THE PECULIAR SAVAGE BELIEFS AND CUSTOMS
The chief Marmo had now an opportunity to learn another lesson he was
not prepared for. Many of the warriors objected to going on the
expedition. The work at the factory and in the various occupations so
fascinated them that they begged to be excused.
At the request of the Professor many were excused from going, care
having been taken to consult the boys who had charge of the various
parts of the business as to the ones which could best be spared.
Marmo mused over these things. He saw the great cordiality that existed
between his warriors and the other tribes. He was also gratified to see
some of his men making things which were novel to him, as they were
fascinating to the men.
The Krishnos were all about and were the personal charges of the
Professor. He had them, daily in the laboratory, and all seemed to be
pleased and happy. Marmo wanted to know whether they desired to go home,
but all declined. There seemed to be a fascination about the place he
could not understand.
One evening the Professor saw a Tuolo worker stealthily coming up the
pathway leading to the laboratory, and after looking about with a
curious air, pushed open the door, and in the most subservient manner
begged permission to speak.
The Professor took him by the hand and led him to a chair. "What is it
you want, my man? Can I do anything for you!"
The hearty manner and smiling face of the Professor emboldened him to
speak.
"I have a wife and three children in the Tuolo village, and I want
permission to bring them here."
"Don't you want to go back there?"
"If I do then I will have no more work. I like the work. I can make many
things now, and I want my family here."
This was an appeal which could not be neglected, and he responded in
this manner: "You do not need to ask me to bring your family here. You
have a right to do so."
"But my chief will not let me do so."
"Did you ask him?"
"No."
"Then I will send for him."
"When Marmo appeared the Professor told him the desire of the man, and
when he had concluded the chief was puzzled for a moment, and, turning
to the warrior, said:
"I cannot understand why my warriors do not care about going to war.
They like the machinery, and the way the little things are made, and to
learn how to make them. The White Chief says you have a right to bring
your family here. That is well; but you must not forget your people, and
when you learn these wonderful things you must come and teach the
people at the village how to do them."
He was extremely gratified at this permission. A half hour afterwards
the Professor called Tom and told him of the incident, and suggested
that he should be provided with a quantity of food for the journey. But
he had already gone. That was certainly sufficient to show the intense
eagerness to bring back his people.
George and Ralph were the ones who were always on the alert for new
things, and Jim made a good companion for them in this respect. The
latter was the first one to actively canvass the subject of a name.
There had been too much to do even to think of this before, and if it
occurred to the Professor he had never mentioned it. Jim went over to
see the Professor as soon as the idea occurred to him.
The Professor smiled when he saw Jim's eagerness.
"Yes, the idea is a good one, but that is something which you boys will
have to decide. It has not occurred to John and Blakely, I know."
"I thought it would be a good thing to call it Industria, or something
of that kind," responded Jim.
"I like that name, but you settle it among yourselves." Jim was back
very quickly, and rushing in to the boys, cried out:
"The Professor said it was up to us to get a name for it."
"Name for what?" asked Harry.
"For the town, of course."
"Well, what shall it be?" asked Tom.
"Call it America," shouted Will.
"Oh, that's too big a name," roared Ralph, with a scornful touch in his
voice. "Just imagine how this would sound: 'William Rudel, Esq.,
America, Wonder Island?' What would the postmaster think of such an
address?"
It did look a little out of proportion, as the boys laughed at the
sally.
"Let's call it Independence; everybody seems to be pretty independent
here," was Tom's suggestion.
"I have the best name in the lot."
"What is it?"
"Industria."
"There you are again with your Latin," answered Harry. "This is going to
a real American town. None of your Latin endings, or any other dead
language. This is a live town."
"Here is John; let's get a suggestion from him."
He heard the merry laughter, and as he approached wonderingly inquired
about the cause of the hilarity. George said: "We have been holding a
convention to find a name for the town. We have decided to leave it to
you."
"Name of the town? Let me see. I suppose you want a stunning name?
Something that will make people sit up and take notice. Eh? Well, if it
turns out all right it doesn't need a name, and if it is a failure
everybody will be calling it names."
The boys laughed at this first attempt that John had ever essayed to
treat a subject in a jesting way, but he continued: "If this convention
hasn't enough wit about it to select a name I don't think you ought to
get an outsider to make a suggestion. But seriously, Unity would be a
good name; and so Hustletown."
"Unity is just the thing," suggested George. There was not a dissenting
voice.
"Now that we have the name, I suppose we shall have to christen it to
make it hold," remarked George.
"Considering the trials and tribulations we have gone through to put
this town on the map it doesn't need any christening. If we work as hard
to make it a success as we did to get it started we needn't be ashamed
of it," said Harry.
"Probably, the same principle will apply in this case as the sentence
uttered by the Hindoo priests at the christening of an infant."
"What is that?"
"Thou hast come into the world with all around thee smiling; so live
that when thou departest thou mayest smile while all around thee weep."
"That is a beautiful sentiment. Hurrah for Unity!" and George raised his
hat to start the shouting.
As the expedition against the Illyas was about ready to start, the time
for the departure was set for the following day. Two of the wagons were
brought into requisition, and loaded with sufficient provisions to
prevent the necessity of foraging too much.
George and Harry begged to be taken along, as they had put in some
strenuous times during the two months at Unity, and this was readily
granted. The other boys were to remain and take charge of the active
work. John had command of the expedition, and Blakely had now too much
work at the new town to enable him to take part.
Over three hundred warriors were mustered for the expedition. One
hundred of the picked men had the muzzle-loading guns, and an ample
supply of ammunition was stored in the wagons, and each gun bearer had
twenty-five rounds.
The Professor said, on the eve of their departure: "I have every
confidence in the ability of Mr. Varney to make it unnecessary to give
him any advice, but I must say a word to all the warriors. You are going
to the tribes, not for the purpose of revenge. We know they have
captives in their possession, and we have demanded their return. They
sent us an insulting message.
"Notwithstanding this, we must consider that they have sent us this
reply out of ignorance of our true purpose. Each man must conduct
himself as the chiefs dictate. There must be no killing except in
self-defense."
Muro and Uraso, as well as Ralsea, were to accompany them, but the other
chiefs were kept at home, this arrangement having been made because the
others really preferred to continue the work in the factory and field.
It was a glorious day to begin the campaign. George and Harry were in
their element.
"What a wonderful thing it is to look at these people now, and recall
what our situation was a year ago," said Harry, as they drove down the
road which had been made from the village to the east.
"Yes; a year ago, we were having some troubles, as it was about that
time we got the first intelligence that these people were on the
island," answered George.
"I had particular reference to the trip we made by sea, when we were
wrecked the second time."
The entire column marched out past the Professor and the chiefs Oma,
Suros, Marmo and Tastoa. The six tribes had contributed to the
expedition, which they hoped would end all future wars, and put the
island in a condition of peace, and thus enable them to carry out the
great work planned by the Professor.
Before evening of the second day the main Saboro village came in sight.
Muro was in a heaven of delight. Many of his warriors were in the
column, and some still remained at Unity. But the women and children
were still there, and they rushed out to meet the advancing column.
The news of the uprising of the Illyas was confirmed. A large party of
them were less than a day's march to the east, and the appearance of the
fighting force was a welcome one. There was no reason to apprehend that
they had any knowledge of the surrender of the Tuolos.
The night and part of the day spent at the Saboro village was a period
of feasting. Uraso met his sister, the wife of Muro, and the boys were
lionized by the chief's family, who took particular pleasure in
entertaining them. They had heard so much about the remarkable boys,
and their capacity to make the beautiful things.
Harry and George brought with them a number of the mirrors, and those,
with other little trinkets, were presented to the women. The boys were
particularly impressed with Muro's eldest son, a boy of their same age,
and George won Muro's heart when he asked if he could not accompany
them.
Speaking to Harry he said: "Wouldn't Lolo enjoy the work at the factory?
I hope he will let us take him with us when we go back."
"I am going to ask Muro," replied Harry, and he sought him out at once.
"We want Lolo to go back with us to Unity."
Muro was delighted at the proposal, and he answered: "Yes; Lolo shall go
back with us, because all of my family are going with us and we shall
live there."
This news was a source of the greatest pleasure, you may be sure, and it
was most gratifying to Muro, because he admired the boys.
"Lolo will like to work in the shop with you. He can now make the best
bows in the tribe, and he makes fine arrows." And Lolo exhibited some of
his handiwork, which, from the standpoint of the native weapons, was
really creditable.
Returning now to Unity, we shall have to relate some very singular
thing's which should be mentioned, as it shows the peculiar beliefs and
practices of the natives.
On the day the force left the village occurred the first death in Unity.
This was one of the warriors, who had been wounded during the last
fight with the Tuolos and Illyas, and he had lingered along until he
finally succumbed. He was one of the best men, and was mourned by the
Osagas, of which he was a member.
[Illustration: _Fig. 13. Ready for the Happy Hunting Grounds._]
Singularly, another of the same tribe died the following morning, who
was the exact opposite of the warrior. Within six hours of the death of
the latter his friends carried him away, and he was buried. The warrior,
however, was not buried, but, instead, his body was carried to an open
place, fully a half mile beyond the town, and placed on a hanging cot
suspended from two trees.
The boys witnessed the ceremonies, and could not understand the meaning
of it.
"Why do they bury one so soon after death, and keep the other for
several days, and then suspend his body in the air?" asked Tom.
The Professor, who attended both ceremonies, responded: "This action on
their part has a great significance. In most savage countries there is
no more noble thing than to die on the battlefield. Usually those who
die in that way are not accorded a burial, generally, because, in case
such a warrior belongs to a defeated party, his friends do not have the
opportunity to inter the body.
"Sir Samuel Baker, in his book, 'The Explorations on the White Nile,'
relates an incident where he came to a village which had two graveyards,
on opposite sides of the road. On one side were the scattered bones of
the dead, and on the other side mounds to indicate burial plots.
"On questioning the chief, he said: 'Yes; our honored dead have their
bones exposed, as you see, but those who were of no use are put out of
sight underground.'
"So the object seemed to be to keep them where the people could see
them?"
"That appears to be the reason the chief gave to Baker. But there may be
another reason for this custom, and I shall get Suros' views on that
subject."
"Isn't there some religious meaning connected with it," asked Ralph.
"I do not think so. Here is Suros; let us question him."
As Suros approached the Professor said: "I notice that one has been put
underground and the other not; why do they observe this difference?"
"We cannot honor the dead by allowing them to go back to the earth."
"Why will it do any good to honor the dead?"
"If we did not honor them, no one would want to be great. No one would
like to be a great warrior."
"Is that the only reward a man has, to be honored after he is dead?"
"What other reward has a man?"
"Do you not think man will live hereafter?"
"When? After he dies?"
"No; how can man live after he dies, and his body is given to the winds
or to the earth?"
"The white man believes he will live again?"
"Does the white man believe the yak will live again?"
"No."
"Well the yak is stronger than a man, and if the yak cannot live again,
then how can man, who is not so strong, expect to do so?"
This was a bit of philosophy which sounded curiously to the boys, and
the Professor, noticing it, said: "Singularly, this is the same answer
which Sir Samuel Baker obtained from certain African tribes, when he
questioned them in like manner."
But the Professor was interested in Suros' statement that they would not
permit the body of the honored dead to go back to the earth, and he
continued:
"You said that you did not want the honored dead to go back to the
earth. When you give his body to the air, does it not go back to the
earth?"
"No; the earth and the air are entirely different, The Great Spirit is
in the air; not in the earth."
"Then you give him to the Great Spirit?"
"Yes; the Great Spirit takes his body."
"Don't you believe that man has a spirit also?"
"No; because we have never seen it."
"But you have never seen the Great Spirit, and yet you say there is
one."
"We have seen the Great Spirit. He comes when it rains, and we can see
him and hear him. We can feel the wind that he blows, and we can see the
great light which he makes every day, and the smaller lights at his
villages every night."
Two things were thus impressed on the boys--namely, that they considered
the air entirely distinct from the earth, and that the Great Spirit made
the thunder and lightning, and that the sun was the Spirit's light by
day, and the moon and stars the lights of his villages by night.
Notwithstanding Suros' limited knowledge, it must be said that in his
further talk with the Professor he showed himself to be possessed of
qualities which placed him far above the common run of the natives. When
he was asked why honor was such a prize to them, he answered:
"Our good men are happy to know that they are so placed that the Great
Spirit can take them. What greater happiness is there for him?"
"Don't you believe that trying to make your people happy and contented
will please the Great Spirit?"
"We do not know that. We do not know why the Great Spirit should want
the bodies of our great warriors and good men. We cannot understand
it."
"The white man believes that if you do good to your fellow-man it will
please the Great Spirit."
"That may be; but I do not see why. There is no reason why he should
care how I treat my people. That is not what he is up there for. What
good will it do him? How will it help him? I do not believe many of the
things I have been told by the wise men, and I have never sacrificed the
captives I have taken, although my father before me did. I try to make
my people happy, because when I see the Great Spirit giving us the day
and the bright light and the rain, so that the things about us may grow,
it seems to me that he is trying to be good to us, and I believe that is
what we should do to each other."