While she was lying in the lagoon, the King spent most of his time
aboard and some seven hundred dollars of his money (he spent neatly
one thousand on the _Equator_); then he got very drunk, going on
steadily a little worse or a little better, according to his
headaches. Day before yesterday, he gave a feast and dance to which
he did not invite us. At noon he came to say he would lunch with us.
His eyes were wandering and his voice excited and almost boisterous.
It was plain that royalty was not far from being vulgarly drunk. We
could see that he had been worried by our visits to the palace
having ceased and wished to have an understanding that there was no
ill feeling on either side. He demanded beer, saying that he had
been drinking gin and port wine, and dozed off in his chair,
starting up in a few moments much mortified. I noticed that even in
this stage of semi-intoxication, he used his knife and fork in our
fashion, and not as he had learned from the "South Sea merchants."
It is an unending pleasure to hear the King say: "I want to go
home." There is an element of appeal in it, reminding one of a
child who can bear the tedium no longer. It is always directed to
Louis or, he being absent, to me as his representative. He wanted
to go home very soon after that luncheon. In the evening we could
hear the dancers in the big "speak house," clapping, stamping, and
singing. The sounds were so savage, so like an immense pack of dogs
fighting in a mass, that we did not realise what it was, but thought
that some form of riot was going on. An absolute tyrant like
Tembinoka walks amid dangers of which he is fully conscious.
Tembinoka dead drunk was not an idea to contemplate with serenity,
and the sound of a single shot did not tend to reassure us, so we
laid our pistols where they would be handy. Louis's idea is that no
one would attack the King unless he were absolutely certain of
killing him instantly, in which case we had better wait here until
the enemy came for us. I think on the contrary, that the commission
of so enormous a crime would make a pause. The terrors of the deed
would fill the childish minds of the natives to the exclusion of
anything else and there would be a short time of confusion in which
nothing would take place but shoutings and aimless running about;
then would be our time to rush in and take possession of a stout
wooden house inside the palace walls, and the King's arms, and
really the King's throne. There would always be the chance, a very
slight one, to be sure, that we might still be in time to save the
King's life. I do not quite understand what Louis's tactics would
be, but aside from any other consideration, there must be but one
commander and he should be absolute even though the others do not
agree with him.
After the shot (which was only aimed at a dog, though that we could
not know) we listened and found that there was no interruption to
the singing and dancing, which reassured us. In the night, Louis,
being restless and not sleepy, took his flageolet and wandered off
into the woods, playing as he walked, until I lost hearing of him.
About midnight, or a little later, I was out a short distance from
the house watching with some anxiety for his return. Pretty soon I
saw him coming along the main path toward our house. I also saw a
dark figure dogging his steps. I called to him, telling him what I
had seen. He was convinced that it was an hallucination of mine and
I was quite ready to believe him, but as we talked I caught sight of
the man running toward the palace. I pointed him out to Louis, who
dashed off in pursuit. When the man saw he was outdistanced, for
Louis is a fine sprinter, he turned the face of the cook, smiling
suavely. I heard "sea language" in Louis's biggest voice, and saw
him leaping strangely in the moonlight, like a grasshopper. He came
back in fits of laughter, saying he had kicked the cook, who fled
in terror.
Ever since the cook found we had turned against him I have had an
uneasy feeling that some one was about our sleeping house in the
night, and several times I was certain a hand was cautiously feeling
about inside our door flap. It seemed a foolish notion, so I had
said nothing about it until this night, then Louis said he, too, had
distinctly heard the same thing. We cannot complain to the King for
he would kill the man instantly, and we do not go so far as to
desire his death. We have not seen or heard from him since. Ah Foo
thinks he has gone away in fear of his life. I have it in my heart
to be sorry for the fellow, for his terror must be extreme, and we
who have brought this upon him belong to the feared and hated white
race.
* * * * *
We are getting to be rather anxious concerning the _Equator_. She
was to be gone two weeks, but it is now over a month since she left
us. The _Tiernan_ met her at Butaritari, she leaving the day before
Captain Saxe of the _Tiernan_. Captain Reid intended to go to Maraki
to take a man known as "the poisoner" over to another island,
Taravao, I think. Now Taravao is so near to Maraki that Peter Grant
had been over there in a small boat. There may have been trouble in
Maraki--certainly it was imminent--which has kept the captain, but
still it is a long time. He promised, if the schooner were lost and
he was saved, that he would make his way here somehow. In these
dangerous and uncertain waters one is easily made uneasy. Fortunately
for us, the _Tiernan_ was able to let us have some stores. Our salt
beef was finished, and we were absolutely sickened of wild chickens
shot by Ah Foo with the King's gun.
I had a little strip of coral dug out, got rotted leaves from under
a tree, put them into the hole, and into this I emptied the
half-decayed filth that was left in the onion basket. I should think
I have nearly two dozen onions now growing finely. I have invented
a salad for Louis of which he is extremely fond. In all these
islands there is one cocoanut that has a sweet husk, used for
cleaning the teeth. In Butaritari the baron often caused me great
embarrassment by chewing a brush for me. This sweet nut when green
has a little crisp portion at the stem end which I cut up and made
into salad with oil and vinegar, or rather oil and lime-juice, as
we have no vinegar. We have put out a bottle of sour toddy hoping
to get vinegar from that.
* * * * *
My diary ends here, abruptly; I had too much on my hands to find any
further time for writing diaries, for Ah Foo fell ill, and I must be
cook, purveyor, housemaid, and what not, as well as nurse. Ah Foo
announced his illness (something alarmingly like diphtheria) in
these words, "Me sick: no can work; no can cook--no good any
more--more better you kill me, now," offering Louis, as he spoke, a
large, keenly sharpened carving knife and his bared throat ready for
the sacrifice. He was severely ill for some days, needing almost
constant attention. His undisguised surprise that I would stoop to
nurse a Chinaman was pathetic, and his gratitude afterward was
sometimes shown in unexpected and embarrassing ways, as, for
instance, when he insisted on shooting several men who waked me
from an afternoon nap by singing Christmas songs beneath my window;
or when he proposed to burglariously enter a trader's house to steal
something for me that could not be procured otherwise.
It seemed a rash thing to let the _Tiernan_ sail away without us as
we had finished, not only our own supplies, but the King's also.
True, Mr. Lauterbach, the mate of the _Tiernan_, let us have several
kegs of salt beef, and Reuben (which was the nearest we could come
to pronouncing his name), the King's majordomo, had fetched three
big hawkbill turtles from another island. The turtles were for the
King's own larder, but he sent us a generous portion of each; we, of
course, divided accordingly when we opened our kegs of beef. But
these provisions would soon be finished, and if, as we each feared
but dared not say, the _Equator_ were lost, "cocoanut steaks" might
become our sole diet. Indeed, I had packed the most of our
belongings in some large camphor-wood chests ready to go on board,
and we had even chosen our bunks when a picture of Captain Reid's
face if he arrived to find us gone rose before my mind's eye.
"Louis," I suddenly whispered, "I don't want to go." Without a
question Louis immediately cancelled our passage and the _Tiernan_
sailed away without us. Not many days afterward she capsized and
sank in a very odd way. A heavy gale that had piled the sea up into
enormous waves was followed by a dead calm. The _Tiernan_, lying
quite helpless, was rolled over, further and further, until she
"turned turtle" and sank. Years after the mate, Mr. Lauterbach,
whom I had supposed to be drowned, came to see me in San Francisco.
He, he told me, with some natives, managed to turn over a boat that
floated out upside down from the schooner. With only the carcass of
the ship's pet pig which they had picked up and what rain fell from
the sky for sustenance, the boat went drifting off. I am not sure
that they had an oar, but Mr. Lauterbach caught a native
sleeping-mat that was floating on the water; the castaways took
turns in holding up this mat, which thus served as a sail. They
could not hope for a rescue in these unfrequented waters, so
Mr. Lauterbach tried to work toward an inhabited island with only
the position of sun and stars for guidance. When he did make land,
after an incredible length of time to have lived without food or
water, there were, as I remember, only himself, one man and a
demented woman left living in the boat. None of our party, except,
perhaps, Ah Foo, would have been able to endure such hardships--if,
indeed, we had not gone straight down with the schooner--the most
likely thing to happen. So it was as well that I asked to go back
to our meagre fare to await the _Equator_.
[Illustration: _"Equator Town," showing corner of the sleeping-house
and cook-house_]
_16th._--Early this morning we were lying outside the lagoon of
Apemama, just alongside the little island at the entrance. There was
no sign of life, so, after waiting awhile, a boat with Mr. Henderson,
Tin Jack, and Louis went to find out the reason. They came back with
the news that the King was away visiting his island of Kuria, so off
we started to hunt for him. Arrived at Kuria, a boat came out to tell
us that the King was ill from the sequelæ of measles; also it brought
an insulting letter to Mr. Henderson, signed by the King but written
in a white man's hand; Mr. Henderson, very angry, showed the letter
to Louis, who proposed that he should be present at the interview
with the King. To this Mr. Henderson consented. Of course we all
went on shore; Louis and Lloyd and I took our presents with us; from
Louis a chibouk, from Lloyd a filled cartridge-belt with a sheathed
dagger, mine being the King's own flag after my design. I thought it
very generous of Mr. Henderson that he advised me to keep my flag
back in case the King came on board, so we might get a better effect
by breaking his colours man-of-war fashion--this after the insulting
letter and before what promised to be a very unpleasant interview.
[Illustration: _"The Baron and Baroness," Butaritari, one of the
Gilbert Islands_]
Our black fellows pulled us across in splendid style, passing the
King's returning messenger, who made a fine though unsuccessful spurt
to catch up with us. As we rowed along the beach surprised cries
of "Pani! Pani!" (Fanny! Fanny!) ran through the _moniaps_ (native
houses) where the King's wives were sitting. The King, looking older
and thinner, received us in the native fashion with no apparent
astonishment. The presents were given, and then Lloyd and I left the
party to get their explanations over, the King smoking his chibouk the
while with great enjoyment, while the cartridge-belt hung over his
shoulder.
[Illustration: _Interior of the moniap of Tembinoka's harem_]
We soon found the _moniap_ of the harem and sat down beside the King's
mother. The women received us with fervent expressions of welcome and
pleasure. We passed through several houses on our way, and in every one
our attention was called to a "devil box" similar to one we bought from
the medicine-man at Apemama, then the only one in the three islands.
In the centre of the big _moniap_ was a circular piece of "devil work"
with a ring of sacred white shells about it. Tin Jack followed after
us, and we got him to act as interpreter. It seems they have been
suffering here severely with measles, though there were only four
deaths, two men and two women. Children escaped with slight attacks,
but grown people were very ill, the King himself being at one time very
near death. The first question put to us by the women was concerning
Louis's health; then what had we done with our devil box? I fear that
our accidental reconversion of Butaritari to Christianity[16] has
been offset by our having inadvertently strengthened these Apemamans
in their heathen superstitions. A sick foreigner comes, is cured
by means of a devil box manipulated by a "dog-star" (doctor), and
naturally he desires to possess an article so valuable, going so high
in his offers for it as the worth of a ton of copra. The foreigner is
a very clever and learned man. "He savee too much," they say. And when
measles falls upon the land the first thought is the devil box, and a
praying place for devil worship is erected in the very centre of their
_moniap_. I wish I could find out if they really worship the spirit
of evil or whether, having been enlightened by the missionaries, they
have not given their god that name. If the latter, how much better to
have accepted their god and shown them where they had mistaken his
attributes? And that reminds me that when I heard the people with the
scaly disease on the other islands erroneously called lepers I wondered
if that could have been the leprosy of the Bible that was miraculously
cured. The darkest people turn quite white when covered with the scales.
[16] Butaritari had lapsed into heathenism when we arrived there,
but, by showing a magic lantern which included some Bible pictures
among the slides, we quite unconsciously reconverted the whole
island, King and all.
But to return to Tembinoka, the King. Louis, fortunately, was able to
clear up the misunderstanding caused, no doubt, by a white man, though
the King loyally refused to give the name. Louis proposed that the
King should apologise for the insulting letter, at which his Majesty
looked very black, indeed; but when Louis told him that under the same
circumstances an English gentleman would certainly offer an apology,
his countenance cleared, the apology was handsomely made and accepted,
and so, all being well, the King proposed to go on board. We wished
some of our party to be on the ship to break out the flag at the right
moment, so hunted up our black boys who were filling bags with grass
for the ship's sheep; Mr. Hird went off with them, and the rest of
us begged permission to accompany the King, who invited us to ride
out with him to his boat in the royal litter. I was told to get in
first, then Lloyd, then Louis and Mr. Henderson together, and then his
Majesty. The black boys passed us on the way with Mr. Hird, and afraid
that the flag might be forgotten by some mischance, Mr. Henderson
shouted: "Hird, elevate the royal bunting." That was because the King
would have understood had he said: "Break the flag." The black boys put
their elegant backs into it and were in time to send up the flag in
fine style. Every one cried out in admiration; it could not have had a
better setting than the "long, low, rakish black" steamer. The King,
who steered his own boat, and was greatly pleased to learn that the
Hawaiian King was a good sailor as well as himself, had been smiling
on Louis, and Louis on him, in the most melting way. He now directed
his attention to the flag, and there was no doubt but the sight gave
him the keenest gratification. We came down to the cabin, where
"champagne was opened," and then Mr. Henderson left Louis and me alone
with the King.
The moment that Mr. Henderson was gone the apathy that in these islands
"doth hedge in a king" broke down. The dear old man clasped Louis in
one arm and me in the other and kissed us and wept over us for joy. He
told us how, day after day, he looked through his glass out over the
sea pretending to himself that he could see us coming back. Sometimes,
he said, he deluded himself so far that he beheld our very faces. This
day he had been looking out as usual and was not surprised when our
boat came near; he had seen it all like that before in his day-dreams.
Suddenly he recognised a particular dress I wore that he had given me.
"Then I felt like this," he said, making a gasping sound of surprise
and emotion--"O-o-oh!"--and pressing his hand on his breast with a
dramatic gesture. Often, he said, he made an errand over to his taro
pits that he might look upon the place where our houses had stood. "I
too much sorry," he said; "I want see you."
[Illustration: _A Marshall Island canoe_]
The time came to say good-bye until the _Janet_ came back on her return
voyage; the flag was hauled down and presented to the King, and he went
off in his boat with a very depressed countenance.
Reuben is now called "the governor." As we were sitting at dinner some
one said: "The anchor's coming up. There's a man at the port wants to
speak to you, Mr. Stevenson." We all looked up, and there, grinning
like an ape, was "Uncle Parker!" (Uncle Parker was a servant the King
had lent us when we visited him before.) He thrust as much of himself
through the port-hole as was possible, and we all climbed up and shook
hands with him. He told us that there had been further trouble with the
impudent cook, and in consequence the King had shot him. Louis gave
Uncle Parker a magnificent gift of six sticks of tobacco. The King said
he had sent us ten mats by Captain Reid. On this island is a house
of refuge, an octagon to which criminals may run. I am told that the
people have a system of palmistry.
_17th._--Maraki. We stopped at the wrong settlement, and, as men were
seen on the beach, Mr. Henderson sent a boat for them in case they
wished to go on with us to the other settlement. One was a stranger,
the other an old friend known as the "passenger".[17] We heard his
meagre news and he heard ours, and drank stout with Louis and Lloyd.
It was pleasant to meet him again. He expects to be in Samoa in a
twelvemonth. Left the silk dress, "blackee coat," and other presents
with him to forward to Maka and the Nan Toks, and I gave a gold ring
to the Hawaiian missionary for his wife. This missionary expects to
return to Honolulu on the _Morning Star_ in company with Maka, so our
presents will fall in at the right moment. Louis also sent one of his
photographs to a young Hawaiian I met under peculiar circumstances when
we were here before.[18] We stayed a very short time, and then, with
several sails set, took our way toward Jaluit. A sheep and a pig struck
attitudes and dared each other to fight--a comical sight. Both were
delighted when the strained situation was broken by a chance passerby.
The black boys are playing cards in the forecastle. Mr. Hird and
Foo-foo (black boy) sang in the evening.
[17] We were forced to kidnap "the passenger," Paul Hoeflich, a
very pleasant, agreeable German, when we were on the _Equator_.
Mr. Hoeflich had taken passage on the schooner from Butaritari
to another island, only a few miles distant, where he meant to
start business as an independent trader. All his worldly goods,
including the stuff for stocking his store, were on board the
_Equator_. It was the beginning of the bad season, and we had
continual contrary winds with heavy seas. In vain we cruised
round and round his island--we could not make a landing. We
were losing much time, so my husband informed Mr. Hoeflich
that he must join us in a trip to Samoa, our next destination.
It so fell out that Mr. Hoeflich, who had helped greatly to
lighten the tedium of a long voyage in bad weather (we arrived
at Apia in a somewhat wrecked condition, with one foretopmast
gone), took an immense liking to Samoa and remained there
instead of returning to the Gilberts. He has prospered
exceedingly and blesses the day he was kidnapped. At this
time, when we met him he had come back to the line islands
for a final arrangement of his affairs preliminary to settling
permanently in Samoa.
[18] As we neared the end of our walk we came into quite a
large village. The aspect of the people was more savage and
ugly than we had heretofore seen, the faces brutal and
unintelligent. Half-grown children, and, indeed, some more
than half-grown, were entirely naked. The young boys were
like little old men, their faces hard and their eyes haggard
and anxious. I saw one with St. Vitus's dance, several with
hydrocephalus, and a number who had affections of the
eyes. Many of the little girls had their heads entirely
shaved, with the exception of a small tassel at the nape of
the neck which gave a very curious effect. The older ones
wore their hair bushed out to a great size. Almost all wore
necklaces of braided hair with an oval bit of red or white
shell hanging to it like a locket. One haughty, impudent,
fat young fellow, evidently a beau, swaggered about with a
white handkerchief, twisted most ingenuously into a crown,
on his head. Almost all of the women wore a girdle of flat,
round beads (made of cocoanut shells) above the _ridi_.
As we walked along the village street the whole population
joined us. We stopped at the sight of a church neatly made
of wattled cocoanut leaves bearing at the peak of its front
gable a belfry of braided leaves. There was actually a bell
in this belfry which looked as though a breath would disperse
it. The floor of the church is covered with mats, which are
renewed each new year. A very odd thing was an arrangement
of strings which, inside of the building, crossed each
other with a sort of pattern just above a tall man's height.
All along these strings, at regular intervals, strips of
bright-hued calico were tied--I thought in an attempt at
ornamentation, but was told it was for a game of the
children. I should like to see the game played. Indeed, I
do not believe it to be a game. (We found afterward that
these decorations were for the purpose of propitiating
"chinch," a terrible evil spirit--the devil, in fact.) We
asked for the missionary; a fine-looking young Hawaiian
came up to us, saluting us with the pleasant "_Aloha!_"
His house was our appointed place of meeting with the
captain. The missionary, we were told, was in council
with the "old men."