FISHING PARTIES--MODE OF DISTRIBUTING THE FISH--MIDNIGHT
BANQUET--TIME-KEEPING TAPERS--UNCEREMONIOUS STYLE OF EATING THE FISH
There was no instance in which the social and kindly dispositions of the
Typees were more forcibly evinced than in the manner the conducted their
great fishing parties. Four times during my stay in the valley the young
men assembled near the full of the moon, and went together on these
excursions. As they were generally absent about forty-eight hours, I was
led to believe that they went out towards the open sea, some distance
from the bay. The Polynesians seldom use a hook and line, almost always
employing large well-made nets, most ingeniously fabricated from the
twisted fibres of a certain bark. I examined several of them which had
been spread to dry upon the beach at Nukuheva. They resemble very much
our own seines, and I should think they were nearly as durable.
All the South Sea Islanders are passionately fond of fish; but none
of them can be more so than the inhabitants of Typee. I could not
comprehend, therefore, why they so seldom sought it in their waters, for
it was only at stated times that the fishing parties were formed, and
these occasions were always looked forward to with no small degree of
interest.
During their absence the whole population of the place were in a
ferment, and nothing was talked of but ‘pehee, pehee’ (fish, fish).
Towards the time when they were expected to return the vocal telegraph
was put into operation--the inhabitants, who were scattered throughout
the length of the valley, leaped upon rocks and into trees, shouting
with delight at the thoughts of the anticipated treat. As soon as the
approach of the party was announced, there was a general rush of the
men towards the beach; some of them remaining, however, about the Ti in
order to get matters in readiness for the reception of the fish, which
were brought to the Taboo Groves in immense packages of leaves, each one
of them being suspended from a pole carried on the shoulders of two men.
I was present at the Ti on one of these occasions, and the sight was
most interesting. After all the packages had arrived, they were laid in
a row under the verandah of the building and opened.
The fish were all quite small, generally about the size of a herring,
and of every variety. About one-eighth of the whole being reserved
for the use of the Ti itself, the remainder was divided into numerous
smaller packages, which were immediately dispatched in every direction
to the remotest parts of the valley. Arrived at their destination, these
were in turn portioned out, and equally distributed among the various
houses of each particular district. The fish were under a strict Taboo,
until the distribution was completed, which seemed to be effected in the
most impartial manner. By the operation of this system every man, woman,
and child in the vale, were at one and the same time partaking of this
favourite article of food.
Once I remember the party arrived at midnight; but the unseasonableness
of the tour did not repress the impatience of the islanders. The
carriers dispatched from the Ti were to be seen hurrying in all
directions through the deep groves; each individual preceded by a boy
bearing a flaming torch of dried cocoanut boughs, which from time to
time was replenished from the materials scattered along the path. The
wild glare of these enormous flambeaux, lighting up with a startling
brilliancy the innermost recesses of the vale, and seen moving rapidly
along beneath the canopy of leaves, the savage shout of the excited
messengers sounding the news of their approach, which was answered
on all sides, and the strange appearance of their naked bodies, seen
against the gloomy background, produced altogether an effect upon my
mind that I shall long remember.
It was on this same occasion that Kory-Kory awakened me at the dead
hour of night, and in a sort of transport communicated the intelligence
contained in the words ‘pehee perni’ (fish come). As I happened to have
been in a remarkably sound and refreshing slumber, I could not imagine
why the information had not been deferred until morning, indeed, I felt
very much inclined to fly into a passion and box my valet’s ears; but on
second thoughts I got quietly up, and on going outside the house was not
a little interested by the moving illumination which I beheld.
When old Marheyo received his share of the spoils, immediate
preparations were made for a midnight banquet; calabashes of poee-poee
were filled to the brim; green bread-fruit were roasted; and a huge cake
of ‘amar’ was cut up with a sliver of bamboo and laid out on an immense
banana-leaf.
At this supper we were lighted by several of the native tapers, held in
the hands of young girls. These tapers are most ingeniously made. There
is a nut abounding in the valley, called by the Typees ‘armor’, closely
resembling our common horse-chestnut. The shell is broken, and the
contents extracted whole. Any number of these are strung at pleasure
upon the long elastic fibre that traverses the branches of the cocoanut
tree. Some of these tapers are eight or ten feet in length; but being
perfectly flexible, one end is held in a coil, while the other is
lighted. The nut burns with a fitful bluish flame, and the oil that it
contains is exhausted in about ten minutes. As one burns down, the next
becomes ignited, and the ashes of the former are knocked into a cocoanut
shell kept for the purpose. This primitive candle requires continual
attention, and must be constantly held in the hand. The person so
employed marks the lapse of time by the number of nuts consumed, which
is easily learned by counting the bits of tappa distributed at regular
intervals along the string.
I grieve to state so distressing a fact, but the inhabitants of
Typee were in the habit of devouring fish much in the same way that
a civilized being would eat a radish, and without any more previous
preparation. They eat it raw; scales, bones, gills, and all the inside.
The fish is held by the tail, and the head being introduced into the
mouth, the animal disappears with a rapidity that would at first nearly
lead one to imagine it had been launched bodily down the throat.
Raw fish! Shall I ever forget my sensations when I first saw my island
beauty devour one. Oh, heavens! Fayaway, how could you ever have
contracted so vile a habit? However, after the first shock had subsided,
the custom grew less odious in my eyes, and I soon accustomed myself to
the sight. Let no one imagine, however, that the lovely Fayaway was in
the habit of swallowing great vulgar-looking fishes: oh, no; with her
beautiful small hand she would clasp a delicate, little, golden-hued
love of a fish and eat it as elegantly and as innocently as though it
were a Naples biscuit. But alas! it was after all a raw fish; and all I
can say is, that Fayaway ate it in a more ladylike manner than any other
girl of the valley.
When at Rome do as the Romans do, I held to be so good a proverb, that
being in Typee I made a point of doing as the Typees did. Thus I
ate poee-poee as they did; I walked about in a garb striking for its
simplicity; and I reposed on a community of couches; besides doing many
other things in conformity with their peculiar habits; but the farthest
I ever went in the way of conformity, was on several occasions to regale
myself with raw fish. These being remarkably tender, and quite small,
the undertaking was not so disagreeable in the main, and after a few
trials I positively began to relish them; however, I subjected them to a
slight operation with a knife previously to making my repast.