"It is not yet twenty days since the fighting PAHI AFI (steamer) came
here, and we of Mataveri saw the boat full of armed men land on the
beach at Hagaroa. Filled with fear were we; but yet as we had done no
wrong we stood on the beach to welcome. And, ere the armed men had left
the boat, we knew them to be the SIPANIOLA from Chili--the same as
those that came here ten years ago in three ships, and seized and bound
three hundred and six of our men, and carried them away for slaves to
the land of the Tae Manu, and of whom none but four ever returned to
Rapa-nui. And then we trembled again."
(She spoke of the cruel outrage of 1862, when three Peruvian
slave-ships took away over three hundred islanders to perish on the
guano-fields of the Chincha Islands).
"The chief of the ship was a little man, and he called out to us in the
tongue of Chili, 'Have no fear,' and took a little gun from out its
case of skin that hung by his side, and giving it to a man in the boat,
stepped over to us, and took our hands in his.
"'Is there none among ye that speak my tongue?' he said quickly.
"Now, this man here, Taku the Sailor, speaketh the tongue of Chili, but
he feared to tell it, lest they might take him away for a sailor; so he
held his lips tight.
"Then I, who for six years dwelt with English people at Tahiti, was
pushed forward by those behind me and made to talk in English; and lo!
the little man spoke in your tongue even as quick as he did in that of
Chili. And then he told us that he came for Farani [Frank].
* * * * *
"Now this Farani was a young white man of PERETANIA (England), big and
strong. He came to us a year and a half ago. He was rich, and had with
him chests filled with presents for us of Rapa-nui; and he told us that
he came to live a while among us, and look upon the houses of stone and
the Faces of the Silent that gaze out upon the sea. For a year he dwelt
with us and became as one of ourselves, and we loved him; and then,
because no ship came, he began to weary and be sad. At last a
ship--like thine, one that hunts for the whale--came, and Farani called
us together, and placed a letter in the hands of the chief at Mataveri,
and said: 'If it so be that a ship cometh from Chili, give these my
words to the captain, and all will be well.' Then he bade us farewell
and was gone.
* * * * *
"All this I said in quick words, and then we gave to the little
fighting chief the letter Farani had written. When he had counted the
words in the letter, he said: 'BUENO, it is well,' and called to his
men, and they brought out many gifts for us from the boat--cloth, and
garments for men and women, and two great bags of canvas filled with
tobacco. AI-A-AH! many presents he gave us--this because of the good
words Farani had set down in the letter. Then the little chief said to
me, 'Let these my men walk where they list, and I will go with thee to
Mataveri and talk with the chief.'
"So the sailors came out of the boats carrying their guns and swords in
their hands, but the little chief, whose AVAGUTU (moustache) stuck out
on each side of his face like the wings of a flying-fish when it leaps
in terror from the mouth of the hungry bonito, spoke angrily, and they
laid their guns and swords back in the boats.
"So the sailors went hither and thither with our young men and girls;
and, although at that time I knew it not, she, who now is not, was one
of them, and walked alone.
"Then I, and Taku the Sailor, and the little sea-chief came to the
houses of Mataveri, and he stayed awhile and spoke good words to us.
And we, although we fear the men of Chili for the wrong they once did
us, were yet glad to listen, for we also are of their faith.
* * * * *
"As we talked, there came inside the house a young girl named Temeteri,
whom, when Farani had been with us for two months, he had taken for
wife; and she bore him a son. But from the day that he had sailed away
she became sick with grief; and when, after many months, she told me
that Farani had said he would return to her, my heart was heavy, for I
know the ways of white men with us women of brown skins. Yet I feared
to tell her he lied and would return no more. Now, this girl Temeteri
was sought after by a man named Huarani, the son of Heremai, who
desired to marry her now that Farani had gone, and he urged her to
question the chief of the fighting ship, and ask him if Farani would
return.
* * * * *
"So I spoke of Temeteri. He laughed and shook his head, and said: 'Nay,
Farani the Englishman will return no more; but yet one so beautiful as
she,' and he pointed to Temeteri, 'should have many lovers and know no
grief. Let her marry again and forget him, and this is my marriage gift
to her,' and he threw a big golden coin upon the mat on which the girl
sat.
"She took it in her hand and threw it far out through the doorway with
bitter words, and rose and went away to her child.
"Then the little captain went back to the boat and called his men to
him, and lo! one was gone. Ah! he was angry, and a great scar that ran
down one side of his face grew red with rage. But soon he laughed, and
said to us: 'See, there be one of my people hidden away from me. Yet he
is but a boy, and sick; and I care not to stay and search for him. Let
him be thy care so that he wanders not away and perishes among the
broken lava; he will be in good hands among the people of Rapa-nui.'
With that he bade us farewell, and in but a little time the great
fighting ship had gone away towards the rising sun.
* * * * *
"All that day and the next we searched, but found not him who had
hidden away; but in the night of the second day, when it rained
heavily, and Taku (who is my brother's son) and I and my two children
worked at the making of a KUPEGA (net), he whom we had sought came to
the door. And as we looked our hearts were filled with pity, for, as he
put out his hands to us, he staggered and fell to the ground.
"So Taku--who is a man of a good heart--and I lifted him up and carried
him to a bed of soft mats, and as I placed my hand on his bosom to see
if he was dead, lo! it was soft as a woman's, and I saw that the
stranger was a young girl!
"I took from her the wet garments and brought warm clothes of MAMOE
(blankets), and Taku made a great fire, and we rubbed her cold body and
her hands and feet till her life came back to her again, and she sat up
and ate a little beaten-up taro. When the night and the dawn touched
she slept again.
* * * * *
"The sun was high when the white girl awoke, and fear leapt into her
eyes when she saw the house filled with people who came to question
Taku and me about the stranger. With them came the girl Temeteri, whose
head was still filled with foolish thoughts of Farani, her white lover.
"I went to the strange girl, put my arm around her, and spoke, but
though she smiled and answered in a little voice, I understood her not,
for I know none of the tongue of Chili. But yet she leaned her head
against my bosom, and her eyes that were as big and bright as Fetuaho,
the star of the morning, looked up into mine and smiled through their
tears.
* * * * *
"There was a creat buzzing of talk among the women. Some came to her
and touched her hands and forehead, and said: 'Let thy trembling cease;
we of Rapa-nui will be kind to the white girl.'
"And as the people thronged about her and talked, she shook her head
and her eyes sought mine, and hot tears splashed upon my hand. Then the
mother of Temeteri raised her voice and called to Taku the Sailor, and
said: 'O Taku, thou who knowest her tongue, ask her of Farani, my white
son, the husband of my daughter.'
* * * * *
"The young girls in the house laughed scornfully at old Pohere, for
some of them had loved Farani, who yet had put them all aside for
Temeteri, whose beauty exceeded theirs; and so they hated her and
laughed at her mother. Then Taku, being pressed by old Pohere, spoke in
the tongue of Chili, but not of Temeteri.
"Ah! She sprang to her feet and talked then! and the flying words
chased one another from her lips; and these things told she to Taku:--
She had hidden among the broken lava and watched the little captain
come back to the boat and bid us farewell. Then when night came she had
crept out and gone far over to the great PAPAKU, and lay down to hide
again, for she feared the fighting ship might return to seek her. And
all that day she lay hidden in the lava till night fell upon her again,
and hunger drove her to seek the faces of men. In the rain she all but
perished, till God brought her feet to this, my house.
"Then said Taku the Sailor: 'Why didst thou flee from the ship?'
"The white girl put her hands to her face and wept, and said: 'Bring me
my jacket.'
"I gave to her the blue sailor's jacket, and from inside of it she took
a little flat thing and placed it in her bosom.
* * * * *
"Again said old Pohere to Taku: 'O man of slow tongue, ask her of
Farani.' So he asked in this wise:
"'See, O White Girl, that is Pohere, the mother of Temeteri, who bore a
son to the white man that came here to look upon the Silent Faces; and
because he came from thy land, and because of the heart of Temeteri,
which is dried up for love of him, does this foolish old woman ask thee
if thou hast seen him; for long months ago he left Rapa-nui. In our
tongue we call him Farani.'
* * * * *
"The girl looked at Taku the Sailor, and her lips moved, but no words
came. Then from her bosom she took the little flat thing and held it to
him, but sickness was in her hand so that it trembled, and that which
she held fell to the ground. So Taku stooped and picked it up from
where it lay on the mat, and looked, and his eyes blazed, and he
shouted out 'AUE!' for it was the face of Farani that looked into his!
And as he held it up in his hand to the people, they, too, shouted in
wonder; and then the girl Temeteri cast aside those that stood about
her, and tore it from his hand and fled.
"'Who is she?' said the white girl, in a weak voice to Taku; 'and why
hath she robbed me of that which is dear to me?' and Taku was ashamed,
and turned his face away from her because of two things--his heart was
sore for Temeteri, who is a blood relation, and was shamed because her
white lover had deserted her; and he was full of pity for the white
girl's tears. So he said nought.
"The girl raised herself, and her hand caught Taku by the arm, and
these were her words: 'O man, for the love of Jesu Christ, tell me what
was this woman Temeteri to my husband?'
"Now Taku the Sailor was sore troubled, and felt it hard to hurt her
heart, yet he said: 'Was Farani, the Englishman, thy husband?'
"She wept again, 'He was my husband.'
"'Why left he one as fair as thee?' said Taku, in wonder.
"She shook her head. 'I know not, except he loved to look upon strange
lands; yet he loved me.'
"'He is a bad man,' said Taku. 'He loved others as well as thee. The
girl that fled but now with his picture was wife to him here. He loved
her, and she bore him a son.'
"The girl's head fell on my shoulder, and her eyes closed, and she
became as dead; and lo! in a little while, as she strove to speak,
blood poured from her mouth and ran down over her bosom.
"'It is the hand of Death,' said Taku the Sailor.
* * * * *
"Where she now lies, there died she, at about the hour when the people
of Vaihou saw the sails of thy ship.
"We have no priest here, for the good father that was here three years
ago is now silent [i.e. dead]; yet did Taku and I pray with her. And ere
she died she said she would set down some words on paper; so Alrema, my
little daughter, hastened to Mataveri, and the chief sent back some paper
and VAI TUHI (ink) that had belonged to the good priest. So with weak hand
she set down some words, but even as she wrote she rose up and threw out
her hands, and called out: 'Francisco! Francisco!' and fell back, and was
dead."
* * * * *