IV

When Hayes and I quarrelled, the American trader, "Harry," who had

hitherto stood by "Bully" sided with me, with the result that Hayes

passionately declared that both of us were at the bottom of a conspiracy

to lower his prestige and lessen his authority, not only with the other

white men but with the natives as well. This was an utterly unfounded

accusation, for we liked the man, but did not like the way in which he

had treated the deputation of Strong's Islanders, who protested against

his permitting the continual abduction of young Kusaiean girls by

members of his crew.

I had brought the deputation to him, for Harry and myself were _persona

grata_ with the natives, who all knew that Hayes had a great liking

for us. But to my astonishment and indignation, "Bully" turned on me

furiously, called me a meddlesome young fool, prefixing the "fool" with

some very strong adjectives, and then, losing all control of himself,

he sprang at one of the members of the deputation--the youngest

and strongest--and lifting him up in his arms, literally forced the

unfortunate young man out of the house--not by the door, but through the

side, tearing a hole in the thin lattice woodwork big enough to admit a

bollock. The remainder of the deputation at once retired, and, as I

have mentioned in the previous chapter, "Bully" and myself parted, each

deeply incensed.

Harry, who had a large following of wild, intractable Pleasant

Islanders, all of whom were armed with Snider rifles, moved over to the

opposite shore of Utwe Harbour with "the three Graces and the fourth

chucked in," promising to come and see me at Leassé after he had

"settled down a bit."

My reason for removing to Leassé was that I knew the place very well

through frequent visits there, and Eusis, the head man or chief, had

constantly pressed me to come there and live; so a few hours after my

quarrel with Hayes I made a start, accompanied by two Strong's Islanders

named Sru and Nana, both of whom came from Leassé, and were delighted

that I was leaving Utwe to come to their own village.

They assured me that I was doing wisely in leaving the captain, that the

people of Leassé would gladly receive me, and that I would find great

pig-hunting and pigeon-shooting among the dense forests that lay at the

back of the village.

Our way lay over the waters of a deep but winding lagoon, which from

Utwe to Coquille Harbour is bounded on the ocean side by a chain of

narrow, thickly wooded, and fertile islets, the haunt of myriads of

sea-birds and giant robber crabs. This chain of islets lay on our left

hand; on our right the steep, forest-clad mountains of Strong's Island

rose abruptly from the still waters of the lagoon. The lagoon itself

averaged about a mile in width, and here and there, dotted upon its

placid, glassy surface, were tiny isolated islets of perhaps not more

than an acre in extent, but covered with a dense mass of the loveliest

verdure imaginable, from the centre of which rose a group of half a

dozen or so of stately coco-nut palms. Each islet was encircled by a

snow-white beach, descending abruptly to the water, the great depth of

which enabled us to paddle within a foot or so of the shore.

We had left Utwe just after daylight, and though the trade-wind was

blowing freshly outside and we could hear the thunder of the ocean

rollers pounding on the outside reef beyond the encircling chain of

islets half a mile away, scarcely the faintest breath of air disturbed

the blue depths of the lagoon. The canoe was light and our three paddles

sent her over the waters at a great rate. My two companions were both

young men, and, unlike most of the people of Strong's Island, who are

a reserved and melancholy race, they laughed and sang merrily to the

strokes of their red-stained paddles.

Here and there, as we skimmed along the shore of the forest-clad

mountains of the mainland, we would pass a village of six or seven

houses, and the small-made, light-complexioned folk would, as they heard

the sound of our voices, come out and eagerly beseech us to come in "and

eat and rest awhile."

But pleased as I would have been to have landed and accepted their

hospitality--for I was known to every native on the island--my crew

urged me not to delay so early on our journey. Sometimes, however, these

kindly-hearted people would not be denied, and boys and girls would run

parallel to our canoe along the beach and implore Sru and Nana and the

"white man" to stay "just a little, just a very, very little time, and

tell them the news from Utwe."

And then, as we rested on our paddles and talked, under pretence of

getting closer to us they would dash into the water and seizing the

gunwales of the canoe laughingly insist upon our coming ashore and

entering their cool houses, and indeed it was hard to resist their

blandishments. Then, once we were inside, they would tell us that they

would not let us go till we had eaten and drunk a little.

A little! Basket after basket of cooked fish, crayfish, pigeons, baked

pork, bunches of bananas and kits of oranges and heaps of luscious

pineapples would be placed before us, and they seemed absolutely pained

at my inability to eat more than a few mouthfuls. All the men at these

isolated villages were away at Leassé or elsewhere in the vicinity of

Coquille Harbour, and the women and young girls pretended to be very

much frightened at being left by themselves for a couple of days.

They were afraid, they said, that Captain Hayes's wild Pleasant Island

natives might come up the lagoon and harry their villages--wouldn't we

stay with them till their husbands and brothers came back?

Now, we knew all this was nonsense. There was no fear of the Pleasant

Islanders' boats coming up the lagoon to these little villages when

there was richer prey nearer at hand, so we only laughed. Many of the

young boys and girls were of great personal beauty, and, indeed, so were

many of the young unmarried women, but their light skins were stained

and disfigured by the application of turmeric. At one of these places

our pretty tormentors played us a trick. While we were in a house and

having kava prepared in the Micronesian fashion, by pounding the green

root into a hollowed stone, the girls carried our canoe up bodily from

the beach and hid it in a clump of breadfruit trees about two hundred

yards away. When we bade goodbye to the elder women, who had given us

the kava, and walked down to the beach the canoe was gone.

"Here, you girls," said Nana, "where is our canoe? Don't play these

foolish tricks; the white man must get to Leassé before darkness sets

in."

But the imps only laughed at us, and for some minutes we had a great

game with them, chasing them about. At last we tired of this, and,

lighting our pipes, sat down to smoke under a great banyan, whose

branches reached far out over the white beaches. One of the children,

a merry-eyed girl of ten, with long hair that almost touched her knees,

was a bit of a humorist, and told us that we might as well stay for the

night, as the canoe was gone for ever.

"Where to?" we asked.

"Up there," she answered, with the gravest countenance imaginable,

pointing skyward. "A big kanapu (fish eagle) was soaring overhead, and

suddenly swooped down and seized it in his claws and flew away into the

blue with it."

At last, however, they came back, carrying the canoe among them, and

with much laughter dropped it into the water. Then they filled it with

as many young drinking coco-nuts and as much fruit as we could stow,

and bade us farewell, running along the beach with us till a high, steep

bluff shut them off from following us any further.

By and by, as we paddled along, the sun began to get pretty hot, and we

kept in as close as possible under the shade of the steep shores of the

mainland. Overhead was a sky of matchless, cloudless blue, and sailing

to and fro on motionless wing were numbers of tropic birds, their long

scarlet retrices showing in startling contrast to their snow-white body

plumage. All round about us turtle would rise every now and then, and

taking a look at us, sink out of sight again. From the dense mountain

forest, that earlier in the morning had resounded with the heavy booming

note of the great grey pigeons and the cooing note of the little purple

doves, not a sound now came forth, for the birds were roosting in the

shade from the heat of the sun. Half a mile or so away, through a break

in the chain of low islets, we could see the tumbling blue of the ocean,

and over the tree-tops the white spume of the breakers as they leapt

upon the iron-bound coast.

We made fast our canoe to a jutting point of rock and rested awhile and

smoked. The tide was on the flow, and as the water came swirling and

eddying in from the great passage in the reef five miles away, there

came with it countless thousands of fish of the mullet species, seeking

their food among the mangrove creeks and flats that lay behind us. They

did not swim in an orderly, methodical fashion, but leapt and spun and

danced about as if thrown up out of the water by some invisible power

beneath. Sometimes they would rise simultaneously, thousands at a time,

and, taking a leap, descend again with an extraordinary noise. Then,

quick as lightning, they would make three or four such leaps in

succession with the regularity and precision of machinery. Hovering and

fluttering above them on tireless wing were numbers of sea-birds, which

ever and again darted down amongst them and rose with hoarse, triumphant

note, prey in mouth.

We lay resting quietly till the incoming tide had spent its strength,

and then once more pushed out into the transparent depths of the lagoon.

Bight ahead of us, after another hour's paddling, lay a long, gleaming

point of sand covered with a grove of palms; beyond that a wide sweep of

pale green shallow water; beyond that again the wild tumble and fret of

the surf on the barrier reef.

Laying down our paddles--for we were now in shallow water--we took up

our three long canoe poles, and striking them on the hard, sandy bottom

in unison we sent the canoe spinning round to the point, and as we

rounded it there lay before us the brown roofs of the village of Leassé

nestling under the shade of its groves. This was, as I have said, to be

my home for many long but happy months.

V

The moment we came in sight of the village, Nana, the native who was

for'ard, stood up and gave a loud cry, which was immediately answered by

some invisible person near us; and then the cry was taken up by some one

else nearer the village. In a few minutes we saw the people coming out

of their queer-looking, saddle-backed dwellings and running down to the

beach, where, by the time we shot the canoe up on the sand, the whole

population was gathered to welcome us.

Standing a little in front of the rest of the villagers was the head

man, swarthy-faced, clean-shaved Kusis; beside him Tulpe, his wife, a

graceful young woman of about five-and-twenty, and her husband's little

daughter by a former wife. This child was named Kinié, a merry-faced,

laughing-voiced sprite, ten years of age, with long, wavy, and somewhat

unkempt hair hanging down over her shining copper-coloured shoulders.

Kusis spoke English well, and the moment I got out of the canoe he shook

hands with me, his wife and daughter following suit, and said he was

glad that I had left the settlement at Utwe; that King Togusâ and Queen

Se had sent him word that I intended leaving the other white men, and

that if I came to Leassé or any other Tillage on the lee side of the

island I was to be well cared for; "but," he added, "you an' me will

talk 'bout this by and by. Come first to my house, and eat and smoke."

Here an old man, renowned as a great wild boar hunter, thrust himself

through the surrounding crowd, and asked my name. His keen, wrinkled

visage was all but enshrouded by a mass of snowy-white hair that made

him present a very curious appearance--much like that of a Poland fowl.

He shook hands with me vigorously, and then made a speech to the others,

pointing his finger alternately at myself and then to his own breast.

Knowing but little of the difficult Strong's Island language, I was

at first under the impression that the old man was not pleased at the

advent of a white man; but I was soon pleasantly undeceived, for at the

conclusion of his speech every man, woman, and child came up in turn and

solemnly shook hands with me.

Motioning to Sru and Nana--my crew--to hand my few little effects, which

consisted of clothing, tobacco, and a Winchester rifle and ammunition,

out of the canoe, the whole party of us started off for Kusis's house,

the old pig-hunter proudly carrying the Winchester in advance, and Kusis

and his wife each holding one of my hands.

Not one of them now spoke a word, and only that it would have given

serious offence, the temptation to laugh at being led about like a

child was very great. In another minute or two we reached the head man's

house, a handsome, well-built structure of coral stone, with a thatched

roof and cane-work floor raised some two feet or so off the ground. Here

all the males in the company sat down to eat, while the women waited

upon them.

In the whole village there were but a hundred people, and, with the

exception of two or three young men who were away turtle-catching, they

were now all present. After we had finished eating, Kusis repeated the

King's message to me, and wanted to know what I intended to do--to live

at Leassé, or "go and look at the other places along the coast, and see

if there was a better place than Leassé?"

Leassé, I said, should be my home. I knew him and some others besides in

Leassé, and liked the place and the people, etcetera. They appeared

very pleased at this, and Eusis at once desired me to point out the spot

whereon my house was to be built--meanwhile I was to live with him till

it was completed. I chose a site about thirty yards away from where we

stood; and then, to show that no time would be lost, Eusis at once sent

five or six men into the bush to cut posts, and ordered all the women

and girls to begin making the thatch for the roof and cutting cane for

the walls and floor.

I must ask my readers to bear in mind that the friendship of these

people for an almost unknown white man was inspired by no unworthy

motive. Kusis and his people, as well as the King and Queen, knew that

when the brig was lost I had saved nothing whatever from the wreck.

Such little clothing as I had with me had been given to me by the young

American trader before mentioned, and old Harry Terry had given me half

a small tierce of tobacco and the Winchester rifle and cartridges. And

shortly after the wreck of the brig it had been my fortunate lot to

prevent a number of Strong's Islanders from serious ill-treatment

by some of my white companions, and for this their gratitude knew no

bounds. I found that the old King, as soon as he heard that young Harry

and myself had separated from the other white men, had sent messengers

to every place on the island telling them to treat us well. He was,

however, terribly afraid of Harry's Pleasant Island natives, and anxious

that he should keep them under control and disarm them. I told Kusis

that the King had no reason to fear any harm coming to his people from

Harry's followers, who would be kept well in hand by their master,

furthermore that I had heard Harry threaten to shoot dead the first man

that either robbed or offered violence to any Strong's Islander. They

seemed much pleased at this, and told me that in the old days they were

afraid of no one, and were a great fighting people, but since their

conversion to Christianity all the fight had gone out of them; and,

indeed, I found them, although a generous and amiable race, very

cowardly.

During the time my house was being built I made friends with every boy

and girl in the village; they took an especial delight in taking me

about shooting and fishing. At the rear of Leassé the forest-clad

mountains rise in a gradual but magnificent sweep to a height of two

thousand feet, and on the second day after my arrival we set out to try

and shoot some wild pigs, with which the dense mountain jungle abounded.

The only adult beside myself with the party was the old boar hunter Rii.

He was armed with a very heavy wooden spear, with a keen steel head,

shaped like a whaler's lance, whilst the rest of the party, who were

composed of boys and girls ranging in years from ten to fifteen, carried

lighter spears. Every girl had two or three mongrel curs held in a

leash. These animals were, however, well trained in pig-hunting and

never barked until the prey was either being run down or was brought to

bay. Amongst the children were two half-castes--brother and sister. The

boy was about twelve, the girl a couple of years older. I learnt

that their father, who was dead, was an Englishman, a deserter from a

man-of-war. He had married a girl at Coquille Harbour, and, after living

on Strong's Island for a few years, had gone with his wife and children

to the Western Carolines, where he was killed in an attack on a native

fortress, and the woman and boy and girl had returned to their native

land in a whaleship. The girl spoke English very well, and although she

was naked to the waist when we first started out, a feeling of modesty

made her return to the village and don a man's singlet. Old Rii, our

leader, who could not speak a word of English, called the pair up to me,

and, pointing to the boy, said "Te-o" (Joe), and to the girl, "Lit-si"

(Lizzie). Although they were much lighter in colour than the rest of our

company, I had no idea they had white blood in their veins till the

girl said shyly, "This is my brother; my father belong to England." I

afterwards found from her that she only knew her father as "Bob"--his

surname was never known.

For the first mile or two we walked along the banks of a noisy mountain

stream, which here and there formed into deep pools, with a bottom of

bright blue stones. These pools contained many fish, as well as vast

numbers of crayfish. One of the girls with us carried fishing-tackle,

and in a few minutes some rods were cut, the hooks baited with small

crayfish, and several fine fish landed. These were at once cooked, the

fires being kindled on some large, flat basalt stones, which were lying

scattered about on the bank. On inquiring how these stones came to be

there, I was told by "Lizzie" that they were the remains of an old

wall that once enclosed one of the ancient villages. Afterwards we came

across many similar sites, which seemed to bear out the statements of

Duperrey and other navigators, that Strong's Island was once inhabited

by over twenty thousand people. At the present time the population does

not reach five hundred. One of these places was situated on the summit

of a spur of the great mountain range that traverses the island. The

top of the mountain had been levelled as flat as a table, and a space

of about an acre was covered with what appeared to be a floor of

huge basaltic prisms, laid closely together. What the purpose of such

gigantic labour was none of my companions had any idea, and on my

inquiring from Lizzie how these stones, many of which weighed several

tons, were carried to such an extraordinary height up such a steep

ascent, she shook her head, and said, "You ask Rii. He is a very old

man, and not a Christian, and knows all about the old times. But please

don' ask me. The missionaries don' let us talk of the bad days (i.e.,

heathen times)." This put an end to all inquiry on my part, as old Rii

could not speak a word of English, save a few vigorous expressions he

had acquired from whale-ships and which he was very fond of using, and I

was only just learning the Kusaie language.

As we travelled up along the sides of the mountain we saw numbers

of large, fat pigeons. They seemed to feel no alarm whatever at our

presence. Their note, which is very deep and resonant, filled the air

with strange, weird echoes that reverberated amongst the silence of the

mountain forest. On reaching a little plateau on the side of a spur,

old Rii stopped, and beckoned to us to keep silence, at the same time

sending all the boys below the plateau. Peering cautiously through the

jungle, we saw, lying down on the moss-covered ground at the butt of a

tree, a sow with her litter. We lay very quiet till the boys had formed

a cordon at the lower edge of the plateau, so as to cut off escape in

that direction, and then Rii whispered to me to shoot the sow in the

belly, but not to hit any of her litter if I could help it, as we could

easily take them alive with the dogs. Just as I was about to fire the

old sow raised her head, and I fired at her shoulder. At the same

moment our twenty curs were let go, and the sow, although the bullet

had smashed her shoulder, at once tore down the plateau, followed by her

progeny, but catching sight of the cordon of boys below, at once turned,

and, injured as she was, made up towards the summit of the mountain with

incredible speed. Then began the fan, the dogs yelping and howling, and

the boys and girls screaming with excitement, as they plunged through

the undergrowth and vines in pursuit. Nearly on the summit was a huge

tree, with foliage like an Australian white cedar, and here was the old

pig's lair, for the soil at its buttressed foot was scooped out into

deep holes.

When we had succeeded in gaining the top the dogs were running round and

round the tree, making the most horrible din imaginable, but not daring

to venture into the hole where the old sow was. Suddenly we saw a huge

black head, with two great curved tusks, protrude out of one of the dark

recesses, and the next instant a great black boar burst out and

charged at the dogs, followed by the wounded sow and five little

black-and-yellow suckers. Old as he Was, Rii showed his prowess, for,

calling out to the boys and girls to see that none of the young pigs got

down the spur, he advanced spear in hand towards the boar, which,

after his first charge, had backed up to the tree again, and now stood

surrounded by dogs and frothing his savage jaws. Already he had two or

three light spears sticking into his stomach and rump.

Followed by a couple of girls who carried baskets of wood ashes, old Rii

got to within a dozen feet of the great brute, and, taking a basket of

ashes, threw it at the boar. It struck him fair in the face, and the

contents smothered his head and forequarters, blinding him for a second

or two; and then, at the same moment, Rii sprang forward and plunged his

heavy spear deep into the creature's bowels. But even then the boar was

game, and, with a terrific snort of rage, made another charge, only to

meet half a dozen spear-thrusts.

A bullet through his head soon finished him, and then began the chase

after the young suckers, every one of which was caught. Small as they

were, they fought and snapped and bit viciously, and acted generally

like little fiends. As for the old sow, she was killed by the dogs; she

was very poor and mangy, but the suckers were as round as balls.

Slinging the huge carcase of the boar from a stout pole, we returned

to the village at nightfall. On the way down my two young half-caste

friends told me that it is a habit peculiar to the wild sows of Strong's

Island, when rearing their young, to flee to the lair of the boar when

alarmed, and that sometimes the boar will kill every one of her young

when harassed by dogs, and then, bursting through them, leave his

partner to her fate.

*****

Month after month passed away in the quiet little village of Leassé

without the writer seeing anything of his former shipmates in the

_Leonora_. Sometimes Hayes's boats would come to within a mile or so

of the entrance to Coquille Harbour in their quests for coco-nuts, but,

fortunately for the peace of the villagers, their crews never ventured

so far as the village itself. Perhaps, indeed, they did not know where

it was, for the high-peaked, saddle-backed houses were embowered in a

thick grove of breadfruit and durian-trees about half a mile from the

beach; and only the white curling smoke arising from the fires as the

women cooked the morning and evening meals would have revealed its

presence.

One peaceful, monotonously happy day followed another till at last,

in the first flush of one bright tropic sunrise, a stately British

man-of-war rounded the north end of the island, and furling her

snow-white canvas--for she made the land under sail--steamed into Lelé

Harbour. And the next day Hayes fled from the island in an open boat,

and I, with three others of the _Leonora's_ company, saw from the decks

of the corvette the blue peaks of Kusaie sink into the sea.