passengers--all the King's wives and body-guard and retainers
generally--and steamed down to Apemama flying the royal ensign at the
main truck. The whole ship, every plank of her, covered at night with
sleeping natives. Among the rest were babies and three dogs, the
latter with strange, glassy, white eyes. The King's favourite wife
had a snub-nosed puppy, which, when it became restless and whined,
she put to her breast and suckled. All the head women had their devil
boxes, taking the greatest care of them. They consulted me about ours
through every interpreter they could find. They always referred to
the box indirectly; the interpreter would be told first to ask if I
had not carried away from Apemama something very precious. Upon my
answering that I had, questions were then put as to its whereabouts,
etc. Louis and I were talking to the King on a different matter in
which the escape of hissing steam was mentioned. His Majesty jumped
to the conclusion that we were speaking of the devil box, and assured
us that we need feel no alarm when the shell inside (representing the
devil, Tiaporo) made a noise. We had only to give it a very small
bit of tobacco and that would settle him. He thought it a good sign,
and that the shell was in proper mediumistic order when Tiaporo was
noisy, though he confessed it would be better if we had a "dog-star"
handy. A quarter of an hour later all the King's women were in a state
of ferment concerning our devil box, the news of Tiaporo's behaviour
causing the most excited comments.
[Illustration: _Harem and little son of King Tembinoka on board the
"Janet Nichol," passing from Aranuka to Apemama_]
The getting on board of the people was a wild affair of noise and
confusion. Boat after boat was unladen, and piles of the most
extraordinary household goods blocked up every space that should have
been kept clear; at least twenty-five large zinc pails came from one
boat. There were sewing-machines, large rosewood musical boxes, axes
and spades, cutlasses, unwieldy bag pillows, every conceivable sort of
bag and basket, cocoanut shells of toddy syrup, and shells of water;
old nuts, new nuts, every sort of nut; also large packages of the
native pudding (giant taro pounded up with pandanus syrup and cocoanut
milk, baked underground in taro leaves), and piles of neatly done up
sticks of what we call sweet sawdust, made of the beaten pandanus
nut. There were camphor-wood chests of every size, and mat packages
without end. One woman was trying in vain to find a place for her ear
piercer, a stick of hard, black seaweed, some two feet long, tapering
from the circumference of a couple of inches in the middle to a smooth,
sharp point at either end; round each side of the centre, where it was
intended the hand should grasp it, was a ring of yellow feathers worked
with human hair; these looked just the same as the royal Hawaiian
feathers--also those on the peace spears I got at Savage Island--but I
have never seen the bird that produces them.
Our black boys are almost insane with excitement and "Tom Sawyered"
to such a degree, showing off before the court ladies, that it was a
wonder and mercy none were killed. When they were raising the boats to
the davits, Louis said they were upside down more often than not, doing
herculean feats of strength. The harem ladies were gathered together
aft and a tapu placed round them. Ladies of a lower station found what
places pleased them best and had a much gayer time than the great
ones, for the black boys sang, and danced, and shouted with merriment
the whole night through. The very old ladies of high rank--the King's
mother, hopelessly drunk on gin, which she carried everywhere with
her, the King's aunt, and one or two others--spent the night on the
captain's bridge. The people all showed the utmost affection for us,
our old friend and servant "Snipe" in particular. ("Snipe" was one of
three slave girls lent us by Tembinoka when we lived at Apemama, in
Equator Town. The other two we called Stodge and Fatty.) She would
seize every opportunity to get beside me, when she would smooth my
hair, fondle my hands, and alternately put her arm round my waist and
poke me in the ribs with her elbows, giggling sentimentally the while.
Quite late at night Uncle Parker sneaked down to the saloon and
squatted on the floor with a kindly grin. He was not in the least
surprised nor offended when Louis hustled him out. I had not had the
heart to do it myself, as I should.
Among the rest of the people was a man who had known us in Butaritari;
he gave us full news of our Cowtubs[21] there. Tembinoka's governor,
whom we had known as Reuben, who now says his name is Raheboam, begged
that I would speak to the King and ask that he might go away with us. I
assured him that it would be useless; the King could not afford to part
with a man of his talents and acquirements, which is quite true. In the
forecastle were the unfortunate exiles of Piru, among them our "Boat's
crew" looking very pretty and pert but grown no larger. Some years ago,
I do not know how many, a large party of the natives of Piru, thinking
to see the world, bought return tickets from the Wightman line to
one of the other islands. They were warned that they must take their
chances of a schooner going back to their own place. No schooner did;
but they were carried on from island to island, each trip getting a
little nearer home. The boy called "Boat's crew" had been a servant of
ours at Apemama, one of their halting places. They are to be taken
on to Nanouti, a station so much the nearer home. An old man who was
anxious to die on his native soil is still living and looks a hundred
years old, his head entirely bald except for a tuft at the nape of his
neck.
[21] Retainers
_5th._--At Apemama, landing the court. Tin Jack had to sell a pet canoe
he was taking to his station to the King, who insisted on having it. It
cost five dollars and the King gave twenty for it; so, as a commercial
speculation, it was no loss. When the King came on board this morning
he laid a fine mat on my lap.
Later a great wailing arose from the forward deck. A woman who had
taken possession of another woman's husband was being sent away with
her people of the Piru party, and conceived it her duty to have an
attack of nerves. She did not do it so well as they manage in France,
but it was of the same order, and reasonably creditable. Her hysterical
kicking and choking cries, when held back by her companions from
drowning herself, was the most effective part of the performance. She
soon gave it up, probably because of the lack of interest shown by the
bystanders.
[Illustration: _Dance at Apemama_]
In the evening we had a farewell dinner with Tin Jack, champagne,
toasts, speeches, etc. At night a party went on shore with fireworks;
Mr. Henderson answered with a display from the ship. As I was watching
them I overheard a conversation between a white fireman and our cook
about the dangers of the land. "Why, one of my mates," said the
fireman, "got lost in the bush once, and it was a whole day before he
got a drink of water. I wouldn't take the chance of that for all the
money you could give me." I reminded him that wrecked sailors had been
known to suffer from thirst; he had never thought of that, he said, but
anyhow it didn't seem the same. The fireworks were very successful,
and I think pleased our black boys more than any one else. The ship
rang with their shouts and musical, girlish laughter. All afternoon
they had been scraping the ship's sides under water; it looked very
odd to see them kicking like frogs and working at the same time; yet,
after all this, they were ready for more dancing and songs. Louis and
I agreed that we would willingly pay a high price for only Sally Day's
superfluous energy to use at our discretion. All these men are from
cannibal islands, but do not like that fact referred to. When Mr. Hird
teases them about it they declare they were mere infants when they were
taken away and can remember nothing about the savage customs of their
people.
_6th._--Off Apemama, our black boys lying in a row under the awning,
one reading the Bible (it was Sunday) and another playing hymns on an
accordion. The King took breakfast with us, and we bade him good-bye,
not so sadly as before, because now we have some hope of seeing him
again.
_7th._--Nanouti first thing in the morning. Went on shore after
breakfast to "Billy Jones's cousin's" place where British colours were
flying. Tin Jack wished to be photographed in his new place in the
midst of his new surroundings, so we had the camera with us. Lloyd and
I wandered about and were astonished at the number of houses we saw
piled up with dried cocoanuts not yet made into copra. We were told
that a famine was feared and these nuts were stored as provisions.
Speaking of provisions, we were struck by the difference in the
condition of our Piru friends since we were fellow passengers with them
on the schooner _Equator_. Then they were in the most abject poverty,
hardly a mat among them, no food, only a few shells of water and a few
old nuts. When we took them off Apemama they came as rich people, with
bundles of fine mats, stacks of "sawdust" food and dried pandanus
fruit (very good, tasting like dried figs) and quantities, generally,
of the best food produced in Apemama. The people all have cotton-print
clothing as well as fine _ridis_ and baskets full of tobacco with
plenty of pipes.
While Lloyd and I were walking about in Nanouti, Tin Jack went back
to the ship quite oblivious of the fact that we were left prisoners
on account of the tide, for the entire day. When we arrived we had to
take down part of the wall of a fishing ground to land at the house. We
left the ship at ten and were tired, hungry, and very cross at being
so deserted. Lloyd finally went off to try and find a canoe, hoping
to reach the ship in that way and get something for me to eat. I had
got very wet in crossing the surf in our own boat and was dressed in
a filthy gown and chemise lent me by a native woman. I asked for a
dry gown when I arrived and the woman gave me one she had cast off;
I did not know what to do, as it was quite transparent, so I had to
stay in the inner room. Tin Jack, hearing of this, demanded a chemise
for me. The woman removed the one she was wearing, in a dark corner,
folded it up, and then pretended to take it out of a trunk which she
opened for the purpose. After this piece of either pride or delicacy
I felt bound to put it on. As my head ached, I lay down on a mat,
with an indescribably filthy pillow under my head, and tried to sleep.
The people of the house, some twenty in number, came in every few
moments to look at me; if the children made a noise they were smacked,
thereupon bawling loudly enough to raise the roof, and occasionally a
crowd of outside children would be beaten from the house with howls
and yells. I never saw so much "discipline" administered before in any
of the islands. Outside my window a child was steadily smacked for
crying for at least half an hour. I actually did fall asleep once, but
was quickly awakened by a savage dog fight just under where I lay, the
house standing high on piles. This house, belonging to the trader,
was one of the best I had seen, containing four rooms separated by
stockades, with a lofty, airy roof, while along the shady side ran a
neat veranda. The whole house was tied together with sennit the sides
and ends thatched as well as the roof.
Lloyd, having searched for about an hour and a half, had found a canoe,
and a native willing to take him off for the high price of ten sticks
of tobacco. In the meantime, Tin Jack, awakening to a sense of the
enormity of his behaviour, had dispatched another canoe from the ship
with some sandwiches, a tin of sardines (useless with no tin opener),
and a bottle of stout without a corkscrew. When Lloyd discovered this,
he would not wait a moment, but tried to get back to me. In spite of
all he could do, he was landed in the surf some two miles short of
where I was. He struggled along the reef, sometimes knocked down by the
surf and most of the time up to his armpits in water. He had on shoes
of leather which became water-logged, and the nails, coming loose, tore
the soles of his feet, adding to the difficulty of walking. He also cut
his ankle on the reef and grazed his leg, both serious things to have
happen here. (A scratch from dead coral is apt to cause blood-poisoning
and is greatly feared. The captain of a man-of-war was said to have
lost his leg in this way.) There was also the fear in his mind that,
thinking he had landed, I might have given my leavings to the natives.
I really cannot imagine why I did not; I several times made a movement
to do so and then something distracted my attention. It was quite dark
before the ship's boat could get in for us, and very chill. Tin Jack,
most eager in his apologies, had a bad quarter of an hour.
A cat, I hear, has been added to our ship's company. At Majuro a man
who had been shipwrecked there, and was taken on board the _Janet_ for
Sydney, had a pet cat. One of the sailors found her swimming round the
ship trying to climb up the steep sides. An oar was put out for her and
she climbed in, almost drowned.
I begged a fish from one of the black boys, and with a nut, a pinch
of cayenne pepper, an old dried lemon, and some sea water, I made
"miti" sauce and gave Louis a nice dish of raw fish for his dinner. He
relished it very much, and ate all I prepared.[22]
[22] Raw fish may seem a strange delicacy for a sick man, but,
properly prepared, there is nothing better than fresh raw mullet. I
first learned this in Tautira, a lovely native village on the "wild
side" of Tahiti. My husband was alarmingly ill with pneumonia, and
had sunk into a state of coma. There was no way to reach
civilisation except by means of our yacht, the _Casco_--and the
_Casco_--was gone to Papeete to have her masts repaired. Crushed by
this catastrophe I was gazing stupidly out over the village green,
trying to gather my wits together, when my attention was distracted
for a moment by the spectacle of a tall, graceful, native woman
entering the house of the chief of Tautira, amid the acclamations
of a great crowd. I vaguely remembered that for many days there had
been preparations making for an expected visit from Moe, "the great
princess." In about half an hour there was a tap at our door; there
stood Moe with a plate of raw fish prepared with miti sauce.
Speaking perfect English, she told me that she had heard there was
a sick foreigner in the village whose wife was troubled because he
would not eat, so, she said, she had made this dish herself, and
if we could only get him to taste it he would eat more, and
convalescence would follow immediately. At first Louis turned his
head to one side wearily without opening his eyes, but by the
advice of the princess I slipped a morsel between his lips; to my
surprise he swallowed the bit, then another, and finally opened
his eyes and asked: "What's that?" Several times a day the
princess came with her plate of fish and miti sauce, which was
soon eagerly watched for and devoured by my invalid, and within
the week Louis had so far recovered as to be able to walk over to
the chief's house, where we took up our abode with him and Moe.
The raw fish, as prepared in Tahiti, instead of being revolting
in appearance, as one might imagine, is as pleasing to the sight as
to the taste. The fresh white meat of the mullet is cut into neat
little strips about half an inch wide and a couple of inches long
and laid side by side on a plate--of course it is carefully freed
from skin and bones--and covered with miti sauce. Miti sauce is
made of milk pressed from cocoanut meats (an entirely different
thing from the refreshing water of the green drinking nut), mixed
with about one third the quantity of lime-juice, a few tiny bits
of the wild red pepper, and a little sea water. This sauce seems
to cook the fish, which takes on a curdled look, and curls up a
little at the edges as though it had just been boiled.
_8th._--Remained all day and left at night. A long reef, and much
trouble in getting Tin Jack's things clear of the ship. Heard the
labour brig _Cito_ had been landing rifles and cartridges. Tin Jack
gone; he left late in the afternoon, the boat taking him to the reef,
where we could see him being carried over it on a native's back. There
were still fifty bags of copra to come on board; these were packed out
to the boat on the backs of natives and our black boys. Mr. Henderson
gave Tin Jack two black pigs and a very fine, handsome mat; I gave him
a supply of medicines carefully labelled, and a pillow with an extra
case. When we left we blew the steam-whistle in farewell, burned a blue
light, and let off two rockets, to which he responded with a rocket
from the shore. One of our rockets was let off by the captain (who is
quite ill) on the bridge. It shot at us and fire was sputtering all
about the bridge, to our terror. A woman has been following me about
all day trying to get me to adopt her little half-caste boy. She tried
to bribe me with a mat, which in the end she gave me as a present. I
gave her a bottle of scent. Everybody bargaining for shells, even the
black boys and Mr. Stoddard, the engineer. When the boat returned from
landing Tin Jack it brought me from him an immense spear, very old and
curious.[23]
[23] Tin Jack came to a sad end. He possessed a certain fixed
income, which, however, was not large enough for Jack's ideas, so
he spent most of the year as a South Sea trader, using the whole of
his year's income in one wild burst of dissipation in the town of
Sydney. One of his favourite amusements was to hire a hansom cab for
the day, put the driver inside, and drive the vehicle himself,
calling upon various passers-by to join him at the nearest public
house. Some years ago when Jack was at his station he received word
that his trustee, who was in charge of his property, had levanted
with it all. Whereupon poor Jack put a pistol to his head and blew
out what brains he possessed. He was a beautiful creature, terribly
annoying at times, but with something childlike and appealing--I
think he was close to what the Scotch call a natural--that made one
forgive pranks in him that would be unforgivable in others. He was
very proud of being the original of "Tommy Hadden" in the "Wrecker,"
and carried the book wherever he went.
_9th._--Piru. I am disgusted by the apathy of our exiles. Except one
woman, they did not even raise their heads to look on their native
land. There was no excitement, no appearance of interest. The Samoan
missionary and friends of his, all well-dressed, superior-looking
people, came on board. The missionary demanded, in a high and mighty
way, that paper, and envelopes, and pen and ink be brought him. Lloyd
was working the typewriter to my dictation, which amused them all
extremely. Mr. Clark, the missionary from Samoa, has just been here. To
our disappointment we have missed him by only twenty-four hours. He
has gone, they say, to Apemama, to try and persuade the King to allow
them to land a missionary. I think he will not succeed. The King fears
the power missionaries get over the people. The traders have also been
on board, the braggart Briggs and a Mr. Villiero from the Argentine
Republic. Mr. Villiero's father was Italian, his mother Tyrolese. He
seems an intelligent, pleasant fellow, and I talked a long time with
him. A few years ago, he tells me, a man died on this island who was
once secretary to Rajah Brooke. He asked to bring his wife and his
adopted daughter, a half-caste Tahitian named Prout, to see me.
I was talking to the two traders to-day when Briggs said that he used
to carry the lepers from Honolulu to Molokai. "Did he know Father
Damien?" I asked. After much searching in his memory, at last he said
he did. "A Catholic priest he was, who seemed to be all right when I
knew him, but some pretty ugly stories have come out about him since in
Honolulu, I understand." I gave them Louis's pamphlet without a word
more.
The tides very low; there is a good deal of copra here, and our black
boys worked last night until two in the morning, and to-night they
expect to be up still later. One of the black boys is ill with a sore
throat, headache, and diarrhoea. We gave him some castor-oil and
laudanum, not knowing what else to do. The captain very weak, indeed,
with intense headache, sickness, and an intolerable burning in his
stomach. There is an odd dryness of his skin, not like fever. He has
taken no nourishment but barley-water for days. Louis is better, the
hæmorrhage having stopped.
_10th._--Still lying off Piru. Mr. Hird came back yesterday with
a sickening account of the man Blanchard who was supposed to be
implicated in what was called "the Jim Byron poisoning case." Blanchard
has contracted some terrible disease which makes it necessary for him
to lift up his eyelids with his fingers when he wishes to look at
one, and has swelled his nose to a monstrous size. Blanchard is, he
says, an American, and when he first met the man, some years ago, had
some pretentions of being a gentleman, but has now fallen to a state
of degradation that is horrible. Blanchard spoke of the murder and
confessed that he knew it was to be done and that he was there when it
was done.
_11th._--Still at Piru at ten o'clock P.M. Mr. Villiero has come on
board with his wife, a handsome young woman, to whom I gave a wreath,
some lollies for the children (all adopted, her own being dead), and a
piece of lace. A little later Mr. Hird brought in several traders and
gave them luncheon.
Lifting anchor.
_12th._--Left Piru last night, arriving at Noukanau this morning. We
carry with us a native man, as an exile, to this island. The Samoan
native missionaries told their people that for certain crimes it was
allowable to kill the offender. Such a case occurred, and the guilty
person, who richly deserved his fate, was put to death. Then the
native missionaries said that the taking of life called for capital
punishment. Fortunately, at this juncture, a white missionary from
Samoa appeared in the missionary ship, and it was arranged that the
avenger be exiled for an indefinite period. As this man has large
possessions in Noukanau, it is to be hoped that he may not experience
much discomfort. He is a fine-looking, respectable man of early middle
age and had his family with him.
The ship all morning has been filled with crowds of natives (among them
the inevitable leper with elephantiasis), all chattering like monkeys.
I have bought from them three pronged shark's-tooth spears, one for
a striped undershirt, the other two for a couple of patterns apiece
of cotton print. I also bought a mat with rows of openwork running
through it, just like hemstitching, and for a florin I got an immense
necklace of human teeth. A little while ago, in some of these islands,
especially Maraki, a good set of teeth was a dangerous possession, as
many people were murdered for them. I trust mine were honestly come
by--at least taken in open warfare.
Last evening our pigs fought like dogs, biting each other and rushing
about the deck like mad. The noise they made was more like barking
than grunting or squealing. The cook has cut his leg; Mr. Hird has a
bad cold; the engineer, Mr. Stoddard, is sneezing, and Louis feels
as though he had caught the cold also; the captain still very bad;
he caught more cold last night. Lloyd's wounds, from the reef on Tin
Jack's island much better. I bound them with soap and sugar first and
then covered them with iodoform.
We have been to two settlements to-day and are now returning to the
first. At the second Tom Day came on board and had a meal; also Captain
Smith. Our coal is very low; hardly any left, in fact, and we are all
burning with curiosity as to where we are going next--to the Hebrides,
Fiji--or perhaps to Brisbane. Spent the evening talking to Tom Day. He
told many tales of Bishop Patterson and of hunts for necklace teeth.
A father who has good teeth often leaves them as a heritage to his
children. They are worth a great deal--or were. He has known many
murders for teeth. My necklace seems a gruesome possession.
_13th._--Left Noukanau in the morning; arrived at Piru at eleven
o'clock; left at one, Monday morning, for Onoatoa. Louis had a long
talk there with Frank Villiero. Land here is divided into large and
small lots; the large, one and a half acres, the small, half an acre.
There are never any smaller divisions. A large lot is quite enough
for a family to live on. Some great families own many lots and have
picked as many as fifteen hundred nuts in one month. Pieces of land
are confiscated for theft, or murder, by those who suffer loss through
the crime. A piece of land so taken from a murderer can be regained
by the criminal pouring a bottle of oil over the body of the man he
has murdered. But this is never done if the person fined bears malice
or enmity toward the dead man. The island was formerly in a far more
prosperous state owing to the fact that a large proportion of the
inhabitants were then kept as slaves.