Fishing parties—Mode of distributing the fish—Midnight
banquet—Timekeeping 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 they 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 resembled very much our own seines, and I should think
they were very 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 of colour. 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 despatched in every direction to the
remotest part 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 hour did not repress the impatience of the
islanders. The carriers despatched 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 cocoa-nut 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
cocoa-nut 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 cocoa-nut 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 sensation 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 my knife previously to making my repast.