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diff --git a/464-h/464-h.htm b/464-h/464-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c889e29 --- /dev/null +++ b/464-h/464-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,10833 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>In the South Seas, by Robert Louis Stevenson</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + P.gutsumm { margin-left: 5%;} + P.poetry {margin-left: 3%; } + .GutSmall { font-size: 0.7em; } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4, H5 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + table { border-collapse: collapse; } +table {margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} + td { vertical-align: top; border: 1px solid black;} + td p { margin: 0.2em; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: small; + text-align: right; + font-weight: normal; + color: gray; + } + img { border: none; } + img.dc { float: left; width: 50px; height: 50px; } + p.gutindent { margin-left: 2em; } + div.gapspace { height: 0.8em; } + div.gapline { height: 0.8em; width: 100%; border-top: 1px solid;} + div.gapmediumline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + div.gapmediumdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 40%; margin-left:30%; + border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; + margin-left: 40%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid; } + div.gapdoubleline { height: 0.3em; width: 50%; + margin-left: 25%; border-top: 1px solid; + border-bottom: 1px solid;} + div.gapshortline { height: 0.3em; width: 20%; margin-left:40%; + border-top: 1px solid; } + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + img.floatleft { float: left; + margin-right: 1em; + margin-top: 0.5em; margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.floatright { float: right; + margin-left: 1em; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em; } + img.clearcenter {display: block; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; margin-top: 0.5em; + margin-bottom: 0.5em} + --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg eBook, In the South Seas, by Robert Louis Stevenson + + +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: In the South Seas + + +Author: Robert Louis Stevenson + + + +Release Date: November 16, 2012 [eBook #464] +[This file was first posted on January 23, 1996] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE SOUTH SEAS*** +</pre> +<p>Transcribed from the 1908 Chatto & Windus edition by David +Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<h1>IN THE SOUTH SEAS</h1> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">BEING AN +ACCOUNT OF EXPERIENCES AND</span><br /> +<span class="GutSmall">OBSERVATIONS IN THE MARQUESAS, +PAUMOTUS</span><br /> +<span class="GutSmall">AND GILBERT ISLANDS IN THE COURSE +OF</span><br /> +<span class="GutSmall">TWO CRUSES, ON THE YACHT +‘CASCO’ (1888)</span><br /> +<span class="GutSmall">AND THE SCHOONER ‘EQUATOR’ +(1889)</span></p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">BY</span><br +/> +ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p0b.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Decorative graphic" +title= +"Decorative graphic" +src="images/p0s.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p style="text-align: center">FINE-PAPER EDITION</p> +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center">LONDON<br /> +CHATTO & WINDUS<br /> +1908</p> +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>All rights resverved</i></p> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> +<table> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">PART 1: THE +MARQUESAS</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">CHAPTER</span></p> +</td> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">I.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">AN ISLAND LANDFALL</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">II.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">MAKING FRIENDS</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">III.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">THE MAROON</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">IV.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">DEATH</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">V.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">DEPOPULATION</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">VI.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">CHIEFS AND TAPUS</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">VII.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">HATIHEU</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">VIII.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">THE PORT OF ENTRY</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">IX.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">THE HOUSE OF TEMOANA</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">X.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">A PORTRAIT AND A STORY</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">XI.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">LONG-PIG—A CANNIBAL HIGH +PLACE</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">XII.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">THE STORY OF A +PLANTATION</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">XIII.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">CHARACTERS</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">XIV.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">IN A CANNIBAL VALLEY</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">XV.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">THE TWO CHIEFS OF ATUONA</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">PART II: THE +PAUMOTUS</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">I.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">THE DANGEROUS +ARCHIPELAGO—ATOLLS AT A DISTANCE</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">II.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">FAKARAVA: AN ATOLL AT +HAND</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">III.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">A HOUSE TO LET IN A LOW +ISLAND</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">IV.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">TRAITS AND SECTS IN THE +PAUMOTUS</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">V.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">A PAUMOTUAN FUNERAL</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">VI.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">GRAVEYARD STORIES</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">PART III: THE +GILBERTS</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">I.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">BUTARITARI</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">II.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">THE FOUR BROTHERS</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">III.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">AROUND OUR HOUSE</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">IV.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">A TALE OF A TAPU</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">V.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">A TALE OF A TAPU—</span><span +class="GutSmall"><i>continued</i></span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">VI.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">THE FIVE DAYS’ +FESTIVAL</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">VII.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">HUSBAND AND WIFE</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td colspan="2"><p style="text-align: center">PART IV: THE +GILBERTS—APEMAMA</p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">I.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">THE KING OF APEMAMA: THE ROYAL +TRADER</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">II.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">THE KING OF APEMAMA: FOUNDATION OF +EQUATOR TOWN</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">III.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">THE KING OF APEMAMA: THE PALACE OF +MANY WOMEN</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">IV.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">THE KING OF APEMAMA: EQUATOR TOWN +AND THE PALACE</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">V.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">KING AND COMMONS</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">VI.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">THE KING OF APEMAMA: +DEVIL-WORK</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p style="text-align: right"><span +class="GutSmall">VII.</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">THE KING OF APEMAMA</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<h2>PART 1: THE MARQUESAS</h2> +<h3>CHAPTER I—AN ISLAND LANDFALL</h3> +<p>For nearly ten years my health had been declining; and for +some while before I set forth upon my voyage, I believed I was +come to the afterpiece of life, and had only the nurse and +undertaker to expect. It was suggested that I should try +the South Seas; and I was not unwilling to visit like a ghost, +and be carried like a bale, among scenes that had attracted me in +youth and health. I chartered accordingly Dr. +Merrit’s schooner yacht, the <i>Casco</i>, seventy-four +tons register; sailed from San Francisco towards the end of June +1888, visited the eastern islands, and was left early the next +year at Honolulu. Hence, lacking courage to return to my +old life of the house and sick-room, I set forth to leeward in a +trading schooner, the <i>Equator</i>, of a little over seventy +tons, spent four months among the atolls (low coral islands) of +the Gilbert group, and reached Samoa towards the close of +’89. By that time gratitude and habit were beginning +to attach me to the islands; I had gained a competency of +strength; I had made friends; I had learned new interests; the +time of my voyages had passed like days in fairyland; and I +decided to remain. I began to prepare these pages at sea, +on a third cruise, in the trading steamer <i>Janet +Nicoll</i>. If more days are granted me, they shall be +passed where I have found life most pleasant and man most +interesting; the axes of my black boys are already clearing the +foundations of my future house; and I must learn to address +readers from the uttermost parts of the sea.</p> +<p>That I should thus have reversed the verdict of Lord +Tennyson’s hero is less eccentric than appears. Few +men who come to the islands leave them; they grow grey where they +alighted; the palm shades and the trade-wind fans them till they +die, perhaps cherishing to the last the fancy of a visit home, +which is rarely made, more rarely enjoyed, and yet more rarely +repeated. No part of the world exerts the same attractive +power upon the visitor, and the task before me is to communicate +to fireside travellers some sense of its seduction, and to +describe the life, at sea and ashore, of many hundred thousand +persons, some of our own blood and language, all our +contemporaries, and yet as remote in thought and habit as Rob Roy +or Barbarossa, the Apostles or the Cæsars.</p> +<p>The first experience can never be repeated. The first +love, the first sunrise, the first South Sea island, are memories +apart and touched a virginity of sense. On the 28th of July +1888 the moon was an hour down by four in the morning. In +the east a radiating centre of brightness told of the day; and +beneath, on the skyline, the morning bank was already building, +black as ink. We have all read of the swiftness of the +day’s coming and departure in low latitudes; it is a point +on which the scientific and sentimental tourist are at one, and +has inspired some tasteful poetry. The period certainly +varies with the season; but here is one case exactly noted. +Although the dawn was thus preparing by four, the sun was not up +till six; and it was half-past five before we could distinguish +our expected islands from the clouds on the horizon. Eight +degrees south, and the day two hours a-coming. The interval +was passed on deck in the silence of expectation, the customary +thrill of landfall heightened by the strangeness of the shores +that we were then approaching. Slowly they took shape in +the attenuating darkness. Ua-huna, piling up to a truncated +summit, appeared the first upon the starboard bow; almost abeam +arose our destination, Nuka-hiva, whelmed in cloud; and betwixt +and to the southward, the first rays of the sun displayed the +needles of Ua-pu. These pricked about the line of the +horizon; like the pinnacles of some ornate and monstrous church, +they stood there, in the sparkling brightness of the morning, the +fit signboard of a world of wonders.</p> +<p>Not one soul aboard the <i>Casco</i> had set foot upon the +islands, or knew, except by accident, one word of any of the +island tongues; and it was with something perhaps of the same +anxious pleasure as thrilled the bosom of discoverers that we +drew near these problematic shores. The land heaved up in +peaks and rising vales; it fell in cliffs and buttresses; its +colour ran through fifty modulations in a scale of pearl and rose +and olive; and it was crowned above by opalescent clouds. +The suffusion of vague hues deceived the eye; the shadows of +clouds were confounded with the articulations of the mountains; +and the isle and its unsubstantial canopy rose and shimmered +before us like a single mass. There was no beacon, no smoke +of towns to be expected, no plying pilot. Somewhere, in +that pale phantasmagoria of cliff and cloud, our haven lay +concealed; and somewhere to the east of it—the only +sea-mark given—a certain headland, known indifferently as +Cape Adam and Eve, or Cape Jack and Jane, and distinguished by +two colossal figures, the gross statuary of nature. These +we were to find; for these we craned and stared, focused glasses, +and wrangled over charts; and the sun was overhead and the land +close ahead before we found them. To a ship approaching, +like the <i>Casco</i>, from the north, they proved indeed the +least conspicuous features of a striking coast; the surf flying +high above its base; strange, austere, and feathered mountains +rising behind; and Jack and Jane, or Adam and Eve, impending like +a pair of warts above the breakers.</p> +<p>Thence we bore away along shore. On our port beam we +might hear the explosions of the surf; a few birds flew fishing +under the prow; there was no other sound or mark of life, whether +of man or beast, in all that quarter of the island. Winged +by her own impetus and the dying breeze, the <i>Casco</i> skimmed +under cliffs, opened out a cove, showed us a beach and some green +trees, and flitted by again, bowing to the swell. The +trees, from our distance, might have been hazel; the beach might +have been in Europe; the mountain forms behind modelled in little +from the Alps, and the forest which clustered on their ramparts a +growth no more considerable than our Scottish heath. Again +the cliff yawned, but now with a deeper entry; and the +<i>Casco</i>, hauling her wind, began to slide into the bay of +Anaho. The cocoa-palm, that giraffe of vegetables, so +graceful, so ungainly, to the European eye so foreign, was to be +seen crowding on the beach, and climbing and fringing the steep +sides of mountains. Rude and bare hills embraced the inlet +upon either hand; it was enclosed to the landward by a bulk of +shattered mountains. In every crevice of that barrier the +forest harboured, roosting and nestling there like birds about a +ruin; and far above, it greened and roughened the razor edges of +the summit.</p> +<p>Under the eastern shore, our schooner, now bereft of any +breeze, continued to creep in: the smart creature, when once +under way, appearing motive in herself. From close aboard +arose the bleating of young lambs; a bird sang in the hillside; +the scent of the land and of a hundred fruits or flowers flowed +forth to meet us; and, presently, a house or two appeared, +standing high upon the ankles of the hills, and one of these +surrounded with what seemed a garden. These conspicuous +habitations, that patch of culture, had we but known it, were a +mark of the passage of whites; and we might have approached a +hundred islands and not found their parallel. It was longer +ere we spied the native village, standing (in the universal +fashion) close upon a curve of beach, close under a grove of +palms; the sea in front growling and whitening on a concave arc +of reef. For the cocoa-tree and the island man are both +lovers and neighbours of the surf. ‘The coral waxes, +the palm grows, but man departs,’ says the sad Tahitian +proverb; but they are all three, so long as they endure, +co-haunters of the beach. The mark of anchorage was a +blow-hole in the rocks, near the south-easterly corner of the +bay. Punctually to our use, the blow-hole spouted; the +schooner turned upon her heel; the anchor plunged. It was a +small sound, a great event; my soul went down with these moorings +whence no windlass may extract nor any diver fish it up; and I, +and some part of my ship’s company, were from that hour the +bondslaves of the isles of Vivien.</p> +<p>Before yet the anchor plunged a canoe was already paddling +from the hamlet. It contained two men: one white, one brown +and tattooed across the face with bands of blue, both in +immaculate white European clothes: the resident trader, Mr. +Regler, and the native chief, Taipi-Kikino. ‘Captain, +is it permitted to come on board?’ were the first words we +heard among the islands. Canoe followed canoe till the ship +swarmed with stalwart, six-foot men in every stage of undress; +some in a shirt, some in a loin-cloth, one in a handkerchief +imperfectly adjusted; some, and these the more considerable, +tattooed from head to foot in awful patterns; some barbarous and +knived; one, who sticks in my memory as something bestial, +squatting on his hams in a canoe, sucking an orange and spitting +it out again to alternate sides with ape-like vivacity—all +talking, and we could not understand one word; all trying to +trade with us who had no thought of trading, or offering us +island curios at prices palpably absurd. There was no word +of welcome; no show of civility; no hand extended save that of +the chief and Mr. Regler. As we still continued to refuse +the proffered articles, complaint ran high and rude; and one, the +jester of the party, railed upon our meanness amid jeering +laughter. Amongst other angry +pleasantries—‘Here is a mighty fine ship,’ said +he, ‘to have no money on board!’ I own I was +inspired with sensible repugnance; even with alarm. The +ship was manifestly in their power; we had women on board; I knew +nothing of my guests beyond the fact that they were cannibals; +the Directory (my only guide) was full of timid cautions; and as +for the trader, whose presence might else have reassured me, were +not whites in the Pacific the usual instigators and accomplices +of native outrage? When he reads this confession, our kind +friend, Mr. Regler, can afford to smile.</p> +<p>Later in the day, as I sat writing up my journal, the cabin +was filled from end to end with Marquesans: three brown-skinned +generations, squatted cross-legged upon the floor, and regarding +me in silence with embarrassing eyes. The eyes of all +Polynesians are large, luminous, and melting; they are like the +eyes of animals and some Italians. A kind of despair came +over me, to sit there helpless under all these staring orbs, and +be thus blocked in a corner of my cabin by this speechless crowd: +and a kind of rage to think they were beyond the reach of +articulate communication, like furred animals, or folk born deaf, +or the dwellers of some alien planet.</p> +<p>To cross the Channel is, for a boy of twelve, to change +heavens; to cross the Atlantic, for a man of twenty-four, is +hardly to modify his diet. But I was now escaped out of the +shadow of the Roman empire, under whose toppling monuments we +were all cradled, whose laws and letters are on every hand of us, +constraining and preventing. I was now to see what men +might be whose fathers had never studied Virgil, had never been +conquered by Cæsar, and never been ruled by the wisdom of +Gaius or Papinian. By the same step I had journeyed forth +out of that comfortable zone of kindred languages, where the +curse of Babel is so easy to be remedied; and my new +fellow-creatures sat before me dumb like images. Methought, +in my travels, all human relation was to be excluded; and when I +returned home (for in those days I still projected my return) I +should have but dipped into a picture-book without a text. +Nay, and I even questioned if my travels should be much +prolonged; perhaps they were destined to a speedy end; perhaps my +subsequent friend, Kauanui, whom I remarked there, sitting silent +with the rest, for a man of some authority, might leap from his +hams with an ear-splitting signal, the ship be carried at a rush, +and the ship’s company butchered for the table.</p> +<p>There could be nothing more natural than these apprehensions, +nor anything more groundless. In my experience of the +islands, I had never again so menacing a reception; were I to +meet with such to-day, I should be more alarmed and tenfold more +surprised. The majority of Polynesians are easy folk to get +in touch with, frank, fond of notice, greedy of the least +affection, like amiable, fawning dogs; and even with the +Marquesans, so recently and so imperfectly redeemed from a +blood-boltered barbarism, all were to become our intimates, and +one, at least, was to mourn sincerely our departure.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER II—MAKING FRIENDS</h3> +<p>The impediment of tongues was one that I particularly +over-estimated. The languages of Polynesia are easy to +smatter, though hard to speak with elegance. And they are +extremely similar, so that a person who has a tincture of one or +two may risk, not without hope, an attempt upon the others.</p> +<p>And again, not only is Polynesian easy to smatter, but +interpreters abound. Missionaries, traders, and broken +white folk living on the bounty of the natives, are to be found +in almost every isle and hamlet; and even where these are +unserviceable, the natives themselves have often scraped up a +little English, and in the French zone (though far less commonly) +a little French-English, or an efficient pidgin, what is called +to the westward ‘Beach-la-Mar,’ comes easy to the +Polynesian; it is now taught, besides, in the schools of Hawaii; +and from the multiplicity of British ships, and the nearness of +the States on the one hand and the colonies on the other, it may +be called, and will almost certainly become, the tongue of the +Pacific. I will instance a few examples. I met in +Majuro a Marshall Island boy who spoke excellent English; this he +had learned in the German firm in Jaluit, yet did not speak one +word of German. I heard from a gendarme who had taught +school in Rapa-iti that while the children had the utmost +difficulty or reluctance to learn French, they picked up English +on the wayside, and as if by accident. On one of the most +out-of-the-way atolls in the Carolines, my friend Mr. Benjamin +Hird was amazed to find the lads playing cricket on the beach and +talking English; and it was in English that the crew of the +<i>Janet Nicoll</i>, a set of black boys from different +Melanesian islands, communicated with other natives throughout +the cruise, transmitted orders, and sometimes jested together on +the fore-hatch. But what struck me perhaps most of all was +a word I heard on the verandah of the Tribunal at Noumea. A +case had just been heard—a trial for infanticide against an +ape-like native woman; and the audience were smoking cigarettes +as they awaited the verdict. An anxious, amiable French +lady, not far from tears, was eager for acquittal, and declared +she would engage the prisoner to be her children’s +nurse. The bystanders exclaimed at the proposal; the woman +was a savage, said they, and spoke no language. +‘<i>Mais</i>, <i>vous savez</i>,’ objected the fair +sentimentalist; ‘<i>ils apprennent si vite +l’anglais</i>!’</p> +<p>But to be able to speak to people is not all. And in the +first stage of my relations with natives I was helped by two +things. To begin with, I was the show-man of the +<i>Casco</i>. She, her fine lines, tall spars, and snowy +decks, the crimson fittings of the saloon, and the white, the +gilt, and the repeating mirrors of the tiny cabin, brought us a +hundred visitors. The men fathomed out her dimensions with +their arms, as their fathers fathomed out the ships of Cook; the +women declared the cabins more lovely than a church; bouncing +Junos were never weary of sitting in the chairs and contemplating +in the glass their own bland images; and I have seen one lady +strip up her dress, and, with cries of wonder and delight, rub +herself bare-breeched upon the velvet cushions. Biscuit, +jam, and syrup was the entertainment; and, as in European +parlours, the photograph album went the round. This sober +gallery, their everyday costumes and physiognomies, had become +transformed, in three weeks’ sailing, into things wonderful +and rich and foreign; alien faces, barbaric dresses, they were +now beheld and fingered, in the swerving cabin, with innocent +excitement and surprise. Her Majesty was often recognised, +and I have seen French subjects kiss her photograph; Captain +Speedy—in an Abyssinian war-dress, supposed to be the +uniform of the British army—met with much acceptance; and +the effigies of Mr. Andrew Lang were admired in the +Marquesas. There is the place for him to go when he shall +be weary of Middlesex and Homer.</p> +<p>It was perhaps yet more important that I had enjoyed in my +youth some knowledge of our Scots folk of the Highlands and the +Islands. Not much beyond a century has passed since these +were in the same convulsive and transitionary state as the +Marquesans of to-day. In both cases an alien authority +enforced, the clans disarmed, the chiefs deposed, new customs +introduced, and chiefly that fashion of regarding money as the +means and object of existence. The commercial age, in each, +succeeding at a bound to an age of war abroad and patriarchal +communism at home. In one the cherished practice of +tattooing, in the other a cherished costume, proscribed. In +each a main luxury cut off: beef, driven under cloud of night +from Lowland pastures, denied to the meat-loving Highlander; +long-pig, pirated from the next village, to the man-eating +Kanaka. The grumbling, the secret ferment, the fears and +resentments, the alarms and sudden councils of Marquesan chiefs, +reminded me continually of the days of Lovat and Struan. +Hospitality, tact, natural fine manners, and a touchy punctilio, +are common to both races: common to both tongues the trick of +dropping medial consonants. Here is a table of two +widespread Polynesian words:—</p> +<table> +<tr> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center"><i>House</i>.</p> +</td> +<td><p style="text-align: center"><i>Love</i>. <a +name="citation12"></a><a href="#footnote12" +class="citation">[12]</a></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Tahitian</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">FARE</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">AROHA</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>New Zealand</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">WHARE</span></p> +</td> +<td><p> </p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Samoan</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">FALE</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">TALOFA</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Manihiki</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">FALE</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">ALOHA</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Hawaiian</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">HALE</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">ALOHA</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +<tr> +<td><p>Marquesan</p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">HA’E</span></p> +</td> +<td><p><span class="GutSmall">KAOHA</span></p> +</td> +</tr> +</table> +<p>The elision of medial consonants, so marked in these Marquesan +instances, is no less common both in Gaelic and the Lowland +Scots. Stranger still, that prevalent Polynesian sound, the +so-called catch, written with an apostrophe, and often or always +the gravestone of a perished consonant, is to be heard in +Scotland to this day. When a Scot pronounces water, better, +or bottle—<i>wa’er</i>, <i>be’er</i>, or +<i>bo’le</i>—the sound is precisely that of the +catch; and I think we may go beyond, and say, that if such a +population could be isolated, and this mispronunciation should +become the rule, it might prove the first stage of transition +from <i>t</i> to <i>k</i>, which is the disease of Polynesian +languages. The tendency of the Marquesans, however, is to +urge against consonants, or at least on the very common letter +<i>l</i>, a war of mere extermination. A hiatus is +agreeable to any Polynesian ear; the ear even of the stranger +soon grows used to these barbaric voids; but only in the +Marquesan will you find such names as <i>Haaii</i> and +<i>Paaaeua</i>, when each individual vowel must be separately +uttered.</p> +<p>These points of similarity between a South Sea people and some +of my own folk at home ran much in my head in the islands; and +not only inclined me to view my fresh acquaintances with favour, +but continually modified my judgment. A polite Englishman +comes to-day to the Marquesans and is amazed to find the men +tattooed; polite Italians came not long ago to England and found +our fathers stained with woad; and when I paid the return visit +as a little boy, I was highly diverted with the backwardness of +Italy: so insecure, so much a matter of the day and hour, is the +pre-eminence of race. It was so that I hit upon a means of +communication which I recommend to travellers. When I +desired any detail of savage custom, or of superstitious belief, +I cast back in the story of my fathers, and fished for what I +wanted with some trait of equal barbarism: Michael Scott, Lord +Derwentwater’s head, the second-sight, the Water +Kelpie,—each of these I have found to be a killing bait; +the black bull’s head of Stirling procured me the legend of +<i>Rahero</i>; and what I knew of the Cluny Macphersons, or the +Appin Stewarts, enabled me to learn, and helped me to understand, +about the <i>Tevas</i> of Tahiti. The native was no longer +ashamed, his sense of kinship grew warmer, and his lips were +opened. It is this sense of kinship that the traveller must +rouse and share; or he had better content himself with travels +from the blue bed to the brown. And the presence of one +Cockney titterer will cause a whole party to walk in clouds of +darkness.</p> +<p>The hamlet of Anaho stands on a margin of flat land between +the west of the beach and the spring of the impending +mountains. A grove of palms, perpetually ruffling its green +fans, carpets it (as for a triumph) with fallen branches, and +shades it like an arbour. A road runs from end to end of +the covert among beds of flowers, the milliner’s shop of +the community; and here and there, in the grateful twilight, in +an air filled with a diversity of scents, and still within +hearing of the surf upon the reef, the native houses stand in +scattered neighbourhood. The same word, as we have seen, +represents in many tongues of Polynesia, with scarce a shade of +difference, the abode of man. But although the word be the +same, the structure itself continually varies; and the Marquesan, +among the most backward and barbarous of islanders, is yet the +most commodiously lodged. The grass huts of Hawaii, the +birdcage houses of Tahiti, or the open shed, with the crazy +Venetian blinds, of the polite Samoan—none of these can be +compared with the Marquesan <i>paepae-hae</i>, or dwelling +platform. The paepae is an oblong terrace built without +cement or black volcanic stone, from twenty to fifty feet in +length, raised from four to eight feet from the earth, and +accessible by a broad stair. Along the back of this, and +coming to about half its width, runs the open front of the house, +like a covered gallery: the interior sometimes neat and almost +elegant in its bareness, the sleeping space divided off by an +endlong coaming, some bright raiment perhaps hanging from a nail, +and a lamp and one of White’s sewing-machines the only +marks of civilization. On the outside, at one end of the +terrace, burns the cooking-fire under a shed; at the other there +is perhaps a pen for pigs; the remainder is the evening lounge +and <i>al fresco</i> banquet-hall of the inhabitants. To +some houses water is brought down the mountains in bamboo pipes, +perforated for the sake of sweetness. With the Highland +comparison in my mind, I was struck to remember the sluttish +mounds of turf and stone in which I have sat and been entertained +in the Hebrides and the North Islands. Two things, I +suppose, explain the contrast. In Scotland wood is rare, +and with materials so rude as turf and stone the very hope of +neatness is excluded. And in Scotland it is cold. +Shelter and a hearth are needs so pressing that a man looks not +beyond; he is out all day after a bare bellyful, and at night +when he saith, ‘Aha, it is warm!’ he has not appetite +for more. Or if for something else, then something higher; +a fine school of poetry and song arose in these rough shelters, +and an air like ‘<i>Lochaber no more</i>’ is an +evidence of refinement more convincing, as well as more +imperishable, than a palace.</p> +<p>To one such dwelling platform a considerable troop of +relatives and dependants resort. In the hour of the dusk, +when the fire blazes, and the scent of the cooked breadfruit +fills the air, and perhaps the lamp glints already between the +pillars and the house, you shall behold them silently assemble to +this meal, men, women, and children; and the dogs and pigs frisk +together up the terrace stairway, switching rival tails. +The strangers from the ship were soon equally welcome: welcome to +dip their fingers in the wooden dish, to drink cocoanuts, to +share the circulating pipe, and to hear and hold high debate +about the misdeeds of the French, the Panama Canal, or the +geographical position of San Francisco and New Yo’ko. +In a Highland hamlet, quite out of reach of any tourist, I have +met the same plain and dignified hospitality.</p> +<p>I have mentioned two facts—the distasteful behaviour of +our earliest visitors, and the case of the lady who rubbed +herself upon the cushions—which would give a very false +opinion of Marquesan manners. The great majority of +Polynesians are excellently mannered; but the Marquesan stands +apart, annoying and attractive, wild, shy, and refined. If +you make him a present he affects to forget it, and it must be +offered him again at his going: a pretty formality I have found +nowhere else. A hint will get rid of any one or any number; +they are so fiercely proud and modest; while many of the more +lovable but blunter islanders crowd upon a stranger, and can be +no more driven off than flies. A slight or an insult the +Marquesan seems never to forget. I was one day talking by +the wayside with my friend Hoka, when I perceived his eyes +suddenly to flash and his stature to swell. A white +horseman was coming down the mountain, and as he passed, and +while he paused to exchange salutations with myself, Hoka was +still staring and ruffling like a gamecock. It was a +Corsican who had years before called him <i>cochon +sauvage—coçon chauvage</i>, as Hoka mispronounced +it. With people so nice and so touchy, it was scarce to be +supposed that our company of greenhorns should not blunder into +offences. Hoka, on one of his visits, fell suddenly in a +brooding silence, and presently after left the ship with cold +formality. When he took me back into favour, he adroitly +and pointedly explained the nature of my offence: I had asked him +to sell cocoa-nuts; and in Hoka’s view articles of food +were things that a gentleman should give, not sell; or at least +that he should not sell to any friend. On another occasion +I gave my boat’s crew a luncheon of chocolate and +biscuits. I had sinned, I could never learn how, against +some point of observance; and though I was drily thanked, my +offerings were left upon the beach. But our worst mistake +was a slight we put on Toma, Hoka’s adoptive father, and in +his own eyes the rightful chief of Anaho. In the first +place, we did not call upon him, as perhaps we should, in his +fine new European house, the only one in the hamlet. In the +second, when we came ashore upon a visit to his rival, +Taipi-Kikino, it was Toma whom we saw standing at the head of the +beach, a magnificent figure of a man, magnificently tattooed; and +it was of Toma that we asked our question: ‘Where is the +chief?’ ‘What chief?’ cried Toma, and +turned his back on the blasphemers. Nor did he forgive +us. Hoka came and went with us daily; but, alone I believe +of all the countryside, neither Toma nor his wife set foot on +board the <i>Casco</i>. The temptation resisted it is hard +for a European to compute. The flying city of Laputa moored +for a fortnight in St. James’s Park affords but a pale +figure of the <i>Casco</i> anchored before Anaho; for the +Londoner has still his change of pleasures, but the Marquesan +passes to his grave through an unbroken uniformity of days.</p> +<p>On the afternoon before it was intended we should sail, a +valedictory party came on board: nine of our particular friends +equipped with gifts and dressed as for a festival. Hoka, +the chief dancer and singer, the greatest dandy of Anaho, and one +of the handsomest young fellows in the world-sullen, showy, +dramatic, light as a feather and strong as an ox—it would +have been hard, on that occasion, to recognise, as he sat there +stooped and silent, his face heavy and grey. It was strange +to see the lad so much affected; stranger still to recognise in +his last gift one of the curios we had refused on the first day, +and to know our friend, so gaily dressed, so plainly moved at our +departure, for one of the half-naked crew that had besieged and +insulted us on our arrival: strangest of all, perhaps, to find, +in that carved handle of a fan, the last of those curiosities of +the first day which had now all been given to us by their +possessors—their chief merchandise, for which they had +sought to ransom us as long as we were strangers, which they +pressed on us for nothing as soon as we were friends. The +last visit was not long protracted. One after another they +shook hands and got down into their canoe; when Hoka turned his +back immediately upon the ship, so that we saw his face no +more. Taipi, on the other hand, remained standing and +facing us with gracious valedictory gestures; and when Captain +Otis dipped the ensign, the whole party saluted with their +hats. This was the farewell; the episode of our visit to +Anaho was held concluded; and though the <i>Casco</i> remained +nearly forty hours at her moorings, not one returned on board, +and I am inclined to think they avoided appearing on the +beach. This reserve and dignity is the finest trait of the +Marquesan.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER III—THE MAROON</h3> +<p>Of the beauties of Anaho books might be written. I +remember waking about three, to find the air temperate and +scented. The long swell brimmed into the bay, and seemed to +fill it full and then subside. Gently, deeply, and silently +the <i>Casco</i> rolled; only at times a block piped like a +bird. Oceanward, the heaven was bright with stars and the +sea with their reflections. If I looked to that side, I +might have sung with the Hawaiian poet:</p> +<blockquote><p><i>Ua maomao ka lani</i>, <i>ua kahaea +luna</i>,<br /> +<i>Ua pipi ka maka o ka hoku</i>.<br /> +(The heavens were fair, they stretched above,<br /> +Many were the eyes of the stars.)</p> +</blockquote> +<p>And then I turned shoreward, and high squalls were overhead; +the mountains loomed up black; and I could have fancied I had +slipped ten thousand miles away and was anchored in a Highland +loch; that when the day came, it would show pine, and heather, +and green fern, and roofs of turf sending up the smoke of peats; +and the alien speech that should next greet my ears must be +Gaelic, not Kanaka.</p> +<p>And day, when it came, brought other sights and +thoughts. I have watched the morning break in many quarters +of the world; it has been certainly one of the chief joys of my +existence, and the dawn that I saw with most emotion shone upon +the bay of Anaho. The mountains abruptly overhang the port +with every variety of surface and of inclination, lawn, and +cliff, and forest. Not one of these but wore its proper +tint of saffron, of sulphur, of the clove, and of the rose. +The lustre was like that of satin; on the lighter hues there +seemed to float an efflorescence; a solemn bloom appeared on the +more dark. The light itself was the ordinary light of +morning, colourless and clean; and on this ground of jewels, +pencilled out the least detail of drawing. Meanwhile, +around the hamlet, under the palms, where the blue shadow +lingered, the red coals of cocoa husk and the light trails of +smoke betrayed the awakening business of the day; along the beach +men and women, lads and lasses, were returning from the bath in +bright raiment, red and blue and green, such as we delighted to +see in the coloured little pictures of our childhood; and +presently the sun had cleared the eastern hill, and the glow of +the day was over all.</p> +<p>The glow continued and increased, the business, from the main +part, ceased before it had begun. Twice in the day there +was a certain stir of shepherding along the seaward hills. +At times a canoe went out to fish. At times a woman or two +languidly filled a basket in the cotton patch. At times a +pipe would sound out of the shadow of a house, ringing the +changes on its three notes, with an effect like <i>Que le jour me +dure</i>, repeated endlessly. Or at times, across a corner +of the bay, two natives might communicate in the Marquesan manner +with conventional whistlings. All else was sleep and +silence. The surf broke and shone around the shores; a +species of black crane fished in the broken water; the black pigs +were continually galloping by on some affair; but the people +might never have awaked, or they might all be dead.</p> +<p>My favourite haunt was opposite the hamlet, where was a +landing in a cove under a lianaed cliff. The beach was +lined with palms and a tree called the purao, something between +the fig and mulberry in growth, and bearing a flower like a great +yellow poppy with a maroon heart. In places rocks +encroached upon the sand; the beach would be all submerged; and +the surf would bubble warmly as high as to my knees, and play +with cocoa-nut husks as our more homely ocean plays with wreck +and wrack and bottles. As the reflux drew down, marvels of +colour and design streamed between my feet; which I would grasp +at, miss, or seize: now to find them what they promised, shells +to grace a cabinet or be set in gold upon a lady’s finger; +now to catch only <i>maya</i> of coloured sand, pounded fragments +and pebbles, that, as soon as they were dry, became as dull and +homely as the flints upon a garden path. I have toiled at +this childish pleasure for hours in the strong sun, conscious of +my incurable ignorance; but too keenly pleased to be +ashamed. Meanwhile, the blackbird (or his tropical +understudy) would be fluting in the thickets overhead.</p> +<p>A little further, in the turn of the bay, a streamlet trickled +in the bottom of a den, thence spilling down a stair of rock into +the sea. The draught of air drew down under the foliage in +the very bottom of the den, which was a perfect arbour for +coolness. In front it stood open on the blue bay and the +<i>Casco</i> lying there under her awning and her cheerful +colours. Overhead was a thatch of puraos, and over these +again palms brandished their bright fans, as I have seen a +conjurer make himself a halo out of naked swords. For in +this spot, over a neck of low land at the foot of the mountains, +the trade-wind streams into Anaho Bay in a flood of almost +constant volume and velocity, and of a heavenly coolness.</p> +<p>It chanced one day that I was ashore in the cove, with Mrs. +Stevenson and the ship’s cook. Except for the +<i>Casco</i> lying outside, and a crane or two, and the ever-busy +wind and sea, the face of the world was of a prehistoric +emptiness; life appeared to stand stock-still, and the sense of +isolation was profound and refreshing. On a sudden, the +trade-wind, coming in a gust over the isthmus, struck and +scattered the fans of the palms above the den; and, behold! in +two of the tops there sat a native, motionless as an idol and +watching us, you would have said, without a wink. The next +moment the tree closed, and the glimpse was gone. This +discovery of human presences latent overhead in a place where we +had supposed ourselves alone, the immobility of our tree-top +spies, and the thought that perhaps at all hours we were +similarly supervised, struck us with a chill. Talk +languished on the beach. As for the cook (whose conscience +was not clear), he never afterwards set foot on shore, and twice, +when the <i>Casco</i> appeared to be driving on the rocks, it was +amusing to observe that man’s alacrity; death, he was +persuaded, awaiting him upon the beach. It was more than a +year later, in the Gilberts, that the explanation dawned upon +myself. The natives were drawing palm-tree wine, a thing +forbidden by law; and when the wind thus suddenly revealed them, +they were doubtless more troubled than ourselves.</p> +<p>At the top of the den there dwelt an old, melancholy, grizzled +man of the name of Tari (Charlie) Coffin. He was a native +of Oahu, in the Sandwich Islands; and had gone to sea in his +youth in the American whalers; a circumstance to which he owed +his name, his English, his down-east twang, and the misfortune of +his innocent life. For one captain, sailing out of New +Bedford, carried him to Nuka-hiva and marooned him there among +the cannibals. The motive for this act was inconceivably +small; poor Tari’s wages, which were thus economised, would +scarce have shook the credit of the New Bedford owners. And +the act itself was simply murder. Tari’s life must +have hung in the beginning by a hair. In the grief and +terror of that time, it is not unlikely he went mad, an infirmity +to which he was still liable; or perhaps a child may have taken a +fancy to him and ordained him to be spared. He escaped at +least alive, married in the island, and when I knew him was a +widower with a married son and a granddaughter. But the +thought of Oahu haunted him; its praise was for ever on his lips; +he beheld it, looking back, as a place of ceaseless feasting, +song, and dance; and in his dreams I daresay he revisits it with +joy. I wonder what he would think if he could be carried +there indeed, and see the modern town of Honolulu brisk with +traffic, and the palace with its guards, and the great hotel, and +Mr. Berger’s band with their uniforms and outlandish +instruments; or what he would think to see the brown faces grown +so few and the white so many; and his father’s land sold, +for planting sugar, and his father’s house quite perished, +or perhaps the last of them struck leprous and immured between +the surf and the cliffs on Molokai? So simply, even in +South Sea Islands, and so sadly, the changes come.</p> +<p>Tari was poor, and poorly lodged. His house was a wooden +frame, run up by Europeans; it was indeed his official residence, +for Tari was the shepherd of the promontory sheep. I can +give a perfect inventory of its contents: three kegs, a tin +biscuit-box, an iron saucepan, several cocoa-shell cups, a +lantern, and three bottles, probably containing oil; while the +clothes of the family and a few mats were thrown across the open +rafters. Upon my first meeting with this exile he had +conceived for me one of the baseless island friendships, had +given me nuts to drink, and carried me up the den ‘to see +my house’—the only entertainment that he had to +offer. He liked the ‘Amelican,’ he said, and +the ‘Inglisman,’ but the ‘Flessman’ was +his abhorrence; and he was careful to explain that if he had +thought us ‘Fless,’ we should have had none of his +nuts, and never a sight of his house. His distaste for the +French I can partly understand, but not at all his toleration of +the Anglo-Saxon. The next day he brought me a pig, and some +days later one of our party going ashore found him in act to +bring a second. We were still strange to the islands; we +were pained by the poor man’s generosity, which he could +ill afford, and, by a natural enough but quite unpardonable +blunder, we refused the pig. Had Tari been a Marquesan we +should have seen him no more; being what he was, the most mild, +long-suffering, melancholy man, he took a revenge a hundred times +more painful. Scarce had the canoe with the nine villagers +put off from their farewell before the <i>Casco</i> was boarded +from the other side. It was Tari; coming thus late because +he had no canoe of his own, and had found it hard to borrow one; +coming thus solitary (as indeed we always saw him), because he +was a stranger in the land, and the dreariest of company. +The rest of my family basely fled from the encounter. I +must receive our injured friend alone; and the interview must +have lasted hard upon an hour, for he was loath to tear himself +away. ‘You go ’way. I see you no +more—no, sir!’ he lamented; and then looking about +him with rueful admiration, ‘This goodee ship—no, +sir!—goodee ship!’ he would exclaim: the ‘no, +sir,’ thrown out sharply through the nose upon a rising +inflection, an echo from New Bedford and the fallacious +whaler. From these expressions of grief and praise, he +would return continually to the case of the rejected pig. +‘I like give present all ’e same you,’ he +complained; ‘only got pig: you no take him!’ He +was a poor man; he had no choice of gifts; he had only a pig, he +repeated; and I had refused it. I have rarely been more +wretched than to see him sitting there, so old, so grey, so poor, +so hardly fortuned, of so rueful a countenance, and to +appreciate, with growing keenness, the affront which I had so +innocently dealt him; but it was one of those cases in which +speech is vain.</p> +<p>Tari’s son was smiling and inert; his daughter-in-law, a +girl of sixteen, pretty, gentle, and grave, more intelligent than +most Anaho women, and with a fair share of French; his +grandchild, a mite of a creature at the breast. I went up +the den one day when Tari was from home, and found the son making +a cotton sack, and madame suckling mademoiselle. When I had +sat down with them on the floor, the girl began to question me +about England; which I tried to describe, piling the pan and the +cocoa shells one upon another to represent the houses, and +explaining, as best I was able, and by word and gesture, the +over-population, the hunger, and the perpetual toil. +‘<i>Pas de cocotiers</i>? <i>pas do popoi</i>?’ she +asked. I told her it was too cold, and went through an +elaborate performance, shutting out draughts, and crouching over +an imaginary fire, to make sure she understood. But she +understood right well; remarked it must be bad for the health, +and sat a while gravely reflecting on that picture of unwonted +sorrows. I am sure it roused her pity, for it struck in her +another thought always uppermost in the Marquesan bosom; and she +began with a smiling sadness, and looking on me out of melancholy +eyes, to lament the decease of her own people. +‘<i>Ici pas de Kanaques</i>,’ said she; and taking +the baby from her breast, she held it out to me with both her +hands. ‘<i>Tenez</i>—a little baby like this; +then dead. All the Kanaques die. Then no +more.’ The smile, and this instancing by the +girl-mother of her own tiny flesh and blood, affected me +strangely; they spoke of so tranquil a despair. Meanwhile +the husband smilingly made his sack; and the unconscious babe +struggled to reach a pot of raspberry jam, friendship’s +offering, which I had just brought up the den; and in a +perspective of centuries I saw their case as ours, death coming +in like a tide, and the day already numbered when there should be +no more Beretani, and no more of any race whatever, and (what +oddly touched me) no more literary works and no more readers.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER IV—DEATH</h3> +<p>The thought of death, I have said, is uppermost in the mind of +the Marquesan. It would be strange if it were +otherwise. The race is perhaps the handsomest extant. +Six feet is about the middle height of males; they are strongly +muscled, free from fat, swift in action, graceful in repose; and +the women, though fatter and duller, are still comely +animals. To judge by the eye, there is no race more viable; +and yet death reaps them with both hands. When Bishop +Dordillon first came to Tai-o-hae, he reckoned the inhabitants at +many thousands; he was but newly dead, and in the same bay +Stanislao Moanatini counted on his fingers eight residual +natives. Or take the valley of Hapaa, known to readers of +Herman Melville under the grotesque misspelling of Hapar. +There are but two writers who have touched the South Seas with +any genius, both Americans: Melville and Charles Warren Stoddard; +and at the christening of the first and greatest, some +influential fairy must have been neglected: ‘He shall be +able to see,’ ‘He shall be able to tell,’ +‘He shall be able to charm,’ said the friendly +godmothers; ‘But he shall not be able to hear,’ +exclaimed the last. The tribe of Hapaa is said to have +numbered some four hundred, when the small-pox came and reduced +them by one-fourth. Six months later a woman developed +tubercular consumption; the disease spread like a fire about the +valley, and in less than a year two survivors, a man and a woman, +fled from that new-created solitude. A similar Adam and Eve +may some day wither among new races, the tragic residue of +Britain. When I first heard this story the date staggered +me; but I am now inclined to think it possible. Early in +the year of my visit, for example, or late the year before, a +first case of phthisis appeared in a household of seventeen +persons, and by the month of August, when the tale was told me, +one soul survived, and that was a boy who had been absent at his +schooling. And depopulation works both ways, the doors of +death being set wide open, and the door of birth almost +closed. Thus, in the half-year ending July 1888 there were +twelve deaths and but one birth in the district of the +Hatiheu. Seven or eight more deaths were to be looked for +in the ordinary course; and M. Aussel, the observant gendarme, +knew of but one likely birth. At this rate it is no matter +of surprise if the population in that part should have declined +in forty years from six thousand to less than four hundred; which +are, once more on the authority of M. Aussel, the estimated +figures. And the rate of decline must have even accelerated +towards the end.</p> +<p>A good way to appreciate the depopulation is to go by land +from Anaho to Hatiheu on the adjacent bay. The road is good +travelling, but cruelly steep. We seemed scarce to have +passed the deserted house which stands highest in Anaho before we +were looking dizzily down upon its roof; the <i>Casco</i> well +out in the bay, and rolling for a wager, shrank visibly; and +presently through the gap of Tari’s isthmus, Ua-huna was +seen to hang cloudlike on the horizon. Over the summit, +where the wind blew really chill, and whistled in the reed-like +grass, and tossed the grassy fell of the pandanus, we stepped +suddenly, as through a door, into the next vale and bay of +Hatiheu. A bowl of mountains encloses it upon three +sides. On the fourth this rampart has been bombarded into +ruins, runs down to seaward in imminent and shattered crags, and +presents the one practicable breach of the blue bay. The +interior of this vessel is crowded with lovely and valuable +trees,—orange, breadfruit, mummy-apple, cocoa, the island +chestnut, and for weeds, the pine and the banana. Four +perennial streams water and keep it green; and along the dell, +first of one, then of another, of these, the road, for a +considerable distance, descends into this fortunate valley. +The song of the waters and the familiar disarray of boulders gave +us a strong sense of home, which the exotic foliage, the +daft-like growth of the pandanus, the buttressed trunk of the +banyan, the black pigs galloping in the bush, and the +architecture of the native houses dissipated ere it could be +enjoyed.</p> +<p>The houses on the Hatiheu side begin high up; higher yet, the +more melancholy spectacle of empty paepaes. When a native +habitation is deserted, the superstructure—pandanus thatch, +wattle, unstable tropical timber—speedily rots, and is +speedily scattered by the wind. Only the stones of the +terrace endure; nor can any ruin, cairn, or standing stone, or +vitrified fort present a more stern appearance of +antiquity. We must have passed from six to eight of these +now houseless platforms. On the main road of the island, +where it crosses the valley of Taipi, Mr. Osbourne tells me they +are to be reckoned by the dozen; and as the roads have been made +long posterior to their erection, perhaps to their desertion, and +must simply be regarded as lines drawn at random through the +bush, the forest on either hand must be equally filled with these +survivals: the gravestones of whole families. Such ruins +are tapu <a name="citation29"></a><a href="#footnote29" +class="citation">[29]</a> in the strictest sense; no native must +approach them; they have become outposts of the kingdom of the +grave. It might appear a natural and pious custom in the +hundreds who are left, the rearguard of perished thousands, that +their feet should leave untrod these hearthstones of their +fathers. I believe, in fact, the custom rests on different +and more grim conceptions. But the house, the grave, and +even the body of the dead, have been always particularly honoured +by Marquesans. Until recently the corpse was sometimes kept +in the family and daily oiled and sunned, until, by gradual and +revolting stages, it dried into a kind of mummy. Offerings +are still laid upon the grave. In Traitor’s Bay, Mr. +Osbourne saw a man buy a looking-glass to lay upon his +son’s. And the sentiment against the desecration of +tombs, thoughtlessly ruffled in the laying down of the new roads, +is a chief ingredient in the native hatred for the French.</p> +<p>The Marquesan beholds with dismay the approaching extinction +of his race. The thought of death sits down with him to +meat, and rises with him from his bed; he lives and breathes +under a shadow of mortality awful to support; and he is so inured +to the apprehension that he greets the reality with relief. +He does not even seek to support a disappointment; at an affront, +at a breach of one of his fleeting and communistic love-affairs, +he seeks an instant refuge in the grave. Hanging is now the +fashion. I heard of three who had hanged themselves in the +west end of Hiva-oa during the first half of 1888; but though +this be a common form of suicide in other parts of the South +Seas, I cannot think it will continue popular in the +Marquesas. Far more suitable to Marquesan sentiment is the +old form of poisoning with the fruit of the eva, which offers to +the native suicide a cruel but deliberate death, and gives time +for those decencies of the last hour, to which he attaches such +remarkable importance. The coffin can thus be at hand, the +pigs killed, the cry of the mourners sounding already through the +house; and then it is, and not before, that the Marquesan is +conscious of achievement, his life all rounded in, his robes +(like Cæsar’s) adjusted for the final act. +Praise not any man till he is dead, said the ancients; envy not +any man till you hear the mourners, might be the Marquesan +parody. The coffin, though of late introduction, strangely +engages their attention. It is to the mature Marquesan what +a watch is to the European schoolboy. For ten years Queen +Vaekehu had dunned the fathers; at last, but the other day, they +let her have her will, gave her her coffin, and the woman’s +soul is at rest. I was told a droll instance of the force +of this preoccupation. The Polynesians are subject to a +disease seemingly rather of the will than of the body. I +was told the Tahitians have a word for it, <i>erimatua</i>, but +cannot find it in my dictionary. A gendarme, M. Nouveau, +has seen men beginning to succumb to this insubstantial malady, +has routed them from their houses, turned them on to do their +trick upon the roads, and in two days has seen them cured. +But this other remedy is more original: a Marquesan, dying of +this discouragement—perhaps I should rather say this +acquiescence—has been known, at the fulfilment of his +crowning wish, on the mere sight of that desired hermitage, his +coffin—to revive, recover, shake off the hand of death, and +be restored for years to his occupations—carving tikis +(idols), let us say, or braiding old men’s beards. +From all this it may be conceived how easily they meet death when +it approaches naturally. I heard one example, grim and +picturesque. In the time of the small-pox in Hapaa, an old +man was seized with the disease; he had no thought of recovery; +had his grave dug by a wayside, and lived in it for near a +fortnight, eating, drinking, and smoking with the passers-by, +talking mostly of his end, and equally unconcerned for himself +and careless of the friends whom he infected.</p> +<p>This proneness to suicide, and loose seat in life, is not +peculiar to the Marquesan. What is peculiar is the +widespread depression and acceptance of the national end. +Pleasures are neglected, the dance languishes, the songs are +forgotten. It is true that some, and perhaps too many, of +them are proscribed; but many remain, if there were spirit to +support or to revive them. At the last feast of the +Bastille, Stanislao Moanatini shed tears when he beheld the +inanimate performance of the dancers. When the people sang +for us in Anaho, they must apologise for the smallness of their +repertory. They were only young folk present, they said, +and it was only the old that knew the songs. The whole body +of Marquesan poetry and music was being suffered to die out with +a single dispirited generation. The full import is apparent +only to one acquainted with other Polynesian races; who knows how +the Samoan coins a fresh song for every trifling incident, or who +has heard (on Penrhyn, for instance) a band of little stripling +maids from eight to twelve keep up their minstrelsy for hours +upon a stretch, one song following another without pause. +In like manner, the Marquesan, never industrious, begins now to +cease altogether from production. The exports of the group +decline out of all proportion even with the death-rate of the +islanders. ‘The coral waxes, the palm grows, and man +departs,’ says the Marquesan; and he folds his hands. +And surely this is nature. Fond as it may appear, we labour +and refrain, not for the rewards of any single life, but with a +timid eye upon the lives and memories of our successors; and +where no one is to succeed, of his own family, or his own tongue, +I doubt whether Rothschilds would make money or Cato practise +virtue. It is natural, also, that a temporary stimulus +should sometimes rouse the Marquesan from his lethargy. +Over all the landward shore of Anaho cotton runs like a wild +weed; man or woman, whoever comes to pick it, may earn a dollar +in the day; yet when we arrived, the trader’s store-house +was entirely empty; and before we left it was near full. So +long as the circus was there, so long as the <i>Casco</i> was yet +anchored in the bay, it behoved every one to make his visit; and +to this end every woman must have a new dress, and every man a +shirt and trousers. Never before, in Mr. Regler’s +experience, had they displayed so much activity.</p> +<p>In their despondency there is an element of dread. The +fear of ghosts and of the dark is very deeply written in the mind +of the Polynesian; not least of the Marquesan. Poor Taipi, +the chief of Anaho, was condemned to ride to Hatiheu on a +moonless night. He borrowed a lantern, sat a long while +nerving himself for the adventure, and when he at last departed, +wrung the <i>Cascos</i> by the hand as for a final +separation. Certain presences, called Vehinehae, frequent +and make terrible the nocturnal roadside; I was told by one they +were like so much mist, and as the traveller walked into them +dispersed and dissipated; another described them as being shaped +like men and having eyes like cats; from none could I obtain the +smallest clearness as to what they did, or wherefore they were +dreaded. We may be sure at least they represent the dead; +for the dead, in the minds of the islanders, are +all-pervasive. ‘When a native says that he is a +man,’ writes Dr. Codrington, ‘he means that he is a +man and not a ghost; not that he is a man and not a beast. +The intelligent agents of this world are to his mind the men who +are alive, and the ghosts the men who are dead.’ Dr. +Codrington speaks of Melanesia; from what I have learned his +words are equally true of the Polynesian. And yet +more. Among cannibal Polynesians a dreadful suspicion rests +generally on the dead; and the Marquesans, the greatest cannibals +of all, are scarce likely to be free from similar beliefs. +I hazard the guess that the Vehinehae are the hungry spirits of +the dead, continuing their life’s business of the cannibal +ambuscade, and lying everywhere unseen, and eager to devour the +living. Another superstition I picked up through the +troubled medium of Tari Coffin’s English. The dead, +he told me, came and danced by night around the paepae of their +former family; the family were thereupon overcome by some emotion +(but whether of pious sorrow or of fear I could not gather), and +must ‘make a feast,’ of which fish, pig, and popoi +were indispensable ingredients. So far this is clear +enough. But here Tari went on to instance the new house of +Toma and the house-warming feast which was just then in +preparation as instances in point. Dare we indeed string +them together, and add the case of the deserted ruin, as though +the dead continually besieged the paepaes of the living: were +kept at arm’s-length, even from the first foundation, only +by propitiatory feasts, and, so soon as the fire of life went out +upon the hearth, swarmed back into possession of their ancient +seat?</p> +<p>I speak by guess of these Marquesan superstitions. On +the cannibal ghost I shall return elsewhere with certainty. +And it is enough, for the present purpose, to remark that the men +of the Marquesas, from whatever reason, fear and shrink from the +presence of ghosts. Conceive how this must tell upon the +nerves in islands where the number of the dead already so far +exceeds that of the living, and the dead multiply and the living +dwindle at so swift a rate. Conceive how the remnant +huddles about the embers of the fire of life; even as old Red +Indians, deserted on the march and in the snow, the kindly tribe +all gone, the last flame expiring, and the night around populous +with wolves.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER V—DEPOPULATION</h3> +<p>Over the whole extent of the South Seas, from one tropic to +another, we find traces of a bygone state of over-population, +when the resources of even a tropical soil were taxed, and even +the improvident Polynesian trembled for the future. We may +accept some of the ideas of Mr. Darwin’s theory of coral +islands, and suppose a rise of the sea, or the subsidence of some +former continental area, to have driven into the tops of the +mountains multitudes of refugees. Or we may suppose, more +soberly, a people of sea-rovers, emigrants from a crowded +country, to strike upon and settle island after island, and as +time went on to multiply exceedingly in their new seats. In +either case the end must be the same; soon or late it must grow +apparent that the crew are too numerous, and that famine is at +hand. The Polynesians met this emergent danger with various +expedients of activity and prevention. A way was found to +preserve breadfruit by packing it in artificial pits; pits forty +feet in depth and of proportionate bore are still to be seen, I +am told, in the Marquesas; and yet even these were insufficient +for the teeming people, and the annals of the past are gloomy +with famine and cannibalism. Among the Hawaiians—a +hardier people, in a more exacting climate—agriculture was +carried far; the land was irrigated with canals; and the +fish-ponds of Molokai prove the number and diligence of the old +inhabitants. Meanwhile, over all the island world, abortion +and infanticide prevailed. On coral atolls, where the +danger was most plainly obvious, these were enforced by law and +sanctioned by punishment. On Vaitupu, in the Ellices, only +two children were allowed to a couple; on Nukufetau, but +one. On the latter the punishment was by fine; and it is +related that the fine was sometimes paid, and the child +spared.</p> +<p>This is characteristic. For no people in the world are +so fond or so long-suffering with children—children make +the mirth and the adornment of their homes, serving them for +playthings and for picture-galleries. ‘Happy is the +man that has his quiver full of them.’ The stray +bastard is contended for by rival families; and the natural and +the adopted children play and grow up together +undistinguished. The spoiling, and I may almost say the +deification, of the child, is nowhere carried so far as in the +eastern islands; and furthest, according to my opportunities of +observation, in the Paumotu group, the so-called Low or Dangerous +Archipelago. I have seen a Paumotuan native turn from me +with embarrassment and disaffection because I suggested that a +brat would be the better for a beating. It is a daily +matter in some eastern islands to see a child strike or even +stone its mother, and the mother, so far from punishing, scarce +ventures to resist. In some, when his child was born, a +chief was superseded and resigned his name; as though, like a +drone, he had then fulfilled the occasion of his being. And +in some the lightest words of children had the weight of +oracles. Only the other day, in the Marquesas, if a child +conceived a distaste to any stranger, I am assured the stranger +would be slain. And I shall have to tell in another place +an instance of the opposite: how a child in Manihiki having taken +a fancy to myself, her adoptive parents at once accepted the +situation and loaded me with gifts.</p> +<p>With such sentiments the necessity for child-destruction would +not fail to clash, and I believe we find the trace of divided +feeling in the Tahitian brotherhood of Oro. At a certain +date a new god was added to the Society-Island Olympus, or an old +one refurbished and made popular. Oro was his name, and he +may be compared with the Bacchus of the ancients. His +zealots sailed from bay to bay, and from island to island; they +were everywhere received with feasting; wore fine clothes; sang, +danced, acted; gave exhibitions of dexterity and strength; and +were the artists, the acrobats, the bards, and the harlots of the +group. Their life was public and epicurean; their +initiation a mystery; and the highest in the land aspired to join +the brotherhood. If a couple stood next in line to a +high-chieftaincy, they were suffered, on grounds of policy, to +spare one child; all other children, who had a father or a mother +in the company of Oro, stood condemned from the moment of +conception. A freemasonry, an agnostic sect, a company of +artists, its members all under oath to spread unchastity, and all +forbidden to leave offspring—I do not know how it may +appear to others, but to me the design seems obvious. +Famine menacing the islands, and the needful remedy repulsive, it +was recommended to the native mind by these trappings of mystery, +pleasure, and parade. This is the more probable, and the +secret, serious purpose of the institution appears the more +plainly, if it be true that, after a certain period of life, the +obligation of the votary was changed; at first, bound to be +profligate: afterwards, expected to be chaste.</p> +<p>Here, then, we have one side of the case. Man-eating +among kindly men, child-murder among child-lovers, industry in a +race the most idle, invention in a race the least progressive, +this grim, pagan salvation-army of the brotherhood of Oro, the +report of early voyagers, the widespread vestiges of former +habitation, and the universal tradition of the islands, all point +to the same fact of former crowding and alarm. And to-day +we are face to face with the reverse. To-day in the +Marquesas, in the Eight Islands of Hawaii, in Mangareva, in +Easter Island, we find the same race perishing like flies. +Why this change? Or, grant that the coming of the whites, +the change of habits, and the introduction of new maladies and +vices, fully explain the depopulation, why is that depopulation +not universal? The population of Tahiti, after a period of +alarming decrease, has again become stationary. I hear of a +similar result among some Maori tribes; in many of the Paumotus a +slight increase is to be observed; and the Samoans are to-day as +healthy and at least as fruitful as before the change. +Grant that the Tahitians, the Maoris, and the Paumotuans have +become inured to the new conditions; and what are we to make of +the Samoans, who have never suffered?</p> +<p>Those who are acquainted only with a single group are apt to +be ready with solutions. Thus I have heard the mortality of +the Maoris attributed to their change of residence—from +fortified hill-tops to the low, marshy vicinity of their +plantations. How plausible! And yet the Marquesans +are dying out in the same houses where their fathers +multiplied. Or take opium. The Marquesas and Hawaii +are the two groups the most infected with this vice; the +population of the one is the most civilised, that of the other by +far the most barbarous, of Polynesians; and they are two of those +that perish the most rapidly. Here is a strong case against +opium. But let us take unchastity, and we shall find the +Marquesas and Hawaii figuring again upon another count. +Thus, Samoans are the most chaste of Polynesians, and they are to +this day entirely fertile; Marquesans are the most debauched: we +have seen how they are perishing; Hawaiians are notoriously lax, +and they begin to be dotted among deserts. So here is a +case stronger still against unchastity; and here also we have a +correction to apply. Whatever the virtues of the Tahitian, +neither friend nor enemy dares call him chaste; and yet he seems +to have outlived the time of danger. One last example: +syphilis has been plausibly credited with much of the +sterility. But the Samoans are, by all accounts, as +fruitful as at first; by some accounts more so; and it is not +seriously to be argued that the Samoans have escaped +syphilis.</p> +<p>These examples show how dangerous it is to reason from any +particular cause, or even from many in a single group. I +have in my eye an able and amiable pamphlet by the Rev. S. E. +Bishop: ‘Why are the Hawaiians Dying Out?’ Any +one interested in the subject ought to read this tract, which +contains real information; and yet Mr. Bishop’s views would +have been changed by an acquaintance with other groups. +Samoa is, for the moment, the main and the most instructive +exception to the rule. The people are the most chaste and +one of the most temperate of island peoples. They have +never been tried and depressed with any grave pestilence. +Their clothing has scarce been tampered with; at the simple and +becoming tabard of the girls, Tartuffe, in many another island, +would have cried out; for the cool, healthy, and modest lava-lava +or kilt, Tartuffe has managed in many another island to +substitute stifling and inconvenient trousers. Lastly, and +perhaps chiefly, so far from their amusements having been +curtailed, I think they have been, upon the whole, +extended. The Polynesian falls easily into despondency: +bereavement, disappointment, the fear of novel visitations, the +decay or proscription of ancient pleasures, easily incline him to +be sad; and sadness detaches him from life. The melancholy +of the Hawaiian and the emptiness of his new life are striking; +and the remark is yet more apposite to the Marquesas. In +Samoa, on the other hand, perpetual song and dance, perpetual +games, journeys, and pleasures, make an animated and a smiling +picture of the island life. And the Samoans are to-day the +gayest and the best entertained inhabitants of our planet. +The importance of this can scarcely be exaggerated. In a +climate and upon a soil where a livelihood can be had for the +stooping, entertainment is a prime necessity. It is +otherwise with us, where life presents us with a daily problem, +and there is a serious interest, and some of the heat of +conflict, in the mere continuing to be. So, in certain +atolls, where there is no great gaiety, but man must bestir +himself with some vigour for his daily bread, public health and +the population are maintained; but in the lotos islands, with the +decay of pleasures, life itself decays. It is from this +point of view that we may instance, among other causes of +depression, the decay of war. We have been so long used in +Europe to that dreary business of war on the great scale, +trailing epidemics and leaving pestilential corpses in its train, +that we have almost forgotten its original, the most healthful, +if not the most humane, of all field +sports—hedge-warfare. From this, as well as from the +rest of his amusements and interests, the islander, upon a +hundred islands, has been recently cut off. And to this, as +well as to so many others, the Samoan still makes good a special +title.</p> +<p>Upon the whole, the problem seems to me to stand +thus:—Where there have been fewest changes, important or +unimportant, salutary or hurtful, there the race survives. +Where there have been most, important or unimportant, salutary or +hurtful, there it perishes. Each change, however small, +augments the sum of new conditions to which the race has to +become inured. There may seem, <i>a priori</i>, no +comparison between the change from ‘sour toddy’ to +bad gin, and that from the island kilt to a pair of European +trousers. Yet I am far from persuaded that the one is any +more hurtful than the other; and the unaccustomed race will +sometimes die of pin-pricks. We are here face to face with +one of the difficulties of the missionary. In Polynesian +islands he easily obtains pre-eminent authority; the king becomes +his <i>mairedupalais</i>; he can proscribe, he can command; and +the temptation is ever towards too much. Thus (by all +accounts) the Catholics in Mangareva, and thus (to my own +knowledge) the Protestants in Hawaii, have rendered life in a +more or less degree unliveable to their converts. And the +mild, uncomplaining creatures (like children in a prison) yawn +and await death. It is easy to blame the missionary. +But it is his business to make changes. It is surely his +business, for example, to prevent war; and yet I have instanced +war itself as one of the elements of health. On the other +hand, it were, perhaps, easy for the missionary to proceed more +gently, and to regard every change as an affair of weight. +I take the average missionary; I am sure I do him no more than +justice when I suppose that he would hesitate to bombard a +village, even in order to convert an archipelago. +Experience begins to show us (at least in Polynesian islands) +that change of habit is bloodier than a bombardment.</p> +<p>There is one point, ere I have done, where I may go to meet +criticism. I have said nothing of faulty hygiene, bathing +during fevers, mistaken treatment of children, native doctoring, +or abortion—all causes frequently adduced. And I have +said nothing of them because they are conditions common to both +epochs, and even more efficient in the past than in the +present. Was it not the same with unchastity, it may be +asked? Was not the Polynesian always unchaste? +Doubtless he was so always: doubtless he is more so since the +coming of his remarkably chaste visitors from Europe. Take +the Hawaiian account of Cook: I have no doubt it is entirely +fair. Take Krusenstern’s candid, almost innocent, +description of a Russian man-of-war at the Marquesas; consider +the disgraceful history of missions in Hawaii itself, where (in +the war of lust) the American missionaries were once shelled by +an English adventurer, and once raided and mishandled by the crew +of an American warship; add the practice of whaling fleets to +call at the Marquesas, and carry off a complement of women for +the cruise; consider, besides, how the whites were at first +regarded in the light of demi-gods, as appears plainly in the +reception of Cook upon Hawaii; and again, in the story of the +discovery of Tutuila, when the really decent women of Samoa +prostituted themselves in public to the French; and bear in mind +how it was the custom of the adventurers, and we may almost say +the business of the missionaries, to deride and infract even the +most salutary tapus. Here we see every engine of +dissolution directed at once against a virtue never and nowhere +very strong or popular; and the result, even in the most degraded +islands, has been further degradation. Mr. Lawes, the +missionary of Savage Island, told me the standard of female +chastity had declined there since the coming of the whites. +In heathen time, if a girl gave birth to a bastard, her father or +brother would dash the infant down the cliffs; and to-day the +scandal would be small. Or take the Marquesas. +Stanislao Moanatini told me that in his own recollection, the +young were strictly guarded; they were not suffered so much as to +look upon one another in the street, but passed (so my informant +put it) like dogs; and the other day the whole school-children of +Nuka-hiva and Ua-pu escaped in a body to the woods, and lived +there for a fortnight in promiscuous liberty. Readers of +travels may perhaps exclaim at my authority, and declare +themselves better informed. I should prefer the statement +of an intelligent native like Stanislao (even if it stood alone, +which it is far from doing) to the report of the most honest +traveller. A ship of war comes to a haven, anchors, lands a +party, receives and returns a visit, and the captain writes a +chapter on the manners of the island. It is not considered +what class is mostly seen. Yet we should not be pleased if +a Lascar foremast hand were to judge England by the ladies who +parade Ratcliffe Highway, and the gentlemen who share with them +their hire. Stanislao’s opinion of a decay of virtue +even in these unvirtuous islands has been supported to me by +others; his very example, the progress of dissolution amongst the +young, is adduced by Mr. Bishop in Hawaii. And so far as +Marquesans are concerned, we might have hazarded a guess of some +decline in manners. I do not think that any race could ever +have prospered or multiplied with such as now obtain; I am sure +they would have been never at the pains to count paternal +kinship. It is not possible to give details; suffice it +that their manners appear to be imitated from the dreams of +ignorant and vicious children, and their debauches persevered in +until energy, reason, and almost life itself are in abeyance.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER VI—CHIEFS AND TAPUS</h3> +<p>We used to admire exceedingly the bland and gallant manners of +the chief called Taipi-Kikino. An elegant guest at table, +skilled in the use of knife and fork, a brave figure when he +shouldered a gun and started for the woods after wild chickens, +always serviceable, always ingratiating and gay, I would +sometimes wonder where he found his cheerfulness. He had +enough to sober him, I thought, in his official budget. His +expenses—for he was always seen attired in virgin +white—must have by far exceeded his income of six dollars +in the year, or say two shillings a month. And he was +himself a man of no substance; his house the poorest in the +village. It was currently supposed that his elder brother, +Kauanui, must have helped him out. But how comes it that +the elder brother should succeed to the family estate, and be a +wealthy commoner, and the younger be a poor man, and yet rule as +chief in Anaho? That the one should be wealthy, and the +other almost indigent is probably to be explained by some +adoption; for comparatively few children are brought up in the +house or succeed to the estates of their natural begetters. +That the one should be chief instead of the other must be +explained (in a very Irish fashion) on the ground that neither of +them is a chief at all.</p> +<p>Since the return and the wars of the French, many chiefs have +been deposed, and many so-called chiefs appointed. We have +seen, in the same house, one such upstart drinking in the company +of two such extruded island Bourbons, men, whose word a few years +ago was life and death, now sunk to be peasants like their +neighbours. So when the French overthrew hereditary +tyrants, dubbed the commons of the Marquesas freeborn citizens of +the republic, and endowed them with a vote for a +<i>conseiller-général</i> at Tahiti, they probably +conceived themselves upon the path to popularity; and so far from +that, they were revolting public sentiment. The deposition +of the chiefs was perhaps sometimes needful; the appointment of +others may have been needful also; it was at least a delicate +business. The Government of George II. exiled many Highland +magnates. It never occurred to them to manufacture +substitutes; and if the French have been more bold, we have yet +to see with what success.</p> +<p>Our chief at Anaho was always called, he always called +himself, Taipi-Kikino; and yet that was not his name, but only +the wand of his false position. As soon as he was appointed +chief, his name—which signified, if I remember exactly, +<i>Prince born among flowers</i>—fell in abeyance, and he +was dubbed instead by the expressive byword, +Taipi-Kikino—<i>Highwater man-of-no-account</i>—or, +Englishing more boldly, <i>Beggar on horseback</i>—a witty +and a wicked cut. A nickname in Polynesia destroys almost +the memory of the original name. To-day, if we were +Polynesians, Gladstone would be no more heard of. We should +speak of and address our Nestor as the Grand Old Man, and it is +so that himself would sign his correspondence. Not the +prevalence, then, but the significancy of the nickname is to be +noted here. The new authority began with small +prestige. Taipi has now been some time in office; from all +I saw he seemed a person very fit. He is not the least +unpopular, and yet his power is nothing. He is a chief to +the French, and goes to breakfast with the Resident; but for any +practical end of chieftaincy a rag doll were equally +efficient.</p> +<p>We had been but three days in Anaho when we received the visit +of the chief of Hatiheu, a man of weight and fame, late leader of +a war upon the French, late prisoner in Tahiti, and the last +eater of long-pig in Nuka-hiva. Not many years have elapsed +since he was seen striding on the beach of Anaho, a dead +man’s arm across his shoulder. ‘So does Kooamua +to his enemies!’ he roared to the passers-by, and took a +bite from the raw flesh. And now behold this gentleman, +very wisely replaced in office by the French, paying us a morning +visit in European clothes. He was the man of the most +character we had yet seen: his manners genial and decisive, his +person tall, his face rugged, astute, formidable, and with a +certain similarity to Mr. Gladstone’s—only for the +brownness of the skin, and the high-chief’s tattooing, all +one side and much of the other being of an even blue. +Further acquaintance increased our opinion of his sense. He +viewed the <i>Casco</i> in a manner then quite new to us, +examining her lines and the running of the gear; to a piece of +knitting on which one of the party was engaged, he must have +devoted ten minutes’ patient study; nor did he desist +before he had divined the principles; and he was interested even +to excitement by a type-writer, which he learned to work. +When he departed he carried away with him a list of his family, +with his own name printed by his own hand at the bottom. I +should add that he was plainly much of a humorist, and not a +little of a humbug. He told us, for instance, that he was a +person of exact sobriety; such being the obligation of his high +estate: the commons might be sots, but the chief could not stoop +so low. And not many days after he was to be observed in a +state of smiling and lop-sided imbecility, the <i>Casco</i> +ribbon upside down on his dishonoured hat.</p> +<p>But his business that morning in Anaho is what concerns us +here. The devil-fish, it seems, were growing scarce upon +the reef; it was judged fit to interpose what we should call a +close season; for that end, in Polynesia, a tapu (vulgarly spelt +‘taboo’) has to be declared, and who was to declare +it? Taipi might; he ought; it was a chief part of his duty; +but would any one regard the inhibition of a Beggar on +Horse-back? He might plant palm branches: it did not in the +least follow that the spot was sacred. He might recite the +spell: it was shrewdly supposed the spirits would not +hearken. And so the old, legitimate cannibal must ride over +the mountains to do it for him; and the respectable official in +white clothes could but look on and envy. At about the same +time, though in a different manner, Kooamua established a forest +law. It was observed the cocoa-palms were suffering, for +the plucking of green nuts impoverishes and at last endangers the +tree. Now Kooamua could tapu the reef, which was public +property, but he could not tapu other people’s palms; and +the expedient adopted was interesting. He tapu’d his +own trees, and his example was imitated over all Hatiheu and +Anaho. I fear Taipi might have tapu’d all that he +possessed and found none to follow him. So much for the +esteem in which the dignity of an appointed chief is held by +others; a single circumstance will show what he thinks of it +himself. I never met one, but he took an early opportunity +to explain his situation. True, he was only an appointed +chief when I beheld him; but somewhere else, perhaps upon some +other isle, he was a chieftain by descent: upon which ground, he +asked me (so to say it) to excuse his mushroom honours.</p> +<p>It will be observed with surprise that both these tapus are +for thoroughly sensible ends. With surprise, I say, because +the nature of that institution is much misunderstood in +Europe. It is taken usually in the sense of a meaningless +or wanton prohibition, such as that which to-day prevents women +in some countries from smoking, or yesterday prevented any one in +Scotland from taking a walk on Sunday. The error is no less +natural than it is unjust. The Polynesians have not been +trained in the bracing, practical thought of ancient Rome; with +them the idea of law has not been disengaged from that of morals +or propriety; so that tapu has to cover the whole field, and +implies indifferently that an act is criminal, immoral, against +sound public policy, unbecoming or (as we say) ‘not in good +form.’ Many tapus were in consequence absurd enough, +such as those which deleted words out of the language, and +particularly those which related to women. Tapu encircled +women upon all hands. Many things were forbidden to men; to +women we may say that few were permitted. They must not sit +on the paepae; they must not go up to it by the stair; they must +not eat pork; they must not approach a boat; they must not cook +at a fire which any male had kindled. The other day, after +the roads were made, it was observed the women plunged along +margin through the bush, and when they came to a bridge waded +through the water: roads and bridges were the work of men’s +hands, and tapu for the foot of women. Even a man’s +saddle, if the man be native, is a thing no self-respecting lady +dares to use. Thus on the Anaho side of the island, only +two white men, Mr. Regler and the gendarme, M. Aussel, possess +saddles; and when a woman has a journey to make she must borrow +from one or other. It will be noticed that these +prohibitions tend, most of them, to an increased reserve between +the sexes. Regard for female chastity is the usual excuse +for these disabilities that men delight to lay upon their wives +and mothers. Here the regard is absent; and behold the +women still bound hand and foot with meaningless +proprieties! The women themselves, who are survivors of the +old regimen, admit that in those days life was not worth +living. And yet even then there were exceptions. +There were female chiefs and (I am assured) priestesses besides; +nice customs curtseyed to great dames, and in the most sacred +enclosure of a High Place, Father Siméon Delmar was shown +a stone, and told it was the throne of some well-descended +lady. How exactly parallel is this with European practice, +when princesses were suffered to penetrate the strictest +cloister, and women could rule over a land in which they were +denied the control of their own children.</p> +<p>But the tapu is more often the instrument of wise and needful +restrictions. We have seen it as the organ of paternal +government. It serves besides to enforce, in the rare case +of some one wishing to enforce them, rights of private +property. Thus a man, weary of the coming and going of +Marquesan visitors, tapus his door; and to this day you may see +the palm-branch signal, even as our great-grandfathers saw the +peeled wand before a Highland inn. Or take another +case. Anaho is known as ‘the country without +popoi.’ The word popoi serves in different islands to +indicate the main food of the people: thus, in Hawaii, it implies +a preparation of taro; in the Marquesas, of breadfruit. And +a Marquesan does not readily conceive life possible without his +favourite diet. A few years ago a drought killed the +breadfruit trees and the bananas in the district of Anaho; and +from this calamity, and the open-handed customs of the island, a +singular state of things arose. Well-watered Hatiheu had +escaped the drought; every householder of Anaho accordingly +crossed the pass, chose some one in Hatiheu, ‘gave him his +name’—an onerous gift, but one not to be +rejected—and from this improvised relative proceeded to +draw his supplies, for all the world as though he had paid for +them. Hence a continued traffic on the road. Some +stalwart fellow, in a loin-cloth, and glistening with sweat, may +be seen at all hours of the day, a stick across his bare +shoulders, tripping nervously under a double burthen of green +fruits. And on the far side of the gap a dozen stone posts +on the wayside in the shadow of a grove mark the breathing-space +of the popoi-carriers. A little back from the beach, and +not half a mile from Anaho, I was the more amazed to find a +cluster of well-doing breadfruits heavy with their harvest. +‘Why do you not take these?’ I asked. +‘Tapu,’ said Hoka; and I thought to myself (after the +manner of dull travellers) what children and fools these people +were to toil over the mountain and despoil innocent neighbours +when the staff of life was thus growing at their door. I +was the more in error. In the general destruction these +surviving trees were enough only for the family of the +proprietor, and by the simple expedient of declaring a tapu he +enforced his right.</p> +<p>The sanction of the tapu is superstitious; and the punishment +of infraction either a wasting or a deadly sickness. A slow +disease follows on the eating of tapu fish, and can only be cured +with the bones of the same fish burned with the due +mysteries. The cocoa-nut and breadfruit tapu works more +swiftly. Suppose you have eaten tapu fruit at the evening +meal, at night your sleep will be uneasy; in the morning, +swelling and a dark discoloration will have attacked your neck, +whence they spread upward to the face; and in two days, unless +the cure be interjected, you must die. This cure is +prepared from the rubbed leaves of the tree from which the +patient stole; so that he cannot be saved without confessing to +the Tahuku the person whom he wronged. In the experience of +my informant, almost no tapu had been put in use, except the two +described: he had thus no opportunity to learn the nature and +operation of the others; and, as the art of making them was +jealously guarded amongst the old men, he believed the mystery +would soon die out. I should add that he was no Marquesan, +but a Chinaman, a resident in the group from boyhood, and a +reverent believer in the spells which he described. White +men, amongst whom Ah Fu included himself, were exempt; but he had +a tale of a Tahitian woman, who had come to the Marquesas, eaten +tapu fish, and, although uninformed of her offence and danger, +had been afflicted and cured exactly like a native.</p> +<p>Doubtless the belief is strong; doubtless, with this weakly +and fanciful race, it is in many cases strong enough to kill; it +should be strong indeed in those who tapu their trees secretly, +so that they may detect a depredator by his sickness. Or, +perhaps, we should understand the idea of the hidden tapu +otherwise, as a politic device to spread uneasiness and extort +confessions: so that, when a man is ailing, he shall ransack his +brain for any possible offence, and send at once for any +proprietor whose rights he has invaded. ‘Had you +hidden a tapu?’ we may conceive him asking; and I cannot +imagine the proprietor gainsaying it; and this is perhaps the +strangest feature of the system—that it should be regarded +from without with such a mental and implicit awe, and, when +examined from within, should present so many apparent evidences +of design.</p> +<p>We read in Dr. Campbell’s <i>Poenamo</i> of a New +Zealand girl, who was foolishly told that she had eaten a tapu +yam, and who instantly sickened, and died in the two days of +simple terror. The period is the same as in the Marquesas; +doubtless the symptoms were so too. How singular to +consider that a superstition of such sway is possibly a +manufactured article; and that, even if it were not originally +invented, its details have plainly been arranged by the +authorities of some Polynesian Scotland Yard. Fitly enough, +the belief is to-day—and was probably always—far from +universal. Hell at home is a strong deterrent with some; a +passing thought with others; with others, again, a theme of +public mockery, not always well assured; and so in the Marquesas +with the tapu. Mr. Regler has seen the two extremes of +scepticism and implicit fear. In the tapu grove he found +one fellow stealing breadfruit, cheerful and impudent as a street +arab; and it was only on a menace of exposure that he showed +himself the least discountenanced. The other case was +opposed in every point. Mr. Regler asked a native to +accompany him upon a voyage; the man went gladly enough, but +suddenly perceiving a dead tapu fish in the bottom of the boat, +leaped back with a scream; nor could the promise of a dollar +prevail upon him to advance.</p> +<p>The Marquesan, it will be observed, adheres to the old idea of +the local circumscription of beliefs and duties. Not only +are the whites exempt from consequences; but their transgressions +seem to be viewed without horror. It was Mr. Regler who had +killed the fish; yet the devout native was not shocked at Mr. +Regler—only refused to join him in his boat. A white +is a white: the servant (so to speak) of other and more liberal +gods; and not to be blamed if he profit by his liberty. The +Jews were perhaps the first to interrupt this ancient comity of +faiths; and the Jewish virus is still strong in +Christianity. All the world must respect our tapus, or we +gnash our teeth.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER VII—HATIHEU</h3> +<p>The bays of Anaho and Hatiheu are divided at their roots by +the knife-edge of a single hill—the pass so often +mentioned; but this isthmus expands to the seaward in a +considerable peninsula: very bare and grassy; haunted by sheep +and, at night and morning, by the piercing cries of the +shepherds; wandered over by a few wild goats; and on its +sea-front indented with long, clamorous caves, and faced with +cliffs of the colour and ruinous outline of an old +peat-stack. In one of these echoing and sunless gullies we +saw, clustered like sea-birds on a splashing ledge, shrill as +sea-birds in their salutation to the passing boat, a group of +fisherwomen, stripped to their gaudy under-clothes. (The +clash of the surf and the thin female voices echo in my +memory.) We had that day a native crew and steersman, +Kauanui; it was our first experience of Polynesian seamanship, +which consists in hugging every point of land. There is no +thought in this of saving time, for they will pull a long way in +to skirt a point that is embayed. It seems that, as they +can never get their houses near enough the surf upon the one +side, so they can never get their boats near enough upon the +other. The practice in bold water is not so dangerous as it +looks—the reflex from the rocks sending the boat off. +Near beaches with a heavy run of sea, I continue to think it very +hazardous, and find the composure of the natives annoying to +behold. We took unmingled pleasure, on the way out, to see +so near at hand the beach and the wonderful colours of the +surf. On the way back, when the sea had risen and was +running strong against us, the fineness of the steersman’s +aim grew more embarrassing. As we came abreast of the +sea-front, where the surf broke highest, Kauanui embraced the +occasion to light his pipe, which then made the circuit of the +boat—each man taking a whiff or two, and, ere he passed it +on, filling his lungs and cheeks with smoke. Their faces +were all puffed out like apples as we came abreast of the cliff +foot, and the bursting surge fell back into the boat in +showers. At the next point ‘cocanetti’ was the +word, and the stroke borrowed my knife, and desisted from his +labours to open nuts. These untimely indulgences may be +compared to the tot of grog served out before a ship goes into +action.</p> +<p>My purpose in this visit led me first to the boys’ +school, for Hatiheu is the university of the north islands. +The hum of the lesson came out to meet us. Close by the +door, where the draught blew coolest, sat the lay brother; around +him, in a packed half-circle, some sixty high-coloured faces set +with staring eyes; and in the background of the barn-like room +benches were to be seen, and blackboards with sums on them in +chalk. The brother rose to greet us, sensibly humble. +Thirty years he had been there, he said, and fingered his white +locks as a bashful child pulls out his pinafore. ‘<i>Et +point de résultats</i>, <i>monsieur</i>, <i>presque pas de +résultats</i>.’ He pointed to the scholars: +‘You see, sir, all the youth of Nuka-hiva and Ua-pu. +Between the ages of six and fifteen this is all that remains; and +it is but a few years since we had a hundred and twenty from +Nuka-hiva alone. <i>Oui</i>, <i>monsieur</i>, <i>cela se +dépérit</i>.’ Prayers, and reading and +writing, prayers again and arithmetic, and more prayers to +conclude: such appeared to be the dreary nature of the +course. For arithmetic all island people have a natural +taste. In Hawaii they make good progress in +mathematics. In one of the villages on Majuro, and +generally in the Marshall group, the whole population sit about +the trader when he is weighing copra, and each on his own slate +takes down the figures and computes the total. The trader, +finding them so apt, introduced fractions, for which they had +been taught no rule. At first they were quite gravelled but +ultimately, by sheer hard thinking, reasoned out the result, and +came one after another to assure the trader he was right. +Not many people in Europe could have done the like. The +course at Hatiheu is therefore less dispiriting to Polynesians +than a stranger might have guessed; and yet how bald it is at +best! I asked the brother if he did not tell them stories, +and he stared at me; if he did not teach them history, and he +said, ‘O yes, they had a little Scripture +history—from the New Testament’; and repeated his +lamentations over the lack of results. I had not the heart +to put more questions; I could but say it must be very +discouraging, and resist the impulse to add that it seemed also +very natural. He looked up—‘My days are far +spent,’ he said; ‘heaven awaits me.’ May +that heaven forgive me, but I was angry with the old man and his +simple consolation. For think of his opportunity! The +youth, from six to fifteen, are taken from their homes by +Government, centralised at Hatiheu, where they are supported by a +weekly tax of food; and, with the exception of one month in every +year, surrendered wholly to the direction of the priests. +Since the escapade already mentioned the holiday occurs at a +different period for the girls and for the boys; so that a +Marquesan brother and sister meet again, after their education is +complete, a pair of strangers. It is a harsh law, and +highly unpopular; but what a power it places in the hands of the +instructors, and how languidly and dully is that power employed +by the mission! Too much concern to make the natives pious, +a design in which they all confess defeat, is, I suppose, the +explanation of their miserable system. But they might see +in the girls’ school at Tai-o-hae, under the brisk, +housewifely sisters, a different picture of efficiency, and a +scene of neatness, airiness, and spirited and mirthful occupation +that should shame them into cheerier methods. The sisters +themselves lament their failure. They complain the annual +holiday undoes the whole year’s work; they complain +particularly of the heartless indifference of the girls. +Out of so many pretty and apparently affectionate pupils whom +they have taught and reared, only two have ever returned to pay a +visit of remembrance to their teachers. These, indeed, come +regularly, but the rest, so soon as their school-days are over, +disappear into the woods like captive insects. It is hard +to imagine anything more discouraging; and yet I do not believe +these ladies need despair. For a certain interval they keep +the girls alive and innocently busy; and if it be at all possible +to save the race, this would be the means. No such praise +can be given to the boys’ school at Hatiheu. The day +is numbered already for them all; alike for the teacher and the +scholars death is girt; he is afoot upon the march; and in the +frequent interval they sit and yawn. But in life there +seems a thread of purpose through the least significant; the +drowsiest endeavour is not lost, and even the school at Hatiheu +may be more useful than it seems.</p> +<p>Hatiheu is a place of some pretensions. The end of the +bay towards Anaho may be called the civil compound, for it boasts +the house of Kooamua, and close on the beach, under a great tree, +that of the gendarme, M. Armand Aussel, with his garden, his +pictures, his books, and his excellent table, to which strangers +are made welcome. No more singular contrast is possible +than between the gendarmerie and the priesthood, who are besides +in smouldering opposition and full of mutual complaints. A +priest’s kitchen in the eastern islands is a depressing +spot to see; and many, or most of them, make no attempt to keep a +garden, sparsely subsisting on their rations. But you will +never dine with a gendarme without smacking your lips; and M. +Aussel’s home-made sausage and the salad from his garden +are unforgotten delicacies. Pierre Loti may like to know +that he is M. Aussel’s favourite author, and that his books +are read in the fit scenery of Hatiheu bay.</p> +<p>The other end is all religious. It is here that an +overhanging and tip-tilted horn, a good sea-mark for Hatiheu, +bursts naked from the verdure of the climbing forest, and breaks +down shoreward in steep taluses and cliffs. From the edge +of one of the highest, perhaps seven hundred or a thousand feet +above the beach, a Virgin looks insignificantly down, like a poor +lost doll, forgotten there by a giant child. This laborious +symbol of the Catholics is always strange to Protestants; we +conceive with wonder that men should think it worth while to toil +so many days, and clamber so much about the face of precipices, +for an end that makes us smile; and yet I believe it was the wise +Bishop Dordillon who chose the place, and I know that those who +had a hand in the enterprise look back with pride upon its +vanquished dangers. The boys’ school is a recent +importation; it was at first in Tai-o-hae, beside the +girls’; and it was only of late, after their joint +escapade, that the width of the island was interposed between the +sexes. But Hatiheu must have been a place of missionary +importance from before. About midway of the beach no less +than three churches stand grouped in a patch of bananas, +intermingled with some pine-apples. Two are of wood: the +original church, now in disuse; and a second that, for some +mysterious reason, has never been used. The new church is +of stone, with twin towers, walls flangeing into buttresses, and +sculptured front. The design itself is good, simple, and +shapely; but the character is all in the detail, where the +architect has bloomed into the sculptor. It is impossible +to tell in words of the angels (although they are more like +winged archbishops) that stand guard upon the door, of the +cherubs in the corners, of the scapegoat gargoyles, or the quaint +and spirited relief, where St. Michael (the artist’s +patron) makes short work of a protesting Lucifer. We were +never weary of viewing the imagery, so innocent, sometimes so +funny, and yet in the best sense—in the sense of inventive +gusto and expression—so artistic. I know not whether +it was more strange to find a building of such merit in a corner +of a barbarous isle, or to see a building so antique still bright +with novelty. The architect, a French lay brother, still +alive and well, and meditating fresh foundations, must have +surely drawn his descent from a master-builder in the age of the +cathedrals; and it was in looking on the church of Hatiheu that I +seemed to perceive the secret charm of mediæval sculpture; +that combination of the childish courage of the amateur, +attempting all things, like the schoolboy on his slate, with the +manly perseverance of the artist who does not know when he is +conquered.</p> +<p>I had always afterwards a strong wish to meet the architect, +Brother Michel; and one day, when I was talking with the Resident +in Tai-o-hae (the chief port of the island), there were shown in +to us an old, worn, purblind, ascetic-looking priest, and a lay +brother, a type of all that is most sound in France, with a +broad, clever, honest, humorous countenance, an eye very large +and bright, and a strong and healthy body inclining to +obesity. But that his blouse was black and his face shaven +clean, you might pick such a man to-day, toiling cheerfully in +his own patch of vines, from half a dozen provinces of France; +and yet he had always for me a haunting resemblance to an old +kind friend of my boyhood, whom I name in case any of my readers +should share with me that memory—Dr. Paul, of the West +Kirk. Almost at the first word I was sure it was my +architect, and in a moment we were deep in a discussion of +Hatiheu church. Brother Michel spoke always of his labours +with a twinkle of humour, underlying which it was possible to spy +a serious pride, and the change from one to another was often +very human and diverting. ‘<i>Et vos gargouilles +moyen-âge</i>,’ cried I; ‘<i>comme elles sont +originates</i>!’ ‘<i>N’est-ce +pas</i>? <i>Elles sont bien drôles</i>!’ he +said, smiling broadly; and the next moment, with a sudden +gravity: ‘<i>Cependant il y en a une qui a une patte de +cassé</i>; <i>il faut que je voie cela</i>.’ I +asked if he had any model—a point we much discussed. +‘<i>Non</i>,’ said he simply; ‘<i>c’est +une église idéale</i>.’ The relievo was +his favourite performance, and very justly so. The angels +at the door, he owned, he would like to destroy and +replace. ‘<i>Ils n’ont pas de vie</i>, <i>ils +manquent de vie</i>. <i>Vous devriez voir mon église +à la Dominique</i>; <i>j’ai là une Vierge qui +est vraiment gentille</i>.’ ‘Ah,’ I +cried, ‘they told me you had said you would never build +another church, and I wrote in my journal I could not believe +it.’ ‘<i>Oui</i>, <i>j’aimerais bien en +fairs une autre</i>,’ he confessed, and smiled at the +confession. An artist will understand how much I was +attracted by this conversation. There is no bond so near as +a community in that unaffected interest and slightly shame-faced +pride which mark the intelligent man enamoured of an art. +He sees the limitations of his aim, the defects of his practice; +he smiles to be so employed upon the shores of death, yet sees in +his own devotion something worthy. Artists, if they had the +same sense of humour with the Augurs, would smile like them on +meeting, but the smile would not be scornful.</p> +<p>I had occasion to see much of this excellent man. He +sailed with us from Tai-o-hae to Hiva-oa, a dead beat of ninety +miles against a heavy sea. It was what is called a good +passage, and a feather in the <i>Casco’s</i> cap; but among +the most miserable forty hours that any one of us had ever +passed. We were swung and tossed together all that time +like shot in a stage thunder-box. The mate was thrown down +and had his head cut open; the captain was sick on deck; the cook +sick in the galley. Of all our party only two sat down to +dinner. I was one. I own that I felt wretchedly; and +I can only say of the other, who professed to feel quite well, +that she fled at an early moment from the table. It was in +these circumstances that we skirted the windward shore of that +indescribable island of Ua-pu; viewing with dizzy eyes the coves, +the capes, the breakers, the climbing forests, and the +inaccessible stone needles that surmount the mountains. The +place persists, in a dark corner of our memories, like a piece of +the scenery of nightmares. The end of this distressful +passage, where we were to land our passengers, was in a similar +vein of roughness. The surf ran high on the beach at +Taahauku; the boat broached-to and capsized; and all hands were +submerged. Only the brother himself, who was well used to +the experience, skipped ashore, by some miracle of agility, with +scarce a sprinkling. Thenceforward, during our stay at +Hiva-oa, he was our cicerone and patron; introducing us, taking +us excursions, serving us in every way, and making himself daily +more beloved.</p> +<p>Michel Blanc had been a carpenter by trade; had made money and +retired, supposing his active days quite over; and it was only +when he found idleness dangerous that he placed his capital and +acquirements at the service of the mission. He became their +carpenter, mason, architect, and engineer; added sculpture to his +accomplishments, and was famous for his skill in gardening. +He wore an enviable air of having found a port from life’s +contentions and lying there strongly anchored; went about his +business with a jolly simplicity; complained of no lack of +results—perhaps shyly thinking his own statuary result +enough; and was altogether a pattern of the missionary +layman.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER VIII—THE PORT OF ENTRY</h3> +<p>The port—the mart, the civil and religious capital of +these rude islands—is called Tai-o-hae, and lies strung +along the beach of a precipitous green bay in Nuka-hiva. It +was midwinter when we came thither, and the weather was sultry, +boisterous, and inconstant. Now the wind blew squally from +the land down gaps of splintered precipice; now, between the +sentinel islets of the entry, it came in gusts from +seaward. Heavy and dark clouds impended on the summits; the +rain roared and ceased; the scuppers of the mountain gushed; and +the next day we would see the sides of the amphitheatre bearded +with white falls. Along the beach the town shows a thin +file of houses, mostly white, and all ensconced in the foliage of +an avenue of green puraos; a pier gives access from the sea +across the belt of breakers; to the eastward there stands, on a +projecting bushy hill, the old fort which is now the calaboose, +or prison; eastward still, alone in a garden, the Residency flies +the colours of France. Just off Calaboose Hill, the tiny +Government schooner rides almost permanently at anchor, marks +eight bells in the morning (there or thereabout) with the +unfurling of her flag, and salutes the setting sun with the +report of a musket.</p> +<p>Here dwell together, and share the comforts of a club (which +may be enumerated as a billiard-board, absinthe, a map of the +world on Mercator’s projection, and one of the most +agreeable verandahs in the tropics), a handful of whites of +varying nationality, mostly French officials, German and Scottish +merchant clerks, and the agents of the opium monopoly. +There are besides three tavern-keepers, the shrewd Scot who runs +the cotton gin-mill, two white ladies, and a sprinkling of people +‘on the beach’—a South Sea expression for which +there is no exact equivalent. It is a pleasant society, and +a hospitable. But one man, who was often to be seen seated +on the logs at the pier-head, merits a word for the singularity +of his history and appearance. Long ago, it seems, he fell +in love with a native lady, a High Chiefess in Ua-pu. She, +on being approached, declared she could never marry a man who was +untattooed; it looked so naked; whereupon, with some greatness of +soul, our hero put himself in the hands of the Tahukus, and, with +still greater, persevered until the process was complete. +He had certainly to bear a great expense, for the Tahuku will not +work without reward; and certainly exquisite pain. Kooamua, +high chief as he was, and one of the old school, was only part +tattooed; he could not, he told us with lively pantomime, endure +the torture to an end. Our enamoured countryman was more +resolved; he was tattooed from head to foot in the most approved +methods of the art; and at last presented himself before his +mistress a new man. The fickle fair one could never behold +him from that day except with laughter. For my part, I +could never see the man without a kind of admiration; of him it +might be said, if ever of any, that he had loved not wisely, but +too well.</p> +<p>The Residency stands by itself, Calaboose Hill screening it +from the fringe of town along the further bay. The house is +commodious, with wide verandahs; all day it stands open, back and +front, and the trade blows copiously over its bare floors. +On a week-day the garden offers a scene of most untropical +animation, half a dozen convicts toiling there cheerfully with +spade and barrow, and touching hats and smiling to the visitor +like old attached family servants. On Sunday these are +gone, and nothing to be seen but dogs of all ranks and sizes +peacefully slumbering in the shady grounds; for the dogs of +Tai-o-hae are very courtly-minded, and make the seat of +Government their promenade and place of siesta. In front +and beyond, a strip of green down loses itself in a low wood of +many species of acacia; and deep in the wood a ruinous wall +encloses the cemetery of the Europeans. English and +Scottish sleep there, and Scandinavians, and French +<i>maîtres de manœuvres</i> and <i>maîtres +ouvriers</i>: mingling alien dust. Back in the woods, +perhaps, the blackbird, or (as they call him there) the island +nightingale, will be singing home strains; and the ceaseless +requiem of the surf hangs on the ear. I have never seen a +resting-place more quiet; but it was a long thought how far these +sleepers had all travelled, and from what diverse homes they had +set forth, to lie here in the end together.</p> +<p>On the summit of its promontory hill, the calaboose stands all +day with doors and window-shutters open to the trade. On my +first visit a dog was the only guardian visible. He, +indeed, rose with an attitude so menacing that I was glad to lay +hands on an old barrel-hoop; and I think the weapon must have +been familiar, for the champion instantly retreated, and as I +wandered round the court and through the building, I could see +him, with a couple of companions, humbly dodging me about the +corners. The prisoners’ dormitory was a spacious, +airy room, devoid of any furniture; its whitewashed walls covered +with inscriptions in Marquesan and rude drawings: one of the +pier, not badly done; one of a murder; several of French soldiers +in uniform. There was one legend in French: ‘<i>Je +n’est</i>’ (sic) ‘<i>pas le +sou</i>.’ From this noontide quietude it must not be +supposed the prison was untenanted; the calaboose at Tai-o-hae +does a good business. But some of its occupants were +gardening at the Residency, and the rest were probably at work +upon the streets, as free as our scavengers at home, although not +so industrious. On the approach of evening they would be +called in like children from play; and the harbour-master (who is +also the jailer) would go through the form of locking them up +until six the next morning. Should a prisoner have any call +in town, whether of pleasure or affairs, he has but to unhook the +window-shutters; and if he is back again, and the shutter +decently replaced, by the hour of call on the morrow, he may have +met the harbour-master in the avenue, and there will be no +complaint, far less any punishment. But this is not +all. The charming French Resident, M. Delaruelle, carried +me one day to the calaboose on an official visit. In the +green court, a very ragged gentleman, his legs deformed with the +island elephantiasis, saluted us smiling. ‘One of our +political prisoners—an insurgent from Raiatea,’ said +the Resident; and then to the jailer: ‘I thought I had +ordered him a new pair of trousers.’ Meanwhile no +other convict was to be seen—‘<i>Eh bien</i>,’ +said the Resident, ‘<i>où sont vos +prisonniers</i>?’ ‘<i>Monsieur le +Résident</i>,’ replied the jailer, saluting with +soldierly formality, ‘<i>comme c’est jour de +fête</i>, <i>je les ai laissé aller à la +chasse</i>.’ They were all upon the mountains hunting +goats! Presently we came to the quarters of the women, +likewise deserted—‘<i>Où sont vos bonnes +femmes</i>?’ asked the Resident; and the jailer cheerfully +responded: ‘<i>Je crois</i>, <i>Monsieur le +Résident</i>, <i>qu’elles sont allées +quelquepart faire une visite</i>.’ It had been the +design of M. Delaruelle, who was much in love with the +whimsicalities of his small realm, to elicit something comical; +but not even he expected anything so perfect as the last. +To complete the picture of convict life in Tai-o-hae, it remains +to be added that these criminals draw a salary as regularly as +the President of the Republic. Ten sous a day is their +hire. Thus they have money, food, shelter, clothing, and, I +was about to write, their liberty. The French are certainly +a good-natured people, and make easy masters. They are +besides inclined to view the Marquesans with an eye of humorous +indulgence. ‘They are dying, poor devils!’ said +M. Delaruelle: ‘the main thing is to let them die in +peace.’ And it was not only well said, but I believe +expressed the general thought. Yet there is another element +to be considered; for these convicts are not merely useful, they +are almost essential to the French existence. With a people +incurably idle, dispirited by what can only be called endemic +pestilence, and inflamed with ill-feeling against their new +masters, crime and convict labour are a godsend to the +Government.</p> +<p>Theft is practically the sole crime. Originally petty +pilferers, the men of Tai-o-hae now begin to force locks and +attack strong-boxes. Hundreds of dollars have been taken at +a time; though, with that redeeming moderation so common in +Polynesian theft, the Marquesan burglar will always take a part +and leave a part, sharing (so to speak) with the +proprietor. If it be Chilian coin—the island +currency—he will escape; if the sum is in gold, French +silver, or bank-notes, the police wait until the money begins to +come in circulation, and then easily pick out their man. +And now comes the shameful part. In plain English, the +prisoner is tortured until he confesses and (if that be possible) +restores the money. To keep him alone, day and night, in +the black hole, is to inflict on the Marquesan torture +inexpressible. Even his robberies are carried on in the +plain daylight, under the open sky, with the stimulus of +enterprise, and the countenance of an accomplice; his terror of +the dark is still insurmountable; conceive, then, what he endures +in his solitary dungeon; conceive how he longs to confess, become +a full-fledged convict, and be allowed to sleep beside his +comrades. While we were in Tai-o-hae a thief was under +prevention. He had entered a house about eight in the +morning, forced a trunk, and stolen eleven hundred francs; and +now, under the horrors of darkness, solitude, and a bedevilled +cannibal imagination, he was reluctantly confessing and giving up +his spoil. From one cache, which he had already pointed +out, three hundred francs had been recovered, and it was expected +that he would presently disgorge the rest. This would be +ugly enough if it were all; but I am bound to say, because it is +a matter the French should set at rest, that worse is continually +hinted. I heard that one man was kept six days with his +arms bound backward round a barrel; and it is the universal +report that every gendarme in the South Seas is equipped with +something in the nature of a thumbscrew. I do not know +this. I never had the face to ask any of the +gendarmes—pleasant, intelligent, and kindly +fellows—with whom I have been intimate, and whose +hospitality I have enjoyed; and perhaps the tale reposes (as I +hope it does) on a misconstruction of that ingenious +cat’s-cradle with which the French agent of police so +readily secures a prisoner. But whether physical or moral, +torture is certainly employed; and by a barbarous injustice, the +state of accusation (in which a man may very well be innocently +placed) is positively painful; the state of conviction (in which +all are supposed guilty) is comparatively free, and positively +pleasant. Perhaps worse still,—not only the accused, +but sometimes his wife, his mistress, or his friend, is subjected +to the same hardships. I was admiring, in the tapu system, +the ingenuity of native methods of detection; there is not much +to admire in those of the French, and to lock up a timid child in +a dark room, and, if he proved obstinate, lock up his sister in +the next, is neither novel nor humane.</p> +<p>The main occasion of these thefts is the new vice of +opium-eating. ‘Here nobody ever works, and all eat +opium,’ said a gendarme; and Ah Fu knew a woman who ate a +dollar’s worth in a day. The successful thief will +give a handful of money to each of his friends, a dress to a +woman, pass an evening in one of the taverns of Tai-o-hae, during +which he treats all comers, produce a big lump of opium, and +retire to the bush to eat and sleep it off. A trader, who +did not sell opium, confessed to me that he was at his +wit’s end. ‘I do not sell it, but others +do,’ said he. ‘The natives only work to buy it; +if they walk over to me to sell their cotton, they have just to +walk over to some one else to buy their opium with my +money. And why should they be at the bother of two +walks? There is no use talking,’ he +added—‘opium is the currency of this +country.’</p> +<p>The man under prevention during my stay at Tai-o-hae lost +patience while the Chinese opium-seller was being examined in his +presence. ‘Of course he sold me opium!’ he +broke out; ‘all the Chinese here sell opium. It was +only to buy opium that I stole; it is only to buy opium that +anybody steals. And what you ought to do is to let no opium +come here, and no Chinamen.’ This is precisely what +is done in Samoa by a native Government; but the French have +bound their own hands, and for forty thousand francs sold native +subjects to crime and death. This horrid traffic may be +said to have sprung up by accident. It was Captain Hart who +had the misfortune to be the means of beginning it, at a time +when his plantations flourished in the Marquesas, and he found a +difficulty in keeping Chinese coolies. To-day the +plantations are practically deserted and the Chinese gone; but in +the meanwhile the natives have learned the vice, the patent +brings in a round sum, and the needy Government at Papeete shut +their eyes and open their pockets. Of course, the patentee +is supposed to sell to Chinamen alone; equally of course, no one +could afford to pay forty thousand francs for the privilege of +supplying a scattered handful of Chinese; and every one knows the +truth, and all are ashamed of it. French officials shake +their heads when opium is mentioned; and the agents of the farmer +blush for their employment. Those that live in glass houses +should not throw stones; as a subject of the British crown, I am +an unwilling shareholder in the largest opium business under +heaven. But the British case is highly complicated; it +implies the livelihood of millions; and must be reformed, when it +can be reformed at all, with prudence. This French +business, on the other hand, is a nostrum and a mere +excrescence. No native industry was to be encouraged: the +poison is solemnly imported. No native habit was to be +considered: the vice has been gratuitously introduced. And +no creature profits, save the Government at Papeete—the not +very enviable gentlemen who pay them, and the Chinese underlings +who do the dirty work.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER IX—THE HOUSE OF TEMOANA</h3> +<p>The history of the Marquesas is, of late years, much confused +by the coming and going of the French. At least twice they +have seized the archipelago, at least once deserted it; and in +the meanwhile the natives pursued almost without interruption +their desultory cannibal wars. Through these events and +changing dynasties, a single considerable figure may be seen to +move: that of the high chief, a king, Temoana. Odds and +ends of his history came to my ears: how he was at first a +convert to the Protestant mission; how he was kidnapped or exiled +from his native land, served as cook aboard a whaler, and was +shown, for small charge, in English seaports; how he returned at +last to the Marquesas, fell under the strong and benign influence +of the late bishop, extended his influence in the group, was for +a while joint ruler with the prelate, and died at last the chief +supporter of Catholicism and the French. His widow remains +in receipt of two pounds a month from the French +Government. Queen she is usually called, but in the +official almanac she figures as ‘<i>Madame Vaekehu</i>, +<i>Grande Chefesse</i>.’ His son (natural or +adoptive, I know not which), Stanislao Moanatini, chief of Akaui, +serves in Tai-o-hae as a kind of Minister of Public Works; and +the daughter of Stanislao is High Chiefess of the southern island +of Tauata. These, then, are the greatest folk of the +archipelago; we thought them also the most estimable. This +is the rule in Polynesia, with few exceptions; the higher the +family, the better the man—better in sense, better in +manners, and usually taller and stronger in body. A +stranger advances blindfold. He scrapes acquaintance as he +can. Save the tattoo in the Marquesas, nothing indicates +the difference of rank; and yet almost invariably we found, after +we had made them, that our friends were persons of station. +I have said ‘usually taller and stronger.’ I +might have been more absolute,—over all Polynesia, and a +part of Micronesia, the rule holds good; the great ones of the +isle, and even of the village, are greater of bone and muscle, +and often heavier of flesh, than any commoner. The usual +explanation—that the high-born child is more industriously +shampooed, is probably the true one. In New Caledonia, at +least, where the difference does not exist, has never been +remarked, the practice of shampooing seems to be itself +unknown. Doctors would be well employed in a study of the +point.</p> +<p>Vaekehu lives at the other end of the town from the Residency, +beyond the buildings of the mission. Her house is on the +European plan: a table in the midst of the chief room; +photographs and religious pictures on the wall. It commands +to either hand a charming vista: through the front door, a peep +of green lawn, scurrying pigs, the pendent fans of the coco-palm +and splendour of the bursting surf: through the back, mounting +forest glades and coronals of precipice. Here, in the +strong thorough-draught, Her Majesty received us in a simple gown +of print, and with no mark of royalty but the exquisite finish of +her tattooed mittens, the elaboration of her manners, and the +gentle falsetto in which all the highly refined among Marquesan +ladies (and Vaekehu above all others) delight to sing their +language. An adopted daughter interpreted, while we gave +the news, and rehearsed by name our friends of Anaho. As we +talked, we could see, through the landward door, another lady of +the household at her toilet under the green trees; who presently, +when her hair was arranged, and her hat wreathed with flowers, +appeared upon the back verandah with gracious salutations.</p> +<p>Vaekehu is very deaf; ‘<i>merci</i>’ is her only +word of French; and I do not know that she seemed clever. +An exquisite, kind refinement, with a shade of quietism, gathered +perhaps from the nuns, was what chiefly struck us. Or +rather, upon that first occasion, we were conscious of a sense as +of district-visiting on our part, and reduced evangelical +gentility on the part of our hostess. The other impression +followed after she was more at ease, and came with Stanislao and +his little girl to dine on board the <i>Casco</i>. She had +dressed for the occasion: wore white, which very well became her +strong brown face; and sat among us, eating or smoking her +cigarette, quite cut off from all society, or only now and then +included through the intermediary of her son. It was a +position that might have been ridiculous, and she made it +ornamental; making believe to hear and to be entertained; her +face, whenever she met our eyes, lighting with the smile of good +society; her contributions to the talk, when she made any, and +that was seldom, always complimentary and pleasing. No +attention was paid to the child, for instance, but what she +remarked and thanked us for. Her parting with each, when +she came to leave, was gracious and pretty, as had been every +step of her behaviour. When Mrs. Stevenson held out her +hand to say good-bye, Vaekehu took it, held it, and a moment +smiled upon her; dropped it, and then, as upon a kindly +after-thought, and with a sort of warmth of condescension, held +out both hands and kissed my wife upon both cheeks. Given +the same relation of years and of rank, the thing would have been +so done on the boards of the <i>Comédie +Française</i>; just so might Madame Brohan have warmed and +condescended to Madame Broisat in the <i>Marquis de +Villemer</i>. It was my part to accompany our guests +ashore: when I kissed the little girl good-bye at the pier steps, +Vaekehu gave a cry of gratification, reached down her hand into +the boat, took mine, and pressed it with that flattering softness +which seems the coquetry of the old lady in every quarter of the +earth. The next moment she had taken Stanislao’s arm, +and they moved off along the pier in the moonlight, leaving me +bewildered. This was a queen of cannibals; she was tattooed +from hand to foot, and perhaps the greatest masterpiece of that +art now extant, so that a while ago, before she was grown prim, +her leg was one of the sights of Tai-o-hae; she had been passed +from chief to chief; she had been fought for and taken in war; +perhaps, being so great a lady, she had sat on the high place, +and throned it there, alone of her sex, while the drums were +going twenty strong and the priests carried up the blood-stained +baskets of long-pig. And now behold her, out of that past +of violence and sickening feasts, step forth, in her age, a +quiet, smooth, elaborate old lady, such as you might find at home +(mittened also, but not often so well-mannered) in a score of +country houses. Only Vaekehu’s mittens were of dye, +not of silk; and they had been paid for, not in money, but the +cooked flesh of men. It came in my mind with a clap, what +she could think of it herself, and whether at heart, perhaps, she +might not regret and aspire after the barbarous and stirring +past. But when I asked Stanislao—‘Ah!’ +said he, ‘she is content; she is religious, she passes all +her days with the sisters.’</p> +<p>Stanislao (Stanislaos, with the final consonant evaded after +the Polynesian habit) was sent by Bishop Dordillon to South +America, and there educated by the fathers. His French is +fluent, his talk sensible and spirited, and in his capacity of +ganger-in-chief, he is of excellent service to the French. +With the prestige of his name and family, and with the stick when +needful, he keeps the natives working and the roads +passable. Without Stanislao and the convicts, I am in doubt +what would become of the present regimen in Nuka-hiva; whether +the highways might not be suffered to close up, the pier to wash +away, and the Residency to fall piecemeal about the ears of +impotent officials. And yet though the hereditary favourer, +and one of the chief props of French authority, he has always an +eye upon the past. He showed me where the old public place +had stood, still to be traced by random piles of stone; told me +how great and fine it was, and surrounded on all sides by +populous houses, whence, at the beating of the drums, the folk +crowded to make holiday. The drum-beat of the Polynesian +has a strange and gloomy stimulation for the nerves of all. +White persons feel it—at these precipitate sounds their +hearts beat faster; and, according to old residents, its effect +on the natives was extreme. Bishop Dordillon might entreat; +Temoana himself command and threaten; at the note of the drum +wild instincts triumphed. And now it might beat upon these +ruins, and who should assemble? The houses are down, the +people dead, their lineage extinct; and the sweepings and +fugitives of distant bays and islands encamp upon their +graves. The decline of the dance Stanislao especially +laments. ‘<i>Chaque pays a ses coutumes</i>,’ +said he; but in the report of any gendarme, perhaps corruptly +eager to increase the number of <i>délits</i> and the +instruments of his own power, custom after custom is placed on +the expurgatorial index. ‘<i>Tenez</i>, <i>une danse +qui n’est pas permise</i>,’ said Stanislao: +‘<i>je ne sais pas pourquoi</i>, <i>elle est très +jolie</i>, <i>elle va comme ça</i>,’ and sticking +his umbrella upright in the road, he sketched the steps and +gestures. All his criticisms of the present, all his +regrets for the past, struck me as temperate and sensible. +The short term of office of the Resident he thought the chief +defect of the administration; that officer having scarce begun to +be efficient ere he was recalled. I thought I gathered, +too, that he regarded with some fear the coming change from a +naval to a civil governor. I am sure at least that I regard +it so myself; for the civil servants of France have never +appeared to any foreigner as at all the flower of their country, +while her naval officers may challenge competition with the +world. In all his talk, Stanislao was particular to speak +of his own country as a land of savages; and when he stated an +opinion of his own, it was with some apologetic preface, alleging +that he was ‘a savage who had travelled.’ There +was a deal, in this elaborate modesty, of honest pride. Yet +there was something in the precaution that saddened me; and I +could not but fear he was only forestalling a taunt that he had +heard too often.</p> +<p>I recall with interest two interviews with Stanislao. +The first was a certain afternoon of tropic rain, which we passed +together in the verandah of the club; talking at times with +heightened voices as the showers redoubled overhead, passing at +times into the billiard-room, to consult, in the dim, cloudy +daylight, that map of the world which forms its chief +adornment. He was naturally ignorant of English history, so +that I had much of news to communicate. The story of Gordon +I told him in full, and many episodes of the Indian Mutiny, +Lucknow, the second battle of Cawn-pore, the relief of Arrah, the +death of poor Spottis-woode, and Sir Hugh Rose’s hotspur, +midland campaign. He was intent to hear; his brown face, +strongly marked with small-pox, kindled and changed with each +vicissitude. His eyes glowed with the reflected light of +battle; his questions were many and intelligent, and it was +chiefly these that sent us so often to the map. But it is +of our parting that I keep the strongest sense. We were to +sail on the morrow, and the night had fallen, dark, gusty, and +rainy, when we stumbled up the hill to bid farewell to +Stanislao. He had already loaded us with gifts; but more +were waiting. We sat about the table over cigars and green +cocoa-nuts; claps of wind blew through the house and extinguished +the lamp, which was always instantly relighted with a single +match; and these recurrent intervals of darkness were felt as a +relief. For there was something painful and embarrassing in +the kindness of that separation. ‘<i>Ah</i>, <i>vous +devriez rester ici</i>, <i>mon cher ami</i>!’ cried +Stanislao. ‘<i>Vous êtes les gens qu’il +faut pour les Kanaques</i>; <i>vous êtes doux</i>, <i>vous +et votre famille</i>; <i>vous seriez obéis dans toutes les +îles</i>.’ We had been civil; not always that, +my conscience told me, and never anything beyond; and all this +to-do is a measure, not of our considerateness, but of the want +of it in others. The rest of the evening, on to +Vaekehu’s and back as far as to the pier, Stanislao walked +with my arm and sheltered me with his umbrella; and after the +boat had put off, we could still distinguish, in the murky +darkness, his gestures of farewell. His words, if there +were any, were drowned by the rain and the loud surf.</p> +<p>I have mentioned presents, a vexed question in the South Seas; +and one which well illustrates the common, ignorant habit of +regarding races in a lump. In many quarters the Polynesian +gives only to receive. I have visited islands where the +population mobbed me for all the world like dogs after the waggon +of cat’s-meat; and where the frequent proposition, +‘You my pleni (friend),’ or (with more of pathos) +‘You all ’e same my father,’ must be received +with hearty laughter and a shout. And perhaps everywhere, +among the greedy and rapacious, a gift is regarded as a sprat to +catch a whale. It is the habit to give gifts and to receive +returns, and such characters, complying with the custom, will +look to it nearly that they do not lose. But for persons of +a different stamp the statement must be reversed. The +shabby Polynesian is anxious till he has received the return +gift; the generous is uneasy until he has made it. The +first is disappointed if you have not given more than he; the +second is miserable if he thinks he has given less than +you. This is my experience; if it clash with that of +others, I pity their fortune, and praise mine: the circumstances +cannot change what I have seen, nor lessen what I have +received. And indeed I find that those who oppose me often +argue from a ground of singular presumptions; comparing +Polynesians with an ideal person, compact of generosity and +gratitude, whom I never had the pleasure of encountering; and +forgetting that what is almost poverty to us is wealth almost +unthinkable to them. I will give one instance: I chanced to +speak with consideration of these gifts of Stanislao’s with +a certain clever man, a great hater and contemner of +Kanakas. ‘Well! what were they?’ he +cried. ‘A pack of old men’s beards. +Trash!’ And the same gentleman, some half an hour +later, being upon a different train of thought, dwelt at length +on the esteem in which the Marquesans held that sort of property, +how they preferred it to all others except land, and what fancy +prices it would fetch. Using his own figures, I computed +that, in this commodity alone, the gifts of Vaekehu and Stanislao +represented between two and three hundred dollars; and the +queen’s official salary is of two hundred and forty in the +year.</p> +<p>But generosity on the one hand, and conspicuous meanness on +the other, are in the South Seas, as at home, the +exception. It is neither with any hope of gain, nor with +any lively wish to please, that the ordinary Polynesian chooses +and presents his gifts. A plain social duty lies before +him, which he performs correctly, but without the least +enthusiasm. And we shall best understand his attitude of +mind, if we examine our own to the cognate absurdity of marriage +presents. There we give without any special thought of a +return; yet if the circumstance arise, and the return be +withheld, we shall judge ourselves insulted. We give them +usually without affection, and almost never with a genuine desire +to please; and our gift is rather a mark of our own status than a +measure of our love to the recipients. So in a great +measure and with the common run of the Polynesians; their gifts +are formal; they imply no more than social recognition; and they +are made and reciprocated, as we pay and return our morning +visits. And the practice of marking and measuring events +and sentiments by presents is universal in the island +world. A gift plays with them the part of stamp and seal; +and has entered profoundly into the mind of islanders. +Peace and war, marriage, adoption and naturalisation, are +celebrated or declared by the acceptance or the refusal of gifts; +and it is as natural for the islander to bring a gift as for us +to carry a card-case.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER X—A PORTRAIT AND A STORY</h3> +<p>I have had occasion several times to name the late bishop, +Father Dordillon, ‘Monseigneur,’ as he is still +almost universally called, Vicar-Apostolic of the Marquesas and +Bishop of Cambysopolis <i>in partibus</i>. Everywhere in +the islands, among all classes and races, this fine, old, kindly, +cheerful fellow is remembered with affection and respect. +His influence with the natives was paramount. They reckoned +him the highest of men—higher than an admiral; brought him +their money to keep; took his advice upon their purchases; nor +would they plant trees upon their own land till they had the +approval of the father of the islands. During the time of +the French exodus he singly represented Europe, living in the +Residency, and ruling by the hand of Temoana. The first +roads were made under his auspices and by his persuasion. +The old road between Hatiheu and Anaho was got under way from +either side on the ground that it would be pleasant for an +evening promenade, and brought to completion by working on the +rivalry of the two villages. The priest would boast in +Hatiheu of the progress made in Anaho, and he would tell the folk +of Anaho, ‘If you don’t take care, your neighbours +will be over the hill before you are at the top.’ It +could not be so done to-day; it could then; death, opium, and +depopulation had not gone so far; and the people of Hatiheu, I +was told, still vied with each other in fine attire, and used to +go out by families, in the cool of the evening, boat-sailing and +racing in the bay. There seems some truth at least in the +common view, that this joint reign of Temoana and the bishop was +the last and brief golden age of the Marquesas. But the +civil power returned, the mission was packed out of the Residency +at twenty-four hours’ notice, new methods supervened, and +the golden age (whatever it quite was) came to an end. It +is the strongest proof of Father Dordillon’s prestige that +it survived, seemingly without loss, this hasty deposition.</p> +<p>His method with the natives was extremely mild. Among +these barbarous children he still played the part of the smiling +father; and he was careful to observe, in all indifferent +matters, the Marquesan etiquette. Thus, in the singular +system of artificial kinship, the bishop had been adopted by +Vaekehu as a grandson; Miss Fisher, of Hatiheu, as a +daughter. From that day, Monseigneur never addressed the +young lady except as his mother, and closed his letters with the +formalities of a dutiful son. With Europeans he could be +strict, even to the extent of harshness. He made no +distinction against heretics, with whom he was on friendly terms; +but the rules of his own Church he would see observed; and once +at least he had a white man clapped in jail for the desecration +of a saint’s day. But even this rigour, so +intolerable to laymen, so irritating to Protestants, could not +shake his popularity. We shall best conceive him by +examples nearer home; we may all have known some divine of the +old school in Scotland, a literal Sabbatarian, a stickler for the +letter of the law, who was yet in private modest, innocent, +genial and mirthful. Much such a man, it seems, was Father +Dordillon. And his popularity bore a test yet +stronger. He had the name, and probably deserved it, of a +shrewd man in business and one that made the mission pay. +Nothing so much stirs up resentment as the inmixture in commerce +of religious bodies; but even rival traders spoke well of +Monseigneur.</p> +<p>His character is best portrayed in the story of the days of +his decline. A time came when, from the failure of sight, +he must desist from his literary labours: his Marquesan hymns, +grammars, and dictionaries; his scientific papers, lives of +saints, and devotional poetry. He cast about for a new +interest: pitched on gardening, and was to be seen all day, with +spade and water-pot, in his childlike eagerness, actually running +between the borders. Another step of decay, and he must +leave his garden also. Instantly a new occupation was +devised, and he sat in the mission cutting paper flowers and +wreaths. His diocese was not great enough for his activity; +the churches of the Marquesas were papered with his handiwork, +and still he must be making more. ‘Ah,’ said +he, smiling, ‘when I am dead what a fine time you will have +clearing out my trash!’ He had been dead about six +months; but I was pleased to see some of his trophies still +exposed, and looked upon them with a smile: the tribute (if I +have read his cheerful character aright) which he would have +preferred to any useless tears. Disease continued +progressively to disable him; he who had clambered so stalwartly +over the rude rocks of the Marquesas, bringing peace to warfaring +clans, was for some time carried in a chair between the mission +and the church, and at last confined to bed, impotent with +dropsy, and tormented with bed-sores and sciatica. Here he +lay two months without complaint; and on the 11th January 1888, +in the seventy-ninth year of his life, and the thirty-fourth of +his labours in the Marquesas, passed away.</p> +<p>Those who have a taste for hearing missions, Protestant or +Catholic, decried, must seek their pleasure elsewhere than in my +pages. Whether Catholic or Protestant, with all their gross +blots, with all their deficiency of candour, of humour, and of +common sense, the missionaries are the best and the most useful +whites in the Pacific. This is a subject which will follow +us throughout; but there is one part of it that may conveniently +be treated here. The married and the celibate missionary, +each has his particular advantage and defect. The married +missionary, taking him at the best, may offer to the native what +he is much in want of—a higher picture of domestic life; +but the woman at his elbow tends to keep him in touch with Europe +and out of touch with Polynesia, and to perpetuate, and even to +ingrain, parochial decencies far best forgotten. The mind +of the female missionary tends, for instance, to be continually +busied about dress. She can be taught with extreme +difficulty to think any costume decent but that to which she grew +accustomed on Clapham Common; and to gratify this prejudice, the +native is put to useless expense, his mind is tainted with the +morbidities of Europe, and his health is set in danger. The +celibate missionary, on the other hand, and whether at best or +worst, falls readily into native ways of life; to which he adds +too commonly what is either a mark of celibate man at large, or +an inheritance from mediæval saints—I mean slovenly +habits and an unclean person. There are, of course, degrees +in this; and the sister (of course, and all honour to her) is as +fresh as a lady at a ball. For the diet there is nothing to +be said—it must amaze and shock the Polynesian—but +for the adoption of native habits there is much. +‘<i>Chaque pays a ses coutumes</i>,’ said Stanislao; +these it is the missionary’s delicate task to modify; and +the more he can do so from within, and from a native standpoint, +the better he will do his work; and here I think the Catholics +have sometimes the advantage; in the Vicariate of Dordillon, I am +sure they had it. I have heard the bishop blamed for his +indulgence to the natives, and above all because he did not rage +with sufficient energy against cannibalism. It was a part +of his policy to live among the natives like an elder brother; to +follow where he could; to lead where it was necessary; never to +drive; and to encourage the growth of new habits, instead of +violently rooting up the old. And it might be better, in +the long-run, if this policy were always followed.</p> +<p>It might be supposed that native missionaries would prove more +indulgent, but the reverse is found to be the case. The new +broom sweeps clean; and the white missionary of to-day is often +embarrassed by the bigotry of his native coadjutor. What +else should we expect? On some islands, sorcery, polygamy, +human sacrifice, and tobacco-smoking have been prohibited, the +dress of the native has been modified, and himself warned in +strong terms against rival sects of Christianity; all by the same +man, at the same period of time, and with the like +authority. By what criterion is the convert to distinguish +the essential from the unessential? He swallows the nostrum +whole; there has been no play of mind, no instruction, and, +except for some brute utility in the prohibitions, no +advance. To call things by their proper names, this is +teaching superstition. It is unfortunate to use the word; +so few people have read history, and so many have dipped into +little atheistic manuals, that the majority will rush to a +conclusion, and suppose the labour lost. And far from that: +These semi-spontaneous superstitions, varying with the sect of +the original evangelist and the customs of the island, are found +in practice to be highly fructifying; and in particular those who +have learned and who go forth again to teach them offer an +example to the world. The best specimen of the Christian +hero that I ever met was one of these native missionaries. +He had saved two lives at the risk of his own; like Nathan, he +had bearded a tyrant in his hour of blood; when a whole white +population fled, he alone stood to his duty; and his behaviour +under domestic sorrow with which the public has no concern filled +the beholder with sympathy and admiration. A poor little +smiling laborious man he looked; and you would have thought he +had nothing in him but that of which indeed he had too +much—facile good-nature. <a name="citation86"></a><a +href="#footnote86" class="citation">[86]</a></p> +<p>It chances that the only rivals of Monseigneur and his mission +in the Marquesas were certain of these brown-skinned evangelists, +natives from Hawaii. I know not what they thought of Father +Dordillon: they are the only class I did not question; but I +suspect the prelate to have regarded them askance, for he was +eminently human. During my stay at Tai-o-hae, the time of +the yearly holiday came round at the girls’ school; and a +whole fleet of whale-boats came from Ua-pu to take the daughters +of that island home. On board of these was Kauwealoha, one +of the pastors, a fine, rugged old gentleman, of that leonine +type so common in Hawaii. He paid me a visit in the +<i>Casco</i>, and there entertained me with a tale of one of his +colleagues, Kekela, a missionary in the great cannibal isle of +Hiva-oa. It appears that shortly after a kidnapping visit +from a Peruvian slaver, the boats of an American whaler put into +a bay upon that island, were attacked, and made their escape with +difficulty, leaving their mate, a Mr. Whalon, in the hands of the +natives. The captive, with his arms bound behind his back, +was cast into a house; and the chief announced the capture to +Kekela. And here I begin to follow the version of +Kauwealoha; it is a good specimen of Kanaka English; and the +reader is to conceive it delivered with violent emphasis and +speaking pantomime.</p> +<p>‘“I got ’Melican mate,” the chief he +say. “What you go do ’Melican mate?” +Kekela he say. “I go make fire, I go kill, I go eat +him,” he say; “you come to-mollow eat +piece.” “I no <i>want</i> eat ’Melican +mate!” Kekela he say; “why you want?” +“This bad shippee, this slave shippee,” the chief he +say. “One time a shippee he come from Pelu, he take +away plenty Kanaka, he take away my son. ’Melican +mate he bad man. I go eat him; you eat piece.” +“I no <i>want</i> eat ’Melican mate!” Kekela he +say; and he <i>cly</i>—all night he cly! To-mollow +Kekela he get up, he put on blackee coat, he go see chief; he see +Missa Whela, him hand tie’ like this. +(<i>Pantomime</i>.) Kekela he cly. He say +chief:—“Chief, you like things of mine? you like +whale-boat?” “Yes,” he say. +“You like file-a’m?” (fire-arms). +“Yes,” he say. “You like blackee +coat?” “Yes,” he say. Kekela he +take Missa Whela by he shoul’a’ (shoulder), he take +him light out house; he give chief he whale-boat, he +file-a’m, he blackee coat. He take Missa Whela he +house, make him sit down with he wife and chil’en. +Missa Whela all-the-same pelison (prison); he wife, he +chil’en in Amelica; he cly—O, he cly. Kekela he +solly. One day Kekela he see ship. +(<i>Pantomime</i>.) He say Missa Whela, “Ma’ +Whala?” Missa Whela he say, “Yes.” +Kanaka they begin go down beach. Kekela he get eleven +Kanaka, get oa’ (oars), get evely thing. He say Missa +Whela, “Now you go quick.” They jump in +whale-boat. “Now you low!” Kekela he say: +“you low quick, quick!” (<i>Violent +pantomime</i>, <i>and a change indicating that the narrator has +left the boat and returned to the beach</i>.) All the +Kanaka they say, “How! ’Melican mate he go +away?”—jump in boat; low afta. (<i>Violent +pantomime</i>, <i>and change again to boat</i>.) Kekela he +say, “Low quick!”’</p> +<p>Here I think Kauwealoha’s pantomime had confused me; I +have no more of his <i>ipsissima verba</i>; and can but add, in +my own less spirited manner, that the ship was reached, Mr. +Whalon taken aboard, and Kekela returned to his charge among the +cannibals. But how unjust it is to repeat the stumblings of +a foreigner in a language only partly acquired! A +thoughtless reader might conceive Kauwealoha and his colleague to +be a species of amicable baboon; but I have here the +anti-dote. In return for his act of gallant charity, Kekela +was presented by the American Government with a sum of money, and +by President Lincoln personally with a gold watch. From his +letter of thanks, written in his own tongue, I give the following +extract. I do not envy the man who can read it without +emotion.</p> +<blockquote><p>‘When I saw one of your countrymen, a +citizen of your great nation, ill-treated, and about to be baked +and eaten, as a pig is eaten, I ran to save him, full of pity and +grief at the evil deed of these benighted people. I gave my +boat for the stranger’s life. This boat came from +James Hunnewell, a gift of friendship. It became the ransom +of this countryman of yours, that he might not be eaten by the +savages who knew not Jehovah. This was Mr. Whalon, and the +date, Jan. 14, 1864.</p> +<p>‘As to this friendly deed of mine in saving Mr. Whalon, +its seed came from your great land, and was brought by certain of +your countrymen, who had received the love of God. It was +planted in Hawaii, and I brought it to plant in this land and in +these dark regions, that they might receive the root of all that +is good and true, which is <i>love</i>.</p> +<p>‘1. Love to Jehovah.</p> +<p>‘2. Love to self.</p> +<p>‘3. Love to our neighbour.</p> +<p>‘If a man have a sufficiency of these three, he is good +and holy, like his God, Jehovah, in his triune character (Father, +Son, and Holy Ghost), one-three, three-one. If he have two +and wants one, it is not well; and if he have one and wants two, +indeed, is not well; but if he cherishes all three, then is he +holy, indeed, after the manner of the Bible.</p> +<p>‘This is a great thing for your great nation to boast +of, before all the nations of the earth. From your great +land a most precious seed was brought to the land of +darkness. It was planted here, not by means of guns and +men-of-war and threatening. It was planted by means of the +ignorant, the neglected, the despised. Such was the +introduction of the word of the Almighty God into this group of +Nuuhiwa. Great is my debt to Americans, who have taught me +all things pertaining to this life and to that which is to +come.</p> +<p>‘How shall I repay your great kindness to me? Thus +David asked of Jehovah, and thus I ask of you, the President of +the United States. This is my only payment—that which +I have received of the Lord, love—(aloha).’</p> +</blockquote> +<h3>CHAPTER XI—LONG-PIG—A CANNIBAL HIGH PLACE</h3> +<p>Nothing more strongly arouses our disgust than cannibalism, +nothing so surely unmortars a society; nothing, we might +plausibly argue, will so harden and degrade the minds of those +that practise it. And yet we ourselves make much the same +appearance in the eyes of the Buddhist and the vegetarian. +We consume the carcasses of creatures of like appetites, +passions, and organs with ourselves; we feed on babes, though not +our own; and the slaughter-house resounds daily with screams of +pain and fear. We distinguish, indeed; but the +unwillingness of many nations to eat the dog, an animal with whom +we live on terms of the next intimacy, shows how precariously the +distinction is grounded. The pig is the main element of +animal food among the islands; and I had many occasions, my mind +being quickened by my cannibal surroundings, to observe his +character and the manner of his death. Many islanders live +with their pigs as we do with our dogs; both crowd around the +hearth with equal freedom; and the island pig is a fellow of +activity, enterprise, and sense. He husks his own +cocoa-nuts, and (I am told) rolls them into the sun to burst; he +is the terror of the shepherd. Mrs. Stevenson, senior, has +seen one fleeing to the woods with a lamb in his mouth; and I saw +another come rapidly (and erroneously) to the conclusion that the +<i>Casco</i> was going down, and swim through the flush water to +the rail in search of an escape. It was told us in +childhood that pigs cannot swim; I have known one to leap +overboard, swim five hundred yards to shore, and return to the +house of his original owner. I was once, at Tautira, a +pig-master on a considerable scale; at first, in my pen, the +utmost good feeling prevailed; a little sow with a belly-ache +came and appealed to us for help in the manner of a child; and +there was one shapely black boar, whom we called Catholicus, for +he was a particular present from the Catholics of the village, +and who early displayed the marks of courage and friendliness; no +other animal, whether dog or pig, was suffered to approach him at +his food, and for human beings he showed a full measure of that +toadying fondness so common in the lower animals, and possibly +their chief title to the name. One day, on visiting my +piggery, I was amazed to see Catholicus draw back from my +approach with cries of terror; and if I was amazed at the change, +I was truly embarrassed when I learnt its reason. One of +the pigs had been that morning killed; Catholicus had seen the +murder, he had discovered he was dwelling in the shambles, and +from that time his confidence and his delight in life were +ended. We still reserved him a long while, but he could not +endure the sight of any two-legged creature, nor could we, under +the circumstances, encounter his eye without confusion. I +have assisted besides, by the ear, at the act of butchery itself; +the victim’s cries of pain I think I could have borne, but +the execution was mismanaged, and his expression of terror was +contagious: that small heart moved to the same tune with +ours. Upon such ‘dread foundations’ the life of +the European reposes, and yet the European is among the less +cruel of races. The paraphernalia of murder, the +preparatory brutalities of his existence, are all hid away; an +extreme sensibility reigns upon the surface; and ladies will +faint at the recital of one tithe of what they daily expect of +their butchers. Some will be even crying out upon me in +their hearts for the coarseness of this paragraph. And so +with the island cannibals. They were not cruel; apart from +this custom, they are a race of the most kindly; rightly +speaking, to cut a man’s flesh after he is dead is far less +hateful than to oppress him whilst he lives; and even the victims +of their appetite were gently used in life and suddenly and +painlessly despatched at last. In island circles of +refinement it was doubtless thought bad taste to expatiate on +what was ugly in the practice.</p> +<p>Cannibalism is traced from end to end of the Pacific, from the +Marquesas to New Guinea, from New Zealand to Hawaii, here in the +lively haunt of its exercise, there by scanty but significant +survivals. Hawaii is the most doubtful. We find +cannibalism chronicled in Hawaii, only in the history of a single +war, where it seems to have been thought exception, as in the +case of mountain outlaws, such as fell by the hand of +Theseus. In Tahiti, a single circumstance survived, but +that appears conclusive. In historic times, when human +oblation was made in the marae, the eyes of the victim were +formally offered to the chief: a delicacy to the leading +guest. All Melanesia appears tainted. In Micronesia, +in the Marshalls, with which my acquaintance is no more than that +of a tourist, I could find no trace at all; and even in the +Gilbert zone I long looked and asked in vain. I was told +tales indeed of men who had been eaten in a famine; but these +were nothing to my purpose, for the same thing is done under the +same stress by all kindreds and generations of men. At +last, in some manuscript notes of Dr. Turner’s, which I was +allowed to consult at Malua, I came on one damning evidence: on +the island of Onoatoa the punishment for theft was to be killed +and eaten. How shall we account for the universality of the +practice over so vast an area, among people of such varying +civilisation, and, with whatever intermixture, of such different +blood? What circumstance is common to them all, but that +they lived on islands destitute, or very nearly so, of animal +food? I can never find it in my appetite that man was meant +to live on vegetables only. When our stores ran low among +the islands, I grew to weary for the recurrent day when economy +allowed us to open another tin of miserable mutton. And in +at least one ocean language, a particular word denotes that a man +is ‘hungry for fish,’ having reached that stage when +vegetables can no longer satisfy, and his soul, like those of the +Hebrews in the desert, begins to lust after flesh-pots. Add +to this the evidences of over-population and imminent famine +already adduced, and I think we see some ground of indulgence for +the island cannibal.</p> +<p>It is right to look at both sides of any question; but I am +far from making the apology of this worse than bestial +vice. The higher Polynesian races, such as the Tahitians, +Hawaiians, and Samoans, had one and all outgrown, and some of +them had in part forgot, the practice, before Cook or +Bougainville had shown a top-sail in their waters. It +lingered only in some low islands where life was difficult to +maintain, and among inveterate savages like the New-Zealanders or +the Marquesans. The Marquesans intertwined man-eating with +the whole texture of their lives; long-pig was in a sense their +currency and sacrament; it formed the hire of the artist, +illustrated public events, and was the occasion and attraction of +a feast. To-day they are paying the penalty of this bloody +commixture. The civil power, in its crusade against +man-eating, has had to examine one after another all Marquesan +arts and pleasures, has found them one after another tainted with +a cannibal element, and one after another has placed them on the +proscript list. Their art of tattooing stood by itself, the +execution exquisite, the designs most beautiful and intricate; +nothing more handsomely sets off a handsome man; it may cost some +pain in the beginning, but I doubt if it be near so painful in +the long-run, and I am sure it is far more becoming than the +ignoble European practice of tight-lacing among women. And +now it has been found needful to forbid the art. Their +songs and dances were numerous (and the law has had to abolish +them by the dozen). They now face empty-handed the tedium +of their uneventful days; and who shall pity them? The +least rigorous will say that they were justly served.</p> +<p>Death alone could not satisfy Marquesan vengeance: the flesh +must be eaten. The chief who seized Mr. Whalon preferred to +eat him; and he thought he had justified the wish when he +explained it was a vengeance. Two or three years ago, the +people of a valley seized and slew a wretch who had offended +them. His offence, it is to be supposed, was dire; they +could not bear to leave their vengeance incomplete, and, under +the eyes of the French, they did not dare to hold a public +festival. The body was accordingly divided; and every man +retired to his own house to consummate the rite in secret, +carrying his proportion of the dreadful meat in a Swedish +match-box. The barbarous substance of the drama and the +European properties employed offer a seizing contrast to the +imagination. Yet more striking is another incident of the +very year when I was there myself, 1888. In the spring, a +man and woman skulked about the school-house in Hiva-oa till they +found a particular child alone. Him they approached with +honeyed words and carneying manners—‘You are +So-and-so, son of So-and-so?’ they asked; and caressed and +beguiled him deeper in the woods. Some instinct woke in the +child’s bosom, or some look betrayed the horrid purpose of +his deceivers. He sought to break from them; he screamed; +and they, casting off the mask, seized him the more strongly and +began to run. His cries were heard; his schoolmates, +playing not far off, came running to the rescue; and the sinister +couple fled and vanished in the woods. They were never +identified; no prosecution followed; but it was currently +supposed they had some grudge against the boy’s father, and +designed to eat him in revenge. All over the islands, as at +home among our own ancestors, it will be observed that the +avenger takes no particular heed to strike an individual. A +family, a class, a village, a whole valley or island, a whole +race of mankind, share equally the guilt of any member. So, +in the above story, the son was to pay the penalty for his +father; so Mr. Whalon, the mate of an American whaler, was to +bleed and be eaten for the misdeeds of a Peruvian slaver. I +am reminded of an incident in Jaluit in the Marshall group, which +was told me by an eye-witness, and which I tell here again for +the strangeness of the scene. Two men had awakened the +animosity of the Jaluit chiefs; and it was their wives who were +selected to be punished. A single native served as +executioner. Early in the morning, in the face of a large +concourse of spectators, he waded out upon the reef between his +victims. These neither complained nor resisted; accompanied +their destroyer patiently; stooped down, when they had waded deep +enough, at his command; and he (laying one hand upon the +shoulders of each) held them under water till they drowned. +Doubtless, although my informant did not tell me so, their +families would be lamenting aloud upon the beach.</p> +<p>It was from Hatiheu that I paid my first visit to a cannibal +high place.</p> +<p>The day was sultry and clouded. Drenching tropical +showers succeeded bursts of sweltering sunshine. The green +pathway of the road wound steeply upward. As we went, our +little schoolboy guide a little ahead of us, Father Simeon had +his portfolio in his hand, and named the trees for me, and read +aloud from his notes the abstract of their virtues. +Presently the road, mounting, showed us the vale of Hatiheu, on a +larger scale; and the priest, with occasional reference to our +guide, pointed out the boundaries and told me the names of the +larger tribes that lived at perpetual war in the old days: one on +the north-east, one along the beach, one behind upon the +mountain. With a survivor of this latter clan Father Simeon +had spoken; until the pacification he had never been to the +sea’s edge, nor, if I remember exactly, eaten of +sea-fish. Each in its own district, the septs lived +cantoned and beleaguered. One step without the boundaries +was to affront death. If famine came, the men must out to +the woods to gather chestnuts and small fruits; even as to this +day, if the parents are backward in their weekly doles, school +must be broken up and the scholars sent foraging. But in +the old days, when there was trouble in one clan, there would be +activity in all its neighbours; the woods would be laid full of +ambushes; and he who went after vegetables for himself might +remain to be a joint for his hereditary foes. Nor was the +pointed occasion needful. A dozen different natural signs +and social junctures called this people to the war-path and the +cannibal hunt. Let one of chiefly rank have finished his +tattooing, the wife of one be near upon her time, two of the +debauching streams have deviated nearer on the beach of Hatiheu, +a certain bird have been heard to sing, a certain ominous +formation of cloud observed above the northern sea; and instantly +the arms were oiled, and the man-hunters swarmed into the wood to +lay their fratricidal ambuscades. It appears besides that +occasionally, perhaps in famine, the priest would shut himself in +his house, where he lay for a stated period like a person +dead. When he came forth it was to run for three days +through the territory of the clan, naked and starving, and to +sleep at night alone in the high place. It was now the turn +of the others to keep the house, for to encounter the priest upon +his rounds was death. On the eve of the fourth day the time +of the running was over; the priest returned to his roof, the +laymen came forth, and in the morning the number of the victims +was announced. I have this tale of the priest on one +authority—I think a good one,—but I set it down with +diffidence. The particulars are so striking that, had they +been true, I almost think I must have heard them oftener referred +to. Upon one point there seems to be no question: that the +feast was sometimes furnished from within the clan. In +times of scarcity, all who were not protected by their family +connections—in the Highland expression, all the commons of +the clan—had cause to tremble. It was vain to resist, +it was useless to flee. They were begirt upon all hands by +cannibals; and the oven was ready to smoke for them abroad in the +country of their foes, or at home in the valley of their +fathers.</p> +<p>At a certain corner of the road our scholar-guide struck off +to his left into the twilight of the forest. We were now on +one of the ancient native roads, plunged in a high vault of wood, +and clambering, it seemed, at random over boulders and dead +trees; but the lad wound in and out and up and down without a +check, for these paths are to the natives as marked as the +king’s highway is to us; insomuch that, in the days of the +man-hunt, it was their labour rather to block and deface than to +improve them. In the crypt of the wood the air was clammy +and hot and cold; overhead, upon the leaves, the tropical rain +uproariously poured, but only here and there, as through holes in +a leaky roof, a single drop would fall, and make a spot upon my +mackintosh. Presently the huge trunk of a banyan hove in +sight, standing upon what seemed the ruins of an ancient fort; +and our guide, halting and holding forth his arm, announced that +we had reached the <i>paepae tapu</i>.</p> +<p><i>Paepae</i> signifies a floor or platform such as a native +house is built on; and even such a paepae—a paepae +hae—may be called a paepae tapu in a lesser sense when it +is deserted and becomes the haunt of spirits; but the public high +place, such as I was now treading, was a thing on a great +scale. As far as my eyes could pierce through the dark +undergrowth, the floor of the forest was all paved. Three +tiers of terrace ran on the slope of the hill; in front, a +crumbling parapet contained the main arena; and the pavement of +that was pierced and parcelled out with several wells and small +enclosures. No trace remained of any superstructure, and +the scheme of the amphitheatre was difficult to seize. I +visited another in Hiva-oa, smaller but more perfect, where it +was easy to follow rows of benches, and to distinguish isolated +seats of honour for eminent persons; and where, on the upper +platform, a single joist of the temple or dead-house still +remained, its uprights richly carved. In the old days the +high place was sedulously tended. No tree except the sacred +banyan was suffered to encroach upon its grades, no dead leaf to +rot upon the pavement. The stones were smoothly set, and I +am told they were kept bright with oil. On all sides the +guardians lay encamped in their subsidiary huts to watch and +cleanse it. No other foot of man was suffered to draw near; +only the priest, in the days of his running, came there to +sleep—perhaps to dream of his ungodly errand; but, in the +time of the feast, the clan trooped to the high place in a body, +and each had his appointed seat. There were places for the +chiefs, the drummers, the dancers, the women, and the +priests. The drums—perhaps twenty strong, and some of +them twelve feet high—continuously throbbed in time. +In time the singers kept up their long-drawn, lugubrious, +ululating song; in time, too, the dancers, tricked out in +singular finery, stepped, leaped, swayed, and +gesticulated—their plumed fingers fluttering in the air +like butterflies. The sense of time, in all these ocean +races, is extremely perfect; and I conceive in such a festival +that almost every sound and movement fell in one. So much +the more unanimously must have grown the agitation of the +feasters; so much the more wild must have been the scene to any +European who could have beheld them there, in the strong sun and +the strong shadow of the banyan, rubbed with saffron to throw in +a more high relief the arabesque of the tattoo; the women +bleached by days of confinement to a complexion almost European; +the chiefs crowned with silver plumes of old men’s beards +and girt with kirtles of the hair of dead women. All manner +of island food was meanwhile spread for the women and the +commons; and, for those who were privileged to eat of it, there +were carried up to the dead-house the baskets of long-pig. +It is told that the feasts were long kept up; the people came +from them brutishly exhausted with debauchery, and the chiefs +heavy with their beastly food. There are certain sentiments +which we call emphatically human—denying the honour of that +name to those who lack them. In such +feasts—particularly where the victim has been slain at +home, and men banqueted on the poor clay of a comrade with whom +they had played in infancy, or a woman whose favours they had +shared—the whole body of these sentiments is +outraged. To consider it too closely is to understand, if +not to excuse, the fervours of self-righteous old ship-captains, +who would man their guns, and open fire in passing, on a cannibal +island.</p> +<p>And yet it was strange. There, upon the spot, as I stood +under the high, dripping vault of the forest, with the young +priest on the one hand, in his kilted gown, and the bright-eyed +Marquesan schoolboy on the other, the whole business appeared +infinitely distant, and fallen in the cold perspective and dry +light of history. The bearing of the priest, perhaps, +affected me. He smiled; he jested with the boy, the heir both of +these feasters and their meat; he clapped his hands, and gave me +a stave of one of the old, ill-omened choruses. Centuries +might have come and gone since this slimy theatre was last in +operation; and I beheld the place with no more emotion than I +might have felt in visiting Stonehenge. In Hiva-oa, as I +began to appreciate that the thing was still living and latent +about my footsteps, and that it was still within the bounds of +possibility that I might hear the cry of the trapped victim, my +historic attitude entirely failed, and I was sensible of some +repugnance for the natives. But here, too, the priests +maintained their jocular attitude: rallying the cannibals as upon +an eccentricity rather absurd than horrible; seeking, I should +say, to shame them from the practice by good-natured ridicule, as +we shame a child from stealing sugar. We may here recognise +the temperate and sagacious mind of Bishop Dordillon.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER XII—THE STORY OF A PLANTATION</h3> +<p>Taahauku, on the south-westerly coast of the island of +Hiva-oa—Tahuku, say the slovenly whites—may be called +the port of Atuona. It is a narrow and small anchorage, set +between low cliffy points, and opening above upon a woody valley: +a little French fort, now disused and deserted, overhangs the +valley and the inlet. Atuona itself, at the head of the +next bay, is framed in a theatre of mountains, which dominate the +more immediate settling of Taahauku and give the salient +character of the scene. They are reckoned at no higher than +four thousand feet; but Tahiti with eight thousand, and Hawaii +with fifteen, can offer no such picture of abrupt, melancholy +alps. In the morning, when the sun falls directly on their +front, they stand like a vast wall: green to the summit, if by +any chance the summit should be clear—water-courses here +and there delineated on their face, as narrow as cracks. +Towards afternoon, the light falls more obliquely, and the +sculpture of the range comes in relief, huge gorges sinking into +shadow, huge, tortuous buttresses standing edged with sun. +At all hours of the day they strike the eye with some new beauty, +and the mind with the same menacing gloom.</p> +<p>The mountains, dividing and deflecting the endless airy deluge +of the Trade, are doubtless answerable for the climate. A +strong draught of wind blew day and night over the +anchorage. Day and night the same fantastic and attenuated +clouds fled across the heavens, the same dusky cap of rain and +vapour fell and rose on the mountain. The land-breezes came +very strong and chill, and the sea, like the air, was in +perpetual bustle. The swell crowded into the narrow +anchorage like sheep into a fold; broke all along both sides, +high on the one, low on the other; kept a certain blowhole +sounding and smoking like a cannon; and spent itself at last upon +the beach.</p> +<p>On the side away from Atuona, the sheltering promontory was a +nursery of coco-trees. Some were mere infants, none had +attained to any size, none had yet begun to shoot skyward with +that whip-like shaft of the mature palm. In the young trees +the colour alters with the age and growth. Now all is of a +grass-like hue, infinitely dainty; next the rib grows golden, the +fronds remaining green as ferns; and then, as the trunk continues +to mount and to assume its final hue of grey, the fans put on +manlier and more decided depths of verdure, stand out dark upon +the distance, glisten against the sun, and flash like silver +fountains in the assault of the wind. In this young wood of +Taahauku, all these hues and combinations were exampled and +repeated by the score. The trees grew pleasantly spaced +upon a hilly sward, here and there interspersed with a rack for +drying copra, or a tumble-down hut for storing it. Every +here and there the stroller had a glimpse of the <i>Casco</i> +tossing in the narrow anchorage below; and beyond he had ever +before him the dark amphitheatre of the Atuona mountains and the +cliffy bluff that closes it to seaward. The trade-wind +moving in the fans made a ceaseless noise of summer rain; and +from time to time, with the sound of a sudden and distant +drum-beat, the surf would burst in a sea-cave.</p> +<p>At the upper end of the inlet, its low, cliffy lining sinks, +at both sides, into a beach. A copra warehouse stands in +the shadow of the shoreside trees, flitted about for ever by a +clan of dwarfish swallows; and a line of rails on a high wooden +staging bends back into the mouth of the valley. Walking on +this, the new-landed traveller becomes aware of a broad +fresh-water lagoon (one arm of which he crosses), and beyond, of +a grove of noble palms, sheltering the house of the trader, Mr. +Keane. Overhead, the cocos join in a continuous and lofty +roof; blackbirds are heard lustily singing; the island cock +springs his jubilant rattle and airs his golden plumage; +cow-bells sound far and near in the grove; and when you sit in +the broad verandah, lulled by this symphony, you may say to +yourself, if you are able: ‘Better fifty years of Europe . +. .’ Farther on, the floor of the valley is flat and +green, and dotted here and there with stripling coco-palms. +Through the midst, with many changes of music, the river trots +and brawls; and along its course, where we should look for +willows, puraos grow in clusters, and make shadowy pools after an +angler’s heart. A vale more rich and peaceful, +sweeter air, a sweeter voice of rural sounds, I have found +nowhere. One circumstance alone might strike the +experienced: here is a convenient beach, deep soil, good water, +and yet nowhere any paepaes, nowhere any trace of island +habitation.</p> +<p>It is but a few years since this valley was a place choked +with jungle, the debatable land and battle-ground of +cannibals. Two clans laid claim to it—neither could +substantiate the claim, and the roads lay desert, or were only +visited by men in arms. It is for this very reason that it +wears now so smiling an appearance: cleared, planted, built upon, +supplied with railways, boat-houses, and bath-houses. For, +being no man’s land, it was the more readily ceded to a +stranger. The stranger was Captain John Hart: Ima Hati, +‘Broken-arm,’ the natives call him, because when he +first visited the islands his arm was in a sling. Captain +Hart, a man of English birth, but an American subject, had +conceived the idea of cotton culture in the Marquesas during the +American War, and was at first rewarded with success. His +plantation at Anaho was highly productive; island cotton fetched +a high price, and the natives used to debate which was the +stronger power, Ima Hati or the French: deciding in favour of the +captain, because, though the French had the most ships, he had +the more money.</p> +<p>He marked Taahauku for a suitable site, acquired it, and +offered the superintendence to Mr. Robert Stewart, a Fifeshire +man, already some time in the islands, who had just been ruined +by a war on Tauata. Mr. Stewart was somewhat averse to the +adventure, having some acquaintance with Atuona and its notorious +chieftain, Moipu. He had once landed there, he told me, +about dusk, and found the remains of a man and woman partly +eaten. On his starting and sickening at the sight, one of +Moipu’s young men picked up a human foot, and provocatively +staring at the stranger, grinned and nibbled at the heel. +None need be surprised if Mr. Stewart fled incontinently to the +bush, lay there all night in a great horror of mind, and got off +to sea again by daylight on the morrow. ‘It was +always a bad place, Atuona,’ commented Mr. Stewart, in his +homely Fifeshire voice. In spite of this dire introduction, +he accepted the captain’s offer, was landed at Taahauku +with three Chinamen, and proceeded to clear the jungle.</p> +<p>War was pursued at that time, almost without interval, between +the men of Atuona and the men of Haamau; and one day, from the +opposite sides of the valley, battle—or I should rather say +the noise of battle—raged all the afternoon: the shots and +insults of the opposing clans passing from hill to hill over the +heads of Mr. Stewart and his Chinamen. There was no genuine +fighting; it was like a bicker of schoolboys, only some fool had +given the children guns. One man died of his exertions in +running, the only casualty. With night the shots and +insults ceased; the men of Haamau withdrew; and victory, on some +occult principle, was scored to Moipu. Perhaps, in +consequence, there came a day when Moipu made a feast, and a +party from Haamau came under safe-conduct to eat of it. +These passed early by Taahauku, and some of Moipu’s young +men were there to be a guard of honour. They were not long +gone before there came down from Haamau, a man, his wife, and a +girl of twelve, their daughter, bringing fungus. Several +Atuona lads were hanging round the store; but the day being one +of truce none apprehended danger. The fungus was weighed +and paid for; the man of Haamau proposed he should have his axe +ground in the bargain; and Mr. Stewart demurring at the trouble, +some of the Atuona lads offered to grind it for him, and set it +on the wheel. While the axe was grinding, a friendly native +whispered Mr. Stewart to have a care of himself, for there was +trouble in hand; and, all at once, the man of Haamau was seized, +and his head and arm stricken from his body, the head at one +sweep of his own newly sharpened axe. In the first alert, +the girl escaped among the cotton; and Mr. Stewart, having thrust +the wife into the house and locked her in from the outside, +supposed the affair was over. But the business had not +passed without noise, and it reached the ears of an older girl +who had loitered by the way, and who now came hastily down the +valley, crying as she came for her father. Her, too, they +seized and beheaded; I know not what they had done with the axe, +it was a blunt knife that served their butcherly turn upon the +girl; and the blood spurted in fountains and painted them from +head to foot. Thus horrible from crime, the party returned +to Atuona, carrying the heads to Moipu. It may be fancied +how the feast broke up; but it is notable that the guests were +honourably suffered to retire. These passed back through +Taahauku in extreme disorder; a little after the valley began to +be overrun with shouting and triumphing braves; and a letter of +warning coming at the same time to Mr. Stewart, he and his +Chinamen took refuge with the Protestant missionary in +Atuona. That night the store was gutted, and the bodies +cast in a pit and covered with leaves. Three days later the +schooner had come in; and things appearing quieter, Mr. Stewart +and the captain landed in Taahauku to compute the damage and to +view the grave, which was already indicated by the stench. +While they were so employed, a party of Moipu’s young men, +decked with red flannel to indicate martial sentiments, came over +the hills from Atuona, dug up the bodies, washed them in the +river, and carried them away on sticks. That night the +feast began.</p> +<p>Those who knew Mr. Stewart before this experience declare the +man to be quite altered. He stuck, however, to his post; +and somewhat later, when the plantation was already well +established, and gave employment to sixty Chinamen and seventy +natives, he found himself once more in dangerous times. The +men of Haamau, it was reported, had sworn to plunder and erase +the settlement; letters came continually from the Hawaiian +missionary, who acted as intelligence department; and for six +weeks Mr. Stewart and three other whites slept in the +cotton-house at night in a rampart of bales, and (what was their +best defence) ostentatiously practised rifle-shooting by day upon +the beach. Natives were often there to watch them; the +practice was excellent; and the assault was never +delivered—if it ever was intended, which I doubt, for the +natives are more famous for false rumours than for deeds of +energy. I was told the late French war was a case in point; +the tribes on the beach accusing those in the mountains of +designs which they had never the hardihood to entertain. +And the same testimony to their backwardness in open battle +reached me from all sides. Captain Hart once landed after +an engagement in a certain bay; one man had his hand hurt, an old +woman and two children had been slain; and the captain improved +the occasion by poulticing the hand, and taunting both sides upon +so wretched an affair. It is true these wars were often +merely formal—comparable with duels to the first +blood. Captain Hart visited a bay where such a war was +being carried on between two brothers, one of whom had been +thought wanting in civility to the guests of the other. +About one-half of the population served day about on alternate +sides, so as to be well with each when the inevitable peace +should follow. The forts of the belligerents were over +against each other, and close by. Pigs were cooking. +Well-oiled braves, with well-oiled muskets, strutted on the +paepae or sat down to feast. No business, however needful, +could be done, and all thoughts were supposed to be centred in +this mockery of war. A few days later, by a regrettable +accident, a man was killed; it was felt at once the thing had +gone too far, and the quarrel was instantly patched up. But +the more serious wars were prosecuted in a similar spirit; a gift +of pigs and a feast made their inevitable end; the killing of a +single man was a great victory, and the murder of defenceless +solitaries counted a heroic deed.</p> +<p>The foot of the cliffs, about all these islands, is the place +of fishing. Between Taahauku and Atuona we saw men, but +chiefly women, some nearly naked, some in thin white or crimson +dresses, perched in little surf-beat promontories—the brown +precipice overhanging them, and the convolvulus overhanging that, +as if to cut them off the more completely from assistance. +There they would angle much of the morning; and as fast as they +caught any fish, eat them, raw and living, where they +stood. It was such helpless ones that the warriors from the +opposite island of Tauata slew, and carried home and ate, and +were thereupon accounted mighty men of valour. Of one such +exploit I can give the account of an eye-witness. +‘Portuguese Joe,’ Mr. Keane’s cook, was once +pulling an oar in an Atuona boat, when they spied a stranger in a +canoe with some fish and a piece of tapu. The Atuona men +cried upon him to draw near and have a smoke. He complied, +because, I suppose, he had no choice; but he knew, poor devil, +what he was coming to, and (as Joe said) ‘he didn’t +seem to care about the smoke.’ A few questions +followed, as to where he came from, and what was his +business. These he must needs answer, as he must needs draw +at the unwelcome pipe, his heart the while drying in his +bosom. And then, of a sudden, a big fellow in Joe’s +boat leaned over, plucked the stranger from his canoe, struck him +with a knife in the neck—inward and downward, as Joe showed +in pantomime more expressive than his words—and held him +under water, like a fowl, until his struggles ceased. +Whereupon the long-pig was hauled on board, the boat’s head +turned about for Atuona, and these Marquesan braves pulled home +rejoicing. Moipu was on the beach and rejoiced with them on +their arrival. Poor Joe toiled at his oar that day with a +white face, yet he had no fear for himself. ‘They +were very good to me—gave me plenty grub: never wished to +eat white man,’ said he.</p> +<p>If the most horrible experience was Mr. Stewart’s, it +was Captain Hart himself who ran the nearest danger. He had +bought a piece of land from Timau, chief of a neighbouring bay, +and put some Chinese there to work. Visiting the station +with one of the Godeffroys, he found his Chinamen trooping to the +beach in terror: Timau had driven them out, seized their effects, +and was in war attire with his young men. A boat was +despatched to Taahauku for reinforcement; as they awaited her +return, they could see, from the deck of the schooner, Timau and +his young men dancing the war-dance on the hill-top till past +twelve at night; and so soon as the boat came (bringing three +gendarmes, armed with chassepots, two white men from Taahauku +station, and some native warriors) the party set out to seize the +chief before he should awake. Day was not come, and it was +a very bright moonlight morning, when they reached the hill-top +where (in a house of palm-leaves) Timau was sleeping off his +debauch. The assailants were fully exposed, the interior of +the hut quite dark; the position far from sound. The +gendarmes knelt with their pieces ready, and Captain Hart +advanced alone. As he drew near the door he heard the snap +of a gun cocking from within, and in sheer +self-defence—there being no other escape—sprang into +the house and grappled Timau. ‘Timau, come with +me!’ he cried. But Timau—a great fellow, his +eyes blood-red with the abuse of kava, six foot three in +stature—cast him on one side; and the captain, instantly +expecting to be either shot or brained, discharged his pistol in +the dark. When they carried Timau out at the door into the +moonlight, he was already dead, and, upon this unlooked-for +termination of their sally, the whites appeared to have lost all +conduct, and retreated to the boats, fired upon by the natives as +they went. Captain Hart, who almost rivals Bishop Dordillon +in popularity, shared with him the policy of extreme indulgence +to the natives, regarding them as children, making light of their +defects, and constantly in favour of mild measures. The +death of Timau has thus somewhat weighed upon his mind; the more +so, as the chieftain’s musket was found in the house +unloaded. To a less delicate conscience the matter will +seem light. If a drunken savage elects to cock a fire-arm, +a gentleman advancing towards him in the open cannot wait to make +sure if it be charged.</p> +<p>I have touched on the captain’s popularity. It is +one of the things that most strikes a stranger in the +Marquesas. He comes instantly on two names, both new to +him, both locally famous, both mentioned by all with affection +and respect—the bishop’s and the +captain’s. It gave me a strong desire to meet with +the survivor, which was subsequently gratified—to the +enrichment of these pages. Long after that again, in the +Place Dolorous—Molokai—I came once more on the traces +of that affectionate popularity. There was a blind white +leper there, an old sailor—‘an old tough,’ he +called himself—who had long sailed among the eastern +islands. Him I used to visit, and, being fresh from the +scenes of his activity, gave him the news. This (in the +true island style) was largely a chronicle of wrecks; and it +chanced I mentioned the case of one not very successful captain, +and how he had lost a vessel for Mr. Hart; thereupon the blind +leper broke forth in lamentation. ‘Did he lose a ship +of John Hart’s?’ he cried; ‘poor John +Hart! Well, I’m sorry it was Hart’s,’ +with needless force of epithet, which I neglect to reproduce.</p> +<p>Perhaps, if Captain Hart’s affairs had continued to +prosper, his popularity might have been different. Success +wins glory, but it kills affection, which misfortune +fosters. And the misfortune which overtook the +captain’s enterprise was truly singular. He was at +the top of his career. Ile Masse belonged to him, given by +the French as an indemnity for the robberies at Taahauku. +But the Ile Masse was only suitable for cattle; and his two chief +stations were Anaho, in Nuka-hiva, facing the north-east, and +Taahauku in Hiva-oa, some hundred miles to the southward, and +facing the south-west. Both these were on the same day +swept by a tidal wave, which was not felt in any other bay or +island of the group. The south coast of Hiva-oa was +bestrewn with building timber and camphor-wood chests, containing +goods; which, on the promise of a reasonable salvage, the natives +very honestly brought back, the chests apparently not opened, and +some of the wood after it had been built into their houses. +But the recovery of such jetsam could not affect the +result. It was impossible the captain should withstand this +partiality of fortune; and with his fall the prosperity of the +Marquesas ended. Anaho is truly extinct, Taahauku but a +shadow of itself; nor has any new plantation arisen in their +stead.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER XIII—CHARACTERS</h3> +<p>There was a certain traffic in our anchorage at Atuona; +different indeed from the dead inertia and quiescence of the +sister island, Nuka-hiva. Sails were seen steering from its +mouth; now it would be a whale-boat manned with native rowdies, +and heavy with copra for sale; now perhaps a single canoe come +after commodities to buy. The anchorage was besides +frequented by fishers; not only the lone females perched in +niches of the cliff, but whole parties, who would sometimes camp +and build a fire upon the beach, and sometimes lie in their +canoes in the midst of the haven and jump by turns in the water; +which they would cast eight or nine feet high, to drive, as we +supposed, the fish into their nets. The goods the +purchasers came to buy were sometimes quaint. I remarked +one outrigger returning with a single ham swung from a pole in +the stern. And one day there came into Mr. Keane’s +store a charming lad, excellently mannered, speaking French +correctly though with a babyish accent; very handsome too, and +much of a dandy, as was shown not only in his shining raiment, +but by the nature of his purchases. These were five +ship-biscuits, a bottle of scent, and two balls of washing +blue. He was from Tauata, whither he returned the same +night in an outrigger, daring the deep with these young-ladyish +treasures. The gross of the native passengers were more +ill-favoured: tall, powerful fellows, well tattooed, and with +disquieting manners. Something coarse and jeering +distinguished them, and I was often reminded of the slums of some +great city. One night, as dusk was falling, a whale-boat +put in on that part of the beach where I chanced to be +alone. Six or seven ruffianly fellows scrambled out; all +had enough English to give me ‘good-bye,’ which was +the ordinary salutation; or ‘good-morning,’ which +they seemed to regard as an intensitive; jests followed, they +surrounded me with harsh laughter and rude looks, and I was glad +to move away. I had not yet encountered Mr. Stewart, or I +should have been reminded of his first landing at Atuona and the +humorist who nibbled at the heel. But their neighbourhood +depressed me; and I felt, if I had been there a castaway and out +of reach of help, my heart would have been sick.</p> +<p>Nor was the traffic altogether native. While we lay in +the anchorage there befell a strange coincidence. A +schooner was observed at sea and aiming to enter. We knew +all the schooners in the group, but this appeared larger than +any; she was rigged, besides, after the English manner; and, +coming to an anchor some way outside the <i>Casco</i>, showed at +last the blue ensign. There were at that time, according to +rumour, no fewer than four yachts in the Pacific; but it was +strange that any two of them should thus lie side by side in that +outlandish inlet: stranger still that in the owner of the +<i>Nyanza</i>, Captain Dewar, I should find a man of the same +country and the same county with myself, and one whom I had seen +walking as a boy on the shores of the Alpes Maritimes.</p> +<p>We had besides a white visitor from shore, who came and +departed in a crowded whale-boat manned by natives; having read +of yachts in the Sunday papers, and being fired with the desire +to see one. Captain Chase, they called him, an old +whaler-man, thickset and white-bearded, with a strong Indiana +drawl; years old in the country, a good backer in battle, and one +of those dead shots whose practice at the target struck terror in +the braves of Haamau. Captain Chase dwelt farther east in a +bay called Hanamate, with a Mr. M’Callum; or rather they +had dwelt together once, and were now amicably separated. +The captain is to be found near one end of the bay, in a wreck of +a house, and waited on by a Chinese. At the point of the +opposing corner another habitation stands on a tall paepae. +The surf runs there exceeding heavy, seas of seven and eight feet +high bursting under the walls of the house, which is thus +continually filled with their clamour, and rendered fit only for +solitary, or at least for silent, inmates. Here it is that +Mr. M’Callum, with a Shakespeare and a Burns, enjoys the +society of the breakers. His name and his Burns testify to +Scottish blood; but he is an American born, somewhere far east; +followed the trade of a ship-carpenter; and was long employed, +the captain of a hundred Indians, breaking up wrecks about Cape +Flattery. Many of the whites who are to be found scattered +in the South Seas represent the more artistic portion of their +class; and not only enjoy the poetry of that new life, but came +there on purpose to enjoy it. I have been shipmates with a +man, no longer young, who sailed upon that voyage, his first time +to sea, for the mere love of Samoa; and it was a few letters in a +newspaper that sent him on that pilgrimage. Mr. +M’Callum was another instance of the same. He had +read of the South Seas; loved to read of them; and let their +image fasten in his heart: till at length he could refrain no +longer—must set forth, a new Rudel, for that unseen +homeland—and has now dwelt for years in Hiva-oa, and will +lay his bones there in the end with full content; having no +desire to behold again the places of his boyhood, only, +perhaps—once, before he dies—the rude and wintry +landscape of Cape Flattery. Yet he is an active man, full +of schemes; has bought land of the natives; has planted five +thousand coco-palms; has a desert island in his eye, which he +desires to lease, and a schooner in the stocks, which he has laid +and built himself, and even hopes to finish. Mr. +M’Callum and I did not meet, but, like gallant troubadours, +corresponded in verse. I hope he will not consider it a +breach of copyright if I give here a specimen of his muse. +He and Bishop Dordillon are the two European bards of the +Marquesas.</p> +<blockquote><p>‘Sail, ho! Ahoy! +<i>Casco</i>,<br /> + First among the pleasure fleet<br /> + That came around to greet<br /> +These isles from San Francisco,</p> +<p>And first, too; only one<br /> + Among the literary men<br /> + That this way has ever been—<br /> +Welcome, then, to Stevenson.</p> +<p>Please not offended be<br /> + At this little notice<br /> + Of the <i>Casco</i>, Captain Otis,<br /> +With the novelist’s family.</p> +<p><i>Avoir une voyage magnifical</i><br /> + Is our wish sincere,<br /> + That you’ll have from here<br /> +<i>Allant sur la Grande Pacifical</i>.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>But our chief visitor was one Mapiao, a great +Tahuku—which seems to mean priest, wizard, tattooer, +practiser of any art, or, in a word, esoteric person—and a +man famed for his eloquence on public occasions and witty talk in +private. His first appearance was typical of the man. +He came down clamorous to the eastern landing, where the surf was +running very high; scorned all our signals to go round the bay; +carried his point, was brought aboard at some hazard to our +skiff, and set down in one corner of the cockpit to his appointed +task. He had been hired, as one cunning in the art, to make +my old men’s beards into a wreath: what a wreath for +Celia’s arbour! His own beard (which he carried, for +greater safety, in a sailor’s knot) was not merely the +adornment of his age, but a substantial piece of property. +One hundred dollars was the estimated value; and as Brother +Michel never knew a native to deposit a greater sum with Bishop +Dordillon, our friend was a rich man in virtue of his chin. +He had something of an East Indian cast, but taller and stronger: +his nose hooked, his face narrow, his forehead very high, the +whole elaborately tattooed. I may say I have never +entertained a guest so trying. In the least particular he +must be waited on; he would not go to the scuttle-butt for water; +he would not even reach to get the glass, it must be given him in +his hand; if aid were denied him, he would fold his arms, bow his +head, and go without: only the work would suffer. Early the +first forenoon he called aloud for biscuit and salmon; biscuit +and ham were brought; he looked on them inscrutably, and signed +they should be set aside. A number of considerations +crowded on my mind; how the sort of work on which he was engaged +was probably tapu in a high degree; should by rights, perhaps, be +transacted on a tapu platform which no female might approach; and +it was possible that fish might be the essential diet. Some +salted fish I therefore brought him, and along with that a glass +of rum: at sight of which Mapiao displayed extraordinary +animation, pointed to the zenith, made a long speech in which I +picked up <i>umati</i>—the word for the sun—and +signed to me once more to place these dainties out of +reach. At last I had understood, and every day the +programme was the same. At an early period of the morning +his dinner must be set forth on the roof of the house and at a +proper distance, full in view but just out of reach; and not +until the fit hour, which was the point of noon, would the +artificer partake. This solemnity was the cause of an +absurd misadventure. He was seated plaiting, as usual, at +the beards, his dinner arrayed on the roof, and not far off a +glass of water standing. It appears he desired to drink; +was of course far too great a gentleman to rise and get the water +for himself; and spying Mrs. Stevenson, imperiously signed to her +to hand it. The signal was misunderstood; Mrs. Stevenson +was, by this time, prepared for any eccentricity on the part of +our guest; and instead of passing him the water, flung his dinner +overboard. I must do Mapiao justice: all laughed, but his +laughter rang the loudest.</p> +<p>These troubles of service were at worst occasional; the +embarrassment of the man’s talk incessant. He was +plainly a practised conversationalist; the nicety of his +inflections, the elegance of his gestures, and the fine play of +his expression, told us that. We, meanwhile, sat like +aliens in a playhouse; we could see the actors were upon some +material business and performing well, but the plot of the drama +remained undiscoverable. Names of places, the name of +Captain Hart, occasional disconnected words, tantalised without +enlightening us; and the less we understood, the more gallantly, +the more copiously, and with still the more explanatory gestures, +Mapiao returned to the assault. We could see his vanity was +on the rack; being come to a place where that fine jewel of his +conversational talent could earn him no respect; and he had times +of despair when he desisted from the endeavour, and instants of +irritation when he regarded us with unconcealed contempt. +Yet for me, as the practitioner of some kindred mystery to his +own, he manifested to the last a measure of respect. As we +sat under the awning in opposite corners of the cockpit, he +braiding hairs from dead men’s chins, I forming runes upon +a sheet of folio paper, he would nod across to me as one Tahuku +to another, or, crossing the cockpit, study for a while my +shapeless scrawl and encourage me with a heartfelt +‘<i>mitai</i>!—good!’ So might a deaf +painter sympathise far off with a musician, as the slave and +master of some uncomprehended and yet kindred art. A silly +trade, he doubtless considered it; but a man must make allowance +for barbarians—<i>chaque pays a ses coutumes</i>—and +he felt the principle was there.</p> +<p>The time came at last when his labours, which resembled those +rather of Penelope than Hercules, could be no more spun out, and +nothing remained but to pay him and say farewell. After a +long, learned argument in Marquesan, I gathered that his mind was +set on fish-hooks; with three of which, and a brace of dollars, I +thought he was not ill rewarded for passing his forenoons in our +cockpit, eating, drinking, delivering his opinions, and pressing +the ship’s company into his menial service. For all +that, he was a man of so high a bearing, and so like an uncle of +my own who should have gone mad and got tattooed, that I applied +to him, when we were both on shore, to know if he were +satisfied. ‘<i>Mitai ehipe</i>?’ I asked. +And he, with rich unction, offering at the same time his +hand—‘<i>Mitai ehipe</i>, <i>mitai kaehae</i>; +<i>kaoha nui</i>!’—or, to translate freely: +‘The ship is good, the victuals are up to the mark, and we +part in friendship.’ Which testimonial uttered, he +set off along the beach with his head bowed and the air of one +deeply injured.</p> +<p>I saw him go, on my side, with relief. It would be more +interesting to learn how our relation seemed to Mapiao. His +exigence, we may suppose, was merely loyal. He had been +hired by the ignorant to do a piece of work; and he was bound +that he would do it the right way. Countless obstacles, +continual ignorant ridicule, availed not to dissuade him. +He had his dinner laid out; watched it, as was fit, the while he +worked; ate it at the fit hour; was in all things served and +waited on; and could take his hire in the end with a clear +conscience, telling himself the mystery was performed duly, the +beards rightfully braided, and we (in spite of ourselves) +correctly served. His view of our stupidity, even he, the +mighty talker, must have lacked language to express. He +never interfered with my Tahuku work; civilly praised it, idle as +it seemed; civilly supposed that I was competent in my own +mystery: such being the attitude of the intelligent and the +polite. And we, on the other hand—who had yet the +most to gain or lose, since the product was to be ours—who +had professed our disability by the very act of hiring him to do +it—were never weary of impeding his own more important +labours, and sometimes lacked the sense and the civility to +refrain from laughter.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER XIV—IN A CANNIBAL VALLEY</h3> +<p>The road from Taahauku to Atuona skirted the north-westerly +side of the anchorage, somewhat high up, edged, and sometimes +shaded, by the splendid flowers of the +<i>flamboyant</i>—its English name I do not know. At +the turn of the hand, Atuona came in view: a long beach, a heavy +and loud breach of surf, a shore-side village scattered among +trees, and the guttered mountains drawing near on both sides +above a narrow and rich ravine. Its infamous repute perhaps +affected me; but I thought it the loveliest, and by far the most +ominous and gloomy, spot on earth. Beautiful it surely was; +and even more salubrious. The healthfulness of the whole +group is amazing; that of Atuona almost in the nature of a +miracle. In Atuona, a village planted in a shore-side +marsh, the houses standing everywhere intermingled with the pools +of a taro-garden, we find every condition of tropical danger and +discomfort; and yet there are not even mosquitoes—not even +the hateful day-fly of Nuka-hiva—and fever, and its +concomitant, the island fe’efe’e, <a +name="citation122"></a><a href="#footnote122" +class="citation">[122]</a> are unknown.</p> +<p>This is the chief station of the French on the man-eating isle +of Hiva-oa. The sergeant of gendarmerie enjoys the style of +the vice-resident, and hoists the French colours over a quite +extensive compound. A Chinaman, a waif from the plantation, +keeps a restaurant in the rear quarters of the village; and the +mission is well represented by the sister’s school and +Brother Michel’s church. Father Orens, a wonderful +octogenarian, his frame scarce bowed, the fire of his eye +undimmed, has lived, and trembled, and suffered in this place +since 1843. Again and again, when Moipu had made +coco-brandy, he has been driven from his house into the +woods. ‘A mouse that dwelt in a cat’s +ear’ had a more easy resting-place; and yet I have never +seen a man that bore less mark of years. He must show us +the church, still decorated with the bishop’s artless +ornaments of paper—the last work of industrious old hands, +and the last earthly amusement of a man that was much of a +hero. In the sacristy we must see his sacred vessels, and, +in particular, a vestment which was a ‘<i>vraie +curiosité</i>,’ because it had been given by a +gendarme. To the Protestant there is always something +embarrassing in the eagerness with which grown and holy men +regard these trifles; but it was touching and pretty to see +Orens, his aged eyes shining in his head, display his sacred +treasures.</p> +<p><i>August</i> 26.—The vale behind the village, narrowing +swiftly to a mere ravine, was choked with profitable trees. +A river gushed in the midst. Overhead, the tall coco-palms +made a primary covering; above that, from one wall of the +mountain to another, the ravine was roofed with cloud; so that we +moved below, amid teeming vegetation, in a covered house of +heat. On either hand, at every hundred yards, instead of +the houseless, disembowelling paepaes of Nuka-hiva, populous +houses turned out their inhabitants to cry ‘Kaoha!’ +to the passers-by. The road, too, was busy: strings of +girls, fair and foul, as in less favoured countries; men bearing +breadfruit; the sisters, with a little guard of pupils; a fellow +bestriding a horse—passed and greeted us continually; and +now it was a Chinaman who came to the gate of his flower-yard, +and gave us ‘Good-day’ in excellent English; and a +little farther on it would be some natives who set us down by the +wayside, made us a feast of mummy-apple, and entertained us as we +ate with drumming on a tin case. With all this fine plenty +of men and fruit, death is at work here also. The +population, according to the highest estimate, does not exceed +six hundred in the whole vale of Atuona; and yet, when I once +chanced to put the question, Brother Michel counted up ten whom +he knew to be sick beyond recovery. It was here, too, that +I could at last gratify my curiosity with the sight of a native +house in the very article of dissolution. It had fallen +flat along the paepae, its poles sprawling ungainly; the rains +and the mites contended against it; what remained seemed sound +enough, but much was gone already; and it was easy to see how the +insects consumed the walls as if they had been bread, and the air +and the rain ate into them like vitriol.</p> +<p>A little ahead of us, a young gentleman, very well tattooed, +and dressed in a pair of white trousers and a flannel shirt, had +been marching unconcernedly. Of a sudden, without apparent +cause, he turned back, took us in possession, and led us +undissuadably along a by-path to the river’s edge. +There, in a nook of the most attractive amenity, he bade us to +sit down: the stream splashing at our elbow, a shock of +nondescript greenery enshrining us from above; and thither, after +a brief absence, he brought us a cocoa-nut, a lump of +sandal-wood, and a stick he had begun to carve: the nut for +present refreshment, the sandal-wood for a precious gift, and the +stick—in the simplicity of his vanity—to harvest +premature praise. Only one section was yet carved, although +the whole was pencil-marked in lengths; and when I proposed to +buy it, Poni (for that was the artist’s name) recoiled in +horror. But I was not to be moved, and simply refused +restitution, for I had long wondered why a people who displayed, +in their tattooing, so great a gift of arabesque invention, +should display it nowhere else. Here, at last, I had found +something of the same talent in another medium; and I held the +incompleteness, in these days of world-wide brummagem, for a +happy mark of authenticity. Neither my reasons nor my +purpose had I the means of making clear to Poni; I could only +hold on to the stick, and bid the artist follow me to the +gendarmerie, where I should find interpreters and money; but we +gave him, in the meanwhile, a boat-call in return for his +sandal-wood. As he came behind us down the vale he sounded +upon this continually. And continually, from the wayside +houses, there poured forth little groups of girls in crimson, or +of men in white. And to these must Poni pass the news of +who the strangers were, of what they had been doing, of why it +was that Poni had a boat-whistle; and of why he was now being +haled to the vice-residency, uncertain whether to be punished or +rewarded, uncertain whether he had lost a stick or made a +bargain, but hopeful on the whole, and in the meanwhile highly +consoled by the boat-whistle. Whereupon he would tear +himself away from this particular group of inquirers, and once +more we would hear the shrill call in our wake.</p> +<p><i>August</i> 27.—I made a more extended circuit in the +vale with Brother Michel. We were mounted on a pair of +sober nags, suitable to these rude paths; the weather was +exquisite, and the company in which I found myself no less +agreeable than the scenes through which I passed. We +mounted at first by a steep grade along the summit of one of +those twisted spurs that, from a distance, mark out provinces of +sun and shade upon the mountain-side. The ground fell away +on either hand with an extreme declivity. From either hand, +out of profound ravines, mounted the song of falling water and +the smoke of household fires. Here and there the hills of +foliage would divide, and our eye would plunge down upon one of +these deep-nested habitations. And still, high in front, +arose the precipitous barrier of the mountain, greened over where +it seemed that scarce a harebell could find root, barred with the +zigzags of a human road where it seemed that not a goat could +scramble. And in truth, for all the labour that it cost, +the road is regarded even by the Marquesans as impassable; they +will not risk a horse on that ascent; and those who lie to the +westward come and go in their canoes. I never knew a hill +to lose so little on a near approach: a consequence, I must +suppose, of its surprising steepness. When we turned about, +I was amazed to behold so deep a view behind, and so high a +shoulder of blue sea, crowned by the whale-like island of +Motane. And yet the wall of mountain had not visibly +dwindled, and I could even have fancied, as I raised my eyes to +measure it, that it loomed higher than before.</p> +<p>We struck now into covert paths, crossed and heard more near +at hand the bickering of the streams, and tasted the coolness of +those recesses where the houses stood. The birds sang about +us as we descended. All along our path my guide was being +hailed by voices: ‘Mikaël—Kaoha, +Mikaël!’ From the doorstep, from the +cotton-patch, or out of the deep grove of island-chestnuts, these +friendly cries arose, and were cheerily answered as we +passed. In a sharp angle of a glen, on a rushing brook and +under fathoms of cool foliage, we struck a house upon a +well-built paepae, the fire brightly burning under the popoi-shed +against the evening meal; and here the cries became a chorus, and +the house folk, running out, obliged us to dismount and +breathe. It seemed a numerous family: we saw eight at +least; and one of these honoured me with a particular +attention. This was the mother, a woman naked to the waist, +of an aged countenance, but with hair still copious and black, +and breasts still erect and youthful. On our arrival I +could see she remarked me, but instead of offering any greeting, +disappeared at once into the bush. Thence she returned with +two crimson flowers. ‘Good-bye!’ was her +salutation, uttered not without coquetry; and as she said it she +pressed the flowers into my hand—‘Good-bye! I +speak Inglis.’ It was from a whaler-man, who (she +informed me) was ‘a plenty good chap,’ that she had +learned my language; and I could not but think how handsome she +must have been in these times of her youth, and could not but +guess that some memories of the dandy whaler-man prompted her +attentions to myself. Nor could I refrain from wondering +what had befallen her lover; in the rain and mire of what +sea-ports he had tramped since then; in what close and garish +drinking-dens had found his pleasure; and in the ward of what +infirmary dreamed his last of the Marquesas. But she, the +more fortunate, lived on in her green island. The talk, in +this lost house upon the mountains, ran chiefly upon Mapiao and +his visits to the <i>Casco</i>: the news of which had probably +gone abroad by then to all the island, so that there was no +paepae in Hiva-oa where they did not make the subject of excited +comment.</p> +<p>Not much beyond we came upon a high place in the foot of the +ravine. Two roads divided it, and met in the midst. +Save for this intersection the amphitheatre was strangely +perfect, and had a certain ruder air of things Roman. +Depths of foliage and the bulk of the mountain kept it in a +grateful shadow. On the benches several young folk sat +clustered or apart. One of these, a girl perhaps fourteen +years of age, buxom and comely, caught the eye of Brother +Michel. Why was she not at school?—she was done with +school now. What was she doing here?—she lived here +now. Why so?—no answer but a deepening blush. +There was no severity in Brother Michel’s manner; the +girl’s own confusion told her story. ‘<i>Elle a +honte</i>,’ was the missionary’s comment, as we rode +away. Near by in the stream, a grown girl was bathing naked +in a goyle between two stepping-stones; and it amused me to see +with what alacrity and real alarm she bounded on her +many-coloured under-clothes. Even in these daughters of +cannibals shame was eloquent.</p> +<p>It is in Hiva-oa, owing to the inveterate cannibalism of the +natives, that local beliefs have been most rudely trodden +underfoot. It was here that three religious chiefs were set +under a bridge, and the women of the valley made to defile over +their heads upon the road-way: the poor, dishonoured fellows +sitting there (all observers agree) with streaming tears. +Not only was one road driven across the high place, but two roads +intersected in its midst. There is no reason to suppose +that the last was done of purpose, and perhaps it was impossible +entirely to avoid the numerous sacred places of the +islands. But these things are not done without +result. I have spoken already of the regard of Marquesans +for the dead, making (as it does) so strange a contrast with +their unconcern for death. Early on this day’s ride, +for instance, we encountered a petty chief, who inquired (of +course) where we were going, and suggested by way of +amendment. ‘Why do you not rather show him the +cemetery?’ I saw it; it was but newly opened, the +third within eight years. They are great builders here in +Hiva-oa; I saw in my ride paepaes that no European dry-stone +mason could have equalled, the black volcanic stones were laid so +justly, the corners were so precise, the levels so true; but the +retaining-wall of the new graveyard stood apart, and seemed to be +a work of love. The sentiment of honour for the dead is +therefore not extinct. And yet observe the consequence of +violently countering men’s opinions. Of the four +prisoners in Atuona gaol, three were of course thieves; the +fourth was there for sacrilege. He had levelled up a piece +of the graveyard—to give a feast upon, as he informed the +court—and declared he had no thought of doing wrong. +Why should he? He had been forced at the point of the +bayonet to destroy the sacred places of his own piety; when he +had recoiled from the task, he had been jeered at for a +superstitious fool. And now it is supposed he will respect +our European superstitions as by second nature.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER XV—THE TWO CHIEFS OF ATUONA</h3> +<p>It had chanced (as the <i>Casco</i> beat through the Bordelais +Straits for Taahauku) she approached on one board very near the +land in the opposite isle of Tauata, where houses were to be seen +in a grove of tall coco-palms. Brother Michel pointed out +the spot. ‘I am at home now,’ said he. +‘I believe I have a large share in these cocoa-nuts; and in +that house madame my mother lives with her two +husbands!’ ‘With two husbands?’ somebody +inquired. ‘<i>C’est ma honte</i>,’ +replied the brother drily.</p> +<p>A word in passing on the two husbands. I conceive the +brother to have expressed himself loosely. It seems common +enough to find a native lady with two consorts; but these are not +two husbands. The first is still the husband; the wife +continues to be referred to by his name; and the position of the +coadjutor, or <i>pikio</i>, although quite regular, appears +undoubtedly subordinate. We had opportunities to observe +one household of the sort. The <i>pikio</i> was recognised; +appeared openly along with the husband when the lady was thought +to be insulted, and the pair made common cause like +brothers. At home the inequality was more apparent. +The husband sat to receive and entertain visitors; the +<i>pikio</i> was running the while to fetch cocoa-nuts like a +hired servant, and I remarked he was sent on these errands in +preference even to the son. Plainly we have here no second +husband; plainly we have the tolerated lover. Only, in the +Marquesas, instead of carrying his lady’s fan and mantle, +he must turn his hand to do the husband’s housework.</p> +<p>The sight of Brother Michel’s family estate led the +conversation for some while upon the method and consequence of +artificial kinship. Our curiosity became extremely whetted; +the brother offered to have the whole of us adopted, and some two +days later we became accordingly the children of Paaaeua, +appointed chief of Atuona. I was unable to be present at +the ceremony, which was primitively simple. The two Mrs. +Stevensons and Mr. Osbourne, along with Paaaeua, his wife, and an +adopted child of theirs, son of a shipwrecked Austrian, sat down +to an excellent island meal, of which the principal and the only +necessary dish was pig. A concourse watched them through +the apertures of the house; but none, not even Brother Michel, +might partake; for the meal was sacramental, and either creative +or declaratory of the new relationship. In Tahiti things +are not so strictly ordered; when Ori and I ‘made +brothers,’ both our families sat with us at table, yet only +he and I, who had eaten with intention were supposed to be +affected by the ceremony. For the adoption of an infant I +believe no formality to be required; the child is handed over by +the natural parents, and grows up to inherit the estates of the +adoptive. Presents are doubtless exchanged, as at all +junctures of island life, social or international; but I never +heard of any banquet—the child’s presence at the +daily board perhaps sufficing. We may find the rationale in +the ancient Arabian idea that a common diet makes a common blood, +with its derivative axiom that ‘he is the father who gives +the child its morning draught.’ In the Marquesan +practice, the sense would thus be evanescent; from the Tahitian, +a mere survival, it will have entirely fled. An interesting +parallel will probably occur to many of my readers.</p> +<p>What is the nature of the obligation assumed at such a +festival? It will vary with the characters of those +engaged, and with the circumstances of the case. Thus it +would be absurd to take too seriously our adoption at +Atuona. On the part of Paaaeua it was an affair of social +ambition; when he agreed to receive us in his family the man had +not so much as seen us, and knew only that we were inestimably +rich and travelled in a floating palace. We, upon our side, +ate of his baked meats with no true <i>animus affiliandi</i>, but +moved by the single sentiment of curiosity. The affair was +formal, and a matter of parade, as when in Europe sovereigns call +each other cousin. Yet, had we stayed at Atuona, Paaaeua +would have held himself bound to establish us upon his land, and +to set apart young men for our service, and trees for our +support. I have mentioned the Austrian. He sailed in +one of two sister ships, which left the Clyde in coal; both +rounded the Horn, and both, at several hundred miles of distance, +though close on the same point of time, took fire at sea on the +Pacific. One was destroyed; the derelict iron frame of the +second, after long, aimless cruising, was at length recovered, +refitted, and hails to-day from San Francisco. A +boat’s crew from one of these disasters reached, after +great hardships, the isle of Hiva-oa. Some of these men +vowed they would never again confront the chances of the sea; but +alone of them all the Austrian has been exactly true to his +engagement, remains where he landed, and designs to die where he +has lived. Now, with such a man, falling and taking root +among islanders, the processes described may be compared to a +gardener’s graft. He passes bodily into the native +stock; ceases wholly to be alien; has entered the commune of the +blood, shares the prosperity and consideration of his new family, +and is expected to impart with the same generosity the fruits of +his European skill and knowledge. It is this implied +engagement that so frequently offends the ingrafted white. +To snatch an immediate advantage—to get (let us say) a +station for his store—he will play upon the native custom +and become a son or a brother for the day, promising himself to +cast down the ladder by which he shall have ascended, and +repudiate the kinship so soon as it shall grow burdensome. +And he finds there are two parties to the bargain. Perhaps +his Polynesian relative is simple, and conceived the blood-bond +literally; perhaps he is shrewd, and himself entered the covenant +with a view to gain. And either way the store is ravaged, +the house littered with lazy natives; and the richer the man +grows, the more numerous, the more idle, and the more +affectionate he finds his native relatives. Most men thus +circumstanced contrive to buy or brutally manage to enforce their +independence; but many vegetate without hope, strangled by +parasites.</p> +<p>We had no cause to blush with Brother Michel. Our new +parents were kind, gentle, well-mannered, and generous in gifts; +the wife was a most motherly woman, the husband a man who stood +justly high with his employers. Enough has been said to +show why Moipu should be deposed; and in Paaaeua the French had +found a reputable substitute. He went always scrupulously +dressed, and looked the picture of propriety, like a dark, +handsome, stupid, and probably religious young man hot from a +European funeral. In character he seemed the ideal of what +is known as the good citizen. He wore gravity like an +ornament. None could more nicely represent the desired +character as an appointed chief, the outpost of civilisation and +reform. And yet, were the French to go and native manners +to revive, fancy beholds him crowned with old men’s beards +and crowding with the first to a man-eating festival. But I +must not seem to be unjust to Paaaeua. His respectability +went deeper than the skin; his sense of the becoming sometimes +nerved him for unexpected rigours.</p> +<p>One evening Captain Otis and Mr. Osbourne were on shore in the +village. All was agog; dancing had begun; it was plain it +was to be a night of festival, and our adventurers were overjoyed +at their good fortune. A strong fall of rain drove them for +shelter to the house of Paaaeua, where they were made welcome, +wiled into a chamber, and shut in. Presently the rain took +off, the fun was to begin in earnest, and the young bloods of +Atuona came round the house and called to my fellow-travellers +through the interstices of the wall. Late into the night +the calls were continued and resumed, and sometimes mingled with +taunts; late into the night the prisoners, tantalised by the +noises of the festival, renewed their efforts to escape. +But all was vain; right across the door lay that god-fearing +householder, Paaaeua, feigning sleep; and my friends had to +forego their junketing. In this incident, so delightfully +European, we thought we could detect three strands of +sentiment. In the first place, Paaaeua had a charge of +souls: these were young men, and he judged it right to withhold +them from the primrose path. Secondly, he was a public +character, and it was not fitting that his guests should +countenance a festival of which he disapproved. So might +some strict clergyman at home address a worldly visitor: +‘Go to the theatre if you like, but, by your leave, not +from my house!’ Thirdly, Paaaeua was a man jealous, +and with some cause (as shall be shown) for jealousy; and the +feasters were the satellites of his immediate rival, Moipu.</p> +<p>For the adoption had caused much excitement in the village; it +made the strangers popular. Paaaeua, in his difficult +posture of appointed chief, drew strength and dignity from their +alliance, and only Moipu and his followers were malcontent. +For some reason nobody (except myself) appears to dislike +Moipu. Captain Hart, who has been robbed and threatened by +him; Father Orens, whom he has fired at, and repeatedly driven to +the woods; my own family, and even the French officials—all +seemed smitten with an irrepressible affection for the man. +His fall had been made soft; his son, upon his death, was to +succeed Paaaeua in the chieftaincy; and he lived, at the time of +our visit, in the shoreward part of the village in a good house, +and with a strong following of young men, his late braves and +pot-hunters. In this society, the coming of the +<i>Casco</i>, the adoption, the return feast on board, and the +presents exchanged between the whites and their new parents, were +doubtless eagerly and bitterly canvassed. It was felt that +a few years ago the honours would have gone elsewhere. In +this unwonted business, in this reception of some hitherto +undreamed-of and outlandish potentate—some Prester John or +old Assaracus—a few years back it would have been the part +of Moipu to play the hero and the host, and his young men would +have accompanied and adorned the various celebrations as the +acknowledged leaders of society. And now, by a malign +vicissitude of fortune, Moipu must sit in his house quite +unobserved; and his young men could but look in at the door while +their rivals feasted. Perhaps M. Grévy felt a touch +of bitterness towards his successor when he beheld him figure on +the broad stage of the centenary of eighty-nine; the visit of the +<i>Casco</i> which Moipu had missed by so few years was a more +unusual occasion in Atuona than a centenary in France; and the +dethroned chief determined to reassert himself in the public +eye.</p> +<p>Mr. Osbourne had gone into Atuona photographing; the +population of the village had gathered together for the occasion +on the place before the church, and Paaaeua, highly delighted +with this new appearance of his family, played the master of +ceremonies. The church had been taken, with its jolly +architect before the door; the nuns with their pupils; sundry +damsels in the ancient and singularly unbecoming robes of tapa; +and Father Orens in the midst of a group of his +parishioners. I know not what else was in hand, when the +photographer became aware of a sensation in the crowd, and, +looking around, beheld a very noble figure of a man appear upon +the margin of a thicket and stroll nonchalantly near. The +nonchalance was visibly affected; it was plain he came there to +arouse attention, and his success was instant. He was +introduced; he was civil, he was obliging, he was always +ineffably superior and certain of himself; a well-graced +actor. It was presently suggested that he should appear in +his war costume; he gracefully consented; and returned in that +strange, inappropriate and ill-omened array (which very well +became his handsome person) to strut in a circle of admirers, and +be thenceforth the centre of photography. Thus had Moipu +effected his introduction, as by accident, to the white +strangers, made it a favour to display his finery, and reduced +his rival to a secondary <i>rôle</i> on the theatre of the +disputed village. Paaaeua felt the blow; and, with a spirit +which we never dreamed he could possess, asserted his +priority. It was found impossible that day to get a +photograph of Moipu alone; for whenever he stood up before the +camera his successor placed himself unbidden by his side, and +gently but firmly held to his position. The portraits of +the pair, Jacob and Esau, standing shoulder to shoulder, one in +his careful European dress, one in his barbaric trappings, figure +the past and present of their island. A graveyard with its +humble crosses would be the aptest symbol of the future.</p> +<p>We are all impressed with the belief that Moipu had planned +his campaign from the beginning to the end. It is certain +that he lost no time in pushing his advantage. Mr. Osbourne +was inveigled to his house; various gifts were fished out of an +old sea-chest; Father Orens was called into service as +interpreter, and Moipu formally proposed to ‘make +brothers’ with Mata-Galahi—Glass-Eyes,—the not +very euphonious name under which Mr. Osbourne passed in the +Marquesas. The feast of brotherhood took place on board the +<i>Casco</i>. Paaaeua had arrived with his family, like a +plain man; and his presents, which had been numerous, had +followed one another, at intervals through several days. +Moipu, as if to mark at every point the opposition, came with a +certain feudal pomp, attended by retainers bearing gifts of all +descriptions, from plumes of old men’s beard to little, +pious, Catholic engravings.</p> +<p>I had met the man before this in the village, and detested him +on sight; there was something indescribably raffish in his looks +and ways that raised my gorge; and when man-eating was referred +to, and he laughed a low, cruel laugh, part boastful, part +bashful, like one reminded of some dashing peccadillo, my +repugnance was mingled with nausea. This is no very human +attitude, nor one at all becoming in a traveller. And, seen +more privately, the man improved. Something negroid in +character and face was still displeasing; but his ugly mouth +became attractive when he smiled, his figure and bearing were +certainly noble, and his eyes superb. In his appreciation +of jams and pickles, in is delight in the reverberating mirrors +of the dining cabin, and consequent endless repetition of Moipus +and Mata-Galahis, he showed himself engagingly a child. And +yet I am not sure; and what seemed childishness may have been +rather courtly art. His manners struck me as beyond the +mark; they were refined and caressing to the point of grossness, +and when I think of the serene absent-mindedness with which he +first strolled in upon our party, and then recall him running on +hands and knees along the cabin sofas, pawing the velvet, dipping +into the beds, and bleating commendatory +‘<i>mitais</i>’ with exaggerated emphasis, like some +enormous over-mannered ape, I feel the more sure that both must +have been calculated. And I sometimes wonder next, if Moipu +were quite alone in this polite duplicity, and ask myself whether +the <i>Casco</i> were quite so much admired in the Marquesas as +our visitors desired us to suppose.</p> +<p>I will complete this sketch of an incurable cannibal grandee +with two incongruous traits. His favourite morsel was the +human hand, of which he speaks to-day with an ill-favoured +lustfulness. And when he said good-bye to Mrs. Stevenson, +holding her hand, viewing her with tearful eyes, and chanting his +farewell improvisation in the falsetto of Marquesan high society, +he wrote upon her mind a sentimental impression which I try in +vain to share.</p> +<h2>PART II: THE PAUMOTUS</h2> +<h3>CHAPTER I—THE DANGEROUS ARCHIPELAGO—ATOLLS AT A +DISTANCE</h3> +<p>In the early morning of 4th September a whale-boat manned by +natives dragged us down the green lane of the anchorage and round +the spouting promontory. On the shore level it was a hot, +breathless, and yet crystal morning; but high overhead the hills +of Atuona were all cowled in cloud, and the ocean-river of the +trades streamed without pause. As we crawled from under the +immediate shelter of the land, we reached at last the limit of +their influence. The wind fell upon our sails in puffs, +which strengthened and grew more continuous; presently the +<i>Casco</i> heeled down to her day’s work; the whale-boat, +quite outstripped, clung for a noisy moment to her quarter; the +stipulated bread, rum, and tobacco were passed in; a moment more +and the boat was in our wake, and our late pilots were cheering +our departure.</p> +<p>This was the more inspiriting as we were bound for scenes so +different, and though on a brief voyage, yet for a new province +of creation. That wide field of ocean, called loosely the +South Seas, extends from tropic to tropic, and from perhaps 123 +degrees W. to 150 degrees E., a parallelogram of one hundred +degrees by forty-seven, where degrees are the most +spacious. Much of it lies vacant, much is closely sown with +isles, and the isles are of two sorts. No distinction is so +continually dwelt upon in South Sea talk as that between the +‘low’ and the ‘high’ island, and there is +none more broadly marked in nature. The Himalayas are not +more different from the Sahara. On the one hand, and +chiefly in groups of from eight to a dozen, volcanic islands rise +above the sea; few reach an altitude of less than 4000 feet; one +exceeds 13,000; their tops are often obscured in cloud, they are +all clothed with various forests, all abound in food, and are all +remarkable for picturesque and solemn scenery. On the other +hand, we have the atoll; a thing of problematic origin and +history, the reputed creature of an insect apparently +unidentified; rudely annular in shape; enclosing a lagoon; rarely +extending beyond a quarter of a mile at its chief width; often +rising at its highest point to less than the stature of a +man—man himself, the rat and the land crab, its chief +inhabitants; not more variously supplied with plants; and +offering to the eye, even when perfect, only a ring of glittering +beach and verdant foliage, enclosing and enclosed by the blue +sea.</p> +<p>In no quarter are the atolls so thickly congregated, in none +are they so varied in size from the greatest to the least, and in +none is navigation so beset with perils, as in that archipelago +that we were now to thread. The huge system of the trades +is, for some reason, quite confounded by this multiplicity of +reefs, the wind intermits, squalls are frequent from the west and +south-west, hurricanes are known. The currents are, +besides, inextricably intermixed; dead reckoning becomes a farce; +the charts are not to be trusted; and such is the number and +similarity of these islands that, even when you have picked one +up, you may be none the wiser. The reputation of the place +is consequently infamous; insurance offices exclude it from their +field, and it was not without misgiving that my captain risked +the <i>Casco</i> in such waters. I believe, indeed, it is +almost understood that yachts are to avoid this baffling +archipelago; and it required all my instances—and all Mr. +Otis’s private taste for adventure—to deflect our +course across its midst.</p> +<p>For a few days we sailed with a steady trade, and a steady +westerly current setting us to leeward; and toward sundown of the +seventh it was supposed we should have sighted Takaroa, one of +Cook’s so-called King George Islands. The sun set; +yet a while longer the old moon—semi-brilliant herself, and +with a silver belly, which was her successor—sailed among +gathering clouds; she, too, deserted us; stars of every degree of +sheen, and clouds of every variety of form disputed the +sub-lustrous night; and still we gazed in vain for Takaroa. +The mate stood on the bowsprit, his tall grey figure slashing up +and down against the stars, and still</p> + +<blockquote><p> ‘nihil +astra praeter<br /> +Vidit et undas.</p> +</blockquote> +<p>The rest of us were grouped at the port anchor davit, staring +with no less assiduity, but with far less hope on the obscure +horizon. Islands we beheld in plenty, but they were of +‘such stuff as dreams are made on,’ and vanished at a +wink, only to appear in other places; and by and by not only +islands, but refulgent and revolving lights began to stud the +darkness; lighthouses of the mind or of the wearied optic nerve, +solemnly shining and winking as we passed. At length the +mate himself despaired, scrambled on board again from his +unrestful perch, and announced that we had missed our +destination. He was the only man of practice in these +waters, our sole pilot, shipped for that end at Tai-o-hae. +If he declared we had missed Takaroa, it was not for us to +quarrel with the fact, but, if we could, to explain it. We +had certainly run down our southing. Our canted wake upon +the sea and our somewhat drunken-looking course upon the chart +both testified with no less certainty to an impetuous westward +current. We had no choice but to conclude we were again set +down to leeward; and the best we could do was to bring the +<i>Casco</i> to the wind, keep a good watch, and expect +morning.</p> +<p>I slept that night, as was then my somewhat dangerous +practice, on deck upon the cockpit bench. A stir at last +awoke me, to see all the eastern heaven dyed with faint orange, +the binnacle lamp already dulled against the brightness of the +day, and the steersman leaning eagerly across the wheel. +‘There it is, sir!’ he cried, and pointed in the very +eyeball of the dawn. For awhile I could see nothing but the +bluish ruins of the morning bank, which lay far along the +horizon, like melting icebergs. Then the sun rose, pierced +a gap in these <i>débris</i> of vapours, and displayed an +inconsiderable islet, flat as a plate upon the sea, and spiked +with palms of disproportioned altitude.</p> +<p>So far, so good. Here was certainly an atoll; and we +were certainly got among the archipelago. But which? +And where? The isle was too small for either Takaroa: in +all our neighbourhood, indeed, there was none so inconsiderable, +save only Tikei; and Tikei, one of Roggewein’s so-called +Pernicious Islands, seemed beside the question. At that +rate, instead of drifting to the west, we must have fetched up +thirty miles to windward. And how about the current? +It had been setting us down, by observation, all these days: by +the deflection of our wake, it should be setting us down that +moment. When had it stopped? When had it begun again? +and what kind of torrent was that which had swept us eastward in +the interval? To these questions, so typical of navigation +in that range of isles, I have no answer. Such were at +least the facts; Tikei our island turned out to be; and it was +our first experience of the dangerous archipelago, to make our +landfall thirty miles out.</p> +<p>The sight of Tikei, thrown direct against the splendour of the +morning, robbed of all its colour, and deformed with +disproportioned trees like bristles on a broom, had scarce +prepared us to be much in love with atolls. Later the same +day we saw under more fit conditions the island of Taiaro. +<i>Lost in the Sea</i> is possibly the meaning of the name. +And it was so we saw it; lost in blue sea and sky: a ring of +white beach, green underwood, and tossing palms, gem-like in +colour; of a fairy, of a heavenly prettiness. The surf ran +all around it, white as snow, and broke at one point, far to +seaward, on what seems an uncharted reef. There was no +smoke, no sign of man; indeed, the isle is not inhabited, only +visited at intervals. And yet a trader (Mr. Narii Salmon) +was watching from the shore and wondering at the unexpected +ship. I have spent since then long months upon low islands; +I know the tedium of their undistinguished days; I know the +burden of their diet. With whatever envy we may have looked +from the deck on these green coverts, it was with a tenfold +greater that Mr. Salmon and his comrades saw us steer, in our +trim ship, to seaward.</p> +<p>The night fell lovely in the extreme. After the moon +went down, the heaven was a thing to wonder at for stars. +And as I lay in the cockpit and looked upon the steersman I was +haunted by Emerson’s verses:</p> +<blockquote><p>‘And the lone seaman all the night<br /> +Sails astonished among stars.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>By this glittering and imperfect brightness, about four bells +in the first watch we made our third atoll, Raraka. The low +line of the isle lay straight along the sky; so that I was at +first reminded of a towpath, and we seemed to be mounting some +engineered and navigable stream. Presently a red star +appeared, about the height and brightness of a danger signal, and +with that my simile was changed; we seemed rather to skirt the +embankment of a railway, and the eye began to look instinctively +for the telegraph-posts, and the ear to expect the coming of a +train. Here and there, but rarely, faint tree-tops broke +the level. And the sound of the surf accompanied us, now in +a drowsy monotone, now with a menacing swing.</p> +<p>The isle lay nearly east and west, barring our advance on +Fakarava. We must, therefore, hug the coast until we gained +the western end, where, through a passage eight miles wide, we +might sail southward between Raraka and the next isle, +Kauehi. We had the wind free, a lightish air; but clouds of +an inky blackness were beginning to arise, and at times it +lightened—without thunder. Something, I know not +what, continually set us up upon the island. We lay more +and more to the nor’ard; and you would have thought the +shore copied our manœuvre and outsailed us. Once and twice +Raraka headed us again—again, in the sea fashion, the quite +innocent steersman was abused—and again the <i>Casco</i> +kept away. Had I been called on, with no more light than +that of our experience, to draw the configuration of that island, +I should have shown a series of bow-window promontories, each +overlapping the other to the nor’ard, and the trend of the +land from the south-east to the north-west, and behold, on the +chart it lay near east and west in a straight line.</p> +<p>We had but just repeated our manœuvre and kept +away—for not more than five minutes the railway embankment +had been lost to view and the surf to hearing—when I was +aware of land again, not only on the weather bow, but dead +ahead. I played the part of the judicious landsman, holding +my peace till the last moment; and presently my mariners +perceived it for themselves.</p> +<p>‘Land ahead!’ said the steersman.</p> +<p>‘By God, it’s Kauehi!’ cried the mate.</p> +<p>And so it was. And with that I began to be sorry for +cartographers. We were scarce doing three and a half; and +they asked me to believe that (in five minutes) we had dropped an +island, passed eight miles of open water, and run almost high and +dry upon the next. But my captain was more sorry for +himself to be afloat in such a labyrinth; laid the <i>Casco</i> +to, with the log line up and down, and sat on the stern rail and +watched it till the morning. He had enough of night in the +Paumotus.</p> +<p>By daylight on the 9th we began to skirt Kauehi, and had now +an opportunity to see near at hand the geography of atolls. +Here and there, where it was high, the farther side loomed up; +here and there the near side dipped entirely and showed a broad +path of water into the lagoon; here and there both sides were +equally abased, and we could look right through the discontinuous +ring to the sea horizon on the south. Conceive, on a vast +scale, the submerged hoop of the duck-hunter, trimmed with green +rushes to conceal his head—water within, water +without—you have the image of the perfect atoll. +Conceive one that has been partly plucked of its rush fringe; you +have the atoll of Kauehi. And for either shore of it at +closer quarters, conceive the line of some old Roman highway +traversing a wet morass, and here sunk out of view and there +re-arising, crowned with a green tuft of thicket; only instead of +the stagnant waters of a marsh, the live ocean now boiled +against, now buried the frail barrier. Last night’s +impression in the dark was thus confirmed by day, and not +corrected. We sailed indeed by a mere causeway in the sea, +of nature’s handiwork, yet of no greater magnitude than +many of the works of man.</p> +<p>The isle was uninhabited; it was all green brush and white +sand, set in transcendently blue water; even the coco-palms were +rare, though some of these completed the bright harmony of colour +by hanging out a fan of golden yellow. For long there was +no sign of life beyond the vegetable, and no sound but the +continuous grumble of the surf. In silence and desertion +these fair shores slipped past, and were submerged and rose again +with clumps of thicket from the sea. And then a bird or two +appeared, hovering and crying; swiftly these became more +numerous, and presently, looking ahead, we were aware of a vast +effervescence of winged life. In this place the annular +isle was mostly under water, carrying here and there on its +submerged line a wooded islet. Over one of these the birds +hung and flew with an incredible density like that of gnats or +hiving bees; the mass flashed white and black, and heaved and +quivered, and the screaming of the creatures rose over the voice +of the surf in a shrill clattering whirr. As you descend +some inland valley a not dissimilar sound announces the nearness +of a mill and pouring river. Some stragglers, as I said, +came to meet our approach; a few still hung about the ship as we +departed. The crying died away, the last pair of wings was +left behind, and once more the low shores of Kauehi streamed past +our eyes in silence like a picture. I supposed at the time +that the birds lived, like ants or citizens, concentred where we +saw them. I have been told since (I know not if correctly) +that the whole isle, or much of it, is similarly peopled; and +that the effervescence at a single spot would be the mark of a +boat’s crew of egg-hunters from one of the neighbouring +inhabited atolls. So that here at Kauehi, as the day before +at Taiaro, the <i>Casco</i> sailed by under the fire of +unsuspected eyes. And one thing is surely true, that even +on these ribbons of land an army might lie hid and no passing +mariner divine its presence.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER II—FAKARAVA: AN ATOLL AT HAND</h3> +<p>By a little before noon we were running down the coast of our +destination, Fakarava: the air very light, the sea near smooth; +though still we were accompanied by a continuous murmur from the +beach, like the sound of a distant train. The isle is of a +huge longitude, the enclosed lagoon thirty miles by ten or +twelve, and the coral tow-path, which they call the land, some +eighty or ninety miles by (possibly) one furlong. That part +by which we sailed was all raised; the underwood excellently +green, the topping wood of coco-palms continuous—a mark, if +I had known it, of man’s intervention. For once more, +and once more unconsciously, we were within hail of +fellow-creatures, and that vacant beach was but a pistol-shot +from the capital city of the archipelago. But the life of +an atoll, unless it be enclosed, passes wholly on the shores of +the lagoon; it is there the villages are seated, there the canoes +ply and are drawn up; and the beach of the ocean is a place +accursed and deserted, the fit scene only for wizardry and +shipwreck, and in the native belief a haunting ground of +murderous spectres.</p> +<p>By and by we might perceive a breach in the low barrier; the +woods ceased; a glittering point ran into the sea, tipped with an +emerald shoal the mark of entrance. As we drew near we met +a little run of sea—the private sea of the lagoon having +there its origin and end, and here, in the jaws of the gateway, +trying vain conclusions with the more majestic heave of the +Pacific. The <i>Casco</i> scarce avowed a shock; but there +are times and circumstances when these harbour mouths of inland +basins vomit floods, deflecting, burying, and dismasting +ships. For, conceive a lagoon perfectly sealed but in the +one point, and that of merely navigable width; conceive the tide +and wind to have heaped for hours together in that coral fold a +superfluity of waters, and the tide to change and the wind +fall—the open sluice of some great reservoirs at home will +give an image of the unstemmable effluxion.</p> +<p>We were scarce well headed for the pass before all heads were +craned over the rail. For the water, shoaling under our +board, became changed in a moment to surprising hues of blue and +grey; and in its transparency the coral branched and blossomed, +and the fish of the inland sea cruised visibly below us, stained +and striped, and even beaked like parrots. I have paid in +my time to view many curiosities; never one so curious as that +first sight over the ship’s rail in the lagoon of +Fakarava. But let not the reader be deceived with +hope. I have since entered, I suppose, some dozen atolls in +different parts of the Pacific, and the experience has never been +repeated. That exquisite hue and transparency of submarine +day, and these shoals of rainbow fish, have not enraptured me +again.</p> +<p>Before we could raise our eyes from that engaging spectacle +the schooner had slipped betwixt the pierheads of the reef, and +was already quite committed to the sea within. The +containing shores are so little erected, and the lagoon itself is +so great, that, for the more part, it seemed to extend without a +check to the horizon. Here and there, indeed, where the +reef carried an inlet, like a signet-ring upon a finger, there +would be a pencilling of palms; here and there, the green wall of +wood ran solid for a length of miles; and on the port hand, under +the highest grove of trees, a few houses sparkled +white—Rotoava, the metropolitan settlement of the +Paumotus. Hither we beat in three tacks, and came to an +anchor close in shore, in the first smooth water since we had +left San Francisco, five fathoms deep, where a man might look +overboard all day at the vanishing cable, the coral patches, and +the many-coloured fish.</p> +<p>Fakarava was chosen to be the seat of Government from nautical +considerations only. It is eccentrically situate; the +productions, even for a low island, poor; the population neither +many nor—for Low Islanders—industrious. But the +lagoon has two good passages, one to leeward, one to windward, so +that in all states of the wind it can be left and entered, and +this advantage, for a government of scattered islands, was +decisive. A pier of coral, landing-stairs, a harbour light +upon a staff and pillar, and two spacious Government bungalows in +a handsome fence, give to the northern end of Rotoava a great air +of consequence. This is confirmed on the one hand by an +empty prison, on the other by a gendarmerie pasted over with +hand-bills in Tahitian, land-law notices from Papeete, and +republican sentiments from Paris, signed (a little after date) +‘Jules Grévy, <i>Perihidente</i>.’ Quite +at the far end a belfried Catholic chapel concludes the town; and +between, on a smooth floor of white coral sand and under the +breezy canopy of coco-palms, the houses of the natives stand +irregularly scattered, now close on the lagoon for the sake of +the breeze, now back under the palms for love of shadow.</p> +<p>Not a soul was to be seen. But for the thunder of the +surf on the far side, it seemed you might have heard a pin drop +anywhere about that capital city. There was something +thrilling in the unexpected silence, something yet more so in the +unexpected sound. Here before us a sea reached to the +horizon, rippling like an inland mere; and behold! close at our +back another sea assaulted with assiduous fury the reverse of the +position. At night the lantern was run up and lit a vacant +pier. In one house lights were seen and voices heard, where +the population (I was told) sat playing cards. A little +beyond, from deep in the darkness of the palm-grove, we saw the +glow and smelt the aromatic odour of a coal of cocoa-nut husk, a +relic of the evening kitchen. Crickets sang; some shrill +thing whistled in a tuft of weeds; and the mosquito hummed and +stung. There was no other trace that night of man, bird, or +insect in the isle. The moon, now three days old, and as +yet but a silver crescent on a still visible sphere, shone +through the palm canopy with vigorous and scattered lights. +The alleys where we walked were smoothed and weeded like a +boulevard; here and there were plants set out; here and there +dusky cottages clustered in the shadow, some with +verandahs. A public garden by night, a rich and fashionable +watering-place in a by-season, offer sights and vistas not +dissimilar. And still, on the one side, stretched the +lapping mere, and from the other the deep sea still growled in +the night. But it was most of all on board, in the dead +hours, when I had been better sleeping, that the spell of +Fakarava seized and held me. The moon was down. The +harbour lantern and two of the greater planets drew vari-coloured +wakes on the lagoon. From shore the cheerful watch-cry of +cocks rang out at intervals above the organ-point of surf. +And the thought of this depopulated capital, this protracted +thread of annular island with its crest of coco-palms and fringe +of breakers, and that tranquil inland sea that stretched before +me till it touched the stars, ran in my head for hours with +delight.</p> +<p>So long as I stayed upon that isle these thoughts were +constant. I lay down to sleep, and woke again with an +unblunted sense of my surroundings. I was never weary of +calling up the image of that narrow causeway, on which I had my +dwelling, lying coiled like a serpent, tail to mouth, in the +outrageous ocean, and I was never weary of passing—a mere +quarter-deck parade—from the one side to the other, from +the shady, habitable shores of the lagoon to the blinding desert +and uproarious breakers of the opposite beach. The sense of +insecurity in such a thread of residence is more than +fanciful. Hurricanes and tidal waves over-leap these humble +obstacles; Oceanus remembers his strength, and, where houses +stood and palms flourished, shakes his white beard again over the +barren coral. Fakarava itself has suffered; the trees +immediately beyond my house were all of recent replantation; and +Anaa is only now recovered from a heavier stroke. I knew +one who was then dwelling in the isle. He told me that he +and two ship captains walked to the sea beach. There for a +while they viewed the oncoming breakers, till one of the captains +clapped suddenly his hand before his eyes and cried aloud that he +could endure no longer to behold them. This was in the +afternoon; in the dark hours of the night the sea burst upon the +island like a flood; the settlement was razed all but the church +and presbytery; and, when day returned, the survivors saw +themselves clinging in an abattis of uprooted coco-palms and +ruined houses.</p> +<p>Danger is but a small consideration. But men are more +nicely sensible of a discomfort; and the atoll is a +discomfortable home. There are some, and these probably +ancient, where a deep soil has formed and the most valuable +fruit-trees prosper. I have walked in one, with equal +admiration and surprise, through a forest of huge breadfruits, +eating bananas and stumbling among taro as I went. This was +in the atoll of Namorik in the Marshall group, and stands alone +in my experience. To give the opposite extreme, which is +yet far more near the average, I will describe the soil and +productions of Fakarava. The surface of that narrow strip +is for the more part of broken coral lime-stone, like volcanic +clinkers, and excruciating to the naked foot; in some atolls, I +believe, not in Fakarava, it gives a fine metallic ring when +struck. Here and there you come upon a bank of sand, +exceeding fine and white, and these parts are the least +productive. The plants (such as they are) spring from and +love the broken coral, whence they grow with that wonderful +verdancy that makes the beauty of the atoll from the sea. +The coco-palm in particular luxuriates in that stern +<i>solum</i>, striking down his roots to the brackish, percolated +water, and bearing his green head in the wind with every evidence +of health and pleasure. And yet even the coco-palm must be +helped in infancy with some extraneous nutriment, and through +much of the low archipelago there is planted with each nut a +piece of ship’s biscuit and a rusty nail. The +pandanus comes next in importance, being also a food tree; and +he, too, does bravely. A green bush called <i>miki</i> runs +everywhere; occasionally a purao is seen; and there are several +useless weeds. According to M. Cuzent, the whole number of +plants on an atoll such as Fakarava will scarce exceed, even if +it reaches to, one score. Not a blade of grass appears; not +a grain of humus, save when a sack or two has been imported to +make the semblance of a garden; such gardens as bloom in cities +on the window-sill. Insect life is sometimes dense; a cloud +o’ mosquitoes, and, what is far worse, a plague of flies +blackening our food, has sometimes driven us from a meal on +Apemama; and even in Fakarava the mosquitoes were a pest. +The land crab may be seen scuttling to his hole, and at night the +rats besiege the houses and the artificial gardens. The +crab is good eating; possibly so is the rat; I have not +tried. Pandanus fruit is made, in the Gilberts, into an +agreeable sweetmeat, such as a man may trifle with at the end of +a long dinner; for a substantial meal I have no use for it. +The rest of the food-supply, in a destitute atoll such as +Fakarava, can be summed up in the favourite jest of the +archipelago—cocoa-nut beefsteak. Cocoa-nut green, +cocoa-nut ripe, cocoa-nut germinated; cocoa-nut to eat and +cocoa-nut to drink; cocoa-nut raw and cooked, cocoa-nut hot and +cold—such is the bill of fare. And some of the +entrées are no doubt delicious. The germinated nut, +cooked in the shell and eaten with a spoon, forms a good pudding; +cocoa-nut milk—the expressed juice of a ripe nut, not the +water of a green one—goes well in coffee, and is a valuable +adjunct in cookery through the South Seas; and cocoa-nut salad, +if you be a millionaire, and can afford to eat the value of a +field of corn for your dessert, is a dish to be remembered with +affection. But when all is done there is a sameness, and +the Israelites of the low islands murmur at their manna.</p> +<p>The reader may think I have forgot the sea. The two +beaches do certainly abound in life, and they are strangely +different. In the lagoon the water shallows slowly on a +bottom of the fine slimy sand, dotted with clumps of growing +coral. Then comes a strip of tidal beach on which the +ripples lap. In the coral clumps the great holy-water clam +(<i>Tridacna</i>) grows plentifully; a little deeper lie the beds +of the pearl-oyster and sail the resplendent fish that charmed us +at our entrance; and these are all more or less vigorously +coloured. But the other shells are white like lime, or +faintly tinted with a little pink, the palest possible display; +many of them dead besides, and badly rolled. On the ocean +side, on the mounds of the steep beach, over all the width of the +reef right out to where the surf is bursting, in every cranny, +under every scattered fragment of the coral, an incredible plenty +of marine life displays the most wonderful variety and brilliancy +of hues. The reef itself has no passage of colour but is +imitated by some shell. Purple and red and white, and green +and yellow, pied and striped and clouded, the living shells wear +in every combination the livery of the dead reef—if the +reef be dead—so that the eye is continually baffled and the +collector continually deceived. I have taken shells for +stones and stones for shells, the one as often as the +other. A prevailing character of the coral is to be dotted +with small spots of red, and it is wonderful how many varieties +of shell have adopted the same fashion and donned the disguise of +the red spot. A shell I had found in plenty in the +Marquesas I found here also unchanged in all things else, but +there were the red spots. A lively little crab wore the +same markings. The case of the hermit or soldier crab was +more conclusive, being the result of conscious choice. This +nasty little wrecker, scavenger, and squatter has learned the +value of a spotted house; so it be of the right colour he will +choose the smallest shard, tuck himself in a mere corner of a +broken whorl, and go about the world half naked; but I never +found him in this imperfect armour unless it was marked with the +red spot.</p> +<p>Some two hundred yards distant is the beach of the +lagoon. Collect the shells from each, set them side by +side, and you would suppose they came from different hemispheres; +the one so pale, the other so brilliant; the one prevalently +white, the other of a score of hues, and infected with the +scarlet spot like a disease. This seems the more strange, +since the hermit crabs pass and repass the island, and I have met +them by the Residency well, which is about central, journeying +either way. Without doubt many of the shells in the lagoon +are dead. But why are they dead? Without doubt the +living shells have a very different background set for +imitation. But why are these so different? We are +only on the threshold of the mysteries.</p> +<p>Either beach, I have said, abounds with life. On the +sea-side and in certain atolls this profusion of vitality is even +shocking: the rock under foot is mined with it. I have +broken off—notably in Funafuti and Arorai <a +name="citation156"></a><a href="#footnote156" +class="citation">[156]</a>—great lumps of ancient weathered +rock that rang under my blows like iron, and the fracture has +been full of pendent worms as long as my hand, as thick as a +child’s finger, of a slightly pinkish white, and set as +close as three or even four to the square inch. Even in the +lagoon, where certain shell-fish seem to sicken, others (it is +notorious) prosper exceedingly and make the riches of these +islands. Fish, too, abound; the lagoon is a closed +fish-pond, such as might rejoice the fancy of an abbot; sharks +swarm there, and chiefly round the passages, to feast upon this +plenty, and you would suppose that man had only to prepare his +angle. Alas! it is not so. Of these painted fish that +came in hordes about the entering <i>Casco</i>, some bore +poisonous spines, and others were poisonous if eaten. The +stranger must refrain, or take his chance of painful and +dangerous sickness. The native, on his own isle, is a safe +guide; transplant him to the next, and he is helpless as +yourself. For it is a question both of time and +place. A fish caught in a lagoon may be deadly; the same +fish caught the same day at sea, and only a few hundred yards +without the passage, will be wholesome eating: in a neighbouring +isle perhaps the case will be reversed; and perhaps a fortnight +later you shall be able to eat of them indifferently from within +and from without. According to the natives, these +bewildering vicissitudes are ruled by the movement of the +heavenly bodies. The beautiful planet Venus plays a great +part in all island tales and customs; and among other functions, +some of them more awful, she regulates the season of good +fish. With Venus in one phase, as we had her, certain fish +were poisonous in the lagoon: with Venus in another, the same +fish was harmless and a valued article of diet. White men +explain these changes by the phases of the coral.</p> +<p>It adds a last touch of horror to the thought of this +precarious annular gangway in the sea, that even what there is of +it is not of honest rock, but organic, part alive, part +putrescent; even the clean sea and the bright fish about it +poisoned, the most stubborn boulder burrowed in by worms, the +lightest dust venomous as an apothecary’s drugs.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER III—A HOUSE TO LET IN A LOW ISLAND</h3> +<p>Never populous, it was yet by a chapter of accidents that I +found the island so deserted that no sound of human life +diversified the hours; that we walked in that trim public garden +of a town, among closed houses, without even a lodging-bill in a +window to prove some tenancy in the back quarters; and, when we +visited the Government bungalow, that Mr. Donat, acting +Vice-Resident, greeted us alone, and entertained us with +cocoa-nut punches in the Sessions Hall and seat of judgment of +that widespread archipelago, our glasses standing arrayed with +summonses and census returns. The unpopularity of a late +Vice-Resident had begun the movement of exodus, his native +employés resigning court appointments and retiring each to +his own coco-patch in the remoter districts of the isle. +Upon the back of that, the Governor in Papeete issued a decree: +All land in the Paumotus must be defined and registered by a +certain date. Now, the folk of the archipelago are half +nomadic; a man can scarce be said to belong to a particular +atoll; he belongs to several, perhaps holds a stake and counts +cousinship in half a score; and the inhabitants of Rotoava in +particular, man, woman, and child, and from the gendarme to the +Mormon prophet and the schoolmaster, owned—I was going to +say land—owned at least coral blocks and growing coco-palms +in some adjacent isle. Thither—from the gendarme to +the babe in arms, the pastor followed by his flock, the +schoolmaster carrying along with him his scholars, and the +scholars with their books and slates—they had taken ship +some two days previous to our arrival, and were all now engaged +disputing boundaries. Fancy overhears the shrillness of +their disputation mingle with the surf and scatter +sea-fowl. It was admirable to observe the completeness of +their flight, like that of hibernating birds; nothing left but +empty houses, like old nests to be reoccupied in spring; and even +the harmless necessary dominie borne with them in their +transmigration. Fifty odd set out, and only seven, I was +informed, remained. But when I made a feast on board the +<i>Casco</i>, more than seven, and nearer seven times seven, +appeared to be my guests. Whence they appeared, how they +were summoned, whither they vanished when the feast was eaten, I +have no guess. In view of Low Island tales, and that awful +frequentation which makes men avoid the seaward beaches of an +atoll, some two score of those that ate with us may have +returned, for the occasion, from the kingdom of the dead.</p> +<p>It was this solitude that put it in our minds to hire a house, +and become, for the time being, indwellers of the isle—a +practice I have ever since, when it was possible, adhered +to. Mr. Donat placed us, with that intent, under the convoy +of one Taniera Mahinui, who combined the incongruous characters +of catechist and convict. The reader may smile, but I +affirm he was well qualified for either part. For that of +convict, first of all, by a good substantial felony, such as in +all lands casts the perpetrator in chains and dungeons. +Taniera was a man of birth—the chief a while ago, as he +loved to tell, of a district in Anaa of 800 souls. In an +evil hour it occurred to the authorities in Papeete to charge the +chiefs with the collection of the taxes. It is a question +if much were collected; it is certain that nothing was handed on; +and Taniera, who had distinguished himself by a visit to Papeete +and some high living in restaurants, was chosen for the +scapegoat. The reader must understand that not Taniera but +the authorities in Papeete were first in fault. The charge +imposed was disproportioned. I have not yet heard of any +Polynesian capable of such a burden; honest and upright +Hawaiians—one in particular, who was admired even by the +whites as an inflexible magistrate—have stumbled in the +narrow path of the trustee. And Taniera, when the pinch +came, scorned to denounce accomplices; others had shared the +spoil, he bore the penalty alone. He was condemned in five +years. The period, when I had the pleasure of his +friendship, was not yet expired; he still drew prison rations, +the sole and not unwelcome reminder of his chains, and, I +believe, looked forward to the date of his enfranchisement with +mere alarm. For he had no sense of shame in the position; +complained of nothing but the defective table of his place of +exile; regretted nothing but the fowls and eggs and fish of his +own more favoured island. And as for his parishioners, they +did not think one hair the less of him. A schoolboy, +mulcted in ten thousand lines of Greek and dwelling sequestered +in the dormitories, enjoys unabated consideration from his +fellows. So with Taniera: a marked man, not a dishonoured; +having fallen under the lash of the unthinkable gods; a Job, +perhaps, or say a Taniera in the den of lions. Songs are +likely made and sung about this saintly Robin Hood. On the +other hand, he was even highly qualified for his office in the +Church; being by nature a grave, considerate, and kindly man; his +face rugged and serious, his smile bright; the master of several +trades, a builder both of boats and houses; endowed with a fine +pulpit voice; endowed besides with such a gift of eloquence that +at the grave of the late chief of Fakarava he set all the +assistants weeping. I never met a man of a mind more +ecclesiastical; he loved to dispute and to inform himself of +doctrine and the history of sects; and when I showed him the cuts +in a volume of Chambers’s +<i>Encyclopædia</i>—except for one of an +ape—reserved his whole enthusiasm for cardinals’ +hats, censers, candlesticks, and cathedrals. Methought when +he looked upon the cardinal’s hat a voice said low in his +ear: ‘Your foot is on the ladder.’</p> +<p>Under the guidance of Taniera we were soon installed in what I +believe to have been the best-appointed private house in +Fakarava. It stood just beyond the church in an oblong +patch of cultivation. More than three hundred sacks of soil +were imported from Tahiti for the Residency garden; and this must +shortly be renewed, for the earth blows away, sinks in crevices +of the coral, and is sought for at last in vain. I know not +how much earth had gone to the garden of my villa; some at least, +for an alley of prosperous bananas ran to the gate, and over the +rest of the enclosure, which was covered with the usual +clinker-like fragments of smashed coral, not only coco-palms and +mikis but also fig-trees flourished, all of a delicious +greenness. Of course there was no blade of grass. In +front a picket fence divided us from the white road, the +palm-fringed margin of the lagoon, and the lagoon itself, +reflecting clouds by day and stars by night. At the back, a +bulwark of uncemented coral enclosed us from the narrow belt of +bush and the nigh ocean beach where the seas thundered, the roar +and wash of them still humming in the chambers of the house.</p> +<p>This itself was of one story, verandahed front and back. +It contained three rooms, three sewing-machines, three +sea-chests, chairs, tables, a pair of beds, a cradle, a +double-barrelled gun, a pair of enlarged coloured photographs, a +pair of coloured prints after Wilkie and Mulready, and a French +lithograph with the legend: ‘<i>Le brigade du +Général Lepasset brûlant son drapeau devant +Metz</i>.’ Under the stilts of the house a stove was +rusting, till we drew it forth and put it in commission. +Not far off was the burrow in the coral whence we supplied +ourselves with brackish water. There was live stock, +besides, on the estate—cocks and hens and a brace of +ill-regulated cats, whom Taniera came every morning with the sun +to feed on grated cocoa-nut. His voice was our regular +réveille, ringing pleasantly about the garden: +‘Pooty—pooty—poo—poo—poo!’</p> +<p>Far as we were from the public offices, the nearness of the +chapel made our situation what is called eligible in +advertisements, and gave us a side look on some native +life. Every morning, as soon as he had fed the fowls, +Taniera set the bell agoing in the small belfry; and the +faithful, who were not very numerous, gathered to prayers. +I was once present: it was the Lord’s day, and seven +females and eight males composed the congregation. A woman +played precentor, starting with a longish note; the catechist +joined in upon the second bar; and then the faithful in a +body. Some had printed hymn-books which they followed; some +of the rest filled up with ‘eh—eh—eh,’ +the Paumotuan tol-de-rol. After the hymn, we had an +antiphonal prayer or two; and then Taniera rose from the front +bench, where he had been sitting in his catechist’s robes, +passed within the altar-rails, opened his Tahitian Bible, and +began to preach from notes. I understood one word—the +name of God; but the preacher managed his voice with taste, used +rare and expressive gestures, and made a strong impression of +sincerity. The plain service, the vernacular Bible, the +hymn-tunes mostly on an English pattern—‘God save the +Queen,’ I was informed, a special favourite,—all, +save some paper flowers upon the altar, seemed not merely but +austerely Protestant. It is thus the Catholics have met +their low island proselytes half-way.</p> +<p>Taniera had the keys of our house; it was with him I made my +bargain, if that could be called a bargain in which all was +remitted to my generosity; it was he who fed the cats and +poultry, he who came to call and pick a meal with us like an +acknowledged friend; and we long fondly supposed he was our +landlord. This belief was not to bear the test of +experience; and, as my chapter has to relate, no certainty +succeeded it.</p> +<p>We passed some days of airless quiet and great heat; +shell-gatherers were warned from the ocean beach, where sunstroke +waited them from ten till four; the highest palm hung motionless, +there was no voice audible but that of the sea on the far +side. At last, about four of a certain afternoon, long +cat’s-paws flawed the face of the lagoon; and presently in +the tree-tops there awoke the grateful bustle of the trades, and +all the houses and alleys of the island were fanned out. To +more than one enchanted ship, that had lain long becalmed in view +of the green shore, the wind brought deliverance; and by daylight +on the morrow a schooner and two cutters lay moored in the port +of Rotoava. Not only in the outer sea, but in the lagoon +itself, a certain traffic woke with the reviving breeze; and +among the rest one François, a half-blood, set sail with +the first light in his own half-decked cutter. He had held +before a court appointment; being, I believe, the Residency +sweeper-out. Trouble arising with the unpopular +Vice-Resident, he had thrown his honours down, and fled to the +far parts of the atoll to plant cabbages—or at least +coco-palms. Thence he was now driven by such need as even a +Cincinnatus must acknowledge, and fared for the capital city, the +seat of his late functions, to exchange half a ton of copra for +necessary flour. And here, for a while, the story leaves to +tell of his voyaging.</p> +<p>It must tell, instead, of our house, where, toward seven at +night, the catechist came suddenly in with his pleased air of +being welcome; armed besides with a considerable bunch of +keys. These he proceeded to try on the sea-chests, drawing +each in turn from its place against the wall. Heads of +strangers appeared in the doorway and volunteered +suggestions. All in vain. Either they were the wrong +keys or the wrong boxes, or the wrong man was trying them. +For a little Taniera fumed and fretted; then had recourse to the +more summary method of the hatchet; one of the chests was broken +open, and an armful of clothing, male and female, baled out and +handed to the strangers on the verandah.</p> +<p>These were François, his wife, and their child. +About eight a.m., in the midst of the lagoon, their cutter had +capsized in jibbing. They got her righted, and though she +was still full of water put the child on board. The +mainsail had been carried away, but the jib still drew her +sluggishly along, and François and the woman swam astern +and worked the rudder with their hands. The cold was cruel; +the fatigue, as time went on, became excessive; and in that +preserve of sharks, fear hunted them. Again and again, +François, the half-breed, would have desisted and gone +down; but the woman, whole blood of an amphibious race, still +supported him with cheerful words. I am reminded of a woman +of Hawaii who swam with her husband, I dare not say how many +miles, in a high sea, and came ashore at last with his dead body +in her arms. It was about five in the evening, after nine +hours’ swimming, that François and his wife reached +land at Rotoava. The gallant fight was won, and instantly +the more childish side of native character appears. They +had supped, and told and retold their story, dripping as they +came; the flesh of the woman, whom Mrs. Stevenson helped to +shift, was cold as stone; and François, having changed to +a dry cotton shirt and trousers, passed the remainder of the +evening on my floor and between open doorways, in a thorough +draught. Yet François, the son of a French father, +speaks excellent French himself and seems intelligent.</p> +<p>It was our first idea that the catechist, true to his +evangelical vocation, was clothing the naked from his +superfluity. Then it came out that François was but +dealing with his own. The clothes were his, so was the +chest, so was the house. François was in fact the +landlord. Yet you observe he had hung back on the verandah +while Taniera tried his ’prentice hand upon the locks: and +even now, when his true character appeared, the only use he made +of the estate was to leave the clothes of his family drying on +the fence. Taniera was still the friend of the house, still +fed the poultry, still came about us on his daily visits, +François, during the remainder of his stay, holding +bashfully aloof. And there was stranger matter. Since +François had lost the whole load of his cutter, the half +ton of copra, an axe, bowls, knives, and clothes—since he +had in a manner to begin the world again, and his necessary flour +was not yet bought or paid for—I proposed to advance him +what he needed on the rent. To my enduring amazement he +refused, and the reason he gave—if that can be called a +reason which but darkens counsel—was that Taniera was his +friend. His friend, you observe; not his creditor. I +inquired into that, and was assured that Taniera, an exile in a +strange isle, might possibly be in debt himself, but certainly +was no man’s creditor.</p> +<p>Very early one morning we were awakened by a bustling presence +in the yard, and found our camp had been surprised by a tall, +lean old native lady, dressed in what were obviously +widow’s weeds. You could see at a glance she was a +notable woman, a housewife, sternly practical, alive with energy, +and with fine possibilities of temper. Indeed, there was +nothing native about her but the skin; and the type abounds, and +is everywhere respected, nearer home. It did us good to see +her scour the grounds, examining the plants and chickens; +watering, feeding, trimming them; taking angry, purpose-like +possession. When she neared the house our sympathy abated; +when she came to the broken chest I wished I were +elsewhere. We had scarce a word in common; but her whole +lean body spoke for her with indignant eloquence. ‘My +chest!’ it cried, with a stress on the possessive. +‘My chest—broken open! This is a fine state of +things!’ I hastened to lay the blame where it +belonged—on François and his wife—and found I +had made things worse instead of better. She repeated the +names at first with incredulity, then with despair. A while +she seemed stunned, next fell to disembowelling the box, piling +the goods on the floor, and visibly computing the extent of +François’s ravages; and presently after she was +observed in high speech with Taniera, who seemed to hang an ear +like one reproved.</p> +<p>Here, then, by all known marks, should be my land-lady at +last; here was every character of the proprietor fully +developed. Should I not approach her on the still depending +question of my rent? I carried the point to an +adviser. ‘Nonsense!’ he cried. +‘That’s the old woman, the mother. It +doesn’t belong to her. I believe that’s the man +the house belongs to,’ and he pointed to one of the +coloured photographs on the wall. On this I gave up all +desire of understanding; and when the time came for me to leave, +in the judgment-hall of the archipelago, and with the awful +countenance of the acting Governor, I duly paid my rent to +Taniera. He was satisfied, and so was I. But what had +he to do with it? Mr. Donat, acting magistrate and a man of +kindred blood, could throw no light upon the mystery; a plain +private person, with a taste for letters, cannot be expected to +do more.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER IV—TRAITS AND SECTS IN THE PAUMOTUS</h3> +<p>The most careless reader must have remarked a change of air +since the Marquesas. The house, crowded with effects, the +bustling housewife counting her possessions, the serious, +indoctrinated island pastor, the long fight for life in the +lagoon: here are traits of a new world. I read in a +pamphlet (I will not give the author’s name) that the +Marquesan especially resembles the Paumotuan. I should take +the two races, though so near in neighbourhood, to be extremes of +Polynesian diversity. The Marquesan is certainly the most +beautiful of human races, and one of the tallest—the +Paumotuan averaging a good inch shorter, and not even handsome; +the Marquesan open-handed, inert, insensible to religion, +childishly self-indulgent—the Paumotuan greedy, hardy, +enterprising, a religious disputant, and with a trace of the +ascetic character.</p> +<p>Yet a few years ago, and the people of the archipelago were +crafty savages. Their isles might be called sirens’ +isles, not merely from the attraction they exerted on the passing +mariner, but from the perils that awaited him on shore. +Even to this day, in certain outlying islands, danger lingers; +and the civilized Paumotuan dreads to land and hesitates to +accost his backward brother. But, except in these, to-day +the peril is a memory. When our generation were yet in the +cradle and playroom it was still a living fact. Between +1830 and 1840, Hao, for instance, was a place of the most +dangerous approach, where ships were seized and crews +kidnapped. As late as 1856, the schooner <i>Sarah Ann</i> +sailed from Papeete and was seen no more. She had women on +board, and children, the captain’s wife, a nursemaid, a +baby, and the two young sons of a Captain Steven on their way to +the mainland for schooling. All were supposed to have +perished in a squall. A year later, the captain of the +<i>Julia</i>, coasting along the island variously called Bligh, +Lagoon, and Tematangi saw armed natives follow the course of his +schooner, clad in many-coloured stuffs. Suspicion was at +once aroused; the mother of the lost children was profuse of +money; and one expedition having found the place deserted, and +returned content with firing a few shots, she raised and herself +accompanied another. None appeared to greet or to oppose +them; they roamed a while among abandoned huts and empty +thickets; then formed two parties and set forth to beat, from end +to end, the pandanus jungle of the island. One man remained +alone by the landing-place—Teina, a chief of Anaa, leader +of the armed natives who made the strength of the +expedition. Now that his comrades were departed this way +and that, on their laborious exploration, the silence fell +profound; and this silence was the ruin of the islanders. A +sound of stones rattling caught the ear of Teina. He +looked, thinking to perceive a crab, and saw instead the brown +hand of a human being issue from a fissure in the ground. A +shout recalled the search parties and announced their doom to the +buried caitiffs. In the cave below, sixteen were found +crouching among human bones and singular and horrid +curiosities. One was a head of golden hair, supposed to be +a relic of the captain’s wife; another was half of the body +of a European child, sun-dried and stuck upon a stick, doubtless +with some design of wizardry.</p> +<p>The Paumotuan is eager to be rich. He saves, grudges, +buries money, fears not work. For a dollar each, two +natives passed the hours of daylight cleaning our ship’s +copper. It was strange to see them so indefatigable and so +much at ease in the water—working at times with their pipes +lighted, the smoker at times submerged and only the glowing bowl +above the surface; it was stranger still to think they were next +congeners to the incapable Marquesan. But the Paumotuan not +only saves, grudges, and works, he steals besides; or, to be more +precise, he swindles. He will never deny a debt, he only +flees his creditor. He is always keen for an advance; so +soon as he has fingered it he disappears. He knows your +ship; so soon as it nears one island, he is off to another. +You may think you know his name; he has already changed it. +Pursuit in that infinity of isles were fruitless. The +result can be given in a nutshell. It has been actually +proposed in a Government report to secure debts by taking a +photograph of the debtor; and the other day in Papeete credits on +the Paumotus to the amount of sixteen thousand pounds were sold +for less than forty—<i>quatre cent mille francs pour moins +de mille francs</i>. Even so, the purchase was thought +hazardous; and only the man who made it and who had special +opportunities could have dared to give so much.</p> +<p>The Paumotuan is sincerely attached to those of his own blood +and household. A touching affection sometimes unites wife +and husband. Their children, while they are alive, +completely rule them; after they are dead, their bones or their +mummies are often jealously preserved and carried from atoll to +atoll in the wanderings of the family. I was told there +were many houses in Fakarava with the mummy of a child locked in +a sea-chest; after I heard it, I would glance a little jealously +at those by my own bed; in that cupboard, also, it was possible +there was a tiny skeleton.</p> +<p>The race seems in a fair way to survive. From fifteen +islands, whose rolls I had occasion to consult, I found a +proportion of 59 births to 47 deaths for 1887. Dropping +three out of the fifteen, there remained for the other twelve the +comfortable ratio of 50 births to 32 deaths. Long habits of +hardship and activity doubtless explain the contrast with +Marquesan figures. But the Paumotuan displays, besides, a +certain concern for health and the rudiments of a sanitary +discipline. Public talk with these free-spoken people plays +the part of the Contagious Diseases Act; in-comers to fresh +islands anxiously inquire if all be well; and syphilis, when +contracted, is successfully treated with indigenous herbs. +Like their neighbours of Tahiti, from whom they have perhaps +imbibed the error, they regard leprosy with comparative +indifference, elephantiasis with disproportionate fear. +But, unlike indeed to the Tahitian, their alarm puts on the guise +of self-defence. Any one stricken with this painful and +ugly malady is confined to the ends of villages, denied the use +of paths and highways, and condemned to transport himself between +his house and coco-patch by water only, his very footprint being +held infectious. Fe’efe’e, being a creature of +marshes and the sequel of malarial fever, is not original in +atolls. On the single isle of Makatea, where the lagoon is +now a marsh, the disease has made a home. Many suffer; they +are excluded (if Mr. Wilmot be right) from much of the comfort of +society; and it is believed they take a secret vengeance. +The defections of the sick are considered highly poisonous. +Early in the morning, it is narrated, aged and malicious persons +creep into the sleeping village, and stealthily make water at the +doors of the houses of young men. Thus they propagate +disease; thus they breathe on and obliterate comeliness and +health, the objects of their envy. Whether horrid fact or +more abominable legend, it equally depicts that something bitter +and energetic which distinguishes Paumotuan man.</p> +<p>The archipelago is divided between two main religions, +Catholic and Mormon. They front each other proudly with a +false air of permanence; yet are but shapes, their membership in +a perpetual flux. The Mormon attends mass with devotion: +the Catholic sits attentive at a Mormon sermon, and to-morrow +each may have transferred allegiance. One man had been a +pillar of the Church of Rome for fifteen years; his wife dying, +he decided that must be a poor religion that could not save a man +his wife, and turned Mormon. According to one informant, +Catholicism was the more fashionable in health, but on the +approach of sickness it was judged prudent to secede. As a +Mormon, there were five chances out of six you might recover; as +a Catholic, your hopes were small; and this opinion is perhaps +founded on the comfortable rite of unction.</p> +<p>We all know what Catholics are, whether in the Paumotus or at +home. But the Paumotuan Mormon seemed a phenomenon +apart. He marries but the one wife, uses the Protestant +Bible, observes Protestant forms of worship, forbids the use of +liquor and tobacco, practises adult baptism by immersion, and +after every public sin, rechristens the backslider. I +advised with Mahinui, whom I found well informed in the history +of the American Mormons, and he declared against the least +connection. ‘<i>Pour moi</i>,’ said he, with a +fine charity, ‘<i>les Mormons ici un petit +Catholiques</i>.’ Some months later I had an +opportunity to consult an orthodox fellow-countryman, an old +dissenting Highlander, long settled in Tahiti, but still +breathing of the heather of Tiree. ‘Why do they call +themselves Mormons?’ I asked. ‘My dear, and +that is my question!’ he exclaimed. ‘For by all +that I can hear of their doctrine, I have nothing to say against +it, and their life, it is above reproach.’ And for +all that, Mormons they are, but of the earlier sowing: the +so-called Josephites, the followers of Joseph Smith, the +opponents of Brigham Young.</p> +<p>Grant, then, the Mormons to be Mormons. Fresh points at +once arise: What are the Israelites? and what the Kanitus? +For a long while back the sect had been divided into Mormons +proper and so-called Israelites, I never could hear why. A +few years since there came a visiting missionary of the name of +Williams, who made an excellent collection, and retired, leaving +fresh disruption imminent. Something irregular (as I was +told) in his way of ‘opening the service’ had raised +partisans and enemies; the church was once more rent asunder; and +a new sect, the Kanitu, issued from the division. Since +then Kanitus and Israelites, like the Cameronians and the United +Presbyterians, have made common cause; and the ecclesiastical +history of the Paumotus is, for the moment, uneventful. +There will be more doing before long, and these isles bid fair to +be the Scotland of the South. Two things I could never +learn. The nature of the innovations of the Rev. Mr. +Williams none would tell me, and of the meaning of the name +Kanitu none had a guess. It was not Tahitian, it was not +Marquesan; it formed no part of that ancient speech of the +Paumotus, now passing swiftly into obsolescence. One man, a +priest, God bless him! said it was the Latin for a little +dog. I have found it since as the name of a god in New +Guinea; it must be a bolder man than I who should hint at a +connection. Here, then, is a singular thing: a brand-new +sect, arising by popular acclamation, and a nonsense word +invented for its name.</p> +<p>The design of mystery seems obvious, and according to a very +intelligent observer, Mr. Magee of Mangareva, this element of the +mysterious is a chief attraction of the Mormon Church. It +enjoys some of the status of Freemasonry at home, and there is +for the convert some of the exhilaration of adventure. +Other attractions are certainly conjoined. Perpetual +rebaptism, leading to a succession of baptismal feasts, is found, +both from the social and the spiritual side, a pleasing +feature. More important is the fact that all the faithful +enjoy office; perhaps more important still, the strictness of the +discipline. ‘The veto on liquor,’ said Mr. +Magee, ‘brings them plenty members.’ There is +no doubt these islanders are fond of drink, and no doubt they +refrain from the indulgence; a bout on a feast-day, for instance, +may be followed by a week or a month of rigorous sobriety. +Mr. Wilmot attributes this to Paumotuan frugality and the love of +hoarding; it goes far deeper. I have mentioned that I made +a feast on board the <i>Casco</i>. To wash down +ship’s bread and jam, each guest was given the choice of +rum or syrup, and out of the whole number only one man +voted—in a defiant tone, and amid shouts of mirth—for +‘Trum’! This was in public. I had the +meanness to repeat the experiment, whenever I had a chance, +within the four walls of my house; and three at least, who had +refused at the festival, greedily drank rum behind a door. +But there were others thoroughly consistent. I said the +virtues of the race were bourgeois and puritan; and how bourgeois +is this! how puritanic! how Scottish! and how Yankee!—the +temptation, the resistance, the public hypocritical conformity, +the Pharisees, the Holy Willies, and the true disciples. +With such a people the popularity of an ascetic Church appears +legitimate; in these strict rules, in this perpetual supervision, +the weak find their advantage, the strong a certain pleasure; and +the doctrine of rebaptism, a clean bill and a fresh start, will +comfort many staggering professors.</p> +<p>There is yet another sect, or what is called a sect—no +doubt improperly—that of the Whistlers. Duncan +Cameron, so clear in favour of the Mormons, was no less loud in +condemnation of the Whistlers. Yet I do not know; I still +fancy there is some connection, perhaps fortuitous, probably +disavowed. Here at least are some doings in the house of an +Israelite clergyman (or prophet) in the island of Anaa, of which +I am equally sure that Duncan would disclaim and the Whistlers +hail them for an imitation of their own. My informant, a +Tahitian and a Catholic, occupied one part of the house; the +prophet and his family lived in the other. Night after +night the Mormons, in the one end, held their evening sacrifice +of song; night after night, in the other, the wife of the +Tahitian lay awake and listened to their singing with +amazement. At length she could contain herself no longer, +woke her husband, and asked him what he heard. ‘I +hear several persons singing hymns,’ said he. +‘Yes,’ she returned, ‘but listen again! +Do you not hear something supernatural?’ His +attention thus directed, he was aware of a strange buzzing +voice—and yet he declared it was beautiful—which +justly accompanied the singers. The next day he made +inquiries. ‘It is a spirit,’ said the prophet, +with entire simplicity, ‘which has lately made a practice +of joining us at family worship.’ It did not appear +the thing was visible, and like other spirits raised nearer home +in these degenerate days, it was rudely ignorant, at first could +only buzz, and had only learned of late to bear a part correctly +in the music.</p> +<p>The performances of the Whistlers are more +business-like. Their meetings are held publicly with open +doors, all being ‘cordially invited to attend.’ +The faithful sit about the room—according to one informant, +singing hymns; according to another, now singing and now +whistling; the leader, the wizard—let me rather say, the +medium—sits in the midst, enveloped in a sheet and silent; +and presently, from just above his head, or sometimes from the +midst of the roof, an aerial whistling proceeds, appalling to the +inexperienced. This, it appears, is the language of the +dead; its purport is taken down progressively by one of the +experts, writing, I was told, ‘as fast as a telegraph +operator’; and the communications are at last made +public. They are of the baldest triviality; a schooner is, +perhaps, announced, some idle gossip reported of a neighbour, or +if the spirit shall have been called to consultation on a case of +sickness, a remedy may be suggested. One of these, +immersion in scalding water, not long ago proved fatal to the +patient. The whole business is very dreary, very silly, and +very European; it has none of the picturesque qualities of +similar conjurations in New Zealand; it seems to possess no +kernel of possible sense, like some that I shall describe among +the Gilbert islanders. Yet I was told that many hardy, +intelligent natives were inveterate Whistlers. ‘Like +Mahinui?’ I asked, willing to have a standard; and I was +told ‘Yes.’ Why should I wonder? Men more +enlightened than my convict-catechist sit down at home to follies +equally sterile and dull.</p> +<p>The medium is sometimes female. It was a woman, for +instance, who introduced these practices on the north coast of +Taiarapu, to the scandal of her own connections, her +brother-in-law in particular declaring she was drunk. But +what shocked Tahiti might seem fit enough in the Paumotus, the +more so as certain women there possess, by the gift of nature, +singular and useful powers. They say they are honest, +well-intentioned ladies, some of them embarrassed by their weird +inheritance. And indeed the trouble caused by this +endowment is so great, and the protection afforded so +infinitesimally small, that I hesitate whether to call it a gift +or a hereditary curse. You may rob this lady’s +coco-patch, steal her canoes, burn down her house, and slay her +family scatheless; but one thing you must not do: you must not +lay a hand upon her sleeping-mat, or your belly will swell, and +you can only be cured by the lady or her husband. Here is +the report of an eye-witness, Tasmanian born, educated, a man who +has made money—certainly no fool. In 1886 he was +present in a house on Makatea, where two lads began to skylark on +the mats, and were (I think) ejected. Instantly after, +their bellies began to swell; pains took hold on them; all manner +of island remedies were exhibited in vain, and rubbing only +magnified their sufferings. The man of the house was +called, explained the nature of the visitation, and prepared the +cure. A cocoa-nut was husked, filled with herbs, and with +all the ceremonies of a launch, and the utterance of spells in +the Paumotuan language, committed to the sea. From that +moment the pains began to grow more easy and the swelling to +subside. The reader may stare. I can assure him, if +he moved much among old residents of the archipelago, he would be +driven to admit one thing of two—either that there is +something in the swollen bellies or nothing in the evidence of +man.</p> +<p>I have not met these gifted ladies; but I had an experience of +my own, for I have played, for one night only, the part of the +whistling spirit. It had been blowing wearily all day, but +with the fall of night the wind abated, and the moon, which was +then full, rolled in a clear sky. We went southward down +the island on the side of the lagoon, walking through long-drawn +forest aisles of palm, and on a floor of snowy sand. No +life was abroad, nor sound of life; till in a clear part of the +isle we spied the embers of a fire, and not far off, in a dark +house, heard natives talking softly. To sit without a +light, even in company, and under cover, is for a Paumotuan a +somewhat hazardous extreme. The whole scene—the +strong moonlight and crude shadows on the sand, the scattered +coals, the sound of the low voices from the house, and the lap of +the lagoon along the beach—put me (I know not how) on +thoughts of superstition. I was barefoot, I observed my +steps were noiseless, and drawing near to the dark house, but +keeping well in shadow, began to whistle. ‘The +Heaving of the Lead’ was my air—no very tragic +piece. With the first note the conversation and all +movement ceased; silence accompanied me while I continued; and +when I passed that way on my return I found the lamp was lighted +in the house, but the tongues were still mute. All night, +as I now think, the wretches shivered and were silent. For +indeed, I had no guess at the time at the nature and magnitude of +the terrors I inflicted, or with what grisly images the notes of +that old song had peopled the dark house.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER V—A PAUMOTUAN FUNERAL</h3> +<p>No, I had no guess of these men’s terrors. Yet I +had received ere that a hint, if I had understood; and the +occasion was a funeral.</p> +<p>A little apart in the main avenue of Rotoava, in a low hut of +leaves that opened on a small enclosure, like a pigsty on a pen, +an old man dwelt solitary with his aged wife. Perhaps they +were too old to migrate with the others; perhaps they were too +poor, and had no possessions to dispute. At least they had +remained behind; and it thus befell that they were invited to my +feast. I dare say it was quite a piece of politics in the +pigsty whether to come or not to come, and the husband long +swithered between curiosity and age, till curiosity conquered, +and they came, and in the midst of that last merrymaking death +tapped him on the shoulder. For some days, when the sky was +bright and the wind cool, his mat would be spread in the main +highway of the village, and he was to be seen lying there inert, +a mere handful of a man, his wife inertly seated by his +head. They seemed to have outgrown alike our needs and +faculties; they neither spoke nor listened; they suffered us to +pass without a glance; the wife did not fan, she seemed not to +attend upon her husband, and the two poor antiques sat juxtaposed +under the high canopy of palms, the human tragedy reduced to its +bare elements, a sight beyond pathos, stirring a thrill of +curiosity. And yet there was one touch of the pathetic +haunted me: that so much youth and expectation should have run in +these starved veins, and the man should have squandered all his +lees of life on a pleasure party.</p> +<p>On the morning of 17th September the sufferer died, and, time +pressing, he was buried the same day at four. The cemetery +lies to seaward behind Government House; broken coral, like so +much road-metal, forms the surface; a few wooden crosses, a few +inconsiderable upright stones, designate graves; a mortared wall, +high enough to lean on, rings it about; a clustering shrub +surrounds it with pale leaves. Here was the grave dug that +morning, doubtless by uneasy diggers, to the sound of the nigh +sea and the cries of sea-birds; meanwhile the dead man waited in +his house, and the widow and another aged woman leaned on the +fence before the door, no speech upon their lips, no speculation +in their eyes.</p> +<p>Sharp at the hour the procession was in march, the coffin +wrapped in white and carried by four bearers; mourners +behind—not many, for not many remained in Rotoava, and not +many in black, for these were poor; the men in straw hats, white +coats, and blue trousers or the gorgeous parti-coloured pariu, +the Tahitian kilt; the women, with a few exceptions, brightly +habited. Far in the rear came the widow, painfully carrying +the dead man’s mat; a creature aged beyond humanity, to the +likeness of some missing link.</p> +<p>The dead man had been a Mormon; but the Mormon clergyman was +gone with the rest to wrangle over boundaries in the adjacent +isle, and a layman took his office. Standing at the head of +the open grave, in a white coat and blue pariu, his Tahitian +Bible in his hand and one eye bound with a red handkerchief, he +read solemnly that chapter in Job which has been read and heard +over the bones of so many of our fathers, and with a good voice +offered up two prayers. The wind and the surf bore a +burthen. By the cemetery gate a mother in crimson suckled +an infant rolled in blue. In the midst the widow sat upon +the ground and polished one of the coffin-stretchers with a piece +of coral; a little later she had turned her back to the grave and +was playing with a leaf. Did she understand? God +knows. The officiant paused a moment, stooped, and gathered +and threw reverently on the coffin a handful of rattling +coral. Dust to dust: but the grains of this dust were gross +like cherries, and the true dust that was to follow sat near by, +still cohering (as by a miracle) in the tragic semblance of a +female ape.</p> +<p>So far, Mormon or not, it was a Christian funeral. The +well-known passage had been read from Job, the prayers had been +rehearsed, the grave was filled, the mourners straggled +homeward. With a little coarser grain of covering earth, a +little nearer outcry of the sea, a stronger glare of sunlight on +the rude enclosure, and some incongruous colours of attire, the +well-remembered form had been observed.</p> +<p>By rights it should have been otherwise. The mat should +have been buried with its owner; but, the family being poor, it +was thriftily reserved for a fresh service. The widow +should have flung herself upon the grave and raised the voice of +official grief, the neighbours have chimed in, and the narrow +isle rung for a space with lamentation. But the widow was +old; perhaps she had forgotten, perhaps never understood, and she +played like a child with leaves and coffin-stretchers. In +all ways my guest was buried with maimed rites. Strange to +think that his last conscious pleasure was the <i>Casco</i> and +my feast; strange to think that he had limped there, an old +child, looking for some new good. And the good thing, rest, +had been allotted him.</p> +<p>But though the widow had neglected much, there was one part +she must not utterly neglect. She came away with the +dispersing funeral; but the dead man’s mat was left behind +upon the grave, and I learned that by set of sun she must return +to sleep there. This vigil is imperative. From +sundown till the rising of the morning star the Paumotuan must +hold his watch above the ashes of his kindred. Many +friends, if the dead have been a man of mark, will keep the +watchers company; they will be well supplied with coverings +against the weather; I believe they bring food, and the rite is +persevered in for two weeks. Our poor survivor, if, indeed, +she properly survived, had little to cover, and few to sit with +her; on the night of the funeral a strong squall chased her from +her place of watch; for days the weather held uncertain and +outrageous; and ere seven nights were up she had desisted, and +returned to sleep in her low roof. That she should be at +the pains of returning for so short a visit to a solitary house, +that this borderer of the grave should fear a little wind and a +wet blanket, filled me at the time with musings. I could +not say she was indifferent; she was so far beyond me in +experience that the court of my criticism waived jurisdiction; +but I forged excuses, telling myself she had perhaps little to +lament, perhaps suffered much, perhaps understood nothing. +And lo! in the whole affair there was no question whether of +tenderness or piety, and the sturdy return of this old remnant +was a mark either of uncommon sense or of uncommon fortitude.</p> +<p>Yet one thing had occurred that partly set me on the +trail. I have said the funeral passed much as at +home. But when all was over, when we were trooping in +decent silence from the graveyard gate and down the path to the +settlement, a sudden inbreak of a different spirit startled and +perhaps dismayed us. Two people walked not far apart in our +procession: my friend Mr. Donat—Donat-Rimarau: ‘Donat +the much-handed’—acting Vice-Resident, present ruler +of the archipelago, by far the man of chief importance on the +scene, but known besides for one of an unshakable good temper; +and a certain comely, strapping young Paumotuan woman, the +comeliest on the isle, not (let us hope) the bravest or the most +polite. Of a sudden, ere yet the grave silence of the +funeral was broken, she made a leap at the Resident, with pointed +finger, shrieked a few words, and fell back again with a +laughter, not a natural mirth. ‘What did she say to +you?’ I asked. ‘She did not speak to +<i>me</i>,’ said Donat, a shade perturbed; ‘she spoke +to the ghost of the dead man.’ And the purport of her +speech was this: ‘See there! Donat will be a fine +feast for you to-night.’</p> +<p>‘M. Donat called it a jest,’ I wrote at the time +in my diary. ‘It seemed to me more in the nature of a +terrified conjuration, as though she would divert the +ghost’s attention from herself. A cannibal race may +well have cannibal phantoms.’ The guesses of the +traveller appear foredoomed to be erroneous; yet in these I was +precisely right. The woman had stood by in terror at the +funeral, being then in a dread spot, the graveyard. She +looked on in terror to the coming night, with that ogre, a new +spirit, loosed upon the isle. And the words she had cried +in Donat’s face were indeed a terrified conjuration, basely +to shield herself, basely to dedicate another in her stead. +One thing is to be said in her excuse. Doubtless she partly +chose Donat because he was a man of great good-nature, but +partly, too, because he was a man of the half-caste. For I +believe all natives regard white blood as a kind of talisman +against the powers of hell. In no other way can they +explain the unpunished recklessness of Europeans.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER VI—GRAVEYARD STORIES</h3> +<p>With my superstitious friend, the islander, I fear I am not +wholly frank, often leading the way with stories of my own, and +being always a grave and sometimes an excited hearer. But +the deceit is scarce mortal, since I am as pleased to hear as he +to tell, as pleased with the story as he with the belief; and, +besides, it is entirely needful. For it is scarce possible +to exaggerate the extent and empire of his superstitions; they +mould his life, they colour his thinking; and when he does not +speak to me of ghosts, and gods, and devils, he is playing the +dissembler and talking only with his lips. With thoughts so +different, one must indulge the other; and I would rather that I +should indulge his superstition than he my incredulity. Of +one thing, besides, I may be sure: Let me indulge it as I please, +I shall not hear the whole; for he is already on his guard with +me, and the amount of the lore is boundless.</p> +<p>I will give but a few instances at random, chiefly from my own +doorstep in Upolu, during the past month (October 1890). +One of my workmen was sent the other day to the banana patch, +there to dig; this is a hollow of the mountain, buried in woods, +out of all sight and cry of mankind; and long before dusk Lafaele +was back again beside the cook-house with embarrassed looks; he +dared not longer stay alone, he was afraid of ‘spirits in +the bush.’ It seems these are the souls of the +unburied dead, haunting where they fell, and wearing woodland +shapes of pig, or bird, or insect; the bush is full of them, they +seem to eat nothing, slay solitary wanderers apparently in spite, +and at times, in human form, go down to villages and consort with +the inhabitants undetected. So much I learned a day or so +after, walking in the bush with a very intelligent youth, a +native. It was a little before noon; a grey day and +squally; and perhaps I had spoken lightly. A dark squall +burst on the side of the mountain; the woods shook and cried; the +dead leaves rose from the ground in clouds, like butterflies; and +my companion came suddenly to a full stop. He was afraid, +he said, of the trees falling; but as soon as I had changed the +subject of our talk he proceeded with alacrity. A day or +two before a messenger came up the mountain from Apia with a +letter; I was in the bush, he must await my return, then wait +till I had answered: and before I was done his voice sounded +shrill with terror of the coming night and the long forest +road. These are the commons. Take the chiefs. +There has been a great coming and going of signs and omens in our +group. One river ran down blood; red eels were captured in +another; an unknown fish was thrown upon the coast, an ominous +word found written on its scales. So far we might be +reading in a monkish chronicle; now we come on a fresh note, at +once modern and Polynesian. The gods of Upolu and Savaii, +our two chief islands, contended recently at cricket. Since +then they are at war. Sounds of battle are heard to roll +along the coast. A woman saw a man swim from the high seas +and plunge direct into the bush; he was no man of that +neighbourhood; and it was known he was one of the gods, speeding +to a council. Most perspicuous of all, a missionary on +Savaii, who is also a medical man, was disturbed late in the +night by knocking; it was no hour for the dispensary, but at +length he woke his servant and sent him to inquire; the servant, +looking from a window, beheld crowds of persons, all with +grievous wounds, lopped limbs, broken heads, and bleeding +bullet-holes; but when the door was opened all had +disappeared. They were gods from the field of battle. +Now these reports have certainly significance; it is not hard to +trace them to political grumblers or to read in them a threat of +coming trouble; from that merely human side I found them ominous +myself. But it was the spiritual side of their significance +that was discussed in secret council by my rulers. I shall +best depict this mingled habit of the Polynesian mind by two +connected instances. I once lived in a village, the name of +which I do not mean to tell. The chief and his sister were +persons perfectly intelligent: gentlefolk, apt of speech. +The sister was very religious, a great church-goer, one that used +to reprove me if I stayed away; I found afterwards that she +privately worshipped a shark. The chief himself was +somewhat of a freethinker; at the least, a latitudinarian: he was +a man, besides, filled with European knowledge and +accomplishments; of an impassive, ironical habit; and I should as +soon have expected superstition in Mr. Herbert Spencer. +Hear the sequel. I had discovered by unmistakable signs +that they buried too shallow in the village graveyard, and I took +my friend, as the responsible authority, to task. +‘There is something wrong about your graveyard,’ said +I, ‘which you must attend to, or it may have very bad +results.’ ‘Something wrong? What is +it?’ he asked, with an emotion that surprised me. +‘If you care to go along there any evening about nine +o’clock you can see for yourself,’ said I. He +stepped backward. ‘A ghost!’ he cried.</p> +<p>In short, in the whole field of the South Seas, there is not +one to blame another. Half blood and whole, pious and +debauched, intelligent and dull, all men believe in ghosts, all +men combine with their recent Christianity fear of and a +lingering faith in the old island deities. So, in Europe, +the gods of Olympus slowly dwindled into village bogies; so +to-day, the theological Highlander sneaks from under the eye of +the Free Church divine to lay an offering by a sacred well.</p> +<p>I try to deal with the whole matter here because of a +particular quality in Paumotuan superstitions. It is true I +heard them told by a man with a genius for such narrations. +Close about our evening lamp, within sound of the island surf, we +hung on his words, thrilling. The reader, in far other +scenes, must listen close for the faint echo.</p> +<p>This bundle of weird stories sprang from the burial and the +woman’s selfish conjuration. I was dissatisfied with +what I heard, harped upon questions, and struck at last this vein +of metal. It is from sundown to about four in the morning +that the kinsfolk camp upon the grave; and these are the hours of +the spirits’ wanderings. At any time of the +night—it may be earlier, it may be later—a sound is +to be heard below, which is the noise of his liberation; at four +sharp, another and a louder marks the instant of the +re-imprisonment; between-whiles, he goes his malignant +rounds. ‘Did you ever see an evil spirit?’ was +once asked of a Paumotuan. ‘Once.’ +‘Under what form?’ ‘It was in the form of +a crane.’ ‘And how did you know that crane to +be a spirit?’ was asked. ‘I will tell +you,’ he answered; and this was the purport of his +inconclusive narrative. His father had been dead nearly a +fortnight; others had wearied of the watch; and as the sun was +setting, he found himself by the grave alone. It was not +yet dark, rather the hour of the afterglow, when he was aware of +a snow-white crane upon the coral mound; presently more cranes +came, some white, some black; then the cranes vanished, and he +saw in their place a white cat, to which there was silently +joined a great company of cats of every hue conceivable; then +these also disappeared, and he was left astonished.</p> +<p>This was an anodyne appearance. Take instead the +experience of Rua-a-mariterangi on the isle of Katiu. He +had a need for some pandanus, and crossed the isle to the +sea-beach, where it chiefly flourishes. The day was still, +and Rua was surprised to hear a crashing sound among the +thickets, and then the fall of a considerable tree. Here +must be some one building a canoe; and he entered the margin of +the wood to find and pass the time of day with this chance +neighbour. The crashing sounded more at hand; and then he +was aware of something drawing swiftly near among the +tree-tops. It swung by its heels downward, like an ape, so +that its hands were free for murder; it depended safely by the +slightest twigs; the speed of its coming was incredible; and soon +Rua recognised it for a corpse, horrible with age, its bowels +hanging as it came. Prayer was the weapon of Christian in +the Valley of the Shadow, and it is to prayer that +Rua-a-mariterangi attributes his escape. No merely human +expedition had availed.</p> +<p>This demon was plainly from the grave; yet you will observe he +was abroad by day. And inconsistent as it may seem with the +hours of the night watch and the many references to the rising of +the morning star, it is no singular exception. I could +never find a case of another who had seen this ghost, diurnal and +arboreal in its habits; but others have heard the fall of the +tree, which seems the signal of its coming. Mr. Donat was +once pearling on the uninhabited isle of Haraiki. It was a +day without a breath of wind, such as alternate in the +archipelago with days of contumelious breezes. The divers +were in the midst of the lagoon upon their employment; the cook, +a boy of ten, was over his pots in the camp. Thus were all +souls accounted for except a single native who accompanied Donat +into the wood in quest of sea-fowls’ eggs. In a +moment, out of the stillness, came the sound of the fall of a +great tree. Donat would have passed on to find the +cause. ‘No,’ cried his companion, ‘that +was no tree. It was something <i>not right</i>. Let +us go back to camp.’ Next Sunday the divers were +turned on, all that part of the isle was thoroughly examined, and +sure enough no tree had fallen. A little later Mr. Donat +saw one of his divers flee from a similar sound, in similar +unaffected panic, on the same isle. But neither would +explain, and it was not till afterwards, when he met with Rua, +that he learned the occasion of their terrors.</p> +<p>But whether by day or night, the purpose of the dead in these +abhorred activities is still the same. In Samoa, my +informant had no idea of the food of the bush spirits; no such +ambiguity would exist in the mind of a Paumotuan. In that +hungry archipelago, living and dead must alike toil for +nutriment; and the race having been cannibal in the past, the +spirits are so still. When the living ate the dead, +horrified nocturnal imagination drew the shocking inference that +the dead might eat the living. Doubtless they slay men, +doubtless even mutilate them, in mere malice. Marquesan +spirits sometimes tear out the eyes of travellers; but even that +may be more practical than appears, for the eye is a cannibal +dainty. And certainly the root-idea of the dead, at least +in the far eastern islands, is to prowl for food. It was as +a dainty morsel for a meal that the woman denounced Donat at the +funeral. There are spirits besides who prey in particular +not on the bodies but on the souls of the dead. The point +is clearly made in a Tahitian story. A child fell sick, +grew swiftly worse, and at last showed signs of death. The +mother hastened to the house of a sorcerer, who lived hard +by. ‘You are yet in time,’ said he; ‘a +spirit has just run past my door carrying the soul of your child +wrapped in the leaf of a purao; but I have a spirit stronger and +swifter who will run him down ere he has time to eat +it.’ Wrapped in a leaf: like other things edible and +corruptible.</p> +<p>Or take an experience of Mr. Donat’s on the island of +Anaa. It was a night of a high wind, with violent squalls; +his child was very sick, and the father, though he had gone to +bed, lay wakeful, hearkening to the gale. All at once a +fowl was violently dashed on the house wall. Supposing he +had forgot to put it in shelter with the rest, Donat arose, found +the bird (a cock) lying on the verandah, and put it in the +hen-house, the door of which he securely fastened. Fifteen +minutes later the business was repeated, only this time, as it +was being dashed against the wall, the bird crew. Again +Donat replaced it, examining the hen-house thoroughly and finding +it quite perfect; as he was so engaged the wind puffed out his +light, and he must grope back to the door a good deal +shaken. Yet a third time the bird was dashed upon the wall; +a third time Donat set it, now near dead, beside its mates; and +he was scarce returned before there came a rush, like that of a +furious strong man, against the door, and a whistle as loud as +that of a railway engine rang about the house. The +sceptical reader may here detect the finger of the tempest; but +the women gave up all for lost and clustered on the beds +lamenting. Nothing followed, and I must suppose the gale +somewhat abated, for presently after a chief came visiting. +He was a bold man to be abroad so late, but doubtless carried a +bright lantern. And he was certainly a man of counsel, for +as soon as he heard the details of these disturbances he was in a +position to explain their nature. ‘Your child,’ +said he, ‘must certainly die. This is the evil spirit +of our island who lies in wait to eat the spirits of the newly +dead.’ And then he went on to expatiate on the +strangeness of the spirit’s conduct. He was not +usually, he explained, so open of assault, but sat silent on the +house-top waiting, in the guise of a bird, while within the +people tended the dying and bewailed the dead, and had no thought +of peril. But when the day came and the doors were opened, +and men began to go abroad, blood-stains on the wall betrayed the +tragedy.</p> +<p>This is the quality I admire in Paumotuan legend. In +Tahiti the spirit-eater is said to assume a vesture which has +much more of pomp, but how much less of horror. It has been +seen by all sorts and conditions, native and foreign; only the +last insist it is a meteor. My authority was not so +sure. He was riding with his wife about two in the morning; +both were near asleep, and the horses not much better. It +was a brilliant and still night, and the road wound over a +mountain, near by a deserted marae (old Tahitian temple). +All at once the appearance passed above them: a form of light; +the head round and greenish; the body long, red, and with a focus +of yet redder brilliancy about the midst. A buzzing hoot +accompanied its passage; it flew direct out of one marae, and +direct for another down the mountain side. And this, as my +informant argued, is suggestive. For why should a mere +meteor frequent the altars of abominable gods? The horses, +I should say, were equally dismayed with their riders. Now +I am not dismayed at all—not even agreeably. Give me +rather the bird upon the house-top and the morning blood-gouts on +the wall.</p> +<p>But the dead are not exclusive in their diet. They carry +with them to the grave, in particular, the Polynesian taste for +fish, and enter at times with the living into a partnership in +fishery. Rua-a-mariterangi is again my authority; I feel it +diminishes the credit of the fact, but how it builds up the image +of this inveterate ghost-seer! He belongs to the miserably +poor island of Taenga, yet his father’s house was always +well supplied. As Rua grew up he was called at last to go +a-fishing with this fortunate parent. They rowed the lagoon +at dusk, to an unlikely place, and the lay down in the stern, and +the father began vainly to cast his line over the bows. It +is to be supposed that Rua slept; and when he awoke there was the +figure of another beside his father, and his father was pulling +in the fish hand over hand. ‘Who is that man, +father?’ Rua asked. ‘It is none of your +business,’ said the father; and Rua supposed the stranger +had swum off to them from shore. Night after night they +fared into the lagoon, often to the most unlikely places; night +after night the stranger would suddenly be seen on board, and as +suddenly be missed; and morning after morning the canoe returned +laden with fish. ‘My father is a very lucky +man,’ thought Rua. At last, one fine day, there came +first one boat party and then another, who must be entertained; +father and son put off later than usual into the lagoon; and +before the canoe was landed it was four o’clock, and the +morning star was close on the horizon. Then the stranger +appeared seized with some distress; turned about, showing for the +first time his face, which was that of one long dead, with +shining eyes; stared into the east, set the tips of his fingers +to his mouth like one a-cold, uttered a strange, shuddering sound +between a whistle and a moan—a thing to freeze the blood; +and, the day-star just rising from the sea, he suddenly was +not. Then Rua understood why his father prospered, why his +fishes rotted early in the day, and why some were always carried +to the cemetery and laid upon the graves. My informant is a +man not certainly averse to superstition, but he keeps his head, +and takes a certain superior interest, which I may be allowed to +call scientific. The last point reminding him of some +parallel practice in Tahiti, he asked Rua if the fish were left, +or carried home again after a formal dedication. It appears +old Mariterangi practised both methods; sometimes treating his +shadowy partner to a mere oblation, sometimes honestly leaving +his fish to rot upon the grave.</p> +<p>It is plain we have in Europe stories of a similar complexion; +and the Polynesian <i>varua ino</i> or <i>aitu o le vao</i> is +clearly the near kinsman of the Transylvanian vampire. Here +is a tale in which the kinship appears broadly marked. On +the atoll of Penrhyn, then still partly savage, a certain chief +was long the salutary terror of the natives. He died, he +was buried; and his late neighbours had scarce tasted the +delights of licence ere his ghost appeared about the +village. Fear seized upon all; a council was held of the +chief men and sorcerers; and with the approval of the Rarotongan +missionary, who was as frightened as the rest, and in the +presence of several whites—my friend Mr. Ben Hird being +one—the grave was opened, deepened until water came, and +the body re-interred face down. The still recent staking of +suicides in England and the decapitation of vampires in the east +of Europe form close parallels.</p> +<p>So in Samoa only the spirits of the unburied awake fear. +During the late war many fell in the bush; their bodies, +sometimes headless, were brought back by native pastors and +interred; but this (I know not why) was insufficient, and the +spirit still lingered on the theatre of death. When peace +returned a singular scene was enacted in many places, and chiefly +round the high gorges of Lotoanuu, where the struggle was long +centred and the loss had been severe. Kinswomen of the dead +came carrying a mat or sheet and guided by survivors of the +fight. The place of death was earnestly sought out; the +sheet was spread upon the ground; and the women, moved with pious +anxiety, sat about and watched it. If any living thing +alighted it was twice brushed away; upon the third coming it was +known to be the spirit of the dead, was folded in, carried home +and buried beside the body; and the aitu rested. The rite +was practised beyond doubt in simple piety; the repose of the +soul was its object: its motive, reverent affection. The +present king disowns indeed all knowledge of a dangerous aitu; he +declares the souls of the unburied were only wanderers in limbo, +lacking an entrance to the proper country of the dead, unhappy, +nowise hurtful. And this severely classic opinion doubtless +represents the views of the enlightened. But the flight of +my Lafaele marks the grosser terrors of the ignorant.</p> +<p>This belief in the exorcising efficacy of funeral rites +perhaps explains a fact, otherwise amazing, that no Polynesian +seems at all to share our European horror of human bones and +mummies. Of the first they made their cherished ornaments; +they preserved them in houses or in mortuary caves; and the +watchers of royal sepulchres dwelt with their children among the +bones of generations. The mummy, even in the making, was as +little feared. In the Marquesas, on the extreme coast, it +was made by the household with continual unction and exposure to +the sun; in the Carolines, upon the farthest west, it is still +cured in the smoke of the family hearth. Head-hunting, +besides, still lives around my doorstep in Samoa. And not +ten years ago, in the Gilberts, the widow must disinter, cleanse, +polish, and thenceforth carry about her, by day and night, the +head of her dead husband. In all these cases we may suppose +the process, whether of cleansing or drying, to have fully +exorcised the aitu.</p> +<p>But the Paumotuan belief is more obscure. Here the man +is duly buried, and he has to be watched. He is duly +watched, and the spirit goes abroad in spite of watches. +Indeed, it is not the purpose of the vigils to prevent these +wanderings; only to mollify by polite attention the inveterate +malignity of the dead. Neglect (it is supposed) may +irritate and thus invite his visits, and the aged and weakly +sometimes balance risks and stay at home. Observe, it is +the dead man’s kindred and next friends who thus deprecate +his fury with nocturnal watchings. Even the placatory vigil +is held perilous, except in company, and a boy was pointed out to +me in Rotoava, because he had watched alone by his own +father. Not the ties of the dead, nor yet their proved +character, affect the issue. A late Resident, who died in +Fakarava of sunstroke, was beloved in life and is still +remembered with affection; none the less his spirit went about +the island clothed with terrors, and the neighbourhood of +Government House was still avoided after dark. We may sum +up the cheerful doctrine thus: All men become vampires, and the +vampire spares none. And here we come face to face with a +tempting inconsistency. For the whistling spirits are +notoriously clannish; I understood them to wait upon and to +enlighten kinsfolk only, and that the medium was always of the +race of the communicating spirit. Here, then, we have the +bonds of the family, on the one hand, severed at the hour of +death; on the other, helpfully persisting.</p> +<p>The child’s soul in the Tahitian tale was wrapped in +leaves. It is the spirits of the newly dead that are the +dainty. When they are slain, the house is stained with +blood. Rua’s dead fisherman was decomposed; +so—and horribly—was his arboreal demon. The +spirit, then, is a thing material; and it is by the material +ensigns of corruption that he is distinguished from the living +man. This opinion is widespread, adds a gross terror to the +more ugly Polynesian tales, and sometimes defaces the more +engaging with a painful and incongruous touch. I will give +two examples sufficiently wide apart, one from Tahiti, one from +Samoa.</p> +<p>And first from Tahiti. A man went to visit the husband +of his sister, then some time dead. In her life the sister +had been dainty in the island fashion, and went always adorned +with a coronet of flowers. In the midst of the night the +brother awoke and was aware of a heavenly fragrance going to and +fro in the dark house. The lamp I must suppose to have +burned out; no Tahitian would have lain down without one +lighted. A while he lay wondering and delighted; then +called upon the rest. ‘Do none of you smell +flowers?’ he asked. ‘O,’ said his +brother-in-law, ‘we are used to that here.’ The +next morning these two men went walking, and the widower +confessed that his dead wife came about the house continually, +and that he had even seen her. She was shaped and dressed +and crowned with flowers as in her lifetime; only she moved a few +inches above the earth with a very easy progress, and flitted +dryshod above the surface of the river. And now comes my +point: It was always in a back view that she appeared; and these +brothers-in-law, debating the affair, agreed that this was to +conceal the inroads of corruption.</p> +<p>Now for the Samoan story. I owe it to the kindness of +Dr. F. Otto Sierich, whose collection of folk-tales I expect with +a high degree of interest. A man in Manu’a was +married to two wives and had no issue. He went to Savaii, +married there a third, and was more fortunate. When his +wife was near her time he remembered he was in a strange island, +like a poor man; and when his child was born he must be shamed +for lack of gifts. It was in vain his wife dissuaded +him. He returned to his father in Manu’a seeking +help; and with what he could get he set off in the night to +re-embark. Now his wives heard of his coming; they were +incensed that he did not stay to visit them; and on the beach, by +his canoe, intercepted and slew him. Now the third wife lay +asleep in Savaii;—her babe was born and slept by her side; +and she was awakened by the spirit of her husband. +‘Get up,’ he said, ‘my father is sick in +Manu’a and we must go to visit him.’ ‘It +is well,’ said she; ‘take you the child, while I +carry its mats.’ ‘I cannot carry the +child,’ said the spirit; ‘I am too cold from the +sea.’ When they were got on board the canoe the wife +smelt carrion. ‘How is this?’ she said. +‘What have you in the canoe that I should smell +carrion?’ ‘It is nothing in the canoe,’ +said the spirit. ‘It is the land-wind blowing down +the mountains, where some beast lies dead.’ It +appears it was still night when they reached +Manu’a—the swiftest passage on record—and as +they entered the reef the bale-fires burned in the village. +Again she asked him to carry the child; but now he need no more +dissemble. ‘I cannot carry your child,’ said +he, ‘for I am dead, and the fires you see are burning for +my funeral.’</p> +<p>The curious may learn in Dr. Sierich’s book the +unexpected sequel of the tale. Here is enough for my +purpose. Though the man was but new dead, the ghost was +already putrefied, as though putrefaction were the mark and of +the essence of a spirit. The vigil on the Paumotuan grave +does not extend beyond two weeks, and they told me this period +was thought to coincide with that of the resolution of the +body. The ghost always marked with decay—the danger +seemingly ending with the process of dissolution—here is +tempting matter for the theorist. But it will not do. +The lady of the flowers had been long dead, and her spirit was +still supposed to bear the brand of perishability. The +Resident had been more than a fortnight buried, and his vampire +was still supposed to go the rounds.</p> +<p>Of the lost state of the dead, from the lurid Mangaian legend, +in which infernal deities hocus and destroy the souls of all, to +the various submarine and aerial limbos where the dead feast, +float idle, or resume the occupations of their life on earth, it +would be wearisome to tell. One story I give, for it is +singular in itself, is well-known in Tahiti, and has this of +interest, that it is post-Christian, dating indeed from but a few +years back. A princess of the reigning house died; was +transported to the neighbouring isle of Raiatea; fell there under +the empire of a spirit who condemned her to climb coco-palms all +day and bring him the nuts; was found after some time in this +miserable servitude by a second spirit, one of her own house; and +by him, upon her lamentations, reconveyed to Tahiti, where she +found her body still waked, but already swollen with the +approaches of corruption. It is a lively point in the tale +that, on the sight of this dishonoured tabernacle, the princess +prayed she might continue to be numbered with the dead. But +it seems it was too late, her spirit was replaced by the least +dignified of entrances, and her startled family beheld the body +move. The seemingly purgatorial labours, the helpful +kindred spirit, and the horror of the princess at the sight of +her tainted body, are all points to be remarked.</p> +<p>The truth is, the tales are not necessarily consistent in +themselves; and they are further darkened for the stranger by an +ambiguity of language. Ghosts, vampires, spirits, and gods +are all confounded. And yet I seem to perceive that (with +exceptions) those whom we would count gods were less +maleficent. Permanent spirits haunt and do murder in +corners of Samoa; but those legitimate gods of Upolu and Savaii, +whose wars and cricketings of late convulsed society, I did not +gather to be dreaded, or not with a like fear. The spirit +of Aana that ate souls is certainly a fearsome inmate; but the +high gods, even of the archipelago, seem helpful. +Mahinui—from whom our convict-catechist had been +named—the spirit of the sea, like a Proteus endowed with +endless avatars, came to the assistance of the shipwrecked and +carried them ashore in the guise of a ray fish. The same +divinity bore priests from isle to isle about the archipelago, +and by his aid, within the century, persons have been seen to +fly. The tutelar deity of each isle is likewise helpful, +and by a particular form of wedge-shaped cloud on the horizon +announces the coming of a ship.</p> +<p>To one who conceives of these atolls, so narrow, so barren, so +beset with sea, here would seem a superfluity of ghostly +denizens. And yet there are more. In the various +brackish pools and ponds, beautiful women with long red hair are +seen to rise and bathe; only (timid as mice) on the first sound +of feet upon the coral they dive again for ever. They are +known to be healthy and harmless living people, dwellers of an +underworld; and the same fancy is current in Tahiti, where also +they have the hair red. <i>Tetea</i> is the Tahitian name; +the Paumotuan, <i>Mokurea</i>.</p> +<h2>PART III: THE GILBERTS</h2> +<h3>CHAPTER I—BUTARITARI</h3> +<p>At Honolulu we had said farewell to the <i>Casco</i> and to +Captain Otis, and our next adventure was made in changed +conditions. Passage was taken for myself, my wife, Mr. +Osbourne, and my China boy, Ah Fu, on a pigmy trading schooner, +the <i>Equator</i>, Captain Dennis Reid; and on a certain bright +June day in 1889, adorned in the Hawaiian fashion with the +garlands of departure, we drew out of port and bore with a fair +wind for Micronesia.</p> +<p>The whole extent of the South Seas is a desert of ships; more +especially that part where we were now to sail. No post +runs in these islands; communication is by accident; where you +may have designed to go is one thing, where you shall be able to +arrive another. It was my hope, for instance, to have +reached the Carolines, and returned to the light of day by way of +Manila and the China ports; and it was in Samoa that we were +destined to re-appear and be once more refreshed with the sight +of mountains. Since the sunset faded from the peaks of Oahu +six months had intervened, and we had seen no spot of earth so +high as an ordinary cottage. Our path had been still on the +flat sea, our dwellings upon unerected coral, our diet from the +pickle-tub or out of tins; I had learned to welcome shark’s +flesh for a variety; and a mountain, an onion, an Irish potato or +a beef-steak, had been long lost to sense and dear to +aspiration.</p> +<p>The two chief places of our stay, Butaritari and Apemama, lie +near the line; the latter within thirty miles. Both enjoy a +superb ocean climate, days of blinding sun and bracing wind, +nights of a heavenly brightness. Both are somewhat wider +than Fakarava, measuring perhaps (at the widest) a quarter of a +mile from beach to beach. In both, a coarse kind of +<i>taro</i> thrives; its culture is a chief business of the +natives, and the consequent mounds and ditches make miniature +scenery and amuse the eye. In all else they show the +customary features of an atoll: the low horizon, the expanse of +the lagoon, the sedge-like rim of palm-tops, the sameness and +smallness of the land, the hugely superior size and interest of +sea and sky. Life on such islands is in many points like +life on shipboard. The atoll, like the ship, is soon taken +for granted; and the islanders, like the ship’s crew, +become soon the centre of attention. The isles are +populous, independent, seats of kinglets, recently civilised, +little visited. In the last decade many changes have crept +in; women no longer go unclothed till marriage; the widow no +longer sleeps at night and goes abroad by day with the skull of +her dead husband; and, fire-arms being introduced, the spear and +the shark-tooth sword are sold for curiosities. Ten years +ago all these things and practices were to be seen in use; yet +ten years more, and the old society will have entirely +vanished. We came in a happy moment to see its institutions +still erect and (in Apemama) scarce decayed.</p> +<p>Populous and independent—warrens of men, ruled over with +some rustic pomp—such was the first and still the recurring +impression of these tiny lands. As we stood across the +lagoon for the town of Butaritari, a stretch of the low shore was +seen to be crowded with the brown roofs of houses; those of the +palace and king’s summer parlour (which are of corrugated +iron) glittered near one end conspicuously bright; the royal +colours flew hard by on a tall flagstaff; in front, on an +artificial islet, the gaol played the part of a martello. +Even upon this first and distant view, the place had scarce the +air of what it truly was, a village; rather of that which it was +also, a petty metropolis, a city rustic and yet royal.</p> +<p>The lagoon is shoal. The tide being out, we waded for +some quarter of a mile in tepid shallows, and stepped ashore at +last into a flagrant stagnancy of sun and heat. The lee +side of a line island after noon is indeed a breathless place; on +the ocean beach the trade will be still blowing, boisterous and +cool; out in the lagoon it will be blowing also, speeding the +canoes; but the screen of bush completely intercepts it from the +shore, and sleep and silence and companies of mosquitoes brood +upon the towns.</p> +<p>We may thus be said to have taken Butaritari by +surprise. A few inhabitants were still abroad in the north +end, at which we landed. As we advanced, we were soon done +with encounter, and seemed to explore a city of the dead. +Only, between the posts of open houses, we could see the +townsfolk stretched in the siesta, sometimes a family together +veiled in a mosquito-net, sometimes a single sleeper on a +platform like a corpse on a bier.</p> +<p>The houses were of all dimensions, from those of toys to those +of churches. Some might hold a battalion, some were so +minute they could scarce receive a pair of lovers; only in the +playroom, when the toys are mingled, do we meet such +incongruities of scale. Many were open sheds; some took the +form of roofed stages; others were walled and the walls pierced +with little windows. A few were perched on piles in the +lagoon; the rest stood at random on a green, through which the +roadway made a ribbon of sand, or along the embankments of a +sheet of water like a shallow dock. One and all were the +creatures of a single tree; palm-tree wood and palm-tree leaf +their materials; no nail had been driven, no hammer sounded, in +their building, and they were held together by lashings of +palm-tree sinnet.</p> +<p>In the midst of the thoroughfare, the church stands like an +island, a lofty and dim house with rows of windows; a rich +tracery of framing sustains the roof; and through the door at +either end the street shows in a vista. The proportions of +the place, in such surroundings, and built of such materials, +appeared august; and we threaded the nave with a sentiment +befitting visitors in a cathedral. Benches run along either +side. In the midst, on a crazy dais, two chairs stand ready +for the king and queen when they shall choose to worship; over +their heads a hoop, apparently from a hogshead, depends by a +strip of red cotton; and the hoop (which hangs askew) is dressed +with streamers of the same material, red and white.</p> +<p>This was our first advertisement of the royal dignity, and +presently we stood before its seat and centre. The palace +is built of imported wood upon a European plan; the roof of +corrugated iron, the yard enclosed with walls, the gate +surmounted by a sort of lych-house. It cannot be called +spacious; a labourer in the States is sometimes more commodiously +lodged; but when we had the chance to see it within, we found it +was enriched (beyond all island expectation) with coloured +advertisements and cuts from the illustrated papers. Even +before the gate some of the treasures of the crown stand public: +a bell of a good magnitude, two pieces of cannon, and a single +shell. The bell cannot be rung nor the guns fired; they are +curiosities, proofs of wealth, a part of the parade of the +royalty, and stand to be admired like statues in a square. +A straight gut of water like a canal runs almost to the palace +door; the containing quay-walls excellently built of coral; over +against the mouth, by what seems an effect of landscape art, the +martello-like islet of the gaol breaks the lagoon. Vassal +chiefs with tribute, neighbour monarchs come a-roving, might here +sail in, view with surprise these extensive public works, and be +awed by these mouths of silent cannon. It was impossible to +see the place and not to fancy it designed for pageantry. +But the elaborate theatre then stood empty; the royal house +deserted, its doors and windows gaping; the whole quarter of the +town immersed in silence. On the opposite bank of the +canal, on a roofed stage, an ancient gentleman slept publicly, +sole visible inhabitant; and beyond on the lagoon a canoe spread +a striped lateen, the sole thing moving.</p> +<p>The canal is formed on the south by a pier or causeway with a +parapet. At the far end the parapet stops, and the quay +expands into an oblong peninsula in the lagoon, the +breathing-place and summer parlour of the king. The midst +is occupied by an open house or permanent marquee—called +here a maniapa, or, as the word is now pronounced, a +maniap’—at the lowest estimation forty feet by +sixty. The iron roof, lofty but exceedingly low-browed, so +that a woman must stoop to enter, is supported externally on +pillars of coral, within by a frame of wood. The floor is +of broken coral, divided in aisles by the uprights of the frame; +the house far enough from shore to catch the breeze, which enters +freely and disperses the mosquitoes; and under the low eaves the +sun is seen to glitter and the waves to dance on the lagoon.</p> +<p>It was now some while since we had met any but slumberers; and +when we had wandered down the pier and stumbled at last into this +bright shed, we were surprised to find it occupied by a society +of wakeful people, some twenty souls in all, the court and +guardsmen of Butaritari. The court ladies were busy making +mats; the guardsmen yawned and sprawled. Half a dozen +rifles lay on a rock and a cutlass was leaned against a pillar: +the armoury of these drowsy musketeers. At the far end, a +little closed house of wood displayed some tinsel curtains, and +proved, upon examination, to be a privy on the European +model. In front of this, upon some mats, lolled Tebureimoa, +the king; behind him, on the panels of the house, two crossed +rifles represented fasces. He wore pyjamas which +sorrowfully misbecame his bulk; his nose was hooked and cruel, +his body overcome with sodden corpulence, his eye timorous and +dull: he seemed at once oppressed with drowsiness and held awake +by apprehension: a pepper rajah muddled with opium, and listening +for the march of a Dutch army, looks perhaps not otherwise. +We were to grow better acquainted, and first and last I had the +same impression; he seemed always drowsy, yet always to hearken +and start; and, whether from remorse or fear, there is no doubt +he seeks a refuge in the abuse of drugs.</p> +<p>The rajah displayed no sign of interest in our coming. +But the queen, who sat beside him in a purple sacque, was more +accessible; and there was present an interpreter so willing that +his volubility became at last the cause of our departure. +He had greeted us upon our entrance:—‘That is the +honourable King, and I am his interpreter,’ he had said, +with more stateliness than truth. For he held no +appointment in the court, seemed extremely ill-acquainted with +the island language, and was present, like ourselves, upon a +visit of civility. Mr. Williams was his name: an American +darkey, runaway ship’s cook, and bar-keeper at <i>The Land +we Live in</i> tavern, Butaritari. I never knew a man who +had more words in his command or less truth to communicate; +neither the gloom of the monarch, nor my own efforts to be +distant, could in the least abash him; and when the scene closed, +the darkey was left talking.</p> +<p>The town still slumbered, or had but just begun to turn and +stretch itself; it was still plunged in heat and silence. +So much the more vivid was the impression that we carried away of +the house upon the islet, the Micronesian Saul wakeful amid his +guards, and his unmelodious David, Mr. Williams, chattering +through the drowsy hours.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER II—THE FOUR BROTHERS</h3> +<p>The kingdom of Tebureimoa includes two islands, Great and +Little Makin; some two thousand subjects pay him tribute, and two +semi-independent chieftains do him qualified homage. The +importance of the office is measured by the man; he may be a +nobody, he may be absolute; and both extremes have been +exemplified within the memory of residents.</p> +<p>On the death of king Tetimararoa, Tebureimoa’s father, +Nakaeia, the eldest son, succeeded. He was a fellow of huge +physical strength, masterful, violent, with a certain barbaric +thrift and some intelligence of men and business. Alone in +his islands, it was he who dealt and profited; he was the planter +and the merchant; and his subjects toiled for his behoof in +servitude. When they wrought long and well their taskmaster +declared a holiday, and supplied and shared a general +debauch. The scale of his providing was at times +magnificent; six hundred dollars’ worth of gin and brandy +was set forth at once; the narrow land resounded with the noise +of revelry: and it was a common thing to see the subjects +(staggering themselves) parade their drunken sovereign on the +fore-hatch of a wrecked vessel, king and commons howling and +singing as they went. At a word from Nakaeia’s mouth +the revel ended; Makin became once more an isle of slaves and of +teetotalers; and on the morrow all the population must be on the +roads or in the taro-patches toiling under his bloodshot eye.</p> +<p>The fear of Nakaeia filled the land. No regularity of +justice was affected; there was no trial, there were no officers +of the law; it seems there was but one penalty, the capital; and +daylight assault and midnight murder were the forms of +process. The king himself would play the executioner: and +his blows were dealt by stealth, and with the help and +countenance of none but his own wives. These were his +oarswomen; one that caught a crab, he slew incontinently with the +tiller; thus disciplined, they pulled him by night to the scene +of his vengeance, which he would then execute alone and return +well-pleased with his connubial crew. The inmates of the +harem held a station hard for us to conceive. Beasts of +draught, and driven by the fear of death, they were yet +implicitly trusted with their sovereign’s life; they were +still wives and queens, and it was supposed that no man should +behold their faces. They killed by the sight like +basilisks; a chance view of one of those boatwomen was a crime to +be wiped out with blood. In the days of Nakaeia the palace +was beset with some tall coco-palms which commanded the +enclosure. It chanced one evening, while Nakaeia sat below +at supper with his wives, that the owner of the grove was in a +tree-top drawing palm-tree wine; it chanced that he looked down, +and the king at the same moment looking up, their eyes +encountered. Instant flight preserved the involuntary +criminal. But during the remainder of that reign he must +lurk and be hid by friends in remote parts of the isle; Nakaeia +hunted him without remission, although still in vain; and the +palms, accessories to the fact, were ruthlessly cut down. +Such was the ideal of wifely purity in an isle where nubile +virgins went naked as in paradise. And yet scandal found +its way into Nakaeia’s well-guarded harem. He was at +that time the owner of a schooner, which he used for a +pleasure-house, lodging on board as she lay anchored; and thither +one day he summoned a new wife. She was one that had been +sealed to him; that is to say (I presume), that he was married to +her sister, for the husband of an elder sister has the call of +the cadets. She would be arrayed for the occasion; she +would come scented, garlanded, decked with fine mats and family +jewels, for marriage, as her friends supposed; for death, as she +well knew. ‘Tell me the man’s name, and I will +spare you,’ said Nakaeia. But the girl was staunch; +she held her peace, saved her lover and the queens strangled her +between the mats.</p> +<p>Nakaeia was feared; it does not appear that he was +hated. Deeds that smell to us of murder wore to his +subjects the reverend face of justice; his orgies made him +popular; natives to this day recall with respect the firmness of +his government; and even the whites, whom he long opposed and +kept at arm’s-length, give him the name (in the canonical +South Sea phrase) of ‘a perfect gentleman when +sober.’</p> +<p>When he came to lie, without issue, on the bed of death, he +summoned his next brother, Nanteitei, made him a discourse on +royal policy, and warned him he was too weak to reign. The +warning was taken to heart, and for some while the government +moved on the model of Nakaeia’s. Nanteitei dispensed +with guards, and walked abroad alone with a revolver in a leather +mail-bag. To conceal his weakness he affected a rude +silence; you might talk to him all day; advice, reproof, appeal, +and menace alike remained unanswered.</p> +<p>The number of his wives was seventeen, many of them heiresses; +for the royal house is poor, and marriage was in these days a +chief means of buttressing the throne. Nakaeia kept his +harem busy for himself; Nanteitei hired it out to others. +In his days, for instance, Messrs. Wightman built a pier +with a verandah at the north end of the town. The masonry +was the work of the seventeen queens, who toiled and waded there +like fisher lasses; but the man who was to do the roofing durst +not begin till they had finished, lest by chance he should look +down and see them.</p> +<p>It was perhaps the last appearance of the harem gang. +For some time already Hawaiian missionaries had been seated at +Butaritari—Maka and Kanoa, two brave childlike men. +Nakaeia would none of their doctrine; he was perhaps jealous of +their presence; being human, he had some affection for their +persons. In the house, before the eyes of Kanoa, he slew +with his own hand three sailors of Oahu, crouching on their backs +to knife them, and menacing the missionary if he interfered; yet +he not only spared him at the moment, but recalled him afterwards +(when he had fled) with some expressions of respect. +Nanteitei, the weaker man, fell more completely under the +spell. Maka, a light-hearted, lovable, yet in his own trade +very rigorous man, gained and improved an influence on the king +which soon grew paramount. Nanteitei, with the royal house, +was publicly converted; and, with a severity which liberal +missionaries disavow, the harem was at once reduced. It was +a compendious act. The throne was thus impoverished, its +influence shaken, the queen’s relatives mortified, and +sixteen chief women (some of great possessions) cast in a body on +the market. I have been shipmates with a Hawaiian sailor +who was successively married to two of these <i>impromptu</i> +widows, and successively divorced by both for misconduct. +That two great and rich ladies (for both of these were rich) +should have married ‘a man from another island’ marks +the dissolution of society. The laws besides were wholly +remodelled, not always for the better. I love Maka as a +man; as a legislator he has two defects: weak in the punishment +of crime, stern to repress innocent pleasures.</p> +<p>War and revolution are the common successors of reform; yet +Nanteitei died (of an overdose of chloroform), in quiet +possession of the throne, and it was in the reign of the third +brother, Nabakatokia, a man brave in body and feeble of +character, that the storm burst. The rule of the high +chiefs and notables seems to have always underlain and perhaps +alternated with monarchy. The Old Men (as they were called) +have a right to sit with the king in the Speak House and debate: +and the king’s chief superiority is a form of +closure—‘The Speaking is over.’ After the +long monocracy of Nakaeia and the changes of Nanteitei, the Old +Men were doubtless grown impatient of obscurity, and they were +beyond question jealous of the influence of Maka. Calumny, +or rather caricature, was called in use; a spoken cartoon ran +round society; Maka was reported to have said in church that the +king was the first man in the island and himself the second; and, +stung by the supposed affront, the chiefs broke into rebellion +and armed gatherings. In the space of one forenoon the +throne of Nakaeia was humbled in the dust. The king sat in +the maniap’ before the palace gate expecting his recruits; +Maka by his side, both anxious men; and meanwhile, in the door of +a house at the north entry of the town, a chief had taken post +and diverted the succours as they came. They came singly or +in groups, each with his gun or pistol slung about his +neck. ‘Where are you going?’ asked the +chief. ‘The king called us,’ they would +reply. ‘Here is your place. Sit down,’ +returned the chief. With incredible disloyalty, all obeyed; +and sufficient force being thus got together from both sides, +Nabakatokia was summoned and surrendered. About this +period, in almost every part of the group, the kings were +murdered; and on Tapituea, the skeleton of the last hangs to this +day in the chief Speak House of the isle, a menace to +ambition. Nabakatokia was more fortunate; his life and the +royal style were spared to him, but he was stripped of +power. The Old Men enjoyed a festival of public speaking; +the laws were continually changed, never enforced; the commons +had an opportunity to regret the merits of Nakaeia; and the king, +denied the resource of rich marriages and the service of a troop +of wives, fell not only in disconsideration but in debt.</p> +<p>He died some months before my arrival on the islands, and no +one regretted him; rather all looked hopefully to his +successor. This was by repute the hero of the family. +Alone of the four brothers, he had issue, a grown son, Natiata, +and a daughter three years old; it was to him, in the hour of the +revolution, that Nabakatokia turned too late for help; and in +earlier days he had been the right hand of the vigorous +Nakaeia. Nontemat’, <i>Mr. Corpse</i>, was his +appalling nickname, and he had earned it well. Again and +again, at the command of Nakaeia, he had surrounded houses in the +dead of night, cut down the mosquito bars and butchered +families. Here was the hand of iron; here was Nakaeia +<i>redux</i>. He came, summoned from the tributary rule of +Little Makin: he was installed, he proved a puppet and a +trembler, the unwieldy shuttlecock of orators; and the reader has +seen the remains of him in his summer parlour under the name of +Tebureimoa.</p> +<p>The change in the man’s character was much commented on +in the island, and variously explained by opium and +Christianity. To my eyes, there seemed no change at all, +rather an extreme consistency. Mr. Corpse was afraid of his +brother: King Tebureimoa is afraid of the Old Men. Terror +of the first nerved him for deeds of desperation; fear of the +second disables him for the least act of government. He +played his part of bravo in the past, following the line of least +resistance, butchering others in his own defence: to-day, grown +elderly and heavy, a convert, a reader of the Bible, perhaps a +penitent, conscious at least of accumulated hatreds, and his +memory charged with images of violence and blood, he capitulates +to the Old Men, fuddles himself with opium, and sits among his +guards in dreadful expectation. The same cowardice that put +into his hand the knife of the assassin deprives him of the +sceptre of a king.</p> +<p>A tale that I was told, a trifling incident that fell in my +observation, depicts him in his two capacities. A chief in +Little Makin asked, in an hour of lightness, ‘Who is +Kaeia?’ A bird carried the saying; and Nakaeia placed +the matter in the hands of a committee of three. Mr. Corpse +was chairman; the second commissioner died before my arrival; the +third was yet alive and green, and presented so venerable an +appearance that we gave him the name of Abou ben Adhem. Mr. +Corpse was troubled with a scruple; the man from Little Makin was +his adopted brother; in such a case it was not very delicate to +appear at all, to strike the blow (which it seems was otherwise +expected of him) would be worse than awkward. ‘I will +strike the blow,’ said the venerable Abou; and Mr. Corpse +(surely with a sigh) accepted the compromise. The quarry +was decoyed into the bush; he was set to carrying a log; and +while his arms were raised Abou ripped up his belly at a +blow. Justice being thus done, the commission, in a +childish horror, turned to flee. But their victim recalled +them to his side. ‘You need not run away now,’ +he said. ‘You have done this thing to me. +Stay.’ He was some twenty minutes dying, and his +murderers sat with him the while: a scene for Shakespeare. +All the stages of a violent death, the blood, the failing voice, +the decomposing features, the changed hue, are thus present in +the memory of Mr. Corpse; and since he studied them in the +brother he betrayed, he has some reason to reflect on the +possibilities of treachery. I was never more sure of +anything than the tragic quality of the king’s thoughts; +and yet I had but the one sight of him at unawares. I had +once an errand for his ear. It was once more the hour of +the siesta; but there were loiterers abroad, and these directed +us to a closed house on the bank of the canal where Tebureimoa +lay unguarded. We entered without ceremony, being in some +haste. He lay on the floor upon a bed of mats, reading in +his Gilbert Island Bible with compunction. On our sudden +entrance the unwieldy man reared himself half-sitting so that the +Bible rolled on the floor, stared on us a moment with blank eyes, +and, having recognised his visitors, sank again upon the +mats. So Eglon looked on Ehud.</p> +<p>The justice of facts is strange, and strangely just; Nakaeia, +the author of these deeds, died at peace discoursing on the craft +of kings; his tool suffers daily death for his enforced +complicity. Not the nature, but the congruity of +men’s deeds and circumstances damn and save them; and +Tebureimoa from the first has been incongruously placed. At +home, in a quiet bystreet of a village, the man had been a worthy +carpenter, and, even bedevilled as he is, he shows some private +virtues. He has no lands, only the use of such as are +impignorate for fines; he cannot enrich himself in the old way by +marriages; thrift is the chief pillar of his future, and he knows +and uses it. Eleven foreign traders pay him a patent of a +hundred dollars, some two thousand subjects pay capitation at the +rate of a dollar for a man, half a dollar for a woman, and a +shilling for a child: allowing for the exchange, perhaps a total +of three hundred pounds a year. He had been some nine +months on the throne: had bought his wife a silk dress and hat, +figure unknown, and himself a uniform at three hundred dollars; +had sent his brother’s photograph to be enlarged in San +Francisco at two hundred and fifty dollars; had greatly reduced +that brother’s legacy of debt and had still sovereigns in +his pocket. An affectionate brother, a good economist; he +was besides a handy carpenter, and cobbled occasionally on the +woodwork of the palace. It is not wonderful that Mr. Corpse +has virtues; that Tebureimoa should have a diversion filled me +with surprise.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER III—AROUND OUR HOUSE</h3> +<p>When we left the palace we were still but seafarers ashore; +and within the hour we had installed our goods in one of the six +foreign houses of Butaritari, namely, that usually occupied by +Maka, the Hawaiian missionary. Two San Francisco firms are +here established, Messrs. Crawford and Messrs. Wightman Brothers; +the first hard by the palace of the mid town, the second at the +north entry; each with a store and bar-room. Our house was +in the Wightman compound, betwixt the store and bar, within a +fenced enclosure. Across the road a few native houses +nestled in the margin of the bush, and the green wall of palms +rose solid, shutting out the breeze. A little sandy cove of +the lagoon ran in behind, sheltered by a verandah pier, the +labour of queens’ hands. Here, when the tide was +high, sailed boats lay to be loaded; when the tide was low, the +boats took ground some half a mile away, and an endless series of +natives descended the pier stair, tailed across the sand in +strings and clusters, waded to the waist with the bags of copra, +and loitered backward to renew their charge. The mystery of +the copra trade tormented me, as I sat and watched the profits +drip on the stair and the sands.</p> +<p>In front, from shortly after four in the morning until nine at +night, the folk of the town streamed by us intermittingly along +the road: families going up the island to make copra on their +lands; women bound for the bush to gather flowers against the +evening toilet; and, twice a day, the toddy-cutters, each with +his knife and shell. In the first grey of the morning, and +again late in the afternoon, these would straggle past about +their tree-top business, strike off here and there into the bush, +and vanish from the face of the earth. At about the same +hour, if the tide be low in the lagoon, you are likely to be +bound yourself across the island for a bath, and may enter close +at their heels alleys of the palm wood. Right in front, +although the sun is not yet risen, the east is already lighted +with preparatory fires, and the huge accumulations of the +trade-wind cloud glow with and heliograph the coming day. +The breeze is in your face; overhead in the tops of the palms, +its playthings, it maintains a lively bustle; look where you +will, above or below, there is no human presence, only the earth +and shaken forest. And right overhead the song of an +invisible singer breaks from the thick leaves; from farther on a +second tree-top answers; and beyond again, in the bosom of the +woods, a still more distant minstrel perches and sways and +sings. So, all round the isle, the toddy-cutters sit on +high, and are rocked by the trade, and have a view far to +seaward, where they keep watch for sails, and like huge birds +utter their songs in the morning. They sing with a certain +lustiness and Bacchic glee; the volume of sound and the +articulate melody fall unexpected from the tree-top, whence we +anticipate the chattering of fowls. And yet in a sense +these songs also are but chatter; the words are ancient, +obsolete, and sacred; few comprehend them, perhaps no one +perfectly; but it was understood the cutters ‘prayed to +have good toddy, and sang of their old wars.’ The +prayer is at least answered; and when the foaming shell is +brought to your door, you have a beverage well ‘worthy of a +grace.’ All forenoon you may return and taste; it +only sparkles, and sharpens, and grows to be a new drink, not +less delicious; but with the progress of the day the fermentation +quickens and grows acid; in twelve hours it will be yeast for +bread, in two days more a devilish intoxicant, the counsellor of +crime.</p> +<p>The men are of a marked Arabian cast of features, often +bearded and mustached, often gaily dressed, some with bracelets +and anklets, all stalking hidalgo-like, and accepting salutations +with a haughty lip. The hair (with the dandies of either +sex) is worn turban-wise in a frizzled bush; and like the daggers +of the Japanese a pointed stick (used for a comb) is thrust +gallantly among the curls. The women from this bush of hair +look forth enticingly: the race cannot be compared with the +Tahitian for female beauty; I doubt even if the average be high; +but some of the prettiest girls, and one of the handsomest women +I ever saw, were Gilbertines. Butaritari, being the +commercial centre of the group, is Europeanised; the coloured +sacque or the white shift are common wear, the latter for the +evening; the trade hat, loaded with flowers, fruit, and ribbons, +is unfortunately not unknown; and the characteristic female dress +of the Gilberts no longer universal. The <i>ridi</i> is its +name: a cutty petticoat or fringe of the smoked fibre of +cocoa-nut leaf, not unlike tarry string: the lower edge not +reaching the mid-thigh, the upper adjusted so low upon the +haunches that it seems to cling by accident. A sneeze, you +think, and the lady must surely be left destitute. +‘The perilous, hairbreadth ridi’ was our word for it; +and in the conflict that rages over women’s dress it has +the misfortune to please neither side, the prudish condemning it +as insufficient, the more frivolous finding it unlovely in +itself. Yet if a pretty Gilbertine would look her best, +that must be her costume. In that and naked otherwise, she +moves with an incomparable liberty and grace and life, that marks +the poetry of Micronesia. Bundle her in a gown, the charm +is fled, and she wriggles like an Englishwoman.</p> +<p>Towards dusk the passers-by became more gorgeous. The +men broke out in all the colours of the rainbow—or at least +of the trade-room,—and both men and women began to be +adorned and scented with new flowers. A small white blossom +is the favourite, sometimes sown singly in a woman’s hair +like little stars, now composed in a thick wreath. With the +night, the crowd sometimes thickened in the road, and the padding +and brushing of bare feet became continuous; the promenades +mostly grave, the silence only interrupted by some giggling and +scampering of girls; even the children quiet. At nine, +bed-time struck on a bell from the cathedral, and the life of the +town ceased. At four the next morning the signal is +repeated in the darkness, and the innocent prisoners set free; +but for seven hours all must lie—I was about to say within +doors, of a place where doors, and even walls, are an +exception—housed, at least, under their airy roofs and +clustered in the tents of the mosquito-nets. Suppose a +necessary errand to occur, suppose it imperative to send abroad, +the messenger must then go openly, advertising himself to the +police with a huge brand of cocoa-nut, which flares from house to +house like a moving bonfire. Only the police themselves go +darkling, and grope in the night for misdemeanants. I used +to hate their treacherous presence; their captain in particular, +a crafty old man in white, lurked nightly about my premises till +I could have found it in my heart to beat him. But the +rogue was privileged.</p> +<p>Not one of the eleven resident traders came to town, no +captain cast anchor in the lagoon, but we saw him ere the hour +was out. This was owing to our position between the store +and the bar—the <i>Sans Souci</i>, as the last was +called. Mr. Rick was not only Messrs. Wightman’s +manager, but consular agent for the States; Mrs. Rick was the +only white woman on the island, and one of the only two in the +archipelago; their house besides, with its cool verandahs, its +bookshelves, its comfortable furniture, could not be rivalled +nearer than Jaluit or Honolulu. Every one called in +consequence, save such as might be prosecuting a South Sea +quarrel, hingeing on the price of copra and the odd cent, or +perhaps a difference about poultry. Even these, if they did +not appear upon the north, would be presently visible to the +southward, the <i>Sans Souci</i> drawing them as with +cords. In an island with a total population of twelve white +persons, one of the two drinking-shops might seem superfluous: +but every bullet has its billet, and the double accommodation of +Butaritari is found in practice highly convenient by the captains +and the crews of ships: <i>The Land we Live in</i> being tacitly +resigned to the forecastle, the <i>Sans Souci</i> tacitly +reserved for the afterguard. So aristocratic were my +habits, so commanding was my fear of Mr. Williams, that I have +never visited the first; but in the other, which was the club or +rather the casino of the island, I regularly passed my +evenings. It was small, but neatly fitted, and at night +(when the lamp was lit) sparkled with glass and glowed with +coloured pictures like a theatre at Christmas. The pictures +were advertisements, the glass coarse enough, the carpentry +amateur; but the effect, in that incongruous isle, was of +unbridled luxury and inestimable expense. Here songs were +sung, tales told, tricks performed, games played. The +Ricks, ourselves, Norwegian Tom the bar-keeper, a captain or two +from the ships, and perhaps three or four traders come down the +island in their boats or by the road on foot, made up the usual +company. The traders, all bred to the sea, take a humorous +pride in their new business; ‘South Sea Merchants’ is +the title they prefer. ‘We are all sailors +here’—‘Merchants, if you +please’—‘<i>South Sea</i> +Merchants,’—was a piece of conversation endlessly +repeated, that never seemed to lose in savour. We found +them at all times simple, genial, gay, gallant, and obliging; +and, across some interval of time, recall with pleasure the +traders of Butaritari. There was one black sheep +indeed. I tell of him here where he lived, against my rule; +for in this case I have no measure to preserve, and the man is +typical of a class of ruffians that once disgraced the whole +field of the South Seas, and still linger in the rarely visited +isles of Micronesia. He had the name on the beach of +‘a perfect gentleman when sober,’ but I never saw him +otherwise than drunk. The few shocking and savage traits of +the Micronesian he has singled out with the skill of a collector, +and planted in the soil of his original baseness. He has +been accused and acquitted of a treacherous murder; and has since +boastfully owned it, which inclines me to suppose him +innocent. His daughter is defaced by his erroneous cruelty, +for it was his wife he had intended to disfigure, and in the +darkness of the night and the frenzy of coco-brandy, fastened on +the wrong victim. The wife has since fled and harbours in +the bush with natives; and the husband still demands from deaf +ears her forcible restoration. The best of his business is +to make natives drink, and then advance the money for the fine +upon a lucrative mortgage. ‘Respect for whites’ +is the man’s word: ‘What is the matter with this +island is the want of respect for whites.’ On his way +to Butaritari, while I was there, he spied his wife in the bush +with certain natives and made a dash to capture her; whereupon +one of her companions drew a knife and the husband retreated: +‘Do you call that proper respect for whites?’ he +cried. At an early stage of the acquaintance we proved our +respect for his kind of white by forbidding him our enclosure +under pain of death. Thenceforth he lingered often in the +neighbourhood with I knew not what sense of envy or design of +mischief; his white, handsome face (which I beheld with loathing) +looked in upon us at all hours across the fence; and once, from a +safe distance, he avenged himself by shouting a recondite island +insult, to us quite inoffensive, on his English lips incredibly +incongruous.</p> +<p>Our enclosure, round which this composite of degradations +wandered, was of some extent. In one corner was a trellis +with a long table of rough boards. Here the Fourth of July +feast had been held not long before with memorable consequences, +yet to be set forth; here we took our meals; here entertained to +a dinner the king and notables of Makin. In the midst was +the house, with a verandah front and back, and three is rooms +within. In the verandah we slung our man-of-war hammocks, +worked there by day, and slept at night. Within were beds, +chairs, a round table, a fine hanging lamp, and portraits of the +royal family of Hawaii. Queen Victoria proves nothing; +Kalakaua and Mrs. Bishop are diagnostic; and the truth is we were +the stealthy tenants of the parsonage. On the day of our +arrival Maka was away; faithless trustees unlocked his doors; and +the dear rigorous man, the sworn foe of liquor and tobacco, +returned to find his verandah littered with cigarettes and his +parlour horrible with bottles. He made but one +condition—on the round table, which he used in the +celebration of the sacraments, he begged us to refrain from +setting liquor; in all else he bowed to the accomplished fact, +refused rent, retired across the way into a native house, and, +plying in his boat, beat the remotest quarters of the isle for +provender. He found us pigs—I could not fancy +where—no other pigs were visible; he brought us fowls and +taro; when we gave our feast to the monarch and gentry, it was he +who supplied the wherewithal, he who superintended the cooking, +he who asked grace at table, and when the king’s health was +proposed, he also started the cheering with an English +hip-hip-hip. There was never a more fortunate conception; +the heart of the fatted king exulted in his bosom at the +sound.</p> +<p>Take him for all in all, I have never known a more engaging +creature than this parson of Butaritari: his mirth, his kindness, +his noble, friendly feelings, brimmed from the man in speech and +gesture. He loved to exaggerate, to act and overact the +momentary part, to exercise his lungs and muscles, and to speak +and laugh with his whole body. He had the morning +cheerfulness of birds and healthy children; and his humour was +infectious. We were next neighbours and met daily, yet our +salutations lasted minutes at a stretch—shaking hands, +slapping shoulders, capering like a pair of Merry-Andrews, +laughing to split our sides upon some pleasantry that would +scarce raise a titter in an infant-school. It might be five +in the morning, the toddy-cutters just gone by, the road empty, +the shade of the island lying far on the lagoon: and the +ebullition cheered me for the day.</p> +<p>Yet I always suspected Maka of a secret melancholy—these +jubilant extremes could scarce be constantly maintained. He +was besides long, and lean, and lined, and corded, and a trifle +grizzled; and his Sabbath countenance was even saturnine. +On that day we made a procession to the church, or (as I must +always call it) the cathedral: Maka (a blot on the hot landscape) +in tall hat, black frock-coat, black trousers; under his arm the +hymn-book and the Bible; in his face, a reverent +gravity:—beside him Mary his wife, a quiet, wise, and +handsome elderly lady, seriously attired:—myself following +with singular and moving thoughts. Long before, to the +sound of bells and streams and birds, through a green Lothian +glen, I had accompanied Sunday by Sunday a minister in whose +house I lodged; and the likeness, and the difference, and the +series of years and deaths, profoundly touched me. In the +great, dusky, palm-tree cathedral the congregation rarely +numbered thirty: the men on one side, the women on the other, +myself posted (for a privilege) amongst the women, and the small +missionary contingent gathered close around the platform, we were +lost in that round vault. The lessons were read +antiphonally, the flock was catechised, a blind youth repeated +weekly a long string of psalms, hymns were sung—I never +heard worse singing,—and the sermon followed. To say +I understood nothing were untrue; there were points that I +learned to expect with certainty; the name of Honolulu, that of +Kalakaua, the word Cap’n-man-o’-wa’, the word +ship, and a description of a storm at sea, infallibly occurred; +and I was not seldom rewarded with the name of my own Sovereign +in the bargain. The rest was but sound to the ears, silence +for the mind: a plain expanse of tedium, rendered unbearable by +heat, a hard chair, and the sight through the wide doors of the +more happy heathen on the green. Sleep breathed on my +joints and eyelids, sleep hummed in my ears; it reigned in the +dim cathedral. The congregation stirred and stretched; they +moaned, they groaned aloud; they yawned upon a singing note, as +you may sometimes hear a dog when he has reached the tragic +bitterest of boredom. In vain the preacher thumped the +table; in vain he singled and addressed by name particular +hearers. I was myself perhaps a more effective excitant; +and at least to one old gentleman the spectacle of my successful +struggles against sleep—and I hope they were +successful—cheered the flight of time. He, when he +was not catching flies or playing tricks upon his neighbours, +gloated with a fixed, truculent eye upon the stages of my agony; +and once, when the service was drawing towards a close, he winked +at me across the church.</p> +<p>I write of the service with a smile; yet I was always +there—always with respect for Maka, always with admiration +for his deep seriousness, his burning energy, the fire of his +roused eye, the sincere and various accents of his voice. +To see him weekly flogging a dead horse and blowing a cold fire +was a lesson in fortitude and constancy. It may be a +question whether if the mission were fully supported, and he was +set free from business avocations, more might not result; I think +otherwise myself; I think not neglect but rigour has reduced his +flock, that rigour which has once provoked a revolution, and +which to-day, in a man so lively and engaging, amazes the +beholder. No song, no dance, no tobacco, no liquor, no +alleviative of life—only toil and church-going; so says a +voice from his face; and the face is the face of the Polynesian +Esau, but the voice is the voice of a Jacob from a different +world. And a Polynesian at the best makes a singular +missionary in the Gilberts, coming from a country recklessly +unchaste to one conspicuously strict; from a race hag-ridden with +bogies to one comparatively bold against the terrors of the +dark. The thought was stamped one morning in my mind, when +I chanced to be abroad by moonlight, and saw all the town +lightless, but the lamp faithfully burning by the +missionary’s bed. It requires no law, no fire, and no +scouting police, to withhold Maka and his countrymen from +wandering in the night unlighted.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER IV—A TALE OF A TAPU</h3> +<p>On the morrow of our arrival (Sunday, 14th July 1889) our +photographers were early stirring. Once more we traversed a +silent town; many were yet abed and asleep; some sat drowsily in +their open houses; there was no sound of intercourse or +business. In that hour before the shadows, the quarter of +the palace and canal seemed like a landing-place in the +<i>Arabian Nights</i> or from the classic poets; here were the +fit destination of some ‘faery frigot,’ here some +adventurous prince might step ashore among new characters and +incidents; and the island prison, where it floated on the +luminous face of the lagoon, might have passed for the repository +of the Grail. In such a scene, and at such an hour, the +impression received was not so much of foreign +travel—rather of past ages; it seemed not so much degrees +of latitude that we had crossed, as centuries of time that we had +re-ascended; leaving, by the same steps, home and to-day. A +few children followed us, mostly nude, all silent; in the clear, +weedy waters of the canal some silent damsels waded, baring their +brown thighs; and to one of the maniap’s before the palace +gate we were attracted by a low but stirring hum of speech.</p> +<p>The oval shed was full of men sitting cross-legged. The +king was there in striped pyjamas, his rear protected by four +guards with Winchesters, his air and bearing marked by unwonted +spirit and decision; tumblers and black bottles went the round; +and the talk, throughout loud, was general and animated. I +was inclined at first to view this scene with suspicion. +But the hour appeared unsuitable for a carouse; drink was besides +forbidden equally by the law of the land and the canons of the +church; and while I was yet hesitating, the king’s rigorous +attitude disposed of my last doubt. We had come, thinking +to photograph him surrounded by his guards, and at the first word +of the design his piety revolted. We were reminded of the +day—the Sabbath, in which thou shalt take no +photographs—and returned with a flea in our ear, bearing +the rejected camera.</p> +<p>At church, a little later, I was struck to find the throne +unoccupied. So nice a Sabbatarian might have found the +means to be present; perhaps my doubts revived; and before I got +home they were transformed to certainties. Tom, the +bar-keeper of the <i>Sans Souci</i>, was in conversation with two +emissaries from the court. The ‘keen,’ they +said, wanted ‘din,’ failing which +‘perandi.’ <a name="citation231"></a><a +href="#footnote231" class="citation">[231]</a> No din, was +Tom’s reply, and no perandi; but ‘pira’ if they +pleased. It seems they had no use for beer, and departed +sorrowing.</p> +<p>‘Why, what is the meaning of all this?’ I +asked. ‘Is the island on the spree?’</p> +<p>Such was the fact. On the 4th of July a feast had been +made, and the king, at the suggestion of the whites, had raised +the tapu against liquor. There is a proverb about horses; +it scarce applies to the superior animal, of whom it may be +rather said, that any one can start him drinking, not any twenty +can prevail on him to stop. The tapu, raised ten days +before, was not yet re-imposed; for ten days the town had been +passing the bottle or lying (as we had seen it the afternoon +before) in hoggish sleep; and the king, moved by the Old Men and +his own appetites, continued to maintain the liberty, to squander +his savings on liquor, and to join in and lead the debauch. +The whites were the authors of this crisis; it was upon their own +proposal that the freedom had been granted at the first; and for +a while, in the interests of trade, they were doubtless pleased +it should continue. That pleasure had now sometime ceased; +the bout had been prolonged (it was conceded) unduly; and it now +began to be a question how it might conclude. Hence +Tom’s refusal. Yet that refusal was avowedly only for +the moment, and it was avowedly unavailing; the king’s +foragers, denied by Tom at the <i>Sans Souci</i>, would be +supplied at <i>The Land we Live in</i> by the gobbling Mr. +Williams.</p> +<p>The degree of the peril was not easy to measure at the time, +and I am inclined to think now it was easy to exaggerate. +Yet the conduct of drunkards even at home is always matter for +anxiety; and at home our populations are not armed from the +highest to the lowest with revolvers and repeating rifles, +neither do we go on a debauch by the whole townful—and I +might rather say, by the whole polity—king, magistrates, +police, and army joining in one common scene of +drunkenness. It must be thought besides that we were here +in barbarous islands, rarely visited, lately and partly +civilised. First and last, a really considerable number of +whites have perished in the Gilberts, chiefly through their own +misconduct; and the natives have displayed in at least one +instance a disposition to conceal an accident under a butchery, +and leave nothing but dumb bones. This last was the chief +consideration against a sudden closing of the bars; the +bar-keepers stood in the immediate breach and dealt direct with +madmen; too surly a refusal might at any moment precipitate a +blow, and the blow might prove the signal for a massacre.</p> +<p><i>Monday</i>, 15th.—At the same hour we returned to the +same muniap’. Kümmel (of all drinks) was served +in tumblers; in the midst sat the crown prince, a fatted youth, +surrounded by fresh bottles and busily plying the corkscrew; and +king, chief, and commons showed the loose mouth, the uncertain +joints, and the blurred and animated eye of the early +drinker. It was plain we were impatiently expected; the +king retired with alacrity to dress, the guards were despatched +after their uniforms; and we were left to await the issue of +these preparations with a shedful of tipsy natives. The +orgie had proceeded further than on Sunday. The day +promised to be of great heat; it was already sultry, the +courtiers were already fuddled; and still the kümmel +continued to go round, and the crown prince to play butler. +Flemish freedom followed upon Flemish excess; and a funny dog, a +handsome fellow, gaily dressed, and with a full turban of frizzed +hair, delighted the company with a humorous courtship of a lady +in a manner not to be described. It was our diversion, in +this time of waiting, to observe the gathering of the +guards. They have European arms, European uniforms, and (to +their sorrow) European shoes. We saw one warrior (like +Mars) in the article of being armed; two men and a stalwart woman +were scarce strong enough to boot him; and after a single +appearance on parade the army is crippled for a week.</p> +<p>At last, the gates under the king’s house opened; the +army issued, one behind another, with guns and epaulettes; the +colours stooped under the gateway; majesty followed in his +uniform bedizened with gold lace; majesty’s wife came next +in a hat and feathers, and an ample trained silk gown; the royal +imps succeeded; there stood the pageantry of Makin marshalled on +its chosen theatre. Dickens might have told how serious +they were; how tipsy; how the king melted and streamed under his +cocked hat; how he took station by the larger of his two +cannons—austere, majestic, but not truly vertical; how the +troops huddled, and were straightened out, and clubbed again; how +they and their firelocks raked at various inclinations like the +masts of ships; and how an amateur photographer reviewed, +arrayed, and adjusted them, to see his dispositions change before +he reached the camera.</p> +<p>The business was funny to see; I do not know that it is +graceful to laugh at; and our report of these transactions was +received on our return with the shaking of grave heads.</p> +<p>The day had begun ill; eleven hours divided us from sunset; +and at any moment, on the most trifling chance, the trouble might +begin. The Wightman compound was in a military sense +untenable, commanded on three sides by houses and thick bush; the +town was computed to contain over a thousand stand of excellent +new arms; and retreat to the ships, in the case of an alert, was +a recourse not to be thought of. Our talk that morning must +have closely reproduced the talk in English garrisons before the +Sepoy mutiny; the sturdy doubt that any mischief was in prospect, +the sure belief that (should any come) there was nothing left but +to go down fighting, the half-amused, half-anxious attitude of +mind in which we were awaiting fresh developments.</p> +<p>The kümmel soon ran out; we were scarce returned before +the king had followed us in quest of more. Mr. Corpse was +now divested of his more awful attitude, the lawless bulk of him +again encased in striped pyjamas; a guardsman brought up the rear +with his rifle at the trail: and his majesty was further +accompanied by a Rarotongan whalerman and the playful courtier +with the turban of frizzed hair. There was never a more +lively deputation. The whalerman was gapingly, tearfully +tipsy: the courtier walked on air; the king himself was even +sportive. Seated in a chair in the Ricks’ +sitting-room, he bore the brunt of our prayers and menaces +unmoved. He was even rated, plied with historic instances, +threatened with the men-of-war, ordered to restore the tapu on +the spot—and nothing in the least affected him. It +should be done to-morrow, he said; to-day it was beyond his +power, to-day he durst not. ‘Is that royal?’ +cried indignant Mr. Rick. No, it was not royal; had the +king been of a royal character we should ourselves have held a +different language; and royal or not, he had the best of the +dispute. The terms indeed were hardly equal; for the king +was the only man who could restore the tapu, but the Ricks were +not the only people who sold drink. He had but to hold his +ground on the first question, and they were sure to weaken on the +second. A little struggle they still made for the +fashion’s sake; and then one exceedingly tipsy deputation +departed, greatly rejoicing, a case of brandy wheeling beside +them in a barrow. The Rarotongan (whom I had never seen +before) wrung me by the hand like a man bound on a far +voyage. ‘My dear frien’!’ he cried, +‘good-bye, my dear frien’!’—tears of +kümmel standing in his eyes; the king lurched as he went, +the courtier ambled,—a strange party of intoxicated +children to be entrusted with that barrowful of madness.</p> +<p>You could never say the town was quiet; all morning there was +a ferment in the air, an aimless movement and congregation of +natives in the street. But it was not before half-past one +that a sudden hubbub of voices called us from the house, to find +the whole white colony already gathered on the spot as by +concerted signal. The <i>Sans Souci</i> was overrun with +rabble, the stair and verandah thronged. From all these +throats an inarticulate babbling cry went up incessantly; it +sounded like the bleating of young lambs, but angrier. In +the road his royal highness (whom I had seen so lately in the +part of butler) stood crying upon Tom; on the top step, tossed in +the hurly-burly, Tom was shouting to the prince. Yet a +while the pack swayed about the bar, vociferous. Then came +a brutal impulse; the mob reeled, and returned, and was rejected; +the stair showed a stream of heads; and there shot into view, +through the disbanding ranks, three men violently dragging in +their midst a fourth. By his hair and his hands, his head +forced as low as his knees, his face concealed, he was wrenched +from the verandah and whisked along the road into the village, +howling as he disappeared. Had his face been raised, we +should have seen it bloodied, and the blood was not his +own. The courtier with the turban of frizzed hair had paid +the costs of this disturbance with the lower part of one ear.</p> +<p>So the brawl passed with no other casualty than might seem +comic to the inhumane. Yet we looked round on serious faces +and—a fact that spoke volumes—Tom was putting up the +shutters on the bar. Custom might go elsewhere, Mr. +Williams might profit as he pleased, but Tom had had enough of +bar-keeping for that day. Indeed the event had hung on a +hair. A man had sought to draw a revolver—on what +quarrel I could never learn, and perhaps he himself could not +have told; one shot, when the room was so crowded, could scarce +have failed to take effect; where many were armed and all tipsy, +it could scarce have failed to draw others; and the woman who +spied the weapon and the man who seized it may very well have +saved the white community.</p> +<p>The mob insensibly melted from the scene; and for the rest of +the day our neighbourhood was left in peace and a good deal in +solitude. But the tranquillity was only local; <i>din</i> +and<i> perandi</i> still flowed in other quarters: and we had one +more sight of Gilbert Island violence. In the church, where +we had wandered photographing, we were startled by a sudden +piercing outcry. The scene, looking forth from the doors of +that great hall of shadow, was unforgettable. The palms, +the quaint and scattered houses, the flag of the island streaming +from its tall staff, glowed with intolerable sunshine. In +the midst two women rolled fighting on the grass. The +combatants were the more easy to be distinguished, because the +one was stripped to the <i>ridi</i> and the other wore a holoku +(sacque) of some lively colour. The first was uppermost, +her teeth locked in her adversary’s face, shaking her like +a dog; the other impotently fought and scratched. So for a +moment we saw them wallow and grapple there like vermin; then the +mob closed and shut them in.</p> +<p>It was a serious question that night if we should sleep +ashore. But we were travellers, folk that had come far in +quest of the adventurous; on the first sign of an adventure it +would have been a singular inconsistency to have withdrawn; and +we sent on board instead for our revolvers. Mindful of +Taahauku, Mr. Rick, Mr. Osbourne, and Mrs. Stevenson held an +assault of arms on the public highway, and fired at bottles to +the admiration of the natives. Captain Reid of the +<i>Equator</i> stayed on shore with us to be at hand in case of +trouble, and we retired to bed at the accustomed hour, agreeably +excited by the day’s events. The night was exquisite, +the silence enchanting; yet as I lay in my hammock looking on the +strong moonshine and the quiescent palms, one ugly picture +haunted me of the two women, the naked and the clad, locked in +that hostile embrace. The harm done was probably not much, +yet I could have looked on death and massacre with less +revolt. The return to these primeval weapons, the vision of +man’s beastliness, of his ferality, shocked in me a deeper +sense than that with which we count the cost of battles. +There are elements in our state and history which it is a +pleasure to forget, which it is perhaps the better wisdom not to +dwell on. Crime, pestilence, and death are in the +day’s work; the imagination readily accepts them. It +instinctively rejects, on the contrary, whatever shall call up +the image of our race upon its lowest terms, as the partner of +beasts, beastly itself, dwelling pell-mell and hugger-mugger, +hairy man with hairy woman, in the caves of old. And yet to +be just to barbarous islanders we must not forget the slums and +dens of our cities; I must not forget that I have passed +dinnerward through Soho, and seen that which cured me of my +dinner.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER V—A TALE OF A TAPU—<i>continued</i></h3> +<p><i>Tuesday</i>, <i>July</i> 16.—It rained in the night, +sudden and loud, in Gilbert Island fashion. Before the day, +the crowing of a cock aroused me and I wandered in the compound +and along the street. The squall was blown by, the moon +shone with incomparable lustre, the air lay dead as in a room, +and yet all the isle sounded as under a strong shower, the eaves +thickly pattering, the lofty palms dripping at larger intervals +and with a louder note. In this bold nocturnal light the +interior of the houses lay inscrutable, one lump of blackness, +save when the moon glinted under the roof, and made a belt of +silver, and drew the slanting shadows of the pillars on the +floor. Nowhere in all the town was any lamp or ember; not a +creature stirred; I thought I was alone to be awake; but the +police were faithful to their duty; secretly vigilant, keeping +account of time; and a little later, the watchman struck slowly +and repeatedly on the cathedral bell; four o’clock, the +warning signal. It seemed strange that, in a town resigned +to drunkenness and tumult, curfew and réveille should +still be sounded and still obeyed.</p> +<p>The day came, and brought little change. The place still +lay silent; the people slept, the town slept. Even the few +who were awake, mostly women and children, held their peace and +kept within under the strong shadow of the thatch, where you must +stop and peer to see them. Through the deserted streets, +and past the sleeping houses, a deputation took its way at an +early hour to the palace; the king was suddenly awakened, and +must listen (probably with a headache) to unpalatable +truths. Mrs. Rick, being a sufficient mistress of that +difficult tongue, was spokeswoman; she explained to the sick +monarch that I was an intimate personal friend of Queen +Victoria’s; that immediately on my return I should make her +a report upon Butaritari; and that if my house should have been +again invaded by natives, a man-of-war would be despatched to +make reprisals. It was scarce the fact—rather a just +and necessary parable of the fact, corrected for latitude; and it +certainly told upon the king. He was much affected; he had +conceived the notion (he said) that I was a man of some +importance, but not dreamed it was as bad as this; and the +missionary house was tapu’d under a fine of fifty +dollars.</p> +<p>So much was announced on the return of the deputation; not any +more; and I gathered subsequently that much more had +passed. The protection gained was welcome. It had +been the most annoying and not the least alarming feature of the +day before, that our house was periodically filled with tipsy +natives, twenty or thirty at a time, begging drink, fingering our +goods, hard to be dislodged, awkward to quarrel with. Queen +Victoria’s friend (who was soon promoted to be her son) was +free from these intrusions. Not only my house, but my +neighbourhood as well, was left in peace; even on our walks +abroad we were guarded and prepared for; and, like great persons +visiting a hospital, saw only the fair side. For the matter +of a week we were thus suffered to go out and in and live in a +fool’s paradise, supposing the king to have kept his word, +the tapu to be revived and the island once more sober.</p> +<p><i>Tuesday</i>, <i>July</i> 23.—We dined under a bare +trellis erected for the Fourth of July; and here we used to +linger by lamplight over coffee and tobacco. In that +climate evening approaches without sensible chill; the wind dies +out before sunset; heaven glows a while and fades, and darkens +into the blueness of the tropical night; swiftly and insensibly +the shadows thicken, the stars multiply their number; you look +around you and the day is gone. It was then that we would +see our Chinaman draw near across the compound in a lurching +sphere of light, divided by his shadows; and with the coming of +the lamp the night closed about the table. The faces of the +company, the spars of the trellis, stood out suddenly bright on a +ground of blue and silver, faintly designed with palm-tops and +the peaked roofs of houses. Here and there the gloss upon a +leaf, or the fracture of a stone, returned an isolated +sparkle. All else had vanished. We hung there, +illuminated like a galaxy of stars <i>in vacuo</i>; we sat, +manifest and blind, amid the general ambush of the darkness; and +the islanders, passing with light footfalls and low voices in the +sand of the road, lingered to observe us, unseen.</p> +<p>On Tuesday the dusk had fallen, the lamp had just been +brought, when a missile struck the table with a rattling smack +and rebounded past my ear. Three inches to one side and +this page had never been written; for the thing travelled like a +cannon ball. It was supposed at the time to be a nut, +though even at the time I thought it seemed a small one and fell +strangely.</p> +<p><i>Wednesday</i>, <i>July</i> 24.—The dusk had fallen +once more, and the lamp been just brought out, when the same +business was repeated. And again the missile whistled past +my ear. One nut I had been willing to accept; a second, I +rejected utterly. A cocoa-nut does not come slinging along +on a windless evening, making an angle of about fifteen degrees +with the horizon; cocoa-nuts do not fall on successive nights at +the same hour and spot; in both cases, besides, a specific moment +seemed to have been chosen, that when the lamp was just carried +out, a specific person threatened, and that the head of the +family. I may have been right or wrong, but I believed I +was the mark of some intimidation; believed the missile was a +stone, aimed not to hit, but to frighten.</p> +<p>No idea makes a man more angry. I ran into the road, +where the natives were as usual promenading in the dark; Maka +joined me with a lantern; and I ran from one to another, glared +in quite innocent faces, put useless questions, and proffered +idle threats. Thence I carried my wrath (which was worthy +the son of any queen in history) to the Ricks. They heard +me with depression, assured me this trick of throwing a stone +into a family dinner was not new; that it meant mischief, and was +of a piece with the alarming disposition of the natives. +And then the truth, so long concealed from us, came out. +The king had broken his promise, he had defied the deputation; +the tapu was still dormant, <i>The Land we Live in</i> still +selling drink, and that quarter of the town disturbed and menaced +by perpetual broils. But there was worse ahead: a feast was +now preparing for the birthday of the little princess; and the +tributary chiefs of Kuma and Little Makin were expected +daily. Strong in a following of numerous and somewhat +savage clansmen, each of these was believed, like a Douglas of +old, to be of doubtful loyalty. Kuma (a little pot-bellied +fellow) never visited the palace, never entered the town, but sat +on the beach on a mat, his gun across his knees, parading his +mistrust and scorn; Karaiti of Makin, although he was more bold, +was not supposed to be more friendly; and not only were these +vassals jealous of the throne, but the followers on either side +shared in the animosity. Brawls had already taken place; +blows had passed which might at any moment be repaid in +blood. Some of the strangers were already here and already +drinking; if the debauch continued after the bulk of them had +come, a collision, perhaps a revolution, was to be expected.</p> +<p>The sale of drink is in this group a measure of the jealousy +of traders; one begins, the others are constrained to follow; and +to him who has the most gin, and sells it the most recklessly, +the lion’s share of copra is assured. It is felt by +all to be an extreme expedient, neither safe, decent, nor +dignified. A trader on Tarawa, heated by an eager rivalry, +brought many cases of gin. He told me he sat afterwards day +and night in his house till it was finished, not daring to arrest +the sale, not venturing to go forth, the bush all round him +filled with howling drunkards. At night, above all, when he +was afraid to sleep, and heard shots and voices about him in the +darkness, his remorse was black.</p> +<p>‘My God!’ he reflected, ‘if I was to lose my +life on such a wretched business!’ Often and often, +in the story of the Gilberts, this scene has been repeated; and +the remorseful trader sat beside his lamp, longing for the day, +listening with agony for the sound of murder, registering +resolutions for the future. For the business is easy to +begin, but hazardous to stop. The natives are in their way +a just and law-abiding people, mindful of their debts, docile to +the voice of their own institutions; when the tapu is re-enforced +they will cease drinking; but the white who seeks to antedate the +movement by refusing liquor does so at his peril.</p> +<p>Hence, in some degree, the anxiety and helplessness of Mr. +Rick. He and Tom, alarmed by the rabblement of the <i>Sans +Souci</i>, had stopped the sale; they had done so without danger, +because <i>The Land we Live in</i> still continued selling; it +was claimed, besides, that they had been the first to +begin. What step could be taken? Could Mr. Rick visit +Mr. Muller (with whom he was not on terms) and address him thus: +‘I was getting ahead of you, now you are getting ahead of +me, and I ask you to forego your profit. I got my place +closed in safety, thanks to your continuing; but now I think you +have continued long enough. I begin to be alarmed; and +because I am afraid I ask you to confront a certain +danger’? It was not to be thought of. Something +else had to be found; and there was one person at one end of the +town who was at least not interested in copra. There was +little else to be said in favour of myself as an +ambassador. I had arrived in the Wightman schooner, I was +living in the Wightman compound, I was the daily associate of the +Wightman coterie. It was egregious enough that I should now +intrude unasked in the private affairs of Crawford’s agent, +and press upon him the sacrifice of his interests and the venture +of his life. But bad as I might be, there was none better; +since the affair of the stone I was, besides, sharp-set to be +doing, the idea of a delicate interview attracted me, and I +thought it policy to show myself abroad.</p> +<p>The night was very dark. There was service in the +church, and the building glimmered through all its crevices like +a dim Kirk Allowa’. I saw few other lights, but was +indistinctly aware of many people stirring in the darkness, and a +hum and sputter of low talk that sounded stealthy. I +believe (in the old phrase) my beard was sometimes on my shoulder +as I went. Muller’s was but partly lighted, and quite +silent, and the gate was fastened. I could by no means +manage to undo the latch. No wonder, since I found it +afterwards to be four or five feet long—a fortification in +itself. As I still fumbled, a dog came on the inside and +sniffed suspiciously at my hands, so that I was reduced to +calling ‘House ahoy!’ Mr. Muller came down and +put his chin across the paling in the dark. ‘Who is +that?’ said he, like one who has no mind to welcome +strangers.</p> +<p>‘My name is Stevenson,’ said I.</p> +<p>‘O, Mr. Stevens! I didn’t know you. +Come inside.’ We stepped into the dark store, when I +leaned upon the counter and he against the wall. All the +light came from the sleeping-room, where I saw his family being +put to bed; it struck full in my face, but Mr. Muller stood in +shadow. No doubt he expected what was Coming, and sought +the advantage of position; but for a man who wished to persuade +and had nothing to conceal, mine was the preferable.</p> +<p>‘Look here,’ I began, ‘I hear you are +selling to the natives.’</p> +<p>‘Others have done that before me,’ he returned +pointedly.</p> +<p>‘No doubt,’ said I, ‘and I have nothing to +do with the past, but the future. I want you to promise you +will handle these spirits carefully.’</p> +<p>‘Now what is your motive in this?’ he asked, and +then, with a sneer, ‘Are you afraid of your +life?’</p> +<p>‘That is nothing to the purpose,’ I replied. +‘I know, and you know, these spirits ought not to be used +at all.’</p> +<p>‘Tom and Mr. Rick have sold them before.’</p> +<p>‘I have nothing to do with Tom and Mr. Rick. All I +know is I have heard them both refuse.’</p> +<p>‘No, I suppose you have nothing to do with them. +Then you are just afraid of your life.’</p> +<p>‘Come now,’ I cried, being perhaps a little stung, +‘you know in your heart I am asking a reasonable +thing. I don’t ask you to lose your +profit—though I would prefer to see no spirits brought +here, as you would—’</p> +<p>‘I don’t say I wouldn’t. I +didn’t begin this,’ he interjected.</p> +<p>‘No, I don’t suppose you did,’ said I. +‘And I don’t ask you to lose; I ask you to give me +your word, man to man, that you will make no native +drunk.’</p> +<p>Up to now Mr. Muller had maintained an attitude very trying to +my temper; but he had maintained it with difficulty, his +sentiment being all upon my side; and here he changed ground for +the worse. ‘It isn’t me that sells,’ said +he.</p> +<p>‘No, it’s that nigger,’ I agreed. +‘But he’s yours to buy and sell; you have your hand +on the nape of his neck; and I ask you—I have my wife +here—to use the authority you have.’</p> +<p>He hastily returned to his old ward. ‘I +don’t deny I could if I wanted,’ said he. +‘But there’s no danger, the natives are all +quiet. You’re just afraid of your life.’</p> +<p>I do not like to be called a coward, even by implication; and +here I lost my temper and propounded an untimely ultimatum. +‘You had better put it plain,’ I cried. +‘Do you mean to refuse me what I ask?’</p> +<p>‘I don’t want either to refuse it or grant +it,’ he replied.</p> +<p>‘You’ll find you have to do the one thing or the +other, and right now!’ I cried, and then, striking into a +happier vein, ‘Come,’ said I, ‘you’re a +better sort than that. I see what’s wrong with +you—you think I came from the opposite camp. I see +the sort of man you are, and you know that what I ask is +right.’</p> +<p>Again he changed ground. ‘If the natives get any +drink, it isn’t safe to stop them,’ he objected.</p> +<p>‘I’ll be answerable for the bar,’ I +said. ‘We are three men and four revolvers; +we’ll come at a word, and hold the place against the +village.’</p> +<p>‘You don’t know what you’re talking about; +it’s too dangerous!’ he cried.</p> +<p>‘Look here,’ said I, ‘I don’t mind +much about losing that life you talk so much of; but I mean to +lose it the way I want to, and that is, putting a stop to all +this beastliness.’</p> +<p>He talked a while about his duty to the firm; I minded not at +all, I was secure of victory. He was but waiting to +capitulate, and looked about for any potent to relieve the +strain. In the gush of light from the bedroom door I spied +a cigar-holder on the desk. ‘That is well +coloured,’ said I.</p> +<p>‘Will you take a cigar?’ said he.</p> +<p>I took it and held it up unlighted. ‘Now,’ +said I, ‘you promise me.’</p> +<p>‘I promise you you won’t have any trouble from +natives that have drunk at my place,’ he replied.</p> +<p>‘That is all I ask,’ said I, and showed it was not +by immediately offering to try his stock.</p> +<p>So far as it was anyway critical our interview here +ended. Mr. Muller had thenceforth ceased to regard me as an +emissary from his rivals, dropped his defensive attitude, and +spoke as he believed. I could make out that he would +already, had he dared, have stopped the sale himself. Not +quite daring, it may be imagined how he resented the idea of +interference from those who had (by his own statement) first led +him on, then deserted him in the breach, and now (sitting +themselves in safety) egged him on to a new peril, which was all +gain to them, all loss to him! I asked him what he thought +of the danger from the feast.</p> +<p>‘I think worse of it than any of you,’ he +answered. ‘They were shooting around here last night, +and I heard the balls too. I said to myself, +“That’s bad.” What gets me is why you +should be making this row up at your end. I should be the +first to go.’</p> +<p>It was a thoughtless wonder. The consolation of being +second is not great; the fact, not the order of going—there +was our concern.</p> +<p>Scott talks moderately of looking forward to a time of +fighting ‘with a feeling that resembled +pleasure.’ The resemblance seems rather an +identity. In modern life, contact is ended; man grows +impatient of endless manœuvres; and to approach the fact, +to find ourselves where we can push an advantage home, and stand +a fair risk, and see at last what we are made of, stirs the +blood. It was so at least with all my family, who bubbled +with delight at the approach of trouble; and we sat deep into the +night like a pack of schoolboys, preparing the revolvers and +arranging plans against the morrow. It promised certainly +to be a busy and eventful day. The Old Men were to be +summoned to confront me on the question of the tapu; Muller might +call us at any moment to garrison his bar; and suppose Muller to +fail, we decided in a family council to take that matter into our +own hands, <i>The Land we Live in</i> at the pistol’s +mouth, and with the polysyllabic Williams, dance to a new +tune. As I recall our humour I think it would have gone +hard with the mulatto.</p> +<p><i>Wednesday</i>, <i>July</i> 24.—It was as well, and +yet it was disappointing that these thunder-clouds rolled off in +silence. Whether the Old Men recoiled from an interview +with Queen Victoria’s son, whether Muller had secretly +intervened, or whether the step flowed naturally from the fears +of the king and the nearness of the feast, the tapu was early +that morning re-enforced; not a day too soon, from the manner the +boats began to arrive thickly, and the town was filled with the +big rowdy vassals of Karaiti.</p> +<p>The effect lingered for some time on the minds of the traders; +it was with the approval of all present that I helped to draw up +a petition to the United States, praying for a law against the +liquor trade in the Gilberts; and it was at this request that I +added, under my own name, a brief testimony of what had +passed;—useless pains; since the whole reposes, probably +unread and possibly unopened, in a pigeon-hole at Washington.</p> +<p><i>Sunday</i>, <i>July</i> 28.—This day we had the +afterpiece of the debauch. The king and queen, in European +clothes, and followed by armed guards, attended church for the +first time, and sat perched aloft in a precarious dignity under +the barrel-hoops. Before sermon his majesty clambered from +the dais, stood lopsidedly upon the gravel floor, and in a few +words abjured drinking. The queen followed suit with a yet +briefer allocution. All the men in church were next +addressed in turn; each held up his right hand, and the affair +was over—throne and church were reconciled.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER VI—THE FIVE DAYS’ FESTIVAL</h3> +<p><i>Thursday</i>, <i>July</i> 25.—The street was this day +much enlivened by the presence of the men from Little Makin; they +average taller than Butaritarians, and being on a holiday, went +wreathed with yellow leaves and gorgeous in vivid colours. +They are said to be more savage, and to be proud of the +distinction. Indeed, it seemed to us they swaggered in the +town, like plaided Highlanders upon the streets of Inverness, +conscious of barbaric virtues.</p> +<p>In the afternoon the summer parlour was observed to be packed +with people; others standing outside and stooping to peer under +the eaves, like children at home about a circus. It was the +Makin company, rehearsing for the day of competition. +Karaiti sat in the front row close to the singers, where we were +summoned (I suppose in honour of Queen Victoria) to join +him. A strong breathless heat reigned under the iron roof, +and the air was heavy with the scent of wreaths. The +singers, with fine mats about their loins, cocoa-nut feathers set +in rings upon their fingers, and their heads crowned with yellow +leaves, sat on the floor by companies. A varying number of +soloists stood up for different songs; and these bore the chief +part in the music. But the full force of the companies, +even when not singing, contributed continuously to the effect, +and marked the ictus of the measure, mimicking, grimacing, +casting up their heads and eyes, fluttering the feathers on their +fingers, clapping hands, or beating (loud as a kettledrum) on the +left breast; the time was exquisite, the music barbarous, but +full of conscious art. I noted some devices constantly +employed. A sudden change would be introduced (I think of +key) with no break of the measure, but emphasised by a sudden +dramatic heightening of the voice and a swinging, general +gesticulation. The voices of the soloists would begin far +apart in a rude discord, and gradually draw together to a unison; +which, when, they had reached, they were joined and drowned by +the full chorus. The ordinary, hurried, barking unmelodious +movement of the voices would at times be broken and glorified by +a psalm-like strain of melody, often well constructed, or seeming +so by contrast. There was much variety of measure, and +towards the end of each piece, when the fun became fast and +furious, a recourse to this figure—</p> +<p style="text-align: center"> +<a href="images/p252.jpg"> +<img alt= +"Music. It means two/four time with quaver, quaver, crotchet +repeated for three bars" +title= +"Music. It means two/four time with quaver, quaver, crotchet +repeated for three bars" +src="images/p252.jpg" /> +</a></p> +<p>It is difficult to conceive what fire and devilry they get +into these hammering finales; all go together, voices, hands, +eyes, leaves, and fluttering finger-rings; the chorus swings to +the eye, the song throbs on the ear; the faces are convulsed with +enthusiasm and effort.</p> +<p>Presently the troop stood up in a body, the drums forming a +half-circle for the soloists, who were sometimes five or even +more in number. The songs that followed were highly +dramatic; though I had none to give me any explanation, I would +at times make out some shadowy but decisive outline of a plot; +and I was continually reminded of certain quarrelsome concerted +scenes in grand operas at home; just so the single voices issue +from and fall again into the general volume; just so do the +performers separate and crowd together, brandish the raised hand, +and roll the eye to heaven—or the gallery. Already +this is beyond the Thespian model; the art of this people is +already past the embryo: song, dance, drums, quartette and +solo—it is the drama full developed although still in +miniature. Of all so-called dancing in the South Seas, that +which I saw in Butaritari stands easily the first. The +<i>hula</i>, as it may be viewed by the speedy globe-trotter in +Honolulu, is surely the most dull of man’s inventions, and +the spectator yawns under its length as at a college lecture or a +parliamentary debate. But the Gilbert Island dance leads on +the mind; it thrills, rouses, subjugates; it has the essence of +all art, an unexplored imminent significance. Where so many +are engaged, and where all must make (at a given moment) the same +swift, elaborate, and often arbitrary movement, the toil of +rehearsal is of course extreme. But they begin as +children. A child and a man may often be seen together in a +maniap’: the man sings and gesticulates, the child stands +before him with streaming tears and tremulously copies him in act +and sound; it is the Gilbert Island artist learning (as all +artists must) his art in sorrow.</p> +<p>I may seem to praise too much; here is a passage from my +wife’s diary, which proves that I was not alone in being +moved, and completes the picture:—‘The conductor gave +the cue, and all the dancers, waving their arms, swaying their +bodies, and clapping their breasts in perfect time, opened with +an introductory. The performers remained seated, except +two, and once three, and twice a single soloist. These +stood in the group, making a slight movement with the feet and +rhythmical quiver of the body as they sang. There was a +pause after the introductory, and then the real business of the +opera—for it was no less—began; an opera where every +singer was an accomplished actor. The leading man, in an +impassioned ecstasy which possessed him from head to foot, seemed +transfigured; once it was as though a strong wind had swept over +the stage—their arms, their feathered fingers thrilling +with an emotion that shook my nerves as well: heads and bodies +followed like a field of grain before a gust. My blood came +hot and cold, tears pricked my eyes, my head whirled, I felt an +almost irresistible impulse to join the dancers. One drama, +I think, I very nearly understood. A fierce and savage old +man took the solo part. He sang of the birth of a prince, +and how he was tenderly rocked in his mother’s arms; of his +boyhood, when he excelled his fellows in swimming, climbing, and +all athletic sports; of his youth, when he went out to sea with +his boat and fished; of his manhood, when he married a wife who +cradled a son of his own in her arms. Then came the alarm +of war, and a great battle, of which for a time the issue was +doubtful; but the hero conquered, as he always does, and with a +tremendous burst of the victors the piece closed. There +were also comic pieces, which caused great amusement. +During one, an old man behind me clutched me by the arm, shook +his finger in my face with a roguish smile, and said something +with a chuckle, which I took to be the equivalent of “O, +you women, you women; it is true of you all!” I fear +it was not complimentary. At no time was there the least +sign of the ugly indecency of the eastern islands. All was +poetry pure and simple. The music itself was as complex as +our own, though constructed on an entirely different basis; once +or twice I was startled by a bit of something very like the best +English sacred music, but it was only for an instant. At +last there was a longer pause, and this time the dancers were all +on their feet. As the drama went on, the interest +grew. The performers appealed to each other, to the +audience, to the heaven above; they took counsel with each other, +the conspirators drew together in a knot; it was just an opera, +the drums coming in at proper intervals, the tenor, baritone, and +bass all where they should be—except that the voices were +all of the same calibre. A woman once sang from the back +row with a very fine contralto voice spoilt by being made +artificially nasal; I notice all the women affect that +unpleasantness. At one time a boy of angelic beauty was the +soloist; and at another, a child of six or eight, doubtless an +infant phenomenon being trained, was placed in the centre. +The little fellow was desperately frightened and embarrassed at +first, but towards the close warmed up to his work and showed +much dramatic talent. The changing expressions on the faces +of the dancers were so speaking, that it seemed a great stupidity +not to understand them.’</p> +<p>Our neighbour at this performance, Karaiti, somewhat favours +his Butaritarian majesty in shape and feature, being, like him, +portly, bearded, and Oriental. In character he seems the +reverse: alert, smiling, jovial, jocular, industrious. At +home in his own island, he labours himself like a slave, and +makes his people labour like a slave-driver. He takes an +interest in ideas. George the trader told him about +flying-machines. ‘Is that true, George?’ he +asked. ‘It is in the papers,’ replied +George. ‘Well,’ said Karaiti, ‘if that +man can do it with machinery, I can do it without’; and he +designed and made a pair of wings, strapped them on his +shoulders, went to the end of a pier, launched himself into +space, and fell bulkily into the sea. His wives fished him +out, for his wings hindered him in swimming. +‘George,’ said he, pausing as he went up to change, +‘George, you lie.’ He had eight wives, for his +small realm still follows ancient customs; but he showed +embarrassment when this was mentioned to my wife. +‘Tell her I have only brought one here,’ he said +anxiously. Altogether the Black Douglas pleased us much; +and as we heard fresh details of the king’s uneasiness, and +saw for ourselves that all the weapons in the summer parlour had +been hid, we watched with the more admiration the cause of all +this anxiety rolling on his big legs, with his big smiling face, +apparently unarmed, and certainly unattended, through the hostile +town. The Red Douglas, pot-bellied Kuma, having perhaps +heard word of the debauch, remained upon his fief; his vassals +thus came uncommanded to the feast, and swelled the following of +Karaiti.</p> +<p><i>Friday</i>, <i>July</i> 26.—At night in the dark, the +singers of Makin paraded in the road before our house and sang +the song of the princess. ‘This is the day; she was +born to-day; Nei Kamaunave was born to-day—a beautiful +princess, Queen of Butaritari.’ So I was told it went +in endless iteration. The song was of course out of season, +and the performance only a rehearsal. But it was a serenade +besides; a delicate attention to ourselves from our new friend, +Karaiti.</p> +<p><i>Saturday</i>, <i>July</i> 27.—We had announced a +performance of the magic lantern to-night in church; and this +brought the king to visit us. In honour of the Black +Douglas (I suppose) his usual two guardsmen were now increased to +four; and the squad made an outlandish figure as they straggled +after him, in straw hats, kilts and jackets. Three carried +their arms reversed, the butts over their shoulders, the muzzles +menacing the king’s plump back; the fourth had passed his +weapon behind his neck, and held it there with arms extended like +a backboard. The visit was extraordinarily long. The +king, no longer galvanised with gin, said and did nothing. +He sat collapsed in a chair and let a cigar go out. It was +hot, it was sleepy, it was cruel dull; there was no resource but +to spy in the countenance of Tebureimoa for some remaining trait +of <i>Mr. Corpse</i> the butcher. His hawk nose, crudely +depressed and flattened at the point, did truly seem to us to +smell of midnight murder. When he took his leave, Maka bade +me observe him going down the stair (or rather ladder) from the +verandah. ‘Old man,’ said Maka. +‘Yes,’ said I, ‘and yet I suppose not old +man.’ ‘Young man,’ returned Maka, +‘perhaps fo’ty.’ And I have heard since +he is most likely younger.</p> +<p>While the magic lantern was showing, I skulked without in the +dark. The voice of Maka, excitedly explaining the Scripture +slides, seemed to fill not the church only, but the +neighbourhood. All else was silent. Presently a +distant sound of singing arose and approached; and a procession +drew near along the road, the hot clean smell of the men and +women striking in my face delightfully. At the corner, +arrested by the voice of Maka and the lightening and darkening of +the church, they paused. They had no mind to go nearer, +that was plain. They were Makin people, I believe, probably +staunch heathens, contemners of the missionary and his +works. Of a sudden, however, a man broke from their +company, took to his heels, and fled into the church; next moment +three had followed him; the next it was a covey of near upon a +score, all pelting for their lives. So the little band of +the heathen paused irresolute at the corner, and melted before +the attractions of a magic lantern, like a glacier in +spring. The more staunch vainly taunted the deserters; +three fled in a guilty silence, but still fled; and when at +length the leader found the wit or the authority to get his troop +in motion and revive the singing, it was with much diminished +forces that they passed musically on up the dark road.</p> +<p>Meanwhile inside the luminous pictures brightened and +faded. I stood for some while unobserved in the rear of the +spectators, when I could hear just in front of me a pair of +lovers following the show with interest, the male playing the +part of interpreter and (like Adam) mingling caresses with his +lecture. The wild animals, a tiger in particular, and that +old school-treat favourite, the sleeper and the mouse, were +hailed with joy; but the chief marvel and delight was in the +gospel series. Maka, in the opinion of his aggrieved wife, +did not properly rise to the occasion. ‘What is the +matter with the man? Why can’t he talk?’ she +cried. The matter with the man, I think, was the greatness +of the opportunity; he reeled under his good fortune; and whether +he did ill or well, the exposure of these pious +‘phantoms’ did as a matter of fact silence in all +that part of the island the voice of the scoffer. +‘Why then,’ the word went round, ‘why then, the +Bible is true!’ And on our return afterwards we were +told the impression was yet lively, and those who had seen might +be heard telling those who had not, ‘O yes, it is all true; +these things all happened, we have seen the +pictures.’ The argument is not so childish as it +seems; for I doubt if these islanders are acquainted with any +other mode of representation but photography; so that the picture +of an event (on the old melodrama principle that ‘the +camera cannot lie, Joseph,’) would appear strong proof of +its occurrence. The fact amused us the more because our +slides were some of them ludicrously silly, and one (Christ +before Pilate) was received with shouts of merriment, in which +even Maka was constrained to join.</p> +<p><i>Sunday</i>, <i>July</i> 28.—Karaiti came to ask for a +repetition of the ‘phantoms’—this was the +accepted word—and, having received a promise, turned and +left my humble roof without the shadow of a salutation. I +felt it impolite to have the least appearance of pocketing a +slight; the times had been too difficult, and were still too +doubtful; and Queen Victoria’s son was bound to maintain +the honour of his house. Karaiti was accordingly summoned +that evening to the Ricks, where Mrs. Rick fell foul of him in +words, and Queen Victoria’s son assailed him with indignant +looks. I was the ass with the lion’s skin; I could +not roar in the language of the Gilbert Islands; but I could +stare. Karaiti declared he had meant no offence; apologised +in a sound, hearty, gentlemanly manner; and became at once at his +ease. He had in a dagger to examine, and announced he would +come to price it on the morrow, to-day being Sunday; this nicety +in a heathen with eight wives surprised me. The dagger was +‘good for killing fish,’ he said roguishly; and was +supposed to have his eye upon fish upon two legs. It is at +least odd that in Eastern Polynesia fish was the accepted +euphemism for the human sacrifice. Asked as to the +population of his island, Karaiti called out to his vassals who +sat waiting him outside the door, and they put it at four hundred +and fifty; but (added Karaiti jovially) there will soon be plenty +more, for all the women are in the family way. Long before +we separated I had quite forgotten his offence. He, +however, still bore it in mind; and with a very courteous +inspiration returned early on the next day, paid us a long visit, +and punctiliously said farewell when he departed.</p> +<p><i>Monday</i>, <i>July</i> 29.—The great day came round +at last. In the first hours the night was startled by the +sound of clapping hands and the chant of Nei Kamaunava; its +melancholy, slow, and somewhat menacing measures broken at +intervals by a formidable shout. The little morsel of +humanity thus celebrated in the dark hours was observed at midday +playing on the green entirely naked, and equally unobserved and +unconcerned.</p> +<p>The summer parlour on its artificial islet, relieved against +the shimmering lagoon, and shimmering itself with sun and tinned +iron, was all day crowded about by eager men and women. +Within, it was boxed full of islanders, of any age and size, and +in every degree of nudity and finery. So close we squatted, +that at one time I had a mighty handsome woman on my knees, two +little naked urchins having their feet against my back. +There might be a dame in full attire of <i>holoku</i> and hat and +flowers; and her next neighbour might the next moment strip some +little rag of a shift from her fat shoulders and come out a +monument of flesh, painted rather than covered by the hairbreadth +<i>ridi</i>. Little ladies who thought themselves too great +to appear undraped upon so high a festival were seen to pause +outside in the bright sunshine, their miniature ridis in their +hand; a moment more and they were full-dressed and entered the +concert-room.</p> +<p>At either end stood up to sing, or sat down to rest, the +alternate companies of singers; Kuma and Little Makin on the +north, Butaritari and its conjunct hamlets on the south; both +groups conspicuous in barbaric bravery. In the midst, +between these rival camps of troubadours, a bench was placed; and +here the king and queen throned it, some two or three feet above +the crowded audience on the floor—Tebureimoa as usual in +his striped pyjamas with a satchel strapped across one shoulder, +doubtless (in the island fashion) to contain his pistols; the +queen in a purple <i>holoku</i>, her abundant hair let down, a +fan in her hand. The bench was turned facing to the +strangers, a piece of well-considered civility; and when it was +the turn of Butaritari to sing, the pair must twist round on the +bench, lean their elbows on the rail, and turn to us the +spectacle of their broad backs. The royal couple +occasionally solaced themselves with a clay pipe; and the pomp of +state was further heightened by the rifles of a picket of the +guard.</p> +<p>With this kingly countenance, and ourselves squatted on the +ground, we heard several songs from one side or the other. +Then royalty and its guards withdrew, and Queen Victoria’s +son and daughter-in-law were summoned by acclamation to the +vacant throne. Our pride was perhaps a little modified when +we were joined on our high places by a certain thriftless loafer +of a white; and yet I was glad too, for the man had a smattering +of native, and could give me some idea of the subject of the +songs. One was patriotic, and dared Tembinok’ of +Apemama, the terror of the group, to an invasion. One mixed +the planting of taro and the harvest-home. Some were +historical, and commemorated kings and the illustrious chances of +their time, such as a bout of drinking or a war. One, at +least, was a drama of domestic interest, excellently played by +the troop from Makin. It told the story of a man who has +lost his wife, at first bewails her loss, then seeks another: the +earlier strains (or acts) are played exclusively by men; but +towards the end a woman appears, who has just lost her husband; +and I suppose the pair console each other, for the finale seemed +of happy omen. Of some of the songs my informant told me +briefly they were ‘like about the <i>weemen</i>’; +this I could have guessed myself. Each side (I should have +said) was strengthened by one or two women. They were all +soloists, did not very often join in the performance, but stood +disengaged at the back part of the stage, and looked (in +<i>ridi</i>, necklace, and dressed hair) for all the world like +European ballet-dancers. When the song was anyway broad +these ladies came particularly to the front; and it was singular +to see that, after each entry, the <i>première +danseuse</i> pretended to be overcome by shame, as though led on +beyond what she had meant, and her male assistants made a feint +of driving her away like one who had disgraced herself. +Similar affectations accompany certain truly obscene dances of +Samoa, where they are very well in place. Here it was +different. The words, perhaps, in this free-spoken world, +were gross enough to make a carter blush; and the most suggestive +feature was this feint of shame. For such parts the women +showed some disposition; they were pert, they were neat, they +were acrobatic, they were at times really amusing, and some of +them were pretty. But this is not the artist’s field; +there is the whole width of heaven between such capering and +ogling, and the strange rhythmic gestures, and strange, +rapturous, frenzied faces with which the best of the male dancers +held us spellbound through a Gilbert Island ballet.</p> +<p>Almost from the first it was apparent that the people of the +city were defeated. I might have thought them even good, +only I had the other troop before my eyes to correct my standard, +and remind me continually of ‘the little more, and how much +it is.’ Perceiving themselves worsted, the choir of +Butaritari grew confused, blundered, and broke down; amid this +hubbub of unfamiliar intervals I should not myself have +recognised the slip, but the audience were quick to catch it, and +to jeer. To crown all, the Makin company began a dance of +truly superlative merit. I know not what it was about, I +was too much absorbed to ask. In one act a part of the +chorus, squealing in some strange falsetto, produced very much +the effect of our orchestra; in another, the dancers, leaping +like jumping-jacks, with arms extended, passed through and +through each other’s ranks with extraordinary speed, +neatness, and humour. A more laughable effect I never saw; +in any European theatre it would have brought the house down, and +the island audience roared with laughter and applause. This +filled up the measure for the rival company, and they forgot +themselves and decency. After each act or figure of the +ballet, the performers pause a moment standing, and the next is +introduced by the clapping of hands in triplets. Not until +the end of the whole ballet do they sit down, which is the signal +for the rivals to stand up. But now all rules were to be +broken. During the interval following on this great +applause, the company of Butaritari leaped suddenly to their feet +and most unhandsomely began a performance of their own. It +was strange to see the men of Makin staring; I have seen a tenor +in Europe stare with the same blank dignity into a hissing +theatre; but presently, to my surprise, they sobered down, gave +up the unsung remainder of their ballet, resumed their seats, and +suffered their ungallant adversaries to go on and finish. +Nothing would suffice. Again, at the first interval, +Butaritari unhandsomely cut in; Makin, irritated in turn, +followed the example; and the two companies of dancers remained +permanently standing, continuously clapping hands, and regularly +cutting across each other at each pause. I expected blows +to begin with any moment; and our position in the midst was +highly unstrategical. But the Makin people had a better +thought; and upon a fresh interruption turned and trooped out of +the house. We followed them, first because these were the +artists, second because they were guests and had been scurvily +ill-used. A large population of our neighbours did the +same, so that the causeway was filled from end to end by the +procession of deserters; and the Butaritari choir was left to +sing for its own pleasure in an empty house, having gained the +point and lost the audience. It was surely fortunate that +there was no one drunk; but, drunk or sober, where else would a +scene so irritating have concluded without blows?</p> +<p>The last stage and glory of this auspicious day was of our own +providing—the second and positively the last appearance of +the phantoms. All round the church, groups sat outside, in +the night, where they could see nothing; perhaps ashamed to +enter, certainly finding some shadowy pleasure in the mere +proximity. Within, about one-half of the great shed was +densely packed with people. In the midst, on the royal +dais, the lantern luminously smoked; chance rays of light struck +out the earnest countenance of our Chinaman grinding the +hand-organ; a fainter glimmer showed off the rafters and their +shadows in the hollow of the roof; the pictures shone and +vanished on the screen; and as each appeared, there would run a +hush, a whisper, a strong shuddering rustle, and a chorus of +small cries among the crowd. There sat by me the mate of a +wrecked schooner. ‘They would think this a strange +sight in Europe or the States,’ said he, ‘going on in +a building like this, all tied with bits of string.’</p> +<h3>CHAPTER VII—HUSBAND AND WIFE</h3> +<p>The trader accustomed to the manners of Eastern Polynesia has +a lesson to learn among the Gilberts. The <i>ridi</i> is +but a spare attire; as late as thirty years back the women went +naked until marriage; within ten years the custom lingered; and +these facts, above all when heard in description, conveyed a very +false idea of the manners of the group. A very intelligent +missionary described it (in its former state) as a +‘Paradise of naked women’ for the resident +whites. It was at least a platonic Paradise, where Lothario +ventured at his peril. Since 1860, fourteen whites have +perished on a single island, all for the same cause, all found +where they had no business, and speared by some indignant father +of a family; the figure was given me by one of their +contemporaries who had been more prudent and survived. The +strange persistence of these fourteen martyrs might seem to point +to monomania or a series of romantic passions; gin is the more +likely key. The poor buzzards sat alone in their houses by +an open case; they drank; their brain was fired; they stumbled +towards the nearest houses on chance; and the dart went through +their liver. In place of a Paradise the trader found an +archipelago of fierce husbands and of virtuous women. +‘Of course if you wish to make love to them, it’s the +same as anywhere else,’ observed a trader innocently; but +he and his companions rarely so choose.</p> +<p>The trader must be credited with a virtue: he often makes a +kind and loyal husband. Some of the worst beachcombers in +the Pacific, some of the last of the old school, have fallen in +my path, and some of them were admirable to their native wives, +and one made a despairing widower. The position of a +trader’s wife in the Gilberts is, besides, unusually +enviable. She shares the immunities of her husband. +Curfew in Butaritari sounds for her in vain. Long after the +bell is rung and the great island ladies are confined for the +night to their own roof, this chartered libertine may scamper and +giggle through the deserted streets or go down to bathe in the +dark. The resources of the store are at her hand; she goes +arrayed like a queen, and feasts delicately everyday upon tinned +meats. And she who was perhaps of no regard or station +among natives sits with captains, and is entertained on board of +schooners. Five of these privileged dames were some time +our neighbours. Four were handsome skittish lasses, +gamesome like children, and like children liable to fits of +pouting. They wore dresses by day, but there was a tendency +after dark to strip these lendings and to career and squall about +the compound in the aboriginal <i>ridi</i>. Games of cards +were continually played, with shells for counters; their course +was much marred by cheating; and the end of a round (above all if +a man was of the party) resolved itself into a scrimmage for the +counters. The fifth was a matron. It was a picture to +see her sail to church on a Sunday, a parasol in hand, a +nursemaid following, and the baby buried in a trade hat and armed +with a patent feeding-bottle. The service was enlivened by +her continual supervision and correction of the maid. It +was impossible not to fancy the baby was a doll, and the church +some European playroom. All these women were legitimately +married. It is true that the certificate of one, when she +proudly showed it, proved to run thus, that she was +‘married for one night,’ and her gracious partner was +at liberty to ‘send her to hell’ the next morning; +but she was none the wiser or the worse for the dastardly +trick. Another, I heard, was married on a work of mine in a +pirated edition; it answered the purpose as well as a Hall +Bible. Notwithstanding all these allurements of social +distinction, rare food and raiment, a comparative vacation from +toil, and legitimate marriage contracted on a pirated edition, +the trader must sometimes seek long before he can be mated. +While I was in the group one had been eight months on the quest, +and he was still a bachelor.</p> +<p>Within strictly native society the old laws and practices were +harsh, but not without a certain stamp of high-mindedness. +Stealthy adultery was punished with death; open elopement was +properly considered virtue in comparison, and compounded for a +fine in land. The male adulterer alone seems to have been +punished. It is correct manners for a jealous man to hang +himself; a jealous woman has a different remedy—she bites +her rival. Ten or twenty years ago it was a capital offence +to raise a woman’s <i>ridi</i>; to this day it is still +punished with a heavy fine; and the garment itself is still +symbolically sacred. Suppose a piece of land to be disputed +in Butaritari, the claimant who shall first hang a <i>ridi</i> on +the tapu-post has gained his cause, since no one can remove or +touch it but himself.</p> +<p>The <i>ridi</i> was the badge not of the woman but the wife, +the mark not of her sex but of her station. It was the +collar on the slave’s neck, the brand on merchandise. +The adulterous woman seems to have been spared; were the husband +offended, it would be a poor consolation to send his draught +cattle to the shambles. Karaiti, to this day, calls his +eight wives ‘his horses,’ some trader having +explained to him the employment of these animals on farms; and +Nanteitei hired out his wives to do mason-work. Husbands, +at least when of high rank, had the power of life and death; even +whites seem to have possessed it; and their wives, when they had +transgressed beyond forgiveness, made haste to pronounce the +formula of deprecation—<i>I Kana Kim</i>. This form +of words had so much virtue that a condemned criminal repeating +it on a particular day to the king who had condemned him, must be +instantly released. It is an offer of abasement, and, +strangely enough, the reverse—the imitation—is a +common vulgar insult in Great Britain to this day. I give a +scene between a trader and his Gilbert Island wife, as it was +told me by the husband, now one of the oldest residents, but then +a freshman in the group.</p> +<p>‘Go and light a fire,’ said the trader, ‘and +when I have brought this oil I will cook some fish.’ +The woman grunted at him, island fashion. ‘I am not a +pig that you should grunt at me,’ said he.</p> +<p>‘I know you are not a pig,’ said the woman, +‘neither am I your slave.’</p> +<p>‘To be sure you are not my slave, and if you do not care +to stop with me, you had better go home to your people,’ +said he. ‘But in the mean time go and light the fire; +and when I have brought this oil I will cook some +fish.’</p> +<p>She went as if to obey; and presently when the trader looked +she had built a fire so big that the cook-house was catching in +flames.</p> +<p>‘<i>I Kana Kim</i>!’ she cried, as she saw him +coming; but he recked not, and hit her with a cooking-pot. +The leg pierced her skull, blood spouted, it was thought she was +a dead woman, and the natives surrounded the house in a menacing +expectation. Another white was present, a man of older +experience. ‘You will have us both killed if you go +on like this,’ he cried. ‘She had said <i>I +Kana Kim</i>!’ If she had not said <i>I Kana Kim</i> +he might have struck her with a caldron. It was not the +blow that made the crime, but the disregard of an accepted +formula.</p> +<p>Polygamy, the particular sacredness of wives, their +semi-servile state, their seclusion in kings’ harems, even +their privilege of biting, all would seem to indicate a +Mohammedan society and the opinion of the soullessness of +woman. And not so in the least. It is a mere +appearance. After you have studied these extremes in one +house, you may go to the next and find all reversed, the woman +the mistress, the man only the first of her thralls. The +authority is not with the husband as such, nor the wife as +such. It resides in the chief or the chief-woman; in him or +her who has inherited the lands of the clan, and stands to the +clansman in the place of parent, exacting their service, +answerable for their fines. There is but the one source of +power and the one ground of dignity—rank. The king +married a chief-woman; she became his menial, and must work with +her hands on Messrs. Wightman’s pier. The king +divorced her; she regained at once her former state and +power. She married the Hawaiian sailor, and behold the man +is her flunkey and can be shown the door at pleasure. Nay, +and such low-born lords are even corrected physically, and, like +grown but dutiful children, must endure the discipline.</p> +<p>We were intimate in one such household, that of Nei Takauti +and Nan Tok’; I put the lady first of necessity. +During one week of fool’s paradise, Mrs. Stevenson had gone +alone to the sea-side of the island after shells. I am very +sure the proceeding was unsafe; and she soon perceived a man and +woman watching her. Do what she would, her guardians held +her steadily in view; and when the afternoon began to fall, and +they thought she had stayed long enough, took her in charge, and +by signs and broken English ordered her home. On the way +the lady drew from her earring-hole a clay pipe, the husband +lighted it, and it was handed to my unfortunate wife, who knew +not how to refuse the incommodious favour; and when they were all +come to our house, the pair sat down beside her on the floor, and +improved the occasion with prayer. From that day they were +our family friends; bringing thrice a day the beautiful island +garlands of white flowers, visiting us any evening, and +frequently carrying us down to their own maniap’ in return, +the woman leading Mrs. Stevenson by the hand like one child with +another.</p> +<p>Nan Tok’, the husband, was young, extremely handsome, of +the most approved good humour, and suffering in his precarious +station from suppressed high spirits. Nei Takauti, the +wife, was getting old; her grown son by a former marriage had +just hanged himself before his mother’s eyes in despair at +a well-merited rebuke. Perhaps she had never been +beautiful, but her face was full of character, her eye of sombre +fire. She was a high chief-woman, but by a strange +exception for a person of her rank, was small, spare, and sinewy, +with lean small hands and corded neck. Her full dress of an +evening was invariably a white chemise—and for adornment, +green leaves (or sometimes white blossoms) stuck in her hair and +thrust through her huge earring-holes. The husband on the +contrary changed to view like a kaleidoscope. Whatever +pretty thing my wife might have given to Nei Takauti—a +string of beads, a ribbon, a piece of bright +fabric—appeared the next evening on the person of Nan +Tok’. It was plain he was a clothes-horse; that he +wore livery; that, in a word, he was his wife’s wife. +They reversed the parts indeed, down to the least particular; it +was the husband who showed himself the ministering angel in the +hour of pain, while the wife displayed the apathy and +heartlessness of the proverbial man.</p> +<p>When Nei Takauti had a headache Nan Tok’ was full of +attention and concern. When the husband had a cold and a +racking toothache the wife heeded not, except to jeer. It +is always the woman’s part to fill and light the pipe; Nei +Takauti handed hers in silence to the wedded page; but she +carried it herself, as though the page were not entirely +trusted. Thus she kept the money, but it was he who ran the +errands, anxiously sedulous. A cloud on her face dimmed +instantly his beaming looks; on an early visit to their +maniap’ my wife saw he had cause to be wary. Nan +Tok’ had a friend with him, a giddy young thing, of his own +age and sex; and they had worked themselves into that stage of +jocularity when consequences are too often disregarded. Nei +Takauti mentioned her own name. Instantly Nan Tok’ +held up two fingers, his friend did likewise, both in an ecstasy +of slyness. It was plain the lady had two names; and from +the nature of their merriment, and the wrath that gathered on her +brow, there must be something ticklish in the second. The +husband pronounced it; a well-directed cocoa-nut from the hand of +his wife caught him on the side of the head, and the voices and +the mirth of these indiscreet young gentlemen ceased for the +day.</p> +<p>The people of Eastern Polynesia are never at a loss; their +etiquette is absolute and plenary; in every circumstance it tells +them what to do and how to do it. The Gilbertines are +seemingly more free, and pay for their freedom (like ourselves) +in frequent perplexity. This was often the case with the +topsy-turvy couple. We had once supplied them during a +visit with a pipe and tobacco; and when they had smoked and were +about to leave, they found themselves confronted with a problem: +should they take or leave what remained of the tobacco? The +piece of plug was taken up, it was laid down again, it was handed +back and forth, and argued over, till the wife began to look +haggard and the husband elderly. They ended by taking it, +and I wager were not yet clear of the compound before they were +sure they had decided wrong. Another time they had been +given each a liberal cup of coffee, and Nan Tok’ with +difficulty and disaffection made an end of his. Nei Takauti +had taken some, she had no mind for more, plainly conceived it +would be a breach of manners to set down the cup unfinished, and +ordered her wedded retainer to dispose of what was left. +‘I have swallowed all I can, I cannot swallow more, it is a +physical impossibility,’ he seemed to say; and his stern +officer reiterated her commands with secret imperative +signals. Luckless dog! but in mere humanity we came to the +rescue and removed the cup.</p> +<p>I cannot but smile over this funny household; yet I remember +the good souls with affection and respect. Their attention +to ourselves was surprising. The garlands are much +esteemed, the blossoms must be sought far and wide; and though +they had many retainers to call to their aid, we often saw +themselves passing afield after the blossoms, and the wife +engaged with her own in putting them together. It was no +want of only that disregard so incident to husbands, that made +Nei Takauti despise the sufferings of Nan Tok’. When +my wife was unwell she proved a diligent and kindly nurse; and +the pair, to the extreme embarrassment of the sufferer, became +fixtures in the sick-room. This rugged, capable, imperious +old dame, with the wild eyes, had deep and tender qualities: her +pride in her young husband it seemed that she dissembled, fearing +possibly to spoil him; and when she spoke of her dead son there +came something tragic in her face. But I seemed to trace in +the Gilbertines a virility of sense and sentiment which +distinguishes them (like their harsh and uncouth language) from +their brother islanders in the east.</p> +<h2>PART IV: THE GILBERTS—APEMAMA</h2> +<h3>CHAPTER I—THE KING OF APEMAMA: THE ROYAL TRADER</h3> +<p>There is one great personage in the Gilberts: Tembinok’ +of Apemama: solely conspicuous, the hero of song, the butt of +gossip. Through the rest of the group the kings are slain +or fallen in tutelage: Tembinok’ alone remains, the last +tyrant, the last erect vestige of a dead society. The white +man is everywhere else, building his houses, drinking his gin, +getting in and out of trouble with the weak native +governments. There is only one white on Apemama, and he on +sufferance, living far from court, and hearkening and watching +his conduct like a mouse in a cat’s ear. Through all +the other islands a stream of native visitors comes and goes, +travelling by families, spending years on the grand tour. +Apemama alone is left upon one side, the tourist dreading to risk +himself within the clutch of Tembinok’. And fear of +the same Gorgon follows and troubles them at home. Maiana +once paid him tribute; he once fell upon and seized Nonuti: first +steps to the empire of the archipelago. A British warship +coming on the scene, the conqueror was driven to disgorge, his +career checked in the outset, his dear-bought armoury sunk in his +own lagoon. But the impression had been made; periodical +fear of him still shakes the islands; rumour depicts him +mustering his canoes for a fresh onfall; rumour can name his +destination; and Tembinok’ figures in the patriotic +war-songs of the Gilberts like Napoleon in those of our +grandfathers.</p> +<p>We were at sea, bound from Mariki to Nonuti and Tapituea, when +the wind came suddenly fair for Apemama. The course was at +once changed; all hands were turned-to to clean ship, the decks +holy-stoned, all the cabin washed, the trade-room +overhauled. In all our cruising we never saw the +<i>Equator</i> so smart as she was made for +Tembinok’. Nor was Captain Reid alone in these +coquetries; for, another schooner chancing to arrive during my +stay in Apemama, I found that she also was dandified for the +occasion. And the two cases stand alone in my experience of +South Sea traders.</p> +<p>We had on board a family of native tourists, from the +grandsire to the babe in arms, trying (against an extraordinary +series of ill-luck) to regain their native island of Peru. <a +name="citation275"></a><a href="#footnote275" +class="citation">[275]</a> Five times already they had paid +their fare and taken ship; five times they had been disappointed, +dropped penniless upon strange islands, or carried back to +Butaritari, whence they sailed. This last attempt had been +no better-starred; their provisions were exhausted. Peru +was beyond hope, and they had cheerfully made up their minds to a +fresh stage of exile in Tapituea or Nonuti. With this slant +of wind their random destination became once more changed; and +like the Calendar’s pilot, when the ‘black +mountains’ hove in view, they changed colour and beat upon +their breasts. Their camp, which was on deck in the +ship’s waist, resounded with complaint. They would be +set to work, they must become slaves, escape was hopeless, they +must live and toil and die in Apemama, in the tyrant’s +den. With this sort of talk they so greatly terrified their +children, that one (a big hulking boy) must at last be torn +screaming from the schooner’s side. And their fears +were wholly groundless. I have little doubt they were not +suffered to be idle; but I can vouch for it that they were kindly +and generously used. For, the matter of a year later, I was +once more shipmate with these inconsistent wanderers on board the +<i>Janet Nicoll</i>. Their fare was paid by +Tembinok’; they who had gone ashore from the <i>Equator</i> +destitute, reappeared upon the <i>Janet</i> with new clothes, +laden with mats and presents, and bringing with them a magazine +of food, on which they lived like fighting-cocks throughout the +voyage; I saw them at length repatriated, and I must say they +showed more concern on quitting Apemama than delight at reaching +home.</p> +<p>We entered by the north passage (Sunday, September 1st), +dodging among shoals. It was a day of fierce equatorial +sunshine; but the breeze was strong and chill; and the mate, who +conned the schooner from the cross-trees, returned shivering to +the deck. The lagoon was thick with many-tinted wavelets; a +continuous roaring of the outer sea overhung the anchorage; and +the long, hollow crescent of palm ruffled and sparkled in the +wind. Opposite our berth the beach was seen to be +surmounted for some distance by a terrace of white coral seven or +eight feet high and crowned in turn by the scattered and +incongruous buildings of the palace. The village adjoins on +the south, a cluster of high-roofed maniap’s. And +village and palace seemed deserted.</p> +<p>We were scarce yet moored, however, before distant and busy +figures appeared upon the beach, a boat was launched, and a crew +pulled out to us bringing the king’s ladder. +Tembinok’ had once an accident; has feared ever since to +entrust his person to the rotten chandlery of South Sea traders; +and devised in consequence a frame of wood, which is brought on +board a ship as soon as she appears, and remains lashed to her +side until she leave. The boat’s crew, having applied +this engine, returned at once to shore. They might not come +on board; neither might we land, or not without danger of +offence; the king giving pratique in person. An interval +followed, during which dinner was delayed for the great +man—the prelude of the ladder, giving us some notion of his +weighty body and sensible, ingenious character, had highly +whetted our curiosity; and it was with something like excitement +that we saw the beach and terrace suddenly blacken with attendant +vassals, the king and party embark, the boat (a man-of-war gig) +come flying towards us dead before the wind, and the royal +coxswain lay us cleverly aboard, mount the ladder with a jealous +diffidence, and descend heavily on deck.</p> +<p>Not long ago he was overgrown with fat, obscured to view, and +a burthen to himself. Captains visiting the island advised +him to walk; and though it broke the habits of a life and the +traditions of his rank, he practised the remedy with +benefit. His corpulence is now portable; you would call him +lusty rather than fat; but his gait is still dull, stumbling, and +elephantine. He neither stops nor hastens, but goes about +his business with an implacable deliberation. We could +never see him and not be struck with his extraordinary natural +means for the theatre: a beaked profile like Dante’s in the +mask, a mane of long black hair, the eye brilliant, imperious, +and inquiring: for certain parts, and to one who could have used +it, the face was a fortune. His voice matched it well, +being shrill, powerful, and uncanny, with a note like a +sea-bird’s. Where there are no fashions, none to set +them, few to follow them if they were set, and none to criticise, +he dresses—as Sir Charles Grandison lived—‘to +his own heart.’ Now he wears a woman’s frock, +now a naval uniform; now (and more usually) figures in a +masquerade costume of his own design: trousers and a singular +jacket with shirt tails, the cut and fit wonderful for island +workmanship, the material always handsome, sometimes green +velvet, sometimes cardinal red silk. This masquerade +becomes him admirably. In the woman’s frock he looks +ominous and weird beyond belief. I see him now come pacing +towards me in the cruel sun, solitary, a figure out of +Hoffmann.</p> +<p>A visit on board ship, such as that at which we now assisted, +makes a chief part and by far the chief diversion of the life of +Tembinok’. He is not only the sole ruler, he is the +sole merchant of his triple kingdom, Apemama, Aranuka, and Kuria, +well-planted islands. The taro goes to the chiefs, who +divide as they please among their immediate adherents; but +certain fish, turtles—which abound in Kuria,—and the +whole produce of the coco-palm, belong exclusively to +Tembinok’. ‘A’ cobra <a +name="citation279a"></a><a href="#footnote279a" +class="citation">[279a]</a> berong me,’ observed his +majesty with a wave of his hand; and he counts and sells it by +the houseful. ‘You got copra, king?’ I have +heard a trader ask. ‘I got two, three outches,’ +<a name="citation279b"></a><a href="#footnote279b" +class="citation">[279b]</a> his majesty replied: ‘I think +three.’ Hence the commercial importance of Apemama, +the trade of three islands being centred there in a single hand; +hence it is that so many whites have tried in vain to gain or to +preserve a footing; hence ships are adorned, cooks have special +orders, and captains array themselves in smiles, to greet the +king. If he be pleased with his welcome and the fare he may +pass days on board, and, every day, and sometimes every hour, +will be of profit to the ship. He oscillates between the +cabin, where he is entertained with strange meats, and the +trade-room, where he enjoys the pleasures of shopping on a scale +to match his person. A few obsequious attendants squat by +the house door, awaiting his least signal. In the boat, +which has been suffered to drop astern, one or two of his wives +lie covered from the sun under mats, tossed by the short sea of +the lagoon, and enduring agonies of heat and tedium. This +severity is now and then relaxed and the wives allowed on +board. Three or four were thus favoured on the day of our +arrival: substantial ladies airily attired in <i>ridis</i>. +Each had a share of copra, her <i>peculium</i>, to dispose of for +herself. The display in the trade-room—hats, +ribbbons, dresses, scents, tins of salmon—the pride of the +eye and the lust of the flesh—tempted them in vain. +They had but the one idea—tobacco, the island currency, +tantamount to minted gold; returned to shore with it, burthened +but rejoicing; and late into the night, on the royal terrace, +were to be seen counting the sticks by lamplight in the open +air.</p> +<p>The king is no such economist. He is greedy of things +new and foreign. House after house, chest after chest, in +the palace precinct, is already crammed with clocks, musical +boxes, blue spectacles, umbrellas, knitted waistcoats, bolts of +stuff, tools, rifles, fowling-pieces, medicines, European foods, +sewing-machines, and, what is more extraordinary, stoves: all +that ever caught his eye, tickled his appetite, pleased him for +its use, or puzzled him with its apparent inutility. And +still his lust is unabated. He is possessed by the seven +devils of the collector. He hears a thing spoken of, and a +shadow comes on his face. ‘I think I no got +him,’ he will say; and the treasures he has seem worthless +in comparison. If a ship be bound for Apemama, the merchant +racks his brain to hit upon some novelty. This he leaves +carelessly in the main cabin or partly conceals in his own berth, +so that the king shall spy it for himself. ‘How much +you want?’ inquires Tembinok’, passing and +pointing. ‘No, king; that too dear,’ returns +the trader. ‘I think I like him,’ says the +king. This was a bowl of gold-fish. On another +occasion it was scented soap. ‘No, king; that cost +too much,’ said the trader; ‘too good for a +Kanaka.’ ‘How much you got? I take him +all,’ replied his majesty, and became the lord of seventeen +boxes at two dollars a cake. Or again, the merchant feigns +the article is not for sale, is private property, an heirloom or +a gift; and the trick infallibly succeeds. Thwart the king +and you hold him. His autocratic nature rears at the +affront of opposition. He accepts it for a challenge; sets +his teeth like a hunter going at a fence; and with no mark of +emotion, scarce even of interest, stolidly piles up the +price. Thus, for our sins, he took a fancy to my +wife’s dressing-bag, a thing entirely useless to the man, +and sadly battered by years of service. Early one forenoon +he came to our house, sat down, and abruptly offered to purchase +it. I told him I sold nothing, and the bag at any rate was +a present from a friend; but he was acquainted with these +pretexts from of old, and knew what they were worth and how to +meet them. Adopting what I believe is called ‘the +object method,’ he drew out a bag of English gold, +sovereigns and half-sovereigns, and began to lay them one by one +in silence on the table; at each fresh piece reading our faces +with a look. In vain I continued to protest I was no +trader; he deigned not to reply. There must have been +twenty pounds on the table, he was still going on, and irritation +had begun to mingle with our embarrassment, when a happy idea +came to our delivery. Since his majesty thought so much of +the bag, we said, we must beg him to accept it as a +present. It was the most surprising turn in +Tembinok’s experience. He perceived too late that his +persistence was unmannerly; hung his head a while in silence; +then, lifting up a sheepish countenance, ‘I +‘shamed,’ said the tyrant. It was the first and +the last time we heard him own to a flaw in his behaviour. +Half an hour after he sent us a camphor-wood chest worth only a +few dollars—but then heaven knows what Tembinok’ had +paid for it.</p> +<p>Cunning by nature, and versed for forty years in the +government of men, it must not be supposed that he is cheated +blindly, or has resigned himself without resistance to be the +milch-cow of the passing trader. His efforts have been even +heroic. Like Nakaeia of Makin, he has owned +schooners. More fortunate than Nakaeia, he has found +captains. Ships of his have sailed as far as to the +colonies. He has trafficked direct, in his own bottoms, +with New Zealand. And even so, even there, the +world-enveloping dishonesty of the white man prevented him; his +profit melted, his ship returned in debt, the money for the +insurance was embezzled, and when the <i>Coronet</i> came to be +lost, he was astonished to find he had lost all. At this he +dropped his weapons; owned he might as hopefully wrestle with the +winds of heaven; and like an experienced sheep, submitted his +fleece thenceforward to the shearers. He is the last man in +the world to waste anger on the incurable; accepts it with +cynical composure; asks no more in those he deals with than a +certain decency of moderation; drives as good a bargain as he +can; and when he considers he is more than usually swindled, +writes it in his memory against the merchant’s name. +He once ran over to me a list of captains and supercargoes with +whom he had done business, classing them under three heads: +‘He cheat a litty’—‘He cheat +plenty’—and ‘I think he cheat too +much.’ For the first two classes he expressed perfect +toleration; sometimes, but not always, for the third. I was +present when a certain merchant was turned about his business, +and was the means (having a considerable influence ever since the +bag) of patching up the dispute. Even on the day of our +arrival there was like to have been a hitch with Captain Reid: +the ground of which is perhaps worth recital. Among goods +exported specially for Tembinok’ there is a beverage known +(and labelled) as Hennessy’s brandy. It is neither +Hennessy, nor even brandy; is about the colour of sherry, but is +not sherry; tastes of kirsch, and yet neither is it kirsch. +The king, at least, has grown used to this amazing brand, and +rather prides himself upon the taste; and any substitution is a +double offence, being at once to cheat him and to cast a doubt +upon his palate. A similar weakness is to be observed in +all connoisseurs. Now the last case sold by the +<i>Equator</i> was found to contain a different and I would +fondly fancy a superior distillation; and the conversation opened +very black for Captain Reid. But Tembinok’ is a +moderate man. He was reminded and admitted that all men +were liable to error, even himself; accepted the principle that a +fault handsomely acknowledged should be condoned; and wound the +matter up with this proposal: ‘Tuppoti <a +name="citation283"></a><a href="#footnote283" +class="citation">[283]</a> I mi’take, you ’peakee +me. Tuppoti you mi’take, I ’peakee you. +Mo’ betta.’</p> +<p>After dinner and supper in the cabin, a glass or two of +‘Hennetti’—the genuine article this time, with +the kirsch bouquet,—and five hours’ lounging on the +trade-room counter, royalty embarked for home. Three tacks +grounded the boat before the palace; the wives were carried +ashore on the backs of vassals; Tembinok’ stepped on a +railed platform like a steamer’s gangway, and was borne +shoulder high through the shallows, up the beach, and by an +inclined plane, paved with pebbles, to the glaring terrace where +he dwells.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER II—THE KING OF APEMAMA: FOUNDATION OF EQUATOR +TOWN</h3> +<p>Our first sight of Tembinok’ was a matter of concern, +almost alarm, to my whole party. We had a favour to seek; +we must approach in the proper courtly attitude of a suitor; and +must either please him or fail in the main purpose of our +voyage. It was our wish to land and live in Apemama, and +see more near at hand the odd character of the man and the odd +(or rather ancient) condition of his island. In all other +isles of the South Seas a white man may land with his chest, and +set up house for a lifetime, if he choose, and if he have the +money or the trade; no hindrance is conceivable. But +Apemama is a close island, lying there in the sea with closed +doors; the king himself, like a vigilant officer, ready at the +wicket to scrutinise and reject intrenching visitors. Hence +the attraction of our enterprise; not merely because it was a +little difficult, but because this social quarantine, a curiosity +in itself, has been the preservative of others.</p> +<p>Tembinok’, like most tyrants, is a conservative; like +many conservatives, he eagerly welcomes new ideas, and, except in +the field of politics, leans to practical reform. When the +missionaries came, professing a knowledge of the truth, he +readily received them; attended their worship, acquired the +accomplishment of public prayer, and made himself a student at +their feet. It is thus—it is by the cultivation of +similar passing chances—that he has learned to read, to +write, to cipher, and to speak his queer, personal English, so +different from ordinary ‘Beach de Mar,’ so much more +obscure, expressive, and condensed. His education attended +to, he found time to become critical of the new inmates. +Like Nakaeia of Makin, he is an admirer of silence in the island; +broods over it like a great ear; has spies who report daily; and +had rather his subjects sang than talked. The service, and +in particular the sermon, were thus sure to become offences: +‘Here, in my island, <i>I</i> ’peak,’ he once +observed to me. ‘My chieps no ’peak—do +what I talk.’ He looked at the missionary, and what +did he see? ‘See Kanaka ’peak in a big +outch!’ he cried, with a strong ring of sarcasm. Yet +he endured the subversive spectacle, and might even have +continued to endure it, had not a fresh point arisen. He +looked again, to employ his own figure; and the Kanaka was no +longer speaking, he was doing worse—he was building a +copra-house. The king was touched in his chief interests; +revenue and prerogative were threatened. He considered +besides (and some think with him) that trade is incompatible with +the missionary claims. ‘Tuppoti mitonary think +“good man”: very good. Tuppoti he think +“cobra”: no good. I send him away +ship.’ Such was his abrupt history of the evangelist +in Apemama.</p> +<p>Similar deportations are common: ‘I send him away +ship’ is the epitaph of not a few, his majesty paying the +exile’s fare to the next place of call. For instance, +being passionately fond of European food, he has several times +added to his household a white cook, and one after another these +have been deported. They, on their side, swear they were +not paid their wages; he, on his, that they robbed and swindled +him beyond endurance: both perhaps justly. A more important +case was that of an agent, despatched (as I heard the story) by a +firm of merchants to worm his way into the king’s good +graces, become, if possible, premier, and handle the copra in the +interest of his employers. He obtained authority to land, +practised his fascinations, was patiently listened to by +Tembinok’, supposed himself on the highway to success; and +behold! when the next ship touched at Apemama, the would-be +premier was flung into a boat—had on board—his fare +paid, and so good-bye. But it is needless to multiply +examples; the proof of the pudding is in the eating. When +we came to Apemama, of so many white men who have scrambled for a +place in that rich market, one remained—a silent, sober, +solitary, niggardly recluse, of whom the king remarks, ‘I +think he good; he no ’peak.’</p> +<p>I was warned at the outset we might very well fail in our +design: yet never dreamed of what proved to be the fact, that we +should be left four-and-twenty hours in suspense and come within +an ace of ultimate rejection. Captain Reid had primed +himself; no sooner was the king on board, and the Hennetti +question amicably settled, than he proceeded to express my +request and give an abstract of my claims and virtues. The +gammon about Queen Victoria’s son might do for Butaritari; +it was out of the question here; and I now figured as ‘one +of the Old Men of England,’ a person of deep knowledge, +come expressly to visit Tembinok’s dominion, and eager to +report upon it to the no less eager Queen Victoria. The +king made no shadow of an answer, and presently began upon a +different subject. We might have thought that he had not +heard, or not understood; only that we found ourselves the +subject of a constant study. As we sat at meals, he took us +in series and fixed upon each, for near a minute at a time, the +same hard and thoughtful stare. As he thus looked he seemed +to forget himself, the subject and the company, and to become +absorbed in the process of his thought; the look was wholly +impersonal; I have seen the same in the eyes of +portrait-painters. The counts upon which whites have been +deported are mainly four: cheating Tembinok’, meddling +overmuch with copra, which is the source of his wealth, and one +of the sinews of his power, <i>’peaking</i>, and political +intrigue. I felt guiltless upon all; but how to show +it? I would not have taken copra in a gift: how to express +that quality by my dinner-table bearing? The rest of the +party shared my innocence and my embarrassment. They shared +also in my mortification when after two whole meal-times and the +odd moments of an afternoon devoted to this reconnoitring, +Tembinok’ took his leave in silence. Next morning, +the same undisguised study, the same silence, was resumed; and +the second day had come to its maturity before I was informed +abruptly that I had stood the ordeal. ‘I look your +eye. You good man. You no lie,’ said the king: +a doubtful compliment to a writer of romance. Later he +explained he did not quite judge by the eye only, but the mouth +as well. ‘Tuppoti I see man,’ he +explained. ‘I no tavvy good man, bad man. I +look eye, look mouth. Then I tavvy. Look <i>eye</i>, +look mouth,’ he repeated. And indeed in our case the +mouth had the most to do with it, and it was by our talk that we +gained admission to the island; the king promising himself (and I +believe really amassing) a vast amount of useful knowledge ere we +left.</p> +<p>The terms of our admission were as follows: We were to choose +a site, and the king should there build us a town. His +people should work for us, but the king only was to give them +orders. One of his cooks should come daily to help mine, +and to learn of him. In case our stores ran out, he would +supply us, and be repaid on the return of the +<i>Equator</i>. On the other hand, he was to come to meals +with us when so inclined; when he stayed at home, a dish was to +be sent him from our table; and I solemnly engaged to give his +subjects no liquor or money (both of which they are forbidden to +possess) and no tobacco, which they were to receive only from the +royal hand. I think I remember to have protested against +the stringency of this last article; at least, it was relaxed, +and when a man worked for me I was allowed to give him a pipe of +tobacco on the premises, but none to take away.</p> +<p>The site of Equator City—we named our city for the +schooner—was soon chosen. The immediate shores of the +lagoon are windy and blinding; Tembinok’ himself is glad to +grope blue-spectacled on his terrace; and we fled the +neighbourhood of the red <i>conjunctiva</i>, the suppurating +eyeball, and the beggar who pursues and beseeches the passing +foreigner for eye wash. Behind the town the country is +diversified; here open, sandy, uneven, and dotted with dwarfish +palms; here cut up with taro trenches, deep and shallow, and, +according to the growth of the plants, presenting now the +appearance of a sandy tannery, now of an alleyed and green +garden. A path leads towards the sea, mounting abruptly to +the main level of the island—twenty or even thirty feet, +although Findlay gives five; and just hard by the top of the +rise, where the coco-palms begin to be well grown, we found a +grove of pandanus, and a piece of soil pleasantly covered with +green underbush. A well was not far off under a rustic +well-house; nearer still, in a sandy cup of the land, a pond +where we might wash our clothes. The place was out of the +wind, out of the sun, and out of sight of the village. It +was shown to the king, and the town promised for the morrow.</p> +<p>The morrow came, Mr. Osbourne landed, found nothing done, and +carried his complaint to Tembinok’. He heard it, +rose, called for a Winchester, stepped without the royal +palisade, and fired two shots in the air. A shot in the air +is the first Apemama warning; it has the force of a proclamation +in more loquacious countries; and his majesty remarked agreeably +that it would make his labourers ‘mo’ +bright.’ In less than thirty minutes, accordingly, +the men had mustered, the work was begun, and we were told that +we might bring our baggage when we pleased.</p> +<p>It was two in the afternoon ere the first boat was beached, +and the long procession of chests and crates and sacks began to +straggle through the sandy desert towards Equator Town. The +grove of pandanus was practically a thing of the past. Fire +surrounded and smoke rose in the green underbush. In a wide +circuit the axes were still crashing. Those very advantages +for which the place was chosen, it had been the king’s +first idea to abolish; and in the midst of this devastation there +stood already a good-sized maniap’ and a small closed +house. A mat was spread near by for Tembinok’; here +he sat superintending, in cardinal red, a pith helmet on his +head, a meerschaum pipe in his mouth, a wife stretched at his +back with custody of the matches and tobacco. Twenty or +thirty feet in front of him the bulk of the workers squatted on +the ground; some of the bush here survived and in this the +commons sat nearly to their shoulders, and presented only an arc +of brown faces, black heads, and attentive eyes fixed on his +majesty. Long pauses reigned, during which the subjects +stared and the king smoked. Then Tembinok’ would +raise his voice and speak shrilly and briefly. There was +never a response in words; but if the speech were jesting, there +came by way of answer discreet, obsequious laughter—such +laughter as we hear in schoolrooms; and if it were practical, the +sudden uprising and departure of the squad. Twice they so +disappeared, and returned with further elements of the city: a +second house and a second maniap’. It was singular to +spy, far off through the coco stems, the silent oncoming of the +maniap’, at first (it seemed) swimming spontaneously in the +air—but on a nearer view betraying under the eaves many +score of moving naked legs. In all the affair servile +obedience was no less remarkable than servile deliberation. +The gang had here mustered by the note of a deadly weapon; the +man who looked on was the unquestioned master of their lives; and +except for civility, they bestirred themselves like so many +American hotel clerks. The spectator was aware of an +unobtrusive yet invincible inertia, at which the skipper of a +trading dandy might have torn his hair.</p> +<p>Yet the work was accomplished. By dusk, when his majesty +withdrew, the town was founded and complete, a new and ruder +Amphion having called it from nothing with three cracks of a +rifle. And the next morning the same conjurer obliged us +with a further miracle: a mystic rampart fencing us, so that the +path which ran by our doors became suddenly impassable, the +inhabitants who had business across the isle must fetch a wide +circuit, and we sat in the midst in a transparent privacy, +seeing, seen, but unapproachable, like bees in a glass +hive. The outward and visible sign of this glamour was no +more than a few ragged coco-leaf garlands round the stems of the +outlying palms; but its significance reposed on the tremendous +sanction of the tapu and the guns of Tembinok’.</p> +<p>We made our first meal that night in the improvised city, +where we were to stay two months, and which—so soon as we +had done with it—was to vanish in a day as it appeared, its +elements returning whence they came, the tapu raised, the traffic +on the path resumed, the sun and the moon peering in vain between +the palm-trees for the bygone work, the wind blowing over an +empty site. Yet the place, which is now only an episode in +some memories, seemed to have been built, and to be destined to +endure, for years. It was a busy hamlet. One of the +maniap’s we made our dining-room, one the kitchen. +The houses we reserved for sleeping. They were on the +admirable Apemama plan: out and away the best house in the South +Seas; standing some three feet above the ground on posts; the +sides of woven flaps, which can be raised to admit light and air, +or lowered to shut out the wind and the rain: airy, healthy, +clean, and watertight. We had a hen of a remarkable kind: +almost unique in my experience, being a hen that occasionally +laid eggs. Not far off, Mrs. Stevenson tended a garden of +salad and shalots. The salad was devoured by the +hen—which was her bane. The shalots were served out a +leaf at a time, and welcomed and relished like peaches. +Toddy and green cocoa-nuts were brought us daily. We once +had a present of fish from the king, and once of a turtle. +Sometimes we shot so-called plover along on the shore, sometimes +wild chicken in the bush. The rest of our diet was from +tins.</p> +<p>Our occupations were very various. While some of the +party would be away sketching, Mr. Osbourne and I hammered away +at a novel. We read Gibbon and Carlyle aloud; we blew on +flageolets, we strummed on guitars; we took photographs by the +light of the sun, the moon, and flash-powder; sometimes we played +cards. Pot-hunting engaged a part of our leisure. I +have myself passed afternoons in the exciting but innocuous +pursuit of winged animals with a revolver; and it was fortunate +there were better shots of the party, and fortunate the king +could lend us a more suitable weapon, in the form of an excellent +fowling-piece, or our spare diet had been sparer still.</p> +<p>Night was the time to see our city, after the moon was up, +after the lamps were lighted, and so long as the fire sparkled in +the cook-house. We suffered from a plague of flies and +mosquitoes, comparable to that of Egypt; our dinner-table (lent, +like all our furniture, by the king) must be enclosed in a tent +of netting, our citadel and refuge; and this became all luminous, +and bulged and beaconed under the eaves, like the globe of some +monstrous lamp under the margin of its shade. Our cabins, +the sides being propped at a variety of inclinations, spelled out +strange, angular patterns of brightness. In his roofed and +open kitchen, Ah Fu was to be seen by lamp and firelight, +dabbling among pots. Over all, there fell in the season an +extraordinary splendour of mellow moonshine. The sand +sparkled as with the dust of diamonds; the stars had +vanished. At intervals, a dusky night-bird, slow and low +flying, passed in the colonnade of the tree stems and uttered a +hoarse croaking cry.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER III—THE KING OF APEMAMA: THE PALACE OF MANY +WOMEN</h3> +<p>The palace, or rather the ground which it includes, is several +acres in extent. A terrace encloses it toward the lagoon; +on the side of the land, a palisade with several gates. +These are scarce intended for defence; a man, if he were strong, +might easily pluck down the palisade; he need not be specially +active to leap from the beach upon the terrace. There is no +parade of guards, soldiers, or weapons; the armoury is under lock +and key; and the only sentinels are certain inconspicuous old +women lurking day and night before the gates. By day, these +crones were often engaged in boiling syrup or the like household +occupation; by night, they lay ambushed in the shadow or crouched +along the palisade, filling the office of eunuchs to this harem, +sole guards upon a tyrant life.</p> +<p>Female wardens made a fit outpost for this palace of many +women. Of the number of the king’s wives I have no +guess; and but a loose idea of their function. He himself +displayed embarrassment when they were referred to as his wives, +called them himself ‘my pamily,’ and explained they +were his ‘cutcheons’—cousins. We +distinguished four of the crowd: the king’s mother; his +sister, a grave, trenchant woman, with much of her +brother’s intelligence; the queen proper, to whom (and to +whom alone) my wife was formally presented; and the favourite of +the hour, a pretty, graceful girl, who sat with the king daily, +and once (when he shed tears) consoled him with caresses. I +am assured that even with her his relations are platonic. +In the background figured a multitude of ladies, the lean, the +plump, and the elephantine, some in sacque frocks, some in the +hairbreadth <i>ridi</i>; high-born and low, slave and mistress; +from the queen to the scullion, from the favourite to the scraggy +sentries at the palisade. Not all of these of course are of +‘my pamily,’—many are mere attendants; yet a +surprising number shared the responsibility of the king’s +trust. These were key-bearers, treasurers, wardens of the +armoury, the napery, and the stores. Each knew and did her +part to admiration. Should anything be required—a +particular gun, perhaps, or a particular bolt of stuff,—the +right queen was summoned; she came bringing the right chest, +opened it in the king’s presence, and displayed her charge +in perfect preservation—the gun cleaned and oiled, the +goods duly folded. Without delay or haste, and with the +minimum of speech, the whole great establishment turned on wheels +like a machine. Nowhere have I seen order more complete and +pervasive. And yet I was always reminded of Norse tales of +trolls and ogres who kept their hearts buried in the ground for +the mere safety, and must confide the secret to their +wives. For these weapons are the life of +Tembinok’. He does not aim at popularity; but drives +and braves his subjects, with a simplicity of domination which it +is impossible not to admire, hard not to sympathise with. +Should one out of so many prove faithless, should the armoury be +secretly unlocked, should the crones have dozed by the palisade +and the weapons find their way unseen into the village, +revolution would be nearly certain, death the most probable +result, and the spirit of the tyrant of Apemama flit to rejoin +his predecessors of Mariki and Tapituea. Yet those whom he +so trusts are all women, and all rivals.</p> +<p>There is indeed a ministry and staff of males: cook, steward, +carpenter, and supercargoes: the hierarchy of a schooner. +The spies, ‘his majesty’s daily papers,’ as we +called them, come every morning to report, and go again. +The cook and steward are concerned with the table only. The +supercargoes, whose business it is to keep tally of the copra at +three pounds a month and a percentage, are rarely in the palace; +and two at least are in the other islands. The carpenter, +indeed, shrewd and jolly old Rubam—query, +Reuben?—promoted on my last visit to the greater dignity of +governor, is daily present, altering, extending, embellishing, +pursuing the endless series of the king’s inventions; and +his majesty will sometimes pass an afternoon watching and talking +with Rubam at his work. But the males are still outsiders; +none seems to be armed, none is entrusted with a key; by dusk +they are all usually departed from the palace; and the weight of +the monarchy and of the monarch’s life reposes unshared on +the women.</p> +<p>Here is a household unlike, indeed, to one of ours; more +unlike still to the Oriental harem: that of an elderly childless +man, his days menaced, dwelling alone amid a bevy of women of all +ages, ranks, and relationships,—the mother, the sister, the +cousin, the legitimate wife, the concubine, the favourite, the +eldest born, and she of yesterday; he, in their midst, the only +master, the only male, the sole dispenser of honours, clothes, +and luxuries, the sole mark of multitudinous ambitions and +desires. I doubt if you could find a man in Europe so bold +as to attempt this piece of tact and government. And +seemingly Tembinok’ himself had trouble in the +beginning. I hear of him shooting at a wife for some levity +on board a schooner. Another, on some more serious offence, +he slew outright; he exposed her body in an open box, and (to +make the warning more memorable) suffered it to putrefy before +the palace gate. Doubtless his growing years have come to +his assistance; for upon so large a scale it is more easy to play +the father than the husband. And to-day, at least to the +eye of a stranger, all seems to go smoothly, and the wives to be +proud of their trust, proud of their rank, and proud of their +cunning lord.</p> +<p>I conceived they made rather a hero of the man. A +popular master in a girls’ school might, perhaps, offer a +figure of his preponderating station. But then the master +does not eat, sleep, live, and wash his dirty linen in the midst +of his admirers; he escapes, he has a room of his own, he leads a +private life; if he had nothing else, he has the holidays, and +the more unhappy Tembinok’ is always on the stage and on +the stretch.</p> +<p>In all my coming and going, I never heard him speak harshly or +express the least displeasure. An extreme, rather heavy, +benignity—the benignity of one sure to be +obeyed—marked his demeanour; so that I was at times +reminded of Samual Richardson in his circle of admiring +women. The wives spoke up and seemed to volunteer opinions, +like our wives at home—or, say, like doting but respectable +aunts. Altogether, I conclude that he rules his seraglio +much more by art than terror; and those who give a different +account (and who have none of them enjoyed my opportunities of +observation) perhaps failed to distinguish between degrees of +rank, between ‘my pamily’ and the hangers-on, +laundresses, and prostitutes.</p> +<p>A notable feature is the evening game of cards when lamps are +set forth upon the terrace, and ‘I and my pamily’ +play for tobacco by the hour. It is highly characteristic +of Tembinok’ that he must invent a game for himself; highly +characteristic of his worshipping household that they should +swear by the absurd invention. It is founded on poker, +played with the honours out of many packs, and inconceivably +dreary. But I have a passion for all games, studied it, and +am supposed to be the only white who ever fairly grasped its +principle: a fact for which the wives (with whom I was not +otherwise popular) admired me with acclamation. It was +impossible to be deceived; this was a genuine feeling: they were +proud of their private game, had been cut to the quick by the +want of interest shown in it by others, and expanded under the +flattery of my attention. Tembinok’ puts up a double +stake, and receives in return two hands to choose from: a shallow +artifice which the wives (in all these years) have not yet +fathomed. He himself, when talking with me privately, made +not the least secret that he was secure of winning; and it was +thus he explained his recent liberality on board the +<i>Equator</i>. He let the wives buy their own tobacco, +which pleased them at the moment. He won it back at cards, +which made him once more, and without fresh expense, that which +he ought to be,—the sole fount of all indulgences. +And he summed the matter up in that phrase with which he almost +always concludes any account of his policy: ‘Mo’ +betta.’</p> +<p>The palace compound is laid with broken coral, excruciating to +the eyes and the bare feet, but exquisitely raked and +weeded. A score or more of buildings lie in a sort of +street along the palisade and scattered on the margin of the +terrace; dwelling-houses for the wives and the attendants, +storehouses for the king’s curios and treasures, spacious +maniap’s for feast or council, some on pillars of wood, +some on piers of masonry. One was still in hand, a new +invention, the king’s latest born: a European frame-house +built for coolness inside a lofty maniap’: its roof planked +like a ship’s deck to be a raised, shady, and yet private +promenade. It was here the king spent hours with Rubam; +here I would sometimes join them; the place had a most singular +appearance; and I must say I was greatly taken with the fancy, +and joined with relish in the counsels of the architects.</p> +<p>Suppose we had business with his majesty by day: we strolled +over the sand and by the dwarfish palms, exchanged a +‘<i>Kõnamaori</i>’ with the crone on duty, and +entered the compound. The wide sheet of coral glared before +us deserted; all having stowed themselves in dark canvas from the +excess of room. I have gone to and fro in that labyrinth of +a place, seeking the king; and the only breathing creature I +could find was when I peered under the eaves of a maniap’, +and saw the brawny body of one of the wives stretched on the +floor, a naked Amazon plunged in noiseless slumber. If it +were still the hour of the ‘morning papers’ the quest +would be more easy, the half-dozen obsequious, sly dogs squatting +on the ground outside a house, crammed as far as possible in its +narrow shadow, and turning to the king a row of leering +faces. Tembinok’ would be within, the flaps of the +cabin raised, the trade blowing through, hearing their +report. Like journalists nearer home, when the day’s +news were scanty, these would make the more of it in words; and I +have known one to fill up a barren morning with an imaginary +conversation of two dogs. Sometimes the king deigns to +laugh, sometimes to question or jest with them, his voice +sounding shrilly from the cabin. By his side he may have +the heir-apparent, Paul, his nephew and adopted son, six years +old, stark naked, and a model of young human beauty. And +there will always be the favourite and perhaps two other wives +awake; four more lying supine under mats and whelmed in +slumber. Or perhaps we came later, fell on a more private +hour, and found Tembinok’ retired in the house with the +favourite, an earthenware spittoon, a leaden inkpot, and a +commercial ledger. In the last, lying on his belly, he +writes from day to day the uneventful history of his reign; and +when thus employed he betrayed a touch of fretfulness on +interruption with which I was well able to sympathise. The +royal annalist once read me a page or so, translating as he went; +but the passage being genealogical, and the author boggling +extremely in his version, I own I have been sometimes better +entertained. Nor does he confine himself to prose, but +touches the lyre, too, in his leisure moments, and passes for the +chief bard of his kingdom, as he is its sole public character, +leading architect, and only merchant.</p> +<p>His competence, however, does not reach to music; and his +verses, when they are ready, are taught to a professional +musician, who sets them and instructs the chorus. Asked +what his songs were about, Tembinok’ replied, +‘Sweethearts and trees and the sea. Not all the same +true, all the same lie.’ For a condensed view of +lyrical poetry (except that he seems to have forgot the stars and +flowers) this would be hard to mend. These multifarious +occupations bespeak (in a native and an absolute prince) unusual +activity of mind.</p> +<p>The palace court at noon is a spot to be remembered with awe, +the visitor scrambling there, on the loose stones, through a +splendid nightmare of light and heat; but the sweep of the wind +delivers it from flies and mosquitoes; and with the set of sun it +became heavenly. I remember it best on moonless +nights. The air was like a bath of milk. Countless +shining stars were overhead, the lagoon paved with them. +Herds of wives squatted by companies on the gravel, softly +chatting. Tembinok’ would doff his jacket, and sit +bare and silent, perhaps meditating songs; the favourite usually +by him, silent also. Meanwhile in the midst of the court, +the palace lanterns were being lit and marshalled in rank upon +the ground—six or eight square yards of them; a sight that +gave one strange ideas of the number of ‘my pamily’: +such a sight as may be seen about dusk in a corner of some great +terminus at home. Presently these fared off into all +corners of the precinct, lighting the last labours of the day, +lighting one after another to their rest that prodigious company +of women. A few lingered in the middle of the court for the +card-party, and saw the honours shuffled and dealt, and +Tembinok’ deliberating between his two; hands, and the +queens losing their tobacco. Then these also were scattered +and extinguished; and their place was taken by a great bonfire, +the night-light of the palace. When this was no more, +smaller fires burned likewise at the gates. These were +tended by the crones, unseen, unsleeping—not always +unheard. Should any approach in the dark hours, a guarded +alert made the circuit of the palisade; each sentry signalled her +neighbour with a stone; the rattle of falling pebbles passed and +died away; and the wardens of Tembinok’ crouched in their +places silent as before.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER IV—THE KING OF APEMAMA: EQUATOR TOWN AND THE +PALACE</h3> +<p>Five persons were detailed to wait upon us. Uncle +Parker, who brought us toddy and green nuts, was an elderly, +almost an old man, with the spirits, the industry, and the morals +of a boy of ten. His face was ancient, droll, and +diabolical, the skin stretched over taut sinews, like a sail on +the guide-rope; and he smiled with every muscle of his +head. His nuts must be counted every day, or he would +deceive us in the tale; they must be daily examined, or some +would prove to be unhusked; nothing but the king’s name, +and scarcely that, would hold him to his duty. After his +toils were over he was given a pipe, matches, and tobacco, and +sat on the floor in the maniap’ to smoke. He would +not seem to move from his position, and yet every day, when the +things fell to be returned the plug had disappeared; he had found +the means to conceal it in the roof, whence he could radiantly +produce it on the morrow. Although this piece of +legerdemain was performed regularly before three or four pairs of +eyes, we could never catch him in the fact; although we searched +after he was gone, we could never find the tobacco. Such +were the diversions of Uncle Parker, a man nearing sixty. +But he was punished according unto his deeds: Mrs. Stevenson took +a fancy to paint him, and the sufferings of the sitter were +beyond description.</p> +<p>Three lasses came from the palace to do our washing and racket +with Ah Fu. They were of the lowest class, hangers-on kept +for the convenience of merchant skippers, probably low-born, +perhaps out-islanders, with little refinement whether of manner +or appearance, but likely and jolly enough wenches in their +way. We called one <i>Guttersnipe</i>, for you may find her +image in the slums of any city; the same lean, dark-eyed, eager, +vulgar face, the same sudden, hoarse guffaws, the same forward +and yet anxious manner, as with a tail of an eye on the +policeman: only the policeman here was a live king, and his +truncheon a rifle. I doubt if you could find anywhere out +of the islands, or often there, the parallel of <i>Fatty</i>, a +mountain of a girl, who must have weighed near as many stones as +she counted summers, could have given a good account of a +life-guardsman, had the face of a baby, and applied her vast +mechanical forces almost exclusively to play. But they were +all three of the same merry spirit. Our washing was +conducted in a game of romps; and they fled and pursued, and +splashed, and pelted, and rolled each other in the sand, and kept +up a continuous noise of cries and laughter like holiday +children. Indeed, and however strange their own function in +that austere establishment, were they not escaped for the day +from the largest and strictest Ladies’ School in the South +Seas?</p> +<p>Our fifth attendant was no less a person than the royal +cook. He was strikingly handsome both in face and body, +lazy as a slave, and insolent as a butcher’s boy. He +slept and smoked on our premises in various graceful attitudes; +but so far from helping Ah Fu, he was not at the pains to watch +him. It may be said of him that he came to learn, and +remained to teach; and his lessons were at times difficult to +stomach. For example, he was sent to fill a bucket from the +well. About half-way he found my wife watering her onions, +changed buckets with her, and leaving her the empty, returned to +the kitchen with the full. On another occasion he was given +a dish of dumplings for the king, was told they must be eaten +hot, and that he should carry them as fast as possible. The +wretch set off at the rate of about a mile in the hour, head in +air, toes turned out. My patience, after a month of trial, +failed me at the sight. I pursued, caught him by his two +big shoulders, and thrusting him before me, ran with him down the +hill, over the sands, and through the applauding village, to the +Speak House, where the king was then holding a pow-wow. He +had the impudence to pretend he was internally injured by my +violence, and to profess serious apprehensions for his life.</p> +<p>All this we endured; for the ways of Tembinok’ are +summary, and I was not yet ripe to take a hand in the man’s +death. But in the meanwhile, here was my unfortunate China +boy slaving for the pair, and presently he fell sick. I was +now in the position of Cimondain Lantenac, and indeed all the +characters in <i>Quatre-Vingt-Treize</i>: to continue to spare +the guilty, I must sacrifice the innocent. I took the usual +course and tried to save both, with the usual consequence of +failure. Well rehearsed, I went down to the palace, found +the king alone, and obliged him with a vast amount of +rigmarole. The cook was too old to learn: I feared he was +not making progress; how if we had a boy instead?—boys were +more teachable. It was all in vain; the king pierced +through my disguises to the root of the fact; saw that the cook +had desperately misbehaved; and sat a while glooming. +‘I think he tavvy too much,’ he said at last, with +grim concision; and immediately turned the talk to other +subjects. The same day another high officer, the steward, +appeared in the cook’s place, and, I am bound to say, +proved civil and industrious.</p> +<p>As soon as I left, it seems the king called for a Winchester +and strolled outside the palisade, awaiting the defaulter. +That day Tembinok’ wore the woman’s frock; as like as +not, his make-up was completed by a pith helmet and blue +spectacles. Conceive the glaring stretch of sandhills, the +dwarf palms with their noon-day shadows, the line of the +palisade, the crone sentries (each by a small clear fire) cooking +syrup on their posts—and this chimæra waiting with +his deadly engine. To him, enter at last the cook, +strolling down the sandhill from Equator Town, listless, vain and +graceful; with no thought of alarm. As soon as he was well +within range, the travestied monarch fired the six shots over his +head, at his feet, and on either hand of him: the second Apemama +warning, startling in itself, fatal in significance, for the next +time his majesty will aim to hit. I am told the king is a +crack shot; that when he aims to kill, the grave may be got +ready; and when he aims to miss, misses by so near a margin that +the culprit tastes six times the bitterness of death. The +effect upon the cook I had an opportunity of seeing for +myself. My wife and I were returning from the sea-side of +the island, when we spied one coming to meet us at a very quick, +disordered pace, between a walk and a run. As we drew +nearer we saw it was the cook, beside himself with some emotion, +his usual warm, mulatto colour declined into a bluish +pallor. He passed us without word or gesture, staring on us +with the face of a Satan, and plunged on across the wood for the +unpeopled quarter of the island and the long, desert beach, where +he might rage to and fro unseen, and froth out the vials of his +wrath, fear, and humiliation. Doubtless in the curses that +he there uttered to the bursting surf and the tropic birds, the +name of the Kaupoi—the rich man—was frequently +repeated. I had made him the laughing-stock of the village +in the affair of the king’s dumplings; I had brought him by +my machinations into disgrace and the immediate jeopardy of his +days; last, and perhaps bitterest, he had found me there by the +way to spy upon him in the hour of his disorder.</p> +<p>Time passed, and we saw no more of him. The season of +the full moon came round, when a man thinks shame to lie +sleeping; and I continued until late—perhaps till twelve or +one in the morning—to walk on the bright sand and in the +tossing shadow of the palms. I played, as I wandered, on a +flageolet, which occupied much of my attention; the fans overhead +rattled in the wind with a metallic chatter; and a bare foot +falls at any rate almost noiseless on that shifting soil. +Yet when I got back to Equator Town, where all the lights were +out, and my wife (who was still awake, and had been looking +forth) asked me who it was that followed me, I thought she spoke +in jest. ‘Not at all,’ she said. ‘I +saw him twice as you passed, walking close at your heels. +He only left you at the corner of the maniap’; he must be +still behind the cook-house.’ Thither I +ran—like a fool, without any weapon—and came face to +face with the cook. He was within my tapu-line, which was +death in itself; he could have no business there at such an hour +but either to steal or to kill; guilt made him timorous; and he +turned and fled before me in the night in silence. As he +went I kicked him in that place where honour lies, and he gave +tongue faintly like an injured mouse. At the moment I +daresay he supposed it was a deadly instrument that touched +him.</p> +<p>What had the man been after? I have found my music +better qualified to scatter than to collect an audience. +Amateur as I was, I could not suppose him interested in my +reading of the <i>Carnival of Venice</i>, or that he would deny +himself his natural rest to follow my variations on <i>The +Ploughboy</i>. And whatever his design, it was impossible I +should suffer him to prowl by night among the houses. A +word to the king, and the man were not, his case being far beyond +pardon. But it is one thing to kill a man yourself; quite +another to bear tales behind his back and have him shot by a +third party; and I determined to deal with the fellow in some +method of my own. I told Ah Fu the story, and bade him +fetch me the cook whenever he should find him. I had +supposed this would be a matter of difficulty; and far from that, +he came of his own accord: an act really of desperation, since +his life hung by my silence, and the best he could hope was to be +forgotten. Yet he came with an assured countenance, +volunteered no apology or explanation, complained of injuries +received, and pretended he was unable to sit down. I +suppose I am the weakest man God made; I had kicked him in the +least vulnerable part of his big carcase; my foot was bare, and I +had not even hurt my foot. Ah Fu could not control his +merriment. On my side, knowing what must be the nature of +his apprehensions, I found in so much impudence a kind of +gallantry, and secretly admired the man. I told him I +should say nothing of his night’s adventure to the king; +that I should still allow him, when he had an errand, to come +within my tapu-line by day; but if ever I found him there after +the set of the sun I would shoot him on the spot; and to the +proof showed him a revolver. He must have been incredibly +relieved; but he showed no sign of it, took himself off with his +usual dandy nonchalance, and was scarce seen by us again.</p> +<p>These five, then, with the substitution of the steward for the +cook, came and went, and were our only visitors. The circle +of the tapu held at arm’s-length the inhabitants of the +village. As for ‘my pamily,’ they dwelt like +nuns in their enclosure; only once have I met one of them abroad, +and she was the king’s sister, and the place in which I +found her (the island infirmary) was very likely +privileged. There remains only the king to be accounted +for. He would come strolling over, always alone, a little +before a meal-time, take a chair, and talk and eat with us like +an old family friend. Gilbertine etiquette appears +defective on the point of leave-taking. It may be +remembered we had trouble in the matter with Karaiti; and there +was something childish and disconcerting in Tembinok’s +abrupt ‘I want go home now,’ accompanied by a kind of +ducking rise, and followed by an unadorned retreat. It was +the only blot upon his manners, which were otherwise plain, +decent, sensible, and dignified. He never stayed long nor +drank much, and copied our behaviour where he perceived it to +differ from his own. Very early in the day, for instance, +he ceased eating with his knife. It was plain he was +determined in all things to wring profit from our visit, and +chiefly upon etiquette. The quality of his white visitors +puzzled and concerned him; he would bring up name after name, and +ask if its bearer were a ‘big chiep,’ or even a +‘chiep’ at all—which, as some were my excellent +good friends, and none were actually born in the purple, became +at times embarrassing. He was struck to learn that our +classes were distinguishable by their speech, and that certain +words (for instance) were tapu on the quarter-deck of a +man-of-war; and he begged in consequence that we should watch and +correct him on the point. We were able to assure him that +he was beyond correction. His vocabulary is apt and ample +to an extraordinary degree. God knows where he collected +it, but by some instinct or some accident he has avoided all +profane or gross expressions. ‘Obliged,’ +‘stabbed,’ ‘gnaw,’ ‘lodge,’ +‘power,’ ‘company,’ +‘slender,’ ‘smooth,’ and +‘wonderful,’ are a few of the unexpected words that +enrich his dialect. Perhaps what pleased him most was to +hear about saluting the quarter-deck of a man-of-war. In +his gratitude for this hint he became fulsome. +‘Schooner cap’n no tell me,’ he cried; ‘I +think no tavvy! You tavvy too much; tavvy +’teama’, tavvy man-a-wa’. I think you +tavvy everything.’ Yet he gravelled me often enough with +his perpetual questions; and the false Mr. Barlow stood +frequently exposed before the royal Sandford. I remember +once in particular. We were showing the magic-lantern; a +slide of Windsor Castle was put in, and I told him there was the +‘outch’ of Victoreea. ‘How many pathom he +high?’ he asked, and I was dumb before him. It was +the builder, the indefatigable architect of palaces, that spoke; +collector though he was, he did not collect useless information; +and all his questions had a purpose. After etiquette, +government, law, the police, money, and medicine were his chief +interests—things vitally important to himself as a king and +the father of his people. It was my part not only to supply +new information, but to correct the old. ‘My patha he +tell me,’ or ‘White man he tell me,’ would be +his constant beginning; ‘You think he lie?’ +Sometimes I thought he did. Tembinok’ once brought me +a difficulty of this kind, which I was long of +comprehending. A schooner captain had told him of Captain +Cook; the king was much interested in the story; and turned for +more information—not to Mr. Stephen’s Dictionary, not +to the <i>Britannica</i>, but to the Bible in the Gilbert Island +version (which consists chiefly of the New Testament and the +Psalms). Here he sought long and earnestly; Paul he found, +and Festus and Alexander the coppersmith: no word of Cook. +The inference was obvious: the explorer was a myth. So hard +it is, even for a man of great natural parts like +Tembinok’, to grasp the ideas of a new society and +culture.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER V—KING AND COMMONS</h3> +<p>We saw but little of the commons of the isle. At first +we met them at the well, where they washed their linen and we +drew water for the table. The combination was distasteful; +and, having a tyrant at command, we applied to the king and had +the place enclosed in our tapu. It was one of the few +favours which Tembinok’ visibly boggled about granting, and +it may be conceived how little popular it made the +strangers. Many villagers passed us daily going afield; but +they fetched a wide circuit round our tapu, and seemed to avert +their looks. At times we went ourselves into the +village—a strange place. Dutch by its canals, +Oriental by the height and steepness of the roofs, which looked +at dusk like temples; but we were rarely called into a house: no +welcome, no friendship, was offered us; and of home life we had +but the one view: the waking of a corpse, a frigid, painful +scene: the widow holding on her lap the cold, bluish body of her +husband, and now partaking of the refreshments which made the +round of the company, now weeping and kissing the pale +mouth. (‘I fear you feel this affliction +deeply,’ said the Scottish minister. ‘Eh, sir, +and that I do!’ replied the widow. ‘I’ve +been greetin’ a’ nicht; an’ noo I’m just +gaun to sup this bit parritch, and then I’ll begin +an’ greet again.’) In our walks abroad I have +always supposed the islanders avoided us, perhaps from distaste, +perhaps by order; and those whom we met we took generally by +surprise. The surface of the isle is diversified with palm +groves, thickets, and romantic dingles four feet deep, relics of +old taro plantation; and it is thus possible to stumble unawares +on folk resting or hiding from their work. About +pistol-shot from our township there lay a pond in the bottom of a +jungle; here the maids of the isle came to bathe, and were +several times alarmed by our intrusion. Not for them are +the bright cold rivers of Tahiti or Upolu, not for them to splash +and laugh in the hour of the dusk with a villageful of gay +companions; but to steal here solitary, to crouch in a place like +a cow-wallow, and wash (if that can be called washing) in +lukewarm mud, brown as their own skins. Other, but still +rare, encounters occur to my memory. I was several times +arrested by a tender sound in the bush of voices talking, soft as +flutes and with quiet intonations. Hope told a flattering +tale; I put aside the leaves; and behold! in place of the +expected dryads, a pair of all too solid ladies squatting over a +clay pipe in the ungraceful <i>ridi</i>. The beauty of the +voice and the eye was all that remained to those vast dames; but +that of the voice was indeed exquisite. It is strange I +should have never heard a more winning sound of speech, yet the +dialect should be one remarkable for violent, ugly, and +outlandish vocables; so that Tembinok’ himself declared it +made him weary, and professed to find repose in talking +English.</p> +<p>The state of this folk, of whom I saw so little, I can merely +guess at. The king himself explains the situation with some +art. ‘No; I no pay them,’ he once said. +‘I give them tobacco. They work for me <i>all the +same brothers</i>.’ It is true there was a brother +once in Arden! But we prefer the shorter word. They +bear every servile mark,—levity like a child’s, +incurable idleness, incurious content. The insolence of the +cook was a trait of his own; not so his levity, which he shared +with the innocent Uncle Parker. With equal unconcern both +gambolled under the shadow of the gallows, and took liberties +with death that might have surprised a careless student of +man’s nature. I wrote of Parker that he behaved like +a boy of ten: what was he else, being a slave of sixty? He +had passed all his years in school, fed, clad, thought for, +commanded; and had grown familiar and coquetted with the fear of +punishment. By terror you may drive men long, but not +far. Here, in Apemama, they work at the constant and the +instant peril of their lives; and are plunged in a kind of +lethargy of laziness. It is common to see one go afield in +his stiff mat ungirt, so that he walks elbows-in like a trussed +fowl; and whatsoever his right hand findeth to do, the other must +be off duty holding on his clothes. It is common to see two +men carrying between them on a pole a single bucket of +water. To make two bites of a cherry is good enough: to +make two burthens of a soldier’s kit, for a distance of +perhaps half a furlong, passes measure. Woman, being the +less childish animal, is less relaxed by servile +conditions. Even in the king’s absence, even when +they were alone, I have seen Apemama women work with +constancy. But the outside to be hoped for in a man is that +he may attack his task in little languid fits, and lounge +between-whiles. So I have seen a painter, with his pipe +going, and a friend by the studio fireside. You might +suppose the race to lack civility, even vitality, until you saw +them in the dance. Night after night, and sometimes day +after day, they rolled out their choruses in the great Speak +House—solemn andantes and adagios, led by the clapped hand, +and delivered with an energy that shook the roof. The time +was not so slow, though it was slow for the islands; but I have +chosen rather to indicate the effect upon the hearer. Their +music had a church-like character from near at hand, and seemed +to European ears more regular than the run of island music. +Twice I have heard a discord regularly solved. From farther +off, heard at Equator Town for instance, the measures rose and +fell and crepitated like the barking of hounds in a distant +kennel.</p> +<p>The slaves are certainly not overworked—children of ten +do more without fatigue—and the Apemama labourers have +holidays, when the singing begins early in the afternoon. +The diet is hard; copra and a sweetmeat of pounded pandanus are +the only dishes I observed outside the palace; but there seems no +defect in quantity, and the king shares with them his +turtles. Three came in a boat from Kuria during our stay; +one was kept for the palace, one sent to us, one presented to the +village. It is the habit of the islanders to cook the +turtle in its carapace; we had been promised the shells, and we +asked a tapu on this foolish practice. The face of +Tembinok’ darkened and he answered nothing. +Hesitation in the question of the well I could understand, for +water is scarce on a low island; that he should refuse to +interfere upon a point of cookery was more than I had dreamed of; +and I gathered (rightly or wrongly) that he was scrupulous of +touching in the least degree the private life and habits of his +slaves. So that even here, in full despotism, public +opinion has weight; even here, in the midst of slavery, freedom +has a corner.</p> +<p>Orderly, sober, and innocent, life flows in the isle from day +to day as in a model plantation under a model planter. It +is impossible to doubt the beneficence of that stern rule. +A curious politeness, a soft and gracious manner, something +effeminate and courtly, distinguishes the islanders of Apemama; +it is talked of by all the traders, it was felt even by residents +so little beloved as ourselves, and noticeable even in the cook, +and even in that scoundrel’s hours of insolence. The +king, with his manly and plain bearing, stood out alone; you +might say he was the only Gilbert Islander in Apemama. +Violence, so common in Butaritari, seems unknown. So are +theft and drunkenness. I am assured the experiment has been +made of leaving sovereigns on the beach before the village; they +lay there untouched. In all our time on the island I was +but once asked for drink. This was by a mighty plausible +fellow, wearing European clothes and speaking excellent +English—Tamaiti his name, or, as the whites have now +corrupted it, ‘Tom White’: one of the king’s +supercargoes at three pounds a month and a percentage, a medical +man besides, and in his private hours a wizard. He found me +one day in the outskirts of the village, in a secluded place, hot +and private, where the taro-pits are deep and the plants +high. Here he buttonholed me, and, looking about him like a +conspirator, inquired if I had gin.</p> +<p>I told him I had. He remarked that gin was forbidden, +lauded the prohibition a while, and then went on to explain that +he was a doctor, or ‘dogstar’ as he pronounced the +word, that gin was necessary to him for his medical infusions, +that he was quite out of it, and that he would be obliged to me +for some in a bottle. I told him I had passed the king my +word on landing; but since his case was so exceptional, I would +go down to the palace at once, and had no doubt that +Tembinok’ would set me free. Tom White was +immediately overwhelmed with embarrassment and terror, besought +me in the most moving terms not to betray him, and fled my +neighbourhood. He had none of the cook’s valour; it +was weeks before he dared to meet my eye; and then only by the +order of the king and on particular business.</p> +<p>The more I viewed and admired this triumph of firm rule, the +more I was haunted and troubled by a problem, the problem +(perhaps) of to-morrow for ourselves. Here was a people +protected from all serious misfortune, relieved of all serious +anxieties, and deprived of what we call our liberty. Did +they like it? and what was their sentiment toward the +ruler? The first question I could not of course ask, nor +perhaps the natives answer. Even the second was delicate; +yet at last, and under charming and strange circumstances, I +found my opportunity to put it and a man to reply. It was +near the full of the moon, with a delicious breeze; the isle was +bright as day—to sleep would have been sacrilege; and I +walked in the bush, playing my pipe. It must have been the +sound of what I am pleased to call my music that attracted in my +direction another wanderer of the night. This was a young +man attired in a fine mat, and with a garland on his hair, for he +was new come from dancing and singing in the public hall; and his +body, his face, and his eyes were all of an enchanting +beauty. Every here and there in the Gilberts youths are to +be found of this absurd perfection; I have seen five of us pass +half an hour in admiration of a boy at Mariki; and Te Kop (my +friend in the fine mat and garland) I had already several times +remarked, and long ago set down as the loveliest animal in +Apemama. The philtre of admiration must be very strong, or +these natives specially susceptible to its effects, for I have +scarce ever admired a person in the islands but what he has +sought my particular acquaintance. So it was with Te +Kop. He led me to the ocean side; and for an hour or two we +sat smoking and talking on the resplendent sand and under the +ineffable brightness of the moon. My friend showed himself +very sensible of the beauty and amenity of the hour. +‘Good night! Good wind!’ he kept exclaiming, and as +he said the words he seemed to hug myself. I had long +before invented such reiterated expressions of delight for a +character (Felipe, in the story of <i>Olalla</i>) intended to be +partly bestial. But there was nothing bestial in Te Kop; +only a childish pleasure in the moment. He was no less +pleased with his companion, or was good enough to say so; +honoured me, before he left, by calling me Te Kop; apostrophised +me as ‘My name!’ with an intonation exquisitely +tender, laying his hand at the same time swiftly on my knee; and +after we had risen, and our paths began to separate in the bush, +twice cried to me with a sort of gentle ecstasy, ‘I like +you too much!’ From the beginning he had made no +secret of his terror of the king; would not sit down nor speak +above a whisper till he had put the whole breadth of the isle +between himself and his monarch, then harmlessly asleep; and even +there, even within a stone-cast of the outer sea, our talk +covered by the sound of the surf and the rattle of the wind among +the palms, continued to speak guardedly, softening his silver +voice (which rang loud enough in the chorus) and looking about +him like a man in fear of spies. The strange thing is that +I should have beheld him no more. In any other island in +the whole South Seas, if I had advanced half as far with any +native, he would have been at my door next morning, bringing and +expecting gifts. But Te Kop vanished in the bush for +ever. My house, of course, was unapproachable; but he knew +where to find me on the ocean beach, where I went daily. I +was the <i>Kaupoi</i>, the rich man; my tobacco and trade were +known to be endless: he was sure of a present. I am at a +loss how to explain his behaviour, unless it be supposed that he +recalled with terror and regret a passage in our interview. +Here it is:</p> +<p>‘The king, he good man?’ I asked.</p> +<p>‘Suppose he like you, he good man,’ replied Te +Kop: ‘no like, no good.’</p> +<p>That is one way of putting it, of course. Te Kop himself +was probably no favourite, for he scarce appealed to my judgment +as a type of industry. And there must be many others whom +the king (to adhere to the formula) does not like. Do these +unfortunates like the king? Or is not rather the repulsion +mutual? and the conscientious Tembinok’, like the +conscientious Braxfield before him, and many other conscientious +rulers and judges before either, surrounded by a considerable +body of ‘grumbletonians’? Take the cook, for +instance, when he passed us by, blue with rage and terror. +He was very wroth with me; I think by all the old principles of +human nature he was not very well pleased with his +sovereign. It was the rich man he sought to waylay: I think +it must have been by the turn of a hair that it was not the king +he waylaid instead. And the king gives, or seems to give, +plenty of opportunities; day and night he goes abroad alone, +whether armed or not I can but guess; and the taro-patches, where +his business must so often carry him, seem designed for +assassination. The case of the cook was heavy indeed to my +conscience. I did not like to kill my enemy at second-hand; +but had I a right to conceal from the king, who had trusted me, +the dangerous secret character of his attendant? And +suppose the king should fall, what would be the fate of the +king’s friends? It was our opinion at the time that +we should pay dear for the closing of the well; that our breath +was in the king’s nostrils; that if the king should by any +chance be bludgeoned in a taro-patch, the philosophical and +musical inhabitants of Equator Town might lay aside their +pleasant instruments, and betake themselves to what defence they +had, with a very dim prospect of success. These +speculations were forced upon us by an incident which I am +ashamed to betray. The schooner <i>H. L. Haseltine</i> +(since capsized at sea, with the loss of eleven lives) put into +Apemama in a good hour for us, who had near exhausted our +supplies. The king, after his habit, spent day after day on +board; the gin proved unhappily to his taste; he brought a store +of it ashore with him; and for some time the sole tyrant of the +isle was half-seas-over. He was not drunk—the man is +not a drunkard, he has always stores of liquor at hand, which he +uses with moderation,—but he was muzzy, dull, and +confused. He came one day to lunch with us, and while the +cloth was being laid fell asleep in his chair. His +confusion, when he awoke and found he had been detected, was +equalled by our uneasiness. When he was gone we sat and +spoke of his peril, which we thought to be in some degree our +own; of how easily the man might be surprised in such a state by +<i>grumbletonians</i>; of the strange scenes that would +follow—the royal treasures and stores at the mercy of the +rabble, the palace overrun, the garrison of women turned +adrift. And as we talked we were startled by a gun-shot and +a sudden, barbaric outcry. I believe we all changed colour; +but it was only the king firing at a dog and the chorus striking +up in the Speak House. A day or two later I learned the +king was very sick; went down, diagnosed the case; and took at +once the highest medical degree by the exhibition of bicarbonate +of soda. Within the hour Richard was himself again; and I +found him at the unfinished house, enjoying the double pleasure +of directing Rubam and making a dinner of cocoa-nut dumplings, +and all eagerness to have the formula of this new sort of +<i>pain-killer</i>—for <i>pain-killer</i> in the islands is +the generic name of medicine. So ended the king’s +modest spree and our anxiety.</p> +<p>On the face of things, I ought to say, loyalty appeared +unshaken. When the schooner at last returned for us, after +much experience of baffling winds, she brought a rumour that +Tebureimoa had declared war on Apemama. Tembinok’ +became a new man; his face radiant; his attitude, as I saw him +preside over a council of chiefs in one of the palace +maniap’s, eager as a boy’s; his voice sounding +abroad, shrill and jubilant, over half the compound. War is +what he wants, and here was his chance. The English +captain, when he flung his arms in the lagoon, had forbidden him +(except in one case) all military adventures in the future: here +was the case arrived. All morning the council sat; men were +drilled, arms were bought, the sound of firing disturbed the +afternoon; the king devised and communicated to me his plan of +campaign, which was highly elaborate and ingenious, but perhaps a +trifle fine-spun for the rough and random vicissitudes of +war. And in all this bustle the temper of the people +appeared excellent, an unwonted animation in every face, and even +Uncle Parker burning with military zeal.</p> +<p>Of course it was a false alarm. Tebureimoa had other +fish to fry. The ambassador who accompanied us on our +return to Butaritari found him retired to a small island on the +reef, in a huff with the Old Men, a tiff with the traders, and +more fear of insurrection at home than appetite for wars +abroad. The plenipotentiary had been placed under my +protection; and we solemnly saluted when we met. He proved +an excellent fisherman, and caught bonito over the ship’s +side. He pulled a good oar, and made himself useful for a +whole fiery afternoon, towing the becalmed <i>Equator</i> off +Mariki. He went to his post and did no good. He +returned home again, having done no harm. <i>O si sic +omnes</i>!</p> +<h3>CHAPTER VI—THE KING OF APEMAMA: DEVIL-WORK</h3> +<p>The ocean beach of Apemama was our daily resort. The +coast is broken by shallow bays. The reef is detached, +elevated, and includes a lagoon about knee-deep, the unrestful +spending-basin of the surf. The beach is now of fine sand, +now of broken coral. The trend of the coast being convex, +scarce a quarter of a mile of it is to be seen at once; the land +being so low, the horizon appears within a stone-cast; and the +narrow prospect enhances the sense of privacy. Man avoids +the place—even his footprints are uncommon; but a great +number of birds hover and pipe there fishing, and leave crooked +tracks upon the sand. Apart from these, the only sound (and +I was going to say the only society), is that of the breakers on +the reef.</p> +<p>On each projection of the coast, the bank of coral clinkers +immediately above the beach has been levelled, and a pillar +built, perhaps breast-high. These are not sepulchral; all +the dead being buried on the inhabited side of the island, close +to men’s houses, and (what is worse) to their wells. +I was told they were to protect the isle against inroads from the +sea—divine or diabolical martellos, probably sacred to +Taburik, God of Thunder.</p> +<p>The bay immediately opposite Equator Town, which we called Fu +Bay, in honour of our cook, was thus fortified on either +horn. It was well sheltered by the reef, the enclosed water +clear and tranquil, the enclosing beach curved like a horseshoe, +and both steep and broad. The path debouched about the +midst of the re-entrant angle, the woods stopping some distance +inland. In front, between the fringe of the wood and the +crown of the beach, there had been designed a regular figure, +like the court for some new variety of tennis, with borders of +round stones imbedded, and pointed at the angles with low posts, +likewise of stone. This was the king’s Pray +Place. When he prayed, what he prayed for, and to whom he +addressed his supplications I could never learn. The ground +was tapu.</p> +<p>In the angle, by the mouth of the path, stood a deserted +maniap’. Near by there had been a house before our +coming, which was now transported and figured for the moment in +Equator Town. It had been, and it would be again when we +departed, the residence of the guardian and wizard of the +spot—Tamaiti. Here, in this lone place, within sound +of the sea, he had his dwelling and uncanny duties. I +cannot call to mind another case of a man living on the ocean +side of any open atoll; and Tamaiti must have had strong nerves, +the greater confidence in his own spells, or, what I believe to +be the truth, an enviable scepticism. Whether Tamaiti had +any guardianship of the Pray Place I never heard. But his +own particular chapel stood farther back in the fringe of the +wood. It was a tree of respectable growth. Around it +there was drawn a circle of stones like those that enclosed the +Pray Place; in front, facing towards the sea, a stone of a much +greater size, and somewhat hollowed, like a piscina, stood close +against the trunk; in front of that again a conical pile of +gravel. In the hollow of what I have called the piscina +(though it proved to be a magic seat) lay an offering of green +cocoa-nuts; and when you looked up you found the boughs of the +tree to be laden with strange fruit: palm-branches elaborately +plaited, and beautiful models of canoes, finished and rigged to +the least detail. The whole had the appearance of a +mid-summer and sylvan Christmas-tree <i>al fresco</i>. Yet +we were already well enough acquainted in the Gilberts to +recognise it, at the first sight, for a piece of wizardry, or, as +they say in the group, of Devil-work.</p> +<p>The plaited palms were what we recognised. We had seen +them before on Apaiang, the most christianised of all these +islands; where excellent Mr. Bingham lived and laboured and has +left golden memories; whence all the education in the northern +Gilberts traces its descent; and where we were boarded by little +native Sunday-school misses in clean frocks, with demure faces, +and singing hymns as to the manner born.</p> +<p>Our experience of Devil-work at Apaiang had been as +follows:—It chanced we were benighted at the house of +Captain Tierney. My wife and I lodged with a Chinaman some +half a mile away; and thither Captain Reid and a native boy +escorted us by torch-light. On the way the torch went out, +and we took shelter in a small and lonely Christian chapel to +rekindle it. Stuck in the rafters of the chapel was a +branch of knotted palm. ‘What is that?’ I +asked. ‘O, that’s Devil-work,’ said the +Captain. ‘And what is Devil-work?’ I +inquired. ‘If you like, I’ll show you some when +we get to Johnnie’s,’ he replied. +‘Johnnie’s’ was a quaint little house upon the +crest of the beach, raised some three feet on posts, approached +by stairs; part walled, part trellised. Trophies of +advertisement-photographs were hung up within for +decoration. There was a table and a recess-bed, in which +Mrs. Stevenson slept; while I camped on the matted floor with +Johnnie, Mrs. Johnnie, her sister, and the devil’s own +regiment of cockroaches. Hither was summoned an old witch, +who looked the part to horror. The lamp was set on the +floor; the crone squatted on the threshold, a green palm-branch +in her hand, the light striking full on her aged features and +picking out behind her, from the black night, timorous faces of +spectators. Our sorceress began with a chanted incantation; +it was in the old tongue, for which I had no interpreter; but +ever and again there ran among the crowd outside that laugh which +every traveller in the islands learns so soon to +recognise,—the laugh of terror. Doubtless these +half-Christian folk were shocked, these half-heathen folk +alarmed. Chench or Taburik thus invoked, we put our +questions; the witch knotted the leaves, here a leaf and there a +leaf, plainly on some arithmetical system; studied the result +with great apparent contention of mind; and gave the +answers. Sidney Colvin was in robust health and gone a +journey; and we should have a fair wind upon the morrow: that was +the result of our consultation, for which we paid a dollar. +The next day dawned cloudless and breathless; but I think Captain +Reid placed a secret reliance on the sibyl, for the schooner was +got ready for sea. By eight the lagoon was flawed with long +cat’s-paws, and the palms tossed and rustled; before ten we +were clear of the passage and skimming under all plain sail, with +bubbling scuppers. So we had the breeze, which was well +worth a dollar in itself; but the bulletin about my friend in +England proved, some six months later, when I got my mail, to +have been groundless. Perhaps London lies beyond the +horizon of the island gods.</p> +<p>Tembinok’, in his first dealings, showed himself sternly +averse from superstition: and had not the <i>Equator</i> delayed, +we might have left the island and still supposed him an +agnostic. It chanced one day, however, that he came to our +maniap’, and found Mrs. Stevenson in the midst of a game of +patience. She explained the game as well as she was able, +and wound up jocularly by telling him this was her devil-work, +and if she won, the <i>Equator</i> would arrive next day. +Tembinok’ must have drawn a long breath; we were not so +high-and-dry after all; he need no longer dissemble, and he +plunged at once into confessions. He made devil-work every +day, he told us, to know if ships were coming in; and thereafter +brought us regular reports of the results. It was +surprising how regularly he was wrong; but he always had an +explanation ready. There had been some schooner in the +offing out of view; but either she was not bound for Apemama, or +had changed her course, or lay becalmed. I used to regard +the king with veneration as he thus publicly deceived +himself. I saw behind him all the fathers of the Church, +all the philosophers and men of science of the past; before him, +all those that are to come; himself in the midst; the whole +visionary series bowed over the same task of welding +incongruities. To the end Tembinok’ spoke reluctantly +of the island gods and their worship, and I learned but +little. Taburik is the god of thunder, and deals in wind +and weather. A while since there were wizards who could +call him down in the form of lightning. ‘My patha he +tell me he see: you think he lie?’ +Tienti—pronounced something like ‘Chench,’ and +identified by his majesty with the devil—sends and removes +bodily sickness. He is whistled for in the Paumotuan +manner, and is said to appear; but the king has never seen +him. The doctors treat disease by the aid of Chench: +eclectic Tembinok’ at the same time administering +‘pain-killer’ from his medicine-chest, so as to give +the sufferer both chances. ‘I think mo’ +betta,’ observed his majesty, with more than his usual +self-approval. Apparently the gods are not jealous, and +placidly enjoy both shrine and priest in common. On +Tamaiti’s medicine-tree, for instance, the model canoes are +hung up <i>ex voto</i> for a prosperous voyage, and must +therefore be dedicated to Taburik, god of the weather; but the +stone in front is the place of sick folk come to pacify +Chench.</p> +<p>It chanced, by great good luck, that even as we spoke of these +affairs, I found myself threatened with a cold. I do not +suppose I was ever glad of a cold before, or shall ever be again; +but the opportunity to see the sorcerers at work was priceless, +and I called in the faculty of Apemama. They came in a +body, all in their Sunday’s best and hung with wreaths and +shells, the insignia of the devil-worker. Tamaiti I knew +already: Terutak’ I saw for the first time—a tall, +lank, raw-boned, serious North-Sea fisherman turned brown; and +there was a third in their company whose name I never heard, and +who played to Tamaiti the part of <i>famulus</i>. Tamaiti +took me in hand first, and led me, conversing agreeably, to the +shores of Fu Bay. The <i>famulus</i> climbed a tree for +some green cocoa-nuts. Tamaiti himself disappeared a while +in the bush and returned with coco tinder, dry leaves, and a +spray of waxberry. I was placed on the stone, with my back +to the tree and my face to windward; between me and the +gravel-heap one of the green nuts was set; and then Tamaiti +(having previously bared his feet, for he had come in canvas +shoes, which tortured him) joined me within the magic circle, +hollowed out the top of the gravel-heap, built his fire in the +bottom, and applied a match: it was one of Bryant and +May’s. The flame was slow to catch, and the +irreverent sorcerer filled in the time with talk of foreign +places—of London, and ‘companies,’ and how much +money they had; of San Francisco, and the nefarious fogs, +‘all the same smoke,’ which had been so nearly the +occasion of his death. I tried vainly to lead him to the +matter in hand. ‘Everybody make medicine,’ he +said lightly. And when I asked him if he were himself a +good practitioner—‘No savvy,’ he replied, more +lightly still. At length the leaves burst in a flame, which +he continued to feed; a thick, light smoke blew in my face, and +the flames streamed against and scorched my clothes. He in +the meanwhile addressed, or affected to address, the evil spirit, +his lips moving fast, but without sound; at the same time he +waved in the air and twice struck me on the breast with his green +spray. So soon as the leaves were consumed the ashes were +buried, the green spray was imbedded in the gravel, and the +ceremony was at an end.</p> +<p>A reader of the <i>Arabian Nights</i> felt quite at +home. Here was the suffumigation; here was the muttering +wizard; here was the desert place to which Aladdin was decoyed by +the false uncle. But they manage these things better in +fiction. The effect was marred by the levity of the +magician, entertaining his patient with small talk like an +affable dentist, and by the incongruous presence of Mr. Osbourne +with a camera. As for my cold, it was neither better nor +worse.</p> +<p>I was now handed over to Terutak’, the leading +practitioner or medical baronet of Apemama. His place is on +the lagoon side of the island, hard by the palace. A rail +of light wood, some two feet high, encloses an oblong piece of +gravel like the king’s Pray Place; in the midst is a green +tree; below, a stone table bears a pair of boxes covered with a +fine mat; and in front of these an offering of food, a cocoa-nut, +a piece of taro or a fish, is placed daily. On two sides +the enclosure is lined with maniap’s; and one of our party, +who had been there to sketch, had remarked a daily concourse of +people and an extraordinary number of sick children; for this is +in fact the infirmary of Apemama. The doctor and myself +entered the sacred place alone; the boxes and the mat were +displaced; and I was enthroned in their stead upon the stone, +facing once more to the east. For a while the sorcerer +remained unseen behind me, making passes in the air with a branch +of palm. Then he struck lightly on the brim of my straw +hat; and this blow he continued to repeat at intervals, sometimes +brushing instead my arm and shoulder. I have had people try +to mesmerise me a dozen times, and never with the least +result. But at the first tap—on a quarter no more +vital than my hat-brim, and from nothing more virtuous than a +switch of palm wielded by a man I could not even see—sleep +rushed upon me like an armed man. My sinews fainted, my +eyes closed, my brain hummed, with drowsiness. I resisted, +at first instinctively, then with a certain flurry of despair, in +the end successfully; if that were indeed success which enabled +me to scramble to my feet, to stumble home somnambulous, to cast +myself at once upon my bed, and sink at once into a dreamless +stupor. When I awoke my cold was gone. So I leave a +matter that I do not understand.</p> +<p>Meanwhile my appetite for curiosities (not usually very keen) +had been strangely whetted by the sacred boxes. They were +of pandanus wood, oblong in shape, with an effect of pillaring +along the sides like straw work, lightly fringed with hair or +fibre and standing on four legs. The outside was neat as a +toy; the inside a mystery I was resolved to penetrate. But +there was a lion in the path. I might not approach +Terutak’, since I had promised to buy nothing in the +island; I dared not have recourse to the king, for I had already +received from him more gifts than I knew how to repay. In +this dilemma (the schooner being at last returned) we hit on a +device. Captain Reid came forward in my stead, professed an +unbridled passion for the boxes, and asked and obtained leave to +bargain for them with the wizard. That same afternoon the +captain and I made haste to the infirmary, entered the enclosure, +raised the mat, and had begun to examine the boxes at our +leisure, when Terutak’s wife bounced out of one of the nigh +houses, fell upon us, swept up the treasures, and was gone. +There was never a more absolute surprise. She came, she +took, she vanished, we had not a guess whither; and we remained, +with foolish looks and laughter on the empty field. Such +was the fit prologue of our memorable bargaining.</p> +<p>Presently Terutak’ came, bringing Tamaiti along with +him, both smiling; and we four squatted without the rail. +In the three maniap’s of the infirmary a certain audience +was gathered: the family of a sick child under treatment, the +king’s sister playing cards, a pretty girl, who swore I was +the image of her father; in all perhaps a score. +Terutak’s wife had returned (even as she had vanished) +unseen, and now sat, breathless and watchful, by her +husband’s side. Perhaps some rumour of our quest had +gone abroad, or perhaps we had given the alert by our unseemly +freedom: certain, at least, that in the faces of all present, +expectation and alarm were mingled.</p> +<p>Captain Reid announced, without preface or disguise, that I +was come to purchase; Terutak’, with sudden gravity, +refused to sell. He was pressed; he persisted. It was +explained we only wanted one: no matter, two were necessary for +the healing of the sick. He was rallied, he was reasoned +with: in vain. He sat there, serious and still, and +refused. All this was only a preliminary skirmish; hitherto +no sum of money had been mentioned; but now the captain brought +his great guns to bear. He named a pound, then two, then +three. Out of the maniap’s one person after another +came to join the group, some with mere excitement, others with +consternation in their faces. The pretty girl crept to my +side; it was then that—surely with the most artless +flattery—she informed me of my likeness to her +father. Tamaiti the infidel sat with hanging head and every +mark of dejection. Terutak’ streamed with sweat, his +eye was glazed, his face wore a painful rictus, his chest heaved +like that of one spent with running. The man must have been +by nature covetous; and I doubt if ever I saw moral agony more +tragically displayed. His wife by his side passionately +encouraged his resistance.</p> +<p>And now came the charge of the old guard. The captain, +making a skip, named the surprising figure of five pounds. +At the word the maniap’s were emptied. The +king’s sister flung down her cards and came to the front to +listen, a cloud on her brow. The pretty girl beat her +breast and cried with wearisome iteration that if the box were +hers I should have it. Terutak’s wife was beside +herself with pious fear, her face discomposed, her voice (which +scarce ceased from warning and encouragement) shrill as a +whistle. Even Terutak’ lost that image-like +immobility which he had hitherto maintained. He rocked on +his mat, threw up his closed knees alternately, and struck +himself on the breast after the manner of dancers. But he +came gold out of the furnace; and with what voice was left him +continued to reject the bribe.</p> +<p>And now came a timely interjection. ‘Money will +not heal the sick,’ observed the king’s sister +sententiously; and as soon as I heard the remark translated my +eyes were unsealed, and I began to blush for my employment. +Here was a sick child, and I sought, in the view of its parents, +to remove the medicine-box. Here was the priest of a +religion, and I (a heathen millionaire) was corrupting him to +sacrilege. Here was a greedy man, torn in twain betwixt +greed and conscience; and I sat by and relished, and lustfully +renewed his torments. <i>Ave</i>, <i>Cæsar</i>! +Smothered in a corner, dormant but not dead, we have all the one +touch of nature: an infant passion for the sand and blood of the +arena. So I brought to an end my first and last experience +of the joys of the millionaire, and departed amid silent +awe. Nowhere else can I expect to stir the depths of human +nature by an offer of five pounds; nowhere else, even at the +expense of millions, could I hope to see the evil of riches stand +so legibly exposed. Of all the bystanders, none but the +king’s sister retained any memory of the gravity and danger +of the thing in hand. Their eyes glowed, the girl beat her +breast, in senseless animal excitement. Nothing was offered +them; they stood neither to gain nor to lose; at the mere name +and wind of these great sums Satan possessed them.</p> +<p>From this singular interview I went straight to the palace; +found the king; confessed what I had been doing; begged him, in +my name, to compliment Terutak’ on his virtue, and to have +a similar box made for me against the return of the +schooner. Tembinok’, Rubam, and one of the Daily +Papers—him we used to call ‘the Facetiæ +Column’—laboured for a while of some idea, which was +at last intelligibly delivered. They feared I thought the +box would cure me; whereas, without the wizard, it was useless; +and when I was threatened with another cold I should do better to +rely on pain-killer. I explained I merely wished to keep it +in my ‘outch’ as a thing made in Apemama and these +honest men were much relieved.</p> +<p>Late the same evening, my wife, crossing the isle to windward, +was aware of singing in the bush. Nothing is more common in +that hour and place than the jubilant carol of the toddy-cutter, +swinging high overhead, beholding below him the narrow ribbon of +the isle, the surrounding field of ocean, and the fires of the +sunset. But this was of a graver character, and seemed to +proceed from the ground-level. Advancing a little in the +thicket, Mrs. Stevenson saw a clear space, a fine mat spread in +the midst, and on the mat a wreath of white flowers and one of +the devil-work boxes. A woman—whom we guess to have +been Mrs. Terutak’—sat in front, now drooping over +the box like a mother over a cradle, now lifting her face and +directing her song to heaven. A passing toddy-cutter told +my wife that she was praying. Probably she did not so much +pray as deprecate; and perhaps even the ceremony was one of +disenchantment. For the box was already doomed; it was to +pass from its green medicine-tree, reverend precinct, and devout +attendants; to be handled by the profane; to cross three seas; to +come to land under the foolscap of St. Paul’s; to be +domesticated within the hail of Lillie Bridge; there to be dusted +by the British housemaid, and to take perhaps the roar of London +for the voice of the outer sea along the reef. Before even +we had finished dinner Chench had begun his journey, and one of +the newspapers had already placed the box upon my table as the +gift of Tembinok’.</p> +<p>I made haste to the palace, thanked the king, but offered to +restore the box, for I could not bear that the sick of the island +should be made to suffer. I was amazed by his reply. +Terutak’, it appeared, had still three or four in reserve +against an accident; and his reluctance, and the dread painted at +first on every face, was not in the least occasioned by the +prospect of medical destitution, but by the immediate divinity of +Chench. How much more did I respect the king’s +command, which had been able to extort in a moment and for +nothing a sacrilegious favour that I had in vain solicited with +millions! But now I had a difficult task in front of me; it +was not in my view that Terutak’ should suffer by his +virtue; and I must persuade the king to share my opinion, to let +me enrich one of his subjects, and (what was yet more delicate) +to pay for my present. Nothing shows the king in a more +becoming light than the fact that I succeeded. He demurred +at the principle; he exclaimed, when he heard it, at the +sum. ‘Plenty money!’ cried he, with +contemptuous displeasure. But his resistance was never +serious; and when he had blown off his +ill-humour—‘A’ right,’ said he. +‘You give him. Mo’ betta.’</p> +<p>Armed with this permission, I made straight for the +infirmary. The night was now come, cool, dark, and +starry. On a mat hard by a clear fire of wood and coco +shell, Terutak’ lay beside his wife. Both were +smiling; the agony was over, the king’s command had +reconciled (I must suppose) their agitating scruples; and I was +bidden to sit by them and share the circulating pipe. I was +a little moved myself when I placed five gold sovereigns in the +wizard’s hand; but there was no sign of emotion in +Terutak’ as he returned them, pointed to the palace, and +named Tembinok’. It was a changed scene when I had +managed to explain. Terutak’, long, dour Scots +fisherman as he was, expressed his satisfaction within bounds; +but the wife beamed; and there was an old gentleman +present—her father, I suppose—who seemed nigh +translated. His eyes stood out of his head; +‘<i>Kaupoi</i>, <i>Kaupoi</i>—rich, rich!’ ran +on his lips like a refrain; and he could not meet my eye but what +he gurgled into foolish laughter.</p> +<p>I might now go home, leaving that fire-lit family party +gloating over their new millions, and consider my strange +day. I had tried and rewarded the virtue of +Terutak’. I had played the millionaire, had behaved +abominably, and then in some degree repaired my +thoughtlessness. And now I had my box, and could open it +and look within. It contained a miniature sleeping-mat and +a white shell. Tamaiti, interrogated next day as to the +shell, explained it was not exactly Chench, but a cell, or body, +which he would at times inhabit. Asked why there was a +sleeping-mat, he retorted indignantly, ‘Why have you +mats?’ And this was the sceptical Tamaiti! But +island scepticism is never deeper than the lips.</p> +<h3>CHAPTER VII—THE KING OF APEMAMA</h3> +<p>Thus all things on the island, even the priests of the gods, +obey the word of Tembinok’. He can give and take, and +slay, and allay the scruples of the conscientious, and do all +things (apparently) but interfere in the cookery of a +turtle. ‘I got power’ is his favourite word; it +interlards his conversation; the thought haunts him and is ever +fresh; and when be has asked and meditates of foreign countries, +he looks up with a smile and reminds you, ‘<i>I</i> got +<i>Power</i>.’ Nor is his delight only in the +possession, but in the exercise. He rejoices in the crooked +and violent paths of kingship like a strong man to run a race, or +like an artist in his art. To feel, to use his power, to +embellish his island and the picture of the island life after a +private ideal, to milk the island vigorously, to extend his +singular museum—these employ delightfully the sum of his +abilities. I never saw a man more patently in the right +trade.</p> +<p>It would be natural to suppose this monarchy inherited intact +through generations. And so far from that, it is a thing of +yesterday. I was already a boy at school while Apemama was +yet republican, ruled by a noisy council of Old Men, and torn +with incurable feuds. And Tembinok’ is no Bourbon; +rather the son of a Napoleon. Of course he is +well-born. No man need aspire high in the isles of the +Pacific unless his pedigree be long and in the upper regions +mythical. And our king counts cousinship with most of the +high families in the archipelago, and traces his descent to a +shark and a heroic woman. Directed by an oracle, she swam +beyond sight of land to meet her revolting paramour, and received +at sea the seed of a predestined family. ‘I think +lie,’ is the king’s emphatic commentary; yet he is +proud of the legend. From this illustrious beginning the +fortunes of the race must have declined; and Teñkoruti, +the grandfather of Tembinok’, was the chief of a village at +the north end of the island. Kuria and Aranuka were yet +independent; Apemama itself the arena of devastating feuds. +Through this perturbed period of history the figure of +Teñkoruti stalks memorable. In war he was swift and +bloody; several towns fell to his spear, and the inhabitants were +butchered to a man. In civil life this arrogance was +unheard of. When the council of Old Men was summoned, he +went to the Speak House, delivered his mind, and left without +waiting to be answered. Wisdom had spoken: let others opine +according to their folly. He was feared and hated, and this +was his pleasure. He was no poet; he cared not for arts or +knowledge. ‘My gran’patha one thing savvy, +savvy pight,’ observed the king. In some lull of +their own disputes the Old Men of Apemama adventured on the +conquest of Apemama; and this unlicked Caius Marcius was elected +general of the united troops. Success attended him; the +islands were reduced, and Teñkoruti returned to his own +government, glorious and detested. He died about 1860, in +the seventieth year of his age and the full odour of +unpopularity. He was tall and lean, says his grandson, +looked extremely old, and ‘walked all the same young +man.’ The same observer gave me a significant +detail. The survivors of that rough epoch were all defaced +with spearmarks; there was none on the body of this skilful +fighter. ‘I see old man, no got a spear,’ said +the king.</p> +<p>Teñkoruti left two sons, Tembaitake and +Tembinatake. Tembaitake, our king’s father, was +short, middling stout, a poet, a good genealogist, and something +of a fighter; it seems he took himself seriously, and was perhaps +scarce conscious that he was in all things the creature and +nursling of his brother. There was no shadow of dispute +between the pair: the greater man filled with alacrity and +content the second place; held the breach in war, and all the +portfolios in the time of peace; and, when his brother rated him, +listened in silence, looking on the ground. Like +Teñkoruti, he was tall and lean and a swift talker—a +rare trait in the islands. He possessed every +accomplishment. He knew sorcery, he was the best +genealogist of his day, he was a poet, he could dance and make +canoes and armour; and the famous mast of Apemama, which ran one +joint higher than the mainmast of a full-rigged ship, was of his +conception and design. But these were avocations, and the +man’s trade was war. ‘When my uncle go make +wa’, he laugh,’ said Tembinok’. He +forbade the use of field fortification, that protractor of native +hostilities; his men must fight in the open, and win or be beaten +out of hand; his own activity inspired his followers; and the +swiftness of his blows beat down, in one lifetime, the resistance +of three islands. He made his brother sovereign, he left +his nephew absolute. ‘My uncle make all +smooth,’ said Tembinok’. ‘I mo’ +king than my patha: I got power,’ he said, with formidable +relish.</p> +<p>Such is the portrait of the uncle drawn by the nephew. I +can set beside it another by a different artist, who has +often—I may say always—delighted me with his romantic +taste in narrative, but not always—and I may say not +often—persuaded me of his exactitude. I have already +denied myself the use of so much excellent matter from the same +source, that I begin to think it time to reward good resolution; +and his account of Tembinatake agrees so well with the +king’s, that it may very well be (what I hope it is) the +record of a fact, and not (what I suspect) the pleasing exercise +of an imagination more than sailorly. A., for so I had +perhaps better call him, was walking up the island after dusk, +when he came on a lighted village of some size, was directed to +the chief’s house, and asked leave to rest and smoke a +pipe. ‘You will sit down, and smoke a pipe, and wash, +and eat, and sleep,’ replied the chief, ‘and +to-morrow you will go again.’ Food was brought, +prayers were held (for this was in the brief day of +Christianity), and the chief himself prayed with eloquence and +seeming sincerity. All evening A. sat and admired the man +by the firelight. He was six feet high, lean, with the +appearance of many years, and an extraordinary air of breeding +and command. ‘He looked like a man who would kill you +laughing,’ said A., in singular echo of one of the +king’s expressions. And again: ‘I had been +reading the Musketeer books, and he reminded me of +Aramis.’ Such is the portrait of Tembinatake, drawn +by an expert romancer.</p> +<p>We had heard many tales of ‘my patha’; never a +word of my uncle till two days before we left. As the time +approached for our departure Tembinok’ became greatly +changed; a softer, a more melancholy, and, in particular, a more +confidential man appeared in his stead. To my wife he +contrived laboriously to explain that though he knew he must lose +his father in the course of nature, he had not minded nor +realised it till the moment came; and that now he was to lose us +he repeated the experience. We showed fireworks one evening +on the terrace. It was a heavy business; the sense of +separation was in all our minds, and the talk languished. +The king was specially affected, sat disconsolate on his mat, and +often sighed. Of a sudden one of the wives stepped forth +from a cluster, came and kissed him in silence, and silently went +again. It was just such a caress as we might give to a +disconsolate child, and the king received it with a child’s +simplicity. Presently after we said good-night and +withdrew; but Tembinok’ detained Mr. Osbourne, patting the +mat by his side and saying: ‘Sit down. I feel bad, I +like talk.’ Osbourne sat down by him. +‘You like some beer?’ said he; and one of the wives +produced a bottle. The king did not partake, but sat +sighing and smoking a meerschaum pipe. ‘I very sorry +you go,’ he said at last. ‘Miss Stlevens he +good man, woman he good man, boy he good man; all good man. +Woman he smart all the same man. My woman’ (glancing +towards his wives) ‘he good woman, no very smart. I +think Miss Stlevens he is chiep all the same cap’n +man-o-wa’. I think Miss Stlevens he rich man all the +same me. All go schoona. I very sorry. My patha +he go, my uncle he go, my cutcheons he go, Miss Stlevens he go: +all go. You no see king cry before. King all the same +man: feel bad, he cry. I very sorry.’</p> +<p>In the morning it was the common topic in the village that the +king had wept. To me he said: ‘Last night I no can +’peak: too much here,’ laying his hand upon his +bosom. ‘Now you go away all the same my pamily. +My brothers, my uncle go away. All the same.’ +This was said with a dejection almost passionate. And it +was the first time I had heard him name his uncle, or indeed +employ the word. The same day he sent me a present of two +corselets, made in the island fashion of plaited fibre, heavy and +strong. One had been worn by Teñkoruti, one by +Tembaitake; and the gift being gratefully received, he sent me, +on the return of his messengers, a third—that of +Tembinatake. My curiosity was roused; I begged for +information as to the three wearers; and the king entered with +gusto into the details already given. Here was a strange +thing, that he should have talked so much of his family, and not +once mentioned that relative of whom he was plainly the most +proud. Nay, more: he had hitherto boasted of his father; +thenceforth he had little to say of him; and the qualities for +which he had praised him in the past were now attributed where +they were due,—to the uncle. A confusion might be +natural enough among islanders, who call all the sons of their +grandfather by the common name of father. But this was not +the case with Tembinok’. Now the ice was broken the +word uncle was perpetually in his mouth; he who had been so ready +to confound was now careful to distinguish; and the father sank +gradually into a self-complacent ordinary man, while the uncle +rose to his true stature as the hero and founder of the race.</p> +<p>The more I heard and the more I considered, the more this +mystery of Tembinok’s behaviour puzzled and attracted +me. And the explanation, when it came, was one to strike +the imagination of a dramatist. Tembinok’ had two +brothers. One, detected in private trading, was banished, +then forgiven, lives to this day in the island, and is the father +of the heir-apparent, Paul. The other fell beyond +forgiveness. I have heard it was a love-affair with one of +the king’s wives, and the thing is highly possible in that +romantic archipelago. War was attempted to be levied; but +Tembinok’ was too swift for the rebels, and the guilty +brother escaped in a canoe. He did not go alone. +Tembinatake had a hand in the rebellion, and the man who had +gained a kingdom for a weakling brother was banished by that +brother’s son. The fugitives came to shore in other +islands, but Tembinok’ remains to this day ignorant of +their fate.</p> +<p>So far history. And now a moment for conjecture. +Tembinok’ confused habitually, not only the attributes and +merits of his father and his uncle, but their diverse personal +appearance. Before he had even spoken, or thought to speak, +of Tembinatake, he had told me often of a tall, lean father, +skilled in war, and his own schoolmaster in genealogy and island +arts. How if both were fathers, one natural, one +adoptive? How if the heir of Tembaitake, like the heir of +Tembinok’ himself, were not a son, but an adopted +nephew? How if the founder of the monarchy, while he worked +for his brother, worked at the same time for the child of his +loins? How if on the +death of Tembaitake, the two stronger natures, father and son, +king and kingmaker, clashed, and Tembinok’, when he drove +out his uncle, drove out the author of his days? Here is at +least a tragedy four-square.</p> +<p>The king took us on board in his own gig, dressed for the +occasion in the naval uniform. He had little to say, he +refused refreshments, shook us briefly by the hand, and went +ashore again. That night the palm-tops of Apemama had +dipped behind the sea, and the schooner sailed solitary under the +stars.</p> +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center">THE END.</p> +<div class="gapmediumline"> </div> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="GutSmall">BILLING AND +SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD</span></p> +<div class="gapspace"> </div> +<h2>FOOTNOTES</h2> +<p><a name="footnote12"></a><a href="#citation12" +class="footnote">[12]</a> Where that word is used as a +salutation I give that form.</p> +<p><a name="footnote29"></a><a href="#citation29" +class="footnote">[29]</a> In English usually written +‘taboo’: ‘tapu’ is the correct Tahitian +form.—[<span class="smcap">Ed.</span>]</p> +<p><a name="footnote86"></a><a href="#citation86" +class="footnote">[86]</a> The reference is to Maka, the +Gawaiian missionary, at Butaritari in the Gilberts.</p> +<p><a name="footnote122"></a><a href="#citation122" +class="footnote">[122]</a> Elephantiasis.</p> +<p><a name="footnote156"></a><a href="#citation156" +class="footnote">[156]</a> Arorai is in the Gilberts, +Funafuti in the Ellice Islands.—<span +class="smcap">Ed.</span></p> +<p><a name="footnote231"></a><a href="#citation231" +class="footnote">[231]</a> Gin and brandy.</p> +<p><a name="footnote275"></a><a href="#citation275" +class="footnote">[275]</a> In the Gilbert group.</p> +<p><a name="footnote279a"></a><a href="#citation279a" +class="footnote">[279a]</a> Copra: the dried kernel of the +cocoa-nut, the chief article of commerce throughout the Pacific +Islands.</p> +<p><a name="footnote279b"></a><a href="#citation279b" +class="footnote">[279b]</a> Houses.</p> +<p><a name="footnote283"></a><a href="#citation283" +class="footnote">[283]</a> Suppose.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK IN THE SOUTH SEAS***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 464-h.htm or 464-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/4/6/464 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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