When the four canoes drew near to the island, immense numbers of natives
were seen to assemble on the beach, so that Big Chief deemed it
advisable to advance with caution. Presently a solitary figure, either
dressed or painted black, advanced in front of the others and waved a
white flag. This seemed to increase the Chief's anxiety, for he ordered
the men to cease paddling.
Jarwin, whose heart had leaped with delight when he saw the dark figure
and the white flag, immediately turned round and said--
"You needn't be afraid, old boy; that's the missionary, I'll be bound,
in his black toggery, an' a white flag means `peace' among Cookee men."
On hearing this, the Chief gave the order to advance, and Jarwin,
seizing a piece of native cloth that lay near him, waved it round his
head.
"Stop that, you Breetish tar!" growled Big Chief, seizing a huge club,
which bristled with shark's teeth, and shaking it at the seaman, while
his own teeth were displayed in a threatening grin.
"All right, old codger," replied the British tar, with a submissive
look; "honour bright, honour bright," he added several times, in a low
tone, as if to keep himself in mind of his promise.
We have already said that our hero and his master talked in the native
tongue, which the former had acquired with wonderful facility, but such
familiar expressions as "old boy," "old codger," etcetera, were
necessarily uttered in English. Fortunately for Jarwin, who was by
nature free-and-easy, the savage chief imagined these to be terms of
respect, and was, consequently, rather pleased to hear them. Similarly,
Big Chief said "Breetish tar" and "Christian" in English, as he had
learned them from his captive. When master and slave began to grow fond
of each other--as we have seen that they soon did, their manly natures
being congenial--they used these expressions more frequently: Jarwin
meaning to express facetious goodwill, but his master desiring to
express kindly regard, except when he was roused to anger, in which case
he did not, however, use them contemptuously, but as expressive of
earnest solemnity.
On landing, Big Chief and his warriors were received by the Reverend Mr
Williams and his native teachers--of whom there were two men and two
women--with every demonstration of kindness, and were informed that the
island of Raratonga had cast away and burned its idols, and now
worshipped the true God, who had sent His Son Jesus Christ to save the
world from sin.
"I know that," replied Big Chief to the teacher who interpreted;
"converts, like yourself, came to my island not long ago, and told me
all about it. Now I have come to see and hear. A wise man will know
and understand before he acts."
Big Chief was then conducted to the presence of the king of that part of
the island, who stood, surrounded by his chief men, under a grove of
Temanu trees. The king, whose name was Makea, was a handsome man, in
the prime of life, about six feet high, and very massive and muscular.
He had a noble appearance and commanding aspect, and, though not so tall
as Big Chief, was, obviously, a man of superior power in every way. His
complexion was light, and his body most beautifully tatooed and slightly
coloured with a preparation of tumeric and ginger, which gave it a light
orange tinge, and, in the estimation of the Raratongans, added much to
the beauty of his appearance.
The two chiefs advanced frankly to each other, and amiably rubbed noses
together--the South Sea method of salutation! Then a long palaver
ensued, in which Big Chief explained the object of his visit, namely, to
hear about the new religion, and to witness its effects with his own
eyes. The missionary gladly gave him a full account of all he desired
to know, and earnestly urged him to accept the Gospel of Jesus Christ,
and to throw away his idols.
Big Chief and his men listened with earnest attention and intense
gravity, and, after the palaver was over, retired to consult together in
private.
During all this time poor Jarwin's heart had been greatly stirred.
Being tatooed, and nearly naked, as well as painted like the rest of his
comrades, of course no one took particular notice of him, which
depressed him greatly, for he felt an intense desire to seize the
missionary by the hand, and claim him as a countryman. Indeed this
feeling was so strong upon him on first hearing Mr Williams's English
tone of voice--although the missionary spoke only in the native tongue--
that he could scarcely restrain himself, and had to mutter "honour
bright" several times, in order, as it were, to hold himself in check.
"Honour bright" became his moral rein, or curb, on that trying occasion.
But when, in the course of the palaver, Mrs Williams, who had
accompanied her husband on this dangerous expedition, came forward and
addressed a few words to the missionary in English, he involuntarily
sprang forward with an exclamation of delight at hearing once more the
old familiar tongue. He glanced, however, at Big Chief, and checked
himself. There was a stern expression on the brow of the savage, but
his eyes remained fixed on the ground, and his form and face were
immovable, as though he heard and saw nothing.
"Honour bright," whispered Jarwin, as he turned about and retired among
his comrades.
Fortunately his sudden action had only attracted the attention of a few
of those who were nearest to him, and no notice was taken of it.
When Big Chief retired with his men for consultation, he called Jarwin
aside.
"Jarwin," he said, with unusual gravity, "you must not hear our
palaver."
"Why not, old feller?"
"It is your business to obey, not to question," replied Big Chief,
sternly. "Go--when I want you I will find you. You may go and _look_
at the Cookee missionary, but, remember, I have your promise."
"Honour bright," replied Jarwin with a sigh.
"The promise of a Breetish tar?"
"Surely," replied Jarwin.
"Of a _Christian_?" said Big Chief, with emphasis.
"Aye, that's the idee; but it's a hard case, old boy, to advise a poor
feller to go into the very jaws o' temptation. I would rather 'ee had
ordered me to keep away from 'em. Howsever, here goes!"
Muttering these words to himself, he left his savage friends to hold
their palaver, and went straight into the "jaws of temptation," by
walking towards the cottage of the missionary. It was a neat wooden
erection, built and plastered by the natives. Jarwin hung about the
door; sometimes he even ventured to peep in at the windows, in his
intense desire to see and hear the long-lost forms and tones of his
native land; and, as the natives generally were much addicted to such
indications of curiosity, his doing so attracted no unusual attention.
While he was standing near the door, Mrs Williams unexpectedly came
out. Jarwin, feeling ashamed to appear in so _very_ light a costume
before a lady, turned smartly round and walked away. Then, reflecting
that he was quite as decently clothed as the other natives about, he
turned again and slowly retraced his steps, pretending to be interested
in picking stones and plants from the ground.
The missionary's wife looked at him for a moment with no greater
interest than she would have bestowed on any other native, and then
gazed towards the sea-shore, as if she expected some one. Presently Mr
Williams approached.
"Well, have you been successful?" she asked.
"Yes, it has been all arranged satisfactorily, so I shall begin at
once," replied Mr Williams. "The only thing that gives me anxiety is
the bellows."
Poor Jarwin drew nearer and nearer. His heart was again stirred in a
way that it had not been for many a day, and he had to pull the rein
pretty tightly; in fact, it required all his Christianity and
British-tar-hood to prevent him from revealing himself, and claiming
protection at that moment.
As he raised himself, and gazed with intense interest at the speakers,
the missionary's attention became fixed on him, and he beckoned him to
approach.
"I think you are one of the strangers who have just arrived, are you
not?"
This was spoken in the language of Raratonga, which was so similar to
that which he had already acquired, that he opened his mouth to reply,
"Yes, your honour," or "Your reverence," in English. But it suddenly
occurred to him that he must translate this into the native tongue if
his secret was to be preserved. While he was turning over in his mind
the best words to use for this purpose he reflected that the
imperfection of his knowledge, even the mere tone of his voice, would
probably betray him; he therefore remained dumb, with his mouth open.
The missionary smiled slightly, and repeated his question.
Jarwin, in great perplexity, still remained dumb. Suddenly an idea
flashed across his mind. He pointed to his mouth, wagged his tongue,
and shook his head.
"Ah! you are dumb, my poor man," said the missionary, with a look of
pity.
"Or tabooed," suggested the lady; "his tongue may have been tabooed."
There was some reason and probability in this, for the extraordinary
custom of tabooing, by which various things are supposed to be rendered
sacred, and therefore not to be used or touched, is extended by the
South Sea Islanders to various parts of their bodies, as for instance,
the hands; in which case the person so tabooed must, for a time, be fed
by others, as he dare not use his hands.
Jarwin, being aware of the custom, was so tickled by the idea of his
tongue being tabooed, that he burst into an uncontrollable fit of
laughter, to the intense amazement of his questioners. While in the
midst of this laugh, he became horrified by the thought that _that_ of
itself would be sufficient to betray him, so he cleverly remedied the
evil, and gave vent to his feelings by tapering the laugh off into a
hideous yell, and rushed frantically from the spot.
"Strange," observed the missionary, gazing after the fugitive mariner,
"how like that was to an English laugh!"
"More like the cry of a South Sea maniac, I think," said Mrs Williams,
re-entering the house, followed by her husband.
The matter which the missionary said had been arranged so
satisfactorily, and was to be begun at once, was neither more nor less
than the building of a ship, in which to traverse the great
island-studded breast of the Pacific.
In case some one, accustomed to think of the ponderous vessels which are
built constantly in this land with such speed and facility, should be
inclined to regard the building of a ship a small matter, we shall point
out a few of the difficulties with which the missionary had to contend
in this projected work.
In the first place, he was on what is sometimes styled a "savage
island"--an island that lay far out of the usual track of ships, that
had only been discovered a little more than a year at that time, and was
inhabited by a blood-thirsty, savage, cruel, and ignorant race of human
beings, who had renounced idolatry and embraced Christianity only a few
months before. They knew no more of ship-building than the celebrated
man in the moon, and their methods of building canoes were quite
inapplicable to vessels of large capacity. Besides this, Mr Williams
was the only white man on the island, and he had no suitable implements
for shipbuilding, except axes and augurs, and a few of the smaller of
the carpenter's tools. In the building of a vessel, timbers and planks
are indispensable, but he had no pit-saw wherewith to cut these. It is
necessary to fasten planks and timbers together, but he had no nails to
do this. Heavy iron forgings were required for some parts of the
structure, but, although he possessed iron, he had no smith's anvil, or
hammer, or tongs, or bellows, wherewith to forge it. In these
circumstances he commenced one of the greatest pieces of work ever
undertaken by man--greatest, not only because of the mechanical
difficulties overcome, but because of the influence for good that the
ship, when completed, had upon the natives of the Southern Seas, as well
as its reflex influence in exciting admiration, emulation, and
enthusiasm in other lands.
The first difficulty was the bellows. Nothing could be done without
these and the forge. There were four goats on the island. Three of
these were sacrificed; their skins were cut up, and, along with two
boards, converted into a pair of smith's bellows in four days.
No one can imagine the intense interest with which John Jarwin looked on
while the persevering but inexperienced missionary laboured at this
work, and tremendous was the struggle which he had to keep his hands
idle and his tongue quiet; for he was a mechanical genius, and could
have given the missionary many a useful hint, but did not dare to do so
lest his knowledge, or voice, or aptitude for such work, or all these
put together, should betray him. He was, therefore, fain to content
himself with looking on, or performing a few trifling acts in the way of
lifting, carrying, and hewing with the axe.
His friends frequently came to look on, as the work progressed, and he
could not help fancying that they regarded him with looks of peculiar
interest. This perplexed him, but, supposing that it must result from
suspicion of his integrity, he took no notice of it, save that he became
more resolute than ever in reference to "honour bright!" Big Chief also
came to look on and wonder, but, although he kept a sharp eye on his
slave, he did not seem to desire intercourse with him.
When the bellows were finished, it was found that they did not work
properly. The upper box did not fill well, and, when tried, they were
not satisfied with blowing wind out, but insisted on drawing fire in!
They were, in short, a failure! Deep were the ponderings of the
missionary as to how this was to be remedied, and small was the light
thrown on the subject by the various encyclopaedias and other books
which he possessed; but the question was somewhat abruptly settled for
him by the rats. These creatures devoured all the leather of the
bellows in a single night, and left nothing but the bare boards!
Rats were an absolute plague at that time at Raratonga. Mr Williams
tells us, in his interesting "Narrative," that he and his family never
sat down to a meal without having two or more persons stationed to keep
them off the table. When kneeling at family prayer, they would run over
them in all directions, and it was found difficult to keep them out of
the beds. On one occasion, when the servant was making one of the beds,
she uttered a scream, and, on rushing into the room, Mr Williams found
that four rats had crept under the pillow and made themselves snug
there. They paid for their impudence, however, with their lives. On
another occasion, a pair of English shoes, which had not been put in the
usual place of safety, were totally devoured in a night, and the same
fate befell the covering of a hair-trunk. No wonder, then, that they
did not spare the bellows!
Poor Jarwin sorrowed over this loss fully as much as did the missionary,
but he was forced to conceal his grief.
Still bent on discovering some method of "raising the wind," Mr
Williams appealed to his inventive powers. He considered that if a pump
threw water, there was no reason why it should not throw wind.
Impressed with this belief, he set to work and made a box about eighteen
or twenty inches square and four feet high, with a valve in the bottom
to let air in, a hole in the front to let it out, and a sort of piston
to force it through the hole. By means of a long lever the piston could
be raised, and by heavy weights it was pushed down. Of course
considerable power was required to raise the piston and its weights, but
there was a superabundance of power, for thousands of wondering natives
were ready and eager to do whatever they were bid. They could have
pumped the bellows had they been the size of a house! They worked
admirably in some respects, but had the same fault as the first pair,
namely, a tendency to suck in the fire! This, however, was corrected by
means of a valve at the back of the pipe which communicated with the
fire. Another fault lay in the length of interval between the blasts.
This was remedied by making another box of the same kind, and working
the two alternately, so that when one was blowing the fire, the other
was, as it were, taking breath. Thus a continuous blast was obtained,
while eight or ten grinning and delighted natives worked the levers.
The great difficulty being thus overcome, the work progressed rapidly.
A large hard stone served for an anvil, and a small stone, perforated,
with a handle affixed to it, did duty for a hammer. A pair of
carpenter's pincers served for tongs, and charcoal, made from the
cocoanut and other trees, did duty for coals. In order to obtain
planks, the missionary split trees in half with wedges and then the
natives thinned them down with adzes extemporised by fitting crooked
handles to ordinary hatchets. When a bent or twisted plank was
required, having no apparatus for steaming it, he bent a piece of bamboo
to the required shape, and sent natives to scour the woods in search of
a suitable crooked tree. Thus planks suited to his purpose were
obtained. Instead of fastening the planks to the timbers of the ship
with iron nails, large wooden pins, or "trenails," were used, and driven
into augur holes, and thus the fabric was held together. Instead of
oakum, cocoanut husk was used, and native cloth and dried banana stumps
to caulk the seams, and make them watertight. The bark of a certain
tree was spun into twine and rope by a rope-machine made for the
purpose, and a still more complex machine, namely, a turning-lathe, was
constructed for the purpose of turning the block sheaves; while sails
were made out of native mats, quilted to give them sufficient strength
to resist the wind.
By these means was completed, in about three months, a decked vessel of
from seventy to eighty tons burden--about sixty feet long by eighteen
broad. She was finally launched and named _The Messenger of Peace_.
And, truly, a messenger of peace and glad tidings did she afterwards
prove to be on many occasions among the islands of the Southern Seas.
But our hero, John Jarwin, was not allowed to remain to see this happy
consummation. He only looked on and assisted at the commencement of the
work.
Many and many a time did he, during that trying period, argue with
himself as to the propriety of his conduct in thus refusing the means of
escape when it was thrown in his way, and there was not wanting, now and
then, a suggestion from somewhere--he knew not where, but certainly it
was not from outside of him--that perhaps the opportunity had been
_providentially_ thrown in his way. But Jarwin resisted these
suggestions. He looked _up_, and reflected that he was there under a
solemn promise; that, but for his promise, he should not have been there
at all, and that, therefore, it was his peculiar duty at that particular
time to whisper to himself continually--"honour bright!"