daybreak; at nine o'clock there was no sign of the island. "Bad
steering," growled the captain. "We've run past it, and now we have
to turn round and run back." At about two we anchor in the lagoon,
and almost immediately the traders are aboard, two wretched-looking
objects. One was a half-caste from some other island, with
elephantiasis, very bad, in both legs. There were recent scarifications
as though he had been attempting the Samoan plan of tapping. The other
trader was not thin but the most bloodless creature I ever saw; his
face, hands, legs, and feet were without sunburn, smooth, and of a
curious transparent texture like wax. It seemed an over-exertion to
raise his large, heavy eyes when he spoke to us. The two men had pulled
the boat in which they came. The pallid one panted and held both hands
over his heart as though suffering acutely. I asked him if he liked the
island. "Not at all," he answered and went on to describe the people;
he said he could not keep chickens, ducks, or pigs; no one could, for
their neighbours, jealous that another should have what they had not,
would stone the creatures to death. The same with the planting of
fruit-trees; the soil was good, and there were a few breadfruits and
bananas, but any attempt to grow more is frustrated. The young trees
are torn up and even the old ones are occasionally broken and nearly
destroyed. Before the great earthquake in Java there were plenty of
good fish fit for eating. The half-caste can remember when a poisonous
fish was a thing unknown; now all outside the reef are poisonous, and
many inside. The worst of it is that a fish, to-day innocuous, may
to-morrow become deadly. Turtle do not come to the islands at all; so
there is no food besides copra except what chance vessels may bring.
I fear this poor man is simply dying of starvation. A steward on
board the missionary ship, who knew a little about medicine, had told
him that he only needed iron and good food. "They gave me a bottle
of iron," he said, "and I got better on that, or I'd be dead by now,
but how could I get the nourishing food?" I suggested his leaving the
island, but the loyal soul replied that, though he knew he could save
his life by doing so, he would not desert his native wife and children.
The half-caste told us several stories that sickened us to hear and
yet were most interesting. In 1886 he was away from Funafuti. During
his absence two American vessels, under the Peruvian flag, came to
the island and distributed presents right and left to all who came to
receive them. Naturally, the people were delighted, and when it was
proposed that as many as liked should go to Peru to be educated by
these kind people, they flocked on board in crowds. The King, anxious
that as many as possible should participate in this good fortune, blew
his horn, which is the royal summons. On the return of the half-caste
two thirds of the population had gone, and the King was in the very
act of blowing his horn again to gather in his remaining subjects, now
reduced to the very young and the very old. It is needless to add that
the vessels were slavers, and the entrapped islanders were never seen
again.
Throughout the islands (Funafuti and her chicks, one might call
them) there are not now above one hundred and fifty inhabitants all
together. They have a bad name--are said to be a dirty, rough,
dishonest lot; dishonest, that is, as far as cheating goes, but they
do not steal. No wonder they are dishonest, for they learned in a good
school. Here is another tale of the half-caste. Mata, of Samoa, come to
buy copra; there was none but what had been engaged by another vessel,
the price being one and a quarter cents. "I'll give you two," said
Mata promptly, which offer was as promptly accepted. But Mata's scales
weighed nothing higher than one hundred and four pounds; so, though he
paid two cents, he left with tons for which he paid nothing.
Resterau, the pallid trader, had sailed with both "Bully Hayes" and
"Bully Pease,"[9] of whose names I am quite sick and hope I'll never
hear them again. Louis and I went with Mr. Henderson over to the
island, where we met the wives and children of the traders, handsome,
healthy, and with excellent manners; two young girls were quite
beautiful. Resterau's wife had but one eye and was a plain, kindly old
body.
[9] Two somewhat picturesque desperadoes of the South Seas, now
dead fortunately for the rest of the world.
After a little, Louis and I strolled across the island, becoming more
and more amazed by what we saw. Everything that one naturally expects
to find on a low island is here reversed. To begin with, the fact of
the poisonous fish being outside the reef is contrary to what one has
reason to expect. The soil is very rich for a low island, with ferns
and many shrubs and flowering plants growing. We saw a little taro and
quite a large patch, considering, of bananas. There was much marsh and
green stagnant pools, and the air was heavy with a hothouse smell.
The island seemed unusually wide, but what was our astonishment when
we pushed through the bushes and trees to find ourselves not on the
sea beach, as we had expected, but on the margin of a large lagoon
emptied of its waters almost entirely by the low tide. The lagoon was
everywhere enclosed, but the traders told us there was a blow-hole
outlet into which the natives had thrown piles of coral hoping to block
it up. A little girl had once fallen into the lagoon when the tide
was turning; three days after her body was found far out at sea. It
was then that the blow-hole, where she had been sucked through, was
discovered. Off on one side there seemed to be an opening by which we
hoped to reach the beach. We crossed a bit of mangrove swamp, climbed
over loose piled-up shingle that rang with a metallic sound very
unlike coral, and at last reached the beach. I wandered away from
Louis, gathering shells, but was recalled by a wild shout. I found
Louis bending over a piece of the outer reef that he had broken off.
From the face of both fractures innumerable worms were hanging like a
sort of dreadful, thick fringe. The worms looked exactly like slender
earthworms, more or less bleached, though some were quite earthworm
colour. They lengthened out and contracted again until I felt quite
sick and had to fly from the sight. Afterward Louis broke other pieces
of rock; one kind always contained worms; another kind, lighter in
colour and firmer in texture, contained much fewer worms, also empty
holes in the process of closing up; still others were close and hard
and white, like marble. I got a good many shells, and after a fruitless
search for some other way across the island than round the inland
lagoon, I gave it up and we retraced our footsteps; that is, for a
certain time, when we became lost, or as Louis indignantly put it: "Not
lost at all; we only could not find our way."
The two traders dined with us, and I was glad to see that the bloodless
man ate a large double helping of meat. Lloyd, fortunately, thought
of giving him some stout and asked Mr. Henderson if the man were the
sort to give stout to; Mr. Henderson thought it a good thing to do, and
Louis explained to the trader that it was given him as medicine, not
as a beverage to be handed round to others, asking him to promise that
he would drink it all himself. He readily enough gave the promise but
said in that case Mr. Henderson would have to smuggle it over to him,
as he must drink it in secret. I also gave him a large and small bottle
of iron, all that we had, telling him when that was done to put nails
in his drinking water. I went to bed early, very tired, but was driven
below by repeated squalls, and slept on the saloon floor.
Not long ago the _George Noble_ called at this island, her destination
being the island of Piru (pronounced Peru). The natives who were
on board heard the word and fled incontinently, nor could they be
persuaded to go back; the dread word "Peru" was enough.
_28th._--Left Funafuti early this morning. After every one was off,
Lloyd photographed the ship's company to the delight of the black boys,
who posed themselves with great dramatic effect.
[Illustration: _Native boys setting sail on S. S. "Janet Nichol"_]
Arrived at Natau after dark. Mr. Hird called to us that there was
another vessel close at hand. We rushed on deck and saw a schooner
putting up a light. In a few moments the mate was on board the _Janet_.
There is no landing at this island, and an unusually heavy swell will
make a big surf in the morning. The only one of the Ellices I have as
yet seen gave me such an unpleasant impression that I shall not be
disappointed if I cannot go ashore.
_29th._--Early this morning we anchor near the schooner. She is painted
white and looks just like the _Equator_.[10] Louis says that every
time he looks at her he expects to see ourselves. There seems to be
great excitement aboard the little vessel; canoes filled with people
are going to and fro, continually, between her and the shore. Only one
canoe has as yet come near us; it was filled with women who paddled
about the ship, following my movements; one of the women handsome, and
the others by no means plain. The canoe was very long, tapering off
into a beautiful fish's tail, something like this: [Illustration of
fish's tail] and was ornamented at both ends with mother-of-pearl let
into the wood in bands and patterns. The people here wear _ridis_, not
so good as the Gilberts, however. The _ridis_ are too full, too much
like ballet-dancers' skirts, though the colour is pleasantly gay, a
mixture of dull red, blackish maroon, and faded yellow. The surf, as
I expected, was too high for us to get on shore dry, so we did not
attempt it.
[10] We made a former cruise, our second, in the _Equator_, a
little trading schooner.
In the afternoon the schooner (of 80-ton burden) began to fill up with
natives; we were told that she was going to take a party of one hundred
and eighty people on an excursion round the group, for which a lump sum
of twenty-five tons of copra was paid. The decks of the little vessel
were closely packed with laughing, chattering people; the hum of their
voices came to us like the sound of bees. It was just so, not very long
ago, that slave-ships used to carry them away. "What a haul that would
be for labour!" remarked Tin Jack when he first caught sight of them.
There is a small enclosed lagoon in this island. Tin Jack, while on
shore, broke off some of the reef coral and found it full of the same
living worms as Louis discovered before on the other island, only here
there were two varieties; one like a pallid earthworm and the other
something like a small centipede. Tin Jack brought me a wreath of
gardenias, and a spray of scarlet leaves. Mr. Hird brought me a bunch
of jack-fruit leaves to polish my Tokalau buckets with. Some young
banana plants were sent on board, I suppose for friends on another
island.[11] Tin Jack was strongly tempted to stop here as is his custom
at most islands. The trader at Natau was a rather dreadful-looking
person, apparently afflicted with leprosy. He shook hands with me, to
my dismay, for his fingers were dropping off. "I think I've got some
native disease," said the poor fellow as he held out his hand.
[11] This must have been a high-low island, though in many atolls
the earth is brought in schooner loads in which trees and flowers
flourish.
_30th._--Still a heavy swell and the surf too strong for boats to
venture in. A great crowd of natives on shore and many canoes drawn up
on the beach. Pretty soon the canoes swarmed about the ship and we were
overrun with eager venders of merchandise, mats, chickens, and eggs.
One man followed me about beseeching me to buy a silver half dollar.
"You want buy money?" said he. "How much tobac you give?" I bought one
mat for ten sticks of tobacco, one for a comb, and one for a pattern
of calico. I saw Mr. Henderson, in the midst of the harassing business
of weighing copra, stop and paint a broad mark, with violet ink, down
the breast of a fine young lad who swaggered about afterward with a
conscious air of superiority.
For a long time we saw no women, but at last a canoe containing two,
pretty and young, was seen paddling wildly up and down beside the
ship; the women were shouting for a sight of the "_Beretani fafine_"
(white woman). I was called, and showed myself, whereupon they threw
up their hands and shouted with excitement. Soon after this I met on
the companion stairs the captain, half dragging, half persuading one
of the young women I had seen in the canoe to come down to the saloon.
Naturally she did not understand that he was only trying to bring her
to me. At the sight of me she gave a cry and, breaking loose from the
captain, flung herself upon me and clung to me like a frightened child.
I could feel her heart beating against my breast and she was trembling
from head to foot. As she held me she bent down, for she was taller
than I, and smiled in my face. Plainer than words her smile said: "You
are a woman, too; I can trust you; you will protect me, will you not?"
I put my arm round her and talked to her in English and tried to soothe
her fears. She understood my English as well as I her smiles. I brought
her into the saloon and Louis gave her sweetmeats; she turned to me
with a gesture that asked if they were safe to eat. She had already a
bit of ship's biscuit tightly clinched in her hand, and of that she
alternately took a bite with the sweetmeats; but at the sound of a
footstep she was trembling again and would throw her arms round me with
the same pathetic, questioning smile. I placed a wreath of yellow and
red tulips on her pretty head--she was a lovely young creature--and
the captain brought her a necklace of large blue beads and a pair of
earrings. All the while, though I did not know it, the girl's father
was hanging about the companion way with a very dangerous expression on
his countenance.
After a little, another woman, seeing that no harm came to the first,
was persuaded to come down to the saloon where she stood, quivering
and starting like a timid, wild animal, ready to fly at a sound. The
difference between this place and Manihiki is very marked. So far
from there being any fear shown in Manihiki, the very children pushed
through the darkness to clasp the white man's hand, and after that
there was no getting rid of the gentle, affectionate, little creatures.
I remember, at Manihiki, seeing Louis sitting with a tall boy of
fourteen, beautiful as an angel, holding him round the neck, a young
girl leaning over his shoulder, while a little child nestled up to his
breast. But these islands were a favourite recruiting place for slavers
and, worse still, a haunt of the loathsome "Bully Hayes." I gave a
wreath to the other girl also, and after Lloyd (they seemed to have
no instinctive fear of either Lloyd or Louis) had sprinkled them with
scent from a bottle of "Jockey Club" they paddled to the shore to be
met by a crowd of friends who rushed into the surf up to their necks to
hear the news. The wreaths, necklaces, and earrings were taken off and
examined, criticised, and tried on by all who could get hold of them;
the excitement was tremendous. All the while the young girl was in the
saloon the three large port-holes were entirely closed up by the faces
of men, who watched every movement with the keenest anxiety.
In the meantime the ship was noisy with the squawking of fowls and the
squealing of pigs. The latter are of a curious mouse colour and most
amiable creatures. Later on our pretty girl, accompanied by an elder
sister, very handsome, and the startled one who had visited me before,
came back to the ship. Lloyd took the younger girl's photograph at the
end of the bridge. I had to stand beside her with my arm round her
for some time before she would keep in one spot long enough for the
camera to be pointed at her. Though much less frightened, she was still
suspicious. She brought a chicken and some cocoanuts for a present to
me, also another fowl which she wished to exchange for a comb, and
a mat to exchange for cotton print, both of which I gave her. The
startled one brought some shells which she wished to have me understand
cancelled the gift of the wreath. I wish I knew how to explain that I
do not want return gifts; but that might be an unpardonable breach of
etiquette.
I was sitting on a box near the trade room when a fine,
intelligent-looking man, a missionary from another island, came up and
began talking to me. Unfortunately, his English was so hopeless that
I could understand but little that he said, except that a native he
presented to me was the King, and that if we would call at the island
on our way back there would be an immense load of copra ready. The King
had a look of breeding, and only one of his ear-lobes hung down to his
shoulder in the native fashion, the other having somehow miscarried.
The outer rim of the ear is sliced round and grafted against the jaw,
thus making a much larger hole than can be managed at the Gilberts with
mere boring and stretching.
Moving through the crowds on deck were three unmistakable lepers,
one with elephantiasis also. The toes of the man with elephantiasis
were dripping blood, not very pleasant for us barefooted people. I
have asked the steward to hang all the mats, some of which are very
handsomely decorated, over the side when next we anchor and let them
be thoroughly washed by the sea. Just before we left the King asked
for me; he had brought me a present of a large mat, a bunch of husked
cocoanuts, and a very fine _ridi_[12] of different colours. I bought
one, also, not so fine, from a woman for seven sticks of tobacco. I had
nothing to give the King in return for his present--I am bound to say
he seemed to expect nothing--so I pulled a gold ring from my finger and
gave him that. He was overcome by the magnificence of the gift, as were
the crowd who gathered round him to examine it.
[12] The _ridi_ is the only garment worn by the women in most of
the atolls. It is a thick fringe, shorter or longer, according to
the prevailing fashion in _ridis_, made of pandanus leaves cut in
strips, oiled, and smoked. In the Gilberts a man may not lay his
hands on a _ridi_ under penalty of death, even when the garment is
not in active service.
During dinner we weighed anchor and shoved off. The captain had
expected to meet the schooner at this island; there were no signs of
her until late at night, when she was sighted, apparently on a wrong
tack. The captain fears they may be out longer than they expected and
the provisions run out; however, there are always the twenty-five
tons of copra at hand in case of an emergency, and the passengers can
eat their currency, which is more than we would be able to do. The
_Janet_ has taken to her old trick of rolling, which makes things very
uncomfortable. When I went to bed the cackling of hens, the crowing of
cocks, and the grunting of pigs gave quite the effect of a farmyard.
Our three cats seem to be getting the "rattage" well under; at least
there are no more rats on deck and the old, businesslike Tom now takes
his ease and sleeps all night.
_31st._--The Island of Nanui. A very violent surf and very broad. Louis
goes on shore and returns with a mat. Tin Jack is in great feather
as the Nanui people speak the Gilbert Island tongue which he knows.
Louis is instantly accepted as a kaupoi (rich man), though he cannot
imagine why, as he was clothed only in an old, ragged undershirt and a
_lava-lava_.
_June 1st, Sunday._--Still at Nanui. Mr. Henderson asked his black
boys, as he was afraid of a change of weather, to work to-day. He said
it was a case of necessity, so they consented and fell to like good
fellows. After work was done they all gathered together, as is their
custom on Sunday, and held a service. It was strange to hear them
singing a Scotch hymn tune with words in their own tongue--or tongues,
I should say.
_2d._--Still taking on copra. Johnny, one of our men, the cleverest
one, brought his wife, a native of Nanui, to see me--a strapping fat
wench of sixteen, though she looks twenty-five. I gave her some cotton
print and a silk handkerchief. A little after Johnny came, with a most
serious countenance, to ask Louis to go on deck, where he found a
large, mouse-coloured pig and a great pile of cocoanuts awaiting him.
Among the people on deck I saw a man the facsimile of the leper at the
last island; involuntarily, I looked at his feet, and, sure enough, the
poor fellow had elephantiasis also.
The captain offers to make me a plan of a surfriding canoe. There was
a light rain last night which the captain thinks must have fallen on
my eyes, as they are inflamed and swollen to-day. When rain in these
latitudes touches the captain's eyes, which happens often on the
bridge, he is affected in the same way.
_4th._--At the Island of Nanomea. Two traders come on board, the
company's trader known through the groups as "Lord ----" and an
"independent" trader, a pathetic figure of an old man with both legs
bound up; he said he suffered from boils. Soon after, the missionary
and his wife came on board, both Samoans, the woman a fine, kindly
looking creature with a very sad expression. I said as much to Louis
and she wished my remark translated. With the aid of a dictionary Louis
told her what I had said. "I am sad," was the reply. She brought me a
present of a mat, and I gave her a print gown. I bought, also, a few
mats from the people. One man, followed me about, insisting that he
and I should be brothers. He had a mercenary countenance, wherefore I
refused steadily the proffered relationship. In spite of me, however,
he managed to thrust a bunch of cocoanuts into my cabin door to ratify
the tie.
The surf is very high. When the boats went off, the one containing the
traders and the missionaries turned over, end for end, and the poor,
old "independent" was nearly drowned. The missionary woman dived for
him again and again, and we could see people carrying him along the
beach after she rescued him. Several canoes smashed during the day and
some bags of copra were lost. In the evening we had a long discussion
as to whether Lord ---- is a gentleman, I taking the affirmative with
no more to go upon than the way he raised his hat.
_7th._--Have been lying at Nanomea, the last of the Ellices we shall
visit, for three days, unable to get the cargo on board till to-day
owing to the fearful surf. A good many canoes are broken to pieces, and
our own boats have had many escapes. While I was looking through the
glasses a great wave swamped one of our boats and pressed her down out
of sight. In a moment black heads popped up everywhere and the boat was
hauled on shore. Another boat was just on the point of crossing when
the steersman was snapped off his perch and flung into the sea; he was
almost instantly back and crossed in triumph. Every success was cheered
from the ship by the watching men.
It is always a great pleasure to the natives to help raise the ship's
boats to the davits for the night. They know that white sailors make a
sort of cry or "chanty" when hauling on a rope, so they, too, try to do
the correct thing. The result is a noise very like a mob of schoolgirls
let loose, a confusion of soprano screams. No one would suspect the
sounds to come from the throats of men. Our own black sailors are the
same; we hear them screaming and laughing in the forecastle exactly
like girls. We are so used to island life that it has but just struck
us as odd and picturesque that our almost naked sailors (they wear only
a short _lava-lava_ round their loins) should be working in wreaths
like queens of the May.
It is only to-day that any women have been able to get on board. Not
knowing there were any on deck, I started toward the trade room. There
was an instant loud cry of "_Fafine! Beretani fafine!_" and I was in
the midst of them. The two who seemed of higher rank than the others
took possession of me, and it was explained to me by our Johnny that
they had come prepared to make a trade. Each had an elaborate _ridi_
for which she wanted two patterns of cotton print. The bargain seemed
so unfair that I added a necklace apiece of yellow and white beads.
They were enchanted with the necklaces, calling everybody to look at
them. Then they began pulling off their rings to put on my hands; I did
not like taking their rings, but I need have had no scruples, for one
of them with prompt energy removed a gold ring from my finger to her
own. These exchanges made, they fell to examining my clothes, which
filled them with admiration. The next thing, they were trying to
take my clothes off; finding this stoutly resisted, they turned up my
sleeves to the shoulders. Their taste differed from mine, for, while I
was thinking what a cold, ugly colour a white arm looked beside their
warm, brown ones, they were crying out in admiration. One woman kissed
my feet (the island kiss) and sniffed softly up and down my arms. She
was plainly saying to the others, "She's just like a pickaninny; I
would like to have her for a pet," holding out her arms as she spoke
and going through the motions of tossing and caressing a baby. My hands
and feet were measured by theirs and found to be much smaller (they
were large women made on a more generous scale than I). "Pickaninny
hands and feet," they said. The discovery of vaccination marks caused
great excitement, especially as one of them could proudly show similar
"_Beritani_" marks. Whether they were real vaccination scars or only
accidental, I could not be sure. She, however, declared that they were
true _Beritani_. Suddenly they all began calling out names; there were
now five or six women sitting in a circle round me on the floor of the
corridor at the head of the companion stairs. In a moment all their
husbands' heads appeared at the doors and windows. My sleeves, in spite
of my struggles, were dragged to my shoulders and, to my dismay, my
petticoats were whipped up to my knees. At that I began to cry, when
the men instantly disappeared, and except for an occasional sniffing
the women behaved with more decorum. One woman was most anxious that I
should stop on the island with her. I really think she had some hope
that she might keep me as a sort of pet monkey. At last they were
warned that the ship would be off soon, so they fled to their canoes.