RETIRING FOR THE NIGHT—THE DOCTOR GROWS DEVOUT
They put us to bed very pleasantly.
Lying across the foot of Po-Po’s nuptial couch was a smaller one made
of Koar-wood; a thin, strong cord, twisted from the fibres of the husk
of the cocoa-nut, and woven into an exceedingly light sort of network,
forming its elastic body. Spread upon this was a single, fine mat, with
a roll of dried ferns for a pillow, and a strip of white tappa for a
sheet. This couch was mine. The doctor was provided for in another
corner.
Loo reposed alone on a little settee with a taper burning by her side;
the dandy, her brother, swinging overhead in a sailor’s hammock The two
gazelles frisked upon a mat near by; and the indigent relations
borrowed a scant corner of the old butler’s pallet, who snored away by
the open door. After all had retired, Po-Po placed the illuminated
melon in the middle of the apartment; and so, we all slumbered till
morning.
Upon awaking, the sun was streaming brightly through the open bamboos,
but no one was stirring. After surveying the fine attitudes into which
forgetfulness had thrown at least one of the sleepers, my attention was
called off to the general aspect of the dwelling, which was quite
significant of the superior circumstances of our host.
The house itself was built in the simple, but tasteful native style. It
was a long, regular oval, some fifty feet in length, with low sides of
cane-work, and a roof thatched with palmetto-leaves. The ridgepole was,
perhaps, twenty feet from the ground. There was no foundation whatever;
the bare earth being merely covered with ferns; a kind of carpeting
which serves very well, if frequently renewed; otherwise, it becomes
dusty, and the haunt of vermin, as in the huts of the poorer natives.
Besides the couches, the furniture consisted of three or four sailor
chests; in which were stored the fine wearing-apparel of the
household—the ruffled linen shirts of Po-Po, the calico dresses of his
wife and children, and divers odds and ends of European
articles—strings of beads, ribbons, Dutch looking-glasses, knives,
coarse prints, bunches of keys, bits of crockery, and metal buttons.
One of these chests—used as a bandbox by Arfretee—contained several of
the native hats (coal-scuttles), all of the same pattern, but trimmed
with variously-coloured ribbons. Of nothing was our good hostess more
proud than of these hats, and her dresses. On Sundays, she went abroad
a dozen times; and every time, like Queen Elizabeth, in a different
robe.
Po-Po, for some reason or other, always gave us our meals before the
rest of the family were served; and the doctor, who was very discerning
in such matters, declared that we fared much better than they. Certain
it was that, had Ereemear’s guests travelled with purses, portmanteau,
and letters of introduction to the queen, they could not have been
better cared for.
The day after our arrival, Monee, the old butler, brought us in for
dinner a small pig, baked in the ground. All savoury, it lay in a
wooden trencher, surrounded by roasted hemispheres of the breadfruit. A
large calabash, filled with taro pudding, or poee, followed; and the
young dandy, overcoming his customary languor, threw down our
cocoa-nuts from an adjoining tree.
When all was ready, and the household looking on, Long Ghost, devoutly
clasping his hands over the fated pig, implored a blessing. Hereupon,
everybody present looked exceedingly pleased; Po-Po coming up and
addressing the doctor with much warmth; and Arfretee, regarding him
with almost maternal affection, exclaimed delightedly, “Ah! mickonaree
tata matai!” in other words, “What a pious young man!”
It was just after this meal that she brought me a roll of grass sinnate
(of the kind which sailors sew into the frame of their tarpaulins), and
then, handing me needle and thread, bade me begin at once, and make
myself the hat which I so much needed. An accomplished hand at the
business, I finished it that day—merely stitching the braid together;
and Arfretee, by way of rewarding my industry, with her own olive hands
ornamented the crown with a band of flame-coloured ribbon; the two long
ends of which streaming behind, sailor-fashion, still preserved for me
the Eastern title bestowed by Long Ghost.