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You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: In the South Seas + +Author: Robert Louis Stevenson + +Release Date: March, 1996 [EBook #464] +[This file was first posted on January 23, 1996] +[Most recently updated: August 18, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, IN THE SOUTH SEAS *** + + + + +Transcribed from the 1908 Chatto & Windus edition by David Price, +email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + + + + +IN THE SOUTH SEAS + + + + +PART 1: THE MARQUESAS + + + + +CHAPTER I--AN ISLAND LANDFALL + + + +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 Casco, +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 Equator, 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 Janet +Nicoll. 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. + +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 Caesars. + +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. + +Not one soul aboard the Casco 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 Casco, 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. + +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 Casco 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 Casco, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 Caesar, 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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER II--MAKING FRIENDS + + + +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. + +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 Janet Nicoll, 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. 'Mais, vous savez,' objected the fair sentimentalist; +'ils apprennent si vite l'anglais!' + +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 Casco. 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. + +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:- + + + House. Love. + +Tahitian FARE AROHA + +New Zealand WHARE + +Samoan FALE TALOFA + +Manihiki FALE ALOHA + +Hawaiian HALE ALOHA + +Marquesan HA'E KAOHA + + +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--wa'er, +be'er, or bo'le--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 t to k, 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 l, 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 Haaii and Paaaeua, when each individual +vowel must be separately uttered. + +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 Rahero; and +what I knew of the Cluny Macphersons, or the Appin Stewarts, +enabled me to learn, and helped me to understand, about the Tevas +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. + +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 +paepae-hae, 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 al fresco 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 'Lochaber no more' is an +evidence of refinement more convincing, as well as more +imperishable, than a palace. + +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. + +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 cochon sauvage--cocon chauvage, 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 Casco. +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 Casco 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. + +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 Casco 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. + + + +CHAPTER III--THE MAROON + + + +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 Casco 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: + + +Ua maomao ka lani, ua kahaea luna, +Ua pipi ka maka o ka hoku. +(The heavens were fair, they stretched above, +Many were the eyes of the stars.) + + +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. + +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. + +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 Que le jour me dure, 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. + +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 maya 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. + +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 Casco 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. + +It chanced one day that I was ashore in the cove, with Mrs. +Stevenson and the ship's cook. Except for the Casco 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 Casco 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. + +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. + +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 Casco 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. + +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. 'Pas de cocotiers? pas do popoi?' 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. 'Ici pas de Kanaques,' said she; and +taking the baby from her breast, she held it out to me with both +her hands. 'Tenez--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. + + + +CHAPTER IV--DEATH + + + +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. + +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 Casco 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. + +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 +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. + +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 Caesar'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, erimatua, 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. + +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 Casco +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. + +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 Cascos 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? + +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. + + + +CHAPTER V--DEPOPULATION + + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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? + +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. + +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. + +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, a priori, 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 mairedupalais; 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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER VI--CHIEFS AND TAPUS + + + +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. + +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 conseiller-general 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. + +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, PRINCE BORN AMONG FLOWERS-- +fell in abeyance, and he was dubbed instead by the expressive +byword, Taipi-Kikino--HIGHWATER MAN-OF-NO-ACCOUNT--or, Englishing +more boldly, BEGGAR ON HORSEBACK--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. + +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 Casco 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 Casco ribbon upside down on his +dishonoured hat. + +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. + +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 Simeon 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +We read in Dr. Campbell's Poenamo 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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER VII--HATIHEU + + + +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. + +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. 'Et point de resultats, monsieur, presque pas de +resultats.' 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. Oui, monsieur, cela se +deperit.' 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. + +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. + +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 mediaeval 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. + +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. 'Et vos gargouilles moyen-age,' cried I; +'comme elles sont originates!' 'N'est-ce pas? Elles sont bien +droles!' he said, smiling broadly; and the next moment, with a +sudden gravity: 'Cependant il y en a une qui a une patte de casse; +il faut que je voie cela.' I asked if he had any model--a point we +much discussed. 'Non,' said he simply; 'c'est une eglise ideale.' +The relievo was his favourite performance, and very justly so. The +angels at the door, he owned, he would like to destroy and replace. +'Ils n'ont pas de vie, ils manquent de vie. Vous devriez voir mon +eglise a la Dominique; j'ai la une Vierge qui est vraiment +gentille.' '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.' 'Oui, j'aimerais bien en fairs une autre,' 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. + +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 Casco's 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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER VIII--THE PORT OF ENTRY + + + +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. + +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. + +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 maitres de manoeuvres and +maitres ouvriers: 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. + +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: 'Je n'est' (sic) 'pas le sou.' 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--'Eh bien,' said the Resident, 'ou sont vos prisonniers?' +'Monsieur le Resident,' replied the jailer, saluting with soldierly +formality, 'comme c'est jour de fete, je les ai laisse aller a la +chasse.' They were all upon the mountains hunting goats! +Presently we came to the quarters of the women, likewise deserted-- +'Ou sont vos bonnes femmes?' asked the Resident; and the jailer +cheerfully responded: 'Je crois, Monsieur le Resident, qu'elles +sont allees quelquepart faire une visite.' 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. + +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. + +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.' + +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. + + + +CHAPTER IX--THE HOUSE OF TEMOANA + + + +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 'Madame Vaekehu, Grande +Chefesse.' 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. + +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. + +Vaekehu is very deaf; 'merci' 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 Casco. 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 Comedie Francaise; just so might Madame Brohan +have warmed and condescended to Madame Broisat in the Marquis de +Villemer. 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.' + +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. 'Chaque pays a ses coutumes,' said +he; but in the report of any gendarme, perhaps corruptly eager to +increase the number of delits and the instruments of his own power, +custom after custom is placed on the expurgatorial index. 'Tenez, +une danse qui n'est pas permise,' said Stanislao: 'je ne sais pas +pourquoi, elle est tres jolie, elle va comme ca,' 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. + +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. 'Ah, vous devriez rester ici, +mon cher ami!' cried Stanislao. 'Vous etes les gens qu'il faut +pour les Kanaques; vous etes doux, vous et votre famille; vous +seriez obeis dans toutes les iles.' 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. + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER X--A PORTRAIT AND A STORY + + + +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 in +partibus. 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 mediaeval 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. 'Chaque pays a ses coutumes,' 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. + +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. + +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 Casco, 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. + +'"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 WANT 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 WANT eat +'Melican mate!" Kekela he say; and he CLY--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. (Pantomime.) 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. (Pantomime.) 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!" (Violent +pantomime, and a change indicating that the narrator has left the +boat and returned to the beach.) All the Kanaka they say, "How! +'Melican mate he go away?"--jump in boat; low afta. (Violent +pantomime, and change again to boat.) Kekela he say, "Low quick!"' + +Here I think Kauwealoha's pantomime had confused me; I have no more +of his ipsissima verba; 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. + + +'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. + +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 LOVE. + +'1. Love to Jehovah. + +'2. Love to self. + +'3. Love to our neighbour. + +'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. + +'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. + +'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).' + + + +CHAPTER XI--LONG-PIG--A CANNIBAL HIGH PLACE + + + +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 Casco 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +It was from Hatiheu that I paid my first visit to a cannibal high +place. + +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. + +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 paepae tapu. + +Paepae 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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER XII--THE STORY OF A PLANTATION + + + +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. + +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. + +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 +Casco 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER XIII--CHARACTERS + + + +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. + +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 Casco, 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 Nyanza, 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. + +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. + + +'Sail, ho! Ahoy! Casco, +First among the pleasure fleet +That came around to greet +These isles from San Francisco, + +And first, too; only one +Among the literary men +That this way has ever been - +Welcome, then, to Stevenson. + +Please not offended be +At this little notice +Of the Casco, Captain Otis, +With the novelist's family. + +Avoir une voyage magnifical +Is our wish sincere, +That you'll have from here +Allant sur la Grande Pacifical.' + + +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 umati--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. + +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 'mitai!--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--chaque pays a ses coutumes--and he felt the principle +was there. + +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. 'Mitai ehipe?' I asked. And +he, with rich unction, offering at the same time his hand--'Mitai +ehipe, mitai kaehae; kaoha nui!'--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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER XIV--IN A CANNIBAL VALLEY + + + +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 flamboyant--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, are +unknown. + +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 'vraie curiosite,' 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. + +August 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. + +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. + +August 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. + +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: +'Mikael--Kaoha, Mikael!' 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 Casco: 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. + +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. +'Elle a honte,' 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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER XV--THE TWO CHIEFS OF ATUONA + + + +It had chanced (as the Casco 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. 'C'est ma +honte,' replied the brother drily. + +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 pikio, although +quite regular, appears undoubtedly subordinate. We had +opportunities to observe one household of the sort. The pikio 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 pikio 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. + +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. + +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 animus affiliandi, +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 Casco, +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. Grevy 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 Casco 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. + +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 role 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. + +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 +Casco. 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. + +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 'mitais' 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 Casco were quite so much admired in the +Marquesas as our visitors desired us to suppose. + +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. + + + + +PART II: THE PAUMOTUS + + + + +CHAPTER I--THE DANGEROUS ARCHIPELAGO--ATOLLS AT A DISTANCE + + + +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 Casco 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. + +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. + +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 Casco 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. + +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 + + +'nihil astra praeter +Vidit et undas. + + +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 Casco to the wind, keep a good watch, and expect morning. + +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 debris of vapours, and displayed an +inconsiderable islet, flat as a plate upon the sea, and spiked with +palms of disproportioned altitude. + +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. + +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. Lost in the Sea 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. + +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: + + +'And the lone seaman all the night +Sails astonished among stars.' + + +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. + +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 manoeuvre and outsailed us. Once and twice Raraka headed +us again--again, in the sea fashion, the quite innocent steersman +was abused--and again the Casco 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. + +We had but just repeated our manoeuvre 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. + +'Land ahead!' said the steersman. + +'By God, it's Kauehi!' cried the mate. + +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 Casco 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. + +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. + +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 Casco 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. + + + +CHAPTER II--FAKARAVA: AN ATOLL AT HAND + + + +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. + +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 Casco 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 Grevy, Perihidente.' 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. + +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. + +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. + +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 solum, +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 miki 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 entrees 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. + +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 (Tridacna) 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. + +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. + +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--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 Casco, 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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER III--A HOUSE TO LET IN A LOW ISLAND + + + +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 employes 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 Casco, 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. + +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 Encyclopaedia--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.' + +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. + +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: +'Le brigade du General Lepasset brulant son drapeau devant Metz.' +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 reveille, +ringing pleasantly about the garden: 'Pooty--pooty--poo--poo-- +poo!' + +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. + +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. + +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 Francois, 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. + +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. + +These were Francois, 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 Francois 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, Francois, +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 Francois 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 Francois, 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 Francois, the +son of a French father, speaks excellent French himself and seems +intelligent. + +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 Francois was but dealing with his own. The clothes +were his, so was the chest, so was the house. Francois 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, Francois, during the +remainder of his stay, holding bashfully aloof. And there was +stranger matter. Since Francois 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. + +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 +Francois 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 Francois's ravages; and presently after she +was observed in high speech with Taniera, who seemed to hang an ear +like one reproved. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER IV--TRAITS AND SECTS IN THE PAUMOTUS + + + +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. + +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 Sarah Ann 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 Julia, 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. + +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-- +quatre cent mille francs pour moins de mille francs. 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. 'Pour moi,' said he, with a fine charity, 'les +Mormons ici un petit Catholiques.' 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. + +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. + +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 Casco. +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER V--A PAUMOTUAN FUNERAL + + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 Casco 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. + +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. + +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 ME,' 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.' + +'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. + + + +CHAPTER VI--GRAVEYARD STORIES + + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 NOT +RIGHT. 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +It is plain we have in Europe stories of a similar complexion; and +the Polynesian varua ino or aitu o le vao 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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.' + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. Tetea is the Tahitian +name; the Paumotuan, Mokurea. + + + + +PART III: THE GILBERTS + + + + +CHAPTER I--BUTARITARI + + + +At Honolulu we had said farewell to the Casco 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 Equator, 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. + +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. + +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 taro 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 The Land +we Live in 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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER II--THE FOUR BROTHERS + + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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.' + +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. + +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. + +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 impromptu 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. + +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. + +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', Mr. Corpse, 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 redux. 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER III--AROUND OUR HOUSE + + + +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. + +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. + +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 ridi 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. + +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. + +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 +Sans Souci, 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 Sans Souci 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: The Land we Live in being +tacitly resigned to the forecastle, the Sans Souci 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'--'South Sea 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER IV--A TALE OF A TAPU + + + +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 Arabian Nights 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. + +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. + +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 Sans Souci, +was in conversation with two emissaries from the court. The +'keen,' they said, wanted 'din,' failing which 'perandi.' 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. + +'Why, what is the meaning of all this?' I asked. 'Is the island on +the spree?' + +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 Sans Souci, would be supplied at The Land we Live in +by the gobbling Mr. Williams. + +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. + +Monday, 15th.--At the same hour we returned to the same muniap'. +Kummel (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 kummel 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +The kummel 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 kummel 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. + +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 +Sans Souci 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. + +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. + +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; din and perandi +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 ridi 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. + +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 Equator 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. + + + +CHAPTER V--A TALE OF A TAPU--continued + + + +Tuesday, July 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 reveille should still be sounded and still obeyed. + +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. + +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. + +Tuesday, July 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 in +vacuo; 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. + +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. + +Wednesday, July 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. + +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, The Land we Live in 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. + +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. + +'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. + +Hence, in some degree, the anxiety and helplessness of Mr. Rick. +He and Tom, alarmed by the rabblement of the Sans Souci, had +stopped the sale; they had done so without danger, because The Land +we Live in 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. + +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. + +'My name is Stevenson,' said I. + +'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. + +'Look here,' I began, 'I hear you are selling to the natives.' + +'Others have done that before me,' he returned pointedly. + +'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.' + +'Now what is your motive in this?' he asked, and then, with a +sneer, 'Are you afraid of your life?' + +'That is nothing to the purpose,' I replied. 'I know, and you +know, these spirits ought not to be used at all.' + +'Tom and Mr. Rick have sold them before.' + +'I have nothing to do with Tom and Mr. Rick. All I know is I have +heard them both refuse.' + +'No, I suppose you have nothing to do with them. Then you are just +afraid of your life.' + +'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--' + +'I don't say I wouldn't. I didn't begin this,' he interjected. + +'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.' + +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. + +'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.' + +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.' + +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?' + +'I don't want either to refuse it or grant it,' he replied. + +'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.' + +Again he changed ground. 'If the natives get any drink, it isn't +safe to stop them,' he objected. + +'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.' + +'You don't know what you're talking about; it's too dangerous!' he +cried. + +'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.' + +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. + +'Will you take a cigar?' said he. + +I took it and held it up unlighted. 'Now,' said I, 'you promise +me.' + +'I promise you you won't have any trouble from natives that have +drunk at my place,' he replied. + +'That is all I ask,' said I, and showed it was not by immediately +offering to try his stock. + +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. + +'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.' + +It was a thoughtless wonder. The consolation of being second is +not great; the fact, not the order of going--there was our concern. + +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 manoeuvres; 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, The Land we Live in 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. + +Wednesday, July 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. + +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. + +Sunday, July 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. + + + +CHAPTER VI--THE FIVE DAYS' FESTIVAL + + + +Thursday, July 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. + +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 - + +[Musical notation which cannot be produced. It means two/four time +with quaver, quaver, crotchet repeated for three bars.] + +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. + +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 hula, 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. + +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.' + +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. + +Friday, July 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. + +Saturday, July 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 Mr. Corpse +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. + +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. + +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. + +Sunday, July 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. + +Monday, July 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. + +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 holoku 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 ridi. 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. + +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 holoku, 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. + +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 weemen'; 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 ridi, +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 premiere danseuse 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. + +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? + +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.' + + + +CHAPTER VII--HUSBAND AND WIFE + + + +The trader accustomed to the manners of Eastern Polynesia has a +lesson to learn among the Gilberts. The ridi 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. + +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 ridi. 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. + +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 ridi; 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 ridi on +the tapu-post has gained his cause, since no one can remove or +touch it but himself. + +The ridi 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 KANA KIM. 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. + +'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. + +'I know you are not a pig,' said the woman, 'neither am I your +slave.' + +'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.' + +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. + +'I Kana Kim!' 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 Kana Kim!' If +she had not said I Kana Kim he might have struck her with a +caldron. It was not the blow that made the crime, but the +disregard of an accepted formula. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + +PART IV: THE GILBERTS--APEMAMA + + + + +CHAPTER I--THE KING OF APEMAMA: THE ROYAL TRADER + + + +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. + +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 Equator 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. + +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. 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 Janet Nicoll. Their fare was paid by +Tembinok'; they who had gone ashore from the Equator destitute, +reappeared upon the Janet 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 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,' 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 ridis. Each had a share of +copra, her peculium, 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. + +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. + +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 Coronet 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 Equator 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 I mi'take, you 'peakee me. Tuppoti you +mi'take, I 'peakee you. Mo' betta.' + +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. + + + +CHAPTER II--THE KING OF APEMAMA: FOUNDATION OF EQUATOR TOWN + + + +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. + +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_ '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. + +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.' + +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, 'PEAKING, 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 +EYE, 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. + +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 Equator. 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. + +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 conjunctiva, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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'. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER III--THE KING OF APEMAMA: THE PALACE OF MANY WOMEN + + + +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. + +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 ridi; 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 Equator. 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.' + +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. + +Suppose we had business with his majesty by day: we strolled over +the sand and by the dwarfish palms, exchanged a 'Konamaori' 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. + +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. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER IV--THE KING OF APEMAMA: EQUATOR TOWN AND THE PALACE + + + +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. + +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 +Guttersnipe, 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 Fatty, +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? + +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. + +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 Quatre-Vingt-Treize: 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. + +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 chimaera +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. + +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. + +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 +Carnival of Venice, or that he would deny himself his natural rest +to follow my variations on The Ploughboy. 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. + +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 Britannica, 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. + + + +CHAPTER V--KING AND COMMONS + + + +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 ridi. 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. + +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 ALL THE SAME BROTHERS.' 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 Olalla) 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 Kaupoi, 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: + +'The king, he good man?' I asked. + +'Suppose he like you, he good man,' replied Te Kop: 'no like, no +good.' + +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 H. L. +Haseltine (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 +grumbletonians; 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 pain-killer--for pain-killer in the islands is the generic name +of medicine. So ended the king's modest spree and our anxiety. + +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. + +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 Equator off Mariki. He went +to his post and did no good. He returned home again, having done +no harm. O si sic omnes! + + + +CHAPTER VI--THE KING OF APEMAMA: DEVIL-WORK + + + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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 al fresco. +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. + +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. + +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. + +Tembinok', in his first dealings, showed himself sternly averse +from superstition: and had not the Equator 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 Equator 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 ex voto 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. + +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 +famulus. Tamaiti took me in hand first, and led me, conversing +agreeably, to the shores of Fu Bay. The famulus 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. + +A reader of the Arabian Nights 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + +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. Ave, Caesar! 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. + +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 Facetiae +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. + +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'. + +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.' + +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; 'Kaupoi, Kaupoi--rich, rich!' ran on +his lips like a refrain; and he could not meet my eye but what he +gurgled into foolish laughter. + +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. + + + +CHAPTER VII--THE KING OF APEMAMA + + + +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_ +got POWER.' 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. + +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 Tenkoruti, 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 Tenkoruti +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 Tenkoruti 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. + +Tenkoruti 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 +Tenkoruti, 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. + +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. + +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.' + +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 Tenkoruti, 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. + +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. + +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. + +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. + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, IN THE SOUTH SEAS *** + +This file should be named sseas10.txt or sseas10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, sseas11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, sseas10a.txt + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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