to be ruled by the "old men," who meet in a body to make laws) are
really the demarcation and recording of lands; they can go back for
generations in the division of island lands. The population of Piru
is about twenty-five hundred; the police, at present, number about
one thousand men uniformed in blue jumpers, jean trousers, and a wisp
of red on the arm. There are three districts, each being patrolled at
night by the police, who call the roll of every grown person, and must
be answered. The fines go one half to the teacher (for his private
benefit) one fourth to the old men, one fourth to the police. Villiero
has seen a policeman receive no more than ten cocoanuts for a whole
year's work, and he must find his own uniform of which he is not proud.
Every portion of the island is owned and the demarcations owned. They
are a mean lot here; their fights mere broils, and very little feeling
is shown for each other. A canoe drifted away, or a man dead, is
almost instantly forgotten. Little or no sour toddy is drunk since the
missionaries came. Mr. Clark, the missionary from Samoa, told them that
on Sundays when a ship came up to the island they must allow a couple
of men to take the trader off; formerly these boatmen were always fined.
Mr. Villiero brought his wife and adopted daughter, Miss Prout, to see
me in the afternoon. It was very embarrassing, for they came laden
with gifts, and I had nothing suitable to offer in return. We had an
adoption ceremony by which I became either mother, or daughter, to
Mrs. Villiero, no one quite knew which, not even her husband. Miss
Mary Prout was quite the "young person," shy and silent. Both were
well dressed and wore European rings. Mrs. Villiero makes all her
husband's clothes. The presents consisted of a little full-rigged ship
inside a bottle, the mouth of which it could not pass. Mr. Villiero
was three weeks in making it, working all the time, a regular sailor's
present; also a large, fine mat with a deep fringe of red wool, in
very bad taste, a couple of plaited mats, a pair of shells, and an
immense packet of pandanus sweetmeat. When we met Mrs. Villiero she
threw round my neck a string of porpoise teeth, thick and long, the
preliminary to adoption. With Louis's help, Mr. Villiero made his will.
(He was afterward lost in a labour vessel--virtually a slaver--that
sank with many unfortunate natives on board as well. It was on the
way to South America.) He has a feeling that his life is not safe
here with some of the other traders, the poisoners, in fact. He told
Louis of an unfortunate affair that happened on the fourth of July.
Villiero, Briggs, and the Chinese trader made a signed bargain that
they would all buy copra at a certain fixed price, with a fine of two
hundred dollars to be paid by the one breaking the bargain. Soon all
the custom had fallen into the hands of the Chinaman. On inquiry it
came out that while the Chinaman ostensibly bought at the agreed price,
he gave a present of tobacco besides, thereby evading the letter of the
bargain. Following Briggs's foolish advice, the other traders armed
themselves to the teeth and went at night to the Chinaman's house.
Briggs and Blanchard guarded the door, while Villiero, holding a pistol
to the Chinaman's head, demanded the two hundred dollars fine. Of
course it was paid. When the missionary ship came in Villiero told this
tale to the white missionary who advised immediate restitution of the
money, and said he was bound to report the traders' conduct. I wonder
that a man of Villiero's intelligence should have been led by a person
like Briggs.
The captain is very weak, but Louis better.
_14th._--Onoatoa Island.
_15th._--At Tamana early in the morning. One of our passengers taken
on at Tom Day's island and introduced by Tom as "Captain Thomas,
this old Cinderella," went on shore with all his belongings. Another
passenger whom we are taking to Sydney made me a native drill which
will cut through the most delicate shell, or through the iron of a
boiler, or a dish, or a glass tumbler. I made holes through some red
and white bone whist counters and strung them into necklaces, really
very pretty. Since we were at Tamana before there has been a murder and
an execution. A man from another island, indignant at being worsted
in a wrestling match, watched at the church and struck a spear into
his victim, who soon died. The execution was by hanging. They dragged
the man up by the neck, then let him down to see if he was dead, then
pulled him up again only to lower him for another look, continuing this
barbarity until they were satisfied no life was left in the wretch.
_16th._--Arorai in the morning. The first thing we hear is that poor
McKenzie, the man who was starving, is dead, supposedly from a surfeit
on the soups we left him. He ate ravenously; said in reply to a
question of how he felt, "I feel full," immediately became insensible,
and so remained for three days, when he died. It did not occur to me to
warn him against overeating; soup seemed such an innocent thing; I was
afraid to let him have solid food at first.
"Cockroach," one of our black boys, has got his fingers badly crushed.
He has been crying like a child ever since. The captain still very ill;
he and I went through two medical books and both came to the conclusion
that he must be suffering from inflammation of the stomach. He says he
has been worse ever since one day when three black boys refused to
work on a Sunday. Sally Day, he says, was very impudent, and he was too
weak to knock Sally down, which fact preys on his spirits.
To-day one of the boats steered by Mr. Hird suddenly disappeared in
the surf, and Mr. Henderson at once put out for her. She had capsized
and stove a small hole in one end. Mr. Hird came dripping from his
involuntary bath. Fortunately, no one was injured but the engineer and
Mr. B---- (a passenger from Jaluit) and they only in their feelings.
They were waiting a long way down the reef when the accident happened,
and could not get another boat in time for dinner. We killed a pig
to-day, the first, our sheep being now done. Charley, passenger from
Jaluit, working his way, gave me a belt of human hair. Some natives
brought off a shark they had just killed, hoping to sell it to us for
food. Mr. Hird told a story of a shark he had seen chasing a fish. The
shark could easily catch the fish, swimming in a straight line, but
could not turn quickly, so the fish knowingly swam round and round him.
They were very near the ship when the fish jumped out of the water.
With the quickness of lightning the shark struck it with his tail
straight into his mouth. There is a swordfish here with a snout like a
spear, long and sharp, which follows the flying-fish. When the natives
are fishing they have to be on the lookout, as he jumps at them and
tries to stab them with his sword. One of our passengers knew a man
who was killed by such a stab. I forgot to mention that Tom Day told
me that during this present epidemic of measles he saw a woman buried
alive. "She was too weak to resist, so her husband just buried her";
the same sort of tale as Mr. Hird's of Penrhyn.
_17th._--Had a sharp squall in the night. Lloyd slept through it all,
his things swimming in the water. I put my head out of the port and
watched the rain-drops strike the sea, each producing a spark like a
star. It looked as though the heavens were reversed. I often find my
bath, when I take it after dark, blazing like liquid fireworks. The
weather continues bad, and we are rolling a good deal. Louis much
better; the captain very weak and ill. Lloyd's leg, hurt on the reef
at Tin Jack's island, shows uncomfortable symptoms. I suppose I should
burn it out, but it requires courage to perform that operation.
_18th._--Arrived at Vanumea at ten o'clock. Left at nightfall under
sealed orders, steering S.S.W.
_24th._--First thing in the morning sighted Eromango about fifteen
miles away, and a little later, Tanna. Eromango is the place where the
missionary John Williams (always spoken of as "the martyr Williams")
was killed by the natives.
Some time ago a good deal of amusement was got from discussions
concerning the mango and the proper way to eat it. Mr. Stoddard said it
should be eaten with a spoon, which is impossible. We soon discovered
that he had confused the mango with the barbadine, though he would not
confess it. One evening when the bread was underbaked I pressed the
crumb into the semblance of a spoon and solemnly presented it to him
as a "mango spoon." This morning I found a large pumpkin hanging up to
ripen. I borrowed it from the cook, and Mr. Hird and I tied it up in an
enormous parcel, while Louis wrote out a card in printing letters to go
with it.
For Walter Stoddard Esq.,
--One Mango--
With the fond love of the
inhabitants of Eromango.
(This is gathered, with a spoon, from the finest mango swamp in the
island. But beware of the fate of the martyr Williams, who died from
trying to eat one with too short a spoon. O mango and do likewise.)
To make the presentation scene more impressive, I made a pair of false
eyes to be worn like spectacles by hooking wire round the edges of
a very large pair of green cat's-eye opercula, which Mr. Henderson
donned at the appearance of the pumpkin. The parcel was brought in at
dinner by the chief steward with the assurance that it had come off in
a boat from Eromango, sent by the people of the island. Anything more
truly diabolical than the expression of the cat's-eyes cannot be well
conceived. I chose very clear, dark ones, with a well-marked white ring
on one side, which I made the upper, so that the eyes were apparently
starting from their sockets with fiendish surprise and malevolence.
_25th._--Mare Island, Loyalty group; lay off the Sarcelle passage all
night, about forty-five miles from Noumea, our first civilised port and
the last we shall make until we reach the end of our cruise at Sydney.
A large, most strange, and picturesque island. At first sight it seemed
only desolate cliffs and terraces. Here and there at wide intervals a
tree, very tall and close-growing, stood up straight like a needle. As
we drew nearer, however, enchanting little bays began to open up. We
could make out groves of cocoa-palms and the needle trees clustered
together, making a curious edging to the cliffs. In one of these bays
was the mission station; we could see the white wooden house smothered
in trees, the plantation of palms following the indentations of the
shore-line, and stretching far back to the white and coloured cliffs
that ran up into the precipitous hills. In a niche on a cliff side was
a great statue of the Virgin, dazzling white in the sun. Before the
mission house ran a broad, smooth beach. We could distinguish many
people standing there, and a fine large boat.
_26th._--At half past one, Noumea. A succession of the most lovely bays
began to open up as we steamed nearer. The surf runs out some forty
miles and is studded with small islands, some like little hills rising
from the sea, and some miniature low islands fringed with cocoa-palms.
We all don the clothes of civilisation to go on shore, looking very
strange to each other.
TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:
Obvious printer errors have been corrected. Otherwise, the author's
original spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been left intact.