THE ISLAND OF GEMS
For some weeks after getting free from the kelp we experienced fine
weather, with favourable winds and a smooth sea, when, almost without
warning, a storm broke upon us with hurricane force. All hands were
ordered to shorten sail, no easy task in the fury of a gale. As chief
officer I took command in the fore part of the vessel, while Hartog
issued his orders aft. The sea ran so high, often breaking over the
bows and swamping the decks, that I ordered the men to attach
themselves by lifelines to the foremast, and I also secured myself in
the same way. As sometimes happens at sea in the heart of a storm, a
succession of rollers followed each other, making it impossible to do
more than hang on until they pass, and during one of these intervals I
observed Van Luck, whose presence I had forgotten in the hurry of the
moment, standing by the foremast with a knife in his hand. I was
powerless to reach him from where I stood, and a moment later the
lifeline which held me to the foremast was severed, when, despite a
desperate effort which I made to retain my hold, I was swept into the
sea.
For a time, which seemed to me an eternity, I was under water, but when
I rose to the surface I could see the ship at some distance from me,
fighting her way through the storm. I was almost suffocated by the
spray which continually blew over me, and the heavy sea boots which I
wore, filling with water, threatened to drag me down. I had given
myself up for lost, when I noticed a spar floating near, which must
have been washed overboard with me, and, making an effort, I succeeded
in laying hold of it, so that I managed to keep afloat. Thus holding to
the spar and swimming, sometimes with one hand and sometimes with the
other, I kept my head above water until my feet touched ground, when I
waded upon the shore of an island, where I fell down exhausted, and for
the time lost consciousness.
When I came to myself it was almost dark. I had fortunately been
carried by a current upon the leeside of the island, so that I was
protected from the wind and sea, but my limbs felt numb and cold, while
the blood coursed feebly in my veins. I felt too weary to move, and
presently I fell asleep, from which I awoke, as I judged, about
midnight, much refreshed.
I was now once more haunted by the thought of being marooned in a
strange country, so that I remained awake, bemoaning my fate and
blaming myself for not having taken better precautions against such a
mishap. These reflections led me so far that I began to form a project
against my life, but the dawn dissipated my gloomy ideas, when I made
up my mind to trust to Providence, which had protected me through so
many perils.
I then mounted the high land to scan the horizon, but no sign of the
ship could I see, so I knew myself to be again a castaway. The island
appeared to be one of considerable size, very fertile and well watered.
The verdure inland was unusually luxuriant, even for the tropics. From
the centre of the island rose a mountain, with a smoke-cloud banging
upon it, which proved it to be an active volcano.
The storm had passed, and the weather was pleasant, the beat not
excessive, being tempered with a land breeze. I descended after a while
into a valley, where I noticed a number of fresh-water ponds, at one of
which I knelt down to drink, when I perceived a prodigious quantity of
bivalve shells of one single species, which formed a kind of beach, in
breadth about fifteen feet. The water in the pond was clear, and
although it was deep, the sand and shells at the bottom of it were
easily seen.
Whilst I was admiring their beauties I was startled by the approach of
a party of natives, the leader of whom, a tall, muscular savage,
marched in front of the others, who followed him with some degree of
order. From the crown of his head to his waist he was plastered with a
red pigment, his frizzled-out hair being ornamented with the plumes of
the bird of Paradise. His dress, composed of tapa cloth, shells, and
feathers, was more elaborate than any I had seen in the islands. In his
hand he carried a spear tipped with white quartz. His followers were
decked in similar fashion. Raising his right arm in token of
friendship, an overture to which I responded, the chief then addressed
me in the same dialect to that used at Cortes' island, which I had
little difficulty in understanding, although some of the words puzzled
me.
"Whence come you?" said he. "From the sun or the sea?"
"From the sea, O chief, whither I will return when my friends, the
white spirits, come for me," I answered.
This reply did not seem to surprise my interrogator, who now desired me
to follow him. After proceeding for some distance through a luxuriant
forest we came to what appeared to be the gates of a town. Two large
perpendicular stones rose to the height of fourteen feet above the
ground. These pillars must have been twelve feet through at the base,
and five feet on top, while a still larger stone, some sixteen feet
long and four feet thick, was mortised into the perpendicular columns.
It was difficult to understand how such huge stones could be quarried
and transported inland by a people possessing so few mechanical
appliances as these savages, but to my inquiry regarding this curious
gateway I was answered that the stones had been there as long as any
could remember, having been placed in position by supernatural agency.
At the gate of the city crouched some miserable specimens of humanity:
old men and women, haggard, shrivelled, and naked. These unfortunates,
I afterwards learned, were the aged and infirm, too feeble to perform
their share of the work of the tribe and condemned to remain at the
gateway, dependent for food upon such charity as might be given them.
On entering the town we passed a number of warriors, all fine, athletic
men, dressed in the same style as those who accompanied us, and painted
with stripes of red, yellow, and white pigment.
I was now received by a commanding figure, whom I took to be the king.
He was even more gorgeously dressed than the others, with strings of
bright stones round his neck and Paradise plumes in his hair, while
upon his head was a circlet composed of human teeth, set in clay, in
the centre of which glowed an opal of extraordinary fire. His face was
sullen and cruel, and his hazel eyes, with their dark lashes and
yellow-tinged whites, gave to his countenance an expression scarcely
human. Near to him stood a group of young men, their bodies plastered
with a bright red pigment, who appeared to be his personal attendants,
or slaves.
This savage now addressed me, asking the same questions as the other
chief, to which I returned similar answers. I was then led to a house
with a beehive-shaped roof, where food was brought to me, consisting of
coconuts and bananas, with a luscious kind of fruit I had never before
tasted, but which I found very palatable. After my meal I was taken
before the queen.