William H. Macy  Source  Whalesite

Leaves from the Arethusa's Log.
No. 19

W. H. Macy

Flag of our Union.
Vol. 23, No. 43 (Oct 24, 1868)
p. 686.

Leaves from the Arethusa's Log.

No. 19.

STRONG'S ISLAND.

      The first duty that engaged our attention after coming to anchor was, of course, to stop the leak; which was done much in the same manner as in the former case at Dominica, except that it was necessary to stow all the heavy articles forward, and bring the ship down by the head, instead of the stern. We also attached a purchase to the mainmast head, and to a tree on the shore, to assist in careening the ship.

      The natives appeared to watch all these operations with great interest; and our decks were alive with them, both men and women, the day after our arrival. Compared with the savages, whom we had previously visited, these people might be called gentle and quiet in their habits. Nothing could exceed the eagerness and the perseverance displayed, particularly by the women, in acquiring a thorough knowledge of our language. Every word that could be picked up to add to their English vocabularies seemed to afford them a peculiar source of delight. "What name o' this? What name man?" were questions put to us at every turn, and our answers were echoed and repeated over and over, till the sound was fully mastered. Thus the English spoken by these women was not murdered, for each word was thoroughly learned before passing on to the next.

      Suddenly a muttered signal or countersign passes from mouth to mouth; all noise and conversation cease; and each remains fixed to the spot, as if struck by an enchanter's wand. Not immediately seeing any adequate cause for this, I asked, in great surprise, what it meant? One of the girls ventured to whisper an answer to me:

      "You see? King George come!"

      I looked over the sail. Our boat, which had been ashore, was just coming alongside, and, seated with the old man in the stern sheets, was this potent autocrat, "King George," a rather goodlooking, portly barbarian, whose royal robes consisted of nothing less — or more — than a common sailor's checkshirt, his legs disdaining any covering whatever. He had doubtless received his title from some ironical Englishman, and his subjects had adopted it as proudly, as it is said our ancestors did, the music of "Yankee Doodle."

      As his majesty's head appeared above the quarter-rail, every one of his submissive subjects, man, woman and child, fell upon deck in a kneeling or crouching attitude, with bowed heads, and thus remained till their sovereign had completed his survey of matters above board, and passed below with the captain. During this time they rigidly maintained their positions, however uncomfortable, as immovable as a well drilled battalion of troops at "parade rest." As soon as he was invisible, everything resumed its former status, and the stir and bustle went on as before. The same etiquette, I afterwards observed, was necessary at the advent of any chief of high rank, or any of the juvenile princes of the blood royal.

      Courtenay, the English captain, had visited this island several times before, and was on very intimate terms with King George. He told us to be on our guard against treachery; and informed us that an English whaleship, called the Harriet, had been taken and burnt in the other harbor on the lee side of the island about eighteen months previous, though her fate had been a mystery until quite recently, as the natives, adopting the motto of ancient sea-rovers, that "Dead men tell no tales," had massacred every man of her crew. For more than a year she had been a "missing ship," when another English whaler, touching at this island, short-handed, shipped two natives, who, a few days after getting to sea, incautiously let out the secret. The ship at once put back and came to anchor in the lee harbor, and as Captain Courtenay happened to be there at the time, the two ships, acting in concert, succeeded in fishing up the Harriet's anchor and chain, with the charred remains of her bow, still attached. The two captains, by stratagem, secured the persons of some of the chiefs, and they confessed the truth, but no punishment had yet been inflicted by the English, though there was good reason to believe that other vessels had been cut off here, at more remote dates, and no one left alive to tell the tale. They had even destroyed the ship's chronometers, supposing them to be alive; for King George when questioned by Captain Courtenay concerning the chronometer of the Harriet, answered expressively, "Kill him. Take big stone, kill him."

      The Seringapatam still lay wind-bound for two or three days after our arrival, but at last, taking advantage of a morning when the air was quite light, though blowing directly into the bay, we put the boats of all three ships ahead of her, and assisted by the whole flotilla of canoes we towed her to sea, keeping the sails furled, and the yards pointed to the wind. We thought King George seemed rather relieved when he got rid of her. He professed great friendship for Captain Courtenay. But his regard was, doubtless, based on the wholesome fear in which he stood of him; for the ship mounted eight guns in regular broadside, besides small swivels on her topgallant forecastle and taffrail, and even had her arm-chests in her tops.

      We were successful in reaching and repairing the injury under our counter, and, on righting and trimming the ship, had the satisfaction to find her bottom perfectly tight. We could not, of course, tell how much external injury she had received under the bow.

      I did not fail, on going ashore, to notice the stone walls of which I had heard, and in which I observed some stones of great size and weight, at such heights from the ground as would indicate that the builders must have made use of mechanical power to raise them. I could get no information as to how long they had been there, or for what purpose they had been raised.

      On showing ourselves near the door of a house, we were always invited to enter and take a seat among the family on the floor, and the women immediately put us through a catechism, commencing, according to established form, with the question, "Name o' you?" This question must be answered, and the name repeated by the whole family, until they have the pronunciation perfect. But instead of following this up by asking "Who give you that name?" the next query is, "Name o' ship?" and then, "Name o' captain?" We thought it very remarkable that we found sufficient knowledge of English in every family to conduct these exercises, in view of the fact that so few ships had visited the place, and no white man was then living among them. After these points are all settled, a pipe is produced, with the request, usually made by one of the younger women in her most seductive tones, "You fill pipe belong to me?" Of course you feel bound to honor this draft upon your pocket store of tobacco, and, if you intend to make many calls while on shore, your pockets must be well filled. It is observable that the pipe produced on these occasions is invariably one with a large bowl, while those used for smoking are always small.

      We strolled into a large building near the beach abreast of our anchorage, which appeared to be a feast-home, a royal banqueting hall. It may, perhaps have been used also as a hall of council, if so absolute a monarch as King George can be supposed to consult with any one on affairs of state. I should suppose, from what I saw of this despot, that he might have had that peculiarity for which the first Napoleon is said to have been famous, of making up his mind first, and asking the advice of his generals afterwards. In this building, in a line extending nearly the whole length of it, flat stones, slightly hollowed so as to form basins, were set into the ground, and at each of these was seated a man, pounding kava-root with a smooth stone of convenient weight to be swung in his hand. The right arms of all these men, perhaps twenty in number, rose and fell in concert, with a slow and measured stroke, uniting the sounds produced by the twenty stone hammers upon the basins into one loud clang. Outside, fires had been built, and mysterious processes of cookery were being carried on. I inquired the meaning of all this preparation, and learned that this was a funeral feast. A woman of some rank, the wife of a chief, had died, and all the high dignitaries were then attending the burial, after which they would return to the feast-house, and "partake of a grand collation," as the celebration programmes have it. I was too late to see anything of the funeral ceremonies, for they were even now on their return. The kava-root, after being pounded to a fibrous mass, is mixed with clear water in the stone basins, and the infusion is strained, or rather wrung, through a sort of coarse cloth of grassy appearance, into calabashes, and is ready for the banquet. The first strength goes to the king and chiefs; it is "spliced" two or three times, the common natives being glad to get a very indifferent article. At many of the islands of Polynesia, the kava, instead of being beaten with stones, is chewed, and the masticated mass is ejected from the mouth into a vessel, and then water added to it; this chewing operation being performed chiefly by the women. But at Strong's Island, no woman is allowed to take any part in its preparation, or even to be present at the ceremony of preparing or drinking it.

      His majesty and suite being at hand, the "funeral-baked meats" were brought in, with piles of roasted bread-fruit and large bunches of bananas, and all the natives sat or squatted in their proper places, according to rank. The king, seeing us whites looking on, beckoned us to take seats near his royal person, and personally saw that we were liberally supplied with meat and fruit. We did ample justice to the fare, as became distinguished guests, and made a hearty meal. The remains of the feast were being cleared away, and we were about to leave in quest of further adventures, when the cooper made his appearance among us, with his pipe in full blast.

      "Well, boys," said he, "you've been having a glorious wake, I suppose, for the old duchess, or marchioness, or whatever her rank may be. You won't get drunk on kava, though, after the aristocracy have had the first wringing of it. You might drink a deck bucketful of the slops that's handed around afterwards. How did they feed you, pretty well?"

      "Yes, cooper," said I, "you should have been here sooner. You lost a good dinner by being too late for it."

      "Why what did you have for dinner?" he asked.

      "Something that we sailors don't get every day in the week;" I answered. "We can appreciate roast pig when we do get it."

      "Did you have roast pig for dinner?" asked the cooper.

      "Certainly, we did," said I, triumphantly.

      "Well, I presume you did — all but the pig," said he, dryly.

      "What do you mean by that?" I inquired, dubiously. There was no smile on the cooper's face, but that twinkling of his beard was perceptible, which always denoted a high state of inward enjoyment.

      "Why, pigs that are raised down our way," said he, "have a different tone of voice in expressing themselves. They don't bark."

      "Bark!" I exclaimed, as light began to dawn upon me, while some of my companions already began to look a little qualmish. "You don't mean to say that — "

      "I don't mean to say anything," returned the cooper. "Come outside and see the sacrificial altar, and its trimmings."

      We followed him a short distance back from the house till he halted, and pointed significantly to an ensanguined block of wood, near which lay four sets of paws, and four heads, unmistakably canine, corresponding in number to the four "roast pigs" at the banquet.

      "I acknowledge the corn," said I. "I suppose if I had known the fact before dinner, I shouldn't have relished it, but it is too late to repent."

      "But you might say," said one of boys from the Leonidas, unwilling yet to admit that he had been sold, "that we don't know what animals we had for dinner."

      "It needs no naturalist to tell us what animals have suffered at the block;" said I, laughing. "We may as well face the music, for there's hardly 'a loop to hang a doubt upon.' And, as another link in the chain of evidence, I now recollect that those pigs had been decapitated before they were served up, though I hadn't thought of it before. I never knew that these people were in the habit of eating dogs."

      "Yes, I could have told you that," said the cooper, "that is to say, as regards another island of this group. I know they do at Ascension, and they prefer them to pigs."

      "Well," said I, "I suppose all of us can now testify that they are as good as pigs, if eaten with a sauce of ignorance."

      "After the collation comes the ball;" said the cooper. "You see those fellows backing down wood, and getting ready to make a bonfire. They will light up the fire after dark, and then dance and sing round it. But here's another game going on. Let's go and see what this means."

      The natives were all gathering on a large plat of greensward, near the feast-house, and the young men were seating themselves in a circle on the ground, several ranks deep, so as to leave an arena of convenient size in the centre. The women, children and old men closed up outside of this ring as spectators, a space being kept clear for King George and the principal chiefs, where they could overlook the whole scene. It was evident some sort of gladiatorial show or sparring exhibition was now to begin.

      At a signal from the king, an athletic young man sprang lightly from his seat in the circle to the centre of the ring, bringing his hands together with a loud clap of defiance. He was instantly confronted by another, and the sparring was commenced. Passes were rapidly made and warded off, no harm being done to the combatants, as all blows were struck open-handed. Great dexterity was displayed on both sides, the object aimed at by all this, being, for some little time, a mystery; but at length the challenger, watching his opportunity, rushed under the other's guard and seized him at the waist, which closed the combat, amid tumultuous applause from king, court and spectators. Both fell back to their places in the circle, the victor to be petted and patted by his delighted comrades, and instantly a fresh champion bounded into the arena to be met by another. Thus the entertainment continued, till nearly every young man had put in at least one appearance, and some particularly smart fellows had come off victors in several matches, so that their challenges were not readily accepted. Sometimes a careless or over-confident youth would be caught almost instantly, calling down upon himself the jeers and uproarious mirth of the whole assembly; and, on the other hand, when two of the most skilfull of the gladiators were about equally matched, the struggle would be prolonged amid the eager and breathless attention of the excited audience. Everything was expected to be done with the most perfect good humor; and if, as was sometimes the case, the vanquished party lost his temper, he was greeted with such yells of derisive laughter, that he was soon glad to join in the laugh against himself, in order to escape further ridicule. The men were naked, with the sole exception of a broad belt about the hips, and their eager attitudes and quick movements displayed their figures and the development of their muscle to the best advantage. We all agreed that the exhibition was a most beautiful one, possessing all the wholesome excitement that belongs to athletic sports of this kind, without the drawbacks of brutality and smothered hatred.

      We remained on shore in the evening to see the dance round the fire, which is accompanied with wild chants or recitations, and has no very striking points about it. There is but little variety in the movements, and the interest depends simply upon the almost perfect concert of voice and gesture among a large number of performers. Its scenic effect is heightened by the uniform system of tattooing, the chief point in which is a stripe running the whole length of the arm on the outside, and a wider one up and down the leg, like those worn by sergeants in our army. But on the whole, the display is inferior in variety and vigor to the Marquesan "hula hula," or to the war-dances of the North American tribes. An incident occurred during this performance, which forcibly illustrated the absolute control over the lives of his subjects possessed by the irresponsible despot, King George. One of the young men engaged in the dance failed to give satisfaction to the critical eye or ear of the king, being, as I thought, a little out of time in the chant, when, without a word, the king picked up a stone, and hurled it at him, striking full in his breast, and effectually knocking him out of the ranks, while the dance went on without interruption, as if this was merely an ordinary recreation, in which the monarch was wont to indulge when the humor seized him. A shudder and murmur of indignation ran through us visitors from the ships at this cruelty, but what could we do or say about it? The poor delinquent gathered himself up and slunk away, evidently suffering dreadful pain. He must have been severely, if, indeed, not dangerously injured; but it seemed a matter of indifference to his royal master whether he lived or died.

      "I suppose," said Mr. Grafton, who was standing near me, "you feel just as I do about that affair; as if you'd like to hurl that same rock back at the king's breast with a will."

      "Yes sir," I replied; "but it wouldn't be policy for us to attempt anything of that kind."

      "Hardly;" returned the mate. "We should have a hornet's nest about our ears in short order, if we touched his sacred person. I presume these young men consider it all right, and a mere matter of course, each one feeling that it may be his turn next. I have no doubt that the old savage has killed more than one of them in getting them up to their present state of drill. He holds his subjects' lives at his own disposal, as much as the Czar of all the Russias, or even more so; and, as a general rule, these savage races are very reckless of human life, seeming to attach but little value to it."

      "Didn't you admire the sparring match, this afternoon?" I asked.

      "I didn't see it;" the said mate. "I took my gun, and went out in the woods pigeon shooting. I had pretty good luck. I got about twenty pigeons, and saw a great deal of sport besides the shooting. The old chief Seelic went with me, he is the second in rank below King George, as near as I can get at it. He took another chief of lower rank with him, and a couple of boys of no rank at all. Old Seelic and I kept company, the petty chief fell into our wake at a short distance, and the two youths jogged along astern of him. Whenever we stopped a moment down they went on their beam-ends right into the mud or wherever they chanced to be, and waited there till we started on again, keeping their stations in line. When we got into the woods, they were signalled to keep in close order, but it was amusing to see manœuvres when one of the youngsters got the first sight of a pigeon. You see, he could not speak to his superior in a standing position, nor speak to old Seelic at all, until commanded or invited to do so. So he would go down on his marrow-bones and tell the petty chief, and then he would go down the same way with his head almost in the mud, to tell old Seelic, and sometimes while all this etiquette was going on, the pigeon would take the alarm and leave the tree, before old Seelic could bring his gun to bear on him. The old fellow is a good shot and would drop his bird almost every time. But the war dance is about finished for to-night, and it's time to muster the boys and shove off."

      We got all our water and wood on board, and a good stock of fruit, though the only recruits to be got to serve as sea stores for any length of time were yams, and these of indifferent quality. When ready for sea, we lay wind-bound two days, but on the third the trades were so far to the northward that we could lay our course through the passage in the reef, and both ship's windlasses were at once manned to take advantage of the start. It was observed that, as we began to get under way, nearly all the natives left us, and that very few were in sight even on the beach. As our anchor made its appearance at the surface it brought with it the bight of a small chain, which had caught across the stock. The few natives about the ship got sight of it as quick as we did, and, as conscious guilt needs no accuser, in the twinkling of an eye, they were off for the shore, some in canoes and others jumping overboard. It was a critical moment for us, as the ship was swinging, and we could not afford to lose the wind, so we "hooked cat," and secured our anchor, the bight of the chain slipping off the anchorstock, and falling back to its submarine bed, where it had probably lain for several years. It might have been the cable to a vessel of a hundred and fifty to two hundred tons. In a few minutes both ships were standing out through the narrow passage, the Leonidas leading, as the increased strain on our windlass in lifting the anchor had given her the start.

      It was barely possible that the chain might have been slipped or accidentally lost by some vessel; but probabilities were strong to the contrary. The evident uneasy feeling of the natives, when we were about taking up our anchor, was a significant circumstance. Could we have let go the other anchor, and taken time to investigate the matter by underrunning the small chain, we should, no doubt, have found positive evidence of treachery, and might have shed light upon the fate of some long-missing vessel.

      We ran to leeward of the island and shaped our course to the northward and westward, not sighting any other island of the Caroline group. In a few days we parted company with the Leonidas, and went our way alone toward the Japan cruising-ground.

Source:

W. H. Macy.
"Leaves from the Arethusa's Log - No. 19."
      Flag of Our Union.
Vol. 23, No. 43 (Oct 24, 1868)
p. 686.

William H. Macy  Source  Whalesite