Early the next morning I went on shore, but duties of the garrison
prevented the officers from leaving until the morning was somewhat
advanced--too late to cross the dividing ridges to the adjacent glens,
and we accordingly changed the destination, for an excursion up the
valley at the head of the harbor.
A pair of native boys preceded us, with baskets. Walking briskly through
paths lined with thick, wild undergrowth of tobacco, arrow-root, ginger
and guavas, we mounted a number of acclivities, and then striking the
bed of a water-course, in two hours reached a comparatively level space,
which, my friend informed me, was _la cour de l'ancienne Noblesse_, and
the spot where high festivals of the Nukehevans were held. The court was
a parallelogram, paved with smooth, round stones, and on three sides
surrounded by native-built houses, unoccupied, but very large and
commodious, all in good repair, and ready for a perspective feast. At
the lower ends of the square coursed a little stream, and the place was
dark with shade of lofty cocoanuts, bread-fruit, iron-wood, maple and
gigantic hibiscus. All was silent, gloomy and deserted, the imperative
decrees of Taboo preserved it sacred from native footsteps, during the
intervals between their sacrifices and feasts--even our
_cumulees_--boys, made a wide circuit, with bowed heads and averted
faces.
Closely scrutinizing this field of heathenish revels, we continued on
up the ravine, and in a few minutes familiarly paid our respects to the
King's father, by unceremoniously bobbing through his doorway, and
slapping him smartly on the back.
The hut was large, in accordance with the position, rank and wealth of
the owner. A trickling rivulet in front filled a scooped-out bowl in the
rocks, some yards in diameter, and then flowed over a little natural
channel, worn at the side, like the gutter to a fountain. Around and
above, the cocoanuts were rustling in the sea-breeze.
We were cordially greeted by the host, who was seated on his hams and
heels, with no other apparel than a _maro_ wound around the loins, and a
necklace of straggling, snow-white hairs hanging on his meagre breast;
it was the honored beard of his ancestors, which was, I suppose,
retained merely to swear by, as it did not appear either valuable or
ornamental. He was a remarkable and venerable Goblin, and he informed us
that his existence comprised nine hundred moons. This would have made
him somewhere verging on eighty years; but he appeared as aged as
Saturn.
He was tatooed all over the body and limbs, face alone exempted. It must
have occupied as much time to delineate him as it did Rafael to fresco
the galleries of the Vatican! But his hide was so ancient and
worm-eaten, that many fine touches were almost illegible. Around his
knees were playing two little dusky imps, scarcely a year old! God knows
where they came from--may have been a present, as it is all the fashion
among the Marquesas. Nevertheless, he regarded them with the most
affectionate interest, and watched their every movement, even to sucking
his mouldering toes and pulling his grizzly top-knot, with the tenderest
solicitude. Presently they crawled in front of the dwelling, and
actually toddled into the pool. I instantly started up to fish them out,
but the old Goblin only chuckled, and the little elfs kept bobbing about
the surface of the water with the buoyancy of corks--like junk bottles
in a lea-way--crowing and smiling bravely. I never was more amazed, and
taking a dip myself afterwards, found the basin up to my neck.
Native attendants soon produced clusters of cocoanuts, with the crowns
of their heads knocked off, ready for consumption. We made cocoanut-milk
punch--every man his own punch-bowl; with a sprinkle of lime-juice, and
syrup of powdered sugar-cane--gently agitated within the milky
shells--which made as delicious a beverage as ever a regent brewed: it
is worth a trip to Polynesia alone to enjoy it. Then exploring the
resources of the baskets, we discovered a case of sardines, bread,
bananas, and oranges; made luncheon, and fed the children on the crumbs.
Pipes were filled, and a native boy quickly brought forth two sticks,
and cutting the hardest to a point, and holding the other firmly fixed
against a stone, began to wear a groove with the pointed stick in the
softest by a measured movement along the surface. Presently a fine dust
was deposited at the lower end; the white wood turned dark; quicker and
quicker, stronger and stronger traversed the pointed stick; the dust
began to smoke, some dry fibres and leaves were laid across, and in an
instant burst into a blaze. The operation lasted three or four minutes,
and was skilfully performed. I had plenty of lucifers in my pocket, but
not having witnessed the native process of striking fire, and thinking a
little wholesome exertion would not injure the young _Cumulee_, I did
not produce them.
Throwing ourselves at full length on the mats, we devoted the time to
conversation and tobacco. The old Goblin fascinated me, I could not
remove my gaze from his lineaments, but by and by I opined that there
was a singular odor pervading the habitation; and upon reflection, I
experienced something unpleasant upon first entering; but then there are
so many villanous compounds surrounding native dwellings, and being
moreover deeply engaged brewing punch, eating luncheon, smoking, and
surveying the Goblin, I forgot other matters for the time being, until a
pause in the conversation induced me to enquire the cause of the
annoyance. Ah! said a Frenchman, giving a few agonizing sniffs, and
looking around: _Ah! le voici!_ Casting my eyes upward, I beheld a long
object, enveloped in native cloth and tappa, hanging slantingly across a
beam, like a _fantoccino_, just before throwing a summerset on the
slack-wire! It was a near relative, lately deceased, who from an
elevated and unchristian notion of respect, had been suspended under the
paternal roof, until dry enough to be deposited in a raised native tomb
of stones and thatch. Dropping the pipe, I gained my feet, and bidding
our antique host a hasty farewell, rushed into the open air; where,
after swallowing a modicum of eau de vie neat, I swore a mental vow
never more to visit Nukehevan nobility!
Returning towards the harbor, we tarried to exchange a kind word with
the Catholic priest attached to the garrison. It is needless to add that
he had made no proselytes among the natives, and when, from idle
curiosity or merriment, they attended mass, and were under no
apprehensions from _Franee_ bayonets, they delighted themselves by
mimicking every word and gesture of the good father.
During the jaunt we encountered two or three American or English
vagabonds, residing permanently on the island, subsisting on _poee
poee_ and raw fish, lost to all the tastes and habits of civilized
society, making a livelihood by trading with ships touching at the
group, or idolized by the islanders for their skill in the distillation
of deleterious intoxicating drinks from the dragon-tree, kava, or
sugar-cane. They are a class of persons, who, if not naturally
unprincipled, are driven by harsh usage to desert from the whalers, and
the contrast of the indolent voluptuous life of the islands, with the
hardships and disease of shipboard, is more than sufficient to reconcile
them to the change.
The whaling interests of the United States have now attained so vast a
magnitude, that it is high time our government should take measures
exclusively for their protection in these seas. The enterprise of our
hardy fishermen has driven the ships of all other nations almost
entirely off the ground of competition. In the Pacific, and its
continental seas alone, we have a mighty fleet of more than five hundred
whale ships, manned in the aggregate by twenty thousand seamen. The
larger portion of these vessels are fitted for the right whale, and seek
their prey on the northern coasts of America or Asia, in high southern
latitudes, and latterly, with extraordinary success, on the shores of
Japan and sea of Okokts. The sperm fishermen cruise near the equator,
and not only are frequently surrounded by dangerous navigation, amidst
islands or reefs little known, but have also to guard against surprise,
and the treachery of savages of the uncounted groups of Polynesia;
unavailingly at times, for, in addition to the long catalogue of crimes
committed in this ocean, was that of the capture of the ship Triton, in
December of '47, by the natives of Sydenham Island--one of the King's
Mill cluster--a number of whose crew were inhumanly massacred.
It does not necessarily follow that the natives are always to
blame--gross outrages sometimes demand prompt vengeance;--but yet a
small squadron of double-decked corvettes, of light draught, and ample
stowage, constantly cruising, and touching among these groups, would
tend in a great degree to shield our whalers from harm, and the natives
themselves from the imposition and injustice so commonly practised upon
them.
Again, if there were stringent laws for the internal government of this
branch of our marine--were masters not allowed under any circumstances
to keep the sea beyond the usual period comprised in a fishing season,
before visiting port, and the scurvy considered a capital offense, we
should meet with fewer instances of desertions or mutiny, and fewer
diseased, vicious vagabonds drifting about these islands at the mercy of
the natives.