the mass, you costard, you gave me a twist of the inwards +with your lame joke." + +"'Tis no joke. Will you answer?" + +"Why, then, 'tis the daylight, in course, and you aiming for it that +steady as to drive the nose of us straight agin the sun, give he +comes up where he threats to. And he'll be here straightway, for in +these waters he comes up as he were popped outen a cohorn." + +"The day! Heaven forefend! I'm holding her to the north." + +"You're holding due east. Aha! Look yonder, where the cloud is +lifting. Land ho!" + +"Where away?" cried a mate, roused out of a forbidden doze by this +talk, and blundering up to the roof of the after-castle. + +"Port bow, sir." + +"Port bow! The fiend take us! You block! You jolterhead! Where are +you fetching us?" + +"I'm holding her due to the north, sir, as you bade me," faltered +the steersman. "Look for yourself, if it please you, for 'tis light +enough to read the card without the binnacle lamp. We're sailing east +by the sky and north by the needle. The ship's bedevilled!" + +"Hold your peace, or you'll have the crew in a fright. Head her around +eight points to port, and keep her west by the card." + +"Lights in, sir? The sun is up," called the lookout. + +"Yes." And the mate added in a lower tone, "'Tis the first time ever +the sun came up in the north." + +"What's all this gabble?" grumbled the captain, thrusting his red and +whiskered face out of the cabin. "Can't a man have his rest when you +keep the watch, Master Roaker?" + +"Pray, captain, come and look at the compass. Do you see the lay o' +the needle? We're sailing west to hold north, or else the sun has +missed stays over night and come up in the north himself." + +"Hi, hi! That's parlous odd. Keep her as you have her, and have out +Bill, the carpenter, to see if there's any iron overside. Nay, let +her off a little more, for that's a hard-looking piece of shore out +yonder, for all of the palms and green stuff." + +The watch was changed presently, the captain preferring to take the +biscuit and spirits that were his breakfast on the deck. He went to +the compass every minute or so, looked curiously at the draw of the +sails and studied the water alongside. The carpenter had reported +all sound, with no iron out of place to deflect the needle. There +was a grave look on the faces of the officers, and the men talked +low together as they watched them. + +"Strange-looking hill out yonder," remarked a mate. "Not a tree on it, +nor any green thing. 'Tis black and shining enough for the devil's +grave-stone." + +"Have done with your gossip of devils," snorted the other mate. "You're +as evil a man for a ship's company as a whistler. You'll be calling +ill luck on us to name the fiend so often." + +"Looks like shoal water forward, sir," called the new lookout. + +"Right! Head her away to port yet farther. Look you, fellow, have +you no inkling of your business? You'll have us all ashore. Mary, +mother! Give me the helm!" With sweat bursting from his brow the +captain caught the tiller and put it hard over. The ship shook a bit, +swerved, yet made side-wise toward the green patch on the sea. The +land was looming large now. + +"'Tis not in the rudder to keep her off, sir," called a mate who had +gone forward. "'Tis the leeway she is making." + +"There's a scant breeze." + +"Ay, but there must be a fearsome current." + +"I see no sign of it. This water is smooth as any pond." + +"But you see for yourself, she's gaining on the shore. Look, now, +how we're passing that patch o' water-weed." + +"I think hell is under us. Have up the clerk and put him at prayers, +and you fellows take in sail--each rag of it--that if we strike we +may go easy. Call all hands. See that the boats are clear. She minds +her helm no more than a straw. God help us!" + +The galleon was at the edge of the shoal spot now, and all held their +breath, expecting to hear the grinding of the keel on a bank; but, +no, she floated in safety. + +"Sound!" commanded the captain. "There may be anchorage." + +"Four fathom," called the sailor at the lead after he had made +his cast. + +"Stand by to let go. We'll tie up here till the tide turns or the +spell's worked out. Alive--alive, there! Get that anchor overboard." + +"It be wedged agin the bulwark, captain, and needs another pair o' +hands." + +"Forward all! Why, you lump, the flukes are clear. What ails you? Lift +all. There!" + +With an united heave the sailors raised the barbed iron and cast it +over the side. The faces of all dripped and went white, and their +knees bent then, for the anchor flew from their hands and struck +the sea quite twenty feet away,--in deep water, for the shoal was +passed,--and the chain paid out like rope as the iron sank, yet not +straight down. It rattled off toward the shore. + +"We've had krakens and mermaids and all variety of horrid beasts," +said one old tar, with his jaw a-shaking, "and now the foul fiend +has that anchor, and is pulling us ashore with it." + +The chain had run out to its length, but the anchor had found no +bottom. A cracking and grinding of the links could be heard, as if a +tug of war were going on between two giants that had this chain between +them. Bits of rust powdered off, and the strain was tearing splinters +from the timbers. A loud snap,--the chain had parted. Down went the +anchor, but again not straight,--off toward the land, and one free +link of the chain shot as if from a gun straight toward the shore, +whizzing with ever-increasing speed until it was out of sight. The +men looked at one another in amaze. + +"Get up the stores," shouted the captain, "and be ready all to quit +the ship." He added to his mates, "A half hour's the longest we can +hope for. The Rose of May will be on the black cliff by that. Is the +clerk praying? Good! We may get away in the boats, but we'll end our +days here in the Manillas. Alack, my Betsy! I'll never look into her +eyes again." + +"She's down a little by the head, an't please you," cried a sailor, +running aft. + +"Ease her a little, then. Toss over some of the dunnage." + +"Lor'! Lor'! Spare us all this day!" yelled a sailor a minute later. + +"What is it?" + +"I tried to put my knife on the rail here, while I gripped the line I +was to cut, when it tugged at my hand like a live thing. In a fright +I let go, and away it flew toward the shore. Oh, we've reached the +Devil's country. Why ever did I leave England?" + +"How of the compass?" + +"It points steady to that rock." + +"Master captain! Master captain!" shouted the steward, running upon +deck. "The fiend is in the after-castle, for the pans and the knives +and a blunderbuss and two cutlasses that were loose have leaped +against the forward panelling and stick there as if rivets were +through them. 'Tis wizard's work. Let us pray, all." + +A sudden commotion was seen among the sailors at that moment. The +cannon balls had rolled forward to the break of the forecastle, and +the two guns themselves--the ship's armament against the pirates of +China and Sulu--were straining at their stays. + +"Heave over the shot. It'll lighten her," ordered the captain. + +The crew obeyed, but after the first of the balls had been lifted +over the bulwarks, they had scarce the strength to cast out the rest, +for amazement overcame them on seeing the shot plucked from the man's +hands and blown through the air as if sent from its gun toward the +rock. The ship was leaping through the water, though the breeze +was from the land. One after another the men fell on their knees +and prayed loudly, the captain last of all. Suddenly he looked up, +with a wondering flash in his eyes. He sprang to his feet, plucked +an iron belaying-pin from its ledge, held it up, felt it pull, let +go, and saw it whirl away like a leaf in a cyclone. He looked at the +compass; the needle pointed straight toward the black and glistening +cliff now lowering not more than half a mile ahead. + +"It's the guns," he shrieked. "Up with you. Cut away the +lashings. Stave down the bulwarks. Let them go." + +In the panic there was no stopping to argue or to question. The guns +were freed, and they, too, went hurtling through the air, striking +the rock with a clang. The captain leaped to the helm and put it hard +a-starboard. The ship's pace slackened, she curved gracefully around, +and headed from the threatening coast. "Shake out all sail, lads, +for we're free at last, by God's good grace." + +Though trembling and confused, the sailors managed to hoist sail, +and on a gentle wind from the east they left that coast never more to +venture near it. The captain's face lost its knots and seams, by slow +degrees the color of it returned,--a color painted upon it, especially +about the nose, by many winds, much sunshine, and uncounted bottles +of strong waters. He wiped his brow and drew a big breath. "It comes +to me, now," he said. "We've not been bewitched. That hill beyond, +that's robbed us of our guns and anchor, is a magnet,--the biggest +in the world." + +In an earthquake, several years later, the magnet-mountain disappeared. + + + + + +Two Runaways from Manila + + +The name Corregidor, which stands for mayor, albeit the translation +is corrector, is applied to the gateway to Manila. Thus named it was +a place to inspire a wholesome fear in the breasts of dignitaries, +for on at least two occasions proud and refractory bishops were sent +there in exile to endure a season of correction and repentance. It +was thought to be a desert. In the seventeenth century the treasure +galleon arriving at Manila, after a voyage of months from Mexico, +brought a family from that country. One of the daughters of this house +of Velez was a girl with a bit of human nature in her composition, +for Maria was prone to flirting, and had no affection for sermons. In +order to repress her high spirits and love of mischief, she was sent +by her father to the convent of Santa Clara, which had been founded +in 1621 (a few years before this incident). The parent even hoped +that she might qualify as a nun. + +It was not the right convent, for Fray Sanchez, one of the fathers, +who said the offices in the chapel, was a Franciscan friar, young, +handsome, and not an ascetic. The novice was always prompt when he +said mass, and often when her pretty head should have been bowed in +prayer she was peeping over the edge of her breviary, following the +graceful motions of the brother as he shone in full canonicals in the +candle-light, and thrilling at the sound of his rich, low voice. The +priest several times caught the glance of those eyes, so black, +so liquid, saw the long fringe of lashes fall across them, saw the +face bend behind the prayer-book in a vain endeavor to hide a flush, +realized what a pretty face it was, and went to his cell with a vague +aching at his heart. He sought Maria among the pupils to give spiritual +advice, or she sought him to ask it,--it little matters,--and so the +first full moon looked into a corner of the convent garden and saw, +despite the swaying shadow of vines and palms, that the friar was +making confession to the nun,--a confession of love. The face that +had peered above the prayer-book was lifted to his, a white arm stole +about his neck: it was the answering confession. The priest strained +her to his breast and half stifled her with kisses. + +These raptures were interrupted by the retiring bell, and they hastily +returned to the convent by separate ways. It was the last night they +expected to spend beneath that roof, for a galleon was to sail for +Mexico in a day or two, and they had agreed to elope. Dressed in +worldly garb, which she concealed under the robe and cowl of a monk, +Maria slipped through the garden gate next day, met her lover, ran to +the shore, where a boat had been tied, crossed with him to Camaya, +the ship being promised there for a fag end of cargo, and prayed +for a quick departure from the Philippines. In vain. They fell into +the hands of unfriendly natives, who, having learned to distrust the +Spanish, were always ready to wreak small injuries on them when the +chance afforded. These natives attempted to separate the pair and +drag the girl to their huts. The friar attacked them with spirit, +but the brown men were too many for him, and in the melee both he +and Maria were wounded. + +A boat was seen approaching. The assailants fled, leaving the friar, +bleeding and weak, but kneeling beside his mistress, whose white +skin was splashed and striped with red, and whose liquid eyes stared +vacantly at the sky. As the boat touched the shore the corregidor +leaped from it, and the friar now confronted a new peril. His flight +had been discovered, the town-crier had bawled it through the streets, +commanding the people to refuse shelter to the guilty pair under +heavy penalty, and, to enforce their return, the mayor had brought +with him twelve soldiers of the garrison. The loaded arquebuses of +the men were not needed. Feeble, sore in body and spirit, repentant, +the monk surrendered, Maria was lifted into the boat, and the company +returned to Manila. + +There it was decided that the monk should be sent to an inland mission, +that in the lifting of souls to a finer faith the stain of human +love that had fallen upon his own soul might be wiped away. As to +the girl, her good looks and gay disposition had proved the undoing +of one devotee. She was to have no chance to enslave another; so she +was sent back to Mexico, forced to enter a cloistered nunnery, and +so ended her life in loneliness and sanctity. The incident has left +its impress on the names about the harbor, Corregidor being so called +for the officer who pursued and arrested the runaways, Camaya being +rechristened Mariveles,--which, you see, is Maria Velez,--while two +rocks beyond the Boca Grande are named for the friar and his would-be +bride,--Fraile and Monja: monk and nun. + + + + + +The Christianizing of Wong + + +In the city of Cebu the Chinese, who made an early settlement, +accepted the prevalent religion in order to keep peace with the +authorities. In fact, it was a choice between going to church and +going back to China. Incidentally to their evangelization a number +of them were cast into prison, their shops and houses were rifled, +and laws were enacted denying rights and privileges to all Mongols +who refused Christian baptism. Among the refractory citizens was a +Chinese trader named Wong. So far as anybody could see, he led as +moral a life as a Chinaman can endure comfortably; he was good to his +family, good to himself, he was sober, he would overreach a Spaniard +when he could, but when he had given his word he kept it; he burned +incense before joss, he read the analects of Kung Foo Too and Mang +Tse, and worshipped his ancestors; he never stole or used any kind of +profanity that moral Spaniards could understand. For all this he was +nagged and worried constantly, and could hardly take a walk without +being pursued by friars who requested alms for their charities in so +pointed a manner that he contributed with celerity, if with an inward +lack of willingness. If he had been an every-day Chinaman he would +have been killed, or prisoned, or exiled, or deported, but he had an +excellent trade, and, in spite of his enforced outlays for masses and +missionaries, was growing richer all the time. The customs officers +thrived on the duties that he paid, and waxed exceeding fat. + +One elderly priest in Cebu had a genuine concern for the welfare +of this prosperous but benighted soul. He called at his shop, he +barred his way in the street, he argued, he cited, he appealed, +but to no effect. Wong answered that, although a heathen, he was +doing a better business than any one else; so what was the use of +changing gods? And with a heart-deep sigh he requested the clergyman +to change the subject. Seeing, at last, that all customary methods +of conversion were doomed to failure, the friar betook himself +to the shrine of St. Nicholas, and asked him to do something that +should turn this poor soul to the faith. St. Nicholas praised his +petitioner's zeal, and promised to work a miracle. The friar possessed +his soul in patience, and the conversion came that very week. Wong was +assailed in his office by five robbers, armed with knives and daubed +with blood, to show that they intended neither to give nor ask for +quarter. He had sold many goods that day, and they had come for his +money. Wong reached for the sword that always hung within his grasp, +but to his dismay it was gone. St. Nicholas or the friar had hidden +it. He glanced rapidly about the room, but saw nothing that he could +oppose to the knives of the desperadoes, and even if he had, they were +five to one, so his escape from a cruel death seemed impossible. Just +then the robbers were struck into a stupor, for on the wall behind +the merchant a light was shining, and soft music floated through +the room. The partition opened, and St. Nicholas stepped within the +apartment. Turning to the Chinaman the visitant said, "Believe in the +true faith, Wong, and your life shall be saved. Believe otherwise, +and you shall die." Wong changed his faith in one second, and said +so. The saint waved his hand toward the ruffians and they dropped to +the floor in a faint, whereupon Wong, plucking the knife from the +hand of the nearest, carefully but expeditiously and joyfully cut +the throats of all five, called in his neighbors and persuaded them +to join the church with him. They did this almost immediately, and +the most popular saint among the Chinese of Cebu is still St. Nicholas. + + + + + +The Devil's Bridge + + +You may say what you please, but it is certain that the Evil One +never appeared in the Philippines until after the Spanish had taken +possession of the islands. At least, this applies to Luzon. And, +strange to tell, he has not been seen there since the Spanish +left. Some will have it that he was smitten into a despairing +bashfulness during Weyler's administration, and that when the governor +went home with a couple of million dollars in his valise--the savings +from his salary--the Devil went home likewise, awe-struck. His Satanic +Majesty's last recorded exploit occurred in the view of three men, +of whom one may still be alive to vouch for it. They were farmers +of Wild Laguna, a few miles above Manila, and on one memorable day +were cutting wood in the ravine near by,--a deep gulch through which +babbles a stone-choked stream. This glen has precipitous sides, but is +so thickly overhung with green that it is almost like a verdant cave. + +While they were resting--and the Filipino's ability to rest is one of +his striking qualities--they were startled by the hurried advance of +something, or somebody, on the bank. There was a swish and crash of +undergrowth, a hobbling stamp, and something that sounded like the +smiting of leaves with a club. At first the farmers thought that a +water buffalo had run away from some plantation and was angry because +he could not descend the craggy sides and reach the water. Then came +a volley of expletives in an unknown tongue, and in a voice so deep +and harsh that the hair of the three heads bristled, and three pairs +of eyes goggled with fright. The farmer who was good crossed himself; +the one who was bad turned white and tried to remember how prayers +were said; the one who was betwixt-and-between clung to the stone on +which he was seated and held his breath; for a tall, lank personage, +with overhanging brows, slanting eyes, long chin and nose, and +wrathful aspect, was striding to and fro on the edge of the ravine, +looking at the opposite bank as if trying to decide whether or not +he could leap that distance. He was scowling, gnashing his teeth, +and brandishing his arms. Any Spaniard might have done as much, +and brandished a sword besides; but the terrible thing about this +gentleman was the great length of tail, with a dart at its tip, that +he was flourishing among the bushes, for only one being, on the earth +or under it, was known to have a toil like that. + +As if to leave no doubt, the stranger, in stamping on the ground, +lifted his leg so high that the watchers could see that it ended, +not in a foot, but a hoof. It was Satan himself! The farmers did +not dare to tremble, but each shrank within himself as far as he +could and thought upon his sins, the worst of the trio with the least +compunction, because he was not conscious of any immorality in robbing +Spaniards. As he tramped back and forth, the devil now and then looked +up into the branches, as if guessing the height of the trees. Presently +he stopped before the tallest, levelled his finger at it, and cried +with a stentorian voice a command in words that belong to none of the +forty or fifty languages and dialects of the islands. Then the souls of +the spectators fell, like chilling currents, and their hearts swelled +like balloons and arose into their throats, and there was no joy in +them; for the great tree bent slowly down and swung itself entirely +across the chasm. Its reach was great, and Satan skipped along the +trunk as spryly as a cat on a fence, his arms and tail held out for +balance and twitching nervously. Half-way over he spied the three +spectators and stopped. Their circulation stopped also. He grinned +from ear to ear, showing two rows of tusk-like teeth, shook his fist +playfully, and shouted a laugh so loud, so awful, that they believed +their last moment had come. But it had not. Their hair turned white, +to be sure, and they took on fifty years' growth of wrinkles; but the +Devil was after bigger game. He scampered over the arching trunk, +disappeared on the farther side, and hurried off at a run toward +Manila, where a certain rich lawyer was rumored to be dying. From +later whisperings it appears that His Majesty was not late. + +The strange part of the incident is that, although the tree was thus +ill-used to serve the Devil's convenience, and is marked along its +bark by his cloven feet, it was not blasted, but to this hour is +green and flourishing. The Devil's Bridge, as everybody calls it, +is an arboreal wonder, curving lightly and gracefully over the chasm, +its branches resting on the bank opposite to its root, some of them +growing upside down, but all as green and healthy as those of any +tree that the Devil spared when he was looking for a way to cross +the ravine. Had he waded the stream he not only would have wet his +feet, which would have been unpleasant, but would have touched water +that had once been blessed, and that would have been torture. The bad +farmer did not survive this spectacle by many years, though it is not +related that he reformed. The fair-to-middling one lasted for a while +longer. The good one may yet be in the land of the living, unless he +enlisted under Aguinaldo, which is not likely, because old men cannot +run fast enough to be effective members of the Filipino army. + + + + + +The Great Earthquake + + +After months of fighting, Li Ma Hong, the Chinese pirate, and his six +thousand followers had been beaten out of Philippine waters. Manila +was celebrating the victory on this last night of November, 1645. The +church bells had been clanging and chiming, the windows had been +lighted, flags and pennants had streamed from the house-tops, sounds +of music and cries of rejoicing were heard, a thousand fairy lamps +starred the darkness and quivered in the Pasig. The flag of Spain had +been carried through the streets in solemn procession, the cathedral +altar had smoked with incense, the friars had chanted the "Te Deum," +but now all was gayety and music and perfume. A ball was among the +festivities, and military and civic officers, pranked in the lace +and bullion so dear to the Latins, were going through the narrow +ways with their ladies on their arms. Taking no part in the joyous +hurly-burly, two men walked apart, near the cathedral, in talk. One +was a father in the church; the other, secretary and major-domo of the +governor. The calling of the one, the age and dignity of the other, +to say nothing of an old wound that gave a hitch and drag to his step, +forbade their mingling with the throng. + +The secretary spoke: "No, father, I hardly agree with your view. That +heaven has been on our side I admit, since we have conquered the +infidels, seized their treasure, and strewn their corpses on our +shores. But that the blessed St. Francis interposes in our behalf, +I doubt." + +"This is dangerous doctrine,--a reflection on our order. We have +prayed daily for the success of the Spanish arms, and although we +addressed the Virgin and all the saints, the statue of St. Francis +is the only one that moved while we were at prayer----" + +"With your eyes on the ground?" + +"The sacristan saw it. Furthermore, let me tell you that the figure +of the saint owned by the worthy Indian, Alonzo Cuyapit, at his house +in Dilao, was stirred to tears last night." + +"Tears! For victory?" + +"I fear, for some reason worthy of tears." + +"And your imaginations have nothing to do with all this? Men who are +wasted with vigils and fasting"--here the secretary chuckled and made +as if he would nudge the churchman in his ample paunch--"are prone +to see what common men cannot. Though I protest that when I eat much +cheese before retiring I have visions, too. But not always holy ones." + +The priest answered with gravity, "A life of devotion does clear the +vision. It opens the gates of heaven. I fear, seņor, that too many in +this doubting age are affected like you,--that a study of philosophy +and ungodly sciences has harmed your respect for the saints and +the church." + +"By no means, father. All I maintain is that the figure of St. Francis +was not seen in the thick of the battle, as some of the friars +allege. Good sooth! What do they know of battle? Our victories were +won by stout Spanish arms and good Toledo steel. All praise to Heaven +that we had the power." + +The priest shook his head and sighed. Then he looked curiously into +the sky. The stars were shining, save in the south, where lightning +flickered in a bank of cloud, and there was no threat of storm. Yet +in the air was a curious stagnation that had fallen within the hour +and brooded over the city like a palpable thing. It was hot and close +and lifeless; stale smells from the streets reeked into the nostrils, +and from the Pasig came a heavy, sickish odor of river vegetation. + +"Sometimes it fills me with a fear that Heaven has a punishment in +store for us," said the priest, stopping in his walk and looking +meditatively into the distance, where the lightning now played more +brightly. "We have grown worldly. We have thought less of serving God +by our wars than of increasing our power and importance in the eyes +of the nations. We have grown proud. We are in danger of losing our +piety. Pray that the wrath do not fall." + +"With all my heart,--especially to-night. Your blessing, father. And +sound sleep." + +It was the last time that these friends were to walk together. It was +the last time in many a day when Manila would be in gala. At midnight +the greasy calm that lay on the sea was broken by a breeze which +ruffled the water and made a pleasant stir in the trees ashore. It +eased the sultriness of the night and brought rest to many who had been +tossing on their beds, excited doubtless by the shows and dissipations +of the last few hours. Presently the sleepers were roused again, for +the wind was rising steadily; the trees were writhing and wringing +their branches in what was surely going to be a gale. The lightning +was near. A growl of thunder could be heard. The clock boomed the hour +of two. Out of an intense dark leaped a bolt of green fire, and the +air was filled with baying and cannonade. Almost at the moment the +earth began to rock. The city awoke. The rocking increased. Roofs +began to fall, walls to bulge, masonry to split and sway. + +"The earthquake! The earthquake!" screamed a thousand voices, and +with cries and lamenting the people hurried into the streets and +fell on their knees or their faces, unable to stand on the waving, +trembling ground. It was an hour of terror. All lights were blown +out by the storm or extinguished in the fall of houses, save one or +two of baleful meaning that flickered above roofs which had caught +fire. The sea could be heard advancing toward the land with tremendous +roaring, driving up the channel of the Pasig and overspreading its +banks on either side, while far below, and most dreadful of all, +the fall could be heard of pieces of the earth's crust into pits +of fire and the vast rumble and groan of a world. Houses crumbled, +people were pressed to death and maimed in the blackness, streets +cracked asunder, trees were uprooted, chaos was come again. + +In the morning the survivors looked upon a scene of ruin worse than +any wrought by the pirates. The sanctity of the cathedral had not saved +it. Of its imposing walls hardly anything remained. A heap of masonry +marked its place. Every public building was destroyed. Wretches hurt +to the death were pinned under fallen stones and timbers, and many, +willing enough to relieve them, were too dazed and agonized by their +own pains and misfortunes to pull their wits together. Spain had +enjoyed her triumphs. Now her calamities had begun. + +On the night before the catastrophe, Alonzo Cuyapit, a rich Indian +of Dilao, a suburb of the city, and his friend, the chaplain of the +San Francisco Convent, were at prayers together before a statue of +St. Francis, that was the Indian's dearest pride. He had shrined it +fittingly in his home, with flowers and candles about it, and adored +it daily. The statue was of life-size, the work of an adept carver; +was brilliantly painted and gemmed, and had about the neck a rosary +from which hung a cross of polished gold. So many miracles of healing +had been performed by this figure that its renown had gone through +all Luzon. + +While Cuyapit and the chaplain were on their knees a tremor shook +the floor. Slight earthquakes of this kind were not unusual. Though +the walls of the house rattled, the statue remained fixed and +still. Another jar was felt in the ground, and raising their hands +to the saint, the petitioners begged him fervently to intercede +against a dangerous shock. Presently they lifted their eyes, and were +struck dumb with amazement, for the statue had unclasped its hands, +the one pointing toward Manila, as if in warning; the other holding +the golden cross toward heaven, as if in an appeal for mercy. A +halo, so bright as to dazzle the beholders, played about the head, +the lips moved, and from the upturned eyes tears trickled down the +cheeks. Cuyapit and the priest arose and tried to stanch these tears, +but the cloth they used was soon as wet as if they had just taken it +from the river. Then the statue raised its arms high over its head, +as in a last appeal for mercy to the world, while the tears gushed +in such a stream that they made a continuous fall to the floor. A +look of horror wrung the face, as if the prayer had been refused; +and, extending its hands in benediction, the saint toppled from his +pedestal and was broken into fragments. + +When these occurrences had been told by Cuyapit in the Church of San +Francisco, under an oath before the Virgin, the pieces were carried +in reverential procession to Manila, and the miracle of San Francisco +of the Tears is accepted there as history. + + + + + +Suppressing Magic in Manila + + +Crowds of all kinds are easily swayed, but it is said that nowhere +is it so easy to rouse a panic or a revolution as in Manila. Several +times during the earlier months of the American occupation vague +fears spread through the city, people ran to their homes or locked +themselves in their shops in terror, lights were put out, armed guards +were posted; then, after a few hours, everybody asked everybody else +what the matter had been, and nobody knew. + +In 1820 a strange scene was enacted in the Philippine capital. People +assembled in groups at evening and whispered mysteriously. Gowned +friars moved from group to group, but whether encouraging or +expostulating it was impossible for one to say, unless he understood +Spanish or Tagalog. The captain of an American ship that was taking +on its load of hemp reported to a neighbor captain, who sailed +under the cross of St. George, that there had been a violation of +the government order against the importing of Protestant Bibles and +pocket-pistols,--two things taboo in the country at that time. This, +however, may have been the Yankee captain's joke. As the night deepened +torches were seen flitting hither and thither, the crowds thickened, +the whispers and hushed talk increased by degrees to a widespread, +menacing growl, then arose to a roar. Now drums were heard in +the barracks, and the light, quick tread of marching feet could be +distinguished through the babble of voices. The mob was slowly wedging +itself into one of the streets before an inn, and just at the doors +of that hostelry the noise was loudest and most threatening. + +Presently came a crash. The building had been entered. Instantly +there were shouts and cries, and the throng seemed fairly to boil +with anger. In the light of candles that shone through windows +the faces lifted toward the tavern were drawn and wolfish. Shots +were heard. The mob was shaken, as a wood is shaken by a gale, but +there was no retreat. There could be none. The people were packed too +densely. Now a glint of bayonets was seen at one end of the street, and +some sharp orders rang out. This was more effective. The throng began +to thin away at the farther end, and those nearest to the soldiers +attempted to break through the line, loudly declaring that they were +merely spectators, and did not know what had happened. But in another +moment everybody knew. Two dark shapes were passed out at the inn door, +and were, in some fashion, pushed along over the heads of the multitude +to its freer edge. These shapes had recently been men. With ropes about +their necks they were dragged at a run through the streets. More houses +were attacked. Other forms were found lying on the earth, pulseless, +bloody, after the mob had passed. The military was, seemingly, unable +to head it off or give effective chase. Flames now lighted various +quarters of the city, and shots were frequently heard. It was a night +of terror. History speaks of it as a night of rioting. Many declare +that it was a St. Bartholomew massacre, on a smaller scale, and that +the Protestants who were killed that night were put to death at the +instigation of the friars. Tradition relates that when the sun arose +the people, numbering thousands, marched in triumph through the city, +following a dozen of their number who bore in their hands the phials in +which two French naturalists, recently landed in Luzon, had preserved +a number of snakes and insects for their scientific collection. + +There was the mischief,--in those jars and bottles. Nobody would put +a serpent or a scorpion into alcohol except for some grim purpose, +and that purpose could be nothing other than black magic. Hence the +raid on the inn; hence the killing of the naturalists and of other +people suspected of complicity or sympathy with forbidden arts; +hence the state of education of Luzon. + + + + + +Faith that Killed + + +Back in the 30's an emigrant of some account arrived in Manila. He was +a young doctor of medicine who had just won his sheepskin in Salamanca, +and had been persuaded that there was small hope of a living for +him in a province where the people were too poor to be ill and too +lazy to die. The Philippines had been suggested as a promising field +for his practice, and realizing that he needed practice he made the +long journey around Good Hope and reached the Luzon capital nearly +penniless, but full of gratitude and expectancy. Having secured +lodgings, to which he at once affixed his shingle, he sallied forth to +see the town and its people, and one of the first of its inhabitants +to claim his attention, though she claimed it unwittingly, was a +girl of the lower class who was walking along the street with an +easy, elastic step, and in seeming health, yet who was evidently +suffering from a hemorrhage, for at every few paces she paused and +spat blood. Her bearing and expression were in odd contrast with her +peril, for she seemed indifferent to the danger. + +Prompted by compassion as well as by a professional interest, +the physician followed the invalid, expecting at every moment to +see her fall or hear her beg for help, his wonder at the stoicism +and endurance of the Filipino growing constantly. When she reached +her home, an humble house in a poor quarter of the city, he begged +immediate audience with her parents, who were, unfortunately, +acquainted with the Spanish tongue, and told them it was his duty to +warn them that the girl had not twenty-four hours to live; that she +was afflicted with a mortal illness; that a priest should be called +at once. The girl's cheeks were ruddy, she was in good spirits, and +the old people were inclined to resent the warning as a joke, being an +exceeding poor one. The visitor explained that he was a medical man, +that he was actuated by the most charitable of motives, that he would +do everything in his power to delay the fatal ending of the disease, +but that restoration to health was impossible. + +When this dreadful news was broken to the girl she had a violent fit +of weeping, then hysterics, then a long fainting spell, and sank into a +decline so swift that the parents were in despair. Neighbors flocked in +to offer condolences and comforts; a priest received the young woman's +confession and performed the last rites; the doctor plied his patient +with drugs, fomentations, and stimulants; father, mother, and friends +groaned, prayed, and tore their hair. All the time the poor creature +sank steadily, the color left her face, her breath grew labored, +and as night fell the doctor's warning was fulfilled,--she was dead. + +In a single day the fame of this wonderful physician spread through +all the city, and people flocked to his lodging with money and +diseases. He was dazzled at the prospect of riches. After three or +four years of this kind of thing, if the tax man did not hear too +much of his success, he could return to Spain and live in comfortable +retirement. Alas! for human hopes, he returned sooner than he had +intended. A few days after the death of his first patient somebody +asked how he forecast her fate so exactly. + +"It was easy enough,--she spat blood," he answered. + +"Are you sure it was blood?" + +"Certainly. It was red." + +"Ah, seņor, every one spits red in Manila." + +"Bah!" + +"Oh, it is true! Everybody chews the buyo leaf, which is like the +betel of India, that you have heard of, just as everybody smokes in +Luzon. The juice of the buyo is red." + +Then the doctor realized that he had killed his patient by making +her believe she was doomed to die, and with the earnings of his brief +career in the Philippines he bought a passage back to Spain in the same +ship that had carried him to the East. So, if you hear that a person +is ill, but if your informant winks and says that he is spitting red, +you may believe that the invalid will be out after a good sleep and +a little bromide. + + + + + +The Widow Velarde's Husband + + +Enchanted Lake, near Los Baņos, on the Pasig, fills an ancient crater +and is an object of natural interest. Its enchantment, so far as is +generally known, consists in the visits of Widow Velarde's husband to +its shores, and his occasional moonlight excursions over its waters +in a boat that has the same pale green shine as himself. This Velarde +was a fisherman and being somewhat of a gallant he had roused the +mortal jealousy of his wife. In revenge for his supposed slights she +engaged two of his friends to confer on her the joys of widowhood, +which they agreed to do for a consideration. The amount promised was +six dollars, but the preliminary negotiations appear to have been +hasty, for when these worthies had earned the money, having held the +unfortunate Velarde under the water until he ceased to bubble, the +thrifty woman wanted them to accept three dollars apiece. They held +stoutly for six dollars apiece. The widow would not pay it. There +was a long and undignified wrangle,--disputes over funeral bills +are often warranted, but are seldom seemly,--and it ended in the +angry departure of the fishermen, without even their three dollars, +to lodge a complaint against the Widow Velarde for cheating. + +Now, would you suppose that two men, having just murdered a +fellow-creature, would go to a magistrate to complain about the +payment? These Filipinos did it. They went to a judge at Los Baņos and +tried to get an order for the woman's arrest. The judge, fancying this +must be a kind of joke peculiar to Luzon, said he would think over the +matter, and he resumed his slumbers. In a day or two he learned that +the men had really killed their companion, and had fallen out with the +widow on the matter of terms. They meanwhile had learned that their +act was contrary to white man's law and had escaped, though it is said +they were afterward caught and put to death. Perhaps it is the disquiet +caused by the reflection that he was worth no more than six dollars +that leads the extinguished husband to vex the scene of his demise. + + + + + +The Grateful Bandits + + +Monsieur de la Gironiere, a French planter and trader, who visited the +Philippines a lifetime ago, or more, told stories of the islands and +their people that are taken in these days with a lump of salt. Among +these narrations is one pertaining to the bandits who in the first +years of the nineteenth century were numerous and troublesome +on several of the islands, and who were alternately harassed and +befriended by the officials,--chased when they had money and well +treated when they had parted with most of it to cool the sweating palms +of authority. Gironiere was visiting the cascades of Yang Yang when +he found himself surrounded by brigands who were chattering volubly +and pointing to his horses. They did not at first offer violence, but +presently he understood that soldiers were in chase of them, and they +were considering whether it would not be wise to kill the horses, lest +the troop, on its arrival, should seize them to aid in the pursuit. + +Gironiere could not afford horses often. He eagerly assured the +thieves that he would not give his nags to the military; that he +would, on the contrary, depart by the road over which he had come, +in order to avoid meeting the soldiers, and this promise he made on +the honor of a gentleman. The leader of the brigands saluted, and +the Frenchman drove away, as he had agreed, the thieves watching him +until he was out of sight. For months after this incident he had no +trouble with the natives. His household goods, his garden products, +his poultry were spared. Some years later, when he had definitely +cast his fortunes with the Spaniards, he accepted a commission as +captain of the horse guards at Laguna, and it then became his duty +to trouble the very robbers who once had spared him. Their fighting +was usually open, and, as the marksmanship on both sides was the +very worst, it was seldom that anybody was hurt. Truces were made, +as in honorable war, and the leaders corresponded with one another +as to terms of battle or surrender. One unofficial document received +by Gironiere cautioned him to look out for himself, as there was one +in the bandit ranks who was ungrateful. "Beware of Pedro Tumbaga," it +said. "He has ordered us to take you by surprise in your house. This +warning is in payment for your kindness at the cascades. You kept +your word. We are ready to fight you now, as you would fight us; +but we don't strike in the back. Tumbaga will shoot you from hiding." + +Gironiere was a crafty person, likewise a cautious one. He knew where +to send an answer to this epistle, and he sent it: "You are brave men, +and I thank you. I do not fear Tumbaga, for he is a coward. How can +you keep among you a man who would shoot another in the back?" Just +look at that for slyness! And the message had the effect he desired +and expected. Some brave bandit got behind a tree a couple of weeks +afterward and shot a bullet through Tumbaga. Thus was the power of +the brigands weakened, the safety of Gironiere assured, and good +feeling re-established between the law and its habitual breakers. + + + + THE END + + + + + + + +By Charles M. Skinner + + +Myths and Legends of Our Own Land Illustrated. Two volumes in a +box. 12mo. Buckram, $3.00; half calf or half morocco, $6.00 + +Myths and Legends Beyond Our Borders Illustrated. 12mo. Buckram, +$1.50; half calf or half morocco, $3.00 + +Myths and Legends of Our New Possessions and +Protectorate. Illustrated. 12mo. Buckram, $1.50; half calf or half +morocco, $3.00 + +_Myths and Legends Beyond Our Borders and Myths and Legends of Our +New Possessions and Protectorate._ Two volumes in a box. Buckram, +$3.00; half calf or half morocco, $6.00 + + +With Feet to the Earth + +_New Edition, Enlarged_ + +Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth, ornamental, $1.50 + +Do-Nothing Days + +Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth, ornamental, $1.50 + +Flowers in the Pave + +Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth, ornamental, $1.50 + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Myths & Legends of our New Possessions +& Protectorate, by Charles M. 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