LOLOWAY--MALO--THE BANKS ISLANDS
Having traversed the western part of the island, I sailed to
Loloway, near the eastern point, one of the loveliest spots in the
archipelago. Lofty cliffs flank two sides of a round bay; at the
entrance a barrier-reef breaks the swell, which glides in a soft
undulation over the quiet water, splashing up on the sandy beach. All
around is the forest, hanging in shadowy bowers over the water,
and hardly a breeze is astir. The white whale-boat of the Anglican
missionary floats motionless on the green mirror; sometimes a fish
leaps up, or a pigeon calls from the woods. In the curve of the
bay the shore rises in two terraces; on the lower lies the Anglican
missionary's house, just opposite the entrance. In the evening the sun
sets between the cliffs, and pours a stream of the purest gold through
the narrow gap. It is a pity this fairy spot is so rarely inhabited;
Melanesian missionaries are not often at home, being constantly on
the road, or at work in the native villages. Mr. G., too, was on the
point of departure, and agreed to take me with him on his trip.
In his alarmingly leaky boat we sailed westward, two boys baling all
the time. We ran into a small anchorage, pulled the boat ashore, and
marched off inland. The people I found here were similar to those in
the west, except that they had developed certain arts to a greater
degree of perfection, particularly mat-braiding and tattooing. The
braiding is done by a method very similar to that in vogue on
Pentecoste. The tattooing is mostly done by women and on women;
but the men, especially the high castes, often have a beautifully
designed sicca leaf running from the chest towards one shoulder,
which probably has some religious significance. The women often have
their whole body, arms and legs, covered with tattooing, as if with
fine lace. The operation is done bit by bit, some one part being
treated every few days. The colour used is the rosin of a nut-tree
precipitated on a cool stone and mixed with the juice of a plant;
the pattern is drawn on the skin with a stick, and then traced with
the tattooing-needle. This consists of three orange thorns, tied
at right angles to a stick. The needles are guided along the design
with the left hand, while the right keeps striking the handle softly
with a light stick, to drive the needles into the skin. This is kept
up until a distinct outline is produced; the operation is not very
painful. The skin is then washed and rubbed with a certain juice,
which evidently acts as a disinfectant; at least I never saw any
inflammation consequent on tattooing. During the next few days some
of the dye works out and falls off with the dry crust that forms on
the wound, leaving the tattooing a little paler. The patterns are
rather complicated, and at the present day there are no recognizable
representations of real objects; yet there seems no doubt that at one
time all the designs represented some real thing. They are carefully
adapted to the body, and accentuate its structure. The women who do
the tattooing are well paid, so that only the wealthy can afford to
have their wives and daughters tattooed all over; and naturally a
tattooed woman brings a higher price in the matrimonial market than a
"plain" one.
In this same place I had occasion to observe an interesting zoological
phenomenon, the appearance of the palolo-worm, which occurs almost all
over the Pacific once a year, at a certain date after the October full
moon. The natives know the date exactly, which proves the accuracy
of their chronology. The palolo is a favourite delicacy, and they
never fail to fish for it. We went down to the shore on the first
night; there were not many worms as yet, but the next evening the
water was full of the greenish and brownish threads, wriggling about
helplessly. Each village had its traditional fishing-ground, and we
could see the different fires all along the coast. The worms were
gathered by hand and thrown into baskets, and after midnight we went
home with a rich harvest. The palolo is mixed with pudding, and said
to taste like fish; I am not in a position to pronounce an opinion.
I returned to Nabutriki, and thence to Malo, where Mr. W. informed me
that the Burns-Philp steamer had already passed, and asked me to stay
with him and his kind family until I should find an opportunity to
cross. I accepted all the more gladly, as this part of Malo was still
quite unknown to me. The population I found here is probably identical
with that which formerly inhabited the south shore of Santo. This
was interesting to me because of certain scientific details, though
on the whole the life was much the same as elsewhere in Melanesia,
with the Suque, etc. I collected a number of charms and amulets,
which the people sold willingly, as they no longer believed in their
power. Formerly, they were supposed to be useful for poisoning,
as love-charms, or for help in collecting many tusked pigs.
I also visited the neighbouring islands, and heard the gruesome story
of how the last village on Aore disappeared. The Aore people were for
ever at war with those of South Santo, across the Segond Channel. The
men of Aore were about sixty strong, and one day they attacked a
Santo village. Everyone fled except one man, who was helpless from
disease. He was killed and eaten up, and in consequence of this meal
thirty out of the sixty men from Aore died. The others dispersed among
the villages of Malo. In Aore, I had the rare sensation of witnessing
an earthquake below the surface. I was exploring a deep cave in the
coral banks when I heard the well-known rumbling, felt the shock, and
heard some great stalactites fall from the ceiling. This accumulation
of effects seemed then to me a little theatrical and exaggerated.
The next steamer took me to the Banks Islands, and I went ashore at
Port Patterson on Venua Lava. Here were the headquarters of a rubber
planting company; but the rubber trees had not grown well, and the
company had started cocoa-nuts. I had met Mr. Ch., the director,
before, and he took me in. The company owned a motor-launch,
which cruised all through the Banks Islands, visiting the different
plantations; this gave me a good opportunity to see nearly all the
islands. The sea is much more dangerous here than in the New Hebrides,
being open everywhere; and the strong currents cause heavy tide rips
at the points of the jagged coasts.
An excursion to Gaua was a failure, owing to bad weather. After
having shivered in a wet hut for four days, we returned to Port
Patterson only just in time; for in the evening the barometer fell,
a bad sign at that season, and the wind set in afresh. The launch was
anchored in a sheltered corner of the bay, near an old yacht and a
schooner belonging to Mr. W., a planter on a neighbouring islet. All
the signs pointed to a coming cyclone, and suddenly it shot from the
mountains, furrowed the sea, and ruled supreme for two days. From
the director's house I watched the whirling squalls gliding over
the water, lifting great lumps of spray, that shot like snow over
the surface and disappeared in the misty distance. Rain rattled in
showers on the roof; everywhere was a hissing, rushing, thundering;
the surf broke in violent, irregular shocks like the trampling of an
excited horse; the wind roared in the forest till the strongest trees
trembled and the palms bent over with inverted crowns. In a moment
the creeks swelled to torrents, and in every gully there ran rivers,
which collected to a deep lake in the plain. In the house the rain
penetrated everywhere, leaked through the roof, dripped on the beds,
and made puddles on the floor.
Meanwhile the captain and engineer of the launch had passed an
unpleasant time; they had stayed aboard till the rolling of the boat
drove them to the larger yacht; but seeing the schooner break her
two chains and drift on to the reef, they became frightened and went
ashore in the dinghey, and home along the beach. Later they arrived
at the station and reported "all well," and were amazed when I told
them that the launch had stranded. I had just been looking from the
veranda through the glass at the boats, when a huge wave picked up
the launch and threw her on the beach. There she had rolled about a
little, and then dug herself into the sand, while the tide fell and
the wind changed. Next day the cyclone had passed, but the swell
was still very heavy. Equipped with everything necessary to float
the launch, we marched along the beach, which was beaten hard by the
waves. We had to cross a swollen river on an improvised raft; to our
satisfaction we found the boat quite unhurt, not even the cargo being
damaged; only a few copper plates were torn. Next day Mr. W. arrived,
lamenting his loss; for his beautiful schooner was pierced in the
middle by a sharp rock, and she hung, shaken by the waves that
broke over her decks and gurgled in the hold. The rigging was torn,
the cabin washed away, and the shore strewn with her doors, planks,
beams and trade goods. It was a pitiful sight to see the handsome
ship bending over like a fallen warrior, while the company's old
yacht had weathered the cyclone quite safely.
During the work of refloating the boat, Mr. Ch. was taken very ill
with fever, and I nursed him for some days; he was somewhat better by
Christmas Eve, and we had the satisfaction of bringing the saved launch
back to the station. He was visibly relieved, and his good humour was
agreeably felt by his boys as well as by his employes, to whom he sent
a goodly quantity of liquor to celebrate the occasion. We sat down to
a festive dinner and tried to realize that this was Christmas; but it
was so different from Christmas at home, that it was rather hard. At
our feet lay the wide bay, turquoise blue, edged with white surf;
in the distance rose the wonderful silhouette of Mota Lava Island;
white clouds travelled across the sky, and a gentle breeze rustled
in the palms of the forest. The peaceful picture showed no trace of
the fury with which the elements had fought so few days ago.
Tired with his exertions, Mr. Ch. withdrew early, and I soon followed;
but we were both aroused by the barking of the dogs, followed by the
pad of bare feet on the veranda, whispering and coughing, and then by
a song from rough and untrained throats. The singers were natives of
a Christian village some miles away, who came to sing Christmas hymns
in a strange, rough language, discordant and yet impressive. When
they had finished the director went out to them; he was a man whom one
would not have believed capable of any feeling, but he had tears in his
eyes; words failed him, and he thanked the singers by gestures. We all
went down to the store, where they sang to the employes, and received
presents; after which they spent the rest of the night with the hands,
singing, eating and chatting. On Christmas Day the natives roasted
a fat pig, the employes spent the day over their bottles, and I was
nurse once more, my patient being delirious and suffering very much.
Before New Year's Day the launch was sent to all the different
stations to fetch the employes, an interesting crowd of more or less
ruined individuals. There was a former gendarme from New Caledonia, a
cavalry captain, an officer who had been in the Boer war, an ex-priest,
a clerk, a banker and a cowboy, all very pleasant people as long as
they were sober; but the arrival of each was celebrated with several
bottles, which the director handed out without any demur, although the
amount was prodigious. Quarrels ensued; but by New Year's Eve peace was
restored, and we all decorated the director's house with wreaths for
the banquet of the evening. The feast began well, but towards midnight
a general fight was going on, which came to an end by the combatants
falling asleep one by one. Thus the new year was begun miserably,
and the next few days were just as bad. The natives looked on at the
fights with round-eyed astonishment; and the director was in despair,
for a second cyclone was threatening, and there was hardly anyone in
a fit condition to help him secure the launch.
All one morning it rained, and at noon the cyclone broke, coming from
the south-west, as it had done the first time, but with threefold
violence. We sat on the veranda, ready to jump off at any moment,
in case the house should be blown away. The view was wiped out by
the mist; dull crashes resounded in the forest, branches cracked and
flew whirling through the air, all isolated trees were broken off
short, and the lianas tangled and torn. The blasts grew ever more
violent and frequent, and if the house had not been protected by the
mountain, it could never have resisted them. As it was, it shook and
creaked, and a little iron shed went rolling along the ground like
a die. Down in the plain the storm tore the leaves off the palms,
and uprooted trees and blew down houses. The cyclone reached its
climax at sunset, then the barometer rose steadily, and suddenly
both wind and rain ceased. The stillness lasted for about half an
hour and then the storm set in again, this time from the north,
striking the house with all its strength; fortunately it was not so
violent as at first. With the rising barometer the storm decreased and
changed its direction to the east. All next day it rained and blew;
but on the third morning the storm died out in a faint breeze from
the south-east, and when we came to reckon up our damages, we found
that it might have been worse. Meanwhile the employes had had time
to recover from their orgy. A brilliant day dried the damp house,
and soon everything resumed a normal aspect except the forest, which
looked brown and ragged, like autumn woods at home.
I made use of the first calm day to visit the lonely little islet of
Meralava. As it has no anchorage, no one can land there except in
quiet weather, and so it had come about that the company's employe
had had no communication with the outside world for four months. The
island is an extinct volcano, a regular cone, with the crater as a deep
cavity in the top. There is hardly a level square metre on the whole
island, and the shores rise steeply out of the sea; only a few huge
lava blocks form a base, on which the swell breaks and foams. When
we reached the island, this swell was so heavy as to render landing
almost impossible. All we could do was to take the employe aboard and
return home. I was very sorry to have to give up my visit to Meralava,
as the natives, though all christianized, have preserved more of
their old ways than those of other islands, owing to their infrequent
intercourse with civilization. For the same reason, the population is
quite large; but every time a ship has landed an epidemic goes through
the island, the germs of which appear to be brought by the vessels,
and the natives evidently have very small powers of resistance. We
may here observe on a small scale what has taken place all over the
archipelago in the degeneration and decimation of the aborigines.
The people of Meralava live on taro, which they grow in terraced
fields, the water being obtained from holes in the rocks, and on
cocoa-nuts, of which the island yields a fair supply.
The following day we started for Ureparapara, also a volcanic island,
with an enormous crater, one side of which has fallen in; because,
as the natives say, a great fish knocked against it. The sea has
penetrated into the interior of the crater, forming a lovely bay, so
that ships now lie at anchor where formerly the lava boiled and roared.
In consequence of the frequent intercourse with whites, the population
is scanty. There is hardly a level patch, except the small strip at
the base of the slope and the great reef outside. Here, too, we had
difficulty in landing, but in the evening we found an ideal anchorage
inside the bay. The water was scarcely ruffled, and little wavelets
splashed on the shore, where mangrove thickets spread their bright
foliage. Huge trees bent over the water, protecting the straw roofs
of a little village. In the deep shade some natives were squatting
round fires, and close by some large outrigger-canoes lay on the
beach. On three sides the steep wooded slopes of the former crater's
walls rise up to a sharply dented ridge, and it all looks like a
quiet Alpine lake, so that one involuntarily listens for the sound
of cow-bells. Instead, there is the call of pigeons, and the dull
thunder of the breakers outside.
We took a holiday in this charming bay; and though the joys of
picnicking were not new to us, the roasting of some pigeons gave us a
festive sensation and a hearty appetite. The night under the bright,
starlit sky, on board the softly rocking launch, wrapped me in a
feeling of safety and coziness I had not enjoyed for a long time.
Along the steepest path imaginable I climbed next morning to the
mountain's edge. The path often led along smooth rocks, where lianas
served as ropes and roots as a foothold; and I was greatly surprised
to find many fields on top, to which the women have to climb every
day and carry the food down afterwards, which implies acrobatic feats
of no mean order.
Ureparapara was the northernmost point I had reached so far, and
the neighbourhood of the art-loving Solomon Islands already made
itself felt. Whereas in the New Hebrides every form of art, except
mat-braiding, is at once primitive and decadent, here any number
of pretty things are made, such as daintily designed ear-sticks,
bracelets, necklaces, etc.; I also found a new type of drum, a regular
skin-drum, with the skin stretched across one end, while the other
is stuck into the ground. The skin is made of banana leaves. These
and other points mark the difference between this people and that of
the New Hebrides. As elsewhere all over the Banks group, the people
have long faces, high foreheads, narrow, often hooked, noses, and
a light skin. Accordingly, it would seem that they are on a higher
mental plane than those of the New Hebrides, and cannibalism is said
never to have existed here.
My collections were not greatly enriched, as a British man-of-war had
anchored here for a few days a short time before; and anyone who knows
the blue-jackets' rage for collecting will understand that they are
quite capable of stripping a small island of its treasures. A great
deal of scientifically valuable material is lost in this way, though
fortunately these collectors go in for size chiefly, leaving small
objects behind, so that I was able to procure several valuable pieces.
After our return to Port Patterson the launch took me to a plantation
from which I ascended the volcano of Venua Lava. Its activity shows
principally in sulphur springs, and there are large sulphur deposits,
which were worked fifteen years ago by a French company. A large amount
of capital had been collected for the purpose, and for a few weeks
or months the sulphur was carried down to the shore by natives and
exported. Then it was found that the deposits were not inexhaustible,
that the employes were not over-conscientious, that the consumption
of alcohol was enormous, and finally the whole affair was given up,
after large quantities of machinery had been brought out, which I saw
rusting away near the shore. In this way numerous enterprises have
been started and abandoned of late years, especially in Noumea. It
is probably due to this mining scheme that the natives here have
practically disappeared; I found one man who had once carried sulphur
from the mine, and he was willing to guide me up the volcano.
There are always clouds hanging round the top of the mountain, and the
forest is swampy; but on the old road we advanced quite rapidly, and
soon found ourselves on the edge of a plateau, from which two streams
fell down in grand cascades, close together, their silver ribbons
gleaming brightly in the dark woods. One river was milk-white with
sulphur precipitate, the other had red water, probably owing to iron
deposits. The water was warm, and grew still warmer the farther up we
followed the river. Suddenly we came upon a bare slope, over certain
spots of which steam-clouds hung, while penetrating fumes irritated
one's eyes and nose. We had come to the lower margin of the sulphur
springs, and the path led directly across the sulphur rocks. Mounting
higher, we heard the hissing of steam more distinctly, and soon we
were in the midst of numerous hillocks with bright yellow tops, and
steam hissing and whistling as it shot out of cracks, to condense in
the air into a white cloud. The whole ground seemed furrowed with
channels and crevasses, beneath which one heard mysterious noises;
one's step sounded hollow, and at our side ran a dark stream, which
carried the hot sulphur water to the shore. Great boulders lay about,
some of them so balanced that a slight touch sent them rolling into the
depths, where they broke into atoms. Sometimes we were surrounded by a
thick cloud, until a breeze carried it away, and we had a clear view
over the hot, dark desert, up to the mountain-top. It was uncanny in
the midst of those viciously hissing hillocks, and I could not blame my
boys for turning green with fear and wishing to go home. But we went on
to a place where water boiled in black pools, sometimes quietly, then
with a sudden high jump; some of the water was black, some yellowish,
and everything around was covered with sulphur as if with hoar-frost.
We followed the course of a creek whose water was so hot as to scald
our feet, and the heat became most oppressive. We were glad to reach
the crater, though it was a gloomy and colourless desert, in the
midst of which a large grey pool boiled and bubbled. In front was a
deep crevice in the crater wall, and a cloud of steam hid whatever
was in it; yet we felt as though something frightful must be going
on there. Above this gloomy scene stretched a sky of serenest blue,
and we had a glimpse of the coast, with its little islands bathing
in the sapphire sea.
Next day we left for Gaua. Unhappily the captain met friends, and
celebrated with them to such an extent that he was no longer to be
relied on, which was all the more unpleasant as the weather was of
the dirtiest, and the barometer presaged another cyclone. After two
days it cleared up a little; I went ashore at the west point of Gaua,
where the launch was to pick me up again two days later, as I meant to
visit the interior while the others went to buy coprah. Even now the
wind and the swell from the north-west were increasing suspiciously,
and after I had spent a rainy night in a village off the shore, I
saw the launch race eastward along the coast, evidently trying to
make a safe anchorage, with the storm blowing violent squalls and
the sea very high.
On my way inland I still found the paths obstructed by fallen trees
from the last cyclone, while nearly all the cocoa-nut palms had lost
their nuts. And again the storm raged in the forest, and the rain
fell in torrents.
I was anxious to buy statues of tree-fern wood; they are frequently
to be seen here, standing along a terrace or wall near the gamal, and
seem not so much images of ancestors, as signs of rank and wealth. The
caste may be recognized by the number of pigs' jaws carved on the
statues. Often the artist first makes a drawing of the statue in
red, white and black paint on a board; and these same designs are
used as patterns for tattooing, as well as on ear-sticks and other
objects. Female statues are common, which is an unusual thing.
I obtained a good number of skulls, which were thrown into the roots
of a fig tree, where I was allowed to pick them up as I pleased.
The Suque is supposed to have originated here; and here certainly it
has produced its greatest monuments, large altar-like walls, dams and
ramparts. The gamals, too, are always on a foundation of masonry,
and on either side there are high pedestals on which the pigs are
sacrificed. Among the stones used for building we often find great
boulders hollowed out to the shape of a bowl. No one knows anything
about these stones or their purpose; possibly they are relics of an
earlier population that has entirely disappeared.
When I returned from my excursion I looked down on a wild foam-flecked
sea, over which the storm was raging as it did during the previous
cyclones. I realized that I should have to stay here for some time,
and ate my last provisions somewhat pensively. I only hoped that
the launch had found an anchorage, else she must inevitably have
been wrecked, and I should be left at the mercy of the natives for
an indefinite time. The hut in which I camped did not keep off the
rain, and I was wet and uncomfortable; thus I spent the first of a
series of miserable nights. I was anxious to know the fate of the
launch, and this in itself was enough to worry me; then I was without
reading or writing materials, and my days were spent near a smoky
fire, watching the weather, trying to find a dry spot, sleeping and
whistling. Sometimes a few natives came to keep me company; and once
I got hold of a man who spoke a little biche la mar, and was willing
to tell me about some old-time customs. However, like most natives, he
soon wearied of thinking, so that our conversations did not last long.
The natives kept me supplied with food in the most hospitable manner:
yam, taro, cabbage, delicately prepared, were at my disposal; but,
unaccustomed as I was to this purely vegetable diet, I soon felt such
a craving for meat that I began to dream about tinned-meat, surely not
a normal state of things. To add to my annoyance, rumours got afloat
to the effect that the launch was wrecked; and if this was true,
my situation was bad indeed.
On the fifth day I decided to try and find the anchorage where I
supposed the launch to be. The wind had dropped a little, but it was
still pouring, and the walk through the slippery, devastated forest,
up and down steep hills and gullies, across fallen trees, in a thick,
oppressive fog, was strenuous enough. In the afternoon, hearing that
the launch was somewhere near, we descended to the coast, where we came
upon the captain and the crew. They had managed to anchor the launch
at the outbreak of the storm, and had camped in an old hut on the
beach; but the huge waves, breaking over the reef, had created such
a current along the beach that the launch had dragged her anchors,
and was now caught in the worst of the waves and would surely go down
shortly. Unfortunately the captain had sent the dinghey ashore some
time before coming to this bay, so that there was no means whatever
of reaching the launch. The rising sea had threatened to wash away
the hut, and the captain, leaving the boat to her fate, had gone
camping inland.
I went down to the beach to see for myself how things stood, and
was forced to admit that the man had not exaggerated. In the midst
of the raging surf the launch rocked to and fro, and threatening
waves rose on every side and often seemed to cover her. Still she was
holding her own, and had evidently not struck a rock as yet; and if
her cables held out, hope was not lost. I watched her fight for life
for some time, and she defended herself more gallantly than I should
ever have expected from so clumsy a craft; but I had little hope. We
spent a miserable night in the village, in a heavy atmosphere, amid
vermin and filth, on an uneven stone floor. The rain rattled on the
roof, the storm roared in the forest like a passing express train,
the sea thundered from afar, and a river echoed in a gorge near by;
to complete the gloomy scene, a violent earthquake shook the hills.
In the morning the launch was still afloat on the same spot; the
wind had abated, and the sky no longer looked quite so stormy. During
the night things improved still more, and we ventured to camp on the
shore. The boys went for the dinghey, and although they had hard work,
half dragging, half carrying it along the shore over the cliffs, they
succeeded in bringing it to our beach, and then made an attempt to row
to the launch, but were almost carried out beyond the reef. Encouraged
by a faintly rosy sunset and a few stars, we waited another day;
then the current along the coast had nearly ceased, only outside the
reef huge mountains of water rolled silently and incessantly past,
and broke thundering against the cliffs. The second attempt to reach
the launch was successful, and, wonderful to relate, she had suffered
no damage, only she had shipped so much water that everything was
soaked and rusty. The engineer began to repair her engines, and by
evening she steamed back to her anchorage, where we welcomed her as
if she had been a human being.
The wind had quite fallen when we steamed out next day. It was dull
weather, and we were rocked by an enormous swell; yet the water was
like a mirror, and the giant waves rose and disappeared without a
sound. It all seemed unnatural and uncanny, and this may have produced
the frightened feeling that held us all that morning. While we were
crossing over to Port Patterson a sharp wind rose from the north,
and the barometer fell, so that we feared another edition of the
storm. If our engines had broken down, which happened often enough,
we should have been lost, for we were in a region where the swell
came from two directions, and the waves were even higher than in
the morning. Fortunately the wind increased but slowly; presently
we were protected by the coast, and at night we arrived at Port
Patterson. The men had given us up, and welcomed us with something
akin to tenderness. Here, too, the cyclone had been terrible, the
worst of the three that had passed in four weeks.
Soon afterwards the steamer arrived, bringing news of many wrecks and
accidents. A dozen ships had been smashed at their anchorages, four
had disappeared, and three were known to have foundered; in addition,
news came of the wreck of a steamer. Hardly ever had so many fallen
victims to a cyclone.
Painfully and slowly our steamer ploughed her way south through the
abnormally high swell. None of the anchorages on the west coast could
be touched, and everywhere we saw brown woods, leafless as in winter,
and damaged plantations; and all the way down to Vila we heard of
new casualties.