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diff --git a/40010-0.txt b/40010-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9c324a5 --- /dev/null +++ b/40010-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8464 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40010 *** + +SUMMER CRUISING IN THE SOUTH SEAS + +BY THE SAME AUTHOR + +Post 8vo, cloth, gilt top, 6s. net. + +THE ISLAND OF TRANQUIL DELIGHTS + +"After a lapse of many years the author of 'Summer Cruising in the South +Seas' presents the public with another series of South-Sea idyls. Of the +first collection Emerson said--'I do not think that one who can write so +well will find it easy to leave off.' The prophecy has come true. +'Summer Cruising in the South Seas' has become a classic in American +literature, and the sequel bids fair to attain rank alongside of it. One +might fitly describe it, in Mr. Kipling's words, as 'a very tropic of +colour and fragrance.' There is a haunting quality about these idyls +that must make them live in the hearts of all who read them. They are +full of charming word-pictures and of exquisite touches which tell of +dream life in fairyland--among the lightest, sweetest, wildest, freshest +things that have been written about the life of these 'summer isles of +Eden.'"--_Glasgow Herald_. + +"A pretty book with a pretty title. Glimpses of Paradise he gives in +these tropic pictures, and with something of idyllic grace he presents +them."--_Westminster Gazette_. + +"Delightful sketches and stories."--_Times_. + +"Written in a leisurely style, and possessing a certain elusive +atmospheric style of their own.... There is charm here, and that of a +kind not often to be found in modern fiction.... 'The Island of Tranquil +Delights' should be read."--_Standard._ + +"Altogether charming.... It is a book for quiet half-hours."--_Daily +Mail_. + +"A delightful book--more than fascinating. After having read the book +for the stories, one reads it again for the style."--_Travellers' +Magazine_. + +"A collection of idealistic sketches.... The author conveys the +languorous beauty of the region very vividly, and the book is attractive +for the contrast that it offers to the familiar ways of +civilisation."--_Morning Post_. + +LONDON: CHATTO & WINDUS, 111 ST. MARTIN'S LANE, W. C. + + * * * * * + + + + +SOUTH-SEA IDYLS + +·SUMMER CRUISING IN THE SOUTH SEAS· + +BY CHARLES WARREN STODDARD + +A NEW IMPRESSION + +LONDON CHATTO & WINDUS 1905 + + + + +PREFACE. + + +THE experiences recorded in this volume are the result of four summer +cruises among the islands of the Pacific. + +The simple and natural life of the islander beguiles me; I am at home +with him; all the rites of savagedom find a responsive echo in my heart; +it is as though I recollected something long forgotten; it is like a +dream dimly remembered, and at last realized; it must be that the +untamed spirit of some aboriginal ancestor quickens my blood. + +I have sought to reproduce the atmosphere of a people who are +wonderfully imaginative and emotional; they nourish the first symptoms +of an affinity, and revel in the freshness of an affection as brief and +blissful as a honeymoon. + +With them "love is enough," and it is not necessarily one with the +sexual passion: their life is sensuous and picturesque, and is incapable +of a true interpretation unless viewed from their own standpoint. + +To them our civilization is a cross, the blessed promises of which are +scarcely sufficient to compensate for the pain of bearing it, and they +are inclined to look upon our backslidings with a spirit of profound +forbearance. + +Among them no laws are valid save Nature's own, but they abide +faithfully by these. + +His lordship's threadbare New Zealander sitting upon a crumbling arch of +London Bridge, recently restored, and finding too late that he had +forestalled his mission, would know my feelings as I offer this plea for +his tribe; and any one who instinctively lags in the march of progress, +and marks the decay of nature; any one to whom the highly educated +grasshopper is a burden, must see that my case is critical. + +Yet in imagination I may, at the shortest notice, return to the seagirt +arena of my adventures, and restore my unregenerated soul. + +Limited flagons cannot stay me, neither will small apples comfort me; I +have eaten of the tree of life, my spirit is full-fledged, and when I +take wing I feel the earth sinking beneath me; the mountains crumble, +the clouds crouch under me, the waters rise and flow out to the horizon; +across my breast the sunbeams brush, leaving half their gold behind +them; seas upon seas fill up the hollow of the universe; I soar into +eternity, blue wastes below me, blue wastes above me. The stars only to +mark the upper strata of space. + +Day after day I wing my tireless flight, and the past is forgotten in +the radiance of the dawning future. + +Land at last! A green islet sails within the compass of my vision: land +at last! Crumbs of earth, fragments of paradise, litter the broad sea +like strewn leaves. A myriad reefs and shoals wreathe the blue +hemisphere; the moan of surfs rises like a grand anthem, the fragrance +of tropic bowers ascends like incense; I pause in my giddy flight, and +sink into the bosom of the dusk. + +Sunset transfigures the earth; the woods are rosy with glowing bars of +light; long shadows float upon the waves like weeds; gardens of sea +grass rock for ever between daylight and darkness, tinted with changeful +lights. + +I know the songs of those distant lands; there have I sought and found +unbroken rest; again I return to you, my beloved South, and after many +days of storm and shine, I touch upon your glimmering shores, flushed +with the renewal of my passionate love for you. + +Again I dive beneath your coral caves; again I thread the sunless depths +of your unfading forests; and there, finally, I hope to fold my drooping +wings, where the flowers breathe heavily and fountains tinkle within the +solitude of your moonlit ivory chambers. + +Oh, literary death, where is thy sting, while this happy hunting-ground +awaits me! + +In the singularly expressive tongue of my barbarian brother, + + Aloha oe! Love to you! + + + + +CONTENTS. + + _Page_ + +IN THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP 13 + +CHUMMING WITH A SAVAGE:-- + + I. KÁNA-ANÁ 29 + + II. HOW I CONVERTED MY CANNIBAL 45 + + III. BARBARIAN DAYS 56 + +TABOO.--A FÊTE DAY IN TAHITI 76 + +JOE OF LAHAINA 103 + +THE NIGHT-DANCERS OF WAIPIO 117 + +PEARL-HUNTING IN THE POMOTOUS 133 + +THE LAST OF THE GREAT NAVIGATOR 154 + +A CANOE CRUISE IN THE CORAL SEA 167 + +UNDER A GRASS ROOF 178 + +MY SOUTH-SEA SHOW 182 + +THE HOUSE OF THE SUN 198 + +THE CHAPEL OF THE PALMS 215 + +KAHÉLE 231 + +LOVE-LIFE IN A LANAI 252 + +IN A TRANSPORT 267 + +A PRODIGAL IN TAHITI 287 + +AN AFTERGLOW 314 + + +THE COCOA-TREE. + + Cast on the water by a careless hand, + Day after day the winds persuaded me: + Onward I drifted till a coral tree + Stayed me among its branches, where the sand + Gathered about me, and I slowly grew, + Fed by the constant sun and the inconstant dew. + + The sea-birds build their nests against my root, + And eye my slender body's horny case, + Widowed within this solitary place; + Into the thankless sea I cast my fruit; + Joyless I thrive, for no man may partake + Of all the store I bear and harvest for his sake. + + No more I heed the kisses of the morn; + The harsh winds rob me of the life they gave; + I watch my tattered shadow in the wave, + And hourly droop and nod my crest forlorn, + While all my fibres stiffen and grow numb + Beck'ning the tardy ships, the ships that never come. + + + + +SUMMER CRUISING IN THE SOUTH SEAS. + + + + +IN THE CRADLE OF THE DEEP. + + +Forty days in the great desert of the sea,--forty nights camped under +cloud canopies, with the salt dust of the waves drifting over us. +Sometimes a Bedouin sail flashed for an hour upon the distant horizon, +and then faded, and we were alone again; sometimes the west, at sunset, +looked like a city with towers, and we bore down upon its glorified +walls, seeking a haven; but a cold grey morning dispelled the illusion, +and our hearts sank back into the illimitable sea, breathing a long +prayer for deliverance. + +Once a green oasis blossomed before us,--a garden in perfect bloom, +girded about with creaming waves; within its coral cincture pendulous +boughs trailed in the glassy waters; from its hidden bowers spiced airs +stole down upon us; above all the triumphant palm-trees clashed their +melodious branches like a chorus with cymbals; yet from the very gates +of this paradise a changeful current swept us onward, and the happy isle +was buried in night and distance. + +In many volumes of adventure I had read of sea perils: I was at last to +learn the full interpretation of their picturesque horrors. Our little +craft, the "Petrel," had buffeted the boisterous waves for five long +weeks. Fortunately, the bulk of her cargo was edible: we feared neither +famine nor thirst. Moreover, in spite of the continuous gale that swept +us out of our reckoning, the "Petrel" was in excellent condition, and, +as far as we could judge, we had no reason to lose confidence in her. It +was the grey weather that tried our patience and found us wanting; it +was the unparalleled pitching of the ninety-ton schooner that +disheartened and almost dismembered us. And then it was wasting time at +sea. Why were we not long before at our journey's end? Why were we not +threading the vales of some savage island, and reaping our rich reward +of ferns and shells and gorgeous butterflies? + +The sea rang its monotonous changes,--fair weather and foul, days like +death itself, followed by days full of the revelations of new life, but +mostly days of deadly dulness, when the sea was as unpoetical as an +eternity of cold suds and blueing. + +I cannot always understand the logical fitness of things, or, rather, I +am at a loss to know why some things in life are so unfit and illogical. +Of course, in our darkest hour, when we were gathered in the confines of +the "Petrel's" diminutive cabin, it was our duty to sing psalms of hope +and cheer, but we didn't. It was a time for mutual encouragement: very +few of us were self-sustaining, and what was to be gained by our +combining in unanimous despair? + +Our weather-beaten skipper,--a thing of clay that seemed utterly +incapable of any expression whatever, save in the slight facial +contortion consequent to the mechanical movement of his lower jaw,--the +skipper sat, with barometer in hand, eyeing the fatal finger that +pointed to our doom; the rest of us were lashed to the legs of the +centre-table, glad of any object to fix our eyes upon, and nervously +awaiting a turn in the state of affairs, that was then by no means +encouraging. + +I happened to remember that there were some sealed letters to be read +from time to time on the passage out, and it occurred to me that one of +the times had come--perhaps the last and only--wherein I might break the +remaining seals, and receive a sort of parting visit from the fortunate +friends on shore. + +I opened one letter and read these prophetic lines: "Dear child,"--she +was twice my age, and privileged to make a pet of me,--"Dear child, I +have a presentiment that we shall never meet again in the flesh." + +The poor girl's knowledge of past times was almost too much for me. I +shuddered where I sat, overcome with remorse. It was enough that I had +turned my back on her and sought consolation in the treacherous bosom of +the ocean; that, having failed to find the spring of immortal life in +human affection, I had packed up and emigrated, content to fly the ills +I had in search of change; but that parting shot, below the water-line +as it were,--that was more than I asked for, and something more than I +could stomach. I returned to watch with the rest of our little company, +who clung about the table with a pitiful sense of momentary security, +and an expression of pathetic condolence on every countenance, as though +each was sitting out the last hours of the others. + +Our particular bane that night was a crusty old sea-dog whose memory of +wrecks and marine disasters of every conceivable nature was as complete +as an encyclopædia. This "old man of the sea" spun his tempestuous yarn +with fascinating composure, and the whole company was awed into silence +with the haggard realism of his narrative. The cabin must have been +air-tight, it was as close as possible, yet we heard the shrieking of +the wind as it tore through the rigging, and the long hiss of the waves +rushing past us with lightning speed. Sometimes an avalanche of foam +buried us for a moment, and the "Petrel" trembled like a living thing +stricken with sudden fear; we seemed to be hanging on the crust of a +great bubble that was, sooner or later, certain to burst, and let as +drop into its vast black chasm, where, in Cimmerian darkness, we should +be entombed for ever. + +The scenic effect, as I then considered, was unnecessarily vivid; as I +now recall it, it seems to me strictly in keeping and thoroughly +dramatic. At any rate, you might have told us a dreadful story with +almost fatal success. + +I had still one letter left, one bearing this suggestive legend: "To be +read in the saddest hour." Now, if there is a sadder hour in all time +than the hour of hopeless and friendless death, I care not to know of +it. I broke the seal of my letter, feeling that something charitable and +cheering would give me strength. A few dried leaves were stored within +it. The faint fragrance of summer bowers reassured me: somewhere in the +blank world of waters there was land, and there Nature was kind and +fruitful; out over the fearful deluge this leaf was borne to me in the +return of the invisible dove my heart had sent forth in its extremity. A +song was written therein, perhaps a song of triumph. I could now silence +the clamorous tongue of our sea-monster, who was glutting us with tales +of horror, for a jubilee was at hand, and here was the first note of its +trumpets. + +I read:-- + + "Beyond the parting and the meeting, + I shall be soon; + Beyond the farewell and the greeting, + Beyond the pulse's fever-beating, + I shall be soon." + +I paused. A night black with croaking ravens, brooding over a slimy +hulk, through whose warped timbers the sea oozed,--that was the sort of +picture that rose before me. I looked further for a crumb of comfort:-- + + "Beyond the gathering and the strewing, + I shall be soon; + Beyond the ebbing and the flowing, + Beyond the coming and the going, + I shall be soon." + +A tide of ice-water seemed rippling up and down my spinal column; the +marrow congealed within my bones. But I recovered. When a man has supped +full of horror and there is no immediate climax, he can collect himself +and be comparatively brave. A reaction restored my soul. + +Once more the melancholy chronicler of the ill-fated "Petrel" resumed +his lugubrious narrative. I resolved to listen, while the skipper eyed +the barometer, and we all rocked back and forth in search of the centre +of gravity, looking like a troupe of mechanical blockheads nodding in +idiotic unison. All this time the little craft drifted helplessly, "hove +to" in the teeth of the gale. + +The sea-dog's yarn was something like this: He once knew a lonesome man +who floated about in a water-logged hulk for three months; who saw all +his comrades starve and die, one after another, and at last kept watch +alone, craving and beseeching death. It was the staunch French brig +"Mouette," bound south into the equatorial seas. She had seen rough +weather from the first: day after day the winds increased, and finally a +cyclone burst upon her with insupportable fury. The brig was thrown upon +her beam-ends, and began to fill rapidly. With much difficulty her masts +were cut away, she righted, and lay in the trough of the sea rolling +like a log. Gradually the gale subsided, but the hull of the brig was +swept continually by the tremendous swell, and the men were driven into +the foretop cross-trees, where they rigged a tent for shelter, and +gathered what few stores were left them from the wreck. A dozen wretched +souls lay in their stormy nest for three whole days in silence and +despair. By this time their scanty stores were exhausted, and not a drop +of water remained; then their tongues were loosened, and they railed at +the Almighty. Some wept like children, some cursed their fate. One man +alone was speechless--a Spaniard, with a wicked light in his eye, and a +repulsive manner that had made trouble in the forecastle more than +once. + +When hunger had driven them nearly to madness they were fed in an almost +miraculous manner. Several enormous sharks had been swimming about the +brig for some hours, and the hungry sailors were planning various +projects for the capture of them. Tough as a shark is, they would +willingly have risked life for a few raw mouthfuls of the same. Somehow, +though the sea was still and the wind light, the brig gave a sudden +lurch and dipped up one of the monsters, who was quite secure in the +shallow aquarium between the gunwales. He was soon despatched, and +divided equally among the crew. Some ate a little, and reserved the rest +for another day; some ate till they were sick, and had little left for +the next meal. The Spaniard with the evil eye greedily devoured his +portion, and then grew moody again, refusing to speak with the others, +who were striving to be cheerful, though it was sad enough work. + +When the food was all gone save a few mouthfuls that one meagre eater +had hoarded to the last, the Spaniard resolved to secure a morsel at the +risk of his life. It had been a point of honour with the men to observe +sacredly the right of ownership, and any breach of confidence would have +been considered unpardonable. At night, when the watch was sleeping, the +Spaniard cautiously removed the last mouthful of shark hidden in the +pocket of his mate, but was immediately detected and accused of theft. +He at once grew desperate, struck at the poor wretch whom he had robbed, +missed his blow, and fell headlong from the narrow platform in the +foretop, and was lost in the sea. It was the first scene in the +mournful tragedy about to be enacted on that limited stage. + +There was less disturbance after the disappearance of the Spaniard. The +spirits of the doomed sailors seemed broken; in fact, the captain was +the only one whose courage was noteworthy, and it was his indomitable +will that ultimately saved him. + +One by one the minds of the miserable men gave way; they became peevish +or delirious, and then died horribly. Two, who had been mates for many +voyages in the seas north and south, vanished mysteriously in the night; +no one could tell where they went or in what manner, though they seemed +to have gone together. + +Somehow these famishing sailors seemed to feel assured that their +captain would be saved; they were as confident of their own doom, and to +him they entrusted a thousand messages of love. They would lie around +him,--for few of them had strength to assume a sitting posture,--and +reveal to him the story of their lives. It was most pitiful to hear the +confessions of these dying men. One said: "I wronged my friend; I was +unkind to this one or to that one; I deserve the heaviest punishment God +can inflict upon me"; and then he paused, overcome with emotion. But +another took up the refrain: "I could have done much good, but I would +not, and now it is too late." And a third cried out in his despair, "I +have committed unpardonable sins, and there is no hope for me. Lord +Jesus, have mercy!" The youngest of these perishing souls was a mere +lad; he, too, accused himself bitterly. He began his story at the +beginning, and continued it from time to time as the spirit of +revelation moved him; scarcely an incident, however insignificant, +escaped him in his pitiless retrospect. O the keen agony of that boy's +recital! more cruel than hunger or thirst, and in comparison with which +physical torture would have seemed merciful and any death a blessing. + +While the luckless "Mouette" drifted aimlessly about, driven slowly +onward by varying winds under a cheerless sky, sickness visited them. +Some were stricken with scurvy; some had lost the use of their limbs and +lay helpless, moaning and weeping hour after hour; vermin devoured them; +and when their garments were removed, and cleansed in the salt water, +there was scarcely sunshine enough to dry them before night, and they +were put on again, damp, stiffened with salt, and shrunken so as to +cripple the wearers, who were all blistered and covered with boils. The +nights were bitterly cold: sometimes the icy moon looked down upon them; +sometimes the bosom of an electric cloud burst over them, and they were +enveloped for a moment in a sheet of flame. Sharks lingered about them, +waiting to feed upon the unhappy ones who fell into the sea overcome +with physical exhaustion, or who cast themselves from that dizzy +scaffold, unable longer to endure the horrors of lingering death. Flocks +of sea-fowl hovered over them; the hull of the "Mouette" was crusted +with barnacles; long skeins of sea-grass knotted themselves in her +gaping seams; myriads of fish darted in and out among the clinging +weeds, sporting gleefully; schools of porpoises leaped about them, +lashing the sea into foam; sometimes a whale blew his long breath close +under them. Everywhere was the stir of jubilant life,--everywhere but +under the tattered awning stretched in the foretop of the "Mouette." + +Days and weeks dragged on. When the captain would waken from his +sleep,--which was not always at night, however, for the nights were +miserably cold and sleepless,--when he wakened he would call the roll. +Perhaps some one made no answer; then he would reach forth and touch the +speechless body and find it dead. He had not strength now to bury the +corpses in the sea's sepulchre; he had not strength even to partake of +the unholy feast of the inanimate flesh. He lay there in the midst of +pestilence; and at night, under the merciful veil of darkness, the fowls +of the air gathered about him and bore away their trophy of corruption. + +By-and-by there were but two left of all that suffering crew,--the +captain and the boy,--and these two clung together like ghosts, defying +mortality. They strove to be patient and hopeful: if they could not eat, +they could drink, for the nights were dewy, and sometimes a mist covered +them, a mist so dense it seemed almost to drip from the rags that poorly +sheltered them. A cord was attached to the shrouds, the end of it +carefully laid in the mouth of a bottle slung in the rigging. Down the +thin cord slid occasional drops; one by one they stole into the bottle, +and by morning there was a spoonful of water to moisten those parched +lips,--sweet, crystal drops, more blessed than tears, for they are salt; +more precious than pearls. A thousand prayers of gratitude seemed hardly +to quiet the souls of the lingering ones for that great charity of +Heaven. + +There came a day when the hearts of God's angels must have bled for the +suffering ones. The breeze was fresh and fair; the sea tossed gaily its +foam-crested waves; sea-birds soared in wider circles; and the clouds +shook out their fleecy folds, through which the sunlight streamed in +grateful warmth. The two ghosts were talking, as ever, of home, of +earth, of land. Land,--land anywhere, so that it were solid and broad. +O, to pace again a whole league without turning! O, to pause in the +shadow of some living tree! To drink of some stream whose waters flowed +continually; flowed, though you drank of them with the awful thirst of +one who had been denied water for weeks and weeks and weeks, for three +whole months,--an eternity, as it seemed to them. + +Then they pictured life as it might be if God permitted them to return +to earth once more. They would pace K---- Street at noon, and revisit +that capital restaurant where many a time they had feasted, though in +those days they were unknown to one another; they would call for coffee, +and this dish and that dish, and a whole bill of fare, the thought of +which made their feverish palates grow moist again. They would meet +friends whom they had never loved as they now loved them; they would +reconcile old feuds and forgive everybody everything; they held +imaginary conversations, and found life very beautiful and greatly to be +desired; and somehow they would get back to the little café and there +begin eating again, and with a relish that brought the savoury tastes +and smells vividly before them, and their lips would move and the +impalpable morsels roll sweetly over their tongues. + +It had become a second nature to scour the horizon with jealous eyes; +never for a moment during their long martyrdom had their covetous eyes +fixed upon a stationary object. But it came at last. Out of a cloud a +sail burst like a flickering flame. What an age it was a-coming! how it +budded and blossomed like a glorious white flower, that was transformed +suddenly into a bark bearing down upon them! Almost within hail it +stayed its course; the canvas fluttered in the wind; the dark hull +slowly rose and fell upon the water; figures moved to and fro,--men, +living and breathing men! Then the ghosts staggered to their feet and +cried to God for mercy. Then they waved their arms, and beat their +breasts, and lifted up their imploring voices, beseeching deliverance +out of that horrible bondage. Tears coursed down their hollow cheeks, +their limbs quaked, their breath failed them; they sank back in despair, +speechless and forsaken. + +Why did they faint in the hour of deliverance when that narrow chasm was +all that separated them from renewed life? Because the bark spread out +her great white wings and soared away, hearing not the faint voices, +seeing not the thin shadows that haunted that drifting wreck. The +forsaken ones looked out from their eyrie, and watched the lessening +sail until sight failed them; and then the lad, with one wild cry, +leaped toward the fleeting bark, and was swallowed up in the sea. + +Alone in a wilderness of waters. Alone, without compass or rudder, borne +on by relentless winds into the lonesome, dreary, shoreless ocean of +despair, within whose blank and forbidding sphere no voyager ventures; +across whose desolate waste dawn sends no signal and night brings no +reprieve; but whose sun is cold, and whose moon is clouded, and whose +stars withdraw into space, and where the insufferable silence of vacancy +shall not be broken for all time. + +O pitiless Nature! thy irrevocable laws argue sore sacrifice in the +waste places of God's universe! + +The "Petrel" gave a tremendous lurch, that sent two or three of us into +the lee corners of the cabin; a sea broke over us, bursting in the +companion-hatch, and half filling our small and insecure retreat. The +swinging lamp was thrown from its socket and extinguished; we were +enveloped in pitch darkness, up to our knees in salt water. There was a +moment of awful silence; we could not tell whether the light of day +would ever visit us again; we thought perhaps it wouldn't. But the +"Petrel" rose once more upon the watery hill-tops, and shook herself +free of the cumbrous deluge; and at that point, when she seemed to be +riding more easily than usual, some one broke the silence: "Well, did +the captain of the 'Mouette' live to tell the tale?" + +Yes, he did. God sent a messenger into the lonesome deep, where the +miserable man was found insensible, with his eyes wide open against the +sunlight, and lips shrunken apart,--a hideous, breathing corpse. When he +was lifted into the arms of the brave fellows who had gone to his +rescue, he said, "Great God! am I saved?" as though he couldn't believe +it when it was true; then he fainted, and was nursed through a long +delirium, and was at last restored to health and home and happiness. + +Our cabin boy managed to fish up the lamp, and after a little we were +illuminated; the agile swab soon sponged out the cabin, and we resumed +our tedious watch for dawn and fair weather. + +Somehow, my mind brooded over the solitary wreck that was drifting about +the sea. I could fancy the rotten timbers of the "Mouette" clinging +together, by a miracle, until the "Ancient Mariner" was taken away from +her, and then, when she was alone again, with nothing whatever in sight +but blank blue sea and blank blue sky, she lay for an hour or so, +bearded with shaggy sea-moss and looking about a thousand years old. +Suddenly it occurred to her that her time had come,--that she had +outlived her usefulness, and might as well go to pieces at once. So she +yawned in all her timbers, and the sea reached up over her, and laid +hold of her masts, and seemed to be slowly drawing her down into its +bosom. There was not an audible sound, and scarcely a ripple upon the +water; but when the waves had climbed into the foretop, there was a +clamour of affrighted birds, and a myriad bubbles shot up to the +surface, where a few waifs floated and whirled about for a moment. It +was all that marked the spot where the "Mouette" went down to her +eternal rest. + +"Ha, ha!" cried our skipper, with something almost like a change of +expression on his mahogany countenance, "the barometer is rising!" and +sure enough it was. In two hours the "Petrel" acted like a different +craft entirely, and by-and-by came daybreak, and after that the sea went +down, down, down into a deep, dead calm, when all the elements seemed to +have gone to sleep after their furious warfare. Like half-drowned flies +we crawled out of the close, ill-smelling cabin to dry ourselves in the +sun: there, on the steaming deck of the schooner, we found new life, and +in the hope that dawned with it we grew lusty and joyful. + +Such a flat, oily sea as it was then! So transparent, that we saw great +fish swimming about, full fathom five under us. A monstrous shark +drifted lazily past, his dorsal fin now and then cutting the surface +like a knife and glistening like polished steel, his brace of pilot-fish +darting hither and thither, striped like little one-legged harlequins. + +Flat-headed gonies sat high on the water, piping their querulous note as +they tugged at something edible, a dozen of them entering into the +domestic difficulty: one after another would desert the cause, run a +little way over the sea to get a good start, leap heavily into the air, +sail about for a few minutes, and then drop back on the sea, +feet-foremost, and skate for a yard or two, making a white mark and a +pleasant sound as it slid over the water. + +The exquisite nautilus floated past us, with its gauzy sail set, looking +like a thin slice out of a soap-bubble; the strange anemone laid its +pale, sensitive petals on the lips of the wave and panted in ecstasy; +the "Petrel" rocked softly, swinging her idle canvas in the sun; we +heard the click of the anchor-chain in the forecastle, the blessedest +sea-sound I wot of; a sailor sang while he hung in the ratlines and +tarred down the salt-stained shrouds. The afternoon waned; the man at +the wheel struck two bells,--it was the delectable dog-watch. Down went +the swarthy sun into his tent of clouds; the waves were of amber; the +fervid sky was flushed; it looked as though something splendid were +about to happen up there, and that it could hardly keep the secret much +longer. Then came the purplest twilight; and then the sky blossomed all +over with the biggest, ripest, goldenest stars,--such stars as hang like +fruits in sun-fed orchards; such stars as lay a track of fire in the +sea; such stars as rise and set over mountains and beyond low green +capes, like young moons, every one of them; and I conjured up my spells +of savage enchantment, my blessed islands, my reefs baptized with silver +spray; I saw the broad fan-leaves of the banana droop in the motionless +air, and through the tropical night the palms aspired heavenward, while +I lay dreaming my sea-dream in the cradle of the deep. + + + + +CHUMMING WITH A SAVAGE. + + + + +PART I. + +KÁNA-ANÁ. + + +There was a little brown rain-cloud, that blew over in about three +minutes; and Bolabola's thatched hut was dry as a hay-stack in less than +half that time. Those tropical sprays are not much, anyhow; so I lounged +down into the banana-patch, for I thought I saw something white there, +something white and fluttering, moving about. I knew pretty well what it +was, and didn't go after it on an uncertainty. + +The Doctor looked savage. Whenever he slung those saddle-bags over his +left shoulder, and swung his right arm clean out from his body, like the +regulator of a steam engine, you might know that his steam was pretty +well up. I turned to look back, as he was strapping up his beast of +burden till the poor animal's body was positively waspish; then he +climbed into his saddle, and sullenly plunged down the trail toward the +precipice, and never said, "Good-bye," or "God bless you," or any of +those harmless tags that come in so well when you don't know how to cut +off your last words. + +I positively assert, and this without malice, the Doctor was perfectly +savage. + +Now, do you know what demoralized that Doctor? how we came to a +misunderstanding? or why we parted company? It was simply because here +was a glorious valley, inhabited by a mild, half-civilized people, who +seemed to love me at first sight. I don't believe I disliked them, +either. Well! they asked me to stop with them, and I felt just like it. +I wanted to stop and be natural; but the Doctor thought otherwise of my +intentions; and that was the origin of the row. + +The next thing I knew, the Doctor had got up the great precipice, and I +was quite alone with two hundred dusky fellows, only two of whom could +speak a syllable of English, and I the sole representative of the +superior white within twenty miles. Alone with cannibals,--perhaps they +were cannibals. They had magnificent teeth, at any rate, and could bite +through an inch and a half sugar-cane, and not break a jaw. + +For the first time that summer I began to moralize a little. Was it best +to have kicked against the Doctor's judgment? Perhaps not! But it is +best to be careful how you begin to moralize too early; you deprive +yourself of a great deal of fun in that way. If you want to do anything +particularly, I should advise you to do it, and then be sufficiently +sorry to make it all square. + +I'm not so sure that I was wrong, after all. Fate, or the Doctor, or +something else, brought me first to this loveliest of valleys, so shut +out from everything but itself that there were no temptations which +might not be satisfied. Well! here, as I was looking about at the +singular loveliness of the place,--you know this was my first glimpse of +its abrupt walls, hung with tapestries of fern and clambering +convolvulus; at one end two exquisite waterfalls, rivalling one another +in whiteness and airiness, at the other the sea, the real South Sea, +breaking and foaming over a genuine reef, and even rippling the placid +current of the river that slipped quietly down to its embracing tide +from the deep basins at these waterfalls,--right in the midst of all +this, before I had been ten minutes in the valley, I saw a straw hat, +bound with wreaths of fern and _maile_; under it a snow-white garment, +rather short all around, low in the neck, and with no sleeves whatever. + +There was no sex to that garment; it was the spontaneous offspring of a +scant material and a large necessity. I'd seen plenty of that sort of +thing, but never upon a model like this, so entirely tropical,--almost +Oriental. As this singular phenomenon made directly for me, and, having +come within reach, there stopped and stayed, I asked its name, using one +of my seven stock phrases for the purpose; I found it was called +Kána-aná. Down it went into my note-book; for I knew I was to have an +experience with this young scion of a race of chiefs. Sure enough, I +have had it. He continued to regard me steadily, without embarrassment. +He seated himself before me; I felt myself at the mercy of one whose +calm analysis was questioning every motive of my soul. This sage +inquirer was, perhaps, sixteen years of age. His eye was so earnest and +so honest, I could return his look. I saw a round, full, rather girlish +face; lips ripe and expressive, not quite so sensual as those of most +of his race; not a bad nose, by any means; eyes perfectly +glorious,--regular almonds,--with the mythical lashes "that sweep," +etc., etc. The smile which presently transfigured his face was of the +nature that flatters you into submission against your will. + +Having weighed me in his balance,--and you may be sure his instincts +didn't cheat him; they don't do that sort of thing,--he placed his two +hands on my two knees, and declared, "I was his best friend, as he was +mine; I must come at once to his house, and there live always with him." +What could I do but go? He pointed me to his lodge across the river, +saying, "There was his home and mine." By this time, my native without a +master was quite exhausted. I wonder what would have happened if some +one hadn't come to my rescue, just at that moment of trial, with a fresh +vocabulary? As it was, we settled the matter at once. This was our +little plan,--an entirely private arrangement between Kána-aná and +myself: I was to leave with the Doctor in an hour; but, at the +expiration of a week we should both return hither; then I would stop +with him, and the Doctor could go his way. + +There was an immense amount of secrecy, and many vows, and I was almost +crying, when the Doctor hurried me up that terrible precipice, and we +lost sight of the beautiful valley. Kána-aná swore he would watch +continually for my return, and I vowed I'd hurry back; and so we parted. +Looking down from the heights, I thought I could distinguish his white +garment; at any rate, I knew the little fellow was somewhere about, +feeling as miserably as I felt,--and nobody has any business to feel +worse. How many times I thought of him through the week! I was always +wondering if he still thought of me. I had found those natives to be +impulsive, demonstrative, and, I feared, inconstant. Yet why should he +forget me, having so little to remember in his idle life, while I could +still think of him, and put aside a hundred pleasant memories for his +sake? The whole island was a delight to me. I often wondered if I should +ever again behold such a series of valleys, hills, and highlands in so +small a compass. That land is a world in miniature, the dearest spot of +which, to me, was that secluded valley; for there was a young soul +watching for my return. + +That was rather a slow week for me, but it ended finally; and just at +sunset, on the day appointed, the Doctor and I found ourselves back on +the edge of the valley. I looked all up and down its green expanse, +regarding every living creature, in the hope of discovering Kána-aná in +the attitude of the watcher. I let the Doctor ride ahead of me on the +trail to Bolabola's hut, and it was quite in the twilight when I heard +the approach of a swift horseman. I turned, and at that moment there was +a collision of two constitutions that were just fitted for one another; +and all the doubts and apprehensions of the week just over were +indignantly dismissed, for Kána-aná and I were one and inseparable, +which was perfectly satisfactory to both parties! + +The plot, which had been thickening all the week, culminated then, much +to the disgust of the Doctor, who had kept his watchful eye upon me all +these days--to my advantage, as he supposed. There was no disguising +our project any longer, so I out with it as mildly as possible. "There +was a dear fellow here," I said, "who loved me, and wanted me to live +with him; all his people wanted me to stop, also; his mother and his +grandmother had specially desired it. They didn't care for money; they +had much love for me, and therefore implored me to stay a little. Then +the valley was most beautiful; I was tired; after our hard riding, I +needed rest; his mother and his grandmother assured me that I needed +rest. Now, why not let me rest here awhile?" + +The Doctor looked very grave. I knew that he misunderstood me,--placed a +wrong interpretation upon my motives; the worse for him, I say. He tried +to talk me over to the paths of virtue and propriety; but I wouldn't be +talked over. Then the final blast was blown; war was declared at once. +The Doctor never spoke again, but to abuse me; and off he rode in high +dudgeon, and the sun kept going down on his wrath. Thereupon I renounced +all the follies of this world, actually hating civilization, and feeling +entirely above the formalities of society. I resolved on the spot to be +a barbarian, and, perhaps, dwell for ever and ever in this secluded +spot. And here I am back to the beginning of this story, just after the +shower at Bolabola's hut, as the Doctor rode off alone and in anger. + +That resolution was considerable for me to make. I found, by the time +the Doctor was out of sight and I was quite alone, with the natives +regarding me so curiously, that I was very tired indeed. So Kána-aná +brought up his horse, got me on to it in some way or other, and mounted +behind me to pilot the animal and sustain me in my first bareback act. +Over the sand we went, and through the river to his hut, where I was +taken in, fed, and petted in every possible way, and finally put to bed, +where Kána-aná monopolized me, growling in true savage fashion if any +one came near me. I didn't sleep much, after all. I think I must have +been excited. I thought how strangely I was situated: alone in a +wilderness, among barbarians; my bosom friend, who was hugging me like a +young bear, not able to speak one syllable of English, and I very shaky +on a few bad phrases in his tongue. We two lay upon an enormous +old-fashioned bed with high posts,--very high they seemed to me in the +dim rushlight. The natives always burn a small light after dark; some +superstition or other prompts it. The bed, well stocked with pillows, or +cushions, of various sizes, covered with bright-coloured chintz, was +hung about with numerous shawls, so that I might be dreadfully modest +behind them. It was quite a grand affair, gotten up expressly for my +benefit. The rest of the house--all in one room, as usual--was covered +with mats, on which various recumbent forms and several individual +snores betrayed the proximity of Kána-aná's relatives. How queer the +whole atmosphere of the place was! The heavy beams of the house were of +some rare wood, which, being polished, looked like colossal sticks of +peanut candy. Slender canes were bound across this framework, and the +soft, dried grass of the meadows was braided over it,--all completing +our tenement, and making it as fresh and sweet as new-mown hay. + +The natives have a passion for perfumes. Little bunches of +sweet-smelling herbs hung in the peak of the roof, and wreaths of +fragrant berries were strung in various parts of the house. I found our +bedposts festooned with them in the morning. O that bed! It might have +come from England in the Elizabethan era and been wrecked off the coast; +hence the mystery of its presence. It was big enough for a Mormon. There +was a little opening in the room opposite our bed; you might call it a +window, I suppose. The sun, shining through it, made our tent of shawls +perfectly gorgeous in crimson light, barred and starred with gold. I +lifted our bed-curtain, and watched the rocks through this window,--the +shining rocks, with the sea leaping above them in the sun. There were +cocoa-palms so slender they seemed to cast no shadow, while their +fringed leaves glistened like frost-work as the sun glanced over them. A +bit of cliff, also, remote and misty, running far into the sea, was just +visible from my pyramid of pillows. I wondered what more I could ask for +to delight the eye. Kána-aná was still asleep, but he never let loose +his hold on me, as though he feared his pale-faced friend would fade +away from him. He lay close by me. His sleek figure, supple and graceful +in repose, was the embodiment of free, untrammelled youth. You who are +brought up under cover know nothing of its luxuriousness. How I longed +to take him over the sea with me, and show him something of life as we +find it. Thinking upon it, I dropped off into one of those delicious +morning naps. I awoke again presently; my companion-in-arms was the +occasion this time. He had awakened, stolen softly away, resumed his +single garment,--said garment and all others he considered superfluous +after dark,--and had prepared for me, with his own hands, a breakfast, +which he now declared to me, in violent and suggestive pantomime, was +all ready to be eaten. It was not a bad bill of fare,--fresh fish, taro, +poe, and goat's milk. I ate as well as I could, under the circumstances. +I found that Robinson Crusoe must have had some tedious rehearsals +before he acquired that perfect resignation to Providence which delights +us in book form. There was a veritable and most unexpected table-cloth +for me alone. I do not presume to question the nature of its miraculous +appearance. Dishes there were,--dishes, if you're not particular as to +shape or completeness; forks, with a prong or two,--a bent and +abbreviated prong or two; knives that had survived their handles; and +one solitary spoon. All these were tributes of the too generous people, +who, for the first time in their lives, were at the inconvenience of +entertaining a distinguished stranger. Hence this reckless display of +tableware. I ate as well as I could, but surely not enough to satisfy my +crony; for, when I had finished eating, he sat about two hours in deep +and depressing silence, at the expiration of which time he suddenly +darted off on his bareback steed and was gone till dark, when he +returned with a fat mutton slung over his animal. Now, mutton doesn't +grow wild thereabout, neither were his relatives shepherds; +consequently, in eating, I asked no questions for conscience' sake. + +The series of entertainments offered me were such as the little valley +had not known for years: canoe-rides up and down the winding stream; +bathings in the sea and in the river, and in every possible bit of +water, at all possible hours; expeditions into the recesses of the +mountains, to the waterfalls that plunged into cool basins of fern and +cresses, and to the orange grove through acres and acres of guava +orchards; some climbings up the precipices; goat hunting, once or twice, +as far as a solitary cavern, said to be haunted,--these tramps always by +daylight; then a new course of bathings and sailings, interspersed with +monotonous singing and occasional smokes under the eaves of the hut at +evening. + +If it is a question how long a man may withstand the seductions of +nature, and the consolations and conveniences of the state of nature, I +have solved it in one case; for I was as natural as possible in about +three days. + +I wonder if I was growing to feel more at home, or more hungry, that I +found an appetite at last equal to any table that was offered me! +Chicken was added to my already bountiful rations, nicely cooked by +being swathed in a broad, succulent leaf, and roasted or steeped in hot +ashes. I ate it with my fingers, using the leaf for a platter. + +Almost every day something new was offered at the door for my +edification. Now, a net full of large guavas or mangoes, or a sack of +leaves crammed with most delicious oranges from the mountains, that +seemed to have absorbed the very dew of heaven, they were so fresh and +sweet. Immense lemons perfumed the house, waiting to make me a capital +drink. Those superb citrons, with their rough, golden crusts, refreshed +me. Cocoa-nuts were heaped at the door; and yams, grown miles away, were +sent for, so that I might be satisfied. All these additions to my table +were the result of long and vigorous arguments between the respective +heads of the house. I detected trouble and anxiety in their expressive +faces. I picked out a word, here and there, which betrayed their secret +sorrow. No assertions, no remonstrances on my part, had the slightest +effect upon the poor souls, who believed I was starving. Eat I must, at +all hours and in all places; and eat, moreover, before they would touch +a mouthful. So Nature teaches her children a hospitality which all the +arts of the capital cannot affect. + +I wonder what it was that finally made me restless and eager to see new +faces! Perhaps my unhappy disposition, that urged me thither, and then +lured me back to the pride of life and the glory of the world. Certain I +am that Kána-aná never wearied me with his attentions, though they were +incessant. Day and night he was by me. When he was silent, I knew he was +conceiving some surprise in the shape of a new fruit, or a new view to +beguile me. I was, indeed, beguiled; I was growing to like the little +heathen altogether too well. What should I do when I was at last +compelled to return out of my seclusion, and find no soul so faithful +and loving in all the world beside? Day by day this thought grew upon +me, and with it I realized the necessity of a speedy departure. + +There were those in the world I could still remember with that +exquisitely painful pleasure that is the secret of true love. Those +still voices seemed incessantly calling me, and something in my heart +answered them of its own accord. How strangely idle the days had grown! +We used to lie by the hour--Kána-aná and I--watching a strip of sand on +which a wild poppy was nodding in the wind. This poppy seemed to me +typical of their life in the quiet valley. Living only to occupy so +much space in the universe, it buds, blossoms, goes to seed, dies, and +is forgotten. + +These natives do not even distinguish the memory of their great dead, if +they ever had any. It was the legend of some mythical god that Kána-aná +told me, and of which I could not understand a twentieth part; a god +whose triumphs were achieved in an age beyond the comprehension of the +very people who are delivering its story, by word of mouth, from +generation to generation. Watching the sea was a great source of +amusement with us. I discovered in our long watches that there is a very +complicated and magnificent rhythm in its solemn song. This wave that +breaks upon the shore is the heaviest of a series that preceded it; and +these are greater and less, alternately, every fifteen or twenty +minutes. Over this dual impulse the tides prevail, while through the +year there is a variation in their rise and fall. What an intricate and +wonderful mechanism regulates and repairs all this! + +There was an entertainment in watching a particular cliff, in a peculiar +light, at a certain hour, and finding soon enough that change visited +even that hidden quarter of the globe. The exquisite perfection of this +moment, for instance, is not again repeated on to-morrow, or the day +after, but in its stead appears some new tint or picture, which, +perhaps, does not satisfy like this. That was the most distressing +disappointment that came upon us there. I used to spend half an hour in +idly observing the splendid curtains of our bed swing in the light air +from the sea; and I have speculated for days upon the probable destiny +awaiting one of those superb spiders, with a tremendous stomach and a +striped waistcoat, looking a century old, as he clang tenaciously to the +fringes of our canopy. + +We had fitful spells of conversation upon some trivial theme, after long +intervals of intense silence. We began to develope symptoms of +imbecility. There was laughter at the least occurrence, though quite +barren of humour; also, eating and drinking to pass the time; bathing to +make one's self cool, after the heat and drowsiness of the day. So life +flowed on in an unruffled current, and so the prodigal lived riotously +and wasted his substance. There came a day when we promised ourselves an +actual occurrence in our Crusoe life. Some one had seen a floating +object far out at sea. It might be a boat adrift; and, in truth, it +looked very like a boat. Two or three canoes darted off through the surf +to the rescue, while we gathered on the rocks, watching and ruminating. +It was long before the rescuers returned, and then they came +empty-handed. It was only a log after all, drifted, probably, from +America. We talked it all over, there by the shore, and went home to +renew the subject; it lasted us a week or more, and we kept harping upon +it till that log--drifting slowly, O how slowly! from the far mainland +to our island--seemed almost to overpower me with a sense of the +unutterable loneliness of its voyage. I used to lie and think about it, +and get very solemn indeed; then Kána-aná would think of some fresh +appetizer or other, and try to make me merry with good feeding. Again +and again he would come with a delicious banana to the bed where I was +lying, and insist upon my gorging myself, when I had but barely +recovered from a late orgie of fruit, flesh, or fowl. He would +mesmerize me into a most refreshing sleep with a prolonged and pleasing +manipulation. It was a reminiscence of the baths of Stamboul not to be +withstood. From this sleep I would presently be wakened by Kána-aná's +performance upon a rude sort of harp, that gave out a weird and +eccentric music. The mouth being applied to the instrument, words were +pronounced in a guttural voice, while the fingers twanged the strings in +measure. It was a flow of monotones, shaped into legends and lyrics. I +liked it amazingly; all the better, perhaps, that it was as good as +Greek to me, for I understood it as little as I understood the strange +and persuasive silence of that beloved place, which seemed slowly but +surely weaving a spell of enchantment about me. I resolved to desert +peremptorily, and managed to hire a canoe and a couple of natives, to +cross the channel with me. There were other reasons for this prompt +action. + +Hour by hour I was beginning to realize one of the inevitable results of +Time. My boots were giving out; their best sides were the uppers, and +their soles had about left them. As I walked, I could no longer disguise +this pitiful fact. It was getting hard on me, especially in the gravel. +Yet, regularly each morning, my pieces of boot were carefully oiled, +then rubbed, or petted, or coaxed into some sort of a polish, which was +a labour of love. O Kána-aná! how could you wring my soul with those +touching offices of friendship!--those kindnesses unfailing, +unsurpassed! + +Having resolved to sail early in the morning, before the drowsy citizens +of the valley had fairly shaken the dew out of their forelocks, all that +day--my last with Kána-aná--I breathed about me silent benedictions and +farewells. I could not begin to do enough for Kána-aná, who was, more +than ever, devoted to me. He almost seemed to suspect our sudden +separation, for he clung to me with a sort of subdued desperation. That +was the day he took from his head his hat--a very neat one, plaited by +his mother--insisting that I should wear it (mine was quite in tatters), +while he went bareheaded in the sun. That hat hangs in my room now, the +only tangible relic of my prodigal days. My plan was to steal off at +dawn, while he slept; to awaken my native crew, and escape to sea before +my absence was detected. I dared not trust a parting with him, before +the eyes of the valley. Well, I managed to wake and rouse my sailor +boys. To tell the truth, I didn't sleep a wink that night. We launched +the canoe, entered, put off, and had safely mounted the second big +roller just as it broke under us with terrific power, when I heard a +shrill cry above the roar of the waters. I knew the voice and its +import. There was Kána-aná rushing madly toward us; he had discovered +all, and couldn't even wait for that white garment, but ran after us +like one gone daft, and plunged into the cold sea, calling my name, over +and over, as he fought the breakers. I urged the natives forward. I knew +if he overtook us, I should never be able to escape again. We fairly +flew over the water. I saw him rise and fall with the swell, looking +like a seal; for it was his second nature, this surf-swimming. I believe +in my heart I wished the paddles would break or the canoe split on the +reef, though all the time I was urging the rascals forward; and they, +like stupids, took me at my word. They couldn't break a paddle, or get +on the reef, or have any sort of an accident. Presently we rounded the +headland,--the same hazy point I used to watch from the grass house, +through the little window, of a sunshiny morning. There we lost sight of +the valley and the grass house, and everything that was associated with +the past,--but that was nothing. We lost sight of the little sea-god, +Kána-aná, shaking the spray from his forehead like a porpoise; and this +was all in all. I didn't care for anything else after that, or anybody +else, either. I went straight home and got civilized again, or partly +so, at least. I've never seen the Doctor since, and never want to. He +had no business to take me there, or leave me there. I couldn't make up +my mind to stay; yet I'm always dying to go back again. + +So I grew tired over my husks. I arose and went unto my father. I wanted +to finish up the Prodigal business. I ran and fell upon his neck and +kissed him, and said unto him, "Father, _if_ I have sinned against +Heaven and in thy sight, I'm afraid I don't care much. Don't kill +anything. I don't want any calf. Take back the ring, I don't deserve it; +for I'd give more this minute to see that dear, little, velvet-skinned, +coffee-coloured Kána-aná, than anything else in the wide world,--because +he hates business, and so do I. He's a regular brick, father, moulded of +the purest clay, and baked in God's sunshine. He's about half sunshine +himself; and, above all others, and more than any one else ever can, he +loved your prodigal." + + + + +PART II. + +HOW I CONVERTED MY CANNIBAL. + + +When people began asking me queer questions about my chum Kána-aná, some +of them even hinting that "he might possibly have been a girl all the +time," I resolved to send down for him, and settle the matter at once. I +knew he was not a girl, and I thought I should like to show him some +American hospitality, and perhaps convert him before I sent him back +again. + +I could teach him to dress, you know; to say a very good thing to your +face, and a very bad one at your back; to sleep well in church, and +rejoice duly when the preacher got at last to the "Amen." I might do all +this for his soul's sake; but I wanted more to see how the little fellow +was getting on. I missed him so terribly,--his honest way of showing +likes and dislikes; his confidence in his intuitions and fidelity to his +friends; and those quaint manners of his, so different from anything in +vogue this side of the waters. + +This is what I remarked when I got home again, and found myself growing +as practical and prosy as ever. I awoke no kindred chord in the family +bosom. On the contrary, they all said, "It was no use to think of it: no +good could come out of Nazareth." The idea of a heathen and his +abominable idolatry being countenanced in the sanctity of a Christian +home was too dreadful for anything. But I believed some good might come +out of Nazareth, and I believed that, when it did come, it was the +genuine article worth hunting for, surely. I thought it all over +soberly, finally resolving to do a little missionary work on my own +account. So I wrote to the Colonel of the Royal Guards, who knows +everybody and has immense influence everywhere, begging him to catch +Kána-aná, when his folks weren't looking, and send him to my address, +marked C. O. D., for I was just dying to see him. That was how I trapped +my little heathen, and began to be a missionary, all by myself. + +I assured the Colonel it was a case of real necessity, and he seemed to +realize it, for he managed to get Kána-aná away from his distressed +relatives (their name is legion, and they live all over the island), fit +him out in _real_ clothing,--the poor little wretch had to be dressed, +you know; we all do it in this country,--then he packed him up and +shipped him, care of the captain of the bark S----. When he arrived, I +took him right to my room and began my missionary work. I tried to make +all the people love him, but I'm afraid they found it hard work. He +wasn't half so interesting up here anyhow! I seemed to have been +regarding him through chromatic glasses, which glasses being suddenly +removed, I found a little dark-skinned savage, whose clothes fitted him +horribly, and appeared to have no business there. Boots about twice too +long, the toes being heavily charged with wadding; in fact, he looked +perfectly miserable, and I've no doubt he felt so. How he had been +studying English on the voyage up! He wanted to be a great linguist, and +had begun in good earnest. He said "good mornin'" as boldly as possible +about seven p.m., and invariably spoke of the women of America as "him." +He had an insane desire to spell, and started spelling-matches with +everybody, at the most inappropriate hours and inconvenient places. He +invariably spelled God d-o-g; when duly corrected,--thus, G-o-d,--he +would triumphantly shout, _dog_. He jumped at these irreverent +conclusions about twenty times a day. + +What an experience I had educating my little savage! Walking him in the +street by the hour; answering questions on all possible topics; spelling +up and down the blocks; spelling from the centre of the city to the +suburbs and back again, and around it; spelling one another at +spelling,--two latter-day peripatetics on dress parade, passing to and +fro in high and serene strata of philosophy, alike unconscious of the +rudely gazing and insolent citizens, or the tedious calls of labour. A +spell was over us: we ran into all sorts of people, and trod on many a +corn, loafing about in this way. Some of the victims objected in harsh +and sinful language. I found Kána-aná had so far advanced in the +acquirement of our mellifluous tongue as to be very successful in +returning their salutes. I had the greatest difficulty in convincing him +of the enormity of his error. The little convert thought it was our mode +of greeting strangers, equivalent to their more graceful and poetic +password, _Aloha_, "Love to you." + +My little cannibal wasn't easily accustomed to his new restraints, such +as clothes, manners, and forbidden water privileges. He several times +started on his daily pilgrimage without his hat; once or twice, to save +time, put his coat on next his skin; and though I finally so far +conquered him as to be sure that his shirt would be worn on the inside +instead of the outside of his trousers (this he considered a great waste +of material), I was in constant terror of his suddenly disrobing in the +street and plunging into the first water we came to,--which barbarous +act would have insured his immediate arrest, perhaps confinement; and +that would have been the next thing to death in his case. + +So we perambulated the streets and the suburbs, daily growing into each +other's grace; and I was thinking of the propriety of instituting a +series of more extended excursions, when I began to realize that my +guest was losing interest in our wonderful city and the possible +magnitude of her future. + +He grew silent and melancholy; he quitted spelling entirely, or only +indulged in rare and fitful (I am pained to add, fruitless) attempts at +spelling God in the orthodox fashion. It seemed almost as though I had +missed my calling; certainly, I was hardly successful as a missionary. + +The circus failed to revive him; the beauty of our young women he +regarded without interest. He was less devout than at first, when he +used to insist upon entering every church we came to and sitting a few +moments, though frequently we were the sole occupants of the building. +He would steal away into remote corners of the house, and be gone for +hours. Twice or three times I discovered him in a dark closet, in _puris +naturalibus_, toying with a singular shell strung upon a feather chain. +The feathers of the chain I recognized as those of a strange bird held +as sacred among his people. I began to suspect the occasion of his +malady: he believed himself bewitched or accursed of some one,--a common +superstition with the dark races. This revelation filled me with alarm; +for he would think nothing of lying down to die under the impression +that it was his fate, and no medicine under the heaven could touch him +further. + +I began telling him of my discovery, begging his secret from him. In +vain I besought him. "It was his trouble; he must go back!" I told him +he should go back as soon as possible; that we would look for ourselves, +and see when a vessel was to sail again. I took him among the wharves, +visiting, in turn, nearly all the shipping moored there. How he lingered +about them, letting his eyes wander over the still bay into the mellow +hazes that sometimes visit our brown and dusty hills! + +His nature seemed to find an affinity in the tranquil tides, the +far-sweeping distances, the alluring outlines of the coast, where it was +blended with the sea-line in the ever-mysterious horizon. After these +visitations, he seemed loath to return again among houses and people; +they oppressed and suffocated him. + +One day, as we were wending our way to the city front, we passed a +specimen of grotesque carving, in front of a tobacconist's +establishment. Kána-aná stood eyeing the painted model for a moment, and +then, to the amazement and amusement of the tobacconist and one or two +bystanders, fell upon his knees before it, and was for a few moments +lost in prayer. It seemed to do him a deal of good, as he was more +cheerful after his invocation,--for that day, at least; and we could +never start upon any subsequent excursion without first visiting this +wooden Indian, which he evidently mistook for a god. + +He began presently to bring tributes, in the shape of small +cobble-stones, which he surreptitiously deposited at the feet of his +new-found deity, and passed on, rejoicing. His small altar grew from day +to day, and his spirits were lighter as he beheld it unmolested, thanks +to the indifference of the tobacconist and the street contractors. + +His greatest trials were within the confines of the bath-tub. He who had +been born to the Pacific, and reared among its foam and breakers, now +doomed to a seven-by-three zinc box and ten inches of water! He would +splash about like a trout in a saucer, bemoaning his fate. Pilgrimages +to the beach were his greatest delight; divings into the sea, so far +from town that no one could possibly be shocked, even with the +assistance of an opera-glass. He used to implore a daily repetition of +these cautious and inoffensive recreations, though, once in the chilly +current, he soon came out of it, shivering and miserable. Where were his +warm sea-waves, and the shining beach, with the cocoa-palms quivering in +the intense fires of the tropical day? How he missed them and mourned +for them, crooning a little chant in their praises, much to the +disparagement of our dry hills, cold water, and careful people! + +In one of our singular walks, when he had been unusually silent, and I +had sought in vain to lift away the gloom that darkened his soul, I was +startled by a quick cry of joy from the lips of the young exile,--a cry +that was soon turned into a sharp, prolonged, and pitiful wail of sorrow +and despair. We had unconsciously approached an art-gallery, the deep +windows of which, were beautified with a few choice landscapes in oil. +Kána-aná's restless and searching eye, doubtless attracted by the +brilliant colouring of one of the pictures, seemed in a moment to +comprehend and assume the rich and fervent spirit with which the artist +had so successfully imbued his canvas. + +It was the subject which had at first delighted Kána-aná,--the splendid +charm of its manipulation which so affected him, holding him there +wailing in the bitterness of a natural and incontrollable sorrow. The +painting was illuminated with the mellowness of a tropical sunset. A +transparent light seemed to transfigure the sea and sky. The artist had +wrought a miracle in his inspiration. It was a warm, hazy, silent sunset +for ever. The outline of a high, projecting cliff was barely visible in +the flood of misty glory that spread over the face of it,--a cliff whose +delicate tints of green and crimson pictured in the mind a pyramid of +leaves and flowers. A valley opened its shadowy depths through the +sparkling atmosphere, and in the centre of this veiled chasm the pale +threads of two waterfalls seemed to appear and disappear, so exquisitely +was the distance imitated. Gilded breakers reeled upon a palm-fringed +shore; and the whole was hallowed by the perpetual peace of an unbroken +solitude. + +I at once detected the occasion of Kána-aná's agitation. Here was the +valley of his birth,--the cliff, the waterfall, the sea, copied +faithfully, at that crowning hour when they are indeed supernaturally +lovely. At that moment, the promise to him of a return would have been +mockery. He was there in spirit, pacing the beach, and greeting his +companions with that liberal exchange of love peculiar to them. Again he +sought our old haunt by the river, watching the sun go down. Again he +waited listlessly the coming of night. + +It was a wonder that the police did not march us both off to the +station-house; for the little refugee was howling at the top of his +lungs, while I endeavoured to quiet him by bursting a sort of vocal +tornado about his ears. I then saw my error. I said to myself, "I have +transplanted a flower from the hot sand of the Orient to the hard clay +of our more material world,--a flower too fragile to be handled, if +never so kindly. Day after day it has been fed, watered, and nourished +by Nature. Every element of life has ministered to its development in +the most natural way. Its attributes are God's and Nature's own. I bring +it hither, set it in our tough soil, and endeavour to train its +sensitive tendrils in one direction. There is no room for spreading them +here, where we are overcrowded already. It finds no succulence in its +cramped bed, no warmth in our practical and selfish atmosphere. It +withers from the root upward; its blossoms are falling; it will die!" I +resolved it should not die. Unfortunately, there was no bark announced +to sail for his island home within several weeks. I could only devote my +energies to keeping life in that famishing soul until it had found rest +in the luxurious clime of its nativity. + +At last the bark arrived. We went at once to see her; and I could hardly +persuade the little homesick soul to come back with me at night. He who +was the fire of hospitality and obliging to the uttermost, at home, came +very near to mutiny just then. + +It was this civilization that had wounded him, till the thought of his +easy and pleasurable life among the barbarians stung him to madness. +Should he ever see them again, his lovers? ever climb with the +goat-hunters among the clouds yonder? or bathe, ride, sport, as he used +to, till the day was spent and the night come? + +Those little booths near the wharves, where shells, corals, and +gold-fish are on sale, were Kána-aná's favourite haunts during the last +few days he spent here. I would leave him seated on a box or barrel by +one of those epitomes of Oceanica, and return two hours later, to find +him seated as I had left him, and singing some weird _méle_,--some +legend of his home. These musical diversions were a part of his nature, +and a very grave and sweet part of it, too. A few words, chanted on a +low note, began the song, when the voice would suddenly soar upward with +a single syllable of exceeding sweetness, and there hang trembling in +bird-like melody till it died away with the breath of the singer. + +Poor, longing soul! I would you had never left the life best suited to +you,--that liberty which alone could give expression to your wonderful +capacities. Not many are so rich in instincts to read Nature, to +translate her revelations, to speak of her as an orator endowed with her +surpassing eloquence. + +It will always be a sad effort, thinking of that last night together. +There are hours when the experiences of a lifetime seem compressed and +crowded together. One grows a head taller in his soul at such times, and +perhaps gets suddenly grey, as with a fright, also. + +Kána-aná talked and talked in his pretty, broken English, telling me of +a thousand charming secrets; expressing all the natural graces that at +first attracted me to him, and imploring me over and over to return +with him and dwell in the antipodes. How near I came to resolving, then +and there, that I _would_ go, and take the consequences,--how very near +I came to it! He passed the night in coaxing, promising, entreating; and +was never more interesting or lovable. It took just about all the moral +courage allotted me to keep on this side of barbarism on that eventful +occasion; and in the morning Kána-aná sailed, with a face all over +tears, and agony, and dust. + +I begged him to select something for a remembrancer; and of all that +ingenuity can invent and art achieve he chose a metallic chain for his +neck,--chose it, probably, because it glittered superbly, and was good +to string charms upon. He gave me the greater part of his wardrobe, +though it can never be of any earthly use to me, save as a memorial of a +passing joy in a life where joys seem to have little else to do than be +brief and palatable. + +He said he should "never want them again"; and he said it as one might +say something of the same sort in putting by some instrument of +degradation,--conscious of renewed manhood, but remembering his late +humiliation, and bowing to that remembrance. + +So Kána-aná and the bark, and all that I ever knew of genuine, +spontaneous, and unfettered love, sailed into the west, and went down +with the sun in a glory of air, sea, and sky, trebly glorious that +evening. I shall never meet the sea when it is bluest without thinking +of one who is its child and master. I shall never see mangoes and +bananas without thinking of him who is their brother, born and brought +up with them. I shall never smell cassia, or clove, or jessamine, but a +thought of Kána-aná will be borne upon their breath. A flying skiff, +land in the far distance rising slowly, drifting seagrasses, a clear +voice burdened with melody,--all belong to him, and are a part of him. + +I resign my office. I think that, perhaps, instead of my having +converted the little cannibal, he may have converted me. I am sure, at +least, that if we two should begin a missionary work upon one another, I +should be the first to experience the great change. I sent my convert +home, feeling he wasn't quite so good as when I first got him; and I +truly wish him as he was. + + * * * * * + +I can see you, my beloved,--sleeping, naked, in the twilight of the +west. The winds kiss you with pure and fragrant lips. The sensuous waves +invite you to their embrace. Earth again offers you her varied store. +Partake of her offering, and be satisfied. Return, O troubled soul! to +your first and natural joys: they were given you by the Divine hand that +can do no ill. In the smoke of the sacrifice ascends the prayer of your +race. As the incense fadeth and is scattered upon the winds of heaven, +so shall your people separate, never more to assemble among the nations. +So perish your superstitions, your necromancies, your ancient arts of +war, and the unwritten epics of your kings. + +Alas, Kána-aná! As the foam of the sea you love, as the fragrance of the +flower you worship, shall your precious body be wasted, and your +untrammelled soul pass to the realms of your fathers. + +Our day of communion is over. Behold how Night extends her wings to +cover you from my sight! She may, indeed, hide your presence; she may +withhold from me the mystery of your future: but she cannot take from me +that which I have; she cannot rob me of the rich influences of your +past. + +Dear comrade, pardon and absolve your spiritual adviser, for seeking to +remould so delicate and original a soul as yours; and, though neither +prophet nor priest, I yet give you the kiss of peace at parting, and the +benediction of unceasing love. + + + + +PART III. + +BARBARIAN DAYS. + + +We had been watching intently the faint, shadowy outline along the +horizon, and wondering whether it were really land, or but a cloudy +similitude of it; while we bore down upon it all the afternoon in fine +style, and the breeze freshened as evening came on. It was all clear +sailing, and we were in pretty good spirits,--which is not always the +case with landsmen at sea. + +Sitting there on the after-deck, I had asked myself, more than once, If +life were made up of placid days like this, how long would life be +sweet? I gave it up every time; for one is not inclined to consider so +curiously as to press any problem to a solution in those indolent +latitudes. + +Perhaps it was Captain Kidd who told me he had sailed out of a +twelve-knot breeze on a sudden,--slipping off the edges of it, as it +were,--and found his sails all aback as he slid into a dead calm. There, +rocking in still weather, he saw another bark, almost within hail, blown +into the west and out of sight, like a bird in a March gale. + +I wonder what caused me to think of Kidd's experiences just then. I +can't imagine, unless it was some prescient shadow floating in my +neighbourhood,--the precursor of the little event that followed. Such +things do happen, and when we least expect it; though, fortunately, they +don't worry us as a general thing. I didn't worry at all, but sat there +by myself, while some of my fellow-passengers took a regular +"constitutional" up and down the deck, and over and over it, until the +nervous woman below in the cabin "blessed her stars," and wished herself +ashore. + +I preferred sitting and pondering over the cloud that seemed slowly to +rise from the sea, assuming definite and undeniable appearances of land. + +I knew very well what land it must be: one of a group of islands every +inch of which I had traversed with the zeal of youthful enthusiasm; but +which of them, was a question I almost feared to have answered. Yet, +what difference could it make to me! The land was providentially in our +course, but not on our way-bill. If we were within gunshot of its +loveliest portion, we must needs pass on as frigidly as though it were +Charybdis, or something equally dreadful; and I began to think it might +be something of the sort, because of its besetting temptations. + +Of course there was no doubt as to the certainty of its being land, when +we went down to supper; and at sunset we knew the dark spots were +valleys, and the bright ones hills. I fancied a hundred bronze-hued +faces were turned toward us, as we seemed to twinkle away off in their +sunset sea like a fallen star, or something of that sort. I thought I +could almost hear the sea beating upon the crusts of the reef in the +twilight; but perhaps I didn't, for the land was miles away, and night +hid it presently, while the old solitude of the ocean impressed us all +as though we were again in the midst of its unbroken, circular wastes. +Then they played whist in the cabin,--all but me. I hung over the ship's +side, resolved to watch all night for the lights on shore,--the +flickering watch-fires in the mountain camps; for I knew I should see +them, as we were bound to pass the island before morning. + +The night was intensely dark; clouds muffled the stars, and not a spark +of light was visible in any direction over the waters. A shower could +easily have quenched the beacons I was seeking, and my vigil soon became +tedious; so presently I followed the others and turned in, rather +disconsolate and disgusted. + +Toward midnight the wind fell rapidly, and within half an hour we found +ourselves in a dead calm, when the moan of the breakers was quite +audible on our starboard quarter. The Captain was nervous and watchful; +the currents in the channel were strong, and he saw, by the variation in +the compass, that the vessel was being whirled in a great circle around +a point of the island. + +Fortunately it began to get light before the danger grew imminent. At +three o'clock we were within soundings, and shortly after we plumped the +anchor into the rough coral at the bottom of a pretty little harbour, +where, the Captain informed us, we must ride all day and get out with +the land breeze, that would probably come down at night. I rushed up in +the grey dawn, and bent my gaze upon the shore. I think I must have +turned pale, or trembled a little, or done something sensational and +appropriate, though no one observed it; whereat I was rather glad, on +the whole, for they could not have understood it if I had done my best +to explain,--which I had not the least idea of doing, however, for it +was none of their affair. + +I knew that place the moment I saw it,--the very spot of all I most +desired to see; and I resolved, in my secret soul, to go ashore, there +and then; amicably if I might, forcibly if I must. + +The Captain was not over-genial that morning either; he hated detention, +and was a trifle nervous about being tied up under the lee of the land +for twelve or twenty hours. So he growled if any one approached him all +that day, and positively refused to allow the ship's boat to be touched, +unless we drifted upon the rocks, broadside,--which, he seemed to think, +was not entirely out of the question. I was sure there would be a +canoe--perhaps several--alongside by sunrise; so I said nothing, but +waited in silence, determined to desert when the time came; and the +Captain might whistle me back if he could. + +Presently the time came. We were rocking easily on the swell, directly +to the eastward of a deep valley. The sky was ruddy; the air fresh and +invigorating, but soft as the gales of Paradise. We were in the tropics. +You would have known it with your eyes shut; the whole wonderful +atmosphere confessed it. But, with your eyes open, those white birds, +sailing like snow-flakes through the immaculate blue heavens, with +tail-feathers like our pennant; the floating gardens of the sea, through +which we had been ruthlessly ploughing for a couple of days back; the +gorgeous sunrises and sunsets,--all were proofs positive of our +latitude. + +What a sunrise it was on that morning! Yet I stood with my back to it, +looking west; for there I saw, firstly, the foam on the reef--as crimson +as blood--falling over the wine-stained waves; then it changed as the +sun ascended, like clouds of golden powder, indescribably magnificent, +shaken and scattered upon the silver snow-drifts of the coral reef, +dazzling to behold, and continually changing. + +Beyond it, in the still water, was reflected a long, narrow strip of +beach; above it, green pastures and umbrageous groves, with native huts, +like great birds'-nests, half hidden among them; and the weird, slender, +cocoa-palms were there,--those exclamation-points in the poetry of +tropic landscape. All this lay slumbering securely between high walls of +verdure; while at the upper end, where the valley was like a niche set +in the green and glorious mountains, two waterfalls floated downward +like smoke-columns on a heavy morning. Angels and ministers of grace! do +you, in your airy perambulations, visit haunts more lovely than +this?--as lovely as that undiscovered country from whose bourne the +traveller would rather not look back, premising that the traveller were +as singularly constituted as I am; which is, peradventure, not probable. + +They knew it was morning almost as soon as we did, though they lived a +few furlongs farther west, and had no notion of the immediate proximity +of a strange craft,--by no means rakish in her rig, however; only a +simple merchantman, bound for Auckland from San Francisco, but the +victim of circumstances, and, in consequence, tied to the bottom of the +sea when half-way over. + +They knew it was morning. I saw them swarming out of their grassy nests, +brown, sleek-limbed, and naked. They regarded with amazement our +floating home. The news spread, and the groves were suddenly peopled +with my dear barbarians, who hate civilization almost as much as I do, +and are certainly quite as idolatrous and indolent as I ever aspire to +be. + +I turned my palms outward toward them; I lifted up my voice, and cried, +"Hail, my brothers! We hasten with the morning; we follow after the sun. +Greetings to you, dwellers in the West!" + +Nobody heard me. I looked again. Down they came upon the shore, wading +into the sea. Then such a carnival as they celebrated in the shallow +water was a novelty for some of my cabin friends; but I knew all about +it. I'd done the same thing often enough myself, when I was young, and +free, and innocent, and savage. I knew they were asking themselves a +thousand questions as to our sudden appearance in their seas, and would +rather like to know who we were, and where we were going, but scorned to +ask us. They had once or twice been visited by the same sort of +whitish-looking people, and they had found those colourless faces +uncivil, and the bleached-out skins by no means to be trusted with those +whom they considered their inferiors. They didn't know that it is one of +the Thirty-nine Articles of Civilization to bully one's way through the +world. Then I prayed that they might be moved to send out a canoe, so +that I could debark and go inland for the day. I prayed very earnestly, +and out she came,--one of their tiny, fragile canoes, looking like a +deserted chrysalis, with the invisible wings of the spiritual, tutelary +butterfly wafting it over the waves. In this chrysalis dug-out sat a +tough little body, with a curly head, which I recognized in a minute as +belonging to a once friend and comrade in my delightful exile, when I +was a successful prodigal, and wasted my substance in the most startling +and effectual manner, and enjoyed it a great deal better than if I had +kept it in the bank, as they advised me to do. On he came, beating the +sea with his broad paddle, alternately by either side of the canoe, and +regarding us with a commendable degree of suspicion. I greeted him in +his peculiar dialect. The gift of tongues seemed suddenly to have +descended upon me, for I found little difficulty in saying everything I +wanted to say, in a remarkably brief space of time. + +"Hail, little friend!" said I; "great love to you. How is it on shore +now?" + +He replied that it was decidedly nice on shore now, and that his love +for me was as much as mine for him, and more too, and that consequently +he was prepared to conduct me thither, regardless of expense. + +I went with that lovely boy on shore. The Captain could not resist my +persuasive appeals for a short leave of absence, and so I went. Perhaps +it would not have been advisable for him to have suppressed me; and he +made a courteous virtue of necessity. + +I had leave to stop till evening, unless I heard a signal gun, upon +hearing which I was to return immediately on board, or suffer the +consequences. + +Now, I am free to confess, that the consequences didn't appal me as we +swung off from the vessel, where I had been an uneasy prisoner for many +days; and I fell to chatting with Niga, my dusky friend, in a sort of +desperate joy. + +Niga was a regular trump. He had more than once piled on horseback +behind me, in the sweet days when we used to ride double,--yea, and even +treble, if necessary. There was usually a great deal more boy than horse +on the premises; hence this questionable economy in our cavalry +regulations. Niga told me many things as we drew near the reef: he +talked of nearly everybody and everything; but of all that he told me, +he said nothing of the one I most longed to hear about. Yet, somehow or +other, I could not quite bring myself to ask him, out and out, this +question. You know, sometimes it is hard to shape words just as you want +them shaped, and the question is never asked in consequence. + +The reef was growling tremendously. We were drawing nearer to it every +moment. I thought the chances were against us; but Niga was +self-possessed, and as he had crossed it once that morning, and in the +more dangerous direction of the two,--that is, against the grain of the +waves,--I concluded there was no special need of my making a scene; and +in the next moment we were poised on a terrific cataract of glittering +and rushing breakers, snatched up and held trembling in mid-air, with +the canoe half filled with water, and I perfectly blind with spray. + +It was a memorable moment in a very short voyage; and the general +verdict on board ship, where they were watching us with some interest, +was, that it served me right. + +When my eyes were once more free of the water, I found myself in the +midst of the natives, who had been waiting just inside of the reef to +receive us; and, as they recognized me, they laid a hand on the canoe, +as many as could crowd about it, fairly lifting it out of the water on +our way to the shore, all the while wailing at the top of their voices +their mournful and desolate wail. + +It was impossible for me to decide whether that chant of theirs was an +expression of joy or sorrow; the nature of it is precisely the same, in +either case. + +So we went on shore in our little triumphal procession, and there I was +embraced in a very emphatic manner by savages of every conceivable sex, +age, and colour. Having mutely submitted to their genuine expressions of +love, I was conducted--a willing and bewildered captive--along the +beach, around the little point that separates the river from the sea, +and thence by the river-bank to the house I knew so well. I believe I +looked at every dusky face in that assemblage, two or three times over, +but saw not the one I sought. + +What could it mean? Was he hunting in the mountains, or fishing beyond +the headland, or sick, or in prison, that he came not to greet me? +Surely, something had befallen him,--something serious and unusual,--or +he would have been the first to welcome me home to barbarism! + +A strange dread clouded my mind: it increased and multiplied as we +passed on toward the house that had been home to me. Then, having led me +to the outer door, the people all sat there upon the ground, and began +wailing piteously. + +I hastily crossed the narrow outer room, lifted the plaited curtain, and +entered the inner chamber, where I had spent my strange, wild holiday +long months before. + +I looked earnestly about me, while my eyes gradually became familiar +with the dull light. Nothing seemed changed. I could point at once to +almost every article in the room. It seemed but yesterday that I had +stolen away from them in the grey dawn, and repented my desertion too +late. + +I soon grew accustomed to the sombre light of the room. I saw sitting +about me, in the corners, bowed figures, with their faces hidden in +grief. There was no longer any doubt as to the nature of their emotion. +It was grief that had stricken the household, and the grief that death +alone occasions. I counted every figure in the room; I recognized each, +the same that I had known when I dwelt among them: he alone was absent. + +I don't know what possessed me at that moment. I felt an almost +uncontrollable desire to laugh, as though it were some _masque_ gotten +up for my amusement. Then I wished they would cease their masking, for I +felt too miserable to laugh. Then I was utterly at a loss to know what +to do; so I walked to the old-fashioned bed--our old-fashioned bed--in +the corner, looking just as it used to. I think the same old spider was +there still, clinging to the canopy; the very same old fellow, in his +harlequin tights, that we used to watch, and talk about, and wonder what +he was thinking of, to stop so still, day after day, and week after +week, up there on the canopy. I threw myself upon the edge of the bed, +my feet resting upon the floor; and there I tried to think of everything +but that one dreadful reality that would assert itself, in spite of my +efforts to deny it. + +Where was my friend? Where could he be, that these, his friends, were so +bowed with sorrow? The question involved a revelation, already +anticipated in my mind. That revelation I dreaded as I would dread my +own death-sentence. But it came at last. A woman who had been humbling +herself in the dust moved toward me from the shadow that half concealed +her. She did not rise to her feet; she was half reclining on the mats of +the floor, her features veiled in the long, black hair of her race. One +hand was extended toward me, then the other; the body followed; and so +she moved, slowly and painfully, toward the bedside. + +It was his mother. I knew her intuitively. Close to the bed she came, +and crouched by me, upon the floor. There, with one hand clasped close +over mine, the other flooded with her copious tears, and her forehead +bowed almost to the floor, she poured forth the measure of her woe. The +moment her voice was heard, those out of the house ceased wailing, and +seemed to be listening to the elegy of the bereaved. + +Her voice was husky with grief, broken again and again with sobs. I +seemed to understand perfectly the nature of her story, though my +knowledge of the dialect was very deficient. + +The mother's soul was quickened with her pathetic theme. The frenzy of +the poet inspired her lips. It was an epic she was chanting, +celebrating the career of her boy-hero. She told of his birth, and +wonderful childhood; of his beautiful strength; of his sublime +affection, and the friend it had brought him from over the water. + +She referred frequently to our former associations, and seemed to +delight in dwelling upon them. Then came the story of his death,--the +saddest canto of the melancholy whole. + +How shall I ever forgive myself the selfish pleasure I took in striving +to remodel an immortal soul? What business had I to touch so sensitive +an organism; susceptible of infinite impressions, but incapable, in its +prodigality, of separating and dismissing the evil, and retaining only +the good,--therefore fit only to increase and develop in the suitable +atmosphere with which the Creator had surrounded it? + +Why did I not foresee the climax? + +I might have known that one reared in the nursery of Nature, as free to +speak and act as the very winds of heaven to blow whither they list, +could ill support the manacles of our modern proprieties. Of what use to +him could be a knowledge of the artifices of society? Simply a +temptation and a snare! + +What was the story of his fate? That he came safely home, rejoicing in +his natural freedom; that he could not express his delight at finding +home so pleasant; that his days were spent in telling of the wonderful +things he had seen: more sects than the gods of the South Seas; more +doubters than believers; contradictions, and insults, and suspicions +everywhere. They laughed again, when they thought of us, and pitied us +all the while. + +But his exhilaration wore off, after a time. Then came the reaction. A +restlessness; an undefined, unsatisfied longing. Life became a burden. +The seed of dissension had fallen in fresh and fallow soil: it was a +souvenir of his sojourn among us. He, the child of Nature, must now +follow out the artificial and hollow life of the world, or die +unsatisfied; for he could not return to his original sphere of trust and +contentment. He had learned to doubt all things, as naturally as any of +us. + +For days he moaned in spirit, and was troubled; nothing consoled him; +his soul was broken of its rest; he grew desperate and melancholy. + +I believe he was distracted with the problem of society, and I cannot +wonder at it. One day, when his condition had become no longer +endurable, he stole off to sea in his canoe, thinking, perhaps, that he +could reach this continent, or some other; possibly hoping never again +to meet human faces, for he could not trust them. + +It was his heroic exit from a life that no longer interested him. Great +was the astonishment of the islanders, who looked upon him as one +possessed of the Evil Spirit, and special sacrifices were offered in his +behalf; but the gods were inexorable; and, after several days upon the +solitary sea, a shadow, a mote, drifted toward the valley,--a canoe, +with a famishing and delirious voyager, that was presently tossed and +broken in the surges; then, a dark body glistened for a moment, wet with +spray, and sank for ever, while the shining coral reef was stained with +the blood of the first-born. + +I heard it all in the desolate wail of the mother, yet could not weep; +my eyes burned like fire. + +Little Niga came for me presently, and led me into the great grove of +_kamane_-trees, up the valley. He insisted upon holding me by the hand: +it was all he could do to comfort me, and he did that with his whole +soul. + +In silence we pressed on to one of the largest of the trees. I +recognized it at once. Niga and I, one day, went thither, and I cut a +name upon the soft bark of the tree. + +When we reached it we paused. Niga pointed with his finger; I looked. It +was there yet,--a simple name, carved in the rudest fashion. I read the +letters, which had since become an epitaph. They were these:-- + + "KÁNA-ANÁ, _Æt. 16 yrs._" + +Under them were three initials,--my own,--cut by the hand of Kána-aná, +after his return from America. + +We sat down in the gloomy grove. "Tell me," I said, "tell me, Niga, +where has his spirit gone?" + +"He is here, now," said Niga; "he can see us. Perhaps, some day, we +shall see him." + +"You have more faith than our philosophers, for they have reasoned +themselves out of everything. Would you like to be a philosopher, Niga?" +I asked. + +Niga thought, if they were going to die, body and soul, that he wouldn't +like to be anything of the sort, and that he had rather be a first-class +savage than a fourth-rate Christian, any day. + +I interrupted him at this alarming assertion. "The philosophers would +call your faith a superstition, Niga; they do not realize that there is +no true faith unmixed with superstition, since faith implies a belief in +something unseen, and is, therefore, itself a superstition. Blessed is +the man who believes blindly,--call it what you please,--for peace shall +dwell in his soul. But, Niga," I continued, "where is God?" + +"Here, and here, and here," said Niga, pointing me to a grotesque +carving in the sacred grove, to a monument upon the distant precipice, +and to a heap of rocks in the sea; and the smile of recognition with +which the little votary greeted his idols was a solemn proof of his +sincerity. + +"Niga," I said, "we call you and your kind heathens. It is a harmless +anathema, which cannot, in the least, affect you personally. Ask us if +we love God! Of course we do. Do we love Him above all things, animate +or inanimate? Undoubtedly! Undoubtedly is easily said, and let us give +ourselves credit for some honesty. We believe that we do love God above +all; that we have no other gods before Him; yet, who of us will give up +wealth, home, friends, and follow Him? Not one! The God we love is a +very vague, invisible, forbearing essence. He can afford to be lenient +with us while we are debating whether our neighbour is serving Him in +the right fashion, or not. We'd rather not have other gods before Him: +one is as many as we find it convenient to serve. The lover kisses +passionately a miniature. It is not, however, an image of his Creator, +nor any memorial of his Redeemer's passion, but only a portrait of his +mistress. Do you blame us, Niga? It is the strongest instinct of our +nature to worship something. Man is a born idolater, and not one of us +is exempted by reason of any scruples under the sun. You see it daily +and hourly: each one has his idols." + +Little Niga, who sympathized deeply with me, seemed to have gotten some +knowledge of our peculiarly mixed theories concerning God and the future +state, from conversations overheard after the return of Kána-aná. He +tried to console me with the assurance that Kána-aná died a devoted and +unshaken adherent to the faith of his fathers. + +I couldn't but feel that his blood was off my hands when I learned this; +and I believe I gave Niga a regular hug in that moment of joy. + +Then we walked here and there, through the valley, and visited the old +haunts, made memorable by many incidents in that romantic and chivalrous +life of the South. Every one we met had some word to add concerning the +Pride of the Valley, dead in his glorious youth. + +Over and over, they assured me of his fidelity to me, his white brother, +adding that Kána-aná had, more than once, expressed the deepest regret +at not having brought me back with him. + +He even meditated sending for me, in the same manner that I had sent for +him; and, if he had done so, it was his purpose to see that I was at +once made familiar with their Articles of Faith; for he anticipated a +willing convert in me, and it was the desire of his heart that I should +know that perfect trust, peculiar to his people, and which is begotten +of the brief gospel, so often quoted out of place: namely, that "seeing +is believing." + +It was a kind thought of his, and I wish he had carried it into +execution, for then he might have lived. It was his susceptible nature +that had come in contact with the great world, and received its +death-wound. Had I been there to help him, I would have planned +something to divert his mind until he had recovered himself, and was +willing to submit to the monotony of life over yonder. Had he not done +as much for me? Had he not striven, day after day, to charm me with his +barbarism, and come very near to success? I should say he had. Dear +little martyr! was he not the only boy I ever truly loved,--dead now in +his blossoming prime! + +O Kána-aná! Little Niga and I sat talking of you, down by the sea, and +we wept for you at last; for the tears came by-and-by, when I began to +fully realize the greatness of my loss. All your youth, and beauty, and +freshness, in destruction, and your body swallowed up in the graves of +the sea! + +The meridian sun blazed overhead, but it made little difference to us. +Afternoon passed, and evening was coming on almost unheeded; for our +thoughts were buried with him, under the waves, and life was nothing to +us, then. + +I no longer cared to observe the lights and shadows on the cliffs, nor +the poppy nodding in the wind, nor the seaward prospect: that was +spoiled by our vessel,--the seclusion was broken in upon. I cared for +nothing any longer, for I missed everywhere his step, patient and +faithful as a dog's, and his marvellous face, that could look steadily +at the sun without winking, and deluge itself with laughter all the +while, for there was nothing hidden or corrupting in it. + +Presently I returned into the sacred grove, touching the three letters +he had carved there, and calling on his spirit to regard me as +respecting his dumb idols, which were nothing but the representatives of +his jealous gods,--dear to him as the Garden of Gethsemane, the Mount of +Olives, and the shining summits of Calvary to us. Then down I ran to the +bathing-pools, and from place to place I wandered in a hurried and +nervous tour, for it was growing dark. I saw the ship's lights +flickering over the water, while the first cool whispers of the +night-wind came down from the hills, filling me with warnings; in the +midst of which there was a flash of flame and a sudden, thunderous +report,--enough to awaken the dead of the valley,--and I turned to go. I +believe, if dear Kána-aná had been there, as I prayed he might be, I +should have laughed at that signal, and hastened inland to avoid +discovery; for I was sick of the world. I might have had reason to +regret it afterward, because friendship is not elastic, and the best of +friends cannot long submit to being bored by the best of fellows. +Perhaps it was just as it should be: I had no time to consider the +matter there. I hurried to his mother, and she clung to me; others came +about me, and laid hold of me: so that I feared I should be held captive +until it was too late to board the vessel. Her sails were even then +shaking in the wind; and I heard the faint click of the capstan tugging +at the anchor-chains. + +With a quick impulse I broke away from them, and ran to the beach, where +Niga and I entered his canoe, and slid off from the sloping sands. Down +we drifted toward the open sea, while the natives renewed their +wailing, and I was half crazed with sorrow. It is impossible to resist +the persuasive eloquence of their chants. Think, then, with what a +troubled spirit I heard them, as we floated on between the calm stars in +the heavens and the whirling stars in the sea. + +We went out to the ship's side, and little Niga was as noisy as any of +them when I pressed upon him a practical memorial of my visit; and away +he drifted into the night, with his boyish babble pitched high and +shrill: and the Present speedily became the Past, and grew old in a +moment. + +Then I looked for the last time upon that faint and cloudy picture, and +seemed almost to see the spirit of the departed beckoning to me with +waving arms and imploring looks; and I longed for him with the old +longing, that will never release me from my willing bondage. I blessed +him in his new life, and I rejoiced with exceeding great joy that he was +freed at last from the tyranny of life,--released from the unsolvable +riddles of the ages. The night-wind was laden with music, and sweet with +the odours of ginger and cassia; the spume of the reef was pale as the +milk of the cocoanuts, and the blazing embers on shore glowed like old +sacrificial fires. + +Then I head a voice crying out of the shadow,--an ancient and eloquent +voice,--saying: "Behold my fated race! Our days are numbered. Long have +we feasted in the rich presence of a revealed deity. We sat in ashes +under the mute gods of Baal; we fled before the wrath of Moloch, the +destroyer; we were as mighty as the four winds of heaven: but the +profane hand of the Iconoclast has desecrated our temples, and humbled +our majesty in the dust. O impious breakers of idols! why will ye put +your new wines into these old bottles, that were shaped for spring +waters only, and not for wine at all! Lo! ye have broken them, and the +wine is wasted. Be satisfied, and depart!" + +So that spirit of air sang the death-song of his tribe, and the sad +music of his voice rang over the waters like a lullaby. + +Then I heard no more, and I said, "My asylum is the great world; my +refuge is in oblivion;" and I turned my face seaward, never again to +dream fondly of my island home; never again to know it as I have known +it; never again to look upon its serene and melancholy beauty: for the +soul of the beloved is transmitted to the vales of rest, and his ashes +are sown in the watery furrows of the deep sea! + + + + +TABOO.--A FÊTE-DAY IN TAHITI. + + +It was on one of those vagabond pilgrimages to nowhere in particular, +such as every stranger is bound to make in a strange land, that I first +stumbled upon my royal Jester, better known in Tahiti as Taboo. + +Great Jove! what a night it was! A wild ravine full of banyan and +pandanus trees, and of parasite climbers, and the thousand nameless +leafing and blossoming creatures that intermarry to such an alarming +extent in the free-loving tropics, had tempted me to pasture there for a +little while. I was wandering on among roots and trailing branches, and +under ropes upon ropes of flowers that seemed to swing suddenly across +my path on purpose to keep me from finding too easily the secret heart +of the mountain. I felt it was right that I should be made to realize +how sacred a spot that sanctuary of Nature was, but I fretted somewhat +at the persistency of those speechless sentinels who guarded its outer +door so faithfully. There was a waterfall within that I had prayed to +see,--one of those mysterious waterfalls that descend noiselessly from +the bosom of a cloud, stealing over cushions of moss, like a ray of +light in a dream, or something else equally intangible. + +You never find this sort of waterfall in the common way. No one can +exactly point it out to you; but you must search for it yourself, and +listen for its voice,--and usually listen in vain,--till, suddenly, you +come upon it in a moment, almost as if by accident; and its whole +quivering length glitters and glistens with jewels, where it hangs, like +a necklace, on the bosom of a great cliff. It is the only visible chain +that binds earth to heaven; and no wonder you gaze at it with +questioning eyes! + +Well, while I was looking about me, expecting every moment to feel the +damp breath of the waterfall upon my forehead, night came down. Where +was I? In the midst of a pathless forest; between cliffs whose sleek, +mossy walls were so steep as to forbid even the goat's sharp hoof. Down +the hollow of the ravine, among round, slippery rocks, and between +trellises of giant roots, tumbled a mountain torrent. No human form +visible, probably none to be looked for on that side of the inaccessible +dome of the mountain; yet fearlessly I toiled on, knowing that food and +shelter were on every side, and that no hand, whose clasp was as fervent +as the clasp of the vine itself, would be raised against me; and, thank +Heaven! outsiders were scarce. + +In the midst of the narrowing chasm, with the night thickening, and the +wood growing more and more objectionable, I heard a sound as of +stumbling feet before me. My first thought was of _colour_! I would +scarcely trust a white man in that predicament. What well-disposed White +would be prowling, like a wild animal, alone in a forest at night? It +occurred to me that I was white, or had passed as such; but I know and +have always known that, inwardly, I am purple-blooded, and +stipple-limbed, and invisibly tattooed after the manner of my lost +tribe! I was startled at the sound, and slackened my pace to listen: the +footsteps paused with mine. I plunged forward, accusing the echoes of +playing me false. Again the mysterious one rushed awkwardly on before +me, with footfalls that were not like mine, nor like any that I could +trace: they were neither brute nor human, but fell clumsily among the +roots and stones, out of time with me; therefore, no echo, and beyond my +reckoning entirely. + +At this hour the moon, of a favourable size, looked over the cliff, +flooding the chasm with her soft light. I rejoiced at it, and hoped for +a revelation of the Unknown, whose tottering steps had mocked mine for +half an hour. + +Here we were in a forest of bread-fruit trees. Scarcely a ray of light +penetrated their thick-woven branches; but, against the faint light of +the open distance, I marked the weird outline of one who might once have +been human, but was no longer a tolerable image of his Maker. The figure +was like the opposite halves of two men bodily joined together in an +amateur attempt at human grafting. The trunk was curved the wrong way; a +great shoulder bullied a little shoulder, and kept it decidedly under; a +long leg walked right around a short leg that was perpetually sitting +itself down on invisible seats, or swinging itself for the mere pleasure +of it. One arm clutched a ten-foot bamboo about three inches in +diameter, and wielded it as though it were a bishop's crook, and +something to be proud of; the other arm--it must have belonged to a +child when it stopped growing--was hooked up over one ear, looking as +though it had been badly wired by some medical student, and was worn as +a lasting reproach to him. A shaggy head was set on the down-slope of +the big shoulder, and seemed to be continually looking over the little +shoulder and under the little arm for some one always expected, but who +was very long in coming. + +Upon this startling discovery I turned to flee, but the figure +immediately followed. It was evidently too late to escape an interview, +and, taking heart, I walked toward it, when, to my amazement, it hastily +staggered away from me, looking always over its shoulder, quickening its +pace with mine, slackening its speed with me, and keeping, or seeking to +keep, within a certain distance of me all the while. My curiosity was +excited, and, as I saw it bore me no ill-will, I made a quick plunge +forward, hoping to capture it. With an energetic effort it strove to +escape me; but, with the head turned the wrong way, it stumbled blindly +into a bit of jungle, where it lay whining piteously. I assisted it to +its feet, with what caution and tenderness I could, and, finding it +still wary, walked on slowly, leading the way to the edge of the grove, +where the moonlight was almost as radiant as the dawn. It followed me +like a dog, and was evidently grateful for my company. I walked slowly +that it might not stumble, and, as we emerged from the shadow of the +bread-fruits, I manoeuvered so as to bring its face toward the +moonlight, and I saw--a hideous visage, with all its features sliding to +one corner; and nothing but the two soft, sleepy-looking eyes saved me +from yielding to the disgust that its whole presence awakened. As it +was, I involuntarily started back with a shudder, and a slight +exclamation that attracted its attention. "Taboo! Taboo!" moaned the +poor creature, half in introduction, half in apology and explanation. + +He was well named the "forbidden one": set apart from all his fellows; +incapable of utterance; maimed in body; an outcast among his own people; +homeless, yet at home everywhere; friendless, though welcomed by all for +his entertaining and ludicrous simplicity; feeding, like the birds, from +Nature's lap, and, like the birds, left to the winds and waters for +companionship. + +Somehow I felt that Taboo could lead me at once to the waterfall; and I +tried to seek out the small door to his brain, and impress him with my +anxiety to reach the place. O, what darkness was there, and what doubts +and fears seemed to cloud the hidden portals of his soul! He made an +uncouth noise for me. Perhaps he meant it as music: it was frightful to +hear it up there in the mountain solitudes. He got me fruits and a +little water in the palm of his hand, which he expected me to drink with +a relish. He lay down at my feet in a broken heap of limbs, crooning +complacently. He was playful and thoughtful alternately; at least, he +lost himself in long silences from time to time, while his eyes glowed +with a deep inward light, that almost made me hope to startle his reason +from its dreadful sleep; but a single word broke the spell, and set him +to laughing as though he would go all to pieces; and his joy was more +pitiful than his sorrow. + +In one of his silent moods he suddenly staggered to his feet, and +shambled into a narrow trail to one side of the gorge. I wondered at his +unexpected impulse, and feared that he had grown tired of me already, +preferring the society of his feathered comrades, a few of whom sounded +their challenge-note, that soared like silver arrows in the profound +stillness of the ravine. It seemed not, however: in a few moments he +returned, and signalled me with his expressive grunt, and I followed +him. Through thickets of fern, arching high over our heads, down spongy +dells, and over rims of rock jutting from the base of the mountain, +Taboo and I clambered in the warm moonlight. Anon we came upon a +barricade of bamboos, growing like pickets set one against another. I +know not how broad the thicket might have been,--possibly as broad as +the ravine itself,--but into the thick of it Taboo edged himself; and +close upon his heels I followed. In a few moments we had crushed our way +through the midst of the bamboos, that clashed together after us so that +a bird might not have tracked us, and lo! a crystal pool in the heart of +a wonderful garden; and to it, silently, from heaven itself descended +that mysterious waterfall, whose actual existence I had seriously begun +to question. It lay close against the breast of the mountain, strangely +pale in the full glow of the moon, while, like a vein of fire, it seemed +to throb from end to end; or like a shining thread with great pearls +slipping slowly down its full length, taking the faint hues of the +rainbow as they fell, playing at prisms, until my eyes, weary of +watching, closed of their own accord. I sank down by Taboo, who was +sleeping soundly in the hollow of a great tree; and the one cover for +both of us was the impenetrable shadow that is never lifted from that +silent sanctuary of the Most High. + +The sky was as saffron when we woke from our out-of-door sleep, and the +whole atmosphere was less poetical and impressive than on the night +previous. Stranger than all else, there was no visible trace of the +mysterious waterfall. I even began to question my own senses, and +thought it possible that I had been dreaming. Yet there sat Taboo in his +frightful imperfection, as happy and indifferent as possible. Of course +he could tell me nothing of the magical waters. He had doubtless already +forgotten the episode of the hour previous. He lived for the solitary +moment, and his mind seemed unable to grasp the secrets of ten seconds +on either side of his narrow present. In fact, he was playing with a +splendid lizard when I returned from my brief and fruitless +reconnoissance; and as I came up he wondered at me, as he never ceased +to wonder, with fresh bewilderment, whenever I came back to him, after +never so brief an absence. + +I soon learned to play upon Taboo's one stop; to point a finger at him, +and bore imaginary auger-holes right into him anywhere; for he always +winced and whined, like a very baby, and yielded at once to my +pantomimic suggestion. But what a wreck was here! A delicate instrument, +full of rifts and breakages, with that single key readily answerable to +the slightest touch of my will. I have often wished that it had been a +note more deep, profound, or sympathetic. It was simply merry and +shrill, and incapable of any modulation whatever. Point a finger at him, +make a few coils in the air that grow to a focus as they draw nearer to +him, and he would run over with uncontrollable jollity that was at times +a little painful in its boisterousness. + +I knew well enough that I had sucked the honey from that particular cell +in the mountain, and that I might as well resume my pilgrimage. There +was to be a _Fête Napoléon_ in Papeete. We hadn't heard, up to that +hour, of the wreck of the great Empire, and, being in a loyal French +colony, it behoved us to have the very best time possible. Said I to +myself, "Taboo will find sufficient food for merriment in our mode +_fêting_ an Emperor; therefore Taboo shall go with me to town and enjoy +himself." I suggested an immediate adjournment to Papeete with the tip +of my forefinger, whereat Taboo doubled up, as usual, and, in his own +fashion, implored me to stop being so funny. We at once started; +returning through the bamboo-brakes, fording the stream in some awkward +way, and slowly working our passage back to town. + +The Tahitians have but one annual holiday. As this, however, is +seventy-two hours in length, while everything relating to it is broad in +proportion, it is about as much as they can conscientiously ask for. + +Taboo and I entered the town on the eve of the first day, together with +multitudes from the neighbouring districts, flocking thither in their +best clothes. The lovely bay of Papeete was covered with fleets of +canoes, hailing from all the seaside villages on the island, and many of +them from Moorea, and islands even more distant. No sea is too broad to +be compassed by an ambitious Kanack, who scents a festival from afar. + +Along the crescent shores of the bay, the canoes were heaped, tier upon +tier. It was as though a whole South Sea navy had been stranded, for the +town was crowded with canoe-boys and all manner of natives, in gala +dress. The incessant rolling of drums, the piping of bamboo-flutes, and +the choruses of wandering singers began early in the dawn of the 14th +August, and were expected to continue, uninterruptedly, to the evening +of the 16th. Taboo regarded it all with singular indifference. Everybody +seemed to know him, and to take particular delight in greeting him. His +sleepy disregard of them was considered extremely laughable, and they +went their way roaring with merriment, that contrasted strongly with the +grave, listless face of the simple one, who was apparently oblivious of +everything. + +The morning after we appeared in Papeete was Sunday, according to the +calendar. The little cathedral, with banana-leaves rustling in the open +windows, was thronged with worshippers of all colours, doubly devout in +the excessive heat. Various choirs relieved one another during Mass, and +some diminutive fellows, under ten years of age, chanted Latin hymns in +a pleasingly plaintive voice, led by a friar in long clothes and a +choker. Taboo crouched by the open door during service, raking the +gravel-walk with his crooked fingers, and hitching about with +indefatigable industry. After the last gospel, we all went into the +middle of the street--for there were no sidewalks--and got our boots +very dusty. Little knots of friends seemed to sit down in the way +wherever they pleased, and to talk as long as they liked; while +everybody else accommodatingly turned out for them, or paused, and +listened to the conversation, without embarrassment on either side. +Liquor was imbibed on the sly; some eyes were beginning to swim +perceptibly, and some tongues to wag faster and looser than ever. The +Admiral's flag-ship was one pyramid of gorgeous bunting, and his band +delighted a great audience, gathered upon the shore, with a _matinée_ +gratis. At sunset the imperial batteries belched their sulphurous +thunder, that came as near to breaking the Sabbath as possible. In the +evening more music, up at the Governor's garden,--waltzes, polkas, and +quadrilles, so brilliantly executed that the listeners were half mad +with delight; and you couldn't for the life of you tell what day it had +been, nor what night it was, but Sunday was positively set down against +it in the calendar. At ten p.m. a signal-gun says "Good-night" to the +citizens of Papeete, and it behoves all those who are dark-skinned to +retire instantly, on pain of arrest and a straw-heap in the calaboose. + +In the midst of our Sunday festival, while yet the streets were +hilarious, slap-bang went this impudent piece of ordnance, and at once +the crowd began to disperse in the greatest confusion. Taboo, who had +been an inanimate spectator during the day's diversions, seemed to +comprehend the necessity of hasty flight to some quarter or other; and, +with a confusion of ideas peculiar to him, he began careering in great +circles through the swaying multitude, and continued to revolve around +an uncertain centre, until I seized him and sought to pilot him to some +convenient place of shelter. I thought of the great market, that, like +those ancient cities of refuge, was always open to the benighted +wanderer; and thither we hastened. A lofty roof, covering a good part of +a block, kept the rain from a vast enclosure, stored with stalls, +tables, and benches. It was simply shelter of the barest kind, but +sufficient for all needs in that charitable climate. There was a buzzing +of turbulent throngs as we edged our way toward the centre of the +market-place; you would think that all the bees of Tahiti were swarming +in unison, from the noise thereof. The commotion was long in quieting. +It had to subside like the sea at flood-tide. Every little while a brace +of _gendarmes_ strutted past the premises, feeling mighty fine in their +broad white pants, like a ship with studding-sails out, and with those +comical bobtails sprouting out of the small of their backs. I know that +Taboo and I, having laid ourselves on somebody's counter, listened and +nudged each other for two or three hours, and that it began to feel like +morning before there was sleep enough to go entirely around the +establishment. + +The man who is the first to wake in Papeete lights his lamp and goes to +market. As soon as he makes his untimely appearance, the community +begins to stir; a great clatter of drowsy voices and dozens of yawns are +the symptoms of returning day; and in ten minutes the market is declared +open, though it is still deep and tranquil starlight overhead, with not +a trace of dawn as yet visible. + +When the market opens before 3 a.m.--and the hour happens to be the +blackest of the four-and-twenty--it is highly inconvenient for any +foreigner and his royal jester who may be surreptitiously passing the +night upon one of the fruit counters, but there is no help for them: +sleepy heads give way to fresh-gathered bread-fruits and nets of +fragrant oranges; bananas are swung up within tempting reach of +everybody; all sorts of natives come in from the four quarters of the +Papeetean globe, with back-loads of miscellaneous viands, a mat under +one arm, and a flaming torch in hand. Rows upon rows of girls sell +fruits and flowers to the highest bidder; withering old women haggle +over the prices of their perfumed and juicy wares; solitary men offer +their solitary strings of fish for a _real_ each, and refuse to be +beaten down by any wretch of a fellow who dares to insinuate that the +fish are a trifle too scaly; boys sit demure over their meagre array of +temptations in the shape of six tomatoes, three eggs, a dozen or so of +guavas, and one cucumber. These youngsters usually sit with a +passionless countenance that forbids any hope of a bargain at reduced +prices, and they pass an hour or two with scarce a suggestion of custom; +but it is suddenly discovered that they have something desirable, and a +dozen purchasers begin quarrelling for it, during which time some one +else quietly makes his purchase from one corner of the boy's mat; and, +having closed out his stock in less than ten minutes, he quietly pockets +his _reals_, and departs without having uttered a syllable. + +Taboo and I went from one mat to another, eyeing the good things for +breakfast. I offered him the best that the market afforded; and I could +easily do so, for in no land is the article cheaper or better. Taboo, +having made the circuit of the entire establishment, upon mature +deliberation concluded to take nothing. At every point he was greeted +uproariously by the noisy and good-natured people, who were willing to +give him anything he might choose to take. They, probably, felt that it +was worth more than the price of the article to see the sublime scorn on +the poor fellow's face as he declined their limes, _feis_, mangoes, or +whatever delicious morsel it might have been. As for me, I couldn't +resist those seductions. I made my little purchases and withdrew to the +seaside, where I could break my fast by sunrise, and enjoy comparative +quiet. Taboo grinned in the market-place till he was weary of the +applause showered upon him by the ungodly, who made light of his +irreparable misfortune and took pleasure in his misery. He hunted me up, +or, rather, stumbled upon me again, and stayed by me, amusing himself +with pelting the fish that sported, like sunbeams and prisms, in the sea +close at our feet. + +It was _fête_-day in Tahiti. I sat, at sunrise, by the tideless margin +of a South Sea lagoon, bristling with coral and glittering with gem-like +fish. In either hand I held a mango and banana. I raised the mango to my +lips. What a marvel it was! A plump vegetable egg, full of delusion, and +staffed with a horny seed nearly as large as itself. It had a fragrance +as of oils and syrups; it purged sweet-scented and resinous gums. Its +hide was, perhaps, too tough for convenience, but its inner lusciousness +tempted me to persevere in the consumption of it. With much difficulty I +broke the skin. Honey of Hymettus! It seemed as though the very marrow +of the tropics were about to intoxicate my palate. Alas, for the hopes +of youthful inexperience! What was so fair to see proved but a meagre +mouthful of saturated wool; that colossal and horny seed asserted itself +everywhere. The more I strove to handle it with caution, the more +slippery and unmanageable it became. It shot into my beard, it leaped +lightly into my shirt-bosom, and skated over the palms of both hands. +Small rivulets of liquor trickled down my sleeves, making disagreeable +puddles at both elbows. My fingers were webbed together in a glutinous +mass. My whole front was in a shocking state of smear. My teeth grew +weary of combing out the beguiling threads of the fruit. The thing +seemed, to my imagination, a small, flat head, covered with short, blond +hair, profusely saturated with some sweet sort of ointment, that I had +despaired of feasting on; and I was not sorry when the slippery stone +sprang out of my grasp, and peppered itself with sea-sand. + +I knew that there still remained to me a morsel that was of itself fit +food for the gods. I poised aloft, with satisfaction, the rare-ripe +banana, beautiful to the eye as a nugget of purest gold. The pliant +petals were pouting at the top of the fruit. I readily turned them back, +forming a unique and convenient gilded salver for the column of flaky +manna that was, as yet, swathed in lace-like folds. These gauzy ribbons +fell from it almost of their own accord, and hung in fleecy festoons +about it. + +Here was a repast of singularly appropriate mould, being about the size +of a respectable mouth, and containing just enough mouthfuls to +temporarily satisfy the appetite. Not a morsel of it but was full of +mellowness, and sweet flavour, and fragrance. Not an atom of it was +wasted; for, no sooner had I thrown aside the cool, clean, flesh-like +case, than it was made way with by a fowl, that had, no doubt, been +patiently awaiting that abundant feast. + +Mangoes and bananas! Their very names smack of shady gardens, that know +no harsher premonition of death than the indolent and natural decay of +all things. The nostril is excited with the thought of them; the palate +grows moist and yearns for them; and the soul feasts itself, for a +moment, with a memory of mangoes and bananas past, whose perfection was +but another proof of immortality, since it is impossible ever to forget +them individually. Mangoes and bananas! the prime favourites at Nature's +most bountiful board; the realization of a dream of the orchards of the +Hesperides; alike excellent, yet so vastly dissimilar in their +excellences, it seems almost incredible that the same beneficent +Providence can have created the two fruits! + +It was the memorable 15th of August, 1870; but I have reason to believe +that the bananas were no better on that particular occasion than almost +always in their own latitude. The 15th of August,--where was the Emperor +then? I forget; I know that we rejoiced in the blissful confidence that +we were to have a grand time at all hazards. There were guns at sunrise +from ship and shore; a grand national procession of French and Tahitians +to High Mass at 10.30; guns--twenty-one of them--together with the +ringing of bells, and a salute of flags, at the elevation of the Host, +so that you would have known the supreme moment had you been miles away. +Then came a sumptuous public breakfast for the Frenchmen; and, for the +natives, games of several sorts. + +Taboo and I, having properly observed the more solemn ceremonials of the +day, gave ourselves up to the full enjoyment of these latter diversions. +There was a greased pole, with shining cups; and flowing prints, both +useful and ornamental, hung at the top of it. Several naked and superbly +built fellows shinned up it with infinite difficulty, and were so +fatigued when they got there, they were only too willing to clutch the +first article within reach, which was, of course, the least desirable, +and scarcely worth the trouble of getting. O, such magnificent grouping +at the foot of the pole, as the athletes shouldered one another in a +sort of co-operative experiment at getting up sooner; such struggles to +rise a little above the heads of the impatient climbers beneath as made +the aspiring Kanack quite pale--that is, greenish yellow; such losing of +grips, and fainting of hearts, and slidings back to earth in the midst +of taunts and jeers, but all in the best of humours and the hottest of +suns! such novelties as these were a very great delight to Taboo and +myself. He, however, didn't deign to laugh heartily: he merely smiled in +a superior manner that seemed to imply that he knew of something that +was twice as much fun and not half the trouble, but he didn't choose to +disclose it. He nearly always seemed to know as much as any ten of us; +and it was like an assumption of innocence, that queer, vacant +expression of his face. I'm not sure that he was not possessed of some +rare instinct beyond our comprehension, which was to him an abundant +compensation for the fragmentary body he was obliged to trundle about. + +Early in the afternoon, there were fresh arrivals in the bay: two +mammoth double war-canoes, of fifty paddles each, came in from a remote +sea-district; they were the very sort of water-monsters that went out to +greet my illustrious predecessor, Captain Cook, nearly a century ago. +Taboo and I were only too glad to sit meekly among the ten thousand +spectators that blackened the great sweep of the shore, while these +savages matched their prowess. With one vigorous plunge of the paddles +the canoes sprang from the beach into the watery arena. How strange they +looked! Long, low sides, scarce eight inches above water, and stained +like fish-scales; big, yawning jaws in their snakelike heads, and the +tail of a dragon in their wakes; every man of the hundred stripped to +the skin and bareheaded; their brawny bodies glistening in the sun as +though they had been oiled, while, with mechanical accuracy, the crews +beat the water with their paddles, and chanted their guttural chants, +with the sea gashing and foaming under them. The race was a tie; perhaps +it was fortunate that it proved so. I fear if one crew had beaten the +other crew the breadth of a paddle, that other would have lain to and +eaten that one right under our very eyes. They had their songs of +triumph, both sounding the chorus, during which they drummed with their +paddles on the sides of their canoes, till the frail things shivered and +groaned in genuine misery. Then they renewed the race, because they +couldn't possibly be still for a moment; and they looked like a brace of +mastodon centipedes trying to get out of the water, with death hissing +in their throats. + +The evening of the great day was drawing to a close. Taboo and I again +went out into the narrow, green lanes of Papeete, seeking what we might +devour with all our eyes and ears. They were very charming, those long +arbours of densely leaved trees, with little tropical vignettes set in +the farther end of them. It was almost like getting a squint through the +wrong end of a telescope, pointed toward some fairy-land or other. As it +grew dark, a thousand ready hands began illuminating the avenues that +lead to the Governor's house. Up and down its deep verandah swung ropes +of lanterns; and as the guards at the garden-gate presented arms at the +approach of the Admiral, or some distinguished and decorated foreigner, +the strains of Strauss, deliciously played, filled the illuminated grove +with an air of romance that was very Oriental in its mellowness, and +quickened every foot that was so happy as to touch the soil of Tahiti in +so fortunate an hour. On every part of the public lawns the revels were +conducted after the native fashion. Bands of singers and dancers sang +and danced in the streets, and were frequently rewarded with liberal +potations. Taboo looked on as amiably as usual, and for some time as +passively also; but there was something intoxicating in the air, and it +began to have a visible effect upon him. It was not long before he +strove to emulate the singers. St. Cecilia! what a song was his! I could +scarcely endure to hear that royal jester striving to tune his +inharmonious voice to the glib though monotonous Tahitian madrigals. I +walked away by myself, or rather went into another part of the village, +and sought a change of scene; for there was no seclusion to be hoped for +on a _fête_-night. + +From the Governor's halls came the entrancing harmony of flutes and +harps; from every lane and alley the piping of nose-fifes and the +droning of nasal chorals; from the sea rolled in the deep, hoarse +booming of the reef, the rhythmical plash of oars, or the clear, +prolonged cry of some one in the watery distance hailing some one close +at hand. Even so savage and picturesque a spectacle as this grew +wearisome after a time, and I turned my steps toward a place of shelter, +and suggested to myself sleep. + +In one lane was a throng of natives, wilder in their demonstrations of +joy than all the others. My curiosity was excited, and I hastened to +join them. Having with some difficulty wedged my way into the front row +of spectators, I beheld the subject of their riotous applause. In the +centre of a small ring was an ungainly figure, writhing in grotesque +contortions; tom-toms were being beaten with diabolical energy and +wildness; flutes and shrill voices were chiming in rapid and bewildering +chromatics; the audience--the half-crazed and utterly inhuman +audience--gloated over the shocking spectacle with devilish delight. In +one moment I comprehended all: Taboo, overcome by the general and +unusual excitement, had succumbed to its depraving influences; and, +unable longer to control himself, he was broadly burlesquing, in his +helplessness, one of the national dances. Music had at last reached his +impenetrable soul, awakened his long-slumbering sympathies, and found +him her willing slave. A pity that some diviner strain had not first led +him captive, that he might have been spared this disgrace! + +I saw his unhappy body ambling to the shame of all. I saw those pitiful, +unshapen shoulders undulating in vain attempts at passional expression; +the helpless arm waving at every movement of the body, while the +withered hand spun like a whirligig above his ears; his eyes, having +lost their accustomed mild light, stared distractedly about, seeking +rescue and protection, as I thought. In a few moments I attracted his +notice, though he seemed but partly to recognize me. There was his usual +uncertain recognition grown more doubtful,--nay, even hopeless,--as his +face betrayed. Again I caught his eye: I felt that but one course was +left me, and at once I aimed my finger at him. He winced in his +delirious dance. I coiled it round and round, weaving airy circle +within circle; quicker and quicker I wove my spell, and at last shot the +whole hand at him, as though I would run him through. He doubled, like +one struck with a fatal blow, and went to the ground all of a senseless +heap. There was a disturbance in the audience. Some of them thought I +had bewitched Taboo; and it behoved me to go at once, rather than seek +to make explanation of the singular result of my presence there. I went, +and spent a dull night, accusing myself of being the possible spiritual +murderer of Taboo. I had no business to bring him to the metropolis at +that unfortunate season; I had no right to leave him with his traducers: +and that was the whole statement of the case. + +The last day of the _fête_ was, of course, less joyous to me. A score of +nameless nags were to be ridden by light-weights in breech-cloths; and I +sought consolation in the prospect of seeing some bewitching +horsemanship. The track, in use but once every twelvemonth, and yielding +annually a young orchard of guava trees, presented to the astonished +gaze of the foreign sporting gentleman who happened to be on the +ground--if, indeed, there was such an one present--a half-mile course, +with numerous stones and hollows relieving its surface, while the rope +that enclosed it kept giving way every few moments, letting in a mixed +multitude among the half-broken horses. + +The Queen was present at the races,--Pomare, whose life has been one +long, sorrowful romance; the Admiral was also there; and many a petty +officer, with abundant gilt and tinsel. At a signal from the trumpeter +the horses were entered unannounced, and everybody betted wildly. One +little African jockey, mounted upon the cleverest piece of flesh and +blood in the field, called for the larger stakes; and he would certainly +have won, but for an unavoidable accident: the little African was +pressing in on the home-stretch, and everything looked lovely for the +winning mare, when, unluckily, she put her nigh leg in a crab hole, and +snapped her shin-bone square off. The undaunted little African tried his +best to finish the heat on his own responsibility, and went off into the +air in fine style, but missed his calculation, and burrowed about three +lengths from the goal. His neck was driven in nearly up to the ears, and +the mare had to be shot; but the races went mercilessly on until a +tremendous thunder-storm flooded the track and washed the population +back to town. Dance after dance consumed the afternoon hours; and song +upon song, eternally reiterated, finally failed to create any special +enthusiasm. + +I saw no further traces of Taboo. Again and again I followed knots of +the curious into the larger native houses, where the lascivious dances +were given with the utmost _abandon_; thither, I suspected, Taboo would +most likely be impelled, for the music was wilder and the applause more +boisterous and unrestrained. + +The evening of the last day of the _fête_ was darkening; most people +were growing a little weary of the long-drawn festivities; many had +succumbed to their fatigue, and slept by the wayside, or, it may be, +they had known too well the nature of the Tahitian juices, such as no +man may drink and not fall. + +The palace of Pomare--a great, hollow, incomplete shell, whose windows +have never been glazed, and whose doors have never been hung--was the +scene of the concluding ceremonials of the season. The long verandahs +were thickly hung with numberless paper lanterns, swinging continually +in the soft night winds that stole down from the starlit slopes of +Fautahua; the broad lawns in front of the palace were blocked out in +squares, like the map of a liliputian city. Each one of these plats was +set apart for a band of singers, and there were as many bands as +districts in Tahiti and Moorea, together with delegations from islands +more remote. Soon the choruses began to assemble. Choirs of fifty voices +each, male and female, led by tight-headed drums and screaming fifes, +drew towards the palace gardens, and were formally admitted by the +proper authorities, who were very much swollen with the pomp of office, +and, perhaps, a little sprinkle of the exhilarating accompaniments of +the season. One after another the white-robed processions +approached--each fresh arrival looking more like the chorus in "Norma" +than the last, though it then seemed impossible that any Druid could +presume to appear more gracefully ghostlike. Each singer wore a plume of +cocoa leaves, whose feathers were more lovely than the downy wands of +the ostrich. They were made of knots of long, slender ribbons, softer +than satin, veined like clouded silver, as transparent as the clearest +isinglass, and as delicate as the airiest gauze. + +Out of the core of the palm tree, in the midst of its rich, dark mass of +foliage, springs a tuft of leaves as tender as the first sprouts of a +lily bulb. These budding leaves are carefully removed, split edgewise, +and the enamelled sheets laid open to the sun; then, with the +thumb-nail, passed skilfully over the inner surface, a filmy membrane +is separated, and spread in the air to dry. A single tree yields but a +small cluster of these pale, cloud-like leaves, scarcely a handful in +all, yet the tree withers when they pluck the heart of it. It is the +very soul of the southern palm, with every life spiritualized, and +looking vapoury as tangible moonlight. + +The leader of the concert having challenged the choruses from the +verandah of the palace, at once twenty choirs struck into their +particular anthem with the utmost zeal. A discord about six acres in +extent was the result. It seemed as though each choir was seeking whom +it might drown out with superior vocal compass and volume. With much +difficulty the several bands of singers were persuaded to await their +turn for a _solo_ effort that might be listened to with no small degree +of pleasure. From time to time, during the entire evening, some +obstreperous chorus would break loose, spite of every precaution; and it +had always to sing itself out before order could be restored. Taboo +would have thoroughly enjoyed these two thousand singers, each singing +his or her favourite roundelay, independent of all laws of time and +melody. He might have been there, as it was, offering his inharmonious +chant with the mob of contestants. + +By the time the series of prize-songs had been sung, the sky grew +cloudy, and the torches began to flicker in the increasing wind; a few +great drops of rain spat down in the midst of the singers, and the reef +moaned loudly, like the baying of signal guns. It was ominous of coming +storms. At the climax of a choral revolution, in which every man's voice +seemed raised against his neighbour's, a roar as of approaching armies +was heard mingled with the accompanying crash of artillery. A sudden +puff of wind extinguished the major part of the torches, and wrecked +many of the lanterns in the palace porch. It was simply a tropical +shower in all its magnificence; but it was enough! The _fête_ concluded +then and there in the promptest manner. The narrow streets of Papeete +were clogged with retreating hosts, who continually shouted a sort of +general adieu to everybody, as they gathered their skirts about them, +and, with shoes in hand, turned their bare feet homeward. + +Since the end had at last come, and I had no further claims upon the +people, nor the people upon me,--if, indeed, either of us were ever +anything in particular to one another,--I drifted with the majority, and +soon found myself in the suburban wilderness that girdles the small +capital of the queendom. I wandered on till the noise of the revellers +grew more and more indistinct. They were scattering themselves over the +length and breadth of the island, carrying their songs with them. Now +and then a fresh gust of wind bore down to me an echo of a refrain that +had grown familiar during the days of the _fête_, and will not soon be +forgotten; but the past was rapidly fading, and the necessities of the +future began to present themselves with unusual boldness. Instinctively +I turned into the winding trail that once before had led me toward that +mysterious mountain sacristy, over whose font fell the spiritual and +dream-like rivulet whose baptismal virtues Taboo and I had sought +together. I felt certain that I could find it without guidance; for the +broken clouds let slip such floods of moonlight as made day of darkness, +and rendered the smallest landmark easily distinguishable. + +I paused for rest in the bread-fruit grove where first I met with my +weird companion. Presently I resumed my pilgrimage, wending my way +toward the slender path that led through fern, forest, and +bamboo-jungle, to the crystal lake and waterfall. In vain I sought it; +the slightest traces of the trail seemed obliterated. I wandered up and +down the winding way, till I was in despair of finding the slightest +clue to the mystery. I sat down and thought how a slight accident of +forgetfulness was lending a sense of enchantment to the whole valley, +when I heard a stumbling step, too marked to be soon forgotten. I crept +into a shadow, and awaited the approach of the solitary wanderer. How he +tottered as he drew near! He seemed to have lost part of his small skill +since I last saw him. He was laughing quietly to himself while he +journeyed: perhaps some memory of the _fête_ still pleased him. He +passed me, unconscious of my presence. I ran cautiously, and followed +him at a safe distance. We threaded the old path, by stream and cliff +and brake, and, after a little, reached the secluded and silent borders +of the lake. Once or twice he had heard me as I brushed past the bamboos +or a twig snapped under foot, but those forest-sounds scarcely +disconcerted him; he was too well used to them. He paused at the margin +of the lake, stooped awkwardly and drank of it, went a little to one +side where an outlet fed the torrent we had forded some distance down +the valley, and there he bathed. Having started once or twice, as though +with some remembered and definite purpose, he paused a moment or two, +looked about him helplessly, and returned to the foot of the great tree +where we slept the first night of our acquaintance. + +There was a faint suggestion of the fall across the sombre breast of the +cliff opposite, but whether it were real or a delusion, I could scarcely +determine. Taboo was soon asleep among the roots of the banyan; and I, +weary of seeking some revelation of the island mysteries, lay down near +him, and gradually sank into unconsciousness. Once in the night I awoke: +the clouds had blown over, and the moon was more resplendent than I ever +remember to have seen it. Out on the mossy rim of the lake stood Taboo, +gazing wistfully upon the mountains. Instinctively my eyes followed his, +and there I beheld the waterfall in all its glory, leaping, like a ray +of light, from the bosom of the sky. I could scarcely determine whether +or no it really fell into the lake, for the foliage about its shores was +too profuse. It flashed like handfuls of diamond-dust thrown into the +light, and descended as noiselessly and airily as vapour. + +The clouds soon gathered again. I slept, overcome with weariness; and +when I awoke at dawn, Taboo was missing, as well as all traces of the +fall. This, however, scarcely surprised me, for I had grown to look upon +it as some lunar effect that came and went with the increasing or +decreasing splendour of the moon; or it might have been the short-lived +offspring of the showers that sweep over the island at uncertain +intervals. It was probably the only dramatic result to be looked for in +the career of Taboo. You never can depend upon one of those veering +minds, whose north-star has burned out in oblivion. I believe it was his +destiny to disappear with that rainbow, and, perhaps, return with it +when the fall should noiselessly steal down the mountain once more. + +He may have had an object in secreting himself for a season; perhaps he +was renewing his youthful innocence in some more solitary spot. He may +have gone apart to laugh by the hour at the folly of those foreigners +who _fête_ a disgraced emperor; or was he making his queer noises to +hear the queerer echoes that came back to him, and all the while caring +no more for life or death than a parrot or a magpie, or even a poor, +half-shapen soul,--one of those sacred idiots that have found +worshippers before now, and never yet failed to awaken a chord of +sympathy in the heart that is fashioned after the Divine pattern of the +Son of God? + + + + +JOE OF LAHAINA. + + +I. + +I was stormed in at Lahaina. Now, Lahaina is a little slice of +civilization, beached on the shore of barbarism. One can easily stand +that little of it, for brown and brawny heathendom becomes more +wonderful and captivating by contrast. So I was glad of dear, drowsy, +little Lahaina; and was glad, also, that she had but one broad street, +which possibly led to destruction, and yet looked lovely in the +distance. It didn't matter to me that the one broad street had but one +side to it; for the sea lapped over the sloping sands on its lower edge, +and the sun used to set right in the face of every solitary citizen of +Lahaina, just as he went to supper. + +I was waiting to catch a passage in a passing schooner, and that's why I +came there; but the schooner flashed by us in a great gale from the +south, and so I was stormed in indefinitely. + +It was Holy Week, and I concluded to go to housekeeping, because it +would be so nice to have my frugal meals in private, to go to mass and +vespers daily, and then to come back and feel quite at home. My villa +was suburban,--built of dried grasses on the model of a hay-stack, dug +out in the middle, with doors and windows let into the four sides +thereof. It was planted in the midst of a vineyard, with avenues +stretching in all directions, under a network of stems and tendrils. + + "Her breath is sweeter than the sweet winds + That breathe over the grape-blossoms of Lahaina." + +So the song said; and I began to think upon the surpassing sweetness of +that breath, as I inhaled the sweet winds of Lahaina, while the +wilderness of its vineyards blossomed like the rose. I used to sit in my +verandah and turn to Joe (Joe was my private and confidential servant), +and I would say to Joe, while we scented the odour of grape, and saw the +great banana-leaves waving their cambric sails, and heard the sea +moaning in the melancholy distance,--I would say to him, "Joe, +housekeeping is good fun, isn't it?" Whereupon Joe would utter a sort of +unanimous Yes, with his whole body and soul; so that question was +carried triumphantly, and we would relapse into a comfortable silence, +while the voices of the wily singers down on the city front would +whisper to us, and cause us to wonder what they could possibly be doing +at that moment in the broad way that led to destruction. Then we would +take a drink of cocoa-milk, and finish our bananas, and go to bed, +because we had nothing else to do. + +This is the way that we began our co-operative housekeeping: One night, +when there was a riotous sort of a festival off in a retired valley, I +saw, in the excited throng of natives who were going mad over their +national dance, a young face that seemed to embody a whole tropical +romance. On another night, when a lot of us were bathing in the +moonlight, I saw a figure so fresh and joyous that I began to realize +how the old Greeks could worship mere physical beauty and forget its +higher forms. Then I discovered that face on this body,--a rare enough +combination,--and the whole constituted Joe, a young scapegrace who was +schooling at Lahaina, under the eye--not a very sharp one--of his uncle. +When I got stormed in, and resolved on housekeeping for a season, I took +Joe, bribing his uncle to keep the peace, which he promised to do, +provided I gave bonds for Joe's irreproachable conduct while with me. I +willingly gave bonds--verbal ones--for this was just what I wanted of +Joe: namely, to instil into his youthful mind those counsels which, if +rigorously followed, must result in his becoming a true and unterrified +American. This compact settled, Joe took up his bed,--a roll of +mats,--and down we marched to my villa, and began housekeeping in good +earnest. + +We soon got settled, and began to enjoy life, though we were not without +occasional domestic infelicities. For instance, Joe would wake up in the +middle of the night, declaring to me that it _was_ morning, and +thereupon insist upon sweeping out at once, and in the most vigorous +manner. Having filled the air with dust, he would rush off to the +baker's for our hot rolls and a pat of breakfast butter, leaving me, +meantime, to recover as I might. Having settled myself for a comfortable +hour's reading, bolstered up in a luxurious fashion, Joe would enter +with breakfast, and orders to the effect that it be eaten at once and +without delay. It was useless for me to remonstrate with him: he was +tyrannical. + +He involved me in all manner of difficulties. It was Holy Week, and I +had resolved upon going to mass and vespers daily. I went. The soft +night-winds floated in through the latticed windows of the chapel, and +made the candles flicker upon the altar. The little throng of natives +bowed in the impressive silence, and were deeply moved. It was rest for +the soul to be there; yet, in the midst of it, while the Father, with +his pale, sad face, gave his instructions, to which we listened as +attentively as possible,--for there was something in his manner and his +voice that made us better creatures,--while we listened, in the midst of +it I heard a shrill little whistle, a sort of chirp, that I knew +perfectly well. It was Joe, sitting on a cocoa-stump in the garden +adjoining, and beseeching me to come out, right off. When service was +over, I remonstrated with him for his irreverence. "Joe," I said, "if +you have no respect for religion yourself, respect those who are more +fortunate than you." But Joe was dressed in his best, and quite wild at +the entrancing loveliness of the night. "Let's walk a little," said Joe, +covered with fragrant wreaths, and redolent of cocoanut-oil. What could +I do? If I had tried to do anything to the contrary, he might have taken +me and thrown me away somewhere into a well, or a jungle, and then I +could no longer hope to touch the chord of remorse,--which chord I +sought vainly, and which I have since concluded was not in Joe's +physical corporation at all. So we walked a little. In vain I strove to +break Joe of the shocking habit of whistling me out at vespers. He would +persist in doing it. Moreover, during the day he would collect crusts of +bread and banana-skins, station himself in ambush behind the curtain of +the window next the lane, and, as some solitary creature strode solemnly +past, Joe would discharge a volley of ammunition over him, and then +laugh immoderately at his indignation and surprise. Joe was my pet +elephant, and I was obliged to play with him very cautiously. + +One morning he disappeared. I was without the consolations of a +breakfast, even. I made my toilet, went to my portmanteau for my +purse,--for I had decided upon a visit to the baker,--when lo! part of +my slender means had mysteriously disappeared. Joe was gone, and the +money also. All day I thought about it. In the morning, after a very +long and miserable night, I woke up, and when I opened my eyes, there, +in the doorway, stood Joe, in a brand-new suit of clothes, including +boots and hat. He was gorgeous beyond description, and seemed overjoyed +to see me, and as merry as though nothing unusual had happened. I was +quite startled at this apparition. "Joseph!" I said in my severest +tones, and then turned over and looked away from him. Joe evaded the +subject in the most delicate manner, and was never so interesting as at +that moment. He sang his specialities, and played clumsily upon his +bamboo flute,--to soothe me, I suppose,--and wanted me to eat a whole +flat pie which he had brought home as a peace-offering, buttoned tightly +under his jacket. I saw I must strike at once, if I struck at all; so I +said, "Joe, what on earth did you do with that money?" Joe said he had +replenished his wardrobe, and bought the flat pie especially for me. +"Joseph," I said, with great dignity, "do you know that you have been +stealing, and that it is highly sinful to steal, and may result in +something unpleasant in the world to come?" Joe said, "Yes," pleasantly, +though I hardly think he meant it; and then he added, mildly, "that he +couldn't lie,"--which was a glaring falsehood,--"but wanted me to be +sure that he took the money, and so had come back to tell me." + +"Joseph," I said, "you remind me of our noble Washington"; and, to my +amazement, Joe was mortified. He didn't, of course, know who Washington +was, but he suspected that I was ridiculing him. He came to the bed and +haughtily insisted upon my taking the little change he had received from +his customers, but I implored him to keep it, as I had no use at all for +it, and, as I assured him, I much preferred hearing it jingle in his +pocket. + +The next day I sailed out of Lahaina, and Joe came to the beach with his +new trousers tucked into his new boots, while he waved his new hat +violently in a final adieu, much to the envy and admiration of a score +of hatless urchins, who looked upon Joe as the glass of fashion, and but +little lower than the angels. When I entered the boat to set sail, a +tear stood in Joe's bright eye, and I think he was really sorry to part +with me; and I don't wonder at it, because our housekeeping experiences +were new to him,--and, I may add, not unprofitable. + + +II. + +Some months of mellow and beautiful weather found me wandering here and +there among the islands, when the gales came on again, and I was driven +about homeless, and sometimes friendless, until, by-and-by, I heard of +an opportunity to visit Molokai,--an island seldom visited by the +tourist,--where, perhaps, I could get a close view of a singularly sad +and interesting colony of lepers. + +The whole island is green, but lonely. As you ride over its excellent +turnpike, you see the ruins of a nation that is passing, like a shadow, +out of sight. Deserted garden-patches, crumbling walls, and roofs +tumbled into the one state-chamber of the house, while knots of long +grass wave at half-mast in the chinks and crannies. A land of great +traditions, of magic, and witchcraft, and spirits. A fertile and +fragrant solitude. How I enjoyed it; and yet how it was all telling upon +me, in its own way! One cannot help feeling sad there, for he seems to +be living and moving in a long reverie, out of which he dreads to awaken +to a less pathetic life. I rode a day or two among the solemn and +reproachful ruins with inexpressible complacence, and, having finally +climbed a series of verdant and downy hills, and ridden for twenty +minutes in a brisk shower, came suddenly upon the brink of a great +precipice, three thousand feet in the air. My horse instinctively braced +himself, and I nervously jerked the bridle square up to my breast-bone, +as I found we were poised between heaven and earth, upon a trembling +pinnacle of rock. A broad peninsular was stretched below me, covered +with grassy hills; here and there clusters of brown huts were visible, +and to the right, the white dots of houses to which I was hastening, for +that was the leper village. To that spot were the wandering and +afflicted tribes brought home to die. Once descending the narrow stairs +in the cliff under me, never again could they hope to strike their tents +and resume their pilgrimage; for the curse was on them, and necessity +had narrowed down their sphere of action to this compass,--a solitary +slope between sea and land, with the invisible sentinels of Fear and +Fate for ever watching its borders. + +I seemed to be looking into a fiery furnace, wherein walked the living +bodies of those whom Death had already set his seal upon. What a mockery +it seemed to be climbing down that crag,--through wreaths of vine, and +under leafy cataracts breaking into a foam of blossoms a thousand feet +below me; swinging aside the hanging parasites that obstructed the +narrow way,--entering the valley of death, and the very mouth of hell, +by these floral avenues! + +A brisk ride of a couple of miles across the breadth of the peninsula +brought me to the gate of the keeper of the settlement, and there I +dismounted, and hastened into the house, to be rid of the curious crowd +that had gathered to receive me. The little cottage was very +comfortable, my host and hostess friends of precious memory; and with +them I felt at once at home, and began the new life that every one +begins when the earth seems to have been suddenly transformed into some +better or worse world, and he alone survives the transformation. + +Have you never had such an experience? Then go into the midst of a +community of lepers; have ever before your eyes their Gorgon-like faces; +see the horrors, hardly to be recognized as human, that grope about you; +listen in vain for the voices that have been hushed for ever by decay; +breathe the tainted atmosphere; and bear ever in mind that, while they +hover about you,--forbidden to touch you, yet longing to clasp once more +a hand that is perfect and pure,--the insidious seeds of the malady may +be generating in your vitals, and your heart, even then, be drunk with +death! + +I might as well confess that I slept indifferently the first night; that +I was not entirely free from nervousness the next day, as I passed +through the various wards assigned to patients in every stage of +decomposition. But I recovered myself in time to observe the admirable +system adopted by the Hawaiian government for the protection of its +unfortunate people. I used to sit by the window and see the processions +of the less afflicted come for little measures of milk, morning and +evening. Then there was a continuous raid upon the ointment-pot, with +the contents of which they delighted to anoint themselves. Trifling +disturbances sometimes brought the plaintiff and defendant to the front +gate, for final judgment at the hands of their beloved keeper. And it +was a constant entertainment to watch the progress of events in that +singular little world of doomed spirits. They were not unhappy. I used +to hear them singing every evening: their souls were singing while their +bodies were falling rapidly to dust. They continued to play their games, +as well as they could play them with the loss of a finger joint or a +toe, from week to week: it is thus gradually and thus slowly that they +died, feeling their voices growing fainter and their strength less, as +the idle days passed over them and swept them to the tomb. + +Sitting at the window on the second evening, as the patients came up for +milk, I observed one of them watching me intently, and apparently trying +to make me understand something or other, but what that something was I +could not guess. He rushed to the keeper and talked excitedly with him +for a moment, and then withdrew to one side of the gate and waited till +the others were served with their milk, still watching me all the while. +Then the keeper entered and told me how I had a friend out there who +wished to speak with me,--some one who had seen me somewhere, he +supposed, but whom I would hardly remember. It was their way never to +forget a face they had once become familiar with. Out I went. There was +a face I could not have recognized as anything friendly or human. Knots +of flesh stood out upon it; scar upon scar disfigured it. The expression +was like that of a mummy, stony and withered. The outlines of a youthful +figure were preserved, but the hands and feet were pitiful to look at. +What was this ogre that knew me and loved me still? + +He soon told me who he once had been, but was no longer. Our little, +unfortunate "Joe," my Lahaina charge. In his case the disease had spread +with fearful rapidity: the keeper thought he could hardly survive the +year. Many linger year after year, and cannot die; but Joe was more +fortunate. His life had been brief and passionate, and death was now +hastening him to his dissolution. + +Joe was forbidden to come near me, so he crouched down by the fence, and +pressing his hands between the pickets sifted the dust at my feet, while +he wailed in a low voice, and called me, over and over, "dear friend," +"good friend," and "master." I wish I had never seen him so humbled. To +think of my disreputable little _protégé_, who was wont to lord it over +me as though he had been a born chief,--to think of Joe as being there +in his extremity, grovelling in the dust at my feet; forbidden to climb +the great wall of flowers that towered between him and his beautiful +world, while the rough sea lashed the coast about him, and his only +companions were such hideous foes as would frighten one out of a dream! + +How I wanted to get close to him! but I dared not; so we sat there with +the slats of the fence between us, while we talked very long in the +twilight; and I was glad when it grew so dark that I could no longer see +his face,--his terrible face, that came to kill the memory of his former +beauty. + +And Joe wondered whether I still remembered how we used to walk in the +night, and go home, at last, to our little house when Lahaina was as +still as death, and you could almost hear the great stars throbbing in +the clear sky! How well I remembered it, and the day when we went a long +way down the beach, and, looking back, saw a wide curve of the land +cutting the sea like a sickle, and turning up a white and shining swath! +Then, in another place, a grove of cocoa-palms and a melancholy, +monastic-looking building, with splendid palm-branches in its broad +windows; for it was just after Palm Sunday, and the building belonged to +a Sisterhood. And I remembered how the clouds fell and the rain drove +as into a sudden shelter, and we ate tamarind-jam, spread thick on thin +slices of bread, and were supremely happy. In this connection, I could +not forget how Joe became very unruly about that time, and I got +mortified, and found great difficulty in getting him home at all; and +yet the memory of it would have been perfect but for this fate. O Joe! +my poor, dear, terrible cobra! to think that I should ever be afraid to +look into your face in my life! + +Joe wanted to call to my mind one other reminiscence,--a night when we +two walked to the old wharf, and went out to the end of it, and sat +there looking inland, watching the inky waves slide up and down the +beach, while the full moon rose over the superb mountains where the +clouds were heaped like wool, and the very air seemed full of utterances +that you could almost hear and understand but for something that made +all a mystery. I tried then, if ever I tried in my life, to make Joe a +little less bad than he was naturally, and he seemed nearly inclined to +be better, and would, I think, have been so, but for the thousand +temptations that gravitated to him when we got on solid earth again. He +forgot my precepts then, and I'm afraid I forgot them myself. Joe +remembered that night vividly. I was touched to hear him confess it; and +I pray earnestly that that one moment may plead for him in the last day, +if, indeed, he needs any special plea other than that Nature has +published for her own. + +"Sing for me, Joe," said I; and Joe, still crouching on the other side +of the lattice, sang some of his old songs. One of them, a popular +melody, was echoed through the little settlement, where faint voices +caught up the chorus, and the night was wildly and weirdly musical. We +walked by the sea the next day, and the day following that, Joe taking +pains to stay on the leeward side of me,--he was so careful to keep the +knowledge of his fate uppermost in his mind: how could I dismiss it from +my own, when it was branded in his countenance? The desolated beauty of +his face pleaded for measureless pity, and I gave it, out of my +prodigality, yet felt that I could not begin to give sufficient. + +Link by link he was casting off his hold on life; he was no longer a +complete being; his soul was prostrated in the miry clay, and waited, in +agony, its long deliverance. + +In leaving the leper village, I had concluded to say nothing to Joe, +other than the usual "_aloha_" at night, when I could ride off, in the +darkness, and, sleeping at the foot of the cliff, ascend it in the first +light of the morning, and get well on my journey before the heat of the +day. We took a last walk by the rocks on the shore; heard the sea +breathing its long breath under the hollow cones of lava, with a noise +like a giant leper in his asthmatic agony. Joe heard it, and laughed a +little, and then grew silent; and finally said he wanted to leave the +place,--he hated it; he loved Lahaina dearly: how was everybody in +Lahaina?--a question he had asked me hourly since my arrival. + +When night came I asked Joe to sing, as usual; so he gathered his mates +about him, and they sang the songs I liked best. The voices rang, +sweeter than ever, up from the group of singers congregated a few rods +off, in the darkness; and while they sang, my horse was saddled, and I +quietly bade adieu to my dear friends, the keepers, and mounting, walked +the horse slowly up the grass-grown road. I shall never see little Joe +again, with his pitiful face, growing gradually as dreadful as a +cobra's, and almost as fascinating in its hideousness. I waited, a +little way off, in the darkness, waited and listened, till the last song +was ended, and I knew he would be looking for me, to say _Good-night_. +But he didn't find me; and he will never again find me in this life, for +I left him sitting in the dark door of his sepulchre,--sitting and +singing in the mouth of his grave,--clothed all in death. + + + + +THE NIGHT-DANCERS OF WAIPIO. + + +The afternoon sun was tinting the snowy crest of Mauna Kea, and folds of +shadow were draping the sea-washed eastern cliffs of Hawaii, as Felix +and I endeavoured to persuade our fagged steeds that they must go and +live, or stay and die in the middle of a lava-trail by no means +inviting. As we rode, we thought of the scandal that had so recently +regaled our too willing ears: here it is, in a mild solution, to be +taken with three parts of disbelief. + +Two venerable and warm-hearted missionaries, whose good works seemed to +have found dissimilar expression, equally effective, I trust, proved +their specialties to be church-building. + +Rev. Mr. A seemed to think the more the merrier, and his pretty little +meeting-houses looked as though they had been baked in the lot, like a +sheet of biscuits; while Rev. Mr. B condensed his efforts into the +consummation of one resplendent edifice. Mr. A was always wondering why +Mr. B should waste his money in a single church, while Mr. B was +nonplussed at seeing Mr. A break out in a rash of diminutive chapels. +Well, Felix and I were riding northward up the coast, over dozens and +dozens of lovely ridges; through scores of deep gullies cushioned with +ferns as high as our pommels, and fording numberless streams, white with +froth and hurry, eagerly seeking the most exquisite valley in the +Pacific, as some call it. We rode till we were tired out twenty times +over; again and again we looked forward to the bit of Mardi-life we were +about to experience in the vale of the Waipio, while now and then we +passed one of Mr. A's pretty little churches. Once we were impatient +enough to make inquiry of a native who was watching our progress with +considerable emotion: there is always some one to watch you when you are +wishing yourself at the North Pole. Our single spectator affected an air +of gravity, and seemed quite interested as he said, "Go six or seven +churches farther on that trail, and you'll come to Waipio." On we went +with renewed spirits, for the churches were frequent, almost within +sight of each other. But we faltered presently and lost our reckoning, +they were so much alike. Again we asked our way of a solitary watcher on +a hill-top, who had had his eye upon us ever since we rose above the rim +of the third ridge back: he revealed to us the glad fact that we were +only two churches from Paradise! How we tore over the rest of that +straight and narrow way with the little the left to us, and came in +finally all of a foam, fairly jumping the last mite of a chapel that +hung upon the brink of the beautiful valley like a swallow's nest! And +down we dropped into fifty fathoms of the sweetest twilight +imaginable,--so sweet it seemed to have been born of a wilderness of the +night-blooming cereus and fed for ever on jasmine buds. + +There were shelter and refreshment for two hungry souls, and we slid out +of our saddles as though we had been boned expressly for a cannibal +feast. + +By this time the rosy flush on Mauna Kea had faded, and its superb brow +was pale with an unearthly pallor. "Come in," said the host; and he led +us under the thatched gable, that was fragrant as new-mown hay. There we +sat, "in," as he called it, though there was never a side to the concern +thicker than a shadow. + +A stream flowed noiselessly at our feet. Canoes drifted by us, with +dusky and nude forms bowed over the paddles. Each occupant greeted us, +being guests in the valley, just lifting their slumberous +eyelids,--masked batteries, that made Felix forget his danger; they +seldom paused, but called back to us from the gathering darkness with +inexpressibly tender, contralto voices. + +In another apartment screened with vines we found our dinner ready. The +faint nicker of the tapers suggested that what breath of air might be +stirring came from the mountain, and it brought with it a message from +the orangery up the valley. "How will you take your oranges?" queried +Felix; "in pulp, liquid, or perfume?"--and such a dense odour swept past +us at the moment, I thought I had taken them in the triple forms. "You +are just in time," said our host. "Why, what's up?" asked I. "The moon +will be up presently, and after moonrise you shall see the _hula-hula_." + +Felix desired to be enlightened as to the nature of the +what-you-call-it, and was assured that it was worth seeing, and would +require no explanatory chorus when its hour came. + +It was at least a mile to the scene of action; a tortuous stream wound +thither, navigable in spots, but from time to time the canoe would have +to take to the banks for a short cut into deeper water. + +"I can never get there," growled Felix; "I'm full of needles and pins;" +to which the host responded by excusing himself for a few moments, +leaving Felix and me alone. It was deathly still in the valley, though a +thousand crickets sang, and the fish smacked their round mouths at the +top of the water. Evening comes slowly in those beloved tropics, but it +comes so satisfactorily that there is nothing left out. + +A moonlight night is a continuous festival. The natives sing and dance +till daybreak, making it all up by sleeping till the next twilight. +Nothing is lost by this ingenious and admirable arrangement. Why should +they sleep, when a night there has the very essence of five nights +anywhere else, extracted and enriched with spices till it is so +inspiring that the soul cries out in triumph, and the eyes couldn't +sleep if they would? + +At this period, enter to us the host, with several young native girls, +who seat themselves at our feet, clasping each a boot-leg encasing the +extremities of Felix and myself. + +Felix kicked violently, and left the room with some embarrassment, and I +appealed to the hospitable gentleman of the house, who was smiling +somewhat audibly at our perplexity. + +He assured me that if I would throw myself upon the mats in the corner, +two of these maids would speedily relieve me of any bodily pain I might +at that moment be suffering with. + +I did so: the two proceeded as set down in the verbal prospectus; and +whatever bodily pain I may have possessed at the beginning of the +process speedily dwindled into insignificance by comparison with the +tortures of my novel cure. Every limb had to be unjointed and set over +again. Places were made for new joints, and I think the new joints were +temporarily set in, for my arms and legs went into angles I had never +before seen them in, nor have I since been able to assume those +startling attitudes. The stomach was then kneaded like dough. The ribs +were crushed down against the spine, and then forced out by +well-directed blows in the back. The spinal column was undoubtedly +abstracted, and some mechanical substitute now does its best to help me +through the world. The arms were tied in bow-knots behind, and the skull +cracked like the shell of a hard-boiled egg, worked into shape again, +and left to heal. + +By this time I was unconscious, and for an hour my sleep promised to be +eternal. I must have lain flat on the matting, without a curve in me, +when Nature, taking pity, gradually let me rise and assume my own +proportions, as though a little leaven had been mixed in my making over. + +The awakening was like coming from a bath of the elements. I breathed to +the tips of my toes. Perfumes penetrated me till I was saturated with +them. I felt a thousand years younger; and as I looked back upon the old +life I seemed to have risen from, I thought of it much as a butterfly +must think of his grub-hood, and was in the act of expanding my wings, +when I saw Felix, just recovering, a few feet from me, apparently as +ecstatic as myself. I never dared to ask him how he was reduced to +submission, for I little imagined he could so far forget himself. There +are some sudden and inexplicable revolutions in the affairs of humanity +that should not be looked into too closely, because a chaotic chasm +yawns between the old man and the new, which no one has ever yet +explored. Felix sprang to his feet like Prometheus unbound, and embraced +me with fervour, as one might after a hair-breadth escape, exclaiming, +"Did you ever see anything like it, Old Boy?" to which the Old Boy, thus +familiarly addressed (O. B. is a pet monogram of mine, designed and +frequently executed by Felix), responded, "There wasn't much to see, but +my feelings were past expression." "What's its name?" asked Felix. "I +think they call it _lomi-lomi_," said I. "Pass _lomi-lomi_!" shouted +Felix; and then we both roared again, which summoned the host, who +congratulated us and invited us to his canoe. + +Felix again endeavoured to fathom the mysteries of the _hula-hula_. Was +it something to eat?--did they keep it tied in the daytime?--what was +its colour? etc., till the amused gentleman who was conducting us to an +exhibition of the great Unknown nearly capsized our absurdly narrow +canoe in the very deepest part of the creek. Bands of fishermen and +women passed us, wading breast-high in the water, beating it into a foam +before them, and singing at the top of their voices as they drove the +fish down stream into a broad net a few rods below. Grass-houses, half +buried in foliage, lined the mossy banks; while the dusky groups of +women and children, clustering about the smouldering flames that +betokened the preparation of the evening meal, added not a little to the +poetry of twilight in the tropics. + +Felix thought he would like to turn Kanaka on the spot; so we beached +the canoe, and approached the fire, built on a hollow stone under a +tamarind-tree, and were at once offered the cleanest mat to sit on, and +a calabash of _poi_ for our refreshment. How to eat paste without a +spoon was the next question. The whole family volunteered to show us; +drew up around the calabash in a hungry circle, and dipped in with a +vengeance. Six right hands spread their first and second fingers like +sign-boards pointing to a focus in the very centre of that _poi_-paste; +six fists dove simultaneously, and were buried in the luscious mass. +There was a spasmodic working in the elbows, an effort to come to the +top, and in a moment the hands were lifted aloft in triumph, and seemed +to be tracing half a dozen capital O's in the transparent air, during +which manoeuvre the mass of _poi_ adhering to the fingers assumed fair +proportions, resembling, to a remarkable degree, large, white swellings; +whereupon they were immediately conveyed to the several mouths, +instinctively getting into the right one, and, having discharged +freight, reappeared as good as ever, if not better than before. + +"Disgusting!" gasped Felix, as he returned to the water-side. I thought +him unreasonable in his harsh judgment, assuring him that our own flour +was fingered as often before it came, at last, to our lips in the form +of bread. "Moreover," I added, "this _poi_ is glutinous: the moment a +finger enters it, a thin coating adheres to the skin, and that finger +may wander about the calabash all day without touching another particle +of the substance. Therefore, six or sixteen fellows fingering in one +dish for dinner are in reality safer than we, who eat steaks that have +been mesmerized under the hands of the butcher and the cook." + +Felix scorned to reply, but breathed a faint prayer for a safe return to +Chicago, as we slid into the middle of the stream, and resumed our +course. + +The boughs of densely-leaved trees reached out to one another across the +water. We proceeded with more caution as the channel grew narrow; and +pressing through a submerged thicket of reeds, we routed a flock of +water-fowls that wheeled overhead on heavy wings, filling the valley +with their clamour. + +Two or three dogs barked sleepily off somewhere in the darkness, and the +voice of some one calling floated to us as clear as a bird's note, +though we knew it must be far away. We strode through a cane-field, its +smoky plumes just tipped with moonlight, and saw the pinnacle of Mauna +Kea, as spacious and splendid as the fairy pavilion that Nourgihan +brought to Pari-Banou, illuminated as for a festival. To the left, a +stream fell from the cliff, a ribbon of gauze fluttering noiselessly in +the wind. + +"O, look!" said Felix, who had yielded again to the influences of +Nature. Looking, I saw the moon resting upon the water for a moment, +while the dew seemed actually to drip from her burnished disc. Again +Felix exclaimed, or was on the point of exclaiming, when he checked +himself in awe. I ran to him, and was silent with him, while we two +stood worshipping one stately palm that rested its glorious head upon +the glowing bosom of the moon, like the Virgin in the radiant auroela. + +"Well," said our host, "supposing we get along!" We got along, by land +and water, into a village in an orange-grove. There was a subdued murmur +of many voices. I think the whole community would have burst out into a +song of some sort at the slightest provocation. On we paced, in Indian +file, through narrow lanes, under the shining leaves. Pale blossoms +rained down upon us, and the air was oppressively sweet. Groups of +natives sat in the lanes, smoking and laughing. Lovers made love in the +face of heaven, utterly unconscious of any human presence. Felix grew +nervous, and proposed withdrawing; but whither, O Felix, in all these +islands, wouldst thou hope to find love unrequited, or lovers shamefaced +withal? Much Chicago hath made thee mad! + +Through a wicket we passed, where a sentinel kept ward. Within the +bamboo paling, a swarm of natives gathered about us, first questioning +the nature of our visit, which having proved entirely satisfactory, we +were welcomed in real earnest, and offered a mat in an inner room of a +large house, rather superior to the average, and a disagreeable +liquor,--brewed of oranges, very intoxicating when not diluted, and +therefore popular. + +We were evidently the lions of the hour, for we sat in the centre of the +first row of spectators who were gathered to witness the _hula-hula_. We +reclined as gracefully as possible upon our mats, supported by plump +pillows, stuffed with dried ferns. Slender rushes--strung with +_kukui_-nuts, about the size of chestnuts, and very oily--were planted +before us like footlights, which, being lighted at the top, burned +slowly downward, till the whole were consumed, giving a good flame for +several hours. + +The great mat upon the floor before us was the stage. On one side of it +a half-dozen muscular fellows were squatted, with large calabashes +headed with tightly-drawn goat skins. These were the drummers and +singers, who could beat nimbly with their fingers, and sing the epics of +their country, to the unceasing joy of all listeners. "It's an opera!" +shouted Felix, in a frenzy of delight at his discovery. A dozen +performers entered, sitting in two lines, face to face,--six women and +six men. Each bore a long joint of bamboo, slit at one end like a broom. +Then began a singularly intricate exercise, called _pi-ulu_. Taking a +bamboo in one hand, they struck it in the palm of the other, on the +shoulder, on the floor in front, to left and right; thrust it out before +them, and were parried by the partners opposite; crossed it over and +back, and turned in a thousand ways to a thousand metres, varied with +chants and pauses. "Then it's a pantomime," added Felix, getting +interested in the unusual skill displayed. For half an hour or more the +thrashing of the bamboos was prolonged, while we were hopelessly +confused in our endeavours to follow the barbarous harmony, which was +never broken nor disturbed by the expert and tireless performers. + +During the first rest, liquor was served in gourds. Part of the company +withdrew to smoke, and the conversation became general and noisy. Felix +was enthusiastic, and drank the health of some of the younger members of +the _troupe_ who had offered him the gourd. + +A rival company then repeated the _pi-ulu_, with some additions; the +gourds were again filled and emptied. "Now for the _hula-hula_," said +the host, who had imbibed with Felix, though he reserved his enthusiasm +for something less childish than _pi-ulu_. It is the national dance, +taught to all children by their parents, but so difficult to excel in +that the few who perfect themselves can afford to travel on this one +specialty. + +There was a murmur of impatience, speedily checked, and followed by a +burst of applause, as a band of beautiful girls, covered with wreaths of +flowers and vines, entered and seated themselves before us. While the +musicians beat an introductory overture upon the tom-toms, the dancers +proceeded to bind shawls and scarfs about their waists, turban-fashion. +They sat in a line, facing us, a foot or two apart. The loose sleeves of +their dresses were caught up at the shoulder, exposing arms of almost +perfect symmetry, while their bare throats were scarcely hidden by the +necklaces of jasmines that coiled about them. + +Then the leader of the band, who sat, grey-headed and wrinkled, at one +end of the room, throwing back his head, uttered a long, wild, and +shrill guttural,--a sort of invocation to the goddess of the +_hula-hula_. There had, no doubt, been some sort of sacrifice offered in +the early part of the evening,--such as a pig or a fowl,--for the dance +has a religious significance, and is attended by its appropriate +ceremonies. When this clarion cry had ended, the dance began, all +joining in with wonderfully accurate rhythm, the body swaying slowly +backward and forward, to left and right; the arms tossing, or rather +waving, in the air above the head, now beckoning some spirit of light, +so tender and seductive were the emotions of the dancers, so graceful +and free the movements of the wrists; now in violence and fear, they +seemed to repulse a host of devils that hovered invisibly about them. + +The spectators watched and listened breathlessly, fascinated by the +terrible wildness of the song and the monotonous thrumming of the +accompaniment. Presently the excitement increased. Swifter and more +wildly the bare arms beat the air, embracing, as it were, the airy forms +that haunted the dancers, who rose to their knees, and, with astonishing +agility, caused the clumsy turbans about their loins to quiver with an +undulatory motion, increasing or decreasing with the sentiment of the +song and the enthusiasm of the spectators. + +Felix wanted to know "how long they could keep that up and live?" + +Till daybreak, as we found! There was a little resting spell--a very +little resting spell, now and then--for the gourd's sake, or three +whiffs at a pipe that would poison a white man in ten minutes; and +before we half expected it, or had a thought of urging the unflagging +dancers to continue their marvellous gyrations, they were at it in +terrible earnest. + +From the floor to their knees, from their knees to their feet, now +facing us, now turning from us, they spun and ambled, till the ear was +deafened with cheers and boisterous, half-drunken, wholly passionate +laughter. + +The room whirled with the reeling dancers, who seemed encircled with +living serpents in the act of swallowing big lumps of something from +their throats clear to the tip of their tails, and the convulsions +continued till the hysterical dancers staggered and fell to the floor +overcome by unutterable fatigue. + +The sympathetic Felix fell with them, his head sinking under one of the +rush candles, that must have burned into his brain had he been suffered +to immolate himself at that inappropriate and unholy time and place. +This was the seductive dance still practised in secret, though the law +forbids it; and to the Hawaiian it is more beautiful, because more +sensuous, than anything else in the world. + +I proposed departing at this stage of the festival, but Felix said it +was not practicable. He felt unwell, and suggested the efficacy of +another attack of _lomi-lomi_. + +A slight variation in the order of the dances followed. A young lover, +seated in the centre of the room, beat a tattoo upon his calabash and +sang a song of love. In a moment he was answered. Out of the darkness +rose the sweet, shrill voice of the loved one. Nearer and nearer it +approached; the voice rang clear and high, melodiously swelling upon the +air. It must have been heard far off in the valley, it was so plaintive +and penetrating. Secreted at first behind shawls hung in the corner of +the room, some dramatic effect was produced by her entrance at the right +moment. She enacted her part with graceful energy. To the regular and +melancholy thrumming of the calabash, she sang her song of love. +Yielding to her emotion, she did not hesitate to betray all, neither was +he of the calabash slow to respond; and scorning the charms of goat-skin +and gourd, he sprang toward her in the madness of his soul, when she, +having reached the climax of desperation, was hurried from the scene of +her conquest amid whirlwinds of applause. + +"It's a dance, that's what it is!" muttered Felix, as the audience +began slowly to disperse. Leading him back to the canoe, we had the +whole night's orgie reported to us in a very mixed and reiterative +manner, as well as several attempts at illustrating the peculiarities of +the performance, which came near resulting in a watery grave for three, +or an upset canoe, at any rate. Our host, to excuse any impropriety, for +which he felt more or less responsible, said "it was so natural for them +to be jolly under all circumstances, that when they have concluded to +die they make their P.P.C.'s with infinite grace, and then die on time." + +Of coarse they are jolly; and to prove it, I told Felix how the lepers, +who had been banished to one little corner of the kingdom, and forbidden +to leave there in the flesh, were as merry as the merriest, and once +upon a time those decaying remnants of humanity actually gave a grand +ball in their hospital. There was a general clearing out of disabled +patients, and a brushing up of old finery, while the ball itself was +_the_ topic of conversation. Two or three young fellows, who had a few +fingers left (they unjoint and drop off as the disease progresses), +began to pick up a tune or two on bamboo flutes. Old, young, and +middle-aged took a sly turn in some dark corner, getting their stiffened +joints limber again. + +Night came at last. The lamps flamed in the death-chamber of the +lazar-house. Many a rejoicing soul had fled from that foul spot, to +flash its white wings in the eternal sunshine. + +At an early hour the strange company assembled. The wheezing of voices +no longer musical, the shuffling of half-paralyzed limbs over the bare +floor, the melancholy droning of those bamboo flutes, and the wild sea +moaning in the wild night were the sweetest sounds that greeted them. +And while the flutes piped dolorously to this unlovely spectacle, there +was a rushing to and fro of unlovely figures; a bleeding, half-blind +leper, seizing another of the accursed beings,--snatching her, as it +were, from the grave, in all her loathsome clay,--dragged her into the +bewildering maelstrom of the waltz. + +Naturally excitable, heated with exertion, drunk with the very odours of +death that pervaded the hall of revels, that mad crowd reeled through +the hours of the _fête_. Satiated, at last, in the very bitterness of +their unnatural gaiety, they called for the _hula-hula_, as a fitting +close. + +In that reeking atmosphere, heavy with the smoke of half-extinguished +lamps, they fed on the voluptuous _abandon_ of the dancers till passion +itself fainted with exhaustion. + +"That was a dance of death, was it not, Felix?" Felix lay on his mat, +sleeping heavily, and evidently unmindful of a single word I had +uttered. + +Our time was up at daybreak, and, with an endless deal of persuasion, +Felix followed me out of the valley to the little chapel on the cliff. +Our horses took a breath there, and so did we, bird's-eyeing the scene +of the last night's orgie. + +Who says it isn't a delicious spot,--that deep, narrow, and secluded +vale, walled by almost perpendicular cliffs, hung with green tapestries +of ferns and vines; that slender stream, like a thread of silver, +embroidering a carpet of Nature's richest pattern; that torrent, +leaping from the cliff into a garden of citrons; the sea sobbing at its +month, while wary mariners, coasting in summer afternoons, catch +glimpses of the tranquil and forbidden paradise, yet are heedless of all +its beauty, and reck not the rustling of the cane-fields, nor the voices +of the charmers, because--because these things are so common in that +latitude that one grows naturally indifferent? + +As for Felix, who talks in his sleep of the _hula-hula_, and insists +that only by the _lomi-lomi_ he shall be saved, he points a moral, +though at present he is scarcely in a condition to adorn any tale +whatever; and the said moral I shall be glad to furnish, on application, +to any sympathetic soul who has witnessed by proxy the unlawful revels +of those night-dancers of Waipio. + + + + +PEARL-HUNTING IN THE POMOTOUS. + + +The "Great Western" ducked in the heavy swell, shipping her regular +deck-load of salt-water every six minutes. Now the "Great Western" was +nothing more nor than a seventeen-ton schooner, two hours out from +Tahiti. She was built like an old shoe, and shovelled in a head-sea as +though it was her business. + +It was something like sea life, wading along her submerged deck from +morning till night, with a piece of raw junk in one hand and a briny +biscuit in the other; we never _could_ keep a fire in _that_ galley; and +as for hard tack, the sooner it got soaked through the sooner it was off +our minds, for we knew to this complexion it must shortly come. + +Two hours out from Tahiti we settled our course, wafting a theatrical +kiss or two toward the gloriously green pyramid we were turning our +backs on, as it slowly vanished in the blue desert of the sea. + +A thousand palm-crowned and foam-girdled reefs spangle the ocean to the +north and east of Tahiti. This train of lovely satellites is known as +the Dangerous Archipelago, or, more commonly in that latitude, the +Pomotou Islands. It's the very hotbed of cocoa-nut-oil, pearls, +half-famished Kanakas, shells, and ship-wrecks. The currents are rapid +and variable; the winds short, sharp, and equally unreliable. If you +would have adventure, the real article and plenty of it, make your will, +bid farewell to home and friends, and embark for the Pomotous. I started +on this principle, and repented knee-deep in the deck-breakers, as we +butted our way through the billows, bound for one of the Pomotous on a +pearl hunt. + +Three days I sat in sackcloth and salt water. Three nights I swashed in +my greasy bunk, like a solitary sardine in a box with the side knocked +out. In my heart of hearts I prayed for deliverance: you see there is no +backing out of a schooner, unless you crave death in fifty fathoms of +phosphorescent liquid and a grave in a shark's maw. Therefore I prayed +for more wind from the right quarter, for a sea like a boundless +mill-pond; in short, for speedy deliverance on the easiest terms +possible. Notwithstanding, we continued to bang away at the great waves +that crooked their backs under us and hissed frightfully as they +enveloped the "Great Western" with spray until the fourth night out, +when the moon gladdened us and promised much while we held our breath in +anxiety. + +We were looking for land. We'd been looking for three hours, scarcely +speaking all that time. It's a serious matter raising a Pomotou by +moonlight. + +"Land!" squeaked a weak voice about six feet above us. A lank fellow, +with his legs corkscrewed around the shrouds, and his long neck +stretched to windward, where it veered like a weather-cock in a +nor'wester, chuckled as he sang out "Land!" and felt himself a little +lower than Christopher Columbus thereafter. "Where away?" bellowed our +chunky little captain, as important as if he were commanding a grown-up +ship. "Two points on the weather-bow!" piped the lookout, with the voice +of one soaring in space, but unhappily choked in the last word by a +sudden lurch of the schooner that brought him speedily to the deck, +where he lost his identity and became a proper noun, second person +singular, for the rest of the cruise. + +Now, "two points" is an indefinite term that embraces any obstacle ahead +of anything; but the "weather-bow" has been the salvation of many a +craft in her distress; so we gave three cheers for the "weather-bow," +and proceeded to sweep the horizon with unwinking gaze. We could +scarcely tell how near the land might lie; fancied we could already hear +the roar of surf-beaten reefs, and every wave that reared before us +seemed the rounded outline of an island. Of course we shortened sail, +not knowing at what moment we might find ourselves close upon some low +sea-garden nestling under the rim of breakers that fenced it in, and +being morally averse to running it down without warning. + +It was scarcely midnight; the moon was radiant; we were silently +watching, wrapped in the deep mystery that hung over the weather-bow. + +The wind suddenly abated; it was as though it sifted through trees and +came to us subdued with a whisper of fluttering leaves and a breath of +spice. We knew what it meant, and our hearts leaped within us as over +the bow loomed the wave-like outline of shadow that sank not again like +the other waves, neither floated off cloud-like, but seemed to be +bearing steadily down upon us,--a great whale hungry for a modern Jonah. + +What a night it was! We heard the howl of waters now; saw the +palm-boughs glisten in the moonlight, and the glitter and the flash of +foam that fringed the edges of the half-drowned islet. + +It looked for all the world like a grove of cocoa-trees that had waded +out of sight of land, and didn't know which way to turn next. This was +the Ultima Thule of the "Great Western's" voyage, and she seemed to know +it, for she behaved splendidly at last, laying off and on till morning +in fine style, evidently as proud as a ship-of-line. + +I went below and dozed in the cabin, with the low roar of the reef quite +audible; a fellow gets used to such dream-music, and sleeps well to its +accompaniment. + +At daybreak we began beating up against wind and tide, hoping to work +into smooth water by sunrise, which we did easily enough, shaking hands +all around over a cup of thick coffee and molasses as three fathoms of +chain whizzed overboard after a tough little anchor that buried itself +in a dim wilderness of corals and sea-grass. + +Then and there I looked about me with delighted eyes. The "Great +Western" rode at anchor in a shallow lake, whose crystal depths seemed +never to have been agitated by any harsher breath than at that moment +kissed without ruffling its surface. Around us swept an amphitheatre of +hills, covered with a dense growth of tropical foliage and cushioned to +the hem of the beach with thick sod of exquisite tint and freshness. The +narrow rim of beach that sloped suddenly to the tideless margin of the +lake was littered with numberless slender canoes drawn out of the water +like so many fish, as though they would navigate themselves in their +natural element, and they were, therefore, not to be trusted alone too +near it. Around the shore, across the hills, and along the higher ridges +waved innumerable cocoa-palms, planted like a legion of lances about the +encampment of some barbaric prince. + +As for the very blue sky and the very white scud that shot across it, +they looked windy enough; moreover we could all hear the incoherent +booming of the sea upon the reef that encircled our nest. But we forgot +the wind and the waves in the inexpressible repose of that armful of +tropical seclusion. It was a drop of water in a tuft of moss, on a very +big scale; that's just what it was. + +In a few moments, as with one impulse, the canoes took to water with a +savage or two in each, all gravitating to the schooner, which was for +the time being the head-centre of their local commerce; and for an hour +or more we did a big business in the exchange of fish-hooks and fresh +fruit. + +The proportion of canoes at Motu Hilo (Crescent Island) to the natives +of said fragment of Eden was as one to several; but the canoeless could +not resist the superior attraction of a foreign invader, therefore the +rest of the inhabitants went head-first into the lake, and struck out +for the middle, where we peacefully swung at anchor. + +The place was sharky, but a heavy dirk full twenty inches tall was held +between the teeth of the swimmers; and if the smoke-coloured dorsal of +any devil of a shark had dared to cut the placid surface of the water +that morning, he would speedily have had more blades in him than a +farrier's knife. A few vigorous strokes of the arms and legs in the +neighbourhood, a fatal lunge or two, a vermilion cloud in a sea churned +to a cream, and a dance over the gaping corpse of some monster who has +sucked human blood more than once, probably, does the business in that +country. + +It was a sensation for unaccustomed eyes, that inland sea +covered--littered, I might say, with woolly heads, as though a cargo of +cocoanuts had been thrown overboard in a stress of weather. They +gathered about as thick as flies at a honey-pot, all talking, laughing, +and spouting mouthfuls of water into the air, like those impossible +creatures that do that sort of thing by the half-dozen in all high-toned +and classical fountains. + +Out of this amphibious mob one gigantic youth, big enough to eat half +our ship's crew, threw up an arm like Jove's, clinched the deck-rail +with lithe fingers, and took a rest, swinging there with the utmost +satisfaction. + +I asked him aboard, but he scorned to forsake his natural element: water +is as natural as air to those natives. Probably he would have suffered +financially had he attempted boarding us, for his thick back hair was +netted with a kind of spacious nest and filled with eggs on sale. It was +quite astonishing to see the ease with which he navigated under his +heavy deck-load. + +This colossal youth having observed that I was an amateur humanitarian, +virtue received its instant reward (which it does not in all climates), +for he at once offered me three of his eggs in a very winning and +patronizing manner. + +I took the eggs because I like eggs, and then I was anxious to get his +head above water if possible; therefore I unhesitatingly took the eggs, +offering him in return a fish-hook, a tenpenny nail, and a dilapidated +key-ring. + +These tempting _curios_ he spurned, at the same moment reaching me +another handful of eggs. His generosity both pleased and alarmed me. I +saw with joy that his chin was quite out of water in consequence of his +charity, even when he dropped back into the sea, floating for a few +moments so as to let the blood circulate in his arm again; but whether +this was his magnanimous gift, or merely a trap to involve me in +hopeless debt, I was quite at a loss to know, and I paused with my hands +full of eggs, saying to myself, There is an end to fish-hooks in the +South Pacific, and dilapidated key-rings are not my staple product! + +In the midst of my alarm he began making vows of eternal friendship. +This was by no means disagreeable to me. He was big enough to whip any +two of his fellows, and one likes to be on the best side of the stronger +party in a strange land. + +I reciprocated! + +I leaned over the stern-rail of the "Great Western" in the attitude of +Juliet in the balcony scene, assuring that egg-boy that my heart was +his if he was willing to take it at second-hand. + +He liked my sentiments, and proposed touching noses at once (a barbarous +greeting still observed in the most civilized countries with even +greater license, since with Christians it is allowable to touch mouths). + +We touched noses, though I was in danger of sliding headlong into the +sea. After this ceremonial he consented to board the "Great Western," +which having accomplished with my help, he deposited his eggs at my +feet, offered me his nose once more, and communicated to me his name, +asking in the same breath for mine. + +He was known as Hua Manu, or Bird's Egg. Every native in the South Sea +gets named by accident. I knew a fellow whose name was "Cock-eye;" he +was a standing advertisement of his physical deformity. A fellow that +knew me rejoiced in the singular cognomen of "Thrown from a horse." +Fortunately he doesn't spell it with so many letters in his tongue. His +christening happened in this wise: A bosom friend of his mother was +thrown from a horse and killed the day of his birth. Therefore the +bereaved mother reared that child, an animated memorial, who in after +years clove to me, and was as jolly as though his earthly mission wasn't +simply to keep green the memory of his mother's bosom friend sailing +through the air with a dislocated neck. + +I turned to my new-found friend. "Hua Manu," said I, "for my sake you +have made a bird's-nest of your back hair. You have freely given me your +young affection and your eggs. Receive the sincere thanks of yours +truly, together with these fish-hooks, these tenpenny nails, this +key-ring." Hua Manu smiled and accepted, burying the fish-hooks in his +matted forelock, and inserting a tenpenny nail and a key-ring in either +ear, thereby making himself the envy of the entire population of Motu +Hilo, and feeling himself as grand as the best chief in the archipelago. + +So we sat together on the deck of the "Great Western," quite dry for a +wonder, exchanging sheep's-eyes and confidences, mutually happy in each +other's society. Meanwhile the captain was arranging his plans for an +immediate purchase of such pearls as he might find in possession of the +natives, and for a fresh search for pearl oysters at the earliest +possible hour. There were no pearls on hand. What are pearls to a man +who has as many wives, children, and cocoanuts as he can dispose of? +Pearls are small and colourless. Give them a handful of gorgeous glass +beads, a stick of sealing-wax, or some spotted beans, and keep your pale +sea-tears, milky and frozen, and apt to grow sickly yellow and die if +they are not cared for. + +Motu Hilo is independent. No man has squatted there to levy tax or toll. +We were each one of us privileged to hunt for pearls and keep our stores +separate. I said to Hua Manu, "Let's invest in a canoe, explore the +lagoon for fresh oyster-beds, and fill innumerable cocoanut shells with +these little white seeds. It will be both pleasant and profitable, +particularly for me." We were scarcely five minutes bargaining for our +outfit, and we embarked at once, having agreed to return in a couple of +days for news concerning the success of the "Great Western" and her +probable date of sailing. + +Seizing a paddle, Hua Manu propelled our canoe with incredible rapidity +out of the noisy fleet in the centre of the lake, toward a green point +that bounded it, one of the horns of the crescent. He knew a spot where +the oyster yawned in profusion, a secret cave for shelter, a forest +garden of fruits, a never-failing spring, etc. Thither we would fly and +domesticate ourselves. The long, curved point of land soon hid the inner +waters from view. We rose and sank on the swell between the great reef +and the outer rim of the island, while the sun glowed fiercely overhead +and the reef howled in our ears. Still on we skimmed, the water hissing +along the smooth sides of the canoe, that trembled at every fierce +stroke of Hua Manu's industrious paddle. No chart, no compass, no +rudder, no exchange of references, no letter of introduction, yet I +trusted that wild Hercules who was hurrying me away, I knew not whither, +with an earnestness that forced the sweat from his naked body in living +streams. + +At last we turned our prow and shot through a low arch in a cliff, so +low that we both ducked our heads instinctively, letting the vines and +parasites trail over our shoulders and down our backs. + +It was a dark passage into an inner cave lit from below,--a cave filled +with an eternal and sunless twilight that was very soothing to our eyes +as we came in from the glare of sea and sky. + +"Look!" said Hua Manu. Overhead rose a compressed dome of earth, a thick +matting of roots, coil within coil. At the side innumerable ledges, +shelves, and seams lined with nests, and never a nest without its egg, +often two or more together. Below us, in two fathoms of crystal, sunlit +and luminous bowers of coral, and many an oyster asleep with its mouth +open, and many a prismatic fish poising itself with palpitating gills, +and gauzy fins fanning the water incessantly. + +"Hua Manu!" I exclaimed in rapture, "permit me to congratulate you. In +you I behold the regular South Sea Monte Christo, and no less +magnificent title can do you justice." Thereat Hua Manu laughed +immoderately, which laugh having run out we both sat in our canoe and +silently sucked eggs for some moments. + +A canoe-length from where we floated a clear rill stole noiselessly from +above, mingling its sweet waters with the sea; on the roof of our cavern +fruits flourished, and we were wholly satisfied. After such a lunch as +ours it behoved us to cease idling and dive for pearls. So Hua Manu +knotted his long hair tightly about his forehead, cautiously transferred +himself from the canoe to the water, floated a moment, inhaling a +wonderfully long breath, and plunged under. How he struggled to get down +to the gaping oysters, literally climbing down head-first! I saw his +dark form wrestling with the elements that strove to force him back to +the surface, crowding him out into the air again. He seized one of the +shells, but it shut immediately, and he tugged and jerked and wrenched +at it like a young demon till it gave way, when he struck out and up for +air. All this seemed an age to me. I took full twenty breaths while he +was down. Reaching the canoe, he dropped the great, ugly-looking thing +into it, and hung over the outrigger gasping for breath like a man half +hanged. He was pale about the mouth, his eyes were suffused with blood, +blood oozed from his ears and nostrils; his limbs, gashed with the sharp +corals, bled also. The veins of his forehead looked ready to burst, and +as he tightened the cords of hair across them it seemed his only +salvation. + +I urged him to desist, seeing his condition, and fearing a repetition of +his first experience; but he would go once more; perhaps there was no +pearl in that shell; he wanted to get me a pearl. He sank again and +renewed his efforts at the bottom of the sea. I scarcely dared to count +the minutes now, nor the bubbles that came up to me like little balloons +with a death-message in each. Suppose he were to send his last breath in +one of those transparent globes, and I look down and see his body snared +in the antlers of coral, stained with his blood? Well, he came up all +right, and I postponed the rest of my emotion for a later experience. + +Some divers remain three minutes under water, but two or three descents +are as many as they can make in a day. The ravages of such a life are +something frightful. + +No more pearl-hunting after the second dive that day; nor the next, +because we went out into the air for a stroll on shore to gather fruit +and stretch our legs. There was a high wind and a heavy sea that looked +threatening enough, and we were glad to return after an hour's tramp. +The next day was darker, and the next after that, when a gale came down +upon us that seemed likely to swamp Motu Hilo. A swell rolled over the +windward reef and made our quarters in the grotto by no means safe or +agreeable. It was advisable for us to think of embarking upon that +tempestuous sea, or get brained against the roof of our retreat. + +Hua Manu looked troubled, and my heart sank. I wished the pearl oysters +at the bottom of the sea, the "Great Western" back at Tahiti, and I +loafing under the green groves of Papeete, never more to be deluded +abroad. + +I observed no visible changes in the weather after I had been wishing +for an hour and a half. The swell rather increased; our frail canoe was +tossed from side to side in imminent danger of upsetting. + +Now and then a heavy roller entirely filled the mouth of our cavern, +quite blinding us with spray; having spent its fury, it subsided with a +concussion that nearly deafened us, and dragged us with fearful velocity +toward the narrow mouth of the cave, where we saved ourselves from being +swept into the sea by grasping the roots overhead and within reach. + +Could I swim? asked Hua Manu. Alas, no! That we must seek new shelter at +any risk was but too evident. "Let us go on the next wave," said Hua, as +he seized a large shell and began clearing the canoe of the water that +had accumulated. Then he bound his long hair in a knot to keep it from +his eyes, and gave me some hasty directions as to my deportment in the +emergency. + +The great wave came. We were again momentarily corked up in an air-tight +compartment. I wonder the roof was not burst open with the intense +pressure that nearly forced the eyes out of my head and made me faint +and giddy. Recovering from the shock, with a cry of warning from Hua, +and a prayer scarcely articulated, we shot like a bomb from a mortar +into the very teeth of a frightful gale. + +Nothing more was said, nothing seen. The air was black with flying +spray, the roar of the elements more awful than anything I had ever +heard before. Sheets of water swept over us with such velocity that they +hummed like circular saws in motion. + +We were crouched as low as possible in the canoe, yet now and then one +of these, the very _blade_ of the wave, struck us on the head or +shoulders, cutting us like knives. I could scarcely distinguish Hua's +outline, the spray was so dense, and as for him, what could he do? +Nothing, indeed, but send up a sort of death-wail, a few notes of which +tinkled in my ear from time to time, assuring me how utterly without +hope we were. + +One of those big rollers must have lifted us clean over the reef, for we +crossed it and were blown into the open sea, where the canoe spun for a +second in the trough of the waves, and was cut into slivers by an +avalanche of water that carried us all down into the depths. + + * * * * * + +I suppose I filled at once, but came up in spite of it (almost every one +has that privilege), when I was clutched by Hua Manu and made fast to +his utilitarian back-hair. I had the usual round of experiences allotted +to all half-drowned people: a panoramic view of my poor life crammed +with sin and sorrow and regret; a complete biography written and read +through inside of ten seconds. I was half strangled, call it two-thirds, +for that comes nearer the truth; heard the water singing in my ears, +which was _not_ sweeter than symphonies, nor beguiling, nor in the least +agreeable. I deny it! In the face of every corpse that ever was drowned +I emphatically deny it! + +Hua had nearly stripped me with one or two tugs at my thin clothing, +because he didn't think that worth towing off to some other island, and +he was willing to float me for a day or two, and run the risk of saving +me. + +When I began to realize anything, I congratulated myself that the gale +was over. The sky was clear, the white caps scarce, but the swell still +sufficient to make me dizzy as we climbed one big, green hill, and slid +off the top of it into a deep and bubbling abyss. + +I found Hua leisurely feeling his way through the water, perfectly +self-possessed and apparently unconscious that he had a deck passenger +nearly as big as himself. My hands were twisted into his hair in such a +way that I could rest my chin upon my arms, and thus easily keep my +mouth above water most of the time. + +My emotions were peculiar. I wasn't accustomed to travelling in that +fashion. I knew it had been done before. Even there I thought with +infinite satisfaction of the Hawaiian woman who swam for forty hours in +such a sea, with an aged and helpless husband upon her back. Reaching +land at last she tenderly drew her burden to shore and found him--dead! +The fact is historical, and but one of several equally marvellous. + +We floated on and on, cheering each other hour after hour; the wind +continuing, the sea falling, and anon night coming like an +ill-omen,--night, that buried us alive in darkness and despair. + +I think I must have dozed, or fainted, or died several times during the +night, for it began to grow light long before I dared to look for it, +and then came sunrise,--a sort of intermittent sunrise that gilded Hua's +shoulder whenever we got to the top of a high wave, and went out again +as soon as we settled into the hollows. + +Hua Manu's eyes were much better than mine; he seemed to see with all +his five senses, and the five told him that _there was land not far +off_! I wouldn't believe him; I think I was excusable for questioning +his infallibility then and there. The minute he cried out "Land!" I gave +up and went to sleep or to death, for I thought he was daft, and it was +discouraging business, and I wished I could die for good. Hua Manu, what +a good egg you were, though it's the bad that usually keep atop of the +water, they tell me! + + * * * * * + +Hua Manu was right! he walked out of the sea an hour later and stood on +a mound of coarse sand in the middle of the ocean, with my miserable, +water-logged body lying in a heap at his feet. + +The place was as smooth and shiny and desolate as anybody's bald head. +That's a nice spot to be merry in, isn't it? Yet he tried to make me +open my eyes and be glad. + +He said he knew the "Great Western" would be coming down that way +shortly; she'd pick us off the shoal, and water and feed us. + +Perhaps she might! Meantime we hungered and thirsted as many a poor +castaway had before us. That was a good hour for Christian fortitude: +beached in the middle of the ocean; shelterless under a sun that +blistered Hua's tough skin; eyes blinded with the glare of sun and sea; +the sand glowing like brass and burning into flesh already irritated +with salt water; a tongue of leather cleaving to the roof of the mouth, +and no food within reach, nor so much as a drop of fresh water for +Christ's sake! + +Down went my face into the burning sand that made the very air _hop_ +above it.... Another night, cool and grateful; a bird or two flapped +wearily overhead, looking like spirits in the moonlight. Hua scanned +earnestly our narrow horizon, noting every inflection in the voices of +the wind and waves,--voices audible to him, but worse than dumb to +me,--mocking monotones reiterated through an agonizing eternity. + +A wise monitor was Hua Manu, shaming me to silence in our cursed +banishment. Toward the morning after our arrival at the shoal, an owl +fluttered out of the sky and fell at our feet quite exhausted. It might +have been blown from Motu Hilo, and seemed ominous of something, I +scarcely knew what. When it had recovered from its fatigue, it sat +regarding us curiously. I wanted to wring its short, thick neck, and eat +it, feathers and all. Hua objected; there was a superstition that gave +that bland bird its life. It might continue to ogle us with one eye as +long as it liked. How the lopsided thing smirked! how that stupid +owl-face, like a rosette with three buttons in it, haunted me! It was +enough to craze any one; and, having duly cursed him and his race, I +went stark mad and hoped I was dying for ever. + + * * * * * + +There are plenty of stars in this narrative. Stars, and plenty of them, +cannot account for the oblivious intervals, suspended animation, or +whatever it was, that came to my relief from time to time. I cannot +account for them myself. Perhaps Hua Manu might; he seemed always awake, +always on the lookout, and ever so patient and painful. A dream came to +me after that owl had stared me into stone,--a dream of an island in a +sea of glass; soft ripples lapping on the silver shores; sweet airs +sighing in a starlit grove; some one gathering me in his arms, hugging +me close with infinite tenderness; I was consumed with thirst, +speechless with hunger; like an infant I lay in the embrace of my +deliverer, who moistened my parched lips and burning throat with +delicious and copious draughts. It was an elixir of life; I drank health +and strength in every drop; sweeter than mother's milk flowed the warm +tide unchecked, till I was satisfied, and sank into a deep and dreamless +sleep. + + * * * * * + +The "Great Western" was plunging in her old style, and I swashed in my +bunk as of yore. The captain sat by me with a bottle in his hand and +anxiety in his countenance. + +"Where are we?" I asked. + +"Two hours out from Tahiti, inward bound." + +"How! What! When!" etc.; and my mind ran up and down the record of the +last fortnight, finding many blots and some blanks. + +As soon as I got into my right mind I could hear all about it; and the +captain shook his bottle, and held on to the side of my bunk to save +himself from total wreck in the lee-corners of the cabin. + +"Why, wasn't I right-minded? I could tell a hawk from a hernshaw; and, +speaking of hawks, where was that cursed owl?" + +The captain concluded I was bettering, and put the physic into the +locker, so as to give his whole attention to keeping right side up. +Well, this is how it happened, as I afterward learned: The "Great +Western" suffered somewhat from the gale at Motu Hilo, though she was +comparatively sheltered in that inner sea. Having repaired, and given me +up as a deserter, she sailed for Tahiti. The first day out, in a light +breeze, they all saw a man apparently wading up to his middle in the +sea. The fellow hailed the "Great Western," but as she could hardly +stand up against the rapid current in so light a wind, the captain let +her drift past the man in the sea, who suddenly disappeared. A +consultation of officers followed. Evidently some one was cast away and +ought to be looked after; resolved to beat up to the rock, big turtle, +or whatever it might be that kept that fellow afloat, provided the wind +freshened sufficiently; wind immediately freshened; "Great Western" put +about and made for the spot where Hua Manu had been seen hailing the +schooner. But when that schooner passed he threw himself upon the sand +beside me, and gave up hoping at last, and was seen no more. + +What did he then? I must have asked for drink. He gave it me from an +artery in his wrist, severed by the finest teeth you ever saw. That's +what saved me. On came the little schooner, beating up against the wind +and tide, while I had my lips sealed to that fountain of life. + +The skipper kept banging away with an old blunderbuss that had been left +over in his bargains with the savages, and one of these explosions +caught the ears of Hua. He tore my lips from his wrist, staggered to his +feet, and found help close at hand. Too late they gathered us up out of +the deep and strove to renew our strength. They transported us to the +little cabin of the schooner, Hua Manu, myself, and that mincing owl, +and swung off into the old course. Probably the "Great Western" never +did better sailing since she came from the stocks than that hour or two +of beating that brought her up to the shoal. She seemed to be emulating +it in the home run, for we went bellowing through the sea in a stiff +breeze and the usual flood-tide on deck. + +I lived to tell the tale. I should think it mighty mean of me not to +live after such a sacrifice. Hua Manu sank rapidly. I must have nearly +drained his veins, but I don't believe he regretted it. The captain said +when he was dying his faithful eyes were fixed on me. Unconsciously I +moved a little; he smiled, and the soul went out of him in that smile, +perfectly satisfied. At that moment the owl fled from the cabin, passed +through the hatchway, and disappeared. + +Hua Manu lay on the deck, stretched under a sail, while I heard this. I +wondered if a whole cargo of pearls could make me indifferent to his +loss. I wondered if there were many truer and braver than he in +Christian lands. They call him a heathen. It _was_ heathenish to offer +up his life vicariously. He might have taken mine so easily, and perhaps +have breasted the waves back to his own people, and been fêted and sung +of as the hero he truly was. + +Well, if he is a heathen, out of my heart I would make a parable, its +rubric bright with his sacrificial blood, its theme this glowing text: +"Greater love hath no man than this, that he lay down his life for a +friend." + + + + +THE LAST OF THE GREAT NAVIGATOR. + + +Think of a sea and a sky of such even and utter blueness that any +visible horizon is out of the question. In the midst of this pellucid +sphere the smallest of propellers trailing two plumes of sea-foam, like +the tail-feathers of a bird of paradise, and over it all a league of +floating crape,--for so seem the heavy folds of smoke that hang above +us. + +Thus we pass out of our long hours of idleness in that grove of eight +thousand cocoa-palms by the sea-shore,--the artist and I seeking to +renew our _dolce far niente_ in some new forest of palms by any shore +whatever. Enough that it is sea-washed, and hath a voice and an eternal +song. + +Now turn to the stone quarry darkened with the groups of the few +faithful friends and many islanders. They are so ready to kill time in +the simplest manner; why not in staring our awkward little steamer out +of sight? + +One glimpse of the white handkerchiefs, fluttering like a low flight of +doves, and then with all the sublime resignation of the confessed +lounger, we await the approach of twilight and the later hours that +shall presently pass silver-footed over this tropic sea. + +Four p.m., and the roar of the reef lost to us voyagers. The sun an hour +high. The steams of dinner appealing to us through the yawning +hatches,--everything yawning in this latitude, animate and +inanimate,--and the world as hot as Tophet. We lie upon our mattresses, +brought out of the foul cabin into the sweet air, and pass the night +half intoxicated with romance and cigarettes. The natives cover the deck +of our little craft in lazy and laughing flocks. Some of them regard us +tenderly; they are apt to love at sight, though Heaven knows there is +little in our untrimmed exteriors to attract any one under the stars. + +We hear, now and then, the sharp click of flint and steel, and after it +see the flame, and close to the flame a dark face, grotesque it may be, +like an antique water-spout with dust in its jaws. But some are +beautiful, with glorious eyes that shine wonderfully in the excitement +of lighting the pipe anew. + +Voices arise at intervals from among the groups of younger voyagers. We +hear the songs of our own land worded in oddly and rather prettily +broken English. "Annie Laurie," "When the cruel war is over," and other +equally ambitious and proportionately popular ballads ring in good time +and tune from the lips of the young bloods, but the girls seldom join to +any advantage. How strange it all seems, and how we listen! + +With the first and deepest purple of the dawn, the dim outlines of +Molokai arise before us. It is an island of cliffs and cañons, much +haunted of the King, but usually out of the tourist's guide-book. + +It is hinted one may turn back this modern page of island civilization, +and with it the half-christianized and wholly bewildered natures of the +uncomprehending natives, and here find all of the old superstitions in +their original significance, the temples, and the shark-god, and the +_hula-hula_ girls, beside whose weird and maddening undulations your +_can-can_ dancers are mere jumping-jacks. + +Listen for faint music of the wandering minstrels! No, we are too far +out from shore: then it is the wrong end of the day for such festivals. + +A brief siesta under the opening eyelids of the morn, and at sunrise we +dip our colours abreast charming little Lahaina, drowsy and indolent, +with its two or three long, long avenues overhung with a green roof of +leaves, and its odd summer-houses and hammocks pitched close upon the +white edge of the shore. + +We passed to and fro in the shadow paths an hour or two, eat of the +fruits, luscious and plentiful, and drink of its liquors, vile and +fortunately scarce, and get us hats plaited of the coarsest straw and of +unbounded rim, making ourselves still more hideous, if indeed we have +not already reached the acme of the unpicturesque. + +Now for hours and hours we hug the shore, slowly progressing under the +insufficient shadow of the palms, getting now and then glimpses of +valleys folded inland, said to be lovely and mystical. Then there are +mites of villages always half-grown and half-starved looking, and always +close to the sea. These islanders are amphibious. The little bronze +babies float like corks before they can walk half the length of a +bamboo-mat. + +Another night at sea, in the rough channel this time, and less +enjoyable for the rather stiff breeze on our quarter, and some very +sour-looking clouds overhead. All well by six, however, when we hear the +Angelus rung from the lower tower of a long coral church in another +sea-wedded hamlet. Think of the great barn-like churches, once too small +for the throngs that gathered about them, now full of echoes, and whose +doors, if they still hang to their hinges, will soon swing only to the +curious winds! + +In and out by this strange land, marking all its curvatures with the +fidelity of those shadow lines in the atlas, and so lingering on till +the evening of the second day, when, just at sunset, we turn suddenly +into the bay that saw the last of Captain Cook, and here swing at anchor +in eight fathoms of liquid crystal over a floor of shining white coral, +and clouds of waving sea-moss. From the deck behold the amphitheatre +wherein was enacted the tragedy of "The Great Navigator, or the +Vulnerable God." The story is brief and has its moral. + +The approach of Captain Cook was mystical. For generations the islanders +had been looking with calm eyes of faith for the promised return of a +certain god. Where should they look but to the sea, whence came all +mysteries, and whither retreated the being they called divine? + +So the white wings of the "Resolution" swept down upon the lifelong +quietude of Hawaii like a messenger from heaven, and the signal gun sent +the first echoes to the startled mountains of the little kingdom. + +They received this Jupiter, who carried his thunders with him and +kindled fires in his mouth. He was the first smoker they had seen, +though they are now his most devout apostles. Showing him all due +reverence, he failed to regard their customs and traditions, which was +surely ungodlike, and it rather weakened the faith of their sages. + +A plot was devised to test the divinity of the presuming captain. + +While engaged in conversation, one of the chiefs was to rush at Cook +with a weapon; should he cry out or attempt to run, he was no god, for +the gods are fearless; and if he was no god, he deserved death for his +deception. But if a god, no harm could come of it, for the gods are +immortal. + +So they argued, and completed their plans. It came to pass in the +consummation of them that Cook did run, and thereupon received a stab in +the back. Being close by the shore he fell, face downward in the water +and died a half-bloody, half-watery, and wholly inglorious death. His +companions escaped to the ship and peppered the villages by the harbour, +till the inhabitants, half frantic, were driven into the hills. + +Then they put to sea, leaving the body of their commander in the hands +of the enemy, and with flag at half-mast were blown sullenly back to +England, there to inaugurate the season of poems, dirges, and pageants +in honour of the Great Navigator. + +His bones were stripped of flesh, afterwards bound with _kapa_, the +native cloth, and laid in one of the hundred natural cells that +perforate the cliff in front of us, and under whose shadow we now float. +Which of the hundred is the one so honoured is quite uncertain. What +does it matter, so long as the whole mountain is a catacomb of kings? +No commoners are buried there. It was a kind and worthy impulse that +could still venerate so far the mummy of an idol of such palpable clay +as his. + +Many of these singular caverns are almost inaccessible. One must climb +down by ropes from the cliff above. Rude bars of wood are laid across +the mouths of some of them. It is the old _tabu_ never yet broken. But a +few years back it was braving death to attempt to remove them. + +Cook's flesh was most likely burned. It was then a custom. But his heart +was left untouched of the flames of this sacrifice. What a salamander +the heart is that can withstand the fires of a judgment! + +The story of this heart is the one shocking page in this history: some +children discovered it afterwards, and, thinking it the offal of an +animal, devoured it. Whoever affirms that the "Sandwich-Islanders eat +each other," has at least this ground for his affirmation. Natives of +the South Sea Islands have been driven as far north as this in their +frail canoes. They were cannibals, and no doubt were hungry, and may +have eaten in their fashion, but it is said to have been an acquired +taste, and was not at all popular in this region. Dramatic justice +required some tragic sort of revenge, and this was surely equal to the +emergency. + +Our advanced guard, in the shape of a month-earlier tourist, gave us the +notes for doing this historical nook in the Pacific. A turned-down page, +it is perhaps a little too dog-eared to be read over again, but we all +like to compare notes. So we noted the items of the advance-guard, and +they read in this fashion:-- + +OBJECTS OF INTEREST RELATING TO CAPTAIN COOK. + + Item I. The tree where Cook was struck. + " II. The rock where Cook fell. + " III. The altar on the hill-top. + " IV. The riven palms. + " V. The sole survivor,--the boy that ran. + " VI. A specimen sepulchre in the cliff. + +Until dark the native children have been playing about as in the sea, +diving for very smooth "rials," and looking much as frogs must look to +wandering liliputians. The artist cares less for these wild and graceful +creatures than one would suppose, for he confesses them equal in +physical beauty to the Italian models. All sentiment seemed to have been +dragged out of him by much travel. At night we sit together on the +threshold of our grass house, and not twenty feet from the rock--under +water only at high tide--where Cook died. We sit talking far into the +night, with the impressive silence broken only by the plash of the sea +at our very door. + +By-and-by the moon looks down upon us from the sepulchre of the kings. +We are half clad, having adopted the native costume as the twilight +deepened and our modesty permitted. The heat is still excessive. All +this low land was made to God's order some few centuries ago. We wonder +if He ever changes His mind; this came down red-hot from the hills +yonder, and cooled at high-water mark. It holds the heat like an +oven-brick, and we find it almost impossible to walk upon it at +noontime, even our sole-leather barely preserving our feet from its +blistering surface. The natives manage to hop over it now and then; they +are about half leather anyhow, and the other half appetite. + +We come first upon No. II. in the list of historic haunts. + +Let us pass down to the rock, and cool ourselves in the damp moss that +drapes it. It is almost as large as a dinner-table, and as level. You +can wade all around it, count a hundred little crabs running up and down +over the top of it. So much for one object of interest, and the artist +draws his pencil through it. At ten p.m. we are still chatting, and have +added a hissing pot of coffee over some live coals to our housekeeping. +Now down a little pathway at our right comes a native woman, with a +plump and tough sort of a pillow under each arm. These she implores us +to receive and be comfortable. We refuse to be comforted in this +fashion, we despise luxuries, and in true cosmopolitan independence hang +our heads over our new saddle-trees, and sleep heavily in an atmosphere +rank with the odour of fresh leather; but not till we have seen our +human visitor part of the way home. Back by the steep and winding path +we three pass in silence. She pauses a moment in the moonlight at what +seems a hitching-post cased in copper. It is as high as our hip, and has +some rude lettering apparently scratched with a nail upon it. We +decipher with some difficulty this legend:-- + + + + + Near this spot fell + CAPTAIN JAMES COOK, R.N., + the + Renowned Circumnavigator, + who + discovered these islands, + A.D. 1778. + + His Majesty's Ship + Imogene, + Oct. 17, 1837. + +So No. I. of our list is checked off, and no lives lost. + +"_Aloha!_" cries a soft voice in the distance. Our native woman has left +us in our pursuit of knowledge under difficulties, and now there is no +visible trace of her and her pillows,--only that voice out of the +darkness crying, "Love to you!" She lives in memory,--this warm-hearted +_Waihine_; so do her pillows. + +Returning to our lodgings, we discover a square heap of broken lava +rocks. It seems to be the foundation for some building; and such it is, +for here the palace of Kamehameha I. stood,--a palace of grass like this +one we are sleeping in. Nothing but the foundation remains now. Half a +dozen rude stairs invite the ghosts of the departed courtiers to this +desolate ruin. + +They are all Samaritans in this kingdom. By sunrise a boy with fresh +coffee and a pail of muffins rides swiftly to our door. He came from +over the hill. Our arrival had been reported, and we are summoned to a +late breakfast in the manner of the Christians. We are glad of it. Our +fruit diet of yesterday, the horrors of a night in the saddle--a safe +and pretty certain mode of dislocating the neck--makes us yearn for a +good old-fashioned meal. Horses are at our service. We mount after +taking our muffins and coffee in the centre of a large and enthusiastic +gathering of villagers. They came to see us eat, and to fumble the +artist's sketches, and wonder at his amazing skill. + +Up the high hill with the jolliest sun shining full in our eyes, +brushing the heavy and dew-filled foliage on both sides of the trail, +and under the thick webs spun in the upper branches, looking like silver +laces this glorious morning,--on, till we reach the hill-top. + +Here the guide pauses and points his horse's nose toward a rude +_corral_. The horses seem to regard it from habit,--we scarcely with +curiosity. A wall half in ruins in the centre, rising from a heap of +stones tumbled together, a black, weather-stained cross, higher than our +heads as we sit in the saddle. It is the altar of sacrifice. It is here +that the heart of the great navigator survived the flames. + +No. III. scored off. At this rate we shall finish by noon easily. The +sequel of an adventurous life is soon told. + +After breakfast, to horse again, and back to the little village by the +sea. We ride into a cluster of palms, our guide leading the way, and +find two together, each with a smooth and perfectly round hole through +its body about three feet from the roots, made by the shot of Cook's +avengers. A lady could barely thrust her hand through them; they +indicate rather light calibre for defence nowadays, but enough to +terrify these little villages, when Cook's men sent the balls hissing +over the water to bite through the grit and sap of these slender shafts. +They still live to tell the tale in their way. So much for No. IV. + +We pause again in the queer little straggling alleys of the village, +planned, I should think, after some spider's web. They are about as +regular in their irregularity. It is No. V. this time. A bit of withered +humanity doubled up in the sun, as though some one had set him on that +wall to bake. He is drawn all together; his chin sunk in between his +knees, his knees hooped together with his dreadfully slim arms, a round +head, sleek and shining as an oiled gourd; _sans_ teeth; eyes like the +last drops in desert wells; the skeleton sharply quick and protruding; +no motion; apparently no life beyond the incessant blinking of the +eyelids,--the curtains fluttering in the half-shut windows of the soul. +_Is_ it a man and a brother? Yes, verily! When the uncaptured crew of +the "Resolution" poured their iron shot into the tents of the adversary, +this flickering life was young and vigorous, and he ran like a good +fellow. Better to have died in his fiery youth than to have slowly +withered away in this fashion. For here is the philosophy of mammon left +to itself: when you get to be an old native, it is your business to die; +if you don't know your business, you are left to find it out: what are +you good for but to bury? + +Let us slip over the smooth bay, for we must look into one of these +caverns. Cross in this canoe, so narrow that we cannot get into it at +all, but balance ourself on its rim and hold our breath for fear of +upsetting. These odd-looking outriggers are honest enough in theory, but +treacherous in practice; and a shark has his eye on us back yonder. +Sharks are mesmeric in their motions through the water, and +corpse-coloured. + +A new guide helps us to the most easily reached cave, and with the lad +and his smoking torch we climb into the dusky mouth. + +There is dust everywhere, and cobwebs as thick as cloth, hanging in +tatters. An almost interminable series of small cells, just high enough +to straighten one's back in, leads us farther and farther into the +mountain of bones. This cave has been pillaged too often to be very +ghostly now. We find a little parcel of bones here. It might have been a +hand and an arm once, cunning and dexterous. It is nothing now but a +litter. Here is an infant's skull, but broken, thin and delicate as a +sea-shell, and full of dust. Here is a tougher one, whole and solid; the +teeth well set and very white; no signs of decay in any one of these +molars. Perhaps it is because so little of their food is oven warm when +they eat it. This rattles as we lift it. The brain and the crumbs of +earth are inseparably wedded. Come with us, skull. You look scholarly, +and shall lie upon our desk,--a solemn epistle to the living. But the +cave is filled with the vile smoke of our torch, and we are choked with +the heat and dust. Let us out as soon as possible. The Great Navigator's +skeleton cannot be hidden in this tomb. Down we scramble into the sand +and shadow by the water, and talk of departing out of this place of +relics. + +We are to cross the lava southward where it is frescoed with a +wilderness of palm-trees: for when the mountain came down to the sea, +flowing red-hot, but cooling almost instantly, it mowed down the forests +of palms, and the trunks were not consumed, but lay half buried in the +cooling lava, and now you can mark every delicate fibre of the bark in +the lava, as firm as granite. + +Still farther south lies the green slope that was so soon to be shaken +to its foundations. I wonder if we could discover any of the peculiar +loveliness that bewitched us the evening we crossed it in silence. There +was something in the air that said, "Peace, peace"; and we passed over +the fatal spot without speaking. But the sea spoke under the cliffs +below us, and the mountain has since replied. + +This place is named prettily, _Kealekakua_. You see that mountain? +There are paths leading to it. Thither the gods journeyed in the days of +old. So the land is called "the path of the gods." + +It is a cool, green spot up yonder; the rain descends upon it in +continual baptism. The natives love these mountains and the sea. They +are the cardinal points of their compass. Every direction given you is +either toward the mountain or toward the sea. + +There is much truth in the Arabian tale, and it is time to acknowledge +it. Mountains are magnetic. The secret of their magnetism may lie in the +immobility of their countenances. Praise them to their face, and they +are not flattered; forget them for a moment: but turn again, and see +their steadfast gaze! You feel their earnestness. It is imposing, and +you cannot think lightly of it. Who forgets the mountains he has once +seen? It is quite probable the mountain cares little for your +individuality: but it has given part of itself to the modelling of your +character; it has touched you with the wand of its enchantment; you are +under the spell. Somewhere in the recesses of this mountain are locked +the bones of the Great Navigator, but these mountains have kept the +secret. + + + + +A CANOE CRUISE IN THE CORAL SEA. + + +If you can buy a canoe for two calico shirts, what will your annual +expenses in Tahiti amount to? This was a mental problem I concluded to +solve, and, having invested my two shirts, I began the solution in this +wise: My slender little treasure lay with half its length on shore, and +being quite big enough for two, I looked about me, seeking some one to +sit in the bows, for company and ballast. + +Up and down the shady beach of Papeete I wandered, with this +advertisement written all over my anxious face:-- + + "WANTED--A crew about ten years of age; of a mild disposition, and + with no special fondness for human flesh; not particular as to sex! + Apply immediately, at the new canoe, under the bread-fruit tree, + Papeete, South Pacific." + +Some young things were pitching French coppers so earnestly they didn't +read my face; some were not sea-faring at that moment; while most of +them evidently ate more than was good for them, which might result +disastrously in a canoe cruise, and I set my heart against them. The +afternoon was waning, and my ill-luck seemed to urge upon me the +necessity of my constituting a temporary press-gang for the kidnapping +of the required article. + +"Who is anxious to go to sea with me?" I shouted, revisiting the mob of +young gamblers, all intently disinterested in everything but "pitch and +toss." Not far away a group of wandering minstrels--such as make musical +the shores of Tahiti--sat in the middle of the street, chanting. One +youth played with considerable skill upon a joint of bamboo, of the +flute species, but breathed into from the nostrils, instead of the lips. +Three or four minor notes were piped at uncertain intervals, playing an +impromptu variation upon the air of the singers. Drawing near, the music +was suspended, and I proposed shipping one of the melodious vagabonds, +whereupon the entire chorus expressed a willingness to accompany me in +any capacity whatever, remarking, at the same time, that "they were a +body bound, so to speak, by cords of harmony, and any proposal to +disband them would, by it, be regarded as highly absurd." Then I led the +solemn procession of volunteers to my canoe, and we regarded it in +silence; it was something larger than a pea-pod, to be sure, but about +the shape of one. After a moment of deliberation, during which a great +throng of curious spectators had assembled, the orchestra declared +itself in readiness to ship before the paddle for the trifling +consideration of seventeen dollars. I knew the vague notion that money +is money, call it dollar or dime, generally entertained by the innocent +children of nature; and, dazzling the unaccustomed eyes of the flutist +with a new two-franc piece, he immediately embarked. The bereaved +singers sat on the shore and lifted up their voices in resounding +discord, as the canoe slid off into the still waters, and my crew, with +commendable fortitude, laid down the nose-flute, took up the paddle, and +we began our canoe cruise. + +The frail thing glided over the waves as though invisible currents were +sweeping her into the hereafter; the shore seemed to recede, drawing the +low, thatched houses into deeper shadow; other canoes skimmed over the +sea, like great water-bugs, while the sun set beyond the sharp outlines +of beautiful Morea, glorifying it and us. + +There was a small islet not far away,--an islet as fair and fragrant as +a bouquet,--looking, just then, like a mote in a sheet of flame. Thither +I directed the reformed flutist, and then let myself relapse into the +all-embracing quietness that succeeds nearly every vexation that flesh +is heir to. + +There was something soothing in the nature of my crew. He sat with his +back to me,--a brown back, that glistened in the sun, and arched itself, +from time to time, cat-like, as though it was very good to be brown and +bare and shiny. From the waist to the feet fell the resplendent folds of +a _pareu_, worn by all Tahitians, of every possible age and sex, and +consisted, in this case, of a thin breadth of cloth, stamped with a deep +blue firmament, in which supernaturally yellow suns were perpetually +settling in several spots. A round head topped his chubby shoulders, and +was shaven from the neck to the crown, with a matted forelock of the +blackness of darkness falling to the eyes and keeping the sun out of +them. One ear was enlivened with a crescent of beaten gold, which +decoration, having been won at "pitch and toss," will probably never +again, in the course of human events, meet with its proper mate. On the +whole, he looked just a little bit like a fantail pigeon with its wings +plucked. + +At this point, my crew suddenly rose in the bows of the canoe, making +several outlandish flourishes with his broad paddle. I was about to +demand the occasion of his sudden insanity, when we began to grate over +some crumbling substance that materially impeded our progress and +suggested all sorts of disagreeable sensations,--such as knife-grinding +in the next yard, saw-filing round the corner, etc. It was as though we +were careering madly over a multitude of fine-tooth combs. With that +caution which is inseparable from canoe-cruising in every part of the +known world, I leaned over the side of my personal property, and +penetrated the bewildering depths of the coral sea. + +Were we, I asked myself, suspended about two feet above a garden of +variegated cauliflowers? Or were the elements wafting us over a minute +winter-forest, whose fragile boughs were loaded with prismatic crystals? + +The scene was constantly changing: now it seemed a disordered bed of +roses,--pink, and white, and orange; presently we were floating in the +air, looking down upon a thousand-domed mosque, pale in the glamour of +the Oriental moon; and then a wilderness of bowers presented +itself,--bowers whose fixed leaves still seemed to quiver in the slight +ripple of the sea,--blossoming for a moment in showers of buds, purple, +and green, and gold, but fading almost as soon as born. I could scarcely +believe my eyes, when these tiny, though marvellously brilliant fish +shot suddenly out from some lace-like structure, each having the lurid +and flame-like beauty of sulphurous fire, and all turning instantly, in +sudden consternation at finding us so near, and secreting themselves in +the coral pavilion that amply sheltered them. Among the delicate anatomy +of these frozen ferns our light canoe was crashing on its way. I saw the +fragile structures overwhelmed with a single blow from the young savage, +who stood erect, propelling us onward amid the general ruins. With my +thumb and finger I annihilated the laborious monuments of centuries, and +saw havoc and desolation in our wake. + +There, in one of God's reef-walled and cliff-sheltered aquaria, we +drifted, while the sky and sea were glowing with the final triumphant +gush of sunset radiance. Fefe at last broke the silence, with an +interrogation: "Well, how do you feel?" "Fefe," I replied, "I feel as +though I were some good and faithful bee, sinking into a sphere of +amber, for a sleep of a thousand years." Fefe gave a deep-mouthed and +expressive grunt, as he laid his brown profile against the sunset sky, +thereby displaying his solitary earring to the best advantage, and with +evident personal satisfaction. "And how do you feel, Fefe?" I asked. He +was mum for a moment; arched his back like any wholesome animal when the +sun has struck clean through it; ejaculated an ejaculation with his +tongue and teeth that cannot possibly be spelled in English, and +thereupon his nostril quivered spasmodically, and was only comforted by +the immediate application of his nose-flute, through which dulcet organ +he confessed his deep and otherwise unutterable joy. I blessed him for +it, though there were but three notes, all told, and those minors and a +trifle flat. + +Fefe's impassioned soul having subsided, we both looked over to +beautiful Morea, nine miles away. How her peaks shone like steel, and +her valleys looked full of sleep! while here and there one golden ray +lingered for a moment to put the final touch to a fruit it was ripening +or a flower it was painting,--for they each have their perfect work +allotted to them, and they don't leave it half completed. + +It was just the hour that harmonizes everything in nature, and when +there is no possible discord in all the universe. The fishes were +baptizing themselves by immersion in space, and kept leaping into the +air, like momentary inches of chain-lightning. Our islet swam before us, +spiritualized,--suspended, as it were, above the sea,--ready at any +moment to fade away. The waves had ceased beating upon the reef; the +clear, low notes of a bell vibrating from the shore called us to prayer. +Fefe knew it, and was ready,--so was I,--and with bare heads and souls +utterly at peace we gave our hearts to God--for the time being! + +Then came the hum of voices and the rustle of renewed life. On we +pressed towards our islet, under the increasing shadows of the dusk. A +sloping beach received us; the young cocoa-palms embraced one another +with fringed branches. Through green and endless corridors we saw the +broad disc of the full moon hanging above the hill. + +Fefe at once chose a palm, and, having ascended to its summit, cast down +its fruit. Descending, he planted a stake in the earth, and striking a +nut against its sharpened top, soon laid open the fibrous husk, with +which a fire was kindled. + +Taking two peeled nuts in his hands, he struck one against the other and +laid open the skull of it,--a clear sort of scalping that aroused me to +enthusiasm. There is one end of a cocoanut's skull as delicate as a +baby's, and a well-directed tap does the business; possibly the same +result would follow with those of infants of the right age,--twins, for +instance. Fefe agrees with me in this theory now first given to the +public. + +Then followed much talk, on many topics, over our tropical supper,--said +supper consisting of seaweed salad, patent self-stuffing +banana-sausages, and cocoanut hash. We argued somewhat, also, but in +South Pacific fashion,--which would surely spoil if imported; I only +remember, and will record, that Fefe regarded the nose-flute as a +triumph of art, and considered himself no novice in musical science, as +applicable to nose-flutes in a land where there is scarcely a nose +without its particular flute, and many a flute is silent for ever, +because its special nose is laid among the dust. + +Having eaten, I proposed sleeping on the spot, and continuing the cruise +at dawn. "Why should we return to the world and its cares, when the sea +invites us to its isles? Nature will feed us. In that blest land, +clothing has not yet been discovered. Let us away!" I cried. At this +juncture, voices came over the sea to us,--voices chanting like sirens +upon the shore. Instinctively Fefe's nose-flute resumed its _tremolo_, +and I knew the day was lost. "Come!" said the little rascal, as though +he were captain and I the crew, and he dragged me toward the skiff. With +terrific emphasis, I commanded him to desist. "Don't imagine," I said, +"that this is a modern "Bounty," and that it is your duty to rise up in +mutiny for the sake of dramatic justice. Nature never repeats herself, +therefore come back to camp!" + +But he wouldn't come. I knew I should lose my canoe unless I followed, +or should have to paddle back alone,--no easy task for one unaccustomed +to it. So I moodily embarked with him; and having pushed off into deep +water, he sounded a note of triumph that was greeted with shouts on +shore, and I felt that my fate was sealed. + +It had been my life-dream to bid adieu to the human family, with one or +two exceptions; to sever every tie that bound me to anything under the +sun; to live close to Nature, trusting her, and getting trusted by her. + +I explained all this to the young "Kanack," who was in a complete state +of insurrection, but failed to subdue him. Overhead the air was flooded +with hazy moonlight; the sea looked like one immeasurable drop of +quicksilver, and upon the summit of this luminous sphere our shallop was +mysteriously poised. A faint wind was breathing over the ocean; Fefe +erected his paddle in the bows, placed against it a broad mat that +constituted part of my outfit for that new life of which I was +defrauded, and on we sped like a belated sea-bird seeking its mossy +nest. + +Beneath us slept the infinite creations of another world, gleaming from +the dark bosom of the sea with an unearthly pallor, and seeming to +reveal something of the forbidden mysteries that lie beyond the grave. +"La Petite Pologne," whispered Fefe, as he arched his back for the last +time, and stepped on shore at the foot of this singular rendezvous,--a +narrow lane threading the groves of Papeete, bordered by wine-shops, +bakeries, and a convent-wall, lit at night by smoky lanterns hanging +motionless in the dead air of the town, and thronged from 7 p.m. till 10 +p.m. by people from all quarters of the globe. + +Fefe having resumed his profession as soon as his bare foot was on his +native heath again, the minstrels moved in a hollow square through the +centre of La Petite Pologne. They were rendering some Tahitian +madrigal,--a three-part song, the solo, or first part, of which being +got safely through with,--a single stanza,--it was repeated as a duo, +and so re-repeated through simple addition with a gradually increasing +chorus; the nose-flute meantime getting delirious, and sounding its +_finale_ in an ecstasy prolonged to the point of strangulation, when the +whole unceremoniously terminated, and everybody took a rest and a fresh +start. During these performances, the audience was dense and +demonstrative. Fefe was in his element, sitting with his best side to +the public, and flaunting his earring mightily. A dance followed: a +dance always follows in that land of light hearts; and as one after +another was ushered into the arena and gave his or her body to the +interpretation of such songs as would startle Christian ears,--albeit +there be some Christian hearts less tender, and Christian lips less +true,--to my surprise, Fefe abandoned his piping and danced before me, +and then came a flash of intuition,--rather late, it is true, but still +useful as an explanatory supplement to my previous vexations. "Fefe!" I +gasped (Fefe is the Tahitian for _Elephantiasis_), and my Fefe raised +his or her skirts, and danced with a shocking leg. I really can't tell +you what Fefe was. You never can tell by the name. He might have been a +boy, or she might have been a girl, all the time. I don't know that it +makes any particular difference to me what it was, but I cannot +encourage elephantiasis in anything, and therefore I concluded my naval +engagement with Fefe, and solemnly walked toward my chamber, scarcely a +block off. The music followed me to my door with a song of some kind or +other, but the real nature of which I was too sensitive to definitely +ascertain. + +Gazelle-eyed damsels, with star-flowers dangling from their ears, +obstructed the way. The _gendarmes_ regarded me with an eye single to +France and French principles. Mariners arrayed in the blue of their own +sea and the white of their own breakers bore down upon us with more than +belonged to them. Men of all colours went to and fro, like mad +creatures; women followed; children careered hither and thither. Wild +shouts rent the air; there was an intoxicating element that enveloped +all things. The street was by no means straight, though it could +scarcely have been narrower; the waves staggered up the beach, and +reeled back again; the moon leered at us, looking blear-eyed as she +leaned against a cloud; and half-nude bodies lay here and there in dark +corners, steeped to the toes in rum. Out of this human maelstrom, whose +fatal tide was beginning to sweep me on with it, I made a plunge for my +door-knob and caught it. Twenty besetting sins sought to follow me, +covered with wreaths and fragrant with sandalwood oil; twenty besetting +sins rather pleasant to have around one, because by no means as +disagreeable as they should be. Fefe was there also, and I turned to +address him a parting word,--a word calculated to do its work in a soil +particularly mellow. + +"Fefe," I said, "how can I help regarding it as a dispensation of +Providence that your one leg is considerably bigger than your other? How +can I expect you, with your assorted legs, to walk in that straight and +narrow way wherein I have frequently found it inconvenient to walk +myself, to say nothing of the symmetry of my own extremities? Therefore, +adieu, child of the South, with your one earring and your pianoforte +leg; adieu--for ever." + +With that I closed my door upon the scene, and strove to bury myself in +oblivion behind the white window-shade. In vain: the shadow with the +moustache and goatee still pursued the shadow with the flowing locks +that fled too slowly. Voices faint, though audible, indulged in +allusions more or less profane, and with a success which would be +considered highly improper in any latitude. + +Thus sinking into an unquiet sleep, with a dream of canoe-cruising in a +coral sea, whose pellucid waves sang sadly upon the remote shores of an +ideal sphere, across the window loomed the gigantic shadow of some brown +beauty, whose vast proportions suggested nothing more lovely than a new +Sphinx, with a cabbage in either ear. + + + + +UNDER A GRASS ROOF. + +A LEAF TORN AT RANDOM FROM A TROPICAL NOTE-BOOK. + + +At Kahakuloa, under a terrific hill and close upon a frothing tongue of +the sea, I draw rein. The act is simply a formality of mine; probably +the animal would have paused here of his own free will, for he has been +rehearsing his stops a whole hour back, during which time he limped +somewhat and reaped determinedly the few tufts of dry grass that Nature +had provided him by the trail-side. The clouds are falling; the cliffs +are festooned with damp gauze; the air is moist and cool; a grass hut of +uncommon purity stands invitingly by. A moon-faced youth, whose spotless +garments appealed to me as he overtook our caravan a mile back, says, +"Will you eat and sleep?" I am but human, and a hungry and sleepy human +at that; so I tip off from my mule's back with gratitude and alacrity. +In a moment the fine linen of mine host is hung upon its peg, and a good +study of the Nude returns to me for further orders. I am literally +famishing, and the mule is already up to his ears in watercress; but +then I have ridden and he has carried me. How just, O Mother Nature, are +thy judgments! + +With the superb poses of a trained athlete, the Nude swings a fowl by +the neck, and shortly it is plucked and potted, together with certain +vegetables of the proper affinities. Then he swathes a fish in succulent +leaves, and buries it in hot ashes; and then he smokes his peace-pipe. +Pipe no sooner lighted than mouths mysteriously gather: five, ten, a +dozen of them magically assemble at the smell of smoke and take their +turn at the curled shell, with a hollow stalk for a mouthpiece. Dinner +at last. O fish, fruit, and fowl on a mat on a floor in a grass hut at +evening! How excellent are these--amen! Night--supper over--some one +twanging upon a stringed instrument of rude native origin. Gossip +lags,--darkness and silence, and a cigarette. The Nude rises haughtily +and lights a lamp that looks very like a diminutive coffee-pot with a +great flame in the nose of it. He hangs it against a beam already +blackened with smoke to the peak of the roof. Again the peace-pipe +sweeps the home-circle, and is passed out to the mouths of the +neighbourhood. + +Guests drop down upon us and fill the one aperture of the hut with rows +of curious, welcoming faces; assorted dogs press through the door in +turn, receive a slap from each member of the family, and retreat with +invisible tails; sudden impulses set all tongues wagging in unison; +impulses, equally sudden and unaccountable, enjoin protracted intervals +of silence. The sea breathes heavily; there is a noise of rain-drops +sliding down the thatch. Guests disperse with a kind "_aloha_." We are +alone with the night. The spirit of repose descends upon us; one after +another the several members of mine host's household roll themselves +into mummies and lie in a solemn row along the side of the room, +sleeping. I, also, will sleep. A great bark-cloth (_kapa_) that rattles +as though it had received seven starchings, is all mine for covering,--a +royal _kapa_ this, of exceeding stiffness. I lie with my eyes to the +roof, and count the beams that look like an arbour. What is it, as large +as my thumb, cased in brown armour? A roach!--a melancholy procession of +roaches passing from one side of the hut, over the roof, with their +backs downward, and descending on the other side by the beams,--a +hundred of them, perhaps, or a thousand: the cry is, "Still they come!" +There is a noise of tiny feet upon the roof, and it isn't rain; there is +a sound as of falling objects that escape before I can catch them. My +hand rests upon a cool, moist creature that writhes under it,--an +animated spinal column with four legs at one end of it. Away, thou slimy +newt! Something runs over the matting, making a still, small clatter as +it goes,--something looking like a toy train of dirt-cars. Ha! the +venomous and wily centipede! Put out the coffee-pot, for these sights +are horrible! + +Now I will sleep with my face under the _kapa_,--silence, serene +silence, and darkness profound; the sea beating in agony at the foot of +the big hill,--a time for lofty and sublime revery. More rain outside +the hut; gusts of wind, wailing as they rush past us. Thanks for this +shelter. My pillow saturated with cocoanut oil--ah, what savage dreams +may have disturbed these sleepers! No matter. Will get a wink of sleep +before daybreak. Sleep, at last,--how refreshing art thou! + +Hello! the coffee-pot in a blaze again; the Nude smoking his +peace-pipe; children eating and making merry. Daybreak? No; midnight, +perchance,--darkness without, darkness once more (by request) within. +"Come again, bright dream." Horror! the house shaken as by an +earthquake; gnashing of teeth distinctly audible,--the mule undoubtedly +eating up the side of the grass hut! Anon, quiet restored. A suggestion +of moonlight through the open door; the twanging of the stringed affair; +a responsive twang in the distance. Some one steals cautiously forth +into the starlight. All is not well in Kahakuloa. Rain over; mule +vegetating elsewhere; roaches subdued; sea comparatively quiet. Welcome, +kind Nature's sweet restorer!... Humming of voices; rolling of dogs +about the house; ditto of children ditto; broad daylight, and breakfast +waiting. Mule saddled, and, with a mouthful of roses, looking fresh and +happy. Mule-boy eager for the fray. Time up. Adieu, adieu--O beautiful +Kahakuloa! I must away. + +Above the terrible hill hang clouds and shadows; fringes of rain obscure +the trail as it climbs persistently to heaven; but up that trail, into +and through those clouds and shadows, I pursue my solitary pilgrimage. + + + + +MY SOUTH-SEA SHOW. + + +High in her lady's chamber sat Gail, looking with calm eyes through the +budding maples across the hills of spring. Her letter was but half +finished, and the village post was even then ready; so she woke out of +her reverie, and ended the writing as follows:-- + + "SPRING,----. + + "I know not where you may be at this moment,--living with what + South-Sea Island god, drinking the milk of cocoanut, and eating + bread-fruit,--but wherever you are, forget not your promise to come + home again, bringing your sheaves with you." + +Anon she sealed it and mailed it, and it was hurried away, over land and +sea, till, after many days, it found me drinking my cocoa-milk and +refreshing myself with bread-fruits. + +Anon I replied to her, not on the green enamel of a broad leaf, with a +thorn stylet, but upon the blank margins of Gail's letter, with my last +half-inch of pencil. I said to her:-- + + "SUMMER,----. + + "By-and-by I will come to you, when the evenings are very long, and + the valley is still. I will cross the lawn in silence, and stand + knocking at the south entry. Deborah will open the door to me with + fear and trembling, for I shall be sunburnt and brawny, with a baby + cannibal under each arm. Then at a word a tattooed youngster shall + reach her a Tahitian pearl, and I will cry 'Give it to Mistress + Gail'; whereat Deborah will willingly withdraw, leaving me + motionless in the dead leaves by the south entry. You will take the + token, dear Gail, and know it as the symbol of, my return. You will + come and greet us, and lead us to the best chamber, and we will + feast with you as long as you like,--I and my cannibals." + +I was never quite sure of what Gail said to my letter, but I knew her +for a true soul; so I gathered my cannibals under my metaphorical wings, +and journeyed unto the village, and came into it at sunset, while it was +autumn. We passed over the lawn in silence, and stood knocking at the +south entry, in real earnest. Deborah came at last, and the little +striped fellow bore aloft his pearl of Tahitian beauty, while I gave my +message, and Deborah was terrified and thought she was dreaming. But she +took the pearl and went, and we stood in the keen air of autumn, and my +South Sea babies were very cold and moaned pitifully under my arms, and +the little pearl-bearer shivered in all his stripes, and capered in the +dead leaves like an imp of darkness. + +Then Gail came to us and let us in, and we camped by the great fire in +the sitting-room, whither Deborah brought bowls of new milk for the +little ones, and was wonderfully amazed at their quaintness and beauty, +but quite failed to affiliate with my striped pearl-bearer. + +So I said, "Sit you down, Deborah, and hear the true story of my Zebra." +Gail had already captured the bronze babies, and was helping them with +their bowls of milk as they nestled at her feet; and I took my striped +beauty between my knees, and stroked his soft wool, and told how he +saved me from a watery death, and again from the fiery stake, and was +doubly dear to me for evermore:-- + +"We were at the island of Pottobokee, getting water and fruit; had +stacked the last sack of mangoes and limes in the boat, and were off for +the ship, glad to escape with our scalps, when a wave took us amidships +on the reef, and we swamped in the dreadful spume. Some were drowned; +some clung to the boat, though it was stove badly, while relief came +from the vessel as quickly as possible, and the fragments were gathered +out of the waves and taken aboard. + +"They thought themselves lucky to escape with the remnants, for they +knew the natives for cannibals, and the shore was black and noisy within +ten minutes after the accident. It looked stormy in that neighbourhood: +hence the caution and haste of the relief-crew, who left me for drowned, +I suppose, as they never came after me, but spread everything, and went +out of sight before dark that evening. + +"I was no swimmer at all, but I kicked well, and was about diving the +fatal dive,--last of three warnings that seem providentially allotted +the luckless soul in its extremity: I was just upon the third sinking, +when a tough little arm gripped me under the breast, and I hung over it +limp and senseless, knowing nothing further of my deliverance, until I +found myself a captive in Kabala-kum,--a heathenish sort of paradise, a +little way back from the sea-coast. + +"The natives had given up all hope of feasting upon me, for there wasn't +a respectable steak in my whole carcase, nor was my appetite promising; +so they resolved to make a bonfire of me, to get me out of the way. But +that tough little arm that saved me from an early grave in the water was +husband to a tough little heart, that resolved I shouldn't be burnt. I +was his private and personal property; he had fished me out of the sea; +he would cook me in his own style when he got ready, and no one else was +to have a word in the matter. + +"There he showed his royal blood, Deborah, for he was the King's son: +this marvellous tattooing proclaims his rank. Only the noble and brave +are permitted to brand these rainbows into their brown skins. + +"I was almost frightened when I first returned to consciousness, and saw +this little fellow pawing me in his tender and affectionate way. He was +lithe as a panther, and striped all over with brilliant and changeless +stripes; so I called him my boy Zebra, and I suppose he called me his +white mouse, or something of that sort. + +"Well, he saved me at all events; and having heard something of you and +Gail from me, he wanted to see you very much, and we made our escape +together, though he had to sacrifice all his bone-jewelry, and lots of +skulls and scalps: and here he is, and you must like him, Deborah, +because he is a little heathen, and doesn't go to sabbath-school, as a +general thing, and worships idols very badly." + +Deborah did me the compliment to absorb a tear in the broad hem of her +apron, at the conclusion of my episode, whereat my beautiful Zebra +regarded her in utter amazement, then turned his queer face--ringed, +streaked, and striped--up to mine, and laughed his barbaric laugh. He +was wonderful to see, with his breast like a pigeon; his round, supple, +almost voluptuous limbs, peculiar to his amphibious tribe; his head +crowned with a turban of thick wool, so fine and flossy, it looked as +though it had been carded: it stood two inches deep at a tangent from +his oval pate. + +From his woolly crown to the soles of his feet, my Zebra was frescoed in +the most brilliant and artistic fashion. Every colour under the sun +seemed pricked into his skin (there he discounted the zebras, who are +limited in their combinations of light and shade): this, together with +the multiplicity of figures therein wrought, was a never-failing joy to +me. O my Zebra! how did you ever grow so splendid off yonder in the +South Seas? + +We chatted that evening by Gail's fire, till my Zebra's wholly head went +clean to the floor, and he looked like some prostrate idol about to be +immolated on that Christian hearth; and the baby cannibals were as funny +as two little brown rabbits, with their ears clipped, nestling at Gail's +patient feet. + +It was fully nine o'clock by this time, so Deborah got the Bible, +smoothed out her apron, and opened it thereon, while she read a chapter. +We sat by the fire and listened. I heard the earnest voice of the +reader, while the autumn winds rose in gusts, and puffed out the +curtains now and then. I thought of the chilly nights and frosty +mornings we were to endure,--we exiles of the South. I thought of the +snows that were to follow, and of the little idolaters sleeping through +the gospel, with deaf ears, while their hearts panted high in some dream +of savage joy. + +There was a big bed made upon the floor of my room,--the best chamber at +Gail's,--and there I laid out my little pets, tucking them in with +infinite concern; for they looked so like three diminutive dummies, as +they lay there, that I did not know whether they would think it worth +while to wake up again in life; and what should I be worth then, without +my wild boys? I, who was born, by some mischance, out of my tropical +element, and whose birthright is Polynesia! Gail laughed when she saw me +fretting so, and she patted the curly heads of the babies, and stroked +the Zebra's shaggy pate, and said "Good-night" to us, as her step +measured the hall, and a door closed in the distance; whereupon, instead +of freezing in the icy linen of the spare bed at the other end of the +room, I crept softly into the nest of the cannibals, and we slept like +kittens until morning. + +At a seasonable hour the next days, I got my jewels--my little inhuman +jewels--into their thick, winter clothes again, and we trotted down to +breakfast, as hungry as bears. Deborah was good enough to embrace both +the little ones, but she gave the Zebra a wide berth, and was not +entirely satisfied at leaving him loose in the house. + +He was rather odd-looking, I confess. He used to curl up under the table +and go to sleep, at all hours of the day,--I think it was the cold +weather that encouraged him in it,--stretching himself, now and then, +like a spaniel, and showing his sharp saw-teeth in a queer way, when he +laughed in his dreams. Presently Gail came in, and we sat at table, and +came near to eating her out of house and home. Deborah said +grace,--rather a long one, considering we were so hungry,--a grace in +which my babies were not forgotten, and the Zebra was made the subject +of a special prayer. To my horror Zebra was helping himself +surreptitiously to the nearest dish, the while. It was a merry meal. I +rose in the midst of it, and laid before Gail an enormous placard, +printed in as many colours as even the Zebra could boast, and Gail read +it out to Deborah: + + =JENKINS' HALL.= + + IMMENSE ATTRACTION! + + _FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY!_ + + HOKY AND POKY, + +A BRACE OF SOUTH-SEA BABIES, FROM THE ANCIENT RIVERS + + OF KABALA-KUM, + + --AND-- + + THE WONDERFUL BOY + + ZEBRA, + +A CANNIBAL PRINCE FROM THE PALMY PLAINS OF POTTOBOKEE + + IN THEIR GRAND MORAL DIVERSION, + + The first and only opportunity is now afforded the great public + to observe with safety how the heathen, in his blindness, + bows down to wood and stone. + + These are the only original and genuine representatives of the + Kabalakumists and Pottobokees that ever left + their coral strand. + + ADMISSION, ----, CHILDREN, HALF PRICE. + +Deborah was awed into silence, and Gail was apparently thinking over the +possible result of this strange advertisement, for she said nothing, but +took deliberate sips of coffee, and broke the dry toast between her +fingers, while she looked at all four of us savages in a peculiar and +ominous manner. Nothing was said, however, to disparage any farther +announcement of the entertainment; and, having appeased our hunger, we +adjourned to the reading of another chapter, during which the South Sea +babies _would_ play cat's-cradles under Gail's writing-table, and the +Zebra put his foot into the middle of her work-basket, and was very +miserable indeed. + +I was as full of work as could be. As an _impressario_ I had to rush +about all day, mustering the Great Public for the evening. Out I went, +full of it, while the bronze midgets were left in charge of Gail and +Deborah, and the Zebra was locked in an upper room, with plenty to eat, +and no facilities for getting into mischief. I saw the leading men in +town: the preacher, who was deeply interested, proposing to take up a +collection on the next sabbath, for our benefit,--which proposition I +received with graceful acquiescence peculiarly my own; the professor, at +the Seminary, who was less affable, but whose pupils were radiant at the +prospect of getting into the cannibals at reduced rates; and the editor, +who desired to print full biographies of myself and cannibals, with +portraits and facsimile of autographs. He strongly urged the +plausibility of this new method of winning the heart of the Great +Public, and was willing to take my note for thirty days, in +consideration of his personal friendship for me, and his sympathy, as a +public man and a member of the press, with the show business. + +Everything worked so nicely that it really seemed quite providential +that I had come, as I had, like anything in the night,--noiseless and +unheralded. Everything was in good order, and, after our late dinner, I +went out again, to finish for the evening,--portioning off my charges, +as before, and returning, at the last moment, to bring them up to the +hall for their _début_. But judge of my horror at finding my Zebra +stretched upon the floor of his room, quite insensible; and all this +time Jenkins's Hall was thronged with the Great Public, who had come to +see us bow down to wood and stone. + +I was greatly alarmed. What could this sudden attack mean? He was not +subject to disorders of that nature,--at least, I had never seen him in +a similar condition. The little fellows began to cry in their peculiar +fashion, which is simply raising the voice to the highest and shrillest +pitch, and then shaking to an unlimited degree. Gail was by no means +charmed at these new developments, and Deborah fled from the room. In a +moment the cause of our trouble was disclosed. Gail's cologne bottles +were exhumed from under the bed--but quite empty. Their contents had +been imbibed by the Zebra in an extemporaneous bacchanalian festival, +tendered to himself by himself, in honour of the occasion. + +It was useless to borrow further trouble, so I prepared my apology: "The +sudden indisposition peculiar to young cannibals during the early stages +of a public and Christian career had quite prostrated the representative +from many a palmy plain; and the South Sea babies would endeavour to +fill the vacancy caused by his absence with several new and interesting +features not set down in the bills." + +I was most cordially received by the audiences, and the little midgets +danced their weird and fantastic dances, in the least possible clothing +imaginable, and sang their love-lyrics, and chanted their passionate +war-chants, and gave the funeral wail in a manner that reflected the +highest credit upon their respective South Sea papas and mammas. I +considered it an entire success, and pocketed the proceeds with +considerable satisfaction. + +But to return to my poor little Zebra. His cologne-spree had been quite +too much for him. He was mentally and physically demoralized, and could +be of no use to me, professionally, for a week, at least. I at once saw +this, and as I had two or three engagements during that time, I begged +Gail to allow him to remain with her during his convalescence, while I +went on with the babes and fulfilled my engagements. She consented. +Deborah also promised to be very good to him. I think she took a deeper +interest in him when she found how very human he was--a fact she did not +fully realize until he took to drinking. + +On we went, through three little villages, in three little valleys, with +crowded houses every evening. Delighted and enthusiastic audiences +wanted the midgets passed around, just as we passed the bone fish-hooks +and shark's-teeth combs, for inspection. + +About this time I received a short and decisive epistle from Gail,--an +immediate summons home. The Zebra, in an unwatched moment, had got into +the kerosene, and was considered no longer a welcome guest at Gail's. +Deborah was praying with him daily, which didn't seem to have the +desired effect, for he was growing worse and worse every hour. + +There were at least seven towns anxiously awaiting my South-Sea +Lecture, with the "heathen in his blindness" attachment. Yet it was out +of the question to think of pressing on in my tour, thereby sacrificing +my poor Zebra, and possibly Gail as well. I feared it was already too +late to save him, for I knew the nature of his ailment, and foresaw the +almost inevitable result. When we returned, Gail met us with tears in +her eyes, and furrows of care foreshadowed in her face. I felt how great +a responsibility I had shifted upon her shoulders, and accused myself +roundly for such selfishness. The babes rushed into her arms with the +first impulse of love, and refused to allow her out of their sight again +for some hours. + +Deborah was, even then, wrestling with the angels up in Zebra's room, +and I waited until she came down, with her eyes red and swollen,--a +bottle of physic in one hand and a Bible in the other; then I went in to +my poor, thin, shadowy little Zebra, who was wild-eyed and nervous, and +scarcely knew me at first, but went off into hysterics the moment he +found me out, to make up for it. He had had no opportunity of speaking +to any one, save in his broken English, for several days, and he rushed +into a torrent of ejaculations so violent and confusing that I was +thoroughly alarmed at his condition. Presently he grew quieter, from +sheer exhaustion, and then I learned how he had taken Deborah's +well-intended efforts toward his spiritual conversion. _He believed her +praying him to death!_ Deborah knew nothing of the sensitive organism of +these islanders. When moved by a spirit of revenge, they threaten one +another with prayers. Incantations are performed and sacrifices offered, +under which fearful spells the unhappy victim of revenge cannot think +of surviving. So he lies down and dies, without pain, or any effort on +his part; and all your physic is like so much water, administer it in +what proportions you choose. + +I went into the garden, where I saw Gail under the maples,--the very +maples that were budding in pink and white when she wrote me the letter +bidding me come out of the South, bringing my sheaves with me. The +animated sheaves were even then swinging on the clothes-lines, and +taking life easily. "Gail," I said, "O Gail, the Zebra is a dead boy!" +Gail was shocked, and silent. I told her how useless, how hopeless it +was to think of saving him. All the doctors and all the medicine in the +world were a fallacy where the soul was overshadowed with a malediction. +"Gail," I said, "that Zebra says he wants to be an angel, and he +couldn't possibly have decided upon anything more unreasonable than +this. What shall I do without my Zebra?" And I walked off by myself, and +felt desperately, while Gail was wrapped in thought, and the babes +continued to do inexpressible things on the clothes-lines, to the +intense admiration of three small boys on the other side of the +garden-fence. + +The doctor had already been called, and the physic that Deborah carried +about with her was a legitimate draught prescribed by him. Little did he +know of the death-angel that walks hand-in-hand with a superstition as +antique as Mount Ararat. So day by day the little Zebra grew more and +more slender, till his frail, striped skeleton stretched itself in a +hollow of the bed, and great gleaming eyes watched me as they would +devour me with deathless and passionate love. + +Sometimes his soul seemed to steal out of his withering body and make +mysterious pilgrimages into its native clime. I heard him murmuring and +muttering in a language unfamiliar to me. I remembered that the chiefs +had a dialect of their own,--a vocabulary so sacred and secret that no +commoner ever dared to study out its meaning. This I took to be his +classical and royal tongue, for he was of the best blood of the kingdom, +and a king's heir. + +Deborah, at the delicate suggestion of Gail, discontinued her +visitations to his chamber, as it seemed to excite him so sadly; but her +earnest soul never rested from prayer in his behalf till his last breath +was spent, and his splendid stripes grew livid for a moment, and seemed +to change like the dolphin's before their waning glories were faded out +in the lifeless flesh. + +One twilight I took the midgets into the darkened room. They scarcely +knew the thin, drawn face, with the slender, wiry fingers locked over +it, but they recognized the death-stroke with prophetic instinct, and, +crouching at the foot of the bed, rocked their dusky bodies to and fro, +to and fro, wailing the death-wail for Zebra. + +Then I longed for wings to fly away with my savage brood,--away, over +seas and mountains, till the palms waved again their phantom crests in +the mellow star-light, and the sea moaned upon the reef, and the rivulet +leaped from crag to crag through silence and shadow: where death seemed +but a grateful sleep; for the soul that dawned in that quiet life had +never known the wear and tear of this one, but was patient, and +peaceful, and ready at any hour of summons. + +Dear Gail strove to comfort me in my tribulation; but the Great Public +went its way, and knew nothing of the young soul that was passing in +speedy death. Yet the Great Public was my guide, philosopher, and +friend. I could do nothing without its sanction and co-operation. I +basked in its smiles. I trembled at the thought of its displeasure; and +now death was robbing me of my hard-earned riches, and annihilating my +best attraction. No wonder I fretted myself, and berated my ill-fortune. +Poor Gail had her hands full to keep me within bounds. I rushed to the +Zebra's room, and vowed to him that if he wouldn't die just yet I would +take him home at once to his kingdom, and we'd always live there, and +die there, by-and-by, when we were full of years. + +Alas, it was too late! "I want to be an angel," reiterated my Zebra, his +thin face brightening with an unearthly light; "to be an angel," +whispered that faint and failing voice, while his humid eyes glowed like +twin moons sinking in the far, mystical horizon of the new life he was +about to enter upon. I struggled with him no longer. I bowed down by his +pillow, and pressed the shadowy form of my once beautiful Zebra. "Well, +be an angel, little prince," said I; "be anything you please, now, for I +have done my best to save you, and failed utterly." + +So he passed hence to his destiny; and his nation wept not, neither wore +they ashes upon their foreheads, nor burned seams in their flesh; for +they knew not of his fate. But there was a small grave digged in the +orchard, and at dusk I carried the coffin in my arms thither: how light +it was! he could have borne me upon his brawny shoulders once,--strong +as a lion's. Gail cried, and Deborah cried; and I was quite beside +myself. The mites of cannibals ate earth and ashes, and came nearly +naked to the obsequies, refusing to wear their jackets, though the air +was frosty and the night promised snow. We knelt there, to cover Zebra +for the last time, crying and shivering, and feeling very, _very_ +miserable. + +I took a little rest from business after that; seeing, meantime, a stone +cut in this manner:-- + + Here lies, + In this far land, + A PRINCE OF THE SAVAGE SOUTH, + And the Last of his Tribe. + +But life called me into the arena again. A showman has little time to +waste in mourning over his losses, however serious they may be. + +One frosty evening I got my brace of cannibals into the lumbering +ambulance that constituted my caravan, with our boxes of war-clubs and +carved whale's-teeth lashed on behind us, plenty of buffalo-robes around +us, and a layer of hot bricks underfoot, and so we started for our next +scene of action. The inexorable calls of the profession forbade our +lingering longer under Gail's hospitable roof; and it was not without +pangs of inexpressible sorrow that we turned from her door, and knew not +if we were ever again to enjoy the pure influences of her household. + +My heart warmed toward poor, disconsolate Deborah in that moment, and I +forgave her all, which was the most Christian act I ever yet performed. +As we rode down the lane, I caught a glimpse of the low mound in the +orchard, and I buried my little barbarians under my great-coat, so as to +spare them a fresh sorrow, while I thought how, spring after spring, +that small grave would be covered with drifts of pale apple-blossoms, +and in the long winters it would be hidden under the paler drifts of +snow,--when it should be strewn with sea-shells, and laid away under a +cactus-hedge, in a dense and fragrant shade; and I gathered my little +ones closer to me, and said in my soul: "O, if the August Public could +only know them as I know them, it would doubt us less, and love us more! +The Zebra is gone, indeed, but my babes are here, fresh souls in perfect +bodies, like rare-ripe fruits, untouched as yet, with the nap and the +dew upon them." The stars sparkled and flashed in the cloudless sky, as +we hurried over the crisp ground,--a little, bereaved, benighted company +of South-Sea strollers, who ask your charity, and give their best in +return for it. + + * * * * * + +I have told you of my South-Sea show. You may yet have an opportunity of +judging how you like it, provided my baby heathens don't insist upon +turning into angels before their time, after the manner of the lamented +Zebra. In the meantime, the dread of this not improbable curbing of my +high career is but one of the sorrows of a South-Sea showman. + + + + +THE HOUSE OF THE SUN. + + +My Hawaiian oracle, Kahéle, having posed himself in compact and chubby +grace, awaited his golden opportunity, which was not long a-coming. I +sat on the steps of L----'s verandah, and yawned frightfully, because +life was growing tedious, and I did not know exactly what to do next. +L----'s house was set in the nicest kind of climate, at the foot of a +great mountain, just at that altitude where the hot air stopped dancing, +though it was never cool enough to shut a door, or to think of wearing a +hat for any other purpose than to keep the sun out of one's eyes. +L----'s veranda ran out into vacancy as blank as cloudless sky and +shadowless sea could make it; in fact, all that the eye found to rest +upon was the low hill jutting off from one corner of the house beyond a +jasmine in blossom; and under the hill a flat-sailed schooner rocking in +a calm. I think there was nothing else down the slope of the mountain +but tangled yellow grass, that grew brown and scant as it crept into the +torrid zone, a thousand feet below us, and there it had not the courage +to come out of the earth at all; so the picture ended in a blazing +beach, with warm waves sliding up and down it, backed by blue-watery +and blue-airy space for thousands and thousands of miles. + +Why should not a fellow yawn over the situation? especially as L---- was +busy and could not talk much, and L----'s books were as old as the hills +and a good deal drier. + +Having yawned, I turned toward Kahéle, and gnashed my teeth. The little +rascal looked knowing; his hour had come. He fired off in broken +English, and the effect was something like this:-- + +"Suppose we sleep in House of the Sun,--we make plenty good sceneries?" + +"And where is that?" quoth I. + +Kahéle's little lump of a nose was jerked up toward the great mountain +at the back of L----'s house. "Haleakala!"[A] cried he, triumphantly, +for he saw he had resurrected my interest in life, and he felt that he +had a thing or two worth showing, a glimpse of which might content me +with this world, dull as I found it just then. "Haleakala--the House of +the Sun--up before us," said Kahéle. + + [A] Haleakala, an extinct crater in the Sandwich Islands, + supposed to be the largest in the world. + +"And to get into the Sun's House?" + +"Make a good climb up, and go in from the top!" + +Ha! to creep up the roof and drop in at the skylight: this were indeed a +royal adventure. "How long would it take?" + +Kahéle waxed eloquent. That night we should sleep a little up on the +slope of the mountain, lodging with the _haolis_ (foreigners) among the +first clouds; in the morning we should surprise the sun in the turrets +of his temple; then down--down--down into the crater, that had been +strewed with ashes for a thousand years. After that, out on the other +side, toward the sea, where the trade-winds blew, and the country was +fresh and fruitful. The youngster sweated with enthusiasm while he +strove to make me comprehend the full extent of the delights pertaining +to this journey; and, as he finished, he made a rapid flank movement +toward the animals, staked a few rods away. + +It was not necessary that I should consent to undertake this expedition. +He was eager to go, and he would see that I enjoyed myself when I went; +but go I must, now that he had made up my mind for me. I confess, I was +as wax in that climate. Yet, why not take this promising and uncommon +tour? The charm of travel is to break new paths. I ceased to yawn any +further over life. Kahéle went to the beasts, and began saddling them. +L----'s hospitality culminated in a bottle of cold, black coffee, and a +hamper of delicious sandwiches, such as Mrs. L---- excels in. I had +nothing to do but to go. It did look like a conspiracy; but, as I never +had the moral courage to fight against anything of that sort, I got into +the saddle and went. + +Turning for a moment toward the brute's tail, overcome with conflicting +emotions, I said,-- + +"Adieu, dear L----, thou picture of boisterous industry! Adieu, Mrs. +L----, whose light is hid under the bushel of thy lord; but, as it warms +him, it is all right, I suppose, and thy reward shall come to thee some +day, I trust! By-by, multitudes of little L----s, tumbling recklessly in +the back-yard, crowned with youth and robust health and plenty of flaxen +curls! Away, Kahéle! for it is toward evening, and the clouds are +skating along the roof of the House of the Sun. Sit not upon the order +of your going, but strike spurs at once,--and away!" + +It was thus that I revived myself. The prospect of fresh adventure +intoxicated me. I do not believe I could have been bought off after that +enlivening farewell. The air of the islands was charged with +electricity. I bristled all over with new life. I wanted to stand up in +my saddle and fly. + +It seemed the boy had engaged a special guide for the crater,--one +accustomed to feeling his way through the bleak hollow, where any +unpractised feet must have surely gone astray. Kahéle offered him a +tempting bonus to head our little caravan at once, though it goes sorely +against the Hawaiian grain to make up a mind inside of three days. +Kahéle managed the financial department, whenever he had the +opportunity, with a liberality worthy of a purse ten times as weighty as +mine; but as he afterward assured me, that guide was a fine man, and a +friend of his whom it was a pleasure and a privilege to serve. + +Of course, it was all right, since I couldn't help myself; and we three +pulled up the long slopes of Haleakala, while the clouds multiplied, as +the sun sank, and the evening grew awfully still. Somewhere up among the +low-hanging mist there was a house full of _haolis_, and there we +proposed to spend the night. We were looking for this shelter with all +our six eyes, while we rode slowly onward, having scarcely uttered a +syllable for the last half-hour. You know there are some impressive +sorts of solitude, that seal up a fellow's lips; he can only look about +him in quiet wonderment, tempered with a fearless and refreshing trust +in that Providence who has enjoined silence. Well, this was one of those +times; and right in the midst of it Kahéle sighted a smoke-wreath in the +distance. To me it looked very like a cloud, and I ventured to declare +it such; but the youngster frowned me down, and appealed to the special +guide for further testimony. The guide declined to commit himself in the +matter of smoke or mist, as he ever did on all succeeding occasions, +being a wise guide, who knew his own fallibility. It was smoke!--a thin, +blue ribbon of it, uncoiling itself from among the branches of the +overhanging trees, floating up and up and tying itself into double-bow +knots, and then trying to untie itself, but perishing in the attempt. + +In the edge of the grove we saw the little white cottage of the +_haolis_; and, not far away, a camp fire, with bright, red flames +dancing around a kettle, swung under three stakes with their three heads +together. Tall figures were moving about the camp, looking almost like +ghosts, in the uncertain glow of the fire; and towards these lights and +shadows we jogged with satisfaction, scenting supper from afar. + +"Halloo!" said we, with voices that did not sound very loud up in that +thin atmosphere. + +"Halloo!" said they, with the deepest unconcern, as though they had been +through the whole range of human experience, and there was positively +nothing left for them to get excited over. + +Some of their animals whinnied in a fashion that drew a response from +ours. A dog barked savagely until he was spoken to, and then was obliged +to content himself with an occasional whine. Some animal--a sheep, +perhaps--rose up in the trail before us, and plunged into bush, sending +our beasts back on their haunches with fright. A field-cricket lifted up +its voice and sang; and then a hundred joined him; and then ten thousand +times ten thousand swelled the chorus, till the mountains were alive +with singing crickets. + +"Halloo, stranger! Come in and stop a bit, won't you?" This was our +welcome from the chief of the camp, who came a step or two forward, as +soon as we had ridden within range of the camp fire. + +And we went in unto them, and ate of their bread, and drank of their +coffee, and slept in their blankets,--or tried to sleep,--and had a +mighty good time generally. + +The mountaineers proved to be a company of California miners, who had +somehow drifted over the sea, and, once on that side, they naturally +enough went into the mountains to cut wood, break trails, and make +themselves useful in a rough, out-of-door fashion. They had for +companions and assistants a few natives, who, no doubt, did the best +they could, though the Californians expressed considerable contempt for +the "lazy devils, who were fit for nothing but to fiddle on a +jew's-harp." + +We ate of a thin, hot cake, baked in a frying-pan over that camp fire; +gnawed a boiled bone fished out of the kettle swung under the three +sticks; drank big bowls of coffee, sweetened with coarse brown sugar and +guiltless of milk; and sat on the floor all the while, with our legs +crossed, like so many Turks and tailors. We went to our blankets as soon +as the camp fire had smothered itself in ashes, though meanwhile Jack, +chief of the camp, gathered himself to windward of the flames, with his +hips on his heels and his chin on his knees, smoking a stubby pipe, and +talking of flush times in California. He was one of those men who could +and would part with his last quarter, relying upon Nature for his bed +and board. He said to me, "If you can rough it, hang on a while,--what's +to drive you off?" I could rough it: the fire was out, the night chilly; +so we turned in under blue blankets with a fuzz on them like moss, and, +having puffed out the candle,--that lived long enough to avenge its +death in a houseful of villainous smoke,--we turned over two or three +times apiece, and, one after another, fell asleep. At the farther side +of the house lay the natives, as thick as sheep in a pen, one of them a +glossy black fellow, as sleek as a eunuch, born in the West Indies, but +whose sands of life had been scattered on various shores. This sooty +fellow twanged a quaint instrument of native workmanship, and twanged +with uncommon skill. His art was the life of that savage community at +the other end of the house. Again and again, during the night, I awoke +and heard the tinkle of his primitive harp, mingled with the +ejaculations of delight wrung from the hearts of his dusky and sleepless +listeners. + +Once only was that midnight festival interrupted. We all awoke suddenly +and simultaneously, though we scarcely knew why; then the dog began to +mouth horribly. My blanket-fellows--beds we had none--knew there was +mischief brewing, and rushed out with their guns cooked. Presently the +dog came in from the brush, complaining bitterly, and one of the miners +shot at a rag fluttering among the bushes. In the morning we found a +horse gone, and a couple of bullet-holes in a shirt spread out to dry. +As soon as the excitement was over, we returned to the blankets and the +floor. The eunuch tuned his harp anew, and, after a long while, dawn +looked in at the uncurtained window, with a pale, grey face, freckled +with stars. + +Kahéle saw it as soon as I did, and was up betimes. I fancy he slept +little or none that night, for he was fond of music, and especially fond +of such music as had made the last few hours more or less hideous. +Everybody rose with the break of day, and there was something to eat +long before sunrise, after which our caravan, with new vigour, headed +for the summit. + +Wonderful clouds swept by us; sometimes we were lost for a moment in +their icy depths. I could scarcely see the tall ears of my mule when we +rode into those opaque billows of vapour that swept noiselessly along +the awful heights we were scaling. It was a momentary but severe +bereavement, the loss of those ears and the head that went with them, +because I cared not to ride saddles that seemed to be floating in the +air. What was Prince Firouz Schah to me, or what was I to the Princess +of Bengal, that I should do this thing! + +There are pleasanter sensations than that of going to heaven on +horseback; and we wondered if we should ever reach the point where we +could begin to descend again to our natural level, and talk to people +infinitely below us just then. Ten thousand perpendicular feet in the +air; our breath short; our animals weak in the knees; the ocean rising +about us like a wall of sapphire, on the top of which the sky rested +like a cover,--we felt as though we were shut in an exhausted receiver, +the victims of some scientific experiment for the delectation of the +angels. We were at the very top of the earth. There was nothing on our +side of it nearer to Saturn than the crown of our heads. It was deuced +solemn, and a trifle embarrassing. It was as though we were personally +responsible for the planet during the second we happened to be uppermost +in the universe. I felt unequal to the occasion in that thin, relaxing +atmosphere. The special guide, I knew, would shirk this august +investiture, as he shirked everything else, save only the watchful care +of my collapsing _porte-monnaie_. Kahéle, perhaps, would represent us to +the best of his ability,--which was not much beyond an amazing capacity +for food and sleep, coupled with cheek for at least two of his size. +There is danger in delay, saith the copybook; and while we crept slowly +onward toward the rim of the crater, the sun rose, and we forgot all +else save his glory. We had reached the mouth of the chasm. Below us +yawned a gulf whose farther walls seemed the outlines of some distant +island, within whose depths a sea of cloud was satisfied to ebb and +flow, whose billows broke noiselessly at the base of the sombre walls +among whose battlements we clung like insects. I wonder that we were not +dragged into that awful sea, for strange and sudden gusts of wind swept +past us, coming from various quarters, and rushing like heralds to the +four corners of the heavens. We were far above the currents that girdle +the lower earth, and seemed in a measure cut off from the life that was +past. We lived and breathed in cloud-land. All our pictures were of +vapour; our surroundings changed continually. Forests laced with frost; +silvery, silent seas; shores of agate and of pearl; blue, shadowy +caverns; mountains of light, dissolving and rising again transfigured in +glorious resurrection, the sun tinging them with infinite colour. A +flood of radiance swept over the mysterious picture,--a deluge of +blood-red glory that came and went like a blush; and then the mists +faded and fled away, and gradually we saw the deep bed of the crater, +blackened, scarred, distorted,--a desert of ashes and cinders shut in by +sooty walls; no tinge of green, no suggestion of life, no sound to +relieve the imposing silence of that literal death of Nature. We were +about to enter the guest-chamber of the House of the Sun. If we had been +spirited away to the enchanted cavern of some genii, we could not have +been more bewildered. The cloud-world had come to an untimely end, and +we were left alone among its blackened and charred ruins. That magician, +the sun, hearing the approach of spies, had transformed his fairy palace +into a bare and uninviting wilderness. But we were destined to explore +it notwithstanding; and our next move was to dismount and drive our +unwilling animals over into the abyss. The angle of our descent was too +near the perpendicular to sound like truth, in print. I will not venture +to give it; but I remember that our particular guide and his beast were +under foot, while Kahéle and his beast were overhead, and I and my +beast, sandwiched between, managed to survive the double horror of being +buried in the _débris_ that rained upon us from the tail-end of the +caravan, and slaying the unfortunate leaders ahead with the multitude of +rocks we sent thundering down the cliff. A moving avalanche of stones +and dust gradually brought us to the bed of the crater, where we offered +thanks in the midst of an ascending cloud of cinders, every soul of us +panting with exhaustion, and oozing like a saturated sponge. The heat +was terrific; shelter there was none; L----'s coffee was all that saved +as from despair. Before us stretched miles and miles of lava, looking +like scorched pie-crust; two thousand feet above us hung heavy masses of +baked masonry, unrelieved by any tinge of verdure. To the windward there +was a gap in the walls, through which forked tongues of mist ran in, but +curled up and over the ragged cliffs, as though the prospect were too +uninviting to lure them farther. It behoved us to get on apace, for life +in the deserted House of the Sun was, indeed, a burden, and moreover +there was some danger of our being locked in. The wind might veer a +little, in which case an ocean of mist would deluge the crater, shutting +out light and heat, and bewildering the pilgrim so that escape were +impossible. The loadstone bewitched the compass in that fixed sea, and +there were no beacons and no sounding signals to steer by. Across the +smooth, hard lava occasional traces of a trail were visible, like +scratches upon glass. Close to the edges of this perilous path yawned +chasms. Sometimes the narrow way led over a ridge between two sandy +hollows, out of which it was almost impossible to return, if one false +step should plunge you into its yielding vortex. There was a long pull +toward afternoon, and a sweltering camp about three p.m., where we +finished L----'s lunch, and were not half satisfied. Even the consoling +weed barely sustained our faulting spirits, for we knew that the more +tedious portion of the journey was yet to come. + +The windward vestibule wound down toward the sea, a wild gorge through +which the molten lava had poured its destructive flood. There it lay, a +broad, uneven pass of dead, black coal,--clinkers, as ragged and sharp +as broken glass,--threaded by one beaten track a few inches in breadth. +To lose this trail was to tear the hoofs from your suffering beasts in +an hour or two, and to lacerate your own feet in half the time. Having +refreshed ourselves on next to nothing, we pressed forward. Already the +shadows were creeping into the House of the Sun, and as yet we had +scarcely gained the mouth of the pass. As we rode out from the shelter +of a bluff, a cold draught struck us like a wave of the sea. Down the +bleak, winding chasm we saw clouds approaching, pale messengers that +travel with the trade-wind and find lodgment in the House of the Sun. +They were hastening home betimes, and had surprised us in the passage. +It was an unwelcome meeting. Our particular guide ventured to assume an +expression of concern, and cautiously remarked that we were +_palikia_,--that is, in trouble! For once he was equal to an emergency; +he knew of a dry well close at hand; we could drop into it and pass the +night, since it was impossible to feel our way out of the crater through +clouds almost as dense as cotton. Had we matches? No. Had we dry sticks? +Yes, in the well, perhaps. Kahéle could make fire without phosphorus, +and we could keep warm till morning, and then escape from the crater as +early as possible. After much groping about, in and out of clouds, we +found the dusty well and dropped into it. Ferns--a few of them--grew +about its sides; a dwarfed tree, rejoicing in four angular branches, as +full of mossy elbows as possible, stood in the centre of our retreat, +and at the roots of this miserable recluse the Kanakas contrived to +grind out a flame by boring into a bit of decayed wood with a dry stick +twirled rapidly between their palms. Dead leaves, dried moss, and a few +twigs made a short-lived and feeble fire for us. Darkness had come upon +the place. We watched the flaming daggers stab the air fitfully, and +finally sheathe themselves for good. We filled our shallow cave with +smoke that drove us into the mouth of it, from time to time, to keep +from strangulation. We saw our wretched beasts shaking with cold; we saw +the swift, belated clouds hurrying onward in ghostly procession; we +could do nothing but shudder and return to our dismal bed. No cheerful +cricket blew his shrill pipe, like a policeman's whistle; the sea sang +not for us with its deep, resounding voice; the Hawaiian harp was +hushed. A stone, loosened by some restless lizard, rattled down the +cliff; a goat, complaining of the cold, bleated once or twice. The wind +soughed; the dry branches of our withering tree sawed across each other: +these were our comforters during that almost endless night. + +Once the heavens were opened to us. Through the rent in the clouds we +saw a great shoulder of the cliff above us, bathed in moonlight. A +thousand grotesque shadows played over the face of it. Pictures came and +went,--a palimpsest of mysteries. Gargoyles leered at us from under the +threatening brows of the bluff; and a white spectre, shining like a +star, stood on the uppermost peak, voiceless and motionless,--some +living creature lost in admiration of the moon. Then the sky fell on us, +and we were routed to our solitary cave. + +There is a solitude of the sea that swallows up hope; the despairing +spirit hangs over a threatening abyss of death; yet above it and below +it there are forms of life rejoicing in their natural element. But there +is a solitude of the earth that is more awful; in it Death taunts you +with his presence, yet delays to strike. At sea, one step, and the +spirit is set at liberty,--the body is entombed for ever. But alas! +within the deserts of the earth no sepulchre awaits the ashes of him who +has suffered, and nought but the winds or the foul-feeding vultures +shall cleanse that bleaching skeleton where it lies. + +We tried to sleep on our stony pillows. Kahéle woke and found the guide +and me dozing; later, the guide roused himself to the discovery that +Kahéle and I were wrapped in virtuous unconsciousness. Anon I sat up +among the rocks, listened to the two natives breathing heavily, and +heard the wind sighing over the yawning mouth of our cavern. I heard the +beasts stamping among the clinkers, and covered my head again with the +damp blanket, and besieged sleep. Then we all three started from our +unrefreshing dreams, and lo! the clouds were rising and fleeing away, +and a faint, rosy light over the summit-peaks looked like sunrise; so we +rose and saddled the caravan, and searched about us for the lost trail. +Hour after hour we drew nearer to the mouth of the crater. Our progress +was snail-like; each one of us struck out for himself, having lost +confidence in the cunning of the other. From small elevations we took +our reckoning, and he who got the farthest toward the sea lifted up his +voice in triumph, and was speedily joined by the rest of the party. + +At last we came upon the bluffs that overhang the green shores of the +island. We were safely out of the Sun's Tabernacle, but not yet free to +pass into the lowly vales of the earth. Again and again we rode to the +edges of the cliffs, whose precipitous walls forbade our descent. +Sometimes we clung to the bare ribs of the mountain, where a single +misstep might have sent us headlong into the hereafter. Frequently we +rejoiced in a discovery that promised well; but anon a sheltered chasm +unveiled its hideous depths, or an indigo-jungle laid hold of us and cut +us off in that direction. + +Below us lay the verdant slopes of Kaupo. From their dried-grass houses +flocked the natives, looking like ants and their hills. They watched us +for hours with amused interest. Now and then they called to us with +faint and far-off voices,--suggestions that were lost to us, since they +sounded like so many bird-notes floating in the wind. All day we saw the +little village lying under us temptingly peaceful and lazy. Clouds still +hung below us: some of them swept by, pouring copious drops, that drove +our audience within doors for a few moments; but the rain was soon over, +the sun shone brighter than over, the people returned to watch us, and +the day waned. We surprised flock upon flock of goats in their rocky +retreats; but they dispersed in all directions like quicksilver, and we +passed on. About dusk we got into the grassy land, and thanked God for +deliverance. + +Here Kahéle's heart rejoiced. Here, close by the little chapel of Kaupo, +he discovered one whom he proclaimed his grandfather; though, judging +from the years of the man, he could scarcely have been anything beyond +an uncle. I was put to rest in a little stone cell, where the priests +sleep when they are on their mission to Kaupo. A narrow bed, with a +crucifix at the foot of it, a small window in the thick wall, with a jug +of water in the corner thereof, and a chair with a game-leg, constituted +the furnishment of the quaint lodging. Kahéle rushed about to see old +friends,--who wept over him,--and was very long absent, whereat I waxed +wroth, and berated him roundly; but the poor fellow was so charmingly +repentant that I forgave him all, and more too, for I promised him I +would stay three days, at least, with his uncle-grandfather, and give +him his universal liberty for the time being. + +From the open doorway I saw the long sweep of the mountains, looking +cool and purple in the twilight. The ghostly procession of the mists +stole in at the windward gap; the after-glow of the evening suffused the +front of the chapel with a warm light, and the statue of the Virgin +above the chapel-door,--a little faded with the suns of that endless +summer, a little mildewed with the frequent rains,--the statue looked +down upon us with a smile of welcome. Some youngsters, as naked as +day-old nest-birds, tossed a ball into the air; and when it at last +lodged in the niche of the Virgin, they clapped their hands, half in +merriment and half in awe, and the games of the evening ended. Then the +full moon rose; a cock crew in the peak of the chapel, thinking it +daybreak, and the little fellows slept, with their spines curved like +young kittens. By and by the moon hung, round and mellow, beyond the +chapel-cross, and threw a long shadow in the grass; and then I went to +my cell and folded my hands to rest, with a sense of blessed and +unutterable peace. + + + + +THE CHAPEL OF THE PALMS. + + +Oh, the long suffering of him who threads a narrow trail over the brown +crust of a hill where the short grass lies flat in tropical sunshine! On +one side sleeps the blue, monotonous sea; on the other, crags clothe +themselves in cool mist and look dreamy and solemn. + +The boy Kahéle, who has no ambition beyond the bit of his foot-sore +mustang, lags behind, taking all the dust with commendable resignation. + +As for me, I am wet through with the last shower; I steam in the fierce +noonday heat. I spur Hoké the mule into the shadow of a great cloud that +drifts lazily overhead, and am grateful for this unsatisfying shade as +long as it lasts. I watch the sea, swinging my whip by its threadbare +lash like a pendulum,--the sea, where a very black rock is being drowned +over and over by the tremendous swell that covers it for a moment; but +somehow the rock comes to the surface again, and seems to gasp horribly +in a deluge of breakers. That rock has been drowning for centuries, yet +its struggle for life is as real as ever. + +I watch the mountains, cleft with green, fern-cushioned chasms, where an +occasional stream silently distils. Far up on a sun-swept ledge a +white, scattering drift, looking like a rose-garden after a high wind, I +know to be a flock of goats feeding. But the wind-dried and sun-burnt +grass under foot, the intangible dust that pervades the air, the +rain-cloud in the distance, trailing its banners of crape in the sea as +it bears down upon us,--these annoyed me somewhat, and make life a +burden for the time being; so I spur my faithless Hoké up a new ascent +as forbidding as any that we have yet come upon, and slowly and with +many pauses creep to the summit. + +Kahéle, "the goer," belies his name, for he loiters everywhere and +always; yet I am not sorry. I have the first glimpse of Wailua all to +myself. I am not obliged to betray my emotion, which is a bore of the +worst sort. + +Wailua lies at my feet,--a valley full of bees, butterflies, and +blossoms, the sea fawning at the mouth of it, the clouds melting over +it; waterfalls gushing from numerous green corners; silver-white +phaëtons floating in mid-air, at a loss to choose between earth and +heaven, though evidently a little inclined earthward, for they no sooner +drift out of the bewildering bowers of Wailua than they return again +with noticeable haste. + +Down I plunge into the depths of the valley, with the first drops of a +heavy shower pelting me in the back; and under a great tree, that seems +yearning to shelter somebody, I pause till the rain is over. + +Anon the slow-footed Kahéle arrives, leaking all over, and bringing a +peace-offering of ohias, the native apple, as juicy and sweet as the +forbidden fruits of Paradise. As for these apples, they have solitary +seed, like a nutmeg, a pulp as white as wax, a juice flavoured with +roses, and their skin as red as a peony and as glossy as varnish. These +we munch and munch while the forest reels under the impetuous avalanches +of big rain-drops, and our animals tear great tufts of sweet grass from +the upper roadside. + +Is it far to the chapel, I wonder. Kahéle thinks not,--perhaps a pari or +two distant. But a pari, a cliff, has many antecedents, and I feel that +some dozen or so of climbs, each more or less fatiguing, still separate +me from the rest I am seeking, and hope not to find until I reach the +abode of Père Fidelis, at the foot of the cross, as one might say. + +The rain ceases. Hoké once more nerves himself for fresh assaults upon +the everlasting hills. Kahéle drops behind as usual, and the afternoon +wanes. + +How fresh seems the memory of this journey, yet its place is with the +archives of the past. I seem to breathe the incense of orange-flowers, +and to hear the whisper of distant waterfalls as I write. + +It must have been toward sunset,--we were threading the eastern coast, +and a great mountain filled the west--but I felt that it was the hour +when day ends and night begins. The heavy clouds looked as though they +were still brimful of sunlight, yet no ray escaped to gladden our side +of the world. + +Finally, on the brow of what seemed to be the last hill in this life, I +saw a cross,--a cross among the palms. Hoké saw it, and quickened his +pace: he was not so great an ass but he knew that there was provender in +the green pastures of Père Fidelis, and his heart freshened within him. + +A few paces from the grove of palms I heard a bell swing jubilantly. Out +over the solemn sea, up and down that foam-crested shore, rang the sweet +Angelus. One may pray with some fervour when one's journey is at an end. +When the prayer was over, I walked to the gate of the chapel-yard, +leading the willing Hoké, and at that moment a slender figure, clad all +in black, his long robes flowing gracefully about him, his boyish face +heightening the effect of his grave and serene demeanour, his thin, +sensitive hands held forth in hearty welcome,--a welcome that was almost +like a benediction, so spiritual was the love which it expressed,--came +out, and I found myself in the arms of Père Fidelis, feeling like one +who has at least been permitted to kneel upon the threshold of his +Mecca. + +Why do our hearts sing _jubilate_ when we meet a friend for the first +time? What is it within us that with its life-long yearning comes +suddenly upon the all-sufficient one, and in a moment is crowned and +satisfied? I could not tell whether I was at last waking from a sleep or +just sinking into a dream. I could have sat there at his feet contented; +I could have put off my worldly cares, resigned ambition, forgotten the +past, and, in the blessed tranquillity of that hour, have dwelt joyfully +under the palms with him, seeking only to follow in his patient +footsteps until the end should come. + +Perhaps it was the realization of an ideal that plunged me into a +luxurious reverie, out of which I was summoned by _mon père_, who hinted +that I must be hungry. Prophetic father! hungry I was indeed. + +_Mon père_ led me to his little house with three rooms, and installed me +host, himself being my ever-watchful attendant. Then he spoke: "The lads +were at the sea, fishing: would I excuse him for a moment?" + +Alone in the little house, with a glass of claret and a hard biscuit for +refreshment, I looked about me. The central room, in which I sat, was +bare to nakedness: a few devotional books, a small clock high up on the +wall, with a short wagging pendulum, two or three paintings, betraying +more sentiment than merit, a table, a wooden form against the window, +and a crucifix, complete its inventory. A high window was at my back; a +door in front opening upon a verandah shaded with a passion-vine; beyond +it a green, undulating country running down into the sea; on either hand +a little cell containing nothing but a narrow bed, a saint's picture, +and a rosary. Kahéle, having distributed the animals in good pasturage, +lay on the verandah at full length, supremely happy as he jingled his +spurs over the edge of the steps, and hummed a native air in subdued +falsetto, like a mosquito. + +Again I sank into a reverie. Enter _mon père_ with apologies and a plate +of smoking cakes made of eggs and batter, his own handiwork; enter the +lads from the sea with excellent fish, knotted in long wisps of grass; +enter Kahéle, lazily sniffing the savoury odours of our repast with +evident relish; and then supper in good earnest. + +How happy we were, having such talks in several sorts of tongues, such +polyglot efforts towards sociability,--French, English, and native in +equal parts, but each broken and spliced to suit our dire necessity! +The candle flamed and flickered in the land-breeze that swept through +the house,--unctuous waxen stalactites decorated it almost past +recognition; the crickets sang lustily at the doorway; the little +natives grew sleepy and curled up on their mats in the corner; Kahéle +slept in his spurs like a born muleteer. And now a sudden conviction +seized us that it was bedtime in very truth; so _mon père_ led me to one +of the cells, saying, "Will you sleep in the room of Père Amabilis?" +Yea, verily, with all humility; and there I slept after the benediction, +during which the young priest's face looked almost like an angel's in +its youthful holiness, and I was afraid I might wake in the morning and +find him gone, transported to some other and more lovely world. + +But I didn't. Père Fidelis was up before daybreak. It was his hand that +clashed the joyful Angelus at sunrise that woke me from my happy dream; +it was his hand that prepared the frugal but appetizing meal; he made +the coffee, such rich, black, aromatic coffee as Frenchmen alone have +the faculty of producing. He had an eye to the welfare of the animals +also, and seemed to be commander-in-chief of affairs secular as well as +ecclesiastical; yet he was so young! + +There was a day of brief incursions mountain-ward, with the happiest +results. There were welcomes showered upon me for his sake; he was ever +ministering to my temporal wants, and puzzling me with dissertations in +assorted languages. + +By happy fortune a Sunday followed when the Chapel of the Palms was +thronged with dusky worshippers; not a white face present but the +father's and mine own, yet a common trust in the blessedness of the +life to come struck the key-note of universal harmony, and we sang the +_Magnificat_ with one voice. There was something that fretted me in all +this admirable experience: Père Fidelis could touch neither bread nor +water until after the last mass. Hour by hour he grew paler and fainter, +spite of the heroic fortitude that sustained his famishing body. + +"_Mon père_," said I, "you must eat, or go to heaven betimes." He would +not. "You must end with an earlier mass," I persisted. It was +impossible: many parishioners came from miles away; some of these +started at daybreak, as it was, and they would be unable to arrive in +season for an earlier mass. Excellent martyr! thought I, to offer thy +body a living sacrifice for the edification of these savage Christians! +At last he ate, but not until appetite itself had perished. Then troops +of children gathered about him clamouring to kiss the hand of the +priestly youth; old men and women passed him with heads uncovered, +amazed at the devotion of one they could not hope to emulate. + +Whenever I referred to his life, he at once led me to admire his +fellow-apostle, who was continually in his thoughts. Père Amabilis was +miles away, repairing a chapel that had suffered somewhat in a late +gale; Père Amabilis would be so glad to see me; I must not fail to visit +him; and for fear of some mischance, Père Fidelis would himself conduct +me to him. + +The way was hard,--deep chasms to penetrate, swift streams to be forded, +narrow and slippery trails to be threaded through forest, swamp, and +wilderness. These obstacles separated the devoted friends, but not for +long seasons. Père Fidelis would go to him whom he had not laid eyes on +for a fortnight at least. + +The boy Kahéle was glad of companionship; one of the small fishers, an +acolyte of the chapel, would accompany us, and together they could lag +behind, eating ohias and dabbling in every stream. + +A long day's journey followed. We wended our way through jungles of +lauhala, with slim roots in the air and long branches trailing about +them like vines; they were like great cages of roots and branches in a +woven snarl. We saw a rocky point jutting far into the sea. "Père +Amabilis dwells just beyond that cape," said my companion, fondly; and +it seemed not very far distant; but our pace was slow and wearisome, and +the hours were sure to distance us. We fathomed dark ravines whose +farther walls were but a stone's throw from us, but in whose profound +depths a swift torrent rushed madly to the sea, threatening to carry us +to our destruction,--green, precipitous troughs, where the tide of +mountain-rain was lashed into fury, and with its death-song drowned our +voices and filled our animals with terror. + +Now and then we paused to breathe, man and beast panting with fatigue; +sometimes the rain drove us into the thick wood for shelter; sometimes a +brief deluge, the offspring of a rent cloud at the head of the ravine, +stayed our progress for half an hour, until its volume was somewhat +spent and the stream was again fordable. Here we talked of the daily +miracles in nature. Again and again the young fathers are called forth +into the wilderness to attend on the sick and dying. Little chapels are +hidden away among the mountains and through the valleys; all these must +be visited in turn. Their life is an actual pilgrimage from chapel to +chapel, which nothing but physical inability may interrupt. + +At one spot I saw a tree under which Père Fidelis once passed a +tempestuous night. On either side yawned a ravine swept by an impassable +flood. There was no house within reach. On the soaked earth, with a +pitiless gale sweeping over the land, from sunset to sunrise he lay +without the consolation of one companion. Food was frequently scarce: a +few limpets, about as palatable as parboiled shoe-leather, a paste of +roast yams and water, a lime perhaps, and nothing besides but lumpy salt +from the sea-shore. + +While we were riding a herald met us bearing a letter for _mon père_. It +was a greeting from Père Amabilis, who announced the chapel as rapidly +nearing its complete restoration. Père Fidelis fairly wept for joy at +this intelligence, and burst into a panegyric upon the unrivalled +ingenuity of his spiritual associate. We were sure to surprise him at +work, and this trifling episode seemed to be an event of some importance +in the isolated life they led. + +At sunset we passed into the open vale of Wailuanui, and saw the chapel +looking fresh and tidy on the slope of the hill toward the sea. Two +waterfalls that fell against the sunset flashed like falling flame, and +a soft haze tinged the slumberous solitudes of wood and pasture with the +dream-like loveliness of a picture. There seemed to be but one sound +audible,--the quick, sharp blows of a hammer. Père Fidelis listened with +eyes sparkling, and then rode rapidly onward. + +Behold! from the chapel wall, high up on a scaffolding of boughs, his +robes gathered about him, his head uncovered and hammer in hand, Père +Amabilis leaned forth to welcome us. The hammer fell to the earth. Père +Amabilis loosened his skirts and clasped his hands in unaffected +rapture. We were three satisfied souls, asking for nothing beyond the +hem of that lonely valley in the Pacific. + +Of course there was the smallest possible house that could be lived in, +for our sole accommodation, because but one priest needed to visit the +district at a time, and a very young priest at that. A tiny bed in one +corner of the room was thought sufficient, together with two plates, two +cups, and a single spoon. Luxuries were unknown and unregretted. + +"Well, father, what have you at this hotel?" said Père Fidelis, as we +came to the door of the cubby-house. + +"Water," replied our host with a grave tone that had an undercurrent of +truth in it. + +But we were better provided for. Within an hour's time a reception took +place: the native parishioners came forth to welcome Père Fidelis and +the stranger, each bringing some voluntary tribute,--a fish, a fowl lean +enough to quiet the conscience of Père Fidelis, an egg or two, or a +bunch of taro. + +Long talks followed; the news of the last month was discussed with much +enthusiasm, and some few who had no opportunity of joining in the debate +gave expression to their sentiments through such speaking eyes as +savages usually are possessed of. + +The welcome supper-hour approached. Willing hands dressed a fowl; swift +feet plied between the spring and the kettle swung over the open +camp-fire, children danced for very joy before the door of the chapel, +under the statue of the Virgin, whose head was adorned with a garland of +living flowers. The shadows deepened; stars seemed to cluster over the +valley and glow with unusual fervour; the crickets sang mightily,--they +are always singing mightily over yonder; supper came to the bare table +with its meagre array of dishes; and, since I was forced to have a whole +plate and a bowl, as well as the solitary spoon, for my whole use, the +two young priests ate together from the same dish and drank from the +same cup, and were as grateful and happy as the birds of the air under +similar circumstances. + +A merry meal, that! For us no weak tea, that satirical consoler, nor tea +whose strength is bitterness, an abomination to the faithful, but _mon +père's_ own coffee, the very aroma of which was invigorating; then our +friendly pipes out under the starlight, where we sat chatting amicably, +with our three heads turbaned in an aromatic Virginian cloud. + +I learned something of the life of these two friends during that social +evening. Born in the same city in the north of France, reared in the +same schools, graduated at the same university, each fond of life and +acquainted with its follies, each in turn stricken with an illness that +threatened death, together they came out of the dark valley with their +future consecrated to the work that now absorbs them, the friendship of +their childhood increasing with their years and sustaining them in a +remote land, where their vow of poverty seems almost like sarcasm, since +circumstances deprives them of all luxuries. + +"Do you never long for home? do you never regret your vow?" I asked. + +"Never!" they answered; and I believed them. "These old people are as +parents to us; these younger ones are as brothers and sisters; these +children we love as dearly as though they were our own. What more can we +ask?" + +What more indeed! With the rain beating down upon your unsheltered +heads, and the torrents threatening to engulf you; faint with +journeyings; a-hungered often; weak with fastings; pallid with +prayer,--what more _can_ you ask in the same line? say I. + +Père Fidelis coughed a little, and was somewhat feverish. I could see +that his life was not elastic; his strength was even then failing him. + +"Père Amabilis is an artisan: he built this house, and it is small +enough; but some day he will build a house for me but six feet long and +_so_ broad," said Père Fidelis, shrugging his shoulders; whereat Père +Amabilis, who looked like a German student with his long hair and +spectacles, turned aside to wipe the moisture from the lenses, and said +nothing, but laid his hand significantly upon the shoulder of his +friend, as if imploring silence. Alas for him when those lips are silent +for ever! + +I wondered if they had no recreation. + +"O yes. The poor pictures at the Chapel of the Palms are ours, but we +have not studied art. And then we are sometimes summoned to the farther +side of the island, where we meet new faces. It is a great change." + +For a year before the arrival of Père Amabilis, who was not sooner able +to follow his friend, Père Fidelis was accustomed to go once a month to +a confessional many miles away. That his absence might be as brief as +possible, he was obliged to travel night and day. Sometimes he would +reach the house of his confessor at midnight, when all were sleeping: +thereupon would follow this singular colloquy in true native fashion. A +rap at the door at midnight, the confessor waking from his sleep. + +_Confessor_. "Who's there?" + +_Père Fidelis_. "It is I!" + +_Conf._ "Who is I?" + +_Père F._ "Fidelis!" + +_Conf._ "Fidelis who?" + +_Père F._ "Fidelis kahuna pule!" (Fidelis the priest.) + +_Conf._ "Aweh!" (An expression of the greatest surprise.) "_Entre_, +Fidelis kahuna pule." + +Then he would rise, and the communion that followed must have been most +cheering to both, for _mon père_ even now is merry when he recalls it. + +These pilgrimages are at an end, for the two priests confess to one +another: conceive of the fellowship that hides away no secret, however +mortifying! + +The whole population must have been long asleep before we thought of +retiring that night, and then arose an argument concerning the fittest +occupant of the solitary bed. It fell to me, for both were against me, +and each was my superior. When I protested, they held up their fingers +and said, "Remember, we are your fathers and must be obeyed." Thus I was +driven to the bed, while mine hosts lay on the bare floor with saddles +for pillows. + +It was this self-sacrificing hospitality that hastened my departure. I +felt earth could offer me no nobler fellowship,--that all acts to come, +however gracious, would bear a tinge of selfishness in comparison with +the reception I had met where least expected. + +I am thankful that I had not the heart to sleep well, for I think I +could never have forgiven myself had I done so. When I woke in the early +part of the night, I saw the young priests bowed over their breviaries, +for I had delayed the accustomed offices of devotion, and they were +fulfilling them in peace at last, having me so well bestowed that it was +utterly impossible to do aught else for my entertainment. + +Once more the morning came. I woke to find Père Amabilis at work, hammer +in hand, sending his nails home with accurate strokes that spoke well +for his trained muscle. Père Fidelis was concocting coffee and directing +the volunteer cooks, who were seeking to surpass themselves upon this +last meal we were to take together. In an hour _mon père_ was to start +for the Chapel of the Palms, while I wended my way onward through a new +country, bearing with me the consoling memory of my precious friends. I +can forgive a slight and forget the person who slights me, but little +kindnesses probe me to the quick. I wonder why the twin fathers were so +very careful of me that morning? They could not do enough to satisfy +themselves, and that made me miserable; they stabbed me with tender +words, and tried to be cheerful with such evident effort that I couldn't +eat half my breakfast, though, as it was, I ate more than they did--God +forgive me!--and altogether it was a solemn and memorable meal. + +A group of natives gathered about us seated upon the floor; it was +impossible for Père Fidelis to move without being stroked by the +affectionate creatures who deplored his departure. Père Amabilis +insisted upon adjusting our saddles, during which ceremony he slyly hid +a morsel of cold fowl in our saddle-bags. + +That parting was as cruel as death. We shall probably never see one +another again; if we do, we shall be older and more practical and more +worldly, and the exquisite confidence we have in one another will have +grown blunt with time. I felt it then as I know it now--our brief idyl +can never be lived over in this life. + +Well, we departed: the corners of our blessed triangle were spread +frightfully. Père Fidelis was paler than ever; he caught his breath as +though there wasn't much of it, and the little there was wouldn't last +long; Père Amabilis wiped his spectacles and looked utterly forsaken; +the natives stood about in awkward, silent groups, coming forward, one +by one, to shake hands, and then falling back like so many automatons. +Somehow, genuine grief is never graceful: it forgets to pose itself; its +muscles are perfectly slack and unreliable. + +The sea looked grey and forbidding as it shook its shaggy breakers under +the cliff: life was dismal enough. The animals were unusually wayward, +and once or twice I paused in despair under the prickly sunshine, half +inclined to go back and begin over again, hoping to renew the past; but +just then Hoké felt like staggering onward, and I began to realize that +there are some brief, perfect experiences in life that pass from us like +a dream, and this was one of them. + +In the proem to this idyl I seem to see two shadowy figures passing up +and down over a lonesome land. Fever and famine do not stay them; the +elements alone have power to check their pilgrimage. Their advent is +hailed with joyful bells: tears fall when they depart. Their paths are +peace. Fearlessly they battle with contagion, and are at hand to close +the pestilential lips of unclean death. They have lifted my soul above +things earthly, and held it secure for a moment. From beyond the waters +my heart returns to them. Again at twilight, over the still sea, floats +the sweet Angelus; again I approach the chapel falling to slow decay: +there are fresh mounds in the churchyard, and the voice of wailing is +heard for a passing soul. By-and-by, if there is work to do, it shall be +done, and the hands shall be folded, for the young apostles will have +followed in the silent footsteps of their flock. Here endeth the lesson +of the Chapel of the Palms. + + + + +KAHÉLE. + + +From a bluff, whose bald forehead jutted a thousand feet into the air, +and under whose chin the sea shrugged its great shoulders, Kahéle, my +boy,--that delightful contradiction, who was always plausible, yet never +right,--Kahéle and I looked timidly over into the sunset valley of Méha. +The "Valley of Solitude" it was called; albeit, at that moment, and with +half an eye, we counted the thirty grass-lodges of the village, and +heard the liquid tongues of a trio of waterfalls, that dived head-first +into the groves at the farther end of the valley, where the mountain +seemed to have opened its heart wide enough to let a rivulet escape into +the sea. But the spot was a palpable and living dream, and no fond +rivulet would go too hastily through it; so there was a glittering sort +of monogram writ in water, and about it the village lodges were +clustered in a very pleasing disorder. + +The trail dropped down the cliff below us in long, swinging zigzags, and +wound lazily through the village; crossed the stream at the ford; dipped +off toward the sea, as though the beach, shining like coarse gold, were +a trifle too lovely to be passed without recognition, and then it +climbed laboriously up the opposite cliff, and struck off into space. In +ten seconds a bird might have spanned the deep ravine, and caught as +much of its loveliness as we; but we weren't birds, and, moreover, we +had six legs apiece to look after, so we tipped off from the dizzy ridge +that overhung the valley of Méha to the north, and gradually descended +into the heat and silence of the place, that seemed to make a picture of +itself when we first looked down upon it from our eyrie. + +We found the floor of the valley very solemn and very lovely, when we +reached it. Three youngsters, as brown as berries, and without any +leaves upon them, broke loose from a banana-orchard and leaped into a +low _hou_-tree as we approached. They were a little shy of my colour, +pale-faces being rare in that vicinity. Two women who were washing at +the ford--and washing the very garments they should have had upon their +backs--discovered us, and plunged into the stream with a refreshing +splash, and a laugh apiece that was worth hearing, it was so genuine and +hearty. Another youngster hurried off from a stone wall like a startled +lizard, and struck on his head, but didn't cry much, for he was too +frightened. A large woman lay at full length on a broad mat, spread +under a pandanus, and slept like a turtle. I began to think there were +nothing but women and children in the solitary valley, but Kahéle had +kept an eye on the reef, and, with an air of superior intelligence, he +assured me that there were many men living about there, and they, with +most of the women and children, were then out in the surf, fishing. + +"To the beach, by all means!" cried I; and to the beach we hastened, +where, indeed, we found heaps of cast-off raiment, and a hundred +footprints in the sand. What would Mr. Robinson Crusoe have said to +that, I wonder! Across the level water, heads, hands, and shoulders, and +sometimes half-bodies, were floating about, like the _amphibia_. We were +at once greeted with a shout of welcome, which came faintly to us above +the roar of the surf, as it broke heavily on the reef, a half-mile out +from shore. It was drawing toward the hour when the fishers came to +land; and we had not long to wait, before, one after another, they came +out of the sea like so many mermen and mermaids. They were refreshingly +innocent of etiquette,--at least, of our translation of it; and, with a +freedom that was amusing as well as a little embarrassing, I was +deliberately fingered, fondled, and fussed with by nearly every dusky +soul in turn. "At last," thought I, "fate has led me beyond the pale of +civilization; for this begins to look like the genuine article." + +With uncommon slowness, the mermaids donned more or less of their +apparel, a few preferring to carry their robes over their arms; for the +air was delicious, and ropes of seaweed are accounted full dress in that +delectable latitude. Down on the sand the mermen heaped their scaly +spoils,--fish of all shapes and sizes, fish of every colour; some of +them throwing somersaults in the sand, like young athletes; some of them +making wry faces, in their last agony; some of them lying still and +clammy, with big, round eyes like smoked-pearl vest-buttons set in the +middle of their cheeks; all of them smelling fishlike, and none of them +looking very tempting. Small boys laid hold on small fry, bit their +heads off, and held the silver-coated morsels between their teeth, like +animated sticks of candy. There was a Fridayish and Lent-like atmosphere +hovering over the spot, and I turned away to watch some youths who were +riding surf-boards not far distant,--agile, narrow-hipped youths, with +tremendous biceps and proud, impudent heads set on broad shoulders, like +young gods. These were the flower and chivalry of the Méha blood, and +they swam like young porpoises, every one of them. + +There was a break in the reef before us; the sea knew it, and seemed to +take special delight in rushing upon the shore as though it were about +to devour sand, savages, and everything. Kahéle and I watched the +surf-swimmers for some time, charmed with the spectacle. Such buoyancy +of material matter I had never dreamed of. Kahéle, though much in the +flesh, could not long resist the temptation to exhibit his prowess, and +having been offered a surf-board that would have made a good lid to his +coffin, and was itself as tight as cork and as smooth as glass, suddenly +threw off his last claim to respectability, seized his sea-sled, and +dived with it under the first roller which was then about to break above +his head, not three feet from him. Beyond it, a second roller reared its +awful front, but he swam under that with ease; at the sound of his "open +sesame," its emerald gates parted and closed after him. He seemed some +triton, playing with the elements, and dreadfully "at home" in that very +wet place. The third and mightiest of the waves was gathering its +strength for a charge upon the shore. Having reached its outer ripple, +again Kahéle dived and reappeared on the other side of the watery hill, +balanced for a moment in the glassy hollow, turned suddenly, and, +mounting the towering monster, he lay at full length on his fragile +raft, using his arms as a bird its pinions,--in fact, soaring for a +moment with the wave under him. As it rose he climbed to the top of it, +and there, in the midst of foam seething like champagne, on the crest of +a rushing sea-avalanche about to crumble and dissolve beneath him, his +surf-board bidden in spume, on the very top bubble of all, Kahéle danced +like a shadow. He leaped to his feet and swam in the air, another +Mercury, tiptoeing a heaven-kissing hill, buoyant as vapour, and with a +suggestion of invisible wings about him,--Kahéle transformed for a +moment, and for a moment only; the next second my daring sea-skater +leaped ashore, with a howling breaker swashing at his heels. It was +something glorious and almost incredible; but I saw it with my own eyes, +and I wanted to double his salary on the spot. + +Sunset in the valley of Méha. The air full of floating particles, that +twinkled like diamond-dust; the great green chasm at the head of the +valley illuminated by one broad bar of light shot obliquely through it, +tipped at the end with a shower of white rockets that fringed a +waterfall, and a fragment of rainbow like a torn banner. That deep, +shadowy ravine seemed, for a moment, some mystery about to be divulged; +but the light faded too soon, and I never learned the truth of it. The +sea quieter than usual; very little sound save the rhythmical vibration +of the air, that suggested flowing waters and quivering leaves; the +lights shifted along the upper cliffs; a silver-white tropic-bird sailed +from cloud to cloud, swiftly and noiselessly, like a shooting-star. A +delicious moment, but a brief one; soon the sun was down, and the +deepening shadows and gathering coolness set all the valley astir. + +Camp-fires were kindled throughout the village; column after column of +thin blue smoke ascended in waving spirals, separating at the top in +leaf-shaped clouds. It was like the spiritual resurrection of some +ancient palm-grove; and when the moon rose, a little later, flooding the +Vale of Solitude with her vague light, the illusion was perfected; and a +group of savages, scenting the savoury progress of their supper, sat, +hungry and talkative, under every ghostly palm. Clear voices ascended in +monotonous and weird recitative; they chanted a monody on the death of +some loved one, prompted, perhaps, by the funereal solemnity of the +hour; or sang an ode to the moon-rise, the still-flowing river, or the +valley of Méha, so solitary in one sense, though by no means alone in +its loneliness. + +Kahéle patronized me extensively. I was introduced to camp after camp, +and in rapid succession repeated the experiences of a traveler who has +much to answer for in the way of colour, and the peculiar cut of his +garments. I felt as though I was some natural curiosity, in charge of +the robustious Kahéle, who waxed more and more officious every hour of +his engagement; and his tongue ran riot as he descanted upon my +characteristics, to the joy of the curious audiences we attracted. + +Some hours must have passed before we thought of sleep. How could we +think of it, when every soul was wide awake, and time alone seemed to +pass us by unconsciously? But Kahéle finally led me to a chief's house, +where, under coverlets of _kapa_, spiced with herbs, and in the midst of +numerous members of the household, I was advised to compose my soul in +peace, and patiently await daylight. I did so, for the drowsy sense that +best illustrates the tail-end of a day's journey possessed me, and I was +finally overcome by the low, monotonous drone of a language that I found +about as intelligible as the cooing of the multitudinous pigeon. The boy +sat near me, still descanting upon our late experiences, our possible +future, and the thousand trivial occurrences that make the recollections +of travel forever charming. The familiar pipe, smoked at about the rate +of three whiffs apiece, circulated freely, and kept the air mildly +flavoured with tobacco; and night, with all that pertains to it, bowed +over me, as, in an unguarded moment, I surrendered to its narcotizing +touch. + +There was another valley in my sleep, like unto the one I had closed my +eyes upon, and I saw it thronged with ancients. No white face had yet +filled those savage and sensuous hearts with a sense of disgust, which, +I believe, all dark races feel when they first behold a bleached skin. +Again the breathless heralds announced the approach of a king, and the +multitudes gathered to receive him. I heard the beating of the tom-toms, +and saw the dancers ambling and posing before his august majesty, who +reclined in the midst of a retinue of obsequious retainers. The +spearsmen hurled their spears, and the strong men swung their clubs; the +stone-throwers threw skillfully, and the sweetest singers sang long +_méles_ in praise of their royal guest. A cry of fear rent the air as a +stricken one fled toward the city of refuge; the priests passed by me in +solemn procession, their robes spotted with sacrificial blood. War +canoes drew in from the sea, and death fell upon the valley. I heard +the wail for the slaughtered, and saw the grim idols borne forth in the +arms of the triumphant; then I awoke in the midst of that dream-pageant +of savage and barbaric splendour. + +It was still night; the sea was again moaning; the cool air of the +mountain rustled in the long thatch at the doorway; a ripe bread-fruit +fell to the earth with a loud thud. I rose from my mat and looked about +me. The room was nearly deserted; some one lay swathed like a mummy in a +dark corner of the lodge, but of what sex I knew not,--probably one who +had outlived all sensations, and perhaps all desires; a rush, strung +full of oily _kukui_ nuts, flamed in the centre of the room, and a +thread of black smoke climbed almost to the peak of the roof; but, +falling in with a current of fresh air, it was spirited away in a +moment. + +I looked out of the low door; the hour was such a one as tinges the +stoutest heart with superstition; the landscape was complete in two +colours,--a moist, transparent grey, and a thin, feathery silver, that +seemed almost palpable to the touch. Out on the slopes near the stream +reclined groups of natives, chatting, singing, smoking, or silently +regarding the moon. I passed them unnoticed; dim paths led me through +guava jungles, under orange groves, and beside clusters of jasmine, +overpowering in their fragrance. Against the low eaves of the several +lodges sat singers, players upon the rude instruments of the land, and +glib talkers, who waxed eloquent, and gesticulated with exceeding grace. +Footsteps rustled before and behind me; I stole into the thicket, and +saw lovers wandering together, locked in each other's embrace, and saw +friends go hand-in-hand conversing in low tones, or perhaps mute, with +an impressive air of the most complete tranquillity. The night-blooming +cereus laid its ivory urn open to the moonlight, and a myriad of +crickets chirped in one continuous jubilee. Voices of merriment were +wafted down to me; and, stealing onward toward the great meadow by the +stream, where the sleepless inhabitants of the valley held high +carnival, I saw the most dignified chiefs of Méha sporting like +children, while the children capered like imps, and the whole community +seemed bewitched with the glorious atmosphere of that particular night. + +Who was the gayest of the gay, and the most lawless of the unlawful? My +boy, Kahéle, in whom I had placed my trust, and whom, until this hour at +least, I had regarded as the most promising specimen of the reorganized +barbarians. + +Perhaps it was all right; perhaps I had been counting his steps with too +much confidence; they might have been simply a creditable performance, +the result of careful training on the part of his tutors. I am inclined +to think they were! At any rate, Kahéle went clean back to barbarism +that night, and seemed to take to it amazingly. I said nothing; I +thought it wiser to seem to hold the reins, though I hold them loosely, +than to try to check the career of my half-tamed domestic, and to find +him beyond my control; therefore I sat on one side taking notes, and +found it rather jolly on the whole. + +The river looked like an inky flood with a broken silver crust; canoes +floated upon its sluggish tide like long feathers; swimmers plied up and +down it, now and then "blowing," whale-fashion, but slipping through +the water as noiselessly as trout. I could scarcely tell which was the +more attractive,--Nature, so fragrant and so voluptuous, or man, who had +become a part of Nature for the hour, and was very unlike man as I had +been taught to accept him. + +Not till dawn did the dance or the song cease; not till everybody was +grey and fagged, and tongues had stopped wagging from sheer exhaustion. +I returned to my mats long ere that, to revolve in my mind plans for the +following day. + +It was evident that Kahéle must at once quit the place, or go back to +barbarism and stick there. I didn't care to take the responsibility of +his return to first principles, and so ordered the animals to be saddled +by sunrise. At that delicious moment the youngster lay like one of the +Seven Sleepers, whom nothing could awaken. Everybody in the village +seemed to be making up his lost sleep, and I was forced to await the +return of life before pressing my claims any further. + +The scorching noon drew on; a few of the sleepers awoke, bathed, ate of +their cold repast, and slept again. Kahéle followed suit; in the midst +of his refreshment I suggested the advisability of instant departure; he +hesitated. I enlarged upon the topic, and drew an enticing picture of +the home-stretch, with all the endearing associations clustering about +its farther end; he agreed to everything with a sweet and passive grace +that seemed to compensate me for the vexations of the morning. + +I went to the river to bathe while the beasts were being saddled, and +returned anon to find Kahéle sound asleep, and as persistent in his +slumbers as ever. The afternoon waned; I began to see the fitness of +the name that had at first seemed to me inappropriate to the valley; +everybody slept or lazed during the hot hours of the day, and a +census-taker might easily have imagined the place a solitude. At sunset, +there was more fishing and more surf-swimming. It seemed to me the fish +smelt stronger, and the swimmers swam less skilfully than on the evening +previous; possibly it was quite as pretty a spectacle as the one that +first charmed me, but blessings are bores when they come out of season. + +Night drew on apace; the moon rose, and the inhabitants pretended to +rest, but were shortly magnetized out of their houses, where they danced +till daybreak. The sweets of that sort of thing began to cloy, and I +resolved upon immediate action. Kahéle was taken by the ears at the very +next sunrise, and ordered to get up the mules at once. He was gone +nearly all day, and came in at last with a pitiful air of disappointment +that quite unmanned me; his voice, too, was sympathetic, and there was +something like a tear in his eye when he assured me that the creatures +had gone astray, but might be found shortly,--perhaps even then they +were approaching; and the young scamp rose to reconnoitre, glad, no +doubt, of an excuse for escaping from my natural but ludicrous +discomfiture. It is likely that my boy Kahéle would have danced till +doomsday, had I not shown spleen. It is as likely, also, that the chief +and all his people would have helped him out in it, had I not offered +such reward as I thought sufficient to tempt greed; but, thank heaven, +there is an end to everything! + +On the morning of the fourth day, two travellers might have been seen +struggling up the face of the great cliff that walls in the valley of +Méha to the south. The one a pale-face, paler than usual, urging on the +other, a dark-face, darker than was its wont. Never did animals so +puzzle their wits to know whether they were indeed desired to hasten +forward, or to turn back at the very next crook in the trail. We were at +big odds, Kahéle and I; for another idol of mine had suddenly turned to +clay, and, though I am used to that sort of thing, I am never able to +bear it with decent composure. On we journeyed, working at cross +purposes, and getting nearer to the sky all the while, and finally +losing sight of the bewitching valley that had demoralized and so nearly +divorced us; getting wet in the damp grasses on the highlands, and +sometimes losing ourselves for a moment in the clouds that lie late on +the mountains; seeing lovely, narrow, and profound vales, wherein the +rain fell with a roar like hail; where the streams swelled suddenly like +veins, and where often there was no visible creature discernible, not +even a bird; where silence brooded, and the world seemed empty. + +A very long day's journey brought us out of the green and fertile land +that lies with its face to the trade-wind; there the clouds gather and +shed their rains; but all of the earth lying in the lee of the great +central peak of the island is as dust and ashes,--unwatered, unfruitful, +and uninteresting, save as a picture of deep and dreadful desolation. No +wonder that Kahéle longed to tarry in the small Eden of Méha, knowing +that we were about to journey into the deserts that lie beyond it. No +wonder that the shining shores of the valley beguiled him, when he knew +that henceforth the sea would break upon long reaches of black lava, as +unpicturesque as a coal-heap, the path along which was pain, and the +waysides anguish of spirit; where fruit was scarce, and water brackish, +and every edible dried and deceitful. + +Having slept the sleep of the just,--for I felt that I had done what I +could to reclaim my backsliding Kahéle,--I awoke on a Sabbath morning +that presented a singular spectacle. Its chief features were a +glittering, metallic-tinted sea, and a smoking plain backed by naked +sand-hills. The low brush, scattered thinly over the earth, tried hard +to look green, but seldom got nearer to it than a dusty grey. Evidently +there was no sap in those charred twigs, for they snapped like coral +when you tested their pliancy. A few huts, dust-coloured and ragged, +were scattered along the trail; they had apparently lost all hope, and +paused by the wayside, to end their days in despair. + +The _halé-pulé_, or prayer-house, chief of the forlorn huts, by virtue +of extraordinary hollowness and a ventilation that was only exceeded by +all out-of-doors,--this prayer-house, or church, was thrown open to the +public; and, to my amazement, Kahéle suggested the propriety of our +attending worship, even before the first conch had been blown from the +rude door by the deacon himself. + +We went along the chalky path that led to the front of the house, and +sat in the shelter of the eaves for an hour or more. Seven times that +conch was blown, and on each occasion the neighbourhood responded, +though stingily; a few worshippers would issue out of the wilderness and +draw slowly toward us. One or two men came on horseback, and were happy +in their mood, exhibiting the qualities of their animals on the flats +before us. Some came on foot, with their shoes in hand; the shoes were +carefully put on at the church door, but put off again a few moments +after entering the rustic pews. Dogs came, about one for every human; +these lay all over the floor, or mounted the seats, or were held in the +arms of the congregation, as the case might be. Children came, and +played a savage version of leap-frog in the lee of the church, but they +were bleak-looking youngsters, not at all like the little human +vegetables that flourished in the genial atmosphere of the valley of +Méha. + +The conch was blown again; the most melancholy sound that ever issued +from windy cavity floated up and down that disconsolate land, and seemed +to be saying, in pathetic gusts, "Come to meeting! Come to meeting!" +Probably every one that could come had come; at any rate no one else +followed, and, after a decent pause, the services of the morning were +begun. The brief interval of ominous silence that preceded the opening +was enlivened by the caprices of a fractious horse, and at least two +stampedes of the canine persuasion, at which time the dogs seemed +possessed of devils, and were running down in a body towards the sea, +but thought better of it, and stole noiselessly back again, one after +the other, just in season for the opening prayer, to which they entered +with a low-comedy cast of countenance, and a depressed tail. + +That prayer bubbled out of the savage throat like a clear fountain of +vowels. The dignity of the man was impressive, and his face the picture +of devotion; his deportment, likewise, was all that could be desired in +any one, under the circumstances. Either he was a rare specimen of the +very desirable convert from barbarism, or he was a consummate actor; I +dare not guess which of the two beguiled me with his grave and +euphonious prayer. + +I regret to state that, during the energetic expounding of the +Scriptures, a few of the congregation forgot themselves and slept +audibly; a few arose and went under the eaves to smoke; children went +down on all-fours, and crawled under the pews in chase of pups as +restless and incorrigible as themselves. At a later period, some one +announced an approaching schooner, and the body of the house was +unceremoniously cleared, for a schooner was as rare a visitor to that +part of the island as an angel to any quarter of the globe. Further +ceremony was out of the question, at least until the excitement had +subsided; the parson, with philosophical composure, precipitated his +doxology, and we all walked out into the dreary afternoon to watch the +schooner blowing in toward shore. + +The wind was rising; white clouds scudded over us; transparent shadows +slid under us; the whole earth seemed unstable, and life scarcely worth +the living. Along the dead shore leaped the sea, in a careless, +dare-devil fashion; hollow rocks spouted great mouthfuls of spray +contemptuously into the air; columns of red dust climbed into the sky, +reeling to and fro as they passed over the bleak desert toward the sea +on the opposite side of the island. These dust-chimneys were continually +moving over the land so long as the wind prevailed, which was for the +rest of that afternoon, to my certain knowledge. In fact, the gale +increased every hour; sheets of spray leaped over the rocky barriers of +the shore, and matted the dry grass, that hissed like straw whenever a +fresh gust struck it. + +One tattered cocoa-palm, steadfast in its mission, though the living +emblem of a forlorn hope, wrestled with the tempest that threw all its +crisp and rattling leaves over its head like a pompon, and fretted it +till its slender neck twisted as though it were being throttled. The +thatched house seemed about to go to pieces, and every timber creaked in +agony; yet we gathered in its lee, and awaited the slow approach of the +schooner. Near shore she put about, and seemed upon the point of +scudding off to sea again. For a moment our hearts were in our throats; +we were in danger of missing the sensation of the season; new faces, new +topics of conversation, and, perhaps, something good to eat, sent +thither by Providence, who seldom forgets His children in the waste +places, though I wonder that He lets them lose themselves so often. + +The schooner rocked on the big rollers for half an hour; a small boat +put off from her, with some dark objects seated in it; out on the great +rollers the little shallop rocked, sometimes hidden from view by an +intervening wave, sometimes thrown partly out of the water as it +balanced for a moment on the crest of a breaker, but gradually drawing +in toward a bit of beach, where there was a possible chance of landing, +in some shape or other. A few rods from shore, three dusky creatures +deliberately plunged overboard and swam toward us. We rushed in a body +to welcome them,--two women old residents of the place, who came out of +the sea wailing for joy at their safe return to a home no more inviting +than the one whose prominent features I have sought to reproduce. Down +they sat, not three feet from the water, that bubbled and hissed along +the coarse sand, and lifted up their voices in pitiful and impressive +monotones, as they recounted in a savagely poetic chant their various +adventures since they last looked upon the beloved picture of desolation +that lay about them. + +The third passenger--a youngster--came to land when he had got tired of +swimming for the fun of it, and, once more upon his native heath, he +seemed at a loss to know what to do next, but suffered himself to be +vigorously embraced by nearly everybody in sight, after which he joined +his companions with placid satisfaction, and capered about as naturally +as though nothing unusual had happened. + +Off into the windy sea sped the small schooner, bending to the breeze as +though it were a perpetual miracle that brought her right-side-up every +once in a while. Back to the deserted prayer-house our straggling +community wended its way; everything that had been said before was said +again, with some embellishments. It was beginning to grow tiresome. I +longed to plunge into the desert that stretched around, seeking some +possible oasis where the fainting spirit might reassure itself that +earth was beautiful and life a boon. + +Kahéle agreed with me that this sort of thing was growing tiresome. He +knew of a good place not many miles away; we could go there and sleep. +It presented a church and a good priest, and other inducements of an +exceedingly proper and unexceptionable character. The prospect, though +uninviting, was sufficient to revive me for the moment, and daring that +moment we mounted, and were blown away on horseback. The wind howled in +our ears; sand-clouds peppered us heavily; small pebbles and grit cut +our faces; heavier gusts than usual changed earth, sea, and sky into +temporary chaos. The day waned, so did our spirits, so did the life of +our poor beasts. In the distance, the church of Kahéle's prophecy stood +out like a small rock in a land than which no land I wot of can be +wearier. The sun fell toward the sea; the wind subsided, though it was +still lusty and disagreeable. + +We entered the church, having turned our disheartened beasts into +paddock, and found a meagre and late afternoon session, seated upon mats +that covered the earthen floor. A priest strove to kindle a flame of +religious enthusiasm in our unnatural hearts, but I fear he sought in +vain. The truth was, we were tired to death; we needed wholesome soup, +savoury meats, and steaming vegetables, to humanize us. I didn't want to +be a Christian on an empty stomach. The wind began to sigh, after its +passion was somewhat spent; sand sifted over the matting with a low +hiss; and the dull red curtains, that stretched across the lower half of +the windows, flapped dolefully. Overhead, the wasps had hung their +mud-baskets, and the grey atmosphere of everything was depressing in the +extreme. Service was soon over; the people departed across the windy +moors, with much fluttering of gay garments. A horse stood at pasture, +with his head down, his back to the wind, and his tail glued to his +side,--a picture of sublime resignation. A high mound, with a sandstone +sepulchre built in the face of it, cut off half of the very red sunset, +while a cactus-hedge, starred with pale pink blossoms, ran up a low +hill, and made silhouette pictures against the sky. + +I turned to watch a large butterfly, blown over in the late +gale,--stranded, as it were, at the church porch, and too far gone to +set sail again; a white sea-bird wheeled over me in big circles, and +screamed faintly; something fell in the church with a loud echo,--a +prayer-book, probably; and then the priest came out, fastened the door +of the deserted sanctuary, and the day's duties were done. We had +nothing to do but follow him to his small frame dwelling, where the one +little window to the west seemed to be set with four panes of burnished +gold, and some homely household shrubs in his garden-plat shivered, and +blossomed while they shivered, but looked like so many widows and +orphans, the whole of them. + +At the hospitable board life began afresh. Another day, and we should +again approach the borders of the earthly paradise that glorified the +opposite side of the island. Kahéle's eyes sparkled; my heart leaped +within me; I felt that there was a charm in living, after all; and the +moment was a critical one, for had the lad begged me to return with him +to the beguilements of barbarism, I think it possible that I might have +consented. But he didn't! He was the pink of propriety, and an honour to +his progenitors. He said a brief grace before eating, prayed audibly +before retiring, was patient to the pitch of stupidity, and amiable to +the verge of idiocy. + +At last, I began to see through him. Another four-and-twenty hours, and +he would be restored to the arms of his guardians; the sweet lanes of +Lahaina would again blossom before him; and all that he thought to be +excellent in life would know him as it had known him only a few weeks +before. It was time that he had again begun to walk the straight path, +and he knew it. He was Kahéle, the two-sided; Kahéle, the chameleon, +whose character and disposition partook of the colour of his +surroundings; who was pious to the tune of the church-bell, yet agile as +any dancer of the lascivious _hula_ at the thump of the tom-tom. He was +a representative worthy of some consideration; a typical Hawaiian whose +versatility was only excelled by the plausibility with which he +developed new phases of his kaleidoscopic character. He was very +charming, and as diverting in one _rôle_ as another. He was, moreover, +worthy of much praise for his skill in playing each part so perfectly +that to this hour I am not sure which of his dispositions he excelled +in, nor in which he was most at home. + +Kahéle, adieu! I might have upbraided thee for thy inconstancy, had I +not been accused of that same myself. I might have felt some modicum of +contempt for thee, had thy skin been white; but under the cover of thy +darkness sin hid her ugliness, and thy rich blood leaped to many +generous actions that a white-livered sycophant might not aspire to. I +can but forgive all, and sometimes long a little to live over the two +sides of you,--extremes that met in your precious corporosity, and made +me contented with a changeful and sometimes cheerless pilgrimage; for I +knew, boy, that if I went astray you would meet me upon the highest +moral grounds; and, though I could not rely upon you, somehow you came +to time when least expected, and filled me with admiration and +surprise,--a sentiment which time and absence only threaten to +perpetuate. + + + + +LOVE-LIFE IN A LANAI. + + +IT was the witching hour of sunset, and we sat at dinner with tearful +eyes over the Commodore's curry. You see the Commodore prided himself on +the strength of this identical dish, and kept a mahogany-tinted +East-Indian steward for the sole sake of his skill in concocting the +same. + +We dined, as usual, in the Commodore's unrivalled _Lanai_,--the very +thought of which is a kind of spiritual feast to this hour,--and while +we sat at his board we heard for the twentieth time the monotonous +recital of his adventures by flood and field. Like most sea-stories, his +narratives were ever fresh, as though they had been stowed away in +brine, were fished out of the vasty deep expressly for the occasion, and +put to soak again in their natural element as soon as we had tasted +their quality. + +The Commodore was a roaring old sea-dog, who had been cast ashore +somewhere in the early part of the century; and finding himself in +quarters more comfortable than his wildest fancy dared to paint, he +resolved to end his amphibious days on that strip of shining beach, and +never more lose sight of land until he should slip his cable for the +last time, and sail into undiscovered seas. Meanwhile, he entertained +his friends at Wai-ki-ki, a kind of tropical Long Branch a few miles out +of Honolulu; and the grace with which he introduced Jack-ashore to the +dreamy twilight of his _Lanai_ is one of Jack's deathless memories. We +met the Commodore in the interesting character of Jack-ashore, and with +uncovered heads and hearts full of emotion entered the _Lanai_. + +And now for a word to the uninitiated concerning the _Lanai_ in +question. Off there in the Pacific, under the vertical sun, all shadow +is held at a premium. There are stationary caravans of cocoa-trees, that +seem to be looking for their desert home,--weird, slender trees, with +tattered plumes, and a hopeless air about them, as though they were born +to sorrow, but meant to make the best of it. Still, these fine old palms +cast a thin shadow, about the size and shape of a colossal spider, and +there is no comfort in trying to sit in it. There are likewise trees +with more foliage, and vines that run riot and blossom themselves to +death; but somehow the sharp arrows of sunshine dart in and sting a +fellow in an unpleasant fashion, and nothing short of a good thatch is +to be relied upon. So out from the low eaves of the Commodore's cottage, +on the seaward side, there was a dense roof of leaves and grass, that +ran clear to the edge of the sea, and looked as though it wanted to go +farther; but the Commodore knew it was useless to attempt to roof over +that institution. There was a leafy tapestry hanging two feet below the +roof on the three sides thereof, and from the floor of the inclosure +rose a sort of trellis of woven rushes that hedged us in to the waist. +There was a wicker gate, and an open space between the leafy stalactite +and stalagmite barricade for ventilation and view, and everywhere there +was a kind of semi-twilight that seamed crammed full of dreams and +delicious indolence,--and this is the Hawaiian _Lanai_! + +Of course the Commodore always dined in his _Lanai_. It was like taking +curry on the quarter-deck of the "Whatyoucallher," in the dead calm of +the Indian seas; and when that mahogany steward entered with turban and +mock-turtle,--he always looked to me like a full-blooded +snake-charmer,--I had the greatest difficulty in restraining myself, for +it seemed to me incredible that any Jack-ashore could dine in a _Lanai_ +with his Excellency, and not rise between each savory course to make a +dozen profound _salaams_ to the fattish gentleman at the head of the +table, who was literally covered with invisible naval buttons, and the +hallucination increased as the dinner-courses multiplied. + +At this stage,--just as the snake-charmer was entering with something +that seemed to have come to an untimely end in wine-sauce,--at this +stage the Commodore turned to us as though he were about to give some +order that we might disregard at the peril of our lives,--these sea-dogs +never quite outgrow that sort of thing. "Gentlemen," said he, casting a +watchful and suspicious eye over the weather-bow, "there is to be a +_Luou_--a native feast--in the adjoining premises. Will you do me the +honour to accompany me thither after we have lighted our cigars?" + +I forget what answer we made; but then dinner was well on toward +dessert, and our answer was immaterial. We had our orders, couched in +courteous language, and we were thankful for this consideration; +moreover, we were wild to see a native feast! There is a peculiar charm +in obeying our superiors, when we happen, by some dispensation of Divine +Providence, to be exactly of the same mind. + +Black coffee was offered us, in cups of the pattern of gull's-eggs. By +this time all the sky was saffron, all the sea a shadow of saffron; and +in the golden haze that lay between, a schooner with a piratical slant +to her masts swam by, beyond the foam that hissed along the reef. It was +a wonderful picture, but it came in between the courses of the +Commodore's dinner as though it were nothing better than a +panel-painting in the after-cabin of the "Whatyoucallher." However, as +she swung in toward the mouth of the harbour, and passed a bottle of +Burgundy in safety, but seemed in imminent danger of missing stays +abreast of an enormous pyramid of fruit,--from the Commodore's point of +sight, you know,--the old gentleman lost his temper, and gave an order +in such peremptory terms that I cheerfully refrain from reproducing it +on this occasion. To cover our confusion, we immediately adjourned to +the native feast. + +Hawaiian feast days are not set down in the calendar. Somebody's child +has a birthday, or there is a new house that needs christening; or +perhaps a church is in want, and the feast can net a hundred or two +dollars for it,--since all the eatables in such cases are donated, and +the eaters enter to the feast with the payment of one dollar per head. +Our feast was not sanctified; a chief of the best blood was in the +humour to entertain his friends, countrymen, and lovers. We belonged to +the first order; or, rather, the Commodore was his friend, and we +speedily became as friendly as possible. As we entered the premises, it +appeared to us that half the island was under cover; for limitless +_Lanais_ seemed to run on to the end of time in bewitching vistas. +Numberless lanterns swung softly in the evening gale. A multitude of +white-robed native girls passed to and fro, with that inimitable grace +which I have always supposed Eve copied from the serpent and imparted to +her daughters, who still affect the modern Edens of the earth. Young +Hawaiian bloods, clad in snow-white trousers and ballet-shirts, with +wreaths of _mailné_ around their necks, and ginger-flowers in their +hair, grouped themselves along the evergreen corridors, and looked +unutterable things without any noticeable effort on their part. + +Through the central corridor, under a long line of lanterns, was spread +the corporeal feast, and on either side of it, in two ravenous lines, +sat, tailor-fashion, the hungry and the thirsty. It is useless to +attempt an idealization of the Hawaiian eater. He simply devours +whatever suits his palate, as though he were a packing-case that needed +filling, and the sooner filled the more creditable the performance. But +the amount of filling that he is equal to is the marvel; and the patient +perseverance of the man, so long as there is a crumb left, is something +that I despair of reconciling with any known system of physiology. The +mastication began early in the afternoon. It was eight p.m. when we +looked in upon the orgie, and the bones were not all picked, though they +seemed likely to be before mid night. + +"Will you eat?" said the host. It was not etiquette to decline, and we +sat at the end of the _Lanai_, with nameless dishes strewn about us in +hopeless confusion. We dipped a finger into pink _poi_, and took a pinch +of baked dog. We had limpits with rock-salt; kukui-nuts roasted and +pulverized; and the pale, quivering bits of fish-flesh, not an hour +dead, and still cool with the native coolness of the sea. It was a +fishful feast, any way; and not even the fruits or the flowers could +entirely alleviate the inward agony consequent upon a morsel of raw +fish, swallowed to please our host. + +There was music at the farther end of the palm-leaf pavilion, and +thither we wended our way. The inner court was festooned with flags, and +covered with a large mat. Upon the mat sat, or reclined, several +chiefesses. I am never able to account for the audacious grace of these +women, who throw themselves upon the floor and stretch their supple +limbs like tigresses, with a kind of imperial scorn for your one-horse +proprieties. Their voluminous light garments scarcely concealed the +ample curves of their bodies, and the marvellous creatures seemed to be +breathing to slow music, while their slumberous eyes regarded us with a +gentle indifference that was more tantalizing than any other species of +coquetry that I have knowledge of. + +At one side of the enclosure sat a group of musicians, twanging upon +native harps, and beating the national calabash. Song after song was +sung, pipe after pipe was smoked, and bits of easy and playful +conversation filled the intervals. The evening waned. The eaters and +drinkers were still unsatisfied, because the eatables and drinkables +were not exhausted; but the moon was high and full, and the reef moaned +most musically, and seemed to invite us to the shore. + +The great charm of a native feast is the entire absence of all +formality. Every man is privileged to seek whom his heart may most +desire, and every woman may receive him or reject him as her spirit +prompts. We noticed that the Commodore was uneasy. He was as plump as a +seal, and the crowd oppressed him. We resolved to get the old gentleman +out of his misery, and proposed an immediate adjournment to the beach. +The inner court was soon deserted, and our little party--which now +embraced, figuratively, several magnificent chiefesses, as well as the +primitive Hawaiian orchestra--moved in silence toward the sea. The long, +curving beach glistened and sparkled in the moonlight. The sea, within +the reef, was like a tideless river, from whose pellucid depths, where +the coral spread its wilderness of branches, an unearthly radiance was +reflected. A fleet of slender canoes floated to and fro upon the water, +and beyond them the creaming reef flashed like a girdle of silver, +belting us in from all the world. + +The crowning luxury of savage life is the multitudinous bondsman who +anticipates your every wish, and makes you blush at your own poverty of +invention by his suggestions of unimagined joys. Mats--broad, sweet, and +clean--lay under foot, and served our purpose better than Persian +carpets. The sea itself fawned at our feet, and all the air was shining +and soft as though the moon had dissolved in an ecstasy, and nothing but +a snap of cold weather could congeal her again. Wherever we lay, pillows +were mysteriously slipped under our heads, and the willingest hands in +the world began an involuntary performance of the _lomi-lomi_. Let me +not think upon the _lomi-lomi_, for there is none of it within reach; +but I may say of it that, before the skilful and magnetic hands of the +manipulator are folded, every nerve in the body is seized with an +intense little spasm of recognition, and dies happy. A dreamless sleep +succeeds, and this is followed by an awakening into new life, full of +proud possibilities. + +We were _lomi-lomied_ to the murmurs of the reef, and during the +intervals of consciousness saw an impromptu rehearsal of the "Naiad +Queen," in operatic form. The dancing-girls, being somewhat heated, had +plunged into the sea, and were complaining to the moon in a chorus of +fine harmonies. History does not record how long their sea-song rang +across the waters. I know that we dozed, and woke to watch a silver sail +wafted along the vague and shadowy distance like a phantom. We slept +again, and woke to a sense of silence broken only by the unceasing +monody of the reef; slept and woke yet again in the waning light, for +the moon had sunk to the ragged rim of an old crater, and seemed to have +a large piece bitten out of her glorious disc. Then we broke camp by the +shore,--for the air was a trifle chilly,--and withdrew into the +seclusion of the Commodore's _Lanai_, where we threw ourselves into +hammocks and swung until daybreak. + +In those days we fed on lotus-flowers. Jack-ashore lives for the hour +only, and the very air of such a latitude breathes enchantment. I +believe we bathed before sunrise, and then went regularly to bed and +slept till noon. Such were the Commodore's orders, and this is our +apology. There was a breakfast about one p.m., at which we were +permitted to appear in undress. The Commodore set the example by +inviting us to the table in an extraordinary suit of cream-coloured +silk, that was suggestive of _panjamas_, but might have been some +Oriental regalia especially designed for morning wear. He looked like a +ship under full sail, rocking good-naturedly in a dead calm. The +Commodore was excessively formal at first sight,--that is, just before +breakfast,--but his heart warmed toward mankind in general, and his +guests in particular, as the meal progressed. Some people never are +themselves until they have broken their fast; they are so cranky, and +seem to lack ballast. + +The snaky steward sloughed his clothes twice a day. He was a slim, +noiseless, gliding fellow at breakfast, but he was positively gorgeous +at dinner. Of course, the Commodore had ordered this nice distinction in +the temporal affairs of his servant, for he kept everything about the +place in ship-shape, even to the flying of his private signal from +sunrise to sunset at the top of a tall staff, that rivalled the royal +ensign floating from a similar altitude not a quarter of a mile distant. +His Majesty has a summer palace in Wai-ki-ki, and it has been whispered +that the Commodore refused to recognize him, and never dipped his +colours as the King cantered by in a light buggy drawn by a pair of +spanking bays. + +After breakfast, the cribbage-board was produced, and for three mortal +hours the Commodore kept his peg on the steady march. At cribbage the +old gentleman was expected to lose his temper. He stormed with the +arrogance of a veteran card-player, than whom no man is supposed to make +himself more disagreeable on short notice. Lieutenant Blank was usually +the victim, but he deserved it. The true story of Lieutenant Blank--his +name is suppressed out of consideration for his family--is so common in +tropical seaports that I do not hope in this epitome to offer anything +novel. The Lieutenant was a typical Jack-ashore. He had twice the mail +that came to the rest of us, and he read his love-letters to the mess +with a gusto. He boasted fresh victims in every port, and gloried in his +lack of principle. It did not surprise me at all that the Lieutenant had +_shaken_ his mother. In fact, under the circumstances, I think his +mother would have been justified in shaking him, if she could have got +her hands on him. In the love-light of the Commodore's _Lanai_, life was +very precious to this particular Jack-ashore. To him a _Lanai_ was a +city of refuge, provided by an all-wise Commodore for those fascinating +lieutenants who were pursued by the chief women of the tribe; yet he +loved to loiter without the walls, during the off-hours from cribbage. +No man so relished the _lomi-lomi_; no man, except the native-born, so +clamoured for the _hula-hula_; and no man, not even the least of these, +forgot himself to the same alarming extent whenever there was the +slightest provocation. + +Of course, he met a chiefess and surrendered; of course, he meant in +time to crush the heart that pulsated with the blood-royal. He simpered +and tried to turn semi-savage, and was simply ridiculous. He made silly +speeches in the worst possible Hawaiian, and afforded unlimited +amusement to the women, who are wiser in their dark skins than the +children of light. He tried to eat _poi_, and ruined his linen. He +suffered himself to be wreathed and garlanded, until he was the picture +of a sacrificial calf. He gave gifts, and babbled in his sleep. But in +the hour when his triumph seemed inevitable he was beautifully snubbed +by his supposed victim. The syrens of Scylla are a match for any mariner +who sails with unwadded ears. The Lieutenant cannot hope to hear the +last of that adventure, though the subject is never broached by himself. + +If we had dwelt a thousand years with the Commodore, and sipped the +elixir of life from the gourd that hung by the door of the wine-closet, +I suppose we should have had the same daily and nightly experiences to +go through with, barring a slight variation in the matter of moonshine. +But there were orders superior to the Commodore's, since he was off +active duty, and these orders demanded our reappearance on shipboard at +an early hour of the day following. There was a farewell round of +everything that had been introduced during our brief stay at +Wai-ki-ki,--dances, songs, sea-baths, and flirtations. The moon rose +later, and was but a shadow of her former self; but the stars burned +brightly, and we could still trace the noiseless flight of the solitary +sail that passed like a spirit over the dusky sea. + +I know that in after years, whenever I come within sound of surf under +the prickly sunshine, my fancy will conjure up a picture of that grass +cottage on the slope of a dazzling beach, and the portly form of the old +Commodore stored snugly in the spacious hollow of a bamboo settee, drawn +up on the stocks, as it were, for repairs, with a bandanna spread over +his face, and a dark-eyed crouching figure beside him, fighting +mosquitoes with a tuft of parrot-feathers. No wonder that a body-guard +of some kind was necessary, for I believe that the old Commodore's veins +ran nothing but wine, and mosquitoes are good tasters. + +The picture would not be complete without the attendant houris, and with +their image comes an echo of barbarous chants and the monotonous thump +of the tom-tom; of swaying figures; of supple wrists; of slender, +lascivious hands tossed skilfully in the air, seeking to interpret their +pantomimic dances, and doing it with remarkable freedom and grace. I +shall hear that one song, like an echo eternally repeated,--the song +that was sung by all the lips that had skill to sing, in every valley +under the Hawaiian sun. I remember it as a refrain that was first raised +in Honolulu, but for the copyright of which the respective residents of +Hawaii and Nihau would willingly lay down their lives with the last +words of the song rattling in their throats. + +"_Poli-anu_" or "Cool-bosom," is a fair specimen of the ballad +literature of Hawaii, and the following free translation will perhaps +give a suggestion of the theme. "_Poli-anu_" is sung by the old and +decrepid, the lame, the halt, and the blind, as well as by the merest +children. I have heard it carolled by a solitary boy tending goats upon +the breezy heights of Kaupo. I have listened to it in the market-place, +where a chorus of a dozen voices held the customer entranced. In the +high winds of the middle channel the song is raised, as the schooner +lays over at a perilous angle, and ships water enough to dampen the +ardour of most singers. It is sung in the church-porch, by the brackish +well in the desert, under the moonlit palms, and everywhere else. It +cheers the midnight vigil of the prisoner, and makes glad the heart of +the sorrowful. It is altogether useful as well as ornamental; and the +Hawaiian who does not number among his accomplishments the ability to +sing "_Poli-anu_" tolerably well, is unworthy of the name. + + POLI-ANU. + + Bosom, here is love for you, + O bosom cool as night! + How you refresh me as with dew,-- + Your coolness gives delight. + + Rain is cold upon the hill, + And water in the pool, + Yet all my frame is colder still + For you, O bosom cool. + + Face to face beneath a bough + I may not you embrace, + But feel a spell on breast and brow + While sitting face to face. + + Thoughts in absence send a thrill + Like touch of sweeter air: + I sought you, and I seek you still, + O bosom cool and fair! + +That is all of it; but your Hawaiian turns back and begins over again, +until he has enough. + +I suppose it is no breach of confidence on my part to state that the +gorgeous old Commodore is dead. There was nothing in his _Lanai_ life to +die of, except an accident, and in course of time he met with one. I +forget the nature of it, but it finished him. There was wailing for +three mortal days in the solemn shadow of the _Lanai_; and then one of +the large, motherly-looking creatures, with numberless gauzy folds in a +dress that fell straight from her broad shoulders, moved in. After three +days of feasting, all vestiges of the Commodore's atmosphere had +disappeared from the premises. I fancy she always felt at home there, +although she was never known to open her lips in the presence of the +Commodore's guests. Life was a little more intense after that. The snaky +steward disappeared, without any sort of warning. I have always believed +that he crawled under some rock, and laid himself away in a coil; that +he will sleep for a century or so, then come out in his real character, +and astonish the inhabitants with his length and his slimness. + +Lieutenant Blank survives, and sails the stormy seas on a moderate +salary, the major portion of which he turns into naval buttons. I hear +from him once in a dog's age. He is first at Callao, with a daily jaunt +into Lima; and then at one of the South Sea paradises; next at +Australia, or in the China Sea; and in the future--heaven knows where! +He vibrates between the two hemispheres, working out his time, and +believing himself supremely happy. I doubt not that he is happy, being +about as selfish as men are made. + +As for myself, I am a landsman. After all that is said, the sea is +rather a bore, you know; but I do not forget the dreamy days of calm in +the flowering equatorial waters, nor the troubled days of storm. There +are a thousand-and-one trifling events in the fragmentary experiences of +the seafarer that are of more importance than this stray leaf, but +perhaps none that will serve my purpose better. For this yarn is as +fine-drawn as the episodes in an out-of-the-way port,--with nothing but +the faint odour of its fruits a little over-ripe, of its flowers a +little over-blown, and a general sense of uncomfortable warmth, to give +it individuality. I have found these experiences excellent memories; for +though the dull "waits" between the acts and the sluggishness of the +action at best are a little dreary at times, they are forgotten, +together with most disagreeable matter. I'll warrant you, Lieutenant +Blank, strutting his little hour between-decks, or in the fleeting +moments of the delectable "dog-watch," muses upon the past. When he has +aroused the fever in his blood, and can no longer hold his tongue, he +heaves an ominous sigh, knits his brows, and, in a voice that quivers +with emotion, he whispers to the marines the beguiling romance of his +_Love-life in a Lanai_. + + + + +IN A TRANSPORT. + + +A LITTLE French _aspirant de marine_, with an incipient moustache, said +to me, confidentially, "Where you see the French flag, you see France!" +We were pacing to and fro on the deck of a transport that swung at +anchor off San Francisco, and, as I looked shoreward for almost the last +time,--we were to sail at daybreak for a southern cruise,--I hugged my +Ollendorf in despair as I dreamed of "French in six easy lessons," +without a master, or a tolerable accent, or anything, save a suggestion +of Babel and a confusion of tongues at sea. + +Thanaron, the aspirant in question, embraced me when I boarded the +transport with my baggage, treated me like a long-lost brother all that +afternoon, and again embraced me when I went ashore towards evening to +take leave of my household. There was something so impulsive and boyish +in his manner that I immediately returned his salute, and with +considerable fervour, feeling that kind Heaven had thrown me into the +arms of the exceptional foreigner who would, to a certain extent, +console me for the loss of my whole family. The mystery that hangs over +the departure of any craft that goes by wind is calculated to appal the +landsman; and when the date of sailing is fixed, the best thing he can +do is to go aboard in season and compose his soul in peace. To be sure, +he may swing at anchor for a day or two, in full sight of the domestic +circle that he has shattered, but he is spared the repetition of those +last agonies, and cuts short the unravelling hours just prior to a +separation, which are probably the most unsatisfactory in life. + +Under cover of darkness a fellow can do almost anything, and I concluded +to go on board. There was a late dinner and a parting toast at home, and +those ominous silences in the midst of a conversation that was as +spasmodic and disconnected and unnatural as possible. There was +something on our minds, and we relapsed in turn and forgot ourselves in +the fathomless abysses of speculation. Some one saw me off that +night,--some one who will never again follow me to the sea, and welcome +me on my return to earth after my wandering. We sauntered down the dark +streets along the city front, and tried to disguise our motives, but it +was hard work. Presently we heard the slow swing of the tide under us, +and the musty odour of the docks regaled us; one or two shadows seemed +to be groping about in the neighbourhood, making more noise than a +shadow has any right to make. + +Then came the myriad-masted shipping, the twinkling lights in the +harbour, and a sense of ceaseless motion in waters that never can be +still. We did not tarry there long. The boat was bumping her bow against +a pair of slippery stairs that led down to the water, and I entered the +tottering thing that half sunk under me, dropped into my seat in the +stern, and tried to call out something or other as we shot away from the +place, with a cloud over my eyes that was darker than night itself, and +a cloud over my heart that was as heavy as lead. After that there was +nothing to do but to climb up one watery swell and slide down on the +other side of it, to count the shadow-ships that shaped themselves out +of chaos as we drew near them, and dissolved again when we had passed; +while the oars seemed to grunt in the rowlocks, and the two jolly tars +in uniform--they might have been mutes, for all I know--swung to and +fro, to and fro, dragging me over the water to my "ocean bride,"--I +think that is what they call a ship, when the mood is on them! + +She did look pretty as we swam up under her. She looked like a great +_silhouette_ against the steel-grey sky; but within was the sound of +revelry, and I hastened on board to find our little cabin blue with +smoke, which, however, was scarcely dense enough to muffle the martial +strains of the _Marseillaise_, as shouted by the whole mess. + +Thanaron--my Thanaron--was in the centre of the table, with his curly +head out of the transom,--not that he was by any means a giant, but we +were all a little cramped between-decks,--and he was leading the chorus +with a sabre in one hand and the head of the Doctor in the other. +Without the support of the faculty, he would probably not have ended his +song of triumph as successfully as he ultimately did, when Nature +herself had fainted from exhaustion. It was the last night in port, a +few friends from shore had come to dine, and black coffee and cognac at +a late hour had finished the business. + +If there is one thing in this world that astonishes me more than +another, it is the rapidity with which some people talk in French. +Thanaron's French, when he once got started, sounded to me like the +well-executed trill of a _prima-donna_, and quite as intelligible. The +joke of it was, that Frenchmen seemed to find no difficulty in +understanding him at his highest speed. On the whole, perhaps, this fact +astonishes me more than the other. + +Dinner was as far over as it could get without beginning again and +calling itself breakfast; so the party broke up in a whirlwind of +patriotic songs, and, one by one, we dropped our guests over the side of +the vessel until there was none left, and then we waved them a thousand +adieus, and kept up the last words as long as we could catch the +faintest syllable of a reply. There were streaks of dull red in the east +by this time, and the outlines of the city were again becoming visible. +This I dreaded a little; and, when our boat had returned and everything +was put in shipshape, I deliberately dropped a tear in the presence of +my messmates, who were overcome with emotion at the spectacle; and, +having all embraced, we went below, where I threw myself, with some +caution, into my hammock, and slept until broad daylight. + +I did not venture on deck again until after our first breakfast,--an +informal one, that set uneasily on the table, and seemed inclined to +make its escape from one side or the other. Of course, we were well +under way by this time. I was assured of the fact by the reckless +rolling of the vessel and the strange and unfamiliar feeling in my +stomach, as though it were some other fellow's stomach, and not my own. +My legs were a trifle uncertain; my head was queer. Everybody was +rushing everywhere, and doing things that had to be undone or done over +again in the course of the next ten minutes. I resolved to pace the +deck, which is probably the best thing for a man to do when he goes down +to the sea in ships, and does business--you could hardly call it +pleasure--on great waters. + +I went up the steep companion-way, and found a deck-load of ropes, and +the entire crew--dressed in blue flannel, with broad collars--skipping +about in the most fantastic manner. It was like a ballet scene in +_L'Africaine_, and highly diverting--for a few minutes! From my +stronghold on the top stair of the companion-way, I cast my eye +shoreward. The long coast ran down the horizon under a broadside of +breakers that threatened to engulf the continent; the air was grey with +scattering mist; the sea was much disturbed, and of that ugly +yellowish-green tint that signifies soundings. Overhead, a few sea-birds +whirled in disorder, shrieking as though their hearts would break. It +looked ominous, yet I felt it my duty, as an American under the shadow +of the tricolour, to keep a stiff upper lip,--and I flatter myself that +I did so. Figuratively speaking, I balanced myself in the mouth of the +companion-way, with a bottle of claret in one pocket and a French roll +in the other, while I brushed the fog from my eyes with the sleeve of my +monkey-jacket, and exclaimed with the bard, "My native land, +good-night." + +It was morning at the time, but I did not seem to care much. In fact, +time is not of the slightest consequence on shipboard. So I withdrew to +my hammock, and having climbed into it in safety ended the day after a +miserable fashion that I have deplored a thousand times since, during +the prouder moments of my life. + +A week passed by--I suppose it was a week, for I could reckon only seven +days, and seven nights of about twice the length of the days--- during +that interval; yet I should, in the innocence of my heart, have called +it a month, without a moment's hesitation. We arose late in the +morning,--those of us who had a watch below; ate a delightfully long and +narrow breakfast, consisting of an interminable procession of dishes in +single file; paced the deck and canvassed the weather; went below to +read, but talked instead; dined as we had breakfasted, only in a far +more elaborate and protracted manner, while a gentle undercurrent of +side-dishes lent interest to the occasion. There was a perpetual stream +of conversation playing over the table, from the moment that heralded +the soup until the last drop of black coffee was sopped up with a bit of +dry bread. By the time we had come to cheese, everybody felt called upon +to say his say, in the face of everybody else. I alone kept my place, +and held it because the heaviest English I knew fell feebly to the floor +before the thunders of those five prime Frenchmen, who were flushed with +enthusiasm and good wine. I dreamed of home over my cigarette, and tried +to look as though I were still interested in life, when, Heaven knows, +my face was more like a half-obliterated cameo of despair than anything +human. Thanaron, my foreign affinity, now and then threw me a +semi-English nut to crack, but by the time I had recovered myself,--it +is rather embarrassing to be assaulted even in the most friendly manner +with a batch of broken English,--by the time I had framed an +intelligible response, Thanaron was in the heat of a fresh argument, +and keeping up a running fire of small shot that nearly floored the +mess. + +But there is an end even to a French dinner, and we ultimately adjourned +to the deck, where, about sunset, everybody took his station while the +_Angelus_ was said. Then twilight, with a subdued kind of skylarking in +the forecastle, and genteel merriment amidships, while _Monsieur le +Capitaine_ paced the high quarter-deck with the shadow of a smile +crouching between the fierce jungles of his intensely black +side-whiskers. Ah, sir, it was something to be at sea in a French +transport with the tricolour flaunting at the peak; to have four guns +with their mouths gagged, and oilcloth capes lashed snugly over them; to +see everybody in uniform, each having the profoundest respect for those +who ranked a notch above him, and having, also, an ill-disguised +contempt for the unlucky fellow beneath him! This spirit was observable +from one end of the ship to the other, and, sirs, we had a little world +of our own revolving on a wabbling axis between the staunch ribs of the +old transport "Chevert." + +We were bound for Tahiti, God willing and the winds favourable; and the +common hope of ultimately finding port in that paradise was all that +held us together through thick and thin. We might wrangle at dinner, and +come to breakfast next morning with bitterness in our hearts; we might +sink into the bottomless pit of despond; we might revile _Monsieur le +Capitaine_ and _Monsieur le Cuisinier_, including in our anathemas the +elements and some other things; they (the Frenchmen) might laugh to +scorn the great American people,--and they did it, two or three +times--and I, in my turn, might feel a secret contempt for Paris, +without having the power to express the same in tolerable French, so I +felt it, and held my tongue. Even Thanaron gave me a French shrug now +and then that sent the cold shivers through me; but there was sure to +come a sunset like a sea of fire, at which golden hour we were +marshalled amidships, and stood with uncovered heads and the soft light +playing over us, while the littlest French boy in the crew said the +evening prayer with exceeding sweetness,--being the youngest, he was the +most worthy of saying it,--and then we all crossed ourselves, and our +hearts melted within us. + +There was something in the delicious atmosphere, growing warmer every +day, and something in the delicious sea, that was beginning to rock her +floating gardens of blooming weed under our bows, and something in the +aspect of _Monsieur le Capitaine_, with his cap off and a shadow of +prayer softening his hard, proud face, that unmanned us; so we rushed to +our own little cabin and hugged one another, lest we should forget how +when we were restored to our sisters and our sweethearts, and everything +was forgiven and forgotten in one intense moment of French remorse. + +Who took me in his arms and carried me the length of the cabin in three +paces, at the imminent peril of my life? Thanaron! Who admired +Thanaron's gush of nature, and nearly squeezed the life out of him in +the vain hope of making their joy known to him? Everybody else in the +mess! Who looked on in bewilderment, and was half glad and half sorry, +though more glad than sorry by half, and wondered all the while what +was coming next? Bless you, it was I! And we kept doing that sort of +thing until I got very used to it, and by the time we sighted the green +summits of Tahiti, my range of experience was so great that nothing +could touch me further. It may not be that we were governed by the laws +of ordinary seafarers. The "Chevert" was shaped a little like a +bath-tub, with a bow like a duck's breast, and a high, old-fashioned +quarter-deck, resembling a Chinese junk with a reef in her stern. Forty +bold sailor-boys, who looked as though they had been built on precisely +the same model and dealt out to the government by the dozen, managed to +keep the decks very clean and tidy, and the brass-work in a state of +dazzling brightness. The ship was wonderfully well-ordered. I could tell +you by the sounds on deck, while I swung in the comfortable seclusion of +my hammock, just the hour of the day or night, but that was after I had +once learned the order of events. There was the Sunday morning +inspection, the Wednesday sham naval battle, the prayers night and +morning, and the order to shorten sail each evening. Between times the +decks were scrubbed and the whole ship renovated; sometimes the rigging +was darkened with drying clothes, and sometimes we felt like ancient +mariners, the sea was so oily, and the air so hot and still. There was +nothing stirring save the sea-birds, who paddled about like tame ducks, +and the faint, thin thread of smoke that ascended noiselessly from the +dainty rolls of tobacco in the fingers of the entire ship's crew. In +fact, when we moved at all in these calm waters, we seemed to be +propelled by forty-cigarette power, for there was not a breath of air +stirring. + +It was at such times that we fought our bloodless battles. The hours +were ominous; breakfast did not seem half a breakfast, because we +hurried through it with the dreadful knowledge that a conflict was +pending, and possibly--though not probably--we might never gather at +that board again, for a naval engagement is something terrible, and life +is uncertain in the fairest weather. Breakfast is scarcely over when the +alarm is given, and with the utmost speed every Frenchman flies to his +post. Already the horizon is darkened with the Prussian navy, yet our +confidence in the staunch old "Chevert," in each particular soul on +board, and in our undaunted leader,--_Monsieur le Capitaine_, who is +even now scouring the sea with an enormous marine glass that of itself +is enough to strike terror to the Prussian heart,--our implicit +confidence in ourselves is such that we smilingly await the approach of +the doomed fleet. At last they come within range of our guns, and the +conflict begins. I am unfortunately compelled to stay beneath the +hatches. A sham battle is no sight for an inexperienced landsman to +witness, and, moreover, I should doubtless get in the way of the frantic +crew, who seem resolved to shed the last drop of French blood in behalf +of _la belle France_. + +Marine engagements are, as a general thing, a great bore. The noise is +something terrific; ammunition is continually passed up through the +transom over our dinner-table, and a thousand feet are rushing over the +deck with a noise as of theatrical thunder. The engagement lasts for an +hour or two. Once or twice we are enveloped in sheets of flame. We are +speedily deluged with water, and the conflict is renewed with the +greatest enthusiasm. Again, and again, and again, we pour a broadside +into the enemy's fleet, and always with terrific effect. We invariably +do ourselves the greatest credit, for, by the time our supplies are +about exhausted, not a vestige of the once glorious navy of Prussia +remains to tell the tale. The sea is, of course, blood-stained for miles +around. The few persistent Prussians who attempt to board us are +speedily despatched, and allowed to drop back into the remorseless +waves. A shout of triumph rings up from our triumphant crew, and the +play is over. + +Once more the hatches are removed; once more I breathe the sweet air of +heaven, for not a grain of powder has been burned through all this +fearful conflict; once more my messmates rush into our little cabin and +regale themselves with copious draughts of absinthe, and I am pressed to +the proud bosom of Thanaron, who is restored to me without a scar to +disfigure his handsome little body. I grew used to these weekly wars, +and before we came in sight of our green haven, there was not a Prussian +left in the Pacific. It is impossible that any nation, though they be +schooled to hardships, could hope to survive such a succession of +disastrous conflicts. On the whole, I like sham battles; they are deuced +exciting, and they don't hurt. + +How different, how very different those sleepy days when we were +drifting on towards the Marquesas Islands! The silvery phaetons darted +overhead like day-stars shooting from their spheres. The seaweed grew +denser, and a thousand floating things,--broken branches with a few +small leaves attached, the husk of a cocoanut, or straws such as any +dove from any ark would be glad to seize upon,--these gave us ample food +for speculation. "Piloted by the slow, unwilling winds," we came close +to the star-lit Nouka Hiva, and shortened sail right under its fragrant +shadow. It was a glorious night. There was the subtile odour of earth in +the warm, faint air, and before us that impenetrable shadow that we knew +to be an island, yet whose outlines were traceable only by the +obliterated stars. + +At sunrise we were on deck, and, looking westward, saw the mists melt +away like a veil swept from before the face of a dusky Venus just rising +from the waves. The island seemed to give out a kind of magnetic heat +that made our blood tingle. We gravitated toward it with an almost +irresistible impulse. Something had to be done before we yielded to the +fascinations of this savage enchantress. Our course lay to the windward +of the south-eastern point of the land; but, finding that we could not +weather it, we went off before the light wind and drifted down the +northern coast, swinging an hour or more under the lee of some parched +rocks, eyeing the "Needles,"--the slender and symmetrical peaks so +called,--and then we managed to work our way out into the open sea +again, and were saved. + +Valleys lay here and there, running back from the shore with green and +inviting vistas; slim waterfalls made one desperate leap from the clouds +and buried themselves in the forests hundreds of feet below, where they +were lost for ever. Rain-clouds hung over the mountains, throwing deep +shadows across the slopes that but for this relief would have been too +bright for the sentimental beauty that usually identifies a tropical +island. + +I happened to know something about the place, and marked every inch of +the scorching soil as we floated past groves of rosewood, sandal-wood, +and a hundred sorts of new and strange trees, looking dark and velvety +in the distance; past strips of beach that shone like brass, while +beyond them the cocoa-palms that towered above the low, brown huts of +the natives seemed to reel and nod in the intense meridian heat. A moist +cloud, far up the mountain, hung above a serene and sacred haunt, and +under its shelter was hidden a deep valley, whose secret has been +carried to the ends of the earth; for Herman Melville has plucked out +the heart of its mystery, and beautiful and barbarous Typee lies naked +and forsaken. + +I was rather glad we could not get any nearer to it, for fear of +dispelling the ideal that has so long charmed me. Catching the wind +again, late in the afternoon, we lost the last outline of Nouka Hiva in +the soft twilight, and said our prayers that evening as much at sea as +ever. Back we dropped into the solemn round of uneventful days. Even the +sham battles no longer thrilled us. In fact, the whole affair was a +little too theatrical to bear frequent repetition. There was but one of +our mess who could muster an episode whenever we became too stagnant for +our health's good, and this was our first officer,--a tall, slim fellow, +with a warlike beard, and very soft, dark eyes, whose pupils seemed to +be floating aimlessly about under the shelter of long lashes. His face +was in a perpetual dispute with itself, and I never knew which was the +right or the wrong side of him. B---- was the happy possessor of a tight +little African, known as Nero, although I always looked upon him as so +much Jamaica ginger. Nero was as handsome a specimen of tangible +darkness as you will sight in a summer's cruise. B---- loved with the +ardour of his vacillating eyes, yet governed with the rigour of his +beard. Nero was consequently prepared for any change in the weather, no +matter how sudden or uncalled for. In the equatorial seas, while we +sailed to the measure of the Ancient Mariner, B---- summoned Nero to the +sacrifice, and, having tortured him to the extent of his wits, there was +a reconciliation more ludicrous than any other scene in the farce. It +was at such moments that B----'s eyes literally swam, when even his +beard wilted, while he told of the thousand pathetic eras in Nero's +life, when he might have had his liberty, but found the service of his +master more beguiling; of the adventures by flood and field, where B---- +was distinguishing himself, yet at his side, through thick and thin, +struggled the faithful Nero. Thus B---- warmed himself at the fire his +own enthusiasm had kindled on the altar of self-love, and every moment +added to his fervour. It was the yellow fever, and the cholera, and the +smallpox, that were powerless to separate that faithful slave from the +agonizing bedside of his master. It was shipwreck, and famine, and the +smallest visible salary, that seemed only to strengthen the ties that +bound them the one to the other. Death--cruel death--alone could +separate them; and B---- took Nero by the throat and kissed him +passionately upon his sooty cheek, and the floating eyes came to a +standstill with an expression of virtuous defiance that was calculated +to put all conventionalities to the blush. We were awed by the +magnanimity of such conduct, until we got thoroughly used to it, and +then we were simply entertained. We kept looking forward to the +conclusion of the scene, which usually followed in the course of half an +hour. B---- having fondled Nero to his heart's content, and Nero having +become somewhat bored, there was sure to arise some mild disturbance, +aggravated by both parties, and B----, believing he had endured as much +as any Frenchman and first officer is expected to endure without +resentment, suddenly rises, and, seizing Nero by the short, wiry moss of +his scalp, kicks him deliberately from the cabin, and returns to us +bursting with indignation. This domestic equinox we soon grew fond of, +and, having become familiar with all its signals of approach, we watched +with agreeable interest the inevitable climax. It was well for Nero that +Nature had provided against any change of colour in his skin, for he +must have borne the sensation of his chastisement for some hours, though +he was unable to give visible expression of it. By-and-by came B----'s +own private birthday. Nothing had been said of it at table, and, in +fact, nothing elsewhere, that I remember; but Nero, who had survived +several of those anniversaries, bore it in mind, and our dinner was +something gorgeous--to look at! Unhappily, certain necessary ingredients +had been unavoidably omitted in the concocting of the dessert, +ornamental pastry not being set down in our regular bill of fare; but +B---- ate of pies that were built of chips, and of puddings that were +stuffed with sawdust, until I feared we should be called upon to mourn +the loss of a first officer before morning. + +Moreover, B---- insisted that everything was unsurpassed; and, heaven be +thanked! I believe the pastry could easily lay claim to that +distinction. At any rate, never before or since have I laid teeth to +such a Dead Sea dessert. At this point, B---- naturally called Nero to +him and thanked him, with moist and truthful eyes, and the ingenuous +little Jamaican dropped a couple of colourless tears that would easily +have passed for anybody's anywhere. For this mutual exhibition of +sentiment every one of us was duly grateful, and we never afterward +scorned B---- for his eccentricities, since we knew him to be capable of +genuine feeling. Moreover, he nearly died of his birthday feast, yet did +not once complain of the unsuspecting cause of all his woe, who was at +his side night and day, anticipating all his wishes, and deploring the +unaccountable misfortunes of his master. + +So the winds blew us into the warm south latitudes. I was getting +restless. Perhaps we had talked ourselves out of legitimate topics of +conversation, and were forcing the social element. It was tedious beyond +expression, passing day after day within sound of the same voices, and +being utterly unable to flee into never so small a solitude, for there +was not an inch of it on board. Swinging at night in my hammock between +decks, wakefully dreaming of the future and of the past, again and again +I have stolen up on deck, where the watch lay in the moonlight, droning +their interminable yarns and smoking their perpetual cigarettes,--for +French sailors have privileges, and improve them with considerable +grace. + +It was at such times that the wind sung in the rigging, with a sound as +of a thousand swaying branches full of quivering leaves,--just as the +soft gale in the garden groves suggests pleasant nights at sea, the +vibration of the taut stays, and the rush of waters along the smooth +sides of the vessel. A ship's rigging is a kind of sea-harp, played upon +by the four winds of heaven. + +The sails were half in moonlight and half in shadow. Every object was +well defined, and on the high quarter-deck paced Thanaron, his boyish +figure looking strangely picturesque, for he showed in every motion how +deeply he felt the responsibility of his office. There was usually a +faint light in the apartments of _Monsieur le Capitaine_, and I thought +of him in his gold lace and dignity, poring over a French novel, or +cursing the light winds. I used to sit upon the neck of a gun,--one of +our four dummies, that were never known to speak louder than a +whisper,--lay my head against the moist bulwarks, and listen to the +half-savage chants of the Tahitian sailors who helped to swell our crew. +As we drew down toward the enchanted islands they seemed fairly +bewitched, and it was with the utmost difficulty that they could keep +their mouths shut until evening, when they were sure to begin intoning +an epic that usually lasted through the watch. Sometimes a fish leaped +into the moonlight, and came down with a splash; or a whale heaved a +great sigh close to us, and as I looked over the bulwarks, I would catch +a glimpse of the old fellow just going down, like a submerged island. +Occasionally a flying-fish--a kind of tangible moonbeam--fell upon deck, +and was secured by one of the sailors; or a bird, sailing about with an +eye to roosting on one of our yards, gave a plaintive, ominous cry, that +was echoed in falsetto by two or three voices, and rung in with the +Tahitian cantata of island delights. Even this sort of thing lost its +charm after a little. Thanaron could not speak to me, because Thanaron +was officer of the deck at that moment, and Thanaron himself had said to +me, "Order, Monsieur, order is the first law of France!" I had always +supposed that Heaven had a finger in the making of that law,--but it is +all the same to a Frenchman. + +Most sea-days have a tedious family resemblance, their chief +characteristic being the almost total absence of any distinguishing +feature. Fair weather and foul; sunlight, moonlight, and starlight; +moments of confidence; oaths of eternal fidelity; plans for the future +long enough to crowd a century uncomfortably; relapses, rows, +recoveries; then, after many days, the water subsided, and we saw land +at last. + +Land, God bless it! Long, low coral reefs, with a strip of garden +glorifying them; rocks towering out of the sea, palm-crowned, +foam-fringed; wreaths of verdure cast upon the bosom of the ocean, for +ever fragrant in their imperishable beauty; and, beyond and above them +all, gorgeous and glorious Tahiti. + +On the morning of the thirty-third day out, there came a revelation to +the whole ship's company. A faint blue peak was seen struggling with the +billows; presently it seemed to get the better of them, growing broader +and taller, but taking hours to do so. The wind was stiff, and the sea +covered with foam; we rolled frightfully all day. Our French dinner lost +its identity. Soup was out of the question; we had hard work to keep +meat and vegetables from total wreck, while we hung on to the legs of +the table with all our strength. How the old "Chevert" "bucked," that +day, as though conscious that for months to come she would swing in +still waters by the edge of green pastures, where any such conduct would +be highly inappropriate. + +Every hour the island grew more and more beautiful, as though it were +some lovely fruit or flower, swiftly and magically coming to maturity. A +central peak, with a tiara of rocky points, crowns it with majesty, and +a neighbouring island of great beauty seems its faithful attendant. I do +not wonder that the crew of the "Bounty" mutinied when they were ordered +to make sail and turn their backs on Tahiti; nor am I surprised that +they put the captain and one or two other objectionable features into a +small boat, and advised them to continue their voyage if they were +anxious to do so: but as for them, give them Tahiti, or give them worse +than death,--and, if convenient, give them Tahiti straight, and keep all +the rest for the next party that came along. + +As soon as we were within hailing distance, the pilot came out and took +us under his wing. We kissed the hand of a citizen of the new world, +and, for the first time since losing sight of the dear California coast, +dismissed it from our minds. There was very little wind right under the +great green mountains, so the frigate "Astrea" sent a dozen boats to tow +us through the opening in the reef to our most welcome anchorage. No +Doge of Venice ever cruised more majestically than we, and our +sea-pageant was the sensation of the day. + +"Click-click" went the anchor-chains through the hawse-holes, down into +a deep, sheltered bowl of the sea, whose waters have never yet been +ruffled by the storms that beat upon the coral wall around it. Along the +crescent shores trees dropped their yellow leaves into the water, and +tried their best to bury the slim canoes drawn up among their roots. +Beyond this barricade of verdure the eye caught glimpses of every sort +of tropical habitation imaginable, together with the high roofs and +ponderous white walls of the French government buildings. The foliage +broke over the little town like a green sea, and every possibility of a +good view of it was lost in the inundation. Above it towered the sublime +crest of the mountain, with a strip of cloud about its middle in true +savage fashion. Perpetual harvest lay in its lap, and it basked in the +smile of God. + +Twilight, fragrant and cool; a fruity flavour in the air, a flower-like +tint in sea and sky, the ship's boat waiting to convey us shoreward.... +O Thanaron, my Thanaron, with your arms about my neck, and B----'s arms +about you, and Nero clinging to his master's knees,--in fact, with +everybody felicitating every other body, because it was such an evening +as descends only upon the chosen places of the earth, and because, +having completed our voyage in safety, we were all literally in a +transport! + + + + +A PRODIGAL IN TAHITI. + + +Let this confession be topped with a vignette done in broad, shadowless +lines, and few of them,--something like this:-- + +A little, flyblown room, smelling of garlic; I cooling my elbows on the +oily slab of a table (breakfast for one), and looking through a window +at a glaring, whitewashed fence high enough to shut out the universe +from my point of sight. Yet it hid not all, since it brought into relief +a panting cock (with one leg in a string), which had so strained to +compress itself into a doubtful inch of shade that its suspended claw +clutched the air in real agony. + +Having dazzled my eyes with this prospect, I turned gratefully to the +vanities of life that may be had for two francs in Tahiti. _Vide_ bill +of fare: One fried egg, like the eye of some gigantic Albino; potatoes +hollowed out bombshell fashion, primed with liver-sausage, very +ingenious and palatable; the naked corpse of a fowl that cared not to +live longer, from appearances, yet looked not happy in death. + +Item: Wonder if there _is_ a more ghastly spectacle than a chicken +cooked in the French style; its knees drawn up on its breast like an +Indian mummy, while its blue-black, parboiled, and melancholy visage +tearfully surveys its own unshrouded remains. After a brief season of +meditation, I said, and I trust I meant it, "I thank the Lord for all +these blessings." Then I gave the corpse of the chicken Christian burial +under a fold of the window curtain, disposed of the fried eye of the +Albino, and transformed myself into a mortar for the time being, taking +potato-bombshells according to my calibre. + +There was claret all the while and plenty of butterless roll, a shaving +of cheese, a banana, black coffee and cognac, when I turned again to +dazzle myself with the white fence, and saw with infinite pity,--a +sentiment perhaps not unmixed with a suspicion of cognac or some other +temporary humanizing element,--I saw for a fact that the poor cock had +wilted, and lay flat in the sun like a last year's duster. That was too +much for me. I wheeled towards the door where gleamed the bay with its +lovely ridges of light; canoes drifting over it drew the eye after them +irresistibly; I heard the ship-calkers on the beach making their +monotonous clatter, and the drone of the bareheaded fruitsellers +squatted in rows chatting indolently, with their eyes half shut. I could +think of nothing but bees humming over their own sweet wares. + +About this time a young fellow at the next table, who had scarcely a +mouthful of English at his command, implored me to take beer with him; +implying that we might, if desirable, become as tight as two bricks. I +declined, much to his admiration, he regarding my refusal as a clear +case of moral courage, whereas it arose simply and solely from my utter +inability to see his treat and go him one better. + +An adult in Tahiti has an eating hour allotted to him twice a day, at 10 +a.m. and 5 p.m. My time being up, I returned to the store in an +indifferent frame of mind, and upon entering the presence of my +employer, who had arrived a moment before me, I was immediately covered +with the deep humiliation of servitude, and withdrew to an obscure +corner, while Monsieur and some naval guests took absinthe unblushingly, +which was, of course, proper enough in them. Call it by what name you +will, you cannot sweeten servility to my taste. Then why was I there and +in bondage? The spirit of adventure that keeps life in us, yet comes +near to worrying it out of us now and then, lured me with my handful of +dollars to the Garden of the Pacific. "You can easily get work," said +some one who had been there and didn't want it. If work I must, why not +better there than here, thought I; and the less money I take with me the +surer am I to seek that which might not attract me under other +circumstances. A few letters which proved almost valueless; an abiding +trust in Providence, afterward somewhat shaken I am sorry to state, +which convinces me that I can no longer hope to travel as a shorn lamb; +considerable confidence in the good feeling of my fellow-men, together +with the few dollars above referred to,--comprised my all when I set +foot on the leaf-strewn and shady beach of Papeete. + +Before the day was over I saw my case was almost hopeless; I was one too +many in a very meagre congregation of foreigners. In a week I was +desperate, with poverty and disgrace brooding like evil spirits on +either hand. Every ten minutes some one suggested something which was +almost immediately suppressed by the next man I met, to whom I applied +for further information. Teach, said one: there wasn't a pupil to be had +in the dominion. Clerkships were out of the question likewise. I might +keep a store, if I could get anything to put in it; or go farther, as +some one suggested, if I had money enough to get there. I thought it +wiser to endure the ills I had than fly to others that I knew not of. In +this state I perambulated the green lanes of Papeete, conscious that I +was drawing down tons of immaterial sympathy from hearts of various +nationalities, beating to the music of regular salaries in hard cash, +and the inevitable ringing of their daily dinner-bell; and I continued +to perambulate under the same depressing avalanches for a fortnight or +more,--a warning to the generation of the inexperienced that persists in +sowing itself broadcast upon the edges of the earth, and learns too late +how hard a thing it is to take root under the circumstances. + +One gloomy day I was seized in the market-place and led before a French +gentleman who offered me a bed and board for such manual compensation as +I might be able to give him in his office during the usual business +hours, namely, from daybreak to sometime in the afternoon, unless it +rained, when business was suspended, and I was dropped until fair +weather should set that little world wagging again. + +I was invited to enter into the bosom of his family, in fact, to be +_one_ of them, and no single man could ask to be more; to sit at his +table and hope for better days, in which diversion he proposed to join +me with all his soul. + +With an emotion of gratitude and a pang at being thus early a subject +of charity, I began business in Papeete, and learned within the hour how +sharper than most sharps it is to know only your own mother-tongue when +you're away from home. + +Nightly I walked two hot and dusty miles through groves of bread-fruit +and colonnades of palms to my new master's. I skirted, with loitering +steps, a placid sea whose crystalline depths sheltered leagues and +leagues of sun-painted corals, where a myriad fish, dyed like the +rainbow, sported unceasingly. Springs gushed from the mountain, singing +their song of joy; the winds sang in the dark locks of the sycamore, +while the palm-boughs clashed like cymbals in rhythmical accompaniment; +glad children chanted their choruses, and I alone couldn't sing, nor +hum, nor whistle, because it doesn't pay to work for your board, and +settle for little necessities out of your own pocket, in any latitude +that I ever heard of. + +We lived in a grove of ten thousand cocoa-palms crowning a hill-slope to +the west. How all-sufficient it sounds as I write it now, but how little +I cared then, for many reasons! My cottage had prior tenants, who +disputed possession with me,--winged tenants who sought admission at +every cranny and frequently obtained it in spite of me; these were not +angels, but hens. My cottage had been a granary until it got too poor a +receptacle for grains, and a better shelter left it open to the +barn-fowls until I arrived. They hated me, these hungry chickens; they +used to sit in rows on the window-sill and stare me out of countenance. +A wide bedstead, corded with thongs, did its best to furnish my +apartment. An arrow, a very narrow and thin ship's mattress, that had +been a bed of torture for many a sea-sick soul before it descended to +me; a flat pillow like a pancake; a condemned horse-blanket contributed +by a good-natured Kanack who raked it from a heap of refuse in the yard, +together with two sacks of rice, the despair of those hens in the +window, were all I could boast of. With this inventory I strove (by +particular request) to be one of those who were comfortable enough in +the château adjoining. Summoned peremptorily to dinner, I entered a +little latticed saloon connected with the château by a covered walk, +discovered Monsieur seated at table and already served with soup and +claret; the remainder of the company helped themselves as they best +could; and I saw plainly enough that the family bosom was so crowded +already, that I might seek in vain to wedge myself into any corner of +it, at least until some vacancy occurred. + +After dinner, sat on a sack of rice in my room while it grew dark and +Monsieur received calls; wandered down to the beach at the foot of the +hill and lay a long time on a bed of leaves, while the tide was out and +the crabs clattered along shore and were very sociable. Natives began to +kindle their evening fires of cocoanut husks; smoke, sweet as incense, +climbed up to the plumes of the palm-trees and was lost among the stars. +Morsels of fish and bread-fruit were offered me by the untutored savage, +who welcomed me to his frugal meal and desired that I should at least +taste before he broke his fast. Canoes shot out from dense, shadowy +points, fishers standing in the bows with a poised spear in one hand; a +blazing palm-branch held aloft in the other shed a warm glow of light +over their superb nakedness. Bathed by the sea, in a fresh, cool +spring, and returned to my little coop, which was illuminated by the +glare of fifty floating beacons; looking back from the door I could see +the dark outlines of the torch-bearers and hear their signal calls above +the low growl of the reef a half-mile farther out from shore. It was a +blessing to lie awake in my little room and watch the flicker of those +fires; to think how Tahiti must look on a cloudless night from some +heavenly altitude,--the ocean still as death, the procession of +fishermen sweeping from point to point within the reef, till the island, +flooded with starlight and torchlight, lies like a green sea-garden in a +girdle of flame. + +A shrill bell called me from my bed at dawn. I was not unwilling to +rise, for half the night I lay like a saint on the tough thongs, having +turned over in sleep, thereby missing the mattress entirely. Made my +toilet at a spring on the way into town; saw a glorious sunrise that was +as good as breakfast, and found the whole earth and sea and all that in +them is singing again while I listened and gave thanks for that +privilege. At ten a.m. I went to breakfast in the small restaurant where +I have sketched myself at the top of this chronicle, and whither we may +return and begin over again if it please you. + +I was about to remark that probably most melancholy and homesickness may +be cured or alleviated by a wholesome meal of victuals; but I think I +won't, for, on referring to my note-book, I find that within an hour +after my return to the store I was as heart-sick as ever, and wasn't +afraid to say so. It is scarcely to be wondered at: the sky was dark; +aboard a schooner some sailors were making that doleful whine peculiar +to them, as they hauled in to shore and tied up to a tree in a sifting +rain; then everything was ominously still as though something +disagreeable were about to happen; thereupon I doubled myself over the +counter like a half-shut jack-knife, and burying my face in my hands +said to myself, "O, to be alone with Nature! her silence is religion and +her sounds sweet music." After which the rain blew over, and I was sent +with a hand-cart and one underfed Kanack to a wharf half a mile away to +drag back several loads of potatoes. We two hungry creatures struggled +heroically to do our duty. Starting with a multitude of sacks it was +quite impossible to proceed with, we grew weaker the farther we went, so +that the load had to be reduced from time to time, and I believe the +amount of potatoes deposited by the way considerably exceeded the amount +we subsequently arrived at the store with. Finding life a burden, and +seeing the legs of the young fellow in harness with me bend under him in +his frantic efforts to get our cart out of a rut without emptying it +entirely, I resolved to hire a substitute at my own expense, and save my +remaining strength for a new line of business. Thus I was enabled to sit +on the wharf the rest of the afternoon and enjoy myself devising new +means of subsistence and watching the natives swim. + +Some one before me found a modicum of sweets in his cup of bitterness, +and in a complacent hour set the good against the evil in single entry, +summing up the same to his advantage. I concluded to do it myself, and +did it thus:-- + + Evil. Good. + + I find myself in a foreign But I may do as I please in + land with no one to love and consequence, and it is nobody's + none to love me. business save my own. + + I am working for my board But I may quit as soon as I + and lodging (no extras), and feel like it, and shall have no + find it very unprofitable. occasion to dun my employer + for back salary so long as I stop + with him. + + My clothes are in rags. I But the weather is mild and + shall soon be without a stitch to the fig-tree flourisheth. Moreover + my back. many a good savage has + gone naked before me. + + I get hungry before breakfast But fasting is saintly. Day + and feel faint after dinner. by day I grow more spiritual, + What are two meals a day to a and shall shortly be a fit subject + man of my appetite? for translation to that better + world which is doubtless the + envy of all those who have lost + it by over eating and drinking. + +Nothing can exceed the satisfaction with which I read and re-read this +philosophical summary, but I had relapses every few minutes so long as I +lived in Tahiti. I remember one Sunday morning, a day I had all to +myself, when I cried out of the depths and felt better after it. It was +a real Sunday. The fowls confessed it by the indifference with which +they picked up a grain of rice now and then as though they weren't +hungry. The family were moving about in an unnatural way; some people +are never themselves on the Lord's day. The canoes lay asleep off upon +the water, evidently conscious of the long hours of rest they were sure +of having. To sum it all, it seemed as though the cover had been taken +off from the earth, and the angels were sitting in big circles looking +at us. Our clock had run down, and I found myself half an hour too early +at mass. Some diminutive native children talked together with infinite +gesticulation, like little old men. At every lag in the conversation, +two or three of them would steal away to the fence that surrounded the +church and begin diligently counting the pickets thereof. They were +evidently amazed at what they considered a singular coincidence, namely, +that the number of pickets, beginning at the front gate and counting to +the right, tallied exactly with the do. do. beginning at the do. do. and +counting to the left; while they were making repeated efforts to get at +the heart of this mystery, the priest rode up on horseback, dismounted +in our midst, and we all followed him into chapel to mass. + +A young Frenchman offered me holy-water on the tips of his fingers, and +I immediately decided to confide in him to an unlimited extent if he +gave me the opportunity. It was a serious disappointment when I found +later, that we didn't know six words in any common tongue. Concluded to +be independent, and walked off by myself. Got very lonesome immediately. +Tried to be meditative, philosophical, botanical, conchological, and in +less than an hour gave it up,--homesick again, by Jove! + +Strolled to the beach and sat a long time on a bit of wreck partly +imbedded in the sand; consoled by the surpassing radiance of sunset, +wondered how I could ever have repined, but proceeded to do it again as +soon as it grew dark. Some natives drew near, greeting me kindly. They +were evidently lovers; talked in low tones, deeply interested in the +most trivial things, such as a leaf falling into the sea at our feet +and floating stem up, like a bowsprit; he probably made some poetic +allusion to it, may have proposed braving the seas with her in a shallop +as fairy-like, for both fell a-dreaming and were silent for some time, +he worshipping her with fascinated eyes, while she, woman-like, +pretended to be all unconscious of his admiration. + +Silently we sat looking over the sea at Moorea, just visible in the +light of the young moon, like a spirit brooding upon the waters, till I +broke the spell by saying "Good-night," which was repeated in a chorus +as I withdrew to my coop and found my feathered guests had beaten in the +temporary barricade erected in the broken window, entered and made +themselves at home during my absence,--a fact that scarcely endeared the +spot to me. Next morning I was unusually merry; couldn't tell why, but +tried to sing as I made my toilet at the spring; laughed nearly all the +way into town, saying my prayers, and blessing God, when I came suddenly +upon a horse-shoe in the middle of the road. Took it as an omen and a +keepsake; horse-shoes aren't shed everywhere nor for everybody. I +thought it the prophecy of a change, and at once cancelled my engagement +with my employer without having set foot into his house farther than the +dining-room, or made any apparent impression upon the adamantine bosom +of his family. + +After formally expressing my gratitude to Monsieur for his renewed +offers of hospitality, I turned myself into the street, and was once +more adrift in the world. For the space of three minutes I was wild with +joy at the thought of my perfect liberty. Then I grew nervous, began to +feel unhappy, nay, even guilty, as though I had thrown up a good thing. +Concluded it was rash of me to leave a situation where I got two meals +and a mattress, with the privilege of washing at my own expense. Am not +sure that it wasn't unwise, for I had no dinner that afternoon; and +having no bed either, I crept into the verandah of a house to let, and +dozed till daybreak. + +There was but one thing to live for now, namely, to see as much of +Tahiti as possible, and at my earliest convenience to return like the +prodigal son to that father who would doubtless feel like killing +something appropriate as soon as he saw me coming. I said as much to a +couple of Frenchmen, brothers, who are living a dream-life over yonder, +and whose wildest species of dissipation for the last seven years has +been to rise at intervals from their settees in the arbour, go +deliberately to the farther end of the garden and eat several mangoes in +cold blood. + +To comprehend Tahiti, a man must lose himself in forests whose resinous +boughs are knotted with ribbons of sea-grass; there, overcome by the +music of sibilant waters sifting through the antlers of the coral, he is +supposed to sink upon drifts of orange-blossoms only to be resuscitated +by the spray of an approaching shower crashing through the green +solitudes like an army with chariots,--so those brothers said, with a +mango poised in each hand; and they added that I should have an official +document addressed to the best blood in the kingdom, namely, Forty +Chiefs of Tahiti, who would undoubtedly entertain me with true barbarian +hospitality, better the world knows not. There was a delay for some +reason; I, rather impatient, and scarcely hoping to receive so graceful +a compliment from headquarters, trudged on alone with a light purse and +an infinitesimal bundle of necessities, caring nothing for the weather +nor the number of miles cleared per day, since I laid no plans save the +one to see as much as I might with the best grace possible, keeping an +eye on the road for horse-shoes. Through leagues of verdure I wandered, +feasting my five senses and finding life a holiday at last. There were +numberless streams to be crossed, where I loafed for hours on the +bridges, satisfying myself with sunshine. Not a savage in the land was +freer than I. No man could say to me, "Why stand ye here idle?" for I +could continue to stand as long as I liked and as idly as it pleased me +in spite of him! There were bridgeless streams to be forded; but the +Tahitian is a nomad continually wandering from one edge of his fruitful +world to the other; moreover, he is the soul of peace towards men of +good-will: I was invariably picked up by some bare-backed Hercules, who +volunteered to take me over the water on his brawny brown shoulders, and +could have easily taken two like me. It was good to be up there while he +strode through the swift current, for I felt that he was perfectly able +to carry me to the ends of the earth without stopping, and that sense of +reliance helped to reassure my faith in humanity. + +As I wandered, from most native houses came the invitation to enter and +eat. Night after night I found my bed in the corner of some dwelling +whither I had been led by the master of it with unaffected grace. It +wasn't simply showing me to a spare room, but rather unrolling the best +mat and turning everything to my account so long as it pleased me to +tarry. Sometimes the sea talked in its sleep not a rod from the house; +frequently the mosquitoes accepted me as a delicacy and did their best +to dispose of me. Once I awoke with a headache, the air was so dense +with the odour of orange-blossoms. + +There was frequently a strip of blue bay that ebbed and flowed +languidly, and had to be lunched with; or a very deep and melodious +spring, asking for an interview, and, I may add, it always got it. I +remember one miniature castle built in the midst of a grassy Venice by +the shore. Its moats, shining with gold-fish, were spanned with slender +bridges, toy fences of bamboo enclosed the rarer clumps of foliage; and +there was such an air of tranquillity pervading it that I thought I must +belong there. Something seemed to say, "Come in." I went in, but left +very soon; the place was so fairy-like, I felt as though I were liable +to step through it and come out on some other side, and I wasn't anxious +for such a change. + +I ate when I got hungry, a very good sort of a meal, consisting usually +of a tiny piglet cooked in the native fashion, swathed in succulent +leaves and laid between hot stones till ready for eating; bread-fruit, +like mashed potato, but a great deal better; orange-tea and cocoa-milk, +surely enough for two or three francs. Took a sleep whenever sleep came +along, resting always till the clouds or a shadow from the mountain +covered me so as to keep cool and comfortable. Natives passed me with +salutations. A white man now and then went by barely nodding, or more +frequently eyeing me with suspicion, and giving me as much of his dust +as he found convenient. In the wider fellowship of nature, I forswore +all blood relations, and blushed for those representatives of my own +colour as I footed it right royally. Therefore, I was enabled to scorn +the fellow who scorned me while he flashed the steel hoofs of his +charger in my face and dashed on to the village we were both approaching +with the dusk. + +What a spot it was! A long lane as green as a spring meadow, lying +between wall-like masses of foliage whose deep arcades were frescoed +with blossoms and festooned with vines. It seemed a pathway leading to +infinity, for the blood-red bars of sunset glared at its farther end as +though Providence had placed them there to keep out the unregenerated. +Not a house visible all this time, nor a human, though I was in the +heart of the hamlet. Passing up the turf-cushioned road, I beheld, on +either hand, through a screen of leaves, a log spanning a rivulet that +was softly singing its monody; at the end of each log the summer-house +of some Tahitian, who sat in his door smoking complacently. It was a +picture of still-life with a suggestion of possible motion; a village to +put into a greenhouse, water, and keep fresh for ever. Let me picture it +once more,--one mossy street between two babbling brooks, and every +house thereof set each in its own moated wilderness. This was Papeali. + +Like rows of cages full of chirping birds those bamboo hats were +distributed up and down the street. As I walked I knew something would +cause me to turn at the right time and find a new friend ready to +receive me, for it always does. So I walked slowly, and without +hesitation or impatience, until I turned and met him coming out of his +cage, crossing the rill by his log and holding out his hand to me in +welcome. Back we went together, and I ate and slept there as though it +had been arranged a thousand years ago; perhaps it was! There was a +racket up at the farther end of the lane, by the chief's house; songs +and nose-flutings upon the night air; moreover, a bonfire, and doubtless +much nectar,--too much, as usual, for I heard such cheers as the soul +gives when it is careless of consequences, and caught a glimpse of the +joys of barbarism such as even we poor Christians cannot wholly +withstand, but turning our backs think we are safe enough. Commend me to +him who has known temptation and not shunned it, but actually withstood +it! + +It was the dance, as ever it is the dance where all the aspirations of +the soul find expression in the body; those bodies that are incarnate +souls, or those souls that are spiritualized bodies, inseparable, +whatever they are, for the time being. The fire glowed fervently; +bananas hung out their tattered banners like decorations; palms rustled +their silver plumes aloft in the moonlight; the sea panted on its sandy +bed in heavy sleep; the night-blooming cereus opened its waxen chambers +and gave forth its treasured sweets. Circle after circle of swart savage +faces were turned upon the flame-lit arena where the dancers posed for a +moment with their light drapery gathered about them and held carelessly +in one hand. The music again sounded a reiteration of chords caught from +the birds' treble and the wind's bass; full and resounding syllables, +richly poetical, telling of orgies and of the mysteries of the forbidden +revels in the charmed valleys of the gods, hearing which it were +impossible not to be wrought to madness; and the dancers thereat went +mad, dancing with infinite gesticulation, dancing to whirlwinds of +applause till the undulation of their bodies was serpentine, and at last +in frenzy they shrieked with joy, threw off their garments, and were +naked as the moon. So much for a vision that kept me awake till morning, +when I plodded on in the damp grass and tried to forget it, but couldn't +exactly, and never have to this hour. Went on and on over more bridges +spanning still-flowing streams of silver, past springs that lay like +great crystals framed in moss under dripping, fern-clad cliffs that the +sun never reaches. Came at last to a shining, whitewashed fort, on an +eminence that commands the isthmus connecting the two hemispheres of +Tahiti, where down I dropped into a narrow valley full of wind and +discord and a kind of dreary neglect that made me sick for any other +place. More refreshment for the wayfarer, but to be paid for by the +dish, and therefore limited. Was obliged to hate a noisy fellow with too +much bushy black beard and a freckled nose, and to like another who eyed +me kindly over his absinthe, having first mixed a glass for me. A native +asked me where I was going; being unable to give any satisfactory +answer, he conducted me to his canoe, about a mile distant, where he cut +a sapling for a mast, another for a gaff, twisted, in a few moments, a +cord of its fibrous bark, rigged a sail of his sleeping-blanket, and we +were shortly wafted onward before a light breeze between the reef and +shore. + +Three of us with a bull-pup in the bows dozed under the afternoon sun. +He of the paddle awoke now and then to shift sail, beat the sea +impetuously for a few seconds, and fell asleep again. Voices roused me +occasionally, greetings from colonies of indolent Kanacks on shore, +whose business it was to sit there till they got hungry, laughing +weariness to scorn. + +Close upon our larboard-bow lay one of the islands that had bewitched me +as I passed the shore but a few days previous; under us the measureless +gardens of the sea unmasked a myriad imperishable blossoms, centuries +old some of them, but as fair and fresh as though born within the hour. +All that afternoon we drifted between sea and shore, and beached at +sunset in a new land. Footsore and weary, I approached a stable from +which thrice a week stages were despatched to Papeete. + +A modern pilgrim finds his scrip cumbersome if he has any, and deems it +more profitable to pay his coach-man than his cobbler. + +I climbed to my seat by the jolly French driver, who was continually +chatting with three merry nuns sitting just back of us, returning to the +convent in Papeete after a vacation retreat among the hills. How they +enjoyed the ride, as three children might! and were quite wild with +delight at meeting a corpulent _père_, who smiled amiably from his +saddle and offered to show them the interior of the pretty chapel at +Faaa (only three _a_'s in that word),--the very one I grew melancholy in +when I was a man of business. + +So they hurled themselves madly from the high seat, one after the other, +scorning to touch anything so contaminating as a man's hand, though it +looked suicidal, as the driver and I agreed while the three were at +prayers by the altar. Whipping up over the road townward, I could +almost recognize my own footprints left since the time I used to take +the dust in my face three mornings a week from the wheels of that very +vehicle as I footed it in to business. Passing the spring, my toilet of +other days, drawing to the edge of the town, we stopped being jolly, and +were as proper as befitted travellers. We looked over the wall of the +convent garden as we drove up to the gate, and saw the mother-superior +hurrying down to us with a cumbersome chair for the relief of the nuns, +but before she reached us they had cast themselves to earth again in the +face of destiny, and there was kissing, crying, and commotion as they +withdrew under the gateway like so many doves seeking shelter. When the +gate closed after them, I heard them all _cooing_ at once, but the world +knows nothing further. + +Where would I be dropped? asked the driver. In the middle of the street, +please you, and take half my little whole for your ride, sir! He took +it, dropped me where we stood, and drove away, I pretending to be very +much at my ease. God help me and all poor hypocrites! + +I sought a place of shelter, or rather retirement, for the air is balm +in that country. There was an old house in the middle of a grassy lawn +in a by-street; two of its rooms were furnished with a few papers and +books, and certain gentlemen who contribute to its support lounge in +when they have leisure for reading or a chat. I grew to know the place +familiarly. I stole a night's lodging on its verandah in the shadow of a +passion-vine; but, for fear of embarrassing some early student in +pursuit of knowledge, I passed the second night on the floor of the +dilapidated cook-house, where the ants covered me. I endured the +tortures of one who bares his body to an unceasing shower of sparks; but +I survived. + +There was, in this very cook-house, a sink six feet in length and as +wide as a coffin; the third night I lay like a galvanized corpse with +his lid off till a rat sought to devour me, when I took to the streets +and walked till morning. By this time the president of the club, whose +acquaintance I had the honour of, tendered me the free use of any +portion of the premises that might not be otherwise engaged. With a +gleam of hope I began my explorations. Up a narrow and winding stair I +found a spacious loft. It was like a mammoth tent, a solitary +centre-pole its only ornament. Creeping into it on all-fours, I found a +fragment of matting, a dry crust, and an empty soda bottle,--footprints +on the sands of time. + +"Poor soul!" I gasped, "where did _you_ come from? What _did_ you come +for? Whither, O whither, have you flown?" + +I might have added, How did you manage to get there? But the present was +so important a consideration, I had no heart to look beyond it. The next +ten nights I passed in the silent and airy apartment of my anonymous +predecessor. Ten nights I crossed the unswept floor that threatened at +every step to precipitate me into the reading-room below. With a faint +heart and hollow stomach I threw myself upon my elbow and strove to +sleep. I lay till my heart stopped beating, my joints were wooden, and +my four limbs corky beyond all hope of reanimation. There the mosquito +revelled, and it was a promising place for centipedes. + +At either end of the building an open window admitted the tip of a +banana-leaf; up their green ribs the sprightly mouse careered. I broke +the backbones of these banana-leaves, though they were the joy of my +soul and would have adorned the choicest conservatory in the land. Day +was equally unprofitable to me. My best friends said, "Why not return to +California?" Every one I met invited me to leave the country at my +earliest convenience. The American consul secured me a passage, to be +settled for at home, and my career in that latitude was evidently at an +end. In my superfluous confidence in humanity, I had announced myself as +a correspondent for the press. It was quite necessary that I should give +some plausible reason for making my appearance in Tahiti friendless and +poor. Therefore, I said plainly, "I am a correspondent, friendless and +poor," believing that any one would see truth in the face of it, with +half an eye. "Prove it," said one who knew more of the world than I. +Then flashed upon me the alarming fact that I couldn't prove it, having +nothing whatever in my possession referring to it in the slightest +degree. It was a fatal mistake that might easily have been avoided, but +was too well established to be rectified. + +In my chagrin I looked to the good old bishop for consolation. +Approaching the Mission House through sunlit cloisters of palms, I was +greeted most tenderly. I would have gladly taken any amount of holy +orders for the privilege of ending my troublous days in the sweet +seclusion of the Mission House. + +As it was, I received a blessing, an autograph, and a "God speed" to +some other part of creation. Added to this I learned how the address to +the Forty Chiefs of Tahiti in behalf of the foreign traveller, my poor +self, had been despatched to me by a special courier, who found me not; +and doubtless the _fêtes_ I heard of and was for ever missing marked the +march of that messenger, my proxy, in his triumphal progress. In my +innocent degradation it was still necessary to nourish the inner man. + +There is a market in Papeete where, under one broad roof, threescore +hucksters of both sexes congregate long before daylight, and while a few +candles illumine their wares, patiently await custom. A half-dozen +coolies with an eye to business serve hot coffee and chocolate at a dime +per cup to any who choose to ask for it. By seven a.m. the market is so +nearly sold out that only the more plentiful fruits of the country are +to be obtained at any price. A prodigal cannot long survive on husks, +unless he have coffee to wash them down. I took my cup of it, with two +spoonfuls of sugar and ants dipped out of a cigar-box, and a crust of +bread into the bargain, sitting on a bench in the market-place, with a +coolie and a Kanack on either hand. + +It was not the coffee nor the sugared ants that I gave my dime for, but +rather the privilege of sitting in the midst of men and women who were +willing to accept me as a friend and helpmate without questioning my +ancestry, and any one of whom would go me halves in the most +disinterested manner. Then there was sure to be some superb fellow close +at hand, with a sensuous lip curled under his nostril, a glimpse of +which gave me a dime's worth of satisfaction and more too. Having +secreted a French roll, five cents, all hot, under my coat, and gathered +the bananas that would fall in the yard so seasonably, I made my day as +brief and comfortable as possible by filling up with water from time to +time. + +The man who has passed a grimy chop-house, wherein a frowzy fellow sat +at his cheap spread, without envying the frowzy fellow his cheap spread, +cannot truly sympathize with me. + +The man who has not felt a great hollow in his stomach which he found +necessary to fill at the first fountain he came to, or go over on his +beam-ends for lack of ballast, cannot fall upon my neck and call me +brother. + +At daybreak I haunted those street fountains, waiting my turn while +French cooks filled almost fathomless kegs, and coolies filled +potbellied jars, and Kanacks filled their hollow bamboos that seemed +fully a quarter of a mile in length. There I meekly made my toilet, took +my first course of breakfast, rinsed out my handkerchiefs and stockings, +and went my way. The whole performance was embarrassing, because I was a +novice, and a dozen people watched me in curious silence. I had also a +boot with a suction in the toe; there is dust in Papeete; while I walked +that boot loaded and discharged itself in a manner that amazed and +amused a small mob of little natives who followed me in my free +exhibition, advertising my shooting-boot gratuitously. + +I was altogether shabby in my outward appearance, and cannot honestly +upbraid any resident of the town for his neglect of me. I know that I +suffered the agony of shame and the pangs of hanger; but they were +nothing to the utter loneliness I felt as I wandered about with my heart +on my sleeve, and never a bite from so much as a daw. + +Did you ever question the possibility of a man's temporary +transformation under certain mental, moral, or physical conditions? +There are seasons when he certainly isn't what he was, yet may be more +and better than he has been, if you give him time enough. + +I began to think I had either suffered this transformation or been +maliciously misinformed as to my personality. Was I truly what I +represented myself to be, or had I been a living deception all my days? +No longer able to identify myself as any one in particular, it occurred +to me that it would be well to address a few lines to the gentleman I +had been in the habit of calling "father," asking for some particulars +concerning his absent son. I immediately drew up this document ready for +mailing:-- + + MOSQUITO HALL, + + CENTIPEDE AVENUE, PAPEETE. + + DEAR SIR,--A nondescript awaits identification at this office. + Answers to the names at the foot of this page, believes himself to + be your son, to have been your son, or about to be something + equally near and dear to you. He can repeat several chapters of the + New Testament at the shortest notice; recites most of the Catechism + and Commandments; thinks he would recognize two sisters and three + brothers at sight, and know his mother with his eyes shut. + + He likewise confesses to the usual strawberry-mark in fast colours. + If you will kindly send by return mail a few dollars, he will + clothe, feed, and water himself, and return immediately to those + arms which, if his memory does not belie him, have more than once + sheltered his unworthy frame. I have, dear sir, the fortune to be + the article above described. + +The six months which would elapse before I could Hope for an answer +would probably have found me past all recognition, so I ceased crying to +the compassionate bowels of Tom, Dick, and Harry, waiting with haggard +patience the departure of the vessel that was to bear me home with a +palpable C. O. D. tacked on to me. Those last hours were brightened by +the delicate attentions of a few good souls who learned, too late, the +shocking state of my case. Thanks to them, I slept well thereafter in a +real bed, and was sure of dinners that wouldn't rattle in me like a +withered kernel in an old nutshell. + +I had but to walk to the beach, wave my lily hand, heavily tanned about +that time, when lo! a boat was immediately despatched from the plump +little corvette "Chevert," where the tricolour waved triumphantly from +sunrise to sunset, all the year round. + +Such capital French dinners as I had there, such offers of bed and board +and boundless sympathy as were made me by those dear fellows who wore +the gold lace and had a piratical-looking cabin all to themselves, were +enough to wring a heart that had been nearly wrung out in its battle +with life in Tahiti. + +No longer I walked the streets as one smitten with the plague, or +revolved in envious circles about the market-place, where I could have +got my fill for a half-dollar, but had neither the one nor the other. No +longer I went at daybreak to swell the procession at the water-spout, or +sat on the shore the picture of despair, waiting sunrise, finding it my +sole happiness to watch a canoe-load of children drifting out upon the +bay, singing like a railful of larks; nor walked solitarily through the +night up and down the narrow streets wherein the _gendarmes_ had learned +to pass me unnoticed, with my hat under my arm and my heart in my +throat. Those delicious moons always seduced me from my natural sleep, +and I sauntered through the cocoa-groves whose boughs glistened like row +after row of crystals, whose shadows were as mosaics wrought in blocks +of silver. + +I used to nod at the low, whitewashed "calabooses" fairly steaming in +the sun, wherein Herman Melville got some chapters of "Omoo." + +Over and over again I tracked the ground of that delicious story, saying +to the bread-fruit trees that had sheltered him, "Shelter me also, and +whoever shall follow after, so long as your branches quiver in the +wind!" + +O reader of "Omoo," think of "Motoo-Otoo," actually looking warlike in +these sad days, with a row of new cannons around its edge, and pyramids +of balls as big as cocoanuts covering its shady centre. + +Walking alone in those splendid nights I used to hear a dry, ominous +coughing in the huts of the natives. I felt as though I were treading +upon the brinks of half-dug graves, and I longed to bring a respite to +the doomed race. + +One windy afternoon we cut our stern hawser in a fair wind and sailed +out of the harbour; I felt a sense of relief, and moralized for five +minutes without stopping. Then I turned away from all listeners, and saw +those glorious green peaks growing dim in the distance; the clouds +embraced them in their profound secrecy; like a lovely mirage Tahiti +floated upon the bosom of the sea. Between sea and sky was swallowed up +vale, garden, and waterfall; point after point crowded with palms; peak +above peak in that eternal crown of beauty; and with them the nation of +warriors and lovers falling like the leaf, but, unlike it, with no +followers in the new season. + +THE END + +Printed by BALLANTYNE, HANSON & CO + +London & Edinburgh + + + + +AN AFTERGLOW. + + +There is a bell in a tower in the middle of our Square. At six every +morning that bell does its best to tip over in delirious joy, but a +dozen strokes with the big tongue of it is about all that is ever +accomplished. + +I like to be wakened by that bell; I like to hear it at meridian when my +day's work is nearly done. It is swinging at this very minute, and the +iron hammer is bumping its head on either side, wrought with melodious +fury. + +The voice of it is so like the voice of a certain bell I used to hear in +a dreamy seaside village off in the tropics, that I have only to close +my eyes and I am over the seas again where I belong. + +As it rings now, I fancy I am in a great stone house with broad +verandahs, that stands in the centre of a grove of palms; across a dusty +lane lies the churchyard, and in the midst of the congregation of the +departed I catch a glimpse of the homely whitewashed walls of the old +missionary church. + +As the bell rings out at high noon, the pigeons flutter from the eaves +of this old church, and sail about, half afraid, yet seeming to be a +part of the service that is renewed from day to day. + +In spirit I pace again those winding paths; I meet dark faces, that +brighten as I greet them; I hear the reef-music blown in from the summer +sea; through leafy trellises I look into the watery distance, across +which white sails are wafted like feathers in an azure sky. + +A dry and floating dust, like powdered gold, glorifies the air. The +vertical sun has driven the shadows to the wall, and the dry pods of the +tamarind rattle and crackle in the intense heat, or perhaps a cocoanut +drops suddenly to the grass with a dull _thud_. + +A vixenish hornet swaggers in at the window, dangling its legs, the very +ghost of an emaciated ballet-girl, and pirouettes about my head while I +sit statue-like, but presently flirts out of the window and is gone. + +Do you think nothing transpires in this corner of the world? The Coolie +who brings me my morning cocoanut, the milk of which I drink from the +shell, is just now picking up leaves as big as a panama hat out in the +croquet-ground. Is that a common sight? + +Were I in Honolulu--the metropolis, you know--from my window I could see +as of yore a singularly-shaped hill called Punch-bowl, that looms above +the mass of foliage engulfing the pretty village. This Punch-bowl has +been empty for ages, so have all the craters in that particular island. + +It has baked hard in the sun and is as red as clay, though a tinge of +green in all its chinks suggests those antique bronzes of uncertain +origin. Above it roll the snow-white trade-wind clouds, those commercial +travellers that rush over us as though they had special business +elsewhere. Beyond all is the eternally blue sky of the tropics, which +generally seems so awfully high and hollow, that it makes a fellow +lonesome to look at it. + +I like better to picture the narrow street in the neighbourhood, wherein +man and beast travel amicably, and a disconsolate old kanaka, done up in +a shirt or a sheet, settles wherever it pleases him, to take about three +whiffs of tobacco from a stubby, black, brass-bound pipe before +continuing his journey. + +Over the way there is a small shed, with one of its beams hung full of +dead-ripe bananas; on a little counter, right under these yellow pouches +of creamy pulp, lie heaps of native water-melons, looking very +delicious. A pretty native girl, with an uncombed head, but pretty for +all that, will sell you her poorest stores with a grace that is worth +twice the money. + +Just beyond my window wave mango boughs heavily fruited. There are +strange flowers palpitating in the sunshine, covered with dust-pollen; +flowers whose ancestors have lived and died in Ceylon, Java, Japan, +Madagascar, and all of those far-away lands, that make a boy's mouth +water in study hours as he pores over his enchanted atlas. + +Sindbad had some rough experiences while he was travelling correspondent +of the _Daily Arabian Nights_; but I warrant you there are plenty of us +nowadays who would risk life and reputation for a tithe of his wonderful +adventure. + +I hear the tramp of hoofs upon the hard-baked street; horsemen and +horsewomen dash by, the men sitting limp in their saddles like our +native Californians, and seeming almost a part of the animal, but the +women erect and bold, astride their horses man-fashion, with an ample +spread of the knees, that at first strikes the foreigner as being novel +and a little vulgar,--but of course it isn't, for having once become +accustomed to it, it seems the only natural and graceful way of sitting +a horse. + +What the down is to the peach so is the last hour of sunshine to the +tropical day; it is the finishing touch that makes perfect the whole. +The bell has just struck again, and its reverberating note seems of a +colour with the picture in my mind--a bell for sunset, the _angelus_ +that calls me back to the little village that lies half asleep over the +water. Just fancy a long beach, with the sea rushing upon it, and +turning a regular summersault, all spray and spangles, just before it +gets there; a unique lighthouse at the top of the one solitary wharf, +where the small boats land; the white spires of two churches at the two +ends of the town, and a sprinkling of roofs and verandah s but +half-discovered in the confusion of green boughs,--that is Lahaina from +the anchorage, to me the prettiest sight in the Hawaiian kingdom. + +Let us hasten shoreward. Perhaps we wonder if that ridge of breakers is +to be climbed; perhaps we look with a tinge of superstition into the +affairs of Lahaina, wondering if it be really the abode of men in the +flesh, or but a dream wherein spirits move and have their being. + +But we are speedily awakened by the boat-boy. Great is the boat-boy of +Lahaina! He is amphibious and agile and impudent, and altogether +comical. He has carried all the population of Lahaina, some two or three +thousand, in his boat, first and last. He complacently suns himself on +that solitary wharf, awaiting a fresh arrival and a renewal of business. +He poses himself against the whitewash of the wooden lighthouse in +tremendous relief; he recognizes you in spite of your week-old beard and +the dilapidated state of your travelling suit; he hails you with the +utmost cordiality; it is impossible not to brave the sea with him, +whether you will or no, for he is the embodiment of presuming +good-nature, and you are as wax under the influence of his beaming and +persuasive smile. The finger of Time doubles up the moment it points +toward him; he is the same yesterday, to-day, and in the middle of next +week. I can lead you to the very boat-boy who collared me ten years ago, +for he is still lying in wait for me; and were I there in the flesh as I +am there in the spirit, I should expect to fall into his hands within +the hour, and would instinctively surrender whatever plans I may have +cherished without a struggle and without a murmur. + +At six o'clock this evening the bell will ring again, and again I shall +be transported; then will shadows, very long cool shadows, stretch +through the little tropical village; at dusk the reef is stiller, and +its roar sounds faint and far off, and is sometimes lost altogether. The +pigeons are once more driven from their home in the belfry, but they +soon return to it, and waltzing about on their slender pink legs for a +moment, they disappear within the shelter of the tower. + +Every one has his easy-chair, smoking, chatting, or dreaming; there is a +sudden flush along the evening sky; the marsh hens begin to pipe in the +rushes; the moths hover about, with big, staring, carnelian eyes, and +dash frantically at the old-fashioned solar-lamp that stands on the +centre table in the open parlour. + +The night falls suddenly; the air grows cool and moist; a great golden +star sails through the sky, leaving a wake of fire. O Island Home! made +sacred with a birth and with a death! haunted with sweet and solemn +memories! What if thy rocking palm boughs are as muffled music and thy +reef a dirge? The joy bells that have rung in the happy past shall ring +again in the hopeful future, and life grows rosy in the radiance of the +Afterglow. + + * * * * * + +These typographical errors have been corrected by the etext transcriber: + +green aad glorious mountains=>green and glorious mountains + +In this chyrsalis=>In this chrysalis + +symptoms of returningday;=>symptoms of returning day; + +Hello! the coffee-pot in ablaze again=>Hello! the coffee-pot in a blaze +again + +about one for ever human;=>about one for every human; + +to thin khow Tahiti must look=>to think how Tahiti must look + +Centipede Avenue, Papete=>Centipede Avenue, Papeete + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Summer Cruising in the South Seas, by +Charles Warren Stoddard + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40010 *** |